After announcing he wouldn’t run for a second term, Hollister
City Councilman Brian Conroy missed four of this year’s five
hearings on the city budget.
After announcing he wouldn’t run for a second term, Hollister City Councilman Brian Conroy missed four of this year’s five hearings on the city budget.
And at Monday’s final hearing Conroy arrived without his budget materials and didn’t take part in the discussion as other council members around him debated and questioned city staff about financial matters.
His attendance at the hearings – which shape the city’s spending for the fiscal year starting June 30 – was the worst among council members.
Council-man Tony LoBue missed one hearing June 4. And Mayor Tony Bruscia missed half of one after flight problems delayed his trip back to Hollister on June 15, he said. Council members Robert Scattini and Pauline Valdivia attended all five hearings.
The council holds a series of budget hearings each year to examine each city department’s spending requests. After the council advises the city manager on spending policies, he puts together a final budget.
“I got a job. Thanks for calling, all right?” Conroy said about his recent attendance, and didn’t comment further.
In the past, Conroy has attributed his missed meetings to career commitments; he works for a company that maintains grocery stores’ computer systems. All council members have full-time jobs. Each gets $4,800 annually from the city.
Scattini and other council members didn’t directly criticize Conroy when asked about his budget hearing attendance.
But council members did say budget hearings play a major role in planning the fiscal year’s spending – and that council input is crucial.
Scattini would miss a budget hearing, he said, only if “both my legs are broken and I’m in the hospital. I would make every meeting if I had to crawl down there.”
“We need to be on top of things,” Scattini said.
After Scattini blasted Conroy and LoBue at the June 4 budget hearing for being absent that night, Conroy responded at the next regular meeting. He said his family is his first priority, his job is second and city business is third.
As Hollister mayor in 2003, Conroy’s attendance was the worst on the council. From January through October of that year he missed nearly 30 percent of council meetings, according to meeting minutes.
After a Free Lance report on his attendance record, Conroy rarely missed meetings during the rest of 2003. Before the June budget hearings, Conroy had missed three of 14 meetings in 2004.
The council and city management periodically scheduled new budget hearings after June 1. The members who were present discussed what dates would fit one another’s’ schedules.
“We try to work with each others’ schedules and it’s tough because we have our other jobs,” Bruscia said, adding that he, Conroy and LoBue are often traveling for work.
Bruscia said this year’s budget hearings were “very long and drawn out.” But the intense scrutiny was worth the effort, he said.
“I think the council and the staff really looked at every dollar, and I mean every dollar,” Bruscia said. “I think it’s something that the community deserves.”
