Page 38 - Sonoma County Gazette 3-19
P. 38

“Hack Your Pack”
Design & Wearable Tech Project Teens Get Connected during Teen Tech WeekTM
March 5-8, 2019
Young Makers Get Hands-on with LEDS
Transitions, Decisions & Public Vote
 Local teens will be tuning in at the library as The Sebastopol Regional Library celebrates the annual Teen Tech WeekTM. They join thousands of other libraries and schools across the country who are celebrating this year’s theme, “Get Connected” to raise awareness about how The Sebastopol Regional Library creates a space to extend teens’ learning beyond the classroom where they can explore, create and share content.
two-year lease with an option to buy, with a sales price set at $5.2 million. AAMG is a for-profit company based in Modesto and is currently managing the hospital for a $100,000 monthly fee.
Teen Tech Week is a national initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) aimed at teens, their parents, educators and other concerned adults. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that teens are competent and ethical users of technology, especially the types offered through libraries.
Under state law, voters must approve the contract because the District is a governmental entity, with a publicly elected board.
these resources. Once students are in the door, we can show them that with technology at the library, anything is possible.”
The new contract approved by the Board gives AAMG a two- year lease with option to buy the hospital, now named Sonoma Specialty Hospital. The lease can be renewed twice for two years each time, for a total of six years.
From maker spaces, to coding classes to sewing sessions now offered by libraries across the country, the do-it-yourself theme shows how libraries provide meaningful contributions to the educational and social development of the teens in the community.
Instead of making lease payments to the District, worth an estimated $275,000 a month, AAMG will plow that money back into hospital maintenance, including deferred maintenance and day-to-day maintenance.
“Teen Tech Week is an opportunity for librarians and educators to collaborate with and educate teens about technology,” says Librarian Abbott. “The library’s role in promoting digital literacy has become increasingly important--in today’s world, it is comparable to that of reading literacy.”
Under the lease part of the contract, AAMG assumes full responsibility for the hospital, and the District no longer has any responsibility to maintain it, buy new equipment or pay management fees to AAMG. The hospital license will be transferred to AAMG.
If AAMG buys the hospital within the first two years of the lease, as anticipated,
Teens are encouraged to celebrate Teen Tech Week and this year’s Sebastopol Regional Library Teen Tech Week project, “Hack Your Pack” will help students learn the basics of design thinking and principles of diffusion & attachment while creating a wearable, functional project (a backpack) using technology and light that will be useful for their active life and light up the streets at night when they are walking, skateboarding, or riding their bike.
it will pay $5.2 million for the hospital-- $4 million in cash and $1.2 million in a
Join Maker Movement founders and leaders, makers and fashion designers on the cutting edge of functional creativity and exploration that will lead 12 brave students through a week of tampering to create fashionable flare.
period of the promissory note, the note will be forgiven and AAMG does not
Interested students should register.
plus interest is immediately due and payable.
Assuming the hospital is sold to AAMG within the first two years of the lease,
There is no charge to participate and all materials and instruction will be provided. Interested students need to commit to attending two, 2 hour sessions at The Sebastopol Public Library (March 5th and 7th from 3:30pm to 5:30pm).
INFO: www.ala.org/teentechweek.
38 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3/19
the District will use the $4 million to pay off the General Obligation bonds issued in 2002 and secured by the hospital building and property.
A special “Show and Tell” session and reception/open house will be held for Teen Tech Week students and their families (and any student that would like to share a project that they have been working on) on Friday, March 8th, from 7:00pm-8:30pm at Chimera Arts, Sonoma County’s first non-profit community arts and makerspace, 6791 Sebastopol Ave Suite 180, Sebastopol.
That’s the smaller of the two taxes that are levied by the District and appear on property tax bills. That tax vanishes when the General Obligation bonds are paid off.
Teen Tech Week encourages teens to take advantage of
the technology at libraries for education and recreation, and to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals who can help them achieve greater digital literacy.
The District is selling the hospital because the District can’t afford to keep
it open, explained Alanna Brogan, the District’s executive director, in a power point presentation. She said the District had no money to pay for deferred maintenance, no reserves to keep the hospital operating, and had been unable to operate the hospital without sustaining losses.
By Carol Benfell
The first details of a contract to sell Sebastopol’s hospital were unveiled on
February 4 at a meeting of the Board of the Palm Drive Health Care District. The contract with American Advanced Management Group (AAMG) is a
The District, which owns the hospital, explained the deal to the public at a half dozen town hall meetings scattered throughout West County.
On March 5, voters living in the District will go to the polls to
approve or disapprove the lease, then sale.
 sharing about our digital resources: databases, apps, ebooks, eAudiobooks, digital comics & magazines. We also offer a variety of online services: AP, SAT, and ACT test prep, one-on-one tutoring, resume, and essay drop off. Providing access to technology tools, classes on coding and 3D printing, gaming, and hands-on projects is critical. Students are shocked when they find out about the multitude of technology resources we offer. We are constantly striving to raise awareness and educate young adults on how to access
The appraisal included the $2.3 million value of hospital equipment, but the $2.3 million is not included in the sale price because the equipment is entangled in a bankruptcy by the former hospital manager, Sonoma West Medical Center Inc., Horn said. That bankruptcy is separate and independent from the District’s two bankruptcies.
Rosalie Abbott, Teen Services Librarian, believes that “Modern libraries are swiftly changing with the times. Educating teens about what libraries now have to offer essential. We are constantly
The appraisals, which stretched over a two-year period, valued the hospital building at zero dollars because of the amount of deferred maintenance, so the sales price reflects essentially the value of the land. “I don’t believe the District is getting fair market value in this lease and sale,” objected Board Member Jim Horn, who argued that the Board could and should have held out for a better lease payment and sales price.
The District is in its second bankruptcy & $28 million in debt.
Board Member Gail Thomas favored the sale, and reminded listeners that the District would have had to close the hospital last fall, had AAMG not stepped in. The hospital is transitioning to a long term acute care hospital that primarily treats extremely frail patients referred by other hospitals. The emergency room has been closed, with an urgent care center is now open.
promissory note due at the end of 10 years.
If AAMG does not buy the hospital within the first two years of its lease, a new
appraisal and a new sales price will be determined.
If AAMG keeps the hospital and an urgent care center open during the 10-year
have to pay the $1.2 million.
If AAMG closes the hospital or sells it within the 10-year period, the $1.2 million
The remaining $15.2 million in outstanding hospital bonds would be refinanced, according to William Arnone, the District’s attorney. These bonds were sold to investors as tax-free because the hospital was a non-profit. Since AAMG is a for- profit company, the bonds must be refinanced as taxable bonds, Arnone said.
These bonds are represented by the $155 parcel tax that appears on property tax bills. That amount will not change with the sale of the hospital.














































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