Westside Healthcare District could consider moving its current office in Newman to its crew quarters location in the near future as it was the main talking point of last Tuesday’s Board Of Directors meeting.

Ultimately, the board members voted for a no motion on the topic but could bring it up at a future meeting. The district’s office is located at 990 Tulare St., suite C in downtown Newman and its crew quarters is residing at 531 Hills Ferry Rd. The item was first brought up during a June 24 meeting. According to the meeting minutes, Chantale Pakosz, the interim chief administrative officer for the district, said relocating to the crew quarters could financially benefit the district but felt purchasing an ambulance and monitors was more of a priority.

President David Varnell mentioned that he wanted the item to be discussed at a future meeting (Aug. 26) with a possible motion.

Board Member Sandy Walsh-Guajardo said she met with Newman City Manager Michael Holland about the required steps to relocate the district’s office. She was told by the city staff that if the building were to be remodeled as a business office, there would be no structural changes.

While there is an office space at the crew quarters site, Walsh-Guajardo believes that remodeling will have to be done to make the space “feasible” because it could be difficult to locate records and files.

“I [would] personally, let the matter drop … from the aspect of saving cost of not having a building downtown that they’re renting, and the city manager (Michael Holland) was pretty adamant [that] all public meetings would not be able to be held there,” she said. “If something was expected to be larger, we could always use another city-owned property to have that view.”

Nicolas Cardella, an attorney at Fresno-based Wagner Jones Helsley, said relocating could be challenging as the district will have to deal with the city’s zoning rules, paperwork and processing costs, if there is a pathway to relocate. According to Newman’s Zoning Map, the district’s crew quarters location is classified as a controlled manufacturing area and its office is a retail commercial property.

“If you moved [the] administrative staff there, and it’s different from the zoning perspective, I think that’s the problem,” Cardella said. “Just in my experience, something like this doesn’t fit deeply within that box [when] you deal with somebody … even if there is a pathway, it could be challenging.”

Navtej Hundal is a freelance journalist in Stanislaus County