[October 2, 2018] My name is Sandi McMillan and I’m a parent of four kids with our youngest two attending the Ferndale School District. One son is at Horizon Middle School and one son is at Cascadia Elementary. My husband Colin and I have owned a small farm in Ferndale, near Lake Terrell, for sixteen years, where we enjoy raising our family. We know many of you in the community because of 4-H, sports, Boy Scouts, camping, church and volunteering. We also know some of you because one of our youngest has Down syndrome and there is a strong community here of parents with special needs kids.
When I volunteered on the Bond Task Force Committee (2017-18), I saw the need to replace Ferndale High School and to improve the safety at all school locations. We toured many of the schools and gained firsthand knowledge of the needed improvements. With an interest to make a bond affordable for everyone, my efforts were toward cost restraints in the bond wherever possible.
The experience I bring to the Bond Community Oversight Committee includes 27 years of public service mainly in finance and accounting. I began my career at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center getting research dollars to doctors by negotiating many contracts from the National Institute of Health. I was Chief Financial Officer for the NW Private Industry Council where I oversaw State and Federal funding for community reemployment programs in a six county area. I spent nine years at the Whatcom County Health Department leveraging grants and contracts to ensure programs like Homeless Elimination, Developmental Disabilities, and Community Health helped to serve the most citizens. Currently I am the Finance Director at the Birch Bay Water & Sewer District where I received a certification of Excellence Debt Policy from the Washington Public Treasurer’s Association. I earned my BA from Western Washington University in Business Administration (concentration in Finance and a minor in Accounting). While at the Whatcom County Health Department, I was selected to participate in the inaugural Public Financial Leadership Academy at the UW Evans School of Public Affairs.
I also sincerely enjoy helping make local governments work effectively through transparency and accountability. I look forward to the next few years on the Bond Community Oversight Committee taking the promises of the bond through to better schools.
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