La Plante takes oath as Downey's newest council member
Photo by Alex Dominguez.
DOWNEY - Retired Downey Unified School District Board member Donald La Plante was sworn in at City Hall on Tuesday, taking his place as District 2’s interim city councilmember.
La Plante kept his remarks brief, reiterating comments he made last week during the selection process.
“As I said during the interviews, I look forward over the next seven months of doing my best for the city of Downey, to help and make sure that things go well and we try to bring the city together,” said LaPlante. “Those are my goals for these seven months, to help us move forward, prosperously and beneficially.”
La Plante was selected from a pool of five applicants which included former mayor Mario Guerra, Planning Commissioner Patrick Owens, retired police officer Victoria Valdez, and Southern California Edison advisor Jeremy Shedd. He will be thrust into several critical decisions almost immediately, as the city is due to select a new city manager and vote on the upcoming city budget in the next few months.
Barring a lack of candidates or some other extreme, La Plante has said multiple times that he does not plan on running for the seat come November.
He replaces Sean Ashton, who relinquished the seat in March, citing a job promotion.