Your PUD Message from the Commissioners

It's helpful to hear the collective voice

By Norm Gutzwiler, PUD Commissioner

8/26/2010

My four fellow commissioners and I are elected by the people of the county. We put great stock in what all of you tell us about the issues we face in setting policy for the PUD.

We get phone calls. We get e-mails. You stop us on the street or at the grocery store for personal chats. Sometimes we have coffee together.

But many times we only hear from a small part of the county – people who are directly affected by one issue or another. That doesn’t always provide the broadest perspective on what might be best for the overall county population as a whole. Ask any elected official and you’ll probably hear similar frustration.

Lately, however, the PUD has been taking steps to get a broader sense of people’s thoughts on the bigger issues before us. Take fiber optics. We’ve gone to some of the greatest lengths I can ever remember to hear from as many people as possible. This has included a formal telephone survey, an informal online website poll, an e-mail to 2,200 customers asking their thoughts, a guest column on the newspaper opinion page, meetings with business leaders, evening public meetings and regular afternoon board meetings.

Recognizing that with this fiber grant opportunity we faced an issue likely to split the county – and likely to draw vocal people on both sides to any public meetings -- our staff asked for a scientific, statistically valid telephone poll to gauge overall public opinion. With the results that were presented to us on Monday of decision week, we had another important piece of useful data to consider.

We have done telephone surveys of our customers over the past 20 years or so to gauge their overall satisfaction with the PUD, but this was the first time in my tenure on the board that we picked a specific issue and used such a pinpointed poll. I would expect that we’ll do it again when big issues arise.

Don’t get me wrong. We still want to hear from each of you at the coffee shops, on the telephone and through our computer e-mails. But we appreciate having a broader perspective on the overall county population to add into the mix.

You may not always agree with our decisions, but we are getting better at asking – and receiving – wider points of view that should help the board as a whole do what’s in the best interest of the county as a whole. Thanks for all your input.