Hollister
– A group led by San Benito County Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz
presented concerned city residents with alternatives to a $120
million sewer project, but project officials said Monday night they
have exhausted all other possibilities, garnering more support for
the project.
Hollister – A group led by San Benito County Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz presented concerned city residents with alternatives to a $120 million sewer project, but project officials said Monday night they have exhausted all other possibilities, garnering more support for the project.
De La Cruz organized the meeting to present options to residents. During a brief presentation, Adrian Moore, a wastewater expert with the Reason Foundation, a nonprofit research group that promotes libertarian principles, told residents that the city should look at other options before beginning construction on the project. The $120 million sewer project, which is to be completed by 2009, will allow the state to lift the ban it imposed on new sewer connections in 2002 following a spill of 15 million gallons of treated wastewater into the San Benito River. The moratorium on new sewer hook-ups has brought economic development in the city to a near standstill.
Moore advocated privatizing the project to save money. He talked about how other communities have solicited bids from construction companies to design, build, own and operate city sewer plants with considerable savings to taxpayers. He said the city’s model of hiring a planner to design the plant and then turning out the project for bids from private construction companies wasn’t always the most efficient method.
“All over cities are hiring private companies and saving money,” Moore said. “This isn’t a radical idea. It’s more efficient. About two-thirds of the time, the savings in terms of time and money are substantial.”
Moore also said he thought the city had missed out on an opportunity to save money by not shopping the project around to more private companies.
City Manager Clint Quilter, who also spoke at the meeting, said the city had looked a privatizing the project. He said the city sought a private company to design, build, own, operate and then transfer control back to the city, but was told the plan would have required approval by the state legislature.
“We didn’t just dismiss this idea out of hand,” Quilter said. “It wasn’t legal for us, so we took another path.”
After presentations from Quilter, Moore and city sewer project manager Dave Jones, the town hall meeting was opened up to residents for questions and comments.
Few residents asked questions about Moore’s alternative construction options, and many complained about proposed sewer rate increases. Monthly sewer rates are expected to rise 165 percent by 2010, according to city projections. However, once the moratorium is lifted, impact fees from new construction could considerably lower the projected rates. City officials expect new growth to fund 46 percent of the project.
Quilter took pains Monday to make sure residents understood that the new sewer project isn’t about catering to the desires of developers. The state, he said, has ordered the city to build a new sewer system that complies with California regulations for wastewater. Building a new plant that would comply with the regulations, but without capacity for new growth would have ended up costing residents more than the current model, which will accommodate growth for the next 15 years, Quilter said.
Moore agreed.
“You don’t control growth by controlling utilities,” he said. “That’s like trying to solve the obesity problem by limiting the number of calories allowed into the city. It would cut off the blood flow.”
De La Cruz called the meeting a success. Originally, De La Cruz had opposed the project, but said Tuesday after the meeting that he was “100 percent supportive of the city’s effort.”
De La Cruz said he talked to many who had attended the meeting and many were likewise convinced that the city was progressing on a worthwhile and much needed venture.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
