The Merced City Council appointed Yang Pao Thao to the District 2 council seat left vacant by Ronnie De Anda’s resignation in October.

The appointment of a qualified southwest Merced representative on Dec. 2 follows the council’s decision to move forward without a special district election. In a 5-1 vote, council members appointed Thao, a sitting planning commissioner and District 2 resident, to fill the vacancy.

Thao, 41, will have to give up his seat on the Planning Commission now that he joins the council.

“I am prepared to begin this work on Day One,” Thao wrote in his application, which introduces his plan to tour the district, meet with community members and review ongoing infrastructure projects during his first 90 days in office.

Thao will finish out the last year of De Anda’s four-year term, which began in 2022.

However, at this time, he is not considering running for the District 2 seat next November, he said.

“My focus is on helping the community. I’ll think about the future later,” Thao wrote to The Merced FOCUS in a text message.

Appointment Process

During the special meeting, council members interviewed five of 13 total applicants.

More than half of applicants missed the council’s request for a mandatory interview Tuesday night. Out of the five applicants in attendance, three were District 2 residents, including Dina Gonzalez, 49, Gloria Keene, 86, and Thao.

The meeting opened with public comment, followed by a group interview, and concluded with a brief council discussion and final appointment. Council members agreed Thao and Gonzalez, of Dina’s Daycare and Preschool, were the strongest applicants in attendance.

Each council member moderated one of four questions, including:

1) Why do you want this job?

2) What is your favorite thing about south Merced?

3) What are the infrastructure needs you see in District 2?

4) Why do you think you’re the best candidate for District 2?

Applicants addressed infrastructure issues in the south side of Merced, the value of public parks, including McNamara Park, and potential socioeconomic development for south Merced.

Councilmember Fue Xiong, who cast the dissenting vote, said he opposed an appointment from the beginning, adding he believed Gonzalez was the stronger candidate.

South Merced Residents Demand a Representative Who Lives in Their District

Every person who spoke during public comment urged council members to appoint a District 2 resident and stressed the importance of having a representative with firsthand experience of  the issues there.

Felipe Rojas-Flores, a District 2 resident, reminded council members of the history of the city’s district elections.

Measure T, approved by voters in 2014, required council members to reside in the districts they represent. Before the city’s first district election in 2016, all councilmen lived north of Bear Creek Drive.

“The reason I share this is because while it’s not required that you guys appoint someone who lives in District 2 today, I really suggest you do,” Rojas-Flores said.

He noted the appointment process, unlike a special election, allowed council members to choose any candidate, regardless of where they live.

One District 2 resident addressed council members in Spanish and needed translation services.

The request prompted Merced’s Finance Officer Venus Rodriguez to offer impromptu interpretation services.

In 2013, policy advocates secured interpretation services for all regularly-scheduled council meetings and annual town hall sessions, according to the research project Unequal Neighborhoods: Merced by the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at Fresno State.

Second Hmong Representative Joins Council

Thao attended Merced public schools and earned a bachelor’s degree in community health from Fresno State, according to his application.

“…This district shaped who I am,” Thao, a Laos native who migrated to Merced with his family in 1991, wrote on his application. Xiong, elected in November 2022 to represent District 6 in north Merced, is also Hmong.

The marketing director for Vantage Financial Alliance, Thao told The FOCUS his priorities as a newly-appointed council member include improving the district’s drainage system.

For a region already in need of public infrastructure such as sidewalks and street lights, Thao said rain-related flooding threatens public safety and the ability of drivers and pedestrians to travel safely this approaching winter.

“I’m ready to serve my district,” Thao said.

A formal appointment ceremony is scheduled for the next and last council meeting of the calendar year on Monday, Dec. 15, at the Merced Civic Center, 678 West 18th St.

About The Merced FOCUS

The Merced FOCUS is a a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom covering Merced and the San Joaquin Valley.