All right.

I would like to call the meeting to order of our three thirty meeting.

It's a bit late, later than three thirty.

This is a special meeting on Tuesday, March the tenth.

And I will start the meeting by asking the clerk to call roll.

Thank you, Supervisor Marquez.

Supervisor Tam present.

Supervisor Miley.

With that said, our open session item is Supervisor Fortunato Bass and Miley asking us recommending that we would approve the following, and this is uh referenced in a board letter.

Um, a reaffirming the Board of Supervisors approved motion of 3326 requesting Alameda Health Systems to defer um well, it's all listed here in the agenda.

What I'd like to do is to start with Supervisor Miley making brief comments and a motion, Supervisor Fortunato Bass seconding that motion so that we have a motion made and seconded and then have discussion, which I think will be expedited if we do it that way.

Supervisor Miley, the floor is yours.

Yeah, thank you, President Howard.

So um, Supervisor Bass and I uh have presented a board letter.

Um you know, we are serving on the ad hoc committee that the board authorized uh so that we could look into the um financial uh challenges facing Alameda Health Systems, and it was brought to our attention that the um action that the board approved last week needed to be clarified.

So we appreciate Supervisor Bass.

Her office worked with my office, and we prepared this board letter that's before you today to clarify uh the intent of our motion.

And you know, we were very much interested in all of the uh reductions in uh staff at AHS being um delayed, uh deferred, postponed until uh June 30th, when we would have a chance to convene the ad hoc, and we've set dates for the ad hoc uh meeting as well in April, May, and June, so that along with uh the county HS and uh labor, we could work on uh the situation, the financial situation for facing HS, both uh presently and in the next uh fiscal year.

And that's pretty much what the board letter uh points out.

So I'd like to move that, move the recommendation, uh, and then um I know Supervisor Bass has some comments, and we can go from there.

Motion's been made.

Is it seconded?

I'll second it.

Supervisor Bass seconds it and makes comments.

I will just share briefly that uh after we made our motion, uh the Alameda Health Systems um surprisingly did move forward with uh deferring certain layoffs for only two weeks.

Uh and these were just for patient-facing positions, and so um I felt the need, as did Supervisor Miley, to clarify our motion in terms of deferring all of the uh layoffs as well as the program closures through the end of this fiscal year, June 30th, whether they're patient-facing or non-patient facing, and also continuing to support the county administrator in doing the work that was laid out in the discussion last time.

And I know that she and her team has been very diligently moving forward on that work.

And so to summarize these deferments, we'll give our work group that we created the time to do our due diligence to come up with recommendations to raise revenue as well as fine savings and really minimize reductions in services and impacts on staff, and perhaps even more important to do that in collaboration so that we're all on the same page with a similar level of information, fact-finding, etc.

Um, and really able to move forward in an even more collaborative way.

Thank you.

Are there any questions from the board?

I do have a question, which is to say um, just to clarify, we um have a relationship with AHS such that uh it's you know the the ultimate need to provide medical care delegated to them, but ultimately we're kind of a backstop for this.

We don't have the authority to direct them to do this.

We're requesting that they do this.

Is that correct?

That's what I'm here seeing head nods.

That's correct.

Uh that's correct, and we're hoping that with our motion and the board letter it's in writing.

Our intent is clear.

We are, you know, we're not trying to throw the board of trustees or HS under the bus or anything like that, but we are hoping this sends an unequivocal clear message to the board of trustees that they can take such action in confidence or with confidence that we will um move forward and try to uh address the financial challenges uh that they see themselves facing.

As we do, then we're committing to um in all good faith to vote your time, Supervisor Miley, and your time, Supervisor Fortnana Bass to follow through on those ad hoc meetings to continue to come to a collaborative decision.

Yes.

That'd be right.

Yes, Supervisor Bass and I met right after the board meeting last Tuesday.

We uh came up with the dates in the times.

Uh and the uh I don't even know if we came with the location, but they'll be in person locations too, and we directed uh our staff to prepare and work with um the stakeholders, HS, County, as well as uh labor on the agenda, and we have the meetings set for the first Wednesday of each month, April, May, and June.

We are set to go.

Right in the middle of budget season.

Okay, with that said, the to clarify the ultimate decision is theirs, and that it will be as I understand it, we've discussed this collaborative.

Um, that is uh good.

Um, I'll ask because I see um the executive director or CEO or what are you, James?

CEO.

Uh I just would like to ask uh, I'm sure there's public comment to come on this, but um have there been discussions with the CEO and um this is amenable uh in some way or will be well received and participative in because if we make the request, it it was not gonna fall on deaf ears, right?

We all that would be our desire okay and our firm um okay uh wish uh and guidance, and I know both our offices have been in contact with all stakeholders, all stakeholders.

Okay, then I'm supportive.

Um we can just ask for public comment and then have this continue just continue to discuss if we need to, but we have a motion made and seconded.

We'll now go to public comment.

Do we have any in first the speakers?

I think six, right?

Any online currently currently not showing any hands.