City seeks arbitration

Electric City is asking if Grand Coulee would be agreeable to arbitration in an effort to unravel a dispute between the two cities over arsenic treatment charges.

At issue is about $39,000.

The Electric City Council went into executive session July 12 for 20 minutes to discuss the conflicting charges, and then voted to seek arbitration.

Grand Coulee would have to agree to it. Its council voted at its last meeting that they didn’t owe the fee. Councilmember Erin Nielson moved to stick with the agreement and not pay the fee billed by Electric City.

Grand Coulee contends that it has paid all the fees relating to the agreement signed by both cities in September, 2014.

Electric City has maintained that the money is owed from its earlier agreement, which it says was still in effect.

Both cities have engaged attorneys and have spent about $2,000 each, according to their respective city clerks.

Grand Coulee met last night (Tuesday) and any discussions held were too late for this week’s paper.