A resident-led effort to recall Lawrence Mayor Brian DePena is moving forward as he faces criminal charges at both the state and federal levels. The effort follows the Lawrence City Council's vote of “no confidence” in DePena’s leadership.
Right now at 6, the Lawrence City Council voting
no confidence in Mayor Brian DePena,
now formally casting doubt on his ability to lead
while facing federal and state charges.
DePena pleading not guilty and denies any wrongdoing.
Boston 25's Carly Dionne, live in Lawrence.
Carly, what's next here?
Because the council has no legal authority to force him to step down.
Well, Scott, that's right.
Despite council's vote of no confidence,
they still do not have the power to remove the mayor from his seat,
which is why some residents are stepping up
to initiate this recall petition,
and they believe they can get the thousands of signatures they need.
There's no other way we can remove the mayor.
He already said that he doesn't want to resign.
Sarah Perez organized the effort
to recall Lawrence Mayor Brian DePena from his seat.
Last week, she filed a recall affidavit with the clerk's office
with more than 100 signatures from Lawrence residents.
Once approved, she'll have 30 days to get
the 7,079 signatures needed to recall the mayor from his position.
We have a team of people that are ready
and eager to start collecting signatures.
We want a mayor that better respects our needs
and the things that we're facing as citizens here.
Some Lawrence residents say aside from the 26 criminal charges DePena
is facing at the state and federal levels,
they also don't believe he's supporting the city's needs.
Lawrence is still a low-income city.
It hasn't stopped being a low-income city, and this is his second term,
and it seems like not much of that has changed.
What's the count?
We have six voting in favor, three voting present, one voting no.
Tuesday night, City Council voted no confidence in DePena
with five votes yes, one vote no, and three present.
And now, not only he has 26 different charges, but you
also have a City Council that is thinking twice about his leadership.
Some of the state charges against the mayor include allegations
he secretly recorded City Hall employees and shared the footage.
He pleaded not guilty to those charges last week.
The federal charges accused DePena
of misusing $1.5 million in pandemic relief funds.
It's very concerning
and a distraction for the community due to the fact that now he's going
to have to focus on that instead of focusing on his job.
Mayor DePena's office says they have
no comment regarding the vote of no confidence
and referred us to his attorney to discuss any legal matters.
He has previously said he will not resign.
The federal case involves business activities
that happened before he became mayor.
And Sarah Perez says she's hoping to get the green light
to move forward with that recall petition by this Friday.
And again, she'll have 30 days to get
the more than 7,000 signatures she'll need.
Live in Lawrence, Carly Deon for your local station, Boston 25 News.
