Recall Effort Targets San Benito County Supervisors

Ahead of Monday's San Benito County Supervisor's meeting, 2 supervisors were provided notices of intention seeking their recall, just 6 months into their new terms.

District 2 supervisor Kollin Kosmicki and District 5 supervisor Ignacio Velasquez are being targeted. The notices were delivered by former Hollister City Councilmember Rick Perez. According to the documentation provided by Perez, an organization called Public Safety First is seeking to recall the pair over their handling of the county's finances and fire services contract with the city of Hollister.

However, the targeted supervisors say that this issue isn't about the fire services contract issue at all. In a statement, Supervisor Kosmicki says "This political stunt involves radical special interests who support extremely rapid housing growth in San Benito County. This will not deter me in the least from continuing to support responsible growth, farmland preservation and road improvements as top priorities. This isn’t about fire protection as they claim. In fact, the county board is considering a new fire contract Tuesday that I helped negotiate and members of this same group have opposed ‒ a group that includes former Hollister Councilman Rick Perez who served me initial recall signature documents today. This is the same Rick Perez with a disturbing criminal history involving child abuse and domestic violence, among many other alarming crimes, and the community deserves to know who is behind this. Anyone can gather 60 signatures as a scare tactic to intimidate local leaders if they so choose. I will not be intimidated and will continue to lead boldly."

As for next steps, the group will need more signatures to force a recall vote. As of Monday night, both petitions have more than 60 signatures being validated by the county election office. They will need 1,736 signatures for Kosmicki and 1,833 for Velasquez.