The current mind set of the San Juan County Public Hospital District Board needs to be changed. They lack respect for the taxpayer public they represent. As elected officials they are supposed to welcome, even encourage questions. They don’t. I witnessed outright rudeness many times to members of the public and myself. I and others have been frustrated getting requests for information fulfilled.

The last two times they had the opportunity to make an appointment they chose the candidate who expressed no concerns over equally, if not higher, qualified candidates who did. This insular mentality resulted in their inability to be straight forward with the public on two EMS levies which failed. As a former volunteer firefighter, fire chief and fire commissioner this is seriously alarming.

I’m afraid three of the current six candidates will not make much difference with this mind set, especially responding to the expressed needs of our community. It is a five-member board. To make a change we need to elect the right three candidates, which will constitute a voting majority, to this board. Fortunately, we have three candidates who will make the needed difference: Bill Williams, Barbara Sharp and Monica Harrington. We need to elect all three!

Howard Rosenfeld

San Juan Island