Hansen reacts to letter change, report by auditor

MOSES LAKE — Grant County PUD Commissioner Greg Hansen said he doesn’t believe the employee support letter he scratched his name off last week is a public document.

The distinction could mean he didn’t break a state law regarding the altering or “injury to a public record.”

“This is a letter that really has no consequence as far as the business of the PUD,” he told the Columbia Basin Herald. “It was not a resolution or a motion. It doesn’t really have anything to do with the transactions of the PUD.”

Hansen said PUD management and commissioners confronted him during an executive session after he removed his name from the letter.

He took his name off the letter because he couldn’t support PUD General Manager Tim Culbertson after the nonrewal of former PUD attorney Ray Foianini’s contract, Hansen explained.

He originally signed the letter because he could support employees, which he still does.

During the executive session with commissioners and management, the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) was laid out in front of him.

When learning of options to reprimand Hansen, the commission was told by the PUD’s interim attorney they could either doing nothing, censure Hansen or turn the matter over the Grant County prosecutor.

No recommendation was made, but Grant PUD Auditor Kim Justice told commissioners she felt obligated to report what happened to the state Auditor’s Office.

He doesn’t fault her, as she is required to do so, Hansen commented.

The contention over the past two months has been over cheap power for large industrial customers, he claimed.

“All of this yelling, screaming and letters, everything you’ve heard over the last year, it’s all about who is going to take Grant County power at low prices,” Hansen asserted. “The industrials are here to take it.”

The issue over Foianini’s contract renewal is one part of the picture.

He was very knowledgeable about power sales contracts and was against contracts for the industrials, Hansen claimed.

“This is a political firing,” he said. “It wasn’t due to his competency, his costs. He was getting in the way of power for the industrials.”

The PUD is 200 megawatts away from running out of power from the utility’s Priest Rapids Project, which could take place in a year or two, he said.

Once the project power runs out, the PUD must buy more expensive power on the open market.

When the PUD reaches the end of its project power, only the large industrials should buy power on the open market, he added.

Residential users, irrigators, small industrials and food processors should have priority when obtaining cheap power, he said.

Hansen said he has no regrets about what happened and does not apologize.

But if he had it to do over again, he would instead request that his name be removed from the letter, he noted.