Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide

New hospital: on the home stretch

The Forde Files No 114

The Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District board of directors is expected to approve the proposed affiliation with Adventist Health at its regular board meeting Feb. 16, 2016.

The proposal and ballot measure language were on the agenda for the Feb. 2 special meeting at the Tehachapi Area Association of Realtors meeting room, but following an hour-and-a-half closed meeting, the board tabled a vote and adjourned the public meeting in four minutes.

"The agreement (about 180 pages, not including attachments, exhibits or the appraisal) was not completed on Tuesday due to some fine tuning," district counsel Scott Nave told Forde Files. He expected final approval of the affiliation at the Feb. 16 district board meeting.

The agreements will be on the district's web site "by mid-week next week" so the public can review them prior to approval, Nave said.

The affiliation must be approved by a vote of the residents who live within the district. Under the agreement, Adventist will lease and operate the district's new hospital, the old hospital and the three clinics for a period of not more than 30 years.

The new hospital is in its finishing stages as workers close up the steel framing, pipes, cables and conduits with drywall. Several fountains will remain dry until donors step up to provide funding.