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Nancy
Baker sworn in as Port of
Vancouver’s newest commissioner
Nancy Baker,
who last year retired as assistant to the executive
director of the Port of Vancouver, today was sworn
in as its newest commissioner.
Baker, in
her first try at an elective office, won a three-way
race in the primary election last September and went
on to defeat incumbent
Tom Bradley
in the general election.
Her
former boss, Port Executive Director
Larry Paulson
was master of ceremonies as Baker took the oath of
office in the port’s commissioner’s chambers from
Clark County Auditor
Greg Kimsey.
Clark
Public Utilities’ commissioners
endorse settlement of BPA lawsuit
Settlement of
a long-simmering lawsuit among scores of electric
utilities and Bonneville Power Administration was
endorsed by Clark Public Utilities’ commissioners
today.
While
settlement of the suit would not provide any rate
reductions from Clark, it would roll back the most
recent BPA wholesale rate increase and would
mitigate future wholesale rates.
Numerous
lawsuits were filed by 72 utilities, including Clark
Public Utilities, after BPA entered into contracts
that gave the region’s investor-owned utilities
power rather than a monetary subsidy called for
under federal law, according to utility commission
chair Carol Curtis.
The proposed
settlement, which has been agreed to by the
investor-owned utilities, recognized that BPA went
too far in helping subsidize those utilities.
Curtis said
the agreement is not perfect, but it would be a
compromise among all parties.
Clark’s
general manager/CEO
Wayne Nelson, who is also a lawyer, says that
it’s unlikely that anyone would get any more out of
the suit than is agreed to at this point.
Clark’s
position is that settling the suit will bring
stability to future rates and save more than $200
million in costs.
Other public
utilities have also jumped on the bandwagon to meet
an early 2004 deadline for agreeing to drop the
suit. But the largest PUD in the state, Snohomish
County PUD. so far has argued it won’t settle.
If just one
PUD refuses to sign, the settlement will not occur.
Still
growing
Clark Public
Utilities reported 340 new residential customers
during November, bringing the total number of new
residential customers to 3,572 for the year.
The growth
rate, which the utility predicted would be 2 percent
for 2003, thus far is 2.59 percent.
Clark now has
approximately 165,000 electric customers.
Net income
for the utility for the first 11 months of 2003 is a
minus $561,000, compared to a budgeted $5.6 million.
The utility usually makes up for nearly year-long
deficits in the final cold months of the year.
Voter
registration deadline for
Ridgefield School election looms
Ridgefield
voters who submit a mail-in request for voter
registration for the Feb. 3 Ridgefield special
election must do so by Saturday, Jan. 3. Voters also
may register by going in person to the county
Elections Department office, 1408 Franklin Street,
but they must do so by Friday, Jan 16, and those may
vote only by absentee ballot.
Milford
Westin takes oath for fifth term
Milford Westin,
Port of Kalama commissioner for the past 26 years,
was swornin to begin his fifth term today.
Westin, a
retired pharmacist, was first appointed to the
commission in 1978. Before becoming a port
commissioner, Westin had been a member of the
Cowlitz County School Board and was a member of the
Kalama Planning Commission.
People
Chris Pazen
and Stan Hosman
yesterday were reappointed to the Vancouver Housing
Authority Board. Their terms expire in 2006.
---
Kathy Sego
has been reappointed to the Vancouver Public
Facilities District Board. Her term expires in 2007.
News
briefs
The
Insider, in
observance of Christmas, will not be published
Christmas Eve day, Christmas Day or the day
following Christmas.---The Port of Ridgefield
commissioners will not meet on Wednesday, Dec. 24.
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