Solvang accepts recall of former councilman Chris Djernaes

Solvang City Council held a special meeting on Nov. 30 to accept the recall of former Councilmember Chris Djernaes and swear in the candidate elected to fill the vacancy. 

All members of the council were present except for Djernaes, leaving his seat already empty for the next council member. 

click to enlarge Solvang accepts recall of former councilman Chris Djernaes
PHOTO COURTESY OF JIM THOMAS
FILLING THE SEAT : Councilmember candidate Jim Thomas is sworn into the Solvang city council Nov. 30 after the council accepted the election results of a councilmember’s recall.

The certified election results show 2,878 votes, nearly 90 percent of Solvang voters, in favor of the recall with only 434 voters opposed. Djernaes’ recall began with a citizen-led petition claiming that he wasn’t respectful to residents and disregarded the wishes of voters

When it came time for public comment on the matter on Nov. 30, the few attendees in the meeting room, on the phone lines, and on Zoom were silent—a stark contrast to past comments calling for Djernaes to resign or threatening to remove other members of the council.

Lammy Johnstone, who spearheaded the Djernaes recall effort, threatened other City Council members at a July 27 council meeting. 

“Let this be a lesson to any council member or mayor. If you do not listen to we the people of Solvang, we will remove you,” she said.  

Mayor Ryan Toussaint followed the lack of public comments at the special meeting with two questions, asking City Manager Xenia Bradford whether anyone had ever been recalled by 90 percent before.

Bradford, who started working for Solvang in 2019, replied that it hadn’t in her tenure with the city.

Toussaint’s second question was directed at City Attorney Chip Wullbrandt to clarify the process of a council member “being served and usually they shape up before being shipped out.”

Wullbrandt referred to the Secretary of State’s handbook on local agency recall process, which includes the recallee being served. According to the handbook, Wullbrandt said, a local agency is required to give the recallee an opportunity to provide a responsive statement to the community.

“In the Secretary of State’s handbook, it mentions the fact that very few recalls go past that point because typically the recallee, on hearing the concerns of the citizens who elected them, will at least make an effort to correct their ways or explain their ways,” Wullbrandt said. “In this instance, I would note: You had a circumstance where the recallee sort of doubled down on the activity that the citizens had complained about.”

Toussaint said those were his comments on the recall and gestured toward Djernaes’ vacant seat. 

“Chris Djernaes if you have anything ... that’s OK, he’s not here,” Toussaint said.

The council approved the resolution accepting the recall and moved to swear in Jim Thomas to fill the newly vacated seat. Thomas received 2,282 votes, approximately 72 percent, over the other candidate Jaime Baker, who had 876 votes, about 27 percent.

Thomas’ term ends in December 2022. 

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