Neglected for over two decades, the rusting water tower that has dominated Ceres’ skyline since 1934 has become a high-profile example of the visual blight city leaders have been combatting.
On Monday city leaders renewed talk about giving the tower a facelift and erasing the rusty patches eating away at the American flag painted on its southwest face in 2002.
It’s been over six years since a committee of concerned citizens began looking into restoring the landmark water tower – with not much in the way of funding. But for the first time in a decade the Ceres City Council on Monday evening expressed interest in looking into restoration.
Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra brought up the subject during the “Council Referral” section of the agenda to gauge the council’s interest in assigning city staff to put together a study with costs and determine funding sources. She said the “very old” water tower has become iconic to the identity of Ceres. Councilmembers gave a head nod the idea of assigning staff to determine if restoration is feasible.
“I just kind of wanted to see if it’s something that’s even feasible, just to move forward, to run numbers, get an official quote,” said Vierra.
Brandi Meyer, who headed up the citizens’ ad hoc committee in August 2017 to look into a restoration effort, advocated for a new study before the council on Monday. She scoffed at the notion that fixing up the water tower would cost as much as between $400,000 and $500,000, based on an old quote by Cornerstone Painting Company. Seven years ago then City Manager Toby Wells said the city didn’t have the funds but Meyer had received permission to seek out a contractor who could do the work for much less.
“In the meantime, we have had three other city managers employed by the city and my reports have gone to the wayside,” Meyer told the council. She said with the pandemic “over, I would like to continue with our mission to restore the water tower.”
Meyer came armed with a December 2022 quote for $82,000 to repair and paint the lid and tank of the tower but not its legs. She estimates that the entire job could cost between $160,000 and $180,000.
She noted that Hughson had its water tank painted over two decades ago and “it still looks beautiful.” That work was done by Gold Star Painting, which has restored about 20 other towers in the Valley.
The city had the American flag painted on the tower tank in 2002 for $5,000 but it hasn’t endured as well as Hughson’s paint job.
Meyer suggested the city may be able to snag private grants, such as the $50,000 Hometown Grant offered by T-Mobile for shovel ready community projects. She also noted that the ad hoc committee has been sitting atop $2,000 previously donated from the community with one citizen pledging to donate an additional $5,000.
“If our committee can work with the city grant writer I’m sure that we can find more grants to cover most, if not all, the cost to repair the water tower,” said Meyer.
While the tank does not qualify for designation as an historical landmark, Meyer has long insisted that the tower is a historical monument and should be preserved for future generations.
Single water towers like Ceres’ could supply ample water pressure to small towns. But as towns grew in size that technology became obsolete when powerful pumps.
The Ceres tank was emptied of its water decades ago. Occasionally some youth have illegally scaled up the tower ladder and thrown items from the catwalk. Over the years bullets have found the 50,000-gallon metal tank which is about 90 feet high.
The city is not required to conduct regular inspections of the tower since it is no longer used to hold water. But in 2010 a structural engineer was hired by the city to evaluate the soundness of the tower and declared it structurally safe but said improvements would be necessary to keep it safe.
In 2011 the City Council had a discussion about the water tower but nothing came of it.
In 2017 then Ceres City Manager Toby Wells said the city had no plan to raze the tower but also said the city didn’t have the funds to restore it. He cited a 2010 estimate of approximately $310,000 for a paint job alone to $500,000 for a combination of safety retrofitting, paint stripping and painting.
Wells told the Courier years ago that the city “got away with” covering over lead based paint in the $5,000 paint job in 2002. Wells said that was a time when “people were paying much less attention to this type stuff – today we can’t get away with it.”
At the time the city estimated dismantling costs were in the ballpark of $20,000.
