Hollister
– City Council members this week said they want to explore
possible private sector options for alleviating Hollister’s
wastewater woes.
Hollister – City Council members this week said they want to explore possible private sector options for alleviating Hollister’s wastewater woes.
During the council’s Monday meeting, Mayor Robert Scattini said that he and Councilman Brad Pike had recently taken a trip to California Water Service Company in San Jose. Representatives of the company gave an attractive pitch, according to Scattini, promising that the company can build Hollister’s new sewage treatment plant quicker and cheaper.
“I think we ought to listen to what they have to stay,” Scattini said. “This is just for information only.”
Scattini, with the support of his fellow council members, asked City Manager Clint Quilter to set up an informational meeting with representatives of California Water Service.
Growth in the city screeched to a halt after 15 million gallons of treated sewage spilled into the San Benito River in 2002 and the state imposed a moratorium on new sewer hook-ups until new treatment plant is built.
When it imposed the moratorium, the state gave Hollister until October, 2005 to build a new plant. The city missed that deadline, but the state granted an extension. Completion of the new treatment plant is now slated for mid-2008 or early 2009. Construction of the new plant will cost between $109 and $120 million, according to city estimates.
Council members, who have said that solving the sewer problem is their top priority, agreed with Scattini that it would be helpful to see what the private sector has to offer.
“I believe we need to investigate every option,” Councilman Doug Emerson said.
Councilwoman Monica Johnson said that she agreed with exploring the private sector, but wanted to include more companies than just California Water Service.
“If we’re going to be shopping, it gives more than one group to shop from,” she said.
California Water Service is eager to work with the city, according to Shawn Heffner, director of corporate development for the company.
“We’re interested in exploring different options for a public/private partnership,” he said. “We told the city that we’re very flexible and can work out any type of arrangement the city wants.”
With more than 470,000 customers, California Water Services is the second largest water utility in the United States. It operates drinking water systems in California – including Salinas – and has subsidiaries in Washington, New Mexico and Hawaii.
The company also operates a wastewater treatment facility in Belen, N.M. – a town of about 7,000 south of Albuquerque – and is looking to do more work on the wastewater end of things, according to Heffner.
“It’s an area we would like to develop our experience,” he said, adding that water treatment and wastewater treatment are similar.
Quilter said that the city has looked into working with the private sector on the sewer project in the past, and that the option has always remained on the table. He said that there are a variety of ways that such an arrangement can work.
“It can range from design, build, operate, own, and transfer back (to the city) after a specified period of time … to simply contracting for operations,” he said.
Proponents of public/private partnerships say that the private sector works more efficiently and for less money than public agencies. Groups that oppose them say that water utilities are too precious to be put into the hands of private companies.
The City of Burlingame near San Francisco has contracted the operation of its wastewater system to Veolia Water North America since 1972.
Burlingame officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Also on Monday, the council hired Colorado-based consulting firm CH2M Hill to manage the sewer project until construction begins. The firm may also manage construction of the plant as well, according to Quilter, but that will be determined at a later date, he said. If approved, the money to pay the contract – which is not to exceed $375,249 – will come from the Hollister Redevelopment Agency or a sewer enterprise fund.
Though the city has not determined how it will fund the sewer project, Quilter said that the city is working with San Francisco firm Stone and Youngberg to come up with financing options. Construction on the plant should begin late this year. The average construction time for similar projects is 22 months, according to Quilter.
