Opponents to sewer rate hike plan their next moves
Hollister City Council members remain united in their stand
against considering alternatives to the sewer-rate increase that
was unanimously approved at last week’s council meeting, and
opponents of the increase are already planning their next move.
Opponents to sewer rate hike plan their next moves
Hollister City Council members remain united in their stand against considering alternatives to the sewer-rate increase that was unanimously approved at last week’s council meeting, and opponents of the increase are already planning their next move.
Citizens outraged over the rate hike already are organizing around several options – ranging from a ballot referendum, class-action lawsuit and even a blanket recall of the entire City Council.
“We’re looking at all possibilities for action. The council has not considered whether people can afford these increases,” said Hollister resident Anita Pedrazzi-Minkel.
Pedrazzi-Minkel was one of the citizens who helped collect 1,350 signatures opposing the sewer increases prior to the Sept. 5 council decision to approve the $120 million sewer project.
A building moratorium was imposed in 2002 after Hollister’s wastewater treatment plant spilled 15 million gallons of sewage into the San Benito River. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board required the city to impose a building moratorium to prevent further sewer connections to prevent any further increases in sewer flows to the plant.
The result has been an economic hardship to residents. No homes are being built, eliminating higher-paying construction jobs and artificially inflating already exorbitant housing prices.
Approved Project
The $120 million sewer system project will meet required higher treatment standards, which will protect the groundwater and allow for the reuse of treated wastewater for some irrigation. It will provide additional capacity, allowing renewed community growth and economic revitalization. In addition, it will allow much needed expansion for hospitals, police and schools.
The new sewer system will consist of three integrated projects: an upgraded wastewater treatment plant, a seasonal storage pond system and a recycled water distribution system. The plant is sized to accommodate population growth per the city’s approved general plan to the year 2023 or a flow of 5 million gallons per day, according to City Manager Clint Quilter.
The $120 million for the project includes $73 million for the treatment facility; $25 million for a recycled water distribution system and $22 million for a seasonal storage pond system.
Angry Residents
At the Council meeting this week, a standing-room-only crowd showed up to vent frustrations with the Council and discuss alternative project plans and payment plans.
Residents at the meeting said they believe the city wasn’t willing to explore other options. Pedrazzi-Minkel said that she personally talked to a company in the Bay Area who offers a sewer system that would operate one-third more efficiently than the one proposed.
“I was truly dumbfounded by their lack of concern,” Pedrazzi-Minkel said.
Others brought up the suggestion of why people couldn’t be charged for sewer rates on a usage basis, such as how water and electricity are now metered. Another suggestion was that the city look for state and federal bonds to offset the cost of such an expensive project, if they had to choose this project at all.
Other residents were flat out disappointed with the city’s lack of innovation. Ann Carpenter, a 45-year resident of Hollister, was upset.
“It’s hard to understand why long-time residents are being asked to pay such enormous fees,” Carpenter said. “If these rates go through, then the sewer rates will be higher than my property taxes; then I won’t be able to live here.”
Paul Ramirez another resident, was also angry.
“This is what happens to cities. Leaderships come in, rip, rape, and run,” Ramirez said.
Peter Fleming, a real-estate agent with Intero Real Estate Services, has earmarked a portion of his commission from each home he sells, $1,500, to go back to the city to help with financing the new sewer facility.
“I was at the meeting (last week) and this was the best way I could think of to help the city. I’ve talked with the city and they’re behind this and my bosses at Intero are too,” Fleming said.
Rebuttal
District 5 Councilwoman Monica Johnson contests the charge that the Council jumped at the first project proposed to them. She insists that the council did explore other options. They looked into the privately designed projects, but discovered such projects were illegal in this case. They have also talked about other options for the size of the project, making it smaller, but the city would not be able to grow if that were the case and residents would be in the same situation they’re in now in another three years.
“In order to implement per usage rates we would have had to make it equitable and install meters. We would have to spend $200,000 for purchase and implementation. But that doesn’t mean that isn’t something we can’t look into for future development,” Johnson said.
Councilman Brad Pike agreed. Some concepts may have been feasible, but there was a limited window of time the city was working with and without a project in place by October the city risks being fined up to $10,000 per day until a project is established.
“We didn’t just go with the first idea we looked at, but today the dollar is higher and construction costs are higher and all that had to be factored into the equation,” Pike said.
Mayor Robbie Scattini and Pike spent a day with Cal Water in San Jose recently and talked with employees there about different options. Scattini also said that he’d talked with people associated with state Sen. Jeff Denham and Rep. Sam Farr about the possibility of getting some grants to help with the cost of the project.
“There was no other option. If we didn’t build regional water services we could have been fined $10,000 per day. We were hung over a barrel,” Scattini said.
The problem with federal grants is that often when a city qualifies for federal grants there are additional stipulations, Johnson said. She said that the county Council of Governments went after a federal grant for the Highway 25 bypass project and was granted $1 million, but because of additional requirements the project was delayed by up to 12 months and by the time they received the funds they were only eligible for $400,000.
As the majority of the council sees it, the problem was that the public was under-educated on their plans, despite that a local lobbying group called CLEAR – Community Leaders for Economic Activity and Recovery – held numerous breakfast meetings and Q&A sessions to help educate the public.
“I was frustrated that the community didn’t know what was going on, because once you understand what is going on with the state coming in and building [a treatment facility] at our expense it’s easier to understand. It was apparent that a lot of people came in at the 11th hour and then got frustrated with us. If there was funding available, we’d grab it. It was a frustrating night because nobody won,” Pike said. “It was frustrating for people to question our credibility. I wish people would understand.”
But not everyone was uneducated. Bill Mifsud Sr. stood up at the meeting and told the Council that he’d written letters to all of the Council members asking for an explanation of this project starting one month ago. He received responses from two of them, he said. Following up with that he emailed the Council members and heard back from two of them. He finally went to the Hollister Redevelopment Agency and discussed the project with a planner and they discussed the numbers for the project, but that didn’t make things any clearer.
“[The Council] will take the fall for this. Maybe you didn’t cause this, but you’ll take the fall for it. People brought forth a lot of solutions,” Mifsud said to the Council members.
The Cost Leader
Hollister has the highest per month sewer rate of all the surrounding communities (See related story). Los Baños charges $12.30 per month for sewer services. Santa Cruz is $27 per month and Watsonville is $17.65 per month. With development, the city forecasts that rates should top out at $71.50, otherwise they’ll top out at $124.10.
Hollister’s new rates will be almost quadruple Los Baños and double those of Santa Cruz.
Citizens are discussing their options. Pedrazzi-Minkel said that she’d considered suing the city on her own, but ultimately she would be suing herself and felt like it would not be worth it.
Another option being explored is a blanket recall for the entire City Council, the legality of which City Attorney Stephanie Aligh was unable to clarify.
“I wouldn’t know whether they can do that; I’m not up on my recall law,” Aligh said.
In actuality, the citizens could not recall all of the council members, since two of the positions are up for reelection this year. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, if any of the Council members have terms that end within six months, they cannot be recalled.
Still, the council stands firm in its decision. Scattini said that many people told him that he should vote against the rate hikes because he was up for reelection this year, but he said that’s not his way.
“If I lose the election because I voted for this I walk away with my head held high.”
