More than 75% of voters in Avenal voted to oust their mayor and three of four city council members in a recall election held on April 28. The special election was held amid disagreements over a new fire protocol policy that boiled over, according to local reporting by the Fresno Bee.

The results were certified by Kings County officials on May 28. The four recalled leaders have refused to step down, asserting that the recall process was unlawful.

Mayor Alvaro Preciado and council members Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa, and Pablo Hernandez remain in their positions as of mid-August.

They maintain that only the city, not the county, has the jurisdiction to call a special election.

At a June city council meeting, the group voted 3-0 to disregard the election outcome. State law requires recalled officials to leave office promptly after certification.

The incident has reached the point where the Kings County District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Office recently sent a cease-and-desist letter to the four recalled officials, informing them that they are unlawfully remaining in office and prohibited from using public funds.

Yet they still remain in a position of power, refusing to step down. This has led to aggravation amongst Avenal residents, leading to heated public meetings, resident protests, and legal proceedings.

Zev Yaroslavsky, the director of the Los Angeles initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said in an interview with The Guardian that, over 40 years as an elected official in Los Angeles, he has never heard of recalled officials remaining in office.

“We are a democracy of laws, not of whim. I don’t understand how people who were recalled in April can still be serving in August. They are making decisions on a constituency that they are not legally entitled to make,” said Yaroslavsky.

According to local reporting, the next course of action is through the legal process known as “quo warranto”, which is used to determine whether someone is lawfully holding public office. If authorized by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the proceeding could ultimately result in the four officials being forcibly removed.