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Tempe City Council member Kolby Granville ousted from office

TEMPE, Ariz. (FOX 10) -- City council members in Tempe have ousted Kolby Granville from office in a vote Friday.

Granville, who served as a city council member since 2012, was ousted in a 6-0 vote. Granville himself abstained from the vote, and one council member, Joel Navarro, did not vote.

Granville's term in office was originally set to expire in July of 2020. Officials will now find a replacement for Granville within 30 days.

According to a statement posted on Tempe's website on April 4, Friday's was scheduled after six council members indicated they would like to vote on the matter. This came after attorney Sarah L. Barnes, who was hired by the city to investigate a possible Code of Conduct violation, reported to the city her conclusion in an investigation into Granville.

The conclusion, according to city officials, is that Granville violated the Tempe City Council's Code of Conduct, in relation to incidents where Granville allegedly engaged in unwanted sexual advances and served alcohol to underage women. The allegations were investigated by Phoenix Police in 2018, but no charges were filed because the three people who complained, while interviewed by police, decided not to help in Granville's prosecution.

According to city officials, ousting a sitting city council member from office became possible after city voters approved a City Charter amendment in the November 2018 election.

Earlier on Friday, ASU's student government president, Joshua Blinkoff, said the ASU Student Senate has passed a resolution Tuesday, calling for the city to remove Granville over the allegations, which Granville has denied.

"There were three separate letters that were sent to the City Council on behalf of former members of student government who had experienced some uncomfortable interactions with him," said Blinkoff.

Blinkoff said the Student Senate took action, after investigating Granville's alleged inappropriate behaviors towards its past members.

"Allegedly, he had been using social media as a way to innocent start talking to a lot of female students and student government leaders, and then, in a flirtatious way, was essentially using social media to ask them on dates," said Blinkoff.

Granville was reportedly fired from the Tempe Preparatory Academy, when the allegations surfaced.

On Friday night, public comments boiled over with opponents of Granville, some telling their stories of surviving sexual assault.

"Remember who put you in those seats," said one woman, who got emotional as she spoke. "It is our daughters. It is our sisters. It is our queer family. It is our sexual assault survivors who put each of you in those seats today. Tempe deserves better than Kolby Granville."

One ASU student also became emotional as she defended Granville.

"He wrote me a letter of recommendation for a scholarship the day before it was due, and I got that scholarship and I go to ASU now and it's really helpful for me," said the student.