The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Sometimes, there’s a gap between what is right and what is legal. Government is good at falling into those.

Locally, the four mayors who comprise the Regional Board of Mayors are asking their councils to consider a problem: an Electric City employee at the transfer station whose wages are funded by the RBOM had his long-term wage agreement altered several years ago without his knowledge or consent and is now asking to be made whole on the “longevity pay” increases he didn’t get.

Most council members in Elmer City, Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam learning of the issue over the last month scratch their heads and in essence say, that’s too bad, but it’s technically only Electric City’s problem; their city shouldn’t have to add it to their budget to fix it.

“It’s uncovered bigger problems in what we do,” observed Elmer City Mayor Jesse Tillman in discussion with his town council Thursday.

That’s for sure. The board’s structure has always been cumbersome, to put it mildly, but usually is not a problem as most issues can be navigated within existing operational boundaries.

Until more money will be required to fix a problem. Then it’s every town for itself, sometimes leading to a conflict between what’s best for the whole community, or for each individual town. Those two things are not always the same given the current, artificial structure of a single, tiny community split into four governments.

In this case, it remains to be seen whether that means a longtime employee will get what he was promised decades ago, which all seem to think would be right, or gets only what is strictly legal, right be damned.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher