Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2021)
2A | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2021 | APPEAL TRIBUNE New director tackles troubled program Address: P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309 Phone: 503-399-6773 Fax: 503-399-6706 Email: sanews@salem.gannett.com Web site: www.SilvertonAppeal.com Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal Staff USA TODAY NETWORK The Oregon Employment Depart- ment announced Wednesday it has hired Karen Humelbaugh as the new di- rector for its embattled Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, a week after it was revealed a formal dis- crimination complaint had been filed against the new program. Also Wednesday, Oregon Employ- ment Department acting director David Gerstenfeld said the department has brought in an attorney from Barran Liebman LLP, a Portland law firm that represents management in employ- ment law, to investigate the complaint. The Legislature creat- ed the program in 2019 to give 12 weeks of paid time off to new parents, domestic violence vic- Humelbaugh tims and those caring for ill family members. It was intended to start in January 2023 but the Legislature this year delayed the program by nine months at the re- quest of the department. Gerstenfeld previously described the complaint as being about “discrimi- natory behavior and the lack of ac- countability” in the program, though he has repeatedly declined to go into de- tails about the complaint. The department has not responded to the Statesman Journal’s request for a copy of the complaint. Eight employees have left the pro- gram recently and acting director Ger- hard Taeubel announced his resigna- tion in August. “I can’t say much about an ongoing investigation and what the allegations are,” Gerstenfeld said. “I can say that when Gerhard shared with me that he wanted to leave, that the issue was not directly related to the complaint or the issues that have been raised.” Gerstenfeld was the director of the program when the COVID-19 pandemic started, and about a third of the group working on that program initially shift- ed to help address the record number of unemployment claims being handled elsewhere in the department. He said the issues surfaced in recent months, though he wouldn’t be more EV O H Y ER News Director Don Currie 503-399-6655 dcurrie@statesmanjournal.com Advertising Westsmb@gannett.com Deadlines The Employment Department building is seen at 875 Union St NE in Salem, Oregon on Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL News: 4 p.m. Thursday Letters: 4 p.m. Thursday Obituaries: 11 a.m. Friday Display Advertising: 4 p.m. Wednesday Legals: 3 p.m. Wednesday Classifieds: 4 p.m. Friday News Tips specific than that. “Since then, there have been discus- sions and we have moved pretty quick- ly to take action to really make sure ev- erybody knows that equity, inclusion, treating everybody with respect and really honoring all different perspec- tives is just absolutely essential to us for the workplace we provide and to the services that we provide,” Gerstenfeld said. Gerstenfeld said despite the turmoil, the department is still on track to launch the program on the revised schedule of September 2023. Humelbaugh currently is the direc- tor of the Office of Workforce Invest- ments at the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission and has worked for the state for 24 years. She will transition to the new posi- tion Nov. 1. “Paid leave is a critical safety net that creates an equal playing field for all working families while creating stabil- ity for businesses in their workforce,” she said in a statement. Gerstenfeld said she has already met with employees in the program, and gotten input on desired changes in the office culture. “I chose Karen for her proven track record managing many strategic initia- tives and unraveling complex govern- ance issues at all levels,” Gerstenfeld said. One of Humelbaugh’s first tasks will be to hire a leadership team, Gersten- feld said. Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler SA D E E N ME The Appeal Tribune encourages suggestions for local stories. Email the newsroom, submit letters to the editor and send announcements to sanews@salem.gannett.com or call 503-399-6773. Classifieds: call 503-399-6789 Retail: call 503-399-6602 Legal: call 503-399-6789 Missed Delivery? Call: 800-452-2511 Hours: until 7 p.m. Wednesdays; until 3 p.m. other weekdays To Subscribe Call: 800-452-2511 $21 per year for home delivery $22 per year for motor delivery $30.10 per year mail delivery in Oregon $38.13 per year mail delivery outside Oregon Main Statesman Journal publication Suggested monthly rates: Monday-Sunday: $22, $20 with EZ Pay Monday-Saturday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Wednesday-Sunday: $18, $16 with EZ Pay Monday-Friday: $17.50, $16 with EZ Pay Sunday and Wednesday: $14, $12 with EZ Pay Sunday only: $14, $12 with EZ Pay To report delivery problems or subscribe, call 800-452-2511 To Place an Ad Published every Wednesday by the Statesman Journal, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. USPS 469-860, Postmaster: Send address changes to Appeal Tribune, P.O. Box 13009, Salem, OR 97309. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID: Salem, OR and additional offices. Send letters to the editor and news releases to sanews@salem.gannett.com. KUBOTA! Organic Valley plans rebuild its creamery on the current site in McMinnville SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL Organic Valley rebuilding McMinnville creamery Em Chan • 21.6 Gross HP, † 3-Cylinder Kubota Diesel Engine • 4WD with Rear Differential Lock Standard • Category I, 3-Point Hitch • Performance-Matched Implements Available BX2380 w/ LA344 Loader LX2610 MX5400HST w/LA1065A Loader w/ LA535 Loader • 24.8 Gross HP, † E-TVCS, Liquid-Cooled, 3-Cylinder Kubota Diesel Engine • 3-Range Hydrostatic (HST) Transmission • Performance-Matched Implements Available Oregon Equipment Sales “Formerly OVS ® ” • 55.5 Gross HP, † 4-Cylinder Kubota Diesel Engine • 4WD • Hydrostatic Transmission • Climate-Controlled, Factory-Installed Cab or ROPS Model OES ® MCMINNVILLE 2700 ST. JOSEPH RD. MCMINNVILLE, OR (503) 435-2700 OES ® AURORA 19658 HWY. 99 E. HUBBARD, OR (971) 216-0111 800-653-2216 • www.orequipmentsales.com STORE HOURS: Mon–Fri: 8–5 • Sat: 8–Noon FULL SERVICE SHOPS WITH MOBILE CAPABILITIES! $0 DOWN, 0% A.P.R. FINANCING FOR UP TO 84 MONTHS * ON SELECT NEW KUBOTAS * © Kubota Tractor Corporation, 2021. Offer valid for residents within states of CA, AZ, NV, UT, WY, ID, OR, MT and WA only. $0 Down, 0% A.P.R. financing for up to 84 months on purchases of select new Kubota L, L60 and LX Series equipment from participating dealers’ in-stock inventory is available to qualified purchasers through Kubota Credit Corporation, U.S.A.; subject to credit approval. Some exceptions apply. Example: 84 monthly payments of $11.90 per $1,000 financed. Offer expires 12/31/21. Terms subject to change. This material is for descriptive purposes only. Kubota disclaims all representations and warranties, express or implied, or any liability from the use of this material. For complete warranty, disclaimer, safety, incentive offer and product information, consult your local Dealer or go to KubotaUSA.com/offers. † For complete warranty, safety and product information, consult your local Kubota dealer and the product operator’s manual. Power (HP/KW) and other specifications are based on various standards or recommended practices. K1059-04-145829-18 Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Six months after McMinnville’s Or- ganic Valley milk processing plant went down in flames, plans to rebuild a bigger and better facility at the same site have been announced. Steve Pierson, Organic Valley’s farmer-member (Sar-Ben Farms in St. Paul) and board president, stated the rebuild will take place in two phases. Phase one revolves around rebuild- ing base infrastructure to temporarily resume production for their milk pow- der product; phase two will be building out the rest of the facility. Phase one is estimated to finish between March and June 2022, while phase two sometime in 2023. The entire facility rebuild, which would be a total of 35,000 square feet, is forecasted to cost $30 million to $50 million, Mark Pfeiffer, vice president of operations, said. Had firefighters not been able to “salvage the evapora- tor and drier buildings,” a rebuild would not be nearly as achievable. “We felt good about staying in McMinnville, since it’s the epicenter of milk supply,” Pfeiffer said. “It felt good going to the board of directors to say to rebuild in location and then en- gage in trying to figure out what it’d look like, permitting, et cetera.” The original building was built in the late 1930s, early 40s, and was al- most entirely out of redwood con- struction, Pfeiffer said. Rebuilding is acting as a “reset button” for the capa- bility to create a more modern and effi- cient facility. “We took a year’s worth of work but did it in two months, and our team has been great but local entities played a huge role in that,” Pfieffer said. Pfeiffer and Pierson both state with- out the support of the McMinnville Wa- ter and Light, McMinnville Planning De- partment, McMinnville Economic De- velopment Partnership and Business Oregon, among others, that the recovery and rebuild efforts wouldn’t have been possible so quickly. “Everybody has been nothing short of amazing,” Pfeiffer said. “Especially to folks not just wanting to rebuild but helping us because they understood our sense of urgency for working with farm- ers out there.” After the fire, priority was placed on making sure milk that was in the proc- ess of being delivered would be rerouted to facilities that could hold or use the product. There are 27 farms in Oregon and 30 in Washington that have their milk processed at this facility, so the last six months have been a balancing act of pulling strings at other facilities in order for the milk to not go to waste. The McMinnville facility is the only facility in the Pacific Northwest of the four total facilities that the Wisconsin- based organic food brand run. The main staple products of the facility were but- ter and NFDM, industry jargon for non- fat dried milk, is commonly used in yo- gurt and ice cream. Pfeiffer said the milk rerouting was more of a trucking issue, figuring out how to coordinate sending milk to other facilities like Larson’s, which is making bulk butter for them, and getting milk further distances like California, Utah and Idaho. “Our mission is saving small organic family farms,” Pfeiffer said. “This will help us bring in more farmers since we’ll be able to handle more capacity.” Contact reporter Em Chan at echan@statesmanjournal.com