The petition to recall two County Comissioners has failed. The group, Together for Effective Alternatives, or TEA, fell short by about 1,000 signatures. Only 17,500 of the 25,000 signatures obtained were from registered voters in the appropriate districts. To recall Chuck Brown, TEA needed 11,199 signatures. They got 10,101. To recall Tom Huffman, 8,556 signatures were needed. TEA collected 7,511.

TEA says, they’re not giving up. They say three County Comissioner seats will become available in 2004, including those of Huffman and Brown. TEA says that voters will be more aware when they vote to fill those seats.

Comissioner Tom Huffman was unavailable for comment. But Chuck Brown says he’s relieved that he’ll be staying in office. “This is very relaxing that this is over, and we can get on with the work on the county that we’re elected to do.”

TEA members say they’ll stay involved in the courthouse expansion plans. And they’ll continue to voice objections to designs that would block the downtown plaza view.