San Benito Foods was set to make a case in November to the City
Council
– that Hollister’s final plea for a $1.4 million debt was
largely inflated.
But after the Council re-scheduled that appeal hearing several
times, the two sides recently agreed to revert back to closed-door
negotiations, according to City Attorney Elaine Cass.
San Benito Foods, a local tomato cannery, has used the city’s
industrial wastewater treatment plant since 1972 during its peak
season. Hollister bills the company each year for those
services.
San Benito Foods was set to make a case in November to the City Council – that Hollister’s final plea for a $1.4 million debt was largely inflated.
But after the Council re-scheduled that appeal hearing several times, the two sides recently agreed to revert back to closed-door negotiations, according to City Attorney Elaine Cass.
San Benito Foods, a local tomato cannery, has used the city’s industrial wastewater treatment plant since 1972 during its peak season. Hollister bills the company each year for those services.
But since 2000, the two sides have disagreed on the billing amounts. And the cannery claims those annual totals have far surpassed historically steady invoices.
Cass and Public Works Director Clint Quilter have been meeting with cannery officials, according to City Manager Dale Shaddox.
San Benito Foods had requested private discussions instead of a public hearing – which was initially scheduled after the company filed an appeal to the city’s “final invoice” dated Aug. 21.
Both sides are now going through records trying to “recreate a trail of documentation,” Shaddox said.
“It’s not the kind of discussion you want to be having in a public appeal hearing,” he said.
After city and cannery officials hash out the numbers, if they still fail to reach a consensus the city will again explore possibilities for a hearing, he said.
The faster the better for Hollister, a city expecting financial troubles for years to come. Meanwhile, the cannery debt is incurred in a sewer fund. It doesn’t directly affect the amount of services – such as police protection and recreation programs – which are likely to decrease in the coming years.
But officials are still concerned about that sewer fund debt and maintain an urgency for its recovery.
Hollister is trying to improve a dismal “triple B-minus” bond rating, as officials gear to sell sewer bonds by August or September to fund a new sewer plant, Shaddox said. That’s going to be difficult with a sewer fund debt, along with other financial problems.
“And we can’t carry it as a negative forever,” Shaddox said. “We have to have it cleaned up.”
Shaddox in July 2003 discovered an apparent $1.6 million debt. Since, city officials have re-evaluated the invoices and found it to be $1.4 million.
San Benito Foods has claimed Hollister overcharged from 1999 on to offset costs of improvements to the plant for the city’s treatment of its own domestic waste. Hollister officials have said the city paid its fair share for those upgrades.
Local lawyer John O’Brien previously represented the cannery and had expressed skepticism about the hearing process. He had said the City Hall Council Chambers setting would put San Benito Foods in an unfavorable position.
O’Brien no longer represents San Benito Foods because, he said Tuesday, city officials argued he maintained a conflict of interest. O’Brien is a former longtime city attorney of Hollister.
It is unclear whether San Benito Foods has retained another attorney. William Scott, vice president of the cannery’s parent company, did not return phone calls made to his office.
