Analysis: District 1 appointment emphasized city council's flaws

Well, mission accomplished. Sort of.

The city council on Tuesday picked Timothy Horn over three other candidates to represent District 1 for the remainder of the year until voters can make an official decision in November.

In reality, the selection process was just as much of a circus as our council meetings have been known to become in recent memory. What’s more, it became abundantly clear that despite its best efforts to get back on track and stabilized, the city is not as far out of the woods as it may have hoped.

Here are some takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting.

The city council is still split as ever

On paper, our city government did its job: it selected an interim city council member to fill the empty District 1 seat.

But the road to get there was far from smooth. No one expected the decision to be easy, but I don’t think anyone was quite prepared for what transpired.

At times, the deliberation seemed more like a cage match between Mayor Claudia M. Frometa and Mayor Pro Tem Mario Trujillo, who had thrown their support behind candidates Hector Lujan and Horacio Ortiz Jr., respectively.

Both had valid arguments for why their candidate should be picked over the other.

Yet Frometa seemed unwilling to budge. Trujillo entertained ultimate appointee Horn or leaving the seat vacant, but Lujan was a non-starter (though he would not say why).

Meanwhile, Councilman Hector Sosa ended up being more of a mediator and/or referee. Councilwoman Catherine Alvarez stayed quiet, but regardless she will never align herself with Frometa anyway.

Ultimately, the council selected Horn through some gritted teeth, but in doing so it exposed that the divide on the dais is still very much intact; there are two very distinct factions on our city council, and they don’t always play nice with one another.

And no disrespect intended to Horn, but he was a dark horse in every sense of the word; it was painfully obvious that he was not the first, nor the second, nor maybe even the third desired option. But now he’s here, and it’s anyone’s guess how he will fit in with the current council.

There has been a lot of talk about “bringing stability back to Downey” and “brighter days are ahead,” but Tuesday’s proceedings told a much different story.

Hector Sosa was MVP of the night

Sosa is the rookie member of the bunch, but he held himself well in his first big test as a council member.

When the city council found themselves at an impasse and tempers started to flare between the mayor and mayor pro tem, it was Sosa who kept his cool and tried to keep dialogue moving.

He had his obvious choice: he said he prefered Lujan for his experience (there may have been some alignment with Frometa on that front as well, but I digress).

Still, he ultimately conceded and compromised (albeit obviously frustrated in doing so) in order to move the city forward.

As the new guy on the block, Sosa could have easily taken a back seat. It was impressive and – to a certain extent, refreshing – to see him take an active role in the procedure.

Catherine Alvarez will not (or cannot) speak for herself

At a time when she should be fighting for her political life, Alvarez seemed uninvested and/or uninterested in contributing to the matter at hand.

As previously stated, Alvarez remained mostly quiet through the affair. Even when the city council became deadlocked and she was asked by Sosa for her thoughts on the candidates, Alvarez became defensive and agitated, saying, “I don’t want to give my point of view, and I don’t think you have to make me talk.”

Her lack of a voice became even more telling later in the meeting, after she made her only attempt at a nomination, suggesting Elvira Meraz.

Though it seemingly came out of a combination of exhaustion, exasperation, and desperation, Sosa surprisingly gave Alvarez the second she needed to put Meraz’s appointment to a vote.

However, when Trujillo voiced concerns over a mutual restraining order that had been filed against Meraz over 10 years ago and the position it might put the city in, Alvarez immediately withdrew her motion.

Even since her campaign, there has been sporadic chatter that Alvarez has had others in her ear, telling her what to say and how to vote. True or not, she did herself no favors in dispelling those rumors.

The last three years have changed how Downey views its council members, forever

You may have read a story this week about candidate Meraz and a mutual restraining order that she was a part of a decade ago.

During her interview, she was asked about the situation by Frometa. It ultimately was a point of contention with her with Trujillo.

Look, it’s not a fun thing to write those kinds of “controversial” stories. I don’t seek them out; in fact, I dread them. But in the end, they’re important to try and cut through the gossip and paint a clearer picture.

Council members and candidates are held to a higher standard. Residents want to know about their representatives (or prospective representatives), and what they may bring to the city. And especially after the events of 2020 to now, there has been a vocalized desire to know about the skeletons in their closet.