Nearly $33 million in San Benito County-funded capital improvement projects are planned, but Adam Goldstone, capital projects manager for the San Benito County Resource Management Agency (RMA), told the Board of Supervisors during a special meeting on May 16 that other than two, small, grant-funded projects at the migrant camp on Southside Road, “unfortunately, we haven’t completed a lot.”
Goldstone’s report mentioned which projects were funded and on track and which ones might be rolled over or even canceled.
He said there were 20 current projects budgeted at $26.114 million, with 13 in progress, representing $23,426,500 of that amount. The remaining seven projects have not been initiated, with an associated cost of $2,687,500. RMA was requesting additional funding of $7.2 million.
Goldstone divided the CIPs into three categories: 1) Rollover projects, which are those that are being worked on and are not finished and may need additional funding; 2) Projects that he was recommending to begin next year; 3) Projects requested by other departments where there is not enough time or money to begin work on.
He said he selected the categories with the realization that the board may determine to move the projects between the groups based on their own priorities. He also told them the dollar figures were flexible and “still being dialed in.”
Upon hearing that few projects had been started, much less completed, Supervisor Jerry Muenzer said, “Unfortunately, I feel that is the recurring story I keep hearing every time this comes up. Everything gets rolled over. Nothing ever gets completed.”
Muenzer quizzed Goldstone about one project on the list, calling for the replacement of the Bertha Briggs building on Memorial Drive. Goldstone told him that project, and several others, were ones that were approved last year, but had not been started and on which no money had been spent, as of yet. Muenzer insisted he did not remember the project ever being approved. Goldstone maintained it had and that he had brought before the board a contract for an architect that was denied. He said that since then he had not been able to act on the project because of all the other active projects. Muenzer seemed satisfied that the project had been included in the capital improvement plan last year.
The 20 rollover projects that were previously budgeted at $25,763,953, range from a high of $21.3 million expansion of the county jail on Flynn Road (including a $5.5 million request for additional funds) to a low of $20,000 for a materials recycling facility. All told, the projects, including requests for additional funding, amount to $32,973,953. Of that, $7,893,000 is slated to come from the county’s General Fund and $25,080,953 will come from trusts and other funding sources.
Projects for which Goldstone is recommending funding be provided amount to $2.010 million. A little over half a million will come from the General Fund and $1.5 million from trusts and other sources. These projects include $1.5 million for the planned homeless shelter, which is coming from other funds, along with monies for furniture, a security system and signage for the Hall of Records, and relocating the county’s information technology department.
If approved and funded, projects that have been requested by other county departments would total $15.6 million. Included in the 18 proposed projects are $10 million for a new Behavioral Health building, $2 million for jail repairs, $400,000 for fire suppression for the old Hall of Records, and as low as $50,000 for an emergency generator.
By the conclusion of the report, Supervisor Anthony Botelho said he was convinced there was a need to change how business is being conducted.
“We need to do things differently than we have with our capital improvement projects,” he said. “We have to establish a five-year plan and what is workable in our budget. Some of these projects could be taken off the list simply because we’re not able to move forward with them.”
He said Goldstone was being over-tasked with projects and perhaps the list should be cut by half or possibly more.
“I like to see things get done, and if it’s only two or three things on that list that get done, then so be it,” he said. “I’m very concerned about the jail and the cost. It doesn’t seem like we have a handle on it even at this late date what the impact is going to be on the General Fund. We can’t let that project get away from us and find cost-saving measures.”
Botelho wondered if the proposed River Parkway project should be reevaluated and that money should be allocated to existing parks instead. He was concerned that the requested funds would most likely just be pulled from another fund or project. Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz concurred with Botelho concerning the regional park, stating that it should be revisited.
“We’ve got to get these things (rollover projects) done,” Muenzer reiterated. “I’m looking for staff to pick out some of these projects and commit to getting them done by this time next year. Go for the low-hanging fruit so we can feel better. Just to keep rolling these over year after year is not acceptable.”
Goldstone told him that nine of the projects would be under construction in 2017. Muenzer said if anything gets accomplished, he wants the old hospital on Southside Road to be torn down immediately. He said he has heard that the developer who wants to build on the land has been getting pushback from county staff over environmental inspections.
“That is a nuisance, it’s dangerous, it’s becoming a drug hangout and we cannot keep the kids out of it,” Muenzer said. “We talk about it year in year out. It needs to be gone, whether we remove the roadblocks to the developer and they tear it down or we utilize this money we’ve set aside and do it.”
Former Supervisor Pat Loe spoke during the public comment portion to say that money for some projects was secured years ago and that they have expiration dates. She said county officials need to know which amounts those were and keep track of the dates by which they need to be spent so the county does not lose the money. Hollister resident Marty Richman said for the board to demand that things get done will not get them done. He said it may spur people to work longer and harder, but if there is not enough staff to work on the projects, they will never be done.
“If you have projects on this list that are funded and are needed, we you don’t do them, you’re punishing the residents of this county,” Richman said. “I have no problem with taking projects off this list. I do have a problem is we have a bunch of projects here that I assume that you thought were worth $1 million when you put that against them, or somebody gave us the money to do it.”