Signatures collected for the recall petition filed against Watertown Township Treasurer Sheila Coats have been deemed sufficient by the Sanilac County Clerk’s Office.
The announcement came Thursday, August 27, exactly one month after the signatures were originally filed. The petition, filed by Watertown Township resident Ernest Krumenaker, was allowed to begin circulating after it was upheld on appeal on July 14, with Krumenaker needing to gather 159 signatures. By Monday, July 27, Krumenaker had submitted 186 signatures for verification to Sanilac County Clerk Leslie Hilgendorf.
It is currently unclear if any signatures were invalidated during the review, and if so, how many. However, now that the petition’s signatures have been validated, Michigan law dictates that the recall election must occur on the first regular May or November election date that falls at least 95 days after the date on which the recall petition was filed. This means the issue could be on the November 2026 ballot.
The recall against Coats charges the treasurer with “repeated failure to perform basic functions of the job.”
Coats has also filed recall petitions of her own, with similar language, against fellow township officials Jason Radloff and Tammy Ross, with those petitions being upheld on appeal and allowed to begin circulating earlier this month. It is unknown how many signatures have possibly been collected as part of those recall efforts.
The Watertown Township Board will meet again Tuesday, September 1, at 6 p.m., at the township hall.
