City of Chelan refuses to pay airport property with city funds

CHELAN – In recognition of her 100th birthday, Georgia Duff received a standing ovation by those who attended the Chelan City Council on February 26.

Chelan Mayor Mike Cooney began the meeting by congratulating Duff for her centenary, “we really value you as a community member,” he said. Cooney then went ahead and listed events that also took place in 1919. “I think it is pretty cool to think about what you’ve seen in your lifetime … all the countless things that have taken place, you even know what the internet is,” Cooney stated. “Yeah, I know the internet, we didn’t have that in my days,” Duff cheerfully replied.

From there the council heard from Chelan County PUD Managing Director Justin Erickson on a proposed PUD Service Center located in Wenatchee’s Old Station area. “This is customer service oriented, this is what is driving this decision … it’s about customer service operations what is best for those people,” he said. The Old Station site is the closest to the center point of PUD’s customer base with 70 percent of their service calls being north of the Wenatchee River.

The site highlights a four-story administrative building along with shops, warehouses and storage buildings. “We understand the importance of design, this is a public building and paid with public funds, so we have this balance that it needs to represent the community and it needs to be fair in terms of cost and price … we want to make sure we capture the uniqueness of every community in the county and the diversity,” Erickson explained. The new facility is expected to house 800 plus employees and if the construction were to happen it would take about two years to complete, the expected occupancy will be in late 2022.

PUD will be hosting a series of Open Houses throughout Chelan County. They will be visiting Chelan on March 21 from 4-6 p.m. to hear from the public and answer any questions regarding the project, including the finances. The Open House will take place at the Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce office.

Back in October, the council had a conversation regarding the acquisition of three acres of property by the Lake Chelan Municipal Airport. During that period of time, the city had the first right of refusal for the property. The Port of Chelan County jumped in and agreed to pay for half of the property’s cost, $150,000. The council went forward and voted to approve the purchase and sale agreement which was then executed by the Mayor.

City Administrator Mike Jackson presented the council with an Interlocal Agreement between the Port and the city for the Kelly property purchase at the Airport. The Port offered to pay the property in full and for the city to pay them back over a period of five years with 2.5 percent interest. After reviewing the agreement, Jackson noticed that it included the language that the city could not use Airport funds for the acquisition and that they would use the city’s General Fund.

The Port contributes $50,000 to the Lake Chelan Municipal Airport and they feel that the city sould be using their own money to pay them back. However, Jackson clarified that “most of the reserves are generated by the profit we make on hanger leases and that sort of thing.”

Council doesn’t recall ever discussing the money coming out of the city funds. All talks were around the Airport funds. The council has three options: to continue with the agreement and utilize city funds to pay for the property, to retract from the acquisition and let the Port purchase it independently, or to convince the Port to let use Airport funds as it was initially agreed.

Majority of the council members agreed that they should push the original agreement and they will get an update from Jackson at the next city workshop.