Board Puts Outpatient Surgery in New Hospital Tower

Tulare - Lost in the uproar over recent changes is news that expansion plans are finally moving ahead at Tulare District Hospital.

Trustees have unanimously decided to build a four-story tower that will incorporate outpatient surgeries rather than move them off-campus or remodel existing space.

The tower, which will sit on the southeast portion of the campus, also will include:  a new Emergency Department with more patient privacy and twice the number of beds—24—as the existing ER; a surgery suite with four operating rooms; a new obstetrics unit; and a new medical surgery floor.

The project—made possible by overwhelming voter approval of an $85 million bond measure in 2005-- has fallen roughly six months behind schedule as the Tulare Local HealthCare District board has reorganized, hired new legal counsel, and dealt with the loss of its chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

The good news is the project team believes it is still possible to open a new hospital in 2012.

“We think we can make up the delay in the design process and regulatory review process,” Pat Brietigam of Harris & Associates said during a study session that preceded the board’s May 23 vote.

The Office of Statewide Health and Planning Department [OSHPD)has streamlined its review practices, which could cut 6 to 12 months off what traditionally has been a two-year process, Brietigam said.

The board’s May 23 vote—which was unanimous—came 13 months after the hospital district began considering a proposal to joint venture with physicians, a private developer and others to build a medical complex that would include surgical and medical imaging centers, physician offices, outpatient laboratory and radiology offices and other ancillary services on four acres that the hospital owns next to Evolutions on East Prosperity Avenue.

The proposal emerged during a master planning process that began in November 2005, after more than 80 percent of the voters approved a bond measure to construct what essentially will be a new state-of-the art hospital that meets state seismic requirements.

Construction of an east campus would allow the district to construct new inpatient and emergency services and to remodel and expand without going over budget, then-Chief Executive Officer Bob Montion said.

The joint venture medical complex would also discourage private parties from coming in with similar projects and taking much-needed revenues away from the hospital, Montion added.

While the east campus plan did not propose to use bond money, many members of the public who had voted for improvements on the existing site, thought it did.

The matter then became a point of controversy during the contentious November 2006 election, which ultimately saw the ouster of two board incumbents and the election of Drs. Prem Kamboj and Lonnie Smith to the five-member board.

Just prior to the election—and over the objections of candidates and members of the public who wanted the matter decided after the election—the old board voted 4-1 to enter an agreement with a private developer who had worked on similar projects. His charge was to test the waters and let the board know if enough investor interest existed to do the project.

Dr. Parmod Kumar, now the board’s chairman, opposed the contract. The agreement was never signed and was not brought back to the new board for consideration.

Three Choices

The hospital board reviewed three options before selecting one and giving Harris & Associates, the Christiansen Group and the Hammes Company the green light to move forward into design development, which is the next phase of the project.

After that four-month phase is done, consultants will prepare contract documents, an estimated 91/2-month process. The project then will go to the state (OSHPD) for review.

The first option the project team presented to trustees was based on the assumption the board would move outpatient services to another site as discussed in 2006.

The plan carried an estimated $137.6 million price tag, which included $13.4 million to expand the kitchen, modernize the lobby and make $3 million worth of seismic changes.

Kumar said he did not want to move outpatient services off campus now and reminded fellow board members that voters had provided money for in-patient improvements only. He also said outpatient surgery centers have not done well financially.

The second option included no changes in the layout of the tower but would cost an estimated $145.7 million, including $25.7 million to remodel space for outpatient surgery and radiology services and make seismic and other changes.

“Most Efficient”

Option 2B—the one the board chose—puts outpatient procedures in the surgery suite and is expected to cost $141.1 million.

The amount includes $7.18 million to remodel the existing outpatient radiology department and to move inside the hospital sophisticated medical imaging equipment now housed in a trailer.

“The one [plan] that’s most efficient, the one that meets most of our needs…is 2B,” Dr. Lonnie Smith said prior to the vote.

Others agreed.

“I think that makes sense …with the money we have,” Kumar said.

Dr. Prem Kamboj said the only concern he had was the number of proposed beds for the obstetrics unit.

“Sixteen beds are not enough,” Kamboj said. He and other board members asked the architect to try to fit in more bed space.

The proposed layout of the tower is as follows:

· Pharmacy, laboratory, central sterile supply and mechanical/storage in the basement;

· Emergency Department and radiology on the first floor.

· Inpatient and outpatient surgery and recovery on the second floor.

· Obstetrics, including delivery rooms and a newborn nursery, on the third floor; and

· Medical surgical beds on the fourth floor.

The plan calls for a bridge to link the third floor obstetrics unit with the third floor of the existing tower, which does not have seismic issues and can be used for overflow obstetric patients.

400 Parking Spaces

When construction begins on the new tower in 2010 Tulare District will lose 150 of its 350 parking places.

In addition to replacing those 150 spaces, the hospital could need up to 250 more with the exact number depending on the formula the city will use to calculate parking requirements, consultants have said.

Finding the additional 400 spaces won’t be easy, but the district is exploring a number of options including demolishing the hospital-owned doctors’ offices on Gem Street. Along with the other Gem Street property the district owns, that could make way for 125 to 150 parking spaces.

“Before taking offices out, we need to have a discussion,” Kumar said, contending the offices bring revenue into the district and are necessary and convenient. Kamboj also indicated he would not support demolishing the Gem Street offices.

Another suggestion involved demolishing the cottage buildings on the Merritt side of the campus and building a parking structure, which members of the project team said could cost from $20,000 to $30,000 per space or a total of between $10 million to $15 million to build.

Interim Chief Executive Officer Bob Kelley said on Friday the hospital had already begun talks with the city to get a better handle on what parking requirements might be.

Other Issues

Besides deciding what to do about parking, existing medial offices and traffic flow—there is talk of making Gem Street one way—the board must also decide whether to build a helipad so helicopters can land on the hospital’s roof when critically ill or injured patients must be transferred to other hospitals.

The existing plan includes the estimated $1 million to $1.5 million pad and board members seem to favor the idea.

If the hospital is going to build a hospital for the 21^st century, then the board will have to consider it, Kumar said.

“It would be the only Helipad in Tulare County,” Chief Operating Officer Denise Perry, who has since resigned, told the board. It would also be the only one outside of Fresno County “that’s anywhere near Highway 99,” she added.

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Redevelopment Considers Land Sale For Clinic;
Hospital Interested Too?

Tulare - During a joint meeting with the City Council that also attracted two members of the Tulare hospital board, Redevelopment Agency directors decided to negotiate with the Great Valley Land Company, which wants to bring the Tulare Community Health Clinic downtown.

“Their numbers are phenomenal,” Great Valley’s Greg Nunley of Tulare told the redevelopment board at a meeting a week prior to its May 29 decision. “And wherever they go, it’s going to create a lot of business and a lot of need for retail and offices.” He also said he was talking with someone interested in building a surgery center downtown.

He is interested in acquiring from the Redevelopment Agency four acres along the Pine Avenue corridor and is negotiating with other landowners to expand the site.

The redevelopment board’s decision came despite Mayor Craig Vejvoda’s opinion the clinic would be a poor fit downtown and Councilman Richard Ortega’s desire to wait until a consultant could evaluate market trends and make recommendations to amend the existing Pine Avenue master plan.

(Only four members of the council participated in the joint meeting, as Vice Mayor Phil Vandegrift recused himself because he has had business dealings with Great Valley and with Tulare developers Skip Barwick, Paul Daley and Dan Pickett, who also presented a proposal.)

Neither proposal conforms to the existing master plan, but the Redevelopment Board decided to move ahead since the plan outlined by Nunley includes only a handful of the more than 30-acres in the downtown corridor and he has an interested client.

The joint meeting May 29 began with citizen comments from Dr. Prem Kamboj and Deanne Martin-Soares, both members of the Tulare Local HealthCare District board who apparently were unaware each other was going to attend.

Kamboj said Vejvoda, his campaign manager in last November’s election, told him three months ago the hospital should have a presence downtown, but he was focused on the main campus.

“I’ve had over three months time to think over that issue and it makes more sense for the hospital to have a presence downtown,” he said, going on to suggest the hospital could possibly develop a cancer center downtown in a cooperative effort with Kaweah Delta District Hospital. The center could have adjoining physician offices, as well as radiology and laboratory services, he added.

“I’m speaking as an individual member of the board,” Kamboj said. “We have not discussed it as a board.”

He said he planned to present the idea at the board’s June 27 meeting.

“I can’t see any member of the board opposing it,” he said.

Martin-Soares, who said later that was the first she had heard of a cancer center, talked about her concerns that if a developer brought in outside laboratory, medical imaging, pharmacy and other services to serve the clinic, the hospital would suffer financially because the clinic is a major user of services now.

“Do you see Tulare District having a presence downtown?” Vejvoda asked her.

She said yes.

Redevelopment Director Bob Nance said later that hammering out an exclusive-right-to-negotiate agreement with Nunley and his group could include a requirement to met and confer with the hospital about its downtown needs.

“I want a vibrant downtown Tulare, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to marry the first girl that smiles at me,” Vejvoda said. “I have a real concern with developing the clinic downtown.”

Funding for the clinic could change and he doesn’t want empty buildings downtown, he said. “I think the hospital would be a great fit downtown and I think the clinic would be a poor fit downtown.”

Councilman Carlton Jones disagreed.

“I don’t feel that way,” he said. “I think the clinic will bring a nice, fresh competition to the hospital.”

The comment puzzled redevelopment board member Mark Richmond.

“How did we get to the point the hospital and clinics are mutually exclusive,” he said. “They’re a half-ablock apart now.”

Graciela Soto-Perez, chief executive officer for the clinic, said later during the meeting the clinic wants to continue its relationship with the hospital.

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Are Kumar, Kamboj Calling the Shots at
Tulare District Hospital?

Tulare - Two key administrators who have left Tulare District Hospital—one of her own volition and the other fired—say they were isolated and kept out of the loop during the two months Interim Chief Executive Officer Bob Kelley has run the hospital.

The administrators said they don’t know why that happened, but strongly suspect hospital board President Dr. Parmod Kumar and board member Dr. Prem Kamboj ordered it. Two other board members share their suspicions, while Kumar and Kamboj insist they have not acted independently of the rest of the board.

Former Chief Operations Officer Denise Perry, who had served as interim-CEO before Kelley, has left to become director of business planning for Clovis Community Medical Center. Kelley fired Chief Nursing Officer Paula Richards.

“Bob Kelley has made no effort to get to know either me or Paula,” Perry said. “He has not once been in Paula’s office.”

Richards said Kelley never responded to her e-mails and the first one she ever received from him was on May 30, telling her to be in his office by 1 p.m. When she arrived, hospital attorney Chris Peterson was present  and Kelley then told her he was giving her two weeks notice, after which she would be terminated, Richard said. “Then he had the lawyer escort me to my car.”

During the conversation, Richards said Kelley cited what he said was “my inability to handle a budget and inattention to nursing productivity.”

She said the allegations were perplexing and untrue.

Even before financial consultant Mike McGinnis gave his recent report underscoring the hospital’s need to reduce costs, Richards said she had come up with a plan to better cope with the fluctuating patient census.

That plan, which would make it unnecessary to fill 15 vacant positions, and other changes she proposed would save approximately $2 million, she said.

Hospital board member Deanne Martin-Soares said she had been told within the previous two weeks how good Richards was “in teaching her staff financials.”

As for nursing productivity, Richards said Tulare District was the first hospital in the South Valley to have a Rapid Response Team to improve patient care.

“We found a way to do it with no additional cost, by using our own resources,” she said.

Bob Montion, the hospital’s chief executive officer before he resigned earlier this year because of health problems, said Richards made a real difference in the quality of care inside the hospital.

“She elevated patient care through her leadership,” Montion said. “Our patient satisfaction score went up during her tenure. She taught the nursing managers how to assure good nursing care was being delivered and she assured it was high level.”

He and others said she sometimes “ruffled the feathers” of physicians, including Kumar and Kamboj.

Caught by Surprise

Community leaders, who had hoped Kelley’s interim appointment would bring peace to the hospital, were surprised by Perry’s departure and Richards’ dismissal.

“Personally, it concerns me because of the loss of stability and continuity when you have too many people turnover,” said Lynn Dredge, a former Tulare City Manager who was co-chairman of the campaign to pass a bond measure two years ago. “There’s been a good stable picture there for a long time.”

He said he hopes the turmoil that has wracked the hospital since last fall’s election campaign will subside soon.

“If we tried to float a bond right now, I doubt if we could get 50 percent of the community supporting it,” said Bill Postlewaite, who co-chaired the bond campaign with Dredge.

“These [the people who have left] are the same people who were on the staff when 83 percent of the people expressed confidence in the hospital and voted for an $85 million bond,” Postlewaite said. “Now, all of a sudden, they are leaving or are being fired. It just seems to me something is awfully wrong.”

Postlewaite, who headed up the Tulare City School District for many years, said he was concerned Kelley had not been at the hospital long enough to make “any particular judgments about Richards ability.”

“It seems as if someone directed Kelley to fire her,” he said.

Concurring Suspicions

Both Perry and Richards believe Kelley was acting at the direction Kumar and Kamboj.

“I know Dr. Kumar has been very unhappy with Paula in the nurse executive role for several years,” Perry said. “Paula is one of those people who makes decisions well and when she has to draw a line in the sand she will and won’t accept certain behavior.”

In a memo to fellow employees before she left, Perry said “rumors of a plan to ‘clean house’ were true after all and I can only surmise that had I not resigned there would have been some superficial reason for terminating me also.”

Her reference was to rumors during the election campaign that Kamboj and Dr. Lonnie Smith, who also was elected, were seeking office because they wanted to fire then-CEO Bob Montion and others. The doctors denied the allegation.

Richards said she was told Kamboj and Kumar had told Kelley not to include her or Perry in anything and, if he had questions, go to them.

The news prompted her to seek out Kumar to assure him of her loyalty to the organization.

“It’s not to Mr. Montion; it’s to the organization,” she said she told him. “I get my marching orders from you. I just want to be included.”

Martin-Soares and Roger McPhetridge, nurses who are supportive of Richards and irate they were not informed of her pending dismissal before it occurred, said they also believe Kumar and Kamboj are directing Kelley and they have called for the interim’s resignation. “Bob Kelley takes his orders from two people,” McPhetridge said. “They [Kumar and Kamboj]  orchestrated it. Bob Kelley is their puppet.”

At press time, Martin-Soares and McPhetridge were trying to arrange a special board meeting to discuss the matter.

Doctors Respond

Kelley refuses to discuss the Richards matter, saying it is a personnel matter.

Asked if he feared an exodus of nurses as a result, Kelly said he is doing is best to prevent one.

“I’ve talked to the directors,” he said. While nurses reportedly were very upset about Richard’s firing, there were no confirmed reports of any resignations.

Kumar and Kamboj said they did not direct Richards’ dismissal.

“I can only speak for myself,” Kumar said. “I can say I did not direct anybody. It’s a personnel matter. I cannot comment on it. You will have to speak to the CEO and the hospital attorney. I don’t want to say anything because I don’t want to get involved.”

Contacted the day of the firing, Kamboj said he had just found out about it.

“It’s the CEO’s decision,” he said. “We’ll find out more what’s actually happened. I’m not the one who wants to be involved in day-to-day stuff.”

Perry said when she was acting CEO and wanted to hire a permanent chief financial officer, the board would not allow it, saying that they wanted a permanent CEO to make those types of decisions.

Neither Kumar nor Kamboj said they were not concerned about the impact of the action on staff morale.

“I think we have an excellent chief financial officer, John Church; we have Bob Kelley, we have Meade Hallock,” Kumar said.

Kamboj said the staff does not seem dissatisfied.

“I deal with OB nurses and pediatric nurses,” he said. “They seem happy. They’re doing an excellent job.”

Kelley must have had a good reason for the move, he said. “So far I have full confidence in the team.”

Dr. Lonnie Smith said he found out about Richards’ dismissal like everyone elsethrough an e-mail Kelley sent.

“Technically the CEO has the ability to hire and fire; it would have been nice, of course, to know ahead of time,” Smith said.

“I’m so tired of everything’s that’s been going on—as far as we’ve been the biggest news in town the last six months. I’m tired of the media circus. I’m tired of the circus total.”

Smith reportedly was meeting with nursing managers at the hospital Monday to get a handle on what happened.

Recall Election?

Perry report employees angered over the Richards’ incident have discussed the possibility of a recall campaign. Montion said petitions already were circulating.

Tulare County Election officials report a man interested in starting a recall within the hospital district  visited the office Friday and requested information on how the process worked.

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Chamber Exec Bob Reynolds to Retire in July
Hailed as Visionary He Promotes Economic Development for Tulare 24/7

Tulare - Bob Reynolds, economic development director for the Tulare Chamber of Commerce for 10 years, will retire next month after working closely with the city, which contracts with the chamber for his services. Bob started out in the private sector managing various businesses. He moved to Tulare in 1952 and later founded the local engineering firm TAE that his son Keith now runs.

As he retires, Bob is being hailed as a visionary by Tulare leaders who have seen the community grow its economic base first in the industrial sector and now in the retail arena. “I’ve been doing economic development for the past 35 years,” says Bob “and I hope it makes a difference in the quality of life for Tulare residents.”

To listen to his colleagues, it definitely has.

“I credit him with the close relationship between the private sector and local government in getting things done in Tulare,” says former mayor Richard Ortega, also a city council member. Ortega cites the decision in the 1970s to form the privately funded Tulare Industrial Site Development Foundation that worked with then city manager Lynn Dredge to bring in new industries to the community to produce jobs.

“He did his job too well,” says retired Tulare banker Bob Bates saying Reynolds helped bring so many firms to the area that the city now faces a shortage of industrial land here.

“I think the thing people will remember him for is that he helped form an ad hoc committee,” says Bates “that preached that we are running out of industrial land.” The proof that the efforts of the committee were successful is that in the general plan update about to be adopted, Tulare will earmark some 2,700 more acres of industrially zoned land to help keep the jobs coming.

“I know it’s important that we grow our retail base,” says Reynolds, “but that growth depended on the job base we enjoy now.”

Companies like Haagen Dasz, the return of the Ruiz Food plant to town, JIT and the coming of the new Galaxy Theater are all companies Reynolds helped bring to town.

“It was largely through Bob’s effort that we have the Galaxy Theater here today,” says former mayor Diane Mathis who served on the council from 1990 to 1998. “I’ve always admired his dedication to making Tulare a better place to live.”

Reynolds understood well that for a community to be well rounded it needs to have all kinds of entertainment and dining venues that larger cities have. Bob and the chamber are still working on bringing in other restaurants.

“I like to say we work on the idea of a perceived community need and then go out to fill it,” says Reynolds. In this case there was no movie theater in town for years and Reynolds helped set up a limited partnership that worked with Galaxy company to build a new 10 screen multiplex in town. “People are proud the theater is community owned,” says Reynolds. “We raised $2.8 million from local investors in 60 days.”

Not all of the companies Bob helped bring in like Instrument Enclosures and Psi-Tronix are here anymore but the buildings they left behind still have business in them and some of the executives have stayed on like Mel Heier to be active in the community.

One company Bob and Lynn Dredge helped bring to Tulare was Psi-Tronix owned by Mel Heier. “I was looking for a new plant site up and down the west coast and I stopped in Tulare and went to the chamber of commerce where I met Bob,” says Heier. The rest is history as Heier relocated his business to Tulare only to sell it after some years. “The building is still there and I am still here,” says Heier who has settled into the community becoming active in the United Way and on the Galaxy Theater board. Regarding his friend Bob, Heier says “there will be a big loss when he’s gone. In fact, I don’t know anyone who will be able to fill his shoes.”

Bob’s had a hand in establishing the Welcome Center at the outlet mall years ago that gets some 800 visitors a month. He’s been active in promoting Tulare in the media as well helping to establish the paper you are reading now—the Tulare Voice.

But now Reynolds says it’s time to step back a little. Part of the reason comes because of family sickness and he needs to help more at home. Secondly, the new city manager is taking a more active hand in economic development efforts and is expected now to establish a permanent position for an economic development staffer at city hall.

Lastly, at 75 Bob is ready not to work quite so hard, he admits. He plans to hold forth at the TAE office and continue to work on some projects. “He will still be active,” say friends.

“Bob is Mr. Economic Development,” says builder Paul Daley.  “He always has promoted service above self.”

Bob is active in the Tulare Industrial Site Development Foundation that has recently taken a lead role in the assembling of land for new proposed NASCAR race track that continues the public private partnership idea that he and former city manager Lynn Dredge established 30 years ago.

That model still has plenty of merit says Bill Howard, professor of Regional Planning at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “I’ve held up your position with the city and the chamber as a structural arrangement that other municipalities and counties should adopt. The arrangement that the city of Tulare has is unique,” he says.

Reynolds hopes the partnership will continue with the chamber working with industrial and commercial prospects to bring them to the community, while the city continues to work on retail sales. That final plan has yet to be worked out for now.

Probably because of Bob, Tulare continues to focus on jobs as the basis of their economic future with companies like Love’s, Western Meat Packing, Knight Trucking and NASCAR (an anticipated $100 million a year impact if it happens) just the latest in line adding to a base of some 2000 jobs the city has seen come to town in the past few decades.

“He was the right guy for the job just when we needed it,” says Bob Bates, calling Reynolds “doggedly determined to pull it off.” And he did.

Reynolds currently serves on several boards, including the International Agri-Center (12 years), Valley Voice and Tulare Industrial Center. He is a member of and secretary of the Tulare Industrial Site Development Foundation committee (20 years) and Tulare Rotary Club since 1974. Formerly, (1962-1990), he served as a member of the Chamber Board of Directors. For six years he served as Chairman of the Chamber Economic Development Committee. He was a member of the Building Industry Association Board, a member of Certified Development Corporation and the Tulare County Economic Development Corporation Board. While serving as President of the Tulare Association for Retarded Children, Bob was a founding board member of Able Industries and served for 28 years, retiring in 1990.

Reynolds has received personal recognition and several awards for his numerous achievements including Tulare City Teachers Association “Man of the Year” (1962); Tulare “Business Person of the Year” (1990); Tulare Chamber of Commerce “Man of the Year: (1993) and was nominated for the “Lifetime Achievement for 1999 Publishers Community Awards”.

On a personal note, Reynolds married Leota in 1952 in Long Beach, California. They have three children—Cheryl, Stephen and Keith—and four grandchildren.

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Racetrack Foes Charge City Bias;
Express Concern about Bud Long

Tulare - Opponents of the proposed 751-acre Tulare Motor Sports Complex allege city officials are biased in favor of the plan and are not considering impacts on the community or the background of  developer Bud Long, who pled guilty to federal tax fraud in 2001.

The foes are particularly critical of two city actions they contend show favoritism on the part of the city. One involves a memorandum of understanding signed by the city, the developers and the Tulare Industrial Site Foundation.

The other is related to the City Council’s 4-1 decision to pay for the project’s Environment Impact Report with only a written agreement that the developer would reimburse the city for the estimated $800,000 cost.

“It looks like a lot of really good people—really thoughtful people—have managed to take common sense and put it to the side,” said Visalia attorney Mike Lampe, who is representing Mitch Choboian, a realtor, and Bud and Lance Mouw, Tony Nunes III and Manuel Faria, who all have land near the Agri-Center.

City officials deny they are biased in favor of the project and say they remain in a fact-finding mode.

“It’s our job to facilitate the project and there’s no positive or negative about that,” City Manager Darrel Pyle said. “I would hope that when anybody came up to the counter [with project plans], they would get the same reception.”

No one has guaranteed the City Council will approve the racetrack project, Pyle said. “We don’t have the foggiest idea what that EIR [environmental impact report] is going to say.” A consultant hired by the city is doing the EIR, which will assess the racetrack project’s impact on noise, traffic, air quality, water use and other factors. It will also include an economic assessment.

Bud Long

Long’s felony conviction—he pled guilty in 2001 to signing a false tax return for 1991—has not been a secret in Tulare.

Asked about the matter in late 2006, then-Mayor Richard Ortega told Tulare Voice some land owners were concerned initially about becoming involved with Long, but those concerns were outweighed by the fact Long’s group—Tulare Motor Sports Complex Limited Partnership—was going to pay for the land up front.

The International Agri-Center board, which has agreed to sell more than 300 acres to the developer, also saw the opportunity to pay of the Agri-Center’s debt and add infrastructure to the property, Ortega said.

While Long is a “convicted felon,” a fact Lampe repeatedly emphasized in a meeting May 31 with reporters, Pyle said that does not mean the city can refuse to consider his project.

“As far as we know, he’s licensed by the state of California to do everything he proposes to do,” Pyle said. “On what basis do we have to say, ‘Sorry, you’re not allowed to conduct business in Tulare?  On what basis would we discriminate against him?’”

Tulare Motor Sports Complex LP also includes James A. Bratton, owner of Bratton Investments who is experienced in putting together shopping centers, and others.

“Mr. Long is not the only person in this project,” Pyle said. “He’s not the sole investor.”

Lampe said the city has not been careful to protect itself against financial lost in its dealings with Long, which he said is indicative of the bias city officials have shown toward the project.

Unusual Decision?

He characterized the City Council’s April 17 decision (4-1 with Councilman David Macedo opposing) to pay the estimated $800,000-plus cost and seek reimbursement as risky and unusual.

“It certainly wasn’t done for Fred Ruiz in the past,” Lampe said, referring to the city’s refusal in the 1980s to give Ruiz Foods the incentives it wanted to stay in Tulare.  “Why is this being done for someone not connected with the town?”

A clarification to the city’s memorandum of understanding with Long, dated April 16, made it clear the developer is to reimburse the city for any fees and costs incurred, but Lampe said that was not enough protection.

“They have a clarification with a convicted felon to pay them back after they’ve spent all these funds,” he said.

He showed reporters an e-mail from Redevelopment Director Bob Nance to Long’s attorney Myron Smith of Fresno suggesting an escrow account be open to hold fund for the city to draw upon to pay the EIR consultant.

That was a good idea, but for some reason it was not done, Lampe said.

Instead, the council was told April 17 that the city would pay invoices as they came in and then bill Long. If reimbursement was not received in a timely manner, the EIR process would stop, they said.

When concerns from Lampe and others about the lack of an escrow reached City Hall, officials called Long about the matter. His development team is in the process of opening and funding an account with a local bank for the city to draw upon, Pyle said Friday.

The city decided to hire the EIR consultants and pay the bills because it wanted them to be accountable directly to the City Council, Pyle said.

Long said there was not much he could say about the emphasis opponents are placing on his tax fraud conviction.

“Like all people, I have some things in my past I’m not particularly proud of,” he said. “And I have things in my past I’m proud of and I’ll let people judge me and the project on the merits of the project.”

“And I have things in my past I am proud of and I’ll let people judge me and the project on the merits of the project,” he said.

Agreement Attacked

Lampe called the memorandum of understanding that the city, developers and the Tulare Industrial Site Foundation signed last November “remarkable.” The agreement, which obligates the city to waive development impact fees, is predicated upon documents—a time line and financial analysis—that do not exist, he said.

While two exhibits in the document—one labeled “Development Time Line” and the other “Financial Analysis”—are blank, Pyle said all three parties to the agreement realized that the two pieces were “under construction” and the city did have in hand a cursory financial analysis that Southern California Edison had done for the Tulare County Economic Development corporation regarding the project.

Lampe questioned Edison’s expertise in doing such an analysis, but Pyle said the utility company has a division that does these types of analysis and he has been assured the division is using one of the two generally accepted software programs for such tasks to prepare a more detailed analysis.

Pyle said the memorandum of understanding the city has with the developer is not unusual when viewed in context of the scope of the project and its potential impacts on the community.

(The Edison analysis prepared in 2006 indicated the total annual impact included 881 new jobs producing a payroll of $24 million and a total output—which included 2,073 spin-off jobs—of $67 million.)

The agreement is similar to that which the city had with the developers of what is now Preferred Outlets at Tulare, he said. It calls for the city waive impact fees as long as it collects an equivalent amount in increased property, sales and occupancy taxes and other revenues generated by the project. If the project fails to generate the revenues, the developer would have to pay the city the portion of the fees not covered by new revenues.

The agreement also holds the developer to a development time line that is yet-to-be established.

Lampe was also critical of the conditional use permit application filed with the city, saying Long failed to provide an answer to a question about impacts the project will have.

Planning Director Mark Kielty said no answer was needed because the EIR will provide information.

“This won’t go to the Planning Commission until the EIR is done,” Kielty said. “if we weren’t doing an EIR, the developer would have had to answer the question. This is clearly is an EIR project.”

The best part about an EIR, Pyle said, is “it’s all the pros and cons right there in one scary book.”

Lampe, who no doubt will be taking a close look at that book, has said he is willing to discuss his clients’ concerns about the project with service groups and other organizations.

In addition to process issues regarding how the city is handling the project, he said those concerns also include policy issues such as the loss of 700 agricultural acres, air quality and noise.

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Tulare Woman's Survivor Story Inspires Relay Volunteers

Tulare - When about 40 people gathered in Zumwalt Park to begin preparing for Tulare’s 2007 Relay for Life, cancer survivor Samantha Cushing was there to share her story and let volunteers know their efforts make a difference.

Samantha Cushing was only 11 years old when her mother, Judy Stevens, died from a malignant brain tumor.

“Is that going to happen to me?” Cushing, now 36, recalled thinking.

But life continued and she forgot the question.

She married Wil Cushing in 1995 and when they started their family, the question surfaced again, she said.

“Is this going to happen to me? Am I going to have children and not see them grow?”

But life continued and she again forgot the question as her family grew to include Chloe, now 8, and Wyatt, 4.

When a friend at work was diagnosed with breast cancer, Cushing covered for her at J.D. Heiskell, where they both worked. And when another employee organized a Relay for Life team, she eagerly participated.

Then in January 2006, when she was seven-month pregnant with her third child, she started having difficulties breathing. A chest x-ray identified a large mass in the middle of her chest.

“So we went up to Stanford and met with a couple of doctors and it was kind of cut and dry,” Cushing said.

Initial tests determined she had lymphoma but not what kind.

“Wil and I immediately ran into Border’s,” she said. “There’re millions of books. It was overwhelming.”

Rather than spend her limited energy—she had only 10 percent of her lung capacity and 15 percent of her heart capacity left—researching, she said she decided to focus on the baby and make sure he was OK.

She returned to Stanford a week later on Jan. 31 for a surgical biopsy, which gave her a specific diagnosis: Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

She spent the next day in intensive care and on Feb. 2 doctors induced labor and she delivered a healthy 7-pound baby boy, Liam.

“I got to breast feed him for a day,” she said.

Unsure how extensive the mass was, doctors then performed a bone marrow biopsy and a PET scan, which determined the tumor was confined to her chest.

“One of the first places we stopped was the American Cancer Society,” Cushing said.

There she and her husband found information on the type of cancer she had and tips on how to look and feel better during the treatment that was to follow, she said. They also learned that if they had needed help, the Cancer Society would have reimbursement them for travel and hotel rooms.

Her treatment involved 12 weeks of weekly chemotherapy at Stanford, followed by five weeks of daily radiation.

When she lost her hair, Wil shaved his head too and son Wyatt also sported a shorter cut to encourage and support her.

“Most people thought I was such a freak, they never paid attention to her,” Wil Cushing joked.

Determined to complete her studies at Fresno Pacific University, where she was working on a degree in organizational leadership, Samantha Cushing returned to the Valley every Wednesday for classes.

In October 2006, she was about one month into remission when she and daughter Chloe spent the night at the 2006 Relay for Life.

“The luminaria experience had a new meaning for me,” she said, referring to the lighting of luminaries that takes place the night of the relay to remember those lost to cancer, to support those fighting the disease and to celebrate those who fought the disease and won.

Cancer today does not have to be a death sentence as it was for her mother, Cushing said.

“There is so much more we’re able to accomplish because of the fundraising,” she said.

“I had a lot of firsts this year,” she said. “I got to see my son take his first steps, our daughter just received her first Holy Communion and I had my first Mother’s Day cancer free.”

She also graduated from Fresno Pacific and ran her first half-marathon to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.”

She will walk in the Tulare relay on Oct. 13-14 with the J.D. Heiskell team. She is a training and project facilitator for the company.

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