Accountability tops list for PUD challengers

Incumbent cites experience to earn second term

Grant County PUD Commission President Tom Flint faces three challengers in next week's primary election, and one theme has emerged from their campaigns: restoring accountability.

"I feel the PUD needs to be accountable to the rate payers," Larry Williamson, an irrigator from George, said.

Soap Lake resident Kathy Hanford-Wiley said she hopes to restore honesty, accountability, leadership and trust to the PUD because, right now, "They don't have any of that."

And Wilson Creek irrigator David Stevens said he wants to make sure the control of the PUD stays with the commission.

"I just think the commission ought to be setting policy day to day," he said.

Two of the four candidates for position A on the commission will advance beyond next Tuesday's primary to the general election in November.

Position A covers the majority of rural Grant County, extending from the northern tip along Highway 28 and south to Mattawa.

Flint, an irrigator running for his second four-year term, highlighted his experience on both the relicensing of the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project and keeping power rates low.

"I've been very effective in what I've done," he said, adding, "I feel really good about rate stability and the protection of rates."

Flint said relicensing includes a huge amount of information for a commissioner to get his hands around. During his time as commissioner, Flint said he has built relationships with federal government officials in Washington, D.C. that benefit the district.

Flint added that he's a "firm supporter" of the PUD's fiber program, and he likened it to the district's rural electrification program of the middle part of the 20th century.

Though Flint said he will not jeopardize electrical rates to help the fiber program, he did say he would like to see other financial sources come in to support the program.

"We did it (started the fiber program) because it was important to schools and important to folks in Grant County," he said. "You do it because there's a public benefit."

The biggest surprise of the campaign for Flint, he said, has been the amount of misinformation that has been put out about him by his opponents. The biggest example, he said, are criticisms that he has not been responsive to the people.

"People need to be getting more sources and information than (from) my opponents to get to the truth," Flint said.

Hanford-Wiley, who has attended commission meetings regularly for more than two years, said she is running to fix problems the PUD that start at the top.

"I've watched what's gone on the last several years, and there is a leadership vacuum," she said. "I decided I could either stand by and watch them hurt the people of the county, or stand up and be counted."

Hanford-Wiley has questioned spending decisions on the fiber program in the past, and she said she would call for better adherence to the budget from upper management.

Expenses must be cut from the operations and maintenance budget of the fiber system for it to succeed in the future, Hanford-Wiley said.

"They need to hold the line on the budget and cut expenses where they need to be cut," she said, adding that hubs can be built more cheaply and staff does not necessarily have to increase 100 positions, as is the case with the 2005 proposed budget.

In relicensing, Hanford-Wiley sees her role as an overseer because staff and consultants have done most of the heavy lifting to bring the relicense before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Flint, she said, was "not the only one involved in relicensing."

When asked how she would help repair the PUD's reputation, which has been tarnished in recent years with allegations of misspending on the Zipp fiber network, Hanford-Wiley, whose spouse works for the district, said she would help make the atmosphere more conducive for employees to speak up against what they see as mismanagement.

"We've got to fix their work environment," she said.

Williamson said he wants to restore accountability to spending in the entire district.

"We've been running in the negative for the last three years," he said. "The expenses need to match the income."

Williamson also said he would support relicensing, but he believes that issue alone is not enough to retain a sitting commissioner.

"If the commissioners are so important to the relicensing that they can't be taken out of office, what about the last three that have been taken out of office?" he said, referring to Carl Barr, Bill Hewitt and Bill Judge.

If elected, Williamson said he would make the PUD more accountable by making himself more available to rate payers.

Williamson said he supports the fiber system and increased buildout through sources such as wireless networks.

"We're going to have to try to make it survive," he said. "You can't afford to throw $168 million (the amount spent on the system not including depreciation) in the toilet."

Williamson said he would like to see a new brand wave of thinking at the PUD, such as seeking out alternative sources of power or lobbying high-school students to further improve fish bypass through the dams.

"If it's economically feasible, and it works for Grant County, we need to look at alternative sources," he said.

Stevens said the commission has spent too much time arguing about fiber, and he would like to see more effort diverted toward completing the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project and bringing power back to irrigators' seasonal minimums.

Stevens said he supports 100 percent buildout of the fiber system, but it must take place over a longer period of time, such as 10 years.

"We've got to salvage what we have and continue forward," he said.

Stevens said if elected, he would support lowering the PUD's debt.

"It's too easy to get out and borrow money," he said.

Stevens said he would bring a "conservative approach" to the PUD with the aim of keeping the district's bond rate high and power rates competitive with other areas. In 1954, Stevens said PUD officials begged his father to drill a well on his farm to support their efforts to bring power to rural areas, and he sees little change in the raw product of water from then.

"I don't see what we've done in the past 50 years to increase costs," he said.

Stevens said he's been surprised during this campaign that more people have not been interested in the position. He said he's proud of the county's hydroelectric system and wants to protect it, and that's why he's running.

"I'm very surprised that the public doesn't get more qualified people for the top end of PUD management (the commission)," Stevens said. "That's a pretty large responsibility in the county."

**2&OhmeYeUT?Upud race 9/9Main_Server**2O#0z2AUDTAe”O#\