I personally do not have anything against Crown. Also, the matter of whether or not the City should sell the old sewer plant property appears to be past the point of debate. No, the thing that bothers me is how “we” got to this point. Suddenly, we have an agenda item that is an yes or no vote: “should staff begin the process of negotiating the terms of the sale?” When, and by whom, was the decision made to sell the property in the first place?
Why didn’t the citizens of Santa Paula have the opportunity to voice their feelings on what should be done with the property?
The City Manager stated that to make the property available for use, lease, or “sale ready” as he put it, the city would have to spend funds for clean up, including possible toxic waste. According to him, the cost estimate for that clean up could reach 3 million dollars or more. I have no reason to doubt that is true, BUT, don’t you think it is a bit strange that such information was not included in the staff report provided?
Here is what bothers me about the whole situation; a series of significant decisions were made, away from the public view, and the whole matter came down to what amount to a meaningless, symbolic, “rubber stamp” vote by the Council.
If our City leaders were truly interested in representing the citizens of Santa Paula, here is how the whole matter should have been handled from the beginning.
1) There should have been an agenda item for the Council where a decision on what to do with the property would be made; sit on it, clean it up for sale, clean it up for lease, sell it “as is”. Staff reports as to the costs and issues involved could then have been presented, the public could have given their input, and the Council would have voted on one of those choices.
2) If the vote had been to sell the property “as is”, then staff would be directed to open a “RFP” period to solicit buyers for the property.
3) The RFP process would be completed, the citizens and the Council would have heard from the prospective buyers, public input could then have been given, and then Council would have voted for the best choice.
That is how the process is supposed to work.
