L&T staff report

The recall petition filed last week against Seward County Commissioner Steve Helm was not accepted “in its current form,” according to a memo released by Seward County Attorney Russell Hasenbank.

According to Hasenbank’s letter, there was a large volume of additional information submitted, but the petition itself must state facts sufficient to support the reason for the recall “within the four corners of the document,” meaning on the single sheet.

Hasenbank provided an invitation to the petitioners to come discuss the matter further.

The three petitioners were not made aware of Hasenbank’s conclusions before the signed document was released through other sources on social media., and the letter was dated Friday, July 17. As of press time, the three petitioners, Jim Rice, Bee Symons and Rick Madden, did not receive notification from Hasenbank there were any issues with the petition, and it was unknown if they planned to cure any defects.