EARLVILLE – Just days after 134 residents in Earlville signed a petition seeking a public vote on a proposed $3.4 million water project, a letter of objection was filed with the village clerk. The letter, which points out several procedural errors in the petition, may be enough to destroy any hope of a public vote.

On Aug. 27, the village board passed a resolution authorizing the issuance of bonds for a capital water improvement project pending a period of permissive referendum. During the 30-day period, village residents had the chance to submit a petition signed by 20 percent of voters registered at the last election in order for the project to be put up for referendum. A total of 104 signatures were needed.

When the petition was submitted on Sept. 25, 134 signatures had been obtained.

One day later, Earlville resident and planning board member Thomas E. Thompson submitted a letter of objection. The letter lists 12 objections to the petition, including: The witnesses of the petition all witnessed their own signatures, witness statements and the text of the reason for the petition do not appear on each page, two of the three witnesses did not include their addresses on the witness statements, three signers did not list addresses and six of the petition signers are not registered voters. Other objections included minor issues, such as names being printed instead of signed, names appearing incomplete or illegible, dates being listed incorrectly and a couple of spelling errors.