JOHN DAY — Heather Rookstool will not be continuing in her role as the mayor of John Day following the Tuesday, Jan. 16, recall election.

In unofficial returns posted by the Grant County clerk Tuesday night, the recall was passing by 252 votes to 224 votes.

The recall petition was filed by Oren Wyss, the operator of the John Day wastewater treatment plant, at the end of October. The petition accused Rookstool of dishonesty and a lack of transparency and claimed she was was not acting in the best interests of John Day, city staff or residents. The petition also accused Rookstool of disregarding her oath of office and the city charter, as well as putting the city’s services at risk.

The recall petition followed a complaint against Rookstool filed by a group of local residents accusing her of overstepping her authority as mayor in violation of the city charter and state law.

Rookstool pushed back against those claims, filing a statement of justification with the county clerk noting that  the recall petition did not cite any violations of city code, ordinance or Oregon revised statute and characterizing the allegations against her as “opinion without any proof.”

What happens next is not entirely clear.

The city charter refers to the mayor as a voting member of the city council and specifies that a vacant council seat is to be filled by appointment of the remaining council members. A number of current council members have made clear their intention to choose a new mayor by appointment.

However, others have suggested that the selection of John Day’s next mayor should be left up to the citizens since it was they who voted to remove Rookstool from office in the first place. There is no specific language in the city charter regarding a process for filling a vacancy in the mayor’s office.

In the meantime, the charter states that when the mayor is absent, the city council president shall step in to assume the role of mayor.

As of now, John Day’s city council president is Rookstool supporter Sherrie Rininger, who was voted into the post at the Jan. 9 session of John Day City Council. Rininger was appointed following the ouster of Dave Holland, a critic of Rookstool who supported the recall campaign.