City accepts $3.5 million police contract with bureau

The Grand Coulee City Council approved a $3.57 million, five-year contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Thursday to continue to use the Grand Coulee Police Department to provide additional security services at the Grand Coulee Dam.

The contract, approved and effective as of May 22, expires on May 31, 2025. 

The city’s old contract with the bureau expired in November 2019, which led to a six-month extension while a new contract was negotiated. 

The Star was unable to obtain specific details of the new contract but reported in February that the old contract had added four police officers to the Grand Coulee Police Department, which serves Grand Coulee as well as Electric City, for a total of eight officers, plus a reserve officer. 

The city had lost about $30,000 providing the service in 2019 when a 3.2-percent annual raise, plus benefits, kicked in for employees under a union contract. The former contract with the bureau only provided a 2-percent increase to the city, prompting the city to want terms in the new contract that would cover cost-of-living increases.

The city did receive payment for the prior lost funds, separate from the new contract, City Clerk Lorna Pearce told The Star.

The service previously cost the city about $600,000 a year, for which the Bureau paid.

At the special meeting called for that purpose, the city council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign the contract.