New London — Catherine Zall, director of the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, has been chosen as the community representative to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital’s board of directors, one of the first conditions of the affiliation agreement between L+M and Yale New Haven Health to be fulfilled.

Zall is a pastor of the First Congregational Church in New London and a longtime former corporator of the hospital. Her appointment was announced Tuesday at a meeting between the independent monitor overseeing compliance with the agreement and a group of about 30 community leaders. The meeting is the first of several that monitoring firm Deloitte & Touche partner Kelly Saunders plans to host with community groups and members of the public over the next three years to provide updates on how the conditions set by state regulators who approved the affiliation on Sept. 8 are being met.

“We will be reporting to the regulators,” Saunders said, referring to the state Office of Health Care Access. “We will be obtaining documents about the conditions that are being met, and verifying those documents, and obtaining supporting information. I hope, as we go forward, you will be a sounding board, or a forum, and that this will be an iterative process as we go.”

Among those who attended the meeting were several members of a health care advocacy and union coalition who have been questioning some of the terms of the affiliation and have been urging that access to services not diminish as L+M becomes further integrated into the Yale New Haven system.

Mary Ellen Masciale, coalition representative for the L+M technologists union, and Dr. Stephen Smith, a primary care physician and coalition member, both faulted the process for selecting Zall. While they did not question her credentials and her record of community service, her longstanding ties to the hospital could give the appearance of bias, they said.

“It’s the process we’re concerned about,” Smith said.

Jerry Fischer, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut, however, praised the selection of Zall as a “real activist” who will use her knowledge of the hospital to the community’s benefit.

Saunders said Zall’s selection was approved by OHCA after regulators reviewed her credentials. Zall said she would use her position to urge that the hospital put more resources toward programs that can improve the health of the entire community.

“I’m hoping to do what I can to make this partnership be effective on behalf of the community,” Zall said. “I will try to advocate strongly so that we can all benefit.”

Another condition of the agreement requires L+M to maintain its charitable programs to the community no lower than their current levels, Saunders said. That equals about $9.1 million in fiscal 2016 for community education programs, training for health care workers, providing paramedic services and other programs that enhance public health.

Ocean Pellett of Waterford, a member of the coalition, said she would like to see the hospital invest more resources into community health programs.

“This is the baseline,” Saunders replied, referring to figures for fiscal 2016 and 2015. “That doesn’t mean that more can’t be done as finances allow.”

Of the $300 million Yale New Haven has pledged to invest in L+M over the next five years, about $76 million is not yet committed for a specific project, Smith said. He urged that a substantial part of that be put into hiring community health workers and other programs to help people better manage diabetes and other chronic diseases. Such an investment would be in keeping with the findings of a Community Health Needs Assessment the hospital and Ledge Light Health District recently completed.

“We could make southeastern Connecticut a model for community health,” he said.

Harry Rodriguez, president of the L+M health care workers’ union and a coalition member, sought clarification on how much authority the L+M board would retain.

“A big selling point of this was that L+M was going to continue to be self-governing,” he said. But a phrase in the agreement, he noted, gives the Yale New Haven board “reserve powers.”

“Does that mean they can veto everything?” he asked. “This is going to affect the entire community.”

Saunders said she would seek clarification on that point.

After the meeting, Yale New Haven spokesman Vincent Petrini said L+M’s board would retain local control over budgets and other significant decisions, within parameters set by the larger network.

“Decisions are made by the local board,” he said. “Our goal is to build access and increase investments in community and population health. Our goal is to make sure L+M is here long term, to sustain the viability of the organization.”

j.benson@theday.com