SEDCOR Enterprise Magazine Spring 2023

Executive Council

Chair

Mike Keane

Shareholder and Managing Officer, Garrett Hemann Robertson

Vice-Chair

Kate Schwarzler

Owner, Indy Commons

Treasurer

Ryan Allbritton

SVP, Chief Banking Officer, Willamette Valley Bank

Daryl Knox CPA, Partner, Aldrich Group

Timothy Murphy

VP of Business Operations, DCI

Scott Snyder General Manager, The Grand Hotel in Salem

Keith Stahley City Manager, City of Salem

SEDCOR Staff

Erik Andersson President 503-837-1800

eandersson@sedcor.com

Past Chair

Michael Fowler CEO, CabDoor

Board of Directors

Curt Arthur Managing Director, SVN Commercial Advisors

Ricardo Baez

President, Don Pancho

Authentic Mexican Foods, Inc.

Roxanne Beltz City Councilor, City of Monmouth

Becky Berger

Owner and CEO, Berger International

Alan Blood General Manager, Garmin AT, Inc.

David Briggs

Trial Lawyer, Partner, Saalfeld Griggs PC

Patricia Callihan Bowman

Owner/Career Coach, Express Employment Professionals

Tom Christensen CFO, Oregon Fruit Products

Cathy Clark

Mayor, City of Keizer

Richard Day

Owner/Manager, Advantage Holdings LLC

Brent DeHart

President, Salem Aviation

Rich Duncan

President, Rich Duncan Construction, Inc.

Tony Eaquinto

Southern Regional Manager, Portland General Electric

Juli Foscoli

Secretary / Treasurer, South Town Glass

Theresa Haskins

Senior Business Development Manager, Portland General Electric

Stephen Heckert

Farm Operations Specialist, Crosby Hops

Steve Horning

VP, Business Relationship Manager, People's Bank

Jessica Howard President/CEO, Chemeketa Community College

Chris Hoy Mayor, City of Salem

Mark Hoyt

Partner, Sherman Sherman Johnnie & Hoyt, LLP

Jamie Johnk

Economic Development Director, City of Woodburn

Adam Kohler

Regional Business Manager, Pacific Power

Jennifer Larsen Morrow President, Creative Company, Inc.

Rod Lucas Owner, Turner Lumber, Inc.

Kim Parker-Llerenas

Executive Director, Willamette Workforce Partnership

James Parr Chief Financial Officer, Salem Health

Craig Pope County Commissioner, Polk County

Jim Rasmussen President/CEO, Modern Building Systems

Mark Raum VP, Commercial Banking Officer, Columbia Bank

David Rheinholdt

Board President, Latino Business Alliance

Samantha Ridderbusch

Director, Government & Regulatory Affairs, Comcast

Tony Schacher

General Manager, Salem Electric

Liz Schaecher

Program Coordinator, Oregon Aglink

Dan Ulven President, The Ulven Companies

Michael Wynschenk CEO, Hunter Communications

Colm Willis County Commissioner, Marion County Board of Commissioners 626 High Street NE, Suite 200 • Salem, OR 97301 503-588-6225 • info@sedcor.com • www.sedcor.com

Jenni Kistler Director of Operations 503-588-6225 jkistler@sedcor.com

Nick Harville Business Retention & Expansion Manager –Marion County 503-837-1804 nharville@sedcor.com

Alex Paraskevas Economic Development Manager – Polk County Rural Innovation Catalyst 503-837-1803 alexp@sedcor.com

Abisha Stone Economic Development Manager – Yamhill County 503-507-4175 astone@sedcor.com

Michael Miller Marketing and Communications Coordinator 503-588-6225 mmiller@sedcor.com

Deb Giard Events and Membership Coordinator 503-949-4614

dgiard@sedcor.com

Listen First. Enjoy the first-ever Interview Issue of our Enterprise.

First, we listen.

The SEDCOR region covers three counties and a wide variety of clients. In order to be able help manufacturers, machine shops, food processors, wineries, metal fab shops, growers, large employers, nonprofits and others, we have to listen deeply and understand the obstacles and opportunities they face.

SEDCOR has succeeded for over forty years because we are very good at asking the right questions and listening to the answers before deciding on a course of action.

In our first issue of Enterprise in 2023, we want to give you, our readers, an inside look at the most important part of our economic development process: asking questions.

This is our first-ever Interview Issue.

Erik Andersson SEDCOR President

Throughout the pages of this issue, we have dedicated space for our members and partners to speak freely and tell their stories.

For our feature interview, we sat down with Pete Nelson, President and Executive Director of AgLaunch. If you attended the recent SEDCOR Ag Breakfasts in Mt. Angel and Polk County, you heard a little bit about AgLaunch and its approach to promoting innovation in agriculture. Pete and his organization have become an increasingly important partner in SEDCOR’s approach to economic development in the Willamette Valley. Pete shares his thoughts with us on the farm of the future, his thousand-year view of technological progress, their farmer-focused approach to innovation, and his growing love for Willamette Valley farming.

You’ll also read an interview with Dorie Vickery, Superintendent of the Sheridan School District, in which she discusses the progress they have made to transform a vacant industrial building into the state of the art Barbara Roberts Career Technical Education Center.

Plus, SEDCOR board member Juli Foscoli of Southtown Glass and the National Association of Women in Construction recounts how she and a dedicated group of community and business partners gave of their time, materials, and resources to build 150 sheds for those still rebuilding the Santiam Canyon.

To close out the issue, we look into the future with Jen Wells, Co-founder and CEO of Lateral Systems. This interview embodies what has become a SEDCOR rallying cry of late: there are great innovation opportunities in ALL industries, not just the tech industry. (In fact, it was recently estimated that nearly 60% of tech jobs are in non-tech industries.)

The start of a new year means recognizing and acting upon new opportunities. At SEDCOR, our mission to find, create, and cultivate those opportunities for the most unique and vital industries in the Willamette Valley.

But first, we listen.

Marion Ag Awarded Agricultural Retailers Assocation Retailer of the Year

As a family-owned independent ag retailer, Marion Ag Service Inc. is rooted in serving its customers with a nimble entrepreneurial spirit and an appetite to embrace a diverse range of crops served. To recognize its excellence in business, Marion Ag Service received the 2022 Retailer of the Year recognition, an award given by the Agricultural Retailers Association, sponsored by Bayer and supported by The Scoop.

The business’ foundation was set in 1976 as Bob Hockett joined four other local farmers to start the company in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Hockett bought out his partners in 1978 and focused the business on lime application, fertilizer sales, trucking and wheat storage and marketing. Today, Marion Ag has four locations serving growers of hundreds of crops from south of Portland to Eugene.

“Our business was built by our employees. They do the face-to-face everyday job, and I’ve tried not to interfere,” Hockett says. “When people ask how we’ve been able to do something, I think it’s because we’ve had the right people doing the right thing in trying to help the grower.”

It’s Hockett’s entrepreneurial spirit that is ingrained in the company’s team—now 120+ plus employees. His son, John, is current CEO.

“Our culture is rooted around trust—trust with our teammates and trust with customers,” he says. “It’s the energy that you bring to just the small things that make the big difference. And I think that’s it in a nutshell—little things matter to us.”

To deliver its “trust-driven service” motto, Marion Ag has four core values: knowledgeable, integrity, reliability and teamwork.

“Our customers are asking us for sound advice and value-added services that can add to their bottom line,” says Tom Wimmer, executive vice president, who has been with the company for 43 years and was its seventh employee.

One unique opportunity for Marion Ag is its geography and, therefore, the diversity in the crops it services: broadacre crops, grass seed, clover, vegetable seeds, horticultural and nursery products, berries, hops, hazelnuts and grapes. Rather than think of this diversity as a challenge, the team embraces how it can grow the business in serving the range of customers.

“We have the right climate, great soils and a rich history of being able to grow good crops,” says Craig Vachter, sales manager and agronomist. “If we can’t provide the right service to the customer to be successful, then we won’t be successful. And our leadership gives the freedom to carve your own path but lead by example. And they give you the tools and the amount of information necessary to be successful.”

As its business has grown and evolved, customer-centered service extends across all facets of the industry the team serves.

“Our experienced commercial team is ready to help your business grow and thrive.”

MEDP Awarded Youth Development Grant

The McMinnville Economic Development Partnership has contracted Liz Knapp, Educator and Grant Manager to complete a six-month contracted project. The position is made possible through a grant MEDP was awarded from Future Ready Oregon via Oregon Department of Education’s Youth Development Division. Knapp will be responsible for expanding on an industry driven entry-level workforce program in McMinnville and Yamhill County with a focus on essential workplace skills training in conjunction with paid work experience opportunities.

The goal is to build upon the 2019 MEDP piloted Career Bound Internship Program by identifying resources and enhancing training of youth (aged 14-24) from priority populations to prepare them for entry-level, career-track jobs and creating a local workforce pipeline. MEDP and Knapp hope to form a group of interested companies to help create the pipeline. Much like the McMinnville WORKS Internship Program, the pipeline project will be designed to be industry-led and enforce the essential workplace skills our business community is looking for with a new hire. The intent is to support “growing our own local workforce”. MEDP’s decade of experience in internship programming (creator of McMinnville WORKS and the Oregon WORKS Network of community internship programs), has proven this type of effort is good for businesses, good for participants, and good for the community.

Knapp comes to MEDP with experience in both teaching and creating innovative programs for youth. Knapp has an extensive history of working with historically underrepresented youth, which is ideal for this Future Ready Oregon Youth Development program. With over 20 years of experience in education (14 in McMinnville), Knapp is excited to support youth in the community in a new way by elevating and supporting their workforce development. MEDP is currently looking for interested companies in Yamhill County who want to Host a Youth aged 14-24 for a paid (at least minimum wage) work-experience internship this Spring (March-May 2023).

The grant offers employers a wage subsidy up to $3,000 / intern (up to $6,000/employer), to cover in part, paying the employee at least minimum wage (Oregon Minimum Wage = $13.50/hour) for the duration of the program. MEDP hopes to have Career Bound host sites identified in February and matched to youth applicants in March 2023. The grant covers wage subsidy for up to 15 internship positions for the nine-week program. Efforts will be made to offer internship positions not only in McMinnville, but in other communities in Yamhill County.

Through MEDP’s work with our business community, not only lack of workforce, but needed workplace essential skills have been prevalent in discussions. Essential Skills identified for the Career Bound Training for youth and reinforced on the job by Host Mentors, will include, but are not limited to: communication, teamwork, adaptability, and more. Knapp will work with host mentors and community workforce liaisons to develop pre-employment essential skills training and will offer five additional professional development workshops during the course of their internships. Youth participating in this program will be identified as a priority population which can include, but is not limited to: foster care (current or past members), houseless, of color, women, rural-low income, tribal members, LGBTQ+ from throughout Yamhill County. MEDP Executive Director, Patty Herzog commented on the project stating, “We believe this is the right next step to ensure a stronger talent pipeline in our community. We are excited to have Liz on board and can’t wait to see how we can create more connections that grow our own local workforce.” Interested parties can email Liz Knapp, Career Bound Coordinator at info@mcminnvillebusiness.com or call 503.317.5504.

Automotive

News

Names Capitol Auto Group as a Top Employer for 11th Year in a Row

When judging a great place to work, employees know best. Based on a confidential survey, Automotive News ranked Capitol Auto Group's dealerships in the "100 Best Dealerships to Work For" in America. The Oregon-based Toyota, Subaru, and Chevrolet, Cadillac dealerships received 11 top national recognitions.

"We could not be more proud of Capitol Auto Group," says Greg Remensperger, Executive Vice President of the Oregon Auto Dealers Association.

Capitol Auto Group Marketing Director Carrie Casebeer is incredibly proud of the company's efforts to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. "Women, Latinos, and millennials are traditionally underrepresented in the industry. Capitol Auto Group creates and maintains a diverse workforce through intentional hiring and promoting work-life balance. This workplace culture makes us both a great place to work and to be a customer."

"Automotive News is the voice of our industry, and their annual award is the envy of all dealers. Capitol Auto Group's awards represent what is great about the state of Oregon."

Along with competitive pay and benefits, employees appreciate the company's focus on charitable giving, community engagement, and environmentally friendly practices. Capitol Auto Group has consistently led the region in fundraising for the United Way. Employee campaigns raised over $1.9 million for the charity over the last ten years.

The dealership has been in business for over 90 years. Salem Area Chamber CEO Tom Hoffert said, "The community is fortunate to have several multi-generational dealerships, including the Casebeer family. As a premier employer in our community, Capitol Auto Group has chosen to continually invest in its people and culture, resulting in a dynamically skilled, thoughtful, and generous team of professionals. These employees are seen donating time and talents across the Salem community, driving our city to a healthier future."

Automotive News has recognized the company every year since the rankings began in 2010. They are the only Oregon dealership that made the list this year.

Garten Services CFO Pamela Best retires after 28 Years

Garten Services, Inc., a local not-for-profit corporation, announced that Chief Financial Officer, Pamela Best has retired effective January 31, 2023. As part of Garten’s succession plan, Best has been training new CFO Ashley Wilson over the past year to ensure a smooth transition of duties.

"Pamela is an extraordinary example of one of the people in our field who works diligently behind the scenes to make our service visions come to life,” said Timothy Rocak, Chief Executive Officer of Garten Services. “We don't often recognize how our service innovations and accomplishments depend upon the practical, systematic creativity of someone like Pamela Best to successfully implement our dreams for improved services to people with disabilities. As CEO, I often get credit for our service transformation and program innovations, but Pamela turned these visions into spreadsheets and plans."

“Pam did an excellent job keeping the board apprised of fiscal matters,” said Allan Pollock, Board President of Garten Services. “Our auditors consistently shared with the board that Pam did impeccable work with our financial documents. The board will

miss Pam and her professionalism and commitment to Garten's mission.”

Best joined Garten Services in 1994 as a temp Accounts Receivables Clerk. She was hired on as a regular employee, advancing to Accounting Manager before becoming Garten's Chief Financial Officer in 2003.

She was integral to Garten’s growth and helped develop a strategy that successfully transitioned Garten’s business model to emphasize community employment while retaining diverse employment opportunities in un-subsidized Garten social enterprises. Her work has positively impacted the lives of thousands of community members with and without disabilities in her 28 years with Garten Services.

During her retirement party, Best discussed why she stayed with Garten over the years, “It’s because Garten cared about me.” She closed with, “I truly believe that if you take care of a company, the company will take care of you.”

INSIGHTS FROM THE TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION OF OREGON

Redefining Tech Industries

Interview

with Skip Newberry, President and CEO, Technology Association of Oregon.

Describe TAO's partnership with SEDCOR up to today. How do you see it expanding in the future?

The Technology Association of Oregon (TAO) has been a consistent partner with SEDCOR on a number of initiatives over the years. Our paths first crossed via the City of Independence and an effort led by Shawn Irvine to develop an economic development strategy centered on municipally-owned broadband infrastructure. This strategy recognized the importance of technology infrastructure as a way to help stop the "brain drain" of resident workers leaving rural areas and also as an amenity to attract increasingly mobile knowledge workers to the region. The next evolution in this work involved identifying industry sectors that were critical to the region and looking for ways to foster startup creation by local residents and also attract entrepreneurs and technology teams to the region for projects.

Our partnership with SEDCOR really crystallized when we collaborated on a series of agriculture-focused "design sprints". This project was funded by an EDA grant that SEDCOR secured. SEDCOR identified local growers and agricultural interests, and we worked together to help those growers define key pain points for their respective businesses. These were turned into "challenges" for the design sprint. We then convened teams of professional and student technologists, as well as entrepreneurs to develop solutions for those challenges.

More recently, we partnered with SEDCOR on the development of an interactive dashboard with data on tech careers across the agriculture and food processing sectors in the Mid Willamette Valley. As these projects demonstrate, developing an "innovation ecosystem" involving tech and other sectors is a complex process that requires different strategies related to infrastructure, workforce, programs, and events/community-building. I am excited about our on-going collaboration with SEDCOR and look forward to future iterations of this work. We're just getting started.

As Erik mentioned in his opening letter, a surprising majority of tech jobs are not in tech industries, traditionally defined. Do we need to start rethinking how we think of "tech industries"?

For sure! CompTIA, an international tech association and tech skills certification organization noted in their

annual CyberStates report that, nationally, 59% of tech jobs are at non-tech companies. We are seeing this play out in Oregon, as well. I like to say that, today, every company is a tech company. And if they don't think of themselves as a tech company, they had better start! Innovation is not limited to pure tech companies, traditionally defined.

One of the things that got me excited about this opportunity to build TAO over 10 years ago was the kind of impact that tech innovation and digital transformation can have across every sector. And this includes government, nonprofit and education sectors, as well.

What are some of the most exciting projects and initiatives around tech and innovation happening in Oregon right now?

Well, apart from the Ag Innovation work led by SEDCOR, there are some other interesting initiatives underway and coming down the pike. Looking ahead, Oregon has a once-ina-generation opportunity in at least two respects.

Future Ready Oregon is a $200M workforce initiative designed to help historically under-represented populations in Oregon get access to careers in growth sectors such as tech, manufacturing and healthcare. If structured well, this initiative could help to better align higher ed, the State's workforce system, and other certification and training providers in a way that enables those orgs to efficiently meet the needs of diverse residents and businesses to the benefit of all.

The federal CHIPS Act is an opportunity to strengthen and accelerate innovation in the nation's semiconductor industry that brings with it the promise of billions of dollars in funding. Given Oregon's longstanding position as a center for semiconductor R&D, this opportunity is ours to lose, but the competition is going to be fierce.

LATERAL.Systems

lateral.systems

Civic Possible civicpossible.com

Glorie LLC gloriecookies.com

Keizer Computer keizercomputer.com

Pro-Cure pro-cure.com

Pacific Crest Real Estate Advisors pacificcrestrea.com

Petra Technologies Inc petratechit.com

De Muniz Resource Center mwvcaa.org

Wells Fargo Bank Commercial Banking wellsfargo.com

Falck Northwest falck.us

That Food Guy Catering thatfoodguycatering.com

MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions macmiller.com

The Law Office of Abby Fitts abbyfitts.com

Willamette Broadcasting Corporation – 1430 KYKN kykn.com

Fairsing Vineyard

Willamette Valley Vineyards

Andante Vineyard Alexana Winery Architecture & Interior Design Custom Homes

Interview with Pete Nelson

AgLaunch and SEDCOR Want to Help Build the Farm of the Future

Pete Nelson is the President and Executive Director of AgLaunch, a nonprofit organization based in Memphis, Tennessee focused on what they describe as the “farm of the future.” As a former farmer, Nelson understands the unique challenges and pressures farmers face. He knows which technologies are useful and which farmers will adopt.

During a recent visit to Oregon, Pete sat down to talk about AgLaunch, the organization’s strategic relationship with SEDCOR, how to put the farmer in the center of the process of innovation, and his appreciation for what we grow and how we grow in the Willamette Valley.

SEDCOR: Tell us about AgLaunch.

Pete Nelson: We support what we call the farms of the future, which I think we’re going to talk about a bit more in a few minutes, and how farms can transform communities which means jobs, equity, and inclusion for everybody. Both from a healthy-food perspective and through being engaged in wealth creation. We do that by connecting farmers—which we represent now across the United States—and pulling them together into networks that support both development of new crops and new ideas, as well as ag technologies and innovation that will hopefully benefit and make the way we produce and distribute food more sustainable.

SEDCOR: How are AgLaunch and SEDCOR working together?

Nelson: We started out in Tennessee and the Mississippi Delta. What became obvious over time is that farmers everywhere, regardless of what they grow or where they are geographically have a lot of the same pressures. Obviously, there is environmental and weather pressure, but also market pressures

and access to capital. If we were going to scale technology, we needed a variety of regions, soil types, crops, and opportunities to increase our overall value.

We took a position about six years ago of being open to other trusted partners. Twenty-eight states have approached us, and we ended up only working with a farmer co-op in Iowa and SEDCOR in the Willamette Valley to start. This has a lot to do with trust and understanding. SEDCOR understands how we want to position the farmer and the innovator in the middle and then bring other resources around them.

In the Willamette Valley, you have the unique position of having 170 crops, producing more local value-add products, and having a lot of assets that our partners in the Mississippi Delta don’t have. So, it is very complimentary.

SEDCOR: From a very macro view, what is the state of ag innovation?

Nelson: We have a view of agriculture that says we are emerging on a new wave of innovation and

opportunity. The preceding waves were the domestication of plants and animals. Then, the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of the combustion engine and steel to farming. Then, since World War II, we’ve been in a wave of biotechnology and seed breeding—think the Green Revolution. All of these waves are very interesting and some have detriments. Now, we are taking the best learnings from each wave and applying them to what I call "the thousand-year view".

What is it going to look like for our grandchildren’s grandchildren’s grandchildren? How will they live in a robust and healthy place? How do we do what we do in a way that creates impact?

We think this new wave is coming based on the fact that consumers want completely different food products now. Plus, the cost of technology has fallen

dramatically and across the food and supply chains new business partnerships are being formed.

SEDCOR: Farmers are naturally innovative people. What is AgLaunch doing to enhance this?

Nelson: Good farmers are definitely innovative and entrepreneurial. This also means, like me, they can be a bit cantankerous and not easy to harness or move together. A lot of what we are doing is identifying the innovators of innovators—the farmers who are the most likely to want to be involved in new things and take risks—and joining them in a network around opportunities. Both in commercializing technology and growing new products.

SEDCOR: What makes a successful agtech venture?

Nelson: At this point, we have worked with hundreds of companies centered on farmers and having farmers ground truth in development. Many that came to us have gone through accelerators and have raised millions of dollars—even had a proof-of-concept and a prototype--and it seemed as though they hadn’t even gotten started by the time they got to the farm.

So, that’s the first thing: it has to work and it has to work for farmers.

Many of the early wins in agtech—as far as exiting and earning money for investors—were really about big companies using the data or analytics to position their seed products, but none really benefited farmers.

For us, it starts with asking the question, “Will this help farmers be

profitable in a sustainable way and give them more options?

Again, does it work?” From there, we believe capital, return on capital, and scale will come if it works.

A lot people think farmers are slow to adopt new technologies. Actually, farmers are incredibly quick to adopt. Again, as long as it works and it shows real value on the farm.

SEDCOR: What are some of the most exciting developments in ag-tech in the last five years?

Nelson: There are some big macro things that AgLaunch works with. Certainly, artificial intelligence, or what I call augmented intelligence, and using predictive analytics to make decisions on the farm. Also, genetic sequencing.

One company I’ll mention that AgLaunch is involved in is the first to use drones flying in a swarm that can do aerial imagery but then also spot spray when it identifies a pest problem. Instead of spraying widely and all over the place, these chemicals can be applied in a very focused way, reducing the use of chemicals and making the whole agricultural system more sustainable.

We have twenty-two portfolio companies and they are all on the bleeding edge of those larger technological trends I mentioned earlier. But they are also grounded in the ability to help farmers either make decisions or take advantage of nearterm market opportunities and actually improve the way their farm operates.

SEDCOR: What exciting advances are on the way?

Nelson: I expect within the next five years we will have cracked, at least somewhat, the tactile ability to actually pick crops better and use more automation in some really terrible jobs—being out in a field and exposed to chemicals and other harms. Hopefully, we can up-skill labor into unique product development or other places in the supply chain.

I expect more automation where it is effective. So, that would be in the field scouting and using analytics to reduce chemicals or other inputs. Also, I see using blockchains and distributed ledgers in markets to be able to value nutrient density and

other attributes and not simply turning everything into a commodity.

We see farms being able to become more focused on producing nutrient-dense products and becoming carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative. Opportunities will open for farmers and the ones who serve them to take on very different positions in the value chain.

SEDCOR: As we strengthen our partnership, what makes you most excited?

Nelson: I think it is exciting that farmers and organizations in the Willamette Valley are willing to host some farmers from Tennessee and that we are looking at opportunities together. We are building a business network and learning from one another.

We have in front of us an exciting opportunity to build something truly significant. We have the audacity to look at things with that 'thousand-year view" and growing something that could actually have an impact for the community.

Oregonians are generators of abundance. For 50 years, we’ve helped each other thrive. From safe shelter to art supplies, we’ve stepped up when someone needed support. Leaned in when they needed help. Dug deep when they needed food. Gave back, when given the chance. And we’re getting better at doing it all more equitably. The past few years have been some of our most challenging. And what did we do? We helped each other. We marched, fought fires, dropped off groceries — and gave. We gave more than ever before. Which tells us that in our next 50 years, Oregonians helping Oregonians, through thick and thin, will continue to lift us all. Cheers to you, Oregon. As your statewide community foundation, we celebrate our 50th anniversary in honor of you.

A Shed Made All the Difference

Within a few short and chaotic days, the Santiam Canyon was transformed forever. Properties smoldered. Homes disappeared. Entire towns were damaged beyond recognition. But, as quickly as the wildfire subsided, the rebuilding began. We sat down with Juli Foscoli, Accounts Manager at Southtown Glass and a member of the SEDCOR Board of Directors, to learn about building sheds, recovery in the Santiam Canyon, and how small gifts can add up to a big impact.

You’re on track to complete 150 sheds for residents in the Canyon. How did this all start?

Nick Harville was the one who sent the initial email expressing the need for a couple of sheds. Was there anyone willing to put together a shed? So, my company, Southtown Glass, provided the funding to build one shed and White Oak Construction provided the funding to build the second shed. Plus, many partners in the community came together on a weekend in February and we put the sheds together.

After we built the first two sheds, we thought we were done. But the need for sheds was still there. So we kept just building. Teams would meet on the weekends and put them together. It was very cold and very wet! And not very efficient. We would construct the base and walls and then take everything up and assemble them at the properties. We did about 50 sheds that way, until Marv Shetler of Blazer Industries offered his warehouse, which was protected from the elements and had a crane hoist system on the ceiling. That was a game-changer!

There have been so many people and businesses and organizations who have given money, materials, and time throughout the entire process.

What has been the most meaningful part of this experience for you personally?

Some of the stories I hear are just heartbreaking. It is hard to imagine what it is like to lose everything. People think to pull out their Christmas decorations, just to remember that they are gone. A lot of people are having to rebuild by living in a trailer or mobile home. They have nowhere to store their tools and many have them stolen while they sleep. They’ve already gone through so much!

I have told this story many times, but one woman we helped had a severely handicapped daughter and going to the grocery store was a huge ordeal. The refrigerator in their camper was very small so they had to make the grocery trip far too often. When she got her shed, she was able to install a large fridge and a freezer, add shelves to store canned food. She was in tears since she knew how much time and stress this would be saving.

These interactions—and there have been so many like it—have meant so much to me.

What has this experience taught you about community and how people can care for one another?

Our project started during a time when people were on the opposite ends of the spectrum with so many issues. But, through building sheds, so many people came together, making connections, displaying how big their hearts could be. For some residents in the Canyon, they had lived as neighbors for years, but had never known each other. Now, they are dropping by and checking in, having coffee, sharing stories, and finding new ways to help each other out.

Our community showed just how willing they are to help those in need. It makes me so happy.

When events like the fire happens, it is easy to feel helpless. You wish there was something you can do. For all those who helped with this project, they could actually do something; a coat of paint, a stack of wood, a box of nails, or a delivery of hot coffee all made a huge difference for so many people.

Interview with Dorie Vickery

Sheridan School District Superintendent Dorie Vickery speaks about her team, her community, and the exciting story of how Career Technical Education is making its way to Sheridan.

What excites you about educating in Sheridan?

We have a very mission-driven staff who work incredibly hard for our students. Plus, they know how to serve their community and build trust, which has been important going through and coming out of COVID. I started as superintendent in July of 2020, so my entire tenure has been through the pandemic. But I think it has been a bonding experience for the staff and the community as a whole.

Even outside of the school district, many exciting things are happening in Sheridan. For instance, we partnered with the City

You have been working on bringing technical education to Sheridan at the Barbara Roberts CTEC facility. How did this come about?

It actually all come about very organically. One day, a member of our board came to me and said, “I think we need to buy that building.” It quickly evolved. I went out and looked at the property. From there, we got [Salem-area commercial realtor] Josh Kay involved. Soon after that, I was testifying in front of the Oregon Senate’s Ways and Means Committee and we were awarded $1.9 million to purchase the property.

After securing the property, we contracted with a consultancy who currently run the capital campaign. Our consultants, along with a team made up of SEDCOR, district staff, and community members determined which career paths to offer.

of Sheridan and were awarded an ODOT grant for building safe routes to schools. We have a very active Rotary Club. We are obviously a small community, but people are really stepping up in our revitalization efforts.

What are the unique challenges to educating in a smaller community?

Since we are a small district and have a small staff, we all have to wear a lot of hats. The administrative team all have other job assignments. Personally, I manage most of our grants and federal programs; in a larger district you would have a dedicated staff person for that work.

At the same time, being a smaller district means we can take state grants and other funding and spin things up very quickly. If we have to adapt, we can turn on a dime and get everyone on the same page. With just 650 students, we tend to move quickly.

SEDCOR provided us with regional and county employment data. Our goal is to identify pathways to living-wage jobs in the area. We want the programs we offer to lead to certification and access to higher-ed programs like those offered at Chemeketa. Importantly, though, they must be jobs that are in demand from local industry.

Which programs are you looking to offer first?

In the first phase, we plan to offer programs in agricultural business and manufacturing--welding is still in high-demand locally. We are also looking at truck and heavy equipment driving. Through researching this, I found that there are no high schools—zero—that offer truck driving courses. With our training and the eventual attainment of their CDL, they can quickly find good-paying jobs in delivery driving, logging, and construction.

Also, our local fire district has recently reached out about offering firefighting training courses. They are desperate for

Continued on page 18

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trained firefighters and there is no training facility nearby. So, we will be constructing a three-story training tower on the property. Recently, Sheridan Fire District did a big extradition training on the property. They brought in old, beat-up cars and even a school bus and ran simulations, which brought many firefighting teams to our community.

Where is the project at currently?

We purchased and closed on the property a year ago in October. After that, we began advocating for Yamhill County American Rescue Plan Act funds. Last fall, we were awarded $1.4 million, which went towards our design phase. So, we nearing 75% completion of the design plans, which is very exciting.

Throughout the design phase, we visited CTE facilities and looked to take the best from Chemeketa, McMinnville, Salem-Keizer CTEC, and more.

Right now, we are pursuing construction funds.

What do you hope for students who go through the program?

CTE programs across the country have an extremely high graduation rate. It is virtually 100% because students have buy-in and are highly motivated. I hope that high school junior and seniors have a fantastic two-year experience, which has them ready for a living-wage job or higher education certification post

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high school.

Much like student-athletes have signing days when they choose a school to play for, I want to have a signing day for our CTE students when they choose their employer or decide to attend a trade school to get their certification.

We want our students to have a plan and pathway leading to a living-wage job that fills an important need for industry.

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County Update – Marion County – Colm Willis

What are the most significant obstacles facing your county?

We are in a public safety crisis. The state policy is releasing violent criminals from prison. Also, the legalization of drugs has led to an uptick in criminal activity. We are taking our responsibility to keeping our community safe very seriously and are working with our public safety partners on creative solutions. This is something we need to be serious about addressing.

We also have a homelessness crisis. State policy doesn’t always align with local policy. We differ from the state on how best to hold people accountable while treating people experiencing homelessness with compassion. We have a lack of alignment, and, as a result, we are not seeing the kind of progress I would like when it comes to getting people housed, or into substance abuse treatment, and in a better living situation.

What are the most exciting opportunities for your county going into the new year?

Our overall trajectory is really positive. We had the terrible wildfires in 2020 in the Santiam Canyon and have made some excellent progress in the recovery. Sixty percent of the homes which burned have received building permits and seventy percent have already received septic permits. I expect to see nearly all, if not all, of the homes that were burnt to be rebuilt. This is an incredibly fast recovery for the amount wildfire damage and is a testament to the entire community pulling together to help the Canyon.

We have also seen poverty go down in Marion County over the last ten years by about 5%. We are seeing people getting better-paying jobs and being able to support their families. There has been a lot of business development and growth in rural Marion County.

I think on the job-front, things are really robust. We do have some pressure in the labor market, but we are seeing people move into the County, which is by-and-large a positive thing.

What are some of the policies the county is pursuing to tackle the obstacles you mentioned?

One thing we did was invest in expanding our jail capacity by 50 beds. These will become available this July. We took two years of planning to do this without raising taxes.

When it comes to homelessness, we need to make a policy change. As we’ve seen, you spend billions of dollars and

still have a problem with homelessness, especially if you’re not clear-eyed about the policy changes that need to take place. In particular, I think unregulated homeless camping is dangerous to those in the camps and dangerous to the communities around them. As a community, it is important we recognize that allowing unregulated camping is not compassionate and does not reflect the dignity of all people in our community. The question becomes, what’s the solution?

Right now, I think some of the local nonprofits are exploring interesting ideas. Church in the Park has their micro-shelter project. Along with that, we gave $3 million to the Salem Homeless Navigation Center. Both of these will expand opportunities for homeless individuals to get connected to treatment and housing.

Which policies are being proposed to enhance these exciting opportunities?

We have some major infrastructure projects we are working on right now that will be completed in the next three or four years. A lot of them have been in the works for the last several years.

For instance, we are building a brand-new water system for Brooks which allows for more development in the Brooks area. We are going to implement a new radio system for first responders outside the City of Salem, which has been needed for a long time. We also are building a $50 million sewer system in the Santiam Canyon.

We are working to excavate the Detroit marinas to make sure the recreation season can last longer. We also learned we were able to get full funding for the Donald interchange and that is going to make it a place where local businesses can get on the highway and move goods and services out of Marion County and to markets everywhere.

Are you optimistic about the future of your county?

I am definitely bullish on Marion County!

It is a great place to live and we are going to see a lot of growth in the next several years.

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County Update – Yamhill County – Kit Johnston

What is the biggest obstacle your county faces right now?

Statewide, and certainly in Yamhill County, the biggest obstacle is housing. So, right now, we are trying to update and change ordinances in the county.

There is a bill in the State Senate related to wildfires and requires that wildfire maps be completed for the counties. That mapping requirement has been delayed going on three years now. We want to see if we can get the wildfire map requirement decoupled from sections related to Accessory Dwelling Units.

In Yamhill County, we are sitting on four thousand lots in rural residential areas that could possibly have an ADU built upon them. Now, I understand that not all four thousand residents are going to build something, but the opportunity to do so could open up the potential for housing relief in those areas if the policies are right.

What are the most exciting opportunities?

First, we have been very fiscally responsible, and I want to keep that on track.

One of my long-term goals is to get the fairgrounds out of downtown McMinnville and back into the country. We are starting to be compressed in the area where it is currently located; there’s been a lot of growth around the fairgrounds. The facilities are about due for a major upgrade—either renovation or even replacement. So, we are almost at a point where we need to make a decision: keep it there and build new facilities or move to a place that would work better for the long term.

Again, with the lack of housing being such a major issue, it would make sense, to me, to open the fairgrounds area, prime in-town property, to housing, commercial, light industrial. It is a big area, so it could mean a lot of affordable housing.

What policies are being pursued to tackle some of the obstacles you’re facing?

For the most part, each city has the opportunity to increase their housing. But if I do have some influence with a city or a city council, it would be to recommend growth by considering lowering their Systems Development Charges.

These charges vary from city to city, but some are very high and create a lot of cost before a shovel even goes into the ground.

Right now, the governor has come out with a big plan and expressed how much money she wants to spend for affordable housing. To me, I say we pursue the easiest solutions first and that’s policy change to make building houses easier and more affordable.

As a new commissioner, what makes you most excited about the opportunities you’re pursuing?

I have a background in farming, which means there was something new every day. So far, the commissioner job feels much the same. The variety is definitely something I enjoy.

Our county is very unique in that we are a big draw for the Portland-Metro area, but we are also largely agricultural. That is our biggest industry. It creates a bit of tension. So, we just have to find a way to determine how much growth is appropriate and where it is appropriate.

We need to pursue growth in a responsible way. I feel like I can be a bridge between the growth and no-growth crowds. I’m well suited to start a good dialogue since I do have a farming background and have a lot of connections throughout the county and can be that half-way point between “Yes, in my backyard” and “Not in my backyard.”

County Update – Polk County – Lyle Mordhorst

What are some of the biggest obstacles facing Polk County right now?

This year, our biggest concern is public safety. Right now, we are going to pass a levy to maintain our current public safety staffing.

Right now, when someone is arrested and is mentally ill, they need to be sent to the State Hospital and there is a deadline for that assessment. This puts a lot of pressure at the county level since there are limits for how long we can hold someone.

Related to public safety, homelessness is another issue we are facing. And this issue, honestly, seems to continue to grow every year.

Lastly, the maintenance of our state roads and highways is something we are looking at very closely as we work alongside our state partners.

What are some of the most exciting opportunities?

Our work with the Oregon Department of Transportation has continued to expand. We have great projects coming to fruition that we have been working on for a long time. Some very important work will be started on the more dangerous intersections and interchanges, making them much more functional and, of course, safe.

One project, the Highway 51 and Highway 22 interchange, started all the way back in 2000. It was funded in 2010 and then shelved. Now, it is back in the works and we are very excited to see it come together.

What are some of the policies being pursued by the county to address the obstacles you mentioned?

Polk County was recently selected to host a pilot program to address rural homelessness. So far, we are seeing some great results with that program, trying new approaches that have

shown to be very effective.

More than anything, it has been very important for our Board to understand and communicate our priorities. In order to be effective, we have had to be on the same page. Those priorities, as I see them, are public safety, transportation, and expanding rural broadband access.

Also, we continue to establish ourselves as partners. People, I think, understand that we are available to work alongside them to solve some complicated problems. The better and more collaborative our strategic partnerships are, the better the outcomes can be.

What makes you optimistic about the future of Polk County?

The people.

Our county works the best when people are willing to come and talk to us. Public input is effective because it allows us to understand how the policies we are pursuing will affect real people in real situations. For the most part, I believe people are willing to connect with us, but I think we can see even more public contributions to our process.

Internally, we have an incredible team. Our department heads are experts in their fields and they are doing incredible work. We have a very open line of communication between the Board and the county staff. They feel comfortable coming to us with a question and we feel the same way about them. That open communication and team effort is the reason we have been successful. The new ladders to employment and regional vitality that will add strength to an existing natural resource economy that has suffered for decades in Polk County.

Interview with Jen Wells, CEO/Co-Founder of LATERAL.systems.

Are you bullish on the future?

Yes! Absolutely.

The reason I’m bullish on the future is that so many people realize how much needs to change and are working together on how to make those changes happen. I see a rapid acceleration in the pace of innovation because of the collaboration of industries that, traditionally, didn’t necessarily work with each other.

I have been going to events and activities to find so many people asking, “What is my piece of my puzzle? What can I add to this solution?”

What are more interesting puzzle pieces people are bringing?

I’ll use myself as an example. I have been given an opportunity to develop an aquaponics system after spending decades as a science educator.

I was at a James Beard celebration of food sustainability in Portland sitting with a beekeeper, a professional chef involved in maintaining roof top gardens and beehives, aquaponics, hydroponics, and aeroponics to grow food for his kitchen, a gentleman in charge of food and beverage for a major urban hotel, and university and K-12 level educators. We wondered if anyone in the crowd knew how much of the food they were eating at that event was raised and harvested inside the building we were sitting in. Turns out, it was very few indeed. Right there and then we realized that we need to find ways to showcase controlled biology agriculture to make it clear that this isn’t pie in the sky thinking, this is technology actually delivering produce to tables right now using about 5% of the water with orders of magnitude less energy while creating next-to-no pollution.

From there, we decided to start with daylighting aquaponics. Following that event, we connected with others who also attended that celebration and figured out what we could each contribute to the project. Charlene Zidell generously offered that we could build an aquaponics system in her recently decommissioned shipyard repair yard in the SW waterfront of Portland so people would notice what we were doing as they walked past. From there large fish tank enthusiasts, chemists, engineers, welders, chefs, plumbers, electricians, and all sort of folks who believe in supplementing traditional soil-based farming with soil-less novel ag pitched in to design and build two aquaponics systems that became our research bench to learn about farmers’ pain points and what can be done to reduce the risks of running a commercial aquaponics farm.

Once it was built and all the lovely volunteers were done, I looked around to purchase a system to automatically monitor aspects of the system so I could keep it healthy without having to hang out and watch it all the time. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), a unified platform to monitor aquaponics doesn’t exist. Seeing this gap and talking to farmers about the profound need for a monitoring system to enable successful widespread adoption of aquaponics led me to look for someone with the skills and knowledge to build such as platform.

This is how I got connected Ed Lisle who had developed cutting edge smart systems during his time at Intel. My background is in restoration ecology and science education. Ed and I have since co-founded LATERAL.systems to develop a platform to address this gap. Realistically, in all likelihood Ed and I would have never met if that celebration of sustainable food hadn’t stimulated new ideas about how to work across traditional boundaries to develop practical solutions for how support novel agricultural systems.

What are some big hurdles to widespread adaption of the tech you’re working on?

Interoperability is still a big hurdle we’re working on. Many instruments simply do not speak the same language. Machines that gather and store data still need an interpreter if they want to share and do something useful with that data. Figuring out a way to get technology to play nicely together is key, not just to what LATERAL is doing, but to creating solutions to tackle big problems.

Big businesses like those in the beverage industry have somewhat solved the problem of interoperability but the technology they use is proprietary, folks can’t just go buy their solutions off-theshelf. So, although there are some really innovative, exciting solutions out there, they remain out-of-reach to most growers and small food processors.

What happens when better tech makes its way to the farm?

Experienced farmers have a deep library of knowledge in their heads. They know what healthy plants

Continued on page 28

LATERAL.system hardware at a local aquaponics facility.

REGION OF INNOVATORS

Continued from page 26 are supposed to look like and what to do if something is off. Given that the average age of farmers in the US is 57 and people are retiring faster than new, younger growers are entering in agriculture, there aren’t as many mentors available to pass their knowledge down to the younger generation of growers. This creates a big problem but also a potential opportunity as folks are thinking about new ways to tackle ancient problems.

I can see younger growers collaborating with experienced growers and together adopting tech that provides data insights to grow more food with fewer resources. Accurate real time data collection paired with advanced analytics will help growers spot trends before things get out of hand and make good decisions to grow more food better.

What is the future of indoor growing?

Traditional, soil-based farming is never going away, but as we have to feed more people, indoor growing is definitely going to play a bigger role in our future food system. It’s estimated that world population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and could peak at nearly 11 billion around 2100, which means that we must expand indoor growing capabilities that use fewer resources to grow more food if we have any chance of feeding all those people.

I think indoor growing will really take off sooner where energy is cheap and water is scarce, especially in dry places where water rights allocations are really complicated so many growers will either have to shift growing practices or stop farming. Long term, as alternative renewable forms of energy become more affordable and accessible, the economics of running grow lights, fans, and water pumps will pencil out and make sense to more farmer’s bottom line, clearing the path for more farmers to add indoor growing to their current operations and for new farmers to get into the indoor ag space.

As machines get better at gathering, interpreting, and sharing data amongst themselves, what will be the future of the Internet of Things, especially when it comes to the industrial process?

Without a doubt IoT is very exciting, but it’s critical to keep what folks actually want and need at the forefront of our minds rather than simply engineering based on what’s possible to enable. Bottom line, I think we should resist the temptation to overinstrument everything. Having human minds and hands-on is always going to be important.

Getting our technology to play well together is really important, but we also have to be guarding against creating single points of failure. Part of our growing pains in terms of making things “smart” is understanding how to engineer systems to safeguard against overreliance on technology. We can’t just hire the brightest engineers and figure nothing will go wrong. Things are definitely going to go wrong, and in some cases, things will go wrong in ways we have no way to anticipate today. But with experience, we’ll get better at anticipating weak links and make better design choices to avoid vulnerabilities.

What technology will become commonplace in ten years that we don’t have now?

We are going to get better at predictive analytics. A lot better. And its use is going to impact our lives in a much bigger way that is does right now. Applying the use of multi-variate statistics and probability algorithms are ancient mathematics tools that have informed decision making for millennia. But now, the advent of deep learning and AI is pushing our capability of applying these tools in nearly every area of our lives from food production, to industrial applications to social media. With such tools we’ll be able to do things like dial in nutritional profiles of plants to meet particular medical needs, help us to improve manufacturing efficiencies by orders of magnitude, and share best practices in more complex ways than ever before.

What else excites you about the future?

I think people are getting better at asking good questions, especially when it comes to unpacking our understanding of the implications of our choices. As we become cleverer at saving, sharing, and drawing on the institutional memories of the results of actions taken in the past, we have the potential to become less likely to make the exact same mistakes again and again. Instead, we’ll make new, better mistakes and learn to draw on evidence to drive better decisions in the future.

An example of a indoor, vertical farm.

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Learn more about Chemeketa’s many educational and training programs. Visit go.chemeketa.edu/programs or scan this QR Code.