Add Joe Franscella to the list of candidates for the Ripon Unified school board race.

He’s listed as a businessman and parent by the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters office.

Franscella and fellow candidate Jason Winter – he, too, is a RUSD parent / business owner – are seeking Chad Huskey’s Trustee Area 1 seat come the Nov. 8 general election.

The other race involves Trustee Area 3, where Tiffany Treece and Timothy O. Matthews will take on incumbent Christopher ‘Kit’ Oase, who is seeking re-election.

RUSD voters will once again be required to reside in the boundaries of those respective Trustee Areas under the Balance Plan that Oase and former board member Ernie Tyhurst twice worked on – this last time using figures from the 2020 U.S. Census – during the district realignment.

Each of the five Trustee Areas, because of that, have near equal number of residents.

Incumbent Vince Hobbs in Trustee Area 2 remains unchallenged and is likely to be reappointed to his post for another four years.

The same could apply to Gary Barton in the Ripon City Council 2022 election.

He was a provisional appointment by elected leaders last December, filling the vacancy left when Tim Wheeler, who was elected in 2020, stepped down after moving his family to Montana midway through his four-year term.

Barton was unchallenged for the two-year, short-term post.

As for the two full-term seats, Tamra Dee Spade recently emerged as a candidate and will appear on the ballot alongside incumbents Michael Restuccia and Dean Uecker in the three-person race.

She’s the CEO / President of the Tracy Chamber of Commerce, having held those same titles for the Ripon Chamber of Commerce.