Imperial County Board of Supervisors’ new chairman

Abraham Retana tells us who's the new chairman and the challenges he's facing

IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The Imperial County Board of Supervisors has a change in leadership.

Luis Plancarte was appointed as the new Board of Supervisors Chairman and John Hawk as the Vice Chairman.

Supervisor Plancarte said one of the main challenges he’s facing is to have enough funding to keep all the programs the county has running.

"There’s never enough money to fund all the programs that everybody wants, there’s also issues funding salaries. Money issues that's just because of the nature of our country," said Plancarte.

To boost the county economy, the Board of Supervisors will continue to push for Lithium projects.

"We’ll start getting some interest of companies that manufacture batteries that will perhaps looking to build their facilities here starting some time 2025, 2026," stated Plancarte.

Besides Lithium, Vice Chairman Hawk is also looking to bring business from the other side of the border.

"We would like to see some business moving into the county. We’re excited with the gateway project. There's a lot of activity there, a lot of buildings so have constructors coming in. A lot of movement coming from the Mexicali border," said Hawk.

This will be Luis Plancarte’s last year as county supervisor.

He’s retiring and said he won’t be looking for re-election.