Aaron Starr said there are enough signatures to place Oxnard council recall on ballot

The organizer of an effort to fire the mayor and three City Council members in Oxnard submitted paperwork Wednesday containing thousands of signatures in support of a special election this spring.

Aaron Starr is seen addressing Oxnard Mayor Tim Flynn at a City Council meeting earlier this year.

Aaron Starr said he submitted 68,000 signatures to the city clerk in an effort to recall Mayor Tim Flynn and council members Carmen Ramirez, Bert Perello and Oscar Madrigal for supporting a utility rate hike. To qualify for a recall election, Starr needs more than 48,000 valid signatures, or roughly 12,000 per targeted council member.

The signatures will be forwarded to the Ventura County Clerk and Recorder’s Office for verification. The county is expected to make a determination on the signatures by mid-December. If there are no problems with the signatures, a recall election could be scheduled in April.

Starr said he felt a sense of relief in reaching the milestone of turning in signatures.

“I felt a lot of warmth for the people who worked with me,” he said. “I felt like I fulfilled a duty.”

Starr said he also felt sad for having to lead a recall because ultimately he had wanted to negotiate with the city. Starr said he was willing to accept the wastewater rate increase passed in 2016 if it meant freezing rates this year.

“I was dismissed out of hand,” he said.

During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Starr told the council he was ready to submit the signatures ahead of the Monday deadline. 

“We expect the county will certify our petitions and the election for your removal will be scheduled this spring,” Starr told the four officials.

Read more:Recall targets Oxnard leaders who voted for hike

Last year, voters approved Measure M, a ballot initiative written by Starr to repeal the council-approved wastewater rates. The initiative is currently being challenged in court by the city.

Measure M did not prevent the council from further raising wastewater rates and the council did just that in May. The four who are the focus of the recall said the sewage treatment plant is crumbling and years of stagnant rates have placed the wastewater fund in a dangerously precarious situation.

At the council meeting, Perello said residents have the right to recall their elected leaders, but he believes Starr’s claims have been false.

“I intend to fight the recall to the best of my ability,” Perello said. “I intend to stay on the City Council.”

Ramirez said on Wednesday, “We are all going to fight it.”

Ramirez said had the council not approved increases to sewer rates, the city would be on the edge of bankruptcy.

In recent years, the city has made a number of costly emergency repairs to its wastewater infrastructure due to deferred maintenance. The city has also received a credit rating downgrade due to financial and political instability of its utility funds.

“It’s unfortunate Mr. Starr has misled the public,” Ramirez said. “You wonder: What is the agenda for Mr. Starr?“

If the signatures are deemed valid, Oxnard will be thrust into an election season months before a regularly scheduled election. Flynn, Ramirez and Perello are up for re-election in November.

Should a recall election be called, candidates hoping to unseat the four officials will have to be particularly strategic. Unlike a typical council election, candidates of a recall election will have to decide which incumbent to run against. In other words, for the council race, they must decide whether to run against Ramirez, Perello or Madrigal.   

Should a candidate be successful in unseating Flynn, Ramirez or Perello, they would have to run again in November to keep their seats.

Madrigal is up for re-election in 2020.

Voters in the potential election would be asked two questions per candidate facing recall. One question is whether the particular candidate should be recalled. The other question is who should replace the candidate, should that candidate be recalled. Voters who don’t support the recall could still cast a vote on the replacement.

Recall supporter Al Velasquez said he has already decided to throw his name in the ring. Velasquez, who has run three other times for the council, said he will likely run against Ramirez or Perello.

“If no candidate runs for mayor, I may consider running for mayor,” Velasquez said. 

Utility rates are not the only reason Velasquez believes the council leadership needs a major shift. He didn’t support the city spending money and effort to fight NRG Energy’s plan to build a new power plant on the coast. The project is currently suspended, but if it’s eventually withdrawn or denied, the city would lose a significant share of tax revenue, Velasquez said.

“The present leadership has failed to listen to their constituents,” he said.

Velasquez said the voters’ mood has changed and support for once-popular officials is waning.

“There will be a shift in leadership of the City Council,” Velasquez predicted.

Among the supporters standing by Starr as he announced his intention to submit signatures was Francine Castanon, a former Oxnard school board candidate.

“I stood behind Starr because as much as he tried to meet in the middle with them, they were adamant not to listen,” Castanon said. “The council has refused to listen.”

Castanon said she’s considering a council run, assuming there’s a recall, and will make a decision next month. 

Clockwise from top left: Mayor Tim Flynn, and council members Carmen Ramirez, Oscar Madrigal and Bert Perello.

The signatures have yet to reach the county clerk, but the blunt language that characterizes election season is already being used.

During the meeting, Perello reminded Starr that while the recall focuses on four officials, the rate hike was approved unanimously.

Typically, a vote on city rates is a two-step process. In the initial vote, Councilman Bryan MacDonald voted against the hike, saying the 5 percent increase for each of the next five years was too high. The following week, MacDonald changed his vote to be in support of his colleagues. At the time, MacDonald said a change in his vote would not change the outcome of the rates anyway.

“I want to point out that Mr. Starr said four of us voted to raise rates. One council member was very successful in playing politics and voted no and when it came time for a second vote, he voted yes,” Perello said. “Five council members voted to raise the rates. Four are facing the recall.”

MacDonald declined to respond Wednesday, saying he would rather not get into a war.

It’s unfortunate that the potential recall will distract from city business, said MacDonald, adding that it’ll cost a lot of money.

If the special election goes forward, the city will have to foot an estimated bill of more than $220,000.

MacDonald said if voters disagree with a council member, the proper way is to vote them out in a normal election.

In 2014, MacDonald challenged Flynn for the mayoral seat but lost. He was able to keep his council seat.

MacDonald said he’s “99 percent” sure he won’t run for mayor again but he’s definitely not running for mayor in the recall election.

“There are rumors floating that I’ll run in the recall,” MacDonald said. “I’m not going to do that.”

The mayoral term in Oxnard is two years, which means Flynn, who won re-election last year, could face two elections next year. He sounded unfazed by the prospect of that much campaigning.

“I always have energy to go door to door,” he said.

Flynn said the crux of the issue is Starr wanting to get on the council. Starr has run for the council twice; last year, he narrowly lost to Madrigal.

“That is what Aaron wants to do. He wants two, three, four elections a year until he gets on the council. It’s a relentless effort,” Flynn said. “His objective is to force as many elections as possible until he gets on City Council.”

Starr said he’s “leaning toward” running in the recall election but doesn’t know for which seat yet.