Pedro 'Pete' Martinez will resign, agenda says

Councilman Pedro “Pete” Martinez will resign from the Porterville City Council, seven years after first being elected and halfway through his current term.

An item on Tuesday’s regularly scheduled City Council meeting agenda calls for the Council to accept a letter of resignation from Martinez — the letter was not included in the agenda packet. Martinez, however, said he is not making any plans to abandon his seat.

"I have no idea how that item got on the agenda," he said.

His wife, Diane Oceguera-Martinez, the president of the Porterville Democratic Club, said Thursday night that Martinez was in fact contemplating the resignation, because of their temporary relocation outside of the City of Porterville.

“Pete has toyed with idea of resigning, but he has not made a definite decision,” she said. “We’re remodeling our [Porterville] home, so we temporarily have rented a house it in the Tulare/Woodville area. We have not purchased a home there, but we have rented a home for a temporary period.”

City Manager John Lollis said Wednesday that if Martinez were to resign, the Council would be required to fill the seat by appointment, as Martinez’s departure would come too late to be placed on the June 8 ballot.

“As of right now, my primary residence is Porterville,” Martinez said. “I have to figure out what constitutes residency. I don’t know what all the options are, but it’s something that I’d like to talk to our city manager and attorney about."

Martinez, 40, has been an advocate for youth programs and an active community volunteer, seen often as an emcee and disk jockey at fundraisers and other nonprofit events.

“I would like to see him at least finish out his term, he has been a good representative of our community, and I think he’s done an excellent job,” Grace Munoz-Rios, local organizer for Toys for Tots said. “I hope that we have someone just as qualified and committed to the community to step up and fill his shoes.”

In January, Martinez announced that he was considering running for Fifth District Supervisor, aspiring to potentially represent a wider constituency.

A permanent relocation to the Tulare area would hinder him from running for the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, as the second district seat that serves the North County city is not up for election this year.
As of Thursday night, he had not returned election paperwork to the Tulare County Registrar of Voters that is required to be officially recognized as a candidate in the June 8 primary.

“I have until [today] at 5 p.m.,” he said, declining to comment on whether he intends to file the papers.

Contact Jenna Chandler at 784-5000, Ext. 1050, or jchandler@portervillerecorder.com.