The county’s Civil Grand Jury did San Juan Bautista’s residents a huge service when it delivered a stinging rebuke to both the city and the county water district for their combined failure to resolve a dispute that is putting an overhaul of the Mission City’s dilapidated water collection system at risk.
The plan to overhaul water collection system has been stuck in the mud for far too long because the city of San Juan and the San Benito County Water District can’t agree on which agency should be in charge of the $3.8 million federal grant that is instrumental in making the repairs.
While the political water war boiled over, the grant from the federal Economic Development Agency was suspended, members of the San Juan City Council took a secret trip to Seattle to investigate the status of the money and the District Attorney’s Office investigated the city for possible Brown Act violations.
In the meantime, the residents of San Juan continue to drink marginal water and are at risk should one of the city’s wells break, or worse, if a fire were to ignite downtown and one of the city’s historic structures were destroyed.
“A mixture of misunderstandings, personality conflicts and general mistrust on the part of both sides has led to this stalemate situation,” states the report. “This attitude has failed both the citizens of San Juan Bautista and San Benito County.”
The Grand Jury laid blame on both sides, but also called the water district “arrogant” and “unprofessional” for its role in getting the grant suspended. And, the Grand Jury said the city should not proceed with its plan to try to complete the project on its own because it could increase the financial burden on the residents of San Juan and could harm the city’s financial solvency.
“Actions to resolve city and district differences and mediate a solution on this matter must be taken immediately!” the Grand Jury wrote, without mincing words. ” The city’s residents and businesses continue to be at risk and estimated project costs continue to escalate!”
The Grand Jury concluded that the two agencies need an outside party – a retired judge – to mediate the dispute and get the project back on track.
The Grand Jury is to be commended for the good work it did in clearly laying out the problem and presenting the right solution in a timely fashion. The government agencies should pay attention to what the Grand Jury said – they owe it to the citizens of San Juan Bautista who have been paying the district and the city of San Juan taxes for many years.
It would be a disservice to the people they represent for the leaders of these agencies not to follow the Grand Jury’s advice.
