Four Long Beach council members want city government to form a special committee to ensure Molina Healthcare stays in town following the recent firings of two key executives.
“Businesses go where opportunities are,” said John Edmond, chief of staff for Councilman Dee Andrews. “They say they’re not going to leave, and we believe them. We just want to make sure that all the channels of communication are open.”
In addition to Andrews, councilmembers Lena Gonzalez, Daryl Supernaw and Rex Richardson have also signed on to the request asking City Manager Pat West to assemble a team that would be assigned “to develop a strategy and identify all available benefits and opportunities to attract and retain Molina Healthcare’s key operations and health care services in the City of Long Beach.”
The team could include people working for city government, as well as the likes of county and state government officials, private sector leaders and executives working for Molina Healthcare itself.
The full council is scheduled to vote on the idea during their Tuesday meeting.
Molina Healthcare, which specializes in health care plans for people receiving government assistance through programs like Medicare and Medi-Cal, is Long Beach’s only Fortune 500 company. The company’s interim chief executive, Joseph White, was not available Thursday to comment on the council members’ request.
The firm’s board of directors made the unexpected decision in early May to fire then-Chief Executive J. Mario Molina and then-chief financial officer John Molina. The Molina brothers are the sons of the company’s founder, the late C. David Molina, and despite the loss of their day-to-day jobs, the brothers are still directors of Molina Healthcare.
At the time of the firings, Molina Healthcare Chairman Dale Wolf said in a conference call and in a written statement that board members desired a leadership change in order to upgrade the firm’s “disappointing financial performance.”
Molina Healthcare has a highly visible presence in downtown Long Beach. The company’s main offices are at Molina Center, a pair of 14-story towers at 200 and 300 Ocean Boulevard. The company also occupies the former Press-Telegram and Meeker Baker buildings in the 600 block of Pine Avenue.
Molina Healthcare relocated some 400 employees from Long Beach to a San Pedro office tower earlier this year.
Outside of business, the Molina family is also well known for its philanthropic activities in Long Beach. For example, John Molina chairs the Aquarium of the Pacific’s governing board and J. Mario Molina is also a board member. Members of the family have given some $2 million to the support the aquarium’s Molina Animal Care Center, a veterinary facility, as well as another $5 million for an ongoing expansion project called Pacific Visions.
Date:July 09, 2017