Write-in candidates needed in election

Four seats on the Powell Hospital District Board are up for election this year, and four candidates filed for election to the board.

But in an unusual twist, the four candidates are competing for three of the seats while no one’s running for the fourth spot.

First-time candidate Bob Murphy and incumbents Bonita Katz, Deb Kleinfeldt and Larry Parker all signed up for election to the three full-term, four-year seats on the Hospital District Board.

The fourth seat is a two-year position to fill the unexpired term initially held by Sandra Ehman, who was elected to the board in November 2014 but resigned in January 2015.

The board appointed Mark Olson to the seat in June 2015, but Olson decided not to file for election. He said hospital board meetings conflict with his firefighter training.

If there is not a successful write-in candidate, the board will have to appoint Olson’s successor, too.

Two of the trustees now serving on the board — R. J. Kost and Jim Carlson — were elected as write-in-candidates in 2010 when the number of candidates on the ballot was smaller than the number of seats available. Both were re-elected in 2014.

All seven members of the Powell Hospital District Board of Trustees also serve on the 10-member Powell Valley Healthcare Board of Directors, a separate non-profit organization that runs the hospital and its other facilities. In addition to trustees, the PVHC board includes three medical officers.