I’m sure that a good many Sunday morning breakfasts were deleted because of the nauseating March 10 Herald headline “PUD pays consultant $750,000.”
Manager Paul Elias and the commissioners could not give a civil answer at this time, they said, until an investigating audit has been done.
Why hasn’t there been a yearly audit before this late date when the company is in such a struggling mess?
The bulk of the consulting work was done in the customer service department. Mr. Elias defended consultant Laurence Akiyoshi, saying the employees’ grievances had dropped 27 percent. Is that such a drop at those prices?
Jim Lazar, an economist who used to consult for PUD, said that, in his opinion, this could have been done by consultants of reliable sources – accounting, banking investment or legal firms. And we have a number of local, very successful firms.
Notice the $35,000 contract charge by Mr. Akiyoshi to design and evaluate employees’ morale survey. What do the manager and the commissioners imagine this whole investigation has done to the morale of the struggling customers that are forced to pay the highest energy rates in the state?
Here we are fighting terrorism and we have highway robbery in our own backyards, no, in the front door.
Each billing, we are asked to help the poor and it seems like for the last two years that money has gone south with Mr. Akiyoshi. In 26 weeks he made more money than several people together make in a lifetime.
I’d like to use phrases and words like grand jury, fraud, clean house. Can we wait until an election?
I challenge the successful brain power of Snohomish County to come forth and do something before we are all paupers.
Thank you for letting me vent my frustrations and thanks to the excellent Herald reporters for their enlightening investigation.
Everett
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