CHARLESTON – Nearly 100 townspeople filed a petition in Kanawha Circuit Court seeking to remove Marmet Mayor Bill Pauley from office.
The 99 townspeople are representing themselves in the petition they filed Nov. 30. Pauley has not filed a response yet, and until then, there is no attorney listed for him.
The complaint accuses Pauley, who is 87, of “official misconduct, malfeasance in office, incompetence, neglect of duty and gross immorality.”
The residents are Marmet voters and have asked the court for a three-judge panel to be appointed to consider removing Pauley, who has been mayor of Marmet for 37 years.
The petition states that Pauley “encouraged ineligible voters to cast votes during early voting despite the fact that they were not residents of the Town of Marmet, but were in fact residents of towns other than Marmet.”
The petition states that the 99 signatures are enough to meet state law requirements in order to attempt to remove an elected official. The signatures include at least 40 voters from the previous election.
In September, Pauley made an agreement with the state Ethics Commission on two counts of violating the state’s Ethics Act for using public office for private gain.
In March, Pauley filed a petition against Marmet's town council to determine which entity has the authority to dismiss officers and employees of the town's government.