Seven candidates have thrown their collective hats in the ring for open board seats with the Montezuma County Hospital District, promising a lively election.

On May 2, county residents will choose directors for three board seats, each for four-year terms. The candidates are Sheila J. Wilson, Jeanette Gayle Hart, Marvin Smith, incumbent Lois Rutledge, Remigio de la Candelaria, incumbent James R. Beisel Jr., and Keith Domerese. Rutledge, who completed a two-year term, and Beisel, who has served a four-year term, are running for re-election.

Board-appointed Chairman Randy Smith is not running, so the new board will nominate and then vote for a new chair following the election.

District-board candidate and community member Ronald Volz was killed Monday along with his wife, Nella, in a traffic accident in Utah. (See related story on Page 3A).

The Cortez Journal will be hosting candidate interviews in April, in addition to providing background on issues facing the special district such as the fate of the Vista Grande nursing home, expansion plans at Southwest Memorial Hospital, community health needs, management contracts and the challenges that rural hospitals face in today’s competitive market.

At February’s MCHD board meeting, audience members expressed concern that some board candidates may have conflicts of interest regarding board governance if elected. According to the hospital district’s bylaws, there are no clauses that prevent any person who is at least 18 years of age and a resident of the district from running.

Also, there is nothing that prevents a hospital employee from seeking a board position, said the district’s attorney, Kelly McCabe, although some board members believe that it could create a conflict of interest.

"I feel that having employees on the board could cause a problem, because we make a lot of decisions that directly affect the hospital," said MCHD director Don Jolovich, conceding that there are situations where a conflict would be unlikely.

"I am referring to high-level employees who are in decision-making positions, such as department managers or physicians," he said.

Candelaria, who works in the dietary department at Southwest Memorial, is seeking a board seat, and said that his position at the hospital would not cause a problem.

"It is a moot point because the district does not handle day-to-day operations here," he said. "The job of the district board is to oversee the operating lease and look after other health needs in the county. As far as I know, SHS has never made an issue out of an employee running for the board."

In 1996, the district leased assets and hospital operations to Southwest Health System, a non-profit, private corporation. That put employees under SHS management, a fact that McCabe says distances district-board members from potential conflicts of interest because they are less involved with daily operations.