Ellsworth Recall Drive Targets 5 of 7 City Councilors
Petitioners need 1,279 signatures by June 26 to force a vote, following the council's 5-2 censure of Steven O'Halloran over alleged bullying of city staff.
A group of Ellsworth residents has begun circulating a recall petition against five city councilors, following the council's 5-2 vote on May 19, 2026, to censure Councilor Steven O'Halloran over claims he bullied city staff.
City officials received a 30-signature affidavit on May 21, 2026, clearing the threshold needed to formally launch the recall drive. Organizer Tiffany Gaspar and other petitioners list grievances well beyond the censure itself, alleging the councilors discriminated against a business owner, convened an improper closed-door meeting and spent taxpayer money carelessly, including $14,000 on a rebranding contract. To move toward a recall vote for any of the five, the group needs 1,279 signatures, or 20% of registered voters, by June 26, 2026.
The recall targets five of the council's seven seats: board chair Patrick Lyons and members Nancy Smith, Marinna Smith, Tabatha White and Carol Patterson-Martineau. Lyons argued that ousting five of the seven sitting members "is going to paralyze the city government." Nancy Smith dismissed the recall push as an overreaction to a reprimand over conduct O'Halloran has readily admitted to. Days earlier, on May 26, 2026, councilors agreed to make public a redacted version of the 176-page investigative report into O'Halloran, a decision that drew criticism from O'Halloran and his supporters, who wanted the full report released instead.
This story was first reported by Bangor Daily News.
