Vote on electing hospital board set
Staff writer
District residents attending Hospital District No. 1’s annual meeting in May will be allowed to vote on whether hospital directors should be elected at the meeting or in regular elections, as school board members are.
At their most recent meeting, district directors decided to place a question on how they should be elected on the agenda for their annual meeting.
Board members have debated months whether to change the process.
Director Dan Holub said that if district voters chose to put a question on the general election ballot in November, voters in that election would choose whether to change the process.
If they accept the change, the first election of board members would happebn in November, 2027.
“The only people who can change it are the voting members of the district,” Holub said.
The hospital district includes the eastern half of the county.
Directors now are chosen at a annual meeting at 5 p.m. Statutes do not allow voters to come and go throughout the day.
Holub said allowing people to vote any time and doing so on Election Day would make it easier and fairer, as some people are not available at 5 p.m.
The largest turnout at a annual meeting he has seen was 180 voters when a contentious item was on the agenda.
While he wants board members to be voted in at the ballot box, he says whether election procedures change will be determined by the importance district voters place on the issue.
“If they care about the hospital district, it probably will pass,” Holub said.