PUD auditor to report letter name removal to state

EPHRATA — Grant County PUD Auditor Kim Justice told commissioners she is obligated to report to the state Auditor’s Office that Commissioner Greg Hansen removed his name from an original public document.

It is against the law to alter a document filed in a public office, according to the “injury to public record” section within the Revised Code of Washington (RCW).

The penalty is either imprisonment in a state correctional facility for not more than five years, a fine of not more than $1,000, or both, according to the RCW.

Hansen scratched his name off of the original document, Justice confirmed this week. The letter supported PUD employees and the utility’s General Manager Tim Culbertson

During a recent commission meeting, Hansen said he phoned a PUD staff member to strike his name from the letter.

The employee told Hansen the document had already been sent to employees, so he let the matter rest for the time being, Hansen said.

He decided to have the letter pulled this week, which is when he scratched his name from it because of the “kind of dirty, low down tactics” that were used on former PUD attorney Ray Foianini to get rid of him, Hansen explained.

Hansen previously told the Columbia Basin Herald he supported the employees, but not Culbertson because of the non-renewal of Foianini’s contract.

“I wasn’t going to sit still,” Hansen said.

He added that the commission could censure him and tell the prosecutor’s office “they have a criminal here.”

“It will make you look more stupid than what you were,” Hansen cautioned.

Commission President Terry Brewer said he believed interim PUD attorney Mitchell Delabarre only stated the above ideas as options.

Brewer added Justice said she had a obligation to make a notification to the state auditor’s office.

No one has made a recommendation, Brewer commented.

Brewer said he found Hansen’s language a bit inappropriate.