A special election to recall Haines Borough Assembly members Heather Lende, Tresham Gregg and Tom Morphet is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 15.

Borough clerk Julie Cozzi received the recall petitions June 6 and three days later certified that each document had the signatures of at least 258 registered Haines voters.

Cozzi submitted the certified petitions to the assembly and Mayor June 13, which initiated the special election.

The recall ballot must state the grounds for recall in 200 words or less. Lende, Gregg and Morphet each get to provide a statement with the same word-number restriction.

The ballot question will read, “Shall (name of person) be recalled from the office…”

Recall sponsor Don Turner Jr. initiated the recall effort April 5. Turner made a public records request for emails at the suggestion of former manager Bill Seward who was fired by the assembly in December.

Using those emails, Turner alleged Morphet and Lende misused their official position for personal gain after asking police chief Heath Scott to resume providing a police blotter. Morphet owned the CVN at the time. Lende writes obituaries for the newspaper.

Previous to Scott’s action last October, the police department posted the blotter on its Facebook page.Scott characterized Lende’s and Morphet’s request for the blotter as “coercion” in an email to then interim manager Brad Ryan.

The CVN published the police report regularly since 1991 before Scott stopped providing a full blotter last October. Scott said the blotter made the police look trivial. He also cited a lack of resources as a reason the blotter wasn’t released in its full form.

Turner alleged Morphet, Gregg and Lende violated the state’s Open Meeting Act, which prohibits three or more assembly members from communicating outside an official meeting about borough business.

Turner cited an email sent from Gregg to Lende about approving a 33-foot harbor extension.

“Tom (Morphet) and Ron (Jackson) and I are against it,” Gregg wrote on December 12, 2016. “Need you there too or – another mayoral privilege vote. I really don’t think it is necessary for the harbor.”

Ultimately, the assembly members didn’t support Gregg’s request to vote against the extension. Morphet, Lende and Jackson all voted for the extension. Gregg voted against it.

Although Gregg mentions Jackson’s name in the email, he wasn’t targeted for recall.

Two hundred and seventy-nine people signed Morphet’s recall petition; 276 people signed Gregg’s and 274 people signed Lende’s.

Morphet, Gregg and Lende have repeatedly characterized the grounds for the recall as baseless.