Not resigning

Iam responding to the comments of Mayor Parris about my holding two elected offices.

First of all, I checked California law before running for the college board after I filed for the hospital board. You may serve on both if there are no financial audits of the other. When I filed my papers with the County Registrar, I told them I had already filed for another office. No objections were heard from them.

I have attended practically every meeting of the hospital board and the finance committee for years. I ran for the college board in Los Angeles in 2007 with new ideas. I knew if I ran for the AV College Board that I could present those ideas again: better student scheduling and turning the community colleges into an university system.

By the way, the hospital and the college both attend job fairs and such with booths. They have in-house education for employees. They are not related. Also, AV College recently contracted out to healthcare providers to give students medical care. Students are still welcome to go to AV Hospital for care just like the rest of us.

AV Hospital recently didn’t allow intern nurses from AV College to work because of COVID-19. The nurses went to Palmdale Regional who accepted them. They serve at AV Hospital at the pleasure of the hospital with no obligation to accept them.

Like many elected officials, I will leave the dais if a potential conflict of interest is discussed. There should not be any worry about this. I only spent $246.70 on both campaigns. I don’t owe anyone anything.

I am not resigning. I was elected by the people. Michael P. Rives Lancaster