AVENAL, Calif. – After months of mudslinging between the city of Avenal, its residents and Kings County leadership, four out of five Avenal city council members have officially been recalled – including the town’s mayor.
The Kings County Elections Office this week certified the results of a special election that took place in late April. Of the 712 residents who cast ballots, more than 75% voted to oust Mayor Alvaro Preciado and Councilmembers Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa and Pablo Hernandez.
“It's been a year working towards this outcome, which is to move forward with the recall,” said Dalila Barajas, who led the recall effort, in an interview earlier in the month. “I'm excited about it. I'm actually happy.”
The political fight broke out over changes to the city's fire services, which have long been provided by Kings County. Last year, after county leaders informed the city that its annual fire fees would more than double, city leaders sought to establish their own fire department, including hiring their own fire chief.
But Barajas and other residents sparked the recall effort last summer after they say the city lacked transparency in its consideration of the change.
County leaders later got involved in the dispute. In December, Kings County District Attorney Sarah Hacker sued the city, alleging that city councilmembers violated the public meeting law known as the Brown Act. The filing also alleged that city leaders did not properly involve the public in discussions about the fire department.
The city later sued the county, challenging the validity of the recall election – but an appeals court last month denied the city’s request to stop it.
In the meantime, fire services in the city were interrupted for a number of weeks this spring, after the county fire department deemed that a building being used for a March boxing tournament hosted by the city was unsafe.
“The city chose to defy the California fire code and utilize their newly hired fire chief to deem the building safe to occupy, even though the building has no electricity, fire alarm, and an untested fire sprinkler system,” said Kings County Fire Chief John Chamberlin at an April 1 press conference.
A Kings County Superior Court judge then ordered the county to reinstate fire services in Avenal at the end of April.
Even after the election, city leaders say the fight isn’t over. The city council – including its four recalled members – still gathered for a meeting on Thursday, despite questions about the meeting's legality.
Avenal City Manager Antony López argued the recall election is illegitimate.
“We're against them releasing the results on the basis that the election was illegal,” López told KVPR before the results were certified. “It was never sanctioned by the city, was not requested by the city.”
