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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2017)
Page 10A BUSINESS East Oregonian Saturday, February 25, 2017 HERMISTON BRIEFLY Holiday Inn opens all four floors By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian Hermiston can welcome more visitors with the opening of the new Holiday Inn Express. The city’s newest hotel, located at 245 N. First St. in Hermiston, celebrated its grand opening Friday with a ribbon-cutting and tours of rooms on each of its four floors. The hotel has 93 rooms, 18 suites and amenities including a pool, meeting rooms, fitness center and complimentary breakfast. It had its soft opening Dec. 7, opening the top floor for guests while the rest of the hotel was finished. The hotel is now the tallest building in Hermiston, and in the city’s urban renewal district. It is expected to increase revenue to other businesses in the downtown area. Steven Arrasmith, the hotel’s general manager, said the building took almost a year to construct. He said the company chose to come to Hermiston because they wanted to be a part of the vitality of a growing place. “We wanted to be a part of the growth and up-and-coming success,” Arrasmith said. He said business has been good since the soft opening. Arrasmith said most of the SALEM — What can a collapsed onion shed tell you about Malheur County’s economy? It may illustrate the tough competition the border county faces with southwestern Idaho, a problem that two legislators are trying to address with a proposed economic development region. Heavy snow hit the south- eastern region of Oregon hard earlier this winter, resulting in the collapse of key buildings, including storage sheds for one of the area’s signature crops. Some onion purveyors have already taken their insurance money and set up shop in Idaho, where certain policies can make enterprise more attractive, according to Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario. The far flung county often plays economic second fiddle to southwestern Idaho, unlike other small communities in Eastern Oregon that are a greater distance from the Gem State’s border. Certain Oregon policies, such as a higher minimum wage and restrictions on land use planning, can put the county at a HERMISTON — The Hermiston Chamber of Commerce is seeking nominations for the administrative professional of the year. People are encouraged to nominate their administrative assistant to be recognized during a special Administrative Professionals Day Luncheon. The event is Tuesday, April 25 at 11:45 a.m. at the Hermiston Conference Center, 415 S. Highway 395. Tickets are $20 each or a table of eight for $140. In addition to all nominees being recognized, lunch and giveaways, comedienne Susan Rice will provide entertainment. Nominations are due by Friday, April 14. For more information, a nomination form or tickets, contact 541-567-6151, info@hermistonchamber. com or visit www.hermistonchamber.com. Workforce board offers help Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan Locals and members of the Holiday Inn staff celebrate the opening of Hermiston’s newest hotel on Friday with a ribbon-cutting. employees — there are currently 35 — are from Hermiston. He said he expects they will hire more as the business starts to grow, and offer the jobs to locals first. Richard Boyles, the president of InnSight Hotel Management Group, which owns the hotel, said he was excited to provide this service to Hermiston. “We saw a market that was underserved in terms of this quality of product,” he said. “We aim to deliver a higher level of service.” Holiday Inn staff said roughly 150 people attended the open house over the two-hour period. ——— Contact Jayati Ramakrishnan at 541-564-4534 or jramakrishnan@eastorego- nian.com Economic development region proposed for Malheur By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau Nominations open for admin assistant award competitive disadvantage. A new proposal, first read Thursday in the Oregon House and sponsored by Bentz and Oregon Speaker of the House Tina Kotek, D-Portland, is a gesture to rural Oregon. It was in the works before the snow hit, but has taken on new signifi- cance in the wake of the storms, Kotek said. “We’re saying to (Malheur County) that we care and we want businesses to stay in Ontario,” Kotek said. The proposal would dedicate $10 million in proceeds from lottery bonds in the next two-year budget cycle for a new economic development region in the cities of Ontario, Vale, Nyssa and surrounding areas. Bentz was adamant that it’s early yet for the proposal, though. He has introduced another bill to defer minimum wage increases in Malheur and Baker counties for two years, and says he wants to attract more higher-wage jobs to the area through economic devel- opment. Bentz said the county is doing better than it has in some time in terms of unemployment. The recession hit the county hard, reaching a high of 14 percent unemployment in April 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Poverty rates between 1995 and 2015 in southeastern Oregon exceeded state and national rates in that period, according to Oregon’s economic analysis office. Generally, economic recoveries of the kind the state is seeing now — especially in the Portland Metro region and in the Bend area — take a while to reach rural Oregon. The proposed economic development region would be led by a local board that would make policy and award grants and loans to entities such as businesses, school districts and local governments. The seven-member board would be appointed by the governor. Kotek said she was influ- enced by a three-day trip she took to the area in June 2016, at the invitation of Bentz, and acknowledged the perceived distance — not just geographic — between Malheur County and policymaking in Salem. She thinks the proposal can show the area the Legislature is “serious” about promoting the county’s success. Should such a program make it through the legislative process, its work and outcomes would likely be overseen by the Oregon Business Development Department. But Kotek also said she didn’t know how much support the bill would have in the Legislature. Both chambers have significant membership from the state’s metro areas, which have higher populations. Legislators are expected to have about $200 million in lottery bonding capacity in the upcoming two-year budget to fund important projects, including infrastructure. At $10 million, if awarded, the Malheur County program would take up 5 percent of the expected lottery bonding capacity — a significant sum for a county of that size and for a competitive state funding mechanism. Kotek believes the dollars could go further in Malheur County, though, compared to the Portland Metro area, for example. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Economic Development and Trade. LA GRANDE — Money is available to manufacturing and health care companies in several Eastern Oregon counties to assist with retraining current employees. Available in Umatilla, Morrow, Baker, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Union and Wallowa counties, the Eastern Oregon Workforce Board has dedicated $40,000 through the Incumbent Worker Training Program. This could include training in new or advanced skills that enable an employee to multi-task or be more productive. At this time, the program is limited to businesses in the manufacturing or health care sectors. Priority for funding is given to applicants who demonstrate that funding could assist them in avoiding a layoff, downsizing or closure, or would provide retention opportunities by upgrading employee skills as a result of the training. For more information, call Tara Bishop at 541-278-5688 (Umatilla/Morrow counties) or Eric LaBonte at 541-963-7942 (other counties listed). For more about the Eastern Oregon Workforce Board, visit www.eowb.org. Latino Business Network hosts resource fair HERMISTON — An informational forum to connect people to employers and services in our region is planned in Hermiston. The Latino Business Network is hosting the Community Agricultural Workers and Employers Resource Fair. The free event is Wednesday, March 8 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Hermiston Conference Center, 415 S. Highway 395. A free dinner will be served by Fiesta Foods. Vendor applications are available at the conference center or www.hermistonchamber. com. For more information about the Latino Business Network or the upcoming resource fair, call the chamber at 541-567-6151. Yakama tribal casino opens 200-room hotel TOPPENISH, Wash. (AP) — The Yakama Nation is opening a 200-room hotel at its Legends Casino near the town of Toppenish. The Yakima Herald-Republic says the hotel opens to the public on Saturday. It’s a central part of a $90 million expansion for Legends Casino, which seeks to stay competitive with other tribal-owned casinos throughout the Pacific Northwest. The expansion is expected to generate 200 new jobs for the casino, which opened in 1998. Currently, it employs 745 workers. John Cooper, CEO of Yakima Valley Tourism, says the hotel adds an upscale option to the lodging mix in the central Yakima Valley. $ WHY ADVERTISE IN THE EAST OREGONIAN AND HERMISTON HERALD CLASSIFIED SECTION? EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS. CHOOSE A PROVEN SOURCE FOR RETURN ON INVESTMENT You should be advertising in these tough economic times. “ We are a regional transportation company with drivers and vehicles stationed in six cities. We occasionally run classifi ed help wanted ads in various publications in the northwest when we have driver openings. Sometimes our classifi ed ad draws very few results (depending on the time of year) so we must repeat the ad. This recently occurred with a week long ad we ran in the East Oregonian. Our classifi ed ad representative, Dayle S. expressed concern about the lack of success in our ad and asked our permission to enhance the ad to garner a better response. She revamped the ad which we were very impressed with. The response to her revamped ad was dramatic and we are SO SO impressed with the unsolicited service Dayle provided. Transportation Solutions Out of all the publications we advertise in, this was the fi rst time an ad representative took the time to assist us with a more eff ective ad. Anytime we need a classifi ed ad in the East Oregonian, we will require that Dayle is the one who places our ad. Of the six cities we advertise in, Dayle with the East Oregonian is the very best classifi ed ad consultant we have ever worked with. ” Myron H., Transportation Solutions To advertise in the most powerful local media available, call Dayle or Terri at 1-800-962-2819 . Dayle Stinson Terri Briggs