Residents were upset that mayor pro-tem Donna Shipman attempted to hold a council meeting March 18 that earlier had been canceled by Mayor Ramona Fonseca.
After about 50 residents, suspicious that Shipman had attempted to hold the meeting in private, packed City Hall on Tuesday evening, a smaller group met Wednesday night at the Scout cabin next door to discuss seeking the removal of Shipman and Councilwoman Lilia Villarreal.
Both Shipman and Villarreal sought a measure to strip Fonseca of hiring and firing duties just one week after she defeated longtime Mayor David Leach in the November elections.
Wednesday night's meeting even drew the regional vice president of national Hispanic rights group League of United Latin American Citizens, Maria Salazar of Vancouver, Wash.
Both Shipman and Villarreal said they're not worried about any recall efforts.
"It's just like everything else that that group has been doing," Villarreal said. "That LULAC -- I don't know about that group. It seems their goal is more to destroy than to build."
Shipman contends that Fonseca didn't legally cancel the meeting, which requires a vote by the City Council. She also said the meeting was only a study session, where business is discussed but no action taken.
"I'm not going to quit asking questions and bringing stuff up because that's what my job is," she said by telephone. "I can ask questions from the council chair or from the audience. Either way, I'm not going to stop."
But other council members and City Clerk Alice Koerner acknowledge that former Mayor Leach used to cancel meetings the same way Fonseca did.
Angelica Solis, a City Hall clerk, said she resigned March 6 after Koerner ordered her to attend the meeting that she understood was canceled.
She also said Koerner had spoken to Fonseca the day Shipman decided to go forward with the meeting but failed to mention it.
Koerner said she can't recall if she spoke with Fonseca that day.
"I just don't remember," she said by telephone.
Salazar questions Shipman's interest in holding a meeting that was initially canceled by Fonseca and wants to know whether the decision to move ahead with the meeting was made public. She plans to meet with Fonseca next week about the matter.
Within a month, she plans to hold workshops in town to teach residents about public disclosure and the open meetings act.
"I think by having these workshops that we can start educating the community so they can start making some changes and start having a voice," Salazar said. "We've got to move quickly on this."
* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.
E-mail 
Print
Weather/Forecast
