News in Brief

Paperwork Incomplete for Runningwolf’s Attempt to Recall Mayor

Zachary RunningWolf, who formally announced his plan to recall Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates last Monday, has yet to file the proper paperwork to begin the process, city officials say.

RunningWolf will have to officially notify the mayor’s office of his plan to recall Bates by personally delivering a letter there that someone from the office must then certify, said Julie Sinai, an aid to the mayor.

Both Sinai and City Clerk Pamyla Means said they had no record of this official notification.

RunningWolf said he had mailed a letter to the mayor’s office from the post office on Allston Way last Wednesday and felt the mayor’s office may have intentionally ignored his first attempt to notify the mayor.

“Basically knowing who the letter was from they knew what it was about,” he said.

However, Sinai said that if RunningWolf attempted to send the notification by mail, it would arrive in the citywide mailroom and could not be properly certified.

In order for the letter to be legally acknowledged, RunningWolf will have to deliver it in person, Sinai said.

RunningWolf said that while he was frustrated with the delay, he was glad he had more time to gather signatures from 25 percent of registered Berkeley voters.

RunningWolf, who garnered six percent of the mayoral vote in 2006, will have 75 days from the date of certification to gather 17,500 signatures of supportive Berkeley residents.

Will Kane

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