Superior Town Clerk terminated after alleging financial wrongdoing by Mayor Valenzuela
by James Hodl | Copper Area News
Accusations of financial wrongdoing by Superior Mayor Jayme Valenzuela were made as members of the Town Council were considering whether to retain Town Clerk Rachelle Sanchez past her six-month probationary period during the Dec. 9 Council meeting.
During the public hearing on her job, Sanchez dropped a bombshell during her statement to the Council that four cash withdrawals totaling $1,311 were made on town credit and debit cards during December 2014 at locations that included the Wild Horse Pass Casino in Chandler. It was further alleged that some of the cash withdrawals were made by Mayor Valenzuela.
The accusations of financial wrongdoing caught Council members and other town officials by surprise, prompting an immediate counter-allegation that Sanchez was making the charges as retribution for the recommendation that she “wasn’t working out” in the job and should be let go and replaced. A source privy to Superior finances confirmed to the Superior Sun that most of these withdrawals were made by Mayor Valenzuela, but that they were all reimbursed back to the town.
