3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2016
State issues inal rules implementing new minimum wage law
A compromise
between business
and labor
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
Oregon’s Bureau of Labor
and Industries inalized new
minimum wage rules Wednes-
day, requiring employers to pay
a regional rate based on where
the employee works more than
50 percent of the time.
The rules are a compromise
between a proposal favored
by labor groups and requests
by business groups to base the
rate on where the employer is
located.
“I appreciate that both
industry associations and min-
imum wage advocates stepped
up to advise our agency’s
rule-making process,” Labor
Commissioner Brad Avakian
said in a statement. “As Ore-
gon raises its minimum wage
for more than a hundred thou-
sand workers next month, we
hope that the rules will pro-
vide fairness to workers and
employers alike.”
The Legislature in Febru-
ary boosted minimum wage
rates and set a schedule for
increases with three different
regional rates, based in part
on the area’s cost of living
and income levels. Proposed
rules that deined location of
itinerant employees required
employers to pay different
rates if an employee worked
in a different region for four
hours or more.
Business groups opposed
the rules because they said
it required onerous record
keeping.
Tracking hours
Under the inal rules, no
additional record keeping is
required for most employ-
ers, said Charlie Burr, labor
bureau spokesman. When
an employee works in mul-
tiple regions the majority of
the time, the employer may
choose whether to pay the
employee the highest rate or
to track the employee’s hours
by location and pay them dif-
ferent rates according to where
they worked.
Delivery workers who
report to and from the same
location will be paid the rate of
the region where they report.
Weston takes new role in King City
Former Port
business director
also works as a
consultant
Since separating from the
Port of Astoria late last year,
Mike Weston has kept his local
home and popped up at various
planning meetings.
Most recently, he provided
testimony at a Clatsop County
Planning Commission hear-
ing Tuesday as the consultant
on Richard Krueger’s proposed
168-unit Bella Ridge Apart-
ments in Miles Crossing.
Krueger’s project is one of
several Weston and his wife,
Crystal, advise on through their
company Frog Consulting LLC.
In his day job, though, Weston
is the new city manager for King
City, a small planned community
southwest of Tualatin.
“I’ve always kind of been
interested in city administration,
in county administration, port
administration along the same
line,” Weston said. “When I was
in college, I irst ran across a
professor who said, ‘You know,
you should look into city admin-
istration, because in ive to six
years, there’s going to be a huge
turnover and no one’s going to
be there to kind of take it on.’”
Weston, 39, took over in
March in King City, which he
described as a less intensive,
smaller community where he
could get his feet wet and learn
city operations. “And also, the
way that the council worked
together, and the unity that they
had, and the vision they had for
the city, was something that I
admired and looked forward to
participating in,” he said.
After four years as a U.S.
Navy SEAL, Weston went
back to school, ultimately earn-
ing a master’s in public admin-
istration from the University of
Oregon.
Weston came to Astoria in
2006 as a planner for Clatsop
County. He joined the Port as a
property manager in 2010 and
worked his way up to direc-
tor of business development
and operations by 2012. When
Hank Bynaker resigned as Port
director in 2013, Weston was
appointed the interim replace-
ment and asked to take on sev-
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Mike Weston, consultant for the proposed Miles Crossing de-
velopment, listens as Attorney David Noren speaks to the Clat-
sop County Planning Commission Tuesday at Astoria City Hall.
eral other positions amid stafing
shortages and a hiring freeze.
Late last year, Weston signed
a separation agreement with the
Port after becoming embroiled
in a lawsuit during his stint as
interim director with two former
employees who accused him of
abuse of power.
“I really liked the Port
realm,” he said. “I might make
an entry back in there someday
in my career. I don’t know. But
it was deinitely one of the bet-
ter experiences in my life, and
it deinitely furthered my career
for what it was.”
Weston said he and his
wife took part in several proj-
ects in December and January
that are now coming to frui-
tion. He hopes to have his proj-
ect for Krueger wrapped up next
month.
“By then, I’ll probably have
one or two more in the hopper
for public hearings,” he said. “So
my hope is, that here in the near
future, I can get those all done.”
While Weston and his fam-
ily still live in Astoria, they plan
on transitioning to the Portland
metro area. “It’s the lessons I’ve
learned here that I will take with
me for a long time, and hope-
fully I’ll use to the betterment of
my career, and hopefully to soci-
ety,” he said.
said. “Those companies have to
track hour by hour. That is pretty
tough, and I don’t the distinction
is defensible. What if they’re
picking things up instead of
dropping things off?”
Series of seminars
The labor bureau will hold
a series of seminars to help
employers comply with the
new rules.
The irst-of-its-kind law
takes effect July 1, bumping up
the state’s minimum wage from
$9.25 to $9.75 in urban coun-
ties, and $9.50 in rural counties.
In 2017, wage increases
will diverge according to
region.
The minimum gradually
climbs to $14.75 in 2022 in
the Portland urban growth
boundary, which includes
The next Astoria Parks
and Recreation Depart-
ment CHIP-in event will he
held 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at
Cathedral Tree Trail head
on Irving Avenue.
Volunteers will be
tasked with trimming
brush, removing old and
decrepit structures and
replacing a railing on a
section of stairs. T-shirts,
snacks and tools will be
provided for volunteers at
the trail head.
CHIP-in events are
organized volunteer activ-
ities where citizens can make
a difference through environ-
mental stewardship. CHIP-in
stands for Citizens Helping
Improve Parks.
For questions or to volun-
teer, contact the department
grounds coordinator, Randy
Bohrer, at rbohrer@astoria.
or.us or call 971-704-4812.
F O RT ST E V E N S PA R K an d
F R IE N D S O F O L D F O RT ST E V E N S
O BSE RV E the
JU N E 21, 1942
JA PA N E SE A T T A C K on T H E F O RT
S ATU R DAY AN D S U N DAY , JU N E 18 TH AN D 19 TH :
The 24 9 th Coast Artillery Living History grou p w ill be at
Pacific Rim Peace M em o rial lo cated at Battery Ru ssell
from 10:00 AM -4 :00 PM . They w ill w ear period u niform s, show
eq u ipm ent and answ er q u estions abou t Battery Ru ssell and the attack .
Spaghetti
Dinner
Friday June 17 th
4 pm ‘til gone
$7 .00
Pa cific Rim M em oria l D edica tion Jun e 21, 1992 a t Ba ttery Russell.
O ver 150 Fort Steven s Vetera n s a tten ded.
TU ES DAY , JU N E 21 S T : An interpreter w ill be at
Battery Ru ssell’s Pacific Rim Peace M em o rial
from n o o n -4 :00 PM . Displays w ill provide details of the attack .
6PM “Karaoke Dave”
ASTORIA
AMERICAN LEGION
For M ore Inform ation & D irections, c all
(503) 861-1470 or click on www.visitfortstevens.com
T h is E vent is Sponsored by
T h e Friends O f O ld Fort Stevens & Fort Stevens State Park
Cla t sop Post 12
1132 Exchange Street 325-5771
Brought to y
you
o u by
parts of Multnomah, Wash-
ington and Clackamas coun-
ties. It will rise to $13.50 in
Benton, Clatsop, Columbia,
Deschutes, Hood River, Jack-
son, Josephine, Lane, Lin-
coln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Til-
lamook, Wasco and Yamhill
counties, and parts of Mult-
nomah, Clackamas and Wash-
ington counties outside Port-
land’s urban growth boundary.
In rural areas, the wage
increases to $12.50. Those areas
include Malheur, Lake, Har-
ney, Wheeler, Sherman, Gil-
liam, Wallowa, Grant, Jefferson,
Baker, Union, Crook, Klamath,
Douglas, Coos, Curry, Umatilla
and Morrow counties.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
CHIP-in event at Cathedral Tree Trail
The Daily Astorian
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
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Betsy Earls, vice presi-
dent and counsel of Associated
Oregon Industries, said the
inal rules are an improvement
from what was originally pro-
posed, but the guidelines still
have shortcomings.
“Those are huge strides, so
much better,” Earls said.
Earls argued that lawmak-
ers intended employer location
to mean the location where
the employee reports to work,
rather than different pay based
on where employees go during
the day.
She said exempting deliv-
ery workers and not other
workers that work in multi-
ple locations from the rules
doesn’t make sense.
“There is nothing discernible
about delivery workers except
that they drop things off,” Earls
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