A petition to recall Mabton Mayor Rachel Ruelas is making its way through a legal review.
Four of Mabton's five council members — Sophia Sotelo, Mary Alvarado, Vera Zavala and Arturo De la Fuente — initiated the recall on June 27. The recall aims to remove Ruelas from office because of several issues, including allegedly failing to provide agendas on time and not providing a budget for 2024.
"The Mabton residents are frustrated that they have a mayor that will not communicate with them about several issues, including any possible solutions to the ongoing water quality issues we are constantly dealing with," the petition states.
The Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney's Office is writing a synopsis for the recall that would appear on a ballot. The office has until end of day Friday to finish and send it along with the recall charges to Yakima County Superior Court, which will then have 15 days to schedule a hearing.
The charges submitted by the council members detail numerous allegations:
• Ruelas allegedly has not provided notice of a hearing on a final budget for the public nor provided a final budget for council's review and vote, which should have happened by December 2023.
"We asked for the final budget for review for five months and Mayor Ruelas continues to state that the 2024 budget is not ready for review even though we are more than halfway through the 2024 budget year," the petition states.
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•Ruelas and the city clerk allegedly do not prepare and provide council meeting packets and agenda items by the Friday before Tuesday council meetings. The council passed a motion asking for the information.
•Ruelas allegedly hired a man who did not have a valid driver's license to operate city vehicles. Council members state in the petition charges that this man is the boyfriend of an employee who was robbed of city funds on the way to the bank on June 17.
•Minutes taken during council meetings are allegedly "inaccurate and bare."
•Ruelas allegedly uses the city's website to promote her personal business, Forever Bridal and Decorating, by posting photos and business events.
A message requesting comment was left for Ruelas through the City Hall phone number on July 10. She had not returned the call as of deadline Thursday.
Ruelas has been serving as mayor of Mabton since 2021, after she won as a write-in candidate. Her term ends in 2025.
Zavala, who is part of the recall effort, has lived in Mabton her whole life and said she has served on the council for 28 years.
"We have lost confidence in her," she said.
Zavala said there are multiple reasons she wants Ruelas recalled, but not receiving agendas in time has made it hard for her to conduct city business.
"We're tired of it," Zavala said.
Bar is high
If the Superior Court deems the charges sufficient, then the petitioners would need to collect 59 signatures in support of the recall, which is 35% of Mabton residents who voted in the last election, Yakima County Auditor Charles Ross said.A total of 167 residents voted in the last mayoral election, Ross said. Mabton has 3,010 residents, according to the 2020 census. The signatures will need to be gathered within180 daysfollowing the court's decision.
For the court to allow the recall to move forward, the petition charges against Ruelas must be found to constitutemalfeasance, misfeasance or violation of the oath of office, according to state law.
"It's not an easy task because of the standards of malfeasance, misfeasance are pretty high from the court's perspective," Ross said, speaking in a general sense about recall efforts.
Yakima County has seen other recall attempts in the past decade. There was a petition torecall former Yakima council member Jason White in 2020 after he stopped attending council meetings and a petition torecall Yakima County Clerk Janelle Riddle in 2017over her job performance. Neither of these efforts made it before voters on the ballot.
Theft incident
On June 17, an estimated $20,000 was stolen from a Mabton city employee while she was making a bank run on June 17. The employee was initially arrested, but later a man police said is the brother of her boyfriend was arrested and accused of the theft. She was not charged pending investigation.
There have been no updates to the investigation, Chief Eduardo Garcia said this week. Since the incident, he police department has been making bank runs for the city.
Questen Inghram is a Murrow News Fellow at the Yakima Herald-Republic whose beat focuses on government in Central Washington communities. Email qinghram@yakimaherald.com or call 509-577-7674.
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