Business AgLife
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Thursday, August 20, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Small-business & Ag
HAPPENINGS
Oregon job recovery slows in July
EO Media Group
EO Media Group
Training funds available for
businesses
SALEM — Oregon’s total nonfarm
payroll employment rose by 20,500 jobs
in July, following a gain of 57,000 jobs in
June, according to the latest report from
the Oregon Employment Department.
Over the past three months, employers
added back 38% of the jobs that were
cut in March and April. Over-the-month
job gains in July were largest in leisure
and hospitality (7,300 jobs), government
(5,700), retail trade (3,600), health care and
social assistance (3,100) and professional
and business services (1,900).
Meanwhile, three of the state’s major
industries cut a substantial number of jobs
in July: construction lost 1,900, manufac-
turing went down 1,500 and information
dropped 1,200.
The pandemic during the past five
months hit major industries in different
ways.
Leisure and hospitality suffered far the
largest job loss during March and April,
shedding 118,700 jobs during the outset of
the pandemic-induced drop in business.
Then, between April and July, the industry
regained half of the loss, as it rebounded
by 58,900 jobs.
Three industries regained more than
half of their lost jobs. Health care and
social assistance regained two-thirds of
its lost jobs, with a rebound of 18,700 jobs
during the past three months. Two indus-
tries in that span regained nearly two-
thirds of their lost jobs: other services
added 9,300 jobs, or a 63% rebound, and
LA GRANDE — The Eastern Oregon
Workforce Board announced this week the
Training & Employment Consortium has
funds to help Eastern Oregon companies
retrain employees. The funds are available
to companies in Baker, Grant, Harney, Mal-
heur, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wal-
lowa counties.
The training could include educa-
tion in new or advanced skills that enable
an employee to multitask or be more
productive.
The purpose of the Incumbent Worker
Training Program is to assist employers in
training workers so they and the business
can remain competitive, according to the
Workforce Board’s press release. Priority
for funding goes to applicants who demon-
strate the funding could assist the business
in avoiding a layoff, downsizing or closure
or would provide retention opportunities.
For more information, contact Tara
Bishop at 541-377-6209 or tbishop@tec-
team.org.
Former Pendleton resident to lead
Oregon Cattlemen’s Association
SALEM — After several weeks of a
competitive interview process, the leader-
ship and hiring committee of the Oregon
Cattlemen’s Association has hired a former
Umatilla County resident as its new execu-
tive director.
Tammy Dennee will officially begin her
role Oct. 1.
“I believe Tammy is an
exceptionally qualified person
for this position. The hiring
committee was impressed
with her extensive experience
working in the Capitol on agri-
Dennee
cultural issues and her thor-
ough involvement and passion for Oregon’s
rural way of life,” said OCA’s President Tom
Sharp. “I have complete confidence Tammy
will do great work on behalf of our mission
and membership.”
Dennee, a lifelong Oregonian, was born
in Hood River. She lived in Pendleton for
20 years, then moved to Dallas in the Wil-
lamette Valley, where she and her hus-
band, Michael, have resided for the past six
years. Dennee has spent her professional
career serving the agricultural and nat-
ural resource sectors. For many years she
worked in the wheat industry and for the
past five years she has been employed with
the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association.
Dennee brings her experience as an asso-
ciation executive and legislative director to
the cattlemen’s association.
A longtime member of the Oregon
Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation
Board of Directors, Dennee has served on
numerous boards of directors, including the
Pendleton Round-Up. Dennee and her hus-
band return every year to volunteer at the
Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon.
Longtime clinic gets new name
ENTERPRISE — Mountain View Med-
ical Group, with a clinic in Enterprise and
a new location opening spring of 2021
in Joseph, is changing its name to Wal-
lowa Memorial Medical Clinic effective
immediately.
Wallowa Mountain Medical joined the
Wallowa County Health Care District in
2015 to form Mountain View Medical
Group. More than five years later, there is
still confusion in the community about the
clinic’s affiliation with the hospital.
“If you see one of our providers in our
clinic, your bill will come from Wallowa
Memorial Hospital,” said Michelle Gardner,
clinic director. “Obviously, this creates
some confusion. By changing the name, we
create a clear and direct association with the
hospital.”
Some of the features and benefits of
the new facility will be a modern space
that is both ADA and HIPAA compliant, a
minor-procedures room, improved access
and parking, capacity to host educational
and health care-related meetings and a
teaching kitchen.
New health insurer enters market
PORTLAND — The health insurance
market in Eastern Oregon has a new com-
petitor: Summit Health.
A group of regional health care providers
created Summit Health to meet the needs
of Eastern Oregonians, according to a press
release from the new company.
“Summit Health is homegrown, com-
munity-based health care designed to meet
folks’ needs where they live and with pro-
viders they know and trust,” said Sean
Jessup, president of Summit Health, in the
press release.
The company’s founders consists of
the following: Good Shepherd Health
Care System, Grande Ronde Hospital and
Clinics, Saint Alphonsus Health System,
GOBHI, CHI St. Anthony Hospital, Eastern
Oregon IPA, Yakima Valley Farm Workers
Clinic and Moda.
Chart by Oregon Employment Department
Oregon current employment statistics according to the Oregon Employment Depart-
ment.
retail trade added 13,900 jobs, or 62%.
However, several key industries that
experienced substantial job losses in
March and April have not rebounded
substantially or have even declined fur-
ther. The following industries shed jobs
between April and July: government lost
5,200 jobs, manufacturing dropped 3,100
and information is down 1,900.
Most of the other major industries have
regained fewer than 5,000 jobs each of
the past three months while regaining less
than one-third of jobs lost during March
and April. These industries include con-
struction, financial activities transporta-
tion, warehousing and utilities.
Oregon’s unemployment rate dropped
to 10.4% in July from 11.6% as revised in
June. In July, Oregon’s unemployment rate
was close to the U.S. unemployment rate;
the U.S. rated dropped to 10.2% in July
from 11.1% in June.
EOU’s new
chairman
brings business
experience to role
By Sabrina Thompson
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon
University selected Richard Chaves
as the new chairman of the board of
trustees through November 2021.
Chaves brings experience as a
member of the board for five years
and as a business owner for 36 years.
“My career and how I
got to where I am started
at EOU,” Chaves said.
Chaves graduated from
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity in 1973 with a degree
Chaves
in business economics and
management.
He said he knew he wanted to stay
in Northeast Oregon after college but
wasn’t sure how until he saw a post at
the university’s career services.
“Back then it was just a bulletin
board with papers and Post-it notes,”
Chaves said. “At the time there was
only one post. It was for writing grants
for law enforcement. I didn’t have any
experience with law enforcement or
grant writing but EOU gave me the
confidence to apply for that job and I
got it.”
Chaves went on to start his own
company in 1984, Chaves Consulting
Inc., where he specialized in creating
computer software for government
agencies.
The company focuses more on
the customer service end now, but
Chaves said the skills he has learned
and the culture he has created will
translate to his new role as the
chairman of the board of trustees.
“Owning my own business has
prepared me from a financial perspec-
tive for sure,” Chaves said. “While
EOU is not a for-profit business, in a
lot of ways it is run like a business.
Our job is to give the best deal to our
clients — the students — and take
care of our employees — the faculty
and staff.”
Chaves said the mission of his busi-
ness aligns directly with his plans and
hopes as chairman. Having his own
business also taught him about building
relationships with people, something
he plans to bring on as chairman of the
board.
“University campuses are a place
for free thinking and thoughtful con-
sideration, which is different from a
private business where you can just
make your own decision,” Chaves said.
“Part of my job is to see we stay at the
right level of governance, are always
listening and representing the univer-
sity. The job of the chair and the board
is to help make major decisions with
recommendations.”
While he has come prepared with
years of experience, Chaves said he
still has more to learn to understand the
inner workings of EOU, something he
is excited to do.
Photo by Sean McKeag/The Citizens’ Voice via AP
The Federal Reserve says the pandemic has disrupted the supply system for coins.
While there are enough coins out in the world, they are not circulating as freely.
Coin shortage hits retailers,
laundromats, tooth fairy
By Sarah Skidmore Sell
AP Personal Finance Writer
WASHINGTON — A
convenience store chain is
offering a free beverage or
sandwich in exchange for
them. A laundromat owner
drove 4 hours across
state lines to get $8,000
worth. A young girl in Illi-
nois wrote the tooth fairy
saying she’ll gladly take
dollars as a substitute if it
helps.
There is a shortage of
coins across the United
States, yet another odd
side effect of the corona-
virus pandemic. Quarters,
dimes and nickels aren’t
circulating as freely as
they usually do because
many businesses have
been closed and consumers
aren’t out spending as
much.
The Federal Reserve
announced in June the
supply system for coins
had been severely dis-
rupted. The U.S. Mint and
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin have urged
Americans to use coins
or turn them in to banks.
As the economy recovers
and businesses reopen, the
coin supply is expected to
normalize.
Meanwhile, retailers
large and small have urged
shoppers to use cards or
exact change whenever
possible. Some won’t pro-
vide change. Grocery giant
Kroger Co. still accepts
cash but offers customers
the option to load their
change onto loyalty cards
to use on their next visit
or to donate the balance to
charity.
As the shortage persists,
it’s become clear there are
some conundrums that
only coins can solve.
“It’s at the minimum an
inconvenience...at worst
it’s a business challenge,”
said Brian Wallace, CEO
of the Coin Laundry Asso-
ciation, a trade group for
laundromats.
About 56% of laundro-
mats that serve the public
take quarters as the only
form of payment. And
89% take quarters as some
form of payment, with
cards, loyalty programs
or mobile payments as an
alternative, according to
the trade group.
Laundromats rely
heavily on coins, in part,
because many of their cus-
tomers are “unbanked” or
“underbanked,” meaning
they mostly or entirely use
cash instead of cards to
pay for things.
People who rely on
coin-operated laundry
machines in laundro-
mats and apartment build-
ings are struggling as
well. Stephanie Sabin of
Portland has a washing
machine at her apart-
ment complex that takes
only quarters. In July,
her neighborhood bank
was closed for in-person
business.
The next five locations
she tried were either closed
or unable to give her quar-
ters. She’s been able to
get her laundry done with
quarters her family had
on hand or that she bought
from her boss.
“Desperate times,” she
said. “You can no longer
request rolls of quarters
at grocery stores or even
get change back if you
pay with cash at a food
drive-thru.”
Toll booths, parking
meters, vending machines
and other spots that were
once coin-heavy have
largely modernized to
accept other forms of
payment.
For the North Caro-
lina Aquarium at Pine
Knoll Shores, a shutdown
in March turned into an
unexpected opportunity to
help offset lost revenue and
ended up helping address
the coin shortage too.
The aquarium shut
down its waterfall and
cleared out about 100 gal-
lons of coins visitors had
thrown in over the past 14
years. The coins, which
still are being washed and
counted, will go toward
operating costs.
“We are definitely
feeling the pinch,” said
Danielle Bolton, a spokes-
woman for the aquarium.
“Every penny counts,
literally.”
The shortage is even
being felt by the young.
The 10-year-old
daughter of Jen Vicker,
of Bollingbrook, Illinois,
woke up with a loose tooth
recently and worried the
tooth fairy wouldn’t be
able to pay because of the
shortage.
So she wrote a note:
“Dear tooth fairy, you may
already know this but there
is a national coin shortage
in America. You usu-
ally leave me dollar coins,
but until this situation is
resolved, I would like cash
for my teeth. I apologize
for the inconvenience.”