Claudia M. Frometa chosen mayor for 2021

DOWNEY — Claudia M. Frometa will serve as mayor of Downey in 2021, with Blanca Pacheco behind her as her mayor pro tem.

It was a bittersweet evening at the Downey City Council meeting on Tuesday, as the city bade farewell to two former mayors in Councilmen Alex Saab and Rick Rodriguez.

Saab, who is now termed out, described his time on council as “an incredible eight years.”

“I had the honor to vote hundreds of times on different issues. Some of the decisions were not always the most popular, some of the decisions maybe people didn’t agree with,” said Saab. “I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that every single decision we made was always in the best interest of the city as a whole…our hearts were always in the right place.

“It’s an enormous honor to be here for eight years; eight years is a long time…It’s been such a special time in my life, an incredible chapter in my life which I’m so grateful.”

He added that Downey needed to “continue to embrace progress.”

“I think we’ve progressed in Downey; not just with the physical parts – the buildings, the streets, the signs, the whatever it may be – but I think we as a people,” said Saab. “We learned how to confront challenges, and just like now which is tough during COVID we will overcome it; we will continue to get better, to get stronger, and more unified.”

Opting to leave after only one term due to health concerns, Rick Rodriguez expressed appreciation and gratitude to city staff while also offering advice to the new incoming councilmembers.  

He then – as he did at every meeting before – thanked residents for “allowing me to sit in this seat for the past four years.”

“Soon after retirement from our family business, I was approached by several former mayors to run for office.  I quickly fell in love with the idea of becoming an elected official that would serve our great city of Downey,” said Rodriguez. “This would be the greatest honor of my life to serve as a member of Downey City Council, and eventually become the 45th mayor of our city. When elected my goals would be simple: I had planned to work just as hard as an elected official as I did growing my company the past 23 years.”

“Now it’s on to the next adventure. God bless you and God bless Downey. God bless America. Always forward, and merry Christmas.”

Later in the evening, re-elected Councilwoman Blanca Pacheco and newcomers Catherine Alvarez and Mario Trujillo were sworn into their seats.

Blanca Pacheco and Claudia Frometa.

The newly formed council’s first and only order of business of the night was to name the mayor and mayor pro tem for the upcoming year.

As is often the case, the former mayor pro tem, Frometa, was selected to take her spot as the head of the city for the following year, albeit not without some resistance.

Frometa’s selection came on a 3-1 vote, with Councilwoman Alvarez – who had butted heads with Frometa and other members of the council prior to her election - the sole vote against.

Swapping positions with the new mayor, Pacheco’s mayor pro tem appointment came with a 4-0 vote.

Councilman Sean Ashton, who was previously involved in the meeting throughout the night via Zoom, left at some point before the selection period and did not participate in the final vote.

Frometa will be officially sworn in as mayor this Thursday.