Submitted by the San Juan County Public Hosptial District No. 1

We formally object to Frank Cardinale’s statement “Roll the eyes you *****,” which was uttered with such spite that it is hard not to hear the statement over again without flinching. Simply put, such speech should never occur whether behind closed doors or on an open microphone. It is utterly outrageous, and we object in the strongest of terms. For us to move forward, we would need to see real change over how this project has gone thus far, and actions that promote trust as equal partners going forward.

We appreciate the apologies from Commissioner Frank Cardinale and Chair Bob Jarman. We do not mean to be ungracious. Nor indeed do we deny that we have ever done anything wrong whether personally or professionally.

Yet such contempt does not come out of nowhere, nor present itself simply out of a moment’s anger during a rough meeting. Nor was it the first incident of disrespect, condescension, and aggressive misogynistic speech directed at our board members, especially Commissioner Anna Lisa Lindstrum, that we have witnessed. We have had credible reports of other incidents of your leadership demeaning our commissioners and staff.

This is surely not the sum of all our interactions, many of which have been fine, but taken together, this constitutes a pattern of behavior that has nevertheless caused us considerable concern. If we were concerned for our personnel under an integrated system before, we are much more concerned now. We are not confident that were our staff employed at San Juan Island Fire and Rescue that they would be treated with the respect and consideration to which they are due.

For us to move forward with the Integration of EMS and Fire it would require mutual respect and trust, which has not been present thus far. Our community deserves nothing less from both organizations.