Three named to hospital board

County commissioners Tuesday approved the selection of three new members of the board of director of Weems Hospital Board.

By unanimous approval, the commissioners approved the selection of Homer “Mack” McMillan, Debra Huckeba, and Duffy Harrison to the hospital board.

Two of the appointments replace Paul Marxsen and Gayle Dodds, both of whom stepped down late last year. The third was put in as an at-large voting member in the place of the non-voting medical officer.

“everybody expects the government to do everything and citizens don’t get involved,” Harrison, a former warden of Franklin Correctional Institution, told the commissioners. “I am happy to serve.”

The number of voting members on the hospital board remains at seven.

Chairman Pinki Jackal said she would like to see Dr. Stephen Miniat restored to the board, perhaps as a nonvoting member. Her motion passed unanimously, and County Attorney Michael Shuler agreed to make the necessary changes in the bylaws after meeting with the hospital’s interim administrator Cindy Drapal.

In her report., Clerk of Courts Marcia Johnson said the balance in the hospital’s operating account for the month ending Dec. 2011 was $108,494. There is also Certificates of Deposit totaling $204,930 and a Grant Account totaling $78,637.12 for total monies of $392,061. The balance in the hospital’s capital fund was $542,497.

Commissioner Cheryl Sanders expressed frustration that the health department’s annex in Carrabelle remains closed. “We’ve been waiting for months for it to open,” she said. “Now we see that (Dr. Karen) Chapman,(the health department administrator) has removed herself again from the agenda to tell us what’s going on. I am not going to wait too much longer before I take a trip to Tallahassee

“She’s supposed to be on the agenda,” said Sanders. “There’s something not right in the henhouse”

Sanders said she would like to see a meeting between county officials and Michael Sentman, the state’s assistant deputy secretary for health.