After interviewing several candidates this week, the Montezuma County Hospital District board appointed Randy Smith and Sue Jameson to fill board seats vacated by Florence Bane and Don Jolovich last May.

Smith, who heads the EMT program at the San Juan Basin Technical School, served as the board chairman for one year but did not run for re-election in May. He was previously appointed after the resignation of Jo Tipton in 1999.

Jameson works for the USDA office in Cortez.

Bane and Jolovich resigned shortly after the May elections, citing a lack of board support for their views concerning the management of Southwest Memorial and the fate of the Vista Grande Nursing Home, leaving two seats open.

They, along with Tipton and board member Joe Reed, were critical of the formation of Southwest Health System, the non-profit, private governmental organization responsible for managing the hospital under a 50-year lease from the MCHD board. Bane and Jolovich campaigned to dissolve SHS, but quit their seats, citing resistance to do so by the rest of the MCHD board.

The watchdog group pushed for more accountability from SHS regarding taxpayer assets. They organized a political action committee, Concerned Citizens for Montezuma County, to elect those with similar views, including activists Sheila Wilson and Marvin Smith. However, both Wilson and Smith failed to win election to the board in May.