GR man appointed to hospital board

On Thursday the newest member of the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County Board of Trustees took his oath of office.

Green River resident Marty Kelsey was sworn into office by hospital board president Richard Mathey. Kelsey is replacing Bob Scott, whose term ended in June.

Scott was appointed in February to carry out the remainder of a five-month term.

This isn’t the first time Kelsey’s name came up for a hospital board appointment. Back in February, when Scott was appointed to the board, Sweetwater County Commissioners Wally Johnson and Don Van Matre wanted Kelsey to be appointed to a 16-month term, however, commissioners John Kolb, Reid West and Randy Wendling voted in favor of Edward F. Tardoni. Tardoni and Scott were both appointed to the board then.

“I didn’t think anything of it,” he said about their appointments.

Kelsey said he hadn’t even considered putting his name in for the hospital board until one of the commissioners, who he didn’t want to name, strongly encouraged him to do so.

Kelsey said this same commissioner visited him two or three times to see if he would change his mind.

“I eventually submitted an application,” Kelsey said. “He wanted someone with a strong financial background on the board.”

Kelsey is familiar with budgets and how they work. He was a Western Wyoming Community College employee for 36 years and was the vice president of administrative services for 27 of those years.

Kelsey’s five-year term officially started July 1 and he’s already been to a couple of meetings.

Kelsey said he first went to the meeting as a visitor and then the second meeting he went to as a new board member.

“I look forward to it a lot,” Kelsey said. “I think I can offer some help to them that they can benefit from.”

During Thursday’s meeting, trustees also elected a new slate of officers. Mathey and trustee Barbara Sowada each will retain their positions, president and vice president, respectively, while Taylor Jones will serve as treasurer, replacing Scott and Kelsey will replace Jones as secretary, while Ed Tardoni remains a board member.

“It’s a great hospital. It has its issues like all organizations,” Kelsey said.