The Board of Directors of Sierra View District Hospital in Porterville have fired their CEO Joseph Stewart.”Joe Stewart will no longer serve as the chief executive officer effective January 16,2013”, says a hospital press release. The board voted 3 to 2 to oust Mr Stewart who has held his position for a yeas and later this week named Donna Hefner as interim CEO. She was director of risk management for the hospital and a 20 year veteran employee. In the public session Mr Stewart acknowledged financial problems at the district hospital.
As the housing market recovers across the state – Tulare County’s numbers are improving as well. In December 2012 the median home price in Tulare County was $144,440 – up 13.1%% from a year ago when it stood at $127,660. Time on the market has dropped from 35 days a year ago to 25 days in December 2012. But the volume of sales is down from a year ago by 23.4%.
The unemployment rate in Tulare County was 15.7 percent in December 2012, up from a revised 14.5 percent in November 2012, and below the year-ago estimate of 16.5 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 9.7 percent for California and 7.6 percent for the nation during the same period. A closer look reveals that farm jobs year-over-year in Tulare County are down 3800 while non-farm jobs are up by 1200, the later a hopeful sign.