New Banning City Council Members Sworn In As Recount Looms

Banning swore in four new council members Tuesday night, just days before a recount is set to begin for the District 2 seat.

District 1 Councilmember Leroy Miller, District 2 Councilmember Cindy Barrington, District 3 Councilmember Sheri Flynn and District 4 Councilmember Richard Royce were sworn in after the outgoing members — Mayor Alberto Sanchez, Mayor Pro Tem Rick Minjares and Councilmember David Happe — were recognized.

“Thank you for your service to the community, thank you for your support and confidence in the city staff and for the opportunity to work with each of you,” City Manager Doug Schulze said. “It’s been a pleasure.”

Flynn was chosen by the council to serve as mayor for the upcoming year and Royce was selected to serve as mayor pro tem. Also sworn in were City Treasurer Gladys “Sue” Savage and City Clerk Vickie Lopez Sellers.

But Barrington’s time on the council might be short-lived if the recount successfully overturns the result of the District 2 election.

“I’m dismayed and concerned because my lead was narrow,” Barrington said of the effort. “I only won by five votes, so if the tables were turned, I’d probably want to recount too.”

Certified results from the Nov. 5 election show Barrington won the election with a total of 721 votes compared to Miriam Ramirez’s 716.

“It was a very tight race, and the district is very small, and, from what I understood, there were quite a few contested ballots that needed to be cured, and I don’t know if they had enough time to cure properly,” Keturah Chavez, who filed the recount request, said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “And that seat is so super important on our city council.”

After initially agreeing to speak with The Record, Ramirez later declined the interview in a follow-up email, stating she would “have to pass on this one.”

The recall, which is expected to take up to five days, is set to begin tomorrow with an estimated cost of $3,860 per day, according to Elizabeth Florer, public information officer for the Riverside County Registrar of Voters (ROV).

“I believe that comes from the county, the registrar, I think that’s part of the, I’m sure they’re the ones that are paying for it,” Chavez said when asked about the cost. “I’m not sure if the city is themselves or the registrar.”

But neither the city nor the ROV pay for the cost of a recount. Payment of the fees associated with the recount are the responsibility of the person who made the request, according to Florer.

Florer said the count had been paid for and the receipt was sent to Chavez, but could not say who actually paid for the first day of the recount. Attorneys from Rutan & Tucker representing Chavez in the recount request did not return The Record’s request for comment.

As part of her recount request, Chavez also asked to examine all “relevant material related to this election,” including ballot envelopes for ballots that were not counted for any reason, voter registration records, voter files and vote tally logs.

Barrington said she believes that the San Gorgonio Pass PAC, which supported Ramirez, is behind the recount effort.

“It really concerns me for the citizens of Banning if she gets elected, because she’s so profoundly unqualified,” Barrington said. “So it’s not that I want the seat so badly, but the citizens of banning deserve someone who will represent them on the council, not the big corporations who are backing Miriam.”

According to campaign filings, the PAC spent more than $12,000 in support of Ramirez’s campaign as of Nov. 4. The PAC’s largest donors this year were the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which contributed $12,000, and Diversified Pacific, LLC, and NP Banning Industrial, LLC, both of which contributed $10,000 as of Oct. 19, according to campaign filings.

Diversified Pacific, LLC, is the company behind the 831-acre Rancho San Gorgonio development in the city that includes a mix of residential, commercial and green space. NP Banning Industrial, LLC, is the company behind the proposed 534-acre Sunset Crossroads project, which includes approximately 392 acres of industrial development.

“I feel like there’s a nefarious effort to unseat me and get her on, because she would just be a puppet for, you know, the wheels of corruption, or whatever you want to call it, because she doesn’t know enough,” Barrington said.

Robert Ybarra, owner of Precision Material Handling and principal officer for the PAC, did not return The Record’s request for comment.

The recount is slated to begin on Friday and is estimated to take between four and five days to complete. Recounts are not conducted on the weekends, Florer said.

Daily results of the recount will be posted here on the ROV’s website.