Two days after her home was searched as part of a corruption probe into a $23 million aquatic center, embattled Huntington Park Mayor Karina Macias faced angry residents clamoring for her resignation at a hastily called City Council meeting.

After the crowd’s heckling subsided and the tense meeting wound down, Macias had the final word, defending her leadership and promising that the stalled pool project would be resuscitated.

“I feel very confident where I stand,” said the mayor, who is in her third four-year term. “The aquatic center/pool project is not an illusion in the community and will soon be a reality.”

The council meeting on Friday, Feb. 28, included plenty of fireworks.

Longtime Huntington Park City Attorney Arnold Alvarez-Glasman abruptly tendered his resignation. “The current environment, the lack of communication with my office has made our continued representation unreasonably difficult,” Glasman said, reading from a letter addressed to the council.

Additionally, Vice Mayor Arturo Flores, who isn’t being investigated, delivered a fiery speech alleging efforts to recall him are connected to Efren Martinez, owner of Unified Consulting Services.

Martinez’s residence and office were searched by Los Angeles County district attorney’s investigators on Wednesday, Feb. 26, along with the homes of Macias, Huntington Park City Manager Ricardo Reyes, former Councilmembers Graciela Ortiz and Marilyn Sanabria. and current Councilmember Eddie Martinez. Search warrants also were served at the home of Edvin Tsaturyan and Sona Vardikyan, owners of JT Construction Group, which was hired by the city in 2019 to complete the pool project.

“This recall effort doesn’t reflect my record of service, but appears to be a retaliatory attempt to hinder transparency and accountability,” Flores said. “Let’s focus on investigating the failed pool project, let’s focus on retracing the millions of unaccounted dollars and restoring the faith and trust of local government to the people.”

The aquatic center project, approved years ago but never built, called for a 30,000-square-foot, two-story, state-of-the-art facility with an Olympic-size pool.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, a parade of residents assailed the City Council, with one man reflecting that the aquatic center controversy reminded him of the 2010 scandal that rocked nearby Bell involving widespread municipal corruption and financial misconduct.

Four former Huntington Park employees have sued the city, alleging they faced discrimination and retaliation for raising concerns about financial impropriety in connection with the aquatic center, said their attorney, Annette Harings. All four were placed on leave and three have been terminated.

The complaint, filed in 2020, accused the city of going on a “spending spree” that included entering into a “no-bid contract to build an unnecessary public pool which will cost a staggering $40,000,000.”

Huntington Park entered into the original contract, initially valued at $23 million, with JT Construction in 2019, records show. A resume provided to the city by JT Construction showed the company had not completed any projects similar to the proposed aquatic center in the previous 20 years.

The lawsuit alleges city officials colluded with Efren Martinez to use the “coffers of Huntington Park as their own personal piggy bank.” During an unsuccessful run for state Assembly in 2020, Martinez listed JT Construction as one of Unified Consulting’s clients.

Martinez could not be reached for comment.

The departed employees, all of whom had significant experience in City Hall, were replaced by “younger employees who did not have the same in-depth knowledge of how a finance department is supposed to work,” Harings claimed.

Three of the employees later settled with the city. A fourth is heading to trial this month.

Staff writer Jason Henry contributed to this article.