For the first time in nearly two months, the Paso Robles City Council will have five members sitting on the dais since former Mayor Steve Martin passed away.
The council unanimously confirmed the appointment of Sharon Roden on Oct. 3 to take over the vacant council seat left by current Mayor John Hamon after he was appointed to become mayor on Sept. 7 and replace Martin.
“I’m honored to serve on this council; they are all great people and whether we cross swords in battle or raise our glasses together in victory, I know we all have a common goal—which is to make the town better,” Roden said in her post-appointment speech where she also thanked her family and wife of 25 years for supporting her through the process.
Roden—who has been a city resident for more than 40 years—brings with her experience managing her family’s pistachio orchards, handling things like labor issues, innovative farming practices, and an optimization of farm processes.
The council chose her after conducting interviews on Sept. 26 where they interviewed eight candidates before deciding on Roden.
However, some parties—particularly fellow interviewee Linda George—took issue with the council’s appointment, accusing at least one council member of having potential bias.
“I am not the only candidate who was a little disturbed by the fact that in the interviews you revealed Miss Roden is [one of your] neighbors,” George said to the council without identifying a specific member. “I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that in the future that if any decisions are being made they are being done openly, publicly, here in open.”
Roden will only serve until November 2024, and from there—according to City Attorney Elizabeth Hull—she would have to run again for the role if she wanted to continue out the normal four-year term.
“Basically whoever wins that election would only be serving two years,” Hull said at the Oct. 3 meeting. “Because we have elections by district, we are staggered every few years and due to the nature of this appointment, whoever wins that election would only serve two years until 2026 instead of the normal four-year term.”
Regardless of how long she serves, Roden said she is excited to continue to bring Paso Robles into the future with the rest of the council and staff to keep the spirit of evolving the city present.
“So I’ve never really been a wordsmith,” she said. “But it’s not really about words. It’s about action, so let’s get to work shall we?” Δ
This article appears in Oct 5-12, 2023.