Councilman Alex Mendez is the new council president in Paterson, as the governing body changed buses (no pun intended) a day after the sitting Council President’s brother ate an indictment.

The Third Ward Councilman secured the leadership seat at today’s noon reorganization meeting.

Councilman Luis Velez of the Fifth Ward became vice president.

Defeated in 2018, by sitting Mayor Andre Sayegh, Mendez subsequently absorbed an indictment by a state grand jury on charges of election fraud and other offenses related to the May 12, 2020 special election in the City of Paterson.

In the aftermath of another unsuccessful run for the mayoralty last year, his case is still pending.

From NorthJersey.com:

“The state’s election fraud case against Paterson Councilman Mendez seems likely to stretch into the summer after the Attorney General’s Office on Monday morning asked for a postponement.

“New court date: The next court date has been scheduled for mid-July, more than three years after the original charges were filed against Mendez in June 2020.

“What are the charges?: Mendez repeatedly has professed his innocence. The Attorney General’s Office has accused him of seven crimes in the city’s 2020 elections, including registering two people to vote in Paterson’s 3^rd Ward even though they didn’t live in the district. He has been serving on the City Council for almost 30 months with the charges pending against him.”