Somerton school member resigns to assume seat on YUHSD board
SOMERTON – Carlos Gonzalez has stepped down from the elementary school board here to join the board of the Yuma Union High School District.
Gonzalez is scheduled to be sworn in to serve a fouryear term on the YUHSD governing board in January.
“I submitted my resignation, because, by law, you can’t serve on two school boards simultaneously. I’s oding it early so that a new member of the (elementary school board) can be named.
Gonzalez, also Somerton City Council member, was elected to the elemetary school board in 2014. He won a second four-year term in 2018.
“The people who originally elected me can be assured that I will continue supporting education in Somerton and that I am joining the high school board to continue serving them.”
The seat to be assumed by Gonzalez was one of three on the high school board that expires this year. The other two are occupied by Shelley Jones Mellon and
David Lara, both of whom filed for re-election.
Since no other candidates filed for the board, the Yuma County Board of Supervisors in September canceled the election for the seats, allowing Gonzalez, Mellon and Lara to automatically reassume office in 2021.
With Gonzalez assuming his seat, the south county will have two of three seats on the board for the district that covers all of the county west of the Gila Mountains. Lara is from San Luis, Ariz.
County Schools Superintendent Tom Tyree will select someone in the Somerton district to finish Gonzalez’s term on the elementary board.