Hospital votes unanimously to seek $45 million bond

Last Thursday, after each board member presented his argument, and after the community members made their comments, the hospital board voted to place a $45 million bond measure on the April 6 ballot. As written in its Resolution No. 265, the board seeks approval from the District electorate for general obligation bonds “to fund the construction and equipping of additional new hospital facilities to be integrated with the existing hospital.”
The resolution, signed by the board president Dick Kirk and secretary Bill Boerum immediately after the meeting, also provides for the creation of an Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee “to ensure Bond proceeds are expended only for the Project authorized by the ballot measure.”
In contrast with Tuesday night’s board meeting, in which discussions of site location repeatedly derailed the presentations of the arguments for the larger or smaller bond figure, the board members on Thursday were able to maintain the focus of the discussion on the crucial decision at hand.
The meeting opened with a formal statement of appreciation from Kirk, who quoted Thomas Jefferson’s idea that politics is a conversation. “We’ve had conversations about this for about 10 years, and I’m sure the community is pretty tired of this,” he said, adding, “We need to move past the acrimony to collaborate as a community. Despite the differences that we have, I believe you’ll see a board that is cooperating.”
Kirk had urged the board to approve the staged approach recommended by Chief Executive Officer Carl Gerlach. “We need to see our business plan show some confidence. We need to see more what’s happening with the economy. We’re in time of great uncertainty. We also don’t yet have the specific design features that we need to have in order to really see what the cost would be. So there’s more planning that needs to be done. In another year, perhaps the economy will be better. So I’m favoring a smaller initial bond, and then a larger second, without any shell game, so the community knows that that’s the plan.”
Proponents of the smaller figure spoke along these lines, echoing Gerlach’s position that what is needed now is to move toward stability, build community confidence, and ask for a bond now that the community would be sure to support, with the stated expectation that they will ask for more in a couple of years. Board member Mike Nugent, who on Tuesday had argued for a larger figure, spoke in favor of the smaller amount on Thursday, saying, “It’s my growing confidence in Carl’s business plan that is changing my mind.” Board member Mike Smith said, “I think that what we’re doing tonight is the best possible thing we can do to respect the people we represent and that’s keep the hospital open and move ahead so we can build the kind of facility we’re going to need. So I’m really comfortable in supporting the $45 million and confident we’ll be in a much better position in two or three years to go to the private sector.” Board member Arnie Riebli reminded the board of the community’s many other obligations. “Community is not just about this hospital,” he said. “It’s about the city council, water district, sewer district. It’s for the community. Everybody’s going to be under tremendous pressure. Schools are facing serious problems; we all recognize that. I can’t ask you folks for all your money.” Nugent urged caution. “This is just such an important question. It’s really critical we get this right. We can argue, but we can’t lose. We can’t lose this. I don’t think anyone’s going to vote no for less money.”
Bill Boerum argued, as he had on Tuesday, in favor of the larger figure on the grounds that, “We don’t know what will intervene in the future. That people will have other lines on their tax bill and will say, what? You’re coming back for more money?” But he said, as did all the others, that he would go along with the majority vote.
Public comment was mixed, but the majority of the speakers seemed to echo the feelings of the board, who all agreed, in the end, to the smaller, more certain figure with the clear understanding that they had to solve the current crisis and that in a couple of years, when they’d proved themselves, they’d come back to the community for more money to finish the job.
Sam McCandless, who lives in Village Green, across MacArthur Boulevard from the proposed site, summed it up this way: “If we don’t get some bond in April I think that might be it. I don’t think we ought to take any avoidable risk. Go for the 45 million, then go for the other later. If we don’t get the 45 in April, I think we’re dead.”