After several stops and starts, a recall election in Powers is likely to take place in a little more than a month.

Coos County Elections officials confirmed Thursday the validity of signatures collected in a petition drive to recall Mayor Barbara Cottom and three city councilors: Bob Leckband, Larry Northup and Pete Cunningham.

Those officials have five days to resign or issue a letter of justification for why they should keep their post. If, as expected, they fight for their seats, the mayor and councilors will appear on a recall ballot for an election tentatively set for May 27.

Cottom said she plans to file a letter of justification even though the city of Powers will bear the burden of financing the election.

“Even though I hate the fact the city would pay for a special election, I will not roll over for allegations against the gentlemen of the council and myself that are bald-faced lies,” she said.

The petition, which was circulated by Marjorie Kalb, listed several grievances against the four city officials, which include allegations they held meetings in private and removed payroll information from a city computer.

One incident referenced in the petition involved Kalb’s daughter, Phaedra Gray, who was previously employed as an assistant city recorder until the position was eliminated last summer.

She had reported to work on Aug. 6 only to find the locks changed on the city hall’s door.

“She waited outside until 10:00 a.m. when Councilman Leckband arrived,” the petition reads. “He told her to write down her hours worked and leave. The council had decided to eliminate her position and was going to announce it that night at the City Council meeting.”

Cottom said the city’s Budget Committee had already recommended eliminating the position at a previous meeting, with the formal council vote coming that night. The Powers budget committee is composed of the mayor, six councilors and seven residents appointed by the council.

The petition also said Cunningham downloaded payroll information on a memory stick, which he then took home with him.

Cottom did not deny Cunningham took the memory stick, but said it has since been returned to the city and is in a secure location.

“All he did was back up records. He did not use them,” she said. “People’s identities are not being compromised.”

Both Northup and Leckband said they would fight for their seats, while Cunningham may be replaced without the need of a recall election.

The first-term councilor has missed the last three council meetings and the city doesn’t know where he is, Cottom said. With budget hearings beginning shortly and two other councilors planning to be out of town at some point next month, the council decided it would fill Cunningham’s position with someone else at next Monday’s meeting if he doesn’t appear.

Cunningham was the one councilor who nearly dodged the recall effort. In order to qualify for the recall ballot, petitioners needed to collect a minimum of 53 signatures from registered voters in Powers. After the county’s verification, Cunningham received 53, while Cottom attracted 59, Northup, 61; and Leckband, 63.

While it may seem convenient, Coos County Clerk Terri Turi said it is not possible to include the recall in the May 20 primary election because its ballots have already been printed.

The city of Powers will bear the burden of paying for the election, which could run to a cost of thousands of dollars. The cost varies depending on the number of ballots that need to be mailed and how many hours are spent on the election.

The most recent recall election in Coos County took place in Lakeside in summer of 2006. That election cost the city about $3,500, Turi said, though Powers’ election would be less expensive since it has fewer voters.

A previous effort to recall the four city officials failed last fall when the petitioners didn’t number the pages signatures were collected on, a technicality required by the state.

If voters recall one of the officials, he must relinquish his seat once the city receives an abstract of the voting results, which must be returned within 20 days after the election.