Chelan County PUD Extends Contract to Willamette Cultural Resource Associates for New Service Center Excavation

Chelan County PUD extended their contract with Willamette Cultural Resources Associates for a total of $750,000 on Nov. 21.

This cost will supplement the original $200,000 in the PUD’s contract with Willamette, and is included in the $25 million cost increase for the new Service Center at Olds Station Road.

Chelan County PUD started working with Willamette in April of 2022, to help the PUD obtain a cultural excavation permit and continue their groundwork on the Service Center site.

This permit requires that Willamette send ongoing weekly reports to local tribal Partners, which include the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Yakama Nation and the Wanapum. 

Chelan County PUD Director of Shared Services Daniel Frazier said these reports have been well-received.

“The comments I get back from the tribes generally is ‘thanks for the information,’” Frazier said. “Once in a while, there's a 'can we talk about this?' But they're always very appreciative of that.”

Frazier also shared that when a cultural artifact is found during construction, the crew is asked to move 30 feet away from the artifact and let archeologists work on that area.

Construction on the new Service Center is projected to be done by December of 2023.