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.