CANYON CITY — A petition to recall John Day/Canyon City Parks and Recreation District Director Lisa Weigum has been filed with the Grant County Clerk’s Office.

The petition was filed by Charlene Morris and alleges instances of public meetings law violations, public records law violations, a false election publication and budget law violations.

Weigum accused Morris of harassing her and said she has never knowingly or intentionally violated the law.

Morris alleges that Weigum, in her role as a board member of the John Day/Canyon City Parks and Recreation District, violated Oregon revised statutes 192.620 to 192.670 by communicating via email with fellow board members in drafting the language for the pool bond measure that appeared on the May ballot. The statutes cover Oregon meetings law pertaining to regular meetings, executive sessions, public notices, minutes, the form of the agenda and meetings conducted via telephone or email.

At a joint meeting of the John Day City Council and the JDCC Parks and Rec District board on Feb. 22, Weigum stated that the board had discussed the ballot measure language via email.

While Oregon law allows for public bodies such as the parks and rec board to meet and deliberate electronically, it also requires that the public be able to monitor that electronic communication as it’s happening.

Jack Orchard, a Portland attorney who specializes in public records and public meetings law, said any discussion of the language for the pool bond should have been held in a public meeting that followed all the standard procedures the law requires.

“The discussion of the bond measure in any form was a public meeting matter,” he said. “It needed to be (on the) agenda, discussed at an open session with minutes kept. Notice of the meeting was required in the normal course and means.”

Orchard added that this is especially true if a quorum of board members was involved in the email communications that occurred in drafting the ballot measure’s language.

Also alleged are violations of ORS 192.314 to ORS 192.335, which cover access to public records and the timely dissemination of public records.

Morris also claims that Weigum prepared an additional notice of ballot title that was published in the Blue Mountain Eagle in violation of ORS 260.532 and ORS ORS 260.537. Morris said Weigum called herself the “elections authority” and that these actions were done to mislead voters and cause confusion.

Morris also accused Weigum of violating ORS 294.414, which covers the appointment of a budget committee, pointing to Weigum’s role as the JDCC Parks and Recreation District’s budget officer. Morris said she felt she had to file the recall petition because she and others have been ignored when voicing concerns to both the John Day City Council and the JDCC Parks and Recreation District board.

“They ignore us — not just the parks and rec district, but the city council,” she said.

Morris added that she and her husband, John, have been ostracized for expressing dissenting views about the pool proposal, but she said that won’t keep her from speaking out.

“Yeah, we’ve already had an anonymous letter telling us we’re the most hated people in Grant County,” Morris said. “So this community just isn’t like it used to be and that creates some anxiety in speaking, standing up and speaking out, but I have learned I can do that.”

Weigum responded to Morris’s allegations in a written statement.

“I can’t say I’m that surprised considering the harassment from Mrs. Morris over the last year. We were told they filed complaints with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, she’s showed up at my place of employment, filed complaints with the district attorney, we went to Circuit Court, and this is actually the second recall petition she’s filed for me. Those complaints, which are basically the same complaints in this recall petition, were all dismissed,” Weigum said.

“We’re a volunteer board with only two full-time staff and none of us are public policy experts. It takes us a little longer to go through some of these processes. Sometimes we stumble along the way, and of course there are things we could do better, but we’ve never knowingly or intentionally been out of compliance with an ORS. It’s disappointing that Mrs. Morris has decided to make this so personal. I’m not sure why she’s singled me out, but if she thinks she can do a better job as a board member, then I encourage her to run for a position on the board as opposed to continuing to waste taxpayer dollars with all of her unsuccessful complaints.”

In order for the recall effort to make the ballot, Morris must collect at least 289 valid signatures from registered voters within the parks and rec district by Nov. 8. Brenda Percy, the county clerk, would have 10 days after that to validate the signatures. If enough valid signatures are collected, Percy would then have 35 days to conduct a special election in which voters would weigh in on the recall question.

Weigum’s seat on the board will come up for election in 2025.