Flint, MI — A Flint resident submitted recall language against Flint City Councilwoman Jerri Winfrey-Carter on Sept. 12, 2023.
The language, filed by former city councilman Wantwaz Davis, cites Winfrey-Carter’s decision to abstain from voting on the city’s fiscal year budget at a June 8, 2023 special council meeting.
“I’m not even entertaining that recall,” Winfrey-Carter told Flint Beat. “It’s a joke because of the person who filed the recall. First of all, he wasn’t even at that meeting. He hasn’t been at a council meeting in a while, so how would he know how anybody voted.”
At the meeting in question, Winfrey-Carter said there should have been working sessions about the budget leading up to the meeting, stating it as the reason behind her decision to abstain.
“I’m disappointed with the entire process,” she said at the June 8 meeting.
Davis did not respond to Flint Beat’s request for comment by press time. However, he posted on Facebook about his decision to file the recall petition language.
“Jerri Winfrey Carter have been a failed leader in the city of Flint Michigan,” he wrote. “Most of the residents in the 5th ward don’t have a clue of who she is nor ever seen her. She hasn’t made any significant positive changes in the 5th ward.”
The former 5th ward councilman, who lost re-election to Winfrey-Carter in 2017, goes on to cite his feelings on his own work by comparison, writing, “I did wonders for the city of Flint Michigan, during my 4 years as 5th ward city councilman, and will do even more, on a greater scale once I’m back in office!!”
Genesee County Clerk Domonique Clemons wrote in a Sept. 12 email that the election commission hearing to determine whether the recall language is factual has not yet been scheduled.
If the language is approved, Winfrey-Carter will join fellow councilmembers Eric Mays, Ladel Lewis, Judy Priestley, Dennis Pfeiffer and Eva Worthing in facing potential recall — though Pfeiffer filed an appeal of the commission’s ruling last month.