District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval reacts as City Manager Erik Walsh offers his congratulations to her as Sandoval attends her last council session and resigns her seat on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Sandoval served five-and-half years for her district.
Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographerFour people — including civil rights activist Rosie Castro — want a temporary seat on San Antonio’s dais to fill in for former District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval.
City Council will select up to three applicants Wednesday who will be interviewed Thursday before the council selects a replacement.
The Northwest Side district appointee will serve until June 1 — when the May 6 general election winner takes over.
There are five applicants for the District 7 seat in the upcoming election, but council members made it clear they want to avoid appointing someone to the post temporarily who planned to run for office. Council members serve two-year terms.
Sandoval stepped down in January to pursue a job at University Health and give more attention to her family following the birth of her daughter and her father’s death.
But before she left, she endorsed Castro as her successor.
READ MORE: District 7 Councilwoman Sandoval endorses Rosie Castro as interim successor
Castro, 75, has lived in District 7 for 36 years. She is a board member for the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute and Texas Organizing Project, a liberal community-activist group. She is a retiree who previously worked at the city of San Antonio and Palo Alto College on the South Side.
“I really appreciate the work that Ana has done,” Castro said in January. “I want to make sure those priorities and the work that has been done is able to continue and to see how I might support the community with their needs and with policies that would help all of the neighborhoods.”
The other three applicants under consideration are David Avila, Delia A. Guajardo and Sean A. Murphy.
Avila, who is retired from the Army, has lived in the district for six years. He is a site coordinator for Soldiers’ Angels, a group that provides aid and resources to the military, veterans and their families.
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With 52 years in the district, retiree Guajardo has lived there longer than any other applicant.
Guajardo worked administrative roles in elementary and high schools from the 1970s through the 1990s. She is a military ambassador for Fiesta Piñatas in the Barrio and volunteers at the nonprofit Zapatos, which gives shoes to school-age children in need.
Murphy is the applicant newest to the district — he has lived there for close to two years. As a certified law enforcement armorer, Murphy maintains firearms for the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. Before moving to Texas, he served as a county commissioner in Taylor County.
megan.rodriguez@express-news.net
