A standing-room-only crowd filled the San Fernando City Council chambers this week for the swearing-in ceremonies for re-elected Councilmembers Mary Solorio and Mary Mendoza, and new incoming Councilmember Sean M. Rivas.
All three councilmembers will serve four-year terms. Rivas had previously run twice for a local council seat before successfully placing second in the June 2 election with over 19% of the vote.
Despite the meeting’s overall celebratory atmosphere, including several community members expressing their support for the winning councilmembers during public comments, numerous challenges remain for the council and the City of San Fernando. Among them, the recent and sudden departure of Fabian Valdez as chief of the San Fernando Police Department, leaving the department, which has been fraught with controversy for years, without a leader or interim chief.
Another concern is regarding the nitrate levels in the city’s wells – recent testing indicates nitrate concentrations appear to be rising once again, a source told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol.
The City of San Fernando owns and operates four groundwater wells (2A, 3, 4 and 7A) that draw water from the Sylmar Groundwater Basin. But in recent years, two of the wells (2A and 3) had to be shut down due to high levels of nitrates, forcing the city to buy water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD).
After importing water from MWD for two years – and successfully treating and reducing the nitrate concentrations in the city’s wells – city officials shut off the valve to MWD water and resumed using their own water wells in September of 2024.
But if city officials are once again forced to address water infrastructure issues or resume importing MWD water in the future, it could result in major financial implications for the city.
Reorganizing the City Council
After the three newly-elected councilmembers were sworn in on Monday, the council then elected and installed Vice Mayor Victoria Garcia as the new mayor of San Fernando, and Councilmember Patty Lopez to serve as the next vice mayor. Both positions are one-year terms.
From her new mayoral seat on the dais, Garcia discussed some of her goals for San Fernando.
“This year, I would like to lead with the theme ‘San Fernando: Together We Rise,’” she said. “We are all here today with a love for our city, and I believe that with that love comes a desire to do what’s best for our community and take our little, but powerful and important city to new levels.”
After taking his seat alongside his new fellow councilmembers, Rivas expressed his gratitude for the community’s support and the collective effort that helped ensure his win.
“This victory belongs to all of us,” he said. “This moment is not about one person or [about one] group. It’s about a community that believes in its future and is ready to move forward together.”
Rivas held back tears as he discussed the impactful lessons he learned from his late mother, who passed away last year, which guided his decision to seek public office.
“I wish she could have been here for this moment,” he said. “My mother was my first teacher, my greatest supporter and the person who taught me the value of service.”
Rivas told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol that he hopes to help the city become stronger and more self-reliant.
“I’m very thankful for our partnerships, both at the state and federal levels, that have done a lot of great things to help us get to where we’re at now, but I don’t want to have to just rely on them,” he said. “I want to be able to say that the city has invested in its own resources.”
Resources such as the city’s youth and “our small businesses,” he added, “so that we’re not losing the revenue that the businesses help generate.”
Let’s hope with the departure of Joel Fajardo there will now be some civility returned to the council and more importantly some integrity. Hopeful also this Mayor will not interfere in police disciplinary matters nor intervene to protect those who allegedly commit acts of misconduct, dishonesty and unconstitutional policing although the record doesn’t speak well for this hope. Congratulations to Councilmember Rivas on his election and the reelection of Council member Solorio. I urge Council members Mendoza and Lopez to work with these members to return integrity to the City’s government and police department. A Chief of integrity must be chosen, not one from the past, and be allowed to lead the department and not the leadership of the POA that cannot be trusted and continue to disregard and disrespect the community, it’s good members, and the profession.