ARVIN, Calif. (KERO) — During Tuesday night's city council meeting, Arvin officials announced Councilman Juan Murillo resigned from office--a resignation, they say, he attempted to withdraw but was not able to.
- Juan Murillo resigned from being an Arvin council member.
- He later tried to withdraw his resignation, but it was too late.
- His absence from council meetings for 60 consecutive days led to his automatic vacancy.
- The council will most likely appoint someone to fill Murillo's vacancy.
- The next council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 24th.
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
If you've attended the last couple of Arvin council meetings, you may have questioned why Juan Murillo was absent. According to officials, Murillo communicated his desire to resign from the council two weeks ago.
For his resignation to be effective, the Arvin City attorney Nathan Hodges says the council must take action to accept the resignation.
Before accepting it, Hodges reported that Murillo attempted to withdraw his resignation on Monday. Though his withdrawal was effective, Hodges says, due to California Government Code Section 36513A, if a council member is absent without permission from city council meetings for 60 days consecutively, they automatically vacate their seat.
"Murillo hasn't been at the July 27th meeting nor either of the August meetings, so his 60-day window expired September 7th, so he vacated his office on that date," said Hodges.
Now, the council must fill Murillo's vacancy by either holding a special election or appointing someone.
Given that elections are scheduled to take place in November, Hodges says the council will most likely not decide to move forward with a special election, and instead, appoint someone to fill Murillo's vacancy.
"We have to have a quorum, so if two council members miss, then we've only got four council members, so the meeting can't take place," explained Hodges. "Also, a two to two vote means that something doesn't pass, so it's beneficial to have all five members and have that seat full."
The council moved to fill in the vacancy during the next council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 24th.
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