Business Pulse Nov | Dec 2024

PULSE

local business

VOL. 49 | NO. 6

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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Pam Brady, Director NW Gov’t & Public Affairs, bp Cherry Point; John Huntley, President/CEO, Mills Electric Inc.; Doug Thomas, President/CEO, Bellingham Cold Storage; Josh Turrell, Partner, Larson Gross PLLC

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Jane Carten, President, Saturna Capital; Bryant Engebretson, Managing Principal, Tradewinds Capital; Jon Ensch, Regional Commercial Director, Peoples Bank; Mitch Faber, Partner, Faber Fairchild McCurdy LLP; Jim Haupt, General Manager, Hotel Bellwether; Sandy Keathley, Former Owner, K & K Industries; Tony Larson, Founder, WBA; Sarah Rothenbuhler, Owner/CEO, Birch Equipment; Patrick Schuppert, Commercial Banking Relationship Manager, Wells Fargo; Billy VanZanten, COO, Western Refinery Services

For editorial comments and suggestions, write info@ whatcombusinessalliance.com. The magazine is published bimonthly at 1225 Roeder Ave., Ste. 108, Bellingham, WA, 98225, (360) 746-0418. Yearly subscription rate is $25 (US). For digital subscription, visit businesspulse.com/ subscribe. Entire contents copyrighted ©2024 Business Pulse. All rights reserved. E&OE

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IN THIS ISSUE...

12 FERNDALE’S HYDROGEN HUB

Hydrogen project will advance clean energy and create jobs in Whatcom County.

17 ELECTRIFICATION DEBATE

The state’s push for electrification raises financial concerns and feasibility for residents and business owners.

21 LONGSTANDING COMPANY EXCELS IN COMMUNITY

The history of BCS and its plans for the future.

24 MORE THAN ONE LIVE TO LIVE

Soap and movie star opens Bellingham bar embracing genuine social experiences through cocktails.

29 EMPOWERING INNOVATION

NWIRC supports PNW entrepreneurs to drive social impact solutions.

PERSONALLY SPEAKING

Birch Equipment CEO talks about thriving in a woman-owned company.

WHATCOM FARMING CHALLENGES

Local farmers face environmental regulations and land pressures, raising questions about future viability.

Michael Evans (left),

PHOTO: Sattva Photo

Holiday Magic Lives Here

Holiday Tree Lighting

Holiday Dining

Hotel Bellwether transforms into a festive holiday wonderland all December with creatively themed trees on display throughout the lobby and halls, all decorated and sponsored by local businesses View & vote on your favorite tree and enter to win an overnight stay in the iconic threestory Lighthouse Suite (valued at $1,000). 100% of proceeds go to Skookum Kids, which provides crucial care and support for children entering or transitioning into foster care

https://hotelbellwether com/blog/holiday-tree-lighting/

Enjoy more time together this Thanksgiving or Christmas with family and friends and let us do the cooking! Join us on Thursday, November 28th for our bountiful Thanksgiving Buffet prepared by our Executive Chef Marcello Mazzoleni and culinary team from Noon to 8 pm at the Lighthouse Grill $125 ++ per person | $85 for Seniors | $65 for kids 10 & under. For Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, the Lighthouse Grill will feature a special holiday menu in the dining room. Advance Dining Reservations are required https://hotelbellwether com/restaurant/

Holiday Celebrations

Celebrate your holiday party or special occasion in one of our beautiful private event spaces! From our elegant Wine Cellar for 10 guests to our Grand Ballroom for up to 350 guests, our attentive Bellwether Team is ready to take care of you and your guests. Full-service Catering and Bar Services available

Contact our Sales & Catering Office for more information at catering@hotelbellwether.com.

The Tides of Change

Closing out 2024, looking ahead to 2025

As we approach the end of 2024 and the midpoint of the decade, federal and local elections are taking place. Our economic future is at a critical juncture, faced with a myriad of challenges that demand our attention and strategic foresight. Whatcom County has a diverse economy rich in potential, yet fraught with stressors to local business and residents: inflation, over-regulation, housing shortages, crime, workforce challenges and a fentanyl crisis. We all need to stay engaged!

Whatcom County stands at a crossroads. By focusing on easing burdensome regulations, implementing sustainable practices, encouraging economic development, investing in workforce development and addressing housing affordability and safety, our county can support business success and a prosperous future for our community. As we look toward 2025, it is imperative for stakeholders — businesses, policymakers, educators and community members — to work collaboratively to navigate the complexities of our local economy. We are blessed to live in a

region that offers enchanting beauty and opportunity; an international border, deep-water ports and optimal road and rail infrastructure within close proximity to industries that need to move goods efficiently. Where else can you live, work and spend a weekend skiing in the morning and kayaking in the afternoon? As we move into 2025’s Comprehensive Plan and Charter Reviews, we must make every effort to balance the housing crisis in our community while retaining and encouraging industries that provide good, family-wage jobs and a diversified tax base.

In addition to WBA’s advocating to preserve and promote private enterprise, 2024 has been a busy year full of exciting events! Our community enjoyed all that makes Whatcom County spectacular, including our sold-out Whatcom Business Awards Gala in March (2024 nominations are now open on our website), celebrating all levels of business success, from start-up to lifetime achievement. Business leaders gathered for valuable insight into business practices at our May conference and

socialized together on San Juan Cruises at our inaugural event in September. WWU hosted their annual info fair this fall and YES Whatcom was there to educate young adults on apprenticeship and career opportunities that exist right here in our incredible community. We are grateful to Mayor Lund, Paul Guppy, Tyler Schroeder, Dillon Honcoop and Chris Prokop for engaging conversation at the recent Leaders of Industry Forum at the Bellwether in October.

Together, we can harness the opportunities that Whatcom offers while addressing the challenges that lie ahead, ensuring a thriving community for generations to come. We invite our readers to engage with other business owners, share insights and collaborate in shaping a resilient economic future at our December 4th Economic Forecast Breakfast at the Bellingham Golf & Country Club.

Tickets at whatcombusinessalliance.com/events

This issue of Business Pulse supports good business policy and calls out inhibitors. You won’t want to miss the exciting news on page 12 as AltaGas invests in our local economy with their new clean energy project, supporting

hundreds of jobs and economic vitality at Cherry Point. In this month’s issue, regular columnist Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy profiles long-time port resident Bellingham Cold Storage on page 21 and the significant investment they have made in our community. The good news isn’t just about big companies! Local movie star-turned-cocktail-crafter, Matthew Twining, shakes and stirs his way into Bellingham’s bar scene on page 24 in Matt Benoit’s article on small business in Whatcom.

This issue also examines the financial jolt to local businesses and residents with the push to statewide electrification on page 17. Agriculture is facing a myriad of challenges that should be concerning to all. Fred Likkel digs into the issues stressing our local growers. On page 29, Dave Waldrop highlights the visionary impacts of the NWIRC in our region. Read on to discover our ongoing coverage of the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Review by Mary Louise Van Dyke (page 40) and get to know local superstar Birch Equipment’s business owner and philanthropist Sarah Rothenbuhler in “Personally Speaking” on page 35. Columnists Dann Mead Smith and Mark Harmsworth cover the latest updates in our policy and finance sections, and WTA opportunities are highlighted in our new regular Workforce Development column on page 43.

You will love this issue, but I want to close out the year with a genuine thank you to all of our writers, advertisers and supporters for making this and every issue of Business Pulse possible. We could not do this without you.

Happy Holidays!

Barbara Chase, Executive Director Whatcom Business Alliance

WRS announces internal promotion of construction technology manager

Tim Greene has been promoted to construction technology manager at WRS.

As the construction technology manager, Greene is responsible for the technology department’s strategy, implementation, data management, team development, process improvements and general research.

“The trajectory of my career changed when I met General Superintendent Sam Kloes at WRS. He gave a guest lecture on GPS-guided equipment in my class at Washington Engineering Institute,” said Greene. “I had always been interested in technology and math. Seeing the way technology could improve daily lives and job efficiency was exciting to me.”

Greene and Kloes ended up working together at another local construction company. In 2017, Greene followed Kloes to WRS to spearhead a new technology department. They operated as construction technologist and construction technology manager, respectively. When Kloes moved into a new role, Greene was promoted.

“Tim is, simply put, the smartest guy I know,” said WRS Construction Division Manager Dustin Bliss. “He improves every project he works on with keen problem-solving and seamless integration of technology. A lot of people think that construction technology is just GPS-guided equipment, but Tim moves way

beyond that.”

Greene has his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and has worked in a variety of construction technology roles prior to joining the WRS team.

For more information about WRS, visit wrsweb.com.

Whatcom Family YMCA names new CEO

The Whatcom Family YMCA has named Courtney Whitaker as its new chief executive officer, effective November 18, 2024.

After a robust, 5-month search process, the Y’s Board of Directors selected Whitaker to succeed Bill Ziels, who is retiring after 15 years of distinguished service.

In her new role, Whitaker will be responsible for advancing the Y’s strategic plan, leading the Y’s extraordinary staff, improving operating performance, expanding services, capital development, fiscal and facility management and deepening the Y’s role as a vital partner for community change.

Kirsten Barron, search committee chair and chief volunteer officer, shared, “During our search for a new CEO, we considered candidates from all over the country. Courtney Whitaker stood out among an incredibly talented group of applicants for this position. Her energy, experience and vision for the Whatcom Family YMCA position us to continue and expand our services to Whatcom County. We have been fortunate as an organization and as

a community to have had Bill at our helm for almost 15 years. Courtney’s experience leading the YMCA of Greater Seattle as vice president of youth development and her passion for the Whatcom Family YMCA ensures fantastic leadership for years to come. We are delighted to welcome her to our community.”

“I am beyond grateful and honored to join the Whatcom YMCA family,” said Whitaker. “I began my Y career while still in high school. I later spent time in Washington, D.C., after college as a lobbyist, but returned to the YMCA in 2001. It is a gift to now be able to further the mission through helping the community achieve their fullest potential in spirit, mind and body.”

Courtney Whitaker comes to the Y with 25 years of experience driving transformative growth and operational excellence. Her career has been marked by a relentless focus on community engagement, innovation, strategic foresight, team empowerment and delivering results.

Whitaker holds a BA in Sociology and a BS in Psychology from the University of Vermont.

Ecotech Solar Powers Bellingham International Airport with Sustainable Energy Solutions

Ecotech Solar, a leading provider of solar energy solutions in the Pacific Northwest, is proud to announce the start of an installation of a state-of-theart solar panel system at Bellingham International Airport. This milestone

Tim Greene Courtney Whitaker

Adrienne Douglass-Scott Ty Chang

Darrell Hillaire and Tallie Jones

project marks a significant step forward in the Port of Bellingham’s commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency.

The new solar installation, consisting of 250 high-efficiency solar panels manufactured locally by Silfab Solar, is expected to generate 140,000 kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable energy annually. This will significantly reduce the airport’s carbon footprint while also providing substantial savings on energy costs. By leveraging federal incentives that cover 30% or more of the system’s cost, the Port of Bellingham is ensuring sound financial stewardship while reducing long-term energy expenses.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Port of Bellingham and Whatcom County in their efforts to lead the way in environmental stewardship,” said Ty Chang, sales manager for Ecotech Solar. “This project not only demonstrates the Port’s commitment to sustainability, but also reflects a strategic investment in renewable energy that offers strong financial returns. Solar power is not just the right thing to do for our community and the environment; it also makes economic sense.”

The solar panel system will be designed and installed by Ecotech Solar’s team of experts, utilizing the latest technology to maximize energy output and efficiency. The installation is part of the Port of Bellingham’s Climate Action Strategy with the goal to reduce Port-controlled greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90% from 2019 levels by 2030 and 100% from 2019 levels by 2050.

“With this installation of solar panels, Bellingham International Airport is setting a precedent for airports across the nation,” said Adrienne DouglassScott, sustainability program manager at the Port of Bellingham. “We are excited about the long-term benefits this solar installation will bring,

both in terms of cost savings and environmental impact.”

The solar panels are expected to meet a significant portion of the airport’s energy needs, contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. This project also aligns with Whatcom County’s broader sustainability goals, and demonstrates their commitment as leaders in environmental initiatives.

Ecotech Solar is committed to advancing the adoption of renewable energy solutions across Whatcom, Skagit and Whidbey Island. With over 20 years of successful installations in residential, commercial and public sectors, the locally-owned company continues to innovate and expand its services to meet the growing demand for sustainable energy.

For more information about Ecotech Solar and its services, please visit ecotechsolar.com.

North Coast Credit Union selling property to Bellingham

to benefit tiny home village

North Coast Credit Union has agreed to sell its property at 3250 Northwest Ave to the City of Bellingham — a transaction that will facilitate additional affordable housing in the Birchwood Neighborhood.

Sale of the 31,056-square-foot property for $1.26 million means North Coast Credit Union will be closing its branch there shortly before closing of the transaction, expected early winter.

The City of Bellingham earlier this year purchased an adjacent parcel at 3300 Northwest Ave as a site for future affordable housing. Its first use will be as a shelter solution named North Haven, which will replace two other tiny home villages in Bellingham that are facing relocation deadlines.

“We’re so happy that we can contribute to better short-term and

long-term affordable housing for our community,” said President and CEO of North Coast Credit Union, A.C. Griffith, “We’ve been giving much thought to how to serve our members as they use online services more while in-branch transactions decline. We’ve already committed to improving our digital tools and launching a new website early next year.”

Griffith added that all seven employees at its Northwest branch will be offered positions at other North Coast branches, including 1100 Dupont St and Ferndale.

For more information about North Coast Credit Union, visit northcoastcu.com.

Historic Arts District building gifted to local Indigenous-led nonprofit

A historic building in the heart of Bellingham’s Arts District has been gifted to Children of the Setting Sun Productions, an Indigenous-led nonprofit that brings Coast Salish stories and teachings together for social and environmental change.

Mindport Exhibits has occupied the building at 210 W Holly St since 2001, but Executive Director Tallie Jones announced earlier this year the interactive museum will permanently close this fall.

“This is a wonderful future for this much-loved building,” Jones said. CSSP plans to honor the building’s history as an education space while focusing on Indigenous stories and place-based learning.

The transition of the building from Mindport Exhibits to CSSP, made possible by an anonymous benefactor, ensures the building remains a cultural space within the Arts District.

“When we began to consider the need to close Mindport Exhibits, it felt important to find a nonprofit organization to fill this space; one that values art and science, connecting people and respect for the natural

world,” said Jones.

Children of the Setting Sun’s diverse projects, values and nationally acknowledged work uplifting Indigenous voices and facilitating cross-cultural understanding brought the organization quickly to mind. CSSP’s focus on young people and mentoring and supporting future generations helped solidify the decision.

Darrell Hillaire, executive director of CSSP, expressed deep gratitude to the benefactor, the Jones family and Mindport staff for nearly 30 years of fostering curiosity, conversation and connection. He added that CSSP is honored to guide this community touchstone into its next chapter with a shared commitment to creativity, learning and community engagement.

Children of the Setting Sun is developing Setting Sun Labs, a vibrant lab space that will share films, podcasts, events, a digital heritage library, immersive media and contemporary art.

Their vision is to create an immersive experience gallery, a Coast Salish lifeways gallery, digital media production studios, an artist-inresidence program and maker spaces for Indigenous artists to create and interact with each other and the community.

Exciting news?

Tell us about your news and newsmakers and we’ll consider it for the next issue!

Please send complete press release and image(s) to: heather@whatcombusinessalliance.com.

Wednesday, December 4 | 7:00 - 9:00am

Bellingham Golf & Country Club

$65 / individual | $500 / table of 8

Purchase tickets at whatcombusinessalliance.com/events

CLEAN Hydrogen

Exciting energy future for Whatcom

Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy

The future of energy is changing, and Whatcom County is at the forefront of that. To understand the huge impact of clean hydrogen production, confirmed for the former Intalco aluminum smelter site in Ferndale, look first at the big picture.

The federal government’s clean hydrogen initiative has the potential to transform the clean energy value chain, boost the economy and reshape industries across North America, said AltaGas Senior Vice President of Business Development Chris Prokop. With energy-company partners Avangrid and HTEC, AltaGas will build the ALA Renewable Energy Ferndale Clean Hydrogen facility.

The company, which bought the former Intalco site, is one of 17 participating in the PNWH2 Hub, which is one of seven clean hydrogen hubs nationwide designated by the federal government for significant investment in commercial hydrogen production. The program should help meet energy needs without using fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.

The PNWH2 Hub (remember that’s one of seven hubs nationally) aims to build a regional hydrogen economy as part of that national initiative by leveraging this region’s innovative technology and abundant renewable energy to address the hardest-to-abate end users, such as public transit, agriculture products, medium- and heavy-duty transport and electric power industry, Prokop said.

That’s the big picture. What does that mean for Whatcom County?

BP: First, what is clean hydrogen energy?

CP: What makes hydrogen “clean” is when it is produced using methods that generate minimal to no greenhouse gas emissions, typically through electrolysis powered by renewable energy like solar or wind. There are other methods of making hydrogen, some of which have been in use for decades. These methods are sometimes referred to as different “colors” of hydrogen; there is a color-coding system for different types of hydrogen production based on their carbon emissions, with “green” representing the zero-emission hydrogen produced from renewable sources like solar and wind, while “gray” and “brown” indicate higher carbon emissions from fuels like coal and natural gas.

BP: What’s the scope of the Ferndale project?

CP: Our plan is to produce 100 metric tonnes of green electrolytic hydrogen targeted at the decarbonization of three hard-to-abate sectors: refining, heavy duty transportation and power production. For context, 100 metric tonnes per day is roughly equal to an amount needed to fuel 25,000 diesel cars or 2,000 heavyhaul trucks.

BP: What development is planned for the Ferndale site?

CP: Our proposal is to use part of the Intalco brownfield footprint to construct and operate an estimated 250 megawatt electrolyzer to produce clean H2, while our energy partner HTEC will construct

and operate a 15-tonnes-per-day H2 liquefier and about 48,000 kg of liquid H2 storage in modular storage tanks. The overall footprint for the production, liquefaction and storage is planned to be fewer than 50 acres, roughly one-third of the previous aluminum smelter footprint. The liquefied hydrogen will be transported by truck to fueling stations along the I-5 corridor for heavy-duty transportation uses like semi-trucks, port equipment, transit buses, data centers and warehouse operations. We are still evaluating options for onsite storage, and we anticipate that most of the gaseous H2 produced onsite will be conveyed to nearby industrial customers, where it will be used to reduce reliance on natural gas. For example, in refinery operations to replace natural-gas derived hydrogen and in peaking power plants to blend hydrogen into natural gas-fired generators.

BP: Chris Green, president of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association, said that much of the infrastructure needed to produce hydrogen from renewable sources and use it in long-haul transport trucks and such doesn’t yet exist, and AltaGas will lead the way in creating this in Whatcom County. What will that look like?

AltaGas Senior Vice President of Business Development, Chris Prokop. (Courtesy photo.)

Previous page, top photo: operator checking equipment at ALA Energy’s facility, Ferndale. Bottom left: ALA Energy’s existing LPG (liquid petroleum gas) export facility. Bottom right: Transmission substation where wind and solar power will be brought to the site of ALA Renewable Energy’s propsed clean hydrogen production facility at shuttered Alcoa Intalso aluminum smelter brownfield. This page: Site photos. ALA Energy is part of AltaGas, a North American infrastructure company connecting global customers to affordable and reliable energy through its Midstream assets like the Ferndale LPG export terminal. ALL PHOTOS: Sattva Photo

“Our project is expected to create about 700 direct and indirect jobs, including around 350 to 400 direct construction jobs. It will eventually support more than 30 permanent operations positions once fully up and running.

“— Chris Prokop, senior

vice president of business development at AltaGas.

CP: “Leading the way” aims to place the community at the forefront of the energy transition, creating new jobs and ensuring a more sustainable, resilient future for generations to come. AltaGas is a leading North American energy infrastructure company and an existing operator in the Ferndale area and has a record of successful large-scale energy projects. Leading this type of project requires collaboration with government agencies, tribal nations, labor unions, public- and private-sector players and the local community. We aim to position Whatcom County as a leader in the hydrogen space.

BP: A hydrogen hub could include aspects of production, transportation and consumption, sometimes called “make, move and use.” Will the Ferndale project include all three?

CP: Clean hydrogen is most effective when you use it close to where you produce it. The PNWH2 vision is to create a clean hydrogen ecosystem across the Pacific Northwest. At Ferndale, where our project’s clean hydrogen will be ‘made,’ a portion will be ‘moved’ and ‘used’ within close proximity and the remainder moved and used at fueling stations within the region to support decarbonizing the regional economy. We have no plans to export our hydrogen.

BP: Where will clean hydrogen be most important?

CP: Clean hydrogen is especially critical for industries where straight electrification is challenging. In these industries, hydrogen can provide the high-energy density and range needed for things like heavy-duty vehicles and vessels. Beyond transportation, hydrogen is also beneficial in industrial processes like fertilizer manufacturing, oil refining and steel and cement production, where it plays a key role in reducing carbon emissions. It can also power large-scale operations, offering an efficient fuel source for cargo handling

equipment at ports, mining equipment and other machinery. It can be used for long-duration energy storage and to decarbonize peaking power plants when blended with natural gas, which helps balance the grid during times of high demand.

BP: How many jobs will the Ferndale project create?

CP: Our project is expected to create about 700 direct and indirect jobs, including around 350 to 400 direct construction jobs. It will eventually support more than 30 permanent operations positions once fully up and running. We’ve committed to hiring at least 50 percent of our workers locally and have committed to using union labor.

BP: What about community input?

CP: Our project’s Community Benefits Advisory Committee will act as a forum for collaborating with local residents, organizations and interest groups on this project and incorporate that input into project planning, development and execution. The advisory committee will play a key role in ensuring the project delivers benefits to the local community, including job training and employment opportunities. We have extended formal invitations and reserved membership positions for both the Lummi Nation and Nooksack tribes, as well as the Opportunity Council.

BP: Total federal funding for PNWH2 could be $1 billion; $27.5 million of that was awarded in July 2024 to PNWH2. How much of that goes to the Ferndale project?

CP: The Ferndale Clean Hydrogen project will receive a portion of the regional award, which will be dispersed in four phases over the next several years. We are working through details and will have more to share when those details become publicly available. The $27.5 million awarded in July to PNWH2 is for phase 1, which includes more detailed

project planning and feasibility work.

BP: What’s the projected cost of the Ferndale project?

CP: It is still very early in the project development life cycle, and while the Department of Energy grant is important, financial investment for this project will come from other sources of capital, along with investments from our project and node partners.

BP: AltaGas also owns and operates the ALA Energy Ferndale Terminal, which exports propane and butane at Cherry Point. Is that facility involved in PNWH2?

CP: Our propane and butane export facility (formerly known as Petrogas) falls under the ALA Energy subsidiary and has no involvement in the PNWH2 Hub. Our H2 project will reside under the sister subsidiary, ALA Renewable Energy. Our ALA Energy Ferndale Terminal stores and exports liquid petroleum gas (or LPG) to domestic and global markets. At a high level, LPG products arrive at our Ferndale terminal via rail, truck and pipeline from our Canadian and US suppliers. Once here, these products are stored and cooled to keep them in a liquid state. The processed LPG is used locally for residential or industrial purposes or loaded onto Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGC) for shipment to overseas markets, offering our global customers significant advantages with shorter shipping distances compared to the US Gulf Coast.

Our ALA Energy Ferndale Terminal is a linchpin for our involvement in the community and our ability to progress our Ferndale Clean Hydrogen project.

For the energy economy of Whatcom County and the Pacific Northwest, it seems the future is here.

This Q&A with Chris Prokop has been edited for clarity and space considerations. ■

“Do you prefer to cook with natural gas? You will no longer have that option. Do you rely on a natural gas fireplace when the electricity goes out? Now you will have no source for heat.”

— BIAW Executive Vice President, Greg Lane

Mandatory electrification?

A potential shock for local businesses and residents

Elisa Claasen

Washington state is eager to be as energy efficient as possible, and this may come with a large price tag for residential, industrial and commercial customers, according to business owners and representatives from several building and industry associations.

“Make no mistake,” said BIAW Executive Vice President Greg Lane in a spring 2024 press release, “This bill will ultimately ban natural gas for all current and future Puget Sound Energy customers.”

Todd Myers, Vice President for Research at the Washington Policy Center reported, “The bill specifically says PSE must create a plan by January 1, 2027, to, ‘Achieve all cost-effective electrification of end uses currently served by natural gas’ using a variety of strategies. That will occur over several years, consistent with meeting the state’s CO2-reduction goals. Unlike the new rules from the State Building Code Council, which prohibit natural gas hookups for new homes and businesses, House Bill 1589, (passed in 2024), specifically requires

transitioning existing natural gas customers to electricity.

One method is through what the bill calls ‘geographically targeted electrification.’ That entails the ‘transition of a portion of gas customers of the large combination utility [PSE] with an intent to electrify loads of such customers…’ PSE must create a plan on how to make that happen, which could include rebates and other incentives. But the transition must happen at some point.”

“Initiative 2066 does not change PSE’s existing obligation to serve any customer who wants natural gas and has no direct impact on customer rates,” said PSE’s Local Government Affairs & Public Policy Manager, Brian Heinrich. “PSE’s rates are set by the Washington State UTC as part of a separate process and HB 1589 did not change that. Specifically, [as of today] there is no ban on natural gas and customers are not being forced to electrify. PSE customers retain the choice to continue using natural gas if they are currently doing so, and new homebuilders will still

be allowed to choose between electricity and natural gas. Claims that homeowners will have to pay tens of thousands to convert from gas to electric are misleading. The Initiative repeals state building codes that increase requirements, and thereby costs, for the construction of new buildings for owners who choose to use natural gas for space and/or water heating, making it very difficult to use natural gas at those properties. There is no requirement for current natural gas customers to convert their appliances to electric.”

Ray Caldwell is a long-time Bellingham businessman who owns nine Little Caesars restaurants in Whatcom and Skagit counties. While no government representative has told him he needs to change his energy source by a certain timeframe, Caldwell realizes he may see an impact when he needs to open a new restaurant or apply for a building permit.

Caldwell uses a mixture of 40 percent electricity and 60 percent natural gas for heating, cooling and electricity. While he wants to do his part with efficiencies, Cald-

PHOTO: Elisa Claasen

“It’s a crisis of affordability. (Electricity) takes three times the energy than gas.”

— Perry Eskridge, Government Affairs Director for the Whatcom County Association of Realtors.

well is also aware of his operating costs, and a conversion would involve changing ovens, electrical panels, labor, switching cooking hoods and even changing recipes, as the two energy sources heat up at different rates. With his nine stores, the total could reach $1.8 million. He would also possibly face closing restaurants and laying off workers if this conversion were to happen quickly.

Caldwell pointed out that the city of Bellingham still utilizes the steam plant remnant of the old Georgia Pacific facilities. That is fired on natural gas, as is the Sumas Cogeneration Facility, purchased by PSE from Sumas Cogeneration Co. in 2008. The plant is a combined-cycle power facility capable of generating electricity using both a natural gas cycle and a steam cycle, according to a PSE press release in 2008.

What happens if I-2066 is not repealed?

“Do you prefer to cook with natural gas? You will no longer have that option,” BIAW’s Lane said. “Do you rely on a natural gas fireplace when the electricity goes out? Now you will have no source for heat. Does your house have a natural gas furnace? Now you will have to pay to

convert your entire system to electricity — at a potential cost of $40,000 to $50,000 per household.

“And if you pay a utility bill to Puget Sound Energy, your rates will increase dramatically, both for natural gas and electricity,” Lane said. “In fact, your rates are likely to more than double. Live on a low or fixed income? How are you going to afford utility bills that double? Rent your house or apartment? Your rents are going to increase directly due to this bill.

“All of these added costs for PSE customers are to achieve carbon reductions for our state that will be barely measurable,” Lane said. “Passing a bill that has significant constitutional questions like this in the dead of night while much of Washington was below freezing demonstrates how little the legislative majority cares about the people of Washington.”

A look at Northwest Washington

Perry Eskridge is the director of governmental affairs for two Bellingham-based organizations. Since August of 2023, Eskridge has been with the Building Industry Association of Whatcom County, and since 2007, he has been with the Whatcom County Association of Realtors. In his

roles, Eskridge lobbies (or, in his words, “advocates”). His focus regarding these measures is on the ramifications for residential communities, not so much for industrial users. The Realtors are concerned with planning for housing and feel Whatcom County is going in the wrong direction, constraining land supply, said Eskridge. The properties with “more efficient land use” have been built on, so while many sectors want there to be variety for different economies or incomes, that is getting harder.

Renters reside in about 59 percent of homes in Bellingham, according to the US census, and 58 percent of those tenants report being “cost-burdened” (meaning, according to the federal definition of the term, that they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs). Even worse, 22 percent of Bellingham renters report being severely cost-burdened, spending a majority of their income on housing.

Lance Calloway, northern district manager for the Associated General Contractors of Washington, oversees Skagit, Whatcom, Island and Snohomish counties in his public affairs and state lobbying role. He addressed the Climate Commitment Act and its implications, calling attention

Graphic provided by BIAW.

to Bellingham Cold Storage, which has several facilities in Bellingham. Its dehumidifiers and heating/cooling systems use natural gas. Calloway sees technical benefits from this energy change, but “it is cost-prohibitive for a large population,” he said. Calloway mentioned tax incentives for the installation of electric heat pumps in the residential sector and added that some of the newer natural gas systems should not be ruled out, as they have higher efficiency levels.

Now for the numbers: Calloway said the cost for a hybrid heat pump system that uses both natural gas and electricity could run around $20,000. The costs above that for full electric heat pumps would be around $26,000, with added costs for upgrading electrical panels or other improvements, determined on a case-by-case basis.

While Calloway is aware of environmental groups insisting on the necessity of these and other climate-friendly measures, he thinks the US has made great strides already — especially in comparison to many developing nations. Calloway said he is not opposed to electrification in theory, but has concerns about the capacity of the grid to sustain buildings and vehicles. The financial costs are in the billions, he said, for upgrades to the systems. The AGC is opposed to banning gas as an energy option.

“I would like to see phases for these changes to be slowed down,” Calloway said.

WWU: reliant on an old system

Western Washington University hired the Säzän Group and Integral Group in 2022 to study the feasibility of a heating system conversion. The university is looking at replacing its aging steam-based heating system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. WWU has relied on this system, installed between 1950 and 1980, for heating and cooling most of the campus. According to the report, the system requires dedicated and highly trained staff to run it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and increasingly fewer people have the necessary skill set.

“While the plant is maintained and

operates as efficiently as possible,” the report stated, “its economic and operational efficiency are ultimately limited by a mid-twentieth century design.”

WWU would need to go through multiple phases to implement the proposed plan, and still need natural gas within its system to work, the report stated: “Natural gas boilers are included as a winter peaking strategy that provides resilience.”

The report estimated the capital costs of the preferred plan at $149 million, not including the building upgrades that would be needed for maximum efficiency.

How economically viable is this, given the university’s current financial issues? WWU is facing an $18 million budget shortfall and is considering streamlining operations, combining certain academic and other departments and laying off personnel.

Hidden costs: “crisis of affordability”

Barron Heating AC Electrical & Plumbing, established in 1972, provides electrical and plumbing services in addition to heating and cooling. CEO Brad Barron said his company has updated staff skill sets to be able to handle electrical and refrigerant work. Barron, who is part of a multigenerational family business, has seen changes in the industry over the decades.

“We educate our customers on their options,” Barron said.

Many don’t realize, he added, that using the electric systems requires indoor and outdoor units to be installed.

Barron is a fan of the efficiencies in the new systems — more so in new construction than in retrofitting older structures. Barron Heating does install gas furnaces, he said, but there are negative energy credits for the homeowner as a result, which can be made up with the possibility of adding solar to the mix. Whether a customer wants a gas furnace or an electric heat pump, several options are available that have efficiency levels of 90-plus.

Perry Eskridge, whose background includes legal counsel and transportation research, voiced affordability concerns regarding the transition to electrification,

including hidden costs. He estimates that fewer people would be able to afford a home.

Hidden costs would factor into new construction, he said. Applications for building permits get positive points for energy efficiency. If they go the natural gas route, they lose points, which means the applicant must add other features to gain points. Double-pane glass windows, for example, add points.

Adding solar is one option, but it is not an easy fix. Nor does it work for all homes. People must consider the building’s wiring, whether electrical panels need upgrading and whether the roof can handle the weight of the panels. Bellingham has several older homes and buildings that would require retrofitting. Eskridge said he believes approximately half of the homes in Bellingham are at least 50 years old, and some might be in neighborhoods with electrical transformers that can’t handle the heavier wattage, needing an expensive, and often unaccounted for, upgrade. In one instance, Eskridge said he heard an estimate of $10,000 to upgrade a transformer.

With these considerations, Eskridge said within older homes, upgrades could total $40,000 to $60,000 for a conversion.

“It’s a crisis of affordability,” he said. “(Electricity) takes three times the energy than gas.”

Electricity uses resistance to create heat, he explained, whereas gas uses combustion.

“Gas is more efficient,” Eskridge said. Business owners, particularly those relying on natural gas, fear the high costs of converting to electric systems — a regulatory burden that could lead to layoffs or closures. The financial strain on homeowners and renters is also a major concern. While electrification supports environmental goals, it risks creating affordability issues for many residents and businesses, particularly in older homes and buildings, leading to growing opposition and ongoing debate.

Portions of this article and quotes have been edited for clarity and space considerations. ■

“ I’m proud of the positive and credible reputation BCS has for being fair, following through with commitments and being compassionate and accommodating to our employees and customers when they need us most. Certainly I may be most proud of my father, Stew, who was our CEO for 13 years before me and continues to serve on our board of directors. ”

Historic company looks forward

Bellingham Cold Storage is a pillar on working waterfront

Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy

Iconic. Vibrant. Historic. Futuristic. Bellingham Cold Storage, a fixture on Bellingham’s working waterfront for almost 80 years, is all of these.

BCS is a cold storage and frozen food processing company that started as a local endeavor in 1946 and grew into a global company with local, regional and international customers.

The scale of BCS

One way to sense the scale of Bellingham Cold Storage is to picture every semitruck that’s loaded or unloaded at BCS in a year, parked end to end.

“They would extend south from Bellingham to Seattle, then east to Boston and back to Chicago,” said BCS President and CEO Doug Thomas. “That’s a traffic jam!”

BCS employees pick up and put down over 3 billion pounds of product each year, including initial harvest receiving, freezing, placing in the warehouse, returning product to value-added processing on-site, and again to the warehouse before eventual

distribution to points around the globe by truck, ship or rail, Thomas said. About 45 percent of that is seafood, with 35 percent fruit and vegetables and the rest cheese, ice cream, pet food, bakery products and other goods.

Walk into the soaring space of a BCS warehouse, this one for dry storage, and get another sense of scale. A single bag of oats is the size of a small car, and these massive bags are palleted aisle after aisle, nearly to the ceiling.

More than 600 BCS customers store ingredients here.

“Every customer has at least 20 items and some have hundreds of items,” Thomas said.

Chia seeds, nuts, soups, sauces, tanks of honey, freeze-dried oysters and clams, salts, sugars, whey, packaging supplies…

“A multitude of things,” Thomas said, waving a hand toward a huge pallet of glass peanut butter jars. Bar codes keep track of every item, so product is rotated and nothing gets forgotten.

Oats? Isn’t BCS all about ice and fish?

In the 1940s, Arch Talbot was the owner of a shipyard on Bellingham’s waterfront that built wooden-hull minesweepers for the military. With the close of World War II, he constructed an 18,000-square-foot warehouse and ice house to provide cold storage for local fishermen and farmers.

That initial warehouse is still in service.

“Take care of things and they last,” Thomas points out.

The BCS Ice House, rebuilt in 2012, is a modern wonder. Enter its upper level and it is suddenly winter. A clear, cold, indoors kind of winter, with glittering ice crystals sparkling in the air. Below, see the huge, flat containers of flake ice that are auto-raked smooth. At 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the flakes stay perfect, neither melting nor melding into a mass of snow. Above, see pipes that carry the air-driven ice flakes out of the building directly into the holds of fishing vessels at the dock. (Before 2012, this was done by moving 315-pound blocks of

— BCS President and CEO, Doug Thomas

Left to right: Kim Clemons, VP Human Resources; Josh Cantor, VP of Operations; Doug Thomas, President and CEO; David Kircher, Squalicum Plant Manager; Danyel Cammon, Executive Assistant and Accounts Payable; Thomas Johnson, VP of Finance and CFO; José Roqués, VP of Sales and Marketing; Glen McKay, Orchard Plant Manager. PHOTO: Sattva Photo.

BY THE NUMBERS Today, BCS has:

4 campuses between Vancouver, B.C. & Seattle

13 on-site processing customers or tenants

ice into a grinder above the fishing vessel.)

Today, the Ice House, tended by technicians in a comfortable control room aglow with computer screens, can produce 530 tons of ice daily, much more than previously produced manually. Ice is required for initial harvest preservation, for product that is processed before shipping fresh or freezing for longer term storage, and for outbound fresh shipments, Thomas said.

Technicians also tend computers that show temperatures in the Fish House, which can process 200,000 pounds of salmon, fresh to frozen, daily. Totes of fish from fishing vessels are tipped onto multilevel conveyor belts that gradually lower their load from 35 F to minus 10.

Historic but futuristic in equipment and outlook

“We recently completed a 50-year lease extension with the Port of Bellingham for our Squalicum Waterway facility, which will take us to 2074, or 128 years on Bellingham Bay,” Thomas said. “That allows us to make long-term capital investments, now that we have a lease that extends beyond the useful life of most new projects. We are excited about that prospect and are busy planning next steps.”

BCS remains a privately held company.

19.5 million cu ft of refrigerated space*

The historic Seattle-based company Joshua Green Corporation is a 60-plus percent majority owner, and Stowe Talbot and Doug Thomas are minority owners.

Thomas has worked at BCS for 32 years and counting. When asked what he’s proudest of, he speaks of the legacy of the Talbot and Thomas families, highlighting devotion to employees, customers, service partners and community.

“I’m proud of the way our leaders have represented BCS while serving on various local, state, national and international boards and committees. I’m proud of the leading-edge initiatives that our teams have navigated, including energy, health care, software, KPIs (see sidebar), ship loading, life safety, employee working environment and now automation. I’m proud of the positive and credible reputation BCS has for being fair, following through with commitments, and being compassionate and accommodating to our employees and customers when they need us most. I’m proud to have been associated with Archie, Jim, Jane and Stowe Talbot and certainly I may be most proud of my father, Stew, who was our CEO for 13 years before me and continues to serve on our board of directors (50 years as of April 2024).

“I like that our employees can live in this

26 warehouses

great community and have a reasonable commute to work and have a great place to raise a family.”

BCS donates to more than 70 charities, mostly local, and emphasizes young children. For example, the YWCA’s service to single mothers.

“The moms there with young kids need some help,” Thomas said. “You’re better off investing in kids between ages 0 and 6 than you are trying to catch up when they’re 18 or 20.”

As for employees, Thomas walks the walk. When he took this reporter through the company’s cavernous indoor loading dock, an employee approached Thomas to thank him for donating Thomas’s own sick time so the employee could travel out of state for a family emergency.

As for community, Thomas and BCS were among the first members of Whatcom Business Alliance, formed decades ago to support good businesses; the meaning of which, Thomas said, is “businesses in compliance with regulations, that are responsible, where employees are proud to work.” WBA, publisher of this magazine, advocates for those businesses and tells their stories. It’s all part of what makes this steady pillar of the community both important and iconic.

56 acres of facilities

Three Decades in Business

What lessons would Doug Thomas, President and CEO of Bellingham Cold Storage, offer to others managing businesses?

• Ask what is in the best interest of the organization, community or partnership.

• Read “It’s Your Ship” by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff.

• Develop a great team that is on the same page. Lead by recognizing their hard work, dedication and success frequently.

• Don’t micromanage.

• Provide severance packages to those not on board with the team’s success. Don’t wait forever to let them go onto a better fit. In his early years of managing, Thomas said he tried to save everyone, eventually realizing that was not optimal for other employees nor the business.

175 employees**

750 million lbs of product annually

Why does Bellingham Cold Storage matter?

“We are essentially feeding the world,” said Thomas. From local markets here in Whatcom County to grocery, food service, military, school lunch programs and lunch pails across North America, to millions of pounds of protein shipped through the Panama Canal each year to the city of Vigo in Spain and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, to supplying much of the fish and chips for western Europe, to shipping 14 million pounds of Pacific Northwest French fries to Japan in a cost-effective, fuel-efficient manner, or bringing tens of millions of pounds of seafood products out of Alaska direct to our deepwater dock for processing and eventual distribution.

“We conduct all this activity in a manner consistent with all of the food, people and transportation safety requirements,” said Thomas. “With food safety, worker safety, Homeland Security for large foreign vessels, stormwater compliance, federal waterway maintenance and permitting, and the complex requirements around our warehouse management software, which tracks each of the food products that we handle, it is way more complicated than the average person knows. It’s not like the old days with a clipboard and a big bar of chalk.”

900 ft-long deepwater dock

What’s a KPI?

Key Performance Indicators have “transformed” Bellingham Cold Storage, said Thomas. KPIs are quantifiable indicators of progress toward measurable goals.

At BCS, KPIs are called 15/45/60 KPIs. They involve truck loading, meaning that “within 15 minutes of a truck arrival, we want the first pallet either coming off or going onto that truck,” Thomas said.

For offloads, that means the entire truck is completed and back on the road within 45 minutes. For outbound loads, BCS allows 60 minutes.

“We have been hitting that mark 91.5 percent of the time in 2024,” Thomas said. “This is the truckers’ currency and makes them happy to be sent to Bellingham to pick up or drop off a load. This in turn keeps our customers happy (the truckers’ customers who own the product), as they have a better chance of getting a good rate and favorable service from trucking firms when they tell them they need to go to BCS.”

Left to right: BCS employees preparing to load a truck at Bellingham’s waterfront location; Doug Thomas stands by an arial photo taken of BCS Squalicum/waterfront location, circa 2018; Doug Thomas talks to customers during a walk-through; American Seafood Company troller unloading; “BCS 50 Years, 1946-1996,” written by Sandy and Doug Thomas, and printed by the Lynden Tribune; Doug Thomas presenting his father, Stewart Thomas, the Presidential Leadership Award at BCS’s Annual Employee Appreciation and Awards Banquet, March 2024; WBA mentions and awards given to BCS between 2016 and 2022. ALL PHOTOS: Sattva Photo

Mixingroles

Former soap opera star and Sehome High grad takes cocktails to a new level

Matt Benoit

To Matthew Twining, the perfect cocktail is the one that speaks to whatever moment and mood someone finds themselves in.

The 44-year-old Whatcom County resident — and owner of the downtown Bellingham bar Matthew’s Honest Cocktails — describes the cocktail as an honest lubricant for the social experience. And as a longtime bartender and former professional actor, he’s acquired a good handle on cultivating the right mood at the right time.

“I know [it’s the right cocktail] when

I see people’s eyes, or when I see them take that first sip and then they just kind of sink into their chair,” Twining said.

Business has been steady since Matthew’s Honest Cocktails first opened in August 2022 in the former longtime Starbucks location at 132 E. Holly St. Twining and five other bartenders operate the modern and elegant watering hole, with the bar’s many windows beckoning patrons inside, seven days a week, at the corner of Holly Street and Railroad Avenue.

Living in the limelight

Twining’s journey to bar owner has had many plot twists. Born in La Jolla, California, Twining came to Whatcom County with his parents as a baby.

His father, who went on to become a successful financial adviser, used what money he had then to buy a small piece of property in Sudden Valley. It came with a barn, which is where the family lived for nine years, sans modern conveniences like television and running water.

The formative experience gave Twining an appreciation for family, friends

Matthew Twining at his bar in downtown Bellingham. PHOTO: Sattva Photo

and the little things in life. Another formative experience came from vacationing with his parents in Italy as a young boy. The trio encountered a band of gypsies and decided to live with them for several months. Twining said the experience awakened him to the power of words, music and performance — and the knowledge that art can be found everywhere.

His journey into acting began when he read his first play — William Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Errors” — in grade school. When Twining attended Sehome High School, local thespian Teri Grimes was his drama teacher and cast him as a loveable hobo in his first play, “Scapino!”

Twining did additional stage work with the Bellingham Theatre Guild, and after graduating from Sehome in 1999, he moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to embark on an acting career.

“It was a massive learning curve for me,” he said.

Twining booked whatever acting gigs he could get, including direct-to-video horror films like 2003’s “Leeches!”

In 2004, Twining was cast as the “bad boy love interest” of a main character on the long-running ABC soap opera

“One Life to Live,” necessitating a move to New York City. He remained there for three years and is still friends with his character’s “ex” – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” actress Melissa Fumero.

The time in NYC, Twining said, allowed him to more properly cut his teeth as an actor, finding the many differences between television and Broadway acting in a sometimes humbling manner. He also gained brief bartending experience as a way to make additional money.

Back to the Wild West

In 2007, Twining moved back to LA. He continued acting in low-budget movies, including the 2006 kung fu film “The Adventures of Johnny Tao.” Twining was cast as the lead character, who uses his father’s old guitar to defeat an army of “donut-eating kung fu demons,” according to IMDb. Twining did his own stunts for the movie.

“Those were fun things to film,” he said of B movies. “You feel like you’re on top of the world when you’re on a set. There’s nothing like it.”

His second go-around in LA also led to life as a musician. As the songwriter, guitarist and vocalist in the band

Odaal, Twining was able to frequently record and tour the West Coast with the band, which he describes as a four-piece group with a “folk punk” or “rattle pop” sound. The group is currently working on one of its final albums.

Twining was also able to use the money he’d earned acting to buy his own recording studio. Besides frequent band recordings, Twining’s studio was used for video game soundtracks and voiceovers for animated shows and commercials. Once, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons popped in to record a whiskey ad.

While working as a musician, Twining met the woman who’d become his wife. The couple had their first child in 2010 and now have three boys, ages 9, 11 and 14. The year after becoming a father, Twining felt coming back to his roots would be a better place to raise a family. He loved the geography and multiseasonal weather in Whatcom County, and his family was also here.

“I loved [acting],” he said. “But I hated the business part of it. I knew that it was time to engage in maybe a different side of business.”

A dream and a dram

After returning home, Twining found a passion for bartending and spirits after becoming involved with the Bellingham Bourbon Society.

“I started to understand whiskey and why the American cocktail culture was important,” he said, “and what it actually did, historically and culturally.”

Twining began bartending at the Silver Reef Casino and other places before finding a longtime home as bar manager at Bellingham’s Springhill Suites by Marriott, where he worked for seven years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the longtime Starbucks location at Railroad and Holly closed after several decades. The landlords didn’t want a bar to replace it, but Twining began what he said felt like an audition process to convince them of his idea for one in the space.

Once they agreed, Twining and a designer set about crafting an inviting cocktail bar that provides plenty of space to mingle, including a curved bar to encourage interactions. The location was also serendipitous for Twining: His father once ran a business nearby and was among the first-ever customers to

““I loved [acting]. But I hated the business part of it. I knew that it was time to engage in maybe a different side of business.”

— Matthew Twining, owner of Matthew’s Honest Cocktails.

the former Starbucks.

Since opening, Matthew’s Honest Cocktails has cultivated a loyal cast of regulars, in addition to college students wanting to impress a date or provide visiting parents a nice evening, Twining said. The bar features plenty of seasonal specialties, as well as nuanced variations on classic cocktails like the negroni, old fashioned and mojito.

Matthew’s Honest Cocktails also serves a “Dram of the Moment” — a specially selected and bottled whiskey courtesy of the Bellingham Bourbon Society; Matthew’s is the only bar in town that serves it.

Although Twining said he was initially hesitant to add his name to the bar’s title, he said its mention of honesty invokes what he’s learned from his time in acting and music.

“If you are not honest — if you’re disingenuous in your craft — people know,” he said. “Your audience is not dumb. You have to listen earnestly, and people will pick up on that. And people appreciate an honest listener — in acting, in music, certainly in bartending, but also in business.”

Twining said he hopes that honesty comes across in both the quality of his bar’s cocktails and the bartenders who pour them. A good bartender, he believes, should be a “master of moods,” helping stoke the coals of interaction that are the underlying reasons most people go out to drink.

And despite no longer being a professional actor, Twining hasn’t abandoned his first love: He performs in one or two plays a year with the Bellingham Theatre Guild. Last year, he received the guild’s Bentley Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Male Role.

Whether onstage or behind a bar, the challenge of communicating to an audience never gets old for Matthew Twining.

Matthew’s Honest Cocktails, located at 132 E. Holly St., downtown Bellingham. PHOTOS: Sattva Photo

Empowering entrepreneurs

How the Northwest Innovation Resource Center is shaping

Dave Waldrop

the future of startups

Founded in 2011 by a group of business and community leaders, the Northwest Innovation Resource Center has become a beacon for aspiring entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest. Established by local business leaders eager to foster innovation and give back to their communities, the NWIRC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting startups as they navigate the complexities of building businesses that leverage new technologies.

Diane Kamionka is the executive director and has led the successful growth

of the organization since its inception. She has a successful career in both the corporate world and startups in North America.

A catalyst for innovation

One of the NWIRC’s hallmark events is the “Hackathon for Good,” which showcases its commitment to community engagement and social responsibility. Held in April 2024, this creative fundraising event benefited Camp Korey, a nonprofit organization in Mount Vernon dedicated to provid-

ing empowering programs for children and families dealing with life-altering medical conditions.

Collaboration and creativity at Camp Korey

The Hackathon for Good invited teams of creative individuals from regional businesses, post-secondary institutions and community outreach programs to participate in a 24-hour competition. Set against the picturesque backdrop of Camp Korey’s 200 acres, the event fostered collaboration

From the Rainy Days project, fostered by the NWIRC, this image shows a “transit score” for the address in Lake Stevens. The score is based on a number of factors that can be adjusted by the transit agency.

(Courtesy photo.)

and innovation as teams raced against the clock to develop data-driven solutions for local nonprofit organizations.

At the conclusion of the hackathon, expert judges evaluated the teams’ submissions. During the final presentation, one standout group — the Rainy Day Hackers — emerged on top. Comprising students from various colleges, universities and computer clubs, this team developed an innovative algorithm and application designed to assist transit agencies in making data-driven decisions about service expansions. The team’s application utilizes a diverse range of data sources — including median income, population density and demographic information — to generate a score, known as a GeoID, for selected geographic areas. This tool significantly enhances transit agencies’ ability to identify and help underserved communities, showcasing how innovative solutions can address real-world problems.

Bridging ideas and resources

The Rainy Day Hackers’ solution captured the attention of a state senator, Keith Wagoner, one of the judges at the event. His engagement with the team sparked further discussions, motivating the hackers to refine their concept. The NWIRC played a crucial role in this journey, connecting the students with mentors and industry experts, including software developers and transit agency executives. The Rainy Day Hackers team is still working to enhance and add functionality to their solution that addresses the need of transit agencies to better predict future needs and start the planning process much sooner than they do now. Representatives from the Whatcom Transit Authority and Skagit Transit are now working with a mentor from the NWIRC and the team members to provide guidance and access to resources that the team can use to develop

a solution that the agencies could then put to good use.

In addition to mentorship, the NWIRC provides access to IRC Labs, a network of innovative workspaces situated between King County and the British Columbia border. Currently, there are two operational labs in Everett and Arlington, with a larger facility being developed in Sedro-Woolley. These labs offer essential resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses as they pursue innovations in today’s digital economy. Amenities such as free Wi-Fi, meeting spaces and printing facilities enable teams like the Rainy Day Hackers to collaborate effectively and advance their projects.

Looking ahead

Fostering community and economic growth

The journey of the Rainy Day Hackers illustrates the profound impact that the NWIRC can have on aspiring entrepreneurs. With ongoing mentorship and access to invaluable resources, teams can evolve their concepts into viable businesses that not only meet market needs but also address pressing social issues.

As the NWIRC continues to inspire and empower the next generation of innovators, the Pacific Northwest stands poised for a flourishing entrepreneurial future — one that is rich in creativity, collaboration and social impact. If you are an entrepreneur looking to start a company, and are in the counties north of King County, contact NWIRC to benefit from their offerings.

For more information, visit nwirc.com.

The NWIRC’s efforts extend beyond individual startups. Some of their success stories include startups that developed successful businesses in areas such as autonomous maritime vehicles used to collect valuable information about ocean ecology (pictured below), power generation from waste materials and an agricultural technology company that developed a more efficient way to manage valuable irrigation resources (pictured above).

A maritime vehicle used to collect valuable information about ocean ecology. (Courtesy photo.)

A successful startup company fostered by NWIRC that developed a more efficient way to manage valuable irrigation resources. (Courtesy photo.)

Leadership drive Birch

Equipment’s CEO Sarah Rothenbuhler on business growth, philanthropy and success

Matt Benoit

Sarah Rothenbuhler’s heritage includes generations of construction workers. She grew up working on job sites in Washington and Southeast Alaska and was first employed by Birch Equipment — the Bellingham-based equipment rental company founded in 1972 — when she was just 15 years old. At age 28, she returned to run the company.

Now 56, Rothenbuhler has steered Birch Equipment — 100 percent woman-owned — through all manner of stormy business seas, helping the company become one of the largest of its kind in the United States. She’s also an integral part of the company’s charitable giving, especially through its annual golf tournament, the Birch Golf

Classic. Earlier this year, Birch Equipment was ranked No. 41 on Business Pulse Magazine’s list of Whatcom County’s Top 100 private companies.

BP: How long have you been the owner of Birch Equipment, and how did you come to oversee things?

SR: I began running Birch in the mid1990s, when it was a struggling business losing market share, assets and money. It was a tough place to show up to work those first few years, but then we started seeing glimmers of hope. In 2001, I was finally able to stabilize the business enough to leverage everything I had and complete a multiyear buyout of silent stockholders. We had national rental companies and other local

equipment companies targeting us pretty hard. There were a lot of people dancing on the potential grave of Birch Equipment, so to speak. But I’m happy to say Birch is now one of the largest equipment rental businesses in the US (82nd, based on volume and equipment fleet size) and has one of the largest fleets in the Pacific Northwest.

BP: How is business going these days? How has the company further grown under your ownership?

SR: Business is going well. There’s always some hurdle we’re jumping through, improvements we’re making and staff and accomplishments to celebrate. Since the mid-1990s, Birch Equipment’s fleet size has increased 3,000 percent, and Birch as

Birch Golf Classic’s 2024 Community Trailblazers, Birch Crew and recipient organizations, with Sarah Rothenbuhler in the front row, second from left. (Courtesy photo.)

a business has increased 1,200 percent. It’s getting harder and harder to run a business these days, but it feels good to be a part of a business chosen by the Puget Sound Business Journal in 2024 as the second-best mid-size company to work for in Washington state.

We provide equipment, tools and products for home and yard improvement, urban and rural commercial construction, government sectors, heavy industrial and manufacturing. We have designed, built and provided a GPS-based fleet management system where customers with multiple job sites and/or very large facilities can locate their equipment and equipment rented from Birch via our GPS tracking systems and run easy-to-understand reporting on utilization and time-out/time-in analysis. They can also remotely track and be apprised of upcoming maintenance issues and service needs.

In addition, Birch is one of the top philanthropic businesses in our state for its size, as named by Puget Sound Business Journal.

BP: Besides its female ownership, what makes Birch stand apart from its competitors?

SR: Besides the aforementioned, we have a 10-year employee retention average; we answer our facility phones 24 hours a day; and we are known among equipment manufacturers as having the most engaged, knowledgeable staff and the best equipment maintenance processes and systems in the industry.

BP: As you said, Birch is also known for its charitable contributions. What organizations and causes has Birch recently supported? And how did the Golf Classic get started?

SR: In 2014, Whatcom Hospice had a professional-amateur golf tournament and asked if they could put my name on it. I said no, but that I would redesign, manage and run it for two years before giving it back to them to run. Birch ran the Hospice Pro-Am for three years, and when we tried to give it back to Hospice, they said they didn’t have the time or staff to run the tournament and were going to mothball it. We instead decid ed to support Hospice through their gala, and decided to revamp the tournament by

supporting organizations that were helping people transition to better pathways.

We streamlined the tournament and it became the Birch Golf Classic. We underwrite 100 percent of the tournament. My co-worker Jessie Everson and I run the tournament with an incredible board (myself, Jessie, Sam Adkins, Jay Julius, Jake Locker, Flo Simon and Paul Twedt) and a day-of volunteer team headed by Carol Garguile. And we are fortunate to receive top-level participation and support from incredible businesses and community trailblazers throughout the region as we rally to support organizations that connect people to better pathways.

Ten years in, the Birch Golf Classic has donated $2.4 million to these organizations, and a magical network of friendships and partnerships have developed from the event. Past recipients include Engedi Refuge, Northwest Youth Services, Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking (BEST), Real Escape from the Sex Trade (REST) and the Whatcom Dream.

Currently, we’re supporting Key Recovery Services and Whatcom and Skagit Community Detox, for a pilot program connecting detoxed persons to recovery facilities. Like nearly everyone, Jessie and I have family members and friends who struggle with addiction, and we want to support programs working for change.

We support the recipient organizations for a three-year stretch and continue to invite them back each year so we can catch up with the good work they do, and recipient organizations past and present can meet and spend time together.

We also support health organizations and foundations, youth sports, the arts, organizations like Lydia Place, Brigid Collins and DVSAS, schools, universities, hospice, booster clubs, animal care, rotary clubs, food banks, the YMCA, YWCA and Camp Fire. Cumulatively, these equate to well over $2 million dollars in additional giving outside of the Birch Golf Classic. ■

Farming’s future uncertain

Whatcom farmers wrestle with high costs and regulations

Mary Louise Van Dyke

Fred Likkel, executive director of Whatcom Family Farmers, doesn’t wear rose-colored glasses when discussing the state of farming in Whatcom County.

“Overall, the reality of farming is that we compete on an international scale, which means that often times, we have to compete against those who can raise their food significantly cheaper,” Likkel said.

Whatcom County has about 100,000 acres of agricultural land, and the number of midsized farms is decreasing while the number of large and small farms is increasing. This info was shared by Chris Benedict, a professor of agriculture at Washington State University’s Whatcom County extension, at the May 8 Whatcom County Agricultural Advisory Committee meeting, using data from a 2022 survey from the United States Department of Agriculture.

County farmers are having to deal with a number of thorny issues at present, Likkel said.

Wages

Farm labor costs have risen significantly alongside inflation and increases in the minimum wage. Whatcom farmers pay their agricultural employees more than farmers who live in lower-cost areas do. The state also now stipulates that farmers must pay overtime, a requirement unique to Washington and a handful of other states, Likkel said.

“That requirement has created a significant stress for farmers and their bottom line,” Likkel said.

Equipment costs

Inflation also has increased the cost of purchasing equipment. A tremendous amount of capital expenditures are necessary in agriculture, and farmers must compare the costs of labor and machinery. A dairy farmer, for example, could choose to purchase an automated milking system in which minimal human interaction is needed.

“So, you’re looking at some big investments to achieve labor savings — if the farmer has

decided to continue operations,” Likkel said.

Water adjudication action

Whatcom farmers who work in the Nooksack River and Sumas River watershed areas (as well as residents in those areas) are facing a water rights adjudication action filed in May by the Washington State Department of Ecology, according to the Whatcom County website. The action exempts people who receive water from a city or other water provider.

“For farms, water is the most critical component to survival,” Likkel said. “Without water, you don’t have a business, especially for those who are raising crops.”

The adjudication has created a situation of enormous water insecurity. Determining who possesses water rights — or who doesn’t have water rights — could take 20 or 30 years, Likkel predicted.

“You could end up where you thought you might have water and you don’t have it anymore,” he said.

Likkel doesn’t think anyone living in areas

Main photo: Farmer chopping grass silage at sunset; Fred Likkel, executive director for Whatcom Family Farmers. PHOTOS: Whatcom Family Farmers

covered by the adjudication can take a hard look at this issue and say it won’t impact them. There are a limited amount of water rights out there.

As a result, farmers are again pressed to explore hard choices. They will need to hire water rights experts and attorneys to defend what rights they may or may not have, which will be expensive.

The process already has been delayed, and uncertainty and the prospective high costs are leading some people to make tough decisions. Is this the last straw, or can they envision themselves still raising raspberries and blueberries or seed potatoes in the future?

“We are seeing some people who are getting out of farming because of that,” Likkel said.

Environmental concerns and audits

Water isn’t the only thorny environmental issue that farmers face.

Farmers, not just in Whatcom County, are required to run audits to show compliance in their operations, according to safeagsystems. com.

Likkel, a former agricultural environmental consultant, said farmers go through audits, sometimes right in the middle of their busy season, to ensure crops meet the marketer’s (such as Costco) standards for food safety practices to reduce chances of spreading listeria infections, for example.

“Our farmers are doing really well,” he

““For farms, water is the most critical component to survival. Without water, you don’t have a business, especially for those who are raising crops.”

— Executive Director Fred Likkel, Whatcom Family Farmers

from the north and south (Skagit County) borders,” Likkel said. “Canada has some very high prices for farmland. So that’s leading again to the hard questions people are asking if they want to continue farming or not.”

Despite higher land prices, the quota system in Canada has helped keep more farmers farming, Likkel said. British Columbia farmers are responsible for producing stipulated amounts of eggs or milk, for example, to ensure a continuous and safe supply of food, according to the British Columbia government website.

“Canada, regardless of how you feel about the system, protects their farmers more. They give them quota,” Likkel said. “They protect their agricultural land more, but Canadian agricultural land is also worth considerably more.”

said. “We can make a really good case that we’ve done really well on what we’re doing to protect the environment, but it does add a significant cost.”

Fuel costs

“The Climate Commitment Act considerably jumped our fuel prices,” said Likkel.

That law, signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2021, established the state’s cap and invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the news website Washington State Standard. The law is currently being challenged by Initiative 2117, included on the November 2024 ballot in Washington state.

Initially, farmers were supposed to be exempt from the requirement to cap their exempted emissions, including those from fuels used for agricultural purposes, but the Department of Ecology failed to secure that exemption.

The matter is mostly resolved, but there are still places where it’s an issue.

Farmers’ future plans

“There’s a lot of hard questions being asked about if farmers want to continue to farm,” Likkel said. “Do their children want to take over the farm? Or is it more realistic to sell land to a developer for houses? Whatcom land prices are high.”

The county’s prime location has made that question all the more difficult.

“We feel a lot of pressure on land prices

As this spills over into the United States, it becomes an issue for Whatcom County farmers.

“So, [what happens] if a Whatcom County farmer, who may be a second or third generation or fourth generation, knows their son isn’t interested in continuing to farm?” Likkel said. “The land becomes available for sale, and a Canadian farmer who feels the pressure, who wants to grow crops and can’t afford an acreage in Canada, may be interested in purchasing the lower-priced Whatcom farmland.”

This has been happening.

“I’ve even seen in one case this past year where a couple hundred acres of Whatcom farmland is now owned by an investment firm,” he said. “I would not be surprised to see that happening more. For them, if they’re strictly looking at land as an investment, agriculture land values continue to rise.”

Knowing the local farmers, though, Likkel remains hopeful.

“Our farmers are a resilient bunch,” he said. “They love farming, and they love to be here. A number of us say we plan to be here. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have that optimism.”

They can do it, but they’ll need help.

“We need to continue to work with our partners and our local and state governments,” Likkel said, “to ensure farming is viable here.” ■

Dairy cows in the barn await milking. PHOTO: Whatcom Family Farmers

Comprehensive plan changes to reflect Whatcom County growth

Mary Louise Van Dyke

Whatcom County Planning and Development Services staff have begun reviewing and preparing revisions to the county’s comprehensive plan, a document that features chapters for land use, housing, capital facilities, utilities, transportation, economics, resource lands, recreation and the environment.

Its purpose is essentially to plan for population and employment growth for the next 20 years, including planning for capital facilities, said Matt Aamot, the department’s senior planner.

“We work with cities and special-purpose districts on water and sewer plans, fire plans, school plans — those kinds of facilities that are needed to support growth,” he said.

The Whatcom County Council adopted the current plan in August 2016, and the updates need to be completed by the end of 2025, in accordance with Washington’s Growth Management Act, Aamot said.

The comprehensive plan features landuse designations for the county’s seven cities: Bellingham, Blaine, Everson, Ferndale, Lynden, Nooksack and Sumas — and three unincorporated areas: Birch Bay, Cherry Point and Columbia Valley.

Resource lands are defined as agriculture, forestry and mining areas and those have special protections under the GMA.

“We have to designate those lands and make sure those lands are available in the future for those sorts of resource industries,” Aamot said.

The process involves adding a new chapter on climate change. A consultant, paid for by state-provided funds, is working with the county on the review and revisions.

Washington State House Bill 1181, which became law in 2023, requires that counties develop a “climate change and resiliency” element in their comprehensive plans, Aamot said.

The bill also requires an amendment in the transportation element. In the past, Whatcom County has focused primarily on level-of-service standards for vehicles, and the new standards also must address other modes of transportation, such as walking and biking.

Because of the housing crisis, Aamot added, the state Legislature changed the

GMA to require that entities take a closer look at housing, prompting Whatcom County — and other counties and cities around the state — to investigate available housing options.

Part of that process involves looking at residential zoning to determine whether the county has enough land zoned for multifamily and single-family homes and for duplex, triplex and quad-plex housing.

“We’ll be looking at the entire spectrum of housing and needs for all levels of income,” Aamot said.

The Whatcom County Planning Commission is also processing changes to heavy impact industrial zoning codes in the Bellingham area — changes that will reflect some neighborhood concerns and the proximity of residential development to Bellingham’s existing heavy industrial center, according to Mark Personius, director for of the planning department.

Aamot said advisory committees to the Whatcom County Council were asked for comments and input on chapters pertinent to their functions, and those recommendations are under consideration by the consultant. Eventually, all the information will be submitted to the commission and council for review.

Community input is welcome. People who want to comment on the 2025 update can submit public comments to Whatcom County Planning and Development Services via email or traditional mail and attend available hearings on the issue.

■

Meet a

Member

In this new, recurring “Meet a Member” feature, read why Whatcom Business Alliance members find value in joining and belonging to the WBA.

Vander Giessen Nursery is in its fourth-generation of family leadership. In1938, James and Anna Vander Giessen started the company in Lynden. Now run by their grandson, Alvin Vos, and their great-grandson, David Vos, the full-service nursery and garden center is thriving, delighting customers — who come from as far away as Seattle — with flowers, plants and their signature and bountiful Lynden flowering baskets.

Vander Giessen Nursery was winner of the Whatcom Business Awards Small Business of the Year award in 2022.

Why are you a WBA member?

We are a member of the WBA because we see the benefit of having a unified voice as like-minded businesses in Whatcom County and beyond. Far too many politicians in our state are making decisions that run counter to free-market principles, and we feel that the WBA both helps to alert us

to opportunities we have to speak out when needed while also fighting on our behalf to keep our county and region open for business.

Can you describe a specific and positive effect about being a WBA member? (Or, what’s your favorite reason/feeling/ value for being a member?)

We love feeling connected to other businesses in our community and county. Knowing that other businesses have a similar mindset and that together we can support an organization that works on our behalf for the betterment of the larger business community is encouraging.

What is the importance of connecting with other businesses within the alliance?

It’s easy to get in the habit of only focusing on running your own business rather than looking for opportunities to connect with other businesses. Connecting with other businesses, such as at WBA events, can not only serve to inform us of what other businesses are doing in the community, but those relationships can also foster new business opportunities by generating referrals and creating awareness of a business that might not have been on our radar.

With a membership made up of the most successful business leaders in Whatcom, highly-rated events attracting decisionmakers and this well-received magazine, the WBA makes Whatcom a better place to do business. Become a WBA member at whatcombusinessalliance.com/joinus. And as part of your benefits, receive a free subscription to Business Pulse magazine.

David Vos, Vander Giessen Nursery. (Courtesy photo.)

Tara Gilligan Reimer

Bellingham HII lands threatened with downzoning. Image from Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan.

Whatcom Transportation Authority offers CDL training on-site

Elisa Claasen

Business Pulse brings you this new, regular column, showcasing Whatcom County businesses that offer on-the-job training.

The Whatcom Transportation Authority is one of the larger employers in Bellingham, with more than 300 workers. These employees include transit operators, mechanics, customer service representatives, route maintenance workers and administrative personnel. Nearly two-thirds of the WTA’s employees are bus operators.

Zach Cook, the training supervisor who oversees the in-house training program for WTA’s transit operators, has a background in both education and

transportation, with a master’s degree in education, 12 years with WTA and five years of driving a private ambulance prior to that.

Cook said the training program has existed for many years at WTA; the training supervisor before him was there for 25 years.

In 2018, the program underwent changes to utilize more mentorships and job shadowing, Cook said.

Starting four times a year, drivers-in-training receive 10 weeks of paid full-time hours of learning while doing. And learning while watching. When they finish, they will have both a job at the WTA and their commercial driver’s li-

cense. The WTA has in-house CDL examiners to test on-site with the company’s own buses.

What does the WTA look for in applicants?

Cook said the company doesn’t necessarily select those with a prior professional driving background, but it is important to have a clean driving record and strong customer service skills. Some of these applicants have come out of the hospitality industry. Others who have done well have come from the armed services. Cook said those who succeed are flexible with their schedules, as the bus system operates long hours.

Scott Garland (driver) and Zach Cook (training supervisor) doing some on-the-job training at WTA. (Courtesy photo.)

In addition to wages ($29.50/hr — $36.88/hr), WTA provides insurance for employees and their families, retirement and pension plans, generous paid vacation starting at 21 days per year, six paid holidays and eight hours of accrued sick time per month.

Those with seniority get first selection on shifts.

Within the training, segments include three days of Americans with Disabilities Act-specified training to address mobility issues, recurring de-escalation training for handling customer conflicts, training to handle customers with kindness and compassion, six hours of CPR and first aid, and training to administer naloxone, an antidote for opioid overdose.

WTA operates 62 full-size buses that include eight hybrid electric buses and two fully electric buses at this point. The fleet also includes 47 paratransit minibuses and 16 vanpool vans. The starting hourly wage — including during training — is $29.50 per hour. Annual increases bring the hourly wage to $36.88 after five years.

In addition to wages, WTA provides insurance for employees and their families, retirement and pension plans, generous paid vacation starting at 21 days per year, six paid holidays and eight hours of accrued sick time per month, as well as free transit passes for drivers and their dependents, tuition reimbursements, wellness incentives and more.

Shift bidding occurs four times per year, based on when service schedules change and seniority. For more information, see ridewta.com.

Minimum Wage fever isn’t passing

More increases will bring more misery for workers

Mark Harmsworth

This article was originally published by the Washington Policy Center.

Several cities and counties in Washington have caught the minimum wage increase fever by proposing increases of $20.29 in King County to as high as $24 an hour in Olympia. There was even talk about a $41 an hour wage for a single parent with a child at home which roughly equates to $82,000 a year. Sounds great until the reality of paying for the increases kicks in.

King 5 reports one restaurant owner said going over $20 per hour will likely force him to raise prices.

The false assumption in all minimum wage increase proposals is the employee will benefit long term from higher income.

Minimum wage increases are always hard for both employee and employer. The employee thinks they are getting more money in the short term, but the longer-term effect is less hours and in some cases, a loss of a job.

An employer’s income from products and services is finite and the only options when government mandates a wage increase are to reduce costs (employees) or raise prices. The profit margin on food is 3-4% in many restaurants, including fast food. When a state or municipal government forces an increase in the minimum wage, the restaurant has to either raise

prices or reduce costs (primarily labor) to maintain a profitable business. Less jobs, less hours and higher prices.

A minimum wage is not supposed to be a living wage

A visceral demonstration of the negative effects of raising minimum wage happened recently in California where a government mandated an increase to $20 for fast food workers. Overnight the price of the food increased to cover the additional wage cost. One viral picture on X, showed In-N-Out Burger increasing prices across the board. Rubio’s Coastal Grill in California closed 48 restaurants as a result of the $20 minimum wage increase.

PHOTO: Kenny Eliason/Unsplash

Other cities in Washington are increasing their minimum wage Bellingham is increasing its minimum wage to $17.28 and another $1 to $18.28 in 2025. Just as in California, Bellingham restaurants are going to raise the price of food.

Sometimes, instead of a salary bump, many workers instead find their work hours cut or their jobs eliminated completely. For some employees, if they fall below a minimum hour threshold required for benefits, they lose benefits too.

The more things cost, the less purchasing power the average consumer has

Increasing the minimum wage also adds to the inflationary pressure Washington residents are facing. There is upward pressure on all wages, irrespective of sector, to counter increased costs. A cold dose of reality from the negative documented impacts of raising the minimum wage should cure the minimum wage increase fever. Lawmakers need to be paying attention to the results of the policy and not the short term pressure from labor groups that are not considering the long term impacts of high minimum wages.

Mark Harmsworth was elected in 2014 to the Washington State House of Representatives, where he served two terms. His focus was on transportation and technology, including serving as the ranking member on the House Transportation Committee. Mark works in the technology industry and is an owner of a small business after completing a long career at Microsoft and Amazon.

Overflowing email box?

Simple steps to clean things up and be more productive

Mark Harmsworth

I am sure you have experienced an overflowing email mailbox. Hundreds of legitimate emails mixed with junk email received every day can quickly become overwhelming. Important tasks and information get lost in the noise, and customers and employees don’t get the timely responses they need. Before long, there are 10,000 emails filling the inbox, and finding anything is a nightmare.

There is, however, a simple and practical way to manage an email inbox and empty it every day. Below are three simple, proven steps that work.

Stop using the email inbox to drive daily activities and use a task list instead

The temptation is to check email constantly. Instead, each time the inbox is reviewed, categorize emails into one of three buckets.

Bucket one contains emails that can be read and deleted (immediately). Bucket two: emails that can be responded to in under three minutes (and then deleted or filed). Bucket three: emails that require an extended amount of work or response time. If a mailbox is large, the initial review can be a daunting task, but there is an alternate method to get a jump start on the process. Hold your breath and delete emails older than six months. These emails are likely to be irrelevant anyway. If this is impractical because of a data retention policy, move the emails to a folder instead.

Pro tip: Consider filing only critical information into folders and delete everything else. Most email is never reviewed again after being filed.

Those emails that fell into bucket three need to be moved to a task list. Once the inbox is empty, use the task list to prioritize which items get worked on first. Assign a due date and order the task list by this date.

Pro tip: An email macro or rule can be created to move emails from the inbox to the task list with one click and assign a due date automatically.

Try to check your email only four or five times a day

For some jobs, this might not be practical, but the rules stay the same if email is checked five times or 20 times a day. Each time you check the inbox, process your emails into the three buckets described above. Once you have put this system into place, the inbox review typically takes less than 10 minutes (not including any needed responses to emails).

Don’t leave read email in the inbox

Once an email has been read, it must be placed into one of the three buckets. Delete it, respond to it or add it to a task list.

Speaking from personal experience, I can say this system works. I have used and taught the principals for 15 years with great success, including for users who receive more than 200 emails a day.

The steps described are a simplified version of the principles described in the book “Take Back Your Life!” by Sally McGhee.

Thanks to our Presidents Club members for helping to create a long-lasting impact and furthering the success of our local community.

Looking ahead to the key policy issues in Whatcom County for 2025

Dann Mead Smith, Future 42 Whatcom

As we end this busy presidential and state election year, it’s time to preview what lies ahead for 2025 in Whatcom County. This year has been dominated by issues surrounding the gubernatorial and other statewide elections, as well as the four statewide ballot initiatives — though there were, of course, several issues before the Whatcom County Council and local cities, and many of those will still be front and center next year.

The top issues that were mentioned numerous times by the people I talked to include: the county budget, public safety, finalizing the county’s comprehensive plan, affordable housing, a proposed county road tax, the Charter Review Commission’s ideas for changes to the county charter, the water adjudication process, the Lummi Island ferry, the future of the Healthy Children’s Fund (given another possible citizen-led ballot initiative), rent stabilization/landlord restrictions, and possible Birch Bay incorporation.

This column is devoted to some of these issues that will be debated in 2025. In addition, there will be four county council races and various city council seats to be decided by voters next fall. I also asked some of our local elected leaders and organizations to share their thoughts looking ahead to the new year.

The county budget

Whatcom County is in a serious budget situation, as has been reported this fall. Whatcom County is expected to spend significant amounts of its fund balance

this year, with at least $15 million more in expenditures than expected revenues. The executive will propose the 2025-2026 budget this fall and is planning to adopt it on Nov. 19.

Some councilmembers are asking for ideas for county government to be more efficient with taxpayer funds and how to decrease some county government costs. The county executive is looking at a possible 1 percent property tax increase and reductions of the levels of some services. There also are discussions about the state of the county’s roads and how revenue is not keeping pace with expenses. The county has floated the idea of raising the annual property tax levy. This will be a major debate in 2025, given that many citizens feel that road maintenance is one of the county’s top priorities using existing tax revenue.

Here are some thoughts on the county budget from Whatcom County Councilmember Mark Stremler: “Foremost on my mind right now is the [county] budget cycle for 2025-2026. Past spending has put us in a very difficult situation. Projected shortfalls are in the millions. Whatcom County is in a financial crisis. The increasing size and spending of local government has led us here. We have food banks begging for more resources, yet we continue to fund wants over needs. The fundamental role of government is out of balance, and we should not be passing along the negative results of our spending choices to the next generation.”

Whatcom County Councilmember Jon Scanlon also commented on the county budget: “The [county] executive’s office will lead a budget prioritization exercise in 2025 in order to inform the mid-biennium budget review. So, there could be additional changes to the budget later next year. I’m interested in pursuing measures

to increase the transparency of the budget and spending so that county residents have an easier way to learn about where [their] tax dollars are going.”

Charter Review Commission

Most people don’t remember that every ten years we elected people from across the county to review the Whatcom County Charter and offer ideas over the first six months of 2025 to make changes to it. Over 40 candidates recently ran to fill the 15 spots for the commission that will review and possibly make recommendations for changes to the County’s governing document.

The commission members will meet monthly (Jan. to end of July approx.) and consider offering amendments that will be put in front of voters next November. Stay up to date on this important process via Business Pulse throughout 2025.

Whatcom County Councilmember Kaylee Galloway shared this as she looks ahead to 2025: “The comprehensive plan will continue to be a top priority for me next year, including increasing affordable housing at every income level and shelter capacity for our unhoused neighbors. These issues — as well as climate resilience (including the new Forest Resilience Taskforce), implementation of the new county jail/justice project, and working towards a stable county budget — will need to be addressed… leading into next year.”

Business Pulse asked Dan Dunne, the chair of the Whatcom County Business and Commerce Advisory Committee, to share what he and the committee are tracking. (Note that these statements are his opinion and are not official committee policy.) Here are Dunne’s thoughts, edited for space considerations:

• The county comprehensives plan and

housing: “Making sure that there is a focus on abundant housing supply throughout the comp plan, including expanding the multifamily tax exemption, reducing barriers to density in urban areas, encouraging different home types, benchmarking housing creation, updating and streamlining land use and building codes, investing in wetland mitigation, creating a housing ombudsman, and creating voluntary incentives for permanently affordable rentals and homeownership.”

• Public safety: “Reducing crime through a variety of measures, including substance abuse treatment, increasing employment and housing opportunities, educating businesses about crime reduction strategies, enforcing existing laws fairly and consistently, and enforcing consequences post-conviction, ranging from restorative justice to home detention to incarceration, with a focus on providing closure for crime victims and ending illegal activities.”

• Child care: “Making sure that the voter-approved child care funding is being used to increase the number of spots available to families of all income levels.”

Perry Eskridge, government affairs director for the Whatcom County Association of Realtors, also agreed that issues related to the county’s comprehensive plan is one of the top issues that will carry over to next year: “Bellingham is essentially out of land. There is nearly nothing left for industrial use. At the same time, the county council is seeking to limit what kind of activities can be performed on industrial land that is in close proximity to neighborhoods. There is a big push to get rid of the cement plant and wood products plant that have been in those locations for well over 100 years and, ironically, locations that both the city and county have permitted residential uses to grow around as well.”

Eskridge referred to this situation as “total planning failure, and one that will not be easily resolved by satisfying either the neighbors or the businesses that employ so many people.”

This is also the reason why housing is so expensive, Eskridge said: “Again, Bellingham is out of building lots. The typical residential building lot in Bellingham is

approaching $500,000. How can we have affordable housing if the cost of the land exceeds what people are able to pay for the entire home?”

It’s going to be a busy year, with many issues needing your engagement before a final decision is made. Business Pulse and Whatcom Business Alliance will be your go-to resources on these and all the new issues facing Whatcom County in the new year.

Dann Mead Smith is the co-founder and codirector of Project 42. He is the former president/ CEO of Washington Policy Center and has been writing for Business Pulse for three years. Dann lives part time in Birch Bay and Seattle.

Kaiser Insurance Agency prides itself in supporting and serving Whatcom County. We are the new sponsor for the “Upside” on all the Cascade Radio stations. Listen daily for our jingle and announcements of groups doing good in our community