Santa Maria City Council Getting Their Bearings After Eventful Meeting
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - The Santa Maria City Council will consider appointing someone to replace former councilman Carolos Escobedo who abruptly quit during Tuesday night’s council meeting.
Right now, people living and working in Santa Maria’s District 1 don’t have representation on city council.
When councilman Escobedo announced his resignation and walked out of Tuesday night’s council meeting, city leaders say they didn’t know if they’d have another chance to applaud his service to date.
“As he provided comment, there was a desire to, acknowledge his, service to the city of Santa Maria, to the community,” says Chuen Wu, currently serving as Santa Maria’s City Manager.
With the councilman’s abrupt resignation, local residents and their representatives are eager to see what happens next.
“Sometimes things that are unexpected, they happen,” says Wu. “But, you know, we will remain focused on the work and continue to do what's best for our businesses and for our residents.”
Santa Maria City Attorney Tom Watson says a municipal election is occurring this November, and the city council has the option to appoint someone to fill the vacant seat for the remainder of Escobedo’s term, which is through 2028.
“At the last election, that Carlos did win, his primary opponent was Maria Salguero,” says Gary Hall, a resident of Santa Maria who has spoken at several recent city council meeting. “And, I would hope that she would be considered as a temporary replacement.”
City leaders have agreed to discuss that option at the next council meeting.
Later Tuesday evening, the vote to establish an ad-hoc immigration committee resulted in a tie, defeating the motion.
“We were all surprised the vote came out the way it did,” says Hall. “If it would have been different if Carlos had been there, I can't speculate. I can imagine he would support it. I can also imagine he wouldn't support it based on other things he’s said.”
City leaders say long-term employees are hard at work keeping the basic functioning of city operations running, but do they acknowledge the so-called “plot twist.”
“There's always a lot of city business to conduct,” says Wu. “This certainly adds a twist to it, but we'll continue to work with our elected leaders and have that conversation, take direction from them.”
Locals say the sudden vacancy of the seat opens and re-opens many controversial questions.
Escobedo’s priorities were public safety, housing, homeless outreach, and Santa Maria’s quality of life.
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