Ceres City Council to play at the city-owned George Costa Baseball Complex while a new contract is hammered out.

The city and CYB did not reach an agreement before the March 29 beginning of the youth baseball league in Ceres. The permission extends to Blaze and Sizzle tournaments.

Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez motioned for the continue use and tabling of the contract, which was seconded by Mayor Javier Lopez. The motion received a 3-2 vote with Councilman James Casey and Councilwoman Cerina Otero voting no.

The vote meant several items within the proposed contract will be revisited.

The council vote came after a half-hour discussion at last week’s meeting.

Martinez had concerns about several aspects of the city’s contract with CYB for use of the baseball complex. That contract was revised after the city proposed a whopping increase in the fees in 2024 which caused CYB protest.

Fees are proposed to double from $20 per player to $40.

Martinez said he is concerned about safety, transparency.

“Nowhere in the contract does it prohibit them from having outside food vendors,” said Martinez. “If they do have outside food vendors are they paying permit fees to the city?”

He also mentioned a change of ballfield lights remaining on as late as 11 p.m. instead of 10 p.m., wondering if neighborhood impacts were assessed.

Also, he wondered if it was safe to have only one access gate open during tournaments if folks needed to escape for any emergency.

Councilwoman Otero said that talk of raising fees to CYB – which would be passed off to players’ families – is not welcome but said “sometimes it’s needed to be able to keep up with cost of um these different activities.”

“I want make sure that any recreational programs remain affordable in our city and I know that it’s hard on parents to pay for additional items that are needed to play a sport or participate in activity,” said Otero. “It’s also hard on city to keep up with the changing costs, but we need to do our best to make sure that all of our children have access to facilities that are clean and safe at all times.”

Otero said in the future increases should be gradual and not sudden.

She feels one entrance point for the fields keeps everyone safer.

Otero stated her feelings that the public was misled by the city about committing ARPA funds to the fields when the funds were shifted to public safety needs.

Jorge Guerrero, president of CYB, said most of the gates are closed because of unruly “gangsters” on bicycles who have caused problems and ran into one little girl.

“Last time we were here we were promised that the lights on field #3 were going to be repaired,” said Guerrero. “We were promised the gate on the Rose (Avenue) side was going to be done. I submitted a proposal from an electrical company, and Councilman Martinez told me it’s going through, and next thing I found out, a couple months later, that the money was no longer available for us. It is a safety concern for anybody who plays on that field when it starts getting dark. Like right now, if you’re on that field, it’s very hard to see the baseball. Kids will lose the ball in the air.”

While the city renovated the fields, CYB pays a contractor who regularly maintains the fields.

Ismael Ontiveras, vice president of CYB, reiterated the need to improve the lighting on field 3. He also said the bathrooms need improvement and CYB was promised improvements last year.

Recreation Director Joey Chavez clarified that the fixtures for the restrooms were not ordered as CYB officials stated.

John Warren, a regular attendee at council meetings, said he remembered that the ARPA funds originally committed to improving the lights on field 3 far surpassed the ARPA funds so they were diverted elsewhere.

The federal government dollars had a deadline for ARPA funds to be committed before the end of 2024.

Mayor Javier Lopez said “I was under the impression that there was not going to be enough funds for that field so that’s why the city council took the direction. But I also wanted to acknowledge that as not only as a mayor but as a coach, I think I agree with everybody here when it comes to these kids we have to do whatever we can to upgrade that field, because at the end of the day that’s what it’s for. So, with that being said, we could not afford to just do one and just leave it as that. We felt that it was very important to do the entire field. So there is no missing ARPA funds.” 

Chavez said $113,000 is left and $88,000 was spent on a new gate, signage, field renovations and tree trimming.

Mayor Javier Lopez said the council’s ultimate goal is to upgrade the lighting for all the fields.

“To sort of echo what the mayor said, I do also want see those lights on field 3 replaced and eventually fix upgraded make the facility safer,” said Vice Mayor Martinez. “I have one that’ll currently be playing on it, one that will be playing there in probably two years so my children eventually will play on that field at some point in time, uh getting that fix is definitely an issue that I want to see resolved, but there are other projects and facilities that need work as well.”

Otero wanted a review of the status of the ARPA funds in question in an upcoming meeting.

At the end of the discussion, outbursts came from Guerrero which prompted Mayor Lopez to call “point of order” several times.