The last eight years of islander Doug Ostrom’s life have been connected to the Vashon Park District, as he served as a commissioner on the Vashon Park District Board.

However, this chapter came to a close at the end of 2021, as newly elected commissioners will take their seats in the new year.

Ostrom has lived on Vashon for the past 11 years, but also grew up on the island. As an economics professor, a specialist on the Japanese economy and a fluent Japanese speaker, Ostrom spent many years living in the Washington D.C. area. Ostrom, his wife, Kathy (a Japanese translator), and two children also spent a ten-year stint living in Japan.

Upon his return to Vashon, Ostrom was initially inspired to run for a seat as park commissioner after seeing that then-commissioners and the former executive director were attempting to build on the site of the Vashon Elementary School Fields.

“It was behind schedule and it was occurring in the context of a precipitous drop in property values on Vashon and everywhere, which is what funded the park district then and now,” said Ostrom. “They were having great difficulty paying for this and there was a lot of controversy surrounding this.”

With these events playing out, Ostrom began attending Park District meetings, which helped influence his decision to run for a commissioner position.

“[I] thought that I could make a contribution compared to what they were doing,” said Ostrom. “It was a time when the Park District was … the center of attention for the local taxing districts on Vashon Island.”

For Ostrom, his father, longtime Vashon High School government teacher Roy Ostrom, who taught at the school in the 1960s and 1970s, also was key in his original motivation to run for office.

“He very much encouraged all of us to take an interest in government and take part in government if we could,” said Ostrom. “I wanted to do my part to help the cause of government — because the park district is government. Maybe government at the lowest level, but it’s still government.”

In looking back, Ostrom is particularly proud of assisting in bringing greater financial stability to the district than existed when he first came into his role.

For Ostrom, it was paramount to not go “overboard” — and to not get carried away with the district’s finances.

One such example that is important to Ostrom was the tax anticipation note (TAN), which had the Park District borrowing money each year to fund operational activities for the first four months of the year, as property tax bills that funded the district would not have come in yet.

“There’s a very uneven receipt versus expenditure,” said Ostrom. “We basically changed it so that we funded these months ahead of time so that we had enough money to pay for those things, without borrowing money for it.”

Ostrom’s fellow commissioners and the staff at Vashon Park District will miss his perspective on the board, they said.

Hans Van Dusen, who has served with Ostrom on the board for the past three years, commented on Ostrom’s strong view on fiscal priorities, his solid background on issues and his understanding of the community, as a longtime islander.

“I really appreciated having Doug as a fellow commissioner,” said Van Dusen. “[His] longevity provides a helpful context.”

Executive Director of Vashon Park District Elaine Ott-Rocheford remarked on Ostrom’s thoughtfulness, kindness and respect.

“He often contributed different angles to issues that resulted in robust discussions and occasionally unexpected outcomes, but always with the best interests of the District and the community in mind,” said Ott-Rocheford, via email.

Ott-Rocheford also added that Ostrom’s motions throughout his tenure were “instrumental” in improving the financial health of the district, such as budgeting and planning over the years to pay off all debt (which was accomplished in 2018) and managing cash flow.

“Doug was more of a broad-based commissioner. I think his ‘generalist’ approach to concerns for the community and the District’s assets will be missed,” said Ott-Rocheford.

Ostrom is not the only commissioner whose term concluded at the end of 2021. Abby Antonelis, vice-chair of the board, will also depart after dedicated service for four years, said Van Dusen.

Ostrom’s involvement in the community will continue, as he is the current treasurer at the Burton Community Church, which he started attending as a child. In fact, Ostrom still has his kindergarten graduation certificate from the Burton Church.

“My mom probably felt it was the only graduation I could ever manage,” quipped Ostrom.

Looking forward, Ostrom does feel concerned about the lack of interest in islanders running for office. For instance, in the last election, his seat was the only position that had two candidates running — others were running unopposed or candidates had simply dropped out, leaving spaces needing to be appointed.

Ostrom advises islanders to go to Park District meetings or other local district meetings to see what is being discussed among elected representatives, and to become more involved in what is happening.

In addition, Ostrom references the situation of Sequim, Washington, in which up until the most recent election, had four of its seven city council positions appointed by the Sequim City Council.

“That’s a risk we run on Vashon as well,” said Ostrom. “That’s a risk of having a self-appointed legislative body, whether it’s the park district or something else.”

Currently, one of the seats on Vashon’s five-member school board is an appointed position, with another seat soon to be filled after another application process.