WHEELING - Members of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 38 want Ohio County Circuit Judge Arthur Recht to declare the petition for an election on the two-officer per cruiser mandate invalid.
Wheeling attorney Joseph John filed a response on behalf of the officers, which claims City Clerk Janice Jones and City Council should not have accepted the signatures because petition circulators George Jones and William Hefner did not follow procedures as required in the City Charter.
John's filing asserts that "certain signatures are improper and have been improperly inserted into the petition without the person's consent; the circulator, on some signature pages, did not witness the signature in his/her presence as required; certain signatures inserted on the signature pages are not those of the actual people identified and said signatures were forged thereon."
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Wheeling’s Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 38 seeks to intervene in the city of Wheeling’s case against petition collector George Jones.
George Jones, however, disputes these claims of forgery and wrongdoing.
"These accusations are obviously untrue. We did our best to follow what is laid out in the City Charter," he said.
After Janice Jones certified the 2,469 signatures to council on July 21, members of council voted unanimously during an Aug. 18 meeting to accept the petition. Humway-Warmuth then promptly filed suit against George Jones in an effort to hold the election in May, rather than within 90 days as the City Charter seems to mandate.
But George Jones and fellow petitioner William Hefner are not contesting the suit, as they have agreed to hold the election in May.
City leaders have said the reason for seeking the delay is to save Wheeling taxpayers the nearly $100,000 it would cost to hold a special election to comply with the 90-day requirement.
Humway-Warmuth's filing asks Recht to enter a "declaratory judgment action" to establish the rights, duties and obligations of all parties involved.
But during a Sept. 1 hearing, Recht noted that because there was no controversy between the city and the petitioners, there was nothing for him to decide.
"It basically is a request for an advisory opinion, which the law in West Virginia is clear that it cannot give," Recht said of Humway-Warmuth's filing. The judge noted he may be able to make a ruling after a date for an election is set because the date for the election could cause "controversy."
Recht then told FOP President Thomas Howard the organization had until Sept. 30 to file a response to the case involving Wheeling and George Jones. So John has now filed to intervene in the case because "the FOP's interest is not adequately represented by the existing parties."
"The referendum petition, including the attached signatures, does not comply with all requirements of the City Code and should not have been certified and should not have been forwarded to City Council pursuant to Section 81," John's filing states.
The filing also claims that "council is mandated by Section 17 to call a special election within 90 days of July 21, 2009, as no general election is scheduled to be held within those 90 days."
The matter is now set for a hearing at 2:45 p.m. Sept. 25 in Recht's courtroom on the on the fifth floor of the City-County Building, 1500 Chapline St., Wheeling.
Humway-Warmuth said she "anticipated they (FOP) would have a filing."
"We will let this situation work itself out in the court system," she said.
John did not return calls seeking additional comment Monday.
If the court ultimately allows the election, Wheeling voters will get to decide if the 1972 ordinance requiring two city police officers to ride in all frontline patrol cars should remain on the books. If residents would repeal the law, newly hired Police Chief Robert Matheny would be able to assign officers the way he sees fit, as opposed to being forced to comply with the ordinance.