Palm Drive: Where we stand
EDITOR: Your recent article as to the possible Bodega Bay detachment from the Palm Drive Health Care District suggests that there may be some confusion as to where things stand at the district level. Although I have been a member of the board of the district since January this year, I am not writing in that capacity or on behalf of the district. With that caveat, let me summarize where I believe things stand now as to the district and the hospital it owns.
The district’s bankruptcy was resolved last week. The current district bonds are expected to be refunded by early August at an average interest rate well below that currently being paid. The hospital is in the process of moving to long-term acute care status, after which it is expected that it will admit additional patients in need of such care. It is expected and hoped that this new certification will be secured shortly.
AAMG, the current operator of the hospital, holds an option to purchase the hospital on terms that were approved earlier this year by a vote of the district members. I hope and expect that AAMG will exercise that option as soon as it has been able to demonstrate that Palm Drive can be operated as a successful long term acute care hospital. It is anticipated that a significant portion of the sale proceeds will be used to retire some of the refinanced bonds.
After these steps are complete, the district will not own the hospital but will be financially subject to its bankruptcy plan and bond obligations, which flow from its prior ownership and operation of the hospital. The district’s only meaningful “asset” at that point will be its ability to draw on the Measure W parcel tax adopted in 2004. That parcel tax has a very specific purpose which reads (my editing) as follows:
“The purpose….(is) to ensure the survival of Palm Drive Hospital and access to local emergency, acute care, and other medical and physician services for District residents and visitors, and to provide for ongoing expenses, repair and improvement to equipment and technology.”
Measure W goes on to state that its primary purpose is to ensure that Palm Drive Hospital and its Emergency Rom can stay open. A secondary purpose is to allow it to retain nurses, physicians and clinical staff.
It is my understanding based on my legal training and on consultation with legal authorities with additional expertise as to such questions, that Measure W parcel tax proceeds cannot be used for purposes outside those detailed in Measure W regardless of whether such uses might meet other public health needs in the district.
Given these restraints, I believe that once the hospital has been sold that the district should start the process to be dissolved to minimize the annual cost of keeping it alive (estimated at at least $400,000 a year in district bankruptcy filings). There are indications that some current board members are considering keeping the district alive to make public health type grants, which I do not believe is permissible.
In considering these issues, please keep in mind that there are no built-in checks or balances in Measure W as to how it is spent or more generally for health care districts such as Palm Drive outside of the ballot box, legal action, the impact of a possible grand jury review or steps taken by LAFCO.
I would be glad to discuss these points with any interested district members and voters.
Richard Power
Sebastopol
In defense of the Bohos
EDITOR: I would be remiss to my own upbringing and beliefs if I would remain totally silent on the recently created issue on the approval of the police coverage of the Bohemian Grove’s annual meeting. What is all the fuss about, really?
Only the good Lord has any control over what sex a person gets born having. The “Boho” (Bohemian Club) has individually I am sure spent a good deal of their own money in support of local Sonoma County biz as anyone else has. They give jobs to many and, if the truth ever be told, probably more than the rest of us!
The Bohos have, for the most part, been as patriotic and supportive of California and, not to mention the nation, as the women presently on our county’s board of supervisors. So what right do these “ladies” have to question the policies of this arcane, honored private organization?
Frank Baumgardner, III
Santa Rosa
