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PeninsulaNorthwest
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2013
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Clallam PUD OKs 75-cent mileage rate BY PAUL GOTTLIEB PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Public Utility District will pay 33 percent more than the income-tax rate to reimburse PUD employees and commissioners for driving personal vehicles on agency business, the commissioners decided Monday. The PUD will pay 75 cents a mile beginning today, the board decided in a 2-0 vote, with Commissioner Ted Simpson absent. The IRS rate is 56.5 cents after it was increased by a penny in January. The board’s action lowers the existing reimbursement rate from 79.5 cents under a policy commissioners established in 1995. Since that time, the PUD has paid 23 cents a mile above the IRS rate to encourage employees to use their own cars, to reduce the district’s fleet and “to more closely cover the actual cost of driving a personal car on district business,� according to the minutes of the meeting in which the original decision was made.
The IRS rate was 30 cents a mile in 1995. The IRS rate is used by governments, school districts and taxpayer-funded entities throughout Clallam and Jefferson counties, including the Jefferson County Public Utility District. Anything paid above the IRS rate is considered taxable income.
Four-page analysis Commissioners based their decision Monday on a four-page analysis by Sequim certified public accountant David Papandrew, who estimated costs that would be incurred if the PUD bought three additional pool vehicles for local and out-of-area travel associated with PUD work. The analysis was prompted by a December 2012 review of the mileage-rate policy by Peninsula Daily News, when Commissioner Hugh Haffner told the newspaper that the policy was “something we probably should have looked at five or 10 years ago.� Papandrew said local travel and trips between PUD facilities
would cost more than $1.10 a mile if the PUD purchased three vehicles. He based the amount on factors such as fuel consumption for vehicles estimated at 18 to 22 miles per gallon; the purchase price of gas at $3.80 a gallon, and the cost of midsized vehicles, insurance and financing.
the report. “We’re kind of a little different in that we’re out here on the Olympic Peninsula,� Nass said in a later interview. “Our territory is from one end to the other,� he said. “Every PUD is different.� George Caan, executive director of the state Public Utility Districts Association, said in an ear‘Composite cost’ lier interview that the organization does not keep track of the Papandrew estimated that mileage reimbursement policies out-of-area trips would cost 60 of its membership PUDs. cents a mile. “I can’t say it’s unusual,� he He put the “composite cost� of said of the Clallam PUD’s policy. local and out-of-area trips at 75 cents a mile. Reimbursements in 2013 “The district presently has seven separate offices, which may From Jan. 1 through March 28, need additional pool vehicles, PUD employees and commissionthus additionally increasing the ers received $9,567 in mileage cost to the district,� Papandrew reimbursements, PUD spokessaid in the report. man Mike Howe said. Papandrew, who was not at The PUD paid $62,076 for Monday’s meeting and whose 79,078 miles travelled in 2012, report was presented to the com- according to the utility’s 2012 missioners by PUD General Man- rate. ager Doug Nass, did not review The reimbursements would mileage rates used by other gov- have totaled $43,888 if the IRS ernments or PUDs, according to rate had been used.
Ten employees, including the three elected commissioners, accounted for 66 percent of all travel. Papandrew said in his report that he was unable to obtain details on how the IRS came up with its reimbursement rate. He said the IRS rate is based on an independent study, the details of which he said are proprietary and not made available to the public. “The standard mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile,� the IRS says on its website, www. irs.gov. Papandrew, the PUD’s former district auditor, who left in September, is returning to his former position at Clallam PUD on May 1. He is currently employed as finance director of the Jefferson County PUD.
________ Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
KSQM scores $50,000 grant for new tower PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
SEQUIM –– Sequim’s public radio station KSQM91.5 FM has been granted $50,000 by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Wash., to further its efforts to increase its reach with a new 155-foot-tall tower. KSQM Executive Director Bob Schilling said the trust informed him of the award March 15.
$30,000 match In addition to the $50,000, the trust has committed to match as much as $30,000 of locally raised funds for the $300,000 project. Schilling hoped to have those funds raised by the station’s annual “Bob-b-q� party July 5. KSQM is looking to build a new tower to boost its signal from 700 watts to
2,400 watts. That would mean the station’s signal would reach Island and San Juan counties and into the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Ground was broken in December on the tower site on state Department of Natural Resources property off Blue Mountain Road between Sequim and Port Angeles. Schilling said he hopes the tower will, in addition to boosting the station’s signal, provide greater transmission capabilities for emergency communication for area law enforcement, fire and emergency medical service agencies. The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has given away more than $650 million since it was created in 1975 by the will of high-tech titan Melvin J. “Jack� Murdock, co-founder of Oregon firm Tektronix Inc.
Man gets 4 years for attack on trail PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — Spencer J. Silva, a Sequim man convicted of assaulting a woman on the Olympic Discovery Trail last summer while wearing a Halloween mask, has been sentenced to four years in prison. Silva, 23, was found guilty in January of seconddegree assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree attempted robbery and unlawful imprisonment for attacking a 22-year-old woman on the trail outside Sequim last July. He also was found guilty of residential burglary for opening a teenager’s bedroom as she slept in August 2011. Silva was found not guilty of voyeurism for the 2011 incident. The sexual-motivation enhancements to the other charges were dismissed after a two-day bench trial. At the sentencing hearing April 3, Clallam County Superior Court Judge S. Brooke Taylor merged the unlawful imprisonment and assault charges with the attempted robbery.
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caught in a separate avalanche Saturday in the Snoqualmie Pass area. Dangerous avalanche and weather conditions prevented rescuers from under a snow avalanche. searching Monday, said Sgt. Yu was hiking with her Cindi West with the King dog at Red Mountain Satur- County Sheriff’s Office. Resday afternoon when she cuers hope to resume today. was caught in an avalanche. A group of snowshoers Wife IDs missing man managed to dig her out of 5 feet of snow, but she was The hiker’s wife, Maripronounced dead hours lynn Hungate, identified later after being trans- him to KING-TV as Mitch ported by rescuers down the Hungate, 61, a dentist and mountain. seasoned athlete. Rescuers on Monday He was with two other suspended a search for a companions Saturday after61-year-old hiker who was noon when an avalanche
Rescuers suspend search for missing 61-year-old THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE — Officials have identified the female snowshoer who was killed in an avalanche Saturday in the Cascade Mountains east of Seattle. The King County medical examiner’s office said Monday that 55-year-old Joy Yu died of mechanical asphyxia due to being trapped
swept them more than 1,200 feet down Granite Mountain, a 5,600-foot peak about 45 miles east of Seattle. The two friends emerged from the snow and called for help. They tried but weren’t able to find Hungate. “The longer the time goes on, the less chance of survival,� West said Monday morning. But “we’re not ready to say we’re in recovery mode yet.� “I really didn’t want to leave him,� Marilynn Hungate told KING-TV. “I want to be with him until he can be here with us.�
Live Drawing Night returns to downtown PA PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
artists attending who have not done live drawing PORT ANGELES — before, and we have had After a few months’ hiatus, several students,â€? Tucker Live Drawing Night is said. returning to Studio Bob, upstairs at 118½ E. Front Nude model St., this Wednesday. All artists are welcome Participants work with a to join the gathering, coordi- nude model — alternating nated by Port Angeles artist each month between male Sarah Tucker, from 7 p.m. and female — who does a to 10 p.m. each third series of five one-minute Wednesday of the month. poses and then five five“There have been many minute poses. After a break,
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the model returns for three 10-minute poses, and the evening ends with a 40-minute pose. “Artists at previous sessions have worked in pencil, charcoal, pastel, ink, paint and even clay,� Tucker said. Participants must bring their own easels and supplies, while Studio Bob pro-
vides tables and chairs. Artists must arrive before 7:30 p.m., as the doors will be locked at that time. The fee for Live Drawing Night is $5 for students with identification, or $10 for others. For more details, email Tucker at Sarah@Tucker Art.com.
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Authorities identify woman killed in Saturday avalanche
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The merger followed complex legal arguments made by defense attorney John Hayden and Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall. Clallam County sheriff’s detectives said Silva was wearing a Halloween clown mask when he knocked a woman off her bicycle on the Olympic Discovery Trail just west of Railroad Bridge Park. A 7½-inch knife was found at the scene but not used in the attack. The woman fought off her attacker by kicking and screaming. A video-surveillance recording led to Silva’s arrest. The woman filed a victim impact statement in which she stated that the incident left her unable to sleep and “terrified to go anywhere alone.â€? “Prior to being attacked, I would ride my bike and run outside almost on a daily basis, and now I am afraid to do either,â€? she wrote. Silva was also ordered to pay $1,654 in fees. A restitution hearing is scheduled for June 14.
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Volunteers at a command post off Exit 52 along Interstate 90 prepare to join in the rescue operation to look for a missing snowshoer in Snoqualmie Pass.