Why I voted for Measure A
Note to readers: this letter was written before the election.
EDITOR: I’ve been asked why I voted in support of Measure A. The answer is both simple and not simple.
The simple answer is given the terms of the existing management agreement the board entered into last summer with AAMG, together with the growing financial costs to the District flowing from it, stopping that financial “bleed” seemed crucial, which Measure A does. The sale process does raise valid questions as to what the fair market value of the hospital property is. Here there are as many opinions as there a people expressing them. But, given the process put in place by the Board last summer, there is no way to resolve those discrepancies through a market bidding process. Nor do any district directors, in my opinion, have the experience or training to determine what the fair market value is. Here we have followed the process mandated by California law to determine the selling price. Again people may differ as to whether that process is the best that could be set up, but for now it is the only process available. To me there is a value in resolving as quickly as possible whether AAMG will buy the hospital. AAMG seems to agree since it has forced the sale process along at every opportunity. I suspect that one of the reasons AAMG wants to own the hospital is so it will no longer have to report to or deal with the district doard. I commiserate with that perspective.
The less simple answer is to understand that Measure A is just part of a whole process which reflects the challenges and problems that flow from small governmental entities like the Palm Drive District. Here we have five lay directors all with good intentions, a very small, dedicated, staff, and seemingly no clear understanding of the challenges and planning requirements of running a health care district. There are no checks and balances as to the acts of a district like Palm Drive other than the ballot box, maybe the courts and possibly LAFCO. There is very little review of the limited reporting the district is required to provide or transparency as to whether the district meets those requirements. These foundational issues are under review at the state level. All of which suggests to me that the sooner the hospital property can be sold and the district hopefully dissolved the better. Ideally that will mean that the parcel tax will only have to be drawn on as needed to pay third party obligations which will either reduce the annual amount of the parcel tax as is allowed under Measure W or accelerate the repayment of third party obligations.
Richard Power
Sebastopol
What Jim Horn doesn’t get
EDITOR: It was with interest that I saw Jim Horn’s name in two sections of your newspaper recently. One as the sole vote opposing the sale relating to Palm Drive Hospital and the other in his letter to the editor extolling the pay received by teachers in his district.
I too am part of “his” district, previously as a parent of two students and now as a teacher. Mr. Horn, as is often the case with those who wish to avoid clear truths, chooses to share only facts that support his own position while conveniently ignoring or obfuscating other facts which undercut his claim. Are the teachers in his district on average earning $10,000 less than other teachers in our state? Yes. Are teachers in his district currently receiving some of the lowest payments in the state towards their medical coverage? Yes.
Perhaps more tellingly was his choice to not talk about the teachers who have appeared at the school board meetings on which he serves, to explain that they have taken on second jobs: teaching online on the weekends, working retail after the school day is done, etc., to pay for basic necessities. Similarly, why has he not discussed the teachers who have explained to him that they have postponed needed medical care for themselves or their children due to deductibles they can’t pay after having to cover their rent?
Having spent years discussing these matters with Mr. Horn, it is clear to me that he believes teachers in “his” district are overpaid, underworked and easily replaceable.
While I full-heartedly applaud the concept of service to our community by volunteering to sit on local boards whether they be a school board or a hospital board — in the end, it is not your service itself that counts; it is the good you bring to the community you serve. If you were to question the staff of “his” district or the parents who actually have students in “his” district, I think it would be a very safe bet that they share neither his views, his vision or his facts. It is a shame, he can’t seem to hear them.
Dan Dexter
Sebastopol
