Public outcry over Grant PUD bonuses

EPHRATA — Due to public outcry, Grant PUD staff will discuss possible changes to the utility’s compensation program awarding cash bonuses or extra days off to employees.

The program got the public’s attention after a story ran last month in the Columbia Basin Herald about employee bonuses.

Many of the employees were recognized for 13 years of work on the federal relicensing project.

Last year, the utility budgeted a total of $236,000 for monetary awards and for employees’ personal leave days through the program.

As he looked at documents, Commissioner Randy Allred said Monday a more accurate total was more than $300,000.

Commissioner Tom Flint said the PUD needs to review the policy, as it caught him off guard.

He said he agreed with nonunion employees’ recent 4 percent raise, due to union employees’ raise approved last year.

But with the current economy and people losing their jobs, it’s hard for commissioners to defend such a program, Flint says.

General Manager Tim Culbertson said he brought the policy forward to the commission and asked them to endorse it or end it.

He said he was fine with the commission modifying or eliminating the program because times have changed.

Commissioner Greg Hansen cited a letter to the editor of the Grant County Journal by a woman, who wrote pay increases were wrong due to people being out of work.

Hansen noted he was sorry he voted for it.

PUD wage levels are increasing faster than other wages in the county, he noted.

Hansen also said the PUD has been looking at relicensing for 10 years and asked how many people had been hired for the effort.

Culbertson said he was going to stick up for the employees, as they gave up countless hours of their personal life and family life.

He pointed out the PUD competes on the regional and national levels for employees.

Commissioner Bob Bernd said biologists and engineers have a skillset that puts them in demand wherever they go.

Commissioner Terry Brewer said a committee will be studying the issue.

There’s no one behind the commissioners’ bench who does not understand the great value of the license, he added.