PWB is Getting Things Done!

by Natalie Janney, Multi/Tech Engineering, PWB Chair

Do you ever meet with a group of people and leave feeling more fire and excitement than when you arrived?

That’s basically PWB in a nutshell. It’s magic. My goal as the chair for this new group is to set it up for long term success. I think with the group we have, we are on the right track. As we get closer to the 1 year anniversary of the Marion and Polk Professional Women in Building Council formation, I want to share what we have done and where we are going.

We were able to finish out 2022 by completing our first big community project: remodeling the New Life Fellowship Room at Simonka Place.

At the beginning of 2023, we decided to take the lessons we had learned over our first 6 months together as a group and make a few changes. One of those changes is that we formed three subcommittees to really help achieve the goals we have for the group which are basically outreach, networking, support/education. In order to meet these, we created the Events, Fundraising, and Outreach/Education comments, each run by different members of the executive committee. The events committee is run by Beth Rhoades from C&R Remodeling. This committee will work on the details for the monthly events. Currently, we will have a rotating schedule of a fundraiser, lunch and learn, and coffee chat. This is set up to allow members to find events that fit into their schedule. There will be overlap with fundraising as well as education/outreach.

Thanks to Our Sponsors:

The fundraising committee is run by Kyrsten Weis from Taylor Metal. This committee will work on events/programs to help raise money to front costs for events or for future outreach. There will be some overlap between Fundraising and Events. The fundraising committee will make future community projects like the Simonka Place remodel possible.

The Outreach/Education committee is run by Samantha Crabb from Cherry City Interiors & Design and Misti Miller with Radigan Remodeling. This committee will be focused on education opportunities for our members (like the lunch and learn topics) as well as community outreach. This is where details will be worked out for things like CTEC, visiting elementary schools, and projects like the Simonka Place remodel. There will be overlap with fundraising (since a lot of these activities require money) and events.

We have several excellent events scheduled for 2023 included Trivia Night at Gilgamesh (April 10th), a Coffee and Chat in May, Wine Night in June, and a Cornhole Tournament in August. The Cornhole Tournament will be open for anyone in the public. This will be our big fundraising event for the year. Keep your eyes open for more details to come.

There’s a lot to look forward to this year with PWB. You won’t want to miss it.

If nothing else, you can come to experience the magic.

Eugene Bans New Residential Natural Gas Installations

In a controversial move, the Eugene City Council voted on February 6th to enact a ban on new natural gas installations in residential construction, becoming the first city in Oregon to enact such a ban. Though the ban is limited to Eugene, the HBA of Marion & Polk Counties and builders statewide are following the issue closely as the outcome of the fight over natural gas installations is likely to impact residential construction throughout Oregon.

Local opponents of the gas ban, including NW Natural, the Home Builders Association in Eugene, and local business groups have mobilized quickly to refer the issue to voters, submitting a petition with more than 12,000 signatures in early March to place a measure on the ballot in November of this year, more than double the required number of signatures needed.

The HBA of Marion & Polk Counties expects to contribute financially to the campaign through our political action committee, given the statewide precedence of a ban on natural gas if not overturned by voters. While the HBA commends efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the HBA believes in preserving consumer choice as well as energy resiliency in times of power outages. In addition, we have concerns that mandatory requirements for alternative energy sources like electric heat pumps may entail higher upfront costs, which could deter potential homebuyers and negatively impact housing affordability.

Salem’s Climate Action Plan, adopted in the fall of 2021, included a call for banning natural gas installations in new construction, though the city has taken no action since that time to move towards banning gas. The HBA is closely watching bills introduced in the current legislative session that would ban natural gas in new construction statewide, as well as bills that would prevent cities from banning natural gas.