My family has had the opportunity to enjoy most of our wonderful Vashon parks. During Exploratory Week many years ago, my son’s kayak stopped at Jensen Point, Luana Beach and Winghaven while he paddled around the island. When he was in high school, I had the pleasure of watching him run cross country at Paradise Ridge during three seasons.

My father-in-law used tai-chi and bocci  at Ober Park to stay fit when he was in his 80s, while my wife and I shop at the Village Green in-season and walk the trails at Agren Park with our dogs year-round.

Three years ago while serving on the VES Oversight committee, I became aware that a financial train wreck was jeopardizing the parks my family had enjoyed for two decades. I even recommended in a letter to The Beachcomber that the entire park board should resign because of their financial mismanagement.

As som one who has been responsible for financing more than $100 million in construction projects during my nearly 40-year career as a small business banker, it was easy to see the VES project was totally mismanaged and costing much more to complete because the board chose not to employ a project manager and general contractor to coordinate the project and manage costs. The situation was made worse by the need to divide the project over several years because the commissioners never had enough money to finish the project during a single year.

When the auditor for the state of Washington cited the park district for financial mismanagement, I knew I had to do some thing to make a difference. I ran for the board and was elected. Unfortunately, three of the commissioners who created this situation remained, and it has been business as usual, with loans to pay for daily operations and no financial reserve.

I am running for reelection because I know that when Doug Ostrom and I are joined by two new commissioners, we will be in a position to return the park district to financial stability. With our financial house in-order, all the island stakeholders will have a place at the table. The facilities we have will be well maintained, and we can return to many of the programs that have been lost in recent years. At the same time, we can be better stewards of our properties as we consider maintaining our facilities with environmentally-friendly products.