Bee endorsement: Two Ceres City Council hopefuls bring devotion to public service

The best choices for Ceres City Council in the Nov. 8 election are incumbent Jim Casey in District 1 and Rosalinda Vierra in the open race for District 2.

Casey has provided a steady hand since joining the council after a special election a year ago, filling a vacancy to represent northwest Ceres created when former Councilman Channce Condit moved up to the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. Casey’s priorities then and now: cleaning up the town and filling empty buildings deserted by former businesses. Both are essential to quality of life.

Ceres suffers from “poor communication” between government and its people, Casey said in a debate before The Modesto Bee Editorial Board. Good for him for being honest. Stanislaus County’s third-largest city also has been hurt by infighting on the council and vacancies on the council and in top administration.

“We’re headed in the right direction,” Casey said. Keeping him on the job is important to maintaining momentum, the kind that brought a rush of commercial construction to Service and Mitchell roads just off Highway 99. A Walmart Supercenter opened there a year ago, and several restaurants are going up now.

Southwest Ceres’ District 2 will be well served by Vierra, whose skills include accounting and business management. She has served on the Stanislaus Economic Development Action Committee for nine years and keeps a close eye on how Ceres City Hall spends its Measure H sales tax proceeds from her position on its oversight committee. Her devotion to public service is real.

Vierra is focused on solving the most pressing problems: homelessness, a lack of affordable housing, mental health services and boosting business. “We deserve a thriving community, where individuals and families feel safe,” she said.

Her District 2 opponent, Paula Redfern, has an impressive resume of experience working code enforcement with Modesto, Ceres, Merced, Hughson and Waterford, and as a community service officer with police in Ceres and Modesto.

Casey’s District 1 opponent, Todd Underwood, seems energetic but spends three or four nights a week in a sleeper van working Bay Area jobs. A good work ethic is a plus, but a councilman absent that much is not.

The good that Measure H has done for Ceres — saving its strapped budget — seems lost on Redfern and Underwood, when asked about it in relation to a similar sales tax increase now confronting Modesto voters. Casey and Vierra answered differently, and realistically.

None of three candidates for southeast Ceres’ District 4 participated in the forum and all are ineligible for the newspaper’s endorsement.

The Modesto Bee recommends Jim Casey in District 1 and Rosalinda Vierra in District 2 for Ceres City Council.

This story was originally published October 11, 2022 at 4:00 AM.