Fernando Dutra, the longtime Whittier councilmember who also serves as chair of the L.A. County Metro Board, was voted out of office in the April 14 election and will leave the council when new members are sworn in on April 28. His defeat immediately sets up a vacancy on Metro’s board, since appointees must hold elected office, and hands the Gateway Cities’ Metro seat to a nomination and ratification process that will play out at both subregional and county levels.
Challenger Aida Susie Macedo captured roughly 67% of early returns to Dutra’s about 27%, according to Los Cerritos Community News. The City of Whittier’s election calendar lists April 28 as the certification and swearing-in date that will make the result official, according to information from the city clerk. Dutra was first appointed to the council in August 2012 and later elected to full terms, making him a 14-year fixture in local government, according to the City of Whittier profile.
State rules require Metro board members to be current elected officials, so Dutra will be ineligible to remain once the new councilmember takes office, Streetsblog Los Angeles reported. That change will open the Gateway Cities' seat on Metro’s 13-member board and trigger a short window for subregional leaders to choose a nominee. For now, Dutra will continue handling Metro duties while the selection steps move forward.
How his replacement will be chosen
The Gateway Cities Council of Governments will nominate a replacement from its subregion, and that nominee must then be ratified by the Los Angeles County City Selection Committee, Metro’s The Source explains. The County City Selection Committee is made up of representatives from the 87 incorporated cities outside the City of Los Angeles, and votes are weighted by population within each subregion. Once ratified, the nominee will hold the Metro seat for the remainder of the four-year appointment.
Why this matters for Metro projects
Dutra has long pushed for rail extensions and regional projects that would affect the Gateway Cities, including advocacy for extending the E Line east toward Whittier, according to his city biography. The first phase of the D (Purple) Line extension, which adds three new Wilshire Boulevard stations, is scheduled to open May 8, a milestone noted by NBC Los Angeles. A different subregional representative, for example from a more populous city such as Long Beach, could shift how the Gateway Cities vote on project funding and construction priorities.
Metro and county calendars are expected to post the Gateway Cities’ nomination meeting in the coming weeks. Once the subregion selects a nominee, the full City Selection Committee will convene to ratify the pick, Metro’s The Source notes. Until that handoff is complete Dutra will cover near-term board responsibilities, and the timing of a formal replacement will hinge on the subregional vote schedule and the county’s ratification process.
