News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 1309 - 1333 of 1383
Two general contractors, both from Spokane, were the only firms to submit bids on the K-12 new school facility here. Bids were opened at 4 p.m. Tuesday by Cameron Golightly, architect with Design West of Pullman. Walker Construction’s base bid was $22,942,000. The second bidder was Graham Construction, which submitted a bid of $23,185,000. Both construction firms submitted a host of alternate bids, 11 in all. Golightly said that his architectural firm, along with other officials, will study the bids and alternative bids to determine who will ge... Full story
You will soon be able to slaughter chickens in Electric City, legally, as a result of action taken by the city council Tuesday night. It takes five days for the ordinance amendment to take effect. The action amends the city’s “chicken” ordinance that passed last month and stated that you couldn’t legally slaughter chickens within the city limits. So residents who already have chickens, or move forward on having up to six hens, can, if they so desire, slaughter a chicken for Sunday dinner. The chicken ordinance stirred up a few folks in the cit... Full story
The Regional Board of Mayors quickly reversed themselves Monday and went back to monthly meetings when it was pointed out that they had acted illegally the month before. In February, the mayors had voted to change their meetings from once a month to once every two months. This week they voted to return to monthly meetings until they get the change right. Coulee Dam Town Clerk Carol Visker pointed out that before the mayors can change their meeting dates, they must go to their councils for approval and then amend their agreement on meetings. So... Full story
A “stakeholder” group met Tuesday to try to put the finishing touches on the script for the all- new laser light show. The schedule for the inaugural show now has slipped to mid-summer, Bureau of Reclamation Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher said Monday. She stated that most of the programming for the laser portion of the show can’t be done until the final script is settled. Originally it had been hoped that the showing of the new laser show could start during the Memorial Day holiday at the end of May. And area promoters had hoped that... Full story
A payroll clerk at Coulee Medical Center ran into a problem when the bank associated with the hospital’s payroll account would not let her into the account. The bank, according to a written Grand Coulee Police report, told the payroll clerk that the account had been entered illegally and $4,980 had been removed. The money went to an account at another bank and routing numbers and the person with the account had given his name. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident and the payroll bank stated that it would make the f... Full story
The 56-foot center section of the new Keller ferry will arrive in Grand Coulee sometime Wednesday or early Thursday morning this week, workers at the Crescent Bay assembly site said Tuesday. The 20,000-pound section of the all-aluminum boat was placed on a truck trailer late last week for the long and arduous trip from the Foss Maritime boat yard in Rainier, Ore., to the newly constructed assembly location. Foss workers have been assembling a cocoon-like building where the three pieces of the... Full story
Gray & Osborne engineers outlined ways for Coulee Dam and Elmer City to get their monthly sewer rates down in a letter to Coulee Dam Mayor Quincy Snow that was distributed after the last city council meeting. Coulee Dam residents currently pay $59 a month for sewer service and Elmer City pays $35 a month. Both towns will need to up their rates to pay a $4.92 million loan for the wastewater treatment plant. Engineer Jeff Stevens, in his letter, outlined a plan in which the town of Coulee Dam would change its current funding source from the... Full story
A rehash of Coulee Dam’s wastewater treatment plant project dominated the town’s regular council meeting last Wednesday night. Gray & Osborne engineers Jeff Stevens and John Wilson took the council and about 15 people who attended the meeting down memory lane, explaining the time frame and processes used to get the project where it is today. Just where it is, is a question that’s not easily answered. Gray & Osborne has been called off the design phase for three months while the town attempts to go through a “value engineering” process to help d... Full story
Gray & Osborne engineers outlined ways for Coulee Dam and Elmer City to get their monthly sewer rates down in a letter to Coulee Dam mayor Quincy Snow that was distributed after last Wednesday’s city council meeting. Coulee Dam residents currently pay $59 a month for sewer service and Elmer City pays $35 a month. Both towns will need to up their rates to pay a $4.92 million wastewater treatment plant loan. Engineer Jeff Stevens, in his letter, outlined a plan where the town of Coulee Dam would change its current funding source from the Departme... Full story
The local airport’s runways will be kept open in winter with a new snowplow. Port District 7 commissioners learned Thursday that they will get a new replacement truck with snow plow equipment, plus a building to house it. A $265,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration will pay for 90 percent of the cost of both projects. An additional 2.5 percent of the cost could come from the Washington State Department of Transportation’s airport division, and the port district will pick up the final 7.5 percent. Lisa Corcoran of the port’s engin... Full story
Jerry Birdwell will resign as a Port District 7 commissioner effective April 1, he advised Chairman Orville Scharbach on Thursday. Birdwell stated Friday that he had a number of things going on that will require that he leave the board. He was named to the commission, which oversees the operation of the local airport and the golf course, last July after the resignation of Larry Maier. The board has been functioning with only two members since Stan Conklin, the third member, has been down south for the winter. Scharbach said the port plans to... Full story
Sensing a sticky wicket, Electric City Mayor Jerry Sands took the issue of joining the chamber of commerce off the city council’s agenda last Tuesday night and it will appear on the agenda again,March 12. The $100 joining fee got an immediate response from Councilmember Bob Rupe, who stated that the city had given the chamber a lot of money and they could take the membership fee out of that. Sands explained that the money given earlier was from its hotel/motel tax funds and was for promoting this area. He said the $100 fee was entirely d... Full story
Electric City’s Bob Rupe has asked that the city’s drug and alcohol policy be reviewed by attorneys so it includes the use of marijuana and other controlled substances. He wrote in a recommendation to the council that language be included in the city ordinance and in employee handbooks that makes the use of drugs, alcohol, and controlled substances a dismissal offense. “The purpose of these rules is to balance the personal rights of an individual and the right of Electric City … and help employees understand what conduct is expected and necessa... Full story
The Electric City Council has decided to cut its meetings from two a month to one. Mayor Jerry Sands said the city had caught up on updating its ordinances and got the arsenic treatment plant up and running, so the amount of business for the council in the city has diminished. The council has regularly met on the second and fourth Tuesday nights each month for decades, but now will meet only on the second Tuesday night of the month. The council also decided to change its meeting hour from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m. Electric City now joins Coulee Dam in... Full story
The city of Grand Coulee is busy unraveling four years and $70,000 worth of municipal court billings. The money is in the bank, city clerk Carol Boyce stated, but the temporary clerk hired to do the work, Debra Pifer, now has to determine what goes where. The city, county and state all own a piece of the court money. The municipal court handles tickets written by Grand Coulee police officers, and the money is supposed to be paid to the three entities -- city, county and state -- according to a formula that is based on the type and amount of... Full story
The school board reversed itself Monday night on decisions it made a month ago on calendar dates for the next school year. The board had decided to hold school on Columbus Day and eliminate the mid-winter break next February. This month, absent board member Ted Piccolo, who promoted the changes in January, the three members present changed everything back to the way the calendar had been presented a month ago. Veteran teacher Sandy Hood, from the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School, told board members that both students and staff needed the... Full story
The chamber of commerce is sponsoring the “Are You Tough Enough” First Annual Banks Lake Triple Fish Challenge, April 6-7, out of Coulee Playland. The two-day event features a fishing derby for smallmouth bass, walleye, and rainbow trout and has two age categories, 0-14 years of age and adults. So dust off your rod and reel, read up on the contest, and get your 2013 fishing license so you are all set for the big event. Grand prize is an Achilles 4-person inflatable boat and Yamaha outboard motor. There are other prizes, including money, so the... Full story
The theft of a school district food service truck is costing the district over $8,500, according to a Grand Coulee Police Department report issued last Thursday. The truck was stolen during the weekend of Feb. 9-11, and found the following Tuesday abandoned along the I-5 corridor near Seattle. Two district employees were dispatched to Seattle to retrieve the truck, and after getting a new battery for the truck, were able to get it home. The trip, and the tow bill for pulling the truck to an impound yard, cost the district $1,379.50, according... Full story
The school board approved a three-year labor contract with its Public Service Employees at its meeting Monday night. The contract runs from the 2012-13 school year through 2014-15 school year. In the immediate year, the district has agreed to increase wages for its building secretaries by 40 cents per hour for additional work they have been asked to do. In the 2013-14 school year, PSE employees, (clerical, janitors, bus drivers and aides) will receive a 2.5 percent wage increase. And in the final year of the contract, wages will remain the... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board approved two trips for students and chaperones at Monday’s board meeting. Victor Camarena, project coordinator for Step Pipeline to the Future at Lake Roosevelt High School, is in charge of both trips. On March 21-23, Camarena will take four students to the National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, NM. Going on that trip are Abe Batten, Brady Black, Lukas Hermetz and Corbin Wilder. Batten and Black will be presenters at the fair and will mentor Hermetz and Wilder, who w... Full story
Brandon Byers, an English teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School, was named interim principal at the Grand Coulee Dam Middle School by the school board Monday night. Byers is finishing up his principal credentials at Whitworth University this year and is one of three candidates to apply for the position. Byers replaces Lisa Lakin, who has moved over to Center Elementary School as principal. Lakin and Superintendent Dennis Carlson have been co-principals at Center School so far this year since Sue Hinton left the district. Carlson said that... Full story
The bid deadline for the new K-12 school project has been delayed until March 12, Superintendent Dennis Carlson said Monday. Carlson said that the delay is due to a request by several general contractors who said the district wasn’t allowing enough time between the date they had an on-site review and the bid deadline, which would have been Monday at 3 p.m. Contractors were concerned that they wouldn’t have enough time to fully look at the options associated with the bid and get bids back from sub-contractors in time. Postponing the bid deadline... Full story
The bid deadline for the new K-12 school project has been delayed until March 12, Superintendent Dennis Carlson said Monday. Carlson said that the delay is due to a request by several general contractors who said the district wasn’t allowing enough time between the date they had an on-site review and the bid deadline, which would have been Monday at 3 p.m. Contractors were concerned that they wouldn’t have enough time to fully look at the options associated with the bid and get bids back from sub-contractors in time. Postponing the bid deadline... Full story
Mayor Quincy Snow assured those attending a town council meeting last Wednesday night that the town would follow through on a “value engineering” study of its $4.92 million wastewater treatment plant project. He made the announcement after a long presentation by David Dunn, an engineer from the state Department of Ecology, who came to the meeting to explain the value engineering process. At the end of the presentation, Snow asked if the town should have gone through this process earlier. “It is late in the process for major changes to be made,... Full story
The boards from the Nespelem and Grand Coulee Dam school districts districts met jointly last week, in another of what have become quarterly meetings. Concerns were shared about the two districts’ school calendars for next school year. Efforts have been made in the past to get the two calendars as closely aligned as possible. In this instance, Nespelem Director Jolene Marchand stated, Coulee Dam passed its calendar without Nespelem getting to look at it. At its last meeting, Grand Coulee Dam School District passed a calendar that scheduled s... Full story