News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 687 - 711 of 1383
Some requests for ambulance and fire improvements were OK’d last week by Coulee Dam’s town council, but some weren’t. Normally, the second reading of an ordnance is a formality for council passage. Not on Wednesday night at Coulee Dam, when an ordinance to provide funds for fire department and ambulance improvement ran into trouble. Council members wanted specific price information on a number of items seeking funds in a budget amendment ordinance totaling $78,840. The request had grown a little over $7,000 between the first and second readi... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District will provide an opportunity for public comment on the sale of Center School and its property, 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 23. The meeting will be held in the Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School library, on the second floor of the new school complex. The district’s board of directors declared the school building and surrounding property (about 8.5 acres) surplus at their meeting Feb. 23. The public will have opportunity to comment on the sale or retention of the property. The district purchased the b... Full story
An abstract artist from the Portland area who has been commissioned to create art pieces for the new school complex had a tour of the building and area last week. Lucinda Parker, who was selected by a local art committee after being among those recommended by the Washington Art Commission, was fascinated by the colors of both the coulee rocks and waters in the area. Local committee members said Parker will return to the area, perhaps as early as late March, to continue to get a feel of the area. At that time she will likely have sketches to... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board took steps Monday night to improve conduct on school buses and in the classrooms. After a debate about priorities, the board voted to add four temporary positions to provide better discipline in selected elementary classrooms, and adopted a tougher set of rules for students riding on school buses. The temporary positions will last through this school year. Superintendent Dennis Carlson said class disruptions and behavior on buses involved just a few kids, but they had become problems for the district.... Full story
John Nordine, mayor pro-tem in Electric City, said last week that he would be willing to fill out the unexpired term of Mayor Jerry Sands, who is resigning. Sands will serve until the last day of February. Sands became mayor in 2009, and resigned, saying he would like to spend more time with his family. Nordine was elected by the council as mayor pro-tem and Sands’ resignation caught him by surprise. After thinking it over for a few days, Nordine said he was ready to fill out Sands final 34 months on his elected term. Sands first became m... Full story
Electric City has a new crosswalk program that promotes safety, and, if successful, will be expanded to another crosswalk in the city. This week those using the crosswalk to the city's post office will be able to pick up an orange flag to help motorists see them when they cross the highway. They can deposit the flag on the opposite side to be used when they return. Mayor Jerry Sands has been working on the idea as a result of complaints made by Electric City resident Steve Salstrom, and others,... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board declared Center School and its 8.5 acre property surplus Monday night. The board authorized Superintendent Dennis Carlson to move forward and schedule a public hearing so the public could have input on the possible sale of the property. The school district recently purchased the property for $155,000, lending itself the money from its capital fund. Any sale of the property would return the money to the fund. The property was purchased from the Continental Land Company, which years ago made the site ava... Full story
A summit on what to do with the old middle school buidling in Grand Coulee will be held at the site on March 12, from 11- 2 pm. The event is organized by a committee of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce, which is inviting various agencies to attend and share their ideas of how the 90,000-square-foot school might be used to better the local area. The “Community Revitalization Summit” will seek to address all of the issues concerning the facility. Those attending will get a tour of the building, and a working lunch is planned whi... Full story
Electric City Mayor Jerry Sands has submitted his resignation, effective at the end of February. In a letter to the editor that appears in this week’s Star newspaper, Sands notes that he and his wife Connie would like to spend more time with family. Sands has steered the city through a major annexation, the construction of the arsenic treatment plant, cleaned the city up through enforcement of the city’s ordinances, and tried to lift the city’s spirit by flags welcoming visitors and getting a holiday lighting program going, all during his a... Full story
Electric City’s council voted to remove any restrictions on the size of accessory buildings at its meeting last Tuesday night. The city’s planning commission had sent up a litany of proposed changes to the building code, the accessory building question one of the items, along with minor changes in fencing and businesses in homes. The council only addressed the size of accessory buildings after hearing a number of people from the audience ask for the proposed size of 1,728 square feet be scrapped. Councilmember Aaron Derr moved to remove the... Full story
Lucinda Parker, a Portland artist who has been selected to create art for the new school, will be here next Sunday, Monday and part of Tuesday. Parker, an abstract painter, was selected from among several artists who were recommended by the Washington State Art Commission to a local committee in charge of the project. The art project will total up to $75,000, under a state requirement that art be placed in new public buildings. While here, Parker will meet with school officials, drive the area, visit museums, and generally get a feel of the... Full story
Electric City stepped up to the plate last Tuesday night and pledged up to $15,000 to move the idea of consolidating local cities along, and now the ball is in Grand Coulee’s court. The city council action was a boost for the chamber of commerce, whose efforts to get the subject of consolidation a fair hearing in the months ahead picked up a little steam. Grand Coulee’s council a month ago showed a level of interest by voting a letter of support, but no funding. They would need to vote to spend up to $15,000 also if the full $30,000 budget is n... Full story
After Thursday’s ballot tabulations, the favorable vote for Grand Coulee Dam School District’s special levy remained at more than 65 percent. The final count in the mail-in-ballot election that ended Tuesday, Feb. 10, shows 734 yes votes and 381 no votes. “A levy election is in many ways a referendum on the quality of the programs being offered in our community schools and a statement of the commitment of our community to support — through the election process — continuation of our efforts to improve our schools and programs,” Superintend... Full story
Electric City has voted to put all of its hotel/motel tax money in one account and asked its attorney to draw up an ordinance indicating this. The city council, in response to the chamber of commerce’s objections to the city holding a large reserve fund, voted to fold its reserve account of about $280,000 into its regular hotel/motel account. The city has had a policy of holding back half of each year’s tax collection, socking it away for a future use. And the council had been considering putting most of it into an account that could only be ta...
Council members in Elmer City got a glance of what the sidewalk project that will be funded by a Transportation Improvement Board grant will look like at its meeting last Thursday night. Th town was awarded the $225,375 grant by the Washington State Department of Transportation’s TIB. The grant will provide sidewalks on Front Street and Williams Street, along with safety improvements, a bus stop and signalized crossing across Highway 155. The project will also connect residents to the post office, town hall, park and local business l... Full story
Grand Coulee Dam School District passed its four-year school levy with a whopping 65-percent approval from the four-county area, Tuesday’s results showed. It caused Karen Depew, who chairs the Citizens for Quality Education committee, to say, “Way to go.” Superintendent Dennis Carlson could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. The total vote was 591 yes votes with 325 no votes. Voters approved a four-year $1.13 million replacement levy which will begin in 2016. Voters apparently appreciated the fact that in most cases their school taxes... Full story
To school officials here, and throughout the state, Initiative 1351, passed by voters in November, is just another financial unfunded nightmare. The initiative calls for smaller class sizes, an idea that normally would receive little argument. However, there is no provision for funding. The Legislature, now in session, is faced with the task of funding the number of additional teachers and aides required in smaller classroom sizes, plus classroom space. Locally, Superintendent Dennis Carlson... Full story
By a narrow 3-2 vote, the Grand Coulee City Council refused to pay back a building permit fee to Mike Horne, who wanted to move his automotive business to a new location earlier this winter. The permit fee of $650.06 was only a small portion of what it cost Horne told the city council last Tuesday night. Horne said he had taken out a loan and had attorney fees of his own, in the amount of about $5,000. In an earlier discussion, the council decided not to reimburse Horne for the permit fee, and last Tuesday night he appeared before the council... Full story
Electric City is starting a process that could lead to the building of a pedestrian pathway along SR-155, using hotel/motel tax money. Council members have long hinted that the city would like to do a major tourism project using some $280,000 held in its hotel/motel reserve fund. Councilman Brad Parrish talked about the project at Tuesday night’s council meeting. The proposed pathway would go from Coulee Playland to the Causeway and connect with all three firms that develop hotel/motel tax monies, Sunbanks Resort, Skydeck Motel and Coulee P... Full story
Coulee Dam is getting closer to selecting its third police officer. Police Chief Pat Collins and Sgt. Larry Hall have handled law enforcement duties for over a year while waiting for the civil service commissioners to be named and to organize. The town’s Civil Service Commission has forwarded two names to Collins, who said Monday that he plans to conduct an interview with the second candidate soon. After that process is complete, Collins will select the department’s third officer. However, there won’t be much relief in sight since that candi... Full story
Grand Coulee’s volunteer fire chief, Richard Paris, has asked the council to give him authority to sign an interlocal purchasing agreement with Snohomish County Fire District 3, so Grand Coulee could “piggy-back” with that agency in the purchase of a new ambulance. Paris said the city has enough in its fire department equipment reserve fund for the purchase and that he had placed a $160,000 request in the 2015 budget, which was approved by the council. Paris said that piggy-backing with another agency that has already gone through the effor... Full story
John Tufts is the new chief of police in Grand Coulee. Mayor Chris Christopherson named Tuft, to the applause of council members, at the city council meeting Tuesday night. Tufts, a 30-year veteran of the department, had been acting as interim chief since shortly after the retirement of Mel Hunt on Oct. 1. Tufts was one of the top three candidates for the job and his name along with two others was advanced to the mayor for consideration for the appointment. When the mayor made the announcement, it was apparent from the reaction, that council... Full story
Local school district patrons have only six days remaining to mail in their replacement levy ballots. The ballots must be postmarked by Feb. 10, to be counted. The Grand Coulee Dam School District is asking voters to approve a four-year, $1.13 million maintenance and operation levy, which would result in a reduction in taxes to most property owners. This levy is a replacement levy of a four-year levy that ends this year. It asks voters to pay $3.95 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, compared to the current rate of $4.54 per thousand,... Full story
Five Lake Roosevelt High School students will begin a pilot project at the Bureau of Reclamation in February. The project will allow upper class students at the high school to spend one day a week getting a work experience at designated locations at the dam. High School Principal Brandon Byers said Tuesday that he is in the process of selecting five students who are currently in the school’s engineering program. Byers said he met with Bureau officials last spring and the process got started. He also stated that if the pilot project gets off t... Full story
A Keller man was arrested last Wednesday at a Burdin Boulevard residence for being in possession of a stolen vehicle. Henry Alexander Palmer, 43, was arrested and taken to Grant County Jail on an outstanding warrant for driving while his license was suspended and for having a stolen vehicle in his possession. Palmer told police he had bought the pickup from a third party. Police saw the black 1999 Toyota pickup in the alley behind Burdin Boulevard and A Street, partially blocking the alley about 8:30 p.m. When they checked the registration,... Full story