A flurry of questions from sitting council members peppered applicants hoping to be appointed to the open Hayward City Council seat Tuesday night.

Rodney Loche, Elisa Marquez, Mark Salinas, Brian Schott and Vishal Trivedi vied for the remaining term on Mayor Barbara Halliday’s council seat, but in the end the first motion to appoint lifetime South Hayward resident Marquez passed with zero votes to spare. 

The six-member council, whose seventh seat was vacant to begin the night, needed a majority of four votes to confirm Marquez.

Marquez squeaked through the appointment process and was promptly sworn in, winning approval from Halliday, Council members Al Mendall, Sara Lamnin, and Francisco Zermeno, while Greg Jones and Marvin Peixoto voted against the motion. She immediately took her place upon Hayward’s city council dais following the vote. 

The rare event of Hayward’s city council voting to appoint a replacement council member came after a public interview of each of the five applicants.

In what council members admit was an “artificial environment” to be interviewed in, each applicant was congratulated on her or his courage, bravery, and love for Hayward. 

Marquez, 36, whose family owned a small business in Hayward’s old industrial district when she was a child, extolled her longtime Hayward community roots during her interview. “My daycare was being toddled back and forth between three different businesses within a half mile radius of C and Mission streets,” Marquez explained.  

A mother and graduate of California State University, East Bay with a master’s in public administration, Marquez explained her decision to wade into local politics.

“Being exposed to business … has really shaped my outlook … because I was raised within a family business,” said Marquez. “Professionally, I chose to stay clear away from that and lead my path toward social services and giving back to the community.” 

When questioned by Mendall about funding being disproportionately favored to the downtown business district of Hayward versus the Tennyson Road corridor in South Hayward, Marquez was quick to congratulate the Tennyson Corridor on its “thriving, many, many local businesses” but conceded that the council must “be mindful of all the areas in the community, not just the emphasis on one particular location.”

Marquez continued that some areas of downtown have been neglected.

Marquez and applicants Loche and Trivedi, all members of Hayward’s Planning Commission, were asked if they ever voted against a project.

Marquez, who voted against a Walmart at Hesperian and West Winton Avenue, said she was not comfortable using an “outdated traffic study” to guide her vote.

Loche voted against the old Mervyn’s building as a site for high-density housing favoring a hotel and conference center. Trivedi stated that he did not mind casting the deciding vote on whether a particular project would be approved. 

When asked what the council could do to have more public participation within Hayward’s city hall, Schott, who revels in playing Santa Claus during Christmastime, made an insightful point when he claimed, “A disproportionate amount of people don’t have access to the internet.”

Schott suggested the city support a planned clock tower, in conjunction with the Rotary Club, to display important public announcements at the busy intersection of Jackson Street and Mission Boulevard.

When asked about public safety, Schott suggested a better partnership with CSUEB. “They get a five mile jurisdiction up there…and they could do more than just drive around in circles,” Schott joked.

The comment garnered a chuckle from the audience, which included members of the university’s community.

Council member Marquez will finish the remaining term on the council seat of now Mayor Halliday, serving for two years.

She will be up for re-election in June 2016, if she decides to seek a full four-year term.