Judge Halts Recall Process

A ruling has been handed down in the recall application against Commissioner Chairman Don Jernigan. Judge H. Gibbs Flanders Jr. has ruled in favor of Mr. Jernigan, effectively ending the chances of a recall for the commission chairman.

As first reported digitally on The Monticello News website on June 16, Judge Flanders cited “insufficient probable cause to support the recall application.”

Court documents detail each of the three legal grounds that Mr. Jernigan was accused of violating by petition chairman Rob Alexander. These grounds include malfeasance, violation of oath, and misconduct whilst in office.

Much of the evidence presented by Mr. Alexander showed communication between Mr. Jernigan and other commissioners in a one on one setting via text messaging and e-mail.

These messages discussed zoning matters as well as nominations for leadership amongst the commissioners. Judge Flanders stated that Mr. Alexander, “has not presented evidence or legal authority establishing probable cause” showing malfeasance.

Additionally, Judge Flanders stated that the Open and Public Meetings Act was not violated due to the aforementioned evidence of one on one communication presented. This meant that the communication was not in a quorum manner, which would call for three or more participants communicating together.

Lastly, Judge Flanders stated that no misconduct has occurred during Mr. Jernigan’s tenure in office. Mr. Alexander alleged that Mr. Jernigan kept plans secret from other commissioners in an attempt to keep the public out of the discussion.

Court documents from Judge Flanders, however, state that Mr. Alexander “failed to present evidence of probable or reasonable cause for a violation of any law” while in office.

The recall application officially went through the court system on April 27 with Mr. Alexander as the petition chairperson. This was done after more than 100 validated signatures were achieved to continue the recall process.

On May 2, Mr. Jernigan filed a petition to review the sufficiency of the application. Court was then held on June 12 to review the case, as covered in last week’s edition of The Monticello News.

As mentioned above this effectively ends any chance for a recall for Mr. Jernigan.