New Chula Vista city attorney, District 4 councilmember officially sworn in

CHULA VISTA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) – There are two new faces at Chula Vista City Hall after taking their oaths and officially swearing in Tuesday.

Rachel Morineau was chosen by the council out of eight candidates to represent District 4 through the end of the year. The seat was previously held by Andrea Cardenas, who resigned in February before entering a plea deal on felony fraud charges.

Morineau is heavily involved in the community, but tackling a role in public office for the first time.

"We need to get somebody who really understands who our community is and what their needs are and also somebody that they trust. We’ve been in our district for a while and not having that type of trust," Morineau said. 

Marco Verdugo is stepping into his role as city attorney. The position was left vacant after the death of the previously elected candidate in 2022.

There is a lot of public pressure on Verdugo and Morineau’s roles after so many spoke out on Cardenas’ fraud charges, called for her to step down and demanded more accountability from the city.

"Obviously, we went through some tough times. I look forward to helping to restore trust at city hall and make sure our residents really do feel like city hall is being held accountable," Verdugo said.

Aside from public trust, Verdugo says he looks forward to building the city attorney’s office back up.

"We’ve been decimated by attorneys leaving the office. We have to make sure we rebuild this office to make sure that every city department gets the legal guidance that they need," he said.

Morineau is focused on empowering the community and bringing more District 4 issues like housing and infrastructure improvements to the forefront.

"Have them be involved, have them be the voice of what needs they're interested in in their area and then work with council, work with the mayor, and help to initiate some of those," Morineau said.

Verdugo will serve through December 2026. His team says he intends to run again.

Morineau will only serve through the end of the year and tells FOX 5 she’ll see how things go before she determines if she’ll pursue any future roles in public office.