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The eight signatures highlighted in yellow were not certified because they are dated after the circulator signed the petition on April 16. Three additional signatures on another petition were not certified for the same reason.
Mayor Nemecek disqualified from city ballot over petition signature problems
By Jim Baumann, jim@boycitizen.com
Mayor Tim Nemecek apparently won't be running for reelection after all. City Clerk Jessica Puroll determined that 11 of the 28 signatures on his petitions were not valid, dropping him to 17 signatures, with a minimum of 20 needed to put his name on the ballot.
As can be seen in the photo above, petition circulator Marissa Portera signed and dated two petitions on April 16, and then added signatures on April 21 and 22 - despite wording on the petitions that says “CIRCULATOR - DO NOT SIGN OR DATE CERTIFICATE UNTIL AFTER CIRCULATING PETITION.”
In response to a question from the Boyne Citizen, Puroll said via email: “The City Attorney was contacted prior to my communication with Tim (Nemecek) just to confirm that I was understanding the Michigan Election Law correctly. Attached is the Michigan Election Law.”
Highlighted on page 2 of the document Puroll attached is this paragraph:
"The circulator of a petition shall sign and date the certificate of circulator before the petition is filed. A circulator shall not obtain electors' signatures after the circulator has signed and dated the certificate of circulator. A filing official shall not count electors' signatures that were obtained after the date the circulator signed the certificate or that are contained in a petition that the circulator did not sign and date."
Nemecek said he has not made a final decision, but he would probably not run a write-in campaign. “That would take a lot more time, energy and finances than I want to devote to something that would be very difficult to win,” he said. “That would be a disservice to the community - all the time it would take away from my duties as mayor. We have a lot of fires burning right now.”
Those “fires” include the City Commission needing to hire an interim and permanent city manager, hiring a planning director, and reworking a Master Plan that has been stalled when the contractor creating the document quit over disagreements over his performance.
With Nemecek out of the race, there are now four candidates competing for three seats on the City Commission in the November 4 election. Marty Moody is the only incumbent running for reelection. Three newcomers who filed petitions and will be on the ballot are Bridget Foltz, Becky Houser, and Jennifer “Beano” Hampton. See the Boyne Citizen from earlier today for details on all four candidates.
Nemecek said he admired the three women candidates “for throwing their hats in the ring” and making a bid to put in the time and energy to serve on the City Commission.
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