Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Whitman County mayors and other officials met for a mayors' roundtable Nov. 14 at the community center in Palouse. Special guest was Dennis Vermillion, president and CEO of Avista.
The assembled sat for a catered dinner, then listened to presentations from Palouse Wind/Novatus Energy, Community Action Center, Port of Whitman and others.
Pat Caramente, Bruce Kerr and Katie Pellez from Novatus were introduced by host Paul Kimmell, regional business manager of Avista.
Caramente told of how Novatus is the latest owner of First Wind, a New York-based company which acquired it from Sun Edison.
“It's gonna stay at Novatus, it's not gonna sell anymore,” said Kerr, who works out of San Diego.
He talked about the background of Novatus Energy.
“It's a relatively young company but with seasoned people that work for it,” he said, noting “a diverse portfolio.”
Kerr showed a map of wind farms the company owns in Maine, Texas and North Dakota.
“A big solar project in Colorado,” he said. “Projects in North Dakota may not have a good wind year, but projects in Texas might.”
He mentioned scholarships funded in Oakesdale and Rosalia, “a strong safety record” and that “we welcome engagement with the community.”
He described how wind turbines turn to face wind direction.
“The machine will seek out where wind is coming from,” Kerr said.
To a question about further wind development in the inland northwest, Kerr said that Novatus is not a developer, but they own and operate wind farms once established.
Kimmell then offered four tickets to the WSU men's basketball game Sunday vs. Idaho State. Mayor Dennis Palmer of Oakesdale won the trivia question: when was Whitman County founded – 1871 – but declined the tickets.
Kimmell left the tickets on the table.
“I think they're playing pretty well. New coach,” he said.
Jeff Guyett, Community Action Center executive director, spoke about survey results from a county-wide needs assessment, topped by the statistic that 25 percent of the population of Whitman County have either used retirement funds for a purchase or borrowed from a friend or relative for that reason.
“Twenty-five percent are living on that financial edge,” Guyet said.
In further statistics, he said 18 percent were food insecure and 11 percent accessed an emergency room for non-emergency medical care.
Kimmell came up again as Brian Points, president of Points Consulting, Moscow, stood up and began to step around his table to the front.
“Sit down,” Kimmell said, with a smile. “You're not up yet.”
“I was gonna get the tickets,” Points joked.
Mason Burley of the Innovia Foundation reported the group granted $6.4 million last year, and told of a grant program now available to help promote the 2020 census which plays a key part in federal grant applications for towns.
Points was the introduced to give a rundown of the Palouse Regional Housing Needs Assessment.
“Housing is an economic development matter,” he said. “Ten years ago, it was enough to say we have jobs, come move here. Now everybody has jobs.”
He noted that more adults (age 25+) are renting instead of buying, a seven-fold difference since 2007 in Whitman and Latah counties.
He said 3,200 new housing units of all types will be needed in the two counties over the next 10 years. There were 2,900 built in the previous 10.
"We just can't build the homes we need” he said, noting an "extreme under-supply" of construction laborers.
Points emphasized the need for “attainable housing” as compared to subsidized.
Kimmell then had four tickets to give away for the Idaho-Sacramento State football game. How many square miles make up Whitman County? he asked.
Guyet won with an answer of 2,159.
Kara Riebold of the Port of Whitman County reported on the the “fiber-to-the-home" broadband build-out.
“Not an amenity, but a necessity,” she said.
Guyet asked a question and noted that in the Community Action Center survey, 94 percent reported having internet in the home.
Riebold answered that fiber is a more reliable and faster internet delivery.
State Representative Mary Dye (R-Pomeroy) added a comment.
“It makes me so happy. It's the ladder that gets us into the global world,” she said. “The connected world.”
Kimmell then had two more tickets to give out, for Idaho Vandals football, the question being, when was the town of Palouse founded?
Chris Cook, Palouse mayor-elect, got it with an answer of 1888.
Kimmell then introduced Avista CEO Vermillion.
He thanked Kimmell for the invitation and talked about how he's a WSU alumni, all his kids have gone there, including his youngest, a senior this year, and how Vermillion would be down for Dad's Weekend and the Stanford game.
He has been Avista CEO for six weeks, a 34-year veteran of the company, beginning when it was still known as Washington Water Power.
“How do we plan for low carbon or zero carbon by 2045 for our customers?” Vermillion asked.
He talked about wind power, noting that the cost of a wind project today is less than half of what the utility paid to develop Palouse Wind.
“If you told me that seven years ago, we'd be able to do that, I'd have said you're crazy.”
He then talked about the possibility of battery storage for wind power.
“That is the Holy Grail, if you will,” he said.
Kimmell then followed, mentioning the book, “13 Ways to Kill Your Communities,” by Doug Griffiths and Kelly Clemmer (2010). He talked about a current Avista initiative in 23 communities in Washington and Idaho – including Endicott, LaCrosse and Tekoa – to help create a one-page action plan, in first quarter 2020.
“Not a 50-page one to put on a shelf,” Kimmell said.
The effort is part of the third year of Avista's rural leadership development program (in partnership with Innovia Foundation, the McGregor Company and Rural Development Initiatives).
“What we like to invest in is that civic infrastructure,” said Kimmell.
The final section of the evening's agenda was community updates.
Mayors from each town spoke from their spots at tables.
Todd Vanek of Colfax talked about Colfax Mercantile, the business incubator which opened in September. Dennis Palmer of Oakesdale invited everyone to the Ruck for the Fallen Nov. 30. Mayor Lee Root of Rosalia spoke.
“The biggest problem is trying to get businesses to grow,” he said.
Endicott Mayor Steve Salzman noted the grain-train loader conversion last summer.
“Load it out to the coast,” he said.
He talked about empty houses and buildings in town.
“The owners have no intention of renting them out,” he said.
Colton Mayor Jerry Weber, Uniontown councilman Brian Davies and Garfield Mayor Jarrod Pfaff talked about “sewer, sewer, sewer.”
Cook of Palouse spokeabout wastewater and turned it over to Mayor Michael Echanove.
He described a Venn diagram for Palouse. In one circle was the Chamber of Commerce, in another the city and another volunteers.
“A nuclear fusion-thing going on in the middle,” he said.
Kimmell noted the coming end of Echanove's four terms as mayor.
“You're not going away, we're just repurposing you,” he said.
County Commissioner Dean Kinzer paid tribute to Avista for work on the Palouse Empire fairgrounds tree-removal and the new grandstand. He thanked county citizens for passing the road tax levy and told the assembled that county courthouse phones came back on that day.
Kinzer further noted work on a county Geographic Information System and the planning commissions' work on marijuana regulations.
Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson talked about Tony Bean, Pullman Airport executive director, and the instrument approach to the airport. He noted 400 people were at the grand opening of the runway expansion and that the Nendels Motel in downtown Pullman will be torn down.
“I came here 40 years ago and that was old when I got here,” he said, adding that a new hotel to go up on the site may have a restaurant.
Johnson talked about the new car wash, RPM Express for Rypien Porter Mayes.
“Three hundred fifty-seven seconds for a wash?” said the mayor, referring to WSU legend Reuben Mayes' former NCAA single-game football rushing record. “Reuben will be remembered in suds.”
Mayes, sitting a few feet away, chuckled. He is chief development officer of Pullman Regional Hospital.
Kimmell then wrapped up the evening, mentioning a plan to do it again, likely next February.
The crowd broke up, with the WSU-Idaho State tickets remaining on the front table.
During clean-up, someone picked them up.
WSU won 72-61.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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