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Mayor names Rafael Orvelo Castello to Planning Commission and Eric Sims to Police Pension Fund Board
Summary
Mayor Sherry El Capello announced two appointments at the June 19 pre-council meeting: Rafael Orvelo Castello to fill a Planning Commission seat for District 5 and Captain Eric Sims to the Police Pension Fund Board to replace a retired chief. Both appointments fill unexpired terms; no council vote was recorded in the pre-council session.
LEBANON — Mayor Sherry El Capello announced June 19 that Rafael Orvelo Castello has been appointed to the City of Lebanon Planning Commission to fill the unexpired term of James Farren, and that Captain Eric Sims has been appointed to the Police Pension Fund Board to fill the unexpired term of Chief Brett Fisher.
The appointments are effective June 4, 2025. According to El Capello, Castello will represent District 5, and that term expires July 26, 2026; Sims’s term on the pension board expires Jan. 5, 2026. El Capello described the Planning Commission as “an advisory board” that guides “uses of lands and structures, type and location of streets, public grounds, and other facilities in the development and subdivision of land in the city.”
El Capello said Castello is an “experienced business professional” in the technology and telecommunications sector and currently works as a renewal manager for Cisco Systems. She said he holds a marketing degree and an MBA from the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo and that his familiarity with high‑density urban layouts may be useful on the commission. “It’s actually getting someone from the Hispanic community on, you know, one of our boards, which is something that we’ve been looking to do,” El Capello said.
On the Police Pension Fund Board, El Capello cited the pension plan document ordinance requiring that three police officers in active employment serve on the board. Chief Brett Fisher retired and was therefore ineligible to continue on the pension board, she said; Captain Eric Sims was named to fill Fisher’s unexpired term.
The appointments were announced in the pre-council meeting; the record in the pre-council transcript does not show a council vote on either appointment. No formal motion or tally was recorded during the pre-council discussion.
