IVEDC president responds to Calipatria mayor’s allegations

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA) - Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation (IVEDC) President Tim Kelley is speaking out following allegations made by Calipatria Mayor Michael Luellan.

Mayor Luellan accused Kelley of strong-arming City Council members to reverse a vote on withdrawing support from Kelley's organization.

However, Kelley says there was never any vote, nor was there a reversal.

In order to vote on an item not on the agenda, the council would need two-thirds vote that immediate action is necessary, and Kelley says it never happened.

"The question is the vote pertaining to IVEDC, and there was no vote taken," Kelley explained. "As a matter of fact, if you look at the agenda, it can't be voted on unless it's on the agenda, and there's nothing on the agenda to vote on. So therefore, that must have been a mistake on his part."

KYMA reached out to Luellan, who maintains that a vote did occur.

"I'ts unfortunate that, you know, one member of the council has said some things that are untrue, not only about me, but about Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation. And IVDC is made up of over 100 investors, and the 100 investors are not appreciative of a member of a community speaking out against them," Kelley said.

Kelley said he has a good working relationship with the city council.

He said the mayor's comments recently on Facebook have caught him off guard, especially since they had spoken about Luellen's plan to run for reelection.

"The mayor contacted me about 6 weeks ago requesting that I endorse him for his reelection," Kelley said.

Another topic was if Kelley ever called any of the city council members to talk about a possible vote to ban data centers in Calipatria.

Kelley said he is not even aware of any plans for a data center in that area.