A councilman’s push to give the council a say in who is hired as an interim department head ended last week when he didn’t receive the support required to place it on an upcoming Ceres City Council agenda.

Couper Condit suggested that the council place a discussion item on an upcoming agenda to have the council ratify a pick for a temporary or interim department head appointment. Department heads are chosen by the city manager with the approval of the council. The Municipal Code does not require the same treatment for interim positions.

Councilmembers Bret Silveira and Linda Ryno didn’t see a need for the change. Mayor Javier Lopez did not give his position, saying “it doesn’t matter” since a majority could not agree.

Condit’s request to have a citizen’s committee to review the Ceres Municipal Code was also rejected by Ryno and Silveira.

“I think all of you know we’ve had a discussion on Muni Code updates,” said Ryno. “We started Aug. 12 2019 and ended on March 23, 2020. We gave the public every opportunity to be involved in it. We had the public hearing where they could comment. We had the first reading which they could comment. We had the second reading which they could comment at. Both the first and second readings included notices in the Courier that the city paid for.” She cited the city spending $85,000 at a minimum in the process.

“It was a really lengthy endeavor and I just don’t believe at this time we need to go through that again.”

Silveira agreed with Ryno.