West Valley City councilman seeks to 'make a contribution'

WEST VALLEY CITY — From the day he arrived in the United States, Tom Huynh has been working hard to make a difference any way he can.

Huynh was 21 then, having escaped by boat from Vietnam to a refugee camp in Palawan, Philippines, two years earlier.

"I didn't want to be a burden in this society," he said. "I was so blessed to come here, and I needed to make a contribution."

Today, Huynh is giving of his time and talents to better the community he now calls home. Earlier this month, he became the first ethnic minority to serve on the West Valley City Council when he was sworn into office.

It's an opportunity, Huynh says, to serve his neighbors and thank them for welcoming him into the community.

"I really enjoy it," the 44-year-old father of two said. "And I get to do something for the people of West Valley City."

Huynh also has helped diversify what until now had been an all-white City Council throughout city's nearly 32-year history.

West Valley has grown increasingly more diverse in the past 20-plus years, seeing its minority population go from 9 percent in 1990 to more than 35 percent in 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau and West Valley City data.

Huynh's presence on the seven-member council, he says, is a step toward better reflecting the city's demographics. And he said he's "very grateful" to be the first ethnic minority elected to serve in the city.

"The people, they are supportive and very kind to me," said Huynh, a commercial real estate agent. "They trust me and they believe in me, and I do all I can to maintain that trust."

But he also notes that it wasn't the minority population who elected him. Huynh estimates less than 5 percent of those who voted for him in November were minorities.

Huynh received 63 percent of the vote in his District 1 race Nov. 8, which he says tells him "the people support me," no matter their race.

Mayor Mike Winder calls Huynh's election "a milestone for our city's growing minority community."

"Tom personally will bring a perspective to the City Council unlike any we've ever had before, from his unique life story," Winder said.

Huynh grew up on a small island off the central coast of Vietnam. In 1972, his father was killed in battle while serving in the special forces in South Vietnam. Huynh was just 5 years old at the time.