Your PUD News Release
Schedule discussed for meetings on general manager qualifications
Chelan County PUD
News Release
10/31/2005
Meetings to hear from the public about the qualifications and characteristics needed for the next general manager of Chelan County PUD will begin next week and wrap up by the end of the month.
PUD commissioners are seeking public involvement in the process of hiring a new manager. General Manager Charlie Hosken is leaving the PUD on Nov. 25 for a job with a large irrigation district in California.
A tentative schedule presented to PUD commissioners Monday added a meeting for Malaga and Colockum residents, bringing the total to seven in an attempt to hit all regions of the county. Depending on final arrangements for locations, the meetings, with one exception, will be held at 7 p.m. on:
- Nov. 9 – Wenatchee Center, 121 N. Wenatchee Ave.
- Nov. 15 – Entiat School cafeteria (combined with the meeting to discuss the route for a new transmission line)
- Nov. 16 – Leavenworth Fest Halle
- Nov. 21 – Cashmere Riverside Center
- Nov. 22 – 5 p.m. at the Chelan County PUD Auditorium, 327 N. Wenatchee Ave. (to encourage PUD employees to attend)
- Nov. 28 – Chelan County Fire District 1 station in Malaga
- Nov. 29 – Campbell’s Resort in Chelan
More information about the meetings will be mailed to all PUD customers and advertised. All of the meetings are open to anyone interested.
Monitor residents will also have a chance to comment on general manager characteristics at a 7 p.m. meeting Wednesday at the United Methodist Church, following an update on the community water project.
In a related matter, PUD commissioners ratified their decision last week to appoint Wayne Wright as interim general manager, starting Nov. 28. They set a salary increase of 15 percent during the time he serves as interim, or about $1,773 a month based on his current annual salary of $141,824.
State law forces board to reject request to waive fee
PUD commissioners will talk with their peers at other utilities and have asked staff to look into how state law could be changed so that electric connection fees can be waived for all nonprofit groups in the future. As the law governing PUD rates stands, the only exception allowed is for properties purchased by low-income persons from nonprofit groups registered as 501(c)(3) agencies under the IRS code. PUD Commissioner Norm Gutzwiler said the board’s hands were tied.
The discussion was prompted by a request from former PUD Manager Jerry Copp that the PUD waive charges associated with an upgrade of the electric service needed for new electric heaters to replace the dilapidated boiler at the Bruce Hotel, operated as a shelter by the Womens Resource Center.
In other business, commissioners:
- Heard an update on how the PUD is working with the community, agencies and tribes to redraft proposed conditions for a federal license for Rocky Reach Dam. In August, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff accepted all but 3 percent of proposed measures for a new, long-term license. However, that left out two recreation measures and six wildlife proposals. Gregg Carrington, hydro services director, said PUD staff are working with community members, agency and tribal representatives to develop new measures that will meet FERC’s criteria that they be within the project boundary. Included in the measures rejected by FERC were new ballfields for Entiat, a Recreation Enhancement Fund for projects on reservoirs and tributaries, and a study of Pacific lamprey.
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The next regular meeting of the PUD Board of Commissioners is at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 7, in the PUD boardroom at 327 N. Wenatchee Ave.
Most PUD commission meetings are recorded, and a link to the audio is available on the PUD’s home page at www.chelanpud.org.
Kimberlee Craig
Public Information Officer
661-4320, direct line
679-6858, cell
kimc@chelanpud.org