Letter: Hollister council bullies Resendiz

It is horrible, immoral, rude and bullying behavior to remove Councilmember Rolan Resendiz (District 2, Westside of Hollister) from his committee seats. 

The target of this attack is not Resendiz, but his constituents and those he represents, and all of us who have different opinions from Mayor Mia Casey and her backers. I attended the meeting on Sept. 18, and the bullying behavior, rude conduct and abusive attacks were all coming from Mayor Casey and her cohorts. 

Examples: Casey repeatedly interrupted Resendiz, at one point gavelling him; she mischaracterized him, and even, by mayoral power, made him move his seat from next to her to two away. All this at the same meeting where they removed him from his committee seats. 

I must point out that as Casey held the vote to remove Resendiz from his seats, only one person actually voted for it by voice or hand, and that was Casey. The other three members did not move or speak, but I guess somehow their support for the measure was assumed by the clerk. Unless there is another way of voting that I’m not aware of, that was what I observed. 

Resendiz handled all of the attacks with poise, composure and class, all while holding his own and bringing his points across very effectively. I agree with Resendiz that this backlash against him is because he called out Mayor Casey on the fact that she is extremely friendly with developers. One was on her election committee and at the meeting. 

Another outside developer even had the audacity to call into this very council meeting in support of removing Resendiz. That’s just straight up disrespectful to the people of Hollister. 

If Casey and the developers mutually beneficial relationship is this open and blatant in public, just imagine what is going on behind closed doors. 

After attending this meeting, which was also my first, it is apparent that Mayor Casey is pro-developer. She will sell any land in Hollister to anyone. As long as we have Mayor Casey, the developers know that it’s open season in Hollister, no matter the cost to the people who live here. We’re being sold to the highest bidder. 

I support an immediate moratorium on all development in Hollister until we get the SEWAGE ON THE WEST SIDE FIXED!! The west side experiences SEWAGE SMELL AND FUMES, and it has been going on for 40 years. This needs to be FIXED NOW, before we do anymore development! This is a HEALTH ISSUE! 

Once that is fixed, let’s talk about development. And it needs to be smart development. No expansion outside of city limits, for example. Come to the city council meetings on the first and third Mondays of every month, at 6pm. Recall Casey. 

Thrasy Voulos

Hollister