The clandestine effort to change Langley’s form of government and do away with the position of an elected mayor has gathered enough signatures to force a vote at the ballot box.

Island County election workers said today they have validated enough signatures from registered voters to call for an election.

Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider said 58 signatures were needed from registered voters within Langley’s two precincts, and the nine petitions that were submitted more than met that mark.

“We have conducted our due diligence … and they have met the threshold,” Crider said.

“We’ve actually verified 72 qualified voters in that district [who signed the petitions],” she said. “They have certainly more than met their minimal threshold.”

The election on the proposed change of government will be held during the November general election.

Michele Reagan, deputy auditor in the elections department, said state law requires the question be placed on the General Election ballot unless the appropriate legislative body — in this case, the Langley City Council — passes a resolution calling for a special election.

Supporters of the petition drive had originally hoped to have an election during the August primary. But four of five city council members have said they do not support the goal of the petition drive, so a council request for an election before November seems highly unlikely.

The move to change in the system of government — which would see the city shift from a council-mayor form to a council-manager model — appears to be driven by residents who are unhappy with recent land-use decisions made by the city council.

A review of the petitions shows the first signatures were gathered on April 21, three days after the Langley City Council reinforced its decision to approve the controversial Langley Passage housing project.

Langley Passage, a 20-home subdivision on the city’s northeastern end, was bitterly opposed by residents in the Edgecliff neighborhood. Many of the signatures on the petitions submitted to the county were from Edgecliff residents.

Out of the 76 signatures on the ballot, at least 34 voters live in the Edgecliff neighborhood. (An exact number of Edgecliff residents could not be determined, as some of those who signed the petition gave a post office box and not a street address.)

Another eight people who signed the petitions are Creekside Terrace residents. Some who live in Creekside Terrace have been angry over the council’s decision to improve the parking lot at the nearby Langley CMA Church and make it into a part-time park-and-ride lot.

The petition drive has been a secretive affair.

Mark Wahl, a Langley resident who opposed the CMA Church park-and-ride project, was one of the organizers of the petition drive, but he has declined to name others involved in the effort.

County workers said Marty Kortebein, an Edgecliff resident, was their contact for the petition drive.

Word of the petition drive became public a few days after it began, though Wahl described it as “nascent” at the time.

The final signatures were gathered on April 28, and the petitions were submitted to the county auditor on the same day.

Signers on the petition include Councilman Robert Gilman (he signed on April 26), and Robin Adams (April 25), the leader of the Langley Critical Area Alliance, a group of Edgecliff residents who opposed the Langley Passage project.

The signers of the petitions are:

Ken Kortlever

Fred Van Riper

Barbara Small

Rick Ingrasci

Margaret Taylor

Heather Ogilvy

Daniel H. Babbitt

Carey Clark

Barton Cole

Susan Scott

Robert Gilman

Lianna Gilman

Mark Wahl

Barbara Graham

Ed Severinghaus

M. Loustaunou

Lynn Hays

Kirk Gardener

Elizabeth Kittrell McCord

Constance R. Bauer

Penny Bauer

Bill Kerby

Greg Garbarino

Barbara Seitle

Mary Lawson

Carl Magnusson

Dan McGill

Staci Mahagan-McGill

Lewis J. Carlino

Joyce L. Lyski

Dale A. Lyski

Marty Kortebein

Bruce Kortebein

Gretchen Vollbrecht

Sheila Mohn

Joanne Shelver

Judith Adams

Dallas Huth

Laurie Keith

Kathleen Boulware

Gail Fleming

Kim Morris

Autumn Preble

Leila Jerene

Steve Marinoff

Ross Chapin

Debora Koff-Chapin

Lucinda Herring

Dorothy Lepisto

Walter Lepisto

Lisa Jae

Julie A. Quiring

Troy Chapman

Martha Furey

Linda Lee

Sharon Berlin

Lousie Fioria

[illegible name]

Susan Burgers

Diana Deering

Catherine Nelson

Robin Adams

Daniel Prewitt

Ralph Seitle

Paul Goldfinger

Mark T. Stevens

Stephanie Zea

Ruth Cox

Louise Prewitt

Lynn Anderson

Nancy Horan

Vicki Halbakken

Susan Zwinger

Gordon Collins

Flay Wahl

Irene Bullock