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

The Wahkiakum County PUD Board of Commissioners made quick work of business at their meeting on Tuesday.

Commissioner Dennis Reid took a couple minutes to show his appreciation for PUD crews.

“I’d like to congratulate the water department,” Reid said. “The leak rate on Puget Island for the month of February was below the state mandated level at 8.9 percent. For the year it stands at 10 percent, the mandated level, so that’s good work.

“Also congratulations to the line crew,” he continued. “On Sunday we had the only outage in the county at my place during the windstorm. But the crew went out on a Sunday, found the problem and had it fixed in an hour. I think that’s amazing.”

Tim Hanigan, PUD counsel, reported that he had sent a letter to the Wahkiakum Building and Planning Department to alert them about the PUD’s concerns regarding the dredge disposal permit on the Island. The PUD is concerned that sand may be piled too high—too close to power lines and too deep over the water lines.

“We’re on their radar now,” General Manager Dave Tramblie said.

Tramblie shared that a vendor had recently demonstrated an excavator for the crew.

“The guys were happy with that size of equipment, and we are probably going to move forward for a request for proposals for a piece of equipment similar in size,” he said.

Tramblie also gave an update on the ongoing reservoir project in the Westend.

"I was given an estimate for just cleaning it based on four inches of sediment, which they priced at $2,700,” he said.

According to Tramblie he had asked the contractor to include the price of removing nodules but it had not shown up in the estimate. He is trying to work that out, and believes that this is the way to go.

Auditor Erin Wilson reported that Residential Energy Assistance Program balance is $2,242, higher than it has ever been.

“We’ve had a milder winter so we haven’t had a lot of requests for assistance,” she said.

Hanigan had a draft for what may be Wahkiakum PUD’s Renewable Energy System Cost Recovery Program. He gave it to the commissioners for perusal and later discussion.

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