Opinion

A Yes vote on Measure B is a practical choice to make. There is no organized opposition because the advantages are apparent, the rationale solid and such a change will enhance city government. Voters will elect a councilperson in each of four districts. The mayor will be elected at large and represent all the citizens in the City of Hollister. On the political ladder mayors are the best known to the population and therefore a mayor’s election by the voters provides for greater accountability. Such a change will enhance our democratic process. Mayors communicate the actions of the city council to the public. More importantly, mayors provide leadership in the development of a community vision and advance that vision within the council and staff. This requires an active representative of the entire city, not just a single district.

COG's Directors violate the Brown Act's requirements time and again, year after year, even after the taxpayers sued them to stop, and even after we asked the Grand Jury to do something about it, and even after I got the AG's opinion (not a newspaper association's attorney's opinion) that the JPAs (joint power authorities) had to comply with the Brown Act, and even after the VTA's G.M.'s letter was published in your newspaper (in Hollister even though VTA has no legal standing in SBC), but you ignore it and then write about the Gavilan College Trustee's alleged Brown Act violation one time?

To moms whose kids have to memorize high school graduation speeches this month: nothing makes a speech more unforgettable than forgetting it for a split-second – in front of 3,000 people. (One of us learned that the hard way.) So if you invite every living relative to “Mom’s pre-ceremony fiesta,” please let your grad slip away to rehearse.

Hollister officials have proven once again - in their decision to charge a police captain 5 cents a mile to commute 100 miles round trip in a patrol car - that they have no collective backbone.

Hollister Councilman Doug Emerson has alleged that he and a city employee were threatened by political consultant Rick Rivas that his brother, Supervisor Robert Rivas, might flip his vote and oppose a $1.1 million annual fire contract with the city unless Emerson did a political favor – namely, prompt cancellation of a San Juan town hall meeting held in April over the matter.

A recent grant award to the Homeless Coalition of San Benito County will go a long way toward helping to curtail a big problem locally and motivate people to improve their livelihoods.