Citizens request to have their names removed from recall petition

More than 50 people have requested to have their names removed from a petition to remove Quincy Commissioner Anessa Albritton-Canidate from office.

Albritton-Canidate said she spoke to several voters in her district who said they were told they were signing a petition to help her. She also said they were told they were signing the petition to lower utilities bills.

Albritton-Canidate said former-county and Quincy commissioner Sherrie Taylor collected the signatures from the constituents she spoke with in Arbor Crest.

“Sherrie Taylor has been a commissioner; she knows commissioners have nothing to do with utility bills,” Albritton-Canidate said.

She said Taylor caught her constituents off-guard while they were leaving or going into their homes.

Taylor, on-the-other-hand, said she doesn’t even have to mention utility bills to the citizens who are signing.

“The 122 percent raise is working,” Taylor said, referring to the $20,000 annual raises three commissioners voted to give themselves in September.

“They have told these people so much misinformation,” Taylor said. “Those people were told everyone at City Hall gets fired, and Anessa goes to jail.”

Taylor said some who requested to be removed were also told they would be sued personally for signing.

Albritton-Canidate pointed out that the explanation for the recall is on a separate sheet from the signatures page.

She said the recall committee has not been providing those who sign with a copy of the rebuttal, which they are required to do by law.

Albritton-Canidate questioned Taylor’s motives for wanting her removed from office.

“I care about Gadsden County, and I care about the citizens,” Taylor said. “I can pay my utility bill, what about my brother?”

Those who want their names removed from the petitions must submit a written request to the city clerk.

On the written request to strike his name from the recall petition and defense of Albritton-Canidate, a citizen named Jaylon Barnes checked boxes saying he was given other reasons to sign the petition and he was misled and provided misinformation to obtain his signature.

He also wrote that he wasn’t given the pages with the full details until after he signed.

Another voter named Sebrina Grimes wrote, “They told me that I was helping Mrs. Canidate.”

Another citizen, named Sierra Price-Moore also requested to have her name removed.

She too wrote that she was told she was signing to help Canidate.

Last week, former City Manager Jack McLean went into the clerk’s office to pick up copies of the petition signers’ written requests to remove their names from Commissioner Albritton-Canidate’s second recall petition.

McLean also requested the City Clerk Janice Shackelford-Clemons’ cell phone records and text messages.

McLean said he put in the public records request on Friday, April 22 and the city attorney advised him to pick them up on Monday, April 25.

McLean said when he arrived inside the clerk’s office she was in the process of striking names from the petition, so he asked her about his public records request.

“She said, ‘It’s a process,’” McLean said.

McLean said he asked the clerk to explain what she meant.

“She then gets up out of her seat and walked over to me and says get out of her office,” McLean said.

He said he told her it isn’t her office—it belongs to the people.

The Quincy Police Department was called after an alleged dispute between the two, and a report was filed.

The report, which was very short, reads: “On April 25, 2022 officers responded to Quincy City Hall (404 W Jefferson St.) in reference to a dispute over a public records request in the city clerk’s office. Upon officer’s arrival, there were no criminal laws violated and officers remained on scene to maintain peace.”

Following the incident, McLean sent out a mass email explaining the ordeal, and included several employees in the email.

Mayor Ronte Harris weighed in on the matter, calling McLean a ‘disgruntled employee’.

“We can’t ignore the fact that he was fired from his $100,000 a year job, and he can’t find a job anywhere else,” Harris said.

The mayor said he is concerned for the safety of the city employees.

“He does not understand he’s not the city manager anymore,” Harris said.

The clerk’s attorney, Mark Levine spoke on her behalf.

He said he doesn’t know exactly what McLean wants, but he thinks he wants to remove Harris, Albritton-Canidate and Commissioner Keith Dowdell from office so he can get his job back.

Erin Hill - erin@gadsdencountytimes.com

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Citizens request to have their names removed from recall petition

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Pearls for Pearls luncheon held in Havana – The event honored grieving mothers and remembered their children who have died

Ethics complaint against Quincy officials dismissed

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