SPRINGDALE -- City Council member Kevin Flores said he plans to resign from the council for another opportunity in public service.
He said he'll continue to serve on the council until the end of August and will share his plans when authorized.
Flores, 34, was elected in 2020 to serve Position 2 in Ward 2, which covers the southeastern side of Springdale.
Ernest Cate, city attorney, said state law allows the remaining council members to appoint someone to the seat or call for a special election to fill the seat. The seat must be filled by someone living in Ward 2, Cate said.
Law allows them to determine their route in the first regular meeting after the seat is vacated, he said.
Flores' term was set to expire Dec. 31, 2024. He took the office Jan. 1, 2021.
"Serving the residents of Springdale has been the honor of a lifetime," Flores said. "I have viewed my role as a councilman as a duty -- a duty to give back and make our city a better place for all of our residents, while also preparing for the future."
Flores noted he ran for the council position to improve and foster investment in the downtown area, improve the infrastructure and plan for the future.
He said he feels he fulfilled those actions.
"But there's plenty of work still to go," he said.
Flores said he also was proud of his work as chairman of the council committee that helped support the work of nonprofit agencies with Community Development Block Grants. The city gets nearly $900,000 annually in the grant program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and grants part of that money to local nonprofits.
Flores' family came to the United States in 1991 to flee civil war in El Salvador. The family moved to Springdale in 1995, and Flores attended first through 12th grades in Springdale Public Schools.
Flores served six years in the Marine Corps, rising to the rank of sergeant.
He next attended Fordham University in New York, interning in the Senate and graduating with an economics degree in 2015.
He worked as a senior administrative specialist in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington before attending the University of Arkansas law school, graduating in 2019.
He noted he was the youngest member, first Hispanic and first immigrant elected to the City Council.
Kevin Flores