Stanislaus board shuts down clinics in Salida, Empire

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday decided to shut down the county health agency’s clinics in Salida and Empire.

Officials described the clinics as lightly used, with projected operating losses of $61,645 in the fiscal year 2003-04.  Alternative clinic sites are nearby in Modesto and Hughson.

“Costs continue to rise and reimbursements (from the state) do not,” Health Services Agency Director Margaret Szczepaniak told the board.

The board voted 4-0, with Supervisor Jeff Grover absent, to close the clinics.  The Empire clinic is scheduled to close Sept. 1 and Salida’s Oct. 1.

Empire clinic patients can find services three miles away in Hughson, with county bus service virtually door to door.  They also can use county clinics in Modesto, Turlock and Ceres, depending on specialized services that may be required.

Likewise, Salida residents can use any of the county’s other clinics; the closest is at 2501 N. McHenry Ave. in Modesto

The satellite clinics operate 20 hours a week.  The Empire clinic had 2,000 patient visits in 2002-03, while Salida had 677.

Data show that more of the Empire clinic’s patients are from Modesto (38.7 percent) than from Empire (30 percent), while 43 percent of the Salida clinic patients are from Salida.

Along with closing the clinics, the board approved reductions in benefits for undocumented immigrants and temporary resident noncitizens.  That move is expected to save the county $1.4 million annually.

In other business:

The board unanimously approved a $2 cut in the per-ton-garbage-disposal fee at the waste-to-energy plant owned jointly by the county and the city of Modesto.

The resolution, already approved by the City Council, sets a $28 per-ton fee, charged to haulers and passed on to ratepayers.  The rate has been $30 since Jan. 1, 2002.

The decrease is set to take effect August 1 and could mean a slight reduction in garbage rates in county-governed territory.

Officials attributed the decrease to money coming in from Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which is paying off a $7.8 million bill for previous energy purchases; in June, the utility paid $2.2 million as the first of six installments.

Supervisors voted to raise dump fees for 10-cubic-yard or larger refuse containers.  The new fees are $90 for 10- to 19 cubic-yard bins, $120 for 20- 29-cubic-yard bins, and $143 for bins holding 30 cubic yards or more.

Modesto Mayor Carmen Sabatino asked to board to sell 2,100 acres that the county purchased around the Fink Road Landfill.

The county paid $14.02 million for the land in May 1999, buying the acreage from rancher Fred Vogel.  Later the board limited landfill expansion to 129 acres on a 354-acre parcel that the county bought in 1997.

Sabatino said the county should use the proceeds from the Bogel land sale to build a materials recovery facility – for recycling.

He suggested a project similar to one in Monterey County, which includes a drop-off recycling center, a scavenger store, a household hazardous-waste disposal center and a power-generation plant fueled by gas produced as waste decomposes in the landfill.  The recovery center also includes a public education area.

Supervisors referred Sabatino’s request to the Environmental Resources Department.

Mexican Consul General Jose Soberanes asked the county to recognize consular identification cards.  The cards identify the bearers as Mexican citizens, and have a variety of security features, he said.

Mexican nationals working in the United States still need to obtain green cards and follow immigration laws.

The board asked Sheriff Les Weidman, whose department is among those in the state that recognizes the card, to make a recommendation.

Bee staff writer Jeff Jardine can be reached at 578-2383 or jjardine@modbee.com.

Reprinted by permission of the Modesto Bee.