The ball began to officially roll towards a hospital district election in Pecos County on Tuesday following a special meeting by the Pecos County Memorial Hospital Board.

The board met on Aug. 23 and decided to move forward with the process of starting a petition in order to set a hospital district election into motion.

Fletcher H. Brown, attorney with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, attended the meeting and presented the procedural steps in order to get to an election, and answered questions the PCMH Board had regarding the change to a district if an election were to pass.

Brown, who has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America publication since 2013 for his “high caliber of work” in healthcare law, stated that the first step to hold a hospital district election will be to get 100 signatures on a petition before taking it to the county clerk for verification.

Signatures must come from registered voters that live inside the proposed hospital district boundaries.

“It has to have at least 100 signatures and they have to be qualified. The petition has to have the name of the district, boundary of the district, and we got to have the legal definition of that. You also have to state the maximum tax rate in the petition,” Brown said.

The boundaries of the proposed district will consist of Pecos County excluding the Iraan Hospital District.

Temporary directors, which will consist of current hospital board members per discussions at Tuesday’s meeting, will also be listed on the petition. The PCMH Board decided on five directors instead of seven following a recommendation by Pecos County Judge Joe Shuster and an explanation from Brown.

Directors will be broken up by the county’s four precincts and one at-large position. It was determined at the meeting that the board had members who lived in each of the four precincts.

If the election does pass, directors would be decided by vote in the May 2023 election.

Brown stated that he will finalize the petition by the end of this week and send Pecos County Memorial Hospital the forms and required paperwork to go along with the petition by the end of next week at the latest.

The PCMH Board and Shuster determined that Dec. 10 is the target election date for the hospital district.

In order for the election to happen by Dec. 10, the Pecos County Commissioners will need to hold a public hearing at a special or regular meeting after 100 signatures are verified.

The approval of the election order by the county commissioners will need to happen least 62 days before the proposed election date (Oct. 11).

If the election order is approved for a Dec. 10 election day, early voting would begin on Nov. 28.

See future editions of the Pioneer and the Pioneer website for additional information regarding the potential creation of a hospital district and the impact it would have for residents inside the proposed district’s boundary.