Los Banos council appoints Evan Sanders and Marcus Chavez after contested selection process

The Los Banos City Council on Jan. 8, 2025, appointed Evan Sanders to the District 2 seat and Marcus Chavez to the District 3 seat after a multi-stage interview and voting process that included procedural disputes among council members.

The selections conclude a months-long vacancy process. Council members interviewed four District 2 candidates — Refugio Lamas, Cody Jared Camacho, Abel Molina and Evan Sanders — and five District 3 candidates present at the meeting — Miguel Alejandra, Steven Nunez, Marcus Chavez, Erasmo Gaveras and Sybil Halloran (two other District 3 applicants had withdrawn). After two rounds of ranking and a later, final resolution vote, the council adopted resolutions 6866 and 6867 to formalize the appointments.

The selection process drew attention during the meeting when Councilmember Lambert refused to follow the pre-agreed ranking procedure for the second round, arguing he would cast a single vote for his preferred candidate instead of ranking three candidates. Councilmember Deborah Lewis and other council members pressed to honor the method the council had set at an earlier meeting. The disagreement prompted a…