Negotiations between the San Juan Bautista City Council and San
Benito County Water District concerning a multimillion-dollar
infrastructure grant to overhaul the city’s water system are
crumbling, and the Mission City’s leaders say they’re willing to
forge ahead without the water district’s financial backing.
San Juan Bautista – Negotiations between the San Juan Bautista City Council and San Benito County Water District concerning a multimillion-dollar infrastructure grant to overhaul the city’s water system are crumbling, and the Mission City’s leaders say they’re willing to forge ahead without the water district’s financial backing.
However, water district board members said the district is the co-applicant with the city of San Juan for the $3.8 million federal grant, and if the city goes it alone, the future of the grant could be in peril. The grant would fund a total overhaul of the city’s ramshackle water and sewer system, and without the funding the future of the city’s infrastructure could be at risk, according to officials.
“We feel that we’ve hammered out an agreement satisfactory to the water district and the people of the community,” said Ken Perry, a water district board member. “We’ve told San Juan many times if they can go it alone, go ahead. But the grant as it exists today, I don’t think they can.”
Perry said board members have yet to research what could happen with the grant if the district pulls out of the agreement completely. The city decided to go it alone after receiving a letter from the water district stating it wanted more control of the grant.
After receiving the federal grant in February, San Juan city leaders spent months in negotiations with water district board members in the hopes of securing another $3.1 million in loans and grants from the district to help pay for a total make over of the city’s dilapidated water and sewer system. Although nearly $7 million is needed to revamp the city’s infrastructure, San Juan’s leaders say they’re ready to forgo the district’s match and find the money elsewhere because the district’s terms are too controlling, according to Mark Davis, San Juan’s water project spokesman.
Davis said city council members are looking to have a more equitable resolution than the water district is currently proposing. He said city council members disagreed with several components of the water district’s proposed agreement, such as the district’s definitions of the loan’s terms and which entity would pay for costs outside the infrastructure project.
“The city’s proposal is to provide for a partnership rather than having the city’s business dictated by another agency,” Davis said. “Basically, if somebody offers a loan that’s unacceptable, what would your response be? ‘Well, I better go shop in the marketplace’.”
While Davis said the city is willing to resume negotiations with the water district in an attempt to come to a resolution, Perry said changing the resolution is not an option.
Due to San Juan’s shaky financial and political history, water district board president John Tobias said the district is concerned that, without strict safeguards put in place, the grant money could be spent on something other than what it is intended for – repairing the city’s infrastructure.
“We want to make sure the grant money is spent in a financially responsible manner and the loans get repaid,” Tobias said.
Perry added that if the city moves forward alone, at some point the water district will back out completely of negotiations, however no deadline has been set.
“For a community that has nothing, and all they have to do is sign on the dotted line and fix their infrastructure, it seems inconceivable that they don’t do it,” Perry said.
But Davis is confident the city will fare perfectly well on its own.
He already has his eye on a $750,000 grant from the state Department of Health Services and several other funding sources, he said. The city also recently raised its water and sewer rates, and most likely will again raise the rates to help fund the project, he said.
And while Davis and water board members seem to have come to an impasse, Vice Mayor Charles Geiger is hopeful the two entities can come to some kind of an agreement to benefit the water district and San Juan Bautista.
“The question comes down to what’s a fair agreement?” Geiger said. “I believe all parties want to work together. The question is, how do you get there?”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
