Petitions Fall Short, Will Not Appear on Ballot

The "Save Our Dispatch" petitions did not recieve the 862 minimum amount of verified signatures. This afternoon, City Clerk Lesley DeMuth released the following information:

• Number of candidate petitions recieved: 951
• Number of candidate petition signatures checked: 951
• Number of valid petition signatures: 508
• Number of invalid petition signatures: 443

On Thursday, Nov. 10, Frank Verdino handed in 951 signatures to City Clerk Lesley DeMuth to add a referendum question on the March ballot.

Verdino and other supporters wanted voters to decide whether the Gulfport Police Department should become a chartered department.

Here is the "question" listed on the petition:

We, the undersigned registered electors of the city of Gulfport, Pinellas County Florida find that it is in the public interest to amend the Charter of the City of Gulfport, Florida to make: i) The Gulfport Police Department a chartered Department.

Verdino and other supporters spent weeks gathering signatures to try and ultimately allow voters to decide if the Gulfport Police Department's Communications Center should be outsourced.

How could that have saved the dispatch center?

In a previous story, Verdino explained that he and his supporters believe that by adding the Gulfport Police Department as a chartered department, any "major changes," such as outsourcing communications, would have to be decided by a public vote, not a vote by the Gulfport City Council.

"If you sign it, you’re saying you want the police department, as is, to become part of the charter," Verdino says, including dispatch.

Update: Friday, Nov. 18

The Supervisor of Elections Office has provided Gulfport Patch with detailed information about the petition verification process. The document is attached to this article.

According to the results:

• 255 signatures were invalid because people did not write down the date.
• 95 were invalid because the people were not registered voters.

Others were ruled invalid because of duplicated signatures, address issues and forgetting to list a birthdate.

Frank Verdino told Gulfport Patch that the result is disappointing. "A lot of people were counting on us. We had expected some little problems, that's why we handed in more than the minimum amount."

Verdino says despite the failed attempt to bring the question to a public vote, citizens of Gulfport have shown where they stand on the issue. "There's still (nearly) 1,000 people who signed it, who didn't want to see dispatch go."