City Councilman Doug Emerson has an interesting approach to the
position he was elected to in November.
”
It’s almost like a hobby,
”
he said.
Hollister – City Councilman Doug Emerson has an interesting approach to the position he was elected to in November.
“It’s almost like a hobby,” he said.
But this somewhat curious-sounding idea of entering local politics for fun seems to be working well for Emerson, a retired San Jose School District Administrator who moved to Hollister in 2001. Since taking office in December, Emerson has started an e-mail listserv for his constituents to keep them updated on council goings-on, walked his district again, pushed the backers of the proposed Miwok casino to bring more information forward quickly and has even toured one Arizona community by DMB Inc., the development company looking to build a town between Hollister and Gilroy.
“The difference (between Emerson and other council members) is that I don’t have a regular job. So I get up in the morning and I can focus on this,” he said.
So far, Emerson’s main focus has been on getting feedback from residents in his district. Shortly after taking office, he invited his constituents to sign up on an e-mail list, an idea he got from a San Jose councilman, that he could use to inform them of the key issues at up coming council meetings.
“I was disappointed with the e-mail list at first,” Emerson admitted, saying very few residents actually signed up.
But, unfazed, Emerson decided to walk his district again. He had toured the neighborhood, knocking on doors during his campaign months ago, as many council members do while running for office. But it’s much more unusual during the regular season.
This time around, he went from house to house distributing fliers highlighting important city issues and budget discussions, and asking people to put their names on the e-mail list. He didn’t knock on doors this time, he said, but did talk to everyone he saw on the street, about 50 or 60 people in all. The list is now up to about 50 people, Emerson said.
“They’re really appreciative of the change, that there’s more of an open line of communication,” he said.
Dist. 4 resident Paul Grannis agreed.
“I think it’s (the e-mail list) fantastic. That’s hands-on with all the people in his district, and I applaud him for that. It just shows how concerned he is with the community. I think he’s doing great. Actually I think the council as a whole is doing pretty good,” Grannis said.
On Tuesday, Emerson sent out a very controversial question in his e-mail. He asked voters to say they either supported or opposed the casino, along with a one-sentence explanation of their stance. Like so many other council members, Emerson has said his position on the issue will depend on what he thinks the people in his district want.
So far, Emerson said, he’s received 14 responses to the casino e-mail, but expects the rest to come in within the next few days.
At a council meeting on Feb. 22, all five council members told a full audience they would not be taking a stance on the casino issue until the project’s investors had come forward with a detailed business plan and environmental impact report. Emerson told California Valley Miwok Project Manager Gary Ramos at the same meeting he’d like to “push the envelope” and have the information ready sooner rather than later so the council could discuss the casino and take a stance as soon as possible.
And recently, Emerson looked into another group looking to develop near Hollister. He toured DMB Inc.’s Verado community in Arizona while visiting his brother in Mesa a few weeks ago, and said he was very impressed with what he saw. DMB Representative Ray Becker has been living in Hollister for about a year gauging public sentiment for building a new community on Highway 25 between Hollister and Gilroy, though Emerson is the only public official so far to have gotten a first-hand look at what the new town could be like.
“The way they did it was really community development. The thing was actually seeing what they talked about. There were medians in the middle of the streets with swing-sets set up, there was a bank, they built a huge supermarket, there was a pool. And all these things were built before people moved in,” he said. “The only thing is, when you look at Hollister needs, we need something that’s going to create jobs and industry, and a new community isn’t going to do that. But I do think it will fit in very nicely.”
Emerson’s biggest accomplishment on the council so far is not his alone, he said.
“The biggest thing with the new council is something you can’t quantify,” he said. “It’s been building the relationships both between the city and the county and the working relationships between council members. I think when you’re in the situation that Hollister and the county were, you need to step back and say ‘Wait a second.’ The whole political climate has changed.”
Vice Mayor Robert Scattini, currently in his second year on the council, agreed Wednesday Emerson and his two fellow rookie council members, Monica Johnson and Brad Pike, had gotten the new term off to a good start as a group.
“We’re very new, we haven’t had that many meetings. But so far I think all the council members are doing a pretty good job. I think they’re doing good, I think they’re coming up with some really good questions at the meetings,” Scattini said.
Next up for Emerson and the rest of the council is the mid-year budget hearing, which has been postponed to March 7. Emerson, who handled the finances for the San Jose School District before retiring, said he has been going through the budget with a fine-tooth comb, putting about 30 pages of general fund expenditures into his own spreadsheet, line by line.
“I have concerns about the current revenue as opposed to a year ago because it seems, at least on the surface, that it’s less now. But what I’ve looked at on the expense side has been very good,” he said. “And I’m enjoying it; I’m having fun. I know there will be problems ahead, but I like a challenge.”
