I knew exactly who the council would appoint to the Ceres Planning Commission last week.

No, I wasn’t given inside information. It comes from observing.

The council had a choice between Kelly Cerny, an applicant who has been glossed over three different times in the past, and Francisco Mireles, president of a nonprofit cruising organization. It’s like a Sesame Street game of “one these things is not like the others.”

In watching this mayor and council for years, it appears there is a fear or bias against what you might call the “old blood” of Ceres who have been part of the fabric of the community for decades before the current crop became Ceres residents. 

It couldn’t be for a lack of an impressive resume on her part that she was bypassed for Mireles.

Or did they skip over Kelly Cerny – once again – because her husband has been an outspoken critic of the mayor and the council majority? In July, husband Randy Cerny, a retired longtime law enforcement teacher, blasted the mayor and two members at a council meeting when he said that Otero and Casey “are serving our city out of a love for our city, not for personal gain, not for ego fulfillment,” insinuating, of course that the other three were not.

If we’re being honest, Mireles failed to impress with his answers to questions posed of him. But it was most disingenuous for Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez to suggest that what made Mireles his favorite was merely presenting himself in-person while Cerny, who happened to be out of town on a vacation planned for some time, appeared via Zoom. So what?

Let’s look at resumes.

Mireles stated he had a background as a deputy sheriff but is now a ground penetrating radar tech? Okay, I think. He is also president of a nonprofit group devoted to preserving car culture and which raises scholarships for youth. Nothing wrong with that.

Cerny has lived in Ceres twice as long as Mireles, and for 36 years has worked as an executive assistant to top level executives as well as elected officials. She worked for two large newpspaers,a national magazine, a criminal and civil law firm and worked for a dentist. Cerny spent 24 years in county administrative work as a confidential assistant to the elected county clerk-recorder and treasurer-tax collector. She retired as the clerk of the board to StanCERA (the Stanislaus County Employees Retirement Association). She also has been a volunteer with Ceres schools, the Ceres Dolphins swim team, Ceres Youth Soccer Organization, Ceres Chamber of Commerce, and both the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association. Anything wrong with those credentials and that service?

In January 2021, Mayor Javier Lopez refused to appoint Laurie Smith – a longtime commissioner and by far the most qualified – to an empty council seat to the point of a 2-2 deadlock that forced the city into a special election. The new mayor refused to budge and listen to Councilmember Linda Ryno and Councilman Bret Silveira who held fast to their insistence that Smith had the experience that the others lacked. Mayor Lopez continued to block her appointment, voting in support of any of the other three lesser applicants in separate motions which systematically failed in 2-2 ties. In his stubbornness Lopez said he could wait there all night, signaling he wasn’t about to consider the most qualified candidate.

When Kelly Cerny applied in 2023 for a commission appointment, she was passed up for Gary M. Condit. Cerny also applied in 2024 when two seats were open and receiving the nod were R.J. Jammu – who they had dismissed in 2023 but decided they liked again – and Dr. Dorie Perez with a connection to Ceres that isn’t very deep. Cerny was again rebuffed.

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Will the 2026 population figures to be released by the state of California Department of Finance show a continuation of Ceres’ population decline? Or will Ceres inch closer to the magic number of 50,000 which helps the city attract new businesses?

City officials will be watching for the state’s new population figures but I don’t expect significant gains.

According to the California Department of Finance which issues annual population estimates, Ceres was the only city in Stanislaus County that LOST population from 2024 to 2025! Those numbers slipped backward by 0.4 percent, from 49,480 to 49,305. Neighbor Hughson gained in population, from 7,801 to 7,977, or a 2.3% gain.

In 2020, Ceres had 49,282 residents and thus it seems like breaking that 50,000 mark has been a challenge for at least five years. There’s been little building activity in Ceres. In fact, Tuscany Village, of which the mayor gleefully announced the revival during his re-election bid, remains in an unfinished state of exposed graying 2x4s. Even Olive Villas on Hatch Road remains in an unfinished state of construction.

Completed in 2025 was Harinder Toor’s 28-unit apartment complex on Moffet Road, of which the number of occupants will not bring Ceres to 50,000.

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Brenda Scudder Herbert gave the community an earful last week in answer to my column, “Does Ceres really need a city treasurer?” She wrote on Facebook: “I just read with particular interest Jeff Benziger’s editorial in the Ceres Courier asking should Ceres have a City Treasurer. My answer to that question is no. The way Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez responded to Councilman Casey’s input was both uncalled for and childish. Vice Mayor Martinez should have recused himself from the discussion instead of inserting himself. Do you need the money Vice Mayor is that why you want your wife to continue to receive a paycheck from the city when it really is not warranted or do you have other underlying reasons.

“As the wife of the former City Treasurer I can tell the community that my husband decided not to rerun for the position because he felt that he was stealing money from the city since the City Treasurer does NOTHING but collect a monthly paycheck and has very limited oversight on City finances. When I say very limited what I am saying is, after years of requests he was finally able to review reports but was not able to give input on them however, his signature was rubber stamped on everything. With the rubber stamping of his signature that meant he held all the responsibility of things he had no control of.

“So, does the City of Ceres need a City Treasurer the answer is No.”

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KCRA-TV has been dogging state Legislature members to get some simple information – the cost of the Capitol Annex project – and they are hiding.

They won’t say because it’s an obscene amount of money and they’ll have to answer to voters about their careless ways of spending. So hide they will.

Last week, KCRA’s political director Ashley Zavala reported that Newsom still hasn’t produced cost figures despite his pledge to get them.

Is Newsom really that feckless that he can’t get that information or that he is protecting his buddies?

Stonewalling is the Legislature’s Joint Rules Committee. Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco, D-Downey and state Senator John Laird, D-Monterey, are ignoring interview requests. Three years ago the figure was $1.3 billion. I imagine the figure is triple that if it’s anything like the high-speed rail project. Kind of dwarfs Trump’s $350 million ballroom, doesn’t it?

Why isn’t this public information and readily available? There is no transparency and that’s troubling.

Over 2,000 persons have signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to prevent them from giving out information on costs. That’s the Democratic Party for you – in bed with their labor cronies.

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The new Modesto ball pioneer league is in need of a name and hosted on a contest that ended on Nov. 10. When they announced that the name of Modesto Glow Riders was announced, it was universally ridiculed in social media.

Get this: The list of other names the community was asked to consider included the Modesto Bombers, Cherry Bombers, Golden Goats, Graffiti, Harvesters, Monster Trucks, Road Hogs and 99ers. My opinion is all of them were terrible. What is the obsession with naming a ball team after cars or drivers? Road hogs? Bombers? That’s not a good thing; people already have a negative view of Modesto statewide. The Modesto Nuts was bad but there has to be a better name that doesn’t make the area sound like a joke.

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On the Ceres Community Awareness (CCA) Facebook page, someone posted the question: “What made you choose Ceres as your hometown?”

There were some interesting responses.

Sheri Zipser wrote: “Daddy’s car broke down on Highway 99 in Ceres!!! So here I am!! lol!!!

Coni Limprecht Goudeau noted her parents left Durango, Colorado where there was little work so her Dad accepted an offer with the Modesto Bee in 1950. They bought a house in Ceres. When Coni and Don Goudeau married in 1970 they stayed in Ceres which she reported to be a great place to raise kids and that she “would never choose to leave.”

Renae Morte cited the lower housing costs as reason for choosing Ceres.

Jan Jacobs noted that when it came time to buy a home they were told the house was in Modesto. Not so; only the mailing address was Modesto but they are in the Ceres city limits. (That messed up situation still hasn’t been corrected). But the “ouch” moment came when she wrote: “I would not have bought the property and house if I had known that it was in Ceres.”

Retired Ceres Police Sgt. Patrick Sullivan remarked that while Ceres is his hometown “it’s not the same town that I grew up and worked in.”

Culture and politics changed it.

After 50 plus years in California, the Sullivans packed up and left the state.

Sullivan also posted: “I truly believe people become numb to their surroundings; what you see on a daily basis mean little to them because it’s considered the normal or it’s meaningless.”

He’s referring to the degradation of culture, how properties are left to become blighted, the homeless camps, graffiti, the speeding, property theft and overall lawless behaviors.

Have you ever noticed how you stop looking at aspects of your own house which a visitor will immediately pick up on? It could be that broken fence board, that gouge in the wallboard, that trim that got kicked off and never replaced, the dirty windows, the cracked kitchen tiles, the wobbly toilet, the worn carpets, well, you get the idea. At times we stop seeing them because they become normal to us – and lose the desire to fix things.

This thought was in my head when I was southbound on the freeway and before getting to the Mitchell Road exit noticed how the view of Ceres from Highway 99 is extremely ghetto – especially south of the Whitmore Avenue overpass. None of the industries have trees to soften the harsh look of metal warehouses. A homeless dude (or dudes) have debris strung out among the tumbleweeds along the railroad right-of-way. (Why anyone would set up yards from rumbling freight trains is beyond my sensibilities). The Collins Road trailer parks are supremely ghetto looking withplastic slats marred with graffiti and absolutely no trees or landscaping. Then comes the wrecked cars stacked above the fence of the salvage yard shouldering the Service Road overpass, which is covered in more graffiti. Concrete pillars of the Service Road bridge have been painted over so many times it looks like a patchwork of mismatched paint.

The whole vista screams low class and apparently the community has stopped seeing the blight and accepted it as normal while the passersby just shake their heads.

This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation.  How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com