Letter to Editor | PHD Commissioners Express Gratitude, and Promise Transparency

— from Diane Boteler, Richard Frailick, Pegi Groundwater, Art Lange, and Patty Miller —

To all the members of our community,

As your newly elected Public Hospital District (PHD) commissioners we would like to thank all the members of our community for taking the time to learn about this ballot measure so that you could make an informed decision. The approximately 77% “yes” vote is much appreciated.

We realize that you have placed a great deal of trust in us since the PHD legislation requires that the District be passed without giving the voters the ability to specify the levy rate. We will do everything we can to be worthy of that trust.

We are committed to representing the members of our community in an open and honest manner. Our primary goal is to enable the members of our community to have access to primary and urgent care in a financially sustainable manner. We take our fiduciary responsibility to our taxpayers and all the members of our community seriously. We will do everything possible to ensure that we have high quality healthcare here on Orcas and that we spend your taxpayer dollars wisely and cost effectively.

We realize that we will be faced with making many difficult decisions with which not everyone will agree. However, we commit to engage in an open and transparent process, we will listen to all points of view, and we will seriously consider all reasonable options in our decision process.
We would like to thank the 35-plus members of the Coalition for Orcas Health Care and many others for all the hard work they contributed to help the members of our community understand what the PHD is all about and to enable us all to have access to primary and urgent care here on Orcas.

And thank you, again, to the members of our community for your support.