Finding themselves outnumbered, Florence Bane and Don Jolovich resigned Wednesday night from the Montezuma County Hospital District board of directors.

Susan Keck, who was elected chairwoman of the board Wednesday night, read the one-sentence resignation letters at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting. Neither Bane nor Jolovich, who have each been on the board since May 1998, was present at the meeting.

Attempts to reach Bane and Jolovich on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

With the defeat of Sheila Wilson and Marvin Smith — two former candidates for the board — in the May 2 special district election, the majority of the board appears to hold views opposed by Bane and Jolovich. They were elected at a time when the public was fearful that the MCHD board would put the hospital at risk by incurring millions of dollars in indebtedness to construct a medical-office building.

They also had spoken out against the formation of Southwest Health System, the private, non-profit corporation created to lease the hospital operations, and were critical of MCHD’s long-term lease with Continuum Health Partnerships, the firm that leases Vista Grande Nursing Home.

Wilson and Smith hold similar views, as does Joe Reed, who remains on the board.

The board voted to accept Bane and Jolovich’s letters of resignation by a vote of 5-0. According to state law, the hospital district board has 60 days to appoint two people to fill Bane and Jovovich’s seats.

Interested candidates for the vacant board seats should submit applications no later than June 7. Applications need to be sent to the Montezuma County Hospital District, P.O. Box 1034, Cortez, CO, 81321.

After Keck was elected chairman, Rick Beisel was elected vice chair and Lois Rutledge was elected secretary/treasurer.

All the officers were elected by a unanimous vote.

Although the resignations were not submitted until Wednesday evening, Keck said Wednesday afternoon that she was troubled by rumors that Bane and Jolovich planned to resign.

"I am saddened and surprised by what I am hearing," said Keck. "Don and Florence did a lot of research and represented the feelings of a segment of the population. They had valuable perspectives and it is unfortunate if they feel that they do not have a voice on this board.