I’ve never met Joe Rife, whose “wow” $695,00 salary was featured (“A $695K salary? Overtime at the Snohomish County PUD has soared,” The Herald, Sept. 16. Wow. That’s a lot of extra hours.
That means when we were wondering when the lights would come back on, Rife and other employees were doing something to make it happen. When our coffee maker started up, he and his crews were probably up all night and could use a cup of coffee. When we worried our Thanksgiving dinner might not happen or our Christmas lights were dead, he had probably accepted another “emergency callout” and missed that holiday time with his family last year so we could enjoy holiday time with our family … with electricity.
When we were warm in our beds hoping the worst storm of the year was over by the time we woke up, 9 out of 10 times, he was almost certainly out in the middle of it “supporting our customers.” I’ve never met Joe Rife, but I’d like to, and I’d like to thank him, and all the PUD employees working extra due to surging customer demand.
Thank you, PUD, and thank you, Joe.
Scott Thomas
Arlington
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