McALLEN — Rodolfo “Rudy” Castillo assumed the role of McAllen District 4 city commissioner, taking the oath of office Monday after winning a special election for the position.
Shortly before the city commissioners met for a workshop, Castillo was sworn into office in the city commissioner’s chamber at city hall, family and friends in attendance.
Castillo, a business owner, was elected to the position following a special election in January and then a runoff election in February.
He faced two opponents in the January election, Pablo D. Garcia and Javier Salazar.
None of the three opponents received enough votes to win outright so the top two vote-getters, Castillo and Garcia, had to face each other again in a runoff.
However, during that first round, it was Garcia who received the most votes with 247, or more than 45% of the votes, while Castillo received 225 votes, or about 41% of all votes, according to the official canvass of the results.
But in the runoff, Castillo came out on top with nearly 57% of the votes, or a total of 482 votes, according to unofficial results posted by the city on election night.
Garcia received a total of 368 votes, or 43% of the votes.
(Courtesy Photo)
In taking the position, Castillo will finish out the unexpired term of now former McAllen City Commissioner Tania Ramirez who resigned to run an unsuccessful bid for Hidalgo County judge in the March 1 Democratic Primary. The term ends in 2023 at which point Castillo will have to run for reelection if he wants to remain in the seat.
As he and his family basked in his rise to city government, Castillo admitted feeling a bit nervous just before his first workshop and meeting as a city commissioner.
“It’ll go away soon,” he said “Pretty, pretty soon.”
Overall, though, he said he was looking forward to it and getting to work.
“Hopefully we can learn a lot and just start working,” he said. “That’s all I want, is just start working and getting to know people to get things done.
His main goal is helping people and attracting businesses.
“District 4 has a lot of potential for business, for export/import, so hopefully we go from there too,” he said.
With the change on the commission, Mayor Javier Villalobos said he hoped that any new commissioner understood that things in McAllen were a bit different than in other cities.
“Here, we’re prepared when we come to the meetings and there’s no politicking, there’s no slates,” Villalobos said. “We think individually and we vote accordingly, so as long as everybody does that, we’re good.”
He added that every commissioner should respect city staff by allowing them to do their job without interference.
“I tell different commissioners of all areas, ‘Look, respect the process,” he said. “We do not make these decisions, we do not get involved in everyday activities — that is up to the city manager, the assistant city manager and staff. So if we do it that way, we’re going to do great.”
