By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Six persons have filed for four open seats on the Val Verde County Hospital District Board of Directors, according to information released Friday by hospital officials.
Hospital district voters will decide four seats on the board in the May 2 general election. The open seats include two board of director at-large positions, board of director Precinct 1 and board of director Precinct 2. Filing for the seats began Wednesday, Jan. 14, and ended at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13.
Prospective candidates for the hospital board filed their applications for places on the ballot with Maricela Arreola, Val Verde Regional Medical Center executive assistant.
Moments after the deadline to file for a place on the ballot passed Friday, Arreola told The 830 Times a total of six persons had filed applications for places on the May 2 ballot.
All four incumbents currently holding seats on the hospital board have filed for re-election.
Two of those four are unopposed: Dr. Daniel Chartrand, who has filed an application seeking re-election to the board of director Precinct 1 seat he currently holds, and Dr. Julio Otazo, who has filed an application seeking re-election to the board of director Precinct 2 seat he currently holds.
Both incumbents currently holding the two at-large seats on the board, Cris Diaz and Dr. Lee Keenen, have also filed applications seeking re-election to those seats, Arreola said.
She said two other persons have also filed applications seeking election to the two at-large seats. They are Raul Alatorre and Ramon Santellanes III.
Alatorre is self-employed and is the owner of a local sleep clinic.
Santellanes currently works as a security guard at Val Verde Regional Medical Center, an aircraft maintainer for the Department of Defense and a loss prevention agent at Burlington in the Plaza Del Sol Mall.
Early voting by personal appearance in the May 2 general election begins April 20.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
