Fish passage now possible, legislators told

In Olympia Tuesday, the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee heard testimony in favor of their support of a “memorial” bill that would tell the federal government the Legislature favors reintroducing salmon and steelhead above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams.

“While salmon passage over high-head dams such as Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee may have been deemed impossible when they were constructed 50 and 80 years ago, that is not the case today,” said D. R. Michel, executive director of Upper Columbia United Tribes. “New fish passage technologies have been developed and are presently being perfected at other dams here in the Pacific Northwest. The region should move promptly to investigate the application of these technologies at the two, federal dams.

Schmidt

named

pro tem

Councilmember David Schmidt was named mayor pro tem for the first six months of this year at the Coulee Dam council meeting last Wednesday night.

Curtis

named

to board

Mayor Greg Wilder named Larry Curtis to the Parks & Natural Resources board last Wednesday night, with the approval of the town council.

Mayors

to meet

The Regional Board of Mayors will meet at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, at Electric City’s city hall.

The public is invited to attend.

New restaurant could

impact sewer

The building of a new restaurant atop the Coulee Dam Casino with as many as 60 seats could have a potential impact on the design of the wastewater treatment plant the town is currently designing, Mayor Greg Wilder noted last week.

“It might impact right in the middle of our new construction,” he told the town council. He said the issue was being studied.

Former

mayor cautions on spending

Former mayor Quincy Snow cautioned the town council last week against drawing heavily from the town’s electric utility fund to pay for design of the current wastewater treatment plant project. He said at its current balance of $796,000 it is “dangerously low,” and noted that he recalls past emergencies that required withdrawals of $400,000 and $800,000.

Mayor Greg Wilder said tapping the reserve fund was one possibility, but so was a private-sector loan. Looking at all the possibilities was a requirement of the process in financing through the Dept. of Agriculture’s Rural Development funds, he said.