Amid an ongoing police investigation into a potential bribery attempt, Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) Commissioner Michael Kelly has been restricted from communicating “with all PUD staff, specifically our general manager.”
“The intent of this motion, again, is to protect all employees involved. The intent is not to punish Commissioner Kelly or cast any judgement,” PUD Commissioner Ed Rothlin said. “Again, it is to protect all involved in light of the allegations.”
The move, adopted by seatmates Rothlin and Mike Hadaller, came hours before Kelly was scheduled to appear before Judge James Lawler in Lewis County Superior Court. Kelly was not present during Monday’s brief special meeting.
On Wednesday, Kelly was arrested and booked into the Lewis County jail following an investigation into whether he attempted to secure a position at the PUD by offering to raise for Plotz. Kelly was released from custody Friday afternoon, according to jail records.
Kelly was first elected to the Lewis County PUD Board of Commissioners in 2020. His term began in January 2021.
After adopting the motion Monday, Hadaller suggested restricting Kelly’s access to PUD facilities; a suggestion was not adopted, though Rothlin said they could again consider the idea ahead of their next meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 17.
Speaking with a reporter from The Chronicle, Rothlin said he had yet to discuss the potential of suspending Kelly from the board.
“Anything like that would be definitely down the road depending on the investigation,” Rothlin said. “So we’ll see where that takes us.”
Rothlin said he first heard of the allegations “maybe a day before” the arrest as a “heads up that it was coming down, that something was coming down.”
“But very little information, to be quite honest with you,” Rothlin said, adding that he had learned more details on the allegations in a Nov. 29 article published by The Chronicle.
“It is our goal, the goal of the PUD, to be transparent, ethical, cooperative and protect all involved through this process, and it is a process,” Rothlin said.
Following the meeting, Hadaller declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
On Friday, the PUD provided The Chronicle with a statement from Plotz sent to PUD attorney Allen Unzelman and Centralia Police Department Detective Mitch King on Friday, Nov. 8, where he detailed a meeting with Kelly the day prior.
The Chronicle obtained the document via a public records request.
According to the document, the conversation quickly shifted from the recent election to Kelly suggesting a plan where he was hired as either an assistant manager or asset manager.
“Essentially my direct report, at a point near the end of his commissioner term,” Plotz recalled. “This position is not scoped within the budget nor currently exists within the district. We discussed this position and I disagreed on a few points with regard to him filling the hypothetical position.”
After relocating to another bar in Centralia, Kelly reengaged Plotz with the suggestion, according to the document.
“I repeated my aversion to promising to hire him, and outlined some of my hesitations for him to take the position,” Plotz wrote. “Specifically, I disagreed with him taking the position based on his past interactions with staff and went on to explain to him the potential internal, external and optical problems of hiring C. Kelly would create for the District.”
According to the document, Plotz suggested Kelly pursue a general manager position at another facility and offered to help him find open positions.
“Kelly emphasized he needed the position as his time at his current job (TransAlta) was coming to a close, money was short from a divorce, desire to remain in the local area and a few times made the point he needed me to promise him the position/guarantee it for him, to which I replied I could not promise the position for him for the aforementioned reasons,” Plotz wrote. “I also felt uneasy making a promise so far into the future.”
According to the document, Kelly began to discuss Plotz’s annual compensation review.
“Kellyʼs suggested my year end compensation amount to be a 4% compensation increase and 8 years of service credit,” Plotz wrote. “This was far below my own ask and expectations of 8% and 8 years of service credit, which I made clear. We discussed the reasons for our respective asks at which point C. Kelly made clear that I needed to promise him I would hire him, and he would convince the other commissioners for an increase at my expectations, saying specifically ‘you take care of me, I take care of you.’”
According to Plotz, Kelly reiterated his request to “be taken care of,” before the two parted ways. Plotz wrote that he replied he “would take care of him as I wanted to remove myself from the situation.”
In the statement, Plotz wrote that Kelly talked extensively about his plan to run for election on the commission again and, win or lose, nominate a replacement so the PUD could hire him in a senior position.
