Push to recall Corcoran is part of a trend

Removing an elected official outside a regularly scheduled election should be rare. Lately, however, efforts to oust sitting mayors have become a recurring tactic for those upset with how the leaders are doing their jobs. The most recent example is a push to gather signatures to force a recall election against North Ridgeville Mayor Kevin Corcoran, a Republican reelected to a second term less than two years ago. The biggest complaint against Corcoran is that he has been overly focused on residential development, as Dave Gunn, a North Ridgeville resident gathering signatures to put the recall question before voters, told one of our reporters last week. "Basically, it's an issue of we've had too many homes built and not enough commercial or industry," Gunn said. "We thought he was going to represent our interests, but apparently, it seems like he's just representing the home builder industry." The petition argued that "residents are left having to pay much higher taxes because of a lack of balance between commercial and residential development." Perhaps, but North Ridgeville has a relatively low income-tax rate of 1 percent. In November voters will decide whether to raise that rate to 1.75 percent to help pay for city operations. (We have not yet taken a position on that proposed increase.) Corcoran said last week that 54 percent of incomes taxes collected by the city in 2023 came from businesses, a point he also raised in his State of the City address in February. Accusations that Corcoran, a lawyer who represented Bob Schmitt Homes before first being elected mayor in 2019, overly favors residential development aren't new. (He had served on City Council for more than a decade before becoming mayor.) Paul Wolanski, the Democrat who has twice challenged Corcoran in the general election, made complaints about a lack of commercial development under Corcoran's watch a central piece of his 2023 campaign. We suspect that's part of why Wolanski came within 550 votes of beating Corcoran. Wolanski tapped into a longtime concern of some residents about North Ridgeville, which is among the communities in Lorain County experiencing rapid residential development. During the election campaign, Corcoran defended his record by pointing to stores, including a drug store, restaurants and small, locally owned businesses, that had opened during his first term. Back when he was Council president, he also was involved in efforts to bring football helmet maker Riddell to the city from neighboring Elyria. There has been other nonresidential development in North Ridgeville over the years as well, including Dayton Freight Voters knew of complaints about how their city was being developed and elected to stick with Corcoran anyway. Corcoran argued last week that the city's business sector was still expanding and that the city's recently updated master plan sought a more balanced approach to future development. Corcoran also rejected recall proponents' claims that under his leadership the city's safety services weren't appropriately staffed. He argued that he had prioritized public safety, including by building a new police station and expanding a fire station. Another recall organizer, William Lawrence, complained that Corcoran hadn't done enough to help him deal with flooding issues in his home. Corcoran said it wasn't a city issue, but rather a dispute between Lawrence and the home builder, whom Lawrence has sued. Whether one agrees with Corcoran's critics or the mayor's insistence that the recall effort is driven by "personal grievances," none of those disputes strikes us as so galling as to justify removing him from office. They are policy disagreements, not evidence of improper or illegal behavior. Nevertheless, residents do have a right to seek a recall, but to get it on the ballot they must obtain about 5,400 signatures from North Ridgeville voters in a 90-day period that began Aug. 7. As of Thursday, they had about 1,000 signatures. Whether they succeed is another story. Two other recent efforts to remove local mayors failed. In February, activist lawyer Gerald Phillips asked county Probate Judge James Walther to remove Avon Lake Mayor Mark Spaetzel, who holds a nonpartisan office. Phillips had a laundry list of Spaetzel's alleged sins, but Walther found them lacking and tossed the case. Then there was the effort last year to recall Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley, including over claims that union workers in the city were unhappy with his leadership. Several union officials disputed that, and the effort to recall Bradley fizzled. Sometimes attempts to recall leaders do make it before voters. In 2009, then-Elyria Mayor Bill Grace faced a recall effort, centered on accusations that he had failed to protect the public's health, safety and welfare. (Grace and the Elyria Fire Department were fighting over staffing levels at the time.) The recall made it to the ballot, but Grace survived, only to lose his reelection bid two years later in the Democratic primary. Regardless of whether Corcoran's critics are successful in their push to force a recall election, they should remember that he will be up for reelection in 2027 if he decides to seek a third term. Absent evidence of serious wrongdoing on Corcoran's part, that would be the best time to make the case for change in North Ridgeville.