Commissioners

Clallam County Public Utility District #1 is directed by a three-member Board of Commissioners elected by citizens of the county. For more information please review how the commissioners work with the PUD.  For Commission meeting notices and minutes of past meetings click here.

Commissioner Districts Represented
The District map will help you find which Commissioner represents your district. This is easiest if you know your voting precinct. Precincts within the City of Port Angeles utility service area are not included. Click on the map to open a larger version.

Ken Hays, Vice-President (District #1)

Ken has lived in Sequim since 1977 where together with his spouse Joanna they raised their son William on Joanna’s grandparents’ family farmstead.

Ken’s education includes the University of Washington Fine Arts and Architecture programs and a year of study at the Royal Academy of Art and Architecture, Antwerp Belgium.

Ken is a registered and licensed architect with a practice based in Sequim since 1988.

His professional experience in the private and public sectors includes programming, design, project budget development, construction, and facilities management.

Ken’s public service includes two terms on the Sequim City Council from 2008 to 2016, serving as mayor from 2010 to 2014. As mayor his accomplishments include driving the downtown sub-area plan forward, acquiring the city’s first bond rating, and building the new Civic Center. During his tenure Ken achieved his Advanced Certificate of Municipal Leadership.

Other public service includes the Sequim Planning Commission, Clallam County Economic Development Council Board, including a term as president, and the Sequim Boys and Girls Club Financial Planning Board.

Ken Hays, District #1
khays@clallampud.net
Phone: (360) 565-3513

John Purvis, President (District #2)

John, spouse Cynthia, and family made Clallam home in 2007. John is a licensed Civil and Electrical Engineer with a 40-year power systems career in public service, consisting of 6 years active duty as an officer in the US Navy, 31 year’s employment in public power including 16 year’s engineering, operations and power management experience at Clallam PUD.

John has extensive experience in the budgeting, planning, design and operation of electric generation, transmission and distribution systems.

While at Clallam PUD, John oversaw numerous projects to improve reliability and reduce cost of service, including oversight of the long-term capital plan, rebuild and modernization of District substations, implementation of smart grid technologies and to building resilience into local electric distribution systems.

These improvements and associated programs substantially contributed to the District receiving four consecutive APPA awards for operational excellence and two awards for proficiency in energy efficiency, distributed generation, renewable energy, and environmental initiatives.

John Purvis, District #2
johnp@clallampud.net
Phone: (360) 565-3236

Phyllis Bernard, Secretary (District #3)

Phyllis served for sixteen years from 2003 through 2019, on the Board of Directors for Southwest Power Pool, Inc. She has national-level governance experience in issues concerning the electric power grid, including: markets, compliance with FERC and NERC standards, security and cyber-security, and integrating renewables.

As outside legal counsel to national trade associations, she has experience in the legislative process, including rulemaking, public comment, negotiations with administrative agencies, and litigation, as well as a high-level understanding of the regulatory context for water and sewer issues.

Phyllis is an experienced administrative appellate judge at the federal and state levels, and a Fellow of the National Association of Administrative Law Judges. She is a professional mediator and arbitrator at state, national and international levels, participating in developing alternative dispute resolution processes used by federal agencies and Regional Transmission Organizations RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs) across the nation. She has experience in conflict prevention and resolution work in Africa for the U.S. State Department as well as in Oklahoma.

Phyllis has a B.A. (History), cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, and M.A. (American History), from Columbia University Graduate School, New York City, NY, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, with studies in health care economics at the Wharton School of Finance and Business.
Retired bar memberships include: District of Columbia Bar; U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia; and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Phyllis serves as Commissioner-at-Large for the Olympic Medical Center Public Hospital, District and resides with her husband, geologist Dann May, near Freshwater Bay.

Phyllis Bernard, District #3
pbernard@clallampud.net
Phone: (360) 565-3521

Roles

Clallam County Public Utility District #1 is directed by a three-member board of commissioners elected by citizens of the county. Each commissioner represents a different sector of the county and serves a six-year term. Each commissioner also represents the District as a delegate to various business organizations. The terms are staggered so that a different commissioner stands for election every two years.

The Commissioners set utility policies and hire a General Manager to implement those policies.

Commissioners’ meetings are open to the public and start at 1:30 p.m.  Meetings are held the 2nd and 4th Mondays, monthly, at the PUD boardroom in the Carlsborg Main Office office, and via Zoom.

Agendas are available prior to meetings through the BoardDocs meeting portal on our homepage.

Board positions of President, Vice President, and Secretary are established by the commissioners themselves on December of each year, following an election, for the ensuing two years.