Two board members for Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare bolted from a closed door meeting fearing that the panel had violated the Brown Act, California’s open meeting act. One of the two requested a legal review of the issue during the meeting and left when he was not happy with the response.
An anonymous source said the board was discussing hiring a consultant on a possible merger with another health care institution. An open government expert said that under the law issues involving mergers may not be discussed in closed meetings. -db
From The Salinas Californian, August 22, 2011, by Jeff Mitchell.