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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 2017)
Page 10A OFF PAGE ONE East Oregonian Wednesday, April 26, 2017 JOBS: Hermiston competing with Tri-Cities housing Continued from 1A and Project Jungle — never got farther than providing information to a mysterious company. But others have bore fruit, resulting in every- thing from new wineries to mushroom growers locating in Umatilla County, Businesses won’t locate in Umatilla County without a workforce to support them, and county planning director Tamra Mabbott shared an inventory of all residential- ly-zoned land in the county that her department put together in an effort to support more housing for a growing workforce. The unincor- porated parts of the county include 4,081 total parcels of residential land, while cities include another 18,056 parcels, 2,202 of which are still undeveloped. Mabbott passed around a sign-up sheet for a new housing develop- ment task force she hopes to begin soon. Mark Morgan, assistant city manager for the city of Hermiston, shared during a later round-table discussion that the city of Hermiston had recently decided to focus on promoting housing develop- ment after seeing the increase in workers commuting from the Tri-Cities outpacing new housing added to Hermiston. “It was very evident we were adding jobs for people to commute from the Tri-Cities to fill,” he said. Tourism is another component of economic development, and Umatilla County tourism coordinator Karie Walchli shared efforts her office, in conjunction with the Eastern Oregon Visi- tors Association and Travel Oregon, have been making to promote tourism in Umatilla County. A recent, high-profile effort has included putting together materials to help communities handle the expected influx of visitors that will arrive in Eastern Oregon to see the solar eclipse in August. Walchli said it has become obvious that agritourism is a yet under-utilized fit for Umatilla County, and the county is working on creating new opportunities, including two new self-guided driving tours through the county’s farmland. Last year’s economic development summit was centered around a major workforce study that encom- passed survey results from 180 employers, interviews with 35 employers and focus groups. The study named top barriers that employers found in hiring skilled workers, skills that those employers felt were lacking in Umatilla County’s workforce, and jobs that were particularly difficult to fill. Susan Bower, president of Eastern Oregon Business Source and author of that study, said feedback from that study has directly informed several efforts in the county in the past year. Pendleton School District’s School to Careers program, for example, used the study to create a 90-minute Jump Start Orien- tation program that students take before being placed in a mentorship or work study. The orientation goes over basics that employers told Bower young workers are often lacking, such as phone etiquette, professional dress, punctuality and work ethic. Bower said employers have told her the orientation has made a noticeable difference in the behavior of students who participate in internships and other opportunities with them. Another program to come out of last year’s economic development summit is the Regional Capacity-Building Initiative. Participants in last year’s summit said one way the county could help cities, nonprofits, schools and other groups in economic devel- opment was to assist them in grant writing. “We heard from you that we are leaving dollars on the table as a region, and we agreed,” Bower said. The Regional Capac- tiy-Building Initiative so far includes quarterly work- shops, one-on-one trainings and bi-monthly “tips and tricks” publications to assist entities in finding new grants and being more effective in competing for grant dollars. Bower said more programs are in the works, including a collaboration with CAPECO to create a new workforce development program and a quarterly Employer of Choice series that will feature speakers on how employers can more effectively attract and retain talented workers. Trump to order review of national monuments By JILL COLVIN AND MATTHEW DALY Associated Press Staff photo by E.J. Harris Desert View fifth-grader Ben Larson blows into an anemometer, used to measure wind speed, while learning about weather systems during the Watershed Field Days at the McNary Wildlife Area on Tuesday in Umatilla. DISCOVERY: Curiosity is the goal Continued from 1A the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, Umatilla County Weed Control, the National Weather Service and Confed- erated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. “Pretty much all the natural resources players in the area have a part,” Waggoner said. Tucked away beneath a stand of trees, Robert Hogg with ODFW watched over a group of excited students as they were introduced to wrig- gling mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies — three indicator species of water quality — as part of his presentation on macroinvertebrates. The bugs were placed in Petri dishes where kids huddled to get a closer look. “You can read about it all you want in a book, but until you see them, that’s when you gain an appreciation,” Hogg said. Just across the way, Joani Staff photo by E.J. Harris Wenix Red Elk with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation talks about first foods to a class of Desert View Elementary School fifth-graders. Bosworth with the Forest Service invited the kids to pick up clumps of wet soil and mold them into balls to determine how much organic matter it contained. From there, they talked about things like composting to improve organic matter in soil, and promote better plant growth. “I would hopefully like to create a little bit of curiosity in these students about why nature matters, and how nature provides,” Bosworth said. “A lot of kids these days don’t get the opportunity to get out into natural areas. They will be our future leaders. It’s good for them to have a basic under- standing of conservation.” Waggoner said the program TEXTING: Punishment could include higher fines, jail time Continued from 1A GPS, taking pictures with a phone and other hands-on use of apps that are not currently illegal in Oregon but are still a distraction. Creasing said he had his doubts about whether Senate Bill 2 would pass in its current form, but he did believe that the definition of distracted driving was going to be expanded and fines would be going up even if it stays a violation instead of a misdemeanor. He said people have appeared in his court on their third offense for texting and driving, so he can “understand Salem’s interest” in making the consequences much more serious. House Bill 2460 would act as a deterrent against failing to stop for school buses that are stopped with lights flashing. The bill would permit buses to include cameras that would catch the license plate number of vehicles that illegally pass while the lights flash, and would permit law enforcement to issue citations based on that video evidence. Senate Bill 556 would make driving with a dog on the driver’s lap an offense punishable by a maximum fine of $250. A variety of bills up for consideration this session relate to driving while intoxicated. Proposed laws include creating a ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to allow sobriety checkpoints, allowing for blood tests to see if a motorist is impaired, expanding the definition of driving while intoxicated to include any substance that impairs the driver and requiring treatment reports on individuals convicted of driving while intoxicated. House Bill 2599 would remove the requirement for wearing a helmet while operating a motor- cycle for anyone over the age of 21, while two other bills would allow motorcycles and mopeds to travel on the shoulder of a highway or in the same lane as a car to pass vehicles during a traffic jam. Senate Bill 34 would require cars to move over when possible for any motor vehicle with its hazard lights on, not just emer- gency vehicles parked on the side of the road. Other bills address “left lane hogs” by requiring vehicles to stay in the right lane except while passing or making a left turn. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536. has become so popular that he had to turn away some schools in recent years. The SWCD received a three-year grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to run Watershed Field Days, and Waggoner said he would like to seek additional funding to expand the program. Agriculture and natural resources are a defining feature of Umatilla County, Waggoner said, and it is important for kids to gain an understanding of how the natural world works. “I’m hoping they take away the importance of agri- culture and natural resources,” he said. “This program is a really good opportunity to expose kids to the natural environment.” Watershed Field Days will continue Wednesday back at McNary Dam for Hermiston and Umatilla students before shifting to McKay Creek on Thursday and Friday morn- ings for Pendleton and Helix schools. WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Wednesday directing his interior secretary to review the designation of tens of millions of acres of land as “national monuments,” an action that could upend protections put in place in Utah and other states as Trump tries to rack up accomplishments in his first 100 days. The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorizes the president to declare federal lands as monuments and restrict how the lands can be used. “The executive order will direct me as the secretary to review prior monument designations and to suggest legislative changes or modifications to the monuments,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters at the White House Tuesday evening. While Zinke acknowl- edged criticism that the act has been over-used by past presidents, he insisted he’d approach the topic with an open mind. “I’m not going to predis- pose what the outcome is going to be,” he said. Former President Barack Obama infuriated Utah Republicans when he created the Bears Ears National Monument in late December on more than 1 million acres of land that’s sacred to Native Americans and home to tens of thou- sands of archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings. Republicans in the state said it was an egregious abuse of executive power and have asked Trump to take the unusual step of reversing the designation, arguing it will stymie growth by closing the area to new commercial and energy development. The Antiquities Act does not give the president explicit power to undo a designation and no president has ever taken such a step. The order is one of a handful the president is set to sign this week as he tries to rack up accomplish- ments ahead of his 100th day in office. The president has used executive orders aggressively over the last three months, despite railing against their use by Obama when he was campaigning. Zinke said the order, which Trump will sign during a visit to his depart- ment, will cover several dozen monuments across the country designated since 1996 that total 100,000 acres or more, from the Grand Stair- case-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah to the Bears Ears in southeastern Utah. He’ll provide an interim report in 45 days in which he’ll provide a recommen- dation on Bears Ears and a final report within 120 days. Over the last 20 years, Zinke said, tens of millions of acres have been designated as national monuments, limiting their use for farming, timber harvesting, mining and oil and gas exploration, and other commercial uses. Though “by and large,” Zinke said, he feels the designations have done “a great service to the public,” he said he worries about overuse and overreach. “I think the concern that I have and the president has is that when you designate a monument, the local community affected should have a voice,” he said. DATA: County’s current value is $5.4M Continued from 1A But Vadata is not going to build them all at once, he said, and the centers are likely to operate in enterprise zones. “The full impact won’t be felt for a while,” he said. Paul Chalmers, county tax director, agreed. “We’re not going to see $2 billion on the tax rolls for quite a while,” he said. “It has the potential to be pretty significant, I think ... if indeed it is half-a-billion per building.” The county’s net assessed value — which excludes urban renewal districts and the like — is a tick more than $5.4 billion. The county’s permanent tax rate is 2.8 percent, so a single building worth half a billion dollars would generate more than $14.24 million in tax revenue. Taxing districts for schools, emer- gency services and more bump the rate from about 10 percent to 22 percent, depending on its location. Chalmers explained Hermiston and Umatilla have the capacity to extend their enterprise zones to cover the Vadata site, a relatively straight-forward process that allows the owner to forgo paying property taxes for three to five years. Hermiston’s enterprise zone comes with another benefit — an e-commerce zone that provides a company an income tax credit. “The full impact won’t be felt for a while.” — Paul Chalmers, Umatilla County tax director Hermiston received the designation from the state in 2014. The credit equals 25 percent of the capital asset investment, according to information from Business Oregon. Vadata can also negotiate with the county under the Strategic Investment Program, which grants reduced property taxes for big developments for as many as 15 years. The business also agrees to pay community service fees. Chalmers said the upshot of that option is that it provides the county and the business with a degree of financial certainty. Property taxes aside, Elfering said the centers also bring jobs. “Each building, the developer said, will have 40 to 50, maybe up to 60 employees,” he said. “And those are not low-paying jobs.” Finding places for those workers to live in the county, he said, is the real challenge. A developer in Kennewick can build and sell a home for $350,000 faster than in Umatilla County. “The fact that some of them will live in the Tri-Cities is just the reality,” Elfering said. Even so, he said, the data centers are part of a larger picture that shows the county is poised to move forward. That includes the U.S. Army transferring ownership of the former Umatilla Chemical Depot to local control. “The Army has put a date of Dec. 1 on that,” Elfering said. “I’m not holding my breath. I’ve seen those dates given and extended before.” The deadline, though, gives the local Columbia Development Authority a target to address key needs on the land, top of which are securing water and a place for waste. Elfering said the land has some water already, and the authority identified possible waste sites. Roads on the depot land also need “significant improvement,” he said, as does access to the depot from interstates 82 and 84. “There are two entrances but neither are good for the type of businesses we’re going to see out there,” he said. More data and distribution centers are likely prospects, Elfering said, and there is a commercial zone that could be home to restaurants or fuel stations. ——— Contact Phil Wright at pwright@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0833.
