The Lawrence City Council is delaying a potential no-confidence vote for Mayor Brian DePeña.
The matter now goes to committee for discussion after the City Council decided to delay the matter.
DePeña is facing dozens of state and federal charges, says he is not stepping down and a no-confidence vote would force him to do so.
“Here we have Brian who’s being accused, but yet the city has never done any better than what it’s doing today,” one resident said during open forum Tuesday night.
“And I understand the mayor of DePeña has the fear for due process and the presumption of innocence, and I believe a lot of us respect that. But as a resident, I also cannot ignore the reality that the current mayor is facing,” another man added.
DePeña was most recently accused of secretly recording two city employees and sharing the video with others, allegations that led to more than a dozen new charges being filed against him at both the state and federal levels.
Federal prosecutors have also alleged that DePeña misused federal pandemic relief loan funds for personal benefit. He faces 11 counts of pandemic loan fraud, accused of obtaining a $1.5M small business loan for his tire sales business.
Despite the mounting legal troubles, DePeña has made it clear he has no plans to resign and has said that he is prepared to “vigorously defend” himself against the charges.
DePeña has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. He is also scheduled to appear in court next month to face the state charges.
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