It’s that time of the American cycle, in the weeks following an election, to ponder voters’ changes in government and what message, if any, one can discern. As readers know, we don’t shy away from expressing our opinions, and today we turn our attention to the Sonoma Valley Health Care District Board.
First, we congratulate Dick Kirk on his re-election. We did not endorse Kirk, believing him too close to the problems experienced by the board in the last few years. The voters thought otherwise, making him their most popular choice. Evidently, they believe Kirk has positive contributions to make to the long process ahead, building trust and building a hospital. We’re happy to be corrected, and we look forward to his efforts on both projects.
The voters also seated Arnie Riebli by a thin margin over a hospital employee, selecting an outsider along with the insider Kirk. Riebli comes to the position characterized as a no-nonsense businessman, willing to give embattled CEO Bob Kowal an opportunity to prove his worth. Altogether, we don’t see much mandate for change – more of a hope for decisive progress.
What’s the first job facing the new board? As it happens, that should be selecting another new member. Mike Smith is presently in the middle of his second four-year term on the hospital board and had announced in the summer his intent to resign from the board, in order to devote himself fully to the affairs of Santa Rosa Junior College.
At the time, we thought it odd he didn’t simply resign then, and let the voters select his replacement; no one knows who else might have run, had there been three seats open. We hope that Smith didn’t defer his resignation in order to hang onto the hospital seat if he failed in his re-election bid at the JC. The Sonoma hospital board is not a consolation prize; our community deserves full commitment from its elected representatives. We admire Smith and the positive principles he espouses, and his sincere efforts to build consensus around the Leveroni site earlier in the year, but now is the time for him to follow through and submit his resignation.
That leads us back to the board members, who would be wise not to select a replacement that the voters had rejected. Instead, we suggest the board look to the co-leaders of the Sonoma Valley Health Care Coalition, tapping Bob Edwards or Steve Pease as a new board member. With either one, the board will get a dedicated public servant, exceedingly knowledgeable about the crucial issues at hand, and it’ll get an experienced team player intent on building trust through consensus.
And speaking of the coalition, we respect the job it’s doing, and we understand it has a plan … and a timeline … and a process. But the situation has changed now, with the new proposal from Cirrus Health. We’re not promoting that proposal – we’re just anxious, as are many in the Valley, for the coalition to evaluate it.
Certainly, in the aftermath of the Measure C debacle, no one expected a free alternative to appear. The Plan B group and then the coalition have mapped out a slow, steady course … wisely intended to lead inexorably toward a taxpayer-subsidized proposal in mid-2007 that would garner approval from two-thirds of the voters. But we can’t imagine voters choosing a whopping new tax, if they have a legitimate alternative. That’s why we need to know if the Cirrus Health proposal can work, and there’s no point in considering anything else in the meantime. The coalition needs to, as they say, kiss it or kill it.
Local politics – real important to us all. Let our representatives know how you feel.
