Merced County Supervisor reflects on ‘another challenging year’ as new board chair is elected
The first Merced County Board of Supervisors meeting of the year kicked off with the unanimous selection of a new chairman to lead the county’s elected officials.
District 3 Supervisor Daron McDaniel, who served as board chair during 2021, passed the torch to District 4 Supervisor Lloyd Pareira as the two county leaders changed places at the dais.
“I would like to thank Daron for all that you did this last year,” Pareira said after taking his seat as chairman. “Thanks to my colleagues for electing me as chair for this next year.”
Supervisor Scott Silveira, who represents District 5, was unanimously elected by his colleagues as vice chairman.
County supervisor reflects on 2021 challenges, accomplishments
The supervisors select a new chairman and vice chairman at the start of each new year to preside over meetings and exercise leadership for the board.
The former board chairman reflected on the challenges and accomplishes seen over the course of 2021, as county business continued despite the persistent hurdles of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’d like to, as always, thank everyone, including staff and fellow electeds, for moving Merced County forward during what turned out to be another challenging year,” McDaniel said before exiting the chairman’s seat.
The last year saw its fill of tragedy, including more than 700 COVID-19-related deaths of Merced County residents, McDaniel noted.
Other losses close to home included the death of longtime Merced County Supervisor Jerry O’Banion.
“We’ll miss Jerry,” McDaniel said.
Despite the challenging year, McDaniel underscored several major projects that continued moving forward.
He pointed to the 2021 opening of the county’s homeless Navigation Center as one key achievement made in the midst of a difficult year. Although homelessness is an issue that no single local or state agency can address alone, the opening of the Navigation Center marked a crucial step for Merced County, McDaniel said.
The center serves as a low-barrier emergency shelter — meaning, the main priority will be housing people, with minimal restrictions, regardless of their life circumstances. The location provides meals, onsite supportive services and case management to link clients with permanent, affordable housing units as quickly as possible.
McDaniel also highlighted the recently finished expansion of the TRC California self-driving car testing site at the former Castle Air Force base in Atwater. The testing grounds include a 2.2-mile oval test track, a mile-long city course and two large vehicle dynamics areas, among other highlights.
Other local improvements in 2021 included the paving of nearly 19 miles of county roads and groundbreaking for a revamp of Houlihan Park in Planada. The Campus Parkway project’s third segment is about 80% complete, too.
Plus, the county is starting the new year better equipped with tools to combat the virus via improved access to COVID-19 vaccines and testing, McDaniel noted.
“I’m confident that in 2022, there’s a lot of positive news in store,” McDaniel said.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 12:43 PM.
