Several issues have emerged to date in the 2014 Sebastopol City Council election which would appear, on the surface, to differentiate the candidates from one another. I will be taking a look at these issues individually over the course of the next several weeks. Today, let’s look at “Open Our Hospital”.
The closure of Palm Drive Hospital has been a great loss for the residents of Sebastopol and the West County on many levels. The potential reopening of Palm Drive is not now, nor has it ever been, a legitimate issue in the upcoming election for the Sebastopol City Council. In November, voters will be selecting members of the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors, who are solely responsible for the administration of the hospital. The Sebastopol City Council has no jurisdiction within the Palm Drive Health Care District, nor any ability to influence the outcome of the current efforts to reopen Palm Drive Hospital.
The current City Council clearly recognized this at their meeting of May 6, 2014 , where they voiced their support for the reopening of Palm Drive and issued a letter offering the full assistance of the City of Sebastopol to the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors. They refrained from creating a subcommittee to interface with the Palm Drive Board of Directors, due to an undefined role, vague goals and an absence of jurisdiction. These are two independent public agencies, each with their own publicly-elected governing officials- there is no overlap of responsibility. The Sebastopol City Council has no more role within the Palm Drive Health Care District than it has within the West Sonoma County High School District or the Santa Rosa Junior College District, both of which likewise include Sebastopol.
The population of Sebastopol represents only 12%, approximately, of total Palm Drive Health Care District residents. If any governmental body external to the Health Care District was in a presumed position to help, it would be the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. They are responsible for the vast majority of District residents, and have greater resources to offer to the District. Remember, Palm Drive is a District facility, merely located in Sebastopol.
The attempt to reopen the hospital that is currently underway will continue to evolve under the administration of those elected officials who have the legitimate, legal authority to do so. There are significant financial and regulatory obstacles to reopening that remain to be overcome. The Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors and the Palm Drive Health Care Foundation (two independent organizations) are working closely together towards the goal of creating a legally compliant and financially sustainable District hospital.
To believe that the current or a future Sebastopol City Council or any member(s) of it can play a decisive role in the reopening of Palm Drive Hospital is to subscribe to a false reality, with the promotion of that perception residing somewhere between seriously misinformed and deliberately misleading.
John Eder is a member of the Sebastopol City Council, the Council liaison to the Palm Drive Health Care District, and the partner of a member of the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors. All views expressed here are solely the author’s. They do not represent the views of the City of Sebastopol, the Sebastopol City Council or the Palm Drive Health Care District Board of Directors.