Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal 27/01

January 2014 Vol. 27 No. 1

The Voice of Kitsap Business since 1988

Yoga studios on the peninsula, page 9

Bye-bye, bistro — Hello, diner Projects planned all over Poulsbo, page 23

Inside Special Reports: Health & Fitness, pp 8-16 Human Resources, pp 28-31 People, pg 2 Technology, pg 17 Real Estate, pp 23-25 Financial, pp 26, 27 Human Resources, pg 31 Automotive, pp 34, 35 Editorial, pp 36-38 Home Builders Newsletter, pp 19-22

By Tim Kelly, Editor MorMor is no more, but the Poulsbo couple who ran the successful bistro and wine bar for a decade are excited about what they'll serve up next — bacon and eggs, among other less fancy fare.

Laura and John Nesby invited the community to the swan song for MorMor Bistro on Dec. 29, and they planned to be back early the next morning to start pulling up carpet for the remodeling project that will transform their Front Street establishment into The Green Light Diner.

Tim Kelly photo

Laura and John Nesby are closing MorMor Bistro and will remodel their restaurant to reopen as The Green Light Diner in Poulsbo.

All the years of culinary school and working at upscale West Coast restaurants to learn about fine cuisine and expensive wines so they could open a chic place like MorMor, and now the Nesbys can't wait to open the kind of place where breakfast is served all day.

Cover Story, page 4

Research shows hope for dementia prevention; epidemic grows

By Rodika Tollefson When Pat March’s mother, Carol, showed signs of dementia about four years ago, healthcare providers were “reluctant to put the cards on the table” about what was happening. After a neurological evaluation, they diagnosed Carol with mild cognitive impairment.

“They were giving her arcane descriptions,” said March, who lives in Poulsbo. “A mild cognitive impairment is a way to not say dementia.”

Carol moved this past fall into the newly opened memory care section of Madrona House (see story, page 11) on Bainbridge Island, where March and her sister can visit regularly. The most frustrating part about having a loved one with a dementia diagnosis, March said, was that the medical staff only became open about her condition once the family and Carol started talking about it directly — as if the pr oviders needed permission

Alzheimer’s Association

Graphic shows sources for $203 billion in annual U.S. spending on Alzheimer’s care. to broach the subject.

“For doctors, it’s not a natural thing (to talk about it) — it’s not like saying it’s high blood pressure,” March said.

This is a common concern family members have, despite the inroads made

Alzheimer’s, page 14

Kitsap Bank adds new executive as SBA manager

Rush Cos. adds new VP of commercial division

Kitsap Bank announced that Paul Sabado has joined the company as Senior Vice President and SBA Manager. Sabado comes to the bank with over 39 years of experience, and his portfolio includes extensive experience in business banking, commercial lending and SBA lending.

He has spent his entire career in the Puget Sound market, most recently as president and CEO of Pacific International Bank. Sabado is a graduate of the University of Washington, The National Commercial Lending School, Northwest Banking School and Pacific Coast Banking School.

Paul Sabado

Rush Cos. has announced the hiring of Devin Page of Gig Harbor as vice president of Rush Commercial. He has replaced Chris DeWald, who has transitioned to a new role as Vice President of Rush Development.

As a construction manager, Page has overseen commercial construction work in the Devin Page Puget Sound Region, and he most recently served as special projects division manager at Andersen Construction's Seattle office.

His primary focus has been business development, operational practices, overall regional strategy, project execution and client relations.

“Paul brings an extensive range of experience and a wealth of knowledge in SBA lending,” Kitsap Bank CEO Steve Politakis said. “He is dedicated to providing the personalized customer service that is Kitsap Bank’s hallmark. We are very pleased to welcome him to the team.”

Kitsap Bank is headquartered in Port Orchard and operates 20 locations throughout Western Washington. With over $900 million in assets, the bank provides a full range of financial services to commercial and individual customers. Kitsap Bank has been named a Preferred Lender by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

2 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

Rice Fergus Miller staffers earn advanced certifications Two employees at Rice Fergus Miller, an architecture, interior design and planning firm in Bremerton, recently earned additional professional credentials.

Gena Lee, an interior designer, has been certified by The American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers.

This Gena Lee organization certifies interior designers who, through qualification, demonstrate the knowledge, excellence and commitment required to design in the highly specialized healthcare industry. Lee, a senior associate in the firm, joined Rice Fergus Miller in 2007 and works throughout the healthcare market.

Another designer, Jason RitterLopatowski, recently earned his LEED Accredited Professional credential from the United States Green Building Council. This Jason Rittercredential signifies an Lopatowski active participant in the green building movement who contributes expertise to the design, construction, operations and maintenance of buildings and neighborhoods that save energy, use fewer resources, reduce pollution, and contribute to healthier environments for their occupants and the community.

Jason focuses on hospitality and commercial projects at Rice Fergus Miller (www.rfmarch.com).

Are You Receiving Our Daily Updates?

Sign up now at daily.kpbj.com

Kitsap Credit Union changes include closing two branches originates more than $3 billion annually in residential home loans with its credit union partners, and services more than 113,000 loans, according to its website.

CU Members Mortgage will be branded as a service offered by Kitsap Credit Union, and Gregg said the change should help KCU stay competitive in a home mortgage market that’s getting more challenging.

“We certainly expect it’s going to make the process faster and more competitive (on mortgage costs) for our membership,” he said. “And it will cost the credit union less.”

As for the branch closures and downsizing, Gregg said KCU “needed to assess our cost structure” in its branch network to see if there was any redundancy.

“We concluded we should serve our Bainbridge Island members out of our Poulsbo branch,” he said.

KCU’s north Gig Harbor branch in the retail cluster along Borgen Boulevard will be consolidated with the branch in Uptown Gig Harbor. Gregg said the Uptown branch reopened Dec. 9 after being closed for several weeks for repair work after a car crashed into the entrance on Oct. 26.

The changes, which will take place in the first quarter of 2014, were announced to KCU staff in November.

While some job losses will result from the switch to CU Members Mortgage for processing services, Gregg said there won’t be staff reductions from the branch closures because the company’s normal staffing turnover will allow employees from the

Longtime AWB president to join law firm’s governmental affairs staff in Olympia

Thomas Honeywell and will focus on providing business clients with governmental affairs and communications services.

"Don's unique understanding of Washington's business community will position him to create unmatched solutions for our business clients," said Tim Schellberg, president of Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs. "His services will be invaluable in advancing specific business opportunities in Washington state where decisions about business location and expansion require significant and complex negotiations between business, interest groups and the highest levels of government.”

Carlen’s duties in the Republican Caucus included analyzing legislation on environment, water, energy, land use, natural resources and agricultural issues.

Prior to working in the state Senate, che practiced law for several years focusing on environmental and land use law. She also served as a law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. In her now position, Carlen will primarily represent clients in Olympia, focusing on legislative and executive office lobbying.

PRNewswire TACOMA — Don Brunell, who is retiring at the end of the year after 28 years as president of the Association of Washington Business, will join the governmental affairs staff at the Gordon Thomas Honeywell law firm.

The firm announced Dec. 18 that Brunell and Diana Carlen, senior staff counsel for the Washington State Senate Republican Caucus, will Don Brunell join the company effective Jan. 1. Both will primarily focus on providing governmental affairs services to selected clients through the Washington State Group of the law firm.

Brunell, whose weekly AWB columns are published in the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal and on kpbj.com, will become a vice president at Gordon

Tim Kelly photo

affected branches to transfer to other KCU locations.

Gregg said the changes in home mortgage processing will have no effect on the credit union’s commercial loan division, which KCU is looking to expand with the recruitment of another commercial loan officer.

He also said the credit union has a major project coming up with converting its core computing system in August, “so we have lot of work.”

16th ANNUAL

2014 Economic Forecast — Decision Makers Breakfast — Keynote Speaker: John Mitchell, PhD “Year Five, Transitions and Experiments” Date: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 Time: 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Place: Kitsap Conference Center

Sponsored by ~

Register online at kitsapeda.org

”This event will educate you about the economic forecast and inspire you with profiles of local business leaders. Don’t miss it!”

–Steve Politakis, CEO, Kitsap Bank $50.......KEDA Investor Partners $75.......Non Investor Partners $450.....Table of 10/KEDA Investor Partners $650.....Table of 10/Non KEDA Investor Partners

Sponsorship Opportunities Available!

Contact Theresa Mangrum; mangrum@kitsapeda.org

www.kitsapeda.org • 360-377-9499

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 3

By Tim Kelly, Editor The new year will bring some changes to Kitsap Credit Union, including closing two branches and outsourcing some of its residential mortgage services.

“We are plugging into a national network for home mortgage processing,” CEO Elliot Gregg told the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal.

KCU will close its Bainbridge Island branch and one of its two Gig Harbor branches, as well as reducing its presence in the building where it operates a branch in the Silverdale Village center between Bucklin Hill Road and Silverdale Way. Leah Olson, vice president of marketing, said there will be fewer staff members there and KCU will occupy a smaller leased space in the large building, but will maintain most branch functions such as new accounts, lending services, and a drive-thru teller.

The credit union’s main Silverdale location is the Silverdale Highlands building that KCU owns. It opened in 2009 and houses the Home Loan Center.

Gregg said the decision to join the CU Members Mortgage network for processing home loans was partly a response to new mortgage regulations going into effect Jan. 1.

“It’s really a shift of our backroom processing,” to a shared processor that “centralizes that cost,” the CEO said. “All the mortgages we originate will be serviced by this one operation.”

CU Members Mortgage, a privately held mortgage company based in Dallas,

The Kitsap Credit Union branch in Uptown Gig Harbor will remain open when KCU closes its other branch in north Gig Harbor and consolidates the two operations in early 2014.

4 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

from page 1 The irony isn't lost on the couple, who met right after high school when they were students at a culinary school in Scottsdale, Arizona.

"I think it's kind of funny," John says, "because from the time we were 18 to when we opened this restaurant, we always chased after and sought out this really upper-crust, upper scale fine-dining type of culture. When you're young, it's interesting and it's fun … and that's what we knew."

But times have changed, the town has changed and more fine-dining options are available, and the restaurateurs have changed — they’re now 34 and have a 7-year-old son.

Their perspective as parents influenced their decision to open The Green Light Diner. Laura Nesby says they see a need for a local place that’s welcoming to families, where parents will feel comfortable bringing their kids any time of day or night to enjoy great food.

MorMor entrees such as the popular Tart Flambee and Lobster with Saffron Raviolis will give way to comfort food on the Green Light menu — omelettes, chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes, mac and cheese — but the owners say the quality will be the same.

“People know us,” Laura says, “and whether or not we’re doing super high-end expensive food or whether we’re doing a burger or fish and chips, it’s always going to be the utmost quality.”

Taking the whole family out to an affordable restaurant shouldn’t mean settling for a mediocre meal, her chef husband adds.

“Just because you take your kids out to dinner,” John says, “doesn’t mean you should be relegated to having bad food, or corporate food.”

The couple is proud of what they created at MorMor and say it’s been an amazing run the past 10 years, with lots of good memories shared with customers they consider friends. Their bistro is still thriving, but they say the time is right to make a change and, John adds, “we’ve

Belfair winery earns recognition on region’s top wines list International wine judge Andy Perdue, wine writer for the Seattle Times and publisher of Kennewick-based Great Northwest Wine, has included a vintage

“Just because you take your kids out to dinner doesn’t mean you should be relegated to having bad food, or corporate food.”

— John Nesby recall seeking out after nights working in the kitchens of four-star restaurants in their pre-MorMor years. For a post-midnight meal, he says, “we’d go out to some diner somewhere and have bacon and eggs or something.”

His parents’ diner will be somewhat of a model for their new place, but the Green Light will be designed for their Poulsbo scene and customers.

“My parents have done a phenomenal business for 20 years at that place, and definitely that inspires us,” John says. “But we want to kind of take everything they’ve done well there, and we want to give it our own twist” from the couple’s own experiences in the restaurant business.

And when his parents decide to retire, the plan is to keep the Red Apple Diner in the family, with John and Laura taking over as proprietors.

At the Green Light, they’ll use local products as much as possible, as they did at MorMor. There will be beer on tap from Kitsap breweries, bread and pies from a small local baker, fresh seafood, and fruits and vegetables from the Poulsbo Farmers Market.

The bistro named for nurturing grandmothers in John’s hometown is being replaced, but family bonds with the elders endure.

“His mormor still lives up the street,” Laura says, “and she’ll be here to see The Green Light Diner open.”

The Nesbys hope that opening will be in early February.

Tim Kelly photo

An enlarged photo on the wall behind John and Laura Nesby shows one of their grandmothers in the MorMor Bistro. The couple chose their restaurant’s name (mormor is the Scandinavian word for grandmother) to honor their grandmothers who inspired their love of cooking. Although the couple have closed MorMor and are transforming their establisment to reopen in February as The Green Light Diner, they plan to keep family photos as part of the new decor. gotten to the point where we don't want to take ourselves so seriously anymore.”

Even though waffles and corned beef hash weren’t on MorMor’s menu, Laura notes that they occasionally served breakfast as the meal for the bistro’s popular wine dinners that paired different courses with special cocktails and wines.

Many locals probably know that MorMor is the Scandinavian word for grandmother, and the Nesbys chose the name for their bistro to honor their grandmothers who inspired their love of cooking. They plan to keep some of the old black-and-white photos of their grandparents on the walls, even as the restaurant’s décor is completely redone to create a retro vibe for the new diner.

“There will be no question when you walk through the door here that it’s not

MorMor anymore, that you’re walking into a whole different experience,” says Michelle Doyle, the designer who owns Michele Interiors in a second-floor office that looks into the atrium at the front of the Nesbys’ restaurant. “It’s going to be vibrant and bright and cheerful and fun.”

The bar in the atrium will stay, but it will function as the diner’s soda fountain. “Kids will finally be able to sit up at that bar, which is a huge deal for us,” John says.

In a way, the diner will be a return to his roots for Nesby, who was a freshman in high school when he started working as a cook at the Big Apple Diner on Kitsap Way in Bremerton. His parents, Mark and Patty Nesby, who once owned a grocery store in downtown Poulsbo, have owned the ’50sstyle diner by Kitsap Lake for 20 years.

It’s the kind of place John and Laura

from Belfair's Mosquito Fleet Winery on his annual Top 50 list of Pacific Northwest wines, selecting their Sophia — a Syrah/ Mourvedré blend — at number 30.

"It all starts with great fruit and we've been fortunate enough to get into some of the state's best vineyards," said Dr. Brian Petersen, a Belfair chiropractor who is co-

owner and winemaker for Mosquito Fleet.

The winery produced 250 cases of Sophia, which was made with fruit grown on Elephant Mountain in Yakima County.

Mosquito Fleeet has sold out of four of their six 2010 wines with only a bit of Sophia and Meritage remaining.

The winery is planning a three-day

Coming Next Issue...

release party for their 2011 vintage on Feb 7-9. Their five wines will be paired with food, chocolate and live music during the event, which will be held in the winery's barrel room at NE 21 Old Belfair Highway.

The Belfair tasting room is open on Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m.

Women in Business

Management Consulting

Deadline to reserve advertising space

Women entrepreneurs and executives on the Kitsap Peninsula

Review decisions which impact your business and strategic plan

For more information: Dee Coppola 800-733-7990 or email dee@wetapple.com

January 16th

Economist returns to deliver 2014 forecast at annual KEDA Decision Makers Breakfast The Kitsap Economic D evelopment Alliance will hold its 16th annual Decision Makers Breakfast on Jan. 29, from 7–10 a.m. at Kitsap Conference Center in Bremerton.

The event will again feature acclaimed economist John W. Mitchell, who deliver the John Mitchell will

2014 Westsound Business Expo open for exhibitor registration

Read Your Local Business News Online on your mobile device www.KPBJ.com

The grand behavioral experiment of the health care changes and reduced federal bond purchasing are wild cards set amidst a rebounding housing sector, deleveraged consumers, and the certainty that we will not have a replay of the fiscal cliff.”

Other program highlights include a focus on online marketing with a presentation from Robb Zerr, marketing services manager at the state Department of Commerce, who will the discuss the importance of marketing in a digital world, the role of social media, and the benefits of

collaborative marketing.

Registration for the event is available online at www.kitsapeda.org or by calling 360-377-9499. The cost is $50 for KEDA investor partners and $75 for non-investor partners, or $450 for a 10-seat table for investor partners or $650 for non-investor partners.

Doors open and breakfast service begins at 7 a.m. and the program begins at 7:30. Visit www.kitsapeda.org for additional information. Contact Theresa Mangrum at mangrum@kitsapeda.org or 360-3779499 for additional information.

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 5

Registration is open for the 2014 Westsound Business Expo, which will be held Feb. 20 at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds and will have a Wild West theme.

Booths start at $150 for Bremerton Chamber of Commerce members, and $200 for non-members. All booths include a 10’ x 10’ space, table and two chairs, burgundy pipe and drapes, and free electricity and Wi-Fi. After Feb. 1 there will be a late registration fee of $200.

Online registration is available at: http://business.bremertonchamber.org/ events/details/2014-westsound-expo7076.

Registration forms also may be faxed to 360-479-1033, mailed with payment to Bremerton Chamber, 286 Fourth St., Bremerton, WA 98337; or dropped off at the cha mber office.

The event is free to the public and more than 1,500 people attended in 2013, and display booths are expected to sell out.

The Expo also is seeking sponsors at the Silver ($1,000) and Bronze ($500) levels; the Gold level is sold out. Sponsors receive prime booth locations and are promoted at the event and leading up to it.

Also, a maximum of 20 food sponsors are being sought; they get free booth s pace and promotion in exchange for providing food samples. There also will be space for up to 20 exhibitors in the Kids Zone that will be located on pavilion balcony. Exhibitors get free space on the balcony in exchange for providing kids activities.

For questions or more information, contact Westsound Business Expo chairman John Hunter at 360-394-5638, or any local Chamber of Commerce.

keynote address with his 2014 economic forecast, Year Five: Transitions and Experiments.

Mitchell, a former chief economist for U.S. Bancorp, is a principal at M & H Economic Consultants and economics professor at Boise State University. Known for his shrewd observations and charismatic delivery, Mitchell will discuss prospects and risks for the nation and the region in the coming year. He previewed the address saying, “We are ending year five with hope that the long anticipated pickup in the growth rate is at hand.

Food bank buys former Poulsbo RV site for its new location

By Tim Kelly, Editor Getting a new home for Christmas took more than making a wish list for North Kitsap Fishline, the agency that operates a community food bank in Poulsbo.

“We have been looking for a building for several years,” said Anne Alexander, president and five-year member of the nonprofit's board of directors. “Even before I was on the board, they were looking for an appropriate location.

“So we diligently have been putting money away to be able to put some money down and get a mortgage.”

That planning, saving and community fundraising made it possible for Fishline to buy the former Poulsbo RV site on Viking Avenue. The sale of the $900,000 property closed shortly before Christmas, and Fishline executive director Mary Nader said their operations will be moved there within a few months.

Nader said Fishline needed a larger site that was affordable, easily accessible for clients, and protective of their confidentiality. The Poulsbo RV site, with ample parking and the former showroom building located well back from passing traffic on Viking Avenue, met all those criteria.

“Originally we had hoped we could stay downtown,” Nader said. But the first time she and other staff and board members visited the RV building, “we walked in and

Tim Kelly photos

North Kitsap Fishline executive director Mary Nader shows how the food bank will be set up in its new site at the former Poulsbo RV building just off Viking Avenue. Fishline bought the building and will move out of its current location (shown at right) on Third Avenue in early 2014. said this is it.”

Fishline had outgrown the 3,100square-foot building on Third Avenue in downtown Poulsbo where the agency has been based for about 20 years. The cramped setup there doesn’t have adequate refrigerated or other storage space, so

6 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

Express yourself...

Fishline has been using multiple off-site locations for storage of the food collected on daily runs to four contributing grocery stores. Nader said that makes it difficult to track and manage inventory when they distribute several thousand pounds of food each day.

“It’s gotten to point where we’re bursting at the seams,” Alexander said.

The new building has 5,100 square feet plus additional basement storage, as well as two RV-size carports next to the building, which will provide covered outside space for supplies or waiting clients on rainy days.

If there comes a time when Fishline needs more space than what's there, adding on the building will be possible on the expansive lot.

"We know if we need to grow in the

future, we won't have to move, we'll just build out," Nader said. "There was no room for expansion (at the current site), because we were stuck in our footprint there."

The food bank used to share space in the building on Third Avenue — where parking is scarce — with Fishline's thrift store. But a few years ago the Second Season store, which provides revenue for Fishline's operations and some of the money that was saved for buying the new building, was relocated to a larger, more accessible retail space just off Front Street in the downtown shopping core.

When Fishline completes its move to the new location, it might sell the Third Avenue building, which has been appraised at around $400,000.

Fishline, page 7

Casual Waterfront Dining In Downtown Port Orchard Full Service Bar • Happy Hour Everyday • 3pm – 5pm

For fabulous food in a relaxed setting and a beautiful view of Sinclair Inlet, Amy’s On The Bay is a great choice to treat yourself to a delightful dining experience with so many wonderful dishes to try.

Gluten-free items are available.

Truly unique furniture Exceptional pricing with multiple financing options available

Mon–Fri 9am–7pm Sat 9am–6pm • Sun 11am–5pm

2601 6th Street • Downtown Bremerton 360-373-0500 Great-American-Furniture.com

Voted “Best Steak” and “Best Seafood” by the people of SK 6 years in a row!

Amy’s On The Bay Restaurant & Bar 100 Harrison Avenue, Port Orchard 360-876-1445 www.amysonthebay.com

FISHLINE

from page 6 "We're looking at different options, and that's definitely an option,' Alexander said, adding that Fishline also might keep the property and look for a tenant. "We have not made any decision at this point; we're putting our energy into getting in to the new building."

Another possibility Fishline might consider is finding a tenant to lease part of the property at the end of the 1.7-acre lot near Viking Avenue. The Poulsbo Farmers Market is looking for a new location and has been mentioned as a possible interested party.

Nader said it’s not just the size but the layout of the former RV business that will suit Fishline’s operations. Part of the building has office space for staff and a confidential intake area for clients, and at the other end is a large, two-story open area (with a familiar wall mural that will remain) for food processing space and for setting up the market.

Food bank clients always receive some staples, and they use their allotted Fishline bucks to shop for what's available in the market, where lower prices on more nutritious items are an incentive to make healthy choices. Fishline provides other

services, such as the Food for Thought program that provides supplies for weekend meals to about 150 needy kids in local schools.

Nader said Fishline has little space at its current location to accommodate more "wraparound services" for people who come to the food bank. But plans for the new building include equipping a resource room with computers clients can use for job searches or other needs, and one office that will be used for weekly visits by social service consultants that will meet with clients on a range of issues.

"It will be more like an agency like ours should be — warm, welcoming and confidential," Nader said.

Tim Kelly photo

The former Poulsbo RV site will provide ample space inside for the NK Fishline food bank and outside for parking and storage.

Planning to move in 2014?

The Hill family will help get you there...

Find out why many families on the move look to us — whether their journey is across town or around the world. We take care at every step and enjoy a long list of repeat customers. We hold the philosophy that what is precious to you is precious to us.

Young-adult author will debut new novel at South Kitsap event

Nationwide, local &

international moving Long-term heated storage

service Our people and our moving

supplies set us apart Pianos, antiques, hot tubs DOT #534666 CC43090

Office & industrial moving Display & exhibit moving Free no-obligation

estimates

800-833-9555 • hillmoving.com 360-697-3969 • 206-842-6715 26394 Pioneer Way NW Poulsbo, WA 98370

Local. Nationwide. Worldwide.

The Hill family takes the business of moving personally...

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 7

Eagle Harbor Books of Bainbridge Island has announced that author Laurie Halse Anderson, who writes young adult literature, will launch her new novel, The Impossible Knife of Memory, on Jan. 7 at a West Sound Reads event at South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard.

West Sound Reads is a collaboration between West Sound Independent Book Stores and the Kitsap Regional Library and Kitsap Regional Library Foundation. Eagle Harbor Books, working with Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo, is bringing the New York author to an area of the county with many military families. Anderson's book tells the story of a high school senior whose veteran father suffers from PTSD. Anderson, whose award-winning 1999 novel Speak was a New York Times bestseller, will be meeting with students on Bainbridge Island on Jan. 7 prior to her event at 7 p.m. in Port Orchard. A Publishers Weekly review of her new novel says: “As in Speak, Anderson provides a riveting study of a psychologically scarred teenager …”

For more information on the author, please contact Victoria Irwin at Eagle Harbor Books, 206-842-5332.

Alternative, fun ways to get and stay in shape

8 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

By Rodika Tollefson Like many people, Tessa Estreito has tried working out at the gym but couldn’t stay motivated. Her mother-in-law had taken Zumba classes, and a couple of months ago, Estreito decided to give it a try as well.

She searched for a Zumba class in Bremerton, where she lives, and found Kristen Lopez, who teaches it four times a week at the ARC. Since she started going to class three or four times a week, Estreito said she’s been in a much better mood and has already lost weight.

“I’m motivated here. The energy is amazing. You want to keep going and do your hardest,” she said. “I have no rhythm but we have so much fun, it doesn’t matter.”

Debbi Tesch, another student of Lopez’s, has lost 26 pounds since January and has been motivated to eat healthier.

She’s also made two new friends, classmates Kim Winterly and Valerie Kennedy.

“Doing this makes me happy,” Winterly said, adding that part of the appeal of the class is the comfortable atmosphere and the camaraderie.

A fitness program created by a Colombian dancer in the 1990s, Zumba has exploded in popularity around the world.

The program combines aerobics and dance, usually with a Latin theme.

For Lopez, Zumba was the way to lose the 70 pounds she gained during pregnancy.

She was so hooked, that she decided to become certified and open her own business, Bremerton Fitness (bremertonfitness.com), to teach classes.

“Dancing is a fun physical activity that releases the stress of everyday life. I think people forget it’s exercise.”

— Sheila Phillips, owner and instructor at Educated Feet

Photo caption: Rodika Tollefson photo

Participants in Kristin Lopez's Zumba class keep up with the music during a recent session.

“I went to the gym and I was intimidated. I wanted to create an atmosphere for men and women to feel comfortable,” she said.

She said it takes a beginner a couple of weeks to get used to Zumba and that the program is good for any level. “You can modify it however you want,” said Lopez, who is pregnant with her second child and plans to teach the classes until she goes into labor.

Zumba works the entire body, strengthening the core and both big and small muscles, Lopez said.

“An hour goes by very fast because you’re having fun,” she said.

Lopez also incorporates belly dancing into her program, and most of the students — currently, all women — even wear hip scarfs for those segments. Belly dance, another popular phenomenon worldwide, originates in ancient Middle East. It’s low-

impact and a good way to tone muscles and build stamina.

“The music hooked me and it hooks a lot of other people,” said Hasani Abbott, who’s been belly dancing since she was 13.

Abbott runs her own studio in Gig Harbor, Belly Dance with Hasani (hasani.net), where she teaches students as young as 5 and as old as 77.

“Above all else, what attracts people is that it’s fun. It’s exotic,” she said. Once people start learning, they realize it’s also good exercise. Performances are more aerobic than regular classes (since students constantly stop and go), but even so, dancers are building muscles and endurance while protecting their back and knees, Abbott said.

And because there are so many parts of the body that can be used, they can dance around a bad knee or shoulder or some other part.

And there’s another unexpected benefit.

“Students say their money is better spent dancing than in therapy — you can get a ‘dancer’s high’ and release endorphins,” Abbott said.

Any form of dance helps release endorphins, making people feel good and improving their self-esteem, said Sheila Phillips, owner of Educated Feet (educatedfeet.net) dance studio on Bainbridge Island. Ballroom dancing even more so, she said, because there’s an interaction with a partner.

“Dancing or moving to music has always been part of our culture, but partner dancing gives you interaction. You enjoy the give-and-take of working together to create something magical,” she said.

Although people don’t necessarily take her classes as a way to exercise, they do find that they are losing weight and building muscles, Phillips said. Not only is it a good fitness activity, ballroom dancing also helps improve posture, balance, coordination and flexibility, she said.

Phillips teaches everything from waltz and cha cha to swing. Salsa and swing are especially popular and are very aerobic.

“Dancing is a fun physical activity that releases the stress of everyday life. I think people forget it’s exercise. When you’re dancing, you don’t notice you’re working out,” she said.

Jennifer Coulter doesn’t always notice In shape, page 15

Essence of yoga: ‘It’s more than downward-facing dog’ “The thing about yoga is it's not meant to be perfection; our bodies are all put together differently.

It's a practice.”

— Jennifer Di Iorio,

Kitsap Hot Yoga

Photo courtesy Dayaalu Center

Instructor Jeny Vidal leads a large group in a yoga class on Nov. 2, the first day Dayaalu Center was open for classes in its new location at a remodeled house on Bainbridge Island.

Firefly Energy Center operates in a more affluent community in Gig Harbor, but owner Kelly Skidmore has the lowest drop-in rate for yoga classes in the area: It's always $10 per regular session because she wants to keep it simple and affordable.

Skidmore, who started teaching fitnessrelated classes when she was 18, also started on her path to a yoga-centered lifestyle because of health issues, in her case an autoimmune disorder that struck in her early 30s.

"I was ill, and yoga was utilized as

rehabilitation, and I fell in love with it because it worked," she says. "I used to teach aquatics therapy and Pilates, but when I got into the therapy and the breath work of the yoga I fell in love with it."

She shares Charters' observation about what draws a lot of people to yoga classes.

"Originally they come in and say it's for fitness, but as you talk with them, inevitably there's underlying issues," notes Skidmore, who also offers private classes for people who want that level of instruction.

"I created this more as a passion" than a business venture, she says of her center, which includes other practitioners such as massage therapists. "I have the gift of being able to offer something that I love."

She and three other instructors teach a total of about 16 classes a week at Firefly, which can accommodate up to 25 students for a class in its studio located in the Gateway Business Park. Firefly is unique in offering a child care option with its classes, through an arrangement with nearby Gateway Fitness.

Before opening Firefly more than three years ago, Skidmore taught yoga classes in gyms, wh ich weren't the ideal setting for the yoga-class ambiance she desired.

"Anywhere is better than nowhere," she says, "but my goal here was to create an ideal little yoga sanctuary."

And like any of her sister yogis would

Yoga, page 12

ed Personalizre Home Ca Services

Since 1975, ResCare has provided services that help individuals maximize their independence and quality of life.

3100 NW Bucklin Hill Rd., Suite 108 Silverdale, WA 98383

360-698-8590

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 9

By Tim Kelly, Editor Yoga studios around the Kitsap Peninsula range from an austere storefront in Bremerton to a spacious setup complete with a comfortably furnished living room in a woodsy setting on Bainbridge Island.

But regardless of where you roll out your mat for yoga classes, the instructors share essentially the same view of what yoga offers: a way to relax, focus and find a deeper connection with yourself physically and mentally. Your motivation for trying yoga may be a desire to lose weight or cope with stress; same as with some instructors for whom yoga was a lifeline to wellness when they started.

"Weight loss is probably the numberone reason people start yoga," says Carla Charters, who opened her Viva Flow Yoga studio in downtown Bremerton about a year and a half ago. "And then I have a lot of people come who are suffering from some sort of mental health issue, such as depression or anxiety.

"They're dealing with some of the same things I've dealt with in the past."

Charters, who says she grew up in a gym as the daughter of an aerobics instructor, was overweight and struggling with an anxiety disorder when she began doing yoga about 10 years ago at the recommendation of her doctor. Her sustained yoga practice helped her lose 60 pounds, and she eventually became certified as an instructor by completing a 200-hour training through Frog Lotus Yoga International in Costa Rica.

She wanted to offer the benefits of yoga to others in the community where she's lived since she was 10, so she started Viva Flow in a 700-square-foot space on Fourth Street.

The mostly unadorned room has an ecofriendly cork floor and a small display of organic cotton tees and sweatshirts for sale.

"This being a military, blue-collar area, my first challenge is educating the community about what yoga is," says Charters, who previously worked in banking for 12 years, "and debunking any myths or preconceptions."

Yoga has become mainstream enough to have jokey stereotypes associated with it.

"It's more than downward-facing dog," Charters says.

Her studio offers one of the most affordable options for getting started: $30 for a month of unlimited classes, for new students only.

In yoga, "vinyasa" or flow is a progression through a sequence of asanas (poses) linked by breathing, and Charters has an upcoming Intro to Flow Yoga Workshop on Jan. 11.

She also teaches yoga in other settings, including a recently completed eight-week workplace wellness program at the Rice Fergus Miller architecture firm in Bremerton.

Charters also has been involved in outreach at corrections facilities. She once assisted in a yoga program for military veterans serving life sentences at California's San Quentin prison, and closer to home she teaches yoga to at-risk youth in the Kitsap County juvenile detention center.

HEALTH & FITNESS

Pharmacy fills health care niche with customized medications

10 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

By Tim Kelly, Editor Patients who get customized prescription medications from Cascade Specialty Pharmacy don't necessarily get new drugs, but they may get the drugs they need in a different form. Instead of a standard capsule, the medication might be mixed into a salve or cream to be rubbed directly on an affected area and absorbed through the skin.

"Some of the newer things we’re doing are topical pain management, which delivers medications transdermally," says Brandon Knott, the certified compounding pharmacist who owns the longtime Poulsbo business. "We're using a lot of the same medications people take orally, but you don’t get the side effects."

Knott explains that a compounding pharmacy is able to provide “personalized” medications in which ingredients are mixed together in a specific strength and dosage form tailored for an individual patient. And if a patient is allergic or has sensitivities to certain standard ingredients or fillers, the medication is prepared without using those.

“Basically everything we make is not commercially available,” he says.

Medications from his pharmacy are frequently used in hormone replacement therapy for both women, who may not want synthetic hormones, and for men, Knott says.

“This time of year we’re doing a lot of topicals for people with chronic sinusitis,” he adds.

Another group of patients is people who want to minimize the effects of scarring as they recover from surgery or wounds.

Knott says the pharmacy makes customized preparations for scarring that use a unique

compounding-only pharmacy since 2000.

Although the business is licensed as a community retail pharmacy, the same as a conventional drug store, it doesn't have the aisles of health and beauty products and general merchandise found at chains such as Walgreens or Rite Aid. "We just have chosen to focus on our niche," Brandon Knott says. The pharmacy's only retail display in the small area where Tim Kelly photo customers enter is an array of Brandon Knott is the certified compounding pharmacist high-grade nutritional who owns and operates Cascade Specialty Pharmacy, supplements. formerly called Poulsbo Compounding Pharmacy.

Knott came from Florida to base and combine different medications to Poulsbo because of his wife's connections help regulate the healing process for those with the place and the previous owners. patients.

She's from the Seattle area and a highlight “It takes time and expertise,” he says of of childhood visits to Poulsbo with her pharmaceutical compounding. Knott grandmother was stopping at Sluy's Bakery. earned his certification through Also, Michelle Knott's mother and Sally Professional Compounding Centers of Kvan were college roommates at the America and he has a Doctor of Pharmacy University of Washington. degree from the University of Florida.

"We have not made any dramatic changes He notes that compounding pharmacies at all," Brandon says, except for changing the used to be the norm and filled nearly all pharmacy's name a few months ago. That prescriptions until the 1950s, when mass was done because they wanted a name to drug manufacturing began to create the reflect the regional scope of their business, modern pharmaceutical industry. which is the only compounding pharmacy Knott and his wife, Michelle, bought the on the Kitsap Peninsula and one of only two business — formerly known as Poulsbo in Western Washington outside the SeattleCompounding Pharmacy — two years ago Tacoma area. after Brandon had worked there for a "Poulsbo only has so many doctors, couple years with Craig and Sally Kvan, Silverdale only has so many doctors," he who had owned the business since 1977. says. "We’re not here just for Poulsbo, it's The original business was started in 1929 really for everybody in the st ate of by a pharmacist named Thor Guldjord, and Washington." the Kvans had operated it primarily as a They mail out many prescriptions, and work with patients and doctors in Kitsap and Pierce counties, and are making connections in King County as well. Part of * Knott's time is spent visiting doctors' offices and clinics to let them know about how a compounding pharmacy can contribute to patient care, particularly in the area of pain

New Year Special First Month

FREE $20.14 PER PERSON INITIATION FEE *Expiration 1/31/14

Fully Equipped Fitness Facilities : *

Group exercise classes • Full Gym • Racquetball court Fully equip equipped weight floor & cardio theater Wellness center offering yoga

Specialty Services : *

Massage Therapy & Spa Services Personal Training

24 HOUR ACCESS FACILITY! Serving Kitsap County for 26 years!

Staffed Hours: Mon - Fri 6am-9pm Saturday 8am-4pm • Sunday 10am-3pm Sat

871-3433 4459 Mile Hill Dr. Port Orchard

www.olyfitness.com

management.

"You just want to let them know you’re a resource; when they do have a problematic patient, we’re the person to call," says Knott, whose staff includes one other pharmacist, Angela Van Wyck, who also worked for the previous owners, and several pharmacy assistants.

The marketing contacts are part of a small business owner's varied duties. "I wear many hats," he says. "I have to be clinical as a pharmacist, I have to the HR director, the director of marketing, and operations manager."

Cascade Specialty Pharmacy is also a resource for veterinarians; a significant amount of its business is customized prescriptions that are administered to pets and other animals.

In the realm of human patients, one of the biggest recent changes has been to allow compounding pharmacies to bill insurance companies.

"That really made it more available to people," Knott says. "People with a prescription insurance plan, we can bill (the insurer) directly.

"That’s probably the biggest change we’ve made business-wise, was signing up with insurance companies."

Running a local pharmacy has been a welcome change for Knott, who previously worked in a much larger setting at the University of Florida medical center.

"I really like working with people, and providing a service for people, and this gave me the opportunity to get real personal with people again," he says. Also, it's rewarding to be part of a medical team caring for patients who are more than a name on a prescription label.

"When you’re personalizing medicine, there’s a triad — the patient, the prescriber (a doctor or maybe RNP) and the pharmacist. The three of us have to work together to come up with the right solution for the patient," Knott says. "If I create a plan, I’m vested in it working for you."

New Madrona House offers memory-care housing section

By Rodika Tollefson Bainbridge Senior Living opened a new premier assisted-living and memory-care community on Bainbridge Island in November called Madrona House. The 50,000-square-foot, four-story facility includes 21 luxury assisted-living units on the first two floors and four pods, or “neighborhoods,” on the top two floors.

Each pod can accommodate up to 15 people.

Madrona House is the fourth Senior Living location on the island and the only one that offers memory care. The company has two other assisted-living sites as well as an independent retirement complex. Don Roose, Bainbridge Senior Living (bainbridgeseniorliving.com) CEO, said the driving force behind the hybrid assisted-living and memory-care model was the need to give residents who develop dementia more options. “There’s nothing of significance for higher level of care on Bainbridge Island and they’ve had to move to Poulsbo, Silverdale or Seattle,” he said.

Architect Cihan (John) Anisoglu understands that dilemma firsthand: His late father had Alzheimer’s. He moved him to Bainbridge from Florida and when his father had a stroke and needed a higher level of care, the choices were limited.

“There was only one place on the island.

It was very institutionalized and not a pleasant place to go,” Anisoglu said. “I knew

Paul Sanders Photography

The dining room in the assisted-living area of the newly opened Madrona House on Bainbridge Island. it had to be a better way.”

Anisoglu used that personal experience, along with extensive research, to design a place that was friendly both to residents and family members.

“What I found (through the research) is two things: One, if you can make a place as homelike as possible, the residents do

better and the family is more comfortable with it. Two, in order to do that, you need to keep the scale of the space to a homelike scale,” he said.

The “neighborhoods” help create that homelike feeling, Anisoglu said. Each of the pods is self-contained and has its own activity area and dining room.

Roose said the ratio on the memory-care floors is four residents to one caregiver.

“They can group people with similar conditions and have trained personnel at each level,” Roose said.

Pat March, a Poulsbo resident whose mother is at Madrona House’s memory care, said the place feels comfortable, more like a home and not like a nursing facility.

She and her sister chose Madrona after considering two other areas. They can visit their mother any time, and the staff is very open to phone calls when they can’t visit, March said.

“They seem to be trying to make residents feel very comfortable and safe,” she said.

Madrona House has been in the works for about five years. Roose, who opened his first property 23 years ago, said some of the things that are different on the assistedliving side include a physical therapy department and a spa.

“One of the things we tried to do here — this comes from the idea that the elderly deserve a little luxury in their lives — was to add some nice touches of luxury,” Anisoglu said. “It feels like a fancy place.”

He said that doesn’t necessarily increase the price, thanks to the partnership between him as the architect, Roose as the operator, and the contractor, Rolf Hogger Madrona, page 15

4

EXPIRES 1/31/2014

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 11

2014

HEALTH & FITNESS

YOGA

Yoga studios on the Kitsap Peninsula

from page 9 tell you, yoga is suitable for almost anyone because it doesn't require a high level of fitness or flexibility to get started.

"I would say one of the most beneficials things of starting yoga is self-awareness," Skidmore says. "I always say this is not about the pose, it's about listening to your body."

"The thing about yoga is it's not meant to be perfection; our bodies are all put together differently," adds Jennifer Di Iorio.

"It's a practice."

Di Iorio runs one of the newer studios, Kitsap Hot Yoga that opened about a year ago in Poulsbo, and she cranks up the temperature to 105-110 degrees for some classes. Her website's slogan is "where hot bodies are made."

A hot body is not the goal for all who attend classes. A man at Kitsap Hot Yoga for a recent morning class wanted to improve his mental focus for an upcoming casino poker tournament.

In January there will be a special partners class for $20 per couple, and new visitors are offered a complimentary first class and an introductory week for $15 at the studio.

Di Iorio still works part-time as a personal trainer at a gym while she's building up the student base for her yoga classes, and she

• Viva Flow Yoga, 515 Fourth St. in Bremerton, vivaflowyoga.com, 360-471-0556, Carla Charters • Kitsap Hot Yoga, 20714 State Route 305, Suite 3C, Poulsbo, kitsaphotyoga.com, 360-779YOGA (9642), Jennifer Di Iorio • Expansions Yoga, 9479 Bayshore Drive, Silverdale, expansionsyoga.com, 360-990YOGA (9642), Cynthia Land and Lisa Ballou, co-directors.

Tim Kelly photo

Carla Charters teaches classes at her studio, Viva Flow Yoga in Bremerton, as well as for youth in the Kitsap County juvenile detention center. thinks the trend among a lot of healthconscious people is toward smaller "boutique fitness" settings like yoga studios.

Cynthia Land, whose Expansions Yoga

in Silverdale has been around the longest of area studios, says classes in mass-oriented settings like the Haselwood YMCA aren't conducive to one-on-one attention that's

• Dayaalu Center (formerly The Island Yoga Space), 159 Wyatt Way NE, Bainbridge Island, dayaalucenter.com, 206-4369388, Sue Steindorf • Bainbridge Yoga House, 7861 NE Day Road, Suite 214, Bainbridge Island, bainbridgeyogahouse.com, 206451-4796, Jen Lasher Breen

12 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

• Mountain Yoga & Pilates, 510 Dekalb St., Port Orchard, mountainyogaandpilates.com, 360-519-7557, Anna Berntson 360-516-3388, Jennifer Wiebusch • Firefly Energy Center, located in Gateway Business Park, 2605 Jahn Ave. NW, Suite D-4, Gig Harbor, fireflyenergycenter.com, 253-509-2304, Kelly Skidmore • Bikram Yoga, 5401 32nd Ave. NW, Gig Harbor, bikramyogagigharbor.com, 253470-6768, Margi Montgomery possible in small yoga classes.

"When I taught at the Y you would get the physical postures," she says, but it was rather generic yoga. "I wouldn't talk about the philosophical or spiritual aspects.

"When you come into a studio, you're going to get ... a much richer experience."

Land has taught yoga since 2002 and opened Expansions in 2005 in the small, bare-bones room she leases that doubles as space for her massage practice. A onetime news reporter for a Seattle radio station, Land co-owns the business with Lisa Ballou, who started Kitsap TriBabes to coach athletes for triathlons. They have a $10 drop-in rate for hourlong classes and $13 for longer ones, as well as monthly Yoga, page 28

ACA enrollments top target, but exchange still has issues

By Rodika Tollefson More than 5,800 Kitsap residents had enrolled in the state’s health benefit exchange through November. The majority of them qualified for Medicaid — only 735 signed up for private plans, both subsidized and unsubsidized.

Kitsap reflects the statewide trend. Of the more than 179,000 enrollments, more than 159,000 are for Medicaid.

Individuals had until Dec. 23 to enroll for coverage that starts on Jan. 1. The state, however, extended the payment deadline to Jan. 15 for those who’ve tried to complete enrollment by Dec. 23 but received error messages. December enrollment figures will not be available until mid-January.

The Washington Health Benefit Exchange’s target was 130,000 enrollments

by Jan. 1, spokesperson Bethany Frey said.

Not only did 179,330 people complete the registration, but another 126,000 were in process before Dec. 1.

The largest category of those enrolled in the private plans is in the 55-64 age group.

“That’s not terribly surprising, given the fact their incomes are higher and they’ve likely had insurance before,” Frey said.

Of the 20,144 people who enrolled in a private plan, 59 percent opted for the silver level, which pays 70 percent of covered benefits (vs. 80 percent at gold level and 60 percent at bronze).

The state marketplace, called

Healthplanfinder, has experienced a few hiccups since going online on Oct. 1. Some enrollees got the wrong subsidy rates. A few providers, including Harrison, were erroneously left out of some carriers’ preferred provider network at first. And in December, as the deadline for signing up loomed, the system was so sluggish that it prompted a shutdown for several days.

Whether it was the various glitches, including error codes, or other factors, the benefit exchange call center has been overwhelmed with calls. Frey said the center has received eight to 10 times the projected call volumes. The staff was expected to be doubled by Dec. 16 in order to better handle the volume.

According to a Washington Healthplanfinder report, the center handled nearly 35,000 calls through November. And while almost 158,000 calls were throttled (throttling refers to asking callers to leave their number to be called back when their turn comes), the total call volume was just under 70,000.

The frustration on the part of consumers has led to an increased number of calls to brokers like Nancy Giacolone, who owns Olympic Crest Insurance in Gig Harbor.

“You can’t get ahold of anybody (in the call center),” she said.

Some of the concerns she’s hearing from people are regarding premiums — for some clients, they have doubled because of the

Harrison Medical Center left out of UnitedHealthcare network About 1,200 Kitsap residents with health insurance through UnitedHealthcare will no longer be able to use Harrison Medical Center as their in-network provider.

UnitedHealthcare dropped the hospital system from coverage at the end of November after negotiations with Harrison failed to reach an agreement on reimbursement rates.

Harrison CEO Scott Bosch wrote in a letter sent to patients that UnitedHealthcare has refused to negotiate “reasonable rate terms,” and that Harrison is disappointed “we’ve been unable to reach an agreement with UnitedHealthcare regarding fair payment for our physician and hospital services.”

UnitedHealthcare reportedly disputed its refusal to negotiate. In a statement sent to the Kitsap Sun, it said, “We extended a good-faith contract offer to Harrison Medical Center that provides value and allows us to maintain affordable health care options for our members in Washington. Unfortunately, Harrison Medical Center requested rates 24 percent higher than what our competitors pay.”

A Harrison spokesperson said the rates it requested were in line with other insurance carriers’ but what UnitedHealthcare was offering wasn’t enough to cover expenses.

The change does not impact UnitedHealthcare coverage for Medicaid, Medicare and TRICARE plans. Although Harrison recently became affiliated with Franciscan Health Systems, FHS services also remain covered, including St. Anthony’s Hospital in Gig Harbor. type of plans they had in the past. Another concern is that many people don’t realize not all plans are created equal when it comes to in-network providers. For example, she said, RidgeSpan is not contracting with Franciscan Health System, which includes St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, while Premera BlueCross doesn’t include MultiCare.

“It’s a big deal because it’s not wellpublicized in the exchange what plans are aligned with what provider groups,” she said.

“You need to be very careful about that.”

People shopping for plans through the exchange can enter a hospital or an individual provider’s name to check the Exchange, page 25

Small employers can still get tax credit despite delay of SHOP November that its online access to the SHOP is being delayed by a year. Instead, employers would have to enroll into a federally run SHOP plan through an agent, insurer or broker.

Since the Office of the Insurance Commissioner in Washington state announced this fall that the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest was the only insurance carrier in Washington state that opted to offer SHOP — and only in two counties — businesses have been scrambling to figure out their options. Little information was available even from the insurance commissioner’s office, which referred inquiries to the IRS. Nancy Giacolone, owner and president of Olympic Crest Insurance in Gig Harbor, said some of her clients chose to drop employee coverage as a result, in some cases offering employees cash to buy their own health insurance. Many others opted for early renewal in December so their plans could remain on the so-called composite rating instead of an individual one. The composite rating, Giacolone explained, means the premium rates are flat whereas the individual ones are based on age.

“That’s hard to budget for a small business,” she said.

In mid-December, the Office of the Employers, page 15

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 13

By Rodika Tollefson One of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act was a tax credit for small employers that pay their employees’ healthinsurance premiums. In 2010 through 2013, companies that have fewer than 25 employees and meet a few other criteria could receive up to 35 percent of the premiums back in tax credits. So far, more than $1 billion has been provided in credits, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2014, the ACA mandated those employers to buy their plans through the state or federal exchanges to receive the credit, which was increased to 50 percent maximum and made available for two years.

There was only one problem: In Washington state, the small business exchange program, called Small Business Health Options Program or SHOP, is only available in two counties, Cowlitz and Clark. SHOP is similar to the individual health exchange in that it allows employers with 50 workers or fewer — employers that under the ACA don’t have to offer health insurance — to shop for and enroll directly into the available plans.

SHOP ran into a glitch at the federal level as well. Following highly publicized problems with the federal exchange online system, the government said in late

HEALTH & FITNESS

ALZHEIMER’S

from page 1 in dementia diagnosis and awareness in the past 20 years.

“One of the challenges we’re faced with is we hear from our constituents that doctors are uncomfortable talking about dementia. Often times, families don’t know where to go for help,” said Keri Pollock, communications director for the Alzheimer’s Association Western and Central Washington State Chapter, based in Seattle.

At the same time, Pollock said they’re seeing increased demand for their services, which range from support groups and education to a 24-hour crisis hotline.

And demand isn’t likely to decrease any time soon. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that about 5.1 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (the most common form of dementia) and expects the number to double in the coming years. The Alzheimer’s Association is less conservative — its outlook is for 16 million people, more than triple growth, by 2050.

“There’s a huge concern about the number of people who could be experiencing some type of dementia down the road,” said Joanne Maher, programs and services director at the Seattle Alzheimer’s Association chapter. “There is no question a lot of people are looking at it as a public health concern.”

14 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

A growing concern Dementia is a common term for cognitiveimpairment conditions whose main symptoms are loss of memory and other brain functions. It includes Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, but Alzheimer’s and associated dementias are the most common type.

Alzheimer’s — an irreversible, progressive and fatal disease — is the sixth-leading cause of death for people 65 and older in the United States and the third-leading one in Washington, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Alzheimer’s has no cure and medications don’t change the clinical course of the disease but only help to delay it — and they’re not effective for everyone.

There’s no definitive cause or trigger for the disease but researchers believe the cause is based on a combination of genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Research has shown that factors like obesity, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes increase the risk.

“Those risk factors are similar to heart disease,” said Dr. Donald Bright, a neurologist in Bremerton. “All those things increase your chances of Alzheimer’s and may increase when it appears.”

Typically people develop dementia signs in their 70s, and prevalence doubles for every five-year interval beyond age 65. There are also many cases of so-called “early onset,” before 65. It’s often difficult to distinguish between Alzheimer’s and other dementias because of the common symptoms, and many

10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s 1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life 2. Challenges in planning or solving problems 3. Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure 4. Confusion with time or place 5. Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships 6. New problems with words in speaking or writing 7. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps 8. Decreased or poor judgment 9. Withdrawal from work or social activities 10. Changes in mood and personality • For more detailed information about what are typical age-related changes, an expanded version of this article is on our website: kpbj.com. people present with a mix of dementias.

A definitive diagnosis can only be based on a brain autopsy but Bright said cognitive tests and “the story” help with the correct diagnosis about 85 percent of the time.

Research brings some hope that modifying some of the risk factors — through better lifestyle and education — can help push the disease to later years. A perspectives article published in the New England Journal of Medicine in November said recent studies, largely done in Europe, point to declining “age-specific prevalence” of dementia among people born later in the first half of the 20th century, and links that decline to better education and greater economic wellbeing — although the extent of the positive impact is unknown.

Dr. Eric B. Larson, a co-author of the journal article and the executive director and vice president of research at Group Health Institute in Seattle, said the good news is that dementia prevalence rates would be worse “had the epidemic not been declining” because people are living longer and baby boomers are reaching old age in “dramatic numbers.”

“For many, many years we thought we couldn’t do anything about this condition — that if you got old, you would get dementia,” said Larson, who’s been conducting research since the ’70s and is also an adjunct professor at the University of Washington. “Just the fact that the rates are going down indicates the disease itself is modifiable. (And) you can expect (the risk) factors, if promoted, would further reduce the condition — and it’s very important to discover through research if there are other factors that may reduce it.”

His own study conducted 10 years ago showed that exercising three days a week reduced the risk of the disease by 30 to 40 percent. “That’s more potent than any pill on the market,” he said.

Gail Bosch, along with many others who work with dementia patients at the ground level, is skeptical about the decline in rates. A certified geriatric pharmacist, Bosch has been facilitating an Alzheimer’s Association support group in Bremerton as a volunteer for eight years. “The study didn’t look at lowincome people. … The American population is more diverse and there are definitely cultural differences in how people eat and in

their lifestyles,” she said.

One positive change Bosch has seen is not only increased awareness but better differential diagnosis. “Twenty years ago, every chart said ‘organic brain syndrome’ in a nursing home. It was a catch-all term,” she said. “Doctors are much more comfortable making diagnosis nowadays.”

The new generations of physicians are especially paying attention. Dr. Young-ki Paik, a gerontologist who started his practice at The Doctors Clinic in Bremerton in August, said he tries to conduct at least a short screening for dementia for every patient he sees. The screening can help determine whether the memory loss is a normal aging process or is due to dementia. A short screening takes about 10 minutes — but even so, it can be challenging to spare that time because of the way the healthcare system is set up, Paik said.

“Dementia has been very neglected,” he said. “It’s not a comfortable topic to talk about. Some patients are not happy to hear about it and doctors don’t want to deliver bad news.”

Although physicians specializing in geriatrics and gerontology, like Paik, are especially trained in aging-related diseases, Paik said the training in medical school now emphasizes those topics even for general practitioners because of the aging population.

“Any practitioner can screen for dementia, it’s just a matter of how comfortable they are in doing it and educating the patients about the course of the disease and what they should expect,” he said.

But patients and their family members are becoming savvier themselves. “We are noticing people are becoming more aware of symptoms and signs and wondering if they or loved ones have dementia,” Maher said.

“People … are acting on it.”

A societal issue The costs of caring for Alzheimer’s are expected to increase dramatically as the population ages. In 2013, direct costs of caring were estimated at $203 billion, including $142 billion in Medicare and Medicaid. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that costs for health care, long-term care and hospice for dementia patients will grow to $1.2 trillion by 2050 (not adjusted for inflation).

Dementia can be a financial drain for a patient and family, too. Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term care and private care can cost around $6,000-$7,000 a month, in Bosch’s estimate. As the disease progresses, however, a person eventually needs that care around the clock.

“People spend their retirement money on caregivers,” Bosch said.

Family members, frequently, end up being unpaid caregivers. In Washington state, their numbers were estimated at 310,000 in 2010 and 323,000 in 2013, with the value of their total unpaid caregiving at $4.5 million in 2013 alone (nationwide, the value of unpaid care was valued at $216 billion in 2012.)

“What we badly need is research to find a cure,” Bosch said. “Until we have answers and researchers have an agreement on what the trigger is, it’s impossible to find a cure.”

In January 2011, President Obama signed the National Alzheimer’s Project Act with the goal of creating a plan for overcoming the disease, coordinating research and improving patient outcomes. The Obama administration allocated an additional $130 million for research in fiscal years 2012 and 2013, an increase of 25 percent. By comparison, the National Cancer Institute alone receives $4.9 billion per year from Congress. At the same time, the number of deaths from Alzheimer’s has increased by 68 percent between 2000 and 2010 while decreasing from the other major leading causes, including prostate cancer and breast cancer.

“The money spent on cancer has helped show drastic reduction in rates but Alzheimer’s is not even in the ballpark (for funding),” Bosch said.

Dementia has become a global issue, too, estimated to cost $604 billion a year worldwide.

A group of 112 international scientific and medical dementia experts from 36 countries, including Larson of the Group Health Institute, convened at a G8 summit on dementia in December. They issued a statement saying that the prevention of risk factors could avert up to 20 percent of new cases by 2025 and that as many as half of Alzheimer’s disease cases worldwide could be attributable to the known risk factors. They said prevention was a “powerful additional approach” to drug development and called on governments to urgently support more research.

“About half of the large decline in deaths from heart disease and stroke over the past 50 years has been the result of public health measures to modify risk factors. We are confident that the same approach will work for dementia,” read part of their statement, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Bright, the Bremerton neurologist, agrees that dementia research should be a priority and says part of the issue is the fact that the disease affects mostly elderly people.

“There are societal issues on how do we care for our elders,” he said. “If we improve medicine and nutrition so we live longer, we need to deal with conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

EMPLOYERS

IN SHAPE

from page 13

from page 8

Insurance Commissioner said the federal government has made an exception for Washington state (except for Clark and Cowlitz counties), allowing small businesses that would have qualified for SHOP to still get the tax credit while buying insurance through other avenues. The exception also applies to several counties without the state SHOP in Wisconsin. The IRS issued a notice, No. 2014-06, with guidance regarding the “transition relief.”

The notice will be published in an IRS bulletin on Jan. 6.

As of mid-December, no employers from Clark and Cowlitz had enrolled through the SHOP, according to Catherine Bailey, manager of Washington Health Benefit Exchange’s SHOP. Several have signed up for accounts, however, and many don’t have open enrollment until later in the year, she added.

She said the state is still in discussions with insurance carriers about offering SHOP plans in 2015. “We’re getting positive response but no commitments so far,” she said. “We’re still encouraged by what the SHOP program can offer in the future. It will be the first time a small employer can make common-sense, appleto-apple comparisons for rates and provide their employees with additional choices.”

Giacolone remains skeptical. She’s not convinced the SHOP, when available, will be the easiest option for businesses. “I’m not really sure it will be as effective,” she said. “There are so many decisions to make and it’s a complicated process.”

when she’s working out either — only she’s not dancing, she’s hula hooping. Coulter got into hula hooping more than three years ago after watching a video on YouTube. She was immediately hooked and started making her own hoops. When she couldn’t find classes to take locally, she took training to become a certified instr uctor.

Coulter taught several sessions around Mason County including Belfair, and after taking a year off in 2013, is starting to teach again. She’s planning to launch a class in January in Bremerton through a MOPS

(Mothers of Preschoolers) group, and the class will be open to the general public.

“Hula hooping is fun because it’s something you’re not going to be bored doing; you can even do it while watching your favorite show,” she said.

That’s exactly what she did to build up her stamina.

“I would lose track of time while watching a show and hooping. You don’t realize you’re working out but at the end, you sweat,” she said.

The exercises are low-impact and good

for all ages, but Coulter (jenncoulter@gmail.com) notes a higher interest among the older generation.

“It reminds them of being a kid,” she said. “They grew up with hula hoops.”

Whatever alternative to the gym may strike your fancy, Phillips said it’s important when dancing, or performing any other physical activity, to warm up the body, do stretches and drink plenty of water.

“Don’t push yourself, especially if you’re a beginner,” she said. “Give your body a chance to adjust.”

MADRONA

from page 11

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 15

of MRJ Constructors, LLC. “We did a lot of pounding the pavement to get a good deal,” Anisoglu said. “It was a lot of personal effort, a labor of love. Because all the players were (managing) partners, this was not a typical project.”

Another element of the luxury lifestyle concept is the dining. Gourmet meals, prepared by professional chefs, are served throughout the day instead of being scheduled.

Roose noted that Madrona House has a state-of-the art, wireless-based communication system. Every resident room has an emergency pull-chord. Staff carry wireless handheld phones that are tied into the communication system. When a pull-chord is used, it tells the staff both its location and the resident’s name.

“The system is much more streamlined and if a resident has a problem, we have the ability to get to them instantly,” Roose said, adding that residents also wear emergency devices on their wrists or around their necks.

Madrona House had 12 residents in mid-December, with 15 others scheduled to move in. When filled, the site will employ as many as 50 people.

Free clinic serves the uninsured, underinsured in need

16 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

By Rodika Tollefson For the past year, many West Sound residents who cannot afford health care have been receiving a variety of medical services, thanks to volunteer physicians and other medical providers operating under the auspices of West Sound Free Clinic.

The mobile West Sound Free Clinic — what may be the first-ever free clinic in Kitsap — opened in October 2012 under the umbrella of Christian Medical Response Team, a Silverdale-based nonprofit founded by local physician Dan Diamond. The clinic, which sees patients about three times a month at specific sites, operates out of a retired ambulance and with supplies donated by CMRT. Four volunteer physicians, a nurse practitioner and two registered nurses offer medical screenings, triage and other care.

Patients are served on the honor system, with no proof of income required. The clinic targets uninsured and underinsured individuals and works largely with homeless teens and adults as well as immigrant communities.

“Most of what can be done at a doctor’s office can be done (at the mobile clinic) but it’s somewhat limited by the fact there’s not a lot of space to examine patients,” said Pat Tracy, a retired family physician who volunteers regularly for the clinics.

“Anything from coughs and fevers to stomach ache and sprained ankles — we can at least get it started.”

Retired physicians and West Sound Free Clinic volunteers Dr. Pat Tracy, left, and Dr. Jim Baker stand next to the clinic’s “headquarters,” a retired ambulance, at a Stand Down for Vets event last April.

West Sound Free Clinic For more information about West Sound Free Clinic, email Carrie Bivens at carriebivens@cmrt.org or call (206) 659-5631. For more about Christian Medical Response Team, go to cmrt.org.

Courtesy photo

During the first year of operations, West Sound Free Clinic saw 202 patients, some of them more than once. Almost all were adults.

In addition to offering primary care, the clinic has several partners for patients who need other services. PACLAB donates lab services and InHealth Imaging does pro

bono X-rays. United Way provides vouchers up to $10 that patients can redeem for medication at Fred Meyer pharmacies.

West Sound Free Clinic also works with Project Access Northwest, which provides specialty and dental care.

The clinic has been the dream of local nurse practitioner Tanya Spoon and registered nurse Carrie Bivens. The two have been volunteering for the Christian Medical Response Team and wanted to do more medical care events locally. When they heard about Tracy retiring from The Doctors Clinic, things started falling into place.

Tracy was already set to volunteer after retirement. He had taken a course in tropical medicine, with the idea of going to places like Africa.

“People in the health-care field are hardwired to use our skills and gifts, and not just stop when you don’t have an office,” Tracy said.

He learned about the local needs from an organizer of a veterans’ event, and realized there was no free clinic in Kitsap.

“Dr. Tracy retiring and being available was perfect,” said Givens, who is the clinic’s co-director with Spoon.

The organization does special events, such as Stand Down for Veterans and Day of Hope, and hosts monthly clinics in Bremerton at the Coffee Oasis for teens and at the Kitsap Rescue Mission’s The Hub for Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center. It previously had another monthly clinic at KRM, largely working with the Clinic, page 17

Harrison begins transition to new e-records system

By Rodika Tollefson With Harrison Medical Center’s affiliation with Franciscan Health System completed, one of the changes Harrison is making is to its electronic health records system. Harrison will be switching to Epic, an EHR vendor that Franciscan began using last year.

Franciscan began the transition to Epic last summer, and the completed phases include St. Anthony Hospital among other facilities. Work on the Harrison transition also has begun, but the implementation will be done in one phase instead and the new system is expected to go live in July.

Franciscan’s chief nursing officer, Laurie Brown, said the organization had been using a different EHR vendor but decided to switch because Epic offers better options. It’s also widely used by many

health-care providers in the Northwest.

“It helps us improve quality, improve the patient experience and reduce costs,” she said.

Harrison started its move to electronic records more than four years ago, a $30.5 million project that took several stages. The current software doesn’t integrate the data from different modules, however, instead is allows the modules to interface. For example, imaging and labs may be in one system while inpatient data or billing in another.

“Epic is much smoother and there’s no need to log into a new system each time or wait for data to transfer,” said Adar Palis, Harrison’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.

The move to a new system would be different than the move from paper to electronic records, he said, especially since

Harrison is not building a system from scratch. Catholic Health Initiative, Franciscan’s parent organization, is investing $150 million into Epic, including the costs for implementation at Harrison.

“One of the advantages of our affiliation with Franciscan is that Epic is not something we would be able to implement on our own,” Palis said.

Patients will notice one big difference once the system is in place at Harrison: They’ll be able to access their charts online and see much of the same information the doctor has. Called MyChart, the system allows for secure access to lab results, appointment scheduling and other functions. Eventually, Franciscan also plans to use Epic’s mobile app.

As part of its original EHR implementation, Harrison extended the

infrastructure and support to providers from the community who didn’t have their own electronic records. Palis said that program will transition to a local company for support. Once Franciscan completes its core systemwide implementation of Epic, it would look at a similar program for community partners, Brown said.

Brown said Franciscan has received positive feedback both from providers and patients after switching to Epic. Patients like using MyChart and physicians and staff like the faster access and more detailed information.

“It does take some time to adjust to a different workflow, but I think everyone can see the potential and embraces it,” Brown said. “They are impressed with the ability to see all the information and have access at their fingertips.”

Give E-Cycle Washington a holiday gift of your old TV growing category of municipal waste in the U.S., with more than 80 percent of that waste ending up in landfills.

With this in mind, this holiday season ECycle Washington would like to encourage state residents to dispose of their unwanted electronics by taking them to a registered ECycle collector (a list of which can be found here). By doing so, they'll not only be reducing waste, but sourcing devices and material for refurbishment and reuse. For example, around 29 percent of computers collected by E-Cycle are repaired and resold. Through this process, E-Cycle has created more than 125 local jobs; yet another reason to support and utilize it.

This program marked its fifth anniversary in October, announcing that since its launch in January 2009, it has kept more than 200 million pounds of electronics out of landfills.

"Along with providing a means to recycle the glass, plastic and other materials that electronic devices contain, E-Cycle keeps a huge amount of toxic materials out of the environment," said Miles Kuntz, program manager. "For example, it is estimated that E-Cycle has recycled more than 13 million pounds of lead over the past

CLINIC

sometime this spring.

The group hopes to expand to the south and north ends of the county but needs more physicians to do that. What makes this work appealing as a volunteer, Tracy said, is being part of a team that works “with the common goal of helping folks that are marginalized.” And it’s not just about the medical care, Bivens said.

“We are able to show people love, and a lot of people have not experienced love in a long time,” she said. “I think that’s what brings back our volunteers time after time.”

from page 16 homeless, but is currently looking for a new partner site.

Long-range goals include the purchase of a mobile van, which is estimated to cost $150,000-$200,000.

“We are very low-budget and so far rely on private donations,” Bivens said. The van would require a capital campaign, and the clinic’s board of directors plans to create a strategic plan and to kick off fundraising

five years. That's a huge win for Washington residents and the environment."

E-Cycle has had amazing success so far, but its future depends on the residents it serves. So give your old electronics a proper

sendoff, and help support this important program by turning e-waste into E-Cycle.

For more information about E-Cycle Washington, or to find a collection site, go to www.ecyclewashington.org.

• Source: E-Cycle Washington

“Partners in Business” “We do business with NW Commnet because they are able to provide connectivity through all of our sites — we have offices in Poulsbo, Port Orchard, Bremerton and Silverdale.

“Some of the files, MRIs, etc. are quite large, but are transmitted quickly.

“NW Commnet has been fast to respond, and assisted us, even when the issue was not theirs. We are very happy with their service.”

— Clark Eklund, IT Manager AMI, Advanced Medical Imaging

360-613-5220 • TELEBYTE.COM

360-373-2137 • NW-COMMNET.COM

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 17

PRNewswire SEATTLE — As people receive the latest HDTV or iPad this holiday season, it's not just the wrapping paper and ribbon they'll be throwing out: Their old, outdated TVs and desktop PCs could also be heading for the landfill, or even a developing nation ... unless they've heard about E-Cycle Washington.

E-Cycle Washington is a collaborative effort supported by electronics manufacturers, collectors, recyclers, retailers, local and state governments and nonprofit groups. E-Cycle has 330 collection centers throughout the state that collect 3,000 devices per day. All costs to collect, transport and recycle the devices are paid for by manufacturers, who have provided more than $47 million for the program since 2008.

With the onset of holiday shopping, retailers are expecting sharp surges in electronics purchases. However, E-Cycle's affiliates, such as Total Reclaim and RE-PC, report that, despite the increase in electronics buying, they don't notice a corresponding spike in collections during the holidays. This is a disturbing fact; according to the EPA, e-waste is the fastest-

Waste Wise @ Work

Newsletter — January 2014

Waste Reduction for Local Businesses We are

Waste Wise @ Work

18 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

We’d like to recognize the following businesses who have met the membership criteria and are now official members of the program:

Art Anderson Associates Bainbridge Island Historical Museum Bremerton Chamber of Commerce Bremerton Tennis and Athletic Club Clark Whitney, PS Cox and Lucy, CPA Dispute Resolution Center of Kitsap County Ed’s Fly Meat Eddie Bauer Express Services Plumbing Fisher Distinctive Dentistry Herdman Plumbing Hope Center Island Health and Chiropractic Kitsap Sun Kitsap Bank Kingston Branch Kitsap Bank Bainbridge Island Branch Michael Angelo Construction, Inc. Military Air Cargo Novus Windshield Repair Office Xpats Olympic Printer Resources, Inc. Pacific Northwest Title Peace Lutheran School & Church Peninsula Fleet Services Prototype Tooling & Fabrication SC Fuels Seabeck Conference Center Sound Appraisal Group The Greater Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce The Island School Wall Liebert & Lund P.S. Wet Apple Media

Your company can reduce waste, too!

Complete a Waste Wise @ Work Membership Application On Our Website

Go Green in 2014! New Year’s Resolutions to Help Your Business and the Planet.

The New Year is an excellent time to make a resolution to improve business practices. Improving your business’s environmental practices can cut costs, as well as help the environment. Kitsap County has a variety of tools that can help you meet your New Year goals.

The County Offers for Free: Business Recycling Kits Recycling Containers Recycling Stickers Onsite “Eco Express” Evaluations (by a recycling specialist) Website: • What Do I Do With It? http://www.kitsapgov.com/sw/recycle.asp • Local Recyclers for Businesses http://www.kitsapgov.com/sw/pdf/3741_Business_Recycling.pdf • Waste Wise @ Work application: http://www.kitsapgov.com/sw/ww.htm

Recognition for Businesses that Certify

Your Free Business Recycling Kit Includes: • Up to 10 free recycling containers • Stickers for containers • A resource packet on how to recycle and reduce waste at your business • Recognition on Kitsap County’s website • Window cling to display at your business

Tips to Keep Your Business Eco Friendly: 1 RECYCLE! Visit Kitsap County’s website at http://www.kitsapgov.com/sw/ww.htm and select “technical assistance” for information on setting up recycling. If you have recycling, check with your recycling company to make sure you are recycling all that you can.

2 REDUCE PAPER WASTE! According to the E.P.A., Americans use 70 million tons of paper each year.

• • • •

Set printers/copiers to double-sided copies as a default Switch to electronic communication Bill customers online Proof documents on your computer screen before printing

3 REUSE SUPPLIES! Reusing materials reduces waste and cuts costs. Reuse packing materials for items shipping out. Set up an employee “reuse station” with office supplies that staff can take when they need them. Donate materials you no longer need to local charities.

4 BUY RECYCLED PRODUCTS!

When purchasing paper or office supplies look for the “made from recycled content” description.

Kitsap Chambers Join Waste Wise @ Work Program.

Kitsap County extended a challenge to local chambers to join the Waste Wise at Work program. To become a member, businesses must have a 40% recycling rate, practice 10 waste reduction activities and use at least three recycled content products. Two chambers met the challenge in 2013.

The Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce recycles about half of all its waste. Some ways they reduce waste are by sending out a digital newsletter to members,

purchasing products in bulk, and offering online payment for customers.

The Bremerton Chamber of Commerce recycles more than half of its waste. Staff focuses on reducing paper use in the office by keeping files on hard drives and sending documents to members using online storage programs. They use an electronic newsletter for members and they email documents instead of sending faxes.

Contact Kitsap County Public Works, Solid Waste Division: 360-337-4898

www.kitsapgov.com/sw/ww.htm • solidwaste@co.kitsap.wa.us

January 2014 Edition

Events And Activities VISIT the NEW HBA Website! www.kitsaphba.com On Line Registrations!

Wednesday, January 1 HBA Closed Happy New Year!

Wednesday, January 8 Kitsap HBA Remodelers Council, 4 p.m.

HBA Thursday, January 9 SPECIAL DATE Developers Council, 7:30 a.m.

HBA Rescheduled: Special Presentation on Stormwater Friday, January 10 Annual Installation & Awards Banquet Kitsap Golf & Country Club RSVP to HBA or online!

Thursday, January 30 2 p.m. Executive Cmt. Mtg. 2:30 Government Affairs Cmt. Mtg. 3:30 Board of Directors Mtg. Membership Fact #1: HBA Members can personalize their company listing on the HBA website (www.kitsaphba.com) by sending in their logo, company description, social media links and more!

Take advantage of our site by completing your information today!

Members ONLY — To be entered to win the quarterly drawing, please email tosinski@kitsaphba.com and put this in the subject line: “Membership Fact #1 News”

The Biggest & Best Home Show West of Seattle!™ March 14, 15, & 16, 2014 Kitsap Fairgrounds and Event Center Three buildings! • Vendors inside and out!

Landscape displays! • Great Seminars!

Master Gardeners on site!

Habitat for Humanity’s Builder Surplus SALE! On-Trend Guest Speakers The professional Expo staff at the Home Builders Association and our Expo Committee continue to work to make the Peninsula Home & Garden Expo™ the best choice for vendors and for the public. We will continue to have low admission rates and free parking again this year, plus interesting seminars and displays to draw folks in! We are working on getting two terrific regional celebrity guest speakers as well as a couple other family oriented attractions. Plus we will be offering an “All Expo” pass this year so visitors can come back each day!

Vendor sales are open to any and all Kitsap regional companies that are interested in meeting high quality customers. There are no bad booth locations in this show. The venue is a nice size and ticket buyers will generally visit all the buildings and the spaces outside. We are working at having more outdoor garden displays this year too! Do not delay! Submit your application today in order to have more location options. Our booths are competitively priced and we invest in significant Expo promotion throughout the Kitsap region. We are always looking for new and interesting vendors. Is that you?

Give the HBA a call today, or download all the forms on our website at www.kitsaphba.com.

The Peninsula Home & Garden Expo™ is proudly brought to you by the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County, Kitsap Sun, Puget Sound Energy, Wave Broadband, and the Kitsap Credit Union.

Mark your calendar for March 14, 15, and 16, 2014 for the Biggest and Best Home Show West of Seattle™. Visit the HBA website for details at www.kitsaphba.com and beginning in February monitor the details at www.kitsaphbahomeshow.com where the attractions, seminars, and vendors will be listed.

2014 BUILDER & ASSOC. DIRECTORS Karla Cook • Walter Galitzki • Stuart Hager Joe Hurtt • Berni Kenworthy • John Leage Leslie Peterson, CGA, Jim Ullrich Miriam Villiard • Jim Way, CGB

2014 STATE DIRECTORS Robert Baglio • Judy Mentor Eagleson Jim Heins • Joe Hurtt • Justin Ingalls, RCS Wayne Keffer, CGR, CAPS Ron Perkerewicz • Kevin Ryan

2014 ALTERNATE STATE DIRECTOR Dale Armstrong • John Armstrong Kevin Hancock • Brent Marmon

LIFE STATE DIRECTORS Bill Parnell

2014 NATIONAL DIRECTORS Judy Mentor Eagleson • Jim Heins Shawnee Spencer

2014 ALTERNATE NATNL. DIRECTORS Michael Brown • Jeff Coombe

LIFE DIRECTORS Rick Courson • Bob Helm • Bill Parnell John Schufreider • Dori Shobert Jim Smalley • Larry Ward

2014 COUNCIL & CHAIRS Build a Better Christmas . . Randy Biegenwald Built Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Walter Galitzki

By Laws & Nominations. . . . . . Robert Baglio Developers Council . . . . . . . . . . Byron Harris Golf Classic . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shawnee Spencer Govt. Affairs Cmte. . . . . . . . . . . . . Kevin Ryan Remodelers Ccl Chair. . Wayne Keffer, CGR, CAPS Membership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Heins Parade of Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TBD Peninsula H&G Expo . . . . . . . . . . . Lena Price Peninsula H&R Expo . . . . . . . . . Dee Coppola

HBA STAFF

Kick-off 2014 at the HBA annual Installation & Awards Banquet Members and friends please go online and register today to attend the annual celebration of the Home Builders Association’s volunteer leaders. Join us as the 2014 Officers and Directors are installed, the “Of The Year” recipients are named, and many other important recognitions are handed out. The event is Friday, January 10, 2014 at the Kitsap Golf & Country Club beginning at 6 p.m. We look forward to closing out 2013 and ushering in 2014. We hope to have you join us. Visit our website www.kitsaphba.com and navigate to Events & News to find this event on the calendar for registration or call the HBA office at 360-479-5778.

THE 2013 FORD F-SERIES TRUCKS MORE POWERFUL, CAPABLE & ADVANCED.

PORT ORCHARD FORD

1215 Bay Street, Port Orchard, WA 98366 • 360-876-4484

brucetitus.com

2014 OFFICERS President . . . . . . . . . . . Judy Mentor Eagleson First Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . . Kevin Ryan Second Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Heins Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Randy Biegenwald Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dee Coppola, CGA Immediate Past Pres. . . . . . . . . . Robert Baglio

Executive Vice President . . . Teresa Osinski, CGP tosinski@kitsaphba.com Administrative Coordinator. . . Kathleen Brosnan info@KitsapHBA.com Events and Administrative Assistant . . . Katie Revis hbaevents@kitsaphba.com

Home Builders Association of Kitsap County 5251 Auto Center Way, Bremerton, WA 98312 360-479-5778 • 800-200-5778 FAX 360-479-0313 www.KitsapHBA.com

January 2014 Edition

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Judy Mentor 2014 President — I am humbled Eagleson and honored. Because of you Mentor Company our members, our incredible 2014 President staff, and the wisdom and experiences of our past presidents; the Kitsap County Homebuilders Association is well known and respected. It is my goal to build on the strength of this organization.

Our 2014 Board of Directors is a group of outstanding individuals willing to volunteer their time and talents to the HBA. Working together, we have big plans for 2014. Not only will we be presenting our Spring and Fall Home Shows, but we will also be organizing our Dinner Auction, Golf Tournament, Fall Social and Build a Better Christmas. I will discuss opportunities for you to get involved in these and other HBA events and activities in next month’s article.

New this year, we will be rebranding our magazines, Remodelers Magazine and Builders Magazine, by combining them into one publication, “BUILD & Remodel on the Kitsap Peninsula,” which will be published twice a year. We also anticipate bringing back the popular Parade of Homes.

Our industry has seen its challenges over the past 5 - 6 years. It may be New Year optimism but everything I am reading and hearing is that things are looking up for 2014.

Congress has finally passed a budget setting federal spending for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years which should provide some stability to not only business but also homeowners and potential homeowners.

State and local governments are budgeting for an increase in spending due to increases in revenues resulting from an improving economy.

On a national level, the Federal Reserve officials announced that the job market is almost strong enough to stand on its own.

Beginning this month they will reduce the monthly bond purchases from $85 billion to $75 billion and at the same time plan to keep the short-term interest rates “exceptionally low” for now.

Seattle may or may not have Boeing, but Kitsap County has the United States Navy. We need to do our part to let Washington DC know that our community is committed to, and supportive of, the US Navy.

The US economy looks poised for a comeback in 2014 and with that comeback we should see a resurgence of the building industry.

I am looking forward to 2014 and my new role with the HBA, and I wish all of you a prosperous New Year.

Cash Kept and Cash Returned: Either way, you should keep as much of it as you can.

CGP According to 2012 data from Executive the US Labor Department, the Vice President average American was paying about $100 per month for their cell service and that was before the use of smart phones had escalated to the level of use we see today. But assuming your cell bill is $100 per month, using the 18% HBA member benefit Verizon Wireless discount, you could save at least $216 per year. That’s almost half your annual HBA dues.

Members that take advantage of the BIAW materials rebate are also realizing significant cash back benefits. Nationally, members that participate in this rebate program, on average, are getting about 50% of their dues back in cash rebates. For HBA members like Heritage Builders NW, Pristine Homes, and WRK Construction (among others) these rebates have put real money back in their hands. If the national average holds true our members could get at least another $250 per year by participating in the BIAW materials rebate program.

When you add the buying discount with Staples or Office Depot, contractor liability insurance, and the 7% LOWES contractor credit account purchasing discount, your membership has been completely paid for, plus some, just in cash savings on expenses you’re going to incur whether you’re a member or not!

These are just some of the member benefits, but for those that wonder at the direct, measurable cash benefits the above examples will help to outline the return on investment equation. Of course there are many other buying power benefits as well as other programs members can elect to participate in (health insurance, and return on industrial insurance) as well as the marketing, education, and the peer to peer access membership provides.

Recently, HBA member 1st Choice Housekeeping posted this on the HBA Facebook page: “Thank Goodness I am a member of the HBA! Today, a new builder to our area was looking for someone to take care of their quality cleaning/window needs. Guess what!

They contacted The Home Builders Association of Kitsap County and found us...”

During 2014, be sure to read the monthly “Membership Fact” found in the calendar on page one of this newsletter or on your monthly events postcard for great membership facts, hints, and tips for maximizing your investment in the HBA. We know you have choices and we want all of our members to get more than they ever imagined from their choice to become members of the HBA.

Teresa Osinski

January 2014 Edition

2014 - A Year of Changes Ahead As we all look forward to the coming year we are reminded that we do live in a world of constant change. Bob Dylan said “There is nothing so stable Kevin Ryan Tim Ryan Construction as change.” This year the HBA is embracing new changes in 2014 Chair leadership and also looking forward to continuing the great work our GAC (Government Affairs Committee) does with bringing about change for our industry.

I have the great honor to be serving as the First Vice President of the HBA this year and want to extend my appreciation to our Membership for allowing me to work side by side with the rest of our great Executive Staff.

My ties to the Building Industry go back to the remodeling days my father used to save the nails from his projects as a way to cut costs and you did not need power tools to get a job done.

Coming from a family of eight kids you can only imagine the great help Dad had when us kids happened by a jobsite and could help out. I can still remember Dad teaching us how to hammer our first nail and he would always say “think nail...think nail...” every time and it as silly as it may sound it’s one of those things that will always stick with me. Just ask my children.

Today our family business with TRC (Tim Ryan Construction) continues to carry on the legacy that our father began over 56 years ago. I have the privilege of working alongside Dan Ryan and Colleen (Ryan) Crabtree in the ownership, as well as our outstanding support staff as a leader in Commercial Building in our community.

This year we all get to exercise our right to vote in eight members of our Kitsap County Government in November. As your Chair for the GAC (Government Affairs Committee) I will be coordinating closely with our staff the many interviews with the candidates on behalf of our membership and look forward to this in the months ahead. The HBA will also be reinstituting the Builders Breakfast as our way of continuing to tap into the important policy issues around our county. Topics this year like; Comprehensive Plan updates in all jurisdictions, stormwater update implementations, etc... will all be impacting how we as a Building Industry do business.

Your impact to our local HBA chapters AHC (Affordable Housing Council) is far reaching and as we look forward to this year’s annual dinner and auction we are reminded that as a catalyst to change there is no finer example. Without the continued support the AHC receives many of the outreach programs mentioned here could not be possible.

Government Affairs Committee

Government Affairs Committee Meeting 2014 Schedule Last Thursday of each month 2:30-3:30 p.m. at the HBA Office in Bremerton Periodically extra meetings are added or the standard meeting is extended, or moved. Please watch the HBA online calendar for the latest info or your monthly events postcard.

24 hour emergency clean-up

ACTION

O T ff In he eri Se Be ng rv st ic e

SERVICES CORPORATION

Maintenance

Landscape Maintenance

• Minor plumbing, electrical and carpentry • Minor roof repair and painting

Janitorial • Daily, weekly, monthly rates • Construction clean-up • Window and wall washing • Carpet shampooing • Floor stripping and waxing

In a recent State of the Union address, President Obama suggested raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $9.00/hour, an almost 25% increase.

GraphsandLaughs, LLC His argument: the minimum wage peaked in 1979 at about 48% of the Guest Contributor median wage and has steadily declined to about 38% today, and working should be encouraged. Yet working full time for minimum wage one earns barely $14,500/year, just below the poverty threshold used by the Census Bureau for households of more than one. Unfortunately, stylized facts do not make good policy. Raising the minimum wage hurts those in most need of a job, and policy should be based on facts not feelings.

Proponents of raising the minimum wage suggest that a higher minimum wage makes work more attractive, which increases the supply of labor and reduces costs for absenteeism, shirking and monitoring. Were this truly the case, and if net labor costs actually fell as wages rise, we would see lots of employers voluntarily offering higher wages. But, that is not the case, putting the lie to this line of reasoning.

The primary problem with raising the minimum wage is, outside of one questionable study there is no evidence to support the claim that higher wages raise household incomes. It turns out that the reduced employment and thus the loss of income suffered by some households more than offsets the higher incomes enjoyed by households that hold onto their now suddenly higher-paying jobs. Worse, as both these effects are primarily to be found in low-income households, increases in the minimum wage simply end up redistributing income between poor households.

The other big problem with this entire approach assumes that poverty is a result of low wages. It’s not. Low wages are the result of limited skills, which results in low productivity and thus low wages. The solution is to increase the skills of low wage workers, not raise their wages and keep them dependent on legislation for more money. For many workers, minimum wage jobs are the first jobs they hold and are therefore critical in helping them gain valuable work experience (and in the process increase their skillset) which will get them a higher future wage. Moreover, in many of the poorest households, no one works.

To raise low household incomes, a far better approach is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). This is because the EITC does not raise the wage rate paid to workers by employers. Rather, it is a federal income tax credit for low to moderate income working individuals and families. In 2012, the income thresholds were $14,340 for a single person and $19,680 for a childless couple. Above that level no tax credit is available. Unlike raising the minimum wage, with the EITC employers are not encouraged to replacing low wage workers with technology, offshore jobs, or reduce non-monetary employee compensation such as free uniforms, holidays, time off, or break time. The easiest way to help more low-income families would be to raise EITC income thresholds.

Lastly, at present, teen unemployment is 22.7%. Worse, for blacks 16 to 19 it is 38.2% while for men 16 to 19 it is 25%. These are numbers that are roughly 30% to 40% higher than their historical averages. To now suggest that the solution is to make these workers even less appealing to employers boggles the mind.

Elliot Eisenberg, Ph.D.

Are You A Builder or Remodeler?

The HBA of Kitsap County will be introducing a brand new publication for 2014…

• All phases offered

Power Parking Lot Services • Parking lot sweeping • Parking lot washing • Parking lot striping • Snow removal

FREE ESTIMATES

373-4265 Commercial • Medical • Executive

Packed full of tips for the person thinking of building a custom home, remodeling, or a commercial build/remodel.

Sign up to reserve your space today. dee@wetapple.com

Home Builders Association of Kitsap County

January 2014 Edition

Welcome New Members Warfield Masonry LLC Ben Warfield 6625 Wagner Way, Suite 202 Gig Harbor, WA 98335 (253) 606-2234 Warfieldmasonryllc@gmail.com

Pro-lawn Care Etc. Inc. Ezra Payment 15412 Olympic View Loop Rd. Silverdale, WA 98383 (360) 265-1497 ezra@prolawncare-etc.com

And the SPIKE goes to...

And the SPIKE goes to...

Kevin Ryan Tim Ryan Construction

Bill Effinger New Century Consultants

Contract Furnishings Mart Lynn Hill 3600E Industry Dr. E. Tacoma, WA 98424 (253) 922-4648 Lynne.hill@cfmfloors.com And the SPIKE goes to...

Judy Granlee Gates Joe Gates Construction

Thank You Renewing Members Over 30 Years Kingston Lumber Supply (31)

Unsure about the future of your health insurance?

Get a free quote: Companies in Kitsap that are in construction related fields may find our health insurance to be a better quality and more affordable that the options available through the new Washington Exchanges. From arborists to waste disposal and beyond, our insurance program may be an option! It’s worth a quote, don’t you think? Please contact the HBA to receive an application. You do not need to be a member to get a quote for health insurance. However, if you decide to sign up for the insurance you do need to be a member and retain your membership in the HBA. The BIAW Health Insurance Trust is one of the very few association health programs considered to be bona fide by the Washington State Insurance Commissioner. Check it out!

New Benefit For Members

Over 20 Years Fairbank Construction (22)

Building Industry Insurance Program (BiiP) A comprehensive builder program

Over 10 Years Sound Glass Sales Inc (14) Bruce Giese Construction Company Inc. Paul Ogilvie Construction T-Oz Construction Inc.

What is BiiP? A collective group of insurance products available to you as a member of the building Industry Association of Washington and your Local Association.

Over 1 Year Bremerton Housing Authority Olympic Ridge Inc. Rank’s Construction Company, Inc.

Member Advantage www.nahb.org/ma

Pocket The Savings!

Is BiiP right for me?

Any builder (spec or custom) will have the opportunity to benefit from competitively priced general liability, builders risk, and warranty products.

How can I get involved?

Contact your insurance agent to see if they are a qualified agent. If you do not have an agent-please see BIAW’s webpage http://www.biaw.com/BIIP_Overview.aspx to see a list of locally qualified agents who can assist you! Century Insurance Services LLC, an HBA of Kitsap County member, is a qualified agent.

What if my Agent is not Qualified?

They should visit the BIAW’s BiiP webpage “How Do I Become a Qualified Agent” and learn how to become a qualified agent. Only qualified agents can offer members these special insurance and warranty programs. (http://www.biaw.com/biip_become_an_agent.aspx).

Daily E-mail Updates It’s FREE for everyone!

Even if you’re not a Business Journal Subscriber

It’s easy to sign up!

Oldest Shredding Company in Washington On-Site & Off-Site Paper Shredding Service Certificate of Destruction Provided 100% Recycling Program for All Shredded Material – Nothing goes to the Landfill

American Data Guard NAID AAA Certified Destruction Company

206-285-5955 • 800-699-6610 www.adgshred.com

Licensed, Bonded and Insured

Just visit daily.kpbj.com and sign-up for our emailer to start receiving breaking area news stories right in your inbox. For more information call (360) 876-7900.

Final development phase of Uptown Gig Harbor starts

By Tim Kelly, Editor From the empty car lots on Viking Avenue to planned new retail and transit projects along State Route 305 and the pending demolition of the old City Hall downtown, Poulsbo is poised to ring in 2014 with several notable developments.

Some are confirmed, such as North Kitsap Fishline's upcoming move (see story, page 6) to the old Poulsbo RV site at the south end of the Viking Avenue commercial corridor. That location, which will have more space than Fishline's footprint requires, also has been mentioned as a possible site for the Poulsbo Farmers Market, which is seeking a permanent, allweather home.

The avenue's largest vacant spot from the recession-driven exodus of car dealers the last few years is the former Courtesy Ford site. The long-term occupant of that prominent location hasn't been determined, although Kitsap Children's Musical Theatre was given essentially free use of part of the approximately 40,000square-foot site in 2013 for rehearsal, administrative and storage space and recently signed a six-month extension through June 2014.

Sound Brewing also is interested in the site and owner Mark Hood confirmed he made an offer in October to purchase the property, which is in receivership and listed on the market for about $2.3 million.

Currently, Sound does its brewing and runs a small tap room in a leased 4,500-squarefoot space just down the street, tucked back off Viking Avenue in a warehouse setting.

Hood said in December that he's waiting to hear whether his offer will be accepted.

The children's theater group, meanwhile, is hoping to be able to continue using the building while doing fundraising and applying for grants for a possible purchase of the site, according to Gene Johnson, president of the board. Johnson said the real estate services company handling the sale, CBRE of Seattle, has told

Poulsbo Office Building For Sale

Tim Kelly photo

A site plan has been filed with the city of Poulsbo for a new CVS Pharmacy at the corner of State Route 305 and Lincoln. The Northwest Design Center & Furniture Gallery that has been on the site since 2004 recently was changed to the Bad Blanche Outlet. The building would be torn down if the property is sold and the CVS plan is approved. him no credible offers have been made for the property.

He said the theater group plans to start a capital campaign in 2014 and would like to

see the price come down to $1.5 million or less for the property, which would need Poulsbo, page 24

H APPY NEW YEAR From all of us at Pacific Northwest Title!

Thank you for allowing us to provide superior customer service and professionalism for all of your real estate needs.

POWDER HILL BUSINESS CENTER • • • • • • •

Across from new Safeway Olympic Mountain & territorial views 1 block from Highway #305 2-story brick building, built in 1999 22,196 sq. ft. building Upper floor vacant for buyer/user Asking price $3,600,000

SILVERDALE OFFICE 360-692-4141 • 800-464-2823 2021 NW Myhre Road, Suite 300 Silverdale, WA 98383

PORT ORCHARD OFFICE 360-895-7799 1382 SE Lund Avenue, Suite 1 Port Orchard, WA 98366

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND OFFICE

Contact Victor C. Ulsh, CCIM Bradley Scott Commercial Real Estate

(360) 479-6900 • (800) 479-6903

Title Insurance Escrow Services Real Estate Resources

www.bradleyscottinc.com

206-842-2082 • 800-884-7636 921 Hildebrand Lane NE, Suite 200 Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

www.pnwtkitsap.com

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 23

Uptown Gig Harbor, a lifestyle shopping center on Gig Harbor’s west side, will see its final development phase completed in 2014. Site work was scheduled to start in January south of the Galaxy Theatre — where the farmers market had been hosted over the summer.

Uptown developer John Hogan said the plan is to build a 20,500-square-foot HomeGoods store, with anticipated construction completion in April.

HomeGoods is owned by the TJX Companies Inc., headquartered in Framingham, Mass. TJX also owns T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, which opened a store in Uptown last year in the building left vacant by Borders Books.

A corporate spokesperson said TJX doesn’t announce new stores until they’re close to opening. According to the company website, HomeGoods has more than 400 stores, with the average size of 25,000 square feet. It describes HomeGoods as an off-price home fashions retailer and a one-stop shopping destination with products for every room of the house and designer names at lower prices. This will be the only location in the Tacoma/Olympic Peninsula area, with the closest one in Federal Way. Uptown Gig Harbor originally opened its doors in 2007, with Borders and Galaxy Theatre as the anchors in a 14-building center. It has since attracted both national retailers and locally owned specialty shops as well as restaurants. The area has become a shopping destination, and has attracted even more national names to Uptown’s new neighbor, One Fosdick Plaza.

The newest Uptown tenant, coming in December, is Taste of Eden, which will go in the space formerly home to Elandan Gardens. The Chehalis-based business specializes in gourmet food products.

Hogan said Uptown is at 97 percent occupancy, and the company has been receiving proposals from merchants for the two open spots.

New year brings new projects in Poulsbo

POULSBO

from page 23 additional work done to make the car dealership's former service area usable. The theater group pays for utilities and acts as a tenant caretaker for the property, which Johnson said had been hit by vandalism and theft when it was vacant.

This year brings another plan for a drug store and a drive-in restaurant on SR 305 to replace a furniture store that's been on the verge of moving multiple times before, only to see its lease extended when previous deals to buy the property fell through. The store, which has operated as Northwest Design Center and Furniture Gallery since 2004, is still open but owner Constance Swanlund changed the name a few months ago, and a temporary sign hanging on the front of the building identifies it as the Bad Blanche Outlet.

Swanlund, who owns Bad Blanche gift and home décor shop in downtown Poulsbo, also has designated a section of her furniture store as Checkered Frog Consignment. In addition, in September she opened a new separate store called ec.lec.tic Home Furnishings in Silverdale, next to Bed Bath & Beyond on Mickelberry Road.

There have been previous announcements in recent years that the site Swanlund leases on SR 305 had been sold,

The Port of Poulsbo is planning a major extension of its commercial dock to accommodate larger vessels.

There also is a Feb. 11 special election on annexing more of the area around Liberty Bay into the port district.

Tim Kelly photo

most recently in 2012 when the plan was that Walgreen's was going to build a store and the McDonald's restaurant on Viking Avenue would be relocated there.

Currently, a site plan application is on file with the city from Velmeir Cos., a commercial real estate developer that specializes in sites for national retail chains.

The plan calls for razing the furniture store and building a 14,500-square foot CVS Pharmacy, plus a second 4,000-square-foot building that could be a bank branch or a restaurant, although it won't be a McDonald's. Brian Beaulaurier, who owns the 15 McDonald's restaurants on the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, confirmed that he is not relocating his Viking Avenue business.

24 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

Windermere Real Estate/West Sound, Inc. Serving Poulsbo, Silverdale and Bremerton

PROPERTY FOR SALE OR LEASE Poulsbo CBA#521145 $660,000 Well-performing light industrial project in Poulsbo is home to thriving businesses with ongoing leases. 4 of 5 units are offered for sale. Three adjacent units are occupied by a single tenant, and a fourth, non-adjacent unit is included in the listing. Total 6,424 square feet. Contact listing agent for verified proforma. Kelly Muldrow, CCIM 206-949-3420 $17.00 NNN 19362 POWDER HILL PLACE Conveniently located in Poulsbo's Powder Hill Project, this Class A office building offers up to 11,650 square feet of professional, high-tech office space. Convenient to Hwy 305, with easy access to Bainbridge Island, Silverdale and ferries.

Unit includes fiber-optic connectivity, and all bandwidth is included in rent. Kelly Muldrow, CCIM 206-949-3420. $239,000 Poulsbo CBA#509029 BUILD FOR LESS THAN LEASING. Build-to-Suit opportunity in Poulsbo across from new Safeway. Approved for 4,790 sf building. Perfect for medical or financial services user.

Great visibility with views of Olympics. Kelly Muldrow at 206-949-3420 or Joe Michelson at 360-282-5340.

Silverdale CBA#466185 Outstanding visibility from this "main street" location in Silverdale. Across from 2, major hotels & surrounded w/retail activity & the 2, main arterials- Silverdale Way & Bucklin Hill Rd. It's serene wtr feature provides a calming atmosphere for employees & guests. Bob Guardino & Joe Michelsen 360-710-7844.

Kingston CBA#218220 Built out office space in a retail center. Great visibility to Hwy 104. Former Real Estate office. Joe Michelsen 360-509-4009.

Bremerton #555414 $450,000 Historic 600 seat Roxy Theater with all the character & charm of the vintage 1940’s, with superb concert acoustics. New roof, some new electric & plumbing upgrades. Mark Danielsen 360-509-1299.

Bremerton CBA#485909 Excellent 9400 sq.ft. warehouse/distribution center with Hwy 3 visibility, easy access to freeway, office, dock high and PSE energy package. All at very competitive rents. Joe Michelsen 360-509-4009.

Bremerton CBA#512042 $850,000 Multi use building on Pacific Ave in downtown Bremerton. 3 commercial suites and 11 residential units and the adjoining 53 space parcel parking lot. Solid cash flow investment. Victor Targett 360-731-5550.

Bremerton #571515 $850,000 Fine territorial w/some water & mtn, and potential downtown Seattle views from portions of these 63 acres zoned R-10, & 8.47 acres industrial. A 12" water line goes thru the property, With sewer and gas in the street. Mark Danielsen 360-509-1299.

There are no CVS stores in Washington state, although a company spokesman said CVS is preparing to open its first one in Renton in fall 2014. He said the company is "still evaluating the feasibility of opening a store at the Poulsbo location." However, there is a notice posted at the existing building on the site that CVS has applied for a state retail liquor sales license.

Kitsap Transit also has a major project in the works. In November the Poulsbo hearing examiner approved Kitsap Transit's plan to put in a park-and-ride lot with 269 spaces and a transfer center adjacent to its bus operations base on an 8-acre site just north of SR 305 along Viking Avenue. The current park-and-ride lot in Poulsbo has 138 spaces at the corner of Hostmark Street and Eighth Avenue.

Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring on the $6.5 million project, which also includes expansion of the bus maintenance facilities at the transit base.

Most of the cost is covered by federal and state grants, with Kitsap Transit required to provide local matching funds of $385,000.

Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson said the project will have a big impact on area transit, and she's working with Kitsap Transit executive director John Clauson to develop a new bus route that would loop through Poulsbo every half hour, going through downtown and the Viking Avenue area and out to the shopping center near the Olympic College campus.

The transit center is located near a planned 55-acre housing development north of the SR 305/Bond Road intersection. The developer, Michiganbased Edward Rose & Sons, received approval of its master plan in 2011, but the next steps for design and environmental reviews have not yet been requested. The four-phase development would include apartment buildings with more than 500 units, a senior housing center and some commercial space.

However, Erickson said the developer may be preparing to move forward with the project in 2014.

"They are going to be back out here at the end of January for further talks with our planners," she said, adding that it's possible "we could see some activity there in the spring, some site work starting."

The mayor also noted that there's an approved plan for a gas station/minimart

with a drive-in at the corner of SR 305 and Viking Avenue, and Poulsbo will get another large grocery store when construction is completed soon on the 59,000-square-foot Safeway at 305 and Lincoln Road.

"The Safeway has kickstarted a lot of interest in properties along the highway corridor," Erickson said. "I'm very optimistic about commercial development in Poulsbo in 2014."

Additionally, the city Planning Department recently approved a site plan for four light industrial buildings on a wedge of land on the east side of State Route 3 near the north end of Viking Avenue before it reaches the Snider Park ballfields. The property is owned by Eagle Harbor Properties of Bainbridge Island.

The Port of Poulsbo may have a significant role as well, having recently expressed interest in purchasing the old City Hall property that has been listed for sale at $1.25 million. A year ago, the city worked with a developer to explore the possibility of putting a hotel there, but nothing panned out.

Erickson said the city is proceeding with plans to demolish the building, even though the City Council approved giving the port a three-month purchase option on the property that expires at the end of March.

"I'm looking forward to that partnership, and I hope they find some way to proceed forward," Erickson said, noting that future use of the old City Hall site will be one of the topics at a Jan. 27 "community visioning session" focused on downtown.

Port of Poulsbo manager Brad Miller said the port has a twofold interest in a potential purchase of the site on Jensen Way. "One is to get some more real estate in our portfolio," he said, and to preserve the downtown site as public property that could be used for economic development.

"That is our mission, and there are some ideas in the works for how we would use the property," he said, although he agreed the the old City Hall building needs to be torn down.

"We asked for an option on the property to give us time do some due diligence."

The more immediate focus for the port is a proposed expansion of the port district through a proposed annexation that will be on a special election ballot Feb. 11.

"If the annexation passes, we will basically encompass what we're calling the Liberty Bay community," Miller said.

Adding that area to the district would bring in an estimated $190,000 in additional property tax revenue each year, starting in 2015.

A community forum will be held on the annexation proposal at an undetermined date in January.

"That's one expansion plan, and the second is we have plans to expand the marina itself, primarily the commercial dock," he said. The port has been working with tour agencies such as Argosy and American Cruise Lines to bring more Poulsbo, page 25

Second Rush apartment complex under construction in Port Orchard

Construction continues on The Sinclair, a 126-apartment complex in Port Orchard.

Rush Commercial, a division of Gig Harbor-based The Rush Cos., is building another residential development in the growing area around the intersection of Sedgwick and Sidney roads west of State Route 16 in Port Orchard.

The new project is called The Sinclair and will have 126 apartments as a sister community to The Sidney apartments that opened across the street in 2012.

“It’s more of a phase II,” Rush Cos. president Matt Smith said.

The complex will have three-story apartment buildings like at The Sidney, but

Rush said the unit layouts will be a little different and The Sinclair also will have other amenities such as a swimming pool and a clubhouse with a fitness room.

“There will be carports for tenants like at The Sidney, and we’ll also be offering a select amount of garages,” Rush said.

He said the company hopes to have the project completed and ready for move-in

by May or June.

There’s also a retail pad near the street intersection, but no commercial tenants have been lined up yet.

Port Orchard Taco Bell will move across street into former Blockbuster location The former Blockbuster video store on Mile Hill Drive in Port Orchard has been purchased by Orchard LLC of Silverdale, the franchisee for Taco Bell and KFC restaurants in the Kitsap area.

Orchard LLC, owned by the Peter Braun family, plans to move its Taco Bell in Port Orchard to the Blockbuster site that is on the opposite side of the street from the existing restaurant. The move will put the restaurant on the south side of Mile Hill Drive.

The former Blockbuster site, which was sold through 1st Western Properties for $605,000, is currently undergoing

renovations to equip it as a restaurant. No date has been set for when the Taco Bell will open there.

The video store closed several months ago as part of the Blockbuster chain’s process of closing all its remaining stores.

The last Blockbuster operating in the Kitsap Peninsula is the Belfair store, which will be closing Jan. 12.

The Taco Bell in Port Orchard will be moved to the former Blockbuster site, visible at right where the building is being renovated on the opposite side of Mile Hill Drive.

Vessel pumpout station now available at Gig Harbor pier The City of Gig Harbor’s new Maritime Pier, opened in September 2012, now features a year-round vessel pumpout system on the float and is available for visiting boaters. Located at 3003 Harborview Drive, on the west shore, the pier provides loading and unloading ability for commercial vessels and the 12x40-foot float provides pick-up and drop-off passenger access. The new pumpout system will be available year-round and at no charge to the public.

The new system on the Maritime Pier also provides a non-potable water line for use with the vessel pumpout system. Previously, a seasonal pumpout station was only available at nearby Jerisich Dock where moorage is available year-round and limited to 48-hour stays.

More information about the Maritime Pier is on the city website: www.cityofgigharbor.net.

EXCHANGE

from page 13 coverage, but the process is somewhat cumbersome because providers have to be checked one at a time.

In Kitsap, of the 33 plans available from five insurers, all but one, BridgeSpan, included Harrison Medical Center as an innetwork provider, a KPBJ review of the online plans shows. However, BridgeSpan, along with all others except Community Health Plan, doesn’t cover Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, which treats many of the region’s most complex cancer cases. And only Community Health Plan and BridgeSpan include Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, which has the area’s only Level 1 trauma center and burn unit. In 2013, 732 Kitsap County residents received treatment from the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and nearly 200 were transported to Harborview for trauma care (total is based on Kitsap’s major zip codes), according to the two organizations.

“The Biggest and Best Home Show West of Seattle!”™

Be Seen By Thousands of Potential Customers The event is held in 3 buildings as well as ample outdoor spaces to accommodate most every vendor.

Professional Expo Managment will provide special features and seminars.

Exhibit your products & services March 14–16, 2014

Sign up today!

Space is limited

For more information and registration form go to: www.kitsaphba.com/events-and-news/home-garden-expo/

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 25

POULSBO

from page 24 commercial boat traffic to Poulsbo.

"We don't have the infrastructure in the marina for some of these bigger boats," Miller said. "They have to drop anchor when they're here because there aren't docks big enough for them to tie up. This expansion would afford them the opportunity to pull right up to dock downtown."

The plans envision extending the marina's commercial dock several hundred feet further out into the bay, and probably relocating the seaplane base out there from its current spot in front of the waterfront park.

Miller said the port engineer is working on preliminary plans to submit with applications for planning and design grants, and that additional grants for construction would be sought if the project advances. He estimates it would take two to three years for the project to be completed.

Financial resolutions for the new year

By Jeramey Probert About 45 percent of Americans usually make New Year’s resolutions, according to a survey from the University of Scranton. But the same survey shows that only 8 percent of us actually keep our resolutions. Perhaps this low success rate isn’t such a tragedy when our resolutions involve things like losing a little weight or learning a foreign language. But when we make financial resolutions — resolutions that, if achieved, could significantly help us in our pursuit of our important long-term goals — it’s clearly worthwhile to make every effort to follow through.

So, what sorts of financial resolutions might you consider? Here are a few possibilities: Boost your contributions to your retirement plans. Each year, try to put in a little more to your IRA and your 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plans.

These tax-advantaged accounts are good options for your retirement savings strategy.

Reduce your debts. It’s not always easy to reduce your debts, but make it a goal to finish 2014 with a smaller debt load than you had going into the new year. The lower your monthly debt payments, the more money you’ll have to invest for retirement, college for your children (or grandchildren) and other important objectives.

Build your emergency fund. Work on

building an “emergency fund” containing six to 12 months’ worth of living expenses, with the money held in a liquid account that offers a high degree of preservation of principal.

Without such a fund, you might be forced to dip into your long-term investments to pay for emergencies, such as a new furnace, a major car repair, and so on. You might not be able to finish creating your emergency fund in one year, but contribute as much as you can afford.

Plan for your protection needs. If you don’t already have the proper amounts of life and disability insurance in place, put it on your “To Do” list for 2014. Also, if you haven’t taken steps to protect yourself from the considerable costs of long-term care, such as an extended nursing home stay, consult with your financial professional, who can suggest the appropriate protection or investment vehicles. You may never need such care, but that’s a chance you may not want to take — and the longer you wait, the more expensive your protection options may become.

Don’t overreact to market volatility.

Too many people head to the investment “sidelines” during market downturns. But if you’re not invested, then you miss any potential market gains— and the biggest gains are often realized at the early stages of the rally.

Focus on the long term. You can probably check your investment balance online, which means you can do it every day, or even several times a day — but should you?

If you’re following a strategy that’s appropriate for your needs, goals, risk tolerance and time horizon, you’re already

doing what you should be doing in the long run. So there’s no need to stress yourself over the short-term movements that show up in your investment statements.

Do whatever you can to turn these New Year’s resolutions into realities. Your efforts could pay off well beyond 2014.

• Jeramey Probert is an Edward Jones financial advisor in Silverdale.

When opportunity knocks, open the door

By Teresa Bryant If you’ve been around long-time investors, you’ll probably hear them say, ruefully, “If only I had gotten in on the ground floor of such-andsuch computer or social media company, I’d be rich today.” That may be true — but is it really relevant to anyone? Do you have to be an early investor of a spectacular company to achieve investment success?

Not really. Those early investors of the “next big thing” couldn’t have fully anticipated the tremendous results enjoyed by those companies. But these investors all had one thing in common: They were ready, willing and able to look for good opportunities.

And that’s what you need to do, too. Of course, you may never snag the next big thing, but that’s not the point. If you’re going to be a successful investor, you need to be diligent in your search for new opportunities. And these opportunities don’t need to be brand-new to

the financial markets — they can just be new to you.

For example, when you look at your investment portfolio, do you see the same types of investments? If you own mostly aggressive growth stocks, you have the possibility of gains — but, at the same time, you do risk taking losses, from which it may take years to recover.

On the other hand, if you’re “overloaded” with certificatesof deposit (CDs) and Treasury bills, you may enjoy protection of principal but at the cost of growth potential, because these investments rarely offer much in the way of returns. In fact, they may not even keep up with inflation, which means that if you own too many of them, you will face purchasing-power risk. To avoid these problems, look for opportunities to broaden your holdings beyond just one or two asset classes.

Opportunity, page 27

Your Timing Won’t Be Off 26 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

www.edwardjones.com

Members SIPC

When You Invest Systematically

If one of your worries is whether you’re investing at the right time. It shouldn’t be. By investing a set amount of money on a regular basis, you establish a simple routine that can help make your financial goals a reality.

In addition, investing systematically can help: • Make it possible to use market fluctuations to your advantage • Add potential growth and diversification to your portfolio • Keep your long-term financial goals in focus Investing a set amount of money on a regular basis does not ensure a profit and does not protect against loss in declining markets, such a plan involves continual investment in securities regardless of fluctuating price levels of such securities. You should consider your financial ability to continue the purchases through periods of low price levels.

Call or visit your local Edward Jones financial advisor today.

Your local Edward Jones financial advisors: Michael F. Allen,

Jeramey Probert

Todd Tidball

Donald Logan

Jessie Nino

AAMS

10706 Silverdale Way NW Suite 101 Silverdale

18887 Hwy 305 NE Suite 100 Poulsbo

2416 NW Myhre Rd Suite 102 Silverdale

19740 7th Ave NE Suite 114 Poulsbo

360 307-8636

360 779-6123 1-800-248-6123

360 692-1216

360 779-6450

3500 Anderson Hill Rd Suite 101 Silverdale

360 308-9514

Erin R. Abrigo

Calvin Christensen

David Hawley

Teresa Bryant

Glenn Anderson, AAMS

5775 Soundview Drive Suite 203-C Gig Harbor

3100 NW Bucklin Hill Rd Suite 115 Silverdale

23781 Hwy 3 Suite 101 B Belfair

555 Pacific Ave Suite 101 Downtown Bremerton

19032 Jensen Way NE Poulsbo

253 853-7988

360 698-6092

360 275-7177

360 373-1263 1-888-373-1263

Edward A. Finholm

Denette Chu

Angela Sell

Jeff Thomsen, AAMS

Jay Seaton

25960 Ohio Ave NE Suite 101 Kingston

423 Sedgwick Rd Suite 121 Port Orchard

3276 Plaza Rd NW Suite 112 Silverdale

5971 Hwy 303 N Bremerton

600 Kitsap St Suite 102 Port Orchard

360 297-8664

360 876-4709

360 698-7408

Debi Tanner

Schelley Dyess

8202 NE State Hwy 104 Suite 106 Kingston

2299 Bethel Ave Port Orchard

360 876-3835 1-888-688-7817

360 871-0998 1-800-995-0242

360 297-8677

360 779-7894 1-866-779-7900

360 475-0683 1-888-475-4450

360 876-7538

Mary Beslagic

Ryan Gilhuly

Jim Thatcher

8079 E Main St Manchester

4275 SE Mile Hill Dr Suite A Port Orchard

2135 Sheridan Rd Suite E Bremerton

360 871-9707

360 373-6939

Please be careful…

By Jason R. Parker At a recent Christmas gathering I was speaking with a close friend who said, "You were right about that investment Jason. It turned out to be fraudulent."

Sometimes I hate being right, and this was one of those occasions. Let me share with you what happened.

Several years ago this friend, who is retired, told me they were considering a high-yield investment. This particular investment paid a much higher interest rate than was typically found at banks or was being offered by highquality bonds or dividend-paying stocks.

Apparently, they had a relationship with a past business associate who had told them about this so-called "investment opportunity" and because of that existing relationship, they had a high degree of trust and confidence that the investment was a good one. After being consulted, I advised these folks to stay away from this investment as there were too many red flags. Unfortunately, they did not heed my advice. They made an initial investment and started to receive income every month as promised. I remember a year or so had passed, and I asked them how it was going. They said, "Great, we get a check in the mail every month." I was hopeful at this point that I had been wrong in my initial assessment.

A few years later when they had more money available for investing, they brought the additional funds to the same person and

OPPORTUNITY

obligation to act in your best interest. You might think everyone in financial services would be held to this high fiduciary standard, but this is not the case as many brokers and agents only have to make sure investments are suitable, which is a less stringent standard.

Registered Investment Advisor's and their registered representatives (RIAs) are held to the fiduciary standard.

Check on the financial strength of the company you are going to work with. This is especially important on insurance contracts.

The rating agency AM Best has been rating insurance companies’ financial strength for a very long time ( http://www.ambest.com/.)

Be careful who you ask for advice. In a study conducted in 2007 by the FINRA Investor Foundation, 70 percent of fraud victims made an investment based on the advice of a friend, relative, neighbor or coworker. Instead or in addition to, consider speaking to a financial professional.

As an Registered Investment Adviser Representative, I feel my duty is not just to help people plan and capture opportunities, but to also help people avoid taking too much risk and avoid becoming victims of fraud.

Remember if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. As a general rule of thumb, remember, the higher the yield the higher risk.

• Jason Parker is the president of Parker Financial LLC, a fee-based registered investment advisory firm working primarily in wealth management for retirees.

His office is located in Silverdale. Parker is insurancelicensed and holds his series 65 securities license. He offers annuities, life and long-term care insurances as well as investment services. Follow Jason’s blog at www.soundretirementplanning.com.

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 27

from page 26 Here’s another way to take advantage of opportunities: Don’t take a “time out” from investing. When markets are down, people’s fears drive them to sell investments whose prices have declined — thereby immediately turning “paper” losses into real ones — rather than holding on to quality investment vehicles and waiting for the market to recover.

But successful investors are often rewarded when they not only hold on to investments during declines but also increase their holdings by purchasing investments whose prices have fallen — or adding new shares to existing investments — thereby following the first rule of investing: Buy low. When the market rises again, these investors should see the value of their new investments, or the shares of their existing ones, increase in value.

(Keep in mind, though, that when investing in stocks, there are no guarantees; some stocks do lose value and may never recover.)

Instead of looking for that one great “hit” in the form of an early investment in a skyrocketing stock, you’re better off by seeking good opportunities in the form of new investments that can broaden your existing portfolio or by adding additional shares, at good prices, to your existing investments. These moves are less glitzy and glamorous than getting in on the ground floor of the next big thing – but, in the long run, they may make you look pretty smart indeed.

• Teresa Bryant is an Edward Jones financial advisor in Bremerton.

purchased more of these so called "high-yield investments." For a couple of years they received income like clockwork every month, but then one day the income stopped. When they called the business associate who originally helped them, they learned all of their money in this investment was gone. They had been the victim of a fraudulent investment scheme.

You would be surprised how often I come across this same type of story. Just this year alone I have met with people who have collectively lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In some instances fraud was involved; in other cases they were invested in legitimate investments, but they did not realize the full breadth of the risk they were being exposed to.

My recent experiences with these cases have all had a similar sounding story. People are being offered so called "high-yield investments" that are usually being touted as an investment in commercial real estate or in some type of limited partnership structure. In the case of this friend, they were told they were pooling assets, buying commercial property and then leasing this property back to large companies.

The challenge, of course, is legitimate investment structures such as limited partnerships, and private and public nontraded REITS (Real Estate Investment Trusts) do exist and can operate in a similar fashion to the fraudulent ones. But even these legitimate investments can be very risky, have high fees and very little liquidity.

Because of the low-yield environment we have been in for some time, people are considering creative and non-traditional ways to increase their yield and income. So it is no surprise that we are seeing more and more of these offerings all the time.

When evaluating an investment you typically have three choices: safety, liquidity and rate of return. Unfortunately, you only get to choose two of the three. If you choose safety and liquidity, then you will sacrifice rate of return. If you choose liquidity and rate of return, then you will sacrifice safety. If you want a higher rate of return and more safety, then you will sacrifice liquidity. There really is no such thing as a perfect investment and weighing all of the pros and cons before taking action is important.

When evaluating any investment be sure to ask the following questions: Ask if the investment is registered. Find out who it is registered with and regulated by.

The answer will typically be the SEC or the State Department of Financial Institutions. If using an insurance contract, make sure the company issuing the contract is licensed to do business in the state.

Is the investment publicly traded? Ask how liquid the investment is. Find out if and when you can get your money back if you need it. Some legitimate investments such as public non-traded REITS can have very little liquidity and carry a lot of risk. Insurance contracts such as fixed and variable annuities may have a surrender charge if you need access to your money early.

I met a woman recently who made an investment in a public non-traded REIT and received income for several years. But one day the income stopped, and as of today, it looks like she will never recover her original investment. No fraud was involved in this case,

just a high-risk investment that went south.

She did not fully realize the risk of the investment at the time she purchased it.

Unfortunately this investment represented 70 percent of her net worth.

Double check on the person offering the investment and make sure they are properly licensed to do so. You can perform a broker or investment adviser check on FINRA's website at http://www.finra.org/Investors/ToolsCalculat ors/BrokerCheck/. You can visit the insurance commissioner’s website to see if your agent is licensed to offer insurance. For Washington state it is http://www.insurance.wa.gov/ consumertoolkit/search.aspx.

Read the prospectus of an investment or the statement of understanding for an insurance contract. Sometimes a salesperson can gloss over all the risks. The prospectus and/or the statement of understanding will have to detail those risks. If the prospectus says you can lose all of your money, and have little access to your funds, will you be comfortable with those terms?

Ask about fees. Often times these legitimate and less liquid, higher-risk investments can carry very high fees. Ask you broker how much they are being compensated for recommending them. Insurance contracts pay a commission to the agent selling them. Fees and commissions are typical in the financial services arena, but they create a conflict of interest for you and your financial professional. You want to make sure the investment or insurance contract is truly best for your situation, and not just being offered because your broker or agent needs to make a living.

Ask if your adviser operates as a fiduciary. A fiduciary adviser has a legal

Bremerton withholds funding for Visit Kitsap’s marketing

By Tim Kelly, Editor Just before voting to approve Bremerton's $117 million budget for 2014, the City Council passed an amendment proposed by Leslie Daugs to withhold a $20,000 allocation of lodging tax funds that was supposed to go to Visit Kitsap Peninsula (VKP) for regionwide tourism promotion and marketing.

That move was an unwelcome surprise to some Bremerton hoteliers who collect the lodging tax, which by law is supposed to be spent on promoting "heads in beds" tourism.

Baymont Inn & Suites general manager

Jack Edwards — whose hotel has a representative on Bremerton's lodging tax advisory committee — said he didn't know the City Council was going to consider defunding VKP, or that Daugs or other council members were dissatisfied with its marketing.

"No one I know was complaining about how Visit Kitsap is handling things," Edwards said. "No one (on the council) ever contacted me, and we're the largest hotel in the county. As a taxpayer, wouldn't you thnk they'd want to know my opinion?"

The lodging tax advisory committee reviews requests for funding and

recommends how much should be allocated to various applicants. Bremerton gives about $300,000 of its $376,000 in lodging tax funds to the Admiral Theatre and the city-owned Kitsap Conference Center, and the $20,000 for VKP was among the other recommendations.

Edwards noted, as did other council members at the Dec. 4 meeting, that the defunding amendment Daugs introduced went against the recommendation of the Bremerton committee, which included Nick Wofford as the council's representative.

Daugs, who ran unopposed in November for a second term on the council and soon

after the election applied for the open Kitsap County commissioner position, said the amendment was based on her concerns about misspelled w ords and typos she noticed on VKP's website and in brochures, and what she said is "minimal" inclusion of Bremerton in promotional materials.

Daugs also tried to portray her action as good stewardship of taxpayers' money.

"Our job on City Council is to insure that the citizens' tax dollars are spent wisely," she said at the Dec. 4 meeting during council's discussion of her defunding amendment.

YOGA

studios that have opened in Kitsap in recent years.

"It's not explosive, but it's on a gradual incline for sure," she says, "as more people are starting to hear about it from their physicians. They're going in and doctors are saying you need some yoga, something gentle to help with stress reduction — and also from physical therapists ... to help sustain the work they've done."

Expansions opened a Port Orchard studio in 2009 that operated for three years before it was sold to Olympic Fitness, which now operates it as Mountain Yoga & Pilates.

Anna Bernston is the primary instructor.

Another yoga veteran is Jen Lasher Breen, who says on her Bainbridge Yoga House website that she grew up in the '70s with "a granola making, yoga stretching, positive affirmation repeating mama and a Joseph Campbell quoter father."

As an adult, she began a regular yoga practice as "a stressed out teacher" when she and her husband were both in the Teach for America program. When they

later moved for him to attend law school, she started the first hot yoga studio in Austin, Texas in 1996.

They wound up settling on Bainbridge Island a few years later and started a family, and after her fourth child was born, Breen decided "I have to start teaching yoga; it's such a part of who I am."

The studio she opened in 2008 to do a few classes with friends was in a small second house on their property, but her following grew to where she needed a larger location. So in 2013 she moved her studio to the Bainbridge Business Park on Day Road, but the spacious site she leases still has a homelike feel as visitors walk through the door into a welcoming living room with couches and a fireplace, and windows that look out to surrounding woods.

"It's nice to be here because the rent's not as high as if I were in town; and I couldn't get this much space," Breen says.

"It's very calming here, and people want a retreat, they don't want more busyness when they come here."

Doing yoga diverges from the culture of instant gratification, she notes.

"Yoga is the opposite," she says. "It's all about a practice, and it's the discipline of that practice ... that's where you're going to see a benefit. And it's so not focused on an outcome or mastering something — the benefit is definitely in the process that you're doing."

Her family-friendly studio offers a Friday "happy hour" class that's only $5 per person, and in the new year Breen is organizing a group to do yoga 40 days in a row, either in a class or on one's own.

The other yoga studio on Bainbridge, Dayaalu Center, is the only one on the peninsula that actually is in a house. The former Island Yoga Space that was in the Coppertop business park moved to a residence on Wyatt Way near the downtown Winslow area. It opened for classes in November.

Owner Sue Steindorf is perhaps the most attuned of the area's instructors to yoga's traditional elements and Sanskrit roots — she talks about the "sacred geometry rectangle" in the dimensions of their expanded house, and Dayaalu hosted a session to do 108 sun salutations to honor the winter solstice — yet she understands that a desire for fitness is what attracts a lot

of students.

"In our culture yoga has become this sort of very faddish, popular form of exercise, but yoga really means to connect," says Steindorf, who notes with a laugh that "it's all become about down dog and Lululemon, you know."

She's not a purist about yoga herself, though. "The fact is we're a pretty bodyoriented culture, we just are; so I think it makes perfect sense that our culture starts there and focuses on that," she says. "People might start off just wanting to have a yoga body, and then what happens is if they keep going, then things deepen … and it shifts their energy, their spirit and their heart."

On Jan. 18, the Dayaalu Center Sampler Day will offer a free two-hour event to let people find out about class offerings there.

Also, the center hosts a "kirtan" the third Sunday of each month — as does Viva Flow Yoga in Bremerton — when local musicians accompany a "musical mantra meditation" with singing and chanting.

Steindorf is as aware as anyone that yoga can be interwoven with traditional Western medicine. Besides teaching yoga, she is a longtime physical therapist whose husband is a family doctor, and she got into yoga while working in hospitals and schools with kids who have disabilities. She found yoga was an accessible form of movement and exercise for them. At Dayaalu, some of her classes have up to half the students who have been referred by doctors.

She intentionally did not include the word yoga in the name of her new place, because the center will be more diverse.

"Originally my intent was to have a very simple approach," Steindorf says. But as plans for the move evolved, "We started to realize that maybe this should grow into more of a healing center that integrates many different aspects of healing."

In addition to her physical therapy practice, a family therapy service operates at Dayaalu, and eventually Steindorf plans to have massage and acupuncture.

They're also preparing to open the Sukhi Kitchen in the house, offering healthy takehome meals as an option for people don't have time for cooking after yoga class.

Cooking classes are in the plans as well.

"A lot of what we're hoping to do," Steindorf says, "is give people a direct experience with a healthier lifestyle."

from page 12 membership and punch-card options that most studios offer.

They both combine their yoga instruction (Land also teaches classes at Olympic College) with other work to make their livelihoods.

"Neither of us makes a livable wage; we couldn't just bust out a BMW from what we make here," Land says. "So consequently I supplement by doing massage. Those two things together help me make a living."

She offers themed workshops, such as one for couples in February that will combine yoga with Thai massage. She also offers classes and an upcoming two-hour workshop in restorative yoga, which she says is "is a genre to help people really deeply relax, to restore them energetically. We use a variety of different relaxing postures ... I call it constructive couch p otato-ism."

Land thinks yoga is continuing to gain in popularity, and sees proof in the number of

28 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

Exceptional Assisted Living Community • • • •

24 hour On-site Licensed Staff Services Available to Meet Your Care Needs Delicious Meals in our Lovely Dining Room Safety, Security and Peace of Mind

Call us or stop by for a tour today!

360-874-1212 www.staffordcare.com 1761 Pottery Avenue, Port Orchard, WA 98366

Lodging tax, page 29

Selling to the government

By Mary Jo Juarez PTAC business consultant Should I expand my business to include selling to the Navy? Do we have opportunities in our local area to sell to other government agencies?

How much of an investment in money and time does this take? Can I be successful?

Where do I start?

These are some of the most common questions business owners ask when they visit the Kitsap Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC).

In Kitsap County, we live in a land of government contracting opportunities. We have multiple Navy bases and are within close proximity to Lewis-McChord, the Veterans Administration, GSA, NOAA, Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard, and many other agencies accessible by ferry or within driving distance. The Federal Government purchases everything – from ships to toilet paper. And they contract for services that range from professional engineering services to dogs for chasing geese off airfields.

Consider this: In fiscal years 2010-2012 Navy contracts awarded for work and services in Kitsap County amounted to more than $1 billion. So, thinking of the government as a potential customer is certainly worth consideration. But it is not for the faint of heart. You will need to invest the time in learning a “new language” (as government personnel tend to talk in acronyms) and to understanding the process for becoming eligible for contracting.

Step #1 – Register your business in SAM (System Award Management). SAM, found at www.sam.gov, is the database used by government personnel and large prime contractors to locate small businesses when opportunities arise. Registering in SAM is free, but absolutely necessary prior to conducting any type of business with the federal government. The PTACs have many horror stories of Navy representatives who search for local shelter or supplies only to discover none of the local providers are registered in SAM, resulting in Navy personnel being housed outside of the area and supplies transported from a distant city.

Step #2 – Create marketing material that answers the questions that government asks and is searchable by government

LODGING TAX

its own Lodging Tax Advisory Committee and to wait until the 11th hour to defund the VKP.” “For all the work that VKP does, who’s going to fill that void?” Edwards asked.

“The city of Bremerton doesn't have any marketing department. There’s no one else who does what they do.”

He hopes the VKP still might be able to get its lodging tax allocation in 2014.

“I’d like the incoming council to take a good hard look at it and see if it can’t be reinstated,” Edwards said.

administered by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). KEDA’s service area covers five counties: Kitsap, Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson and Mason.

Future articles will focus on specific topics such as marketing, market research, contract lingo. Contact the KEDA office if you have a suggested government contracting topic you’d like to see covered.

• Mary Jo Juarez has over 30 years’ experience in government contracting; most recently working as a Navy Deputy for Small Business, helping the Navy meet their small business goals and educating small firms in obtaining certifications, marketing and opportunities with the federal government.

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 29

from page 28 And in a letter provided to other council members before the Dec. 4 meeting, Daugs asked "Are we spending tax dollars wisely and representing the citizens of Bremerton?"

Edwards said lodging tax funds seem to be often misunderstood.

"There's a common misconception that those are our citizens' taxes," he said.

"Those are hotel taxes. It's strictly a hotel tax that we collect and pay. And I think they (council members) have a responsibility to ask us what we think" about allocating the funds, or in this case withholding them.

“We are their constituents because we’re the only ones paying that tax into that fund,” Edwards said.

Another issue Daugs cited in her letter was that Bremerton’s two downtown hotels are not included in VKP’s marketing.

However, as executive director Patty GrafHoke had noted in an email to council president Greg Wheeler, The Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn don’t pay membership fees to the nonprofit VKP — as the Baymont and many other area hotels and businesses do — to participate in associated marketing services and co-op advertising programs.

Some council members who voted against Daugs' amendment said Bremerton benefits from VKP's regional marketing, and needs to contribute funding for it. They also questioned why the defunding amendment was a last-minute move before the final vote on approving the overall city budget.

Graf-Hoke said “"The VKP board is disappointed the City Council chose to not support the recommendations submitted by

entities. For example, SAM assigns your business a set of numbers including a CAGE Code which is used in place of the business name to locate the company. This CAGE code is one of several codes and details that you must include on all of your marketing materials in order to be “found” and eligible for doing business with the government.

Step #3 – Research the agency, branch and/or division which purchases your product or service. This is critical to your success and will help you determine whether contracting is a viable option for your company. Let’s say you own a construction business and you are interested in doing work for the Navy. Who do you approach – Keyport, Bangor, or the shipyard? The answer can be a bit complex and the role of PTAC is to help you understand the process.

An excellent opportunity to learn more about this process is happening on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Bremerton with a two-hour outreach event entitled Selling to the Navy. Contracting officers will explain what the Navy buys, how they purchase goods and services, and what will put you in the mix, and what will send your marketing material straight to the trash.

The free train ing event will take place from 10 a.m. to noon, followed by a networking hour from noon until 1 p.m. Register at www.kitsapeda.org/ptac.

The Kitsap PTAC offers additional classes throughout the year that are designed to help businesses who are new to contracting, as well as those with more experience, navigate the complexities of doing business with the government.

Services to clients are free and made possible by nonprofit organizations like the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance, and funding that includes a cooperative agreement from the Department of Defense (DOD) through a program that is

30 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

Trending upward in 2014? Workplace regulations

By Julie Tappero Wondering what changes 2014 might bring to the world of work? In Washington, and especially in the Puget Sound, we’re often on the bleeding edge of workplace trends.

Here are some things to keep an eye on in the next year.

Paid Sick Days — The City of Seattle has already passed an ordinance mandating employees working within city limits be given paid sick days. The City of SeaTac’s minimum wage initiative also includes a requirement for paid sick days. And the City of Tacoma is considering a similar initiative. Similar bills have been proposed on the federal level, and I expect this will come before our state Legislature very soon.

Minimum Wage/Livable Wage — The battle to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage will continue. SeaTac is leading the way, and Seattle is close behind. We’re likely to see this trend creep throughout the state and nation.

Ban the Box/Hire the Ex-Con — The movement to limit business’s ability to consider criminal records in employment decisions is a national one. Seattle has already implemented it, and it’s an area of enforcement priority for the EEOC. Expect this issue to remain a hot one.

Paid Family Leave — Washington passed Paid Family Leave legislation in 2007, but has never figured out how to fund it. Now a new bill in Congress would provide up to 12 weeks of paid time off per year for any employee’s health issues, or for them to take care of a family member’s health issues. Both employee and employer would contribute about 2 cents per hour to pay for it. It seems like this issue will remain on our horizons after all.

Bullying in the Workplace — As the recent news with Richie Incognito and the Miami Dolphins showed us, bullying claims can arise in the workplace. But the laws covering bullying are murky. So far, 25 states,

including Washington, have considered antibullying legislation, but no states have passed them. With bullying a hot issue in our schools, and sometimes in the workplace, expect to see legislation arise again.

Worker Misclassification — The IRS says 19 percent of companies have misclassified workers as independent contractors at some time. Why do they do this? Because an employee can cost a company 25 to 30 percent more than an independent contractor when you consider all of the benefits and payroll burden. Both state and federal government have a vested interest in seeing that employers properly classify their workers so they can collect those payroll-related taxes.

And it is because of this that the Department of Labor and the IRS have received extra funding to detect and deter companies from worker misclassification. It’s expected the Affordable Care Act will incentivize businesses to classify more workers as independent contractors. Expect even more emphasis on enforcement in the future.

Workplace Flexibility — From millennials to baby boomers, workers are increasingly requesting more workplace flexibility. And as the economy improves and businesses focus on retaining their workers, smart companies are finding ways to accommodate them.

Options range from telecommuting, job share, compressed work weeks, flex time, phased retirement, shift flexibility, career on/off ramps, and other innovative employee-tailored programs. Unfortunately, government doesn ’t always trust business to do the right thing for their workers. So far the City of San Francisco and the state of Vermont have stepped in to pass mandatory flextime laws.

Affordable Care Act, Wellness and Obesity — Obviously businesses will continue to deal with the effects of the Affordable Care Act over the next couple years and it may impact their staffing levels, methodologies, compensation and benefits.

But another aspect of the ACA’s impact on the workplace will be wellness. The ACA incentivizes employer wellness programs and encourages creating healthier workplaces.

This will be an interesting trend to watch,

especially when contrasted with the AMA’s new policy recognizing obesity as a medical disease. The EEOC already recognizes “morbid obesity” as a general disability under the ADA, and rising obesity discrimination claims indicate this may become a new protected class.

Protecting the Pregnant — Under the EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan, they’ve identified accommodating pregnancy-related limitations under the ADA and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act as an emerging issue.

We’ve already seen them bring a slew of lawsuits against companies for pregnancyrelated discrimination. Watch for this to continue to be an area of education and emphasis.

NLRB If you think the National Labor Relations Board doesn’t affect your nonunionized workplace, think again! The NLRB has pivoted their focus to protecting the rights of all workers, unionized or not. They have intervened in companies’ employee handbook language, social media policies, atwill policies, and confidentiality agreements.

Watch for this emboldened agency, which has

a full five-person board for the first time in 10 years, to be very active in 2014.

As business owners and managers, we cope with a kaleidoscope of workplace regulations already, and balancing state and federal laws — which often conflict — can create confusion and chaos. The trend now is for cities to join in and regulate workplaces as well. In this emerging globalized economy, when companies may have workers spread across the state, country, and even the world, it’s interesting to see that municipalities now want to micro-manage the local workplace.

• Julie Tappero is the president and owner of West Sound Workforce, a professional staffing and recruiting company based in Poulsbo and Gig Harbor. She can be reached at julie@westsoundworkforce.com. View her LinkedIn profile at www.linkedin.com/in/jtappero.

The recommendations and opinions provided are based on general human resource management fundamentals, practices and principles, and are not legal opinions, advice, or guaranteed outcomes.

Consult with your legal counsel when addressing legal concerns related to human resource issues and legal contracts.

HR group presents awards to two members The West Sound Human Resource Management Association (WSHRMA) presented two special awards to recognize the work of two HR professionals.

The recipient of the Distinguished Member Award for 2013 is Shelli Schultz from American Financial Solutions. She was the Workforce Readiness Director on the association’s board of directors this year and was the Diversity Director in 2012.

Working as a partner with other board members, Schultz helped to create the resume review program for veterans exiting the armed forces, helping prepare them for civilian jobs.

When an opportunity presented itself for WSHRMA to partner with Goodwill’s program of workforce preparedness, Schultz took the lead and is coordinating mock interviews and helping WSHRMA members get involved with their Job Fair.

She also is a volunteer in the Rotary program at the state women’s prison in Purdy, helping to coach prisoners on how to be workforce-ready prior to their release.

The 2013 WSHRMA Certification Scholarship was awarded to Nathan Schoone, HR manager at Harrison Medical Center.

The association awards a $200 Certification Scholarship to a member annually. The certifications that Human Resources professionals strive for are Professional in Human Resources (PHR), Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR).

Scholarship recipients are selected on the strength of their work experience and their commitment to a career in human resources. Scholarship funds may be used to purchase test preparation materials, attend a certification preparation class or seminar, and/or pay the exam fee.

West Sound Workforce

15 Years in Business!

Celebrating over 5000 successful job placements on the Kitsap Peninsula!

561320 – Temporary Help Services 561312 – Executive Search Services 561311 – Employment Agencies

Kitsap County

(360) 394-1882

Gig Harbor Office

(253) 853-3633

www.westsoundworkforce.com

New Year’s Resolution: Why your organization needs to get healthy

By Dan Weedin The most important, critical, and volatile asset any organization has is the human asset. That’s right, good old “Human Capital.”

Any way you call it, your employees are the lifeblood and face of your business. They are costly to hire and train; can be a challenge to manage; and often can be the source of overwhelming conflict and drama.

On the flip side, they are also the cause of prodigious organizational success through championing customer retention and satisfaction; expert skill; loyalty; community service; enhanced reputation, and so much more. It’s the proverbial “double-edged sword.”

The Human Resources department has the important (and often unenviable) task of assuring that more of the “flip side” emerges.

When working with humans, that can be a challenge. Your particular Human Resources department might have 10 people in it, or it might just be you. Regardless of the size, employee morale, productivity and your

bottom line are at stake!

It wasn’t all that long ago that employers weren’t all that concerned about the health, safety and well-being of their workers. Today, that can no longer be the case. Research clearly shows that healthy and vibrant employees: • Perform with increased productivity • Are less likely to be absent • Have fewer workplace accidents • Reduce medical insurance and workers compensation insurance premiums • Have less internal conflict (aka drama) • Enhance the image of your organization BOOM! That’s all good stuff, you say.

How do you make that happen?

It happens when the HR department becomes the driving force in creating a culture of safety and wellness. This is easier said than done.

Make a Commitment The CEO or president (aka the head honcho) needs to buy in. I mean all the way in. Without support for any initiative around a safe workplace and overall employee wellness, the project will fail. The CEO must delegate the implementation to the group of people (or person) that most deals with the humans in the workplace (see HR department). He or she must give full support, both visibly and behind closed doors.

Nominations sought for AWOB awards to recognize women in business be women who are perceived as consummate, successful business owners having high business ethics; currently running and actively engaged in their businesses with at least 50 percent ownership; headquartered in Kitsap, Pierce, Mason or Thurston counties; and may be a solopreneur, have partners, employees or have subcontracted out business functions.

There are several ways to nominate someone: send your contact information with your nominee’s name, business name, email, phone and a brief reason for your nomination to crystalstar@awobwomen.org, or download and use the attached form, or use our online form.

Unemployment tax rates will be lower or stable in 2014 for most employers in state OLYMPIA – More than 80 percent of Washington employers will have lower or stable unemployment tax rates in 2014 compared with 2013, according to the state’s Employment Security Department.

Of the roughly 170,000 taxable employers, 29 percent will move into lower rate classes and 53 percent will remain in the same rate class as 2013. Another 18 percent will enter a higher rate class due to their layoff history over the past four years.

By comparison, in 2013, 14 percent of employers moved into lower rate classes, 61 percent stayed the same and 25 percent paid higher rates.

“The tide is turning, and we’re seeing a larger number of companies moving back down the rate ladder,” said Employment Security Commissioner Dale Peinecke. “That’s a very positive sign.”

There are 40 rate classes altogether, ranging from 0.14 percent to 5.82 percent for most employers. The total tax rate for each rate class will remain the same as in 2013.

Unemployment taxes will be assessed on the first $41,300 of each employee’s earnings in 2014.

These taxes are paid entirely by employers; workers do not pay into the unemployment trust fund.

The average tax paid for each employee will decrease by $6, to $467 for the year. Each employer’s actual tax bill depends on its total payroll and rate class.

In 2013, Washington’s average unemployment tax rate ranked 26th-highest in the nation, down from fourth-highest in 2008.

Unemployment tax rates are established in state law. The Employment Security Department does not set the rates.

out of the human resources side of the dugout.

If you commit to supporting and nurturing an employee wellness program like the one I describe, here is what you can expect: • Lower insurance premiums that benefit your bottom line and profitability • Healthier and happier employees that stick around longer and add value to your reputation and credibility • You will be attractive to new, talented individuals that might want to come work for you. When you consider the diversity in generations in the workplace, you must consider that company culture and rewards are highly sought after by younger employees.

• You will actually weed out those who don’t bring value to your team. Let’s be honest, all employees aren’t created equal.

Steve Jobs used to say he only wanted “A players” at Apple. This is one of the best ways to load up on those “A players,” while the “C and D players” self-select out!

• When all this happens, then you will have less stress, more fun and more money in the coffers that you can keep and share with your team. Who knows? You might even get healthier yourself!

Bottom line — Make yourself a New Year’s Resolution this year that will create healthy employees and a healthy return on investment for you. Allow the Human Resources department the time and flexibility to manage it and then support them. They are in charge of your most valuable assets.

You will be happy you did!

• Dan Weedin is a strategist, speaker, author and executive coach. He helps business leaders and executives to become stronger leaders, grow their businesses, and enrich their lives. He was inducted into the Million Dollar Consultant™ Hall of Fame in 2012. You can reach Dan at 360-697-1058; e-mail at dan@danweedin.com or visit his web site at www.DanWeedin.com.

Make the Most of Your Website in 2014.

Need website design, enhancements, better social marketing, more traffic, more leads, more customers?

Let us provide you with an independent analysis of your website, make specific recommendations on cost, put together a team of local, affordable web experts to help you get the very most from your website, online shopping to social media. Free initial consultation.

Sales & Marketing Planning • Media & Community Relations for retail, service, professional & non profit organizations

360-271-9448 •

hoke@hokeconsulting.com

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 31

The Alliance of Women Owned Businesses is requesting nominations of exceptional women business owners for the 2014 Crystal Star Awards.

AWOB wants to recognize outstanding women business owners in the four counties where the group’s members operate (Pierce, Kitsap, Mason and Thurston.) Nominations and applications will be accepted through Jan. 31, and membership in AWOB is not required.

The nomination form and the complete awards application are available online at www.AWOBwomen.org/crystal-star . The gala event announcing the winners will be May 15.

To be considered, Crystal Star nominees will

The HR Response In my experience, HR professionals really care about the overall welfare and prosperity of both the company and its employees. In the midst of an already heavy workload, any employee wellness initiative must be viewed as an opportunity to improve the condition of the organization and its people. Ultimately, it makes their jobs easier and more fun.

The 5-Step Plan 1. Create a wellness “team.” This team can be made up of a cross-section of employees (or all employees if you’re a small company). This team is tasked with brainstorming ideas that will advance workplace safety and overall wellness.

2. Collect data to drive efforts. This can be done via a simple survey of what employees’ interests are, and what they’d like to accomplish. Don’t overlook issues like stress management.

3. Craft a plan. This means objectives, measures of success, and long-term goals for the company. This should remain simple. The more complicated, the more likelihood of failure. Start with simple and grow over time. Example – you might choose to offer a smoking cessation program, or put healthy food choices in vending machines.

4. Be accountable to each other. Set up a support system; perhaps monthly meetings to help each other to become better educated on choices they are making.

5. Monitor progress. Nothing is perfect out of the gates, and you shouldn’t expect it to be. Make tweaks as needed, yet also celebrate successes.

Results Let’s not kid ourselves. Business always has been and will be about results. The Seattle Mariners have one of the best ballparks in Major League Baseball, yet nobody shows up if the team doesn’t show results in wins.

Likewise, your business will simply not thrive if you don’t have positive results that come

Broader recruitment strategies utilize social media, networking

By Rodika Tollefson When Watson needed to recruit recently for a mobile showroom driver with specific skills, the Poulsbo-based furniture manufacturer turned to Facebook.

Facebook ads proved successful on other occasions because they can be used to target specific user profiles — and the response to the latest ad was no exception.

While recruitment via social media is not necessarily mainstream for Watson’s employee services manager Carrissa Sinnott, she uses it more and more. Tools like LinkedIn are becoming part of her recruitment strategy, right along with visiting career fairs and posting openings on job boards.

“I do a lot more marketing for hiring — I try to get the word out about our company so people know who we are,” she said.

She also spends about 5 percent of her time scouting, for certain positions, on resumé sites like monster.com or on LinkedIn. That trend is likely to continue, even for smaller companies. Recruiters are becoming a little more like headhunters, using passive recruitment techniques to approach candidates instead of posting the

job and waiting for resumes to flow in.

Robin Koch, human resources director at Peninsula Light Co. in Gig Harbor, said passive recruitment is especially becoming more common for jobs that are tough to fill or for advanced positions. A 20-year human resources veteran, Koch said she adjusts her strategy based on the position, however — and more traditional avenues such as universities and industry publications are still prominently used.

“You really have to use your network and tap into the appropriate network more,” she said.

Another change she’s noticed in the past few years is the interview itself. Behaviorbased questions are especially more refined.

“Interview questions are more sophisticated to really get at the competencies a person needs to be successful in the position,” she said.

Another thing that’s getting sophisticated is the mix of recruiting channels. Kitsap Bank senior vice president and HR director Marilyn Hoppen said the channels vary based on the position, but typically she posts jobs on the state’s WorkSource board, the bank’s website and either craiglist.com for tellers, or

“All companies are looking for great talent so it’s about differentiating yourself as a great company.”

— Shaunna Duffy, vice president of HR at Avalara careerbuilder.com/monster.com for management jobs. She also reaches out to college career centers or headhunters for executive jobs, and sometimes uses LinkedIn for passive recruiting.

“Technology has made it easier for us to communicate with candidates,” she said, noting that it’s also easier for candidates because they can use their mobile phones on their break or during lunch to look for a job and submit their profile or resumé.

And as much as technology is useful, Kitsap Bank also relies on a more oldfashioned method: word of mouth. An employee referral program offers bonuses to employees referring candidates who subsequently get hired.

Employee referrals are also strong at Avalara, a Bainbridge Island tax software company. “We encourage employees to

keep their eyes open for talent. They’re our recruiters as well,” said Shaunna Duffy, vice president of human resources.

Duffy, who’s been in the HR industry for 20 years, said the strategy these days is to go where the candidates are. That could mean social media in some cases and job boards in others. She’s also noted that companies need to market themselves more, which is why it’s important to keep current company profiles on sites like LinkedIn and glassdoor.com.

Part of the company marketing is about selling its value proposition, including the company culture and even location.

“All companies are looking for great talent so it’s about differentiating yourself as a great company,” she said.

A couple of other trends to watch for: Joint recruitment: Watson’s Sinnott said she’s seeing more of it. The company recently joined a manufacturers group that’s promoting the entire region as a place to work. It also gives her the opportunity to network. “It’s a way for recruiters like me to meet with other recruiters from the industry,” she said.

More phone prescreening: PenLight’s Koch said she’s noticing that companies are doing pre-interviews of sorts on the phone or via Skype/Facetime, even for local candidates. “It helps them decide whether to bring them in,” she said.

32 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

Headhunters help recruit for tough-to-fill executive jobs

• Print • Scan • Document Management

Realize your potential.

Quality service and a commitment to the community.

Call 253-272-7099 800-495-3175 kelleyimaging.com

By Rodika Tollefson When bigger companies are recruiting for high-profile positions such as senior managers, they’re not likely to post those jobs via the traditional channels. Some may not even have much detail beyond a job title.

That’s when experts like David Wagner come in. A headhunter for more than 25 years, Wagner specializes in recruiting for those tough-to-fill, high-level jobs.

“Some people call us business consultants because we consult with businesses about what they’re doing,” he said. “Headhunters can help determine what you’re looking for, especially at the senior level. It really is a consulting job at the beginning, and then we become their recruiter.”

Often times, headhunters target passive candidates — people not necessarily looking for a job. They’ll introduce the opportunity and start a conversation. If the person’s interested, the headhunter will collect information about his or her qualifications, such as resumé. Wagner said typically he’ll present the candidates to the client and then stay on the sidelines through the hiring process. Usually, he is

called for midlevel and senior jobs in the technology sector, and he recruits all over the world.

Wagner, who started out in California, used to comb through stacks of newspapers in those early days. Later, the information came on CDs. Now, it’s all at his fingertips.

“Technology has made things different in the past four years,” said Wagner, who lives in North Mason and whose wife, Valerie, is also a headhunter. “Nowadays, with technology, in a matter of minutes we can do complete searches for profiles. … I can do it anywhere as long as I have WiFi, my laptop and my phone.”

Wagner’s main search tool now is LinkedIn. He said it’s the best one out there, “built for people to find people.” His advice for candidates is to keep their profiles current and include keywords that explain who they are — but not make the profiles too “verbose.”

Since every company and job is different, so is the headhunting process.

Wagner said it could take from a few weeks to as long as a year to fill some of the spots.

“It takes time to find the right person and most clients want to find the perfect person,” he said.

Longtime Bremerton businessman Willard Anderson dies at 97 Willard Kerr Anderson of Bremerton died Dec. 10 after a battle with cancer. He was 97.

Anderson was a prominent businessman in Bremerton dating back to the 1950s, when he moved to the city as a Sears store assistant manager and later opened his own clothing store downtown in 1957.

Willard He operated Anderson’s Anderson Men’s Store until 1978.

He then began a career in real estate, working as a broker and also teaching real estate classes at Olympic College.

Anderson also was one of the founders of National Bank of Bremerton, which was later acquired by Kitsap Bank. He and his wife of 26 years, Mary Jane, were the original owners of Chips Casino in East Bremerton, which they sold a few years ago.

Anderson, a Navy veteran who served during World War II, was a civic leader who served on the boards of many charities and professional and community organizations.

According to his obituary published in the Kitsap Sun, he was most proud of his 37 years of service on the Harrison Hospital board of directors.

A celebration of his life will be held at the Kitsap Golf & Country Club on Jan. 4 at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, his family suggests donations to Hospice of Kitsap County or Harrison Hospital in his honor.

Mayor ousts Bremerton’s finance director, says move part of restructuring

A dentist whose practice provides mobile dental care for Seattle-area seniors has announced she will run in 2014 for the 26th District seat in the state House of Representatives.

Dr. Michelle Downey Caldier sent out a news release Dec. 12 saying she will run for the seat that’s been held since 2006 by Rep. Larry Seaquist (DGig Harbor). Caldier’s news release did not Michelle Caldier identify her party affiliation or list where she lives, but other media outlets have reported she will run as a Republican, and she lives in Port Orchard according to her Facebook page.

Caldier is the owner of Golden Age Dentistry, a Kenmore-based business that provides dental services to the elderly in assisted-living centers and nursing homes around Puget Sound.

“I’ve never been that political,” she said

in her campaign announcement. “I have devoted my career as a dentist to helping the elderly in nursing homes and advocating for the poor.”

Caldier successfully lobbied with others to restore adult dental care coverage in Medicaid that the Legislature cut in 2010.

Beginning in 2014, people with low incomes will be able to get Medicaid dental coverage again.

But Caldier said that the paperwork and regulations surrounding Medicaid prevent many providers from being able to accept Medicaid, leaving many patients without consistent care.

“Making the process more efficient will bring more medical providers into the system and ensure that Medicaid works for those who need it,” she said.

Caldier is an affiliate professor at the University of Washington Dental School and said she sees the financial crunch that students at the UW face with increasing tuition costs and a higher debt load when

they graduate. She said tuition at the UW was $5,880 in 2006 and has more than doubled at over $12,000 today.

“People in our community are losing some of the opportunities I had,” said Caldier. “That is not right. It kills the dreams of parents and students.”

She said that after building her dental practice for the past decade, she is excited for the chance to serve in the Legislature.

Caldier, who went to Central Kitsap High School, earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Washington and graduated from the UW School of Dentistry in 2001.

The 26th District includes Bremerton, all of South Kitsap County, and Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula in Pierce County.

There is currently an opening for the second 26th District House seat because incumbent Rep. Jan Angel (R-Port Orchard) won a special election in November for the state Senate seat in the district.

Political columnist ends 48-year writing career She could have waited for a nice, round 50-year anniversary. Instead, she decided 48 years was close enough.

After nearly five decades of writing a political column and expressing her notalways-appreciated opinions, Adele Ferguson is taking a bow.

“Actually, I wanted my obituary to read that Adele Ferguson ‘she never quit writing to the end’ when the time comes, but I also want to spend some of my life not having to meet a deadline,” she wrote in her farewell column.

Ferguson began her career as a political reporter in 1943 for what was then the Bremerton Sun, covering topics from City Hall to the shipyard. For many years, she continued both reporting and writing an opinion column, which she eventually syndicated to more than 30 newspapers.

The combined circulation of those papers, she said, was larger than the Seattle Times circulation. She also was offered a job once as an investigative or political reporter for KOMO-TV but didn’t want to deal with the commute to Seattle.

She said she’s never had to go look for a column publisher — they all came to her.

But she’s lost a few too — some because she didn’t want to conform to the computer age (Ferguson has a computer now but doesn’t

have it connected to the Internet and she doesn’t do email). Others stopped publishing her column because they didn’t like her opinions — which have unnerved many a reader in the four-plus decades. One thing Ferguson wasn’t: shy with her pen.

“Her worst enemies lately assert that she ‘truly represents the cold-hearted, racist, fascist Republican of today’ — ‘a whack job from top to bottom.’ Even admirers say she can stray over the top,” according to “The Inimitable Adele Ferguson,” an oral history part of the Legacy Project. Ferguson was selected in 2009 along with rock band Nirvana’s co-founder Krist Novoselic and Charles Z. Smith, the state’s first black Supreme Court justice, for the honor.

Other oral histories in the Legacy Project, commissioned by Washington’s secretary of state, include such notables as former Gov. Booth Gardner, former U.S. Sen. Slate Gordon and state civil rights pioneer Lillian Walker.

For her part, Ferguson wasn’t afraid to break barriers. She was the first female correspondent in the state capitol — and one who carried quite a bit of weight.

Former longtime Secretary of State Ralph Munroe reportedly called her “the only legitimate tsunami to ever hit the state capitol.”

“Elected officials would rush to the one news stand that carried The Bremerton Sun in the Legislative Building to see who she had drowned in her column this week,” he

was quoted as saying by the Legacy Project.

“Those who weren't totally dead from the wave would often take weeks to recover their ego and energy. Adele knew how to hit and hit hard.”

Ferguson said there’s too much tiptoeing today on the part of journalists because they’re afraid about offending politicians and others. “I never let it bother me,” she told KPBJ. “I simply did my job and I wasn’t afraid to talk to people.”

She left her longtime job at the Sun in 1993, after a new editor was hired. “I said to her, ‘Don’t change my column. If you don’t agree with something, ask me,’” she said.

Apparently, that didn’t work. But she continued publishing in other papers, including the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal.

This past year was a tough one for Ferguson. She was diagnosed with lymphoma and underwent chemotherapy.

She later fell out of a chair, resulting in weekly visits to a wound clinic. Her physical condition contributed to her decision to retire for good as a columnist.

“I know I’ll miss writing since I've been doing it since I was a kid and used to sit through Saturday movies, come home and write it all down to read to my brothers and sisters who pooled their money to send me, making up my own serial chapters when I missed one,” she wrote in her goodbye. “It's been a heckuva life. I’ll miss serving you. I hope you miss me.”

Memorial service for John Hern set at OC in Poulsbo

Hern, a well-known businessman who owned Courtesy Auto Group in Poulsbo for many years, died Nov. 24 in Arizona, where he and his wife lived after retirement.

Hern was also a prominent philanthropist in his community. Among other causes he supported, he and his wife

played an integral role in Olympic College’s expansion into Poulsbo.

They contributed funding for the college’s lecture hall — known as Hern Hall — for student scholarships, and equipment for the physical therapy assistant program among other things.

A memorial service will be held for John Hern on Jan. 24 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Poulsbo campus of Olympic College.

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 33

Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent abruptly ousted city finance director Becky Hasart last week, and said the move was made as part of restructuring the Financial Services department.

Hasart, who had held the position for three years, was informed of Lent’s decision on Dec. 19. Assistant finance director Cathy Johnson will take over as interim finance director.

In published reports on the change, Lent said Hasart had done a good job as finance director and that she would give Hasart a positive letter of recommendation, but the department needed to be reorganized. The mayor had already shifted the city’s human resources office out of the finance department and put it under the supervision of the city attorney, and said she plans to do the same with the city clerk.

Hasart, who reportedly will receive three and a half months’ of severance pay, was hired in December 2010 after a period of instability in the finance department during Lent’s first year as mayor. After taking office in 2010, Lent fired finance director Andy Parks and former Kitsap County Treasurer Barbara Stephenson was hired, but she resigned after a few months.

Dentist plans 2014 run for 26th Dist. House seat

2014 Mazda3: A big winner compact sedan

By Bruce Caldwell Mazda has really been on a hot streak.

The CX-5 crossover SUV and the Mazda6 sedan have both fared very well in magazine comparison tests. Consumers have supported those wins at the showroom.

The all-new Mazda3 compact sedan is another big winner. The company’s bestselling model scores high in all categories: design, construction quality, interior roominess, fuel efficiency, and handling proficiency.

Fun-to-drive, sporty handling is a key factor that separates the Mazda3i from many of its competitors. The 3i is slotted at the “appliance” end of the buying spectrum, but it performs like a much more expensive car. Mazda understands that cars can be more than boring transportation and their products reflect that philosophy.

Walkaround: We tested a 2014 Mazda3i 5-door Grand Touring, which is a

handsome little car. The Mazda styling is unique and familial. The 3-series resembles the larger, more expensive Mazda6. Mazda calls it Kodo styling (whatever that means) and key elements include a bold grille and narrow headlights (almost face-like), wheels placed at the far corners, and bodylines that sweep up and back. The 16inch alloy wheels are on the small side these days, but fit the body well. Our tester had the optional Soul Red Metallic paint that seemed well worth the additional three hundred dollars.

Interior: Interiors can make or break an inexpensive car. In the case of the Mazda3i the interior is a highlight. The Grand Touring trim included leatherette seats that seemed very much like real cowhide. All the interior materials were of excellent quality (except for the headliner). The fit and finish were great. Door shut is solid.

Interior space is on par with much larger

34 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

2014 Buick Lacrosse

By Bruce Caldwell MODEL TESTED: 2014 BUICK LACROSSE PREMIUM ENGINE: 3.6-liter V-6, 304-horsepower 264 lb-ft torque TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive EPA RATINGS: 18-mpg city/ 28-mpg highway BASE PRICE: $38,810 AS TESTED: $45,595 PERFORMANCE: • Powerful V-6 engine, good acceleration • Smooth automatic transmission • Very good highway fuel economy • Loaded with high-tech safety option packages • Rides like a luxury car • Available with all-wheel-drive • Quiet cruising COMFORT: • Upscale interior materials, colors, design • Stretch out front legroom • Very good rear legroom • Three-temp heated and cooled front seats • Power driver lumbar support

• Thick leather heated steering wheel • Very solid construction UTILITY: • Large trunk, but oddly shaped • Split rear seats fold almost flat • Medium size interior storage bins • Cargo net WOW FACTORS: • Available Driver Confidence safety packages • Driver seat vibrates to alert lane departure • Power rear sunshade • Luxurious interior • Excellent noise insulation • Great heads up display gauges WHINES: • Styling a little sedate • Some odd colors • Small sun visors BOTTOM LINE: The 2014 Lacrosse Premium is Buick’s flagship sedan and it exhibits all the upscale features expected of a luxury vehicle. The spacious interior is a highpoint that’s supported by a powerful but refined drivetrain.

cars. Legroom is stretch-out great with the seats all the way back. The front seats are still comfortable when moved up enough to fit a six-foot tall person in both the front and rear seats. Headroom is ample for tall passengers. The center floor hump is rather large, which compromises the rear middle seating position. The center armrest is soft and wide.

The front seats were nicely bolstered with 3-temperature heat. The thick, contoured steering wheel had excellent auxiliary controls. The sunroof was on the small side, but still a nice feature.

A big, centrally mounted knob controls the infotainment system. It is used to select audio, navigation, and Bluetooth connectivity. We were ambivalent about the system and used the steering wheel controls most of the time. The info/navigation screen looks like a pop-up one, but it’s permanently mounted atop the dashboard.

The hatchback feature greatly increases the car’s utility. The opening is wide and hatch clears tall people. The cargo floor is flat and the 60/40 split rear seat folds almost flat.

Small item interior storage is substandard.

Under the Hood: Our 3i GT had the excellent 6-speed manual transmission, which mandated the base 2.0-liter 155 horsepower, 150 lb-ft inline four-cylinder engine. The smooth transmission offset the 29-horsepower deficit from the larger automatic-only 2.5-liter engine. The manual transmission included Hill Launch Assist, which should be mandatory on urban stick shift vehicles.

Fuel economy is rated at an impressive 29 city and 40 highway thanks to Mazda’s highly touted Skyactiv technology. We drove almost exclusively in the city and did match the EPA estimate. We’ve done extensive highway trips in other Skyactiv Mazdas and even exceeded the upper fuel economy estimates.

Skyactiv is the nebulous marketing term Mazda uses for their integrated drivetrain, engineering, emissions, fuel economy, and

technology components. Buzzword aside, Skyactiv is Mazda’s way of saying their cars are designed to work as cohesive unit — and they do that very well.

The suspension and chassis components are an impressive blend of sporty and comfortable. There is ample fun to be had on twisty roads, but not at the expense of commuter comfort. The sixspeed manual transmission encourages spirited driving, but the Mazda3i is just as happy cruising freeways in sixth gear.

The four-wheel disc brakes are excellent and several safety bonus features are standard (blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, stability control, and traction control).

Behind the Wheel: As mentioned above, the Mazda3i Grand Touring deserves its GT moniker. It’s fun to drive long distances without any comfort compromises. The rack and pinion steering uses electric power steering, but it isn’t at all objectionable.

Despite its spacious interior the Mazda3i is nicely sized for commuter combat. It’s nimble and quick. It can slice through traffic when needed and the evershrinking “Compact” mall parking spaces still fit.

A little more horsepower would really boost the driving experience, but that will be rectified when the Mazdaspeed3 arrives.

Whines: The cheap, flocked headliner didn’t match the high quality of the other interior materials. The front and rear door bins are unusually small.

It would have been nice if the optional 2.5-liter 184 horsepower four-cylinder engine was available with the excellent 6speed manual transmission, but currently the automatic is it. When the Mazdaspeed3 returns with a 263 horsepower turbo engine that will be the Mazda3 to covet.

Bottom Line: The 2014 Mazda3i Grand Touring is an impressive compact sedan. It’s well built, economical, spacious, and very fun to drive. It’s definitely a winning combination worthy of consideration by anyone shopping for a compact sedan.

2014 Honda Pilot continues winning formula space.

Although slightly less than some of its rivals, the Pilot’s boxy shape allows it to accept bulkier items with ease that some competitors can’t.

There are also lots of smaller, thoughtful storage spaces throughout the cabin.

The downside of the Pilot’s interior is that it strikes us as a couple steps down from the nicely appointed Honda Accord. Otherwise, the interior design is useful, with thoughtful details.

Instrumentation is clear and easy to read at a glance. The standard 8-inch information screen on all trim levels, coupled with automatic climate control, also helps reduce the number of buttons and knobs on the center stack.

Standard safety features include antilock brakes, traction and stability control, frontseat side airbags and full-length side curtain airbags. A rearview camera is standard, and the Touring comes with parking sensors.

Under the Hood: All 2014 Honda Pilots, regardless of trim level, use the same powertrain — Honda’s 3.5-liter, 250-horse, V6, delivering 253 pound-feet of torque, and married to a 5-speed automatic. Frontwheel drive is standard, but All Wheel Drive (AWD) is available on all Pilots. The AWD system automatically shifts as much as 70 percent of power to the rear wheels if the front tires begin to slip. Get the Pilot stuck, and a driver-selectable “lock” feature moves maximum torque to the rear wheels in first or second gear at low speeds.

EPA-estimated fuel economy is a combined 21 mpg (18/city, 25/highway) for front-wheel drive models and 20 combined (17/city. 24/highway) for AWD models.

Behind the Wheel: Overall, we found the 2014 Honda Pilot a very pleasant vehicle to drive. It does feel like the large, heavy vehicle it is, with a quiet, cushy ride that readily smoothed out rough pavement.

As expected, because of its boxy shape and slow steering, agility around tight corners is somewhat lacking. Braking wasn’t as strong as some of its competitors either.

Performance of the Pilot’s 250-horse V6 is hampered somewhat by the slow-shifting five-speed automatic, as well as the Pilot’s sheer heft.

On the plus side, the front-wheel drive Pilot can tow 2,000 pounds, while properly equipped AWD models are rated for 4,500 pounds.

Whines: Unlike most other three-row crossovers, the Pilot’s third row provides genuinely acceptable room for adults.

However, the low seating position makes for a knees-up ride. The Chevy Traverse

and Ford Flex offer much more comfort in this regard. However, if you truly need eight-passenger capacity, the Pilot, along with the Traverse, is one of the few options in this class. The Pilot shows its age in regard to feature availability. Blind-spot monitoring, keyless ignition/entry or second-row captain’s chairs — features

offered on competing crossovers — aren’t available.

Bottom Line: Although showing its age somewhat, the smooth-riding Honda Pilot is still s serious competitor in the segment, offering comfort. cargo space, utility, and genuine third-row seating not found in most of its competitors.

COME DRIVE THE

2014 Honda Pilot

360-377-1100 520 West Hills Blvd., Bremerton • www.westhillshonda.com

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 35

By Lary Coppola In contrast to many recently redesigned, and restyled large crossover competitors, the 2014 Honda Pilot SUV is relatively unchanged since the second-generation Pilot debuted back in 2009. While its age is a disadvantage in a few key areas, its major plus is ample room inside, which continues to make the 2014 Pilot a solid choice for buyers needing seating for eight and more than a little flexible cargo space.

The 2014 Pilot could be considered the “elder statesman” of this segment, scoring high in overall utility and comfort — which counts for a lot in a family vehicle. But it’s becoming a little long in the tooth and rival three-row crossover SUVs — like the Hyundai Santa Fe, Nissan Pathfinder, and Chevy Traverse — all boast comfortable three-row seating plus appealing interior designs. From a performance standpoint, the Dodge Durango and Mazda CX-9 are perhaps best in class, but if utility and reliability are your primary concern, the Pilot is still a strong choice.

Model Lineup: The 2014 Honda Pilot comes in four trim levels: LX, EX, EX-L and Touring. Our test model was the top-ofthe-line Touring model.

The base LX comes pretty wellequipped, with automatic headlights, full power accessories, cruise control, tilt/telescoping wheel, tri-zone automatic climate control, 60/40-split second — and third-row — seats, 8-inch center display screen, Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity, rearview camera and a sevenspeaker sound system with a CD player, USB/iPod interface with an auxiliary audio jack, and 17-inch steel wheels, all standard.

The Pilot EX adds 18-inch alloy wheels, foglights, heated mirrors (AWD models) and an eight-way power driver seat (with two-way power lumbar adjustment).

Upgrading to the Pilot EX-L gets you leather upholstery with heated front seats and power passenger seat, a sunroof, power liftgate, auto-dimming rearview mirror and Sirius/XM satellite radio. A rear-seat entertainment system, or voice-activated navigation are both available, but not together in the EX-L. The top-of-the-line Touring version features both of those EX-L options, as well as roof rails, parking sensors (for the rear and front corners), driver seat memory functions, a 115-volt power outlet and a 10speaker premium sound system, all standard.

Walkaround: Built in America at Honda’s Lincoln, Alabama plant, nothing has really changed from the basic secondgeneration boxy look that debuted in 2009, except for some minor upgrades and refinements.

Interior: One thing the 2014 Honda Pilot has, is plenty of room inside. This is a true eight-passenger vehicle, as even the third-row seats can accommodate adults.

While the Pilot’s boxy architecture won’t win any styling awards, it does offer adult headroom and a large, more conveniently shaped cargo area. Drop the rear seats and you’re ready to fill the 87 cubic feet of

Publisher Lary Coppola Editor Tim Kelly Advertising Sales Dee Coppola Pre-Press Operations Steve Horn Webmaster/IT Greg Piper Graphic Design Kris Lively Office Administration Jennifer Christine Web Host PCS Web Hosting LLC Contributing Writers Rodika Tollefson Don Brunell Dan Weedin Julie Tappero Jason Parker Press Releases

36 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

Email to pressreleases@KPBJ.com The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal is a special interest publication dedicated exclusively to providing news, information and opinions to the business communities of the Kitsap and Key Peninsulas, and North Mason County. It is published monthly by Wet Apple Media. Copyright, 2013, with all rights reserved. Postage is paid at Tacoma, WA. The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal is read by more than 26,000 business, professional, political and military leaders in Kitsap, Pierce, and Mason counties. Additional copies are available for $1.50 each. Annual subscriptions are available for $25.

Reproduction or use of any editorial or graphic content contained herein in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written consent of the Publisher is strictly prohibited. The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal is proudly composed using Apple Macintosh® computers and printed by The Kitsap Sun, Bremerton, WA. Views expressed herein are strictly the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the advertisers or ownership of The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal.

Wet Apple, Inc. Post Office Box 1101 • Port Orchard, WA 98366

(360) 876-7900 • (800) 733-7990 Fax: (360) 895-2495 Website: www.kpbj.com

Member Kitsap Economic Development Alliance Kitsap Visitors and Convention Bureau Homebuilders Association of Kitsap County Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce North Mason Chamber of Commerce Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce Silverdale Chamber of Commerce

Keep the holiday spirit all year long

By Don C. Brunell, Association of Washington Business During the holidays, our thoughts naturally turn to giving — not just giving gifts but donating our time and money to charities and c o m m u n i t y programs.

This time of year, we’re reminded that, with all our frailties, we human beings are a pretty generous lot.

According to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, 88 percent of American households donate to charity. In 2012, Americans donated more than $316 billion to nonprofit organizations.

As it turns out, philanthropy is as old as civilization itself.

One of the earliest recorded donations was in 375 B.C. when Plato willed his house to his nephew with instructions that the proceeds be used to support students and faculty at the academy he founded.

In America, the controversial and hardcharging industry titans who came to power in the 19th century began a tradition of philanthropy that created some of our nation’s most prestigious institutions.

For example, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie built 2,800 free public libraries around the world, and many of America’s greatest universities and art institutions were founded by industrialists: CarnegieMellon University, Duke University, the University of Chicago, Rockefeller University, Stanford University, the Getty Museum, the Guggenheim and the Smithsonian.

These industrialists created charitable

foundations that continue to this day. In all, U.S. foundations and corporations donated almost $64 billion to charitable causes in 2012.

While banks are a target of much criticism today, it is important to point out that in 2012 JPMorgan Chase and its foundation gave more than $190 million to thousands of nonprofit organizations across 42 states, the District of Columbia, and 37 countries around the world. More than 43,000 employees provided 468,000 hours of volunteer service in local communities around the globe.

One of today’s best-known foundations is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Founded with earnings from Microsoft — and generously supported by business mogul Warren Buffet — the foundation’s $38 billion endowment applies business principles and discipline to nonprofit initiatives here and around the globe in health care, economic development and education.

Regionally, the Fred Meyer Fund has awarded more than $15 million in grants since 1997 in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington to help fight hunger, educate our children and help our military veterans.

Washington companies share a strong commitment to community service.

The Boeing Co. donated almost $53 million to nonprofits in our state in 2012.

The managers and employees of United Parcel Service, founded in Seattle in 1907, have donated a record $1 billion to United Way over the last 30 years.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines gave $3.3 million to Washington communities in 2012, and the company just announced it would donate 100,000 free travel miles to Seattle Children’s Hospital for every touchdown pass thrown by Seahawks

quarterback Russell Wilson the remainder of this season.

As generous as our large companies are, the vast majority of charity in America — and here in Washington — is quietly donated by small businesses and individuals who never make the headlines.

For example, for the last 15 years, Ed and David VanderPol, who own Oak Harbor Freight, have volunteered vacant space in their empty trucks traveling across California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington to transport a million pounds of surplus produce a year for donation to needy people.

And Sterling Bank in Spokane provides each of its employees with 12 hours of paid time off a year to use volunteering in their local community. In 2012, Sterling employees donated 53,000 hours of time to nearly 2,000 nonprofit organizations.

These volunteers deserve our thanks and support. Their efforts are a reminder that all of us, regardless of income or status, can contribute to our communities in some way — and, in doing so, we make ourselves and our communities better.

• Don Brunell is president of the Association of Washington Business. Formed in 1904, the AWB is Washington’s oldest and largest statewide business association, and includes more than 8,100 members representing 700,000 employees. AWB serves as both the state’s chamber of commerce and the manufacturing and technology association. While its membership includes major employers like Boeing, Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser, 90 percent of AWB members employ fewer than 100 people. More than half of AWB’s members employ fewer than 10. For more about AWB, visit www.awb.org.

Looking ahead to 2014 and beyond Department of Commerce, on multimedia market branding. Register today @ www.kitsapeda.org.

Dr. Mitchell will, no doubt, once again command our complete attention as he carefully synthesizes global, national, state and regional economic data in an educational yet entertaining fashion, all wrapped up in a sure-to-delight ‘ditty’ foretelling our economic future. Trust me – you’re going to want to trust nothing to chance – and be there on the 29th to place your trust in John’s predictions.

While I’m no John Mitchell, and do not hold a doctorate degree in economics, based upon my work as an economic developer with constant contact with all sectors of Kitsap’s economy, I do have a few

NFIB COMMENTARY

NFIB’s lobbying efforts come not by throwing a temper tantrum and threatening to move out of the state, but by pressing its case in scheduled office appointments with senators and representatives, or by buttonholing them in the halls of the capitol, or by being a little emphatic in testimony before committees, or – most effectively – by rounding up the troops back home to start making calls. To use a football metaphor, by blocking and tackling slowly downfield into the end zone.

Whereas the Boeings of the business world usually lobby for one big thing, small businesses have many things on their mind, because they are more susceptible to even the smallest changes in regulations and taxes. No legislator can ever claim ignorance on what the issues affecting mom-and-pop, Main Street small business are, because every year NFIB polls its members on their views, and publicizes the results widely.

The results from this year’s ballot, together with past years’ positions, form the basis of the small-business agenda. The four questions NFIB is asking its Washington members on their 2014 state ballot are: • Should the Legislature eliminate most deductions and exemptions in order to lower business and occupation tax rates?

• Should retail sales tax be applied to services in order to lower the business and occupation tax on those service activities?

• Should the prevailing wage be eliminated on state-funded public works and transportation projects?

• Should the Legislature prohibit local governments from adopting their own employment ordinances?

How would you vote? Results from the 2014 ballot will be released after a statistically valid sample is reached. You can read the background and pros and cons on each ballot question on the NFIB/Washington web page at www.nfib.com/washington. Click the “Please Vote Your State Ballot” story.

How would you vote?

By Patrick Connor All the state legislative news did not end with November’s special session giving Boeing everything it demanded, or else.

This is the time of year throughout Washington state when small-businessowning members of the National Federation of Independent Business are voting their state ballots, the results of which will center the lobbying positions of NFIB when the Legislature returns for business next year on Jan. 13.

Small business is no small matter to any state’s or nation’s economy. In fact, it is the engine of every single one. According to the latest report by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, “Small businesses significantly impact Washington’s economy. They represent 98.1 percent of all employers and employ 53.7 percent of the private-sector labor force. Small businesses are crucial to the fiscal condition of the state and numbered 546,885 in 2010.”

Even though it is more vital, there are a few reasons small business will never have the clout big business has, one of the most important of which is – quite simply – perception. Most policymakers fail to make the distinction between the different difficulties small businesses have in remaining solvent that big businesses don’t.

To them, all businesses are alike.

It has been the primary mission of NFIB for the last 70 years to educate legislators in all 50 states and in Congress about the differences between small business and big business. Small-business owners as a whole can never compete with big business in the financial resources needed for lavish lobbying efforts, but what it lacks in money it can partially compensate for in manpower.

When state legislators return home, small-business owners are all around them, and, according to Pew and other research, are the most trusted and highly regarded group of people in America. In short, smart politicians don’t want to get crosswise with them.

• Patrick Connor is Washington state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. NFIB has 8,250 members in the state.

thoughts on our region’s economic future – and I am willing to go out on a peninsula and island (code for limb) to make a few predictions of my own.

First, let me start with a general assessment of where we are today with respect to the general economic cycle. As we enter the seventh year of an atypical 10-year cycle, I sense we are in the turn (a late turn after a rough road) and are now accelerating out of the turn into a much smoother straightaway. I believe the next three years will cap a solid recovery and present meaningful economic growth (4 to 5 percent GDP) in particular in Kitsap and throughout the Central Puget Sound regional economy.

Second, I offer the following (nonacademic/accredited) field-tested, intestinal-based predictions of market developments to come: • Certainty* on Federal Budget Front Buoys National & Local Economy • Employment Continues to Improve (region’s unemployment drops below 6 percent) • Defense Picture Becomes Clearer & Brighter – NBK & Kitsap Benefit and Lead Region • PSNS-IMF Continues Robust Hiring (reaching job levels not seen since Reagan era) • KEDA & PSRC Increase Focus on Military & Maritime Opportunities / Make Gains • Boeing Sites 777X in WA (region’s

superior business case prevails) • Kitsap Welcomes Additional Aerospace Companies in 2014 ... KADA Delivers ROI • Consumer Confidence and Housing Market Continue to Rebound • Major Growth in Kitsap Technology Sector via Leveraging Regional Ties & Talent • Advanced Manufacturing (CNC, Composite Applications, Sustainable Design) Expands • OC Continues to Evolve and Enhance Its Impact on West Sound Economy • Kitsap County & Cities Accelerate Efforts to Update Comprehensive Plans • KEDA Marks 33rd Year Reaching New Levels of Investment/Performance with New Look As I begin my third year with our Alliance, I want to take this opportunity to thank the Kitsap community, and all our many member investors (public and private), for the friendship and support you have shared with me. Together let’s continue to build an ever stronger economy and community throughout Kitsap and our region.

May We All Enjoy a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year ! (*ACA is Wild Card – May Disrupt or Accelerate National Economy - Keep an Eye on March ’14) • John Powers is executive director of the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance.

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 37

By John Powers, Kitsap Economic Development Alliance On Jan. 29 the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance will host its 16th annual economic forecast event – Decision Makers – featuring John Mitchell, PhD, former chief economist for US Bank ... simply the best “stand-up econcomic” in the business. The event will be held at the Kitsap Conference Center from 7-10 a.m., and also will include a presentation by Robb Zerr, marketing services manager for the Washington State

What were Democratic PCOs thinking? Plus, Duck Dynasty This was written on an early deadline a few days before Christmas. The outcome of the appointment of a new Kitsap County commissioner to replace Josh Brown, who resigned become executive director of the Puget Sound Regional Council, has yet to be decided, but very well may be by the time you read this. So keep the timing in mind — as things could change between now and Jan. 6, when the remaining county commissioners will name Brown’s replacement.

They’ll choose from three people recommended by the Kitsap County Democratic Party’s Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs), who narrowed the field down from eight potentials to three — with Bremerton City Council member Leslie Daugs as their top pick.

Leslie Daugs? Seriously? That’s the best quality candidate they could come up with?

It’s not that better-qualified candidates weren’t vying for the job — former Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman, for example. Bozeman has an outstanding record of achievement everywhere he’s been — including four terms as Mayor of Bellevue during the period it went from a suburb of Seattle to a major economic power in our state. As mayor of Bremerton, with no project money, he managed to transform the downtown from a seedy, crime-ridden, derelict ghost town, to what it is today. As executive director of the Olympic College Foundation, he put pieces in place for a major expansion of the college’s facilities. He also had the strong support of recently retired Congressman

Norm Dicks, as well as a large portion of the business community for this appointment.

Other possibilities included Linda Streissguth, regional manager for Puget Sound Energy — a smart, very well liked and highly capable administrator, who actually did make the top three.

LARY COPPOLA John Poppe, a Silverdale water The Last Word commissioner with lots of administrative experience thanks to his day job with West Sound Utility District, tossed his hat in the ring, as did successful Central Kitsap attorney Rob McDermid, and former KSTW news reporter and Elandan Gardens owner Diane Robinson.

So one has to wonder what the PCOs were thinking when they made Daugs their top choice. With zero administrative and personnel management experience, it certainly couldn’t have been countywide electability, although she’ll have to face the voters next November. No one is going to confuse Daugs with Einstein, but perhaps because she knows she doesn’t have any qualifications for the job, she proudly boasts she’s an ultra-liberal instead.

The other two candidates the commissioners will chose from are Streissguth and Irene Bowling, a piano teacher whose major credential is being a close friend of Josh Brown’s mother. If they don’t agree on one of the three finalists,

Gov. Jay Inslee will make the appointment.

Knowing very little about Kitsap, he’ll undoubtedly go with the PCOs’ recommendation. In my opinion, of the top three, Streissguth is easily the best candidate and would present a viable challenge to Bremerton attorney Ed Wolfe, who wasted no time announcing his 2014 candidacy as a Republican before the ink was even dry on Daugs’ recommendation.

Daugs’ ethics should give non-KoolAid-drinking Democrats cause for concern.

The people of Bremerton put their trust in Daugs, re-electing her to the City Council in November. Doesn’t she feel any responsibility to them? Obviously not.

She blatantly lied to the PCOs about two endorsements she claimed to have for the position. Those endorsements were for her council race — in which she had no opponent — not her bid for commissioner.

There’s also no evidence she brought any of her concerns about Visit Kitsap’s lodging tax funding — or even understands where the money comes from — to city staff or any Visit Kitsap board members. What she has done is publicly exhibit both her lack of knowledge and her vindictiveness — both undesirable qualities in a county commissioner.

The PCOs froze Bozeman out because South Kitsap Commissioner Charlotte Garrido openly opposed him. He’d be her worst nightmare. Bozeman is a guy who thrives on getting things done. Garrido is a committed no-growther who strongly opposes change. During three terms in office, she hasn’t accomplished much for

her district, while the other two districts have benefitted extensively in both facilities and economic opportunity.

Republicans must be licking their chops at the prospect of Wolfe — a moderate with a stellar resumé, including diplomatic service and serious environmental credentials — facing ultra-liberal Leslie Daugs. Wolfe challenging either Streissguth or Bozeman would be a much better choice for voters — Kitsap would win either way. * * * The recent suspension of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson by the A&E network over comments he made in GQ magazine about homosexuality and his religious views ignited a firestorm about free speech.

As expected, the Tea Party and other conservative groups didn’t waste any time jumping all over it, but much to my surprise, I saw people on Facebook who’ve never expressed a political opinion about anything, chastising A&E and urging a boycott of Duck Dynasty sponsors. At one point, a Facebook post claimed that according to Snopes, more people had contacted A&E than signed up for Obamacare.

I admit not knowing — or caring — much about Duck Dynasty, except wondering who those guys were pictured on all the camo gear in stores before the A&E blowup. But I’m a firm believer that political correctness has seriously eroded away our right of free speech. And I’m pleased to see other people finally stepping up to agree. Perhaps Duck Dynasty is the tipping point. I sure hope so.

38 • Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com January 2014

Year in review: Not another lame list, a news quiz instead So many Top Stories of 2013 lists are out there. So many categories — Most Heartwarming Stories, Top Science and Tech Stories, Top Stories According to Moms. There’s even a list of the Top 25 Most Censored Stories (subtitled The News That Didn’t Make the News.)

Rather than compiling one more random entry to that exhaustive list of Top Stories lists, I decided to review the year by reviving what once was a weekly feature at a newspaper where I worked. So here (with an assist from my kids) is your 2013 News Quiz: 1. In February, what plunged into Earth's atmosphere and exploded in the morning sky above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk?

A) An errant video game missile launched from a new Xbox One B) An NSA surveillance satellite C) A CIA drone D) A meteor 2. Which of these was not the name of a baby born to celebrity parents in 2013?

A) North West B) Batkid C) Prince George

D) Bear Winslet * Bonus question: Can you name all the parents?

3. What became legal in Washington state in 2013?

A) Twerking B) Medical marijuana C) Adult use of recreational marijuana TIM KELLY D) Same-sex Editor’s View marriage 4. Which of these was the topic of an article published in the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal in 2013?

A) Helium B) Ozone C) Hydrogen D) Oxygen 5. Who did Time magazine name Person of the Year?

A) Pope Francis B) Walter White C) Phil Robertson D) Edward Snowden

6. Who was this year’s World Series MVP? A) Alex Rodriguez B) Yasiel Puig C) David Ortiz D) Russell Wilson 7. What major news event of the past year was U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) most closely associated with?

A) Twerking B) The federal government shutdown C) Revelations of NSA spying D) The “@tipsforjesus” story E) All of the above 8. Which one of these made Time’s list of the Most Heartwarming Stories of the year?

A) The rollout of Obamacare B) The federal government shutdown C) The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of gay marriage D) A woman being interviewed on TV in the aftermath of the Oklahoma tornadoes sees her dog emerge from the rubble 9. Which acclaimed TV series ended in 2013?

A) Arrested Development B) Breaking Bad C) Mad Men D) Duck Dynasty

10. Whose photograph appears on the cover of the December edition of the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal?

A) Tim Matthes B) Leslie Daugs C) Laura Kneib D) Jan Angel 11. Which Port Orchard restaurant made national news for its connection with the “@tipsforjesus” story?

A) Moondogs Too B) Amy’s on the Bay C) Uncle Dave’s Café D) Family Pancake House 12. In the 2013 NFL season, which two quarterbacks tied the record for most touchdown passes in a game, with seven TDs? A) Peyton Manning, Tom Brady B) Drew Brees, Andrew Luck C) Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick D) Nick Foles, Peyton Manning Answers: 1-D; 2-B; Bonus question: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Kate Middleton and Prince William, Kate Winslet and Ned Rocknroll; 3-C; 4-B (June edition); 5-A; 6-C; 7-B; 8-D; 9-B; 10-C; 11-A; 12-D

January 2014 Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal • KPBJ.com 39