Your PUD
News Release
Commissioners take oath of office
Chelan County PUD
News Release
1/5/2009
New Commissioner Carnan Bergren and continuing Commissioner Norm Gutzwiler were sworn into office by Chelan County Auditor Evelyn Arnold at the Monday morning meeting of the Chelan County PUD.
Bergren is starting a four-year term on the board after winning election in November to represent At-large District A which covers the west part of Chelan County including Cashmere, Leavenworth and the Upper Valley. He replaces Werner Janssen.
Gutzwiler is starting his second six-year term representing District 1 which covers the south part of Chelan County including much of Wenatchee.
Commissioners also elected officers for 2009, with Ann Congdon elected president; Dennis Bolz, vice president, and Randy Smith, secretary.
Water outlook shows improvement
Recent storms have piled enough snow in the mountains to improve the outlook for water runoff next summer, according to Janet Jaspers, energy planning and trading manager for Chelan PUD.
Jaspers reported that all of the Northwest has seen significant improvement in snowpack that was at or below 50 percent of average in mid-December. A few Washington measurement sites are now showing normal snowpack though most are still below normal.
Jaspers said much of the snow so far has been dry. When looking at the amount of water held in the snowpack, the Lake Chelan basin is now at about 65 percent of average. Preliminary numbers show that the Upper Columbia, Lower Columbia and Kootenay snotel sites which measure potential runoff into the Columbia River basin that impacts Chelan County dams are at 76 percent to 78 percent of normal as of Jan. 1.
Jaspers said new numbers for the Columbia runoff forecast will be out later this week.
In other business:
- Gary Montague and his wife, Mikael, presented $1,000 from the Clean Air Coalition to the PUD’s Helping Hand program which provides needy customers with assistance paying their electrical bills. Montague said paying electric bills helps people avoid using wood heat that can cause air pollution. He also complimented the PUD on efforts to keep air clean including producing hydropower, and chipping instead of burning debris collected from behind Rocky Reach and Rock Island dams.
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The next regular meeting of the PUD commission will begin at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 12, 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 http://www.chelanpud.org.
Jeri Freimuth
Chelan County PUD
(509) 661-4504
(509) 668-0267 cell
Jeri.freimuth@chelanpud.org