News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 981 - 1005 of 1383
A dispute on the size of accessory buildings in Electric City will soon be on the front burner for city planners. When the city’s comprehensive plan was passed, it limited the size of accessory buildings to 850 square feet. At least two Electric City residents, Mike Dennis and Mark Payne, have appeared before the planning commission and city council on numerous occasions, asking for larger accessory buildings to be allowed in the city. Upon their initial appearance before planners, the commission members seemed to OK buildings up to 30 feet h... Full story
Coulee Dam is seeking town residents to serve on three boards and fill one council seat. Mayor Gregory Wilder is asking members of the public to step up and fill three Civil Service Commission seats, five Planning Commission places, and six commission seats on the town’s Natural Resource Board (tree board). The positions, Wilder stated, have either been vacant or unfilled, and he would like to get residents more active in town government. The council position became vacant recently with the resignation of Bob Poch, who served the town for 28 y... Full story
The school district, by action of the school board, will return to a seven-period day this fall. The district has had a six-period day for the past several years and a change to the seven-period day will allow students to receive a wider range of class options. The board had decided earlier to return to the seven-period day and a 24-credit requirement at the high school for graduation, but had an opportunity to delay it a year since the district would be moving into a new school. The board heard arguments that there would be enough adjustments... Full story
The school board got its first look at a plan for administrators for the new school complex. Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Dennis Carlson told the board that the new school will need two principals, a vice principal/dean of students and a part-time athletic director. Principal Lisa Lakin will administer grades K-6, including pre-school. The district is currently advertising for a combined junior high-senior high principal. Current high school principal Brandon Byers has indicated that he has already applied to continue his... Full story
The Grand Coulee council voted to fund three water projects at its meeting March 18. The three projects were awarded to Pipkin Construction of Wenatchee on a low bid of $422,539.64, and will be funded from the city’s water reserve fund. The projects are: (1) Replace water main along SR-155 from SR-174 to Main Street and along Main Street from SR-155 to Spokane Way. Pipkin’s bid on this leg of the project was $204,267.65; (2) Replacement of water main along Van Tyne Avenue from Kimball Street to St. Henry’s Catholic Church. Pipkin’s bid on this... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam School District received 17 responses to its advertisement to bid on furniture for the new school, but only two of the companies gave a full response to the specifications, Superintendent Dennis Carlson told the board Monday night. Carlson said that the district is going over the bids now and will make a recommendation to the board sometime in April. He said the bid material furnished to prospective companies included 103 line items. Carlson told the board that bids could come in some $200,000 below initial estimates. One... Full story
A 10-passenger airplane lost power Thursday morning and had to make an emergency landing at the airport near Electric City. The turbine-powered Quest Kodiak left Paine Field near Seattle on a flight plan for Sandpoint, Idaho. Somewhere near Lake Roosevelt's Swawilla Basin, the pilot experienced engine failure, turned back to the airport here and made a dead-stick landing. The plane had been flying at 13,000 feet and made a gliding return to the airport. It later was taken to a nearby hangar... Full story
Guillermo Guzman, who served as a Spanish teacher at Lake Roosevelt High School until April, 2013, was given a final separation payment by school board action last week. Guzman was arrested in 2013 by the Border Patrol and Coulee Dam police on a variety of allegations, including the use of someone else’s Social Security Number, not being a citizen and working without a valid work permit. Guzman holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Washington. Guzman had been on paid administrative leave since he was arrested, and agree... Full story
Sometime soon, Grand Coulee police officers will be wearing cameras that record video and audio to record your conversation when you are stopped for a violation. The new equipment is in the trial stage now with only one officer, Dan Holland, equipped with the device while the department develops practices and procedures on how the program will work. The camera is about three inches by two inches and clips onto the officer's uniform at an angle that allows video and sound. The process allows... Full story
The Christmas decorations are still up in Grand Coulee. Public works director Dennis Francis advised the city council Tuesday night that relying on volunteers to help take them down hasn’t been a viable option. Francis explained that the city doesn’t have the manpower to put the decorations up and take them down. He noted that the city has to borrow a bucket truck, and this year had to spend over $1,200 in replacement bulbs. The displays were purchased a number of years ago by local businesses through efforts of the Business Association in Cou... Full story
The town of Coulee Dam is advertising for a new councilperson. Veteran Councilmember Bob Poch announced that he is quitting the council after a 28-year stint and it was time to hang it up. He was recently elected to another four-year term last November. Poch was honored at last Wednesday’s council meeting for his long service to the town. Mayor Greg Wilder thanked Poch for his contributions to community life and said the town would begin advertising for a person interested in serving immediately. “Poch’s long-term service is symbolic of a ded... Full story
A Spokane firm, Senske Lawn & Tree Care, submitted the winning bid to trim trees for the town of Coulee Dam. The firm’s bid of $75,618, was accepted by the town council at its meeting Wednesday night. The town had set aside $75,000 in this year’s budget for the tree trimming project. Senske’s bid was for 400 hours of service at $175.53 per hour. Public works director Barry Peacock told the council that he didn’t think it would take 400 hours to do the work and that this would bring the cost within the budgeted amount. The contract covers... Full story
Eighth-graders, under certain conditions, will be able to take part in some high school sports, according to a new policy approved by the school board, March 12. If a team sport is not offered at the eighth-grade level, students will be allowed to try out and participate with high school athletes if high school turnouts in baseball or softball do not exceed 25 athletes. Eighth graders can also try out and participate in basketball if high school turnouts do not exceed nine students and the same for volleyball if high school turnouts do not... Full story
The town of Coulee Dam has released its spring cleanup schedule slated for April 1-5. From April 1-4, the town crews will pick up limbs only on the following schedule: • Tuesday, April 1, Mason City addition - Aspen, Birch, Cedar, Fir, Holly, Pine, Spruce, Civic Way and the west side of Central Drive from Civic Way south; • Wednesday, April 2, Airport Addition - Tilmus, Camus, River Drive, 11th and 12th Streets, Crest Drive from Central to River Drive and Central Drive from Civic Way south and north to Crest; • Thursday, April 3, Hilltop Addit... Full story
Grand Coulee Mayor Chris Christopherson and police officer Sean Cook had another encounter, this time a brief one, at the council meeting March 4. Cook, during the visitor input time, explained that he was appearing as a private citizen and asked the mayor what was happening on a number of public records requests he had made. He also asked the mayor if he knew who had given a copy of the “Key report” to The Star newspaper. Christopherson acknowledged that he had met with a reporter from The Star newspaper, but had not given him a copy of the... Full story
A total of 81 workers were killed during construction of Grand Coulee Dam, and there isn't a single marker to commemorate their deaths. That could change if a current effort to develop interest in a commemorative monument is successful. Researcher Susan Dechant was here Tuesday to meet with Coulee Dam Mayor Greg Wilder, and others, to see if there was interest in pursuing a monument. Dechant has been invited back to present the story to council members at their April 23 meeting, when she will... Full story
Construction of the new Nez Perce Tribe Long House that was destroyed by fire the day after Christmas, 2012, could begin as early as late summer, a spokesman said Tuesday. Albert Andrews Redstar said that a group has been working with the Long House architect and the final drawings could be done by mid-June. The Nez Perce are looking at a $3.2 million price tag on the near 6,000 square-foot building. Shortly after fire destroyed the former structure, it was revealed that the building had been insured for $350,000. Redstar said that the Nez... Full story
Grand Coulee’s zoning commission is trying to unlock some restrictions in an effort to work with groups that have come before the council asking for help. Last April, two women, Andrea Marconi and Angela Feeley, went before the council with an interest in putting in a daycare center on the city’s Main Street, only to run into zoning issues. Later last year a senior citizen representative, Larry Curtis, came before the council to ask if the seniors could put in a bus garage to house two transit buses. It was his third appearance before the cou... Full story
A recent study by the National Park Service shows how a strong visitor base pumps money into local economies. A report on the 2012 season showed that the Lake Roosevelt National Recreational Area had nearly 1.8 million visits in 2012. That resulted in more than $71 million being spent in nearby communities, the report stated. The LRNRA stretches from Grand Coulee Dam almost to the Canadian line, a 151-mile stretch that follows the Columbia River. That spending in communities within 60 miles of t... Full story
Well laid plans sometime just don’t work out. That was the scene at Monday’s Grand Coulee Civil Service meeting at city hall. Commissioners discussed what went wrong at their last meeting when police officer/private citizen Sean Cook, got into it with commission Chair Alan Cain. Commissioners decided at the front of Monday’s meeting to allow persons wishing to address the commission three minutes, with an extension at the request of a commissioner. They also decided that commissioners wouldn’t respond to comments made from the floor. Barely had... Full story
Port District 7 officials, their engineering firm, USKH of Spokane, and contractor Blackrock Construction, of Moses Lake, plan a pre-construction meeting on a building to house a new dump truck with snow blade sometime next week. The building and truck will cost more than $300,000. Commissioners walked through the construction plan at their last meeting and reviewed funding for the combined project. The truck and building have been on the port district burner for about a year and the need for the truck had reached the critical stage. An... Full story
The Nez Perce Long House destroyed by fire the day after Christmas, 2012, will soon be rebuilt. An application for a land use and development permit was passed after a public hearing on the matter Feb. 27. Albert Andrews Redstar, representing the Chief Joseph Long House Redevelopment, proposed replacing the former 70-by-80-foot building with one nearly twice that size, an 11,000-square-foot building. The new building will be located in the same general area as the old building, about a mile south of Nespelem. The public hearing was held at the... Full story
The Colville Tribes new Omak Casino could open as early as May or June in 2015, according to Colville Tribal Federal Corporation’s chief executive, Joe Pakootas. Pakootas said final planning could occur this week and it was hoped that the project could get underway in April or early May. Pakootas said that the casino would take about 12 months to complete. The casino will be located on a 600-acre site between the Tribes’ convenience store/gas outlet and Omak. Pakootas said the casino would take up about 35 acres of the 600-acre site. The pro... Full story
The new K-12 school facility in Coulee Dam is beginning to show its colors. A walk of the place last Wednesday revealed painted classrooms, some finish work on the final red metal roof and the beginning of rock work on the outside of the elementary wing. School patrons and taxpayers in general may be in for a pleasant experience and surprise. The new school is huge. Many of the classrooms are large with every type of teaching technology device available. The walk through was in concert with... Full story
At one point, the Grand Coulee Dam School District was worried about a declining student population; now it is worried that it could end up with too many students. The issue came up Monday night at the school board meeting with Superintendent Dennis Carlson telling the board that the new school facility could be maxed out when it opens next fall. He asked the question: “Are we going to have a lot of students come here because we have a new school?” When plans were made for the new school, the student population trend line had followed a dow... Full story