Hospital Levy & Hospital Commissioner

Hospital

Local Measures

Whidbey Island Public Hospital District

Proposition No. 1

The Commissioners of the Whidbey Island Public Hospital District, Whidbey Island, Washington (WhidbeyHealth) adopted Resolution No. 418, concerning a proposition to increase its regular property tax levy. If approved, this proposition provides funds to continue operations of WhidbeyHealth Medical Center and Clinics, including replacement of medical equipment and infrastructure, and personnel costs. The proposition authorizes a maximum regular property levy rate of $0.50/$1,000 of assessed value, for collection in 2022. The 2022 levy amount would become the base for computing the limitations for levies in subsequent years as provided in 84.55 RCW. 

Should this proposition be approved?

0 yes

0 no

This is a really hard one for me. I’ve lived here nearly 50 years, and in those years have had the unfortunate need to make use of the hospital’s services. Staff have been great. No complaint there. Management is another story. There have been so many mess-ups, face-plants, mistakes, and abuses that its hard for me to support the hospital. How did they manage to spend upward of $50 million on an expansion and redesign and somehow overlook provision for the in-house pharmacy? Its like building a house and forgetting the kitchen. All of which, of course, led to cost overruns. I do not lay any of this at the feet of staff, who do their best to work under whatever conditions are presented. I very much lay it at the feet of the Hospital Commission and the managers they hire. 

And that’s the nub of the hard part. If I were dealing with a child I would not give him/her any more opportunities to mess up until they had demonstrated some improvement. But the hospital district is not a child. I feel like all of us are being held hostage. We need the hospital, no question. We’re being told to pay up, whatever amount the commissioners decide – with the added twist of the knife that the new levy rate will become the bottom line for calculating a newer new rate in coming years. And if we don’t pay up, we lose the hospital. I hate extortion. I feel like the hospital commissioners are extorting from us. But I don’t see any alternative to giving in to their demands.

I’ve just read several letters to the editor in support of the levy lift, and I do see their points. No, I do not want to see the hospital district become a subset of Gonzo-meds-4-profit. And yes, its true that its been a very long time since a levy lift. Grudge, grudge. But I still want to see more transparency and responsibility on the part of the hospital board. It sure would help if we had honest and competent people challenging the current board members – or even making themselves an auxiliary board. 

I will be voting a reluctant yes – and asking the hospital board to demonstrate that they will spend the increased revenue wisely. 

Hospital Commissioner

Kurt Blankenship

Mr Blankenship is the incumbent, which does not make him a favorite. He also did not respond to my request for information. 

Its hard to find information about him. There’s the WhidbeyHealth profile: https://whidbeyhealth.org/member/kurt-blankenship. That’s a little confusing because it says he is in his 40^th year of practicing law in Louisiana. Kind of a long commute there. Evidently he has taken up permanent residence in January 2016. I admit I just didn’t have it in me to watch Hospital board meetings.

I just found a declaration by Mr Blankenship on behalf of COER in the case of Growler noise. My estimation of the man increases.

 

James Golder – ran against Rick Larsen in 2020. Since it was a crowded field, and he was facebook friends with right wing South Whidbey School Board member Damian Greene, played an awful lot of on line war games, and appeared to have spent no $, I wrote him off as “also ran.” This time around Mr Golder submitted responses to my questions, and even phoned to be sure I’d received them. 

I asked his opinion of masks and vaccines. He is 100% in favor, a firm believer that if everyone did so, we could/would beat the virus. He also credits mask wearing with sparing him and his wife the usual colds and flu. 

His responses:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to your inquiry.

My family has been on Whidbey since 1980. My wife, Luella worked as a O.R. nurse at Whidbey Hospital for 17 years.
We have six children and six grandchildren , one Doctor and one future Doctor in the family. I have a Juris Doctorate from UPS and Notre Dame. 
I served 8 years as a State Legislator. Chairman of the Business Committee and chairman of the Ways and Means committee and served as a political appointee to the president in Washington D.C.

I am past president and current treasurer of Harris Custer Water Association. Past president Oak Harbor Friends of the Library, past board member Whidbey Library, past president Idaho Consumers Affairs, past president NAIFA.
Former owner Accurate Appraisals, Wallace metal reconditioning company, and an employment agency. I feel that I am qualified to help manage and make decisions regarding our county's only hospital. 

My goal is to improve Whidbey Health's overall reputation, recruit a wider number of health care professionals into service at our hospital and increase the pay for our over-worked and under-paid nurses. There has been low morale among some of the staff, the financial position of Whidbey Health is not consistently strong, and because of these and other issues, quite a few members of our community choose to travel to surrounding hospitals rather than use the local facility. 

My operating philosophy is as always: to do the greatest amount of good, for the greatest number of people.

My message is simple: I think I can help.

He was a member of the Idaho House of Representatives from 1977 to 1984. 

And now some new information has come forward. Seems that while he was an Idaho representative, Mr Golder was in process of divorcing his wife and defrauding her of her share of the community property. A court found him guilt of fraud and “overreaching” (essentially bullying)  https://cite.case.law/idaho/110/57/

I do prefer people who represent my interests to be honest. I will be voting for the incumbent, Kurt Blankenship.