Jeff Foster wins MLIRD board vote

MOSES LAKE — Jeff Foster has been elected to a third term as a director on the board overseeing the Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District.

Foster defeated challenger Ron Sawyer 564 to 217 in an election held Tuesday, Dec. 10. The result was certified on Monday after the district’s absentee ballots were counted.

“I’d like to thank the ratepayers,” Foster said Monday. “I’m glad to be back at service, and glad to be part of the district again.”

Foster was elected twice to serve on the board of directors, but ceased to be a member of the board in late summer when the sale of land within the district closed before he could get another parcel annexed into the district.

A person must own property in an irrigation district in order to vote or hold office in district elections.

The MLIRD board asked the Grant County Commission to appoint a new board member, but the county commissioners said that with an election coming in December, there was no reason to.

“The ratepayers finally did something the county commissioners could have and should have done earlier,” Foster said.

“Congratulations to Jeff,” said Sawyer. “I’m looking forward to working with him on the Watershed Council.”

Sawyer is a permanent member of the Moses Lake Watershed Council, and as the owner and operator of Cascade Marina, has been heavily involved in addressing the ongoing problem of blue-green algae blooms in Moses Lake and the potentially lethal toxins those algae secrete.

The MLIRD voted at its most recent meeting to fund studies of a possible canal connecting the West Quincy Irrigation District’s canal system to the northern tip of Moses Lake, allowing for increased Columbia River water to dilute the lake, and for a possible alum treatment of either Rocky Ford Creek or the Rocky Ford arm of Moses Lake.

Either treatment would reduce phosphorus levels in the lake water, an essential nutrient for blue-green algae.

Foster said he is looking forward to “getting back to work on everything the district is charged to do.”

“Dealing with the water quality problem is clearly one of my priorities,” he said.