Folsom City Council selects mayor, vice mayor. Swears in new and re-elected council members

The Folsom City Council selected its first Latina mayor and Asian American vice mayor Monday night at a special meeting, according to the city. The selection came shortly after the city swore in its new and re-elected council members.

Rosario Rodriguez was chosen mayor by the council in a unanimous vote, as was YK Chalamcherla for vice mayor. The new council consisted of Rodriguez, Chalamcherla, re-elected 1st District Councilman Mike Kozlowski and 3rd District Councilwoman Sarah Aquino, and newly-elected 5th District Councilwoman Anna Rohrbough.

Rohrbough defeated former Folsom Mayor Kerri Howell by 266 votes in December in the city’s first election based on geographic districts.

Incoming and outgoing mayors

Rodriguez served on the Historic District Commission before being elected to the Folsom City Council in 2020. She said this is a very exciting time for her and that she looks forward to the city’s economic development.

“There are some things that we could do to bring tourism to Folsom and get people to come here and spend money,” she said. “I’m a local business owner, and we’ve gone through a pandemic. We’re dealing with what currently could be some financial shortfalls, so economic recovery is really big.”

Rodriguez owns Sutter Street Taqueria in historic Folsom.

During Monday night’s ceremony, Howell was honored for her 24 years of service — she served on the Folsom City Council since 1998 and the Folsom planning commission from 1994 to 1998. Howell said she hopes the new city council will continue to act in whatever is in the best interest of the city.

Rohrbough said she got emotional when Howell departed, adding that “there’s big shoes to fill.”

Folsom’s future

The event marked the swearing-in of Rohrbough, Kozlowski and Aquino.

Rohrbough said that the biggest immediate challenge was going to be transparency of the city’s budget and “making sure we get the priorities of the city back in there.”

Kozlowski said he looks forward to mining into his district, giving it the devoted attention that it deserves. His district includes the city’s northern neighborhoods.

The council member previously criticized the districts as “artificial” and said that before their creation, there was no issue of representation.

The Bee reported in October that Kozlowski faced questions from his neighbors when he said he lived in a small trailer parked on a dirt lot for several months, while his wife and child live in a 2,000-square-foot rental house on Hammond Court outside of the 1st District and roughly 2 miles from the trailer.

Sacramento County Supervisor Sue Frost was in the audience Monday night. Frost said she was there to see her good friend, Howell, be honored and that it was important for her to attend the ceremony as the city falls within her district’s borders.

“Folsom is an incredible city,” Frost said. “They make important decisions. I like to think of it as the brain trust of the region because they have done an amazing job growing a city that has a diversity of business opportunities (and) wonderful recreational opportunities.”

This story was originally published December 15, 2022 at 8:06 AM.