If we had a dollar for every time a city official has lauded the
success involved with the new wastewater plant’s completion, we
might have enough money to pay an average resident’s sewer
bill.
If we had a dollar for every time a city official has lauded the success involved with the new wastewater plant’s completion, we might have enough money to pay an average resident’s sewer bill.
Aside from the fact that Hollister finished its new $100 million-plus wastewater plant three years after the initial completion date – October 2005 was the expectation in 2002 when the project’s planning launched – a serious level of dialogue has lacked among council members on how to leverage the state water board’s recent decision into progress.
This discussion, more important than anything else on council members’ plate, should have started months ago, if not years ago.
Where is a plan that specifically addresses how Hollister will recover from the six-year building moratorium? It does not exist.
This city faces an historic and wholly unpredictable economic downturn. There has been highly restricted economic growth, a direct impact from the building ban. Businesses, some longtime establishments, are closing at an alarming rate. San Benito County has ranked as low as having the second worst foreclosure rate in California – the worst state in the country statistically.
Until the city at fault for the moratorium compiles a comprehensive plan to recover from it, Hollister leaders will accomplish nothing more than the minimum required. And that’s just not enough.
