The Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, April 16, closed the 15-day nomination period for candidates to fill an open board seat.
Frank Corbin, who received eight nominations, was among the six nominated, according to documents obtained by The Chronicle.
Other nominees include chairman of the Lewis County Broadband Action Team Jeff Baine; former PUD commissioner and chairman of the Economic Alliance of Lewis County Ben Kostick; Toledo resident Pharaoh Skinner; Chehalis resident Tim Wilson; and Centralia College Trustee Chris Thomas, who was nominated by former Lewis County PUD commissioner Ed Rothlin.
It remains to be seen if all nominated candidates are eligible for the position.
PUD Commissioners Dave Fenn and Mike Hadaller at their April 1 meeting announced that the district would begin taking candidate nominations the following day. At the same meeting, the commissioners announced their own nominee — former Lewis County PUD General Manager Dave Muller.
The Lewis County PUD commissioner seat representing District 1 was vacated just a week earlier in response to former commissioner Michael Kelly being absent from PUD meetings for more than 60 days — an action mandated by state law. That absence came after Kelly was charged with felony bribery and barred by the court from contact with any witnesses to the reported crime. He’s accused of trying to bribe PUD General Manager David Plotz with the promise of support for a raise in exchange for employment at the PUD for Kelly, who will lose his job at TransAlta when it shuts down. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Of the seven nominees at least three, Baine, Corbin and Muller, have worked with the Lewis County PUD in the past either as an employee or through their work with the Lewis County Broadband Action Team, which was created by the Lewis County PUD to help the district expand broadband access throughout the county.
Following the closure of the nomination period, the Lewis County PUD sent the nominations to the Lewis County Auditor’s Office to verify the eligibility of the nominees.
For a nomination to be valid, the nominator must be a registered voter with an address within the Lewis County PUD’s service area. The nominee must be a registered voter with an address in Lewis County PUD District 1.
After verifying eligibility, the PUD will send notices to all nominees to inform them of their status.
All eligible nominees will be invited to the PUD Board of Commissioners meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 6, at the Lewis County PUD building in Chehalis.
At the start of the process, the PUD commissioners announced a 15-day deliberation period after closing nominations.
However, no official deadline or timeframe is required by law, and no deadline has been announced by the Lewis County PUD.
