Island speakers press SIHB on water, ferry access, taxes and staffing for proposed treatment center

Many island residents who spoke during public comment supported treatment capacity but asked the council and Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) to clarify likely local impacts if the Thunderbird facility opens on Vashon. Questions clustered around water use and shares, ferry and emergency transportation reliability, property‑tax/tax‑exempt status and how SIHB will staff and sustain operations in a remote community.

Armen Yousufian urged more disclosure about SIHB’s business model and local impacts, warning that SIHB’s filings suggested they might not need to acquire additional Heights water shares even if they double bed capacity. He warned, “200,000 times 92 beds, that's almost the 20,000,000 that they may have in the project,” a hypothetical financial calculation offered as a reason to demand transparency. Several speakers – including Caroline Howard – asked whether SIHB’s nonprofit, tax‑exempt status would mean the facility would not pay special‑district levies and whether local taxpayers would shoulder those costs.

Island health‑system veterans also raised staffing and transport questions. Patty Sheehan, who worked in healthcare staffing, asked directly what SIHB’s plans were to recruit and sustain staff on the island, given documented ferry cancellations and local workforce limits. Supporters and clinical experts said many of these questions are operational and can be answered by SIHB, while urging the council to collect them into a formal FAQ and pursue answers as a next step.