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The Bureau of Reclamation has raised the possibility of conflict of interest with its Grand Coulee Project budget director, Chris Christopherson, also being mayor of Grand Coulee.

The city council moved quickly last Tuesday night to correct the potential problem by passing a motion that Mayor Pro-Tempore Paul Townsend sign on any particular agreements made between the city and the federal agency.

The council learned that City Attorney Charles Zimmerman had looked into the conflict issue and had told the city that he didn’t think there was a conflict because Mayor Christopherson couldn’t sign anything without approval of the city council.

The mayor and council apparently felt that they wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest by having Townsend step in for the mayor.