County to Reconsider Hospital Project Vote

Ventura County supervisors have called a special meeting today to reconsider their decision to build a $28.7-million county hospital project and explore other financing alternatives.

Supervisor Frank Schillo said the county is being forced by rival Community Memorial Hospital to consider other options for replacing the public hospital’s dilapidated kitchen and lab, which if not repaired could cost the facility its state license.

Changing its financing plan could force the county to give up $17 million in state and federal grants earmarked for the project, but would allow Ventura County Medical Center to move forward with the repairs without threat of a referendum and a 1 1/2-year delay.

“Community Memorial would be responsible for the county losing $17 million,” Schillo said. “This is money that the taxpayers in Ventura County have already paid. If we don’t get it, it’s going to go to some other county.”

Community Memorial launched a voter-referendum drive last week aimed at derailing the financing plan for the county project, which the private hospital views as part of a larger expansion plan to compete for privately insured patients.

If Community Memorial gathers the necessary 24,065 signatures within the next two weeks, the referendum would be placed on the June 1998 ballot. Under the law, the county hospital project would be halted until the election. County officials fear the pending election could also stall all other renovation plans.

Schillo said the county hospital’s license, which is up for renewal in March 1998, would be revoked by then. He said the county has been warned it would lose its hospital accreditation if it doesn’t replace some aging buildings that have been deemed structurally unsound.

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“They’ve really put the nail to us,” Schillo said of Community Memorial. “We would be out of business by the time of the election. And that is exactly what Community Memorial wants.”

Representatives for the nonprofit private hospital, which spent $1.6 million on a referendum last spring to defeat plans for a new county outpatient center, have denied that this is their intent.

But they have proposed that the county hospital be converted to an outpatient center that contracts with neighboring Community Memorial for inpatient care.

“We’re not trying to put them out of business,” said Community Memorial spokesman Doug Dowie of the Los Angeles-based public relations firm of Fleishman Hillard. “But we think the role of the county [hospital] needs to be examined further.”

Community Memorial officials believe the county should not go forward with any project until an independent analysis of the area’s health-care needs is done, Dowie said. Community Memorial has offered to help pay for such a study, he said.

As part of their meeting today, county supervisors said they will examine a number of funding and building options. They said it is possible, for instance, that the county itself may have to finance the hospital project.

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The building plan approved by the Board of Supervisors last week calls for a two-story structure to replace the 75-year-old county hospital’s kitchen and lab. It also includes a three-story parking garage.

“We can’t wait for a year and a half to deal with this problem,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said. “We have to do whatever we have to do to keep our hospital accreditation.”

Schillo said the county stands to lose state and federal construction grants because of Community Memorial’s referendum against the public hospital project.

Specifically, the referendum would block the sale of $28.7 million in bond-like certificates to help finance the projects. The certificates would then be repaid with $17 million in grant money, with the remainder coming from hospital revenues and the county general fund.

Community Memorial officials said they are confident that a second referendum would be successful against the county if allowed to go forward.

“All of our research says that voters would not support this,” Dowie said.

But Supervisor John Flynn said the county is at a disadvantage because Community Memorial is waging what he said is a misleading campaign.

“We cannot win a campaign when they’re willing to spend $2 million and we can’t spend anything,” he said. “There’s no way for us to fight that.”

Flynn said he is certain the county can come up with an alternative plan that will allow the public hospital to meet its building needs.

“We’re going to have a plan that will be unchallengeable,” he said. “We’re thinking along a new course of action that will put the county back in the driver’s seat.”

Meanwhile, the supervisors said they called the special meeting today in part because the board does not have a scheduled meeting next week. Also, Flynn leaves for a monthlong vacation Sunday.