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Articles written by Gail Morin


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  • Elmer City mayor responds to article

    Gail Morin|Feb 7, 2018

    In response to “Elmer City seeks Coulee Dam’s financial help,” January 31: On January 5, 2018, Elmer City requested a meeting with the new Coulee Dam mayor. Coulee Dam set the date of the meeting for January 16th at 10 a.m. and we agreed to meet at the Coulee Dam city hall. The purpose of the meeting was to have a friendly introduction to the Elmer City’s concerns. The topics discussed were connecting to the new wastewater treatment plant, previous billing errors and the threatened lawsuit. Elmer City went to the meeting with the new mayor a...

  • Change on the agenda

    Gail Morin|Aug 14, 2013

    “Nothing on the agenda” was the reason for canceling the August 7 Coulee Dam council meeting. July 22, 2013 a letter was sent to the Department of Ecology from Coulee Dam and the town’s engineers requesting funding for a revised plan to upgrade the Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF). The cost of this project is now well over $6,000,000. The reason for this request was “the high capital cost of the single-project alternative (Alternative 1) is not currently acceptable to the Town because of its impact on ratepayers.” Another rationale...

  • So she's running for mayor

    Gail Morin|May 15, 2013

    About one year ago, I noticed something was going to happen with the Sewer Treatment Plant. I became curious. I attended meetings and began looking into Elmer City’s expenditures for sewer. I kept reading and researching and asking for further information. None of the answers made any sense to me. We are a very small community with a varied population. Many of our citizens have lived here for decades. Could our residents afford this project? No. My friends in Coulee Dam can’t afford it either. My findings proved that many of us living here fac...

  • Getting answers to questions on treatment plant

    Gail Morin|Apr 10, 2013

    When I have a question, I will ask. When I am not given a sensible answer, I read. After quietly listening to a public presentation of the present and clear need for a $6.2 million dollar upgrade to the local Wastewater Treatment Plant in early 2012, I asked how is this going to be funded? A loan, I was told. Why haven’t you applied for any grants? I asked. There are none, was the angry response. How do you know if you haven’t applied, I wondered. The next presentation about a week later was for the $6.2 million dollar project, even though we...

  • Elmer City's true costs are higher

    Gail Morin|Mar 13, 2013

    In the Wednesday, March 6, article about Coulee Dam's charges for Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) expenses it read, “The remainder of what Elmer City charges its customers is administrative fees.” The words “administrative fees” should be exchanged for “maintenance and operation expenses.” Elmer City pays for labor, supplies, equipment repair and/or replacement and electrical power costs to collect and transport waste to Coulee Dam. And when the sewer treatment expenses are $12,000 over what we had expected, it is sometimes difficult....