It may not have been a formal breach, but that’s only because the Ralph M. Brown Act, the legislation that mandates the public’s business takes place in public, was written before Apple’s Steve Jobs, who pioneered the smart phone, was born. The Legislature passed the act in 1953—the iPhone was released in 2007. Needless to say, it’s due for an update that recognizes the incredible communication and computing power available to us today.
The issue concerned texts and emails between trustees William Kuo, Gabi Blackman and board president Dan Cherrier with resident Bill Carey and other people. The emails recommended trustees vote for new district boundaries (that are required every 10 years after the census) that would put trustees Kristin Pelham and Megan Rouse in the same district. These trustees favored a different alignment that would not have put them in the same district.
The investigation by attorney Harold Freiman found that trustees were engaged in the communication, both before the meeting and during the meeting by texts. The proprietary of receiving texts during public testimony when presumably trustees are supposed to be listening to what is being said, is questionable at best. Because the 77-year-old act didn’t address it, Friedman said no foul.
We’ll give him that under the letter of the law, but the actions ran afoul of its intent to keep the public’s business in the open. This is a good issue for Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan to run with and put together legislation so the Brown Act addresses the reality of today’s digital world.
Congrats to Lynn Fischer, CEO of Title21 Health Solutions, on its major investor that will enable the company that was founded and grew in Pleasanton to scale up its critical software operations. The company was headquartered in the Bernal Corporate Park while Lynn and her husband raised their children here in Pleasanton.
They shifted operations to the Scottsdale/Phoenix area to be closer to the talented graduates from Arizona State University. In an interview a few years ago, Lynn prided herself of knowing each employee personally while acknowledging that it was difficult to compete for talented workers in the East Bay.
The majority ownership in the privately held company was purchased by ArchiMed, an investment company specializing in health care. Fischer and her team will continue to run the company that ArchiMed described as ”the only end-to-end software provider for cell & gene therapy labs. Its software digitizes all processes, thereby reducing paperwork, optimizing workflow productivity, improving traceability, regulatory compliance, and overall patient safety.”
Fischer and her husband, Kent Kirimli founded the company in 2001 and have acquired an impressive list of clients including the Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, Kaiser Permanente, and the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The cell and gene therapy industry is growing rapidly and the investment will allow Title21 to scale its operations to support companies and research institutions bringing new solutions for patients.
Fischer said in a press release, ““ArchiMed stood out from other potential partners. “They share our sense of urgency when it comes to supporting the commercialization of advanced therapies through efficient, easily traceable and scalable technology. They impressed us with their deep domain expertise and track record in cell and gene therapy and as a global leader in healthcare software investing. We couldn’t have found a better partner with whom to scale.”
