Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 29/98) - The Yellowknife Property Owner's Association is distancing itself from a petition calling for the resignation of Mayor Dave Lovell.

Last week, Property Owners Association president Matthew Grogono said the petition was organized and promoted by the ratepayers organization.

But on Monday the association issued a press release Monday stating, "The petition is the initiative of a number of private citizens of Yellowknife, not the Property Owner's Association."

Grogono said the misunderstanding was his fault.

"I overstepped my bounds and I've been pulled back into line," said Grogono.

Grogono said he mistakenly counted himself and two other members as a quorum of the board at a meeting last week when the petition was discussed.

The problem was, one of the members he counted is no longer a board member. As a result there was no quorum so the motion to proceed with the petition was not valid.

Grogono said he has in hand 45 signatures on the petition, and knows more have been received by supporters circulating the document.

Mayor Dave Lovell, meanwhile, said he has no intention of resigning.

"I feel reasonably confident there's going to be a fairly high participation rate," said Grogono.

Unrelated to the incident, the association will be looking to elect a new president and secretary at a general meeting Thursday evening.

At the end of the month Grogono and his family are moving to the Maritimes for a year.