Pend Oreille County & PUD Land Sale to HiTest Sands, Inc. – What you need to know

Pend Oreille County & PUD Land Sale to HiTest Sands, Inc. – What you need to know

A trove of documents has arrived, which reveal numerous inconsistencies, questions, concerns and even more alarms over the entire HiTest Sands, Inc. smelter proposed for Newport, Washington and the machinations that have occurred to date.

It would be impossible for me to deal with all of these issues in a single article, so that simply won’t be done. Rather, it will be easier to break this down by topic and the issues discovered so far. This entry will be about what is known (so far) about the land sale.

The land sale from Pend Oreille County to the Public Utility District (PUD) raises particular concern, as this directly relates to the site selected by HiTest Sand, Inc., and the immediate proximity over a densely populated area, County participation in this private venture for a foreign corporation, expenditure of public funds used for this process, rural development, the price of the land, the switch from “appraised value” to “assessed value” by the Commissioners, its alleged but totally incorrect “land locked” status claimed by the Commissioners, its resale price weeks later to HiTest Sands, Inc., by the PUD, and PUD’s refusal to date to communicate their own negotiations.

There is also just under $14,000 discrepancy on the listed prices of the land sold and the total paid. At this time, we do not know where that money went, what is was for, why this amount was not represented on the real estate contract or what happened.

These are serious issues that will directly affect the entire process, site location, ethics, legal issues and outcome of the proposed smelter.

Beginning with Pend Oreille County Resolution 2017-22 dated 6/20/2017, the County Commissioners Manus, Skoog (Kiss was absent) signed this document testifying to its accuracy and claims.

In this document, the County stated that the parcel of land, known as Parcel No. 19182 was was “land locked”. A County plat map shows that the State Line Road borders this parcel along the entire eastern border. This is the long edge of a narrow, rectangular 14 acre parcel and it is not land locked at all, access is by State Line Road and you can drive right to it right now.

D. “The Board of County Commissioners finds it is not practical to build on property identified as Assessor’s Parcel No. 19182 as it is land-locked with no road access”

This is outright dishonesty and misrepresentation to deliberately justify the land sale to the PUD, which just happens to be the site selected by HiTest Sands, Inc.

Moreover, the County Commissioners also claimed that the property could be sold “without a call for bids, under certain circumstances”, citing RCW36.25.150, which reads:

(a) When the sale is to any governmental agency and for public purposes; (b) when the county legislative authority determines that it is not practical to build on the property due to the physical characteristics of the property or legal restrictions on construction activities on the property; (c) when the property has an assessed value of less than five hundred dollars and the property is sold to an adjoining landowner; or (d) when no acceptable bids were received at the attempted public auction of the property, if the sale is made within twelve months from the date of the attempted public auction.

The PUD did not acquire the land for any public purposes; nor were there any public auctions conducted to my knowledge.

Resolution 2017-22 specifies that the land will be sold by direct negotiation with the PUD at a “minimum price equal to the total appraised value”. That didn’t happen either, because 21 days later, via Resolution 2017-26 dated 11/07/2017, which appears to be almost, but not quite, a boilerplate copy of Resolution 2017-22 states that the “minimum price equal to the total assessed value”.

A copy of the tax assessment was obtained, showing an assessed value of $27,660. This was the amount the non-land locked parcel No. 19182 was sold for to the PUD. The appraised value however, is different. It would be higher according to the actual market value (whatever the market on similar land like this really is). I am not aware of any land selling at this incredibly low price - anywhere in the County, yet the County went ahead and sold this parcel at the assessed value in a private negotiation with PUD.

This parcel is also a perfectly usable piece of ground (I’ve been there and seen it) that was not land locked at all, it’s quite buildable for any number of purposes. The PUD in turn, sold this parcel just six weeks later, as part of a package land deal to HiTest Sands, Inc. for $300,000 – all without a public auction required by Washington law. I still don't know yet if there was even any published notice of this possibly illegal land sale.

The County sold the land to the PUD on August 2, 2017 – and it was then resold by the PUD to HiTest Sands, Inc., on 9/18/17. Yeah – that’s seems mighty weird, coincidental and highly suspicious all at the same time.

There is also a serious question regarding the actual selling price of the land parcels by the PUD to HiTest. All four parcels were sold at “assessed value” versus appraised value (market value) and their assessed value does not add up to $300,000 Total Selling price shown on the PUD Real Estate Contract. There is a $13,635 discrepancy between assessed values and the Total Selling Price that I’ve not been able to account for. Where did this additional money go? Who received it and why?

A clear pattern of intent was put in motion by elected officials at both the County and PUD. HiTest Sands, Inc., required this parcel for their plans for expansion and development. The Commissioners facilitated that process, signing their names to the Resolutions and endorsing the entire effort. Since they are paid, elected officials, their actions and efforts also constitute unauthorized expenditures from the public treasury. In effect, they spent public money to enable HiTest Sands, Inc., to obtain this land for their silicon smelter.

Are we expected to just believe that this land sale was somehow “accidental” and not at all connected to the HiTest Sands, Inc. smelter proposal? In order for that to be true, you would have to toss out virtually all of their meeting minutes, letters of intent and efforts over the past year plus to directly assist HiTest. These dates of the land sale to the PUD mesh perfectly with Commissioner communications and their efforts to facilitate the HiTest Sands, Inc. process.

There is absolutely no doubt, based upon their own documentation that they knew exactly what they were doing.

Moreover, the PUD also facilitated the sale of the four parcels now in their possession to HiTest Sands, Inc., another public entity that is supposed to be serving the best interest of County residents and businesses. They too engaged in direct negotiations and facilitation of the sale of the land, some which was acquired very cheaply and only weeks before, to HiTest.

Were any of these other three parcels put up for public auction or public sale? That is currently unknown at this time but bears investigation. The RCW code also applies to a public utility -

RCW42.30.010 Legislative declaration.

The legislature finds and declares that all public commissions, boards, councils, committees, subcommittees, departments, divisions, offices, and all other public agencies of this state and subdivisions thereof exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. It is the intent of this chapter that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly. 

The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.

It’s quite clear that the PUD has not cooperated yet with the public interest, nor has the PUD complied with our rights to know what is going on. This bears serious further investigation. We know that private negotiations have been undertaken by the Commissioners and the PUD directly with HiTest, in direct violation of this statute.

Nobody – not one person in Pend Oreille County has yielded their sovereignty to the State of Washington or Pend Oreille County. All officials, boards, committees and public agencies are obligated by law to keep us all informed.

The use of the land for industrial activity like the HiTest Sands, Inc. smelter also directly contradicts the County land use plan, which specifically designates that the County is zoned residential and cannot be rezoned commercial without a public hearing. That never happened either. The County plan also affords residents a quiet way of life, which an industrial activity such as silicon smelter does not allow.

This rabbit hole goes much deeper. It bears mentioning that the grant money given to the Pend Oreille Economic Development Council (POEDC) stipulates the following terms and conditions:

"Whereas, the Department has the responsibility under RCW 43.330.050(5) to provide financial and technical assistance to the communities of the state, to assist in improving the delivery of federal, state, and local programs, and to provide communities with opportunities for productive and coordinated development beneficial to the well-being of communities and their residents, and"

Nobody in their right mind would list a toxic silicon smelter, that will eject thousands of tons of dangerous emissions into the atmosphere, saturating the soil and affecting water quality, wildlife and humans alike for 97,000 square miles (at least), and situated directly OVER the town of Newport and a high density populated area, as being in the “well-being of communities and their residents”. But it has now been documented that the Commissioners and PUD are actually not interested in abiding by the law and have been trying to pull a fast one over the entire region.

This includes Priest River, Idaho where I have learned that additional secret negotiations have also been underway, hidden away from public involvement and participation. It now certainly looks like there has been extensive groundwork performed using public funds to "grease the skids" throughout this region (multiple towns involved), long before the public was aware or involved by multiple parties, agencies and governments, all on behalf of a foreign corporation.

Even the $300,000 grant by the Washington Department of Commerce to the POEDC is suspect. I will have more to say on both of these issues as separate topics.