The city will likely miss the Regional Water Quality Control
Board’s October deadline for a new sewer plant by at least a year,
City Manager Clint Quilter announced this week.
Hollister – The city will likely miss the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s October deadline for a new sewer plant by at least a year, City Manager Clint Quilter announced this week.
During this week’s Hollister City Council meeting, Quilter told the council the city’s newest estimate for completion of the plant is late 2006 or even early 2007. The current deadline is Oct. 2005, which the RWQCB slapped Hollister with after a 15 million gallon sewer spill in May 2002.
“I knew it was going to be extended; we pretty much knew that for some time,” said Councilman Robert Scattini, who said he will be asking for a full report on the status of the sewer moratorium for the next council meeting.
Community objections to various parts of the plan were one thing that tipped him off that they would need more time, he said. “Especially with the holding ponds on Wright Road, people were really upset about that. Nobody wants a sewer pond in their back yard.”
But despite Quilter’s announcement at the last city council meeting and various council members’ acknowledgments that things are not running on schedule, the reasons why are still unclear.
When contacted Thursday, Quilter refused to comment on the status of the deadline or what the hold-ups might be, saying “I really can’t comment for at least another 30 days.”
Hollister Mayor Pauline Valdivia also said she couldn’t comment yet on what the delays are or how long they might stall the process, but said she did feel optimistic that the RWQCB would grant the city an extension.
“There’s work being done right now, and we have been working on it. It’s not like it stopped, it’s just that it’s very complicated and time-consuming and we need to do it right,” Valdivia said.
The city council plans to ask for an extension from the RWQCB in the near future, but Valdivia said Quilter hadn’t discussed the issue with the council yet and no date is scheduled. However, the council has made considerable progress on the sewer issue in spite of missing the sewer plant deadline, she said.
“That’s why it’s so important that we have the county and the water district doing this together. We’ll be going in together instead of going in saying negative things about each other.” Valdivia said this would “definitely” encourage the RWQCB to look upon Hollister favorably when the city asks for an extension.
Scattini said he was hopeful the council’s accomplishments would be acknowledged by RWQCB and the board would be more lenient with the city.
“The Regional Water Board was kind of happy with what we’ve been doing. And filing the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the county and the water district definitely helped,” Scattini said. “I know (Mayor) Pauline (Valdivia) and I are really adamant about getting this thing going.”
San Benito County Water District Manager John Gregg did not return phone calls for comment.
If the city does not meet its Oct. 15 deadline, it could be facing at least $200,000 in fines. When the RWQCB created the deadline, it set a fine of $1.2 million from the sewer spill itself. The city has put $600,000 into the new plant and $400,000 has been forgiven by the RWQCB, according to former Mayor Tony Bruscia, so all that remains is $200,000.
Representatives from the RWQCB did not return phone calls Thursday to elaborate on what kind of fines or consequences the city could be facing.
Still, city leaders remain optimistic.
“At one RWQCB meeting in November or October, they asked us if we needed more time,” Bruscia said. “I think that indicates they’d be willing to give us an extension.”
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at
jq*****@fr***********.com
.
