The governing board of Palomar Health is considering some drastic changes.
The board is considering shifting its management structure in a way that would make some of its decisions much less accessible — or not accessible at all — to members of the public.
The move would work like this: Palomar’s publicly-elected board would essentially hand over some of its duties to a nonprofit. The nonprofit would become the employer of the top executives at Palomar and then those people would — in theory at least — no longer be answerable to the public in the same way.
For now, details about who runs the proposed nonprofit are hard to come by.
Why it matters: Palomar Health is a public healthcare district.
As our Tigist Layne writes: “Public healthcare districts, unlike other hospitals, have an added responsibility to the state and to the public. They are required to remain transparent to the communities they serve.”
Those in favor of the shakeup have acknowledged that the whole point would be to have less transparency. They say this will make Palomar Health more competitive, like other hospitals that don’t have to face public scrutiny.
Report: SDPD Overtime Is Endangering Officers and Citizens
Spending on police overtime is a big budget problem for the city of San Diego. The city has busted its overtime budget for 10 of the last 11 fiscal years.
But the problem isn’t just budget related, according to a new report by the Office of the City Auditor. The report found that a large percentage of officers are working such long shifts that it endangers themselves and the public.
The report found that 55 percent of officers had worked 12-hour shifts — which doubles the chances of accidental officer death. A full 20 percent had worked 16 hours or more in a single shift — which is banned by many police departments around the country. And 3 percent of officers had worked shifts of 19 hours or more. That’s equivalent to having a blood alcohol level of .05, the report found.
The report also suggested several ways SDPD might cut down on its overtime spending.
Cardenas Siblings Take Plea Deal in Fraud Scandal
The once-powerful South Bay sibling duo each plead guilty Wednesday to two felony charges.
The plea deal: Former Chula Vista Councilwoman Andrea Cardenas and her brother Jesus Cardenas, a political consultant, pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft for fraudulently obtaining more than $175,000 in Covid-relief funds. The pair will likely get probation and will be required to pay restitution, the Union-Tribune reports.
Jesus will be back in court on March 27 for a sentencing hearing and Andrea is set to return in August. They both originally faced more than five years in prison and 12 criminal counts.
Back up: District Attorney Summer Stephan charged the siblings with fraud in November. The siblings were accused of getting a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from the government for employees that he did not employ. The criminal complaint accused them of using that money for personal expenses and to pay Andrea’s campaign debt.
Andrea resigned from her City Council seat last week. She’s still on the ballot because she filed for re-election. If she wins the election, her lawyer told Axios that she would serve.
In Other News
- County leaders are setting the stage to secure federal funding to assist hundreds of migrants. The County Board of Supervisors approved a plan that calls for a long-term migrant transfer site. There’s no funding tied to the vote, but setting a plan for it could allow the county to secure funding in the future, KPBS reports.
- A man died Tuesday after falling from the U.S. Mexico border wall. (Union-Tribune)
- The Board of Supervisors also OK’d property tax relief for those affected by the January floods. The property owners must apply for relief by April 10. The Union-Tribune has more details here.
- The Board of Port Commissioners on Wednesday approved a blueprint for port lands. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.