This article has been updated with a response from Hollister Mayor Mia Casey.
A compromised sewer line on the west side of Hollister has added to the ongoing debate on the state of local infrastructure, its capacity to handle residential growth and the perceived neglect of one of the poorest areas in the city.
On Feb. 23, city staff discovered that the top portion of a 21-foot segment of pipe running underground near the intersection of Fourth Street and Graf Road had collapsed. Public Works staff had been doing a routine maintenance inspection of the sewer line when the damaged line was discovered; the last time it was inspected was two years ago.
“The sewage was contained underground and was running along the bottom of the pipe segment,” said Hollister Public Works Director William Via.
Via said that there is no immediate public health or environmental risk and that work is underway to repair the problem. He estimated the repairs will be done by March 15 or earlier.
The city’s sewer system has been a point of contention for residents of the west side, many of whom have complained for months about the foul odor wafting into neighborhoods near the domestic wastewater treatment plant. The damaged pipe is located roughly two miles east of the plant.
In the summer of 2023, the Hollister City Council, amid protests from some residents, approved linking up the City of San Juan Bautista, the San Juan Oaks development, the Cielo Vista subdivision and the future Gavilan College site to the city’s sewer system.
A June city council meeting was descended on by people protesting the expansion of wastewater services despite city staff reporting that the facility was close to capacity and would need significant and costly upgrades to handle the projected additional wastewater.
Hollister District 2 City Council member Rolan Resendiz, who represents the area, opposed the expansion of services to some of the developments. He argued that there needed to be more studies done regarding the state of the city’s sewer system—not an expansion of services for the purpose of more residential development.
Resendiz said this week that he was not notified of the sewer line issue on until March 5—a week and half after it was discovered.
“They don’t care about what the citizens of Hollister, especially on the west side, have to endure,” Resendiz said, referring to his city council colleagues. “[Residents] have been saying that it smells over there. They’re pleading to find out why and they’re asking them not to expand the sewer services until we figure it out.”
Via said the foul odor in the area had nothing to do with the busted pipe, and that the expanded service the sewer system will provide are not affected by the infrastructure running under the problem area.
“It does not affect the system’s capacity to handle services in those areas. San Juan Oaks and San Juan Bautista do not and will not run through this portion of the sewer and Gavilan College and Cielo Vista are not connected and will not run through this specific pipe,” Via said.
San Benito County District 2 Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki, who also represents Hollister’s west side, said he is concerned about the situation and will ask the city to consider bringing in outside consultants to address the issue.
“I’m certainly going to speak out and do what I can to advocate for the city to be more aggressive with what they’re doing. But I’m also looking at it from the county’s side, from an environmental health perspective,” Kosmicki said.
Kosmicki said that he plans to get the San Benito County Department of Environmental Health involved to do an investigation. Despite assurances from Hollister city staff that there is no environmental or health hazard at the moment, Kosmicki said that those assurances are not enough for him.
“That’s just not a sufficient answer, in my opinion. We have to do a thorough investigation. We can’t just take a look at the pipe and do an observation and assume that there hasn’t been any environmental impact from this. We need to really delve into this at this point,” Kosmicki said.
Kosmicki and Resendiz both disagree with the expansion of sewer services approved last year, and Kosmicki said that the current situation highlights the lack of capacity of the system. He believes, like Resendiz, it also underscores neglect by the city.
“To me, the west side of Hollister is constantly being dismissed. If this was going on in southeast Hollister, I guarantee you it would be treated differently. There would be a lot more aggressive inspection; there would be more consideration for what impact [residential] growth is having on these residents. But, you know, it’s the City of Hollister’s west side,” Kosmicki said.
Mayor’s Response
Hollister Mayor Mia Casey took exception to the allegations made by Resendiz and Kosmicki, calling them “disparaging.” In a phone interview with the Free Lance earlier this week, Casey said that the allegations were political rhetoric and not factual.
“That’s why I was particularly taking offense to those kinds of comments because to me, that’s just political rhetoric. And it’s just charged political rhetoric to tie it, again, back to [residential] growth,” Casey said.
According to Casey, the city council did launch an investigation into the odor on the west side, which led to the damaged sewer pipe being discovered. She also defended the city’s sewer waste management plan, which was last revised in 2022.
“It’s got a whole system of checks and balances in there to manage the sewer system to keep the infrastructure maintained and upgraded,” Casey said.
In response to Kosmicki’s call for a county-level investigation, Casey said that, per protocol, the county’s Department of Environmental Health has already been looped in. She said that both officials were alarming residents unnecessarily.
“It felt like [Resendiz and Kosmicki] scared people for no reason. And we shouldn’t be doing that as elected officials,[…] you’re dealing with an emergency and then on top of that, you have to calm people down,” Casey said.
“Everybody just needs to work together to get things done, and I think we’re all trying. Most of us, anyway,” Casey added.
“They don’t care about what the citizens of Hollister, especially on the west side, have to endure,” Resendiz said, referring to his city council colleagues. “[Residents] have been saying that it smells over there. They’re pleading to find out why and they’re asking them not to expand the sewer services until we figure it out.” ~Councilmember Rolan Resendiz
“To me, the west side of Hollister is constantly being dismissed. If this was going on in southeast Hollister, I guarantee you it would be treated differently. There would be a lot more aggressive inspection; there would be more consideration for what impact [residential] growth is having on these residents. But, you know, it’s the City of Hollister’s west side,” ~Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki
This is a very biased article, when you allow a Councilmember and his friend on the Board of Supervisors to make disparaging remarks about other Councilmembers and the City, but you do not even seek a response from those Councilmembers. It is particularly offensive that these two elected officials would falsely state the City Council does not listen to or care for residents of the Westside.
A large number of the residents attending the council meeting that night were not there about the maintenance (not expansion of the sewer as this article misrepresents — but replacement of two sewer bioreactor membrane parts that had reached the end of their lifespan).
Many were there to complain about the odors particularly around the Bridgevale neighborhood. And the City Council did listen to residents and did something about it immediately. Councilmember Resendiz has known about this odor issue in his district area for a long time—but did not demand an investigation as to why there was a smell. He even has discretionary funds he could have used to help pay for an investigation but never offered to do so to help his constituents.
Councilmember Tim Burns immediately called for an investigation and the Council supported it unanimously. That is what listening to your residents and supporting them looks like, not these political dramas created by Councilmember Resendiz.
Why did the Freelance not ask Resendiz why he has never stepped up and demanded an investigation for his constituents, especially since he knew about this particular odor problem long before the rest of Council?
The truth is the only thing Councilmember Resendiz is interested in is disparaging and attempting to discredit other Councilmembers, instead of seeing to the needs of his constituents. It’s a shame Supervisor Kosmicki would go along with disparaging other elected officials.
This City Council has engaged proactively with the residents of the Westside and started an investigation into the odor in this area and has committed to resolving it. In fact, it was the very reason this pipe break was discovered in the first place.
Poorly written Freelance. Please attempt to be more balanced and factual in your reporting in the future,
—Hollister Mayor Mia Casey
It’s bad when you have to fact check the media.