Barrie Mann - Special to the Sun

The Kern Valley Health District board meeting held Thursday, April 3 got interesting when one of the board members, Barbara Casas, demonstrate some fiscal responsibility. A motion had been placed in front of the board to send two members to an ACHD/ALPHA Fund Legislative Days conference in Sacramento where they would have the opportunity to meet face to face with state legislators. When questioned as to the estimated cost of sending the two board members, Chet Beedle, CFO of the district responded 'In the region of $1,100 per person.'

Casas then proceeded to protest the need to send board members to such a meeting when the hospital was obviously in a financial state of ill health and should be conserving funds wherever possible. She went on to state that with the budget cuts that the governor’s office mandated, the governor requested that legislators not travel and she felt that the Kern Valley Healthcare District should take that request seriously and not expend funds sending board members to a conference that she felt would not produce much benefit to the district. She ended her objection by stating, 'I think it is irresponsible to spend this money this year, and to spend $1,100 per person is wrong because we are broke.' Discussion continued for several minutes and a vote was taken on the motion, but to Casas’s dismay, the motion passed.

Joan Amos reports to the board on hospital foundation activities at the April 3 board meeting.

All of this discussion transpired just after CFO Beedle had given the financial report indicating that although February had been a good month for the district (explaining, the more valley residents get sick and go to the hospital, the more money the KVHD makes) financially the KVHD is still struggling to make ends meet. In fact, some departments are experiencing cash flow issues. One department in particular, the hospital pharmacy, has such a difficult cash flow problem that apparently some pharmaceutical companies are refusing to deliver needed drugs until they are paid. So despite Beedle’s attempt to put a positive spin on the finances, it was obvious to all in attendance that all is still not well with the KVHD.

In other business Board Chairman Bob Jamison informed the meeting that the report from the engineering company of Buhler and Buhler had been received but not yet studied so it was too early to comment on its content.

Discussion followed between Kathryn Knight and Jamison concerning the activities of the Construction Committee that Jamison chairs. Knight’s complaint was that she and other board members had not seen any of the minutes of the Construction Committee meetings and she wanted to be more aware of what was transpiring during those meetings. Jamison responded by stating that the secretary had been very busy but that minutes had been taken and promised to get copies to board members as soon as possible. The board then went into a closed session.

The board has previously stated that sometime in the future it will be asking for the the public’s support of a multi-million-dollar bond that will provide funds for hospital renovation, or possibly construction of a new hospital building.