Hollister City Council members Tuesday put off two redevelopment
agency decisions after seeing an attorney’s list of recommendations
for moving forward
– such as halting all new activities while preparing for the
planned Oct. 1 dissolution of the RDA.
Hollister City Council members Tuesday put off two redevelopment agency decisions after seeing an attorney’s list of recommendations for moving forward – such as halting all new activities while preparing for the planned Oct. 1 dissolution of the RDA.
Council members last week – just before the governor signed legislation largely eliminating the RDA program – approved several property transfers and other moves to prevent those assets being taken by the state. This week, staff officials had proposed having the council, acting as the RDA board, approve separate $300,000 loans to South County Housing and Pacific West Communities for affordable housing projects.
After council members reviewed a long list of legal recommendations on what is permitted or barred – due to the new legislation – they decided to put off consideration of those loans.
Development Services Director Bill Avera summed up the outlook succinctly.
“We’re not allowed to do anything,” Avera said Wednesday.
The letter sent from Lynn Hutchins with the Oakland firm Goldfarb Lipman Attorneys provided an overview of the two acts signed by the governor – one suspending all new activities and another allowing municipalities to form “alternative redevelopment” programs.
That document went on to list actions that are prohibited by the city. Some of those included the following:
– Incur new indebtedness
– Make loans or grants
– Enter into contracts
– Amend existing agreements
– Renew or extend existing leases
– Dispose of or transfer assets
– Prepare, adopt or amend redevelopment plans
– Form a separate legal entity
– Commence an eminent domain proceeding
Some of the recommendations for permitted or required actions, until Oct. 11, included the following:
– Make scheduled payments
– Set aside reserves for bonds
– Preserve all assets and records
– Cooperate with auditing entities
Some of the requirements included:
– Prepare an enforceable obligation payment schedule
– Adopt the schedule at a public meeting and post it on the city website
– Designate an agency to whom the department of finance can make informational requests.
