Hollister
– Though City Manager Clint Quilter was named a finalist for a
government post in Nevada, he said Friday that he isn’t planning to
leave Hollister any time soon.
Hollister – Though City Manager Clint Quilter was named a finalist for a government post in Nevada, he said Friday that he isn’t planning to leave Hollister any time soon.
Earlier this month, Quilter applied for the Nye County manager job in his home town of Tonopha, Nev. Quilter, who has worked for the City of Hollister for nearly two decades, qualified as one of five finalists for the position, according to Danelle Shamrell, a personnel administrator with Nye County’s Human Resources Department. Nearly 70 people applied for the job. Shamrell said Nye County officials are hoping to have the county manager position filled soon after a final round of interviews with the finalists in July.
Quilter said he would not leave Hollister.
“My dad asked me to apply; it’s my hometown,” Quilter said Friday. However, Quilter said he wouldn’t accept the job if it was offered.
“No, absolutely not,” he said.
Quilter said he plans to withdraw his name from the list of finalists.
“I feel a tremendous amount of loyalty to the (Hollister City) Council,” Quilter said. “I have an obligation to stay.”
The city manager’s $121,000 annual contract can be canceled at any time by either Quilter or the City Council. The last Nye County manager was paid $104,000 annually, Shamrell said. Nye County, located in south central Nevada, is geographically the third-largest county in the continental United States and has a population of 46,000, according to the US Census Bureau. About 70 percent of Nye County’s 18,000 square miles of land is owned by the Federal Government. Nye County’s Yucca Mountain range is the proposed site of a 70,000-metric-ton nuclear waste repository, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is also the home of the self-proclaimed “world famous” Chicken Ranch brothel.
In 2005, Quilter accepted the Hollister city manager position after serving in an interim capacity for more than a year. Before that, he had worked for the city for 15 years. In 1989, Quilter began working for the city as an engineering inspector. By 1997, he had worked his way up to public works director.
Hollister Mayor Robert Scattini said Quilter is doing a “good job” as city manager. Scattini said he had been concerned about possibly having to find a replacement for Quilter.
“Searching for a new city manager would not have been easy. It’s a tough job,” he said. “This town has a lot of problems, and we need someone with a lot of experience in that position.”
Councilwoman Monica Johnson said losing Quilter would have been a disappointment, but was glad the veteran city manager was looking around at other jobs.
“Interviewing is always good,” Johnson said. “I’m glad he has aspirations, but I would be disappointed if he left.”
Most agree that the city’s most pressing problem is its outdated sewer system. In 2002, the state imposed a ban on new sewer hook-ups in the city following a 15 million-gallon sewage spill in May of that year. As a result, development in the city has stagnated. The ban on hook-ups will continue until a new wastewater system is constructed. Quilter has said that the new plant should be constructed by 2008.
Quilter said seeing the sewer project through to completion was one of the reasons he wanted to stay in Hollister.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
