This week, ballots will arrive in islanders’ mailboxes, giving us all the opportunity to help decide two contested local races that will have real consequences on Vashon.

We’re grateful to all the candidates who have stepped up to run in both contested and uncontested races. Their willingness to help steward Vashon’s taxing districts is a true act of community service — especially considering that elected officials in small local offices are sometimes uncomfortably in the public eye and their tasks are often tedious and time-consuming.

But their reward, if they are elected and if they serve well, is to know they have helped their neighbors thrive by thoughtfully overseeing the tax dollars awarded to these local districts. What local elected officials do and decide, month after month, is incredibly important.

Read more about the candidates and their positions in Aspen Anderson’s front page article in this issue and vote wisely, remembering good governance is hard, especially in uncertain times.

That’s why it is necessary to be well-informed, in particular, about the contested races for commissioner spots on Vashon Health Care District and Vashon Island Fire & Rescue.

This week’s Beachcomber includes Vashon Health Care District Superintendent Tim Johnson’s commentary, providing a timely recap of the district’s history since its formation in 2019 as well as its current priorities.

Most recently, VHCD’s board has voted to significantly partner in Vashon Island Fire & Rescue’s expansion of its Mobile Integrated Health program, which now provides both preventive and urgent health care to islanders.

The district’s subsidy for DispatchHealth, a for-profit mobile urgent care provider on Vashon, is also worth discussing beyond Johnson’s appraisal of it this week. The service has proven popular with islanders, with Dispatch’s nurses and physician assistant paying visits to approximately 1,200 island homes, in the past year, attending to urgent care needs including colds and fevers, infections, cuts requiring suturing, sprains and strains and other ailments.

But now, some islanders — notably including VHCD board chair Tom Langland — have expressed doubts that DispatchHealth will remain on Vashon after its contract with VHCD ends in 2026, following its recently-announced exit of most of its other operations in Washington State.

This makes VHCD’s new partnership with Mobile Integrated Health — a program that now also includes nurses and a physician assistant — a forward-thinking move.

We agree with current VIFR board chair Brigitte Schran Brown, who called the partnership a “win-win” for the community, saying that funding from VHCD will allow VIFR to re-direct funds allocated for Mobile Integrated Health back into other critically important needs for the fire department.

“As heath care services are increasingly threatened through the actions of our current administration, VIFR and its partners VashonBePrepared, its Medical Reserve Corps and Vashon Health Care District are stepping up together to meet the growing needs of our community,” she said.

This week, we also report another new way VHCD is meeting those needs in another way by providing funding to VashonBePrepared to ensure that all islanders, including those who are un- or under-insured, can receive COVID and flu vaccines with no out-of-pocket costs at Vashon Pharmacy.

Vashon’s high property taxes are a burden. There’s no doubt about that.

But when used thoughtfully by local agencies that are overseen by thoughtful and prudent commissioners, those tax dollars can go a long way to helping to keep all of us healthy and safe. That’s important to keep in mind as you cast your votes.