Coachella City Council swears in local realtor, Juan Martinez, as new councilmember

COACHELLA, Calif. (KESQ) - Local realtor, Juan M. Martinez, was unanimously appointed by Coachella City Council to the vacant seat Friday afternoon.

City Council interviewed 9 out of the 10 candidates who applied, during a special meeting Friday.

Martinez is a local realtor with 20 years experience, according to his application. He was born and raised in the Coachella Valley, and says his top priority is increasing homeownership among residents and keeping revenue in the city.

"I'm a California Association representative, state director and also a local director, and we advocate for home ownership. So we would like to bring that to the city of Coachella. I will focus on keeping the revenue for the city in the city because, a lot of the festival goers, even some of our residents, they don't stay in Coachella. They don't buy Coachella," Martinez said.

There were 10 applicants for the vacancy, with Andrew Gallegos withdrawing his application. The list is available below. An 11th applicant, Linda Flores, is listed as having moved out of the county, according to the city.

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Martinez fills the seat left vacant when Dr. Frank Figueroa was appointed mayor. Figueroa replaced longtime mayor Steven Hernandez, who resigned in March after pleading guilty to a conflict of interest charge. He will also fill the position until November, finishing up the remainder of Hernandez's term.

Another issue top of mind for residents and City Council, the ongoing data center debate.

Mayor Frank Figueroa asked all candidates Friday if they would support a permanent ban, to which Martinez said yes.

"The data centers are always a big picture, not only here at a local city, but nationally. As I told the City Council, we need to sit down, we need to have those hard conversations. Of course, look to ban them completely from our valley," he said.

Martinez would be the fifth critical vote in a possible permanent ban ordinance passed by the City Council.

Not all were happy with Martinez's appointment however, with some residents voicing disagreements after his swearing in.

News Channel 3 asked Martinez how he'll deal with City Council's strained relationship with the public.

"I actually suggested to our council members and mayor to do a community agreement as well, you know, that way community agreement goes both ways. They want to hold us accountable. We want to hold the community accountable," he said.

The new councilmember says he plans to run for re-election in November and hopes to earn the community's trust.

Mayor Figueroa and Councilmember Stephanie Virgen's seat are also up for re-election.