We do not support the effort to recall Jan Anderson on the basis of her voting record as a member of the Belfast City Council.

Recalling a member for not voting is a matter deserving of consideration for recall, in our opinion. We looked at the community involvement Jan has exhibited in the past as the basis for supporting her for a seat on the council. Jan represented Belfast on a team trained in problem solving skills by the U.S. Department of Education. The team’s task was to identify and develop programs to solve community and school problems. From this experience Jan learned that the effective resolution of communality issues is based a thorough and representative expression of all points of view followed by a resolution that fits the problem as defined by the entire community.

More recently, Jan saw the need for reducing the use of illegal drugs by young people in our community. As head of the Belfast Areas Task Force on Substance Abuse, she devoted many months of her personal skills and energy to drawing together a truly representative group of citizens to significantly reduce that problem. In this process, Jan exhibited her ability to facilitate communication and problem solving by a representative group of citizens. These are skills that readied her to be an effective city councilor.

These are the two most important reasons we supported Jan Anderson for the council and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, we will vote “no” on the effort to recall her.

Jane and Bill Dopheide

Belfast