‘A GREAT DAY’

Hospital result unchanged by recount

BY JUSTIN ITES

12/03/2011

Plans to build a new hospital in Iowa Falls cleared a final hurdle Wednesday when a recount of election results of Public Measure D confirmed that the measure had passed.

When all the ballots were re-counted, the news was positive from officials and supporters of Ellsworth Municipal Hospital. The final tally was 2,316 "yes" votes to 1,540 "no" votes. In the end, both nubmers changed slightly. There were three more "yes" votes added to the total, while one "no" vote was lost. That left the measure at 60.06 percent - just enough to secure passage.

There were more than 40 ballots declared undervoted. In those circumstances, a ballot did not show a filled-in oval.

The final tally was canvassed by the County Board of Supervisors later in the afternoon Wednesday. That action made the numbers official.

A small group of EMH officials and employees were present for the recount. Hospital CEO Cherelle Montanye said it felt good to have the support of so many voters in the county.

"I'm glad we gained a few votes, but for us, it was hearing from Hardin County voters. If you look at the number of votes for the project, there were a lot. That was the message we needed to hear," Montanye said.

While the majority in the room were elated, one person was not. Gary Van Den Boom, an Eldora citizen opposed to the project, is the one who requested the recount by submitting 70 signatures of others who wanted a recount too. He was one of three people recounting the ballots Wednesday. Dallas County Deputy Auditor Brenda Peshel and Wright County Auditor Betty Ellis were also on hand. Hardin County Auditor Renee McClellan presided over the recount.

Prior to the recount, Ellis, Peshel and Van Den Boom agreed to hand count the ballots. A voting machine was used only if an agreement could not be reached between them regarding a specific precinct’s final total. The absentee ballots were the only ballots counted by the machine.

After the verdict was reached, Van Den Boom said the will of the people was clear.

“I would have liked to have it come out the other way, but that’s the way the people voted. Apparently we should have put more information out to the public,” Van Den Boom said. “To begin with, no advertising ran in the Hubbard-Radcliffe area. If we had been ready sooner and had that in the Hubbard paper ( Signal Review) that would have made the difference and swung 10 votes.”

McClellan said the cost to hold the election is yet to be determined. She said the end result is the closest election she’s presided over in her years in office.

“We had a county attorney race in the late ’90s or so that was within five to six votes,” Mc-Clellan said. “This one was right there as far as it could have gone either way.”

Now that EMH can move forward on its project, Montanye said there are many things to get accomplished before ground can be broken in the spring.

“The next step is we will have to start pulling together our project teams and do our due diligence. The first thing is the finances and the bonding,” Montanye said. “The next is starting up the project again with schematic design and other elements. Then we have to set a time table because we have been somewhat delayed.”

Fundraising for the project is ongoing, and EMH officials have been confident that totals will continue to rise now that donors know a new hospital is in the future.

“We are very close fundraising,” Montanye said. “Some were waiting until the conclusion of the recount before they donated and I understand that. I just feel this is a great day for Hardin County.”

EMH Board of Trustees member Francis Fitz echoed Montanye’s sentiments. As he left the meeting room, it was hard for him to mask a big smile.

“I think the real winners are the people of Hardin County,” Fitz said.

Hardin County Auditor Renee McClellan feeds absentee ballots into a voting machine during a recount of the Ellsworth Municipal Hospital bond referendum Wednesday at the Hardin County Courthouse.

For further information, contact Justin Ites at ites@iafalls.com at Times Citizen