West Richland Complex Information & Comments Form
In 2021, Benton REA purchased 17 acres of land for future development. The land is located in West Richland on Cooperative Way, just off Keene Road.
Aging facilities require improvements in both West Richland and Prosser.
- Increase costs to address maintenance and repair issues
- Current HVAC failing - increased frequency of service calls and cost
- Electrical issues causing internal loss of power, overloading circuits
- Run down facilities due to age and increased traffic
All members benefit from future property improvements.
- West Richland complex results in several properties in Prosser and West Richland that are surplus and can be sold
- District office and crew will remain in the Prosser area to serve members closer to it
- Will consolidate district office facilities and eliminate crews stopping at 2-4 locations to get material before they leave for the outage or job site
- Operational efficiencies result in more work time, faster response time = better service
- Improves service to everyone, not just those closer to West Richland
All comments will be posted on this site for members to view. Please refrain from using profane language. All comments will be reviewed for such language prior to posting.
As a nearly 30-year member of the Benton REA, the Board of Trustees have my family’s full support to construct a new facility in West Richland. I want to thank the Board of Trustees and staff for their due diligence and transparency with the overall process to determine the best option for the co-op. While no one ever wants to pay higher taxes or higher rates, I appreciate that this decision was not rushed, and considerable effort went into reducing upfront capital costs of a new facility and planning for long-term operational efficiencies. These efforts include but are not limited to researching and implementing an alternative project delivery method, progressive design build process. This is the same project delivery method the City of West Richland utilized to construct the new police station project which was completed on schedule and on budget. Benton REA also partnered with the City of West Richland in 2021 to secure 17-acres of property from the city at the same discounted price the city acquired the property from the Port of Kennewick in 2019, $1.25/sf. This long-standing partnership between the city and co-op also was successful in obtaining a $200,000 Washington State Department of Commerce Grant and a $250,000 Benton County Rural County Capital Fund grant to extend water mains and construct Cooperative Way to reduce upfront capital costs. Thank you again for the opportunity to provide comments on this project. Looking forward to attending the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new facility in West Richland.