Four members of the Ceres City Council rejected Councilman James Casey’s proposal to use $10,000 of the council’s travel budget to recognize employees at milestones in their tenure.

At the Sept. 20 meeting, the council rejected the idea of using ARPA funds to recognize employees who have reached milestones or those retiring. Casey had voted against using one-time ARPA funds, instead preferring to put an annual line item in the budget “for longevity.” ARPA use was rejected in a 2-2 tie vote, the equivalent of a procedural denial.

“I would like it to be part of our council budget since we are people who are kind of in charge of all these people that work and it would be appropriate to be funded from our budget,” said Casey last week. He specifically asked the money to come out of the council’s budget for travel, lodging and meals.

Casey also asked for council insurance costs to be used to “fulfill the long dream of cleaning up” the Ceres water tower.

Ceres resident John Warren commented that the council allocating any funds for the water tower restoration would be “the best thing that the council could do.” He went on to suggest that the council also improve the speaker system in the Community Center room where council meetings are conducted. Warren complained that because the audience is still being kept at a far distance from the dais – a practice that started during the pandemic – he can hear about half of the voices over the speakers.

Ceres Chamber of Commerce President Brandy Meyer, also a downtown business who has spearheaded efforts to raise funds for the tower’s restoration, said she’d appreciate any council effort to fund the project.

“I’ve talked to a few people at the city who are looking for grants but the support of the city would be very helpful,” Meyer told the council.

Vice Mayor Bret Silveira said he regretted his absence at the Sept. 20 meeting, saying he would have supported the ARPA use request.

“That being said, my opinion is taking roughly $10,000 out of the City Council’s fund is not the place to do it,” said Silveira. He did, however, said he would possibly be okay taking a third of the amount to immediately start the program for the remainder of the year. Silveira then suggested funding employee recognition efforts from the Human Resources budget “so we don’t have these conversations anymore.”

The vice mayor said that some years the council expends all of its budget and some years not.

“We’re going to have a new council possibly – nobody knows that – we may need those funds for training, etcetera,” Silveira said.

Most cities and companies, he said, use Human Resources budget funds to recognize employees.

City Attorney Nubia Goldstein said the council couldn’t take immediate action on Silveira’s suggestion since Casey’s idea was only to consider placing the matter on a future agenda for discussion.

Mayor Javier Lopez said he supports the idea of recognizing employees opined but said “I don’t think we should be utilizing the travel budget funding when we have other funding resources to fund that project. That’s just my take and I don’t understand looping in the Ceres tower, because in reality the Ceres tower should be an additional referral so that we can ask staff to look into it. Because I really do think that it’s about time that we do finish that project.”

Silveira said he wants some cost estimates for the tower renovation, noting that without numbers “there’s no way we can even talk about potential renovation of that water tower.”

Councilman Daniel Martinez also opposed Casey’s idea, noting that he was supportive of using ARPA funds. He said he has used the travel funds on trips to Sacramento to get new councilmember training and ethics training and on another occasion.

Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra suggested that instead of honoring longtime employees with a plaque the city could throw a luncheon or give cash awards.

As for the last bit of unallocated ARPA funds, Vierra suggested the city installing more surveillance cameras, citing how cameras could have been in place – to capture images of the hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a pedestrian on Hatch Road.

Vierra brought forth her own ideas for council consideration:

• Updating building codes;

• Using Congestion Mitigation grant funding on projects to reduce traffic congestion in some areas of Ceres, especially during peak hours.

Casey offered more input on his rejected referrals, asking the council to take a look at its own budget.

“Our department probably had the largest increase percentage wise of all the other departments as far as the funding,” said Casey. “Just think about that.”