PORT HADLOCK — M. Kelly Hays, a Marrowstone Island resident since 1992, has been appointed to fill the District 2 position on the Jefferson County Public Utility District Board of Commissioners.
The 60-year-old retiree who worked 35 years in the telecommunications industry — most recently with Qwest and US West — will be officially appointed to the position at the PUD commissioners’ March 2 meeting, said board Chairman Wayne King.
District 3 Commissioner King and District 1 Commissioner Dana Roberts chose Hays over seven other applicants for the position late last week.
“We had some good ones, some really good ones,” King said of the applicants.
“[Hays] knew easements and utility rights of way.”
With such knowledge and a professional background in utility companies, King said Hays would be of great assistance to PUD General Manager Jim Parker on such projects as the Marrowstone Island water system and a sewage treatment system for the Beckett Point community on Discovery Bay.
Enthusiastic choice
Roberts on Monday expressed enthusiasm for Hays’ selection, saying: “We had a great field. It was not an easy choice.”
Roberts also noted that Hays’ knowledge of utility systems and what is involved in constructing them will help the PUD.
Hays succeeds David Sullivan, a Cape George Democrat who successfully ran in November for Jefferson County commissioner. He ousted three-term Republican Commissioner Glen Huntingford of Chimacum.
Sullivan had been elected to the six-year PUD term in November 2002.
