At its Jan. 2 meeting, the Los Banos City Council, consisting of Mayor Michael Amabile, District 1 Councilmember Kenneth Lambert and District 4 Councilmember Deborah Lewis, determined the interview process and the process for selecting applicants to fill the council vacancies for Districts 2 and 3.
The council meeting was adjourned to a Jan. 8 meeting at 6 p.m. at city hall (520 J St.) where Interviews will take place with the goal of selecting two new council members.
There are four applicants from District 2 (Refugio Llamas, Evan Sanders, Abel Molina, and Cody Camacho) and seven for District 3 (Erasmo Viveros, Marcus Chaves, Steven Nunes, Miguel Alejandre, Sybil Halloran, Philip Deleon, and John Cates) that will present themselves to the city council. Each person will have time for a three-minute introduction and a twelve-minute response to a total of six questions, with a limit of two minutes for each question.
The six questions are: What do you feel would be the most important economic catalyst for Los Banos moving forward? How does a strong local business community make Los Banos a better place to live? What are your thoughts on creating a sense of community pride in Los Banos? What do you hope to accomplish as a city council representative for your district? What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing Los Banos, and how do you feel it should be addressed? and; What do you feel is the best reason someone would want to move to Los Banos and why?
The selection process will consist of two rounds.
In round one, for District 3 in order to get the number of applicants down to three, Councilmembers Lewis, Lambert and Mayor Amabile will vote for their two first-place applicants from the full list of applicants. Each councilmember must vote for two applicants. Each vote is worth two points. The three applicants receiving the most points advance to the next round.
In the second round, each councilmember will rank by written ballot three applicants in order of preference. Each councilmember must select three different applicants. The applicants will be assigned a point value: three points for first choice, two points for second choice and one point for third choice.
The second round for District 3 applicants will be the same process for the District 2 applicants.
City Clerk Lucy Mallonee will announce the vote of each councilmember. For each district, the applicant who receives the most points will be appointed to fill the vacancy by resolution of the city council and will be sworn in that evening.
The council also voted to appoint Christopher Pericone to be Planning Commissioner for District 1 for the four-year term expiring on Dec. 31, 2028.
A Certificate of Recognition for the Employee of the Month for December 2024 was awarded to Jennifer Loa, The Homeless Outreach Coordinator within Community and Economic Development.
More information regarding this meeting’s agenda and details can be found on the city website by going to the “Jan. 2 City Council Agenda” and then to “Agenda Packets.”
