Neligh Man Says He Wants His Name Off Recall Petition

A Neligh man says he misunderstood the recall petition against Neligh officials and hopes to have his name removed from the documents.

Kevin Miller of Neligh said he signed the recall petitions earlier this week after a circulator stopped at his home and told him the petition was to “recall the annexation, not the officials.”

“I didn’t know what what I was signing, which was stupid on my part for signing something I didn’t understand,” he said. “Never once did she even mention the names of the council members - not once. If I had known this was recalling those people, I never would have signed it.”

The petitions were to recall all City of Neligh elected officials. Late Friday afternoon, circulators turned in 196 signatures against Ted Hughes, 196 against Dale Wilkinson, 195 against Stephanie Wanek and 191 against Leonard Miller. No signatures were submitted to recall Mayor Joe Hartz.

Miller said the circulator never read the statement that explained the petition and specifically told him his signature went toward stopping the annexation. When he asked why he had to sign five different documents, Miller said he was told he had to do that to stop the annexation.

“If I would have known this was to recall them, I would never have signed them,” he said. “She never once mentioned the names of the city council members.I would never had signed the recall against them.”

Miller said he regrettably signed recall petitions for all five City of Neligh officials.

“I feel terrible about this whole deal. It’s not worth losing longtime friendships over. That’s way more important than a recall or annexation,” Miller said. “I want to apologize to them all for this. I will try to reverse this.”

Miller said he plans to go to the Antelope County Courthouse this week and see if he can file an affidavit to have his name removed from the petition before County Clerk Lisa Payne verifies the names.

Payne has 15 days to verify the signatures.