Small town recall election surrounded in big controversy

Atomic City may only be a town of about 30 people, but there is big drama happening there. And a lot of it has to do with city ordinances.

A petition has been signed by many to recall one of its three city council members. The mayor says it’s so they can get things done in the city, but the councilman thinks differently.

Dave Sonnenberg moved to Atomic City nine years ago and has been on the city council ever since. But that could come to an end Tuesday with a recall election.

“They see me as being a thorn in their side and they think by removing me then they will be able to run the city as they see fit,” Sonnenberg said.

The recall comes after Councilman Sonnenberg and Mayor Chris Polatis have not been seeing eye to eye. Councilman Sonnenberg says it’s because the mayor is making decisions based on his personal agenda, while the mayor says it all started after discussions about dis-incorporating the city.

“We really are trying to move forward and get things done for the city,” Polatis said. “The recall was done by the people in Atomic City that were interested with what was going on with the city and they were the ones that felt like that he should be removed from the seat.”

Things got worse when the mayor attempted to fill the fourth seat on the council, which is vacant.

“Later on at a meeting he asked Mr. Mundell to step forward, swore him into office, had him take the oath of office, had him sit and vote on his own confirmation as a council member and allowed him to vote on city issues during several meetings,” Sonnenberg said. “I had mentioned to him that this is illegal, that you can’t do this, but he insisted that he can do whatever he wants.”

Sonnenberg contacted the state attorney general’s office, which said that Mayor Polatis could not appoint a councilman the way he did because of a city ordinance. The mayor says the city ordinance mentioned isn’t valid because it is a city of Blackfoot ordinance put in for reference and was never passed in Atomic City.

“So as far as I was concerned if they were appointed to the seat they can vote,” Polatis said. “So we took a vote with that person on the seat. The attorney general tells us in a letter that that cannot be done that way. So I accept that. I accept and I never tried to do anything after he gave his opinion on it.”

The seat is still vacant. However, the two continue to disagree. Add to that, a disagreement with the salary for the council. They originally got a yearly salary of $250, but it was recently approved to be raised to $300. However, the mayor says the council voted on a city ordinance to only get the money if the city had sufficient funds, which he says they do not. When a former councilman asked for his money, Mayor Polatis decided to pay him from his personal account. The memo on the check, which included vulgar language, shows what the mayor thought of the situation.

“He says put what it’s for on the check and that was, in my mind, that was what he was doing,” Polatis said. “So I put what it was for. I wouldn’t have paid him otherwise.”

However, Sonnenberg says they always got their checks, but would turn them over to the city for the general fund. He also claims the city was paying kids to pull weeds and the city clerk, who is the mayor’s niece.

“So for him to say that he decided on his own that we were not entitled to our salary because the city in his opinion didn’t have sufficient funds is not adequate,” Sonnenberg said.

There are even more issues surrounding building permits and checks being used. It’s gotten so bad at times that the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office has had to be called. Mayor Polatis says a recall petition for another city council member, Donald Sortor, has also been put out and signed, but has not been sent to the county clerk yet.

The recall election takes place this coming Tuesday.