PUD to report on Westend pump house

The Wahkiakum PUD Board of Commissioners started off the new year with the shortest of meetings.

Commissioner Dennis Reid asked staff to address continued conjecture about a pump house that was built in the Westend about 15 years ago.

"I keep getting complaints and stories and whatnot of the cost of that building," Reid said. "People think that something illegal went on, that somebody got paid off somewhere. They think the amount of money that was spent was just for the structure. People don't know that there is more inside than outside, they don't know that there is the chemical mixing and the computers inside the building."

General Manager David Tramblie agreed and asked Reid for some time to find the information and paperwork from more than a decade ago. The PUD will address the issue in a coming billing.

Auditor Erin Wilson reported that she had been busy doing year end reports. She provided the commissioners with a summary of the PUD's Residential Energy Assistance Program for 2016.

"In December there were some generous donations," Wilson said. "We began the year with $1,552. Throughout the year we received donations in the amount of $3,197. We provided pledges in the amount of $3,545. Currently, we have $1,204 available for assistance."

"I suspect there might be some requests for that with the kind of winter we are having," Reid said.

"There are a lot of people taking advantage of the CAP program," Wilson said.

The CAP program is LIHEAP(Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program). For more information, call the Energy and Housing Department at Lower Columbia Community Action Program, 360-425-3430 Ext. 231.

Tramblie gave an update about AMR meters and work being done around the county.

"We've installed quite a few AMR meters," Tramblie said.

Tramblie said the PUD needed 167 more meters with the remote devices as well as 143 of the remote equipment devices to upgrade existing meters.

"I got an estimate the other day for $49,000 and some change," Tramblie said. "I think we have $45,000 in the budget. This puts us a little over budget but I think we can balance that out somewhere else. I think we need to move forward and get it done."

Commissioners agreed.

Tramblie also reported that crews had removed the last of the trees on the intertie project with Pacific County, as required by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Last, he shared that a decision to bring in Hamer Electric to help when a transducer failed at the Malone Creek reservoir on Friday cut down on what could have been a lot of overtime for employees over the three day weekend.

Instead crews worked four extra hours on Friday. A transducer at another location was removed and reprogrammed before being set up at the Malone Creek reservoir.

"The situation stabilized," Tramblie said. "They were able to stay home all weekend and everything functioned properly. It was a much better outcome for a short term issue than having the guys going out there every eight hours to run the pumps manually over a three day weekend."

Commissioners and staff talked about an Electric Industry Registry. According to Tramblie there is a lot of pressure to sign up with the "entity who is overseeing BPA's Open Access Same Time Information System." Wilson referred to it as OASIS.

"There isn't anything definitive that says that you have to do this," Tramblie said, "but I was having a conversation with a BPA representative from the power side who told me it was more of a situation where if you don't register it puts you in the raise the red flag arena."

It will cost the PUD $400 a year.

Commissioner Gene Healy asked Tramblie to have a BPA representative provide a brief explanation of what the service will provide for $400 a year.

"I'm more interested in what do we get for it," Healy said.

Tramblie will attend a Pot and Power Workshop in Portland in early February.

"I think it's probably a good idea that you are going," Reid said. "There are things to be learned there. This is something that is probably going to get larger in the future, good to be on top of it."

"It will be interesting to see what others are doing," Tramblie agreed.

Commissioners also approved travel for Healy to attend the WPUDA Legislative Reception on January 12.

The meeting was then closed for an executive session for a manager evaluation.