Windsor council selects longtime councilmember Sam Salmon as new mayor

The Windsor Town Council selected longtime council member Sam Salmon to fill the mayor’s seat vacated by Dominic Foppoli, with three council members bucking a wave of spoken and written public comment in favor of newcomer Rosa Reynoza.

The council voted 3-1 to elect Salmon, who entered the meeting as Windsor’s vice mayor, with council members Esther Lemus and Deb Fudge backing him. They said they sought a steady, experienced hand to lead the town forward in the wake of the Foppoli scandal.

Salmon, 70, who is the council’s longest-serving member, also voted for himself. He has served on the council since 1994 and has had a number of two-year stints as mayor.

“When a mayor is unavailable a vice mayor steps up,” Salmon said following the vote.

Reynoza, the runner-up in last year’s direct election for mayor, nominated herself for the mayor’s seat after a wave of comments pushing for her appointment. She voted against Salmon’s selection.

In brief comments before the vote, Reynoza said she “knew (Salmon) would do a great job as mayor,” but that she would vote against him “for the people.”

Members of the public who sent in written comments expressing a preference for mayor came out most strongly for Reynoza, according to City Election Clerk Maria De La O.

Campaigning for a council seat since 2016, Reynoza has built up a strong and vocal grassroots following. The town received 70 emails backing Reynoza, 18 emails for Salmon and six for Lemus, De La O told the council.

Resident comments offered via Zoom during the meeting also tilted heavily in Reynoza’s favor.

A number of those who offered their opinions described Reynoza as a needed breath of fresh for the town as it seeks to move beyond the last turbulent six weeks, which have generated much distrust of local government among residents.

Reynoza was sworn in at the start of the meeting after winning a May 4 special election.

Her outsider position stood out from a council that previously worked with Foppoli and has since been criticized for keeping private two warnings the town received about his behavior toward women.

Commenters, including two of her opponents from the May special election, said Reynoza should also become the mayor because the town was not aware of the allegations against Foppoli when voting in November 2020.

“If the Town Council had been forthright, honest and timely, Rosa would have won the at-large mayor’s seat in November 2020, and be our current at-large mayor now,” Betsy Mallace wrote.

But Fudge and Lemus voiced a preference for Salmon’s experience over the newcomer.

“Certainly you have a lot of support,” Lemus said of Reynoza. However, she added, Salmon has “the right disposition” to lead the town.

The vote for Salmon came after the council unanimously accepted Foppoli’s resignation without comment.

Foppoli announced he would step down May 21 and officially did so on May 24 after detectives in Palm Beach, Fla. opened an investigation into an allegation of sexual battery brought against him by former reality television personality Farrah Abraham.

She is the ninth woman to publicly accuse Foppoli of assault, battery, rape or sexual misconduct.

That group of women includes Lemus, who has accused the former mayor of drugging and assaulting her.

Until Abraham’s allegations became public, Foppoli had defied calls for his resignation from the rest of the council and nearly every Sonoma County elected official.

Still, political turbulence clearly isn’t over for Windsor.

The newly reformed council immediately deadlocked on its first decision ‒ how to fill Salmon’s recently vacated seat. The council chose not to, for now, hold a new special election ‒ what would be Windsor’s second of the year. But it could not find consensus on an appointment for the empty seat.

Lemus and Fudge backed Oscar Chavez, a county administrator with a track record in public service whose unsuccessful run in last month’s special election was backed by other politicians across the county. Fudge briefly served as his campaign treasurer, and Lemus had endorsed him.

Salmon and Reynoza opposed Chavez’s appointment. The council decided ultimately to table a decision on filling the vacant seat.

“If we can’t come to an appointment we’ll have a special election,” Salmon said. The council has until July 23 to decide whether to hold a special election or make an appointment, according to De La O.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Graham at 707-526-8667 or andrew.graham@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @AndrewGraham88