Lester elected to Kitsap Public Utility District Commission

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — It was about 6 a.m. Election Day and Debra Lester was out campaigning, trying to reach those last voters that would be casting ballots on their way to work.

Her thoughts were not on whether she would be elected that day to the Kitsap Public Utility District Board of Commissioners. What stood out in her mind at that moment was what a positive campaign she and incumbent John Armstrong had run.

“I was going against someone who has years of experience,” she said. “And we had a great time. We modeled what a great campaign can be about.”

She added, “I have a lot of respect for John. Whatever the outcome, I am a very active member of my community and I will continue to follow through with some of the ideas [from the campaign].”

As it turns out, she will do so as a Kitsap PUD commissioner.

Lester, a former mayor of Bainbridge Island, was elected Nov. 8 to a six-year term as commissioner from District 1. As of 8:15 p.m. Election Day, Lester received 38,646 votes to Armstrong’s 30,931.

Commissioners each receive $19,200 a year and per diem.

Armstrong, a retired business manager for the Navy, will leave the commission after 24 years. He couldn’t be reached for comment, but during the campaign said he wanted to build on the district’s service and performance records of “exceeding our customer satisfaction levels for all the responses that we provide,” extend broadband services to areas of the county that are not presently served or are underserved, and maintain water conservation and recharge efforts that have been “set by this board over the past 20 years.”

As commissioner, Lester said her priorities are making broadband service available to rural areas; managing the county’s precarious water resources; exploring more ways to reclaim wastewater so it can be treated and used for fire prevention, irrigation, and to recharge aquifers; and exploring power-generating technologies, such as methane gas produced at wastewater treatment plants and water-pipe turbines such as those used in Portland, Oregon.

She also supports changing commission meeting times from 9:30 a.m. to a time more convenient to the public; and partnering with neighborhoods to make utility services available.

Experience vs. vision

Challenging Armstrong was a formidable undertaking. During his four terms, the range of services provided by the district expanded yet the tax rate has increased from 8 cents to 8.05 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. “We’re a tight bunch,” he said in an earlier forum.

In the voters’ guide, he wrote that his “common-sense approach to decision-making requires me to weigh cost versus benefits to reach a fair and balanced decision. This method of resource management has been gained through 26 years of organizational management, 24 years of serving as your PUD commissioner.”

The district was formed by voters in 1940 to explore providing electrical service as a public special-purpose district. In the 1970s, Kitsap PUD began providing water utility service after it acquired several small, privately owned water systems and municipal water districts. Today, the district owns and operates 50 separate water systems that provide drinking water to 50,000 residents of Kitsap. The water systems consist of wells, storage reservoirs, and pipes that carry water to homes and businesses.

In the late 1980s, Kitsap PUD was designated the lead agency for development of the county’s Coordinated Water System and Ground Water Management plans. Shortly after that, Armstrong joined the commission and in the early 2000s, Kitsap PUD began operating a high-speed open-access fiber optic broadband network in the county. Almost all of the county’s schools, libraries, government offices, first-responder buildings and major medical facilities have been connected to this fiber optic network.

In 2014, Kitsap PUD began assisting in a project to renovate the wastewater treatment plant at Port Gamble. The plant’s effluent will no longer be directed into Hood Canal but to a large, upland drainfield.

As a former member of a city council and various regional policy and planning committees, Lester said she’s familiar with testifying in Olympia on behalf of Kitsap and would work to build stronger alliances within the district’s communities. She’s also “very curious” about new technology (like those turbines that can be placed in municipal water pipes to generate electricity).

“Working with fellow commissioners, my goal is to assure KPUD customers affordable and reliable utility services using a thorough process of ratesetting, cost/benefit analysis, and budget reviews,” she wrote in the voters’ guide. “Having worked directly with many Kitsap County elected officials and tribal leaders, my focus is on building stronger alliances to carefully manage our water resources, treat wastewater so as to retain more freshwater resources in freshwater systems, and continue efforts to extend broadband telecommunications.”