Nearly one week after deciding not to renew the contract of their chief executive officer, Grossmont Healthcare District directors hired an interim replacement Monday, disregarding a colleague’s plea to explain to the public why such a popular leader was so suddenly let go.
Grossmont’s board voted 4-1 on March 4 not to renew the contract of CEO Christian Wallis, discussing the matter in closed session, then reporting its action to the public. The board also announced that the executive’s employment would cease that very day, granting a severance agreement to end the contract early. It was set to expire May 17.
Wallis, hired in 2021, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Director Nadia Farjood was the lone vote against allowing the contract to lapse, abstaining on the vote to end Wallis’ duties early and supporting his severance agreement.
Before entering closed session during a special meeting held at the district’s La Mesa headquarters Monday morning, Farjood, an attorney elected to represent the district’s Zone 3, covering the city of La Mesa, said that she was “shocked and befuddled” by the decision to let Wallis go given what many have called an exemplary time at the helm.
She noted that Wallis won a Spotlight on Excellence award in 2024 from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System for his work on “an ambitious plan to transform the district and elevate its profile as a leader in community health.”
“Under Mr. Wallis’ leadership, the district launched an innovative rural health discharge program designed to reduce the readmission rates at Sharp Grossmont Hospital by improving healthcare delivery in rural communities far from emergency services,” Farjood said. “Through this program, the district partnered with the county to send a registered public health nurse with county Cal Fire firefighters and paramedics to conduct post-discharge follow-ups on rural East County patients.
“This program has already seen meaningful results.”
Wallis, she added, was instrumental in championing a workforce pipeline project with the East County Economic Development Council and in promoting a family medicine residency program that recently won a $2 million grant.
The director said she believed that Wallis’ dismissal may have violated public meetings law because he was not provided a list of complaints or charges at least 24 hours before actions were taken on March 4. However, Jeffrey Scott, the board’s general counsel, said that no such notice was necessary.
“There were no complaints, there were no charges,” Scott said, noting that the agenda item was for a CEO evaluation.
Though the matter was not clearly articulated as such, Scott seemed to be making the distinction that Wallis’ dismissal was not a matter of discipline for any sort of alleged wrongdoing, but rather a decision not to renew a contract that would have lapsed in May if not explicitly extended.
Farjood called on her colleagues to “waive privilege” of its closed session meeting last week because “I believe the public should know why my colleagues decided not to renew the contract of an accomplished and high-performing CEO.”
Her motion died for lack of a second.
According to Transparent California, a website that tracks the pay of public employees statewide, Wallis earned $247,577 in total pay in 2023, the most recent year for which information was available.
On Monday, the board voted to hire Aaron Byzak, co-owner of Galvanized Strategies, a self-described “public affairs and leadership services” company, to serve as its interim chief executive officer for 90 days. Byzak formerly served as chief strategy officer of the Tri-City Healthcare District in Oceanside before leaving the job in 2024. A consulting agreement that the board unanimously approved Monday states that Byzak and Galvanized Strategies will make a total of $24,500 per month, an amount that includes previously awarded public relations representation.
Grossmont, unlike the Tri-City and Palomar health care districts in Oceanside and Escondido, does not directly operate Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa. The Grossmont board’s main activities involve awarding grants supported by property tax collections, which are anticipated to total $11.4 million in fiscal 2025. The largest expense for the current budget year is a $3.6 million allocation to Grossmont Hospital.
