Last week, three former Alpine city council members filed a recall affidavit for the recall of Mayor Avinash Rangra. Signs went up on Monday around Alpine calling for the recall. For Marfa Public Radio, Sarah Vasquez took the temperature of the community of Alpine over this issue.
When you walk by Ivan’s Warehouse, you immediately see the red poster with the mayor’s face. Inside is the recall center where Carlos Lujan has set up his campaign to recall Alpine City Mayor Avinash Rangra.
Johnson, Lujan and Diana Asgeirsson are the group behind the recall. Last week, they filed an affidavit and signs went up Monday in support of the recall. They’re currently trying to collect the 350 signatures necessary to call a special recall election. Lujan set up the center on East Holland Avenue to raise campaign awareness and gather signatures.
On the afternoon KRTS visited, an Alpine resident was intrigued by the posters while walking by, and stopped in. After hearing what Lujan had to say, he later returned with his wife to sign the petition.
Lujan also said that vollunteers will call voters from the center and walk door to door to collect signatures. He has about seven people gathering signatures.
Other Alpine residents, like Joseph Goldman, are skeptical about the special election. Goldman was recently appointed to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, and he’s served on the Environmental Advisory Board in the past. Goldman’s first response to news of the recall effort was to ask….why?
The former council members list a variety of reasons. Lujan and Johnson claim that Mayor Rangra doesn’t have ethics. Johnson says it’s the mayor’s obstructionism and that bothers him, especially after an independent audit critical of the city’s management was released in April.
But Goldman disagrees.
Mayor Rangra wouldn’t comment for this story, but he said in the Alpine Avalanche this week, this petition is character assassination.
There’s been a lot of accusations and finger pointing from both sides.
Goldman has worked all over the world, lived in Houston and is involved in scientific and professional organizations. Yet he says this situation is like nothing he’s ever seen.
Whether there’s a recall election or not is still up in the air. However, former councilman Johnson would like it to happen soon. Lujan said that if Mayor Rangra is voted out of office, they will move on to out other officials they feel need to be removed. But Johnson has a different goal.
According to the city charter, they have six months prior to the recent general election to call the special election.