Contractors attend Hollister workshop to voice frustrations

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Following the Feb. 2 Hollister City Council meeting, in which contractors and business owners took to public comment to vent their frustrations with the city’s planning and building departments, City Manager Ana Cortez led a public workshop on March 12  to identify and offer solutions to the greatest of those problems. 

“I heard loud and clear,” Cortez said in her opening remarks, “that due to our processes, people have lost money, people have lost patience, people have lost trust. We want to get feedback on solutions. If you can help us solve the problems, please indicate what that takes.”

BenitoLink has been following these issues for a year, talking to contractors and business owners who have mostly remained off-the-record for fear of retaliation from city officials. BenitoLink offered first-hand accounts last November, when developer Mike Nino agreed to speak formally concerning the delays in renovations to his storefronts on Airline Highway. 

For the first hour, attendees were encouraged to participate in discussions at one or more of eight themed tables, each moderated by two city officials. 

The discussions, as outlined by Cortez in her introduction, were intended to be an uncensored examination of each area’s weaknesses, with attendees also challenged to offer solutions to the problems they identified. 

The responses were charted, displayed on the walls and discussed during the second half of the meeting.

Fire: The only table with no issues reported or solutions offered. “I love this table,” Cortez said. 

Code enforcement: Issues included illegal vendors, downtown parklets taking up needed parking spaces and a lack of understanding of how citations are issued. Solutions included improved communication with law enforcement and security, removal of the parklets, and clearer explanations of warnings and fees. 

Business licenses: Issues included receiving a license to sell, only to be stopped from opening by the San Benito County Health Department, and having no capacity to pay by phone. Solutions included improved coordination between departments and a more efficient payment system.

Customer service: Poor communication of needed information, such as deadlines, was the main concern. Solutions included implementing call logs, creating checklists, implementing a better permitting system, with project target time frames.

Inspection/Building: One of the most-attended tables, the discussion was led by Building Official Gabriel Martinez, who came under fire from several contractors who spoke at the Feb. 2 Hollister City Council meeting. 

As expected, the list of issues was lengthy. Most had been articulated at the previous meeting. They included an overly complicated permitting process, even for simple like-for-like replacement projects, multiple inspectors using different standards on a single project, unclear deadlines, and the need to bring all services in-house rather than using outside consultants such as 4Leaf.

Martinez told BenitoLink that many of the items on the list have been discussed in the past months and that some changes have already been implemented, including an automated system that “will take care of about three-quarters of the issues.”

“There’s a lot more that we need to work on,” he said. “We have to be better at taking care of the customer, providing better information, which we are working on, providing brochures, and providing them guidance on how to move forward with the project.”

Plan review: This table was also well-attended, with the discussion led by Assistant City Manager Rod Powell. Issues included redundant paper and electronic submissions, excessive permitting delays that keep tenants from opening their businesses, simple projects being wrapped into more complex reviews, and applicants’ lack of understanding of where in the process their project might be. 

Solutions highlighted better communication, checklists to track projects, an ombudsman to facilitate applications, a separate process for businesses entering existing spaces versus those constructing a new facility, and greater efficiency in the review process.

Engineering: The central issue was the smell coming from the wastewater treatment plant, with solutions including removing as many solids as possible before they enter the plant, aeration, lab work, proper operations, maintenance and maintaining spare parts.

The Parking Lot: Table eight, moderated by Cortez, served as a catch-all for any issue not covered by the others. It also lured those seeking the city manager’s ear for their particular concern. It was the best-attended table of all.

Cortez said that most of the topics discussed in the other groups had also been brought up at her table. The main topics were customer service, and suggestions ranging from better training to ensuring the best employees are in the right jobs, and making all city processes clearer, more consistent and less complicated.

She took full responsibility for addressing all the issues raised, saying that dealing with and resolving them as they came to her attention had already taken up half of the six weeks since she was hired.

“Everything discussed here falls under the city manager’s office,” she said. “Everything that has been discussed here is my responsibility to fix, and it will be fixed. So, if it’s not fixed, then I become the City Council’s problem. So I just want to reassure you, I hear you.”

During the group discussion, contractor Jose Villa said it was important that city employees realize they are there to provide service and help with the process rather than serve as an obstacle.

“If our operation is not complete,” he said, “and we forgot to check something off, they should tell us right there and then. Not wait seven days or two months to come back and say, ‘Well, you didn’t do this properly.’ In Salinas, a gentleman behind the desk sat down with me, and we did everything within an hour and a half.”

Contractor John Coulter, who spoke at the Feb 2 meeting, was more blunt, saying he wanted to speak directly to the heads of planning and building departments. 

“You guys have the latitude to make life easy or life hard,” he said. “Quit choosing to make it hard because that’s the choice that overwhelmingly is happening all the time. You have the latitude; you could do it either way. That’s all I have to say.”

After the workshop, Julio Noriega of Noriega Construction said, “One-hundred percent, there are problems with the building department,” and that for years, contractors felt they had no voice in the process.

“I just want to thank Ana Cortez,” he said, “for finally making us feel like we’re going to fix most of these problems. I just feel like she’s always the smartest person in the room, and I’ve felt very listened to ever since she came into town.”

Noriega also spoke at the Feb. 2 meeting.

Cortez told BenitoLink that she felt the city had received clear directions from the community, coming straight from those impacted by the inefficiencies of current systems. 

“The next step is to strategize how we will be realigning our departments,” she said. “Customer service stuck out as critical to address. That does not need money to fix. That’s an attitude, and it can change tomorrow. I don’t need to plan it, I don’t need a consultant, I don’t need resources. It just needs leadership.” 

Mayor Roxanne Stephens said she was pleased with the process and community engagement and was impressed by the comments and solutions offered.

“They came ready,” she said. “I hope they felt listened to. That’s the most important thing, and I felt they did. Inefficiency and communication were the biggest issues, and we need to implement a better system. Ana said it will get resolved, and I believe her.”

Cortez ended her remarks with a promise to the attendees: there would be a similar meeting in two months, and she expected to be held accountable.

“My six-month anniversary is in July,” she said. “My review will have time for public comment. If I don’t deliver for you, please do show up and say so. That’s your opportunity. I mean, at the end of the day, I can talk all I want, but can I deliver? I am confident I will.” 

Hollister City Councilmember Priscilla de Anda, along with Planning Commissioners Carla Torres De Luna, Julio Rodriquez, Peter Hernandez, and Damien Perez, also attended the meeting. 

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