Stockford is facing his second recall. Courtesy | Hillsdale County
City of Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford faces a second recall effort after an initial one was withdrawn last week. This time, Councilman Greg Stuchell also faces a recall.
“The mayor failed to work in the best interest of the people of Hillsdale and has broken the public trust as the elected mayor for the City of Hillsdale,” said petitioner Ted Jansen. “Therefore he needs to be removed from this office.”
Jansen, a former candidate for city council, filed recall petition language on April 15, according to Chief Deputy County Clerk Abe Dane. Jansen took issue with Stockford and Stuchell voting to approve the city’s waste management contract with a provider that offered the highest bid.
“Our representatives are supposed to act on behalf of the public for the public interest, and here they’re acting on the city interest – what’s best for the city and let the people pay for it, so like a de facto tax,” Jansen said. “I’m not here to condemn people or tear them down. It’s not political, it’s an ethical issue for me.”
The Hillsdale County Election Commission will hold a hearing to approve the petition language April 29 at 11 a.m. in the election office at the county courthouse, according to Dane. If the commission approves the language, there would be a buffer period for either party to appeal the ruling in the Hillsdale County Circuit Court, after which petitioners can start collecting signatures.
Jansen would have to collect 620 signatures for Stockford and 135 signatures for Stuchell by Aug. 2 to add the recall question to the November ballot, according to Dane. He said petitioners should collect extra signatures in case some are invalid.
“This is just a tactic to try and hurt me on the ballot in August from perennial council candidates who have been rejected by the people of Hillsdale time and time again,” Stockford said. “They’re using our courts and our city government as a playground for their campaign of pettiness and vengeance.”
Jansen’s petition language said Stockford and Stuchell “voted to award the residential and municipal trash recycling collection contract to LRS, which was the highest bidder, not the lowest” in a city council meeting Jan. 16.
“This was a unanimous vote and a recommendation from our public services department,” Stockford said.
At the time, LRS bid to charge residents $14.34 per month for weekly trash pickup and $3.61 for biweekly recycling pickup, with the price annually increasing 4.5% after year two, according to council minutes. At the same time, it offered free trash and recycling services to city facilities and public waste cans, and allowed the city to dump 25 tons of waste in the Hillsdale Transfer Facility after which it would charge $65 per ton.
Its competitor, Granger Waste Services, bid to charge residents $13.30 for trash and $3.27 for recycling per month, while charging the city $105 per month to empty four dumpsters, according to council minutes. These prices would increase 4% annually after year two.
Jansen called this a “quid pro quo,” saying it would be considered a bribe in a private context. While every council member voted to approve the contract, Jansen said he targeted Stuchell because he is a resident of Ward 1, which Stuchell represents.
“This is something that happened and is an area of corruption because you’re getting something for free and other people are paying for it,” Jansen said. “It wasn’t asked to Granger, ‘Throw this into your contract – free garbage and free dumpster pickup, and then give us your bid.’”
Stockford said he sees the recent recall efforts as politically motivated.
“They want people to get so frustrated and annoyed they throw up their hands and say ‘Public service isn’t worth this.’ It won’t work on me. It only steels my resolve,” Stockford said. “I’m thoroughly confident their behavior won’t be rewarded. Those aren’t Hillsdale values. No weapon formed against me will prosper.”
Penny Swan, a former city planning commission member, filed recall petition language April 5 claiming Stockford “voted no on every street project, the last one being Aug. 21, 2023.” She withdrew the language April 10.
Stockford voted in favor of a street project near Westwood Drive on April 17, 2023. He also voted for a special assessment district – where the city charges residents a fee to repair their street – near Williams Court on June 7, 2021, and voted in favor of another near Uran St. on Feb. 21, 2022.
“Some of those I’ve voted for. But if the residents on those streets oppose the tax increase, I stand with the residents,” Stockford said.
Stockford said special assessment charges are usually close to $5,000, and residents cannot always afford the fee.
“Essentially he’s voting against fixing the roads and out there taking credit for them,” Swan said at the time. “Sneaky behind-the-public-eye finagling is not an ethical or moral way to advance in a democracy.”
Michigan law requires recalls to be based upon factual allegations.
After finding Stockford had voted to approve a street project, Swan planned to change her petition language, then withdrew it April 10 citing medical reasons.
Stockford, currently running as a Republican for District 35 state representative, said he saw the initial recall as intending to hurt his campaign and motivated by a personal grudge.
“I’m the only one Penny is trying to recall because I’m the only one she has a personal vendetta against, and because she thinks the news stories will be negative for my state representative campaign,” Stockford said at the time. “It’s got nothing to do with principle.”
Swan, however, said her recall aimed not at that election but at his office as mayor.
“I’m not doing it specifically to ruin his state representative campaign, because that’s what also was projected out there,” Swan said at the time. “If he loses that race, he is still our mayor for a couple more years. So that’s why I decided to do the recall, because I’m tired of his shenanigans.”
Swan said she found an opponent to run against Stockford if her recall succeeded, but is not sure if the candidate would run if the new petition reaches the ballot. She said Stockford’s potential opponent is “very much a Republican,” but declined to disclose who.
“I’m getting a lot of heat and anger and hate, so I don’t want to bring that on them until we know this is going to be successful,” Swan said at the time.
Swan said she spoke with Jansen about the most recent recall.
“I am glad he stepped and took the recall issue back up,” Swan said. “I know many who had been after me to get it done, it just took me a long time to find a good candidate to run against Stockford. I had finally found one and that’s why I filed the recall when I did.”
Jansen said he was already considering recalling Stockford and Stuchell for the waste contract when Swan filed her recall petition language.
“This is peoples’ pocketbooks,” Jansen said. “They can relate to that rather than, ‘Adam never voted for street improvements and is taking the glory for it.’ That’s subjective, but this hurts everybody.”
Stockford said he thinks Jansen’s recall is just another effort to target him.
“Last week it was for streets, now it’s for trash?” Stockford said. “As we saw with the previous recall, they’ll just keep throwing junk at the wall hoping something sticks.”
