Hollister
– Though about five months will pass before voters are called to
the polls again, both Hollister City Council members up for
reelection in November announced this week that they will seek to
retain their seats at the council chambers dais.
Hollister – Though about five months will pass before voters are called to the polls again, both Hollister City Council members up for reelection in November announced this week that they will seek to retain their seats at the council chambers dais.
District 3 Councilwoman Pauline Valdivia announced during Monday’s council meeting that she would seek reelection. Mayor Robert Scattini, who represents District 2, said on Friday that he would also run again. Both cited a desire to see things that they started as council members come to fruition.
“I really enjoy doing what I’m doing,” Valdivia said. “I feel if the district trusts what I’m doing, I want to continue.”
On the tail-end of her second term four-year term, Valdivia said that she has been encouraged by constituents to run again. The primary item that she said she wants to see through to completion, if she is to win a third term, is rectifying Hollister’s crippling sewer problem.
The state-imposed a moratorium on new sewer hook-ups was imposed in 2002 after 15 million gallons of treated sewage spilled into the San Benito River. City officials say construction of a new sewage treatment plant will likely be completed by mid-2008 or 2009. Finishing the plant will prompt the state to lift the moratorium, which has brought economic development in the city to a near standstill.
In addition to the sewer problem, Valdivia, a Hollister native, said that she wants to continue working on the city’s Gang Task Force and working to improve the city’s financial situation. Crucial to alleviating Hollister’s ongoing $3 million budget deficit is a 1 cent sales tax increase that will likely go before voters in November, she said.
“I love to work for the community,” she said.
Scattini, who will finish his first term on the council this year, said that he has also had encouragement to run again from constituents. He too said that there are things he wants to see through as a council member.
“I feel real good about it,” he said. “There are a lot of things coming up. If I feel that if I leave now it would do the city a disservice. I love this town.”
Scattini boasts that he has never missed a council meeting and is accessible to the public.
Among his priorities now and for the future, Scattini listed rectifying Hollister’s sewer woes, preventing gangs and reviving the Hollister Independence Rally. The majority of council members canceled the annual motorcycle event for 2006 last year, saying it cost the city too much. A fervent rally supporter, Scattini and Vice-Mayor Brad Pike voted against the cancellation. Scattini, who was named mayor by his council colleagues last year, said he would create a subcommittee to start planning the 2007 rally.
“It can make the city some money and put Hollister on the map,” he said.
In addition to voting on the district 2 and 3 council races, Hollisterites will decide in November whether the city treasurer should be elected or appointed and whether the general plan should be amended to suit developer Pulte Homes’ plans for a senior community near the Hollister Municipal Airport. Also, an initiative to increase the city’s 7.25 percent sales tax by a penny will likely be on the ballot.
Luke Roney covers local government and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com.
