MABTON, Wash.- The Mabton community continues to push for the removal of Rachel Ruelas as mayor.
“It’s nothing personal,” says Ruben Olivarez, who spoke up at the City Council meeting where Ruelas was asked to resign. “I’m just a concerned citizen and I’m standing up for what I think is right. There’s a lot of things that are being done that I feel are illegal.”
Olivarez and the City Council called Ruelas out at the meeting for running the city without an approved budget. Councilmember Sophia Sotelo says she has been asking the mayor for the budget, which would need to be approved at a council meeting, for nearly 6 months.
RCW 35.33.051 confirms the preliminary budget is overdue. Legislation says the budget should be submitted “on or before the first business day in the third month prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.”
The city’s budget raises more concerns for Mabton residents, after a city hall employee was accused of stealing $22,000 from the city with over $9,000 in checks. With the mayor staying silent on the issue, concern spread in the community.
“There was no action taken as far as notifying the public,” says Olivarez. “It’s very easy nowadays to do identity theft when you have information like that, with the name and address, an account number. “It gives somebody the green light to go ahead and try to do identity theft.”
At the June 25 council meeting, Mayor Ruelas refused any questions on the case and referred them to the Chief of Police, who could not comment on an open investigation.
Ruelas started the meeting by telling the room they would stick to only items on the meeting agenda. The meeting agenda is another point of contention for city.
“There’s been back-to-back meetings where the agenda wasn’t presented until the day of the meeting or at the meeting,” says Olivarez. “[City Council] didn’t get the agenda until they walked into those chambers. That’s one of the things that’s frustrating the council members. They’re not prepared until they get there and then are expected to pass on the items.”
RCW 42.30.077 states that not publishing public meeting agendas is also against Washington law.
Olivarez and a group of Mabton citizens gathered the morning after the City Council meeting and submitted a recall to the Yakima County Auditor’s Office.
The office has not provided an update on the recall at the time of this article.
For the recall to process, it would need 25% of the total voters from the last election to sign.
If it doesn’t sign, Olivarez says he’s prepared to go door-to-door for a petition.
“I’m willing to take the chance that I’m going to do what I got to do to make it better, whether people agree with me or not,” says Olivarez. “This is my decision to make and I’m going to stand by it.”
