The Ceres City Council would like to see more public engagement at public hearings and improve lines of communication with the citizenry. So at last week’s meeting the council engaged in over a half-hour of discussion about ways to accomplish those goals.

The agenda item was at the behest of Councilman James Casey who has repeatedly asserted the city doesn’t go far enough to inform residents about issues.

City Clerk Fallon Martin said state government code requires that notices about public hearings and other legislative actions must be posted in a newspaper of general circulation – the Ceres Courier – but the city could go above and beyond that requirement. She outlined some options, all of which would cost in additional staff time or money.

The city does advertise on its own website and at times on social media.

The council decided not to engage in additional newspaper ads because of cost.

Discussion focused on adding an insert into the utility billing. Martin said four weeks’ advance notice to print such a flyer would at times rule out meeting posting requirements. Such a notice would cost about $1,700 per billing cycle and cost staff time.

“Posting it on the bulletin board down at City Hall doesn’t probably cut it,” opined Ceres resident John Warren who recommended greater use of social media sites to give information to the public and doesn’t cost the city.

Ceres Chamber of Commerce Brandy Meyer said her organization has similar difficulties getting out the word.

“We’ll do an event and somebody will come after and say, ‘we didn’t know about it,’” said Meyer. “We don’t know what else to say.”

Resident Gene Yeakley said “a lot of people don’t care about what goes on in the city that’s obvious – we see that twice a month. They don’t read. The average just does not care. They think you fine people are going to take care of everything that comes before them but only God can do that, right?”

Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez said he could not support additional newspaper advertising costs or utility bill inserts because of an estimated $20,000 a year. He said social media seemed to be the best option.

Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra said social media only works when people going into their devices in search of postings. She wondered about the possibility of getting notices sent to the email addresses of those utility customers who pay their bills electronically.

Vierra noted that some of her constituents mentioned not knowing anything about a new O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store opening on Whitmore Avenue.

“We had a couple of meetings on this and it came before the public and they’re like, ‘why didn’t I know?,’” said Vierra.

The O’Reilly’s application was also covered by the Ceres Courier when it came before the Ceres Planning Commission in August 2023.

“I think utilizing the city website is going to be really important,” said Councilwoman Cerina Otero. She also liked the idea of residents subscribing for email or text notifications but also getting the word out as to how to sign up. Otero was not opposed to ordering special newspaper ads to advertise special meetings, such as for budget input.

She liked the idea of a social media person, or public information officer but added “that’s obviously costly.” Otero said perhaps volunteers would be available to manage such duties.

Casey noted that he also wants the city to expand the minimum requirements of giving notices to property owners that may be affected by proposed a development and notify renters as well. State law requires notification of those owning property within a 300-foot radius of a project site.

Notification policies differ from city to city but Lea Simvoulakis, the city’s Community Development consultant, said the radius could be expanded depending on the importance of a proposed project. Those extra costs of sending notifications are typically passed onto developers.

Mayor Javier Lopez asked if the Chamber could assist in sending out email blasts about city events since the city is a member. Meyer said that the city could take advantage of that service.

Julian Aguirre, the city’s Economic Development manager, said there is a “Notify Me” button on the bottom of the home page of the city website (www.ceres.gov) which allows folks to sign up for notifications for texts or emails.