Organizers submitted about 2,600 signatures, but only 2,219 were certified; 2,235 certified signatures were required.
Easthampton City Councilor Donald CykowskiEASTHAMPTON — City Councilor Donald L. Cykowski will not be recalled unless the city clerk finds some kind of computing mistake.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the deadline for submitting signatures for the recall petition, those seeking to recall Cykowski were 16 signatures short of the certified registered voter signatures needed to call for the recall election.
While the group collected about 2,600 signatures, City Clerk Barbara LaBombard said only 2,219 were registered voters. Some were illegible and some signed who didn’t live in the city, she said.
She said she will double check all the count in the morning.
Those seeking the recall needed to obtain 2,235 certified signatures by 5 p.m.
“Obviously we’re disappointed that it didn’t work out,” said Samantha Peetros, a recall organizer. But she said the number of signatures is a sign how “Easthampton residents as a whole … we want to be represented.”
She said she hoped the number of signatures obtained would demonstrate to Cykowski that "he should resign, seeing this is what the community wants regardless if we meet the number for the petition."
She said she was very appreciative of everyone who worked on the campaign.
Mayor Michael A. Tautznik was one of those who signed the petition.
Five businesses and about 30 people were involved in collecting signatures.
Organizers first had to collect 400 signatures for the recall affidavit. Once they met that threshold, LaBombard issued the recall petition. Organizers had 21 days in which to collect the required number of signatures - 20 percent of the city’s registered voters. With 11,177 voters on the rolls last November, 2,235 were needed.
The recall effort stems in part from a remark Cykowski made during a City Council meeting last December. When a former colleague couldn’t get back into the City Council room during the meeting, Cykowski said, “Where’s a Puerto Rican when we need one?”
Residents are also upset that former library director Rebecca Plimpton told the Emily Williston library board that Cykowski, then a library corporator, harassed her for years before she left the position in 2007. Cykowski has resigned from that board.
Cykowski could not be reached for comment but has said he would not resign.
He also called on those organizing the recall to pay for the election.
City Councilors in a statement earlier this year suggested that Cykowski resign. The council has no authority to oust a member.
In a statement "In light of the documented racial comment made in December 2011 if the allegations of sexual harassment at the Williston Library are proven true, the undersigned councilors believe councilor Cykowski should consider resignation in the best interest of the City Council and the City of Easthampton."
Two councilors were absent and Cykowski and Councilor Chester A. Ogulewicz Jr. did not sign the statement.
Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, leader of the Springfield branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, had commended the Easthampton recall effort. Swan had called for Cykowski's resignation or removal from public office.