By Shaun Delliskave
At the Jan. 7 Oath of Office ceremony, Murray City Council welcomed two new members who also represent many new firsts for Murray. The 2019 election brought in a wave of elected women throughout Utah, which seismically shifted the gender balance of not only Murray but Bountiful, South Salt Lake, Millcreek, and Sandy city councils.
“People move to Murray for our exceptional services, and they stay in Murray because of our exceptional community,” newly elected City Councilor Kat Martinez said after she took the oath of office. “A hundred years ago, women earned the right to vote across the United States, and now for the first time, I am so honored to be part of Murray’s first female majority on the city council.”
Martinez, a mother of three young children, will retain her position as a trainer for the State of Utah Health Department. She has given up her seat on the boards of Murray City Arts Advisory Board and the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Martinez will be in the minority of the council of holding a full-time job, as Dale Cox, Diane Turner, and Brett Hales are all retirees.
The first Latino member of the city council, Rosalba Dominguez, said in her inaugural remarks, “I have always said that my parents and family were some of the first brown people in the state of Utah. In the ’80s, everyone knew everyone in the Mexican community; it was that small.” Local Latin-American folk guitarist Anastasio Castillo performed a musical number in Spanish during the oath of office ceremonies.
Comments