Sept. 27, 2022

Four nonelected members appointed to the Kitsap Public Health Board

Three community representatives and a Suquamish Tribe representative have been selected to join the Health Board. 

KITSAP COUNTY, WA — Four nonelected members have been appointed to serve on the Kitsap Public Health Board, as the Board completes a restructuring process required by state law. 

A representative for the Suquamish Tribe, Stephen Kutz, was appointed by the American Indian Health Commission and the Suquamish Tribal Council. Kutz joined the Health Board for its September meeting. 

Three community representatives — Drayton Jackson, Dr. Tara Kirk Sell, and Dr. Michael Watson — were nominated by the Health Board and appointed by the Kitsap Board of County Commissioners. They will join the Health Board for its Oct. 4 meeting. 

Jackson, Sell, and Watson were among the more than 40 Kitsap residents who applied to fill three nonelected, non-tribal Health Board positions during an application period earlier this year. 

"It was inspiring to hear from so many residents who were eager to serve their communities and promote public health," Kitsap Public Health Board Chair and Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler said. "The new Board members will bring fresh perspectives, knowledge and energy to our work.”

A nonelected Health Board position representing the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe remains open and can be filled at any time by the American Indian Health Commission and the tribe. 

The Kitsap Public Health Board is expanding and restructuring this year to meet the requirements of Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1152. Learn more on our Health Board restructure page. 

MEET THE NEW HEALTH BOARD MEMBERS

Drayton Jackson

Nonelected board position: Consumers of Public Health; four-year term

Jackson, who has experienced poverty and homelessness and whose family has lived experience with the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is the executive director of Foundation for Homelessness & Poverty Management.

Jackson also serves as the current president of the Central Kitsap School District School Board, and as an advisory board member of the Urban Institute for the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation. He is a resident of Kitsap County.

Stephen Kutz

Nonelected board position: Suquamish Tribe representative

Kutz is a member of Southwest Washington’s Cowlitz Indian Tribe and served on its Tribal Council for approximately 20 years. He is currently employed by the Suquamish Tribe, where he serves as health clinic director. 

Kutz received his Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Eastern Washington University in 1974 and has worked as a nurse for nearly 48 years. He received his master’s degree in public health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 1993.

Kutz served 20 years on active duty as a nurse in the U.S. Army in nearly all facets of their health care system, with 13 of those years spent in preventive medicine and community health. He also worked for more than 12 years in a county health department in Washington as director of public health nursing, while also serving as the health department director for eight years. He worked for the Cowlitz Tribe for almost 16 years as the clinic manger, deputy director, and executive director of Health and Human Services.

Kutz served as the Suquamish Tribal delegate to the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board and has been its delegate to the Health and Human Services American Indian/Alaskan Native Health Research Advisory Council 2008 until 2016, as well as serving as a delegate to the Indian Health Service budget formulation committee for six years, Indian Health Care Improvement advisory committee for two years, one term as the alternate to the Health and Human Services Secretaries Advisory committee, and one term as the delegate to the CDC and is currently on the National Institutes of Health tribal advisory committee. He is active in health policy issues at the national, state, and local levels.

Kutz has served as a delegate to the Washington State American Indian Health Commission for almost 20 years and currently chairs the Commission. He works on the state mental health committee that is advising the state on efforts to redesign how Medicaid mental health services are delivered to American Indians and Alaskan Natives. For 11 years, he has served as the State Board of Health’s delegate to the Governor's Interagency Council on Health Disparities.

Dr. Tara Kirk Sell

Nonelected Health Board position: Other Community Stakeholder; four-year term

Dr. Sell is a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She serves as an advisory council member for the Bremerton YMCA and board member for the Bremerton Schools and Alumni Foundation.

Dr. Sell is a native of Bremerton and currently resides in Bremerton with her two elementary school-age children and husband. Dr. Sell received her PhD in Health Policy Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She was a silver medalist in swimming for the U.S.A. in the 2004 Olympic Games.

Dr. Michael Watson

Nonelected Health Board position: Public Health, Health Care Facilities, and Health Care
Providers; initial term of two years

Dr. Watson is program director for the Northwest Washington Family Medicine Residency, an active attending physician for CHI Franciscan Health Medical Center, and a clinical assistant professor appointee for the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dr. Watson graduated from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center School of Medicine in 2001. He  completed family medicine residency training in 2004 at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, and served on active duty in the Navy until 2008. Dr. Watson is a resident of Kitsap County and has one child attending Central Kitsap High School and one child studying at the University of San Diego.

Kitsap Public Health Board restructure

The Kitsap Public Health Board is restructuring in 2022 to meet the requirements of Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1152, codified in RCW 70.46.031 and WAC 246-90.

The past and new board structures are explained in the graphic below:

Tad Sooter | Public Information Officer
Kitsap Public Health District
360-728-2330 - office | (360) 728-2235 - main
pio@kitsappublichealth.org | kitsappublichealth.org