Unless something unexpected happens, Lathrop Manteca Fire District board member Mark Elliott will he headed for another term and longtime public servant Steve Dresser will be joining him.

According to the updated candidate list put out by the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters Office, both Elliott and Dresser have qualified for the ballot in the race for two seats on the fire district’s board of directors – meaning that both are likely to be elected in November to serve four-year terms.

Elliott, a retired county employee, was elected in 2018 to the post after serving Lathrop as both a parks and recreation commissioner and a planning commissioner before being appointed to the Lathrop City Council in 2016 to serve out the remainder of the first half of the term vacated by Councilman Omar Ornelas. Elliott then unsuccessfully ran for a full four-year term in 2016 but was appointed to serve the remainder of the first half of the term vacated when Council Ruben Sandoval passed away unexpectedly not long after the election in January of 2017.

Dresser has decades of experience in public service that started not long after he and his wife Joyce moved to Lathrop. A retired school worker, Dresser served on both the Lathrop planning commission and the council as well as a host of other city and county committees and task forces. Dresser’s tenure on the council included collaboratively working with representatives from San Joaquin County for the betterment of the community he calls home.

Dresser will be running for the seat that will be vacated when Tosh Ishihara’s current term expires at the end of this year.

Elliott and Dresser served together on the Lathrop City Council from 2016 through 2018.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.