Cape & Islands News

Joakim survives recall with 59% of votes cast Thursday

BULLETIN: Janet Joakim survives recall special election held today.
Attempt to recall council member from Barnstable's 6th Precinct fails.
Wins 371 to 257.  Vote total exceeds 20% of registered voters required. Councilor wins 59% of 628 votes cast today in Centerville.

Janet Joakim recall election is today
Barnstable town councilor fights to keep seat

John and Mary Eckes check in at the Precinct 6 polls Thursday morning at the Marstons Mills East Horace Mann Public Charter School to cast their votes in the Janet Joakim recall election.

By James Kinsella

Shortly after 8 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 30, Janet Joakim will know whether the voters of Precinct 6 in Barnstable want to keep her or get rid of her.

Starting at 7 a.m., residents of the precinct, which principally covers Centerville, can enter the polls at the Marstons Mills East Horace Mann Public Charter School on Osterville-West Barnstable Road to vote whether to recall Joakim or allow her to continue in office. The polls close at 8 p.m.

Barnstable Town Clerk Linda Hutchenrider said at least 517 voters, or 20 percent of the precinct's voters who are registered to vote in the recall election, must cast ballots for the election to be valid. If the number of voters fails to reach that threshold, the election is moot and Joakim will continue in office.

Should the threshold be reached, a simple majority will determine whether Joakim stays or goes.

Sign calls for councilor's recall.

If the voters approve a recall, Hutchenrider said, Joakim would lose her position immediately and the town would hold a special election within 90 days to fill the vacancy.

Joakim is one of 13 town councilors, one from each precinct, who form the town council and run Barnstable, the Cape's most populous town. She is president of the town council.

A voter from outside Joakim's precinct, Taryn Thoman, is leading the effort to recall Joakim. She gathered more than the necessary number of signatures to place the recall question before the precinct's voters.

Earlier this month, Thoman filed an organization statement of a political action committee to recall Joakim. She is chairman and treasurer of the committee.

The stated purpose is "maintaining independence and integrity of local boards and commissions and fair taxation of residents and businesses."

Thoman faults Joakim on two basic issues: the councilor's decision over time to back off her support of a split tax for commercial and residential property, and her support of a move by town manager John Klimm to refer a liquor store expansion project to the Cape Cod Commission after the Barnstable Zoning Board of Appeals had reviewed and approved the expansion.

Following that referral, the zoning board resigned en masse.

Thoman said residents in Barnstable are having trouble paying their taxes, and need relief. She criticizes Joakim for voting for a split tax in 2006 that would have shifted part of the residential burden to commercial businesses, but subsequently opposing the split tax.

Following the initial split tax vote, Joakim said, she subsequently decided to support a residential property tax exemption, which would provide far more tax relief to owners of primary homes in town.

Sign asks voters to keep councilor.

Thoman also criticizes Joakim's support of Klimm's referral of the Blanchard's Liquors expansion project as a discretionary development of regional impact to the Cape Cod Commission after the zoning board already had labored over the project.

Asked if her problem on the Blanchard's issue really wasn't more with Klimm, Thoman replies that Joakim as town council president is the de facto mayor of the town, whereas as Klimm is an appointed employee. She said Joakim bears responsibility for the decision that led to the resignation.

Joakim calls the mass resignation a "missed opportunity" for better communication. She said the town council intended to reappoint the zoning board despite the Blanchard's rift, and that no zoning board members spoke with her about their intention to resign before it happened.

She said she did support the referral, given the concern that her constituents hold over traffic on Route 28, where Blanchard's is located. She said the town initially was going to refer the project before the ZBA review, but held off when the proponent asked to work out mitigation that would address traffic concerns.

Thoman acknowledges she doesn't live in Joakim's precinct, but said she is affected by the townwide decisions that Joakim and her fellow councilors make, and so moved forward with the recall effort.

Asked why not wait for Joakim to conclude her term and defeat her at the next town election, Thoman said people didn't wait to get President Richard Nixon out of office.

Joakim said fighting the recall has distracted her from all the work that needs to be done in Barnstable town government. She said she looks forward to being able to devote her time to that work.