Santa Ysabel tribal Chairman Johnny Hernandez will keep his job, at least for now.

In a divided decision, the tribe's leadership voted 4-3 Saturday not to remove Hernandez from office following allegations that he misspent $27,180 of the tribe's money last year. The tribe's seven-member Legislative branch held a hearing on the allegations.

Hernandez, who has been chairman since 2003, still faces a recall petition from some tribal members. A group of opponents is collecting signatures to remove him from office. If the signature-gathering effort is successful, members of the 650-member tribe would get to vote on whether to recall the chairman.

Hernandez declined to comment on the specifics of the case against him or the outcome of Saturday's vote.

"I feel that tribal business and political matters should remain within the tribe," he said in a written statement. "This tribe is my family and family matters shall be kept within the tribe."

The same seven-member Legislature voted unanimously last month to bring forward the removal petition. But four of the members apparently were moved by the chairman's arguments in his defense at the hearing.

Vice Chairwoman Brandie Taylor, who has had an ongoing feud with the chairman, said she was surprised by the outcome of the vote.

"Honestly, we were shocked at the four votes for him," she said in an email statement. "The four never gave their reasons and now the tribal members want to know how they could have voted for the best interest of the tribe by allowing him to stay in office."

In the petition for removal, the tribe's Legislature alleged that Hernandez misspent the $27,180, which the tribe had allocated last year as a payment for the Inter-Tribal Court. The petition did not say how the money was spent.

Hernandez said last month that the claim was false. He said he paid the court what the tribe could afford at the time, $5,000. The chairman said the tribe had failed to pass a budget for 10 months, which put the tribe's finances in disarray.

"When an annual budget is not in place at the start of the fiscal year, the constitution gives the chairman the authority to spend the funds on 'essential government functions as determined by the chairman until an annual budget is approved,' which I did," Hernandez said last month.

When the tribe's budget was approved, it "allocated money the tribe did not have after operating for 10 months," Hernandez added.

Since last year, Hernandez and Taylor have fought over the tribe's casino and other issues.

Hernandez said last month that the effort to remove him was politically motivated because Taylor wants to become the tribe's chairwoman.

Taylor has said that the chairman excluded her from casino businesses and that he has violated tribal rules by firing tribal government officials without due process.

Santa Ysabel opened a $27 million, 35,000-square-foot casino with 349 slot machines two years ago. But unlike other North County Tribes that have lucrative operations, Santa Ysabel has struggled to attract enough customers to its remote reservation near Julian.

The tribe owes the county about $1 million in missed payments stemming from a deal struck between the two governments to help pay for increased law enforcement, ambulances and problem gambling programs.

Taylor said she intends to help gather signatures to remove Hernandez.

Call staff writer Edward Sifuentes at 760-740-3511.