Jacob Naven is Manteca’s 10th directly elected mayor.

Current Mayor Gary Singh conceded on Monday after the latest update of the count was posted on Monday.

“The people have spoken,” Singh said. “It’s time for a new person to take over as mayor and lead the city. It’s been a good 14 years.”

Naven, 46, on Monday accepted the concession although he was not ready to celebrate “until every vote is counted.”

“I absolutely want to make sure,” Naven said. “The check is in the mail (is not good enough for me). I want to make sure the money is in hand.”

The count on Monday was at 14,460 (51.91 percent) for Naven and 13,395 (48.09 percent) for Singh.

The 1,065 vote margin based on the fact there are 6,000 or so votes left countywide to count is essentially insurmountable.

Naven and his wife Kris moved to Manteca 19 years ago.

The mayor-elect was raised in Rocklin where he graduated from Rocklin High in 1999.

Naven is as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has served as a bishop; the non-paid spiritual and secular leader of a local congregation called a ward.

As a young man, Naven went on a mission to Panama from 2000 to 2002.

It was a perfect opportunity to build on his Spanish skills given his mother spoke Spanish as a second generation Mexican-American.

The stepped up fluency in Spanish is what convinced him to decline an offer to take over a much bigger agency State Farm Insurance office in Yuba City in favor of one in Manteca in 2007.

Becoming an insurance agent helped Naven deal with pressure and hone his ability to make tough decisions.

He was accepted the third of the way into a multiple-month agent training program that meant he had to catch up with the rest of the class if he wanted to pass the final exams.

“If you don’t make a sale, if you don’t pass a test, then your family doesn’t eat,” Naven said in an interview earlier this year.

Naven said building a business through the Great Recession taught him “resilience, grit, and the value of hard work.”

Naven has served as President of the Kiwanis Club, on the Manteca Chamber of Commerce Board, and as Chair of the nonprofit Give Every Child a Chance.

He has also coached youth baseball and soccer, held church leadership roles, and most recently helped coach Sierra High School’s tennis team to back-to-back Sac-Joaquin championships.

In 2020, he chaired the Doctors’ Hospital Board after six years of service.

Council reflects mixture

of newer & older residents

Both council incumbents Dave Breitenbucher (District 3) and Mike Morowit (District 4) defeated challengers to get re-elected.

They will be sworn into office for their third terms along with Naven as mayor in December.

The council now consists of three leaders that moved their families to Manteca by choice:

*Naven moved to Manteca in 2007 from Rocklin.

*Morowit moved to Manteca in 1995 from Hayward.

*Regina Lackey moved to Manteca in 2004 from Fremont.

*Breitenbucher is a third generation Manteca resident.

*Charlie Halford was raised in Lathrop and moved to Manteca at an early age.

Manteca voters for the past 12 years have declined to return a mayor to office after just a one four-year term starting with Steve DeBrum, Ben Cantu, and now Singh.

Before that, Willie Weatherford served for 12 years as mayor.

The other mayors since 1980 were Trena Kelley, Jack Snyder, Frank Warren, Bill Perry, and Carlon Perry.

The two Perrys, along with Warren and Singh were businesspeople.

Kelley, the first directly elected mayor, was a housewife,

Snyder was a quality control officer for Libbey Owens Glass, DeBrum was a dairy association field representative, Weatherford retired as Manteca police chief, and Cantu returned as a City of Manteca planner.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com