The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

At the Tuesday Wahkiakum PUD Board of Commissioners meeting, Auditor Erin Wilson congratulated Commissioner Dennis Reid for his recent ascendence to President of the Washington Public Utility Department Association.

“I’m very honored to get that in my first term as a commissioner,” Reid said. “They’ve never had a president from such a small utility as ours.”

Reid took a few moments to revisit the ongoing conversation about electric car charging stations.

“The Department of Transportation has money available for those projects,” he said, “but it appears they have it directed towards the Tri-Cities area, which they feel is the most under-served. Can’t be any more under-served than Wahkiakum and Pacific counties. I think it was a million dollars, so it isn’t a lot of money when you are talking about fast charge stations that cost $250,000-300,000 to put in.”

Jim Jespersen of the water department talked about finding leaks in the water systems with bypass meters. His crew had recently repaired a leak they found on Barr Road, where he estimated that they had been losing 3,300 gallons per day.

“It’s way better than it used to be on the Westend,” Reid said. “Hopefully it’s all going to get that loss rate down farther.”

General Manager Dave Tramblie shared that the PUD and Wahkiakum County were working together to update some of the facilities at the fairgrounds in Skamokawa.

The commissioners approved a resolution to adopt an automatic meter policy for the district. Rate payers who refuse an automatic meter will be charged a one time $80 fee and will be required to pay $15 a month for a PUD employee to come to their home to read their meter.

Commissioners also approved a memorandum of understanding between PUD No. 2 of Pacific County and PUD No. 1 of Wahkiakum County.

“It will connect western Wahkiakum and Pacific County and provide backup for both utilities,” Reid said. “If our substation goes out, we’ll still have power to that side of the county.”

“The other utility is just as happy as we are about it,” he said.