Columbia Basin group elects officers

ODESSA – The Columbia Basin Development League, a group that has served as the voice and beacon for the completion of the Columbia Basin Project since 1964, elected new officers for its Board of Trustees for 2021.

Current Vice Chair Matt Harris will serve as chairman, with Dale Pomeroy as vice chair, Clark Kagele returning as secretary, and Orman Johnson returning as treasurer. Current chairman Mark Stedman will serve as past chair.

Harris is the director of governmental affairs for the Washington State Potato Commission and lives in Moses Lake. Pomeroy is a commissioner for the Port of Warden, which is also his hometown. Kagele is a farmer from Odessa and Johnson is a farmer from Connell.

Besides its officers, the board chose its executive committee for 2021, which comprises the officers plus four at-large positions. The at-large members are Bill Wagoner, technical services manager for National Frozen Foods in Quincy; Rich Burres, manager of ag services for Lamb Weston in Kennewick and Kevin Lyle, a farmer from Othello, with a fourth position to be filled in January.

This open spot was to belong to Stephen McFadden, who resigned from the board earlier this month and took a job in Pasco.

All elected officers and executive committee members will begin serving on Jan. 1, 2021.

The League represents the interests of stakeholders in the Columbia Basin, and advocates at the city, county, state and federal levels for continued development and support of the Columbia Basin Project, largest reclamation project in the United States.

The Columbia Basin Project provides irrigation water to more than 671,000 acres of land across eastern and central Washington. From parks to power and from irrigation to recreation, the Columbia Basin Project remains a vital source of strength to the regional and state economy as well as a key component of its high quality of life thanks to efficient, well-maintained, affordable infrastructure and sustainable environmental stewardship.