Your PUD
News Release
Monitor water project reaffirmed
Chelan County PUD
News Release
7/2/2007
After further discussion and comment from residents, PUD commissioners Monday created a local utility district (LUD) in the Monitor area to finance a domestic water system.
The board voted 2-1 in favor of the $6.5 million project, with commissioners Ann Congdon and Randy Smith approving the LUD and Werner Janssen voting against the proposal. Commissioner Dennis Bolz was absent from the meeting and Commission President Norm Gutzwiler’s vote is only necessary to break a tie. He previously supported the LUD, as did Bolz.
Prior to the vote, Commissioner Janssen asked to delay a decision until July 9 for further study and comment, but the motion failed 2-1.
Some Monitor landowners spoke in favor of the project, noting it would help water quality and fire protection for the community. Monitor residents first asked to connect to the PUD water system in the early 1990s.
Residents opposed to the LUD were concerned about the validity of the petition submitted to PUD commissioners in May of this year. They also expressed concern over project costs and development in the farming community. Attorney Pat Aylward spoke on behalf of LUD opponents and urged PUD commissioners to reconsider the project.
The new water system will serve up to 225 customers across 1,400 acres. Construction, due to start late this fall, will include 7.25 miles of new pipe to carry water from the existing PUD system in lower Sunnyslope to Monitor.
“I’ll apologize to the people of Monitor who really desperately need water, but I’ll vote no for the following reasons,” said Commissioner Janssen, who then noted his various concerns with the process.
“I think that I have the best interests of the entire community at heart… that means that every resident has potable water and every resident has fire protection,” said Commissioner Congdon before the vote.
Working with the Monitor Community Council, Chelan County and the Port of Chelan County, the PUD has secured $3.8 million in grants and $2.7 million in low-interest government loans to pay for construction of the system. An additional $600,000 in federal grants is pending.
In other business, PUD commissioners:
- Tentatively set a timetable to prepare for planned rate increases, including public meetings in Chelan, Leavenworth and Wenatchee the week of Aug. 13-15, with a rate hearing on Sept. 10. Commissioners have directed staff to start the process for raising electric rates annually by 5 percent; water and sewer rates by 9 percent; and the wholesale fiber-optic rates charged to service providers by 2 percent. The new rates would go into effect Jan. 1, 2008.
- Heard that PUD staff were in Stehekin Monday laying the groundwork to hand out compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to residents of the area later in the week to reduce electric power load. The primary use of electricity in the summer is for lighting, and CFLs use only about 25 percent as much energy as traditional incandescent bulbs. Since the power supply for Stehekin is temporarily from diesel generators (the hydro generator is being repaired in a process that is taking several months), the PUD is encouraging energy conservation to minimize diesel use.
- Welcomed John Janney, the PUD’s new chief risk officer. Janney joins the PUD from Sprague Energy.
- Approved a memorandum of understanding with Chelan County and the Port of Chelan County for projects that might benefit from collaboration by all three agencies.
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The next regular meeting of the PUD commission is at 1 p.m. on July 9, 2007, in the boardroom at PUD headquarters, 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.
Christy Shearer
Communications Audio-visual Specialist
Chelan County PUD
509.661.4258 office
509.421.4258 cell
509.661.8133 fax
christy.shearer@chelanpud.org