After 12 years on the Grand Terrace City Council, Sylvia Rodriguez Robles has stepped down from the dais.
The council is expected to discuss the process to fill Robles’ seat at its meeting Tuesday, March 26. Her current term expires in November.
“I’m 71 and my husband’s 78 and we’re looking at the (housing) market and it looked like it was a good time to sell,” Robles said Friday, March 22. “I wanted to time it so I could finish (my term) out. But in this housing market, you just have to jump on (opportunities).”
Her house sold in a matter of days and Robles resigned earlier this month. She and her husband are moving to San Clemente.
“I have some other things I’ve wanted to do all my life and put it on the back burner,” Robles said.
She now wants to do some writing, starting with a family history. She and her husband also haven’t been able to travel the way they’ve wanted, due to the need to be in town for council meetings twice a month.
“You look up and all of the sudden, time’s short,” Robles said.
Robles was first elected to the council in November 2012 and was reelected to a fourth term in office in November 2020. Her term was set to expire in November. In 2014, she unsuccessfully ran for the 20th state Senate District.
“I was ready” to go, Robles said. “After COVID, it’s seemed like it was really difficult to govern. … I just thought, this isn’t the Grand Terrace I moved to in 1976. So it’s time to move on.”
Born and raised in San Bernardino, Robles had previously worked as a field representative for the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and as an administrator for county government.
Robles says she has no plans to take part in politics in Orange County.
“My husband asked me ‘oh, are you going to get involved there?’ ‘No.’ ‘Oh, I’ve heard that before,’ ” she said. “But I mean it.”
Her former council colleagues must decide Tuesday how to fill the seat. State law requires the council to appoint a successor or call for a special election within 60 days of March 6, the day Robles’ resignation became official. The deadline to appoint a council member is May 5. A special election, which could cost the city up to $40,000, would need to be in August.
In a report to the city council, Grand Terrace officials recommend appointing a new councilmember to fill the remainder of Robles’ term. That person could decide to run for a new four-year term in the November election.
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