Incumbents Ben Kostick, top left, and Ed Rothlin, top right are up for election this year. Kostick will be challenged by Steve Grega, bottom left and Michael Kelly, bottom right. Rothlin is running unopposed.
Incumbent Ben Kostick is leading in the primary election after the first count of the votes for the District 1 seat in the Lewis County Public Utility District election with 50 percent of the vote. Challengers Micheal Kelly received 28 percent of the vote and Steve Grega is following behind with 21 percent.
“I'm happy to receive 50 percent of the vote in this very strange campaign atmosphere,” Kostick said on Tuesday evening. “I can never be too confident. There’s going to be some work to be done to win in the general and so I’m preparing for that.”
Ed Rothlin is running for the District 2 seat unopposed.
Kostick has been on the PUD commission board for 14 consecutive years and has owned and operated a CPA firm since 1996. He said that his priorities for the PUD in the coming years are to strengthen the more than 50-year-old infrastructure to continue to provide quality service to customers. He is also focused on expanding broadband fiber internet network to more areas in Lewis County.
“I decided to run to keep my seat on the commission because there are some things that we’re doing, things that we’re planning for in the near future, and in the long term that I want to see to an end,” he said.
Kelly works for TransAlta Centralia Generation LLC and said that his main goal on the board of commissioners would be to keep electricity costs low.
Grega, a retired Lewis County PUD engineer, cited his reason for running for seat one on the board as providing reliable power for customers and keeping costs low.
The primary election will be certified on Aug. 18. The top two candidates will continue on to the general election in November.
