Jess Margarito Chosen as 1st Latino Mayor of San Fernando
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Jess Margarito, who has served on the San Fernando City Council two years, has been unanimously elected mayor by the four other council members, making him the first Latino to hold the post in the city’s 75-year history.
Margarito, 38, a program information manager for Valley Cable, will be mayor for a year. He said his priorities will be to attract more business to the aging downtown San Fernando Mall and to improve housing.
Councilman James B. Hansen, 51, who was appointed to the council last fall when a councilman moved out of the city, was elected mayor pro-tem. Hansen is corporate secretary and vice president of Simon Levi Corp., a Carson-based beverage distributor.
The votes were taken at a Tuesday evening ceremony at which three newly elected council members were sworn in: Ray D. Silva, Daniel Acuna and Roy Richardson. The April 8 election of Acuna and Silva created a Latino majority on the council. Two incumbents, Mayor Doude Wysbeek and Carmillis M. Noltemeyer, were defeated.
The new council will hold its first regular meeting Monday.
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