The South Tucson City Council has appointed Herman Lopez to fill the vacant seat left by the resignation of Mary Soltero.
A South Tucson resident for 32 years, Lopez has been politically active in the city, including two previous unsuccessful runs for the council. He was one of six candidates vying for the seat.
An Army veteran, Lopez retired from the University of Arizona as a logistics program coordinator after 28 years. He said his experience would be an asset on the council.
“I can understand a little bit of everybody’s life,” he said. “As an individual, you have to endure a lot and overcome obstacles; that will hopefully allow me to make better decisions for our community.”
Lopez said he has been an observer of the council for a long time, and now that he is on the other side he wants to find the reasoning behind some questionable choices by the city.
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“A lot of decisions were made not knowing why they were made, who benefited from them — because obviously South Tucson’s citizens didn’t,” he said.
As an example, Lopez cited the secondary property tax that South Tucson residents paid for three years before it was determined the city never got the voter approval required under state law.
The council chose Lopez after a 20-minute discussion in executive session. Out of the six council members deciding on the candidates Tuesday, only Ildefonso Green voted against Lopez.
Green said he had nothing against the choice but that his vote expressed his dissatisfaction with how the selection process was run.
Although Green wanted to learn more about the candidates, the city attorney determined the council could ask no questions.
Other than prior experience with the candidates, members were allowed to base their decision only on letters of interest and a brief address by the candidates on Tuesday.
Lopez will serve out the remainder of Soltero’s term, which ends in 2016.
