By JEFF CHALE
For The Beachcomber

The dawning of the new year brings with it some thoughtful consideration for the taxpayers of Vashon and Maury Islands as we approach an important decision regarding the Maintenance and Operations Levy for the Vashon Park District.

The levy election is slated to run this year, and I write in support of the park district levy after a recent inspiring meeting with Elaine Ott, the district’s executive director, where the agenda was user group leadership participation in her preparation for the district’s five-year plan.

My association with the Vashon Park District is as the Quartermaster Yacht Club representative for the Bruce Haulman Junior Sailing Program. The park district facilitates registration and administrative support, while the Quartermaster Yacht Club administers the sailing instruction. I have witnessed firsthand the many changes and challenges that have occurred at the district over the past several years, and I can honestly say that they are on their way back and moving forward with energy, sound financial footing and a plan for success.

My meeting with Elaine left me encouraged and confident after learning of the park district’s accomplishments this past year. The BARC skate park shines with the addition of a skate bowl that regional skateboarders claim is one of the best in the Northwest. The 2015 budget includes a one-month extension to the pool season thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of the Friends of the Vashon Pool group. The Keeper’s Quarters at Point Robinson proudly boast a shiny new paint job, while the lighthouse is slated for a new roof this spring.

Additional park district system improvements include an online lodging reservation system, a streamlined facility database, a newly designed website and a one-inch thick notebook containing the new Maintenance Management Plan. These improvements point to increased efficiencies and improved reporting functions, and they enhance communication tools for our community.

Certainly, the final phase of the VES Fields project looms over the levy with its cloud of controversy surrounding the use of public funds and what some believe was gross mismanagement by the park district commissioners. The project has cost over $2.2 million to date when considering the full commitment to the associated debt service. Of that amount, nearly half was funded with levy monies and the other half from grants, fundraising and donated labor and equipment.

This final phase in 2015, closing out the King County clearing and grading permit, will cost an estimated additional $158,000. It simply doesn’t make sense that the project not be finished. It is 93 percent complete. In my opinion, the true financial mismanagement would be to not complete the final 7 percent, however the remainder is funded. The risk of not doing so is unacceptable — King County potentially closing down the park, and reapplying for another permit at a later date could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars more in new engineering and design costs to meet new standards. To make this the stumbling block to the 2015 levy seems to me the most irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars in the context of the entire equation.

Where would we be without parks? Studies prove that outdoor recreation, physical activity and participation in club sports reduces drug and alcohol use among kids and teens, prevents obesity and reduces teen suicides while improving their overall physical and mental health.

The school district cites its student numbers to be around 1,500. The park district serves more than 1,000 of those kids participating in after-school sports, including soccer, baseball, lacrosse, basketball, swimming, sailing and rowing.

A recent advertisement in The Beachcomber claimed that, “If the levy fails … the Vashon Park District continues to exist” and that volunteers would “continue to support and care for the parks.”

I wonder how that might work without insurance, without adequate training or even access to the mowers and sophisticated equipment, or even without keys to unlock the gates first thing in the morning and lock them at the end of every day? And would volunteers mow the parks and fields once a week; fertilize, aerate and water; operate a pool and have access to and learn the accounting software to pay the power and water bills?

Without the passing of the maintenance and operations levy, the park district would all but shut down. Most of the staff would be laid off, and I think it’s reasonable to assume that those who remained would not wait around for the other shoe to drop when the district tries to pass the levy again at a later date.

Ironically, without water and power over the course of one summer, that $2.2 million sport field down the road would become a giant sandbox.

Please think about these things when the vote comes up this year. The district will decide soon when it will go on the ballot. Remember, too, that if community anger is with the commissioners, three seats are up for election in November.

Please support our kids and community and park district. Vote “yes.”

— Jeff Chale is the rear commodore of the Quartermaster Yacht Club.