La Grulla mayoral race to be decided tonight

LA GRULLA, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Today is election day in La Grulla as residents take to the polls to elect a new city mayor.

This comes after the city mayor resigned earlier this year when a new policy prevented La Joya Independent School District administrators from holding elected positions.

This is a special election for the city and is only for the position of mayor.

^{La Grulla mayoral candidates. From left (Macario Villareal III, Eli Guerra, and Jon Venecia) Photo from the City of La Grulla Facebook}

The candidates are Jon Venecia, Macario Villareal III, and Eli Guerra.

Venecia has lived in La Grulla for eight years. He says his grandparents are from the area. Venecia has a business degree in finance and has been in the private sector for 30 years in the corporate world and hopes to bring that experience to the city. He has worked for video game companies.

"The whole area has been growing by leaps and bounds so I think the things happening are benefitting La Grulla in general and I want to be a part of that," Venecia said.

Villareal is a La Grulla native who has lived here his whole life. He is the son of Poscallo and Brenda Villarial.

He said he is aware that the city is working on large projects and while that is important, Villareal believes it is important to focus on the community and the youth of the city.

"There is not much to do here and it is important to see how we can help our people," he said in Spanish.

Villareal is currently employed at Payne Auto Group and has his own business.

"Given the opportunity, I would like to work with the community, the commissioners and the administration here to keep La Grulla going," he said.

Guerra is a La Grulla native, son of Juanita and Rogelio Guerra, also La Grulla natives. Guerra said he left the city for about 15 years. However, he says he is back and proud to be running for mayor.

The pillars of his campaign are rooted in transparency, accountability, economic growth and community. Guerra has a bachelors in business management and masters degree in business from Massachusetts. He worked in Human Resources for 20 years.

"I believe [La Grulla has] a lot of potential," Guerra said. "From the last time I came it has grown a lot. It's a powerhouse in Texas. However, I believe that the Valley is saturated and the economy is not moving this way. So I believe we as the residents of La Grulla need to prepare for that. So building infrastructure now to be ready for future growth tomorrow."

Polls close at 7 p.m.