Four Floyd County Medical Center Board of Trustees positions open in general election

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Along with the national, state and county office elected positions that will be decided on the general election ballot in November, an additional group of candidates will be included.

Four positions on the Floyd County Medical Center Board of Trustees are up for election this year. It will be the first election for trustee members since county voters picked the initial seven-member board two years ago in 2020.

Persons who want to run for one of the four available seats must file paperwork with the Floyd County Auditor’s Office by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31. As of Thursday afternoon two people – both current trustees – had filed nomination papers.

In 2019, Floyd County voters overwhelmingly approved a change in charter for the Floyd County Medical Center. The most significant changes were going from a governing body that had consisted of members appointed by the county Board of Supervisors, to a board of trustees elected by the voters, and the ability of that new board to now levy property taxes to support the county hospital.

In the first year after voters approved the charter change, the governing board was still appointed by the supervisors. But at the next election, in 2020, the seven trustee positions were up for election, and a total of seven candidates ran.

Voters picked Viva Boerschel, Sharon Enabnit, Cheryl Erb, Randy Heitz, Ron James, Mary Jo Lacour and Amanda McCarty for that first elected board of trustees. Boerschel and Enabnit were new to the board, with the other five elected having been among those previously appointed to the position.

Trustee terms of office are usually four years, but in order that the entire board not be elected every four years, a random draw was held at the board’s first meeting to select four members who would serve only an initial two-year term. From then on about half the board – either three or four members – would be up for election every two years.

The four who were selected for two-year terms and whose seats are up for election this year were Boerschel, Enabnit, Erb and McCarty.

As of Thursday afternoon, Boerschel and Enabnit had filed nomination papers for re-election.

To be included on the ballot a potential hospital trustee candidate must file an affidavit of candidacy and nomination papers with at least 50 signatures of residents of the county. The papers must be filed with the county auditor’s office by the Aug. 31 deadline.

Nomination papers are available at the auditor’s office or at the Iowa Secretary of State website, http://sos.iowa.gov/elections/electioninfo/General/index.html

The only qualifications for office are that the candidate be at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and a resident of Iowa at the time of the election, and a resident of the county when sworn into office.