HCHD Board Cancels Election

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY – The Houston County Hospital District (HCHD) Board of Directors were back in their actual meeting room once again on Tuesday, March 23 after several meetings conducted via the internet.

The meeting was called to order by HCHD President Barbara Crowson who welcomed those in attendance and said, “As you know – if you read the newspaper – we are not having an election because the candidates are unopposed.”

The first order of business was to certify the unopposed candidates had enough signatures to be placed on the May 1 ballot.

HCHD Facilitator Dick Murchison said, “We had the petitions verified and each candidate had more than 100 names.”

Murchison went on to say, “There were no opposed positions. Therefore, there are no elections.”

The four candidates who will take their seats on the board are: Harvey Bruner; Carol Dawson; Debbie Kelly; and Roy Langford.

A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to cancel the election.

As the meeting continued, Ambulance Committee Chair Dina Pipes provided the board with the ambulance report.

Pipes reported there were 330 requests for service during the month of February. There were 197 transfers and seven patients were airlifted for further treatment. There were also 19 mutual aid calls to Grapeland.

Finance Committee Chair Rhonda Brown reported her committee had met on Monday to go over several matters.

“As a committee, we discussed prioritizing the district’s debt. The committee was in agreement that paying off the county for past ambulance debt should be taken care of as soon as possible. Dick Murchison will reach out to County Judge Jim Lovell for the total payoff, once approved by the board. The Higher Education Grant was discussed and will be addressed by the board. Hopefully, we will be able to come up with an offer that is agreeable to both parties to settle this debt,” Brown said.

In other matters brought before the board: