A special Thursday evening meeting will mark the swearing-in of re-elected Ceres City Council members Bret Durossette and Mike Kline and Mayor Chris Vierra.
The three each embark on for another four-year term.
The short 5:30 p.m. meeting will be held in the Council Chambers in the Ceres Community Center, 2701 Fourth Street. Also to be sworn in by City Clerk Lori Frontella will be newly re-elected City Treasurer Harry Herbert.
Durossette was the leading vote getter in the Nov. 3 election, pulling 1,807 votes, or 38.99 percent, followed by Kline who amassed 1,713 votes, or 36.97 percent. Those commanding leads left two challengers out in the cold. Don Cool received 714 votes, or 15.41 percent. Melvin "Gene" Yeakley received 375 votes, or 8.09 percent.
Mayor Vierra was unopposed for re-election and received 2,441 votes, or 97.25 percent. A total of 271 voters declined to vote in the unchallenged race while 69 write-in names were recorded.
Durossette was first appointed to the City Council in 2008 after the death of Councilman Rob Phipps. Besides serving on the City Council as vice mayor, he is a Ceres High School teacher and coach and serves this year as president of the Ceres Lions Club.
Kline was elected to the Ceres City Council in 2011.
This was the second uncontested mayoral contest for Vierra. No one opposed him in 2011. Vierra was appointed as mayor in January 2011 after Anthony Cannella resigned his seat to become a state senator.
Three members of the Ceres Unified School District Board of Trustees were appointed after nobody came forward to challenge them. Incumbent Jim Kinard ran unopposed for Trustee Area 1, incumbent Faye Lane ran unopposed for Trustee Area 4 and Teresa Guerrero ran unopposed for Trustee Area 7. All three will serve four more years on the School Board.
Ceres voters also passed Measure D by a margin of 1,846 to 867 votes. The measure creates City Council districts in Ceres. Voters also approved Measure E, an increase in the hotel tax, by a margin of 1,571 to 1,146 votes. Measure E doubles the Transient and Occupancy Tax from five percent to 10 percent.
