For being a tomato cannery, San Benito Foods is sure feeling its
oats these days.
Just when the venerable processing plant shut down its seasonal
steam shrieking this week, the Free Lance learned the company is
telling the City of Hollister to dunk most of its sewer bill in the
soup.
For being a tomato cannery, San Benito Foods is sure feeling its oats these days.
Just when the venerable processing plant shut down its seasonal steam shrieking this week, the Free Lance learned the company is telling the City of Hollister to dunk most of its sewer bill in the soup.
The $1.4 million dollar wastewater tab built up over several years was sitting unpaid until City Manager Dale Shaddox uncovered it back in July.
Then the city, after prompting from nearby residents and a Free Lance Special Report, checked the noise level from its processors and found it was howling at nearly twice the city limits, day and night.
San Benito Foods, owned by Washington-based Neil Jones Food Companies, said it would be a good neighbor and appeared ready to work out the overdue note – and promised to hold down the noise by the start of next summer’s canning season.
City officials agreed not to go the legal action route and save both parties a considerable chunk of change as long as the good-faith bargaining continued on both issues.
We have no reason to believe the cannery, with proper monitoring from city enforcement, will not follow through with its offer to provide the proper technology to muffle the 24-hour blasts.
But it also appeared the overdue bill would be settled and now it looks like a legal fight of some magnitude will take place with sorely needed city funds at risk.
The cannery has been a longtime source of jobs in the community and the Free Lance feels it is still a viable part of the community. It also has a sense of history that is hard to place a price tag on.
But we feel the cannery should make every effort to settle its sewer bill with the city before it gets costly.
And the lack of noise surely has many residents opening their windows to let in some long-awaited fresh air at night.
If San Benito Foods is going to live up to its claim as a good corporate citizen of modern-day Hollister and its citizens, then the overdue sewer bill should be fairly and quickly settled.
And don’t forget about the promise of less noise next summer.
