Attempt to recall Gold Bar mayor withdrawn

The wife of a Gold Bar city councilman withdrew an attempt Tuesday to get a recall campaign going against Mayor Colleen Hawkins.

“I’d like to continue to better prepare that,” Joan Amenn, who is married to Councilman Robert Amenn, said to Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Thorpe.

Joan Amenn filed the recall petition last month, accusing Hawkins, who was elected in November, of breaking state law by using e-mail while on her job as an administrative assistant for the city of Sammamish.

Hawkins used Sammamish’s e-mail to direct her election campaign last fall and do her duty as Gold Bar’s mayor, Amenn claimed. She said she will refile the petition after getting more e-mail records of Hawkins from Sammamish.

Once it’s refiled, the Office of the Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney will prepare the petition for Superior Court, which will decide whether it has merit.

Sammamish gave Hawkins permission to use the city’s e-mail for her mayoral duty, said Hawkins’ attorney, Todd Nichols.

The petition was legally and factually insufficient, Nichols said. That’s unlikely to change even if Amenn gets more time to prepare.

“If she doesn’t refile, that will be a wiser option,” he said.

Hawkins said earlier that she has stopped using Sammamish’s e-mail for her mayoral work. She also paid back $2.10 for faxing information to Gold Bar.