The WVHA Citizens Advisory Committee chair will fill out the term of former Commissioner Brian Soukup, who resigned

Donna Pepin, who served as the chair of the West Volusia Hospital Authority Citizens Advisory Committee, was selected by the Hospital Authority board to complete the remaining year of former Commissioner Brian Soukup’s tenure Sept. 23.

Soukup tendered his resignation from the Hospital Authority board Sept. 16.

Pepin was among three applications the Hospital Authority received for the newly vacant seat. The other two applicants were both former Hospital Authority commissioners: Robert Mann, who served on the Hospital Authority board 2014-16, and Dolores Guzman, who served on the Hospital Authority board 2018-2020.

Pepin and Mann were present at the Hospital Authority meeting Sept. 23 and petitioned for their appointments to the board.

Pepin stressed her attendance, which Coen confirmed — Pepin has missed only two Hospital Authority meetings since 2020 and was not even serving on the CAC until January 2021.

“Being a nurse, also, I see the massive problems in health care,” Pepin told The Beacon. “I see through the West Volusia Hospital Authority we could solve some of those problems.”

While not selected for the vacant seat, Mann said he would like to return to public service and would consider running for a seat on the Hospital Authority board or another office in 2022.

He misses public service, he said.

“I love doing it,” Mann said. “You need to have the right type of desire to help people.”

Commissioner Judy Craig made a motion to accept Soukup’s resignation and appoint Pepin to the Hospital Authority board. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Jennifer Coen.

Pepin’s appointment was approved with a unanimous vote from the four sitting Hospital Authority commissioners.

As a nurse, and with an understanding of the ins and outs of the Hospital Authority, Pepin said she was looking forward to serving.

“I didn’t want someone else to get in there who would not help keep the Hospital Authority up,” she said.

Pepin’s seat will be back up for election in the 2022 general election, along with the seat currently occupied by Chair Voloria Manning.

Hospital Authority Attorney Ted Small said Pepin would be officially appointed to the board once her paperwork was accepted by the governor’s office and the supervisor of elections office. Small expects the paperwork to be processed by the next regular Hospital Authority board meeting, Oct. 21.