The Newport Miner THE VOICE OF PEND OREILLE COUNTY SINCE 1901
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
www.pendoreillerivervalley.com
Volume 117, Number 1 | 2 Sections, 16 Pages $1.00
City may ask voters: Form a new utility or stick with PUD? BY MICHELLE NEDVED OF THE MINER
NEWPORT – The Newport City Council heard Monday night what the options are if the council and voters decide they don’t want to continue their power agreement with the Pend Oreille Public Utility District. The council held a workshop during which Kim Gentle of GDS Associates Inc. explained how the city could go about offering its own utility to residents and businesses. Gentle is a Senior Project Manager for GDS Associates Inc., an engineering and consulting firm. She is a former employee of the Pend Oreille PUD, as well as Avista Utilities, and is the wife of John Gentle,
Pend Oreille County commissioner. Gentle explained to the council that since the non-exclusive franchise agreement between the city and the PUD is expiring this summer, the city has the right to explore its options to begin its own utility, the formation of which would have to be approved by voters. The city could renew the contract with the PUD at the 25-year term, which is what is expiring this summer, or could contract for shorter amounts of time. The city could form a utility and then do nothing at all, using their utility status as a negotiating tool with the PUD. Or the city could form a utility, put together its own set of contracts for everything from power supply to linemen, or form a utility and
hire the 200-plus people it would take to operate the utility separate from any outside contract. “There’s a lot of ways you can skin that cat,” Gentle said. The council needs to decide before Aug. 2 if they want the issue to go before voters in the November election. If the contract with the PUD expires and the council does nothing, the current situation would continue on until someone does something. City administrator Russ Pelleberg said as the city comes to the end of a long-term agreement, it needs to do its due diligence to find out if there are other options for supplying power. He said he was hearing from people
interested in coming to Newport who were “frankly having issues dealing with the PUD. We started looking around and then realized the contract was up.” It appears the entities who became frustrated with the PUD are bitcoin mining operations. The PUD has not engaged the city to renegotiate the contract. The council asked city attorney Laura McAloon to draft a letter to PUD Counsel Tyler Whitney, requesting a proposal to discuss at the next council workshop, Monday, June 7. “(Let’s) see what we can obtain from the other side of the coin, which would be the PUD,” mayor Shirley Sands said. SEE UTILITY, 2A
Allrise Capital bids most for PNC mill
County commissioners, EDC, Newport endorse bid over Kalispel Tribe
MINER PHOTO|DON GRONNING
BY DON GRONNING
Busy day at the market
OF THE MINER
SPOKANE – Allrise Capital, an Irvine, Calif., company, was the top bidder for the old Ponderay Newsprint Company site and equipment following a live auction Friday, April 23. After 60 some rounds of online bidding taking place over an hour and a half, Allrise was the highest bidder at $18.1 million, according to the declaration of Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee John Munding. The Kalispel Tribe stopped their bidding at $17.5 million. A third bidder, PPL Acquisition Group LLC, a liquidator, didn’t participate after the first round. Each of the bidders had put down $350,000 to be able to bid for the site and assets, with a $7.5 million opening bid. Munding said that the “highest and best” bid might not be the highest dollar amount. He asked both Allrise and the Kalispel Tribe to provide a two-page letter by Wednesday, April 28 saying why their bid was the “highest and best bid.” Allrise submitted their letter April 27. In SEE PNC, 2A
It was the first day of the Newport Famers Market Saturday, May 1, and business was hopping. The market is open every Saturday through October, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes vendors from Pend Oreille and Bonner counties. See more photos on 2B.
Candidate filing opens May 17 Many seats up for election
BY DON GRONNING OF THE MINER
NEWPORT – Pend Oreille County candidate filing week opens Monday, May 17 and continues through Friday, May 21, with more that 60 positions up for grabs. All are nonpartisan positions. Appointed can-
didates hold many of the positions and those elections will be to fill out unexpired terms. Port of Pend Oreille In the Port of Pend Oreille District, commissioner district 2, a job held by Keith Peterson and the commissioner district 3 position held by Ryan Kiss are up for election. Town, city councils There are city and town council
positions up for election in all the incorporated cities and towns. In Newport there are two council positions, as well as the mayor up for grabs. Position 2, currently held by Nancy Hawks-Thompson and position 3, held by Jamie Sears are up for election, as is the mayor’s position, currently held by Shirley Sands, who announced she isn’t going to seek reelection. SEE FILING, 7A
B R I E F LY Heather Scott to visit Priest River
No dog kennel in Priest River
PRIEST RIVER – Idaho Rep. Heather Scott will be at the Priest River Event Center to give a legislative update Tuesday, May 11. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and seating is limited to 240 people. Scott will give an update and there will be time for questions and answers.
PRIEST RIVER – It looks like there won’t be a dog kennel coming to Priest River after all, City Planner Bryan Quayle told the Priest River Council at their April 3 meeting. Gerald and Deloris Milliron had applied for a conditional use permit from the city to allow them to construct a 30’ x 40’ single level commercial dog grooming and boarding
Follow us on Facebook
facility on their R-1 Residential Zoned property, generally located at 40 Eastside Road. The couple attended the April 19 council meeting to present their plan. Quayle said the Millirons had withdrawn their application for a conditional use permit, and no further action was necessary. Also during the meeting mayor Jim Martin said that the city was awarded an Idaho Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $500,000 for the Water System Improvements Project.
CLASSIFIEDS
6B
OPINION
4A
RECORD
5B
LIFE
3B
POLICE REPORTS
5B
SPORTS
1B
OBITUARIES
5B
PUBLIC NOTICES
6B-8B
BOOSTER
4B
SALUTE TO MEDICAL WORKERS SEE NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE