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Bend Chamber Weekly
October 3, 2008
By Courtney Linville, Communications Coordinator
This
Week's Highlights....
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Chamber BAT Survey
The Bend Chamber Board of Directors recently formed
a Transportation Committee. This committee is
designed to look at all areas of transportation that
could have an affect on local businesses.
The Transportation Committee would like members to take
a few minutes of their time and take a survey about
the proposed Bend Area Transportation District. The
committee really wants to know how Chamber members
feel about this issue.
The survey will take less than five minutes of your
time, and the results will be posted in a future
Chamber Weekly.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=yU6Ls_2b1sNl_2faVq7YQSbbxw_3d_3d
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Bend Chamber Board
of Directors removes interim from Executive
Director’s title
In a unanimous decision,
the Bend Chamber Board of Directors has removed
interim from Executive Director Tim Casey’s title.
The board had previously voted to keep Casey as the
Interim Executive Director through December 31,
2008. On September 25, the board voted to make Casey
the Executive Director.
“Tim has been passionate about the Bend Chamber for
years and I am very excited to have him at the helm
as our Executive Director. The feedback from our
members has been overwhelmingly positive,” said
David Rosell, Chairman of the Board. “The Chamber
staff applauded as they heard this news and the
Board of Directors has great confidence in Tim’s
abilities, experience, and leadership skills.”
Casey has been with the Chamber since January 2003.
During that time he has worked with membership
sales, marketing, and acted as a staff liaison to
the Chamber Ambassador Council as well as the
Entrepreneurial Council.
Casey was excited to receive the news earlier than
expected. “I am very pleased to have been given the
opportunity to demonstrate my ability to lead the
Bend Chamber over the past six months,” he said.
Rosell believes Casey will help the organization
continue to grow. “Tim has grown so many positive
relationships in our community,” he said. “He has
reached out to other community leaders with the goal
of working together in unison to help make Bend the
best community it can be.”
While taking on his new role and in the face of
economic challenges, Casey has worked hard to keep
the Chamber very strong and on budget.
“We’ve definitely had some obstacles to overcome this
year,” said Casey. “By pulling together as a team,
both Board and staff, we have been able to lean down
and strengthen our organization, ensuring that the
Bend Chamber will continue as the business leader in
Bend and the largest Chamber of Commerce in the
State of Oregon.”
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City Councilors and Juniper Ridge Management
Advisory Board hold joint session
The Bend City Council and the Juniper Ridge
Management Advisory Board held its first joint
session. The session was designed to allow both
sides to understand the vision for Juniper Ridge and
share any concerns.
City Councilors stated their vision mirrors
closely to that of the master plan and they are all
concerned about the possibility of the higher
education component within the plan itself.
Juniper Ridge Management Advisory Board Chairman John
James stated while it is indeed a good plan, right
now to look at higher education would be putting the
cart before the horse.
James outlined that the management board understands
the vision for Juniper Ridge, however at this time;
the vision is limited to the land that is currently
available. “Right now timing looks like it will be
five to ten years before you can do anything other
than the initial 150 to 200 acres,” he said.
The advisory board members stated they also recognized
the need to allow a variety of employment
opportunities that would revolve around higher
paying jobs and the possible future university.
Councilor Linda Johnson said one of her major concerns
is that land at Juniper Ridge is not sold just
because there is a buyer, but rather some thought is
put into what kind of business would be going into
the development. She would really like to see
economic diversity within the area.
“You will see pressures to sell to anyone who wants to
locate a business there,” Johnson said. “If you do
that it will squander an opportunity to really
create focus.”
While this was a getting to know you session for both
sides, the Juniper Ridge Advisory Board also laid
out some recommendations for the City Council. These
recommendations include the following: wait on any
substantial land sales until the transportation
issue at Cooley Rd and Highway 97 is settled; and
wait to hire a master developer until the
transportation issue is settled.
James stated it’s not fair for the city to discuss land
sales or letters of intent until the transportation
issue is resolved. “The city will loose
credibility,” he stated. “If a company is making the
decision to move, that is a very big decision in
corporate lives.”
Councilors had questioned if now would be a good time
to look at a master developer to help get the city
out of the development game. The advisory group said
now is not the time with the transportation issues,
and the limited amount of land that is available for
purchase.
At this time, the city is working with the Oregon
Department of Transportation (ODOT), city staff, and
stakeholder groups to find a solution and create a
presentation for the Oregon Transportation
Commission (OTC). King believes with community
partners, especially those in the north end of the
city, Bend can present a united front to the OTC.
At this point, Bend is trying to get on the schedule
for the OTC’s meeting in November to update the
commissioners. The city will show its strategy on
how it will obtain $50 million for the Cooley/97
fix, how it will reduce trips, and it will detail
the findings from the Northeast Transportation
Study. King says it’s very important the commission
understands the context for the north end of Bend.
He also hopes to have an agreement with ODOT ready
for the OTC’s January meeting.
The advisory board also recommended the city move
forward with the Suterra deal. The purchase and
sales agreement should go before the council
sometime this month. Finance Director Sonia Andrews
told councilors and the advisory board an additional
$1.3 million needs to be found for the
infrastructure around the proposed Suterra site. The
council would have to approve any funding plans.
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City Council
Highlights
Council approves Proterra Bend II, LLC rezoning:
After weeks of debate, the City Council approved
the rezoning ordinance for three parcels of land
located at the northeast corner of Simpson Avenue
and Columbia Street. The property owned by Proterra
Bend II, LLC will now be zoned as mixed employment
rather than industrial light. This ordinance has had
a lot of controversy from the price tag of traffic
mitigations to the placement of roundabouts. The
decision was 5-2 in favor of the ordinance.
Councilors Peter Gramlich and Jim Clinton felt this
wasn’t the right direction for the city. Gramlich
believed the rezoning was in line, but couldn’t vote
for the ordinance because he felt the city gave up
too much in traffic mitigations. Clinton felt the
way the city does mitigations for zone changes is
wrong.
Council Proclaims October Disability Employment
Awareness Month: The Bend City Council
unanimously proclaimed October to be Disability
Employment Awareness Month. The proclamation was
sponsored by Councilor Linda Johnson.
Representatives from Opportunity Foundation of
Central Oregon and Central
Oregon Resources for Independent Living (CORIL) were
on hand to accept the proclamation. CORIL Executive
Director Jim Lee told councilors more businesses are
including those with disabilities into their
workforce, including local aircraft manufacturer
Cessna.
City Council and County Commissioners to hold joint
sessions: The Bend City Council and the County
Commissioners will hold a joint work session on the
Urban Growth Boundary on November 3. A joint public
hearing on the same topic will be held on November
24.
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Council approves
layoffs, budget reductions, and more
Going through a third round of budget cuts, in a 4-2
decision Monday evening, Bend City Councilors
approved the layoff of 11 more city employees and
delayed the hiring of 17 positions.
Nine of the 11 layoffs will come from the Community
Development Department, and two vacant positions
will not be filled. Public works will delay hiring 4
positions. Overhead positions were also affected in
the delays. The city will not hire a new Assistant
City Manager, Attorney, Attorney Assistant,
Communications Coordinator, and Accessibility
program support and inspector.
Public Services will see a 1 percent reduction in their
budgets, totaling $400,000. The Police Department
will delay its hiring of 3 positions and the Fire
Department will delay hiring 4 positions and reduce
its reserves from the prior year.
“Delaying some positions right now is the prudent thing
to do, it’s not the preferred,” said City Manager
Eric King.
Other measures approved by council include increasing
general fund support for Long Range Planning from
$660,000 to $990,000 and providing $865,000 out of
the general fund to help support Engineering.
As construction has slowed considerably around the
area, the City of Bend has seen a dramatic reduction
in development revenue. On average, according to the
city, revenues are down about 60 percent.
“The outlook is darkening. We are all impacted by that,
and there are a lot of unexpected things that
happened in the financial market…,” said King. “In
Bend, there has been a slowdown in commercial
projects. We had assumed a certain level of
commercial activity.”
King told councilors the projections for this year were
based on projects which had already entered the
planning process. Some of the projects that were in
the pipeline included the Mercato, 500 Bond, WinCo,
and Wal-Mart. Many of these projects have been
withdrawn or delayed.
Clinton said he couldn’t support general fund money
going into the Long Range Planning and Engineering
departments because they have fees for service. “As
fees go down, there needs to be a proportionate
reduction in service,” he said.
Community Development Director Mel Oberst said without
the financial support the Long Range Planning
Division would be shut down. Therefore, projects
like the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) and Urban Area
Reserve Plan would not be completed
Clinton stated in the current economy one could make
the case the need for the UGB was not as urgent as
originally thought. “I think it’s more important to
make hard decisions and do the cutbacks that are
necessary to be fiscally conservative during this
time,” he said. “It’s hard to see how it’s going to
get better any time soon.”
King pointed out there are people who are interested in
annexing property into the UGB, which could generate
fees for the city.
The city will complete a study to look for new
revenues. According to Finance Director Sonia
Andrews, the items the city will look into include a
transportation utility fee, local gas tax, operating
levy, and public safety funding etc.
“We will persevere,” said Mayor Bruce Abernethy. “This
is a dark time, but we will make our way through
it.”
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Business Journal
Correction
In the October Business Journal, the Economic
Forecast Breakfast was listed as taking place on
Friday, November 7. This is a misprint. The event
will actually take place on Thursday, November 6.
The Chamber apologizes for any confusion.
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Upcoming
Chamber Events
October
7 - Business Leader Forum – How Green Practices
Increase Profits and Customer Satisfaction,
co-sponsored by Oregon Environmental Council,
Central Oregon Environmental Center, and the Bend
Chamber of Commerce. Interact with and learn from
company leaders from a variety of industries about
the business value of “going green.” Discover new
ways to improve your business practices and
operations, cut costs, reduce waste, and use less
energy, thereby increasing profitability. Featured
speakers include Hank Ashforth, CEO, Ashforth
Pacific; David Williams, CEO, ShoreBank Pacific; and
Tim Fallon, President, Kettle Foods. St. Charles
Learning Center, 2500 N.E. Neff Road, Bend.
Breakfast served. $35 general public; $25 OEC
members, nonprofits and government agencies. To
register:
www.oeconline.org or (503) 222-1963 ext. 100.
October 15 – Young Professionals Network - Clear
Choice Health Plans invites you to the Bend
Chamber Young Professionals Network. Enjoy tours of
our new LEED Certified building, meet other members
of our community, enjoy hors d’oeuvres, and enter to
win one of many great door prizes. The event will be
held at Clear Choice Health Plans, which is located
at the corner of Conners Avenue and Tucson Avenue in
Bend. The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. For the advanced price of $7, please RSVP by
Tuesday, October 14, at
www.bendchamber.org/ypn or call 382-3221.
October 16 - K–20 Education: Investing In Tomorrow’s
Leaders - Educational institutions, whether
they target youngsters or young adults, are as
dynamic an organization as any business. Come learn
how Central Oregon’s education leaders are leading
their institutions in the face of a changing
economic and social landscape. Speakers include Jim
Middleton, President, Central Oregon Community
College; Diana Sloane, Campus Executive Officer,
OSU-Cascades; and Ron Wilkinson, Superintendent of
Bend-La Pine Schools. This event will take place
from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Bend Golf and Country
Club. The price is $25 for members, $45 for
non-members, and $350 for a table sponsor (includes
8 seats). Please RSVP
HERE for the event by noon on October 15.
October 17 – Ballot Measures Made Easy – How
many times have you picked up your voter pamphlet,
intending to read it all in order to be an informed
voter, just to put it down again, frustrated with
all the conflicting statements? The pros and cons of
each measure often appear to be valid, so how do you
decide? Join us for this informative presentation by
former Oregon State Senator Neil Bryant. He will cut
through the legal jargon and consolidate the
measures, presenting them in easy to understand
language. The event will take place from 7:30 to
9:30 a.m. at the Bend Golf & Country Club. The price
is $30 for members, $50 for non-members, and $365
for a table sponsor (includes 8 seats). Please RSVP
HERE
for this event by noon on October 16. |
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