Tracy citizen and Zoning and Planning Commissioner Rosemary Martin speaks during the Tracy City Council meeting Monday.

TRACY — Tracy City Councilman Tony Peterson during Monday’s council meeting tried to make the motion to approve his own recall election for Feb. 13, but Mayor Steve Ferrazzano wouldn’t allow it.

Instead, Councilwoman Pamela Cooreman took lead on the motion. Ferrazzano called for the vote and the resolution passed 4-1, with Peterson abstaining.

“I don’t want you to have anything to do with it. You are going to abstain,” Ferrazzano told Peterson. The target of the recall said he was about to double check whether his motion was permitted.

But Ferrazzano went ahead with Cooreman’s motion.

Meanwhile, one of the recall organizers accused Peterson’s family members of intimidating petition signers.

“Tony, the recall petition is verified and certified,” Planning Commissioner Rosemary Martin said. “This happened as a result of years of violating our city code.

“You received your copy of the petition and by the middle of the next morning, your employer and your family members were calling people who had signed the petition to intimidate them for signing the petition. Shame. For once in your life, do the right thing and resign. Don’t cause any further strife in this city by screaming and kicking.”

Interim City Administrator Shane Daniels announced on Oct. 18 that a petition signed by 130 registered voters was certified. The petition calls for Peterson’s removal for bullying a former city administrator and other city employees as well as overstepping his authority on the council in various situations.

“Statutes give only four days per year when these elections can take place,” City Attorney Matthew Gross said. “And February 13 was the soonest it could get done.”

A recall election is just to get a yes, he’s out, or no, he stays,” Daniels said Tuesday. “If he’s voted out, a special election will be held to replace him. If he stays, he just continues as he has been.”

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Rosemary Martin took the podium to present further complaints regarding Peterson and councilman Bill Chukuske involving one of the city codes.

“One thing we learned from the Tracy paper last week is that Bill and Tony do not regard the city code or the city charter but put more weight on their own words even when they are wrong,” Martin said.

She brought in past meeting minutes that show upfront admission of conflict of interest, which she said is the way things should be done all the time.

Martin also requested a copy of the resolution which had been approved by the council to enter into the contract for employee health insurance with Chukuske’s business.

“There should also have been an affidavit on file with the signed resolution,” she said. “Were these documents drawn up? These conflicts should’ve been addressed in January when he took his oath and documents drawn up then.”

“I understand that (City Attorney) Matt Gross should cite Bill Chukuske with a gross misdemeanor if this is found to be an infraction (of the city code). “For Bill Chukuske to not abstain from voting regarding the vacate of a portion of Sixth Street East being the owner of property adjacent to the street being vacated by using any excuse erodes confidence in him as a city council member,” she said.

Another thing Martin said she learned from the article was that neither Chukuske nor Peterson had any intention of allowing Madonna Peterson to be successful as the city administrator.

When contacted by the Independent, both Peterson and Chukuske refused to comment.

Martin also told Ferrazzano, Dave Tiegs and Cooreman that the townspeople had their back.

“Steve, censor, sanction and call to order whenever and however the need arises,” she said. “We as a city need the rest of you to follow our city code and start the much-needed healing process for our city to thrive.”

Since it was a public comment session, council members were restrained from answering but went on about their business with several approvals on the night:

• The council approved the appointment of Jon Wendorff to the Cemetery Board.

• The council approved an amendment to a water line maintenance ordinance to clarify that the city accepts responsibility for lines going from the water mains to the curb stop.

• The council approved waiving the rental fees for the use of the multipurpose center for the Lion’s Club Soup Supper Nov. 25 and the Veteran’s Memorial Center for the 50th anniversary of the Tracy Tornado.

• The council approved access road easement for the solar garden Geronimo Energy was planning to construct.

• On a split vote of 4-1, the council voted to allow the PUSH Hmong group to use some office space more often as they are thinking of buying the old Tracy Floral building. Chukuske was the lone No vote, saying he thought the council wasn’t going to waive fees anymore to any group.

The Tracy City Council went into a closed meeting immediately following the open meeting in order to discuss AFSME (union) negotiations and unemployment filing.

Prior to the closed meeting, Ferrazzano directed the city administrator not to include a closed meeting on future agendas if there was none scheduled to prevent misunderstanding on behalf of the town’s citizens. He also suggested the agenda include a line at the beginning of the agenda for disclosure of conflicts of interest.