Management of hospital; hospital board; procedure to elect or appoint members; petition; election; term; vacancies

19-4605. Management of hospital; hospital board; procedure to elect or appoint members; petition; election; term; vacancies. (a) The commission shall provide for the management and control of any existing county hospital or any county hospital established under this act by a board. (b) The system for electing or appointing the board shall continue until the system is changed as provided by subsection (d). (c) Upon establishment of a county hospital under this act, the commission, by resolution, shall provide for the establishment of a board and shall provide either that the members be appointed by the commission or that the members be elected by the qualified electors of the county on a nonpartisan basis. If the commission determines that the board is to be elected, the procedure for holding such election shall be determined by the commission, by resolution. The laws applicable to the procedure, manner and method provided for the election of county officers shall apply to the election of members of the board. The commission shall fix the number of board members and the terms of office for such members. The board shall be composed of five, seven or nine members and terms of office thereof shall be for not less than two years and not more than four years. Members of the board shall be residents of the county in which the hospital is located. (d) (1) The commission, upon being presented with a petition signed by qualified electors of the county equal in number to not less than 5% of the electors of the county who voted for the office of the secretary of state in the last preceding election requesting the manner of selection of the board be changed, shall adopt a resolution providing for the change. The question of changing the method of selection shall be submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of the county at a regular county primary or county general election or, if no regular county election is to be held within six months from the date of adoption of the resolution, at a special election called for the purpose of submitting such question. The resolution shall not be effective until a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question at such election vote in favor of the question. Such question shall not be submitted to the electors of the county at any election more than once in any one year. (2) The commission may adopt a resolution changing the manner of selection of the board. Such resolution providing for the change shall be published at least once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official county newspaper. If within 30 days following the last publication of such resolution, a petition against such resolution signed by qualified electors of the county equal in number to not less than 5% of the electors of the county who voted for the office of the secretary of state in the last preceding election is filed with the county election officer, such resolution shall not be effective until submitted to and approved by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting at an election called and held thereon. The question of changing the method of selection shall be submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of the county at a regular county primary or county general election or, if no regular county election is to be held within six months from the date of adoption of the resolution, at a special election called for the purpose of submitting such question. Such question shall not be submitted to the electors of the county at any election more than once in any year. (e) Members serving on a board on July 1, 1986, shall continue to serve until expiration of their respective terms and their successors shall be selected for terms fixed by resolution of the commission in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) and this subsection (e). Members appointed to serve on an appointed board of any county hospital shall be appointed for staggered terms so that: (1) Not all terms of office of such members expire at the same time; and (2) a majority of the members of the board are not appointed at the same time. Members elected to serve on an elected board of any county hospital shall be elected for staggered terms so that not all terms of office of such members expire at the same time. (f) Subject to the provisions of subsection (c), the commission, by resolution, may modify the number of members to serve on the board. Whenever the number of members of a board is modified by the commission, the commission shall provide for the expiration of the terms of the members, appointed or elected, so that not all members of the board are selected at the same time. When complying with the requirements of this subsection, the commission may extend or shorten the length of a term of an existing member for a period not to exceed one year from the date such member's term otherwise would expire. (g) The commission may adopt a resolution changing the terms of office of some or all members of an elected board so that the members of the board are elected in even-numbered years. When making the change under this subsection, the commission may extend or shorten the length of a term of an existing member of an elected board for a period not to exceed one year from the date such member's term otherwise would expire. The resolution providing for the change shall be published at least once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official county newspaper. If within 30 days following the last publication of such resolution, a petition against such resolution signed by qualified electors of the county equal in number to not less than 5% of the electors of the county who voted for the office of the secretary of state in the last preceding election is filed with the county election officer, such resolution shall not be effective until submitted to and approved by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting at an election called and held thereon. The question of changing the terms of office of some or all members of an elected board so that the members of the board are elected in even-numbered years shall be submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of the county at a regular county primary or county general election or, if no regular county election is to be held within six months from the date of adoption of the resolution, at a special election called for the purpose of submitting such question. Such question shall not be submitted to the electors of the county at any election more than once in any year. (h) Vacancies in the membership of the board shall be filled by appointment by the commission. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold office until expiration of the term of the vacated office. (i) Members of the board are subject to removal from office in the manner and for the causes prescribed by law for other county officers. History: L. 1984, ch. 98, § 5; L. 1986, ch. 113, § 1; L. 1998, ch. 102, § 1; July 1. Attorney General's Opinions: Powers of county hospital board; certain powers cannot be preempted by county commission. 85-106. Hospital board member has right of access to personnel file of staff physician or other county hospital employee. 87-109. County hospital boards; authority; agreements creating potential indebtedness of county. 87-187. County hospitals; tax levies; handling hospital funds. 88-31. Organization of county hospital boards. 88-168. Management of county hospital; authority of county commission and hospital board. 95-110. County commissioners failed to determine the procedure for holding election of members of board; election void. 96-74. Changing method of selection of county hospital board members; frequency in submitting question. 97-56. Moneys to be used to make payments on revenue bonds issued for limited care residential facility. 1999-37. County hospital board; terms of office, election thereto; involvement of county commissioners. 2000-28. County commission may appoint person to fill vacancy on board of directors of county health center. 2001-26. Tax levy for county hospitals over six mills must be authorized by board of county commissioners and approved by majority of qualified electors. 2002-36. Authority to set mill levy for county hospital rests with county commissioners, or, in case of an elected board, the board. 2009-9. Same person may not serve concurrently as county commissioner and county hospital trustee. 2012-15. Absent a statutory provision addressing whether a person may concurrently hold the public offices of county hospital trustee and hospital employee, the common law doctrine of incompatibility of public office applies and would prohibit such concurrent positions. One position is subordinate to the other, and there are too many potential conflicts of interest between the two positions. 2025-3. CASE ANNOTATIONS 1. While county hospital board subject to open meetings act (K.S.A. 75-4317 et seq.), management company leasing from board is not. Memorial Hospital Ass'n, Inc. v. Knutson, 239 Kan. 663, 671, 672, 722 P.2d 1093 (1986). 2. Whether lack of pretermination process violated discharged county employee's procedural due process rights examined. Anglemeyer v. Hamilton County Hosp., 848 F. Supp. 938, 941 (1994). 3. A managing entity contracted by a county hospital board serves as an instrumentality of the county government and falls under the definition of a public agency under the Kansas open records act. State v. Great Plains of Kiowa Cty., Inc., 308 Kan. 950, 954, 425 P.3d 290 (2018). 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