Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary for an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with Molina, Wu, Network, LLC (MWN), a California limited liability company, for the lease and potential development of property owned by the City of Long Beach, located at 1720 Termino Avenue, 1760 Termino Avenue, and 4111 East Wilton Street; Authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents necessary to accept the assignment, management, and revenue collection for existing leases between Long Beach Memorial Medical Center (MemoriaICare), and tenants located at City-owned property at 1720 Termino Avenue, 1760 Termino Avenue, and 4111 East Wilton Street; and Authorize City Manager, or designee, to express the position of the City Council that maintenance of uninterrupted emergency services is critical and urging MemorialCare to take steps necessary to ensure a smooth transition to a new operator. (District 4)
And so item 27 and 28 are going to be moved to future meetings. And with that, if we can have the clerk, please read item 45. Report from Economic Development Recommendation to execute an exclusive negotiating agreement with Molina Woo Network for the lease and potential development of property owned by the city located at 1720 Termino Avenue 1760 Termino Avenue and 4111 East Welton Street District for. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and have a pretty extensive presentation by our staff who are going to go through all of the information on community hospital. And then from there, we will go to the city council for any questions and comments. And then, of course, we will open it up to the public for any questions on the on the community hospital issue. Mr. WEST. Mr. Mayor, council members, we've been working on this for quite some time now, working very, very closely with memorial care, as they have chosen to close the hospital and working with them to try to find a new operator. We found a new operator. We're very excited about that. And we're looking for. An exclusive. Right to negotiate with this new operator. And with that, I'm going to turn over this presentation to John Keisler, our director of economic development, who has been leading the charge on this. Effort as the hospital does belong to the city of Long Beach with a team of other folks from Long Beach. So go ahead, John. Thank you, honorable mayor and members of the city council. I'm going to give you a quick overview of the progress since our last open study session on April 23rd. Give you an update on the seismic and PED state requirements. Talk a little bit about our due diligence process to identify a new operator and recommend some actions from the city council tonight. So in terms of our progress since the last study session, there's been a number of of important steps taken by memorial care, as well as the city, in partnership with our regulatory agencies, including the County Emergency Medical Services Agency Public Hearing. We testified to the State Health Committee to support Assembly Bill 2591, sponsored by Patrick O'Donnell on Arnold to delay state seismic compliance at the facility. We've conducted weekly tours of community hospital with potential operators conducted. We contracted with our architects Perkins and Will, and meet with our state regulatory agency to prepare the seismic compliance plans. We've worked with Memorial Care to renew state hospital licenses through this year through April 28th of 2019. Memorial care issued a workforce adjustment and retraining notice or a warn notice for 363 employees at community hospital, indicating the employment that will terminate July 3rd. And the County Board of Supervisors adopted an impact evaluation report from County Emergency Medical Services Agency for the Closure of Community Hospital. And additionally, we've completed extensive engineering, financial and operational due diligence associated with potential new operators. A quick overview of the seismic compliance issues at Community Hospital, Long Beach Senate Bill 1953 and subsequently Senate Bill 90 require that all acute care hospitals must meet seismic regulations by June 30th of 2019, or they will be shut down. Non-Acute care facilities are exempt from this requirement. And Memorial Care conducted a peer review that confirmed that there was an active fault at the line in the city, subsequently conducted its own third party review, which we contracted for to confirm that the fault did exist and that there was an active fault line on a portion of the site. The city confirmed with a state agency, the Office of Hospital Safety, on Monday, June 18th. That Memorial Care never actually submitted a plan to retrofit the facility, and that the statements regarding the feasibility of an acute care facility on the site were not attributed or attributable to our spend. Over the past six months, city staff has worked closely with Ashford, architect Perkins in Will and the State Geological Survey to establish plans for providing acute care services in seismically safe buildings on the site. So just to review what's actually we established going on on the site. So this conditions report has actually been completed but that it establishes that the Alquist pre all of fault line is established there is an active fault zone identified within the AP zone, which is the red zone that you can see on the image in front of you. We've also confirmed that new development has to set back at least 50 feet away from any active fault line for hospitals in the state of California. But we've also confirmed that up to 50% of construction on safe buildings is allowed on these sites. And so in meeting with the state officials on hospital safety, the proposed solution from occupied indicates that the city or the new operator could consolidate all the acute care services that are associated with operating an emergency department in a licensed hospital in the heritage building, which is considered seismically safe. You'll see that it actually the the SPC rating, the seismic ratings that the state attributes to these buildings allows for acute care services to work in the heritage building. But we would have to move the central plant or the utilities to a seismically safe area on the site. So in working with our architect over the past few months, we've established a conceptual schedule for how we would go about designing and ultimately achieving approval and permitting or entitlements from the state agency. We would also need to complete a process whereby we establish the construction costs and ultimately come up with a financing plan for construction. But we believe that construction, based on the design elements which we reviewed on the previous slide, could be completed sometime in near 2022 at the end of 2021. So what this means is that we still would require to complete this construction plan and achieve compliance and extension from the state of California for an extension of our deadline for seismic compliance. So in terms of our size, seismic situation and next steps, we would need to complete a feasibility study that demonstrates the ability to maintain an acute care facility with the essential services on the campus. We also still need to complete a cost estimate and then schematic drawings, basic drawings for the construction at the site , and we would need to develop construction plans. It's important to note that construction level drawings cost approximately $1 million to prepare. So this is not a small endeavor. It's actually a complicated one, and we need to identify the funding sources ultimately for the construction when this is completed, when we have achieved the the objectives of the construction plans and have negotiated a transition plan for operations of the site, we would have to reconnect with the State Assembly Assembly Health Committee to present the new operator and the operating plan, as well as a viable seismic compliance plan prepared by our architect and. Approved by. Occupied. And we're working on advancing the slide here. So next slide. All right, one more. All right. Very good. So I'm happy that tonight we get to present to the city council and to the public a potential operator for the community future of community hospital. In their conceptual proposal, the group Melina Wu and Network Medical Management LLC, or M.W., and proposed to operate a smaller, fully licensed hospital of approximately four beds located on the 2840. Beds used for 40. To 40 hospital beds. My apologies. All right, we get that. All right. Great. To do this and to warrant the type of investment that's needed for this type of project, they would need a minimum of a 40 year lease at the same term that was provided previous operators at $1 a year. The hospital operator agency would operate the hospital. They currently operate seven other hospitals in the region and network medical management would manage the care contracts. They operate a very extensive independent physicians association network as well as many other administrative services that help move a hospital there. Also, the partnership is exploring a potential joint venture with Cal State, Long Beach School of Gerontology and the School of Nursing. And they proposed to reconfigure portions of the hospital which actually meet the seismic standards to maintain an acute care hospital with an emergency department, 30 to 40 inpatient beds, as I mentioned, as well as the capability to receive advanced life support and paramedic ambulances, which is important, of course, to our police and fire departments. They would add complementary components such as independent and assisted living services, inpatient, outpatient, behavioral health services programs for potentially all inclusive care for the elderly, or space programs and medical education in conjunction with CSU, L.B., Outpatient, Medical and Surgical Services and a possible additional non-medical residential. They proposed a substantially higher community hospital employees. In fact, they would do that immediately to continue the expertize and training that already exists at the site. And they're requesting the city to explore financial participation in the immediate transition and then ultimately the seismic retrofit of the facility to be determined and to be negotiated for bringing back to the council in a public meeting. So to introduce you to the members of this partnership, Molina is represented by Pacific Six and Golden Shore Clinics, which include Dr. Mario Molina, founder of Golden Shore Medical Group, and John Molina, a partner and principal of Pacific Six. These fine gentlemen have over 30 years of experience in working in Long Beach health care, and they're the former executives of Molina health care who serve over 5 million clients and employ over 25,000 employees nationwide. Dr. Mario Molina, also as the founder of Golden Shore Medical Group, operates 17 clinics located in California across multiple counties. And John Molina, with Pacific six, invests in real estate development partnerships and has capitalized at $100 million, invested in both nonprofit and for profit real estate ventures. Alhambra Hospital Medical Center or HMRC Health Care, is owned by Dr. Jonathan Wu, who is also the chairman of H.M.S.. H.M.S. is a for profit, privately held hospital corporation based in the Greater San Gabriel Valley, with over 30 years of experience in hospital management. Currently owning seven community hospitals with over 1200 beds and 7000 employees in Southern California, there's a list of those hospitals, some of them near Long Beach, and would like to add Long Beach to the portfolio, including their membership with California Hospital Association, who is advocating for our bill to extend the seismic compliance. Network Medical Management or NMC, is actually led by Dr. Kenneth SIM, who is the chairman and a practicing physician. He has over 25 years of experience in managing physicians and working with managed care organizations to improve patient care. In addition to his practice, AMD provides service in ten counties throughout California and provides management for over 650,000 members who provide services in case management claims, contracting, credentialing, finance, accounting, member services, and many other administrative tasks associated with hospital management. They currently serve thousands of physicians in Long Beach, as well as contracts with Golden Shore Medical Group and as well as the Accountable IPA, which is Independent Physicians Association, a large Long Beach based group. So something that that I wanted to make sure that we addressed were recent statements from Memorial Care that indicated that it would be impossible for Community Medical Center to comply with applicable seismic requirements for an acute care hospital due to the hospital being located on an active earthquake fault. Memorial Care suggested publicly that these conclusions were confirmed by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, or occupied and later by the city's own outside experts. That was in a letter dated July 15th. Occupied has actually confirmed with staff. I was personally on the phone that they never formally received a construction plan for memorial care. Isopod also confirmed that they only comment on plans submitted for review. So it would be inappropriate for Occupy to make a statement or to confirm the statement from Memorial Care. Additionally, our city seismic expert confirmed the quality of the seismic study. It was not their job, nor did they claim to, to establish the viability of an acute care facility on the site. Additionally, another statement that is important to consider with for the recommendation tonight. Memorial Care on July 15th indicated that an interim management agreement, quote, would enable the private group to benefit financially by avoiding the need to make costly safety and other improvements to the facilities that would otherwise be required. This statement is just not true. Memorial care itself executed a 2010 management agreement with the community hospital of Long Beach, and our operator will still be responsible for making all safety improvements to the facilities. I want to make sure that I correct that the presentation says July 15th. In fact, this letter was received on June 15th. So the recommendations that staff are providing tonight to the city council for consideration is, number one, to authorize the city manager or designee to execute all documents necessary for an exclusive negotiating agreement with Molina, Wu Network, LLC or MWI, and for the lease and potential development of the property at Community Hospital. The use would require these or general terms and conditions to be negotiated an acute care hospital and other health care facilities at the site. A lease term of approximately 40 years or more. Rent of $1 a year. As a starting point. And staffing. A good faith effort to hire current hospital employees. The negotiating period would be 180 days with up to two periods of 90 days extension. And this is important because of the aggressive schedule we have for construction and licensing that is required to operate the facility. And any due diligence would be the sole cost of the lessee. Council approval would still be required. So although Council would take this action to authorize staff to negotiate, any terms or conditions would have to come back to the City Council for final approval and of course, public review. The second recommendation contained in this staff letter includes the authorization of the City Manager to execute all documents necessary to accept the assignment management and revenue collection for existing leases between Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Memorial Care and the existing tenants at the site. As you may know, there's approximately 30 tenants out on the site in the medical office building and other parts of the facility that currently provide outpatient services. This would allow that city to take over the operations, management and security of the site during the negotiating period with NWN, and it would allow for the city to immediately negotiate leases with existing tenants in the medical medical office building on the site. This would include physicians as well as our sexual assault response team sought to make sure that those programs which are important to our city, continue to provide service. Finally, the third recommendation in this action would authorize the city manager to express the city's position that maintenance of uninterrupted emergency services is critical and urging memorial care and its board to take steps necessary to ensure a smooth transition to the new operator. This is a choice that the Council or the city would request memorial care to establish a transition plan with NWN and avoid or limit closing the emergency room before the state established seismic deadline. Suspend the license for hospital beds or transfer responsibility for hospital operations through a management agreement to NWN and to work with area hospitals and partner agencies to limit the negative impacts of emergency services. Disruption to area residents identified by the county's Impact Evaluation Report. To conclude some of our next steps that we are recommending would be to enter into a negotiating period with M.W. in return to counsel for approval of negotiated terms and conditions. Continue to work with our architect, our operator and the State Ocpd to finalize the seismic retrofit plans and provide a cost estimate back to Council for construction. We also would like to return to the state legislature once we have our operating plan and our seismic plan in hand to advance legislation that would extend the seismic compliance date and continue our work through Pacific Gateway, our Workforce Investment Network, to provide rapid response and continue weekly meetings with community hospital staff to make sure that 100% of our staff are placed either with M.W. and or another area hospital. And then we all know that memorial care has indicated that they will cease operations of community hospital on July 3rd. But we would want to make sure that we immediately transition those operations so that the new operator can take control of community hospital, submit their change of ownership application, and achieve licensing with the state of California. With that, I conclude my staff report and I'm happy to answer any questions. But first, I want to make sure that I introduce the Council to the spokesperson and representative of MWI, RN, Dr. Mario Molina, who's here tonight to give a brief statement. And secondly, Ray Burton, who is the chair of the Long Beach Hospital Community Foundation, to give a brief statement of support after Mr. or Dr. Molina. Thank you. Dr. Molina. Thank you. Mayor Garcia. Members of the city council. I think you all know that I was born and raised here in Long Beach and. Went to school here, went to. College here, and has spent most of my life working in health care in the city of Long Beach. I appreciate and understand how important Long Beach Community Hospital. Is to the. Community of Long Beach. And I think it would be terrible. For this important asset. Which is owned by. The city to close. A few weeks ago, my brother contacted me and told me that the hospital was. In danger of being. Closed and asked if. I thought there was anything that could be done. I contacted Dr. SIM and Dr. Wu. I know them over the years from what they've done in the community. They have a. Track record of operating. Hospitals, smaller hospitals successfully. They went out and hired a hospital administrator. Who has operated a 70 bed hospital here in Los Angeles County. And network medical management has a history of running outpatient facilities. So I. Helped to. Assemble a team. Which I think has the. Ability. To. Keep the hospital open. I believe we have the backing of the physicians on staff at the hospital. I think we have the backing of the nurses. I was contacted by St Mary Medical Center and they have said that they are supportive and are willing to help as well. So I think that this is a realistic plan. I've seen the plans the Perkin and will put together. They're very impressive. I think this is a very doable plan and we could submit this to ash pot and find out if we can get their approval. So, you know, my father always said there are. Lots of ways to solve a problem. And I think that as we. Attack this problem, we have to go into it with. A broad vision. And look at all the possible. Solutions and not limit ourselves. And I think that, you know, what we would like to do is get into negotiations with the city. The staff has done a magnificent job of pulling together a lot of information very quickly. And see if we can't find a long term workable solution. To keep the hospital open. Thank you, Dr. Melina. We're going to also hear from the foundation. Mayor Garcia and council members. I'm reporting. I chair the foundation at Community Hospital Long Beach at the direction of our board at a meeting last night with a unanimous vote of the. Members. I was directed to present a letter. To the city leadership and the effort of achieving the goal of continuation of emergency and critical care services, and to investing in and supporting the best possible health care solutions and services and programs for. All of the members of our. Community. In anticipation of Memorial. Care's signing, an interim. Operating agreement with Molina Will Network LLC Community Hospital, Long Beach Foundation Board of Directors has voted unanimously to support purchasing at a cost of up to $1 million to the extent allowed under the CHL. b501c3 tax exempt status and indemnification insurance plan to insure memorial care against any damages or losses as a result of. Actions. Related to the management. Or operation. Of community hospital Long Beach by the interim operator EMD and LLC under the license issued to Memorial Care. We encourage Memorial to act in the best interest of the community they serve and live up to their own mission statement by cooperating with both the City and M.W. and LLC in facilitating the transition of the new operator of Community Hospital. Community Hospital, Long Beach CHB Foundation Board has further agreed to explore. Conducting a capital campaign. Related to supporting the hospital's seismic needs. The foundation met with the new operator and is engaged in discussions to develop a partnership to support the hospital and the medical needs of the community. Be assured that we remain fully. And totally committed. To a successful. Durable result for our community. And we look forward to our important role as a philanthropic partner to ensure that vital health care services remain immediately available and accessible to our community for many years to come. I'd also like. To point out. That I have a copy of the management agreement here Memorial signed with Community Hospital when Memorial took over. So we're merely asking them to respect the tradition they were part of by signing a management agreement with AMW. And on a personal note. Please recognize that memorial, a public benefit, nonprofit, tax exempt organization, has several billion. That's with a B like burden, billion dollars in the bank and reportedly. Had a net income. Last year of over. $346. Million. Memorial raises a lot of money. From donations from. This community. Friend of mine just told me today she raised almost $50,000. For the last dancing fundraiser they put on. It's time for Memorial to act on their mission statement to, quote, improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and our communities. Thank you for your time. I have a copy of the letter I'd like to submit to clear. It to the clerk over here. Thank you very much. And thank you to the foundation. So in talking to Councilman Zupan, I'm going to make some some comments and some clarifying remarks also just to staff. And then we're going to open it up for public comment and then and then Councilman Super. And I want to kick it off right after the the public comment with emotion. And then we have some other members that want to that want to have some questions as well. Well, let me let me just say a few things. First is, I think it's important to note that we know that memorial care has and will continue to be a very big part of our community. They operate a world class facility. A lot of us here have relatives and friends who either work there or have certainly received there. They're still in health care. And memorial care, as we know, has a large presence here in the region. And we're and we're grateful that they operate a hospital. We also know that community is an incredibly important part of our health care system here in Long Beach, and that having an emergency room in East Long Beach and one that has done so much for so many people is also critically important. It's it's really, I think, amazing to watch the community come together to support community hospital. It has been the physicians, the nurses, the folks that work there, the community members, the foundation and our our stellar staff that has, quite frankly, had to move quickly and with very little notice to put a plan forward so that we can continue to have an operating hospital with an emergency room in in this part of of the city. And so I commend all of you for just the quick action, really much less time than anyone should should have to put this kind of proposal forward. And so I want to thank all of you for doing that. I also want to be very clear tonight that the ball is in Memorial's court. It is up to memorial care as to whether or not we will have a open, functioning hospital for the remainder of the year. We're looking forward to going into this partnership, of course, with NWN, and we're excited about the future. But we need and have asked Memorial Care formally to please work with us as a partner and the partner that they have been to ensure that the process continues and that there isn't a lapse in service that would be disruptive first and foremost to emergency care. It would be disruptive to our fire department and the paramedics who are trying to help people across the city. And it would be disruptive to the people that work at the hospital that are counting on these jobs for their livelihoods and that have been members of our community for a long time . I want to clarify, there have been some remarks by some that this group doesn't have hospital management experience, which I find odd considering the group manages seven hospitals and comes with an incredible amount of experience. So I just wanted to reiterate to our staff and I know you listed them on here, but I think it's important just to bring this home at this point home because it's been brought up a few times by by certain folks. But the group that we are partnering with and part of the Molina who network is H.M.S. Health Care and now H.M.S. Healthcare operates the Alhambra Hospital Medical Center, the Anaheim Regional Medical Center, Garfield Memorial Center, the Greater El Monte Community Hospital. Monterey Park Hospital. Whittier Hospital Medical Center. San Gabriel Valley Medical Center and Montclair Hospital Medical Center. Every single one of those facilities actually has more beds than the proposed hospital that is being proposed by the group today, which is really a a smaller boutique hospital of 40 beds, but with an emergency room. And so I'm very grateful that we have a stellar, experienced and well-respected and regarded group in front of us that has stepped up. And as I said, we want and we know how important community hospital is to the community. And so for that, Dr. Molina, and to the group, you have our you have our thanks for that. I also want to just note that I am concerned that I was told and I think this this body was told on a couple of occasions that that there had been some conversations, of course, that that that were that were had between memorial care and the state. And I want to pull up the exact. And John, can you pull up the slide so that I can refer. Really quick. I don't want to get any of it wrong. If we could get some help from the back just to put the PowerPoint back up on the screen, please. Thank you. But I know I know that we we had received an indication that our pad had made some declarations and some assessments of the. Of seismic compliance, as well as the ability of an emergency room on the site due to the state regulations when it comes to seismic compliance. And that's something that we took as serious, and it certainly guided decisions that we made early on about the complexity of of this of this negotiation. But just to reconfirm with you, Mr. Keisler, that the ash pit is very clear to you that there actually was never any sort of formal request to actually study the seismic issues or to make an assessment. Is that correct? Correct. So as recently as yesterday in our regular meetings with Ashford, they confirmed that no construction plans had ever been submitted to the state for review and that they do not take a position one way or another, on and on hypotheticals. And so that you know, that the statements that were made by memorial care and I'm certainly those assumptions are not are not correct. And so I say that because I think that's a critical part of this conversation, is that we're all moving together as a community forward with accurate information and that we're all able to work, work , work together in the in the future. Let me let me also just add that what's critical right now is we need to ensure that the license that the memorial court has, the ability to keep this license operating. I believe it's until April of next year. And so that is there. And they have every every opportunity to continue operating until April of next year if they take that decision, which we certainly encourage them to do. That would give the amount of time that's appropriate for our new operator to come in and to provide quality health care, ensure that people have their livelihood in their jobs, and provide this important service for the eastern part of our city. And I'll tell you, quite frankly, it will take a lot of concern off of our fire chief and our fire department and our paramedic units, who are incredibly distressed about their ability to provide strong paramedic service across the city at appropriate response times. And so that is something where we have been told that memorial care is considering moving on from the hospital. I believe it's July, July 3rd. That is that is something that we hope that they choose to extend or go into a management agreement quickly with our new operator or put some kind of deal in place where they suspend the beds and don't allow the license to actually expire. And just for the community to understand that expiration of the license is critical and changes our ability to provide consistent service. And so, again, to our partner Memorial Care, thank you for all you do. And we really look forward, hopefully to working with you as we chart this course forward and with our with our hospital. And so with that, I'm going to turn this over to public comment. And then when we come back, we're going to start off with Councilmember Supernova. So please come forward for public comment. Hi. I'm Linda Chico. I'm the field deputy for Supervisor Janice Hahn. Supervisor Hahn would like to commend city staff for working so diligently to find a new operator for community hospital. She understands that this was a monumental task that was performed on an accelerated timeline. And she thinks you for all of your hard work. The County of Los Angeles is very familiar with the respective work of the recommended operator Molina Wu Network, LLC, and Supervisor Hahn is pleased to offer her support for MWI and to transition as the new operator of Community Hospital. Early on it was important for Supervisor Hahn to get everyone to the table to ensure we were all on the same page and moving forward in the best interest of the community that we all serve from. That meeting, the city, County, State, Community Hospital Foundation, Memorial Hospital and California Nurses Association all agreed the closure of the hospital would have a detrimental impact on the residents in Long Beach and the surrounding area. This determination was underscored by a report from the County of Los Angeles Emergency Medical Services Commission, which highlighted longer travel times, longer wait times in local emergency rooms, the loss of 30 critical care beds, the loss of the only sexual assault response team in Long Beach, and the loss of 28 licensed psychiatric beds just to name a few. Each stakeholder at that table also committed to doing everything possible to minimize disruption and service to the community. It would be ideal if a break in service could be avoided altogether by executing an interim management agreement with service transfer by July 3rd or that memorial, Kirby urged to suspend their license rather than terminating it outright. Doing either would truly compliment the city and MWI n's efforts to minimize disruption in service to the greatest extent possible. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening. Mayor Garcia. Vice Mayor Richardson, City Council members. My name is Margaret Smith and I'm a resident of the third district. Tonight I am speaking from four perspectives. First of all, as a resident of Long Beach, so I see the health care needs of our community. As a consumer. Secondly, as a retired health care executive who worked for many hospitals. Over a 30 year career, including memorial care. So I understand their concerns about. The continued operations of community hospital on an active. Seismic fault. But I also have huge respect. For the Molina's and their. Health care expertize. Third, as a member of my family, who for 75 years owned and operated a private psychiatric hospital in Pasadena called Lawson Seniors. So I understand the importance of mental. Health to a community. And fourth, I am now an appointee of Supervisor Janice Hahn. To the L.A. County Hospitals and Health Care Delivery Commission. We oversee the entire. L.A. County health system. So I am concerned about the broader impact of the closure of community hospital. From these four perspectives. I respectfully voice my concerns. About the. Loss of the. Emergency department. But also about the loss of the 28 mental beds, mental health beds. That is a critical component of community hospital's range of services and the loss of the sexual assault response team. The. If the community hospital closes, the next closest program is 12.1. Miles. Away in San Pedro. If you are a victim of sexual assault in Long Beach, you should. Not have to. Travel 12 miles to San Pedro to get help. So for all of Long Beach, we need these services. So please ensure that the next operator of Community Hospital. Hopefully the Molina Food Network, maintains these critical services for all the. Residents of Long Beach. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. The honorable mayor, ladies sitting City Council. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Mike for Solomonov. Like yes, I am a former chief of staff at Community Hospital. First of all, I want to thank the mayor. Mayor Garcia and. The Council for all your support and help. In this matter. I want to thank John Keisler. Who has done an. Incredible job. He has great expertize, great personality, and it's great working with you. I want to especially thank our champion councilman, Darrell Super now for his unwavering support and diligence. What a snake. Susie Price, who attended some of our meetings. I want to thank the foundation and everybody who's here. First of all, we want to welcome the Dr. John and Mario Molina, Dr. Groom and his network for all their expertize. And the hope that they give us as. Community closes. We know that people's lives are at risk. It compromises the health and well-being of people. People lose their jobs. Livelihoods are affected. Even local businesses are affected. That's why it is imperative that we open this hospital as soon as possible to limit the consequences. Period. A seamless transition is needed. Long Beach is a diverse city many ethnic groups, cultures and businesses. But as diverse as it is a common person, the common purpose is that we care and we help each other. If Memorial was hurting, Community would be there to help. I would hope that in the goodness of memorial care that. They would help their sister hospital get back on its feet. The world is too small and our time in this world is too little not to want to help each other. Thank you for all your help. Thanks so much. Thanks, Speaker. Good evening, Mayor and city council members. My name is Sarah Patterson, and I'm speaking here tonight on behalf of Assembly Member Patrick O'Donnell's strong support and. In the effort to keep. The only East Long Beach hospital operational, Mr. O'Donnell says it is painfully clear that memorial care wants to be the only provider in town. Since announcing their intent to leave community hospital last fall, Memorial. Care radically accelerated their closure timeline again and again. Memorial Care appears to be actively working to ensure that no other entity can take over the hospital they are leaving behind. But Memorial Care cannot have it both ways. Community Hospital offers the only full service emergency room on the east side of the city, and closure would significantly impact the region's trauma care system and further strain the health care safety net. Memorial care has made their business decision. The rest of us are doing our part to protect the public's health and safety, save local jobs and keep community hospital open. Assembly member Patrick O'Donnell would like to thank the city and stakeholders for working diligently to find a new provider to potentially take over the hospital . It is the expectation from Sacramento that Memorial Care will work with the city to seamlessly transition the hospital to another provider. This should be done without any interruption in critical health care services. For these reasons, Assemblymember Patrick O'Donnell is in strong support of the Molina Wound Network, L.L.C., to run Community Hospital Long Beach. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Next speaker. Good evening, mayor garcia and council people and. Dr. Molina needs to hear this. Too. My name is Charlene Ouray. I'm retired from Long Beach City College and Program. I was a professor there for over 35 years. And I wouldn't I didn't intend to speak tonight because I just came to support community hospital. But what I did see was that you have mentioned Cal State University of Long Beach Nursing program. And I never heard one word about the ADN program at Long Beach City College and the students that should be attending this hospital. The one thing you don't know historically is that Long Beach Community Hospital has been supported by Long Beach City College nurses for over 35 years. And I think. I think Dr. Molina knows that. But I'm just bringing it to the board attention that that was a little slip, as much work as John has done. That was rather left out, considering that the nurses are so supportive. Here are the ones from Long Beach City College. Thank you. Thank you. And and even even John Cassidy is not perfect. And so we we do know. We do know that in talking to the new partners coming in, that they are very interested, of course, in working with our educational partners. And, of course, that includes a one beach city college. Absolutely. Yes. Good evening. My name is Jackie McKay. I'm an ICU nurse at Community Hospital for 33 years. And I have the privilege of working with John Keisler on the technical workforce. And I'm so grateful to all the work you guys have done. Amazing. And we're so happy that we found a new operator. I have a side hustle at community hospital, like the nurse rep for when the nurses get in trouble, they call me. I go to H.R. with them and I know firsthand how Memorial believes in rules. They make you follow the rules. They're on you. So for them to not be completely honest is just amazingly awful to me. And I think for the council, I hope you find a way to hold their feet to the fire to make them follow their rules. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, everyone. My name is Milton Dana. I'm a third district resident, a machinist and a member of Save Community Hospital, Long Beach Coalition member. And we have been working to try to save this hospital since November. We finally get an operator who's willing to come into the site and memorial. Who do you think would be a good community partner is refusing to enter an interim agreement with a new operator. This is sad that memorial would sacrifice our community hospital for their selfish reason to keep out a competitor. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi. I'm Ellen Markovich. I work at Community Hospital, Long Beach. ICU for 35 years. I'm a Long Beach City College grad class of 83. I come to you not wearing my usual red. And where am I? Community Hospital. T-shirt today. I am frustrated and excited at the same time, excited that we have a group that is very interested in running our small hospital and providing services to East Long Beach, which is a huge population of people. Huge. I am frustrated in that it feels like. Memorial wants doesn't want the competition. And feels like I'm back out because of that. And it kind of reminds me a little bit on what's going on at the border right now. You know, it's like it's a policy change. People just change the policy and everything is can proceed much more humane. And I just feel as though we are under their thumb only because they don't want the competition. Dr. Mike was saying how it's not just the patients, the community, its employees, and it's the. Surrounding. Businesses. And to that I say, what is Biggie's going to do without all of us ordering food to be delivered? Okay, this is. A big deal to them. We keep them in business. So just anything. That we can do to keep our place open, you know that you have the support of the nurses, you have the support of the California Nurses Association, of which I am a member, and they have been instrumental in trying to help keep this hospital open. And I ask that we do the same thing and hold Memorial accountable. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next speaker, please. Good evening. Council members and Mayor Garcia. My name is Jim de la Russo. I'm a physician. I'm kind of a newbie at community hospital. I've only been there like 20 years. I'm also an ex chief of medical staff there, as well as Dr. Mike. I wholeheartedly support all the efforts and the recommendations that you're currently making. I, too, am very, very grateful to all of you who have clearly been very vocal in supporting community hospital when all this came down in November. Your staff is unbelievable, John, especially the work groups that have been together, the the Community Hospital Foundation, all the local community members. I know you've gotten together many architects and other people. It's just phenomenal that all of this has been able to come together in such a short period of time. It's quite remarkable. In speaking with a number of physicians at Community Hospital, I believe I can say that that I have not heard none of us have heard anybody who is opposed to any of this. We all wholeheartedly support a new operator in the Wu Molina Wu network. And it goes without saying too. We're all concerned about everybody that works at the hospital. But don't forget, many of the physicians have worked there for years and years as well, and many of them actually depend on their livelihood for that facility's care too. I also support the mental health initiatives at the hospital. I think that would be very, very painful to lose that service. I also support the emergency room services, but also the acute care hospital is very important, including the surgical services. That's where I work and it's also a big need in the community. I want to thank you for all of your support and I know that memorial will do the right thing going forward. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker. I name's Alison Miller and I've addressed council before. I am an employee. I'm an R.N. with Long Beach Memorial. I work the oncology unit. I'm also an independent contractor for SA. I respond to the sexual assaults and CHB is one of those with forensic nurse specialists. My heart's racing. I'm still blown away at that seismic study and the big reveal tonight. But, you know, working for memorial, I know with memorial care, we do do a lot of good. We do do a lot of good. And I know that the closure of CHP is a crisis. No doubt. We all know that in this room. I'm so proud of the council and the city. And I want to thank Dr. Molina and Dr. Wu and and the foundation with the generous contribution. 1 million should cover a lot from memorial. I want to appeal to my employer to enter in some sort of agreement to see a transition that's smooth so that patients aren't left out on the street. We're concerned with behavioral unit. We're concerned we don't want to close. We're not sure what's going to happen with this heart. Patients that are raped, they shouldn't be transported to another city. And this is ridiculous. This doesn't need to be about competition. Hospitals join mergers to make profit every day, and we should be able to, even if it's on a temporary memorial care, should be able to work with the Molina's to to get this done for a temporary basis. I just want to. I've been looking around the room. I don't know if anyone here is is here for memorial, but I just want to appeal to my employer to do the right thing. And thanks for having me. Thank you so much. Next speaker. Hello. My name is Michelle Pimental. I'm a registered nurse. I worked at a community hospital and the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment center. Because of their announcement and their closure, I had to leave for my own family's well-being. And I work now in Newport Beach. And because the community has closed their detox unit, I have seen patients come from Long Beach all the way to Newport Beach for substance abuse treatment. I hope that you'll include that in your mental health. I'm I know I can speak for my colleagues in mental health. They are grateful to hear that Molina is considering maintaining those services. Those are critical services in this city. Most of all, I want to say thank you to everybody that has been involved. The day of their announcement, myself and Jackie and Ellen were in a meeting with the nurses union and we contacted Darryl Super Now and he came over immediately and met with us. And and in this current political environment, it's hard to know who to trust. And I've been overwhelmed and impressed with how much. Time and devotion, the city, the doctors, the community has put into saving this because this is really important. I asked my daughter to come with me today because she was there with me. She heard me making phone calls and trying to help do everything I could to get people riled up. And she came to the parade with us and she said to me on the way here, she said, Sometimes it felt like we couldn't do it, but here we are. We did it. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. Mr. Mayor, council members John Hanna, Governmental Affairs Director for the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters on behalf of the 1000 carpenters and family members in the city of Long Beach. I first of all urge you to adopt agenda item 40 580543 and I want to join the Amen chorus here. And the last speakers talked about the political climate. There's a lot of cynicism about elected officials in government in this day and age. What you've done here on this issue is kind of throw a lot of cold water on that, at least as it appears applies to Long Beach. You've done exactly what I think our forefathers who helped form this country had in mind when they wanted local control. And you've taken an issue and rather than take the easy way out. Oh, there is you know, we can't do this. You've found a way to say yes to serve the community. Now there's just one problem. Memorial care. And I think. Somebody earlier said it I think best. They they do do a lot of good things in this community. But on this issue. They've lost their way. They've lost their moral compass on this issue. They've let, whether it's money or whatever, get in the way of doing what's best for this community. And so I want to commend the nurses union, the community foundations, the the people in this community who've worked with the city staff and the council to come to a good solution. And I think by doing what you're doing, you're going to help. God willing. Memorial. To find that way, to find their way and their inner compass. So thank you very much. And please stay the course on this. Thank you, John. Next week, bigger piece at Mayor City Council. My name is Marcus Hesse and the community manager at a nonprofit known as Anxiety Gaming. And this is our founder, Jason. Dr.. And we're coming here as supporters of the mental health initiatives going on in this community and hoping to bring ourselves along to support this initiative . Our father wanted to give an idea of who we are and what we do in this community so far. Hi, counsel. I've been running anxiety gaming out of Long Beach for the last seven years. At first I ran it at home as somebody struggling with agoraphobia who took their first steps out of their home here in this beautiful city. Since then, with the support of many people within Long Beach, we've helped over 27,000 people beat their depression and anxiety. Our team has been looking to start a clinic for some time now, teaming up with some of the greatest psychologist clinicians across the country. We want to be able to step in and help in the same way the city has helped us for the past so many years, for my entire life. We have a team that's willing and able to take over the behavioral health unit, and we're willing to work with anybody and everybody that is already stationed there and worried about their situation in their job. We focus entirely on youth and young adults. We have programs at 36 different universities across the country that involve thousands of students. We have a team network with a high school program where we also help over 10,000 high school students. For us, this is everything. Mental health care is what we live and we breathe, and we want to make sure that we can take care of the youth, especially within the city, through our initiatives. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. And we will be closing the speakers list. So the lady here is the last speaker. Go ahead. Okay. Good evening, honorable mayor, councilmembers and city staff. I wanted to let you know that I'm so appreciative of all of your efforts and how expedient everything has been thus far. I also want to commend the potential new operators, Melina Wu Network. I had the opportunity to actually I was CEO at Community Hospital, spent 47 years there of my career. So working with the nurses and the physicians and then had the opportunity to transition and work as a hospital administrator for Molina Health Care. And I wanted to offer support because the Melina's had been very honest, very straightforward and a wonderful employer. And I'm so proud also of our community staff and the physicians because they've really continued to deliver exemplary care for our patients, what they what community is known for. And I do want to say thank you so much. Next speaker, please. Helen Naha, resident of Long Beach. I'm going to be very, very brief. You some of you know that I can be lengthy. I'm not going to tonight, I want to take a moment to thank the mayor and the council for standing up for something that matters a lot. We're talking we're talking buildings, we're talking companies, we're talking money. We're talking a lot of things that really, really matter. But we're not talking about people that much. And when you're talking about getting in an ambulance or in your own vehicle and going from your home on the east side of town, as I've done, and you have to get to Memorial or to St Mary, you may not make it. You've only got time to get to community. My mother crashed and we call 91191 once and I said, Where are you? Take her. And they said, We're going to memorial that. We're going to community. And at that time, I didn't know what a phenomenal place community was. They just and I said, Why aren't you taking her to memorial? And they said, Because she's going to die on the way. My mother did not die. I had her for another ten years and that's because we had community hospital all over the east side. Those minutes matter to a lot of people, and if we don't have that hospital, those people are going to die. And I am so grateful that the city is on our side this time. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Next, Mr. Goode here. Please last speaker. Very good. You. I am either qualified to speak in terms of the medical aspects of it or the financial aspects, notwithstanding the fact that either last week of last year I ended up there. And somebody took me there. And when we arrived, the record show, I think there were eight or nine people that have been waiting for for four or 5 hours. To be even triaged. And I had them ask them to check with memorial. And memorial was the same thing, period. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I. I listened to representatives. Of Janice Hahn and. Others that we're talking in terms of regional aspects. So forth. I'm not sure what the answer is, but one of the things we might take a look at. Because, again, if it's there. And you. Can't get in or can't get in memorial, it doesn't do you any good. One of the things we might take a look at. Is entering. Into a paradigm where we helicopter people and obviously the helicopter location. Is where the police would have the person would be taken. We wouldn't have it in a residential neighborhood. And I'm. Again thinking in terms of the future, as. Our population is not going to decrease, period. So we've got to figure out a way. To address the problem. And I'm not sure, but I think we should, you know, all of the specifics. But I think we should look. At the merit of seeing if we can really enlarge our paradigm in terms of offering that and figuring out a way to get people there. Because even if. Memorial is if a community hospital is. There. And you can't get in. That doesn't do you any good. Like last year when I had to go to and they ended up in, I went up into a Burbank. And made it up in 57 minutes and so forth. I spent 13 days there. But I think we have to look into terms of the future because the problem's not going to get any. Lighter, so forth in terms of need. Thank you. Thank you. That will conclude our public comment. So thank you all for speaking. I'm going I go back now to the council. We do have a motion and a second motion by Councilmember Supernanny, so I'm going to pass it over to him. Thank you. At first I could thank everyone for attending and especially our speakers. I want to mention a few others. Again, Dr. Molina, thank you for and your partners for stepping up to the plate in this critical situation to the Long Beach Community Foundation. You folks have worked so hard for the past six months and to cap it off tonight with this incredible offer for $1,000,000 insurance policy. All I can say is thank you. To our nurses. Thank you. Boy, you mentioned that first meeting. Wow, that was a long time ago, but we've been in support from day one. And thank you for holding the line and being there for the rallies and everything and and the parade. So, so happy to support you in that too. Staff John Kaiser I don't think you're infallible. I think you're perfect. But I also want to mention Diana Tang, who's sitting next to John there. Thank you, Diana. You did an incredible job, especially for. Sacramento and to ask or see who is part of our development services team. What he's doing there out on the site is incredible to all the volunteers who may not be a member of the foundation or whatever. Thank you. I think in particular of Ruth Lau. We have about 20,000 reasons to thank her. So thank you, Ruth. And also, I just have to mention the mayor and my council colleagues, you know, their support has been there from the beginning. I never had to explain to them what an asset this is, city wide. But they backed me from from day one on this. So I do appreciate that. I did want John Kaiser to explain something for the viewers and the audience in particular about this handoff. If you can just kind of delineate, John, how the handoff would work or what are the pitfalls of this doesn't happen, if that's enough of a question for you. Councilmember. Super, not yet. So. So there's something important about a transition of the hospitals that there's a a license which allows the hospital to operate at a site. Right now, the license for community hospital on the site is is held by memorial care. And Memorial Care has an active license through April 28th of 2019. So for a new operator to come in and not experience a 6 to 9 month wait, which means no service for 6 to 9 months while their application is approved by the State California Department of Public Health, we would need some sort of agreement between the two entities. And so that's that's one of the things that's important about any good handoff is that, you know, the time of disruption is is minimized. And so this is very common. It's something we've seen happen throughout the region. In fact, Memorial Care participated in a similar process with community hospital Long Beach back in 2010 to minimize the amount of disruption while the new operator gets a new license for that site. And so there's many options to explore. One would be a suspension of of the beds so that the license does not expire or is not surrendered. And that's what we've asked for memorial care to work with us. And if the memorial care board desires to work through that process, then it will allow the operator either to step in at an earlier time or at least minimize the length of disruption. Okay. Thank you for that explanation. And the dollar amounts are staggering as to whether we do a warm handoff or not. Are you at liberty to discuss any of that at all. At this time? We're we're in the initial discussions of reviewing pro formas that the operator has been preparing, as well as looking at what would be required for startup cost or transitional costs, even in the environment of a warm handoff. There's there's costs associated with emergency medical records systems, which are very expensive. There's costs associated with equipment. And to the extent that memorial care could sell or lease, the existing equipment to the new operator would minimize the cost as well as minimize the disruption. Also, entering into a management agreement whereby they could operate under memorial care's license would allow them to start the process of providing service and hopefully generating revenue cash flow that will help in the transitional process. And then finally costs like an insurance policy to protect memorial care from any liability. The fact that our community foundation members of the community will donate their own money in the amount of $1 million certainly helps to defray those costs and reduce that liability for memorial care. All of those things can help diminish startup costs, which are estimated to be depending on the type of handoff. Anywhere from ten and up to $30 million is our initial estimate. Thank you. That that gets our attention. I guess I'd like to limit my comment tonight here to just one basic statement, and that is a lot of the speakers refer to the fact that memorial care may not have done the right thing to date. So my message is to memorial care. Here's your chance to save face. If you can step up and make this transition now. I think that would really reinstate the citizens faith in Memorial Memorial Care, doing the right thing for the community. And so I'd just like to hand off to my colleagues now for their comments. Thank you. Thank you. Got some more super now, Councilwoman Bass. Thank you. I, I first, I want to thank my colleague, Councilman Super. I know we spend a lot of time up here thanking one another. You must wonder why we do that. It's because there are hours and hours of hard work that go into every item that comes before council. And every time one of our colleagues is leading on an item, we know the amount of work that they've put in behind the scenes and out of respect for one another. We try to support projects that are going on in each other's districts to the extent that that feels right to us, and we want to acknowledge the hard work that they've done. And he has worked really hard on this issue. That really is a city issue, but certainly an east side issue. So I want to thank him for for his partnership and his leadership on it. And, of course, our city staff deserves a standing ovation. I mean, they have done in three months what prior operators had not been able to do in many years. And so I'm incredibly impressed with their leadership, their tone, their sentiments and the hard work that they've put into really walking the walk and not just talking the talk , because that's what's gotten us to this point. I myself was taken to Community E.R. two weeks ago. I had emergency spine surgery a couple of days after I went to the hospital. And it was a huge reminder to me of how important it is for us to have an emergency room on the east side. Certainly it was not a life or death situation for me, but for anyone who's ever had a ruptured herniated disk, you'll know that you're in excruciating pain and screaming the whole way. And, you know, all I just kept telling my husband is, can you please call and make sure community is still open? Can you please make sure they're still open? Can you make sure there are bodies there? And we got there. Of course there was. No, wait. The staff was amazing, as they always have been in terms of my prior experience with them. And it just was a very personal and timely reminder to me of this amazing asset that we have on the east side. I think the car ride for me from our house to memorial would have been excruciatingly painful. Every speed bump was felt. Every pothole was felt, every stoplight was felt. And it was for me a not a life and death situation. So I think it's really important for us to realize how important it is for us to have acute care services on the east side of Long Beach for east side residents. And the option for me of driving to memorial or driving to Los Alamitos. Would have been the only options I would have had had community not been open on that day. And so that was just an eye opening experience really. I think that we have a potential operator here who we believe in. We believe that this operator is certainly qualified and capable and vested on many levels in the future of Long Beach. And that means a lot to us. And frankly. We've worked really. Hard to get to this point. And the ball is now in Memorial's court to partner with us. I understand the reservations well to some extent, and I understand the hesitation. But at the end of the day, we've had a tremendous working relationship with Memorial up until this issue, and there's no reason why this can't be an opportunity for us to work together to really make sure that we preserve this asset. They know that without their help and their support, we're in a much more difficult place than we would be with their support. And so I think that knowledge alone should really empower them to do the right thing in this situation, despite the concerns that they might have. I think, given what Ray announced Ray Burton announced earlier tonight, and the great work that the staff and the supporters of community hospital have put into coming up with mitigation options to help mitigate the risks. Associated with this partnership. I think that makes it a lot harder for Memorial to say no to or to turn away this opportunity. You've made it a little bit more. Beneficial. For them to participate in this transition with us. And I thank you for doing that, because it really does help us give them some further assurances. This really is our. Only meaningful chance right now to move forward in a smooth process and transition. And I ask Memorial really to think about that. Will we be able to. Do it without memorial? Absolutely. Will we do it without memorial? Absolutely. We're committed to that as a council. But the issue isn't will we do it is do we have a meaningful shot at a smooth transition? And we do with and only with their partnership. So I reach out to the audience and to anyone watching. Many, many people that are involved with Memorial and have helped memorial through the years. Our third district residents, I myself have helped fundraise for Memorial by participating in various fundraisers, very, very supportive of memorial. But this is the opportunity for us to try to look at a path forward and move this process to the next phase. And really, it does fall on memorial at this point to help make this transition possible. They've been a great partner and I look forward to future partnership and I thank everyone that came out, especially many residents from my own district who are here have been here every step of the way, fighting for community to stay open. I thank you for the countless hours that you give to this issue every day and of course, to our nurses. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Vice Mayor Richardson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I wanted to just chime in and just join in on the chorus of attending a lot of council meetings in the last eight years. And I got to tell you, this is this is one for the history books. This is incredible, the response that's come together on behalf of Councilman Super. Now, the mayor, the city council, city staff here, the community coming together. This is one for the history books. Dr. Molina, I have to tell you, your values, the commitment to the community that you've demonstrated is not lost on me. And there's about 30 youth here in the audience that have an item coming up. And I can tell you what you've demonstrated today of growing up in a community demonstrating the community commitment through corporate responsibility. That's a message that's not left. Don't lost on them as well. So I want to say thank you. You know, I have to I have to say a few additional things. There are a lot of great things, great things that I want to call out about this this proposal. So, one, we've identified a qualified operator with roots in the community and the right experience. That's one. We have a commitment to retain 100% of the impacted staff. This doctors, nurses and miscellaneous staff. That is wall to wall. That's two. Three. There is a willingness to work with memorial care. So those are no lapse in service that help support your paramedic services, that help support just the quality of life of residents in the East Side and citywide. And then Fourth Community Hospital stood up today with the biggest surprise of the night, committing $1,000,000 to cover Memorial Corp memorial care through the transition. Those are four amazing, amazing elements of this proposal that that that really need to be applauded. All the boxes are checked, all the bases are covered. And and this has been said numerous times tonight. And I'm going to just join in in the choir, join in the chorus. The ball is in Memorial's Cares hands. We've all demonstrated support from oral care. We all understand that this is a sum of all of its parts a closure of an emergency room, a closure of the hospital on one side of town. Impact services for All Long Beach and surrounding communities from Lakewood Regional is gone. That's the, you know, emergency room closest to me. They're going to see impacts the emergency room, you know Long Beach Memorial and all our emergency rooms are going to see impacts. You're going to see paramedic response times increase if we don't have this. So the ball is truly in their in their court. And so we ask them to step up. Demonstrate corporate responsibility and partner with us so we can have the best the best result possible. So just one of the jack to chime in and say, I'm really proud of tonight and really proud of this work. The ball is in their court. Thank you, Councilman. Super. Now, it's just been amazing to see your sort of level, hand level head, your steady hand through this whole process. And and, you know, this is just a great moment. And I wanted to acknowledge that. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Pierce. Thank you. There are often times, whenever we sound like an echo chamber up here, and I don't think any of the times in the last two years I've been on this council have been as important as tonight. And so I want to really thank everybody that's already been mentioned. The board members are really coming together, strategizing the staff. I echo the same sentiment when this was presented to us. My jaw dropped and that gut wrenching feeling of, oh my God, are we actually going to be able to come through on the other side and and make this a reality? As a city council member, as a mental health commissioner at the county and as a patient of community hospital, today's a really proud day. I'm really proud of the team, Dr. Molina, and everybody that stepped up. It is exciting to see somebody that has roots in the community invest back in and think creatively outside the box. I'm not going to take too much time. I do think that the questions that Councilmember Supernova asked that got the answer, that 10 to $30 million is the difference if memorial care doesn't step up and do the right thing. And that's why we are an echo chamber tonight. That's why we continue to say memorial care. This isn't about profits. This is about people. This isn't about competition. This is about saving lives. This is about saving face for some people. But this is about our residents making sure that they have access to health care, which we know has been a battle in this country for a long time. And so to leave nine months where people have to travel that much further, nine months, we're not only do they have to travel farther, but their wait times when they get to your hospital are going to be longer. Nine months where we have nurses and doctors that don't have a place to work at that current time is just unacceptable for this city. And so while we appreciate everything that Memorial Health Care has done, today's the day that you can stand up proud, put your shoulders back and say, we're going to do the right thing for this city. We're going to do the right thing and continue our license to spend that license instead of letting it go. And so I'll just leave with that. And again, really, really proud of the Long Beach community. Everybody that's committed their time not only in this fight, but in the decades that came before this to make sure this hospital was in existence. And I'm excited about the potential of what's going to be there. I know we've heard a lot of creative ideas and this is just the beginning, so I'm really looking forward to the work ahead. And again, congratulations, Zuber, and all for your leadership and everybody else. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Andrew. Yes. First of all, I want to thank you, Mayor. Mr. Super. And I just can't really tell you how much I appreciate the hard work that you put into this situation, because the fact that everything that we talked about, because remember, the members in my district and we always talk a lot about what we're trying to do and what we're trying to get done. But I can feel the compassion of all of the individuals out there, you know, you knowing that what you're up against and I can't see that our voices can be come back void because of the fact that this is a city that works together. We strive together, we live together. And I think this situation with a hospital that I know that you individuals know that we are with you and this step up here. And I can't even take time to thank our city staff for the hard work they've done. But Mr. Superville, I'm telling you, you can be Superman to me, because the fact that what you're doing and what you continue to do, and I hope everyone this will work out because I can't see memo being that insensitive to your cause in the meaning to be able to keep this hospital open. It's going to be open, I tell you that. I know that. So you guys continue to work hard. And you, Dr. Merlino. You guys are always there. This is why I know these things are going to work. Thank you guys again. Thank you, Councilmember Tauranga. Thank you. Barry and I echo many of the comments already been said by my colleagues here. But one of the most important things that, you know, we're always faced with as elected officials is we're given a choice. You know, we do the political thing or we do the right thing. And there's no question that our support of community hospital is the right thing to do. And we're asking our our colleagues at Memorial Hospital to also consider doing the right thing and not the political thing. The line that was crossed back in 2016 when this new law came into effect that basically affected community hospital, that put it in the condition in the position that it is today. Was unfortunate and it's political, although there are some safety issues in play here. The need to save community hospital is overwhelming. There is no question the impact that closing the community hospital would have on our entire community, not only in Long Beach, but regionally, as well as as was mentioned earlier. And again, when this first issue came up, know, one of the main concerns that I had was that what's going to happen to all of those 340 some plus staff that work at community hospital? What's going to happen to them? And I was very concerned that some of the plans for transitioning some of the nurses from community hospital to memorial was basically increasing the requirement. So you have 30 to 40 years of service. That community hospital is being forced, if you will, to reconsider the positions and the jobs and retire. And I want to thank Dr. Molina and his group for stepping forward and say that they will 100% accept that the step up community hospital, because that's the right thing to do. And that is one of the best proposals that I that I've come across in any transition from one company to another is having that willingness to take on the staff of a predecessor. So we are urging memorial care to please do the right thing and suspend the license so that we can continue this transition in keeping community hospital in service. And the young lady who mentioned Lombard City College, I was a 14 year trustee at Long Beach City College, and I went to many other graduations. And I know that there are many students that did their internships at community hospital and went out to get jobs here. And and I congratulate City College. I congratulate you for bringing this forward because it's we have a great city. We have a great, great educational institutions here. And a few years back when Mayor Garcia and I were got voted in and we talked about the college promise and we said we going to close that loop and get the city involved. And we are we're there. And hopefully we can come out with a very positive outcome as a result of excuse me, of tonight's meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you. And Councilman Gonzalez. I would just like to extend my support as well. I think Councilmember Super and the mayor for really setting the tone ahead of time, wholeheartedly supportive of all of my my council colleagues comments. I think it's extremely important even being a councilmember from downtown, I care about the whole city. This is more a city wide issue. This is no longer districts. And it really matters to many of us who, especially a person like me, I delivered at Memorial and had the best, best nurses that helped me in basically an emergency pregnancy situation that I had. And it was yeah, here at council actually from council to memorial had a child in 2 hours and but with the best staff. And so my support wholeheartedly to our nurses, to the physicians, to the administration, to all of the various unique services that we have, they're hoping to continue that and make sure that we have the best outcome for all of our residents. Thanks so much. Thank you so much. And Mr. City Attorney, we just need I know we have multiple actions, but can we do them all in one vote or. Okay, great. So we have all the actions that were described in the staff report. So as we just go to a vote, also just to end on a on a positive note, I think on behalf of the community, just to the to the Molina and Woo Network and the group, we just want to thank you for stepping up. We look forward to many years, many, many years of a fully functional emergency room hospital with a partnership with our foundation, with incredible services for the mental health care needs of our community, as well as the important needs of Islam Beach and really the whole city in the county. And so we're very grateful and of course, to our partners at Memorial, who I know are I'm sure are watching this hearing as well. We thank you for your partnership that we've had for many, many years, and we look forward to continuing that, especially through the process as we transition to our new partner. And so thank you again. And with that, please cast your votes. Motion carries. Great. Thank you very much. Congratulations to our new partners. And I want to I want to you know, this doesn't happen often, but I do want to welcome our new partners on board at Community Hospital. And with that, we're going to go and take a one minute recess so that folks can exit. And I know we have some of the presentations coming on board. Thank you. So. Your great, great. The. Okay. We're going to call this meeting to order so I can have everyone please grab a seat or exit one of the two rooms. Okay, everyone, please grab a seat or exit and stop talking, please. Thank you. That includes our staff. Thank you. Please grab a seat. Madam Clerk, please welcome Councilwoman Gonzalez. Councilmember Pearce, Councilwoman Price, Councilmember. Super Now. Councilwoman Mongo. Councilman Andrews. Councilmember Your. Honor. Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. Mayor Garcia. Thank you. If I can please again have everyone take a seat, please. And if you're. Thank you. Three. Nope. I'm still missing council members for a quorum. Where is. I think I feel comfortable sitting out there. Okay. Councilor Richard Panzer. But yeah, that's right. Okay. We're going to go ahead and move on to item hearing number item number 31.