Citizen input appreciated

By Ann Congdon, PUD Commissioner

6/13/2007

Weighing heavily on the minds of commissioners the past few months have been major issues including what Chelan County PUD may be asked to do in the future and how it will meet its responsibilities now. On June 11, we took major steps to answer those big questions and set the utility’s direction for the next several years.
 
On behalf of all commissioners, I want to thank everyone who called or e-mailed or spoke up at one of the public meetings. We appreciated your input, and all the comments helped us formulate our policies. Please continue to tell us how you feel about additional decisions as we move forward. We always have yearly budgets that require significant choices, and I have a feeling this strategic planning will be continuing for many years.

One important theme that has emerged from these in-depth strategic sessions is, “How do we balance being fiscally prudent with sharing the benefits of public power and the services it provides with all the residents of the county?” 
 
After 10 months of financial analysis, policy discussions and public meetings, we have now begun to set the utility’s course through 2012. General Manager Rich Riazzi and other staff recommended the PUD move away from reliance on volatile wholesale power sales revenue and onto more secure financial footing for the future. We, as commissioners, asked for cost-cutting across the board before endorsing rate increases for electric, water, fiber-optic and sewer service, and we were provided a plan that calls for limits on O&M growth in the coming years. We are confident that finding internal efficiencies will continue.
 
Citizen input to the fiber issue has been lively and widespread,  with 95-percent-plus being in favor of continued build-out. We had spirited discussion, and the majority decided to proceed with the fiber build-out at the current rate. But we also instructed staff to put more emphasis on rural and remote areas as service is extended.
 
We encourage anyone interested to comment on the various policy decisions the board agreed to Monday night. Commissioners names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers can also be found on this Web site. There are certain to be many more meetings where public comment will also be invited as we take the actual steps to implement the policies decided upon June 11.
 
We look forward to continuing to hear from you.