Maryann Welch, a longtime member of the Grays Harbor Community Hospital board, is stepping down. She has been its chairwoman since the hospital formed a public hospital district in 2015 and was on the board before that, when it was a private, non-profit hospital. She made the announcement at the hospital district meeting Tuesday night.

Along with serving 10 years on the board, she is retired from having headed up the county Public Health Department.

Welsh represented District 1, which includes Montesano, Junction City and Central Park. The other six members of the board will appoint her successor. Typically, the board asks for letters of interest from those seeking the appointment.

Also at Tuesday night’s meeting, the board approved Michael Bruce as chairman to succeed Welch in the executive board. Bruce is the former mayor of Westport.

“You’re going to be greatly missed,” Bruce said to Welch.

“This is a vast, complicated and complex organization,” she said. “It takes a lot of people to make it go and I have been so impressed by what it takes to run this 24/7place.”