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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2020)
PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, JUNE 19, 2020 City eases load on HR KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald Raquel Morales recently stationed her taco truck alongside Chemawa Deli & Market at 388 Che- mawa Road N. Raquel’s Catering grows city’s food truck offerings By LAUREN MURPHY Of the Keizertimes Another new truck joined the ranks of Keiz- er’s growing food scene. Raquel’s Catering offers a variety of fresh made Mexican food includ- ing, of course, tacos, making it the resident taco truck. The owner, Raquel Morales, has been operat- ing the truck for a little under a year. Though the truck is just getting started, this has been a dream of hers for a long time. “When I was younger I would say, ‘I want to cook in my own place, my own restaurant, my own taco truck,’” Morales said. Unfortunately, time never permitted Morales to pursue her dream as she was raising four children. Now that her children are older, she has the time to cook in her very own taco truck. “I was married like seven years ago,” Morales said with a slight laugh. After her divorce the timing just felt right, so she opened Raquel’s. Occasionally, her children help out in the truck. Her daughter beamed with pride for Mo- rales as she got her picture taken for the story. Morales said business in Keizer has been good and she said it is a better location than were she was before. Raquel’s Catering is the red truck parked outside of Chemawa Deli & Market at 388 Che- mawa Road N. EN ESPAÑOL Un nuevo camión unió el creciendo camión de comida el escenario en Keizer. Raquel’s Ca- tering ofrecerán una variedad de comida de mexicano, incluyendo, por supuesto, tacos, lo que lo convierte en el camión de tacos residente. La propietaria, Raquel Morales, ha estado operativa el camión para nueve meses, aunque el camión ha sido un sueño la de ella durante mucho tiempo. “Cuando era más joven, diría, ‘Yo quiero cocinar en me propio lugar, me propio restaurante, me propio camión de tacos,’” Mo- rales dijo. Desafortunadamente, tiempo nunca permitido Morales para se dedicarse a sueño la de ella pues- to que ella estaba crianza cuatro niños. “Yo fui casado hace siete años,” Morales dijo con una risa pequeña. Después de su divorcio el tiempo parecía correcto, así abrió Raquel’s. Ocasionalmente, los niños ayudar en el camión. La niña de Morales radiante de orgullo para su mama como ella consiguió su foto to- mada para la historia. Morales dijo los negocios en Keizer ha estado bueno y ella dijo es a lo mejor ubicación. Raquel’s Catering es el camión rojo estacionó fuera de Chemawa Deli & Market en 388 Che- mawa Road N. Contact the reporter at reporter@keizer- times.com By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes After a years-long wait, the city of Keizer is fi nally moving an item off its want list. At a meeting of the Keizer City Council Monday, June 15, councilors voted to ap- prove a contract with Spring- brook Holding Company that includes supporting software for human resources staff. Keizer’s Human Resourc- es Director Machell DePina told the Keizer Budget Advi- sory Committee of the need for additional support either through a new employee or a human resources information system (HRIS) more than two years ago, but it wasn’t until City Finance Director Tim Wood was renegotiating a contract for managing elec- tronic payments that an open- ing appeared in the clouds. While the set-up cost for the new system was origi- nally estimated to be $15,000 for the HRIS system plus an- nual maintenance fees, Wood managed to get the initial cost down to $7,680. The city plans absorb the costs through repurposing an existing server and through decreased tech- nology costs during the past fi scal year. DePina said the new HRIS programs will enhance what the city currently offers em- ployees in several ways: • Improved accuracy - Employee information can be entered once and then pulled from a master fi le when needed for other projects and needs. It also provides a direct link to payroll data ensuring departments are working from consistent and accurate data. • Higher speed and ef- fi ciency – When processing transactions or pulling reports, human resources employees can set them up to run auto- matically rather than develop- ing them by hand each time. It means more time for DePi- na and the other staff member to work on “the huge back- log of other things we cannot currently get to due to work- load.” • Better access for employ- ees – The combined updates to the payroll system and the addition of the HRIS will al- low the city to provide em- ployees better and more im- mediate access to their own pay and benefi t data. They will even be able to run sce- narios to see the impact of changing their tax exemption status. “We anticipate implement- ing the HRIS will allow us to accomplish more with our very lean staff of two employ- ees, continuing to put off the need to add additional staff to our department for another couple years,” DePina said. Truck fulfi lls a lifelong dream for owner Hard work rewarded Submitted The members of the Keizer Parks Foundation were honored as the Volunteers of the Quarter at the Keizer City Council meeting Monday, June 15. A sign honoring the group’s numerous contributions to Keizer parks will be installed at The Big Toy in Keizer Rapids Park.