April 2017
Volume 16 • Issue 4
Trios Health cuts staff, considers bankruptcy, mergers BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz
Going Green
Eco-friendly homes are a growing trend in Tri-Cities Page 11
Real Estate & Construction
Richland’s Fred Meyer remodels, to add curbside grocery service Page 21
Transportation
Martinez Trucking opens school to fill need for skilled drivers page 49
he Said It “Nothing worthwhile happens easily or quickly. But, at least in the Tri-Cities, it does happen.” -Gary White, director of business retention and recruitment for TRIDEC Page 43
About 25 Trios Health employees lost have their jobs as Kennewick’s public hospital district grapples to fix a financial crisis. The series of layoffs that took effect April 1 are expected to save more than $2 million. But facing net losses of more than $29 million since 2013, including about $17 million last year, as well as a crushing debt load that’s crippling cash availability, Trios has more difficult choices ahead. “Trios Health has been in financial distress for some time,” said Interim CEO Craig Cudworth, who arrived in Kennewick on Feb. 1 to lead the turnCraig Cudworth around project. In January, longtime CEO Glen Marshall announced his retirement, effective June 30. To address the problems, the Kennewick Public Hospital District board last year hired Quorum Health Resources, a Tennesseebased management consultant firm, to review Trios’ financial health. The $395,000 contract with Quorum is for one year, and there is an option to renew another one to two years. Cudworth, an employee of Quorum, is not compensated directly by Trios Health, but rather from the fees paid to Quorum. He is earning $250,000 a year, plus payment of reasonable expenses and two trips home to Virginia a month. What Quorum’s ensuing 400-page report showed was clear: “Trios would not be viable unless we made some significant and difficult changes,” Cudworth said. The report recommended the elimination of 115 full-time equivalent, or FTE, jobs. With Trios’ work force restructuring, the layoffs eliminated 95 FTEs within the hospital and clinic groups. uTRIOS, Page 42
Tri-City officials continue their efforts to convince an airline to provide a Pascoto-Los Angeles flight. A coalition representing cities, counties, ports and businesses ponied up to offset the start-up costs for an airline last year. (Courtesy Tri-Cities Airport)
New Pasco-to-LAX flight remains in holding pattern BY JEFF MORROW
for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business
The proposed and much anticipated Pasco-to-Los Angeles flight first announced in 2015 hasn’t taken off yet. But local officials haven’t given up hope. “At this point we’re in a holding pattern,” said Carl Adrian, president and CEO of TRIDEC, with no pun intended. Adrian said the Tri-Cities is ready, but it’s just a matter of finding an airline willing to step up. “We’ve just got to find the right match,” he said. Randy Hayden, the Port of Pasco’s exec-
utive director, said adding a new route for an airline can be a challenge. “The reason (airlines) give us (for not doing it yet) is aircraft availability,” Hayden said. “Pilot availability is another issue. And finding gates at LAX.” In markets the size of the Tri-Cities, there is an industry shortage of pilots and aircraft dedicated to a new route. In addition, LAX is having a tough time finding a gate for the route. Changing regulations for pilots aren’t helping, either. “You used to be able to fly 12 hours as a pilot,” Adrian said. “Now it’s eight. Plus, the pilot work force is getting older.” uFLIGHTS, Page 9
Group pushes for return of Columbia River shoreline to local control BY JOHN STANG
for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business
Three prominent Tri-Citians hope to persuade the federal government to turn over Army Corps of Engineers’ riverfront land to local governments by the end of this year. This has been a dream for some TriCitians for at least 30 years, if not longer. Their immediate hurdle is no one is really sure which Columbia River waterfront lands are owned by the Corps and which are owned locally by the cities of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland. The trio angling for local control are retired U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, former Kennewick mayor Brad Fisher, and retired Tri-City Development Council vice president of federal programs Gary Petersen. They and other Tri-City leaders are wait-
ing for a Corps report to be unveiled that will map out exactly which Columbia River shoreline plots are owned by the Corps between Hanford and Finley. The group’s motive is their belief that the Tri-Cities would do a better job of maintaining the 34 miles of rivershore — including its appearance — than the Corps does. “The Corps has done zero maintenance in the past 69 to 70 years. … Because of the overgrowth, you can’t see the river,” Petersen said. The growth of weeds and bushes along many steep rocky segments of the riverfront has been slow but relentless for decades and the ugliness has not made an impact on TriCitians’ minds, he said. “The Corps won’t allow pesticides or herbicides to be sprayed,” Petersen said. uRIVERSHORE, Page 4
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