10 years ago 1998

If all goes according to plan, Cascade Valley Hospitals new world will be up and running in six months. According to hospital staff, patients will be seen faster and get more attention from the nursing staff. Filling out and finding paper work will be easier for doctors and staff. Barriers between the departments will disappear and job descriptions and titles will change so information can flow easier. As a result of the changes, in the next two years alone, under the new world plan the hospital will save more than $1.5 million, $1.2 million of which has been reduced from the $24 million annual budget. The hospital started working on the redesign project last fall for a better way to deliver service that also would cut the budget by 8.3 percent. The process was done from the inside out, directed by a team of 10 hospital employees representing each department. Thirty-three employees applied to serve on the team given the task of developing the new plan. The 10 were selected after an interview process and spent the last four months looking at how the hospital operated from all points of view. Nothing was sacred. Team members shadowed hospital workers to find out just what their responsibilities were and noted specific tasks being unnecessarily duplicated. Management positions were considered for effectiveness. We stuck our little noses into every nook and cranny, said Project Manager Barbara Hinshaw, a registered nurse who worked in the emergency department. She and the other team members were reassigned duties during the project. The result, according to Hinshaw, is an entirely new system in which employees count on each other rather than management. But before that happens the old world must be left behind. That process officially started this week. Pink slips were delivered to seven hospital managers whose jobs have been eliminated. Five additional full-time nursing positions are also being eliminated. Those notices go out next week. Many of the remaining jobs will have new descriptions and titles. Current employees will have to re-apply for the newly designated jobs, including seven of the 10 members of the design team. While the job shuffle continues, education programs also are being put in place to provide training for the new world including preparations for new jobs, new attitudes and new responsibilities. The team began spreading the word about the new world last month, first to the managers who learned their jobs were being cut. On the day the managers were briefed on the new design, things were pretty tense in the morning, said Hospital Administrator Bob Campbell who, under the new plan is the chief executive officer and the chief operating officer. But by afternoon, he said, those managers were offering to help make sure the plan can be implemented. That says a lot about the quality of people we have, he noted.

25 years ago 1983
Kitty Sennett pointed out the difficulty in dealing with todays language. Whats wrong with a landfill? a friend of mine asked. Theyre just going to fill up a hole in the ground. I said Yeah, with garbage. Smelly, poisonous wastes. Sennett, a citizen of the area, has spent the last couple of weeks publicizing several public meetings that will help determine a final site. Snohomish Countys Department of Public Works has narrowed down to eight the number of possible locations for a county landfill (dump) and three of the proposed sites are located in the Seven Lakes area. One of them is the proposed Lake Loma site, located in the area of the Edward Springs Reservoir, a Marysville watershed. We can still do something about it, Sennett said, explaining the Department of Public Works has two more meetings to entertain public comment. I dont think its a very good idea to have a landfill close to a watershed, Sennett said. Im against all three proposals because we have a hell of a lot of water out there. Two of them are close to the bay. The point is, time is of the essence and we have to go to these public meetings with facts. Marysville Compliance Officer Al Matter, a member of the Snohomish County Solid Waste Advisor Committee, said he is against the Lake Loma site because it may affect the citys drinking water. Theres a chance for contamination, especially if the liner [landfill liner] should break, Matter said earlier this week. As far as Im concerned, thats the first one that should be eliminated from the list of eight possible sites. The site met the criteria up to this point, but theres one more criteria to be considered, now. I think it will be eliminated. City Administrator Rick Deming agreed. We werent concerned when it was first mentioned as a possible site. We assumed it wouldnt be seriously considered. They were looking for large land areas. But, on the other hand, you know what happens when you assume. We want to make sure they realize its our watershed and that its uphill from our watershed. If it gets down to where its [the Lake Loma site] among the top three, then were going to do something about it.

50 years ago 1958
In order to keep pace with the expanding enrollments in the Marysville schools, the Marysville School Board is faced with the necessity of again asking the districts voters to approve two special millages. These two propositions, however, school officials aver, will reflect a material reduction in the tax load from the levy voted last year. Instead of the 25 mills approved at that time, approximately 15 mills cover the propositions requested this year. this will mean a reduction of $10 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Proposition 1 proposes a levy of $65,000, or approximately 10 mills on the present valuation. The money from this millage will assure the district the same favorable state matching ratio of 9 to 1 as presently realized. With the installation of kindergarten, additional furniture will be required and if the district is to continue to house the growing enrollment without double shifting or other means more buildings will have to be erected. At the present plans are in the making for a new junior high school and another elementary school, either on the Tulalip Reservation or on the east side of the district. Proposition 2 is for $32,500, or approximately 5 mills to replace two 57-passenger buses. Under present income measures a capital outlay of this size cannot be financed from current income without damaging curtailments. For the past two years the board has tried to avoid this procedure by replacing transportation equipment on an installment basis and have purchased four buses by this means. All depreciation money has now been pledged for these commitments. At present four buses are fully depreciated out and one more will become overage for the next several years. Once this equipment is brought up to date the annual depreciation will take care of future replacements.