Thursday, July 9, 2026. Avenal — City Council chambers.
Residents filed into the room at Avenal Elementary School and took their seats. They knew that they’d be seeing something historic. They were not disappointed.
As the meeting came to order, city council member Ricardo Verdugo made a motion to elect Ricardo Verdugo to be mayor of the City of Avenal. Council member Ricardo Verdugo seconded the motion. The motion having been made and seconded, it was time for a vote. Council member Ricardo Verdugo voted “Aye.” There were no “Nay” votes. Council member Ricardo Verdugo, the only person on the dais, announced that Ricardo Verdugo had been elected mayor. Most of the residents in attendance applauded.
However, City Manager Antony Lopez challenged the legality of the procedure. Writing for Your Central Valley, Briana Byus reported that Lopez stated, “For any action to be considered valid, there needs to be a quorum. For the City of Avenal, our city council is comprised of five elected council members, and a majority would be three. At this meeting, there were not three council members.” Of course, there was only one, the sole member who was not targeted for recall.
Bizarre circumstances
How did this bizarre meeting come into being?
Last summer, allegations were raised about the City Council of Avenal violating provisions of the Brown Act. Avenal is a small city in a farming community about 50 miles south of Fresno and 35 miles southeast of Hanford. It was alleged that four members of City Council met in secret to develop a plan to replace the city’s fire services with a volunteer-only department. According to Our Valley Voice, “Kings County District Attorney Sarah Hacker issued warnings and cease-and-desist letters, stating the council made no good faith effort to stop these violations.”
Beyond the alleged Brown Act violations, there was a good deal of community concern that replacing the Kings County Fire Department with an all-volunteer unit in the city would threaten public safety. So, a group formed that sought to remove Mayor Alvaro Preciado and council members Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa, and Pablo Hernandez.
To proceed with the process of recall, sufficient names had to be gathered on a petition. According to Our Valley Voice.com, “On Dec. 11, 2025, a meeting intended to serve recall papers was disrupted when four of the five council members did not attend, preventing the official service of the documents.” But, at the Jan. 8, 2026, meeting, the papers were served, and they were immediately challenged, claiming that Kings County did not possess the authority to conduct a recall election. However, the Fifth Appellate District Court denied the appeal. So, according to ABC30 News, the recall election was allowed.
Briana Byus, writing for Your Central Valley, states, The special election was held on April 28, 2026. Preliminary results showed overwhelming support for the recall; approximately 84 percent of the voters supported recalling Mayor Preciado, and more than 80 percent supported removing the three council members. ABC News and Yahoo added that “the recalled officials initially refused to step
down, prompting legal and administrative actions to enforce the outcome.”
Disorderly transfer of governance
The legislative fight, however, was not settled, even by decisive election results. Writing for KVPR, Jonathan Linden and Kerry Klein report, “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 claimed that the recall election was illegal. Linden and Klein wrote that City Manager Antony Lopez opined, “We’re against them releasing the results [of the election] on the basis that the election was illegal. It was never sanctioned by the city, was not requested by the city.”
So, council members Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa, and Pablo Hernandez, as well as deposed Mayor Alvaro Preciado refused to step down, ignoring the election results. Preciado told the crowd, “The city cannot operate without local government. That’s the only reason we’re here — to continue the city moving forward and providing daily services,” according to Briana Byrus. Council member Ricardo Verdugo responded, “I am attending this meeting as the sole proper council member under protest.” Verdugo, the only council member not targeted for recall, told the others, “Just leave. Just walk away, step down, and walk away,” according to Byrus.
However, the deposed council members kept their seats. Avenal voter Dalila Barajas, who was instrumental in organizing the recall petition, said, “It just seems that the more meetings they have, the more money that they’re spending illegally, the more our citizens are getting frustrated, and the more we’re asking for them to step down,” according to the article in Your Central Valley.
Disrupted services
“In the meantime,” wrote Jonathan Linden for KVPR, “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.” Linden cited Kings County Fire Chief John Chamberlin at an April 1 press conference, “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.” Because of an order by a Kings County Superior Court judge, the Kings County Fire Department was reinstated to protect the City of Avenal by the end of the month.
An election to select new city leaders will be held during the upcoming November elections. Verdugo, who — presumably — will run for mayor, told Briana Byrus, “You know, I never intended to be put in this position, but… if there comes a point where I have to step up, then that’s what I’m doing.” In a separate interview with Ms. Byrus, he said, “I just want to get back to normalcy, that’s all. I mean, we need to get back to normal, normal things of the city, you know?”
I know.
• • •
Jim Glynn is Professor Emeritus of Sociology. He may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.