News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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The Electric City Planning Commission will submit a number of changes to the city council as a result of its public hearing held at the fire hall last Thursday night. Major among the changes is the doubling of the size allowable for accessory buildings, a hot topic for nearly two years at both the planning commission and city council meetings. About 30 local residents turned out to hear planner Kurt Danison, of Highlands Associates of Okanogan, walk through the changes that the planning commission will propose to the city council. The planning... Full story
School district patrons received their official mail-in levy ballots this week and will need to return them by Feb. 10, in order for them to be counted. At issue is a four-year replacement levy that would provide $1.13 million each year, 2016-2019, for maintenance and operation costs for schools and programs. The levy provides additional funding for underfunded school programs, and is in fact a reduction in the rate at which taxes are levied on property owners currently. A successful vote also... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District is loaning itself the money to truly own Center Elementary School and the surrounding property. The board voted last Wednesday to move $155,000 from the district’s general fund to its capital fund to purchase the property. Then later in the meeting the board authorized the superintendent to sign the necessary documents. The district will actually purchase a “reverter clause” in the existing title, and when this is completed will be the owner of the Center School building and surrounding property. The distric... Full story
It looks like a new gym, at least on the outside. A large part of the new siding has been completed on the old Lake Roosevelt High School gym and, according to school officials, the new metal roof will soon follow. Walker Construction, the general contractor, has indicated that the new metal roofing will be arriving from Montana in about a week. Superintendent Dennis Carlson told the school board Monday night that the interior of the gym has been cleared of any trace of asbestos and games are... Full story
by Roger S. Lucas An Electric City man was arrested last Thursday on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle and trafficking stolen property. Anthony Kelly, 31, was taken to Grant County Jail after he was apprehended during a routine traffic stop. Police pulled over a pickup truck because of a broken tail light and found Kelly, a passenger in the vehicle. The police had been looking for Kelly in relation to a vehicle reported stolen by the Colville Tribal Police, Nov. 12. Police were contacted by a woman who said that they might want to look... Full story
Electric City residents will have an opportunity to learn of and respond to a number of suggested changes in the city’s zoning code at a public hearing of the planning commission, tonight, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. at the fire hall. There they will learn of suggested changes to the size of accessory buildings, some new requirements for home occupation business permits and for the size and placement of fences in the city. The main change is in the size of accessory buildings, a hot topic in the city for nearly two years. Currently the city’s zoning cod... Full story
Hotel/motel tax money dominated the meeting as Electric City’s council debated with the chamber of commerce about freeing up additional monies for advertising last week. The meeting Jan. 13 got a bit ugly, and dragged on for over an hour, with neither side giving an inch. Councilmember Marie Chuinard said the chamber representatives appeared “hostile” in their approach. The chamber appeared to ask why Electric City had chosen to give it $10,000 less for advertising in 2015 than it had last year, and asked the city to free up some of the $280,00... Full story
The Lake Roosevelt High School gym should be ready for basketball again this week, an official from Walker Construction assured the school board last Wednesday evening. Jim Crowley stated that the gym roof is sealed and that the final steel sheeting should be on site in about three weeks. Crowley said final cleaning of the interior of the gym would be completed by the end of last week. High school basketball games and wrestling tournaments were forced to move to the old Grand Coulee Dam Middle... Full story
Plans for the construction of a 261-foot high tower that would rise within the flight path to the Grand Coulee Dam Airport are under study, by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is seeking public comment. The FAA became interested in the proposed antenna tower when airport Manager Bob Babler responded negatively to a questionnaire about the proposed height and location of the tower. The tower would be some 3.08 nautical miles from the airport runway, a paved landing area nearly 4,200... Full story
The school district maintenance and operations replacement levy, on which voters will cast ballots Feb. 10, could actually cost taxpayers less than they are now paying. The Grand Coulee Dam School District is seeking a replacement levy for four years, 2016-2019, asking for $1.13 million each year costing $3.95 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation, compared to $4.54 per thousand now being paid with the current levy. A person with a $100,000 house would pay $395 in school levy taxes in the new levy compared to the $454 they are now paying,... Full story
At least one resident in Delano was upset when he saw a dead horse being dragged down Alcan Road onto Cardinal Road at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. The horse, which had been cared for at the Grand Coulee Animal Rescue, died earlier in the day after at least two people active at the rescue had sat up with the horse most of the night. Mel Hunt, former Grand Coulee police chief, now retired, said he and his wife, Joyce, were shocked to see a pickup pulling the dead white horse down the street. According to a Grand Coulee police report, the horse was d... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board voted to donate playground equipment at Center School to Electric City and will take a look at giving two portable buildings at the high school to a Carlton Complex Fire group at its next meeting. The district had offered up the playground equipment to other agencies, as required by law, with no takers, and voted to donate the equipment to the city of Electric City, to be used in a proposed park. Some of the playground equipment at Center School has been relocated to the new school site, and the... Full story
Grand Coulee’s volunteer fire department responded to 216 ambulance calls within its jurisdiction in 2014 and the department made an additional 51 ambulance calls in Coulee Dam, Fire Chief Richard Paris told the city council recently. The ambulance crews were busy with 112 transports from Coulee Medical Center to other hospitals or to the airport where patients were picked up by MedStar and flown to other sites for treatment. Four additional transports were made for other jurisdictions, Paris reported at the council’s Jan 6 meeting. Fir... Full story
School district patrons will vote on a four-year $1.13 million replacement levy, Feb. 10; one that reduces the current rate of $4.55 per thousand to $3.95 per thousand of assessed valuation for taxpayers. Locally, a levy committee is meeting weekly to see that information gets out to taxpayers. The levy committee meets again today (Wednesday) at 4 p.m. at the library at Lake Roosevelt Junior and Senior High School. Volunteers are encouraged to attend and assist in the levy campaign, said chair Karen Depew. The levy replaces the current four-yea... Full story
Students from the second to sixth grades are getting an extra boost in art history and training by a volunteer who continues to provide help and information for students who are interested. Kathy LaPlace, who had a similar program at the middle school last year, continues the program in the new art room at the high school once a month, on Mondays, from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m. This week, students learned about Frida Khalo, a surrealist artist from Mexico. Students, about 10 in number who are signed up for the class, learned about the artist and her... Full story
The Regional Board of Mayors contracted with URS, an engineering firm, to do its quarterly and annual groundwater testing and reporting for 2015. The firm has been doing this service, and the RBOM’s agreed to a new contract for the current year at its meeting Monday. URS will prepare groundwater monitoring reports presenting data for the four quarters and an annual report. The firm also will provide, if necessary, negotiations with the Department of Ecology and the Grant County Health District. The estimated cost for the quarterly and annual r... Full story
Grant County Health District was notified this week that a Grant County woman has died as the result of influenza complications. “Since the beginning of December, there has been a significant increase in influenza cases in all age groups in Grant County,” said county Health Officer Dr. Alexander Brzezny. According to the Washington State Department of Health, 16 other Washington state residents have died this flu season. The county health office declined to name the recent death of the county resident. The symptoms of the flu include tem... Full story
Electric City citizens still have police protection in the wake of a last-minute, inter-city agreement that came together before the year 2014 came to an end. The Electric City Council voted unanimously last Tuesday night to stay with Grand Coulee for its police protection. The evening had its moments as the meeting started with Councilmember Aaron Derr proposing that the city accept a proposal for a contract with Coulee Dam for police services. Derr argued that the Grand Coulee contract was for too much and Electric City couldn’t afford it. I... Full story
Two ceremonial rifles are missing from American Legion Post 157 in Electric City. Both of the missing rifles had been reported stolen back in 1990. The Legion post gets its ceremonial rifles from the Army and on a regular schedule turns them back for replacements. The two missing rifles, one of them a Springfield M1903 and the other an Enfield M1917, had been reported stolen back in 1990 by Colville Tribal Police and San Antonio, Texas police. The two rifles were part of a six-rifle batch... Full story
A committee to help the Grand Coulee Dam School District pass its Feb. 10 special maintenance and operation levy will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at the new school secondary library on the second floor, Chair Karen Depew said this week. “We need volunteers to help,” Depew stated. Depew said that she encourages local citizens to turn out and assist the district in promoting the levy. The district is asking voters to approve a four-year levy of $1.13 million annually. The school board accepted the recommendations of a special levy exp... Full story
A Grand Coulee man told police that he had found a backpack on a picnic table at North Dam Park, Dec. 24, and when he started to go through it found that it contained some drug paraphernalia. The backpack contained many jewelry items, lock picking equipment and crow bars. The man took the backpack to the police department, where an officer checked its contents and found the following: A black leather wallet, two broken glass smoking pipes, an iPod Shuffle, a cell phone with chargers, miscellaneo... Full story
Grand Coulee’s legal counsel has advised the city’s Civil Service Commission that their list of top candidates for police chief must be delivered to the mayor, not the city council. In an email, City Attorney Chuck Zimmerman advised the city that the Civil Service needs to follow the “rule of three” as outlined in state law. Earlier, Civil Service Commission Chair Alan Cain had stated that the top three candidates would be given to the council, bypassing Mayor Chris Christopherson. Zimmerman told the CSC that it must forward the top three c... Full story
If you are at least 18 years of age, the welcome mat is out for you at the Grand Coulee Dam Senior Center. “It’s really a community center,” new President Birdie Hensley said last week. While the center is widely used by seniors, with 184 members, there is lots to do for people of all ages, she said. Like to play pool? The center offers an open pool table. Like to play cards? You can find card games going on most days when the center is open. One thing Hensley is focusing on as the new year begins is to develop the Senior Center volun... Full story
A man who allegedly keyed nine cars in front of the Banks Lake Pub, Dec. 12, is accused of doing it again, this time with a cellphone and in the Electric City Bar & Grill parking lot, according to police. They once again arrested and took to Grant County Jail, Nicholas Swartz, 26, who gave his address as Everett, Wa. He was arrested this time on New Year’s day after allegedly scratching the trunk lid of a car owned by Mary Adkins. Bartender Jessica Sumner told police Swartz scratched the trunk lid with a cell phone, then fled on foot up W... Full story
The Grand Coulee Civil Service Commission will offer up its top three candidates for police chief to the city council, not the mayor, Chairman Alan Cain said last week. Cain said the decision was made after talking with a couple of council members who liked the idea. Cain said oral examinations of the six candidates will take place in early January and the top three will move up for interviews by the council. “We plan to have just oral exams, not written ones,” Cain said. “They have all been through the written exam phase in order to becom... Full story