Is restoration of the Ceres water tower still a pipe dream? Downtown business owner Brandy Meyer doesn’t think so, especially now since she has had found a contractor willing to do the work for a fraction of what was believed needed six years ago.
Meyer went before the Ceres City Council last week, with the renewed optimism that the much lower bid is within the grasp of the community.
The tank – built in 1934 and last painted in 2002 with the American flag – is considered by some to be a visual eyesore and embarrassment because of the rust and wear.
Meyer’s desire to see the Ceres water tower restored was put on hold in 2017 when Tony Wells, the city manager at the time, estimated the job would cost a prohibitive half million dollar cost. The city doesn’t have that kind of money and neither does the group of citizens who met six years ago. Only a couple of thousand dollars has been received from the community through a fundraiser dinner and individual donations.
Recently Meyer went to Hughson City Manager Mary Mayhew to ask for the name of the Modesto contractor who painted the Hughson water tower.
“Not only did he send me a reasonable new bid amount, he has experience working on many other water towers up and down the 99 corridor, I believe he said about 20 water towers,” Meyer told the council. “I am confident we can raise the money through grant opportunities, through businesses and the city of Ceres.
“I’m excited to start working on this again.”
She said the company supplied a bid of $81,000 but was unclear if that includes only the tank and not the four legs.
Then City Manager Toby Wells told the Courier in 2017 that were no city plans to raze the tower but also noted that the city doesn’t have the funds to restore it. Wells said a 2010 estimate of the project costs were approximately $310,000 for a paint job alone to $500,000 for a combination of safety retrofitting, paint stripping and painting. At the time the city estimated dismantling costs were in the ballpark of $20,000.
In 2010 the city asked a structural engineer about the soundness of the tower and learned it was structurally viable but improvements are necessary if the city wants to keep it standing in Ceres skies. The city is not required to conduct regular inspections of the tower since it is no longer used to hold water.
The work would involve removal of the lead-based paint, considered an environmental and health hazard, by shrouding the structure to prevent paint particles from flying while being removed for a new coat of paint.
The tank was painted in 2002 for a cost of $5,000. Wells said the city “got away with” covering over lead based paint. Wells said when the last paint contract was ordered “people were paying much less attention to this type stuff - today we can’t get away with it.”
Meyer said she’s asked the state senator to search for state grants and hopes the city can allocate some funds.
“Eighty-one thousand (dollars) is way more doable than a half a million so I think the funding will be much easier to find, even if we have to get sponsorships from big companies to help out a little bit,” said Meyer. “And we have somebody who knows what they’re doing. I feel a lot more confident this time than I did five years ago.”
