Fallbrook Regional Health District increases compensation for board members

The Fallbrook Regional Health District’s board of directors voted at its Oct. 8 meeting to

increase its own members’ compensation for each meeting and to up the number of meetings that

can be held each month.

New legislation that was signed by the governor last year and went into effect at the beginning of

the year authorizes certain special districts – including health districts specifically – to increase

their board members’ pay by a maximum of 5% annually. The same legislation, Assembly Bill

2329, allows special district board members to be compensated for more than five meetings a

month if they annually adopt a written policy describing why more than five meetings per month

are necessary.

And the health district voted to do precisely both of those things – board members’ pay will go

up from $100 per meeting to $105 per meeting Jan. 1, 2020, and they will be authorized to attend

a maximum of six meetings per month.

Compensable meetings can include not only regularly scheduled board meetings, but also special

board meetings, district-sponsored events, situations where a board member has been requested

to represent the district and other occasions that constitute the performance of official public

duties.

Board members won’t necessarily be actually attending six meetings per month, and they

currently do an average of about four each month, Fallbrook Regional Health District executive

director Rachel Mason told the Village News.

“Some months are definitely more, other months are more quiet, but four a month is the

average,” Mason said.

But the board wanted to leave the option open as they expect to become busier this year.

The policy authorizing the maximum six meetings that the board approved at its meeting

justified the increase by saying, among other things, that the district covers unmet health needs

for close to 60,000 people in a 110-square-mile area, board members must serve on at least two

standing committees and represent the district at a variety of workshops and regional meetings.

“Our board has been getting more and more involved with meetings, especially with Supervisor

(Jim) Desmond’s revitalization meetings, and as we are looking forward to the development of

our community health and wellness center, we knew we would be having more meetings,”

Mason said.

Even if a board member were to attend six compensable meetings every month for a year, their

annual pay would amount to a little more than $7,500.