9 MAKE RUNS FOR HOSPITAL BOARD SEAT : EX-ADMINISTRATOR, FORMER MAYOR AMONG HOPEFULS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Palmdale's first mayor and a former school superintendent are among the nine candidates who have declared their candidacy for seats on the Antelope Valley Hospital District board.

Of three incumbents whose terms are up, the only one seeking re-election is attorney Steve Fox. Also declared for those three seats are Cal State Northridge science Professor Jim Aldrich, who ran unsuccessfully for a board seat in 1994; Larry Chimbole, a former Palmdale mayor and state assemblyman; printing business owner Roger Hemme; and Deborah Rice and Tom Bretz, both nurses.

Three people filed for the seat left vacant in May by the resignation of Dr. Harvey Birsner: Judy Evans, a court reporter; Dr. John Manning, a plastic surgeon and unsuccessful 1992 hospital board candidate; and E. Jarold Wright, former Lancaster School District superintendent and a former trustee with the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

Manning was appointed by the hospital board in June to replace Birsner until the Nov. 5 election. Birsner's term expires in November 1998, and the three other seats carry four-year terms.

Because two incumbents, board members Hank Marvin and Dante Simi, did not file to run for re-election, the filing period will be extended to Wednesday, county election officials said.

Birsner resigned from the board in May amid a whirl of controversy over whether his work and the work of his medical partners for the hospital constituted a conflict of interest.

Birsner, a Lancaster neurosurgeon, had frequently clashed with other board members and hospital administrators since being elected to the board a second time, in 1994.

He previously had served on the board for 11 years until he resigned in protest in 1992 after two allies were ousted in the recall election.

``I filed because a couple of people suggested I might be able to provide some stability to the board,'' said Chimbole, 77, who served on the Palmdale council from 1962 to 1974 and in the Assembly from 1974 to 1978. He now works as a private consultant.

``It's an excellent facility that's provided good service over the years. I would like to see it continue. I also would like to see if the hospital can provide leadership in providing better services for the south Antelope Valley area.''

Once the subject of little electoral interest, the hospital board has been the center of fierce, often controversial campaign battles ever since the recall election in 1992.

Fox and another trustee were recalled in the April 1992 election, but Fox was re-elected seven months later in November.

Also winning in that election were Marvin and Simi, who were both named to fill the seats left by the resignations of Birsner and director Larry Parker.

More than $246,000 was raised and spent in the November 1994 hospital board election, making it probably the most expensive local race in Antelope Valley history.