The volunteer citizens group overseeing the spending of millions of dollars in taxpayer-approved bonds for new and improved patient care facilities at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa has reelected its chairman and vice chairman for 2015-2016.
Kathleen Bute of El Cajon, a financial policy and planning officer with the County of San Diego, and La Mesa resident Glen Sparrow, a retired San Diego State University professor, will serve as chair and vice chair, respectively, for a one-year term ending June 30, 2016.
The 11-member citizens group, called the Independent Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (ICBOC), has been meeting following the June 2006 election when East County voters approved Prop. G, a $247 million bond measure for financing improvement projects at the hospital. The Prop. G ballot measure passed by more than 77 percent, well over the two-thirds required.
ICBOC members are uncompensated East County residents who are charged with monitoring bond proceeds spent by the Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD), the public agency managing the bond-financed construction at the hospital. GHD serves as landlord of the hospital, including ownership of the property and buildings on behalf of local taxpayers.
Specific seats on the ICBOC are filled by individuals representing various constituency groups, according to ICBOC by-laws. Sparrow is serving as a representative of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association (SDCTA), while Bute is serving in the seat for a committee member with finance experience. Both Bute and Sparrow joined the ICBOC in 2011.
Bute has more than 28 years of financial service experience with government agencies. She joined the County of San Diego in 1987, and has served with several County departments, including Agriculture, Weights and Measures, Purchasing and Contracting, and Public Works prior to joining the Finance and General Government Group.
Sparrow, professor emeritus of SDSU’s School of Public Affairs with more than 25 years of experience in regional and municipal administration, has served on two oversight committees for the City of La Mesa from 2008 to 2010, and the La Mesa Spring Valley School District since 2009 to the present. He is currently chair of the SDCTA’s Healthcare Committee.
Meanwhile, the ICBOC group is accepting applications for future openings. According to ICBOC bylaws, committee members must reside within the District’s 750 square miles in San Diego’s East County and have professional experience in project management, large-scale construction operations, finance, labor and healthcare industries. The ICBOC meets quarterly and sub-committees meet at various times as needed, some monthly. Committee members serve for no more than three consecutive two-year terms. Interested volunteers can obtain an application by contacting GHD at (619) 825-5050, or via e-mail, info@grossmonthealthcare.org.
The bond-financed construction at the hospital began in 2007 and is scheduled to continue over the next few years. Recent projects financed with bond dollars have included completion of the top three floors of the Emergency and Critical Care Center in 2009 and relocation of underground utilities. Current projects include remodeling the East Tower’s floors 2 through 5 (a building originally constructed in 1974), construction of the new 71,000-square-foot, three-story Heart and Vascular Center and an 18,000-square-foot Central Energy Plant with generators, boilers and auxiliary systems that will help meet future utility needs of the hospital.
The Grossmont Healthcare District, formed in 1952 to build and operate Grossmont Hospital, supports various health-related community programs and services in San Diego’s East County Region. The District is governed by a five-member board of directors, each representing more than 500,000 people residing within San Diego East County’s 750 square miles. For more information about GHD, visit www.grossmonthealthcare.org.