EPHRATA — Grant PUD commissioners sent a letter to the utility’s employees recently expressing support for General Manager Tim Culbertson.

The letter was signed by all five PUD commissioners.

The commission wrote it has “every confidence” in Culbertson and “in the excellent team he has assembled.”

“He and they are nationally recognized leaders in their respective roles within the industry and we are envied by most for the team we have assembled,” according to the letter.

The commission pledged to employees they are working together and thanked them for their work.

The letter comes after the commission made recent headlines for not renewing longtime attorney Ray Foianini’s contract.

Residents attended two commission meetings earlier this month to disagree with or support the decision.

The meetings were heated and accusations were made about the commission allegedly breaking the state Open Public Meetings Act by deciding about the contract during an executive session.

Grant PUD Commission President Terry Brewer denied the law was broken and that Foianini brought his contract to the meeting.

One of Foianini’s supporters, Grant PUD Commissioner Randy Allred, confirmed during a March 2 commission meeting the entire discussion and decision was done during the executive session.

Brewer was asked to resign by Bill Judge, a former Grant PUD commissioner.

Judge also asked Brewer if a special electrical rate was done for industrial customers, which Brewer denied.

Judge also ran a full-page advertisement in the March 12 edition of the Columbia Basin Herald titled “Something Smells at the PUD-Again,” in which he details what he claims is happening.

Judge’s ad states, in part, “there are industrial customer special interests at work who view the attorney as a problem. He is viewed by these folks as a roadblock to their efforts to use up the District’s low cost hydro power to the disadvantage of the residential and irrigation customers.”

At the March 2 commission meeting, Brewer said he’s observed significant degradation between Foianini and the commission and between Foianini and staff during the past two years.

Brewer also said Foianini directed work to other law firms and that his legal services had a high cost of roughly $500,000 last year.

According to the commission’s letter to employees, “there has been, and continues to be, distractions caused by happenings coming from the commission chamber, reaction to those happenings and/or reporting of those happenings.”

“We regret if it has led you to believe that we are inattentive to our roles as commissioners or if it has brought you or this organization ridicule. We may deserve ridicule; you and the District certainly do not.”