KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Five residents on Tuesday filed an affidavit with the city to begin recall proceedings against Mayor Mark Funkhouser, who was elected to the office less than a year ago.

The affidavit cited what the residents considered to be problems with Funkhouser's tenure as mayor, including his appointment of Frances Semler, a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, to the city's park board, and his efforts to fire city manager Wayne Cauthen.

"Mayor Funkhouser has put the interest of his wife and himself above the interest of the electorate and conducted his affairs in a fashion designed not to advance the interests of Kansas City at large," the petitioners said in their affidavit.

The petitioners were listed as Saundra Ross, Joycetta Silvers, Moniece Lovelace, Dwight Ross and JoAnn Mitchell.

They have 30 days once they receive the proper recall forms from the city clerk's office to get the necessary 16,950 signatures, or 20 percent of the voters in the election last March, to sign the recall petition. If they get the needed signatures, the city council would then order a recall election, said Millie Crossland, city clerk.

Millie Crossland, City Clerk, said, "If they are successful in getting the signatures, then what happens is this is given to City Council and they have to call for an election."

His spokesman, Kendrick Blackwood, said the move did not come as a surprise to the mayor, who was elected in March 2007.

"There have been various rumors of recall attempts over several months now," Blackwood said. "We didn't know this was going to happen today, but in a general way it's not surprising."