Most people are unaware that the duty of serving on the Ceres City Council includes volunteering to represent the city on a myriad of committees that meet regularly and not so regularly.

At the first meeting of 2018 held last week, Mayor Chris Vierra reviewed committee assignments for the new year with most remaining the same assignments as last year.

Vierra holds onto his position representing Ceres on the Alliance and the County-City Selection Committee.

Linda Ryno continues to represent Ceres on the Ceres Partnership for Healthy Children Committee.

Ken Lane retains his seat on the Ceres Christmas Festival Committee and the Stanislaus Elder Abuse Prevention Alliance (SEAPA). Lane said SEAPA hasn't been meeting and that he would like to see it start up again. Lane also serves on the Whitmore House Preservation Committee.

Mike Kline continues on the city's Economic Development Committee.

Bret Durossette will continue to represent Ceres on the city's Traffic Safety Committee, Ceres Youth Commission, Tuolumne River Regional Park Committee and the Volunteer Firefighter Length-of-Service Qualification Review Committee.

Lane and Durossette remain together on the City-Schools Committee, a group of city officials who share information with Ceres Unified School District administrators and board trustees.

Retained for the Ceres Concerts in the Park Committee are Kline and Ryno.

Ceres will continue to be represented on the Stanislaus Council of Governments (StanCOG) Policy Board by Kline with Durossette as the alternate.

Rarely meeting is the East Stanislaus Integrated Regional Water Management Program (ESIRWSP) on which Vierra and Lane will continue to represent Ceres. Both also remain on the Surface Water Joint Powers Authority Board and the West Turlock Sub-basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (JPA).

Vierra commented that he was surprised that he was on the League of California Cities' Central Valley Division Executive Committee, saying "it shows they don't meet that often." Durossette is the alternate member.

Vierra and Lane were reappointed to the Local Emergency Planning Committee.

The mayor will continue to serve on the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Governing Board but scratched his name from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Board.

All five on the City Council serve on the former Ceres Redevelopment Agency City Council Successor Agency and the Former Stanislaus-Ceres Redevelopment Commission Successor Agency. Both agencies are wind-down agencies in the aftermath of the state's deconstruction of redevelopment agencies.