COMPTON — At an Aug. 21 town hall meeting to discuss a push to remove several high-ranking elected officials from office, residents expressed a number of emotions — anger, fear and uncertainty among them — about the campaign to upend the political class in this city.

“This is the last time we’re doing this,” said Joyce Kelly, one of the leaders of the recall drive, referring to several similar but failed efforts that have been attempted since February. “We are going to get it right. We have to act fast.”

Kelly made those remarks by telephone this week, but on Saturday she was among more than 40 residents gathered at Robert Kennedy Elementary School to discuss the recall effort. Also among them: City Councilwoman Lillie Dobson, who — along with Mayor Eric Perrodin, City Clerk Alita Godwin and City Attorney Craig Cornwell — is targeted by the latest round of recall petitions.

Past efforts did not go very far beyond the planning stages; at least four rounds of petitions this year were deemed invalid for a number of reasons, including allegations that the documents were not served properly to the elected officials, and that proponents did not provide all of the information required by law.

“Whereas we’ve been getting 10 signatures,” proponent William Kemp said, “we are required to get 20 signatures, which is the required amount to run for office in Compton. We believe that is where the issue is, and so this time we are going to get 20 signatures.”

Also Kelly added that some of the proponents who signed the initial petitions failed to provide their address, city or zip code, which is a needed requirement in order to move forward.

But where the proponents previously failed, Kemp believes they will now succeed.

The group leading the charge — which includes Kelly, Kemp, city employee Lynne Boone and former City Clerk Charles Davis — are now seeking legal advice from an unnamed lawyer who is guiding them through the process and is checking the language of all materials issued by the group to ensure there are no discrepancies.

Additionally, town halls have already been held in the first and fourth district, with the most recent occurring this past weekend. A meeting for the second district is expected next month.

Under the new petitions, Godwin and Cornwell are accused of deceiving voters by excluding valuable information before the passage of the charter reform Measure L last year.

The measure — which residents claim was not distributed in Spanish and was not distributed in its entirety — authorizes the council to change the city’s charter by updating various sections, deleting obsolete and unclear language and conforming to meet current law and city policies.

According to some residents at the town hall, only 25 copies of the 17-page measure were distributed in its entirety during a city meeting. Others, they allege, only received a summarized version three-pages long.

The most glaring parts in Measure L state that the council can “make various updates to conform with California law, including the Brown Act, the Political Reform Act, the California Tort Claims Act, and other provisions of California law regulating the governance of the city.”

This, claim some residents, has been used to keep certain members from fully expressing themselves during the public comments period of council meetings and have, in some cases, been thrown out for using their First Amendment rights.

Another portion states that elected officials can “clarify and update Charter language to reflect current city practices and policies.”

In doing this, said some residents, the council has been allowed to legally enter into a contract with the mayor’s brother, Percy Perrodin, for municipal law enforcement services, and has permitted the council to approve no-bid contracts for companies that have contributed to the mayor’s previous election campaign. In addition, it has been suggested that this amendment to the charter has also allowed the council to divert funds from city projects in order to make money available to bring back the Compton Police Department, which was disbanded in 2000 by the former council due to alleged corruption.

Among other allegations, Godwin is accused of working only part-time despite earning a full-time salary and failing to “ensure a fair and just election” in 2009.

Perrodin is targeted for recall, according to the petition, because he voted to increase water bills, misappropriated public funds, intimidates residents, violates citizens’ First Amendment rights and has approved contracts for companies to which he has ties with. Recall leaders are taking aim at Dobson for, among other acts, voting to restore the Compton Police Department and in doing so, going “against the will of the residents on many occasions to satisfy the wishes of the mayor.”

While leaders of the recall are confident in their ability to bring the matter before voters in an upcoming election, some residents remain skittish. “Citizens are scared,” said one resident who spoke Saturday but did not provide her name. “But the bottom line is that I’m for what is happening here...This is not going to be an easy fight. It’s time for us to stop talking and make a move.”

Stung by what he characterized as a non-responsive attitude to the concerns of everyday residents, resident Thomas Carlos said many are weary of fighting City Hall. “You know what happens,” he said. “We get hurt, we get discouraged and we get beat up. We are tired of fighting, so we give up.”

Dobson, who sat smiling Saturday as detractors spelled out the case for her removal from office, declined to discuss the recall efforts or the accusations against her.

“I am not here as Councilwoman Lillie Dobson,” she said. “I’m just here as a citizen and I will not be able to speak to any of the issues, because I am not authorized to do it in this forum.”