Members of the Del Puerto Health Care District board feel they’ve lost thousands of dollars in an unfair fight — and will soon seek to reclaim those funds from the city.

In a 3-1 decision at its Nov. 24 meeting, the board voted to submit a request to the city for a reimbursement of up to $62,000 in legal fees the district incurred due to an appeal by its health center’s landlord, John Ramos, regarding a proposed move to the Keystone Pacific Business Park.

The board’s decision comes on the heels of a decision made by a 3-2 vote of the Patterson City Council in later October to reimburse Ramos for around $27,000 in legal fees he expended during his appeal of city staff’s approval of the health center’s move.

The move — which is now the subject of a controversial proposed ballot initiative — was originally approved by the city’s Community Development Department but was appealed by Ramos, who claimed the city’s zoning laws prohibited a health center to move to the business park.

Ramos’ appeal was denied by the Patterson Planning Commission but later upheld — on advice from the city attorney — by the City Council. Lawyers from both sides were involved in the appeal, which stretched over two council meetings.

Health district board members were vocally critical of the council’s decision to comply with Ramos’ demand to reimburse his legal fees, and now their making a similar demand of their own.

“As a special district, we have a responsibility to the community,” said Margo Arnold, the health district’s CEO. “If the planning commission had done their job in the first place, we could have been spared a lot of time and money that money could have been used to bring in more doctors and services.

“This action is to let the community know the amount of unproductive services we have had to spend on nonproductive things to fight this. There’s a statement to be made, and the sooner we do it, the better.”

But although most of the board voted to continue pursuing reimbursement of legal fees, not all were in agreement.

“This is a big political game, and the question is whether we want to throw our hats into the same political ring,” board member Anne Stockman said. “It seems like the political ball just keeps rolling, and I don’t think we should be a part of it.”

And although Councilwomen Annette Smith agreed that city staff was at fault for making an uninformed decision, she said the headache could have been avoided if the health center had approached the move correctly.

“None of this would have happened if they would filled out a zoning amendment instead of trying to push it through (with an initiative) on Keystone’s muscle,” she said. “All this means is more turmoil for the city. They’ve chosen this path, including the costs that come with it, without any regard to the community.

“If their primary concern was bringing more services to the city and moving, they should have done it right — not in a way to win at all costs.”

• Contact Kendall Wright at 892-6187 or kendall@pattersonirrigator.com.