Local agencies CAN work together

Randy Smith, PUD Commissioner

1/29/2008

Have you ever had the conversation with a friend, neighbor or at the coffee shop about the local road project that is taking place nearby? My conversations invariably come around to, “I wonder how long until they tear this new asphalt up for new water, sewer or electric lines?” We’ve all been there wondering, “Why can’t these agencies do a better job of coordinating?” 

While I can’t promise any of you that we will entirely eliminate these glitches in our infrastructure systems, I can tell you that your PUD, port and county commissioners have embarked on a renewed effort to better serve the residents of Chelan County in a more cost-effective and timely fashion.

This may appear on the surface to be a simple task. But when there are literally hundreds of employees working on projects within our agencies, ensuring that the right people are having the right conversations with each other at the right time does take time and effort to achieve. The three commissions decided several months ago to make a concentrated effort to achieve this goal. We started by identifying a joint project where all three of us have an interest in the outcome … the Peshastin sub-area plan. The county has the planning responsibility, the port owns the mill property and the PUD operates the wastewater facility. We are still working together on this project to hopefully achieve an outcome that will be beneficial to all.

In the course of our conversations we have come to realize that more than just local projects impact how we work together. We met in joint session in December with our state legislators to discuss how the state legislative and regulatory environment affects us, and our legislators were delighted that we are making the effort to support each other in serving the needs of our residents. We are exploring jointly with the county how to best approach water quality issues in the Wenatchee River, especially in how that relates to sewer facilities along the river.

In short, we are not only keeping the lines of communication open, but we are continuing to identify those areas where we can work well together to provide better value to the residents of Chelan County. We sincerely hope that this approach can pay big dividends over the long run and is in tune with what local residents want us to be doing to better serve them.

Let us know.