Earlier this year the city was contemplating cutting down large trees around the Costa Fields ball complex in Smyrna Park as its remedy to fixing lighting issues after installation of a new lighting system in 2025. The trees were spared as other solutions were sought so on Monday the Ceres City Council approved a $273,408 contract with Musco Sports Lighting to enhance the lighting of the ball fields.

In 2025, the City Council approved the replacement of the former metal halide sports lighting with new energy-efficient LED lighting. The new lighting was intended to improve reliability, reduce maintenance, and lower energy consumption but the new lighting did not meet the satisfaction of Ceres Youth Baseball officials who said accidents occurred because of insufficient lighting.

The 2025 lighting project also received a $69,546 energy efficiency grant from the Turlock Irrigation District which the city claims it will get to keep.

City Engineer Michael Beltran said Musco presents the “most practical and cost-effective approach.” He said the company’s retrofit will light Field 1 and Field 2 with 38 factory-aimed luminaires specifically engineered for George Costa Fields mounted to 10 existing lighting poles and infrastructure.

The proposed system includes BallTracker® technology, guaranteed lighting performance, and a 25-year parts and onsite labor warranty.

The engineered design provides guaranteed average maintained illumination levels of approximately 50 foot candles in the infield and 30 foot candles in the outfield with improved lighting uniformity on both Fields 1 and 2.

He explained that the ball tracker lighting technology on fields 1 and 2 will resemble an upside down light to shine on balls from underneath “wherever that ball is hit throughout the field.”

The plan is to reuse of the existing LED fixtures removed from Fields 1 and 2 and installed on on Field 3.

Beltran said the contract will be paid for by an internal fund and not affect the General Fund.

Ceres resident Shirley Rogers, known for her terse commentary at meetings, told the council: “Just do it. You make everything so complicated. This needs to be done. It was screwed up, fix it. Get it over with.”

The city previously spent $178,708 on the 2025 lighting project, paid for through a recreational facilities fund.

Because the city and CYB have been at odds over the lighting issue, Mayor Lopez read a prepared statement that read in part: “I truly believe that when the city and the community work together, we can overcome disagreements and accomplish our shared goals. On this point forward, I’m asking the city of Ceres and Ceres Youth Baseball to continue working together, set past differences aside, and maintain the proactive relationship that they have built. Our priority must continue to be the children in the future of Costa Fields. There is a reason why the city council has invested in George Costa Fields. We saw the need, we understood the facility deserved greater attention and long-term investment.”

Councilwoman Cerina Otero thanked interim City Manager Steve Williams for his work in advancing the contract.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s gotten this far,” said Otero. “We could have had this resolved two years ago and it could have been done by just doing Field 3. But here we are and so I’m grateful that the city recognized the need and recognized the liability that the current lights have created.”

Beltran said the city wasn’t satisfied with the lighting after it was installed last year but the contractor installed what was ordered.

“What we thought we were going to get definitely didn’t come due fruition and we definitely need to get it addressed,” commented Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra.

As far as Field 3 is concerned, Beltran said Musco has agreed to help the city point the lights in the correct directions and give us recommendations on how many lights need to go on each pole. He also noted that the IBEW electrical contractors union may help donate labor in installing the lights on Field 3.

Beltran said it will be a couple of months before the lights arrive and are installed.

Vierra sought clarification about whether the project would affect park development funding and Beltran said it won’t. He further explained that the city has $1.4 million in park impact fees which could be spent on the undeveloped Lions Park site. But he noted the cost to develop a park runs about $750,000 an acre and with the Lions Park site being about 10 acres, it will cost about $7 million and $9 million “so we don’t have that funding in place.”

Ismael Ontiveras, vice president of CYB, said he and president Jorge Guerrero are “all for this, including taking some of the existing lights on Field 1 and 2, and putting them on Field 3 to help brighten up that field.”

He acknowledged ongoing concerns with Field 4 being dark but understands though there might be some limitations with the brackets in place “so hopefully we can get together and try to come up with a plan to brighten up that field, at least at home plate because it’s pretty dark.”