A special election is coming for Ceres. Voters to fill vacant City Council seat
Ceres residents will vote for a City Council member in a special election because officials on Thursday failed to resolve a monthlong stalemate and make an appointment.
An election to fill the District 1 vacancy can occur on Aug. 31 at the earliest, city staff said, and will cost an estimated $33,000 to $45,000.
In four meetings held between Feb. 2 and Thursday, the divided council could not appoint one of four applicants by a majority vote. Thursday was the council’s last chance to reach an agreement due to a 60-day time limit after Channce Condit vacated his seat to swear in as a Stanislaus County supervisor on Jan. 4. Instead of the council appointing someone to fill the remainder of the term until December 2022 at no additional cost, state law now requires District 1 residents choose their representative.
Mayor Javier Lopez, District 1 resident, told The Bee he encourages people to vote in the upcoming election and said selecting second or third picks could have narrowed down the appointment process.
“Moving forward, it is our duty as representatives of the City of Ceres to continue with city business,” Lopez said in a text. “The only real challenges have been appointments.”
Council Members Linda Ryno and Bret Silveira on Thursday rejected motions Council Member Couper Condit made and Lopez seconded to name second choices for the appointment. In previous meetings they said ranked voting options were not the terms the council agreed upon at the start of the selection process.
Over the past month, Ryno and Silveira pushed to appoint Laurie Smith, who has served on the Ceres Planning Commission for 14 years and worked for the city of Modesto for 25 years. Lopez and Condit, meanwhile, voted for three other applicants who do not have government experience.
Debates over the value of government experience vs. other backgrounds dominated the tense meetings filled with periods of silence and comments on the number of political newcomers on the council. Ryno is the only returning council member, as Condit, Lopez and Silveira were elected in November. Council members repeatedly failed to reach a compromise on their beliefs and voted 2-2 on about 10 motions on Thursday alone.
How will Ceres pay for the special election?
Ryno and Silveira also voted against Condit’s repeated proposals for council members to both give up their monthly stipends and allocate council medical insurance savings to cover the cost of the special election. Ceres council members receive a $500 stipend per month. Silveira declined The Bee’s request for comment, and Ryno did not immediately respond.
Couper Condit said there is a savings of just over $19,000 in the council operating budget because he, Lopez, and his brother Channce opted out of medical coverage from the city. Council members would need to donate about a year’s worth of their stipends to make up the difference, he said.
“Right there, we’re able to fund this special election without burdening the taxpayers with an additional cost,” Condit told The Bee. “...Since no one wanted to come to an agreement or name an alternative candidate, just their second choice, which to me would be a very normal thing to do, I think we should dedicate our own money.”
The city plans to pay for the special election out of the general fund, which has a projected surplus for this fiscal year because of CARES Act funds and salary savings from frozen positions, Westbrook said during the meeting.
How many of about 6,000 registered District 1 voters cast ballots will determine the exact cost of the special election, according to a county Registrar of Voters estimate. District 1 is bordered by Moffett Road to the east, Whitmore Avenue to the south and both Fifth Street and Central Avenue to the west.
At meetings prior to Thursday, Ryno and Silveira also opposed proposals to reopen the application period to consider more candidates for the appointment. The application process was open from Jan. 12 to 26.
Whoever wins the special election may cast deciding votes in the future. In January, the council split 2-2 on motions to approve an amended development agreement with a cannabis dispensary and extend a conflict of interest code. The council postponed the former issue to an April meeting, with Silveira saying a full council will be able to take action.
The council has also delayed appointing people to the Planning Commission and Measure H Oversight Committee, deciding to wait until the District 1 seat is filled.
Ceres last held special elections to fill City Council vacancies in 1996 and 1976, Westbrook said. The next regular Ceres council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday. Members of the public can join via Zoom or teleconference.
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
