It’s a wrap — and with this final edition of The Beachcomber in 2022, it’s time to look back at some of the biggest stories of the year for our small island.

King County purchases Misty Isle acreage

In the fall, King County purchased 110 acres of Vashon’s Misty Isle Farms, culminating a decade of work by islanders and others to protect at least part of the sprawling estate of the late Thomas Stewart.

The purchased properties, all on the western half of the estate, included the rolling pasture that was once — and now will be again, in 2024 — the site of one of Vashon’s most beloved annual events, The Sheepdog Classic, which drew thousands annually and raised funds for island nonprofits.

The purchase also included the forested corridor of Fisher Creek, a stream that supports cutthroat trout, coho and chum salmon, and added four miles of trails, now open to the public.

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue

The summer brought new leadership to Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR), after its board of commissioners voted in July to terminate the contract of former fire chief Charles Krimmert, and shortly thereafter promoted its recently hired assistant chief, Matt Vinci, as Vashon’s new chief.

Vinci, a newcomer to Vashon, has had a long career in fire service, most recently serving in leadership roles within the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) headquartered in Washington, D.C., as both the chief of staff and the director of education, training and human relations.

In his brief tenure as chief, Vinci has unveiled an ambitious agenda that includes, most notably, beefing up VIRF’s staff of career firefighters and volunteers — a need that Vinci, current staff and commissioners all describe as urgent.

Under Vinci’s direction, the district has also launched a new strategic planning process, restructured its staff, and sought to leverage grants and county funds to purchase new vehicles and equipment and initiate new health and wellness programs for VIRF’s members.

Throughout all this change, VIFR’s staff has continued to ably serve islanders, responding to at least three major structure fires in recent months, which included, sadly, a north-end home that was destroyed by fire in late November. A barn fire, successfully fought last week in bitterly cold conditions with a small crew, Vinci said, also highlighted the urgent need for additional staff at VIFR.

In its response to urgent calls for medical aid on Vashon throughout the year, Vinci has said, the district has also weathered diminished ferry service to Vashon, leading to long wait times for first responders to return to Vashon following transports to mainland hospitals.

Sailing isn’t smooth on local ferries

Washington State Ferry (WSF) service to and from Vashon continued to face disruptions, at times severe, as a two-boat schedule remained in force throughout the year on Vashon’s north-end dock, and crew shortages and mechanical issues regularly canceled sailings from Vashon’s Tahlequah dock to Pt. Defiance.

A two-boat system on the north end also left Vashon commuters vulnerable to long delays when one of the two boats went out of service — a frequent occurrence in WSF’s aging fleet.

And on July 28, the situation got even worse, as the Cathlamet, one of the two WSF vessels serving Vashon’s north end, crashed into protective pilings near the Fauntleroy terminal on its 7:55 a.m. run from Vashon, causing millions of dollars of damage to the boat.

The captain of the vessel at the time resigned immediately following the crash, and an investigation is still ongoing — as is the fallout for commuters, who continue to face regular delays in service on the Triangle Route.

Good news, however, might finally be on the way, as WSF has announced that “early in 2023,” it will begin trials to restore full, three-boat service on the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route.

Once this route completes its trial phase and reaches 95% reliability, WSF said, it will be considered fully restored.

We can’t wait.

Post Office Woes

Throughout 2022, the Vashon Post Office has experienced serious staffing shortages which have led to interrupted mail delivery and reductions in service on the island.

These problems were first noted in January when inclement weather caused long delays in mail delivery, and long lines formed out the door at Vashon’s Post Office. In March, islanders learned that the days of Vashon’s Burton Post Office were numbered, due to an intractable lease dispute between the landlord of the facility and the United States Postal Service.

By summer, USPS acknowledged that staffing levels were far too low for Vashon’s Post Office, with officials saying they would recruit new staff.

Home delivery was suspended for some island neighborhoods, as residents on Patten Lane, Point Vashon Drive, Corbin Beach, Burma Road and Sylvan Beach community were informed that they were required to install “cluster-box units” to serve their entire streets, or to move and line up their individual mailboxes to a single, more convenient location.

But in the fall, staffing woes worsened, as the post office’s still diminished staff continued to deal with a heavy load of package deliveries on Vashon — some 2,500 per day, according to a USPS spokesperson.

The problems have now reached crisis proportions, with only two or three local postal delivery workers remaining on staff, and the delivery of the rest of Vashon’s mail dependent on temporary workers called in from nearby communities. Work conditions for those remaining on the route have only worsened with new mandates from management to work seven days a week to clear the backlog of mail and package delivery.

Healthcare still front and center on Vashon

Despite gains in fighting COVID, the Vashon healthcare landscape remained challenged by both the virus and an ongoing, unfolding conflict between Sea Mar Community Health Centers and Vashon Health Care District (See story, page 1.)

Early January marked COVID’s third spike on Vashon, with unprecedented levels of disease detected in the community. As schools reopened, case counts soared in the schools, and testing demand for Vashon’s Medical Reserve Corps.

And in February, as home tests became more available, Vashon’s fifth COVID death was reported in The Beachcomber. By mid-month, though, the Omicron wave had crested, but caution was still advised.

In March, mask mandates in most settings in Washington relaxed, as cases diminished on the island and elsewhere. But in April, cases began to tick up again as Vashon rolled out a campaign to provide second booster vaccination shots for people ages 50 and older.

In May, as the spring surge continued, the antiviral Paxlovid became available, reducing the symptoms of COVID for some who received the medication.

In June, children aged six months to five years old finally became eligible for vaccination, easing many parents’ fears.

But by summer’s end, cases had once again increased, prompting King County Public Health and VashonBePrepared to again recommend indoor masking.

By Sept. 1, cases plateaued, as VashonBePrepared began preliminary planning with Vashon Pharmacy for yet another booster driver — this time, for a new bivalent, Omicron-tuned booster. These clinics rolled out in October, and islanders responded in droves.

At the end of November, VashonBePrepared announced that more than four in ten Vashonites had received the injection — making Vashon’s 42.4% uptake of the booster far higher than that of most communities, and that of King County overall.

By this time, however, a new threat was well underway — that of a “tripledemic”of COVID, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and seasonal influenza.

Throughout the year, The Beachcomber has faithfully partnered with VashonBePrepared and its affiliated Medical Reserve Corps to bring weekly public health updates to islanders.

We still highly recommend that you read them.

Vashon Schools

Vashon Island School District (VISD) reported some excellent news this year, as the class of 2022 had a four-year, on-time graduation rate of 93.6%, and the graduation rate for Hispanic/Latino students reached an all-time high of 91.7% percent — a 25% increase from 2018.

The district also launched an ambitious new strategic plan in 2022, promising equity for all students.

But fissures in the district’s finances also emerged in the spring, when the district announced a reduction in force (RIF) measure to deal with what it believed would be a $1.3 million deficit in its 2022-2023 budget.

Some of the cuts outlined in the RIF were alleviated by a higher-than-projected enrollment, but financial woes resurfaced in October, after a consultant hired by the district called VISD’s current spending levels “unsustainable” and urged significant reductions in staffing in 2023.

Leadership changes at VISD also began to stack up in the fall, with the departure of Matt Sullivan, VISD’s financial chief, in August, followed by the December departure of Kay Adams, VISD’s director of business and finance, who had been tasked with many aspects of Sullivan’s job.

Brandy Fox, a consultant who helmed VISD’s capital projects for the past six years, also announced that she would depart the district this fall, and Danny Rock, Vashon High School’s (VHS) principal, also recently announced that he would leave VHS mid-year, to take a job in the private sector.

The school district’s board of directors is also now down by one member — Kali Aguilera, appointed last year to fill the unfinished term of former board member Bob Hennessey, also announced her resignation following her move off-island.

Another deeply concerning development in VISD, beginning this fall, has been the still-ongoing investigations of two longtime VHS teachers, Kara Sears and John Rees, who have been accused of serious misconduct with students.

Both teachers still remain on paid administrative leave, as the investigations continue.