No Election : San Fernando City Council to Fill Vacancy

The San Fernando City Council voted to appoint a new council member rather than hold a special election to fill the seat of former Councilman Ray Silva, who resigned last week because he moved out of the city.

Each of the remaining four council members will submit nominations at the council’s July 18 meeting.

Under the state Election Code, the city must appoint the new council member or call for a special election by July 30, said City Administrator Donald E. Penman.

Silva, whose resignation was effective July 1, was elected in 1986. He was the first councilman in 34 years who lived in the city’s heavily Latino South Side.

Silva and his family have moved to Central California, where he plans to study to become a minister. He called his two years in office “a highlight in my life” and said that the decision to move was “very difficult.”

In his resignation letter to the city, Silva asked the council to give high priority to appointing a South Side Latino resident “for more direct continuity of representation.”

Although the five San Fernando council members are elected at-large, Councilman Jess Margarito agreed with Silva, saying that council members “should live throughout the city. On that principle, I am going to stay with the South Side.”

Mayor Roy Richardson said at Tuesday night’s meeting that he favors appointing Silva’s successor rather than paying $5,000 to $10,000 for a special election.

“This is much simpler all the way around, especially because there are a number of qualified people,” he said.

Richardson and Margarito listed several people they will consider for the vacancy, including Mary Jane Tuomy, chairman of the Planning Commission; Doude Wysbeek, a former councilman, and two South Side residents, Evelio Franco, chairman of that area’s redevelopment committee, and Jose Hernandez, an urban studies professor at Cal State Northridge.

“A lot of names are being tossed around, and I don’t think any one has more than two votes at this time,” Richardson said. “I really can’t speculate as to what is going to happen.”

Hernandez, 56, is the only person to request consideration formally for the post in a letter to the council. He has lived in the community for 20 years and is a member of the Planning Commission. He said he wants to represent the interests of his Latino neighborhood.