Mayors, officials, new Avista CEO gather at Palouse for roundtable

Whitman County mayors and other officials met for a mayors' roundtable Nov. 14 at the community center in Palouse. Special guest was Dennis Vermillion, president and CEO of Avista.

The assembled sat for a catered dinner, then listened to presentations from Palouse Wind/Novatus Energy, Community Action Center, Port of Whitman and others.

Pat Caramente, Bruce Kerr and Katie Pellez from Novatus were introduced by host Paul Kimmell, regional business manager of Avista.

Caramente told of how Novatus is the latest owner of First Wind, a New York-based company which acquired it from Sun Edison.

“It's...