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GRANGER -- Usually canceling a City Council meeting is no big deal. A notice is posted and newspapers are notified.

But not so in this Lower Valley town of roughly 2,880 residents, where a distrust of city operations has been boiling the past few years.

About 50 suspicious residents, mostly supporters of Mayor Ramona Fonseca, packed City Hall during Tuesday night's regular council meeting, probing Mayor Pro-Tem Donna Shipman about why she attempted to hold a council meeting last week that earlier had been canceled by Fonseca.

One resident even called for Shipman's resignation and accused the City Council of trying to conduct business behind the mayor's back and still "working under the Leach administration."

Fonseca, who took office in January, defeated former longtime Mayor David Leach with 58 percent of the votes in November's election.

Many residents who support Fonseca accused the council of not working with her, and even Fonseca in the past has complained that she received no help from City Hall with her transition into office.

"I am getting sick and tired of people working against one another -- especially (against) the mayor," said resident Petra Esqueda.

Fonseca said she moved to cancel the March 18 study session, where business is only discussed but no action taken, after learning that she and City Clerk-Treasurer Alice Koerner would be out of town that day.

But Shipman later began making arrangements to hold the meeting without contacting Fonseca before canceling it herself at the last minute.

Shipman said any meeting cancellations need to be approved by the City Council, and that didn't happen. She said she later contacted council members to cancel the meeting after learning that there was no business to discuss.

About 20 residents showed up to City Hall that day to find a cancellation notice hanging near the door.

"I'm tired of having the door shut in my face," said resident Maria Gonzalez, also vice president of the local chapter of the Hispanic rights group League of United Latin American Citizens. "We need change here in Granger."

She said her group believes that the City Council attempted to hold the meeting in secret to take some kind of action in Fonseca's absence. The group plans to further discuss the matter during a 6:30 meeting tonight at the Scout cabin next to City Hall.

Shipman denies those allegations, explaining that no action is taken at study sessions.

The concern echoes a meeting that took place a week after Fonseca was elected, when only two members -- Shipman and Lilia Villarreal -- of the five-
member council moved to strip the mayor of hiring and firing duties. That measure was scrapped because it wasn't approved by a majority of the council.

Fonseca said a phone call explaining that the meeting needed to be canceled by a vote of the City Council would have been nice.

But Shipman responded sternly, saying the mayor doesn't have the authority to cancel City Council meetings.

"If you are gone, I will not chase you down to let you know that something is wrong," she told Fonseca. "I'll fix it and you'll find out when you get back."

Koerner and at least one council member, Natalie Ybarra, said that former Mayor Leach used to cancel meetings the same way Fonseca did.

Ybarra said it was her understanding too that the meeting would be canceled.

"To say that we have to vote (to cancel a meeting), I don't know why because we didn't vote before," Ybarra said.

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.