Lewis County PUD commissioner in hot water as bribery case ensues

The Lewis County Public Utilities District (PUD) Commissioner was charged with two felonies for attempted bribery, reported The Chronicle. The local newspaper, based in Centralia, stated Commissioner Michael Jay Kelly pleaded not guilty last week.

According to KING 5, citing Centralia Police Detective Mitch King, Commissioner Michael Jay Kelly is accused of offering Lewis County PUD General Manager David Plotz an 8% raise in exchange for Plotz creating a job for Kelly.

Local crime: Chinese citizen pleads guilty to abduction, assault of Bellevue man as part of human smuggling ring

Kelly allegedly made the offer multiple times. In a statement, obtained by The Chronicle, written by Plotz to PUD attorney Allen Unzelman and King in November, Plotz stated he recommended Kelly take a position elsewhere.

“I repeated my aversion to promising to hire him, and outlined some of my hesitations for him to take the position,” Plotz wrote in the statement, as reported by The Chronicle. “Specifically, I disagreed with him taking the position based on his past interactions with staff and went on to explain to him the potential internal, external and optical problems of hiring C. Kelly would create for the District.”

Plotz, according to KING 5, told detectives Kelly offered him the raise and said he was going to lose his job at TransAlta next year.

“Kelly emphasized he needed the position as his time at his current job (TransAlta) was coming to a close, money was short from a divorce, desire to remain in the local area and a few times made the point he needed me to promise him the position/guarantee it for him, to which I replied I could not promise the position for him for the aforementioned reasons,” Plotz wrote in the statement to Unzelman and King, obtained by The Chronicle. “I also felt uneasy making a promise so far into the future.”

KING 5 said Detective King got permission from a judge to record two phone calls with Kelly and that Kelly allegedly repeated the offer both times.

Other news: Puyallup woman arrested for attempting to kidnap a 3-year-old in a waiting room

Kelly was arrested on November 27 and booked into the Lewis County Jail, where he was subsequently released on November 29 after posting $10,000 bail, according to The Chronicle. The newspaper stated Kelly’s next hearing will be January 23 and his trial will start February 20.

KING 5 reported Kelly is still the commissioner for Lewis County PUD and when the media outlet reached out, the PUD had no comment on the investigation.

Kelly, according to The Chronicle, was elected to the Lewis County PUD Board of Commissioners in 2020 and began his term in 2021. Recently, Lewis County PUD commissioners approved an upcoming adjustment in electrical rates that will go into effect on January 1, 2025, according to the PUD’s website.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.