The Huntington Park City Council has appointed a new member to the seat formerly held by Esmeralda Castillo. The move was made despite an ongoing legal battle with Castillo over her removal from the dais.
Civil Service Commissioner Nancy Martiz was appointed last Wednesday. Several days earlier, an appeals court issued a stay on a restraining order that prevented the council from filling the seat.
“Judge Barbara A. Meiers of the Los Angeles County Superior Court directly and unequivocally cautioned the City Council not to appoint a replacement and if they did so, it would be ‘at their own peril,’” said Castillo’s attorney. “Yet despite this judicial warning, and despite multiple members of the public attempting to alert the City Council during public comment, they proceeded in known defiance.”
Castillo was kicked off the council in February after her colleagues determined that she did not reside within city limits. The decision upset many residents. Several current and former Huntington Park officials are embroiled in a public corruption scandal, so trust in leadership is thin.
Castillo contends that she was removed illegally. She says she had been caring for her ailing mother outside the city while maintaining a full-time residence in Huntington Park.
The council’s decision to remove her the way it did was unusual, experts said. Castillo’s lawsuit alleges it was also politically-motivated.
The legal battle did not dissuade prospective council members from applying for the vacant seat. Martiz was one of more than two dozen candidates who applied.
Martiz’s public service career “began with internships and work opportunities with the South Gate City Attorney’s Office (2006), the LA Mayor’s Office (2008), and the South Gate Police Department (2009-2010), where she supported the Family Violence Prevention & Education Program,” according to the city’s website. She “has spent more than a decade in Human Resources Management and Employee Benefits, currently leading national HR policy and programs at The Walt Disney Company—impacting hundreds of thousands of employees across the United States. In 2024, she was appointed to the Huntington Park Civil Service Commission, where she served to ensure fair and equitable hiring practices for the city workforce.”
Martiz holds a bachelor’s degree in government and American Studies from Smith College and a master’s in public administration and policy from California State University, Long Beach. She earned a certificate in human resources management from UCLA in 2013.
Read more about Martiz’s appointment at the Los Angeles Times.