It was confirmed Friday that enough frustrated Los Banos voters have signed petitions to force a recall election targeting Doug Begonia Jr. and Brett Jones. Their names are expected to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
City Clerk Lucy Mallonee said she had received emails from Merced County Registrar of Voters Melvin Levee confirming that the thresholds to recall Begonia and Jones had been surpassed.
The official notification will be brought before the City Council on July 17, when the council will be expected to “order” an election. The city has hired San Rafael elections attorney Chris Skinnell to advise on the next steps, which are laid out under a state law that was revised last January. There is some leeway on scheduling recall elections, but most observers feel it will be set for Nov. 5.
The first email arrived on Wednesday, June 26, stating 1,706 signatures petitioning to have Begonia recalled in city council District 2 had been validated – far more than the 1,404 necessary. On Friday, June 28, a second email arrived from the registrar, confirming that 1,650 signatures were verified in District 3 – again, surpassing the necessary figure.
The Express called Jones and left a message requesting comment Saturday, but the call was not returned. Begonia, whose contact information is not available to the public, was unreachable. At least one councilmember was reported to have requested a recount, but the submission of recall petitions is not a vote and thus not subject to recount demands. It has also been reported that one councilmember wanted to see the petitions from his district, but that request was refused.
In their response to the recall petition, Jones and Begonia blamed the recall on an unnamed Merced developer, believed to be Greg Hostettler. But the collection of more than 4,250 signatures within a month appears to signal far more widespread voter frustration.
It appears extremely likely that all five council seats will be on the Nov. 5 ballot. The four-year terms of Ken Lambert and Deborah Lewis are expiring, along with the two-year term of Mayor Paul Llanez. If they choose to run for re-election, their names would be on the ballot. Now Begonia and Jones will be added to the ballot.
Under rules approved in 2023, if voters remove Jones and Begonia, the three remaining council members – conceivably all newly elected — will either have to appoint interim replacements in districts 2 and district 3 until the next regularly scheduled election, or set in motion a special election to fill the newly opened seats.
Meanwhile, the filing period for council candidates opens on July 15 and closes Aug. 9 for city council districts 1 and 5 and mayor.
If any of the incumbents choose not to run, the filing period will be extended through Aug. 14 in those districts. Only one person has declared his candidacy so far – former city councilmember Refugio Llamas, who is running for mayor. Voter frustration can be traced back to 2021 and the hiring of Josh Pinheiro as city manager. After seven months during which several employees and residents complained about his performance, a council majority became dissatisfied and voted 3-2 to fire Pinheiro over the strenuous objections of Jones and Lambert.
Five months later, in November 2022, Begonia and Llanez were elected to the council, and within two months, voted with Lambert and Jones to rehire Pinheiro – with Lewis again the lone “no” vote. The council also voted 4-1 (again with Lewis voting no) to give Pinheiro a $1.8 million payment after he alleged he had been fired without cause. Virtually every city-manager contract in California – including Pinheiro’s at the time – stated specifically that no “cause” was needed to fire the city manager and that no settlement was required.
The city’s employment liability insurer refused to cover the $1.8 million payment, so the four-member council majority decided to pay it from the city’s unallocated general fund — representing roughly a tenth of the city’s available money.
Later, the council voted 3-1 (with Llanez absent) to create a special contract for Pinheiro, requiring a 5-0 vote to fire him – a provision no other city in California has for any city manager.
During Pinheiro’s tenure, at least 80 employees have left the city, including four department heads. Much of the city business – including tens of millions of dollars in city contracts — has moved to the consent agenda, where they are approved with little discussion on a single vote. The council expanded the city manager’s authority to transfer funds by 40-times that of previous city managers. Some major city contracts have been approved without competitive bidding required by state law. Business owners have complained about unfair or inequal treatment in distributing federal loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents have started an online petition to remove the city manager and the Merced County Civil Grand Jury issued its report Sunday June 30 and did not comment on any irregularities in the city of Los Banos.
It did however, address irregularities in the disbursement of federal covid-19 pandemic relief funds.
