ORANGE COVE – 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 Orange Cove, 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 Orange Cove City Council is made up of four residents who are elected at-large to serve the entire city and a mayor who is also elected at-large. Council members and the mayor are elected to four-year staggered terms, with no limits to how long they can be on the council. This year, five candidates — Josie Cervantes, Jacob Del Bosque, Isaiah Lopez, Cassy Ortiz and Maria Vacio — are running to fill two seats that are up for election.
Cervantes and Vacio both currently sit on the Orange Cove City Council; Cervantes was appointed in-lieu of an election in 2020, meaning she ran unopposed. Vacio was appointed to a vacancy in the council in January 2023. The Mid Valley Times was unable to reach Cervantes and Vacio by press time; updated Q&As will be posted online.
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 Fresno County can use an online district lookup tool through their respective county elections office to enter their address and find what Congressional, state, county and city districts they live in.
Ortiz 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?
ORTIZ: I have lived in Orange Cove all of my life. I’ve grown up and participated in tons of city events and things like that. I am also a teacher at Orange Cove High School. I’ve been there for 19 years. I was the activities director for almost the first 13 years of the school, I think I started when they were seniors. A lot of the culture of excellence that we have at Orange Cove High School was done in part with me being in leadership there and helping run a successful program.
So I did that for 13 years, and then I stepped down from that position because I went into leadership at my church. I took over as pastor of a small church here in Orange Cove, a growing church here in Orange Cove, and it has been a complete joy. So I’ve been in education, I have done a number of things for our community in preparing our students for the future.
Q: What do you hope to change or accomplish in the next term, if elected?
ORTIZ: One of the big things for me is I really love our students, and I get to see them grow up and be amazing individuals who go and get great jobs, and they’re like, “Well, I wanted to live in Orange Cove, but there’s no housing for me.”
We’re raising these college-educated kids who go and get great jobs, but there’s no place for them to live in Orange Cove because we don’t have homes for sale and we don’t have apartments that are not just low income and so forth. One of my big pushes is definitely to secure water so that we can bring in more homes to Orange Cove and make people homeowners, and really build our community up with people who love Orange Cove (and) want to be in Orange Cove but can’t because there’s actually no space for them.
It’s pretty sad when I see these kids, they’re like, “Yeah, I want to be there. I want to do things, but there’s just no place for me.” And so creating that space for them to come in and raise up the poverty level, do all of these wonderful things that we sent them in the world … to do and yet we send them to other communities, because there’s nothing for them here. So that’s a big deal for me.
Safety and security, the police department, fire department, making sure that those have all the resources that they need to help our streets be safe is really huge for me. And I just really, really love Orange Cove, but I really think it’s time that there’s more transparency. I really think it’s time that we just work together, instead of bickering at one another and just doing what’s best for Orange Cove, not necessarily for individuals. And so that’s pretty much why I’m running.
And our youth. Like I said, the youth is super important. We have no programs for them. I would love to see that. I would love to see that in the city budget in the future, to create some type of youth leadership program where they run different sporting activities or different events for kids to help keep them focused.
Q: Who is supporting/endorsing your campaign, and who are the major funders of your campaign?
ORTIZ: Local families and businesses who are wanting the change for Orange Cove are the ones who are supporting our campaign. I have a lot of former students that have reached out, and they’re like, “Oh, I’m so excited that you’re running. Like, so I’m really excited about that.”
And my family, my church family has been very supportive. And my friends, people who don’t even really live in Orange Cove, but love Orange Cove because they work in Orange Cove or they are from Orange Cove, but pretty much it’s just local families and businesses who are just like, we just need a change.
Q: What do you see as the top three issues facing your local community right now? What would you do to address those issues?
ORTIZ: One of the top issues for me that I know that’s happening, like I mentioned earlier, is the transparency. Just being forthwith with our community and making sure that funding is spent in the proper places and being very economic with our funding. I feel that there’s a lot of things that we throw money at as a city that (are) not valid or not really in our budget to do, whereas we need to secure police officers and to make our city safe.
So really going in and working on a budget that’s going to help us do that and also apply for grants and things like that to help us not only keep the city safe, but also for us to bring in programs for business owners and different incentives for that stuff.
Another challenge I think that’s happening in Orange Cove right now is that there’s just such a difficulty with the amount of people who are coming into Orange Cove, and what resources are there for them and people who want to be in Orange Cove and they don’t have places to be. I think that’s just a homeownership issue, and the resident issue is a huge deal for me, because I love my former kids, and it hurts me that they can’t be in our city because there’s just no place for them.
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?
ORTIZ: When I started contemplating and talking about running, somebody told me, “Well, it’s just two Wednesdays a month.” … But my heart is never just the minimum. My heart is always the extra and to do what needs to happen, and so I think that’s getting out there and talking to our constituents, I think that’s making (things) known.
Even just talking with my dad, my dad doesn’t speak very much English, and he’s like, “Well, we go to city council meetings and they’re not even in Spanish, I can’t understand them.” And he’s a registered voter, he just doesn’t speak a lot of English … and I’m not saying that my Spanish is perfect, but, we have such a big community that we should reach out to everybody and make sure that everybody has a voice.
There’s a lot of voting members here in our city that don’t speak English, and so being able to open up those doors where they can have a place that they feel secure, to have a bilingual meeting, I think is huge.
I think community events are wonderful, but I would like them to shift from being more than just free things that we do for everybody to … events (where) we’re just coming together and doing (something) for the betterment (of) the culture of the city. (It) definitely needs to shift from just the free things to like, “Hey, we’re actually all in this together, and it’s not going to change unless everybody works together to do it.” And so I think that by having that open door of communication, by being present at things, by allowing people to have that voice, I think we’ll see a big change in our city.
Q: Anything else to add?
ORTIZ: I’m not against anybody, I’m really just for Orange Cove. The heart that I have for Orange Cove (is) so huge, I can’t even explain it in words, because I know there are amazing people who are in this city, and it gets overshadowed so much by some of the negative that goes on.
As a candidate, I just really want people to know that Orange Cove is awesome, and we have amazing people here, and I get to see that every year when I see my students cross the stage at graduation. It’s so, so powerful to see the greatness that comes from Orange Cove, and so I want to use my position as a city council member to highlight that in any way I can.
