News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Sometimes those closest to a problem are best suited to find the solution. This may be the case in an Electric City/Grand Coulee wastewater bill conflict. An apparent plug in the line last October showed that Electric City had twice the amount of sewage flow as normal, some 105,500 gallons compared to the normal flow of 63,000 gallons. This caused Electric City's bill for the month to be some $5,000 above normal. The two cities have been bouncing the problem between their city councils for... Full story
So you have always wanted to be an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). Now is your chance. An EMT recruitment call was put out by the Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department. Those interested should call 633-2200, or contact a current firefighter or EMT. The class will begin early in April. The local area needs EMTs to staff the ambulance, which makes about 400 calls per year. Grand Coulee Volunteer Fire Department Chief Richard Paris said the department answered 402 ambulance calls in 2016 and already this year there have been 104 EMT calls.... Full story
The city of Grand Coulee is about to take a big step forward into the technology age. Grand Coulee is moving forward on a plan to accept credit cards for the payment of utility bills. There’s a catch … the city will only accept credit card payments online. City Clerk Carol Boyce presented the idea at the council meeting last Tuesday night, and the council gave its OK to move forward. Currently, the city accepts checks, cash and money orders. The city will be working with the firm GovPayNet, which will handle all of the transactions and cut the... Full story
A framework for a new school strategic plan was adopted by the Grand Coulee Dam School District Monday night. The framework was decided by a group made up of school people and community members at a special meeting a couple of weeks ago. Superintendent Paul Turner explained to the school Monday board that the plan was “just the framework” and that the board would be working to put “in specifics and a timetable” for completion. The plan was approved midway through a lengthy meeting that included two executive sessions, one lasting for about a... Full story
A Grand Coulee man awaits sentencing in Grant County Superior Court after being found guilty in a jury trial last week. Melvin Toulou Jr. 43, was convicted Thursday of one count of possession of stolen property in the second degree, a class C felony. The charges stem from a car prowl that was discovered on the morning of Aug. 13, 2016. On that day, victims Gretchen and Brandon Whitelaw, who live on Division Street in Grand Coulee, reported to Grand Coulee police that someone broke into their... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam and Nespelem school districts’ boards of directors will hold a joint meeting tonight (Wednesday) at 6 p.m. at La Presa Restaurant in Grand Coulee to discuss items of mutual interest. The meeting is open to the public. Coulee Dam Superintendent Paul Turner will brief the two boards on what he learned while he was at the recent NAFIS (impact aid) conference in Washington D.C. Turner said he was concerned that President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to Congress shows a 13-percent decline in school funding. Turner said it wasn... Full story
A meeting is schedule for Thursday this week to move Electric City’s Pathway and Revitalization plan forward. The local committee steering the plan will meet from 3-5 p.m. March 23, at Electric City’s city hall, in the council chambers. The group — made up of Councilmember Aaron Derr, and local residents Cynthia Greely, Lynda Anderson, Clark Perman and Jeff Piturachsatit — will review the final plan from WSU, for the broad-viewed, long-range plan to improve the city and its efforts to be more visitor friendly. The meeting is open to the pub... Full story
There's a fever sweeping over the coulee area that comes about the same time each year, not the kind that the clinic can deal with. It's golf time at Banks Lake Golf Course! The official opening is April 1; however, when the sun is out and the grass is starting to green, golf balls will be on the fly. Already some eager beavers are hitting the 18-hole course, well ahead of the opening date. This week, Port District 7 commissioners were on hand to paint the interior of the golf office, but a bigg... Full story
You've heard it said that "the check is in the mail." Well, this one is in the hand! That check for $250,000 arrived last week for Elmer City's "Complete Streets" project. City Clerk Gary Benton and public works director "Jimmer" Tillman didn't waste any time in moving forward with the grant funds. The town has three years to use the funds. Tillman said Friday the project will likely be done in 2018. The grant is from the state Department of Transportation's TIB (Transportation Improvement Board... Full story
An Electric City man has received one of two scholarships offered by the state to study structural firefighting. Joshua Reeding, who recently moved to the area from Victorville, California, won an 11-week training scholarship recently, and will be going to the North Bend Fire Center for instruction. The training runs from April 7 through June 25. "It is a great honor for Joshua and for our volunteer fire department," fire Chief Mark Payne told the Electric City Council last week. Reeding was a v... Full story
Curriculum, students, and staff received the most comments from a recent Lake Roosevelt School survey that was made available to patrons in the area. The survey was taken to provide some guidance to a team of school district personnel and local residents who work together in developing information for a Strategic Plan that will shape school activity for the next few years. The study team developing information for the school board met last Monday and Tuesday in the high school library. Superintendent Paul Turner, who is in Washington D.C. at... Full story
A former Mosquito District 2 clerk pled guilty to one count of first-degree theft in Grant County Superior Court Monday. A second count of first-degree theft, relating to an alleged misappropriation of funds of just over $129,000, was dismissed under the plea agreement. Under the agreement, Karyn Byam, 41, of Electric City, is to pay $800 in court costs, with restitution to be determined at a special hearing within 180 days. There was no confinement time under the agreement. Byam pled guilty to the first-degree theft charge which had to do... Full story
Colorama will have a new carnival this year, Rainier Amusements, out of Portland, Oregon, the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce announced this week. The new carnival is one of the featured attractions for this year’s Colorama Festival, May 12-14. “We are pleased that we have been able to contract with such a highly respected amusement organization,” chamber Executive Director Peggy Nevsimal stated. The final details of the contract with Rainier Amusements were signed late last week. The Portland amusement group stated in its news relea... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District has had its problems with the harsh winter, and will have to repair sidewalk and playground concrete walkway problems when spring arrives. Sidewalks in front of the new school have had surface problems and the same problems have cropped up on playground surfaces, Superintendent Paul Turner advised the school board at its last meeting. The surface in front of the school appeared to partially be because of using snow and ice removal chemicals. Turner said that he didn’t think that personnel used salt. In a... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board had two issues on its agenda Monday night for passage; neither made it in a three-plus-hour-long, marathon meeting. The issues were new high school graduation requirements and a two-year school calendar. The board held the second reading of the graduation requirement policy, which is normally a slam dunk since board members normally get all their questions answered between the first and second readings. It was different Monday night. Seniors graduating in 2019 will need 24 credits, instead of 21. The... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District met with Grand Coulee’s planning commission Feb. 15 and received first hand some of the options it faces in selling the Center School property. Superintendent Paul Turner stated late last week that the meeting outlined potential roadways to the zoning process. First, if a potential buyer presents a plan that the commission members approve of, it would be possible to get a conditional-use permit. That process would require the city to hire, at the district’s expense, a lawyer to conduct a public hearing to... Full story
Timing is everything, even when it involves a bill between two cities. A billing issue followed a lengthy discussion among Grand Coulee’s city council members last week as they tried to come to grips with a contract agreement between the city and its employees. The last offer employees had made for their contract would cost the city some $17,000. The council discussed where the city was going to find the money to meet the employees’ offer. It lasted about an hour and was pushed off to the next council meeting in March. That’s when the counc... Full story
Grand Coulee could soon have a park dedicated to world-champion bull rider Shane Proctor. A proposal was made to the Grand Coulee City Council Feb. 21 by Bob Valen, who made the request on behalf of the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce. Valen is a chamber member and also a commissioner of the Coulee Area Park and Recreation District. Valen proposed that Grand Coulee name its city park, on SR-174, “Shane Proctor Park.” Proctor has distinguished himself on the professional bull riding and rodeo circuits, having won the World Cha... Full story
The question of allowing golf carts and off-road vehicles to move freely on Grand Coulee streets came up again at the city council meeting Feb. 21. It was immediately given a cold shoulder by former mayor and present Councilmember Tammara Byers. She stated that mixing golf carts and ORVs with heavy traffic is exceedingly dangerous and she was against it. Councilmember Gary Carriere had a copy of Electric City’s ordinance allowing such vehicles on its streets on hand and appeared to be trying to move it along. Electric City, by ordinance, has a... Full story
What do you do when you win $5 million in the lottery? One Grand Coulee resident, Earl “Ray” McDonald, who won the $5 million lottery last Nov. 28, is probably still trying to figure that out. McDonald, who purchased the winning ticket from the Holiday Station Store in Spokane Valley, said he was going to spend more time with his family, according to a press release just sent out by the state Lottery Commission last week. He told a lottery writer that the 5-million-dollar bonanza came just in time for him to celebrate his 40th wedding ann... Full story
Cities and towns that have formed Transportation Benefit Districts have been slowly racking up some extra money for streets, even a little they shouldn’t have. Elmer City and Electric City have both formed the special districts; Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam, while holding discussions about it, have not yet done so. A transportation benefit district (TBA) allows a city or town to collect $10 for each license on cars and trucks. It’s a tool designed by the state legislature to help municipalities make up for the financial hit their street fun... Full story
Parts of Electric City’s proposed trail system received the most “push back” of any of the features of the city’s Pathway and Revitalization plan. In workshops and before the council, local residents expressed their opposition to a planned Ice Age Floods Trail, particularly one that goes through a residential area on Lakeview. Other segments of the trail system won unanimous approval by an Electric City resident advisory group that voted in unison on most of the trail ideas, but only 50 percent on a shoreline park off Sunny Drive. Two of the... Full story
Electric City will fill its vacated council position April 11, City Clerk Jackie Perman said last week. Perman stated that the city will advertise the vacancy March 22 and 29, and turn the names over to the council for its selection. Brad Parrish submitted his resignation last month because his wife, Diana, had been hired for the city’s deputy clerk position. At the time, Parrish stated that because of his wife’s status with the city he wanted to avoid any “conflict of interest.” The current deputy clerk, Russell Powers, will replace Jackie... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce held its annual Installation Banquet last Thursday night at the Melody Restaurant in Coulee Dam. The chamber annually makes an award to its "Achiever of the Year" and "Business of the Year" and names any changes to its board of directors at its annual members meeting. Named "Achiever of the Year" was Gerald Sands. Sands served as mayor of Electric City for a four-year term and part of a second term, and currently serves as a commissioner of Grant Cou... Full story
Residents of Elmer City could develop a healthier lifestyle as a result of a $250,000 grant the town received last week for a plan that calls for a trail along the Lower River Road that will link some town streets to the Down River Trail. Elmer City’s “Complete Streets” project likely will be done in 2018, Public Works Director Jimmer Tillman said last week. The work plan, shared with the town council last Thursday, calls for links from the town to the Bureau of Reclamation’s Down River Trail system along the Columbia River. One of the key elem... Full story