Chapala alderman Gerardo Degollado Gonzalez abandoned his seat on the city council (cabildo) on Monday, April 29 after being granted an indefinite leave of absence to assume a new job with the Guadalajara city government.
Degollado revealed his decision to make a career change during the final minutes of the council’s monthly ordinary session, announcing his intention to accept an offer by Guadalajara Mayor Ramiro Hernandez to head the city’s Department of Parks and Gardens, as of May 1. His written request for leave was approved by unanimous vote.
Although the move apparently took Mayor Joaquin Huerta and other members of the municipality’s governing body by surprise, local attorney Ruben Salcedo Diaz was waiting in the wings, ready to be sworn in as substitute regidor (alderman).
Degollado served as Chapala mayor from 2007 to 2009. He lost a bid to return to the post in last year’s election, coming up short behind Huerta by five percentage points. He did, however, earn enough votes to gain three council seats for his Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), with Maria de la Luz Mendoza Huerta and Amador Torres Romero elected on his coattails. Listed as the fourth candidate on the PRI ticket in representation of the coalition with the Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico (PVEM), Salcedo stood next in line to fill any vacancy that might crop up .
While Degollado received cordial farewell wishes from his fellow officers, his departure is likely to quell the verbal clashes that have often marked recent council meetings.
Since taking up his seat last October, the former mayor seemed to relish a role as the lead voice of opposition, frequently sparring with Huerta, PRI colleague Mendoza and other aldermen. He made a particular point of chiding the current government for its management of the municipality’s troubled finances. Yet Huerta and his immediate predecessor Jesus Cabrera consistently blamed the Degollado administration for staggering debt that has crippled city hall over the last few years.
Degollado also raised hell over the way the February 3 vote for San Antonio Tlayacapan’s town administrator was handled. On the other hand, he took his own share of heat for dedicating more energy to mouthing off than to pulling his weight to right the ship of state.