The Lewis County Public Utility District (PUD) has seemingly vacated the seat held by an elected commissioner who was charged with felony bribery last year.
Commissioner Michael Jay Kelly, who was elected to represent District 1, has been removed from the PUD website, which shows its active commissioners Mike Hadaller and Dave Fenn but now lists the District 1 position as “seat vacant.”
A letter obtained by The Chronicle and addressed to Kelly March 24 from the law firm Foster Garvey — which identifies itself as outside legal counsel for the PUD — notified Kelly that his seat had been vacated in line with state law governing meeting absences by elected PUD commissioners.
The law firm cited RCW 54.12.010, with states: “A vacancy in the office of public utility district commissioner shall occur as provided in chapter 42.12 RCW or by nonattendance at meetings of the public utility district commission for a period of 60 days unless excused by the public utility district commission. Vacancies on a board of public utility district commissioners shall be filled as provided in chapter 42.12 RCW.”
The letter states that Kelly has not attended a Lewis County PUD Board of Commissioners meeting in 60 days.
“Your nonattendance during that period has not been excused by the board of commissioners. Accordingly, the District will proceed to fill the vacancy,” the letter states.
Kelly's access to his PUD email and the salary and benefits associated with the position will end April 1, according to the letter. Washington state law sets PUD commissioners’ salaries at $1,800 per month.
"The board excused former Commissioner Michael Kelly from the December 2024 meeting," the PUD wrote in a statement on its website after The Chronicle's initial report Thursday afternoon. "Following that excusal, Kelly has been absent for over 60 days and his absences have not been excused by the board. As the seat is now vacant, per RCW 42.12, the PUD Board has 90 days to fill the vacancy. At the regular commission meeting on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, agenda items will include discussion about the process to fill the vacancy and move forward with the operations of the PUD."
Kelly, who was elected to the Lewis County PUD Board of Commissioners in 2020, was arrested on Nov. 27, 2024, and charged with one count of bribery — a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison — and one count of requesting unlawful compensation — a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison — for allegedly attempting to bribe PUD General Manager David Plotz.
Kelly was subsequently released on bail, allowing him to stay out of custody during his case on the additional condition that he has no contact with direct witnesses of the alleged crime, which include Plotz.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
During a special meeting on Dec. 2, 2024, the remaining two members of the PUD Commission passed a motion formally restricting Kelly from communicating with all PUD staff for the duration of his case.
After adopting the motion at the Dec. 2 meeting, PUD Commissioner Mike Hadaller suggested restricting Kelly’s access to PUD facilities, but that was not adopted by the board of commissioners.
Court documents derived from an investigation by the Centralia Police Department allege that Kelly asked Plotz, during a one-on-one meeting on Nov. 7, 2024, to create a new administrative position for him within the PUD in exchange for Kelly’s support for a pay raise.
Kelly, who works at the TransAlta plant in Centralia, was reportedly trying to secure a new job ahead of the plant's mandated closure in 2025.
During the conversation on Nov. 7, Kelly allegedly told Plotz “that he could make his pay raise happen if Plotz created a position for him at the PUD” and allegedly “kept repeating ‘You take care of me, I take care of you,’” according to court documents.
Plotz told police that “the conversation made him uncomfortable and he knew it was inappropriate.” He provided detectives with a written recollection of the Nov. 7 conversation, which the PUD released in response to a public records request from The Chronicle.
“Kellyʼs suggested my year end compensation amount to be 4% compensation increase and 8 years of service credit,” Plotz wrote. “This was far below my own ask and expectations of 8% and 8 years of service credit, which I made clear. We discussed the reasons for our respective asks at which point C. Kelly made clear that I needed to promise him I would hire him, and he would convince the other commissioners for an increase at my expectations, saying specifically ‘you take care of me, I take care of you.’”
Plotz said Kelly reiterated his request to “be taken care of,” before the two parted ways. Plotz wrote that he replied he “would take care of him as I wanted to remove myself from the situation.”
On Nov. 14, Plotz participated in a judicially authorized recorded phone call with Kelly, during which Kelly allegedly requested Plotz create an employment position for him at the PUD and, in exchange, Kelly said he would “persuade the other commissioners to agree to the (8%) raise and not to worry about it,” according to charging documents.
“While speaking about this topic, Plotz repeated, ‘I’ll take care of you, you take care of me,” the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office states in charging documents. Kelly reaffirmed after hearing the statement, according to court documents.
Kelly also allegedly repeated his proposal in a second judicially authorized recorded phone call.
This article will be updated.
