The Village of Bushnell faces potential recall

The Village of Bushnell may be headed for a recall election to take place early next year.

On October 22, 2013, a recall affidavit put forth by Dwayne Brackeen, a resident of the Village of Bushnell, and accepted by Kimball County Clerk Cathy Sibal seeking the removal of Tim Nolting from the Board of Trustees for the Village of Bushnell.

The affidavit states that the reason for the removal is that more than one board member has felt bullied by Nolting into voting his way, and that, due to Nolting’s actions, the village was threatened with a very expensive lawsuit. The affidavit also alleges that Nolting threatened a business owner in Bushnell, stating that his business was a junkyard, when “in fact it was a storage business.”

Brackeen states that his reason for starting the recall efforts stems from requests of the residents of Bushnell who want Nolting off the board.

“It’s kind of a village request. There are a number of people in the village and number of reasons why people want him removed, and I kind of got the dirty job,” Brackeen said.

When it comes to the alleged actions on Nolting’s part, Brackeen states that he witnessed Notling threatening the business owner, Fal Calvert, and found that Notling’s reasoning and actions were illegitimate.

“Mr. Nolting said that this was junk, that he couldn’t have the junk there, and this was in writing on the agenda for the board meeting that he had somebody that was going to come in and tear down the buildings and remove all of the ‘junk’. And he wouldn’t back down. The board members even said, ‘Tim isn’t going to back down. We asked him if what he was doing was right and legal and Tim is sure that yes, it is legal. But his reasoning just wasn’t legit. His description of what was there wasn’t legit,” Brackeen said.

The situation escalated, according to Brackeen, with Calvert threatening a lawsuit against the village. However, after initial threats on both sides, Calvert cleaned up the property, and Nolting backed off.

“This man was ready to go to battle with Tim and the village and at some point, he removed a couple of vehicles and Tim decided to back off,” Brackeen said.

Brackeen also states that there are other reasons besides the ones on the recall affidavit that people would like Nolting off the board. However, he would not elaborate on what they may be at this time.

“There are other things though. There’s just a list of things that will come up when the time is right, and it’s things that people have come to me with,” Brackeen said.

Though Brackeen has seemingly only filed the affidavit at the request of the village members, he admits that his feelings match those of residents concerning Nolting’s position on the board.

“Tim called me ‘the agitator’. I’m not an agitator. I’m the facilitator. I didn’t start this, but there are reasons of my own that I would like to see him off the board,” Brackeen said.

According to Sibal, the recall election, if Brackeen obtains the 20 signatures needed in order to have it, would come at an estimated cost of $3,000 to $5,000 to the residents of Bushnell.

However, Brackeen states that, even when considering the high cost of holding the election, it is something that residents feel must be done.

“They feel that it would be worth the cost,” Brackeen said.

For his part, Nolting denies the that the allegations on the recall affidavit hold any validity, particularly concerning the alleged bullying of other board members.

“To me, that’s a serious allegation in any arena whether it’s political, social or whatever, especially in an elected position. Ithought it was important to get on that right away,” Nolting said.

According to Nolting, at the next board meeting after the allegation was brought to his attention, he publicly asked each board member whether they had felt bullied by him in any decision that the board had made with all the other board members denying that they had ever truly felt bullied by Nolting.

“I brought it up and said, ‘There’s a petition filed for my recall and one of the first items on that is that more than one of the board members has felt bullied into voting my way.’ I said, ‘I need to know what I’m doing or what instance that was, and I need for you to tell me.’ Collectively, they all said nobody had said anything. Just to make sure, I went to each individual and asked them if they felt bullied and each of them said no,” Nolting said.

Nolting also states that he has had people call him a ‘dictator’ in the past for doing what he feels is his duty as chairman of the board, adding that it would be impossible for him to take action on anything without the approval of the other board members.

“There’s only been one vote in the five years that I’ve been on that board where it wasn’t a unanimous vote. The one instance where it wasn’t was that one of the members abstained, because he had a business relationship with the gentleman that we were talking to. The decisions that are made are made by a five person board, not by an individual. If they had ever felt like they’re being bullied into voting my way and not their way, then why have we been getting unanimous votes,” Nolting said.

When pressed further about the allegations, Nolting reiterated that no individual on the board can make a decision without the support of the other members.

“I can say unequivocally, I have never acted independently as a member of that board. Every decision that has been made with the Board of Trustees in the Village of Bushnell has been the decision of five men,” Nolting said.

Concerning the allegations pertaining to his interactions with Calvert, Nolting will admit that he did, in fact, call Calvert’s property a junk yard.

“The final allegation is that I threatened a Bushnell business owner by calling their place a junkyard. I did,” Nolting said.

However, Nolting states that, before he had come onto the board, Calvert had come to the board with a request to move a trailer home onto the property in order to clean it up and fix it up and use the space as a cabinet making shop.

Nolting states that, after the board approved the request, trailer after trailer pulled into the yard, leaving the property looking worse than before.

“They’re all junk, and they’ve been broken into. The sides have been battered out. Kids are playing in it. Then junk vehicles started coming in. Truckloads of used tires, trash, flatbed tankers, and that’s when we said enough. It’s a health hazard and it’s a nuisance. It’s gotta be cleaned up. We don’t allow junk yards in city limits,” Nolting said.

Nolting also denies that his actions led to a lawsuit against the Village of Bushnell.

“The village has never received any notification of a pending or planned lawsuit by anyone. Mr. Calvert did, when he came to the meeting to protest his order to clean things up, did say when he was leaving ‘You’ll hear from my lawyer.’ But we never did. There’s been no formal lawsuit,” Nolting said.

However, Nolting’s primary concern is not about being recalled. His primary concern rests on the impact that the cost of the recall would have on the village, especially when taking into consideration the condition of the water tower and the results of an inspection recently conducted of it.

“On the inside of the dome of the roof, the paint is peeling and there are big hunks just hanging. It hasn’t started falling yet, but it will. The state of Nebraska safe water people are going to say that we need to get that thing redone. I don’t have any idea of what that’s going to cost, but I bet that it’s not less than a $10,000 price tag. We can’t hardly afford that. We definitely can’t afford a $3,000 to $5,000 recall special election on top of the maintenance that we need to do,” Nolting said.

Nolting has also made it clear that he will not resign in order to stop the people of Bushnell from paying for the recall election.

“I don’t want them to go through a recall, but I’m not going to make that happen by resigning the position. I believe that what I have to offer the Village of Bushnell is good for the Village of Bushnell,” Nolting said.

If recalled, Nolting also intends to put his name on the ballot next November at which time he would be up for re-election when his current term expires.

“It’s not for me and not against anyone, Bushnell is our home. We have myself, my wife, two of my daughters, my son-in-law all moved to the Village of Bushnell. We want to see Bushnell survive. I’m not interested in me. I’m interested in the village. That’s our home,” Nolting said.

According to Sibal, Nolting has 20 days after being notified that he is being sought to be removed to make an official statement in his defense. After the official statement, Brackeen will have 20 days to gather the petition papers and will have 30 days to gather the 20 signatures needed.

When the signatures have been gathered, they will be gathered as one document, and the County Clerk will have 15 days to verify signatures. If the petition is found to be sufficient, the clerk will notify Nolting and the governing body, and the governing body of the subdivision will order an election to be held no less than thirty nor more than 75 days after notification unless any other elevation will be held within 90 days.

The reason for the 20 signatures stems from a state statute that states that the number of signatures in order to hold a recall election must be equal in number to at least 35 percent of the total vote cast for that office in the last general election.

According to Sibal, the petition also comes with certain regulations that must not be broken. All signatures must be signed in the presence of the circulator of the petition. No one circulating a petition can allow a person to sign the petition until the circulator has stated the object of the petition as printed on the petition, the name and office of the individual sought to be recalled, the reasons for which recall is sought as printed on the petition, the defense statement by the official sought to be recalled as printed on the petition, and the name of the principal circulator of the recall petition.

“When I’m coming to you and I want your signature, I’ve got to do every step of that. If I don’t, there’s penalties for that,” Sibal said.

The penalties as listed on the petition state that any person who signs any name other than his or her own to any petition or who is not qualified to sign the petition shall be guilty of a Class I Misdemeanor. Also, any person who falsely swears to a circulator’s affidavit on a petition, who accepts money or other things of value for signing a petition, or who offers money or other things of value in exchange for a signature upon any petition shall be guilty of a Class IV felony.

“This is serious business. This is not something, if you get mad because they’re raising your water rates that we should get an attempt on a recall. It is serious. We don’t question or put down the people that are doing it. It’s just serious business,” Sibal said.

According to Sibal, the earliest that an election would take place would be February of 2014, due to the regulations of each step of the process.

“The anticipated election could be anywhere from February 17 to April 3,” Sibal said.