As the final agenda item on the final meeting December 13, the Concord City Council formed an Ad Hoc committee of Dan helix and Laura Hoffmeister to prepare a response to a report to LAFCO regarding dissolution of Mount Diablo Health Care District.
With Mayor Leone reclusing himself from the meeting, the meeting was run by Vice Mayor Bill Shinn. Stating his reason for his self-reclusion, Mayor Leone said he had been on the MDHCD for 5 or 6 years and that he “not taking the health benefits anymore there is still a conflict of interest.”
All the City Council members made it clear that they did not feel there was enough time to reply in full to the report by the consultants to LAFCO. Councilman Dan Helix stated that he had read the 38 page report several times and found it shallow and had “glaring weaknesses“ and that a number of arguments were not made that should have been made in areas.
Councilmember Hoffmeister expressed concern over the time to make a community outreach and get into the ‘nitty gritty’ of the issues. Giving comment before the Council, Jeff Kasper, the Chairman of MDHCD gave a run down on some of the accomplishments done in the last six months in getting funding to community projects that were successful in ‘Major strides”
1. 70 folks transitioned outside of homelessness
2. Scholarships
3. Wellness to provide healthy nutritional practices
Kasper also stated that “The lack of time is not adequate or appropriate, and that “The report is incomplete.” He advised that the District will be providing a detailed response.
Additional members of the District were in attendance: Grace Ellis and Frank Manske but they did not speak before the Council.
Edi Birsan also spoke before the Council urging them to immediate write to LAFCO to request more time and that there is not enough time to bring out the community to respond to the Consultant’s reports and to especially focus on the legal contractual obligations to insure that down the road the hospital stays in Concord. Though Vice Mayor Shinn disagreed that there was any possibility that after the investments in the hospital that John Muir would give it up. Birsan urged that in any new formation that the 5 position on the Charity Health Foundation there be three for Concord, one for Martinez and one for Pleasant Hill.
Councilman Helix and Grayson also made it clear that they did not think that there would be an extension of time from LAFCO.
In the end the Council voted unanimously to form a committee of Laura Hoffmeister and Dan Helix to prepare a response in the next ten days.
Bill Gram-Reefer is Editor & Publisher of Halfway To Concord, founded in 2004. Halfway To Concord is the leading online source for community-driven political news, events, and opinion for Contra Costa County and the San Francisco East Bay.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
The Concord City Council is again showing their ineptness. This is ridiculous! A letter to LAFCO now? This is comical.
Considering that for a decade LAFCO functioned as unaware of the Grand Jury reports, and that it was just found out that Martinez does not pay into the district, I am not going to be overly critical of the Concord City Council as a whole.
This is an example of a critical element that has been undiscovered. Further the issues with the nature of the contract with John Muir is very critical down the road and must not be lost sight of. That is a very complex issue that we need to preserve as well as the appointments to the Charity Health Foundation.
Martinez managed to avoid contributing to this unneeded District in order to get nothing in return. Hmmm . . . they paid nothing to get nothing, while others paid something to get nothing.
In my book this makes Martinez the smartest cookie in the batch.
So, the Concord City Council was unaware of the four grand jury reports, the LAFCO review, the public comment period, etc. and just now decides to intervene at the 11th hour. Why?
Pete – not to mention the non-stop press coverage and 3 editorials in the Contra Costa Times.
To clarify the statement about Ron Leone receiving health care benefits through Mt. Diablo Health Care District: with the agreement presented by MDHCD, Leone is compensated by the District to pay for the benefits he is now receiving through the City of Concord for himself and his family. Leone waived no rights to future benefits with MDHCD and he need not do so since he is legally entitled to them. Those benefits are quite valuable. If something has changed in his agreement with MDHCD it has not been announced.
So it follows that the actuarial value of Leone’s lifetime health/dental benefits is virtually unchanged, since he has waived no rights — rather, he has temporarily switched the group plan through which he purchases his benefits. Leone and spouse remina a MDHCD liability for their lifetimes, thus the District savings are expected to be an infinitesimal amount.
Tell me again on what basis the District Board believes it can spend its bank giving away grants, instead of reserving its cash to annuitize or otherwise discharge this obligation. Are they intending to screw the taxpayers, or is doing so just a byproduct of the Board’s ongoing effort to spend money as fast as it possibly can without regard for the consequences?