DINUBA – This November, contests for city council races, school board elections and local bond measures will be listed lower on the ballot, but they are not any lower in importance.
Local elections are often decided by just a handful of votes, highlighting the impact of each individual’s voice in the community. In Dinuba, residents who want to see change in their cities, be that improved roads, increased public safety or more commercial and residential development, will have the chance to vote on city council candidates promising to bring something new to the area.
The Dinuba City Council is made up of five residents who are elected by districts, referred to in Dinuba as wards. Up for reelection this year is Ward 1 and Ward 5; however, only one candidate, incumbent Linda Launer, filed for reelection in District 5, and was automatically appointed in-lieu of an election because of that.
In Ward 1, which encompasses the southeast corner of the city, east of College Avenue and south of Park Way, Vice Mayor Rachel Nerio-Guerrero is running for reelection against resident Manuel Mejorado. Nerio-Guerrero was first elected to the council in November 2020; she received 54.2% of the vote over resident Joshua Huerta.
California voters can use the Secretary of State’s online voter registration tool at registertovote.ca.gov to register to vote or check their status. Voters in Tulare County can use an online district lookup tool through their respective county elections office to enter their address and find what Congressional, state and county districts they live in.
Nerio-Guerrero spoke with Mineral King Publishing about her background and her goals for the next four years if she is elected Nov. 5. Interview responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: What is your background?
NERIO-GUERRERO: I’ve lived here in Dinuba all my life, and gone to Dinuba schools. I also am currently working here in Dinuba at the TulareWORKs office that’s part of the Health and Human Service Agency; I have worked at TulareWORKs for 30 years. I have been married to David Guerrero for 30 years, and I have two children, Kristian and Jacquelyn.
Q: What do you hope to change or accomplish in the next term, if elected?
NERIO-GUERRERO: If I’m reelected, I would just like to continue with what we’re doing here in Dinuba, … having new businesses come and I’m really passionate about the recreation, the sports and then I’m also really involved in the senior center. So I just kind of want to continue with making Dinuba a better place to live, and just come in agreement with the rest of the city council, as far as projects that come up and what we have to vote on, and just really listening to the citizens.
That’s my main thing, as far as what they want, not so much what I want, but I would like to hear what they like or what they don’t like. So that way I could bring it up and then see if we could do something about it. (For example) in the beginning (of my term) with the senior center, they didn’t have enough lunches, and so I went to the city manager, and I asked him, “Do you think we could add lunches for the seniors.” And he’s like, “Sure, we could add some lunches.” And so that really helped them be able to not be on a waiting list. It was like they were able to have enough lunches for all the people that signed up.
It’s just little things like that that maybe people aren’t aware of that are going on. When I go to the senior center, they’re really open to talk to me, and … say, what about this? Another thing is when I went, they didn’t really have a lot of the ADA restrooms and so it’s just little things like that that make my job a lot easier and fun, is when I’m able to listen to my constituents or people in the community, and listen to their concerns. Because a lot of times it’s not like it’s a problem, but it’s just a concern that they bring up, and so my whole thing is just listening to them and seeing if I can some way help whatever they want to see.
Q: Who is supporting/endorsing your campaign, and who are the major funders of your campaign?
NERIO-GUERRERO: Pretty much I do have friends that, for example, (Tulare County Supervisor) Eddie Valero is a really good friend of mine, and he helps me when I need different things for signs. But as far as (funders) it’s just basically me. Since this is going to be my second term, I’ve had stuff from my previous (campaign) when I was running, so I didn’t have to purchase too many signs, because I had signs left over. … So it’s just kind of like tweaking the signs to put “re-elect Rachel.” It’s not like I have a lot of like backers; people are supporting me, but not so much monetarily.
Q: What do you see as the top three issues facing your local community right now? What would you do to address those issues?
NERIO-GUERRERO: You know, we’re really lucky that we don’t have too many issues, because as a city, we all really work together on the issues, like homelessness. We have a really good code enforcement (officer); she’s really good at talking with the homeless, seeing if she can help them and place them with either relatives or place them at other locations, things like that.
For me, I know a lot of people talk about a lot of people (who) are speeding. A lot of people are distracted driving, things like that. And so I work closely with the police department to see if they can be around certain areas where they can monitor the traffic flow and see if they’re speeding, or how fast they’re going.
Q: What does the role of a city councilperson look like to you? How would you engage with the community and respond to residents’ needs?
NERIO-GUERRERO: I take my role very seriously, because I am the spokesperson for my district, and not only for my district, but for the whole community. If somebody from another district has a concern, I’m not gonna say, “Oh, you need to talk to your person.” You know, I’m really open to hear everyone and try to do the best that I can for my city. We have the motto where it’s “together a better community.” I really believe in that.
I love going to all the grand openings, the ribbon cuttings. One of my favorites is the opening day for our baseball and softball. I really enjoy going to all the games as much as possible, just so that way they see there’s a representative from the council that’s there engaging with them. I like to go to all the functions, all the events that the city has, as far as Dog Days, or the Harvest Festival, the Spring Fling.
So I really make it a point to go to the events like the farmers markets that we have in the summer, and so that way they know that I’m just not city council by title. I’m actually engaging with the community and seeing how they’re engaging, and then to see if there’s anything that I can help out with. So those are part of the fun things about city council that I do. I’m really big on talking with people and finding out what their concerns are.
Q: Anything else to add?
NERIO-GUERRERO:I’ve really enjoyed being on the city council, because for one thing we really work together, and so that really makes being on city council enjoyable, because I’ve heard other stories of city councils that aren’t. I think it’s really good when we all together can make the city a better place.
It’s just really great how we’re getting new businesses, especially in my district. When I first ran, the whole Mercantile Row was empty, businesses had closed, and now to see it where we have all these new businesses and just to see the parking lot full now, because it was just so empty. It was pretty much forgotten, and now it’s just like, wow. It’s just thriving with new businesses.
It really makes the community happy to know that we have these stores here that they can go to, and now they don’t have to go to Visalia for Ross or Five Below. And now that we’re getting a new second Starbucks, which is going to help out even more, because the one that we have over there on the west side, you see the line all the time. And so now having a second one is really going to help with that.
Dinuba is just a growing place and new residential communities are coming up, they’re going to be building more houses, and so that’s exciting to see how Dinuba has grown so much, especially for me, seeing it within the last four years since I last ran. So there’s a lot of positives in that, and so I just want to continue with that and for the next four years.
