AVENAL, Calif. – After Tuesday’s election, Avenal residents are closer to filling four city council seats that have sat vacant since a recall election earlier this year, but the final vote counts have yet to be tallied.
The race was crowded: thirteen candidates in total were running for two short-term seats of two years and two full-term seats of four years.
As of Tuesday night, the top two candidates for the full-term seats are Jose G. Barrera with 22.2% of votes and Alex Ramirez with 19.6% of votes.
Alvaro Preciado, the former mayor who was one of four recalled, is second to last, with only 9.6% of the votes.
For the short-term seats that are set to expire in December of 2028, Jessica Enriquez and Francisco “Frank” Lopez have taken the lead, with 31.5% and 18.8% of votes.
Lopez is the brother of the current city manager, Antony Lopez, who has faced the ire of Avenal residents about his close proximity to the recalled city councilmembers.
Also running for the short-term seats are two of the recall organizers, Dalila Barajas and Ginger Wallis, who have each earned less than 15% of votes.
The recall stemmed from a dispute over fire services.
City Manager Antony Lopez and the city council were trying to establish the city’s own fire department last year after Kings County — which provided fire services to the city — informed Avenal officials that their annual fire-service fees would more than double from $425,000 to almost $1.1 million.
That’s when Barajas sparked the recall effort, arguing that city leaders weren’t being transparent even in their discussions to try to save residents money.
They raised concerns about the city’s handling of public meetings and whether or not residents had enough input into these decisions.
And after a legal back-and-forth between city and county leaders, the four recalled councilmembers stepped down in August, leaving city business on pause as essential services continued.
Election results will be finalized by early December, and only then will Avenal be able to swear in its new council and conduct city business once again.
