Documented by Josef Sibala
What happened: At its Tuesday meeting, the Madera County Board of Supervisors approved sending a letter to Madera Mayor Santos Garcia asking the city to cover the operating cost for the shuttered Madera Community Hospital beyond the 30 days that the county is already covering.
The request comes after the county received a letter from Madera Community Hospital on Friday asking for assistance with its ongoing operating costs since it has yet to receive notification regarding the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, which was expected in mid-August and now may not come until mid-September or later.
On Aug. 1, the supervisors approved allocating $500,000 to cover one month’s operating expenses for the hospital while it negotiates a deal with Adventist Health.
Deputy County Administrative Officer Joel Bugay said it is a “fair ask” that the city allocate funds to help with reopening the hospital, especially since it received a direct allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and the city’s funding was not pooled with the county’s ARPA funding the way it was for unincorporated cities.
“This is not the burden of one entity, but this is the burden of a community and it needs to be shared as a burden,” said Chairman David Rogers, who represents District 3, which includes a large portion of the city.
Rogers said that the county has allocated $2 million of funding for the hospital and it’s time for the city of Madera to chip in some of its $23 million in pandemic relief funding.
District Supervisor Robert Poythress echoed Rogers’ sentiments, and said that he feels ARPA funds are taxpayer funds that don’t belong to a specific city or county, but should go back to benefit the community.
“We as a community, whether the county or the city, need to work together to help fund the burn rate,” Poythress said.
Supervisor Jordan Wamhoff said that the burden shouldn’t be placed solely on the county and also expressed frustration that the state is taking longer than was initially communicated.
“This is a community hospital that is being held together with tape right now, and so there’s issues all the way around,” he said. “But, you know, from from my perspective, I do not want to venture down this road alone.”
Bugay said that 80% of the hospital’s patients live within the city of Madera and 90% live within the community immediately surrounding the city.
Supervisor Robert Macaulay, who represents the mountain communities of District 5, said he thought it was important to include that information in the letter because it shows that the hospital largely serves city of Madera residents.
“The city should be taking the lead as far as I’m concerned, as far as keeping the hospital open,” Macaulay said.
Wamhoff agreed, saying he was disapointed that the city hasn’t taken the lead in efforts to reopen the hospital.
“Obviously, this is a communitywide issue, but looking at the demographics of the patient base, the city should be in the forefront of this,” he said.
District 4 Supervisor Leticia Gonzalez was absent from this meeting and had announced at the July 18 meeting that she would be on medical leave for several weeks during her pregnancy. Her district includes a large part of the city of Madera.
“Our resources are dwindling and quickly, and so it’s important that everybody steps up to the plate in this circumstance,” Rogers said.
Yosemite National Park plan open for public feedback: The board received a presentation on the Yosemite Parks Visitor Access Management Plan, which is currently in progress.
The purpose of the plan is to gather input from the community for potential strategies to improve visitor access in the park.
The park is accepting feedback through Sept. 6 and the public can access the project website here.
And also: The supervisors adopted the County of Madera Measure “T” Annual Expenditure Plan for fiscal year 2023-2024.
Andrea Uribe from the Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability asked the county to engage the public in all measures, particularly communities in Fairmead and La Vina.
Up next: The Madera County Board of Supervisors will meet again on Sept. 12.
