Rookstool

JOHN DAY — A group seeking the ouster of John Day Mayor Heather Rookstool has collected enough petition signatures to force a recall election, but the signatures must still be verified before an election is called.

The Committee to Recall Mayor Heather Rookstool said in a statement that members of the group gathered 139 signatures over the course of two days. Grant County Clerk Brenda Percy said the committee submitted 40-50 more than the minimum number required.

“Many more residents were willing to sign but we stopped circulating because we had more than enough to bring the recall forward to John Day’s voters,” the statement said.

Rookstool said she isn’t surprised the group gathered the required number of signatures because the threshold is so low.

“I didn’t think that amount of signatures would be hard for them to get,” she said.

Percy won’t start verifying the signatures until after Thanksgiving — after that, citizens of John Day will have a better understanding of what the next steps in the recall process will be.

“Once I verify the signatures, I will be able to confirm if the recall can move forward or if they will need to obtain more signatures,” Percy said.