PATRIOT BREMERTON
RINGING IN 2015: Where to celebrate the new year in Kitsap County IN THIS EDITION
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2014 | Vol. 17, No. 45 | WWW.BREMERTONPATRIOT.COM | 50¢
Council approves Happy ! s y a NAD Cabin lease Holid
New hospital president is on the job David Schultz says exceptional patient care is Harrison’s priority
BY PETER O’CAIN
POCAIN@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
The Bremerton City Council voted unanimously to the lease the Naval Ammunition Depot (NAD) Cabin to the NAD Guardhouse Cabin Foundation last Wednesday. “I’m very happy. I think it was a good move on their part,” said Bob Dollar, foundation vice president and treasurer. “We’re all working toward the same goal, which is to make Kitsap a better place.” The city will lease the cabin for five years and then likely another five years, provided the foundation completes the agreed upon repairs. It’s a unique partnership that allows city property to be repaired without tax dollars as the foundation will pay for all repair and maintenance costs. It also solves a problem the city couldn’t afford to solve. “Our available structural repair dollars are basically allocated to buildings that are the most heavily used by the public,” said Wyn Birkenthal, parks and recreation director. “We’re not going to be able to prioritize over $100,000 in capital for the cabin.” The only fee the foundation will pay is a leasehold excise tax of 12.84 percent of the estimated lease value $5,040, or $645 per year. Foundation president John Larson expects the foundation repairs to begin January 2015. “We’ll start off on some small stuff right away and the logs themselves will be in year three and four,” Larson said. Restoration and preservation costs are estimated at $170,000-$200,000, according to the foundation’s proposal to the city. “We’re hoping to do this whole thing on donations and a string and a prayer,” Dollar said. Prior to the meeting, the foundation had received about $2,000 in donations, according to Larson. He said some
BY CHRIS TUCKER CTUCKER@CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM
The NAD Cabin.
File photo
donors had been wary of giving before a lease was signed. Almost on cue, a donor gave over $500 the day after the meeting, Dollar said. The Kitsap Golf Country Club also donated seven 40-foot logs about two weeks ago, he said. The foundation has an eight-point plan for generating funding, among them is a new take on an old fundraising method. Similar to buying a brick and putting your name on it, we’re going to do that with a log instead of a brick, Larson said. • Also during the meeting, Bremerton Police Chief Steven Strachan presented the council with crime statistics from the past year. Police reports rose 26 percent from 635 to 805, while arrests dropped from 196 to 133. Domestic violence, burglaries, trespassing, theft, vehicle theft, residential burglary and mental health calls also decreased significantly. Vehicle prowls however, are up 50 percent from 14 to 21. “We are seeing an upsurge in vehicle prowling, package thefts and mail thefts,” Strachan said. They’ve been centered around Manette, Marine Drive and Madrona, he added. Residents are advised to have packages delivered to a neighbor or work if they won’t be able to accept them in person, or arrange to pick them up from the delivery store. Shoplifting stayed about the same, increasing from 12 to 13 SEE NAD CABIN, A9
Drawing by Spencer Davis, age 11, of Belfair, who is a student at KitsapArt School of the Arts in Silverdale.
Law enforcement career comes to a close for Sheriff Steve Boyer BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
If you ask Steve Boyer how he ended up in law enforcement, he’ll tell you about an incident he saw as a boy. “There was a house fire down the street,” Boyer said. “Two little girls were burnt very badly. I remember watching the firemen and the police working so hard to help. A couple of days later I went over to look at the house and I thought ‘I’d like to know what to do in an emergency like
that,’” Boyer said. And that was the seed that was planted in his head and his heart. And now, after 43 years in law enforcement, Boyer will retire on Dec. 31 when Sheriffelect Gary Simpson is sworn in as sheriff. His decision not to run for another term as sheriff was made based on a combination of his health and his age, he said. “If I’d run, I’d be 68 when that term was over,” he said.
Centralizing Harrison Medical Center’s operations at the Silverdale campus, improving preventative care and keeping an eye on the costs of running a hospital are a few of the biggest challenges that Harrison’s new president, David W. Schultz, said he’ll be dealing with. Schultz’s first week on the job began Dec. 15 and he spent much of that time becoming familiar with his new coworkers and surroundings. Previously, Schultz served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Overlake Medical Center, a 349-bed hospital located in Bellevue. Schultz said he took the job at Harrison because it was a great opportunity and because serving in an executive position as president was the next logical step for him in his 18-year-long healthcare career. “This was a pretty unique opportunity for me to be able to stay in the Puget Sound (region). Harrison has a great reputation,” Schultz explained. Schultz succeeds Scott Bosch as president of Harrison. Bosch retired in July 2014 after nearly a decade with Harrison. Schultz has a master’s degree in health care administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He has a BA in economics from the University of Texas at Austin. As a UT alumnus, Schultz is a fan of the Texas Longhorns football team and he also played for the Plano Senior
Lesley Kelly / staff photo
SEE SHERIFF, A9
Sheriff Steve Boyer.
SEE PRESIDENT, A9
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