An effort to oust four members of the Chester Public Utility District has failed.
The proponents circulating recall petitions did not gather enough valid signatures from voters registered in the Chester district to hold a special election, said Marcy DeMartile, Plumas County elections officer. She announced a notice of insufficiency to the Plumas County Board of Supervisors May 21.
Critics of the financially crippled district served notice in January that they intended to recall CPUD Board Chairwoman Kimberly Green, and Directors Steve Voboril, Arthur Tharpe and Steve Graffweg. They turned in signatures April 23 on petitions they had been circulating since February.
To qualify for a special election, proponents of the recall effort needed 346 valid signatures. A spokeswoman told The Plumas Sun earlier this month they had collected more than the required number and were confident they had collected ample signatures.
DeMartile said she and her elections staff checked all signatures three times on all four recall petitions.
“This process is now complete as presented by the Plumas County elections office,” she said.
‘Failed on a technicality‘
The difference between holding a recall election or not came down to three votes in the effort to oust Voboril, said Dawn Gray, a Chester resident who headed the recall campaign. She shared the breakdown of valid signatures for each of the four CPUD directors targeted for recall. Proponents needed five more valid signatures to hold an election to remove Tharpe from office, nine more for Green, and 21 more valid signatures to oust Graffweg, according to the data Gray received from DeMartile.
Most of the signatures found invalid by the elections office were from signers who are either not registered to vote in Plumas County or registered at a different address, Gray said.
“To fail on a technicality is what really smarts,” she said.
The proponents can ask to review the signatures deemed invalid, said Gray. That could provide useful information but it would not change the outcome of the recall effort.
Whether Gray and other recall proponents will try again is up to the community, she said. “We did this for the community. We’ll do it again if that’s what the public wants,” Gray told The Plumas Sun.
Directors more gratified than surprised
Contacted soon after DeMartile’s announcement, Green said she was surprised by the election office’s count. “The proponents were so sure they had enough signatures,” she said.
But Green added that she was more gratified than surprised. “I’m grateful that we still have a chance to finish what we started — to improve every aspect of this district,” she told The Plumas Sun.
The four directors targeted for recall and Director Royce Raker, who was not, were elected in November 2023. All five ran unopposed.
The terms of Raker, Tharpe and Voboril expire Dec. 5, 2025. Green and Graffweg were elected to terms ending Dec. 3, 2027.
Still in deep financial trouble
The failed recall will spare the Chester PUD the cost of a special election, estimated at around $8,000. But it will not bail them out of the difficulties that have plagued the district for several years.
The Chester Fire Department has been operating at a deficit of $1.2 million a year for at least a decade, said Adam Cox, CPUD general manager. To close the gap, the directors have borrowed $1.3 million from sewer district funds.
They turned to voters for financial help in November 2023 and again earlier this month, mounting two separate special elections to raise revenues to pay off the debt. Both failed. The November election sought approval of a $350-per-parcel special tax. In May, the directors asked voters to approve either a $450-per-parcel or a $1,500-per-parcel annual tax. Neither measure garnered a simple majority; both fell far short of the two-thirds voter approval the tax override required.
The years-long financial crisis forced Chester to eliminate ambulance and fire services. District directors sent layoff notices to all ambulance staff and firefighters effective Feb. 28. The district surrendered its ground transportation license for the ambulance Jan. 1.
The CPUD can no longer transport patients with medical emergencies, Green said. The fire department is reduced to two paid employees: a part-time fire chief and a lieutenant who works 76 hours a week, she said. The district is training volunteers to qualify to respond to fires.
