Aside from the taxpayers' nearly six-figure loss, perhaps the most unfortunate outcome of the city's biker rally merchandise sales is that it appears no Hollister officials will be held accountable for a series of poor decisions.
Hollister's elected leaders last week absorbed fault themselves while standing behind a shared wall of blame among all officials, including City Manager Clint Quilter, who pushed the idea that it was wise to risk taxpayer dollars on a private venture after getting sold on the plan himself by private promoter Seth Doulton.
Justify the standard
City council members, who made the ultimately approval, took the safe route and essentially have lessened any individual responsibility, on themselves included, by spreading fault among everybody involved. It must have appeared logical considering two incumbent council members aren't running in November and the one who is, Mayor Doug Emerson, is unopposed. Two others won't be running for two years.
Considering the magnitude and misguided nature of this decision, considering Hollister's severely dire financial situation, and then add on that someone decided to buy 40,000 T-shirts at an event with an attendance of at most 100,000 people - a largely unscientific number that includes those who come back Saturday or Sunday, so the actual tally of visitors is much lower - and yet the only blow is taken by taxpayers.
Something seems wrong.
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