The Engineering Department of the Grays Harbor PUD is located in the District's office building at 2720 Sumner Avenue in Aberdeen, Washington.  The department includes nineteen employees who perform a variety of essential tasks to keep the District's electrical transmission and distribution systems functioning effectively and efficiently.  Engineering Department responsibilities include engineering and design for customer line extensions and services, transmission and distribution system maintenance and improvements and system automation.  The Engineering Department of the District also is responsible for contract project inspection and system mapping and records.  The department currently includes six Customer Service Engineers, three Drafting Technicians, a Clerk, six System Engineers, a System Engineering Supervisor, a Contract Construction Supervisor and a Department Supervisor.

The six Customer Service Engineers have each been assigned a geographic service area within the District. These areas are East County east of Satsop; East County between Central Park and Satsop including the Wynoochee Valley; South Beach plus Central Park; Aberdeen, Hoquiam and Cosmopolis including Wishkah and East Hoquiam plus Quinault and Kalaloch; North Beach including the Humptulips area from SR 101 on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west and between Oyehut on the south and Taholah on the north; and Ocean Shores. The Customer Service Engineers are responsible for processing requests for electric service additions and modifications.  The work ranges from simply answering questions or having a service run and meter installed to providing three-phase electrical service to a commercial customer or a line extension to a residential development.  The job of the Customer Service Engineers is often hectic and involves constantly rearranging schedules and priorities in order to provide the optimum service to the District's customers .  They meet with a customer to determine his or her needs, put together a design proposal for providing the service requested, field stake new facility locations, draw a computerized sketch of the work to be done, process necessary permits and right-of-way easements, create a list of materials and a cost estimate, complete and process all the necessary internal paperwork and meet with Operations to discuss construction schedules.

The Drafting Technicians are responsible for providing computerized drafting support as well as maintaining transmission and distribution system maps and records. They also assist with permits and easements for rights-of-way for line extension and system improvement projects. The system maps include detailed maps of the District’s entire electrical system, one-line diagrams of the transmission system, of distribution substation circuits and of the underground distribution systems.  Records include detailed information about all poles and transformers in the transmission and distribution system.  The Drafting Technicians maintain a record of all completed work drawings for future reference.  The Drafting Technicians perform many important miscellaneous functions within the Engineering Department.

The Engineering Clerk is responsible for greeting customers as they enter the department.  The Clerk also answers and directs phone calls as necessary, processes most of the paperwork that notifies the other departments within the District of work that needs to be completed and maintains many of the department’s job tracking files.  The Clerk keeps order to the goings-on within the Engineering Department as well as the District.

System Engineers are responsible for planning and designing system improvement projects that maintain, upgrade and extend the District's electrical transmission and distribution systems, developing and maintaining District material and construction standard practices, providing system automation for remote control and data acquisition, designing and maintaining power distribution substations, planning and scheduling of capital improvements to enhance system performance and providing technical support for the District's operation.  System improvement projects include the installation of new transmission and distribution facilities, the replacement of existing depreciated installations and the relocation of existing facilities for state, county and city road and street improvements.  Installing and maintaining safe, reliable and flexible systems is an important system engineering objective.  Currently, the District employs one Substation Engineer, one Transmission Engineer, one Distribution Engineer, one Maintenance Engineer and two Automation Engineers.  The System Engineering Supervisor maintains the District's material and construction standard practices in addition to other duties.

The Contract Construction Supervisor inspects contract construction crews that perform work for the District.  This includes contracts for vegetation management along transmission and distribution line rights-of-way, for the District's in -service pole inspection and treatment program and for some line and substation construction work.  The Contract Construction Supervisor performs a periodic detailed inspection of the District's in-service transmission and distribution facilities.  The supervisor also responds to customer requests for tree trimming assistance near electrical power lines.

The following are the goals and objectives of the Engineering Department of the Grays Harbor PUD:

• Fully utilize the skills and abilities of each employee.
• Encourage skill building and professional development to enable employees to maximize their contributions to department and District success.
• Provide all necessary assistance, hardware, software, tools and other resources to allow optimum job performance by each employee. Remove obstacles to optimize job performance.
• Provide an environment in which each employee is encouraged to make important contributions to the District's success and provide recognition of each employee's contributions.
• Encourage optimum employee productivity, while providing a positive, enjoyable working environment.
  Promote a flexible and adaptable environment within the Engineering Department, while meeting department responsibilities.
• Maintain a professional and friendly atmosphere.
• Maintain high standards of professional ethics.
• Rely on in-house expertise for most projects; use outside consultants only when workload exceeds in-house resource capacities or specialized knowledge is required.
• Provide timely, meaningful responses to technical or safety questions raised by departments, crews, individuals or customers.
• Anticipate possible upcoming problems and be proactive in providing information and/ or solutions before issues develop.
• Maintain positive and cooperative relationships with other District Departments and build partnerships with those Departments.
• Maintain a high quality level of engineering products including plans, drawings, estimates and material lists for fellow District workers as well as for outside contractors.
• Understand field construction practices to ensure that engineering designs may be implemented efficiently.
• Ensure that all engineering work complies with industry-accepted codes, standards and practices.
• Plan and design considering the near term and the long term, a safe, cost effective, efficient power delivery system for our ratepayer/owners.
• Continually assess the District's Power Delivery System; recognize areas where improvements or modifications are necessary and prioritize this work to optimize the allocation of resources.
• Use District resources wisely to help ensure that the District is an efficient, competitive organization.
• Ensure that high quality materials and methods are specified in the construction and maintenance of the District's Electric System.
• Apply proven technologies and explore technological advances for improving and optimizing the District's Power Delivery System.
• Maintain excellence in customer service and satisfaction.
• Continually seek methods to reduce paperwork and improve the effectiveness of Departmental methods and procedures.
• Ensure that our Department is an effective and efficient organization.
• Develop and maintain state of the art engineering, material and construction standard practices to provide a quality electric system.
• Be sensitive to the natural environment and to community interests when planning projects.
• Encourage and expect a high level of integrity among Engineering Department employees to build trust from other District Departments.
• Avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest; disclose them to the affected parties if they do exist.
• Employ ethical and lawful procedures for decision making and purchasing.