Council approves $115,500 community-engagement contract amid budget concerns

The Ceres City Council on Oct. 27 approved a retroactive contract to continue community engagement and fiscal-assessment services aimed at identifying revenue and program options to stabilize the city's budget.

City staff said the agreement covers consulting services that include public outreach, website changes to solicit resident input, tailored studies, and rapid-response support for community engagement. Staff reported a monthly rate of $6,700 and said the total requested through the fiscal period would be $115,500, to be paid from reserves because the expense was not in the adopted budget.

Labor and public-safety representatives urged approval. John Blount, vice president of the Ceres Police Officers Association, said the association supported continuing the work to identify funding options that will preserve public safety. Joshua Lepper, business manager for a regional labor union, also urged action and emphasized that staff cuts should not be the sole approach to balancing the budget.

Council members probed what the consultant had done to date and whether the work duplicates potential staff functions; staff said the firm provides specialized expertise on outreach and on fiscal-options analysis that staff resources alone do not supply. Council approved the contract on a unanimous roll call vote.

Next steps: staff will proceed with planned outreach activities and return findings and recommendations to council for consideration as they assemble fiscal options for future budgets.