Lawrence mayor’s foes file signatures in ouster effort

The city clerk must review the petitions to verify that all the signatures are valid and come from Lawrence voters.

Recall organizers, a mix of Latinos and Anglos in this former mill city of more than 70,000 residents, say Lawrence needs a new leader to confront rising crime, struggling schools, and an unemployment rate of nearly 17 percent - the highest in the state.

Yesterday, recall organizers said they submitted a few hundred more signatures than the 5,232 required to place the recall on the ballot.

“This is a message from 5,500 people that are telling Mr. Lantigua that enough is enough,’’ said the Rev. Edwin Rodriguez, a recall organizer and former leader of a Pentecostal church in the city. “We want a change.’’

According to the city charter, Lawrence officials have 24 hours to verify the names, addresses, and voter registration of those who signed the petition - though City Clerk William Maloney cautioned that the process could take longer.

If the signatures are deemed valid, the city clerk will inform the City Council which, in turn, will notify the mayor. If he does not resign within five days, the council would schedule a recall election in 65 to 90 days.

Maloney said the election, if it occurs, could be part of the November municipal elections at little additional cost. Otherwise, bilingual election coordinator Rafael Tejeda said, a special election could cost $50,000.

Lantigua was at work yesterday, his white truck with the license plate reading “MAYOR’’ parked in his space at City Hall. But he was unavailable for comment and did not respond to requests for interviews.

Lantigua encouraged people not to support the recall effort, fighting it on Facebook with the slogan, “Yo no firmo,’’ or “I won’t sign.’’

The mayor’s supporters say the criticism is unfair because he inherited a massive deficit that forced him to undertake painful cost-cutting measures, such as layoffs.

Moises Fernandez, a Lawrence resident who showed up at City Hall yesterday to oppose the recall, said Lantigua has paved roads and tried to improve the city in the past year and eight months. “For the time he’s spent in office, he’s been doing very well,’’ he added.