Grant PUD approves union contract
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 4 months AGO
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Grant County PUD commissioners Dale Walker (back to camera) Bob Bernd and Tom Flint discuss commission business with chief financial officer John Janney (right).
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | November 23, 2016 2:00 AM
EPHRATA — The Grant County PUD and members of the union representing electrical workers have reached agreement on a three-year contract. Utility district commissioners approved the contract at the regular meeting Tuesday.
Union members had approved the contract on Nov. 2. The contract will go into effect April 1.
Employees with Local 77 will receive a three percent raise in the first year of the contract. In the second and third years, if the cost of living index didn’t go up three percent, the PUD would make up the difference to three percent.
The contract included the example of a two percent cost-of-living increase. In that case, the PUD would add another one percent so the raise would total three percent.
The agreement was based on “what it took to keep us competitive with competing utilities in the skill arena we're in. Keep us competitive in the areas of line (workers), electricians and plant operators and such,” said general manager Kevin Nordt at the Nov. 8 meeting. “Three percent keeps us in the same relative competitive position.”
In other business at the meeting Tuesday, PUD natural resource employees announced the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued an order approving the agreement between the PUD and the homeowners’ associations on Crescent Bar.
Shannon Lowry, the PUD’s land and recreation director, said the agreements will go into effect Dec. 1. Between them, the three associations will pay $110,454 per month for the next year, Lowry said, for a total of $1,346,173. That includes rent going forward and back rent (with interest) to 2012, Lowry said, as well as leasehold taxes and current water and sewer service.
The fee does not include the costs of the new water and wastewater treatment systems on the island, Lowry said. The agreement reached between the PUD and leaseholders in 2014 included a provision for the leaseholders to pay 90 percent of the cost of construction of both systems.
In answer to a question from commissioner Larry Schaapman, Lowry said work on recreation improvements on the island and the riverbank is underway. The shoreline work has been underway for a few weeks, she said, and the work on Crescent Bar Island began last week.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Road closures, roundabout, mean construction season underway
EPHRATA — The grass is starting to turn green, the trees are starting to leaf out, construction crews are starting to build roundabouts – hey, it’s spring. At least one roundabout project is in its final phase, held over from fall 2025. The intersection of State Route 282 and Nat Washington Way will be closed the week of April 6 to allow crews to install permanent lights. “This really is the final (closure),” wrote Grant County Administrator Tom Gaines in a media release. “The roundabout will close at 6 a.m. Monday, and we plan to reopen by Friday, possibly sooner if the work finishes early.”
Ybarra announces run for Washington Senate
QUINCY — State Representative Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, has announced his candidacy for the Washington Senate. If he’s elected, he would replace Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, who announced her retirement in March.
Othello Community Museum to open April 25
OTHELLO — With a couple of new exhibits, a new heating-cooling system, rearranged displays and a thorough cleaning, the Othello Community Museum will open for the summer April 25. The goal, said Molly Popchock, museum board secretary, is to operate for a full season.