OTTAWA — Franklin County Tea Party’s Brad Heathman said a petition has been registered with County Clerk Shari Perry. He said his group wants to force a vote on the county’s plan to issue $3.6 million in public building commission bonds for a new juvenile detention center. County administrator Lisa Johnson, who is also the county counselor, said the petition has been forwarded to her and she’ll rule on the legality of the petition and whether Heathman’s group can begin collecting signatures, which by law, she had to do within five days. At that point, his group would have to collect enough signatures of registered voters by Oct. 18, she said. Heathman said his group needs about 860 signatures. If there are enough legal signatures, the county commission would have to schedule a special election because it’s too late to be included on the regular November ballot, she said.
Thursday, Sept. 30, 2:30 p.m.
