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The proposed affiliation between the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District and Adventist Health will not be on the Nov. 3, 2015 ballot. The complex negotiations relating to Adventist's long term lease of district facilities -- including the new hospital that is under construction -- will not be completed in time for the proposal to be presented to voters at the forthcoming general election.

The district board of directors voted 4-0 (President Mike Nixon absent) at a special meeting Thursday, August 7, 2015, at the hospital conference room to table approval of a resolution that would have appeared on the Nov. 3 ballot calling for a long term lease between the district and Adventist Health.

District counsel Scott Navé, in attendance by audio, asked the board not to act on a ballot statement yet.

"It takes nine to 12 months for due diligence," Navé said. "We have now been working on it for four-and-a-half months.

"A deal this size is not complete until due diligence is done. In the interest of the board, the district, and the community, more time is needed for investigation. We will be ready by the end of September. That's a realistic time frame."

Adventist Health owns and operates numerous hospitals and has gone through the affiliation process previously.

"Adventist has been great to work with," Navé said. "They are professional. They are smart. It's not their first rodeo. In September or October we'll come back to you [the board] and be ready to go from there."

A special election will be necessary to place the matter of affiliation before the voters of the healthcare district.

The 25- to- 30-year lease proposal must be approved by the voters because it pertains to more than 50 percent of the district's physical assets. A simple majority (50 percent plus one) is required for approval.