BENSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Four Benson city council members will face a recall election in May after failing to resign by Tuesday's deadline. This follows community backlash over their handling of a proposed aluminum facility project.
The recall involves Vice Mayor Levi Johnson and council members Patrick Boyle, Darren Hayes and Nick Maldonado.
Local advocacy groups say the council failed to provide adequate transparency about the aluminum facility proposal and didn't allow sufficient public input on the project.
"I don't think transparency was around at all and I think that was an afterthought," said Brendan Tammetta, a member of Health over Wealth Benson.
The Committee for a Better Benson filed the recall petition in October. Chairperson Kathryn Townsend said council members made it difficult for people living in Benson to understand what was happening with the proposed facility.
"They were trying to make it difficult for the public to understand what was actually happening," Townsend said.
Townsend also feels like the City Council members did not take enough time to look over plans with the
Planning and Zoning Commission.
"The city council could've very easily said to them, hey let's actually get a look at what the ADEQ report looks like," Townsend said.
She believes the lack of transparency was intentional rather than an oversight.
"I don't believe that that was an oversight on the part of the City. I think that that was a strategy on the part of the City," Townsend said.
Of the four council members facing recall, only Darren Hayes responded to several requests for interviews and comments. Hayes said he will not resign and intends to continue his work on the council.
"Over the past year, it has been an honor to represent our community, advocate for better infrastructure and work collaboratively with my fellow council members and city staff to make Benson a better place for all. I intend to continue this important work with dedication and focus," Hayes said in an email statement.
The city clerk confirmed that since the four council members did not respond to her by the deadline, they will automatically be placed on the recall ballot.
Meanwhile, Health over Wealth Benson is pursuing legal action against the city's Planning and Zoning Commission over the proper filing of a conditional use permit for the aluminum facility.
Tammetta said residents weren't properly notified about the project, which didn't provide adequate time for public input.
"Nobody was really notified about this until almost June of this year," Tammetta said.
He argued that elected officials, not appointed commission members, should be making these decisions.
"It should be the people that we elected actually represent us, not people that are appointed by a council or anybody else that should be voting on this," Tammetta said.
The recall election is scheduled for May 19, 2025. Mayor Joe Konrad will not appear on the ballot because his recall petition did not meet certain requirements.
"There's still an ongoing lawsuit and things can happen. Things can change," Tammetta said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
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