Official says Oakland County leaders refuse to meet on new sheriff contracts<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI think what constituents are saying is that yes, we do deserve a voice. We want to be heard at every level. And since we weren’t heard on April 8th, this is the step that the process allows us to do to make sure that our voices are being heard,\u201d said Flores.<\/p>\n
On Monday at 1:30 p.m., the Oakland County Board of Election Commissioners will meet to review the recall petition language that Flores and Galbraith submitted to the county. The public meeting will be held in the Oakland County Elections Division Board of Canvassers\/Training Room on the first floor in the West Wing Extension, 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Pontiac.<\/p>\n
The election commissioners are designated by statute, and include the county Clerk, Treasurer and Chief Probate Judge. Their job at the hearing is to look at the language that\u2019s been proposed for the recall petitions to determine if it\u2019s factual, clear, and easy for voters to understand. County officials say they do not make any determinations as to whether there\u2019s been any wrongdoing on the part of the elected official facing recall.<\/p>\n
The meeting is open to the public. If the recall language is approved, Woodward will have the opportunity to appeal the decision to the circuit court before the petition can move forward with signature gathering.<\/p>\n
Woodward previously told the 7 Investigators the recall effort was a \u201cridiculous\u201d stunt, and said in a statement, \u201cI\u2019m proud to champion Democratic values and deliver real results for our community, and my colleagues and I remain focused on boosting incomes for working households, protecting the most vulnerable among us, and ensuring our communities are healthy and safe. Their efforts will not be a distraction from our work in Oakland County as we continue to respond to the needs of our residents, protect public safety, and expand opportunities for all families.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about Flock paying for his trip to Atlanta, Woodward said this:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job of an elected official is to make informed decisions in the best interest of my community, so I do my homework and I do my research. I was invited to attend a meeting with the leadership of Oakland County Sheriff\u2019s Office to learn more about the service. It was an opportunity to better understand the technology and address my privacy concerns directly with the company\u2019s senior leadership. We also visited a local police department that\u2019s currently using this tool and spoke with the police chief and his staff about its effectiveness in supporting public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though last fall Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter announced he wanted greater financial disclosure and transparency, Coulter\u2019s spokesman would not comment on Woodward\u2019s paid trip to Flock headquarters.<\/p>\n
Coulter did issue a statement backing Woodward on the recall attempt:<\/p>\n
\u201cI oppose this recall effort. It\u2019s a distraction from the important work we\u2019ve accomplished for our residents. In close partnership with the Board of Commissioners and Chair Woodward, we’ve brought home real results for Oakland County — like expanding affordable housing and public transit, reducing medical and student loan debt, addressing access to mental and physical health, supporting low-income mothers and newborn babies, reducing homelessness, helping small businesses grow, investing in main streets across the county including in our county seat of Pontiac, expanding access to county parks, and so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WXYZ) \u2014 A hearing has been set in the recall effort that\u2019s underway against Oakland County Commission Chair…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[6740,14634,143,120336,145,144,14635,14636,4552,14637],"class_list":["post-279034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-dave-woodward","tag-heather-catallo","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-county-recall-effort","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-ross-jones","tag-the-investigators","tag-wxyz","tag-wxyz-investigations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}