Petition surpasses goal in 5 days
In less than five days, efforts to establish a reverse referendum for the public safety project approved by city officials have more than exceeded the group’s goal.
By Monday afternoon when this edition went to press, citizens against the location of Owatonna’s proposed police station collected 940 signatures for a petition. The group needed only 721 signatures, but they’re not stopping just yet.
“We surpassed our minimum, we surpassed our goal and we’re well on our way to our next goal,” said Melissa Zimmerman, who’s coordinating the petition drive. “We want to collect as many signatures as possible to allow anyone that wants to have a voice to have a voice,” she said.
The group’s deadline for the petition is March 30 so it can be submitted to Owatonna city officials by April 2. Even though the goal has been hit, the group now hopes to achieve “at least 2,000,” according to Zimmerman. “We’re going to keep going,” she said.
Asked about the quick response, Zimmerman said: “It says that people want a voice in the decisions that are being made. There has not been an avenue for them to participate.”
She described the group’s efforts as being easy in getting the initial round of signatures. “We post a day or two in advance where we’re going to be and people just show up,” Zimmerman said, adding they choose locations with high visibility like Central Park, Dartts Park and West Hills.
“We’ve had a line of cars, and we’ll meet people at the car door for them to sign and go on their way,” she said. “The response does not surprise me, but I thought it would take at least seven days (to get what we’ve already got). The fact we met it in five days is amazing,” she added.
Zimmerman said at least 100 volunteers to date have been involved in helping to collect signatures. “We started with a few like Carl (Wieman), and as we got out there, other people wanted to help us collect signatures,” she said, noting some volunteers have been canvassing door-to-door.
In February, Wieman led a similar effort to collect signatures for a different petition challenging environmental issues with the site identified on the West Hills campus. Wieman’s property on Glendale Street backs up to West Hills and would be impacted. He collected the needed 100 signatures for that petition within 48 hours.
Once the newest petition is submitted, city leaders can either confirm or deny it. If confirmed, it would force the issue to be placed on the ballot for voters within Owatonna to decide. Even if the city chooses to deny the petition, it will automatically stall the project for at least one year.
“I’m hoping it will end up on the ballot so residents can vote on it,” Zimmerman said. “The public has been fighting for years to have a say so.”