A local bill filed Wednesday in the state House would permit Belhaven residents to recall their town’s elected officials.

The bill was filed by Rep. Bill Cook, R-Beaufort, on request by the Belhaven Town Council and Mayor Adam O’Neal, the mayor said.

Basically, the legislation would alter the town charter to allow recall elections, said Town Manager Guinn Leverett.

“The Mayor and members of the Town Council are subject to removal pursuant to this section,” the bill reads. “An officer is removed upon the filing of a sufficient recall petition and the affirmative vote of a majority of those voting on the question of the removal at a recall election.”

The recalled member would be replaced by the Belhaven Town Council, not by the voters, said Kellie Harris Hopkins, Beaufort County’s elections director.

The appointee’s successor would be picked by the voters in the next election, Hopkins related.

To trigger the recall process, a petition would have to be signed by at least 20 percent of the town’s registered voters.

The petition couldn’t be filed six months before the expiration of the targeted official’s term.

According to Anita Bullock Branch, Beaufort County’s deputy elections director, as of Feb. 28 Belhaven was home to 1,203 registered voters. This means 241 signatures would be needed to make the petition effective, Branch said.

The petition would be certified by the Beaufort County Board of Elections, and the recall election would be held no less than 60 days and no more than 120 days after that certification.

The bill would take effect immediately upon being passed and signed into law.

Leverett said the bill’s provision is part of O’Neal’s original campaign platform.

The mayor is serving his third two-year term. His current term ends this year.

Belhaven council members serve four-year terms.

“It just seems like it’s a voters-right thing,” said Leverett. “If people misbehave, then the voters won’t have to wait two years, or in the case of council, four years.”

Previous attempts to push the bill through proved unsuccessful because then-Rep. Arthur Williams, D-Beaufort, couldn’t get it introduced, Leverett pointed out.

Cook unseated Williams in the Nov. 2, 2010 election.

“We are thrilled that Rep. Cook is helping us with this and pushing it through,” O’Neal commented. “I think it is also very admirable for a town council to promote and push recall elections which holds them more accountable to the citizens.”

Asked whether the bill could be perceived as a slap against his former political rival, longtime Mayor Charles Boyette, O’Neal said a few years ago a lot of town residents were frustrated with the direction the town was taking.

He didn’t mention Boyette by name.

“I don’t think government should ever get so out of whack with its own desires that it can’t be representative of the people, and that’s what we’ve had in the past,” O’Neal said.

Boyette said he’s not convinced recall elections would be helpful to the town.

“The process usually takes care of itself,” he stated. “If you have someone who is incompetent or has credibility issues while they’re in office, they tend to be handled through measures that are in place at this time.”

Recall elections cost time and money, the former mayor observed.

“Anyone with good intentions running for public office would have very little to worry about,” Boyette said. “I think that this type of recall election might have more problems for negative effects in the community, I think.”

Hopkins, the elections director, said her immediate concern is the bill’s provision for holding a recall election within 60 to 120 days after the petition is certified.

“I see problems with the preclearance requirement,” she said.

She was referring to the U.S. Department of Justice’s regulation of any election changes in North Carolina counties covered under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Section 5 requires “preclearance” of election changes in counties affected by said section of the act, which was designed to guarantee equal voting rights for minorities.

In North Carolina, 40 counties are subject to the preclearance mandate, including Beaufort County.

Hopkins also questioned who would pay for the town’s recall elections.

“Nowhere in (the bill) does it specify that the town would pay for this,” she said, adding towns normally pay for their own elections.

No further specifics were immediately available Thursday.

Cook was in session and unavailable for comment.

After its introduction, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Government.