Committee To Recall Daryl Hickman Begins Gathering Petition Signatures

An effort to recall a Lake Elsinore City Councilman will get underway Thursday as the process of gathering petition signatures begins in the community.

The Committee to Recall Daryl Hickman headed by Lake Elsinore resident Chris Hyland will attempt to gather 5,000 petition signatures from registered Lake Elsinore voters between April 26 and the deadline of Aug. 23 at 5 p.m.

The number of valid petition signatures needed to put the recall on the November ballot is 3,369, which is 20 percent of Lake Elsinore registered voters, but Hyland said she has set the bar higher to ensure the quota is met.

After the Aug. 23 deadline, signatures must be verified by the Riverside County Registrar of Voters; invalid signatures will be discarded. If enough signatures qualify, the issue will be put to Lake Elsinore voters.

“He is going to be recalled,” Hyland said emphatically.

The senior citizen has maintained she is acting alone in her efforts to recall Hickman and is looking for volunteers to assist with the signature-gathering process for the petition.

“I want to get as many people as I can,” she said, noting that she can be contacted via email at chrishyland@ca.rr.com or via mail at: Committee to Recall Daryl Hickman, P.O. Box 1032, Lake Elsinore, CA 92531.

To garner petition signatures, Hyland said, “We will be at grocery stores, going door-to-door.”

The catalyst for the recall initiative was the firing of Lake Elsinore City Manager Bob Brady by City Council, according to Hyland. On March 13, council members voted 3-2 to fire Brady. Council members Hickman, Melissa Melendez and Peter Weber voted to terminate his contract, while Bob Magee and Mayor Brian Tisdale voted keep the city manager in place.

Hyland has stated she would like to recall Melendez and Weber as well, but contends that and are legal obstructions.

During the April 24 Lake Elsinore City Council meeting, A Better Lake Elsinore (ABLE) president Harvey Ryan addressed council members and said that while some in his group favor the recall, the political action committee is not behind the effort.

, but Hyland, who regularly speaks out on issues affecting the community, takes full responsibility for the endeavor.

“ABLE has nothing to do with this,” she said.