Hollister doesn’t have quite the crowd running for mayor as it did two years ago.
Incumbent Mayor Ignacio Velazquez will face Keith Snow on the Nov. 4 ballot in the race for the two-year seat. It is a follow-up contest to 2012 and the first at-large election for Hollister mayor – when four candidates, including Snow and Velazquez, ran for the seat.
Velazquez won the role by a comfortable margin, with Snow taking fourth in the 2012 race.
Velazquez is longtime owner of a local electrical company and property owner of such properties as The Vault building downtown.
Snow spent much of his working time in construction before an accident cut his career short in 1996. He has continually stressed that a speech impediment caused by that accident wouldn’t stop him from being a competent mayor.
Velazquez, 47, and Snow, 49, each sat down with the Free Lance and provided their views on such matters as the economy, tourism, the city budget and water.
In assessing Velazquez’s performance in his first two years, Snow said the mayor “doesn’t tell the truth” and “does things without voting” – as Snow referenced the departure of two top city officials and the odor issues this summer due to the tomato cannery’s waste.
Velazquez said he didn’t know how he could rate himself but underscored the “heavy” work done by the city in his first year. The city did make staff changes in key leadership positions and re-launched the motorcycle rally, for instance, during his first 12 months, he pointed out.
“That was a challenge. It was a big challenge to make those changes,” Velazquez said of departures like that of former City Manager Clint Quilter.
Snow said he wants to make changes, too, such as trying to get the garbage contract back from the private sector so the city can do the work in house. Snow criticized the city for spending thousands of dollars on such matters as printers, cell phones, kitchen supplies and T-ball equipment for recreation.
“You have to prioritize and organize the whole budget,” Snow said.
For Velazquez, the priority is getting the budget balanced, he said. That means a balanced budget without the $3 million-plus provided by the Measure E sales tax – 1 percent approved in 2012 – by the time it expires in 2018, he said.
“We have meetings every week on it to see where we’re at in staying on target,” said Velazquez, who is optimistic about the boost provided by a slowly improving economy. “We’re looking pretty good.”
Snow said he had a plan to further improve the local economy – which has experienced an uptick in retail and housing activity over the past couple of years. Snow said he would waive impact fees.
“They’ve been talking about it for years,” he said, while adding, “Talk is cheap.”
Aside from those other positive economic sectors, Velazquez mentioned a good amount of interest in commercial building as well. He said there are potential commercial developments potentially coming in, but acknowledged there’s “never a guarantee.” He would not say which companies are interested in building here.
“We’re seeing a positive impact,” he said. “Some of the construction’s helping also.”
Velazquez said the city is trying to help boost the tourism industry, too, and noted how council members approved spending $50,000 of current transient occupancy tax revenue to use toward promotion of the area. In addressing tourism, Snow said he opposes the proposed increase to the TOT tax – from 8 percent to 12 percent – as supported by Velazquez and other council members.
“I think it’s a scam, another scam to raise taxes on the people that pay,” Snow said.
Both candidates discussed infrastructure repairs as an important agenda item for the local economy.
“That’s part of my platform – fix the roads,” Snow said, adding that he already talked to public works official Clay Lee about it.
Velazquez said he wants the city to balance the budget, without Measure E money, within two years.
“Balance it so we can start using Measure E monies to take a look at infrastructure,” Velazquez said.
