A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2015
FROM PAGE A1
JOBS:
continued from Page A1
more people will be look-
ing for administrative sup-
port positions.
Connell said quali¿ ed
forklift operators and peo-
ple with a Class A Com-
mercial Driver’s License
are always in high demand.
Sometimes it is a certain
type of work history that
employers are looking for,
too.
“Someone who has held
EOTEC
continued from Page A1
Brookshier said there are
questions about whether con-
struction of the rodeo arena,
which hasn’t been sent out
for bid yet, will be able to be
completed in time.
“These are questions we
need to answer together and
we need to answer quick-
ly,” he said.
Umatilla County sold
Hermiston School District
the current fairgrounds for
$3 million in 2012 to help
pay for EOTEC, but the
fair has a lease agreement
with the district to use the
property through the end of
2016, if needed.
Despite some delays,
work does continue to
move forward with the
project. Gary Winsand of
Frew Development re-
ported on Friday that oth-
er than site electrical and
pavement, horizontal con-
struction is “basically com-
pleted.” The footings are in
for the prefabricated event
center building, which has
been delivered on-site, and
the À oor is scheduled to be
poured Tuesday.
a position for ¿ ve or more
years, and is not hopping
from job to job, that looks
really good,” she said.
She said when an em-
ployer advertises a job
opening somewhere gen-
eral instead of doing more
targeted recruiting they
may get a lot of responses
but still not ¿ nd anyone to
¿ ll the opening.
“3eople see a classi¿ ed
ad and think ‘I can to that,’
but they’ve never done it,”
she said.
Another way to ¿ nd em-
Erection of the building
is now slated to start Fra-
day, Sept. 4, a delay from
a June estimate of Aug. 10.
Bids for construction of
the barns were due Friday,
Aug. 28, and design work
for the rodeo arena is be-
ing completed by Michael
Building & Design.
Bob Barton of Barton
Laser Leveling, which
completed grading and oth-
er horizontal construction,
praised Frew Development
Group for its “staunch
stewardship” in keeping the
project on budget.
“I feel as though Frew
did a great job of managing
the money for the project,”
he said.
Heather Cannell, the
business manager for EO-
TEC, said she has ordered
chairs, tables, of¿ ce fur-
niture and event schedul-
ing software for the new
center. She said she spent
most of fair week on the
fairgrounds getting a feel
for the needs of the fair and
rodeo and talking with peo-
ple about EOTEC.
“There is de¿ nitely a
mix,” she said of reactions
to the project. “Some peo-
ple are nostalgic and don’t
want to leave, other people
ployees for hard-to-¿ ll po-
sitions is through job fairs.
It’s one of the many strate-
gies ConAgra Foods Lamb
Weston uses to ¿ nd employ-
ees. The company employs
about 1,600 people in the
Hermiston-Boardman area.
Spokeswoman Shelby
Stoolman said the compa-
ny also recruits for salaried
positions from universi-
ties around the Northwest,
and reaches out to veter-
ans groups and community
colleges as well. ConAgra
looks to trade schools for
mechanical positions, pro-
vides on-the-job training
and Stoolman said Work-
source Oregon helps ¿ ll po-
sitions too.
Worksource Oregon, a
partnership between the
state and private employ-
ers, matches area residents
looking for employment
with employers recruiting
for hard-to-¿ ll jobs.
Spokesman Craig Spiv-
ey said the employment
of¿ ce can act as a human
resources department to
companies, screening re-
sumes for them to save
time.
The agency has the larg-
est jobs database in the
state, known as iMatchS-
kills. People looking for
work input their skills and
certi¿ cations and then the
website pulls up a list of job
postings that match their
quali¿ cations.
Spivey said during the
recession employers had
an easier time ¿ lling posi-
tions, but now there aren’t
as many people looking for
work.
STAFF PHOTO BY GARY L. WEST
Ground leveling has started at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center site near the Hermiston
airport. EOTEC was schedule to become the new home of the Farm-City Pro Rodeo and Umatilla
County Fair in 2016.
are excited for more room.”
David Bothum report-
ed to the board that this
year’s rodeo was a sol-
id success, with an ex-
ceptionally high-quality
roster of cowboys that
included 19 of the top 20
cowboys in the world for
many events.
“Each night was just like
watching an NFR (National
Finals Rodeo),” he said.
Board member Dan
Dorran said he wanted to
thank the community for
its overwhelming support
for the fair, especially this
year when it was respon-
sible for record-breaking
auction sales and high at-
tendance despite overly hot
and windy weather.
He said this year’s fair
was pushed to the limit
when it came to handling
electricity, water drainage
and more.
“What causes that is
success,” he said. “It’s not
“The labor market is
tighter,” he said.
According to the state
employment of¿ ce’s last
report, in June the unem-
ployment rate in Umatilla
County was at 6.1 percent
² a signi¿ cant improve-
ment over June 2014’s 7.9
percent but still lagging
behind the state’s overall
unemployment rate of 5.5
percent. Umatilla County’s
entire labor force consists
of 35,230 potential work-
ers, of which 33,073 were
employed in June.
because we’re failing, it’s
because we get bigger and
better.”
Whether the fair moves
in 2016 or 2017, fair board
and EOTEC board mem-
ber Don Miller said the
Eastern Oregon Trade and
Event Center is coming
not a moment too soon, be-
cause “we’re making it a
reality 10 to 15 years later
after we have outgrown the
grounds.”
“Utilities and infrastruc-
ture are almost to the point
we will not be able to ex-
ist,” he said.
State Sen. Bill Hansell
attended the meeting and
told the board that the proj-
ect has been “near and dear
to my heart” since he start-
ed working on the idea as
a county commissioner in
1982 and he was pleased
to be able to put in a good
word toward the crucial ex-
tra $1.5 million the EOTEC
board got from the Oregon
Legislature this year.
“My personal commit-
ment to making this a suc-
cess goes way, way back,
almost as far as anybody,
and now as a state sena-
tor I’m excited to help this
move forward any way I
can,” he said.
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