PUD hears reports, authorizes raises

After a few presentations on Tuesday at the meeting of the Wahkiakum County PUD Board of Commissioners, General Manager Dave Tramblie got a raise, and commissioners agreed to extend the upper end of his salary scale from $10,900 per month to $12,000 per month.

PUD linemen Shane Pfenniger and Mark Elliott began the meeting with a presentation on transformers. Around 9 a.m., a delegation from Bonneville Power Administration arrived and talked about seismic and geomagnetic disturbances and how the industry was trying to prepare for such events.

Tramblie reported that electric crews have been trimming trees along SR 4. They started by Miller Point Road and have gotten as far as Grays River.

“We’ve made headway, not as quickly as I’d like,” he said.

Tramblie also reported that due to the installment of radio read meters on the east side of the county and on Puget Island, the PUD has been able to cut meter reading labor from 64 hours per month to less than 14.

He hopes to have radio read meters installed throughout the county by the summer of 2020.

After a lengthy discussion, commissioners agreed to extend the upper end of the pay ranges for both Tramblie and Auditor Erin Wilson, as proposed by the general manager. The current maximum for them is $10,900 and $7,000 respectively. A coming resolution will increase the maximums to $12,000 and $8,000 respectively.

Tramblie currently receives $10,862 per month. The commissioners agreed to pay him $11,250 per month, retroactive January 1, 2018, as a cost of living increase.

Healy requested and received travel approval to attend a WPUDA telecomm workshop in Spokane.

The next PUD meeting is scheduled for May 15, at 8:30 a.m.