Milt Trieweiler (Tree-Y-ler) is a candidate for Turlock City Council; Milt hopes to represent District 2, the Westside, where he’s lived for 51 years. For 40 years, Milt had an electronics business on Main Street and is passionate about the district he calls home. Upon retirement, Milt began attending community meetings; for the past 10 years, Milt has attended Turlock City Council meetings.

Milt saw an opportunity for the Westside to have improved streets and sidewalks when Measure A was on the ballot in 2020. He was alarmed that then-candidate, Rebecka Monez, didn’t support Measure A. Milt felt so strongly about the need for improved streets and sidewalks that he paid for yard signs and flyers in support of Measure A. He, then, walked neighborhoods distributing the yard signs and flyers. Milt likes to think that, with his help, Measure A passed.

In 2020, Rebecka Monez saw an opportunity to be a councilmember. She updated her residence to District 2 on July 13, 2020, the same day the filing period for city elections began. The Expedition Street address that Monez calls her primary residence is owned by the Stows and they continue to live at the house. Monez, further, upped the game when she loaned her campaign $20,000, more than doubling the monies spent in the previous district election. This was a game-changer for candidates running from the Westside.

From the get-go, Monez’s residency has been questioned by Turlock citizens and both local newspapers. Her family lives in District 3, in a home she owns and presumably occupies. In 2020, Monez told The Modesto Bee, “My husband and I are in a difficult period in our marriage with a daughter of 15 years old. We aren’t legally separated but have lived apart since I moved to the Expedition Street rental…”  And, four years later, what residence is Monez departing from and returning to? 

Monez had found a way to represent District 2.  This flies in the face of district elections for Turlock City Council. In 2014, the residents of Turlock passed a district elections measure by an impressive 74% majority. The measure, in part, was to level the political playing field; council members had typically lived in Turlock’s north and east. District elections would assure residents from south and west Turlock a seat at the table. In 2016, the first district elections put a Westside resident on the council. In 2020, the Westside incumbent was replaced by Monez.

Milt Trieweiler is a resident of the Westside/District 2 and is passionate about his neighbors and his district. I hope District 2 voters put a full-time resident from their district back on the city council. 

— Jeani Ferrari