Contracts compliance requires monitoring

"The only thing worse than hiring someone from out-of-town to do the work is when you hire them and they do not do the work.!"

Jefferson County PUD #1, our PUD, was allotted $880,000.00, by the Bonneville Power Administration, for its electrical conservation program for fiscal year 2014 and 2015.  The PUD does not get the money up front, but is reimbursed for what it spends on conservation.

 For the two year period, per the most recent PUD report, $230,000.00 is designated for the category "Residential-General" but only 20% is currently committed.  For conservation efforts for low income, under "Residential-OlyCAP, for the same period, $200,000.00 was allotted with none (0%) currently committed.

Our PUD hired, under contract, Cascadia Consulting Group, Inc, a Seattle company, to manage and impliment the residential component of this program through September 30, 2015.  I continue to hear concerns at PUD Board meetings from the Citizens' Advisory Board that the PUD is not "burning through" the money fast enough, that BPA may require the PUD to return some of the allotment.

PUD staff are trying to work out the details for this program, something that, according to the contract with Cascadia, dated March 25, 2014, is Cascadia's responsibility as spelled out in Attachment "A".  I have not seen nor heard of many of the services that Cascadia is required to perform per the timeline, also included in attachment "A".  I raised this issue at a recent Board meeting and, basically, was told it would be OK, that they would have someone from Cascadia make a report at a future meeting.

I think that this is another example of the too few PUD employees being asked to keep track of too many things. They are doing their best to keep up with an overwhelming workload.

Contract management is a major portion of running any business or organization responsibly, efficiently and cost effectively.  This is a duty of staff, but the responsibility for assuring contract compliance rests solely on the PUD Commissioners.  The Commissioners need to be aware of the status of contracts and take action when required.  Part of  the Commissioners responsibility is to assure that there is adequate staffing to allow time to perform required tasks.

I have always been considered the detail person on the Hospital Board, reading the contracts and working with staff in monitoring them to assure that we are getting what we paid for.

I feel that a change on the PUD Board is necessary and I feel that over 40 years experience as a Hospital Commissioner, a very similar position to PUD Commissioner, will be an asset in moving the PUD into a more responsible form of management.

Thank you for visiting.
Tony