Palm Drive fills board position

The Palm Drive Health Care District board of directors chose an
interim board member Monday night to serve out the term of Steve
Murphy, who recently stepped down “to get more involved” in the
direction of the hospital.
Three members of the West County community applied for the
position, including former Sonoma County supervisorial candidate
Jim Maresca, Gravenstein Union School District president Jim Horn,
and Palm Drive Foundation board member Chris Dawson.
Board members peppered the candidates with questions to
ascertain their qualifications, particularly surrounding strategic
planning and marketing abilities.
In the end, the board unanimously chose Dawson, whose experience
on CEO selection panels and time on the Palm Drive Foundation board
added the type of diverse experience the board is currently
seeking.
Dawson has also been instrumental in Palm Drive’s “Green Team,”
which is helping the hospital reduce its “footprint.”
Board member Frank Mayhew asked Dawson, who retired after 32
years at Santa Rosa’s daily newspaper, why his business background
would make him a good candidate for the board.
“It’s not about understanding where you are today, but where you
are going tomorrow,” Dawson said.
He cited five years of experience in Web development at his
previous place of employment and experience “developing and
branding” the business.
“The community is rooting for this organization and wants it to
succeed,” Dawson said.
But the other candidates brought skills that impressed the board
as well, and were encouraged to run when the elections come in
November.
Maresca came with an impressive resume spanning more than 30
years of business acumen and community service, as well as a
connection to the Russian River community.
He’s lived in the district for nine years, but has owned a
vacation home in Guerneville for many years. A few months ago,
Maresca was asked by the board to be an advisor to the finance
committee, so that they could take advantage of his experience as a
financial advisor for Edward Jones Investments.
Maresca cited his experience working for non-profits, including
the Occidental Center for the Arts, and West County Community
Services, and said he was “very excited” about the hospital’s
opportunities through the JPA.
“We need to listen very carefully, find a need and fill it,”
Maresca said, adding that physician recruitment is crucial to
continue the forward momentum of the hospital, as is the search for
a permanent CEO and CFO in order to have a management team to
represent the hospital to the community.
Horn has been in the area for 30 years, and spent the past 25
years as a mechanical engineer, and has experience developing
facilities for Sutter and Kaiser as well as other health care
providers, giving him a working knowledge of hospital
regulation.
He’s been on the board of the GUSD for eight years and
volunteered in the district for 19 years, since his daughter was in
grade school.
Horn indicated that through his experience he has “learned how
boards operate,” their governing laws and the Brown Act, which
outlines public meetings laws.
Horn advocated for ongoing board education and said he was wary
of Joint Powers agreements “unless they’re carefully structured”
and watched over.
But board treasurer Dan Smith pointed out that Horn’s wife is a
hospital employee, and was concerned that there may be a conflict
of interest should Horn be appointed to the board.
There were also issues since Horn is the current president at
the GUSD, and questions of the ability and even legality of serving
on two boards simultaneously were posed.
Dawson will be sworn in at the next regularly scheduled board
meeting and serve until the December board meeting when the newly
elected board will be set in place. He can run for the position as
an incumbent, but has to file between July 15 and August 6.
In the upcoming November election, board president Nancy Dobbs’
and board member Linda Johnson’s 4-year terms will be up for grabs,
as will the 2-year term that Dawson was chosen to fill. If none of
the incumbents file, the filing date will be extended five
days.
In other board actions, interim CEO Mike Lieb outlined the
hospital’s strategic planning process, which hit a snag last week
when Smith took issue with Brim’s handling of the process, citing
Brown Act violations and sending the hospital management company
back to the drawing board.
Lieb made it clear that the entire process will take place in
the open with plenty of opportunity for input from physicians,
hospital employees and members of the public.
He also made it clear that he would incorporate the work that
has already been done, to create a “workable, meaningful plan”
within the district.
“We don’t want to start with a white board and a pencil, because
that will take months and we’ll never get anywhere,” he said.
Board member Frank Mayhew echoed Lieb’s desire to get it
“rolling as fast as we can.”
“I’d hate to see some of the capital expenditures wait for two
months to get started,” Mayhew said.
Initial meetings are expected to start as soon as possible, with
the hope of having a plan in place by the beginning of
September.