Commissioners appoint Arrieta-Candelaria to UMC board with more to come
El Paso County is entering a new era of operations with the county hospital district and is bringing in fresh faces as board vacancies come up.
Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria is the newest member of the University Medical Center board, approved unanimously by commissioners Monday morning as the appointee from Commissioner David Stout in Precinct 2.
“I’m going to go in with an open mind and review what I need to review and rely on my colleagues that are also on the board,” Arrieta-Candelaria said.
She’ll have to deal with a lot of on-going changes in and around the organization.
“Well I think certainly what I’m going to focus on is certainly the transitionary period of time,” Arrieta-Candelaria said. “We need a new CFO. So there’s a lot of transition also within the organization that also needs to happen. I also think I want to look at the financial health of the organization and the relationship with the children’s hospital.”
While she’s settling in, a lot more turnover will be coming soon in other board positions as well.
“They oversee half a billion dollars a year in budget for UMC alone,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar. “There’s two subsidiaries now – El Paso First, and now El Paso Children’s Hospital.”
Commissioners are expected to make the appointment for an at-large seat in about a week, along with the vacancy from Andrew Haggerty’s Precinct 4.
As a group, the new UMC board will have to act as oversight into the reorganized El Paso Children’s Hospital’s workings and deal with the final fee agreement expected soon, the last part of the overall bankruptcy settlement.
“The final negotiations for trying to whittle down the fees are happening right now,” Escobar said. “And that’s been our focus of discussions in executive. Obviously I can’t disclose the details of it, but it’s winding down to it’s end finally.”
Once all parties in the bankruptcy dispute agree to terms, a judge could then set the final hearing to resolve it once and for all.
