Greenwich educator to fill Danbury City Council seat
Diana Merchan teaches Spanish at Greenwich Country Day School
DANBURY — A native of Colombia who teaches Spanish in Greenwich and has a “passion for education” is the Democrats’ pick to replace a City Council member who resigned last week to focus on his new position representing Danbury in Hartford.
Diana Merchan, who has lived in Danbury for 34 years and has never held elected office, was recommended to the City Council to replace Farley Santos. A Democrat, Santos was elected in November to represent Danbury’s 109th District in the state House.
“I strongly believe in all the good things we can to do for the city,” said Merchan, a Spanish teacher and the upper school world languages program lead at Greenwich Country Day School, an independent school. “I am passionate about education and having a great education system in our city.”
Although she is new to elected office, Merchan said she has been active in the Democratic Party and has worked on previous campaigns during election season.
City Democrats on Monday voted unanimously in support of Merchan, said Larry Riefberg, chairman of the Democratic Town Committee.
“We are confident that Diana will continue to make real differences by her service to our community as a member of the City Council,” Riefberg said in a statement.
The City Council could vote on the Democrats’ nomination as soon as its April meeting. Republicans have a supermajority of 14-7 on the City Council.
During his resignation speech, Santos good-naturedly told Republican Mayor Dean Esposito that he was not planning to challenge Democratic mayoral candidate Roberto Alves for the party’s nomination for mayor.
“I am not resigning this seat to run for mayor,” Santos said last week. “I have picked a candidate.”