Recalled Avenal councilmembers refuse to leave office in tense meeting. What happens next?
What happens when recalled public officials refuse to leave? The scenario is playing out in a small Central California community.
Emotions bubbled over at a recent Avenal City Council meeting. Disagreements between residents and municipal leaders are nothing new. Residents yelled, complained and chanted at their leaders during the June 11 meeting.
What differentiated this from other meetings of local government is the legitimacy of the city council. On April 28, voters recalled Alvaro Preciado — the city’s mayor — Leticia Gamez, Pablo Hernandez and David Reynosa on four separate election questions. The results weren’t close, with votes ranging from 76% to 80% in favor of the recall.
The four members call the election illegal and have refused to leave. Despite the election, certified by Kings County officials on May 28, the Avenal City Council has held two meetings.
If the President of United States refuses to leave at the end of a term, the U.S. Secret Service and other agencies could forcibly remove a squatter. Such a mechanism does not exist for local government.
Permanently removing Preciado, Gamez, Hernandez and Reynosa requires another lawsuit and permission from the California Attorney General. The process, known as quo warranto, is underway.
“(The quo warranto) process is thorough but slow, often a year or more. The faster pressure is the local district attorney. DA Sarah Hacker has already sent a cease-and-desist letter, stated that only Councilmember Verdugo lawfully sits, and warned that if the holdovers keep spending public money, criminal law lets her office step in,” said attorney Brian Hildreth, an election law expert who is not involved in the Avenal case.
While not perfectly parallel, Avenal, California — a small farming community in Kings County more than an hour’s drive south from Fresno — resembles that “Seinfeld” episode where George quits but still shows up to work. This time, no one is laughing.
“If it was left to me, I would drag them out of here,” Avenal resident Thomas Chastine told the media last week. Things got so heated at the meeting, after speaking during public comment but continuing to heckle the city council, police almost forcibly removed Chastine.
Most of the dozens who attended the meeting disapproved of the recalled four conducting the business of the city. Only one of several speakers spoke in favor of the four recalled councilmembers keeping their seats — despite what the voters chose.
Avenal is fast-becoming an uncomfortable example of what happens when the will of the voters is not honored.
Recall no “oasis” for Avenal
About a quarter of Avenal’s 13,696 residents — 3,896 — are inmates at the Avenal State Prison, one of the city’s largest employers. Those “residents” are either not registered in Avenal or have voting rights restricted.
Avenal bills itself as the “pistachio capital” and “Oasis in the Sun.” There is not much on the drive between Fresno and Avenal, nestled between golden hills, west of Highway 5. Its most famous citizen may be 2012 Olympic boxer Jose Ramirez, who went on to championship professional fame. The recreational center proudly boasts his name.
Recall elections require no official reason, just time and petition requirements. The petition filed against the four members alleged lack of transparency and accountability. There is no court case needed to prove the truth of the allegations — just the 714 voters who returned ballots .
Another group filed a petition to remove the fifth councilmember, Richard Verdugo. The petitioners failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
On Skyline Boulevard, the town’s main drag, there are no brand-name restaurants. Not even a Starbucks. Chalio’s, one of several Mexican offerings, is the type of place that offers big burritos and Coke, imported from Mexico and made with real sugar . One of the restaurant workers seemed oblivious to what was happening down the road at City Hall.
Leaders deny election’s legality
Alvaro Preciado has served on the city council since winning election in 2010. He most recently served as mayor. He insists he still is.
Preciado, the other councilmembers, along with City Manager Antony Lopez and City Attorney Moses Diaz are sticking to the company line — only the city can call and administer a city election. Kings County is retaliating because of a dispute over a fire department, among other grievances, they claim.
Kings County certified the recall petitions, called for and administered the election.
It’s a due process issue, Preciado said, speaking with The Fresno Bee before the latest council meeting. The election violated state law, he said.
If there is a due process question, two courts so far answered. The city sued challenging the recall — months after the county verified the recall petition. A Kings County judge sided against the city on April 24. The city appealed to the California 5th District Court of Appeal, where judges ordered the ballots sequestered and halted any counting. On May 13, the court ordered the county to start counting the ballots, declining to overturn the lower court.
Kings County District Attorney Sarah Hacker sent the city a letter, warning against the recalled members spending the city’s money. “There are criminal codes that allow us to intervene,” she said at a news conference.
“The DA’s office, the sheriff’s department do not have jurisdiction. This is a civil matter, not a criminal case,” Preciado said. “If I get arrested today, so what? Let it be, but it’s going to set a precedent about who’s got authority and who doesn’t.”
A nearby mural is dedicated to voting. Preciado said he respects the people’s voice “when it’s a legal election.”
Recall organizer Kelly Guzman pointed out that more people voted to remove Preciado in the recall than elected him in November 2024 — 575 compared to 365.
Preciado has claimed that some people who signed the petition did not live in Avenal. He also questioned the integrity of Lupe Villa, the Kings County registrar of voters, and Kings County Judge Robert Burns, who ruled against the city.
“This is political, because (Burns) was the second in command of the DA’s office for Kings County,” Preciado said. “When he became judge, obviously his budget depends on the approval of the Board of Supervisors.”
Burns did previously work as a Kings County prosecutor, before then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to the bench in 2010. Nocona Soboleski, the court’s executive officer, said the state sets the budget, not the supervisors.
Soboleski, speaking for the court, had no comment on Preciado’s allegations.
Chaotic meeting
Avenal City Hall is a small building. The only public portion is a lobby to pay utility bills. Meetings are held off-site. The Avenal Theater, built in 1935 by the Standard Oil Company — and rebuilt in 2003 after a fire — serves as the main meeting location.
Speakers lined up at the start of the meeting last week to lash out at the recalled members. Reynosa, an appliance store owner by day, was absent. Verdugo, the non-recalled member, read a statement expressing his concerns about the legality of the meeting.
“None of you obviously have any respect for us, so thereby I figured you probably have no self-respect for yourselves. When you get up, walk out, take your crooked attorney with you,” said one member of the public, speaking at a lecturn during public comment time.
Said Guzman, the recall organizer, during her public comment: “The voters have voted, and you’re breaking our civil rights.”
Gamez, a substitute teacher when she isn’t on the city council, yelled back at one speaker, calling his remarks “inappropriate.” The public responded with chants of “get out.”
After Chastine’s threat to councilmembers, he continued to yell at Preciado. The mayor issued a civility warning. Later, police officers — including Chief Cecilio Velasco — confronted Chastine to calm him down. He left the meeting in a huff.
Velasco, aware of the public’s anger and charged with keeping the peace, said he considered the meeting to be legal.
“That’s not my decision to make, obviously. It’s been repeated multiple times. It’s something that needs to be dealt with through the courts, and I don’t have the expertise in that aspect,” Velasco said.
The City Council broke for closed session. That was enough for Verdugo. He left and never returned to the meeting.
“It’s not a legitimate closed session. Those individuals in there are not elected officials no more,” Verdugo, a retired correctional officer, said.
When the remainder of the council returned, Preciado, Gamez and Hernandez voted 3-0 to reject the county’s certification of the election. That keeps them in office — in their belief — for now.
Recall supporters took the legal step that same day to officially remove the councilmembers from office — filing an applicaiton for quo warranto with the attorney general’s office.
If granted and carried out, the Avenal City Council would be left with one member, not enough to carry out any city business. Two seats are scheduled to be filled in November, with the other two vacancies possibly on the ballot as well.
If left with one member, it is unclear if there is a legal mechanism for the city to legally conduct spending.
“This is the unresolved problem. One member cannot form a quorum, so the council cannot pass anything, appoint replacements, or even call an election,” Hildreth, the election attorney, said.
In his opinion, Burns referenced the possibility that the governor could appoint vacancies, or even with less than a quorum, the council could continue certain decisions.
Hildreth proffered three possible solutions — ask the governor to make replacements, allowed by law; wait until November election, “lawful, but roughly five months of paralysis” Hildreth said; “or seek a court-supervised remedy (slower and less certain, and courts don’t love involving themselves in the proceedings of legislative bodies).”
“Until one of those happens, only routine administrative functions continue under city staff,” Hildreth said.
This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 5:52 AM.
