SAN MARCOS: The San Marcos Unified School District's preliminary plans to place a bond measure on the Nov. 4 ballot have been dropped.
The district needs more time to study its facilities needs and present them to the community, said Gary Hamels, assistant superintendent of business services. The district plans a comprehensive presentation about its needs at a school board meeting in September, he said.
The bond would be used to pay for tearing down buildings and constructing new ones at San Marcos High School, reconstructing San Marcos Elementary School and renovating a few middle schools.
District voters last approved a bond measure in 1996, for $21.6 million.
Hamels said the district has been weighing whether to place a bond on the fall ballot since early this year. In March, the school board approved a $80,000 contract to gauge voter support.
The earliest that the district can place a bond on the ballot now is June 2010, he said. It will be working on architectural and construction plans in the meantime, Hamels said. –L.L.
Pomerado Health to display its plans
ESCONDIDO: An 18-wheel semitrailer customized with patient care technology will make a stop at Palomar Medical Center next week.
The public can check out some of the features planned for rooms in Palomar Pomerado Health district's new hospital, under construction at the Escondido Research and Technology Center, and for Pomerado Hospital in Poway.
The Escondido hospital is expected to open in 2011 and Pomerado, which is being expanded, is expected to complete a new patient tower in 2012.
The Cerner and Nurture SmartSemi is touring the country through December. Tours will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday in a back parking lot of the Escondido hospital, 555 E. Valley Parkway.
Not all of what is featured in the mobile display will be used in the district's patient rooms. But a key piece that will is called myStation, a system that allows patients to access health records, order meals and possibly teleconference with their doctors on LCD screens. –L.L.
Papers available
for 2 council seats
SAN MARCOS: Two four-year City Council seats are up for grabs in the fall election, and candidates can pick up filing paperwork beginning Monday.
The forms are due by 5:30 p.m. Aug. 7. A five-day extension could occur if an incumbent chooses not to run.
Candidates must be at least 18, live within city limits and have registered to vote. There is no fee to file papers but there is an optional $398 fee to print a 200-word-maximum candidate's statement in the sample ballot booklet.
Potential candidates should make an appointment with the City Clerk to pick up a filing packet and review what must be submitted to qualify for the ballot. The process takes about an hour, said City Clerk Susie Vasquez.
Candidates must submit a petition with the signatures of 20 registered voters in the city, and other paperwork. Vasquez said the signatures will be verified by the county Registrar of Voters.
Once someone has qualified, Vasquez said, a candidate cannot withdraw his or her name. The name, she said, will appear on the ballot.
The clerk's office is at City Hall, 1 Civic Center. –L.L.
Trustees to decide
fate of palm trees
NORTH COUNTY: MiraCosta College trustees may rid the district of those pesky palm trees – the ones that have brought down three administrators and a college president.
The community college's board is due to vote Tuesday on declaring 1,377 palm trees as surplus – to be destroyed, sold or, in the case of an estimated 95 plants, kept for educational purposes.
It first was to take action on the fate of the palms last month, but the item has been postponed a couple of times.
A staff report says there is no clear directive that the board must act before plants can be disposed of, but it is recommended “due to the high visibility of the plants in question.”
Former college President Victoria Muñoz Richart announced an investigation in May 2006 into the illegal sale of the palms for private profit.
Subsequently, the head of the Horticulture Department pleaded guilty to grand theft; a dean said she was forced to retire; and the board settled with a college vice president, paying her $542,000 to leave campus.
In June 2007, the board gave Richart a settlement worth almost $1.6 million to resign.
The board will meet at 3:45 p.m. in Building 1000 on the campus at 1 Barnard Drive in Oceanside. –L.S.
Basketball tourney
at Glen Park today
ENCINITAS: A four-on-four, 16-team basketball tournament will be held today at Glen Park in Cardiff.
The single-elimination Glen Park Classic will start at 9 a.m., with the championship game about 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Glen Park is off San Elijo Avenue, just east of South Coast Highway 101.
Many of the players are former county high school standouts and some play professionally overseas. The tournament is in its eighth year. –A.V.
Staff writers Linda Lou, Lola Sherman and Adrian Vore contributed to this report.
