Commitment 2026: Mayoral candidates debate Hollister’s financial crisis after mass layoffs
Hollister’s mayoral candidates shared their plans to address the city‘s financial crisis following last week’s mass layoffs, focusing on transparency, oversight, and changes to city services.
Hollister’s financial crisis has become a key issue in the mayoral race after last week’s mass layoffs, which candidates say underscore the city’s deep economic challenges.
“Everybody there should have seen this coming, and we’re out of money. There is no money to pay them. What else should we do?” said Scott McPhail, who argued that the city manager is being unfairly criticized for the layoffs.
“I believe the city manager is getting a bad rap. Everybody is on her for all this, but this is what the city council hired her and ordered her to do,” McPhail said.
McPhail proposed a significant change for the police department, saying, “At this point, I believe we just need the sheriff’s department to come over here and take over that whole police department, clean house.”
Tina Garza highlighted the broader consequences of the layoffs, emphasizing their impact on city services and residents’ quality of life.
“You don’t let go of 37 employees. It affects our city services, it affects our police department. Look at what happened,” Garza said.
Garza’s plan focuses on financial oversight and transparency, including the creation of a finance committee with resident involvement.
“My response to them is I’m voted in, and we will create a finance committee that will help our city treasurer or our finance director with this, including the residents. Everyone is involved because that’s what they want. They want transparency,” she said.
Tim Burns, a former city councilmember and retired law enforcement officer, expressed concerns about the city’s ability to attract qualified professionals in the current environment.
“I think it’s going to be a real challenge to get qualified people that are going to want to come here knowing the climate and the drama that occurred this previous week. Why would you want to come to Hollister unless you absolutely had no other place to go?” Burns said.
Burns said he would take immediate action to address the financial crisis if elected.
“If I were mayor and this is still an issue on the night that I was sworn in as mayor and seated on the dais, I would call for an emergency meeting to then look at the city manager’s performance and her contract to see if there is a breach of that contract. And if there was, then I would lobby the council—it takes three votes—but I would lobby the council to terminate her,” he said.
The candidates’ proposals reflect differing approaches to resolving Hollister’s financial challenges and ensuring the city’s future stability.
