Intrigue builds in Turlock farmers market flap

Peter Cipponeri, a for-profit contender in the Turlock farmers market bidding heading into Tuesday’s vote before the City Council, has expanded his management résumé.

In addition to running farmers markets in Hughson and Carmel, Cipponeri recently picked up another in the foothills town of Copperopolis. For no fee, he will manage vendors, booth assignments and some marketing while Kim Hamilton retains the title of market manager, she said.

“I’m excited to have them do it,” said Hamilton, marketing director for Castle & Cooke Calaveras, which owns Copperopolis Town Square. She started the small farmers market last summer and is happy to hand the reins to Cipponeri, at his request, she said.

Cipponeri, 24, has been involved with farmers markets most of his life through his parents’ Cipponeri Family Farms, which sells produce at several venues, including ones in Turlock, Modesto, Carmel and Hughson. He established the Golden State Farmers’ Markets Association with a vision to consolidate management of several events throughout California, but has had run-ins with nonprofit managers.

Four years ago, a confrontation in Mountain View led to Cipponeri’s two-week suspension from 14 Bay Area markets run by the California Farmers Market Association. He also was placed on 90 days’ probation and the family business was fined $150, and he had another altercation with a Diablo Valley market manager in 2013, according to Contra Costa Superior Court documents.

The business and nonprofit associations sued each other. Both cases were on the verge of settling out of court in mid-February, but new hearings since have been scheduled for early April.

The nonprofit Turlock Certified Farmers Market – Cipponeri’s opponent in the bidding battle to be decided Tuesday – sent a letter of reference in his behalf to an unnamed “Bay Area market” with which he had trouble in 2014, according to meeting minutes of the nonprofit board. The letter described Cipponeri Family Farms as having “a good working relationship with our current market manager” and said some visitors described the Cipponeri booth as “one of their favorite spots in our market.”

Cipponeri recently created a Facebook page for his management company listing his markets in Carmel, Copperopolis, Hughson, “and soon, Turlock Farmers Market.” He aims to restore it to the status of a forebear that drew “5,000 plus” in the 1990s, the page says.

“We have to make it more than just 1,000 to 2,500 people coming down,” the page says.

Meanwhile, former Mayor Brad Bates continues to call for current Mayor Gary Soiseth to step aside from voting on the matter, to avoid what Bates calls an ethical conflict of interest.

At a March 2 council meeting, Bates questioned whether leaders had sought an opinion on conflicts from a state enforcement agency. He later met with City Attorney Phaedra Norton, who explained that California law requires that leaders disclose campaign contributions and not self-disqualification when issues arise involving major donors.

In efforts to boost transparency, some cities have imposed rules on themselves barring such votes if leaders have received certain amounts from such donors; Modesto’s ordinance is called Tin Cup, or Time Is Now, Clean Up Politics. The Turlock council considered but ultimately rejected a similar ordinance suggested by Councilman Steven Nascimento just before Soiseth’s election in 2014, and both have said they want the council to revisit the issue.

A quarter of Soiseth’s political money has come from Cipponeri and his extended family, including $12,000 from Cipponeri’s father-in-law, Turlock businessman Matt Swanson. Swanson’s companies, Associated Feed and Prospector LLC, also have spread $10,000 among the four other council members in recent years.

“Just because something is legal does not make it right,” Bates said in an email to Norton. He said he continues to think “there is an overwhelming amount of the appearance of an improper relationship that would cause a prudent public official to lean strongly to the side of caution and avoid the anger and wrath of a public and press that is making judgment based on perception and emotion rather than narrow legal guidelines.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2016 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Intrigue builds in Turlock farmers market flap."