WESTMINSTER, Calif. – Neighbors created a group called Westminster-United in an effort to recall the mayor of Westminster, his vice mayor, and a city council member.

“We have at least five to six points on their petition with what they’ve done wrong and unethical and we also have another list of over 25 on our website. We have proof for every one of these,” said David Johnson, a long time resident and Westminster City Commissioner.

Johnson and his wife bought their first home ever in Westminster more than 12 years ago. He loves his melting pot of a neighborhood, but says the city has changed.

“We’ve been declining in many ways from homelessness and vagrants and blight all over the city, from all of our taxes going up, from our services going down, from our fees going up. Unfortunately the mayor, isn’t taking any responsibility for this,” said Johnson.

Johnson and his neighbors wrote petitions to recall Mayor Tri Ta, Vice Mayor Kimberly Ho, and Councilman Chi Charlie Nguyen. Among the many things the group is accusing the three leaders of is nepotism, favoritism, and rejecting a code of conduct for city employees that would potentially prevent abuse of power.

However, no one on the council is safe. Council Members Sergio Contreras and Tai Do were also served with notices of intent for recalls by a different group.

“The residents of the city deserves to have an honest government that doesn’t violate anyone’s rights, protects everyone and operate in the open and I’ve been working hard for that to happen and as a result I am the target for this shameful recall effort,” said Council Member Tai Do.

Council member Do is a Long Beach Police officer. He says he bought his home in Westminster in 1991 and raised his son and daughter in the city. He is being accused of adding unnecessary items onto the agenda and abusing his freedom of speech.

“The way they operate in this great country is very similar to communists and that is not acceptable especially when they shut down the minority voice and implement undemocratic rules and serious violations of the constitution first amendment right,” said Do.

Council Member Contreras had jury duty during the filming of this story so he issued the following statement:

“As far as I am aware, there is only one recall that has actually qualified, and it does not include me.  I know there was a lot of talk about a second recall but it appears that effort has failed and was simply an attempt by political operatives to distract and confuse the voters.  In my time in public service, I have worked tirelessly to serve all Westminster residents.  I trust the voters to do what is best to move the city forward, and I look forward to continuing my work on City Council.”

Mayor Ta chose not to speak on camera, but issued the following statement:

“My mission as Mayor is to continue to move our City forward. There is too much important work that needs to get done to be caught up in manufactured political attacks that only distract from what we are trying to achieve as a City. Under my leadership, this City has been able to implement a number of new project and programs that are aimed at making life better for our citizens. I am not going to let this political grandstanding and gamesmanship stand in the way of my commitment to the people of Westminster to continue to improve our City.”

The petitions for Councilman Contreras and Do have not yet been approved by the city clerk. However, Westminster-United’s petitions were approved so their next step is to collect more than 8,000 signatures from registered voters in the city to potentially recall three of the most powerful people in Westminster.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to Vice Mayor Ho and Council Member Nguyen three times each, but our messages were not returned.