EAST COBB - An east Cobb mother has begun an effort to recall school board member Dr. John Crooks.

"We don't want him anymore," said Carrie Nicholas-Welkis, who is spearheading the effort. She is among the parents who objected to Crooks' push to erect a 150-foot cell tower at Eastvalley Elementary, an issue that continues in Cobb Superior Court.

Crooks said Monday that he had no comment on the recall effort.

While the cell tower flap is the underlying reason for the recall, there are other reasons to oust Crooks, Nicholas-Welkis said. A separate lawsuit claims Crooks and other board members illegally voted in executive session to fire former North Cobb High School principal Dr. Lawrence Bynum.

Crooks has also acknowledged that it was his idea to have the seven school board members meet privately in pairs with Superintendent Fred Sanderson to view his proposed fiscal year 2010 budget before he unveiled it to the public earlier this year.

Crooks' four-year term expires December 2010. The Republican primary is July 20, 2010, with the general election on Nov. 2, 2010.

But Nicholas-Welkis is not willing to wait that long.

"We can't afford to have him in office 14 more months. That's how strongly I feel about this," she said.

She met on Friday with Cobb Elections Director Sharon Dunn to review the recall process and obtain an application for a recall petition.

School board Chairman Dr. John Abraham said Monday that he was unaware of the recall effort.

"I guess I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that this happened. I support John Crooks," Abraham said.

Under the Georgia Public Officers Recall Act, a public officer can be recalled at any time during his or her term of office except during the first or last 180 days in office.

Recall is a three-step process: application for a recall petition, recall petition and recall election.

Dunn said the first step is to garner 100 signatures on the recall application. Nicholas-Welkis said Monday she already had 25 signatures on the application, which lists four claims: intent to mislead the public; lack of constituency engagement; violating the Georgia Open Meetings Act; and conduct unbecoming of an elected official.

She has until Nov. 16 to deliver all 100 - which must belong to people eligible to vote in the November 2006 race in which Crooks was elected - to the elections office for verification.

Crooks then has four days to petition Cobb Superior Court to review the assertions in the recall application.

If the first signatures are verified and the court declines to stop the recall effort, Nicholas-Welkis would receive recall petition forms and have 45 days to gather signatures of 30 percent of the active voters in Post 6. Nicholas-Welkis anticipates she will need about 14,000 signatures.

"We're going to have to get very organized," she said.

Once all of those signatures are gathered and certified, Dunn is required to call for a recall election to be conducted in 30-45 days.

If more than 50 percent of voters approve the recall, the office is immediately vacated. A special election to fill the vacancy would be conducted in 40-55 days.

Nicholas-Welkis plans to organize a community leader for each neighborhood in east Cobb Post 6 to help circulate the petition.

"Our goal is to have 100 captains collect 150 signatures. This will ensure we achieve our goal for the recall to proceed," she said.

"This sounds like a lot, but it should be noted, this happens successfully many times a year throughout our country. As a community, we are deserving of accountability and engagement and unfortunately this appears to be the only way we will make our voices heard to Dr. John Crooks," she said.

In the 2006 general election against Democrat Dr. Beth Farokhi, Crooks received 14,086 votes to Farokhi's 10,554 votes.