San Juan Bautista City Council members let out a sigh of relief
Wednesday when the San Benito County Water District signed off on
an agreement to supplement a $3.8 million federal grant to improve
the city’s water service
– a grant the city would have lost Monday without the district’s
backing.
San Juan Bautista – San Juan Bautista City Council members let out a sigh of relief Wednesday when the San Benito County Water District signed off on an agreement to supplement a $3.8 million federal grant to improve the city’s water service – a grant the city would have lost Monday without the district’s backing.
With the grant money, San Juan residents may finally be able to throw away those water softeners, dispel any rumors about rickety wooden pipes coursing through the city’s bowels and have a water system that doesn’t cause pipes to burst regularly. One of the most important components of the agreement is that the district committed to supplying San Felipe water to the city – which will dramatically improve the quality of residents’ water, said Vice Mayor Charles Geiger.
“There were some tough decisions made on both sides. But this is a fair deal for the water district and for ourselves,” Geiger said. “Not only will we be getting new water from the San Felipe Water Project, it’s going to improve the daily service. We’ll finally be able to turn off the water softeners we’ve got running.”
The water district refused to match the $3.8 million federal grant before it was certain San Juan could commit to paying more than $1 million in matching funds. It took about a month of tough negotiations for the water district to feel comfortable in committing the money, which will cover about half the construction costs for improvements to the city’s decrepit infrastructure.
“San Juan has been horrendous in being late in paying its bills,” Geiger said. “The water district wanted to make sure the left hand knows what the right hand’s doing.”
The purpose of the agreement was to detail the responsibilities of the water district and the city in upgrading and funding a complete overhaul of the city’s ramshackle water and sewer system, according to the agreement. The water district committed to $3.1 million – $1.1 million of which San Juan will have to reimburse the district through water rates. The timeline for reimbursement was not outlined in the agreement.
While the T’s have been crossed and the I’s have been dotted, the agreement won’t officially go into effect until San Juan demonstrates its ability to provide a little more than $1 million in matching funds. Mark Davis, the lobbyist San Juan hired to obtain the grant, said San Juan’s matching funds will be procured through several different sources. The majority, more than $800,000, will come from Caltrans State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) funds, Davis said. The rest will come from a couple different low-interest loans from the state, he said.
Davis hopes to have the funds available in nine or 10 months and to break ground in 12 to 14, he said. While the city council or water district could make minor changes to the agreement within that time, Davis believes it is a very solid and equitable contract.
“It’s one step, but it was a major step because we need to come to some general agreement on how to approach this together,” he said. “The first step is always the hardest.”
The district’s responsibilities include constructing a water treatment plant, a pumping plant, a reservoir and related facilities. The district will pay for the operation, maintenance and repair of the treatment plant until San Juan pays off the $1.1 million. At that time all responsibilities of the treatment plant will be transferred to the city, according to the agreement.
Representatives from the city council and water district will meet with a representative from the federal Economic Development Administration today to hand deliver the agreement, Davis said. Then, the city council should ratify the agreement at its May city council meeting and members will begin work on securing the needed finances, he said.
The past month has been a strenuous one for city council members and the entire community, said City Councilman George Dias. Besides securing a partnership with the water district to update the city’s water system, the endeavor brought the council together as a group during a tumultuous time, he said. After firing former City Manager Larry Cain last month, questions arose as to whether the council would lose the federal grant all together. Cain’s firing even prompted a recall effort against Geiger and Mayor Arturo Medina.
“Everybody said it was bad timing as far as firing Larry. The water grant had a lot to do with his firing,” Dias said. “But in the last 30 days, we’ve made more progress than we had in the last four or five years. We can finally take a big, deep breath.”
Geiger believes the council’s success with the grant will have a crippling affect on the recall effort that political gadfly Rebecca McGovern initiated against him and Medina last week.
“I know a lot of people in the community were on pins and needles wondering if we were going to lose this money. We want the people to relax and realize we’ve got the money,” Geiger said. “I believe the impact on the community will have a calming effect on the recall. People get nervous when you’re talking about a big thing like this.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
