Ag candidates emerge on TID board

By Patty Guerra - pguerra@modbee.com

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TURLOCK — Turlock Irrigation District board members chose a farmer from Hickman for the board's empty seat Tuesday morning. Hours later, voters picked two more candidates with agriculture backgrounds to fill out the board.

Directors on Tuesday morning voted 4-0 to appoint Michael Frantz, 32, for the two years remaining in the Division 1 seat held by Phil Short, who died recently after more than three decades on the board.

For the Division 3 seat, including west Ceres and areas to the southwest, dairyman Joe Alamo led businessman Keith Silva.

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In Division 5, from south Turlock to north Merced County, farmer Ron Macedo was ahead of agricultural business advocate Pamela Sweeten by more than 30 percentage points in Stanislaus and Merced counties' returns.

Macedo said he knows Alamo and Frantz and is eager to "dive right in and learn as much as possible as quickly as possible."

With the loss of Short and the decisions of incumbents Michael Berryhill and Randy Fiorini to leave their seats, the board's longest-serving member will be Charles Fernandes, elected in 2001 to the Division 2 seat, which covers the Ceres area. He ran unopposed this year.

Macedo, 49, said the energy the new board brings will make up for the loss of experience.

"We're all young and energetic, open-minded and progressive thinkers," he said. "There will be a lot of challenges in front of us, but new energy will be just what the district needs."

Alamo, 37, agreed. He had a commanding lead over Silva, 83 percent to 16 percent.

"We know some of the past board members we can rely on for any historical information we need," he said. "There's a lot of learning to do, but we'll try to shorten that curve as much as we can."

At their regular meeting earlier Tuesday, board members appointed Frantz to the Division 1 seat. The district received applications from 11 people. A committee made up of Fernandes and Division 4 Director Rob Santos narrowed the choices to three: Frantz, John Eisenhut and Michael Brem.

Frantz and Eisenhut, who works for a Merced County almond grower, offered their pitches Tuesday morning; Brem was unable to attend.

Frantz emphasized his 13 years of experience running a farm with 100 employees. He said he is equally concerned about maintaining water rights for farmers and keeping rates low for the district's electricity customers.

Fernandes, the board president, told Frantz he'll join the board Dec. 8, the same day the other new directors take their seats.

Bee staff writer Patty Guerra can be reached at pguerra@modbee.com or 578-2343.