Beach Cities Health District Honored For Transparency

Redondo Beach CA

14 December, 2021

10:57 PM

Description

Press release from BCHD: Dec. 14, 2021 Special District Leadership Foundation (SDLF) presented Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) a Transparency Certificate of Excellence in recognition of its outstanding efforts to promote transparency and good governance. To receive the award, BCHD demonstrated the completion of essential transparency requirements, including conducting ethics training for all its board members, properly conducting open and public meetings, and filing financial transactions and compensation reports to the State Controller in a timely manner. "Our team strives to be fully open and accessible to the public and community stakeholders," said Tom Bakaly, CEO for Beach Cities Health District. "I accept this recognition on behalf of our staff and Board as they've consistently worked to ensure our information is readily available to our community so that members of the public can participate in our decision-making process. I believe our Healthy Living Campus Project exemplifies this — the project is a direct reflection of community discourse beginning in 2017, with design and planning documents revised in response to public input." The SDLF honor is the latest in a string of awards presented to BCHD, which was recently named 2021 "District of the Year" by the Association of California Healthcare Districts. "The SDLF District Transparency Certificate of Excellence requires that certain operational, governance, and best practice requirements be met to showcase the district's efforts to be transparent and engage the public," said SDLF CEO Neil McCormick. "By earning this recognition, Beach Cities Health District has demonstrated their commitment to transparency as they work to deliver essential services to their constituents." Earlier this year, the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada presented BCHD with a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. GFOA also awarded BCHD the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award with a Special Performance Measures Recognition. The California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) also presented BCHD with an Excellence Award for its 2020-21 operating budget. BCHD is the only healthcare district to meet the CSMFO standards of excellence and has received 16 CSMFO Excellence or Meritorious Awards since the 2007- 2008 fiscal year. BCHD's budgetary practices and information on its public meetings are available online. The budget is reviewed by the District's resident advisory Finance Committee and discussed at public board meetings. An annual report and direct mailers are also sent via U.S. mail to Beach Cities households each year. For more information about BCHD's public meetings, please visit bchd.org/board-directors-meetings. This press release was produced by BCHD. The views expressed here are the author's own.