New interim county health director grew up in south county

With the exit of Ray Bullick, the Monterey County Health Department will be guided by a south county product.

Elsa Mendoza Jimenez will take over as the county's interim health services director on Monday in the wake of Bullick's departure this week while a recruitment is under way, according to county spokeswoman Maia Carroll.

Jimenez, who has worked for the county's largest department for more than a decade, including the past three years as assistant director of health, graduated from King City High School as valedictorian in 1994.

Health department spokeswoman Karen Smith said Jimenez's leadership will be valuable as the department creates its annual budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year. 

The department's annual budget exceeds $200 million and includes more than 1,000 employees.

On Tuesday, Jimenez was named by the Board of Supervisors as Bullick's replacement on three key boards, including the Children's Council of Monterey County, the Children and Families Commission (also known as the First Five Monterey County Commission), and the Santa Cruz-Monterey-Merced Managed Care Commission, which oversees the Central California Alliance for Health.

Some illumination on the Carmel bomb scare

Carmel >> Some light was shed on what the suspicious device was found in a Carmel restaurant on Wednesday.

“It was a makeshift flashlight,” said Sgt. Ronald Pfleger of the Carmel Police Department. “It was determined that is was left by the cleaning crew. We talked to them and they showed us how it worked.”

On Wednesday the Carmel police received a 7:45 a.m. call of a suspicious device found in plain site on a dining table in Il Fornaio restaurant on Monte Verde Street in Carmel.

Apparently the device used a child's electric car battery, LED lights and wiring. Pfleger said the lenses on the lights had been removed so it was not recognizable as a light source.

“It was a little scary having to evacuate the restaurant, the hotel and block off the street,” said Renne Kapsalis, Il Fornaio manager. “I'm just glad no one truly was threatening us and that it was a legitimate misunderstanding.”

The restaurant and The Pine Inn, which shares the building, were evacuated and the gas was shut off. The Monterey County Sheriff's Department bomb squad was called in to deal with the situation.

Downtown Monterey's new conference center now scheduled to fully debut in early 2017

While more asbestos than expected was recently discovered during the demolition process of Monterey's conference center, City Manage Mike McCarthy said he doesn't really see it as a setback for the project overall.

“I can't say for certain how long the delays will be,” said McCarthy. “I'm looking at the final project rather than its timing.”

While the city had found the toxic material prior to construction beginning and thought they had mitigated it, it ultimately turned up in other areas.

“We did a variety of testing before the project started to learn where it may be,” explained McCarthy. “In peeling back the layers, you're sometimes going to find issues.”

Originally, the city hoped to debut the center's new first floor in late 2016 and the second floor in early 2017. Now, instead of the staggered opening, the new $50 million conference center will open in its entirety in early 2017.

“I hate to give time frames only because we're still in the demo stages of project,” said McCarthy. “We think a single delivery date is actually better.”

The original conference center was constructed in 1977 and hasn't had a major renovation since. The remodeled conference center will have many technological upgrades and a LEED Certified Silver rating for energy efficiency.

“We've started revitalization of the downtown for the last couple of years but the conference center is the heart of downtown and we're expecting an increase in the number and type of conferences we get,” said McCarthy. “It's going to be a building that businesses and residents can be proud of .”

King City to switch city council elections from at-large to district

The King City council voted late Tuesday to change the way members currently get elected from at-large to district.

It's a move that Latino activist and community members pushed for to bring more diversity and representation to the elected body. In spite of being more than 90 percent Latino, only one member of the council is Latino. The vote was 4-0, with Darlene Acosta abstaining.

"For the past couple of years, the people of King City have been rocked by the injustices caused by the King City Police Department and been demanding fairer and more equitable political representation in their local government," said in a statement Carlos Ramos, deputy director of California State LULAC. "We commend the city council for finally answering the community’s call for fairness in their local electoral process so they can hold their officials accountable."

The switch is possible thanks to new legislation, SB 493, that allows cities with fewer than 100,000 residents to make the change without having to put the question to the voters. The legislation was authored by Sen. Anthony Canella, and it's the first time that's being used, supporters say.

"It's historic," said Carlos Victoria, a former councilmember who pushed for the change. "It's a good day for King City."