Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business - December 2019 by Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business/Senior Times

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

December 2019

Volume 18 • Issue 12

Port chooses new director after rocky transition BY WENDY CULVERWELL editor@tcjournal.biz

Energy

Richland company to open $20M facility Page 13

Year in Review

A roundup of the Tri-Cities’ economic wins Page 27

Real Estate

J. Bookwalter Winery plans $4M expansion Page 49

NOTEWORTHY “We’ve had a good year. I think it can always be better, but it was a good year.”

-Carl Adrian, TRIDEC’s executive president and CEO Page 27

Diahann Howard has been named the Port of Benton’s permanent executive director. Howard, a longtime port employee, had been serving as interim executive director since May, when Scott Keller retired after more than 30 years with the port. Howard, one of four finalists for the top job, officially accepted the job offer from the port’s elected commissioners at their Dec. 11 meeting. Contract details, including salary, job description and termination procedures, were finalized in a closed-door session. The contract Diahann Howard will be signed at a Dec. 17 special meeting. Howard will be paid $155,000 annually. Howard said she looks forward to serving the port, which promotes economic development in western Benton County, including Richland, Prosser and Benton City. Her top priorities include staff training, catching up on pavement maintenance, roof work and executing the port’s strategic plan. She also is working to fill two key positions — airports director and facilities director, both vacated in the tumultuous months after Keller left. As executive director, Howard will manage day-to-day operations of the public port district, which has an annual budget of about $10 million. The port is supported by rent payments from tenants, uPORT DIRECTOR, Page 37

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business 8919 W. Grandridge Blvd., Ste. A1 Kennewick, WA 99336

Courtesy PGE PGE completed its Tucannon River Wind Farm project near Dayton in 2014. The 116 turbines produce an average of 101 megawatts, enough to serve 84,000 homes.

Say goodbye to coal in 2020 and hello to clean energy investments BY WENDY CULVERWELL editor@tcjournal.biz

The Northwest will take a giant step toward a future powered by cleaner energy in 2020 as four coal-burning plants go offline, including one 50 miles southwest of the TriCities. Portland General Electric will complete its 10-year plan to mothball its 600-megawatt coal plant at the Port of Morrow in Boardman. Two of four coal plants at Colstrip, Montana, will shut down by early 2020. And Canadian power giant TransAlta will shut down one of two coal-burning plants at Centralia, Washington. “We’re pretty thrilled with the way things are going,” said Sean O’Leary of the North-

west Energy Coalition, which joined the push to end reliance on coal-generated power more than a decade ago. O’Leary notes the shutdowns aren’t the economic catastrophe people imagined. The intervening decade has seen investments in wind, solar and high-efficiency gas projects designed to meet climate goals in both Washington and Oregon. “It’s a really powerful economic story,” he said. PGE’s move to stop burning coal in Boardman, accompanied by new investments in wind, solar and battery power, is of special interest to the Mid-Columbia. Tri-City economic development officials are counting on clean energy to help uCLEAN ENERGY, Page 9

Developers can reap tax benefits by investing in Opportunity Zones BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Time is running out for investors looking to capitalize on the first phase of incentives available to those wanting to develop or improve land in the Mid-Columbia’s three Opportunity Zones. “This is a great opportunity for local and regional investors to sell existing projects and reinvest their gains, while eligible, into quickly growing areas of Kennewick,” said Miles S. Thomas, economic development manager for the city of Kennewick. He’s helping spread the word on this relatively new tax benefit awarded by the governor’s office in the third quarter of 2018.

The Opportunity Zone program was created under new federal tax law that took effect in late 2017 but couldn’t be used until the Department of Commerce gave direction on it the following year. Even then, Thomas said, “No one knew how to use it. There was a long time before there was enough information out there about how to invest the capital gains.” Under the new guidelines, Gov. Jay Inslee designated three Opportunity Zones in the Tri-Cities – two in Kennewick and one in Pasco – to incentivize developers to reinvest money earned from capital gains into new projects in underserved or low-inuOPPORTUNITY ZONES, Page 4

PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PASCO, WA PERMIT NO. 8778

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Journal of Business announces new hires, promotions BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business has a new chief executive officer, publisher, editor and graphic designer, though regular readers and customers likely will be familiar with the names behind the titles. Melanie Hair, who has served as publisher and general manager at the Journal of Business since founding it in 2002, will serve as CEO of TriComp Inc., the Journal of Business’ parent corporation. Kristina Lord, the Journal of Business’ editor for more than three years, has been promoted to publisher. “After an editorial transition that will wrap up in spring 2020, I look forward to completing the publisher baton pass to Kristina. In addition to being a gifted and award-winning journalist, she is a natural, conscientious leader who takes pride in being engaged with our staff and supporters—readers, community members, civic leaders and advertisers alike—to

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Richland asks residents to register video systems

Richland residents are being asked to voluntarily register their video surveillance systems with the police department to aid criminal investigations. The database will help investigators track down video when crimes occur in the community. Officers would ask participants in the Voluntary Camera Partnership, or VCP, to check their footage to see if it shows activity involved with a crime. Residents can sign up online at ci.richland.wa.us/VCP.

Take a survey, help WSU Tri-Cities

WSU Tri-Cities is encouraging area residents to take a survey about opinions and perceptions of the Richland campus. Stamate, a higher education research and consulting firm, developed the survey. It takes about 12 minutes to complete and responses will be kept confidential. Take the survey online at http://bit.ly/ WSUTCsurvey.

assure we provide the most comprehensive business news for the Tri-City region,” Hair said. Wendy Culverwell, a jourMelanie Hair nalist with more than 30 years’ experience, has joined the team as editor. Her first day was Dec. 2. “Our readers will be well served by a journalist of Wendy’s caliber,” Lord Kristina Lord said. “Wendy is a talented and award-winning reporter with decades of experience covering business news. We’re excited for her to join our team to further strengthen our

position as the region’s business authority.” Culverwell worked two stints at the TriCity Herald, most recently from 2015-19, Wendy Culverwell covering business and economic development news, as well as local government and politics; and from 1997-2003, she covered K-12 education and business. In between Vanessa Guzmán her time at the Tri-City Herald, Culverwell, who has won numerous awards for her journalism, worked for a decade as a reporter for the Portland Business Journal, a

weekly print and daily online specialty publication covering Portland, Oregon, business news, where she wrote about commercial real estate and sustainability. She also worked as a reporter at The Olympian, Klamath Falls Herald and News, and Federal Way News. She earned a bachelor’s of science in English and economics from the University of Puget Sound. The Journal of Business also recently hired Vanessa Guzmán as a graphic designer. She comes to the newspaper from WinSome Design in Richland, where she worked for eight years as a senior designer. She also laid out pages and designed advertisements at the Daily Sun News in Sunnyside for three years. The Perry Technical Institute graduate has received several newspaper and advertising design awards. Guzmán replaces Shawna Dinh who worked at the Journal of Business for more than five years. Dinh plans to pursue a graphic design business.

Yakima hop growers welcome four to cooperative

Yakima Chief Hops has added four growers to its family, its first additions since 2014. YCH is a grower-owned hop supplier serving the craft beer industry. The new members are Coleman Agriculture of St. Paul, Oregon, Double R Hop Ranches of Harrah, Black Star Ranches of Moxee and Oasis Farms of Prosser.

Kennewick Man, Woman of Year nominations sought

Soroptimist International of Pasco-Kennewick and the Kennewick Past Men of the Year Club are accepting nominations for the 2019 Kennewick Man & Woman of the Year through Jan. 6. Forms are available online at kmwoy. com. The program dates to 1946 and honors a man and woman for exceptional service to the community. The winners will be honored at a banquet on Feb. 24 at Three Rivers Convention Center.

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

509-737-8778 8919 W. Grandridge Blvd., Ste. A1 Kennewick, WA 99336

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STAFF

Courtesy city of Kennewick Land within Kennewick’s Opportunity Zones could be ripe for development for investors looking to offset capital gains taxes. The two zones include areas off Edison Street east of the blue bridge, Vista Field, downtown Kennewick, Clover Island, Columbia Drive, Columbia Gardens Urban Wine and Artisan Village and commercial areas on Clearwater Avenue.

Vanessa Guzman

Graphic Designer 509-737-8778 ext. 4 ads@tcjournal.biz

Melanie Hair

CEO 509-737-8778 ext. 5 melanie@tcjournal.biz

Kristina Lord

Publisher 509-737-8778 ext. 3 publisher@tcjournal.biz

Wendy Culverwell Editor 509-737-8778 ext. 6 editor@tcjournal.biz

Tiffany Lundstrom Advertising Director 509-737-8778 ext. 2 tiffany@tcjournal.biz

Chad Utecht

Advertising Account Manager 509-737-8778 ext. 1 chad@tcjournal.biz

UPCOMING January: • Legal • Architectural & Engineering February: • Health Care • Retirement

CORRECTION • Zac Mason’s first name was misspelled on page 16 in the November issue.

The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business, a publication of TriComp Inc., is published monthly and delivered at no charge to identifiable businesses in Pasco, Richland, West Richland, Kennewick, Prosser and Benton City. Subscriptions are $27.10 per year, including tax, prepayment required, no refunds. Contents of this publication are the sole property of TriComp Inc. and can not be reproduced in any form without expressed written consent. Opinions expressed in guest columns and by advertisers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, other columnists or other advertisers, nor do they imply endorsement by staff, columnists or advertisers. Every effort will be made to assure information published is correct; however, we are not liable for any errors or omissions made despite these efforts.

OPPORTUNITY ZONES, From page 1 come communities. These federally-mandated benefits were provided with future job creation in mind. “We don’t get these incentives to develop very often,” Thomas said. “We’ve always just had light incentives from a state perspective.” As the 2019 tax year closes, some in-

vestors may be looking to offset a potential hit from the capital gains tax, paid when the sale of a property is more than its original purchase price and the income gained is not reinvested into more real estate. Sellers who have qualified for a capital gains tax in the last 180 days could reinvest in a project within an Opportunity Zone, allowing them to defer taxes on the original capital gains owed for up

to 10 years. This includes a 10-percent abatement for investments made before the end of 2021, with a bonus 5 percent for those investments made before the conclusion of 2019. Additionally, investors would not accrue new capital gains if the new development or investment is sold after the initial 10-year holding period. The two Opportunity Zones in Kennewick allow for development at locations like Vista Field, downtown Kennewick, Clover Island, Columbia Drive, Columbia Gardens Urban Wine and Artisan Village and commercial portions on Edison Street and Clearwater Avenue. In Pasco, the areas include parts of downtown Pasco, the Port of Pasco’s Marine Terminal and Osprey Pointe, Commercial Avenue and Heritage Industrial Park. Gary Ballew, the Port of Pasco’s director of economic development and marketing, said no projects have been developed in Pasco’s Opportunity Zone so far. “The incentive is still there,” he said. “While it’s reducing, it hasn’t lost all of its impact.” Ballew said Opportunity Zones have raised interest, but projects still need to be profitable for an investor to take a risk. “People still want a return on their investment,” he said. “If you’re an investor and you have capital gains, Opportunity Zones are still a very useful tool.” Benton County received one nomination of a tract that could qualify as an Opportunity Zone, but the second came through a competitive application process. Thomas credited the Tri-City Development Council for helping nominate the areas around Vista Field and downtown Kennewick. This was especially important for east Kennewick near West 10th Avenue and South Olympia Street where there isn’t a lot of vacant land uOPPORTUNITY ZONES, Page 6

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

DOE awards $4 billion support services contract BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

A new contractor will head up support services at the Hanford site, replacing Mission Support Alliance for the $4 billion contract paid out over five years. The contract went to Hanford Mission Integration Solutions of Richland, a company owned by Leidos Intergrated Technology, Centerra Group and Parsons Government Services. The first two companies also are owners of MSA, the company that held the Richland site contract for the last decade. “We look forward to helping the DOE accelerate the Hanford cleanup mission and produce cumulative cost savings,” Leidos said in a statement. Centerra and Parsons did not respond to requests for comment. Once called the Mission Support Contract, the new agreement also includes a new name, the Hanford Mission Essential Services Contract, or HMESC. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said the title change for this contract and others was made to reflect a difference in how work is viewed at the site. The HMESC covers all support services, including security and emergency services, plus all infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, which includes road and utility work. Additionally, the contract supports land management, information technology services, management of the HAMMER Federal Training Center and construction of infrastructure that would support the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, known as the vit plant. In its solicitation for bids, the Department of Energy said the new contract would include a “new concept” to help DOE solicit and execute contracts with small businesses, described as “meaningful work” at the site. The HMESC includes an option for five additional years beyond the initial five-year term. The potential extensions are broken up into a three-year option and two-year option after the first period is completed. The $4 billion payout covers the base period, plus a 120-day transition period for MSA to depart. The DOE did not have an official transition date for when Hanford Mission Integration Solutions would take over and Mission Support Alliance’s term would finish.

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“When we give HMIS a notice to proceed (usually takes a minimum of two weeks), HMIS and MSA will start a four-month transition period, during which they work together to transition the work, procedures, equipment, facilities, workforce, etc. After that transition period, HMIS would be the sole contractor providing mission support services,” said Geoff Tyree, spokesman for the Department of Energy. DOE said the contract was awarded after reviewing three offers. It is considered a cost-plus-award-fee contract which includes cost reimbursement and line items of indefinite-delivery indefi-

nite-quantity, or IDIQ. It was initially expected the contract would be awarded by late summer following a May 2019 expiration for the current contract held by MSA since 2009. A six-month extension was granted, which took the company through November 2019 before the announcement in early December 2019. MSA employs about 1,700 workers with roughly 500 performing skilled trades workers, including welders, pipe fitters and electricians. Another 500 employees are part of professional support. Traditionally, most employees are kept on with a new contractor, but MSA set

up a transition page online to handle employee concerns. The DOE said the contract provides “the opportunity to continue its strong focus on infrastructure to ensure its reliability and continuity during critical waste management and environmental cleanup efforts.” The bar is high, as DOE expects Mission Support Integration Solutions to undertake infrastructure upgrades over the upcoming contract length, including supporting the startup of the vit plant, as well as maintaining site infrastructure “to support the next 50 years of operations and cleanup.”

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

OPPORTUNITY ZONES, From page 4 to build new developments, but a benefit that temporary and permanent jobs could be created nearby. “These are like community centers compared to the rest of the nation,” Thomas said. On a national scale, most Opportunity Zones are found within industrial parks and usually within areas of high poverty. “People may not be as apt to put their money into these areas of town,” Thomas said. The tracts designated in Kennewick include 25 percent to 38 percent of the population living below the poverty line and unemployment rates of 8.7 percent to 9.7 percent. “Business owners looking to retire or relocate their office can greatly benefit

from investing in qualified opportunity funds,” said Derek Moody, a certified public accountant and audit manager for Blodgett, Mickelsen & Adamson P.S. Moody said the most significant benefit could be from holding onto an investment well into the future, beyond the initial holding period. “All the appreciation is tax free, if you’ve done things right,” he said. “That’s quite possibly the biggest benefit.” Investments would include tangible property like buildings, equipment, vehicles or land, but could not include liquor stores, massage parlors or gambling operations, among others. “You have to develop the land. You have to invest in an improvement to

qualify if you buy bare land, creating temporary construction jobs,” Thomas said. The city of Kennewick has contacted several opportunity fund managers who might be interested in developing multifamily residential units or commercial buildings or primary care and urgent care offices. This includes Boise’s Galena Opportunity Fund, which Thomas called “the biggest regional powerhouse to understand Opportunity Zones.” The group develops in markets across the Pacific Northwest, inviting investors to pool their money to get a larger return. While Kennewick has not seen any qualified Opportunity Zone projects, “we’re already seeing a lot of reinvestment in the areas where the Opportunity

Zone has been applied,” Thomas said. He pointed to the $1.75 million invested in downtown Kennewick in the last 18 months, including projects at Layered Cake Artistry, Players Sports Bar & Grill and Esprit Graphic Communications. Plans for a $15 million luxury apartment project also are underway in downtown Kennewick. Thomas hopes active developers will take note of the recent investments and consider additional efforts to improve the area. “For developers who have finished a project and want to turn their project into something else, and are anxious about selling it, this gives them an incentive to put it into something,” Thomas said. Kennewick and Pasco both have waterfront property available in the zones. Kennewick is advertising more than 30 acres available along the Columbia River east of the blue bridge, as well as parcels within the wine village on Columbia Drive near Clover Island. Across the river, the Port of Pasco is pitching its land at the Marine Terminal, on the northeast corner of the cable bridge, once environmental cleanup efforts are completed. Osprey Pointe is also on the water in the port’s Big Pasco Industrial Center. The port hopes to recruit master developers or those looking to move offices, commercial or research and development facilities. While little time remains for the bonus returns that investors could have qualified for, prior to the conclusion of 2019, future development could still qualify for a 10 percent abatement on capital gains taxes. To take advantage of the benefits, those interested should confirm a property is within the designated Opportunity Zone prior to investment.

uBUSINESS BRIEF Kadlec, nurses agree to four-year contract

Kadlec Regional Medical Center reached a four-year contract with nurses represented by the Washington state Nurses Association. The contract began Oct. 31, when the former contract expired. The agreement follows 16 bargaining sessions over 14 months, including six sessions conducted with a federal mediator. Nurses voted to authorize a strike in late October. The contract was ratified in early December. The agreement maintains paid-time off benefits for current nurses, enhances staffing and addresses workplace violence language. Wages increase 10 percent over the course of the contract, including 3 percent when the contract is ratified and 2.5 percent in January. Fulltime nurses will receive an additional $1,500 bonus when the contract is ratified while part-time nurses will receive a prorated bonus.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

DATEBOOK

VISIT TCJOURNAL.BIZ AND CLICK ON EVENT CALENDAR FOR MORE EVENTS

DEC. 16

• Town Hall “Discuss Modernization of the Columbia River Treaty”: 5:30 to 7 p.m., U.S. Federal Building Auditorium, 825 Jadwin Ave. Richland. Contact: 202-225-5816. • Pasco Chamber member luncheon and nonprofit showcase expo: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Red Lion Hotel and Conference Center Pasco, 2525 N. 20th Ave., Pasco. Register: pascochamber.org/ luncheons.html.

DEC. 17

• Solutions at Sunrise: 7:15 to 8:15 a.m., CG Public House, 9221 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. Register: washingtonpolicy.org.

DEC. 18

• Tri-City Regional Chamber membership luncheon: noon to 1:30 p.m., Three Rivers Convention Center, 7016 W. Grandridge Blvd.,

Kennewick. Register: tricityregionalchamber.com. • Local Government and Land Development Committee Meeting “City of Kennewick Property Tax Levy”: Noon to 1 p.m., Home Builders Association Office, 10001 W. Clearwater Ave, Kennewick. Register: 509-735-2745.

DEC. 19

JAN. 9

• Procurement Power Hour: 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., Bechtel Board Room, 7130 W. Grandridge Blvd., Kennewick. Register: washingtonptac.org. • Business After Hours – Mustang Signs: 4 to 6 p.m., 10379 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. Contact: 509735-4607

• Community Lecture Series “A Cycling Pilgrimage-Vietnam and Cambodia”: 7 p.m., Richland Public Library, 940 Northgate Drive, Richland. Contact: 509-542-5531.

JAN. 9–10

JAN 8

JAN. 12

• Ask the Experts “Customer Service”: 3:30 to 5 p.m., Bechtel Board Room, 7130 W. Grandridge Blvd., Kennewick. Register: tricityregionalchamber.com.

• Eastern Washington Ag Expo: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan 9; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 10. The HAPO Center (formerly TRAC), 6600 Burden Blvd., Pasco. Visit: easternwaagexpo.com • Tri-City Wedding Expo and Bridal Show: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., The HAPO Center (formerly TRAC), 6600 Burden Blvd., Pasco. Visit: bridalexpo.love.

JAN. 14

• PNNL Community Lecture Series “Simulating the Chemistry of Tomorrow: The Role of Computers in 21st Century Chemistry”: 7 p.m., Richland Public Library, 940 Northgate Drive, Richland. Contact: 509-542-5531.

JAN. 16

• Community Lecture Series “Richland: A Planned Wartime Company Town”: 7 p.m., Richland Public Library, 940 Northgate Drive, Richland. Contact: 509-542-5531. • Mid-Columbia Ag Hall of Fame: 5:30 p.m., Red Lion Hotel and Conference Center Pasco, 2525 N. 20th Ave., Pasco. Contact: 509542-5531. Visit: pascochamber.org.

JAN. 17–19

• Tri-Cities Sportsmen Show: 1-7 p.m. Jan. 17; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 19; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 18; The HAPO

Center (formerly TRAC), 6600 Burden Blvd., Pasco. Visit: shuylerproductions.com.

JAN. 29

• Tri-Cities Women in Business Conference: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Three Rivers Convention Center, 7016 W. Grandridge Blvd., Kennewick.

FEB. 11

• PNNL Community Lecture Series “Electric Cars in 2050: Are we Ready?”: 7 p.m., Mid-Columbia Libraries, 1620 S. Union St., Kennewick. Contact: 509542-5531.

FEB. 20

• Community Lecture Series “Women of the War: The Hanford Girl”: 7 p.m., East Benton County Historical Society, 205 Keewaydin Drive, Kennewick. Contact: 509542-5531.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Celebrated LAX flight grounded amid poor performance 2020 will add second San Francisco flight, new Chicago flight BY WENDY CULVERWELL editor@tcjournal.biz

United Airlines is canceling its daily flight between Pasco and Los Angeles International Airport, citing poor performance. But the Chicago-based airline is not abandoning the Tri-Cities Airport. In

coming months, it will add a second daily flight to San Francisco International Airport and a red-eye flight to Chicago, a first for the region. The last LA flight is Jan. 6. The second San Francisco flight begins May 8, and the Chicago flight begins June 6. Buck Taft, who manages the regional airport for the Port of Pasco, said it’s unfortunate United is ending the LAX flight, but he called the airline a good partner. “They’re trying to find stuff that works,” he said, noting that United accounts for about 17 percent of Pasco air

traffic, after Delta Airlines at 42 percent and Alaska at 31 percent. Leisure-oriented Allegiant Air accounts for 10 percent. United’s decision to cancel one route comes as demand for air travel rises. Passenger boardings were running 12 percent ahead of 2018 in October, putting the airport on track to set a new record in 2019. Taft and local business leaders say they’re not giving up on a daily LA flight and will continue to discuss it with all of the airlines serving Pasco. Studies indicate that Los Angeles is a popular destination for business and lei-

sure travelers. “We still want a direct Los Angeles flight,” said Carl Adrian, president and chief executive officer of the Tri-City Development Council, or TRIDEC, which teamed with the port to pitch the LA flight to the airlines that serve Pasco. “It is still the largest market without a direct flight.” TRIDEC and the port spent years trying to secure the LA run. Allegiant Air offers seasonal service targeting leisure travelers but no daily flight. To sweeten the pot, supporters of service to LA raised nearly $1 million in grants to guarantee the run would not lose money for the operator. The U.S. Department of Transportation provided a $750,000 Small Community Air Service Development grant. TRIDEC and area business provided $176,500 in local matching funds, and the Port of Pasco kicked in $20,000 for marketing. The airport waived two years of landing fees, revenue that supports airport operations. Taft said waiving landing fees is standard industry practice to encourage airlines to schedule new routes. If Pasco ever regains a Portland flight, it would be eligible for the waiver. The waiver saved United the roughly $128 it costs to land a 50-seat plane in Pasco. United announced it would start the Pasco-LA route in early 2019 and scheduled its first flight in early April, just in time for spring break. The first plane was packed with Disneyland-bound families who took off amid speeches and cake. The first run aside, the flight struggled to earn enough revenue to cover the roughly $750,000 a month it costs to operate the run. Taft said the grant money ran out within three months, much faster than anyone expected. Taft said he’s puzzled that demand didn’t materialize, but he speculates Tri-City fliers book cheaper fares on non-direct flights. Adrian said Pasco’s LA flight was ill-timed to make connections with flights leaving LA, making it a tougher sell to customers. Taft and Adrian pledged to keep talking to airlines about restoring the LA flight, a job that could be more difficult now that the incentive funds have been exhausted. Adrian said that should not be a barrier. Incentive money only goes so far. “Incentives can’t make a bad deal good,” he said. Adrian said the loss of the LA flight shouldn’t make too much of an impact on the region. The Tri-Cities is blessed with more airlines – four – and more air connections than communities of comparable size. “I think Tri-City travelers are pretty fortunate,” he said.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019 CLEAN ENERGY, From page 1 power the local economy in the decades to come. In December, MyTri 2030 identified clean energy a top economic priority for the region. MyTri 2030 is an initiative of the Tri-City business community to identify economic drivers that capitalize on local interests and resources. “The fact is the Tri-Cities is perfectly positioned to lead the world into a clean energy future,” said Ashley Stubbs, communications and investor relations director for the Tri-City Development Council. Public vs. private utilities As a private, investor-owned company, PGE is distinct from the public utilities that serve the Tri-Cities. But they’re all connected to some degree by the power grid and a common partner. The Bonneville Power Administration buys power produced by the region’s dams as well as Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant north of Richland. BPA sells power to the Benton and Franklin public utilities, Richland’s energy utility and other customers. PGE is a customer of BPA’s transmission system and has a five-year contract to buy hydropower from the federal marketing agency. The long farewell Under pressure from environmental groups, including the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal initiative, PGE announced in 2010 it would stop burning coal at Boardman by 2020, 20 years ahead of the planned 2040 shutdown. The company made interim upgrades to the plant, but the early shutdown helped it avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in costs associated with longer-term emission controls. The shutdown could have dealt a significant economic blow to Boardman, where the plant is a major property taxpayer and employer. Instead, the intervening decade gave the community, company and employees time to adjust, lessening the impact. “The 10-year lead time gave everyone time to plan,” said Steve Corson, PGE spokesman. The plant’s payroll is down to 73, from 115, as workers retired or moved. The utility isn’t quitting the region. It has invested in new facilities in eastern Washington and Oregon to power the 50-plus communities it serves in the Willamette Valley: • 2014: PGE completed the $500 mil-

lion Tucannon River Wind Farm on 20,000 acres near Dayton. Tucannon’s 116 turbines generate an average of 101 megawatts, enough to power 84,000 homes. • 2016: Carty Generating Station, fueled by natural gas, went online in Boardman in July. The 440-megawatt plant employs 20 and powers 300,000 homes. Carty joined two existing gas units at Boardman’s Coyote Springs complex. Developed in the 1990s and early 2000s, Coyote Springs generates nearly 500 megawatts. • 2019: PGE and Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources commenced development of the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility near Boardman after nine years of planning. The project will produce 380 megawatts of solar, wind and battery energy. Construction will create 300 jobs. The facility will employ about 10. PGE’s share of the project is reportedly $160 million. Shutting down a plant The coal plant produces power for PGE and its partner, Idaho Power, by burning coal mined at the Powder River Basin on the Montana-Wyoming border and hauled in by train. PGE outlined the complex shutdown process in plans filed with Oregon regulators. It will shut down by the end of 2020, but the exact date will be a function of logistics, including the amount of coal on hand. It is leaving the door open to reusing the plant, possibly to produce power or as an element of the region’s power grid. Corson said coal-specific equipment will be removed, but PGE is interested in exploring reuse. “The plant is relatively young and fully functional as a resource. Could you run it on alternative fuel that would be non-emitting from a greenhouse gas standpoint? That’s a possibility that we want to explore,” he said. What’s next? Washington and Oregon both have clean energy requirements that will continue driving investment in renewable energy facilities, including wind farms, solar stations and more. Washington adopted renewable energy standards in 2006. The governor’s 2018 Clean Energy Transformation Act requires Washington to be carbon free by 2045. Oregon’s Renewable Portfolio Standards mandate that 50 percent of its electricity must come from renewable resources by 2040 and that coal powered electricity must be phased out by 2030.

Courtesy PGE Portland General Electric will complete its 10-year plan to mothball the 600 megawatt coal-burning power plant at Boardman, Oregon, by the end of 2020. The end of coal at Boardman is a dramatic shift in energy production in the region.

Courtesy PGE PGE operates two natural gas power plants in Boardman. Coyote Springs produces nearly 500 megawatts while Carty Generating Station generates 440 megawatts. Carty came online in July 2016 and employs 20.

That sets the stage for additional investments, potentially in the Mid-Columbia. PGE’s Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility announced in November is a good example. When built, Wheatridge will boast 300 megawatts of wind energy powered by 120 GE turbines and 50 megawatts of solar power. The battery component will be required to deliver 30 megawatts of continuous energy for four hours. The project was conceived to run on lithium ion battery technology but a final decision hasn’t

ys a d i l o H y p p a H

been made. PGE and NextEra will split ownership of various aspects of Wheatridge, but the utility will buy all of its output. There could be more to come. PGE wants to add 150 megawatts of renewable energy by 2023. The 2019 resource plan is pending before the Oregon Public Utility Commission. If approved, the company soon will flesh out how and where it will accomplish that. Corson didn’t rule out eastern Oregon. “It’s a place with a lot of sun,” he said.

Melanie, Kristina, Wendy, Tiffany, Chad and Vanessa!

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Kennewick inventor’s new prototype electrifies judges at auto show BY ANDREW KIRK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Kennewick entrepreneur Reid Lunde named his company Kaizen Speed after the Japanese business term for continuous improvement. Since 2005, Kaizen Speed has been steadily growing, and in November won a prestigious industry award for Lunde’s new prototype. Fifteen years ago, Lunde was attending Columbia Basin College and started Kaizen Speed in borrowed space in a friend’s backyard shop. By 2008 the company was boasting annual revenue approaching $400,000, selling Honda after-market products that boost performance for (mostly) racing teams. A decade later revenue exceeded $1 million from services provided at its Gum Street shop (including dyno tuning and engine assembly) and new products that worked in more vehicles, like tensioners, wire covers, drag brakes and oil pans. The company’s next the goal was to produce products for even wider appeal. For the last two years, Kaizen Speed has been developing an innovative relay control system for after-market accessories. Most vehicles have 20 to 30 separate relays. Kaizen Speed’s relays are interconnectable, meaning new ones can be added to the existing ones. That makes them easier and faster to install and requires less wiring. The system will work in cars, trucks, UTVs and boats. “Anything with a battery,” Lunde said.

“Relays are required to install auxiliary fog lights, or a light bar, or a cooling fan.” Fully-functioning prototypes are undergoing final tests. Design work was done in the United States and Lunde intends for production to be in-country as well. The electrical components were designed by CANtrolls, an electrical engineering firm in Philadelphia. Kaizen Speed is active in the Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, and Lunde submitted his prototype to the Young Executive Network’s LaunchPad competition at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas in November. The relay control prototype was a finalist out of 80 submissions before being named the winner. Lunde received a $10,000 prize plus exhibition space at next year’s show. “We are pleased to present Reid Lunde with an award that recognizes the dedication and perseverance of young entrepreneurs in the automotive industry,” said Bryan Harrison, SEMA council director of the Young Executives Network. “His product is a great example of innovation and how future leaders continually shape the success of the automotive aftermarket.” The prize is minimal compared to the value of the exposure, recognition and validation the judges gave it, since they are after-market industry experts, Lunde said. “The industry saw the product has legs,” he said. Winning the award also means receiving coaching from industry veterans and help marketing the new product. Vadim Belogorodsky owns CANtrolls

Courtesy Reid Lunde Vadim Belogorodsky, left, and Reid Lunde, right, owner of Kaizen Speed in Kennewick, accept a $10,000 prize for winning the SEMA Young Executive Network’s 2019 LaunchPad competition in Las Vegas. The award recognizes new innovations in automotive after-market products from companies led by executives under age 40.

and has been working on the new relay system for six months. Lunde brought him on as a partner to work together more closely. Belogorodsky believes the new product will be revolutionary in the switching industry. “What we are doing is the first of its kind, and for that, we believe it will be a great commercial success. As a product it is also positioned very well to grow over time,” he said. “The LaunchPad competition was the best litmus test we could have performed… We had great feedback from the industry professionals and the judging

panel… plus the customer feedback during the SEMA Show was overwhelmingly positive.” Winning was a huge “green light” to begin the next phase of testing. Lunde said he’s focused on “riding the wave” of credibility the win brought. “We’re pushing real hard to get into manufacturing,” Lunde said. “We hope to have the product ready for sale by the end of 2020.” Kaizen Speed: kaizenspeed.com; KStuned.com.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

New White Bluffs wine region will be north of Pasco The Tri-Cities is philosophically and geographically in the heart of Washington wine country. And when the federal government approves a new American Viticultural Area north of Pasco, where some of the state’s oldest vines were planted nearly a half-century ago, the region’s position in the wine industry will be solidified. The AVA system in the United States is used to distinguish unique wine grape growing regions, ranging in size from a Andy Perdue Great Northwest single vineyard Wine to millions of acres. Once GUEST COLUMN approved, wineries can list the AVA designation on their labels to help build credibility, enhance value and as a marketing tool for wine that originates from that particular growing area. Washington state has 14 AVAs, with the largest being the Columbia Valley, an 11-million-acre growing region spanning from central Washington to northeast Oregon. The White Bluffs AVA would be nested entirely within the Columbia Valley AVA, and its application was submitted in 2017 by Kevin Pogue, a geologist at Whitman College in Walla Walla. There would be 1,127 acres of vineyards within the 93,738 acres that would span the White Bluffs AVA. Around the world, these grape-growing regions are known by different terms. In France, for instance, it is an appellation. In Italy, it is a Denomination of Controlled Origin, or DOC. In Canada and Australia, it is a Geographical Indication, or GI. In the U.S., AVA names are required to reflect the area’s history or geology. In the case of White Buffs, it does both. The growing area sits on top of distinctive white bluffs in Franklin County, overlooking the Columbia River. It also pays homage to the town of White Bluffs, a former farming community just across the river in Benton County. The town vanished in 1943, taken over by the federal government during World War II for the Manhattan Project. Grapes for juice and

Photo by Andy Perdue Sagemoor Vineyards, planted in the early 1970s, helped supply the early Washington wine industry. It will be part of the new White Bluffs American Viticultural Area, when approved by the federal government.

wine were known to be grown in the town’s surrounding agricultural area. In the early days of the Washington wine industry, there were few wineries and little in the way of vines in the ground. By the 1960s, only a few vineyards existed in the Yakima Valley and a few more were scattered across the state. There simply wasn’t much supply for an industry that was poised to explode. It’s difficult to get a viable industry started when raw materials are scarce. The White Bluffs region proved to be a turning point for the Washington wine industry. In 1968, a group of investors led by Seattle attorney Alec Bayless bought land overlooking the Columbia River north of Pasco. Four years later, the Texas native and his group planted vines. It was a bold move, and it is difficult to say where Washington’s wine industry would be if it never happened. Their consultant was Walter Clore, the researcher at Washington State University who came to be recognized as the father of Washington wine, and Sagemoor Vineyard soon began to supply the nascent wine industry. Today, Sagemoor continues its prominence, supplying grapes each fall to more than 100 Washington wineries. Sagemoor comprises five vineyards: Sagemoor, Bacchus, Dionysus, Weinbau and Gamache. All but Weinbau will be in the new AVA. In 2014, Sagemoor Farms was purchased from the remaining original owners by Allan Brothers, a fourth-generation

apple grower with headquarters near the town of Naches. In 2016, Sagemoor purchased the renowned Gamache Vineyards, a 220-acre site in Basin City planted in the early 1980s. Gamache has a tasting room in Prosser’s Vintner’s Village, with wine made by acclaimed Richland winemaker Charlie Hoppes. There’s more delicious history surrounding this proposed AVA. In 1979, the Claar and Whitelatch families established White Bluffs Vineyard just north of Sagemoor’s Dionysus block. Crista ClaarWhitelatch and her husband, Bob, have since grown their family plantings to nearly 140 acres, and Claar Cellars is the only winery within the proposed AVA. “We started calling our vineyards ‘White Bluffs’ on our labels in 1998 because of the proximity to the White Bluffs,” Claar-Whitelatch said via email. Her parents homesteaded the original farm, Unit 94, in 1950. Her grandfather, Ed Albro, bought nearby Unit 206 overlooking the Columbia River because of his love for the area. History has proven Albro to be a visionary. “I was told that in the early ’50s, he stood on the bluff and said, ‘This will be vineyard one day!,” Claar-Whitelatch said. • • • Palencia Winery’s 2016 Casa Amarilla, a red blend, was named a Seattle Times Wine of the Year. The blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre uses grapes from the Yakima Valley. It retails for $36 at Victor Palencia’s tasting rooms in West Richland and Kennewick’s Columbia

Gardens Urban Wine and Artisan Village. • • • Maryhill Winery in Goldendale, one of Washington’s largest and most-visited wineries, opened a new tasting room Nov. 14 in Woodinville’s historic Hollywood Schoolhouse near Chateau Ste. Michelle. This makes a hat trick of satellite tasting rooms because owners Craig and Vicki Leuthold also have retail locations in Spokane and Vancouver. Andy Perdue, editor and publisher of Great Northwest Wine and founding editor of Wine Press Northwest magazine, is the wine columnist for The Seattle Times.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

ENERGY

New $20M Framatome facility to open by year’s end BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

A $20 million facility is set to open before the end of the year at Richland’s Framatome, coinciding with the nuclear fuel manufacturing company’s 50th anniversary in town. “The longevity of the Richland facility illustrates our employees’ commitment to innovation and excellence, year after year,” said Lionel Gaiffe, Framatome’s senior executive vice president, in a written statement. “Framatome’s continued investment in this facility demonstrates our view that the fuel and products developed at the Richland site are key to the future of nuclear energy.” As one of the largest manufacturers in the Tri-Cities, Framatome said its Richland site manufactured more than 2,300 fuel assemblies and more than 100 million uranium fuel pellets last year, an increase of more than 8 million pellets just since 2016. Calling the site in north Richland one of the “most technologically advanced and flexible fuel fabrication facilities in the world,” the company is adding the scrap uranium recovery facility, called SURF, this year. It will house new and upgraded equipment that allows staff to extract and recover nearly all uranium that ends up in a feed stream and may be surrounded by other contaminants. Any uranium recovered may be sent through a second process where uranium dioxide is extracted and used to make fuel pellets for the rods used in nuclear reactors.

Courtesy Framatome Framatome’s new 11,000-square-foot scrap uranium recovery facility will separate uranium dioxide from other materials when it opens in Richland at the end of 2019.

The Richland plant is a fuel fabrication hub, creating the nuclear fuel responsible for about 5 percent of utility-generated power in the U.S. Work on the new 11,000-square-foot SURF began in July 2017, with the goal of having it replace a 35-year-old extraction facility currently on site within the engineering laboratory operations building on the campus at 2101 Horn Rapids Road. The company said the new facility will “update the existing equipment for increased operator safety and reliability.” Framatome is often mistakenly associ-

ated with the Hanford nuclear reservation due to its proximity to the site and also because of its work with nuclear power. But the company is not a Hanford contractor and is not responsible for any work on nuclear waste remediation. Framatome is a 60-year-old company mostly owned by the French, through Electricity of France, or EDF, with its global headquarters in Paris and U.S. headquarters in Lynchburg, Virginia. It employs 14,000 people worldwide, with 575 in Richland. Framatome is 10 years into its 40-year fuel fabrication license renewal, a license

that was a first for the industry when awarded by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. During its time in Richland, the fuel manufacturing facility has shipped more than 66,000 fuel assemblies to the nuclear sites worldwide under a number of different company names. The plant opened in 1970 as the Jersey Nuclear Co. with three buildings and about 60 employees. Since then, it’s also been known as Siemens Power Corp., Framatome ANP Richland and Areva NP. It returned to the name Framatome in 2018 once Areva sold a portion of the company to EDF. Framatome has averaged $7 million in annual capital project upgrades over the past decade, allowing the company to deliver fuel products to commercial pressurized water reactors and boiling water reactors. It shipped its first enhanced accident tolerant fuel to U.S. customers this year, a product designed to increase safety and burn more efficiently to extend the time between refueling. The company also co-owns Enfission, partnering with Lightbridge Corp. to commercialize new kinds of nuclear fuel. “We are proud of the great history at our Richland facility and plan to be here for another 50 years,” said Ron Land, Richland site manager. “This milestone is a result of our employees’ expertise and dedication to operational excellence.”

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Energy

Hydrogen fuel cell technology gaining momentum In the coming decade, investors are betting that hydrogen will become a prominent fuel that can eliminate carbon dioxide discharges from the vehicles it energizes. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the transportation sector has dominated the growth in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions since 1990, accounting for 69 percent of the total increase. It is important that hydrogen technology advances rapidly because cars, trucks and buses are a growing contributor to greenhouse gas buildups in our atmosphere. For example, Seattle-based

Amazon alone doubled its truck fleet to 20,000 in just a year, according to GeekWire.com. Its fleet runs on diesel. In 2017, Don C. Brunell Amazon reached Business analyst an agreement with Plug Power GUEST COLUMN to use its fuel cells and hydrogen technology in its fulfillment centers. Revenue associated with the commercial

agreements were estimated to be about $70 million. Faced with increasing numbers of vehicles on the road, many governments worldwide have pegged hydrogen as another way to eliminate human generated carbon dioxide. Just as enticing, the byproduct of hydrogen fuel cells is water. Developing hydrogen into a commercially viable fuel takes money – lots of it. The Hydrogen Council, whose 60 members represent total revenue of nearly $2.9 trillion and close to 4.2 million jobs, recently joined forces with European Investment Bank to finance hydrogen projects. The council believes it will

require $20 billion to $25 billion in annual investments during the next decade. The council’s goal is not to diminish the importance of investments in battery electric vehicle, or BEV, technology, or lower carbon fuels but believes largescale capital investments also need to go into developing other ways to power vehicles. For example, China has made BEV development and production a primary objective of its ambitious “Made in China 2025” initiative. With the help of the government, it already makes nearly half of the world’s electric vehicles today and aims to dominate that sector over the next five years. The key drawbacks of BEVs are driving range, lengthy charging time and recycling of spent batteries, many of which end up in landfills. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, or FCEVs, on the other hand, can cover similar distances, but drivers can gas up with hydrogen instead of gasoline or diesel. Many automakers are investing heavily in hydrogen as well. Hyundai, the South Korean auto giant, already is devoting $6.3 billion to fuel cell technology and plans to ramp up production from 3,000 units per year to 40,000 by 2022. Washington-based truck manufacturer Kenworth is developing 10 zero-emissions Kenworth T680s powered by Toyota hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrains. Last April, Toyota and Kenworth unveiled the jointly developed fuel cell electric heavy-duty truck, the result of a collaboration with the California Air Resources Board and the Port of Los Angeles. The trucks will be used at the Ports of Los Angeles, throughout the Southern California and Central Coast areas, and in Merced County. “One of the benefits of FCEVs is that hydrogen uses a fueling infrastructure that’s similar to conventional trucks. This means that FCEVs could be refueled at existing truck stops across the country and the fueling experience would be similar. A truck can be filled with hydrogen in less than 15 minutes,” said Patrick Molloy of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Denver. Nikola Motors, a U.S. maker of hydrogen trucks, claims its vehicles can get 12 to 15 miles per gallon, well above the average 6.4 mpg for a diesel truck. Nikola Motors, based in Phoenix, just announced it also launched a road map for 700 fueling stations across the country. The bottom line is now that hydrogen technology is growing in acceptance, it is starting to scale up, reduce production costs and accelerate infrastructure and research. Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer and columnist. He retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s oldest and largest business organization, and now lives in Vancouver. He can be contacted at theBrunells@msn.com.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Energy

Energy Northwest delivers decades of joy to preschoolers For 39 years, employees fulfill students’ holiday wishes BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Santa and his elves will surprise hundreds of Pasco students for the 39th year running when Energy Northwest employees deliver presents as part of the Head Start holiday program that’s served 14,000 children since it began. “People are just so giving at our company,” said Michelle Curtis, a training specialist for Energy Northwest and the company’s Head Start coordinator. “This year, all the children were ‘adopted’ in less than two weeks. That’s the fastest it’s been in a while.” It’s an impressive result considering the number of people who qualify for the Benton Franklin Head Start program continues to increase yearly as the Tri-Cities’ population grows. The program serves babies and preschool-aged children from low-income families in the community. Energy Northwest collects wish lists from preschoolers with a toy they’d like and a clothing item they need. This year’s list included requests from 450 kids, requiring nearly 50 percent of the 1,000 Energy Northwest employees to sponsor at least one child to fill every request. Employees shop for their assigned re-

cipient and then turn the gifts in to the company’s “North Pole,” where they are wrapped and labeled with each child’s name. The company assures equity in the classrooms by making sure each child receives two presents. Many Head Start families have told the company these are the only gifts their child will get this Christmas. This year, Energy Northwest is hosting 16 parties across two days to deliver all the gifts. Six different Santas and elves will visit students on a single day at Head Start’s Sunset Ridge location in west Pasco. One of those Santas is Bob Schuetz, site vice president for Energy Northwest, attended Head Start as a child in New Jersey in the 1960s. “Even though it might be nearly 60 years ago, it still had a very profound impression on me,” Schuetz said. Schuetz still remembers his teacher’s name and said he always looked forward to going to the summer program. “I would not say we were poor. I don’t think I ever wanted for much, but we lived a pretty simple life. This gave us the ability to hang out in an environment that challenged us nearly every day with some

Courtesy Energy Northwest Local preschool students receive gifts from Energy Northwest employees each year as part of the company’s long-running Head Start Holiday program.

type of activity,” he said. Schuetz previously donated his time to Head Start students while serving in the Navy and looks forward to the chance to play Santa to children around the same age as his own grandchildren. “I think it did make a difference in my childhood, I really do, and for my brothers and sisters as well. So if I can have the same impact, or if we, as a company, can have the same impact on these kids today, I know we’ll be much better for it,” Schuetz said.

To qualify for Head Start, most families must live below the federal poverty line guidelines, a threshold that is met if a family of four has an annual income of $25,750 or less. A small percentage of families qualify due to a child with a diagnosed disability. Started in 1965, Head Start reports it is the longest-running national school readiness program in the United States and has served tens of millions of children over the years.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

Energy

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Energy

Better batteries likely to drive electric car market BY ANDREW KIRK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

With a nuclear reservation, national laboratory and cutting-edge agricultural processing in the Tri-Cities’ backyard, Jeff Leskovar expected Mitsubishi’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle Outlander would be well received. “We thought they’d be popular with Hanford scientists, a high-tech product like this,” he said. “But we sell a lot of them to Spokane.” Almost every Outlander PHEV is sold to someone out of the area who comes to Tri-Cities to shop, including one from as far away as Wisconsin, he said. Even then, the Outlander only accounts for less than 5 percent of total sales. “It’s more of a niche product,” he said. Doug Overturf said his Volkswagen and Kia dealership has only carried fully-electric cars in the last year or two. “We’ve sold a few,” he said. “They’re not big sellers.” George Stanley, general manager of BMW of Tri-Cities, said the Audi E-Tron Q5 is popular in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, but not so much here. Greg Hudson at Nissan of Walla Walla said they quit carrying electric cars, but just signed back on because new models with longer-range battery life are coming soon. This optimism for these new models

also was echoed by Leskovar, Overturf and Stanley. Electric cars may have been a “niche” market in previous years, but Nissan, Volkswagen and especially Tesla are making a

“I have a 2011 Nissan Leaf and I’ve done nothing to it but put on new tires, new windshield wipers and added new washer fluid.”

–Garrett Brown, founder of the Mid-Columbia Electric Vehicle Association

bold move and betting on increasing acceptance in the near future as battery life and range increases. Local car dealers believe Tri-Citians will come around as well. Stanley said he’s not sure it’s a good business move in terms of economics but confessed Tesla sold 58 of its new Model 3 to people in the Tri-Cities in 2019. They are customers who likely could afford one of his electric cars. And these same people

Photo by Andrew Kirk William Robertson of Bill & Debbie Robertson Nissan in Pasco shows off the dual plug-ins on the new Nissan Leaf.

also know they have to drive to Portland or Bellevue for repairs or other services. Volkswagen has announced up to a quarter of its new vehicles will be electric in the near future, Overturf said, with a range exceeding 200 miles on a single charge. William Robertson at Bill & Debbie Robertson Nissan in Pasco said the new Nissan Leafs already come with dual plugs, one for existing cords and one for fast-charging stations popping up around

the Northwest. Jennifer Harper, business and programs developer for Energy Northwest, said six of nine planned 50-kilowatt fast-charging stations are already operational in the MidColumbia area (Kennewick, Pasco, Ellensburg, Connell, Cle Elum and Yakima). Construction on the final three (Richland, Prosser and Moses Lake) will begin soon. Garrett Brown, founder of the MiduELECTRIC CAR, Page 21

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Energy

Washington natural gas customers see higher energy bills BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

Natural gas customers in Washington started seeing higher energy bills beginning Nov. 1 due in part to last winter’s colder temperatures and a 2018 gas pipeline explosion in British Columbia. The state Utilities and Transportation Commission recently approved rate adjustments ranging from 4 percent to 15 percent for Avista, Cascade Natural Gas, NW Natural and Puget Sound Energy natural gas customers. Higher customer costs for 2019 reflect wholesale natural gas price increases caused in part by the October 2018 En-

bridge pipeline rupture, which disrupted natural gas markets throughout the Pacific Northwest. On Oct. 9, 2018, a 36-inch diameter natural gas mainline burst near Prince George, British Columbia. The pipeline serves markets in Canada, Washington, Oregon and Idaho with natural gas production from northeastern British Columbia through the Sumas hub, on the border between Canada and Washington state. Imports of natural gas at the Sumas hub, which averaged 1.1 billion cubic feet per day in the first half of 2018, fell to zero for a day after the rupture. About half of Washington’s natural gas

supplies come from the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Enbridge reported it successfully completed repairs on the ruptured section of the pipeline at the end of October 2018, but capacity delays continued through winter 2019. Natural gas companies are required to submit purchased gas cost adjustment filings every 15 months to adjust rates based on the constantly changing cost of natural gas in the wholesale market. The cost of gas purchases are passed on to customers; companies do not profit from or lose money on gas purchases. Here’s how the increases affect utilities

across the state: • The typical Cascade Natural Gas residential customer using 55 therms a month will see an increase of 10.8 percent, or $5.17, for an average monthly bill of $53.23. Rate changes for Cascade primarily are due to the purchased gas cost and decoupling mechanism, but they also include cost recovery for pipeline replacement, conservation programs, lowincome assistance, and refunds related to excess deferred income taxes due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Kennewickbased Cascade serves more than 220,000 residential and business customers in 68 communities throughout the state, including Kennewick, Walla Walla, Sunnyside, Yakima, Wenatchee, Aberdeen, Bellingham, Bremerton, Longview, Moses Lake and Mount Vernon. • The average bill for a typical Avista residential natural gas customer using 66 therms will increase by 14.8 percent, or $7.06 a month, for an average monthly bill of $54.85. Rate changes for Spokanebased Avista primarily are due to the annual gas adjustment, but they also include an adjustment for the company’s revenue decoupling mechanism, a regulatory tool that allows utility revenue to be “decoupled” from sales. • The typical NW Natural residential customer using 57 therms a month will see an increase of 4.4 percent, or about $2.14 a month, for an average monthly bill of $51.06. Rate changes for Portlandbased NW Natural primarily are due to the PGA, but they also include annual adjustments for low-income assistance programs. • The typical Puget Sound Energy residential customer using 64 therms a month will see an increase of 14.1 percent, or $8.40, for an average monthly bill of $68. Rate changes for Bellevue-based PSE primarily are due to the PGA, but they also include cost recovery for pipeline replacement. The variation in total gas rates among Washington’s investor-owned utilities is due to regional differences in monthly residential usage, supply sources, conservation and energy efficiency programs, low-income program costs, and company gas purchasing practices. The state UTC regulates the private, investor-owned natural gas utilities in Washington. It is the commission’s responsibility to ensure regulated companies provide safe and reliable service to customers at reasonable rates, while allowing them the opportunity to earn a fair profit.

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Energy Number of employees you oversee: 72 Brief background about your electric cooperative: Benton REA is a not-for-profit, electric cooperative that has been providing the people of Benton, Yakima and Lewis counties with high-quality, reliable service since 1937. Our structure of being owned and controlled by the members we serve ensures that we remain focused on providing cost effective and reliable electric service along with other member-driven services. These member-driven services include extensive energy-efficiency and renewable energy programs, vocational and academic scholarships, the Youth Tour to Washington, D.C., and classes to educate members on general computer skills and our programs. Our member-driven services are highlighted by PowerNET, which provides internet, IT consulting and PC repair services. PowerNET was created because our members identified and asked Benton REA to help fill a need. We provide individuals, businesses and even school districts with solutions to their internet and IT needs. Benton REA also offers extensive economic development programs. The co-op has partnered with local agencies to recruit new businesses or help current businesses expand, resulting in hundreds of new jobs to our area. Benton REA is proud of its memberfocused approach, and our members say they like it too. For three straight years, Benton REA received an American Customer Satisfaction Index rating that ranks in the top 4 percent of the nation for electric cooperatives. And we bring this same collaborative and member focused approach to the state Legislature. For more information about Benton REA and its latest positions on issues facing the Legislature, please visit bentonrea.org. How did you land your current role? How long have you been in it? I was hired at Benton REA in 1989 as the manager of finance, then worked under various titles for Benton REA over the years while always being willing to learn new things and volunteering for tough assignments and projects. I was appointed to the general manager position in January of 2016. What is the biggest challenge or challenges facing utilities today? Delivering the message about the importance of our way of life in the Pacific Northwest being highly dependent upon the dams in the Columbia and Snake rivers. The reliable and affordable hydropower that is generated by the dams is carbon-free and is critical for providing backup power to wind and solar generation for when the wind doesn’t blow and when the sun doesn’t shine. The hydropower associated with dams also has “energy storage” capability by virtue of the water pools behind the dams, and the dams also provide necessary flood controls along the lengths of the rivers.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Q&A

MICHAEL J. BRADSHAW

General Manager/Executive Vice President of Benton Rural Electric Association What’s the most common question you get from your members? Many Benton REA members ask me to explain capital credits. It isn’t common for most electric utilities to give money back to their consumers. But Benton REA consumers are also owners, and capital credits are the way that Benton REA returns net margins back to the member-owners. It’s one of the benefits of being a member-owner of an electric cooperative. If you had a magic wand, what would you change about your industry? I would eliminate and/or simplify any rules, regulations, and/or state and federal laws that don’t make economic or environmental sense and that unfairly burden the electric utility industry. What goals do you have for the coming year? I am going to work closely with Benton REA’s wholesale power supplier, the Bonneville Power Administration, in their endeavor to be more responsive to new potential large industrial, manufacturing and commercial entities with regard to electric service capabilities and electrical capacity information. My goal is to encourage economic development growth within the Benton REA service territory and the Tri-City area. What’s the best tip you can share to save energy this winter? Visit the Energy Savings section of the bentonrea.org website for electric energy savings ideas, and consider signing up for our conservation class on Jan. 16 at our West Richland office. What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess? Humility. What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time? Don’t sweat the little things. Let the little things go and only worry about the big issues. Let others participate in the big decisions as much as possible and whenever possible. Who are your role models or mentors? Explain why. My parents were my primary role models because of their honesty and perseverance when it came time to handle tough situations. My mentors were all of the general managers that I worked for over the years in the electric utility industry. I learned many things from all of them about working with people.

How do you keep your employees motivated? I involve them in the decision-making process whenever possible, and I trust them. uBRADSHAW, Page 21

Michael J. Bradshaw

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

Energy

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

EnErgy BRADSHAW, From page 19 How did you decide to pursue the career that you are working in today? When I graduated from Eastern Washington University in 1981 I wanted to be in an industry that would provide a stable career environment, that would be interesting and challenging, and that would involve providing a product or service that would be essential and important to people as they go about their daily lives. I found that career in the electric utility industry. How do you measure success in your workplace? One metric that I pay close attention to regarding system reliability is the perELECTRIC CAR, From page 17

Columbia Electric Vehicle Association, a chapter of the Electric Auto Association, said the Tri-Cities is experiencing a trend seen throughout the West. While sales of electric cars have been slow and membership in groups like his have been modest, charging stations continue to grow as agencies and businesses predict longer-range batteries will make electric cars more popular. “In 2019, the big news is the Tesla Model 3,” Brown said. “The number sold was 10 times that of the next nearest electrified car (which would be the Toyota Prius)… I’ve seen 10 to 20 people I don’t recognize driving Model 3s.” Volkswagen’s “Electrify America” campaign is working to create a network of charging stations around the country. The nearest one to the Tri-Cities is in Umatilla, Oregon, Brown said. Like the nine stations Energy Northwest is involved with, the idea is to place charging stations at intervals along highways to facilitate speedy recharging during interstate travel. Yet even with more charging stations, electric vehicles are still more expensive than their gas and diesel counterparts. Brown said the economics of the used electric vehicle market are unique because the cars are a little like a computer. A good car can be sold and resold for 30 years. But a new computer depreciates rapidly. As battery life increases, older electric models become even less popular than they were new. Still, the average driver – even in Tri-Cities – only travels about 30 miles per day, Brown said. Even 10-year-old cars can handle that on a night’s charge without issue. When Tesla first launched, early adopters sold their Priuses, Volts and Leafs to buy Tesla. That allowed a surge in the used electric car market. But electric car fans bought those up and now there’s a dearth. The Model 3 is affecting the used market a different way, Brown said. Potential buyers are sitting on their money waiting for a Model 3, hurting sales for all other brands. When Tesla announced it was opening in the European market, the same thing happened to BMW in Germany. And now Chinese dealers are complaining buyers have stopped shopping in hopes their market is next. Brown hopes people who can’t afford a

centage of time that the Benton REA electric distribution system is operational and providing electricity, and in most years Benton REA’s system is available at least 99.97 percent of the time. We work hard at Benton REA to keep power outages to a minimum.

as much as possible, and let people do their jobs.

What do you consider your leadership style to be? Collaborative, with my personal attention applied as needed on high-priority issues. Leading by example, and being accessible in order to help people, is also important.

What do you like to do when you are not at work? I like to go to various concerts and music venues with my wife. Blues music is my favorite. And I like to watch my amazingly athletic grandson play high school basketball or baseball.

How do you manage your time? Focus on the top priorities, delegate

Best tip to relieve stress? Take a walk.

new Tesla, E-Tron, Leaf or Volt will still consider the older models. “You can get one for less than $5,000 now. And you’ll save $1,000 to $2,000 a year in gasoline on average,” he said. “Plus they have low maintenance costs. I have a 2011 Nissan Leaf and I’ve done nothing to it but put on new tires, new windshield wipers and added new washer fluid.” Repairs are outside the ability of the average mechanic, however, and Hanford scientists haven’t bought them because they commute farther than the average driver and can’t charge them while at work, Brown said. He and others convinced Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to add charging stations, but time on them has to be purchased due to budgetary restraints. With “buy in” from traditional companies like Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota and Chevrolet, Brown is optimistic for the future. Stanley said he’s not sure. Tesla’s sales are unprecedented and changed consumer expectations, but there’s more to the story. “Tesla attracts customers who are fanatical in their conceptualizing of the manufacturer, like Apple vs. PC … there is an emotionally strong attraction,” he said. “Meet the clients and talk to them and they almost don’t care what the features are, it was Tesla not the product that attracted them.” And yet, Stanley pointed out, the company is not profitable. They are dominating the market without profitability. “Economics are at play that make the electric vehicle a longtime challenge for profitability,” he said. To learn more about electric vehicles, Harper recommends looking up the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Transportation Alliance, or EVITA. It’s a public and private partnership including public utility companies, Energy Northwest, governments and GreenLots, a charging station installer. Benton and Franklin counties, Benton Rural Electric Association, the city of Richland and Grant PUD all are members. Harper said she and her husband both drive electric cars. They charge overnight and carry ample charge for the next day’s commute and errands. She also pointed out Washington state recently extended sales tax rebates for new and used electric cars.

How do you balance work and family life? I try not to work on weekends or holidays, unless absolutely necessary.

What’s your favorite website? Favorite book? It sounds kind of corny, but one of my most used websites is dictionary.com. I like to make sure that I spell and use words correctly! One of my favorite books is “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl. Do you have a personal mantra, phrase or quote you like to use? “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

#READLOCAL tcjournal.biz

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Energy

Snake River dam removal distracts from salmon recovery efforts Should Washington state risk 11 years of salmon recovery funding on something scientists believe will do little to increase salmon populations? How about eliminating electricity generation equivalent to every solar panel and wind turbine in Washington state? Essentially, those arguing we need to destroy the Snake River dams suggest we do both. Focusing on the four Lower Snake River dams is a deadly distraction from efforts to recover salmon across the Northwest—one that could backfire badly. As a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council, I am frustrated by the push to destroy the dams, which is not simply misguided — it is irresponsi-

ble. Some activists claim Snake River salmon are near extinction. This is a familiar refrain. In 1999, activists bought an ad in The Todd Myers New York Times Washington Policy claiming that Center unless the dams GUEST COLUMN were removed, “wild Snake River spring chinook salmon … will be extinct by 2017.” When 2017 arrived, the Snake River Chinook population was six

times larger than in 1999. Despite their poor record, advocates of dam destruction insist this time they are right. Fisheries scientists disagree. In 2017, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries noted the dams are “very close to achieving, or have already achieved, the juvenile dam passage survival objective of 96 percent for yearling Chinook salmon and steelhead migrants.” Destroying the dams would increase the survival rate by, at best, a few percentage points. In fact, NOAA fisheries and other scientists argue salmon may not be helped by destroying the dams. UCLA Professor Peter Kareiva, the former science director

for The Nature Conservancy, analyzed the impact of the Snake River dams while at NOAA Fisheries in the early 2000s. He now argues, “it is not certain that dams now cause higher mortality than would arise in a free-flowing river” on the Snake. Some now claim destroying the dams would help the struggling southern resident killer whales in Puget Sound. Again, scientists disagree. NOAA Fisheries and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife prioritized the most important watersheds for Puget Sound orca, ranking the Snake River ninth overall. Destroying the dams, NOAA Fisheries concluded, “would result in only a marginal change in the total salmon available to the killer whales.” Worse, spending scarce resources on the dams would mean other salmon-recovery projects would go unfunded. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates the cost to remove the dams would be more than $1 billion — equal to more than 11 years of state salmon recovery funding. We asked University of Washington scientist Deborah Giles, who is pushing to destroy the dams, where that money would come from. She responded by citing Karl Marx, writing, “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need,” claiming the federal government could magically find the money. Aside from the oddity of unselfconsciously quoting Karl Marx, if an additional $1 billion was available, it should go to watersheds the state Department of Fish and Wildlife says are most important to orca, not destroying the dams. The dams are responsible for about 7 percent of Washington’s electricity generation, more than all wind and solar in the state combined. The Northwest Power and Conservation Council told the Legislature last year that the region faces an energy shortage in upcoming years, noting that dam removal would make that shortage worse. Despite that, some advocates of dam destruction claim we could easily replace the electricity they generate. This is nonsense and contradicted by their own allies. Last year, the NW Energy Coalition, which supports removing the dams, found it would cost an additional $400 million a year in electricity costs to replace part, but not all, of the energy from the dams. They also admit it would increase carbon dioxide emissions because some energy would be replaced by natural gas. Although we are in a down cycle, salmon populations along the Snake River are larger today than two decades ago. Some, however, continue to ignore the latest science, pushing policies that would increase air pollution, raise electricity rates and divert money from effective salmon recovery. Preserving the Snake River dams isn’t just good for our economy, farmers and energy – it is good for the environment. Todd Myers is a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council and environmental director for the Washington Policy Center, which has offices in the Tri-Cities, Spokane, Seattle and Olympia. Online at washingtonpolicy. org.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Energy

Courtesy MSA Lana Strickling, from left, Greg Sullivan and Christian Seavoy of Mission Support Alliance work with contractors across the Hanford site to identify projects that may increase energy efficiency and cut costs associated with facility upgrades or projects.

Hanford contractor knows cost savings come with energy savings BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

Mission Support Alliance knows finding ways to reduce energy consumption at the Hanford site helps shrink the site’s carbon footprint and reduce costs. MSA, the U.S. Department of Energy contractor, helps DOE and its contractors with energy management and equipment upgrades. MSA’s energy management team works with site contractors, often in the planning phase of their projects, to find ways to reduce energy consumption. The team helps identify efficiency projects, products and technologies, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, building controls/thermostats, electrical projects, water and sewer projects, refrigeration units and freeze protection for piping and engines. The team also researches vendors to find cost-effective and reliable, energy-

uBUSINESS BRIEF Benton REA members to get $1.8M in capital credits

Benton REA is paying back more than $1.8 million in capital credits to its members. The electric cooperative based in West Richland pays back its operating margins to members. The $1 million will be returned to members using the percentage of equity method, with an additional $836,000 distributed to fully pay out the capital credits remaining from 1984-89. The Benton REA Board of Trustees approved the distribution of capital credit

smart products. “The relationships and collaboration between contractors for energy management across the site has been phenomenal and is growing every day,” said Lana Strickling, manager of MSA environmental compliance and sustainability, in a statement. Once the energy-saving products are in place, the energy management team helps contractors process paperwork for the Bonneville Power Administration’s incentive program. This program put dollars back into Hanford in recognition of energy-efficiencies. For example, lighting upgrades for facilities across the Hanford site over the past couple of years have resulted in an estimated savings of 3.6 million kilowatt hours per year of electricity and more than $800,000 in incentives from the BPA, which go back to the contractors that paid for them.

retirements to more than 20,000 current and former Benton REA members. Members may receive their checks before Christmas. Due to the expense in processing printed checks, $10 is the minimum retirement amount that will be issued. Those less than $10 are accumulated year to year until the sum is equal to or greater than $10. By buying electricity from Benton REA, members have equity ownership in Benton REA, known as capital credits. Each time they pay their Benton REA electric bill, their equity in the cooperative grows. Likewise, any capital credit retirement checks received decreases equity by the amount of each check.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Tri-City projects stand to lose after I-976

The Washington Department of Transportation has identified numerous TriCity transportation projects threatened by the passage of Initiative 976 in the Nov. 5 general election. The initiative reset car license fees to $30 and made other cuts, prompting Gov. Jay Inslee to order the Department of Transportation to postpone projects that hadn’t started yet. The order did not distinguish between projects funded by car tabs and those funded by fuel taxes. The order includes funding to Pasco’s Lewis Street overpass, Pasco’s Flamingo Mobile Home Park noise walls, improve-

ments to Highway 240 in Richland and aspects of Richland’s Duportail Bridge that have not yet begun and Kennewick’s Ridgeline Drive underpass at Southridge.

Columbia River Treaty negotiator to visit Richland

The U.S. Department of State and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council will jointly host a town hall on Dec. 16 in Richland to discuss updates to the Columbia River Treaty. The program is from 5:30-7 p.m. at the U.S. Federal Building Auditorium, 825 Jadwin Ave., Richland. Jill Small, the U.S. treaty negotiator, will provide an overview of negotiations with her Canadian counterparts and will field questions from the public.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, requested the opportunity for a local discussion about the treaty that governs how the Columbia is jointly managed by the two countries.

Association lobbied for more time to address the changes. The Department of Revenue notified lawmakers it was temporarily shelving enforcement on Nov. 21.

State suspends concrete pumping tax rule

S&P upgrades West Richland’s bond rating

A controversial rule governing how concrete is taxed has been suspended until April 2020 to give the Washington Legislature time to address the issue. The state Department of Revenue began enforcing a rule for those who hired concrete pumpers to pay sales tax on the contract, even when the concrete was resold as part of a whole building. Enforcement began Oct. 1. The Washington Building Industry

Standard & Poor’s has raised West Richland’s bond rating, potentially lowering the cost to finance major projects. The city sought an upgrade as it prepares to sell bonds to finance development of a new voter-approved police facility. The city’s rating was upgraded from AA to AA+. Bond ratings are based on financial management, debt load, tax base, adequate reserves, the strength of the local economy and staff leadership.

Washington records reduced carbon emissions

Decreased carbon emissions from power plants offset increases from transportation and home heating, putting Washington state on a path to meet its goal of trimming emissions. The state Department of Ecology reports total emissions rose 1.7 percent in 2016, reaching 9,7l6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, then fell to 97.5 million metric tons in 2017. Emissions from aviation, shipping and home heating increased over that period, but “sharp” reductions in emissions from power plants offset the increases. Washington’s Energy Independence Act requires that 15 percent of energy come from renewable resources by 2020.

MyTri 2030 identifies strategies to build the local economy

The Regional Affairs Committee of the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce has released a list of the top 10 ways to build on the community’s economic base in each of the region’s so-called “Opportunity Areas.” The strategies were identified in the year-long MyTri 2030 process. More than 5,000 Tri-Citians weighed in on the most promising strategies to build on the region’s strengths: agriculture, education, energy, inclusion, life and prosperity. The full report is available at mytri2030.com.

Ag Hall of Fame set for Jan. 16 in Pasco

The Mid-Columbia Ag Hall of Fame is set for Jan. 16 at the Pasco Red Lion. Founded in 2000, the event is held to recognize and honor distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to the agricultural community in the greater Franklin County region and its immediate surrounding area. Nominees from neighboring counties within a 150-mile radius are also considered. A reception starts at 5 p.m. with a dinner and program starting at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 509-5479755.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

YEAR IN REVIEW Economic leaders reflect on year’s top achievements

Expansions, visions cited as year’s biggest successes BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Those focused on growing, promoting and improving the Tri-City economy are counting up their 2019 successes and looking ahead to plans for the upcoming year and decade. Recent wins include plans for an expansion of the Three Rivers Convention Center, a new nonstop flight from Pasco to Chicago, Richland’s Preferred Freezer Services expansion and opening of Packaging Corporation of America, and the conclusion of the second phase of the myTRI 2030 project, which is working to harness a community vision for the Tri-Cities over the next 10 years. “We’ve had a good year. I think it can always be better, but it was a good year,” said Carl Adrian, executive president and chief executive officer of the TriCity Development Council. The year wasn’t without its disappointments, as United Airlines announced in November it was canceling a highly-marketed nonstop flight to Los Angeles International Airport. The head of Visit Tri-Cities had called the daily flight a “game changer.” “Even though the flight is going to go away, we have been planting the seeds that the Tri-Cities is a wine region, so that doesn’t go away,” said Michael Novakovich, president and chief executive officer of Visit Tri-Cities. “We’ve still got those wine lovers and they’re looking for places to go. We’ve heard of some over-tourism in northern California, so if someone has to turn the spigot off, ‘Welcome to Washington!’ ” The community is building on this strong reputation for winemaking, expecting two new American Viticultural Areas in the Mid-Columbia to become officially recognized, while also feeding a growing appetite for science tourism with a future visitor’s center expected at the Laser Interferometer GravitationalWave Observatory, known as LIGO, at the Hanford site. “We have these wonderful assets and we’re working to make them more accessible to all,” Novakovich said. New businesses continue to open or expand each year, resulting in dozens of yearly groundbreaking and ribbon cuttings for the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Lori Mattson, the chamber’s president and CEO. “When I look back on that and see how many ceremonies we participated in, it tells me that the economy here is strong and entrepreneurs are opening new businesses and there are multiple locations for current businesses,” she

said. The chamber boasts 1,200 members and has a counselor focused exclusively on helping small businesses identify and apply for government contracts at the Procurement Technical Assistance Center. “(The counselor) meets with businesses all week long and counsels them, helps them understand the paperwork, like how do you find a contract or bid on it? Is your organization even ready for that?” Mattson said. The PTAC counselor is an employee of the chamber but also part of a statewide network. TRIDEC is preparing for its longtime leader Carl Adrian to retire in early 2020. Focused on growing the Tri-Cities economy for more than 15 years, Adrian believes the biggest success from 2019 is the $35 million expansion of Preferred Freezer Services in Richland, as well as the nearby cardboard-box making facility built by Packaging Corporation of America. “Both of those projects, to some degree, were driven by Lamb Weston’s expansion,” Adrian said. “They’re both involved in the supply chain for Lamb Weston. When the community has a win, when TRIDEC has a win, it’s kind of a gift that keeps on giving because those companies are here for the long haul. They’re going to continue to pay property taxes every year. They’re going to continue to have multi-million dollar payrolls every year that create a multiplier effect in the community.” Preferred Freezer’s expansion was expected to create 75 additional jobs with another 100 nearby at PCA. “A win in any city is a win for every city,” said Ashley Stubbs, director of communications at TRIDEC. As more jobs are created in the community, there are an increasing number of amenities available to attract both community residents and visitors. “We’re working to change the community narrative and getting the community to understand how amazing the Tri-Cities is, and really flipping this idea that there’s nowhere to eat and there’s nothing to do,” Novakovich said. “When, in fact, we have some incredible opportunities here, but you need to get out and explore them, and then talk about it. There are cool things here.” Novakovich’s team is promoting some of the science-related attractions through a campy music video encouraging viewers with an original song called, “Come On Get Your Geek On.” It highlights places like the Hanford B Reac-

Photo by Scott Butner

Tri-City Development Council officials cite projects like the opening of Packaging Corporation of America’s new facility in Richland’s Horn Rapids Industrial Park as an economic win for 2019. Officials at the $26 million cardboard box plant expect to hire more than 100 workers when the plant is fully operational. tor, Reach Museum, Bechtel National Planetarium, LIGO and the USS Triton Submarine Memorial Park.

Novakovich hopes tourists and residents alike will be interested in the ofuECONOMIC WINS, Page 30

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Year

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor.

Review

uBUSINESS BRIEFS

Invest in Your Family and Community Why do you invest? For many people, here’s the answer: “I invest because I want to enjoy a comfortable retirement.” And that’s certainly a great reason, because all of us should regularly put money away for when we’re retired. But you can also benefit by investing in your family and your community. Let’s start with your family members, particularly the younger DUSTIN CLONTZ ones. How can you invest in their (509) 943-1441 future? One of the best ways is to help send them to college. A college degree is still a pretty good investment: The average lifetime earnings of a college graduate are nearly $1 million higher than those of someone with a high school degree, according to a study by the U.S. Census Bureau. To help your children or grandchildren pay for any college, university, vocational school or other postsecondary education, you may want to open a 529 savings plan. With this account, withdrawals are federally tax free, as long as the money is used for qualified higher education expenses, including those from trade and vocational schools. (However, if you withdraw some of the earnings on your account, and you don’t use the money for qualified expenses, it will be taxable and can also incur a 10% federal tax penalty.) Plus, you retain control of the funds until it’s time for them to be used for school, so if your original beneficiary chooses not to pursue some type of higher education, you can name a different eligible beneficiary. Another way to invest in your family is to help your adult children avoid feeling obligated to provide financial assistance to you. For example, if you ever required some type of longterm care, such as an extended stay in a nursing home, could you afford it? The average cost for a private room in a nursing home is more than $100,000 per year, according to a study by Genworth, an insurance company. And Medicare typically pays very few of these expenses. So, to avoid burdening your adult children – while also preserving your own financial independence – you may want to consider some type of longterm care insurance. A financial advisor can help you determine what coverage may be appropriate. Moving beyond your family, you may want to invest in the social fabric of your community by contributing to local charitable, civic, educational or cultural groups. Of course, now that we’re in the holiday season, it’s the perfect time for such gifts. Furthermore, your gift will be more appreciated than in years past because one of the chief incentives for charitable giving – a tax deduction – was lost for many people due to tax law changes, which raised the standard deduction so significantly that far fewer people chose to itemize deductions. However, you might still be able to gain some tax benefits from your charitable gifts. To name one possibility, you could donate financial assets, such as stocks that have risen in value, freeing you of potential capital gains taxes. In any case, contact your tax advisor if you’re considering sizable charitable gifts. Saving for your retirement will always be important. But don’t forget about investing in your family and your community – because these investments can provide satisfying returns.

New ninja challenge course opens in Kennewick Member SIPC

www.edwardjones.com

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6115 Burden Blvd., Ste. A, Pasco

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Ryan Brault, CFP®

3616 W. Court St., Ste. I, Pasco

509-545-8121

The city and Kennewick School District teamed up to make wellness more fun with a warrior-style challenge course at Desert Hills Middle School. The 4,700-square-foot obstacle course for teens and adults features 11 components that can be conquered in 10 minutes. The $275,000 of equipment and construction is funded with park impact fees, not resident taxes, on a small piece of undeveloped school district land at the edge of the middle school. Park impact fees are paid by residential property developers for every new home built in Kennewick and earmarked for new parks and recreation amenities in the same area. Since the city doesn’t own park land in the southwest portion of Kennewick, it partnered with the school district to use its property between a parking area and sports fields on West 15th Avenue just off Bob Olson Parkway to host the recreational amenity for the general public.

Bankers recruit ex-AG to challenge tax increase Dustin Clontz

1060 Jadwin Ave., Ste. 325, Richland

509-943-1441

Shelley Kennedy, CFP® 767 Williams Blvd. Richland

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Harry Van Dyken

2735 Queensgate Drive Richland

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T.J. Willingham

1020 N. Center Parkway, Suite F, Kennewick

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Jay Freeman, AAMS 16 W. Kennewick Ave., Ste. 101, Kennewick

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509-783-2042 Paid Advertising

The Washington Bankers Association, represented by former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, is suing to block implementation of House Bill 2167, a “Title Only” bill that raised taxes on out-of-state banks in the waning hours of the 2019 session. The bill imposed a 1.2 percent surtax on the gross income of out-of-state financial institutions. The lawsuit maintains the bill against interstate commerce violates the commerce clause of the federal Constitution. The suit is the first to challenge Olympia’s use of Title Only bills in the final hours of the annual Legislature to raise taxes.

Mid-Columbia Libraries to eliminate overdue fines

Overdue fines will be a thing of the past in the new year at Mid-Columbia Libraries. The Mid-Columbia Libraries Board of Trustees voted Nov. 19 to eliminate fines for overdue library books and materials and forgive any outstanding overdue fines beginning Jan. 1. Overdue fines create barriers to using the library for many in the community, according to MCL. MCL said it wants to ensure all customers—regardless of age, background, or socioeconomic status—have equitable access to the libraries’ collections. Other outstanding charges, such as lost material fees and collection agency fees, will remain on accounts. Customers will continue to receive overdue notices. MCL will continue to charge customers the replacement costs of materials that are not returned or that are damaged. Many public libraries in the state, such as Seattle Public Library and Spokane Public Library, are moving to eliminate overdue fees.

Year

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Review

Demand for senior meals growing along with need for volunteers BY KRISTINA LORD

publisher@tcjournal.biz

An agency that prides itself on “delivering kindness” is on track to serve 220,000 meals to 2,400 seniors by year’s end. That’s a 5 percent increase over the previous year. The volunteer drivers for Mid-Columbia Meals on Wheels distribute about 450 meals to homebound seniors each day along 45 routes in Benton and Franklin counties. More than 500 volunteers are expected to log 30,000 hours of labor and record nearly 100,000 miles by the end of the year. Each year the number of seniors needing hot meals grows. “In 2009, we were serving 132,000 meals. That’s 90,000 less than what we’ll serve this year,” said Kristi Thien, nutrition services director for Senior Life Resources Northwest, the parent organization of Meals on Wheels. From 2017-18, the agency saw 16 percent growth in the number of meals delivered, a significant increase, Thien said. “We’re grateful it slowed down just a bit,” she said. The program also offers a noon meal at eight dining centers throughout the two counties for more active seniors. Volunteer Mike Neely helps assemble meals for the seniors once a week. Poverty isn’t just a third-world problem, he said. “We have lots of people here who don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” he said. Volunteers and staff worked Nov. 20 to assemble 700 emergency meal kits. Consisting mostly of canned goods and other shelf-stable items, like granola bars and trail mix, the kits are meant to tide seniors over when drivers can’t get to their homes because of snowy roads or road closures. Each box contains five meals. The boxes were distributed Nov. 25. The agency delivers meals Monday through Friday. On Thursdays, seniors receive frozen meals to reheat on the weekends and holidays when there are no deliveries. In the coming year, Meals on Wheels will begin preparing and assembling its own frozen meals. Right now, the nonprofit buys them. “We’ll be able to have control over the nutrients, the quality and we can do it less expensively,” Thien said. Senior Life Resources Northwest recently completed a $100,000 project to build a 1,200-square-foot facility to house a large freezer to store the meals. Lamb Weston donated $50,000 toward the cost of the building, and a local physician donated $30,000 for the new freezer. In addition to meals, volunteer drivers also deliver gifts to seniors around Christmas time. Each holiday season a giving tree decorates the agency’s Richland lobby that features tags highlighting items seniors would like to receive. Hats, gloves, stationery, stamps, cat and dog food, slippers, sweat pants and Walmart gift cards are among the most requested items. This year nearly 200 seniors made requests. Drivers deliver the gifts before Christ-

Photo by Kristina Lord Mike Neely prepares a tray of ranger cookies for the oven at the Meals on Wheels kitchen in Richland. He and his wife volunteer once a week. More than 500 volunteers are expected to donate 30,000 hours of labor and record nearly 100,000 miles delivering hot meals to homebound seniors by year’s end.

mas. “They love being able to do that,” Thien said. Because Meals on Wheels drivers often serve as the front line of defense for seniors with their daily check-ins, they know seniors can get lonely. But the drivers don’t have time to stop for long visits during their routes, Thien said. That’s why Meals on Wheels plans to roll out a new “friendly visitors” program

this month aimed at connecting seniors and volunteers. “It’s a chance for people who aren’t available to volunteer during the day to sign up and visit some people who are lonely,” Thien said. While the nonprofit is always grateful for all its generous community support, nothing is appreciated more than simple monetary donations, Thien said. “Money for meals is always my No. 1

request,” she said. The agency faced an unexpected expense when thieves broke into and stole one of its vans on Nov. 12. The 1998 van, equipped with a food oven valued at $3,000, was “worth very little money but is priceless to us,” Thien said. “It becomes the most valuable car you own because you don’t make a payment on it. It functioned perfectly. We used it every week to pick up bread,” she said. The van was discovered abandoned just before Thanksgiving in Seattle. Thieves apparently used it to transport marijuana. They spray-painted over the Meals on Wheels logo on the outside, stole the oven and license plates, and damaged the steering column to hot wire it and the doors no longer lock. Thien said the van will need to be decontaminated before it’s usable again. It’s not the first time thieves targeted the nonprofit. They once busted the back window of a sedan to steal $8 worth of food. It cost $300 to replace the window, Thien said. How to get involved Volunteers interested in helping with meal delivery or the friendly visitors program must undergo a background check. The Senior Life Resources Northwest office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 1824 Fowler St. in Richland. For more information, call 509-7351911 or visit seniorliferesources.org.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

ECONOMIC WINS, From page 27 ferings around the community, as more than 6,300 people have jobs directly related to tourism in the Tri-Cities, and visitors pump more than half a billion a year into the local economy. “Whether the residents recognize it or not, we’re all touched by it,” he said. At the chamber, Mattson’s team is dreaming big for what the Tri-Cities could offer in 10 years’ time. It first launched myTRI 2030 to the public in 2018, but is gearing up for a big push as 2019 closes, announcing 60 “big” ideas identified across six major opportunity areas. Considered a regional vision project, myTRI 2030 has assembled experts and practitioners in the “big buckets” of ag-

riculture, energy, education, inclusion, life and prosperity. While hosting “big vision” workshops and studying the efforts of other communities, Mattson still says, “We’re literally pouring the road as we drive on it. We plan this far ahead and then we execute, and then as we’re executing, we’re saying, ‘OK, we’re reaching the end of the road, what are we doing now?’ ” The third phase of myTRI 2030 includes the creation of councils made up of about a dozen people for each of the focus areas. “These are people who are connected, these are people who are influential, these are people who are visionary, who are collaborative and could look at this list of 10 potential things and decide

yEar which ones we would work on. We’re not going to do 60 things in 10 years, but we might do a few in each area, or maybe one big one, and it’s going to take 10 years to accomplish,” she said. Thanks to financial support from founding donors that saw them through the first phase, Mattson said the group will continue to fundraise and work with the community to execute a shared vision. “We hope that over the course of the next 10 years, there could be two or three things every year that could be actually up and running, and then something else comes up, and then in 10 years we could look back and say, ‘Gosh, look at what the community accomplished,’ ” she said. Novakovich recognizes community support is critical when it comes to building on resources that already exist and can often take some public convincing to recognize the overall benefit to the community tax base, contributing to budgets for first responders and public education. “When you invest in something like an aquatic center or the convention center or the HAPO Center, while it may look on the front end like things don’t pencil so well, the economic impact of it, what happens on the back side of that with taxes and visitorgenerated taxes make great sense and far outweigh any subsidy that’s paid by the cities,” Novakovich said. A public-private partnership is behind an upcoming $85 million project to expand the Three Rivers Convention Center, adding a hotel, retail building and parking. Novakovich sees it as a necessity for the Tri-Cities so it doesn’t lose convention business to Yakima and Spokane. The future project’s close proximity to Vista Field is an added benefit due to the planned growth at the central Kennewick site. “We are super excited about Vista Field,” Novakovich said. “People visit-

rEviEw

ing like to be able to get out and walk around, so to be able to have a walkable district with food and amenities, it’s exciting.” Adrian said TRIDEC has offered assistance to the Port of Kennewick’s Vista Field project to recruit anchor tenants. “With the infrastructure being put into Vista Field right now, I think somebody’s going to come look at that and have a little clearer vision of what that can look like other than just a runway,” he said. Adrian hopes the person who replaces him will bring fresh ideas and a forwardlooking vision. He’s proud of the organization’s federal advocacy that helped make the case for a federal budget for the region that was $341 million above the president’s original request. Adrian said the latest request is about $500 million more than the president’s budget for 2020, and mirrors the request of the Senate. A budget is not yet in place, but the Tri-Cities will continue to outline its successes while diversifying the economy, attracting new businesses and supporting those in place. “We are looking at, ‘How do we leverage all of our experience and legacy in energy and the role that we’ve played looking ahead to the future and developing and cultivating new energy sources?’” Stubbs said. Leveraging that experience could be part of one of the potential projects kicked off through myTRI 2030 efforts. “We say the table’s going to get bigger and rounder,” Mattson said. “It’s exciting to think in 10 years, how many people can serve on a council or be on a team and work on a project and how many will have done that in 10 years’ time.”

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Review

SIGN Fracture Care ends 20th year with goals for next five years BY ANDREW KIRK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

SIGN Fracture Care International ends its 20th year in business with a goal to more than triple the number of patients it serves each year over the next five years. Doctors trained by Richland-based SIGN treat long-bone fractures in 30,000 people per year in dozens of developing countries. The nonprofit manufactures the stainless steel nails used in the surgeries at its north Richland facility. By the end of 2019, SIGN expects to have tended to 250,000 patients over 20 years. By the end of 2025, SIGN hopes to serve 100,000 people per year. And to help more people in the coming year will require more money. “Funding is the elephant in the room,” said founder and president Dr. Lewis Zirkle. “We can only expand as we have funding.” SIGN, which is off George Washington Way across from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in north Richland, receives no government subsidies and the majority of its donations come from the Tri-City area, Zirkle said. The nonprofit spends about 89 percent of its budget on training and implants, which are donated to surgeons in hospitals lacking funding to provide modern treatment for fractures. SIGN implants and procedures are designed to be used in places without electricity because so many of the hospitals and clinics where the surgeons work lack power or have unreliable utilities, Zirkle said. Post-surgery patients are asked to pay what they can afford, and this money helps SIGN produce more instruments to send to doctors. While many maladies are in decline as technology improves to make humans

safer and healthier, long-bone fractures are on the rise, Zirkle said. As economies around the world advance, more people have access to motorized transportation, like motorcycles and scooters, which means more accidents and broken bones. SIGN has had a healthy impact on the Tri-City economy the past 20 years. Manufacturing implants creates jobs and bringing surgeons to Richland for training fills hotel rooms and restaurant booths. “We can train 150 doctors when they come here,” said Jeanne Dillner, chief executive officer. “We have 43 employees, 41 of whom are full time.” “We love it here,” Zirkle said. “We have been prompted to manufacture overseas, but we have such a good staff working together; we’re almost a big family. We would not move from the Tri-Cities.” The nonprofit expanded in January 2019 with the purchase of a 38,000 square-foot building it was leasing a portion of from the Port of Benton, along with an additional 1.18 acres on an adjacent lot. This means there is room to build more training rooms and manufacturing areas. Coming soon is an education center for bio-skill labs, lectures or hands-on workshops, Dillner said. SIGN hopes to have it completed in 2020. “We are creating a development cell so the engineers can have their own machines to build prototypes and to work with the machinists in building better manufacturing processes,” she said. This is becoming increasingly important as surgeons working with SIGN have requested help expanding their offerings. Ethiopian doctors are starting a spine and pelvic fracture care fellowship and are offering to train others throughout East Africa. Donations from medical implant companies have enabled SIGN to start a spine

Courtesy SIGN Dr. Lewis Zirkle, founder and president of SIGN Fracture Care International in Richland, assists during a surgery at Moi University Hospital in Kenya. By the end of 2019, SIGN expects to have treated 250,000 patients over 20 years.

fellowship program in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Some of the surgeons also are working in Afghanistan treating wounds from bombs and bullets. One of SIGN’s board members is heading up a limb deformity program. Two of the Ethiopian surgeons are University of Toronto School of Medicine graduates. SIGN strives to be innovative in offering more care with limited resources and adapts to support these requests for assistance, Zirkle said. “The beauty of SIGN is we don’t push people to use our products, but we take the opportunity to work with those who are motivated and self-starters to facilitate them. Pelvic-fracture care was their idea, not ours,” Dillner said. Helping all these different kinds of doctors means SIGN has gotten involved in all aspects of surgery. For example, Zirkle said he just recently spoke with

an expert on using UV light to kill bacteria and decrease infections in operating rooms lacking modern sterilization. “We’re very approachable. We want to prevent disabilities in developing countries. If they have heart and want to introduce us to different skills, we’d love to hear from them,” Dillner said. That approachability also has led to several collaborations, she said. Two Washington State University medical students are working on a project with SIGN to develop new plates and nails for bones. Precision OS is helping SIGN create virtual reality training for doctors. “There are different ways to learn. Lecturing is only 20 percent effective… now we’re making videos and doing virtual reality. There’s a machine-learning project in cooperation with Battelle,” Zirkle said. uSIGN, Page 32

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

SIGN, From page 31 Chitra Sivaraman, team leader for data integration at PNNL, said she’s employing “deep learning techniques” to analyze X-ray images to improve the success rate of orthopedic surgeries. “In the first stage, PNNL has used machine learning to identify surgical implants such as nails, screws and plates in a database of 500,000 images. Our goal is to also identify fracture locations and correlate the implant and its location to the success rate of the specific treatment,” she said. “Our model could then be used to advise physicians on the best course of treatment and help the patients quickly recover from fractures.” Much learning can be done by observation, Zirkle said, and SIGN wants to be “humble” in its observations, learning from

past mistakes or happy accidents. “The average paper in the literature might be observant of 50 to 100 surgeries. But we have 150,000 in the database. Put in old X-rays and learn new things,” he said. Some doctors trained by SIGN request help creating mobile clinics. The nonprofit can equip them with a set of instruments to visit rural areas and perform surgeries, or train local medical providers. This also expands the reach of the training and innovations. “We have expansion plans but we have to fit it in our budget,” Dillner said. Donations made to SIGN in December will be matched by the Seattle Foundation. Go to signfracturecare.org for more information.

Year

Review

Courtesy SIGN SIGN engineer Don Hoyer demonstrates SIGN surgery during the annual SIGN conference.

uBUSINESS BRIEF Safety upgrades OK’d for 20 Eastern WA railroad crossings

State regulators recently approved nearly $120,000 in grant funding for the Central Washington Railroad Co. to improve 20 grade crossings in Eastern Washington. The Utilities and Transportation Commission approved grants for battery replacements at 18 crossings and battery replacements and LED warning light upgrades at two crossings. The grants, which range between $5,100 and $5,700, will be used to replace batteries at the following crossings: Apricot Road near Grandview; Birchfield Road near Moxee; Butterfield Road near Yakima; Edison Avenue in Sunnyside; Elm Avenue in Grandview; Gap Road near Grandview; Hinzerling Road near Grandview; Lincoln Avenue in Sunnyside; North First Street in Sunnyside; North 9th Street in Sunnyside; North 11th Street in Sunnyside; North 13th Street in Sunnyside; North 16th Street in Sunnyside; North Keys Road near Yakima; Pleasant Avenue near Grandview; Rothrock Road near Grandview; Swan Road near Sunnyside; and University Parkway near Yakima. Grants of $9,600 and $10,200 will be used to replace batteries and install LED warning lights at the Gun Club Road and Keys Road crossings near Yakima. The upgrades will improve the overall safety at the crossings by providing greater signal reliability and visibility for drivers and pedestrians. The upgrades must be completed by the end of 2020. The railroad will cover any costs over the approved grant amounts, including labor, associated with the upgrades. The 1969 Legislature agreed to provide money for safety measures to reduce accidents and fatalities at public and private crossings and along railroad tracks. The UTC regulates railroad safety, including approving new grade crossings and closing or altering existing rail crossings, investigating train accidents, inspecting public railroad crossings, approving safety projects, and managing safety education.

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Review

Online purchases, phishing scams among most reported in Tri-Cities Your Better Business Bureau Northwest and Pacific wants you to be safe navigating the world when your money and personal information are involved. Scams popping up in your backyard are a fact of life, but we don’t have to be happy about it, and we can do something about it. Let’s dive deep into a snapshot of how the Tri-Cities were affected by scams in 2019. Since December 2018, there have been 31 scams reported to Better Business Bureau Northwest and Pacific’s Scam Tracker. The program, which started in 2015, allows consumers and businesses to report scams big and small online with the information being shared with law enforcement agencies and other BBB’s around the country. In my role as a marketplace manager, I use the program every day and it takes five minutes to submit a report that could save your friends, family and neighbors time and money in the long run. The amount of money lost in the TriCities area was more than $138,000. Scam artists are targeting consumers of all demographics and a large geographic territory, and they’re getting their hands on a lot of money. The most reported scams were online purchases, phishing and tech support. A consumer in Kennewick made two separate purchases with a company that we had been tracking across the country called Amelia Cotton Quilt Co. The company promised high quality quilts at low prices. She tried to contact the company and get a refund from PayPal for the $120 that she had spent — both to no avail. The company sent a fake tracking number for the quilts she ordered and never received. Tri-Citians reported falling victim to several online retail scams. These scams primarily dupe consumers into buying a phony product or service from a fake website or company. The landscape of online scams is evolving. Better Business Bureaus across the country are seeing more fake advertisements on social media – hackers can create ads for Facebook and Instagram that appear legitimate and entice consumers with trendy or highly discounted items. These phony social media ads look real, but when the order is placed, the product never comes. Scammers like to use several different means to collect your personal information. A report from West Richland had an imposter posing as a member of the sheriff’s office saying they had a warrant out for their arrest. They requested the individual put $5,000 on a preloaded credit card and

send it to take care of the warrant. The scammers had the victim’s personal information and used fear to get them to Tyler Russell respond. Better Business Phishing Bureau scams also GUEST COLUMN were reported several times throughout the Tri-Cities. Phishing is any type of scam where a con artist calls or emails a consumer in hopes of attaining personally identifiable information. They are quite literally “fishing” for data by emailing or calling thousands of consumers and seeing who bites. The amount of technology that we use every day makes us very vulnerable to tech support scams. A Finley resident reported this tech support scam: “They claimed people were using my address resulting in my personal information getting out. They had three plans: One-year plan, $179, three-year plan, $279, permanent plan, $500. I purchased one-year plan. The next day I requested a refund per their policy, and the only way they would give me my money back was if I logged into my bank account and hit accept money when they refunded. When I would not do it, they wanted to give me $1,748 and said all I needed to do was to go get a gift card for $500 for them, and I could keep the rest of the money. He then told me he would lock up my computer if I didn’t go get the gift card. Again, I said no, and he hung up on me. I immediately contacted my bank and told them the story.” Pop-up ads are common on computers or cellphones with scammers claiming to be from Microsoft. They say that your computer has been infected with a virus and to call the number listed. Or, maybe you received a voicemail from Apple claiming someone has hacked into your account and you need to call back with your credit card credentials to verify your identification. These all have one thing in common: they are tech support scams in which con artists pretend to work for known companies. The BBB wants consumers to be able to identify the red flags for any of these scams, many of which overlap. Start with these tips, which can be applied a wide variety of scams alike: • Always verify where an email or social media message is coming from. If you’re not sure the person or compa-

NEWS TIPS? We want to hear from you

Email tips to news@tcjournal.biz.

ny on the other end is legitimate, call the person or company directly using a number you already know is real. • If you think your computer might have a virus, call Microsoft or Apple directly. Never call a number at the bottom of a pop-up ad. • Whenever a company sends you a check and asks for some of money to be wired back, whether it is for employment or not, realize these are fraudulent. Get rid of the check and report the person or organization it came from. • When shopping online, always doublecheck the URL of the website you’re on. Look for the “s” in “https://”

as this indicates the website is secure and the data is encrypted. • When shopping online, use a credit card whenever you can as banks provide liability protection on credit cards, not debit cards. Make sure that you do your research and be careful with your personal information. You can find accredited businesses on our website bbb.org. If you or someone you know has been scammed, we want to hear from you. To submit a ScamTracker Report, go to bbb.org/scamtracker. Tyler Russell is the marketplace manager for the Better Business Bureau Northwest and Pacific.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Year

Review

2020 wish list should include progress on Tri-Cities’ early learning gap

Courtesy Benton-Franklin Trends

In this year-in-review issue, I’d like to look forward – far forward to the impacts of early childhood education in at least a couple decades. This is not the usual stuff of my columns, but the topic has significant implications for the future, including economic ones, of the greater Tri-Cities. As Benton-Franklin Trends data shows, the number of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in Benton and Franklin counties’ preschools is lower than the rest of the state and in the U.S, over the entire period measured. This is curious outcome for the wealthiest metro area in Eastern

Washington, as measured by median household income. Specifically, the data measures the share of children ages 3 and 4 who are D. Patrick Jones enrolled in preEastern school. The estiWashington mate for 2018 University for the two GUEST COLUMN counties was 40 percent. In contrast, Washington state reported 47 percent while the U.S. estimate was 48 percent. The data does bear some good news: rates of preschool attendance have gone up substantially in the greater Tri-Cities since 2005. Cumulative growth in the two counties since then has been 67 percent. Benton County has shown an especially strong pulse, with the share of young children attending preschool rising by 73 percent. Yet, Franklin County’s growth has been much, much lower, at 15 percent. While it exceeds the improvement in the U.S., its pace is still below that of the state. Why should we care? A moral response is straightforward. Most Americans still hold the notion that we live in a land of opportunity, if not equal, then somewhat equalized by access to quality education. This has been shared value for decades, if not longer. Take away access to good schools and the common ground we share becomes thinner. We know that preschool can be expensive. While we don’t enjoy data on average costs for unsubsidized preschool in the two counties, we have access to a “survival budget” in Washington for lowincome families. Produced by United Way of the Pacific Northwest as an alternative to the federal poverty threshold, it lists the average statewide costs for child care in 2016 at nearly $1,300 a month for two preschool children. This is clearly out of reach for low-income families. And increasingly, school-age children are coming from lower-income families in the greater Tri-Cities. A proxy for poverty among families with school-age children is the count of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. The Trends data has created an indicator for this that shows over the past 20 years, the share (and count) has risen sharply. During the 1998-99 school year, the share was 39 percent; for the 2018-19 school year, the share stood at 58 percent. This is a far higher percentage than the state average, and the gap has widened over time. Then there’s the economic argument supplied by two very reputable sources: the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank and Noble-prize winning economist James Heckman. In a widely-cited work, two Minneapolis Federal Reserve researchers calculated the internal rate of return of a preschool program in Ypsilanti, Michigan, uLEARNING GAP, Page 37

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Review

New restaurants, future developments top our most-read online stories in 2019 BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

What do Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business’ online readers love to read most? It’s always news about restaurants, developments and big contracts. Stories about the opening of a new Kennewick indoor playground for kids, a new Brazilian steakhouse and taco restaurant, and a massive West Richland housing development were among the stories receiving the most clicks this year. Here are our most-read stories of 2019 on tcjournal.biz: 1. Indoor playground slides into vacant Kennewick building (http://bit.ly/ iplayopens): This January story profiled iPlay Experience, a new three-story indoor playground at 8524 W. Gage Blvd., Suite B-110, next door to Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Kennewick. It features slides, tubes and other structures to crawl up, on and through. 2. Get a bite of Brazil at steakhouse coming to Kennewick (http://bit.ly/Boiada): The Tri-Cities’ first traditional Brazilian steakhouse, Boiada Brazilian Grill, opened in May, a few months after our March story announced its plans for the building at 8418 W. Gage Blvd. in Kennewick. It has new owners. See story on page 53. 3. New taco restaurant under construction in Richland (http://bit.ly/DelTacoTC): A new Del Taco restaurant was under construction in June at 155 Wellsian Way in Richland, near the north entrance of Fred Meyer. It’s now open. 4. At Home décor superstore to open in Kennewick (http://bit.ly/KennewickAtHome): A $2.6 million remodel made way for a new home décor store inside the vacant Shopko store at 867 N. Columbia Center Blvd. in Kennewick. This July story outlined the décor superstore’s plans in the Tri-Cities. 5. West Richland approves massive housing development on 148 acres (http://bit.ly/WRdevelopment): We broke the story about a proposed housing development that could increase West Richland’s population by about 15 percent in September. The Heights at Red Mountain Ranch will add 563 single-family residential lots on 148 acres, with the option of later adding 226 multi-family homes on 36 more acres. The property is currently farmland on the west end of West Richland. 6. Richland company lands $24.5M Hanford contract (http://bit.ly/AmericanElectric): U.S. Department of Energy contractor Washington River Protection Solutions awarded a subcontract worth up to $24.5 million to Joe Gonzalez’s Richland company. American Electric Inc. will provide general electrical construction services at the Hanford tank farms. This story ran in September. 7. Low-income apartments moving ahead at Badger Mountain South

(http://bit.ly/CopperMt): Building permits and financing are in place for the first apartments at Badger Mountain South in Richland. The complex will include 276 units for low-income tenants at 2555 Bella Coola Lane, south of the Country Mercantile on Ava Way, near Trowbridge Boulevard. This story ran in February. 8. Richland brewery owners to open dive bar (http://bit.ly/TheDivebar): Bombing Range Brewing Co. owners announced plans to open The Dive at 2000 Logston Blvd. This story ran in June. 9. Tri-City hotel mogul buys Kolzig mansion for $3.5M (http://bit.ly/KolzigMansion): The prominent Tri-City mansion built by hockey legend Olie Kolzig was sold to a local hotel mogul for $3.5 million. Gurbir Sandhu, president of the hospitality group Ignite Hotels LLC, said bidding on the home and 95 acres of undeveloped land was a “no brainer” as it could be subdivided into future housing developments, according to our November story. 10. Dilapidated Parkway property coming down (http://bit.ly/702Parkway): Big plans are in the works for a building described as an eyesore in the heart of Richland’s The Parkway, according to our June story. A group of six local investors with Prospere Ventures bought the property and have already demolished it to build a new building valued at more than $1.45 million. A high-end craft bar called Moniker is planned, along with other usinesses. Also topping this year’s most-read online list was our calendar of the area’s holiday bazaars.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Reindeer rejoins carousel circuit in Kennewick

The Gesa Carousel of Dreams has added its popular carved reindeer to the carousel menagerie for the holiday season. The reindeer is sponsored by Toyota of Tri-Cities, which named it “Jingles” after an employee contest at the dealership. It will remain on the carousel through Jan. 12. The reindeer was crafted by local carver Mike Thornton, who also carved the carousel’s Washington State University cougar and the salmon on the ring arm. It is hand-carved from basswood,

a wood soft enough to carve easily, but durable enough to last through years of riders. It was painted by Sue Baldwin of Republic, Washington, and features real antlers from a reindeer farm in Alaska.

Grant to assist in Yakima River monitoring

Excessive amounts of aquatic plants growing in the lower Yakima River are reducing the river’s overall health by slowing water flow, changing how sediment moves and decreasing water quality, according to the Benton Conservation District. The district received a $250,000 grant from state Department of Ecology to monitor the plants and develop a prioritized list of actions to address the

problems they create. The thick stands of plants pose issues for irrigation and recreation and could help harbor mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus, the district said. The lower Yakima River sometimes fails to meet state water quality standards for temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH. It has been observed that these standards are often not met during periods of excessive aquatic plant growth. The district has begun a two-year project to monitor water quality and plant abundance to determine how they are related and suggest how they could be improved. Although it is not realistic to completely eliminate the aquatic plants, the project’s goal is to inform and develop strategies to break the excessive

plant growth cycle that leads to worsening water quality, the district said.

Benton County closes Richland annex

Benton County’s Richland annex on Wellsian Way closed permanently on Nov. 27. The county consolidated all services from the Richland office at its Kennewick annex on Canal Drive. The Kennewick and Prosser offices remain open for election and voter registration services, vehicle licensing, recording and marriage licensing.

Moses Lake airport receives $10M in federal grants

The Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake recently received two federal grants, one for $8 million to rebuild the runway and another for $2 million to rebuild the runway lighting system. The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $13.8 million in airport infrastructure grants to three airports in the state, including Skagit Regional Airport in Burlington and Arlington Municipal Airport.

State bans vapor products containing vitamin E acetate

The state Board of Health recently expanded its emergency rule on vapor products to include a new section banning the sale of vapor products containing vitamin E acetate. The Department of Health recommended the update based on new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention findings connecting vitamin E acetate and vaping associated lung injury. Vitamin E acetate is sometimes used as an additive in vapor products, often as a thickening agent. No one compound or ingredient has been found in all cases of vaping associated lung injury, and there may be more than one cause of the outbreak. The department says it will continue working with CDC and local health officials to investigate Washington cases of vaping associated lung injury.

Thousands of toys donated to Toys for Tots

This year’s annual Toys for Tots event at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, also known as the vit plant, took place Dec. 12. Vit plant employees, Bechtel, AECOM and the Waste Treatment Completion Co. were expected to donate thousands of toys and nearly $25,000 as part of their ongoing commitment to community giving. In 2019, Bechtel and AECOM donated more than $400,000 to more than 40 local charities and organizations, including the United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties, Junior Achievement and Second Harvest.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019 PORT DIRECTOR, From page 1 property taxes and government grants. It owns and operates numerous business parks, as well as the Richland and Prosser municipal airports and Crow Butte Park near Paterson. Howard earned a degree in international affairs from Eastern Washington University and held posts with the city of Richland and the Tri-Cities Enterprise Association before joining the port in 2006. She served as director of development and governmental affairs prior to Keller’s unexpected retirement. Her appointment to the role caps a rocky transition after Keller left following an argument with Commissioner Roy Keck over who should succeed him. The argument was recounted in an investigation into misconduct allegations filed by some port employees in October. Howard called the conflict “unfortunate,” and said she’s eager to put the episode in the past. The coming year is full of opportunities to expand the port’s mission to promote development and job creation and to serve the communities and taxpayers in its service area, she said. The port hired Yakima attorney Sarah Wixson to review complaints that the port commission violated the Washington Open Public Meetings Act when they traveled together and that Howard and Keck mistreated employees and violated port policies. The report was released Nov. 15, 10 days after Keck won a narrow victory over challenger Bill O’Neil in the Nov. 5 general election. The investigation traced the conflict within the port to May, when Keck and Keller argued over a succession plan. Keck favored Howard as a successor, while Keller backed another employee, whose name is blacked out in the 16-page LEARNING GAP, From page 34 that began in the early 1960s. Data were available about young adult (up to age 27) outcomes for the children who participated in the program as 3- and 4-year-olds. The researchers’ calculations put the societal return on investment, compared to a control group, at about 12 percent per year, a very high rate. Key elements to their calculations were: a substantial decrease in the societal costs of crime and a substantial increase in the earnings. Similarly, Heckman’s statistical review of early childhood programs arrived at a 7 percent to 10 percent return on investment for disadvantaged children enrolled in preschool. Early childhood education, Heckman stated, narrows the well-known achievement gap that begins in school and continues into adult earnings. The benefits extend beyond earnings. In his review of longitudinal data of a North Carolina preschool program, Heckman found health advantages, relative to a control group. The incidence of costly chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and obesity was considerably lower 30 years after a preschool program. According to Heckman, the sooner preschool starts the better. “The highest rate of return in early childhood development comes from investing as early as possible, from birth through age 5, in disadvantaged

version of the report released to the public. The three other candidates for the top job were Stuart Dezember, the port’s director of finance and audits; Wade Farris, an Air Force veteran and former city manager of Gig Harbor and Othello; and Brian Dansel, Northwest regional director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Keller’s departure did little to calm tensions. As interim executive director, Howard moved quickly to implement changes she said were required by the job description she had been given. Over the course of three months, the port lost five employees. In early August, some complained to Commissioner Jane Hagarty that Howard was exceeding the authority of a temporary leader. Hagarty interviewed most of the port’s staff. Howard followed up with her own interviews. On Sept. 9, Howard led an all-staff meeting where she told employees it was time to stop grieving the departure of a well-liked boss. After the meeting, staff received a PowerPoint titled “What’s Trust Got To Do With It,” which was compiled by Janice Corbin of Sound Employment Solutions LLC, a port consultant. Staff found some of the statements in the presentation jarring. “If an individual isn’t able to re-engage in the professional relationship and establish basic trust, the employer may consider performance improvement and/or discipline,” it said. An unidentified group of employees formally complained in a letter dated Oct. 17. The investigation concluded commisfamilies. Starting at age 3 or 4 is too little too late, as it fails to recognize that skills beget skills in a complementary and dynamic way. Efforts should focus on the first years for the greatest efficiency and effectiveness. The best investment is in quality early childhood development from birth to five for disadvantaged children and their families.” The Tri-Cities certainly has its share of disadvantaged youth. An outcome measure of preschool’s impact on a community is the WaKids Kindergarten Readiness measure. The good news: the share of children in the school districts of the two counties who meet standards in all six domains of kindergarten readiness has doubled in the last seven years. The sobering news: that share, 39 percent, is still several percentage points lower than the Washington average. A substantial difference exists between the two counties and even more profound gaps among the three large cities in the counties. Is an expansion of early learning opportunities in the greater Tri-Cities on the New Year’s resolution list of area leaders for 2020? I hope so. D. Patrick Jones is the executive director for Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis.

sioners did not violate the meetings act when they traveled together. Washington law requires elected bodies to meet in public whenever a majority of members get together. For the port, that means any time two of the three commissioners are together, it could constitute a meeting. The investigation noted passively receiving information while traveling did not constitute a meeting. Other complaints had merit, it said. The investigation found: • Howard hired a human resources consultant without a contract. A contract was later completed. • Keck disclosed statements made in a closed-door session to staff who were not present for the private session.

• Howard’s actions around the Sept. 9 staff meeting were designed to stifle further complaints and constituted retaliation. • Keck retaliated against staff in connection with his re-election campaign against challenger O’Neil, who was backed by the former executive director. Keck accused staff of hacking his phone and of openly backing his rival at the port’s Wings and Wheels event held in August at the Richland Airport. According to the investigation, Keck said employees loyal to Keller had benefited from a “good old boys” atmosphere and were undermining Howard as the port moved to a more “merit-based” one. • The search for a new executive director was tainted by perceptions of political allegiances.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Your best friend could be a strict liability Personal liability exposure is an important planning consideration. A person should be able to identify potential risks and assess means to mitigate those risks with the ultimate goal of reducing liability and the costs associated with the liability. In the world of liability, “man’s best friend” presents notable liability traps for the unwary. Consider the world of torts (also known as “personal injury”). Torts encompass the body of law that holds one person (the tortfeasor) liable for his or her actions to another person. When one person negligently injures another, the person causing the harm is held monetarily liable for the

action. In a typical action (lawsuit), the injured party must prove that the tortfeasor did something (act of commission) that a reaBeau Ruff sonable person Cornerstone would not have Wealth Strategies done and it GUEST COLUMN caused injury. Or, the injured party must prove that the tortfeasor failed to do something (act of omission) that a

reasonable person would have done and the omission caused injury. A key concept is the idea of negligence. Did the tortfeasor do something negligent that caused injury to another? In a rearended car crash, the owner of the car that got rear-ended would need to prove that a reasonable person would have stopped the car, and thus the tortfeasor would be liable because he failed to act as a reasonable person. Or maybe a shopper on a commercial property fell down a flight of stairs. The shopper would then attempt to prove negligence – the owner failed to provide safeguards like handrails, traction on steps and proper lighting, etc. A thresh-

old issue in a regular personal injury case is whether or not the tortfeasor was negligent. Now, consider your dog. Dogs are in a special class of torts usually reserved for inherently dangerous or abnormally dangerous activities: the strict liability category. That is, if your dog injures someone, the injured party need not prove negligence. The question of what a reasonable person would do is irrelevant. You’re liable, no matter what. For example, if you diligently keep your pup on a short leash in public but it nonetheless bites someone, the owner is liable for the injuries and the damages caused by the bite. Further, even if the owner did not know and had no reason to know that the dog might bite someone (“he’s never done anything like that before”), the owner is still held liable for the injury. This means you are liable to cover not only the medical costs of the victim, but the emotional damage that could be claimed as well. Let’s say you host a party (maybe even a kid’s birthday party) and one of the attendees gets bit on your own property. Same rules apply. The dog owner is held strictly liable for the actions of the dog. The law imposes even more stringent rules if your dog has bitten previously. If your dog has bitten someone once, that dog might be classified as a “dangerous dog” by your city, county, or other governmental agency. Dangerous dogs are required to be kept in special enclosures. And, when out of the enclosure, the dog must be muzzled and restrained. The owner also must secure special liability insurance for dangerous dogs. The owner’s failure to follow the rules pertaining to a dangerous dog can lead to confiscation of the dog by animal control, the dog may be potentially put down, and the owner may be guilty of a misdemeanor (or a felony for a second offense). Now, of course there are exceptions to these that you might well imagine. If your dog bit the burglar in your house, the owner is not liable. If the person injured was purposefully provoking the dog, the owner may not be liable. The point here is that a dog owner must go above and beyond a regularly prudent person to protect against strict liability. Check your insurance policy to see if it covers dog bites and make sure you have enough for the worst case scenario. Be a responsible dog owner. Keep the dog on a leash when outside your private property. Avoid taking untrained dogs into public. Avoid taking any dogs to areas where the stimulus present might reasonably cause the dog to act differently. Take the time to properly train your best friend and continue working with him to help you (the owner) understand the dog’s limits. Dogs are definitely the best “piece of property” you can own, so make sure you protect yourself and your property from liability risks so you can spend more time enjoying your dog and less time worrying. Beau Ruff, a licensed attorney, is the director of planning at Cornerstone Wealth Strategies, a financial planning firm in Kennewick.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019 uNEW HIRES • Lourdes Health has hired Dr. Dianna Lang as a pediatrician. Lang completed her residency at BronxCare Health System in Dianna Lang New York. She has joined Dr. Paolo deVera and Dr. Geraldine Dizon at Lourdes Pediatric Services at Road 68 and Wrigley Drive in Pasco. • Stephanie Button has been hired as the executive director for the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership. Button comes Stephanie Button to HDKP with a decade of nonprofit experience, most recently as the administrator at the East Benton County Historical Society and Museum in Kennewick. She is a Kennewick native and downtown Kennewick resident. As a former HDKP board member, Button worked on many projects and events to further the nonprofit’s mission, ranging from gathering data for the farmers market to getting ready for the holidays. Button graduated with a degree in

anthropology from Western Washington University, where she developed her interdisciplinary approach to creating opportunities for exchanges and dialogue with the purpose of building a culture of better understanding. • Davin Diaz is the new executive director of the Arts Center Task Force, which is working to build a performing and visual arts center in the Tri-Cities. Davin Diaz Diaz recently received the Washington State Governor’s Arts and Heritage Award – Community Category for building relevant community focused organizations in the last 12 years. He succeeds Renée Adams, who left Nov. 1 to take a position near her home in Yakima. Adams remains on the task force board. Diaz will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the task force and serving as its spokesperson and ambassador. He also will work with the board to develop and implement strategic plans, as well as policies and procedures. Diaz is president of DrewBoy Creative, a contemporary Richland art gallery he founded in 2015 that prioritizes shows and activities from emerging artists, people of diverse and marginalized backgrounds or artists that challenge the traditional school of thought related to art.

He most recently worked as communications and advancement director for Mid-Columbia Libraries. He also served as director of development for Gesa Power House Theatre in Walla Walla and was a development officer at the Reach Museum from 2007-12. • Walter Timmons has joined Banner Bank as a commercial banking relationship manager at the Tri-Cities commercial banking center in Walter Timmons Kennewick. He has more than 12 years of banking experience and has worked at banks throughout the Tri-Cities, earning several top banker awards. He serves as treasurer on the board of The Children’s Reading Foundation of the Mid-Columbia and is also the treasurer for the Arts Foundation of the Mid-Columbia. He is a Washington State University graduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s in business administration.

uAPPOINTMENTS

recognized as the preeminent executive management school for the financial services industry. The board position provides senior, executive level banking insight on key industry issues to shape the strategic direction of the school.

uPROMOTIONS • Brent Cook has been promoted to deputy police chief in Pasco. Cook has been with the Pasco Police Department for nearly 30 years, starting as an officer and moving up through the ranks as corporal, sergeant, and then captain in 2015. During his tenure, Cook developed and ran the first gang investigation team, developed the first community policing project within a specific neighborhood, implemented a formal internal affairs program, helped guide the department through state and national accreditation, and identified and implemented specific tenets of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department and collaborate with Chief Ken Roske on long-term strategic planning. He was sworn in Nov. 14.

uGRANTS

• Yakima Federal Savings and Loan President Leanne Antonio has been appointed to the advisory board of the American Bankers Association Stonier Graduate School of Banking. The school, held on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, partners with the Wharton School of Business and is

• STCU awarded $27,000 in grants to 108 educators drawn at random. Each winner can spend their $250 grant on anything they believe will enhance students’ classroom experience, whether a basic need or something special. STCU made surprise deliveries to the winners at schools in Pasco, Richland and Kennewick.

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

uAWARDS & HONORS • Washington State University Tri-Cities student Savanna Navarro Kresse received a national award for her work to increase student Savanna Navarro democratic Kresse engagement on campus and in the regional Tri-City community. Kresse earned an Honor Role award through the All In Challenge Awards program. She will be honored in Washington, D.C. She was selected as one of 10 students for the category, which specifically recognizes student leadership in helping college students to improve nonpartisan civic learning, political engagement and voter participation. She was instrumental in bringing a ballot drop box to campus in partnership with the Benton County Auditor’s office. She also led a series of events geared toward getting students registered to vote, in addition to partnering with her fellow student government peers to hold voting celebration days on campus. She worked with state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office to host a presentation on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and immigration regulations last year. She is a first-generation college student, mother of four and a former

seasonal field worker. • Student business teams from Washington State University Tri-Cities and WSU Pullman took home top honors at the Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational in November that required them to research and create extensive business plans for a fictitious wine grown and created in Washington state. A WSU Tri-Cities team, comprised of students Kyle Brunson and Danae Williams, earned the grand prize at the Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational Competition for their combined score for their business plan, financial plan and wine label for their wine Gladiolus Red Mountain Rosé. • The Pasco School District Board of Directors has been named a 2019 board of distinction by the Washington State School Directors’ Association. This is the fourth consecutive year that Pasco’s school board has earned the board of distinction recognition. Thirtyfour school boards across the state were recognized. School boards receiving the honor have reviewed their decisionmaking and shown how that is tied to positive student success. • Benton County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor received the distinguished service award from the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. This award recognizes Bloor as one of the top prosecutors in the state based on his trial skills, successes as an appellate lawyer, his advocacy for crime victims and mentoring of prosecutors. • Financial Advisor Tom Steinert

of the financial services firm Edward Jones at 112 Columbia Point Drive, suite 104, in Richland earned the professional designation of chartered retirement planning counselor. He completed the chartered retirement planning counselor professional education program from the Denver-based Tom Steinert College for Financial Planning. • The American Institute of Family Law Attorneys has recognized the exceptional performance of Stacy Leighton as a 2019 Best Family Law Attorney for client Satisfaction. The institute is a third-party attorney rating organization that publishes an annual list of the Top 10 family law attorneys in each state.

uELECTED OFFICIALS

Matt Watkins

• Pasco Mayor Matt Watkins concludes 16 years of service to the community at the end of December. He chose not to run for re-election in 2019. He was

first elected in 2004 as a councilman and then elected mayor by the council in 2010. The city held a public reception for Watkins on Dec.11. • Franklin County’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency has announced that Hans “Jochen” Engelke from the Mesa area was elected to represent local administrative area No. 2 during the recent county committee election. Rod Rottinghaus of Pasco will serve as the first alternate. County committee members help the day-to-day operations of FSA by delivering programs at the county level and working to serve the needs of local producers. All recently elected county committee members will take office in January 2020.

uBOARDS • Brett Spooner has joined Richland’s Empowered Health advisory board. Spooner is chief executive officer and founder of Brett Spooner the now national law firm, Gravis Law. He joins board members Nicole Chiaramonte, the founder of Synergy MedAesthetics, and Dr. Brian Lawenda, the medical director for the Northwest Cancer Clinic/21st Century Oncology.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

State’s new overtime rules take effect in July 2020 BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

A controversial plan to overhaul the state’s overtime rules will change the way tens of thousands of workers will be paid. The new rules increase the minimum amount workers must earn to be exempt from overtime. Beginning July 1, the state minimum salary threshold will increase to $675 a week, or $35,100 a year, for all businesses, which is 1.25 times the state’s minimum wage. The threshold will increase incrementally until 2028, when it is expected to reach about $1,603 a week, or about $83,356 a year, for an overtime exempt worker, 2 1/2 times the minimum wage. In addition to qualifying for overtime pay, non-exempt workers also must receive other protections under the state’s Minimum Wage Act, including paid sick leave. The state Department of Labor and Industries announced the new rules Dec. 11. The state agency received 2,266 comments from the public and heard testimony from 182 people at seven public hearings held around the state in July and August. An August public hearing in Kennewick drew several Tri-City employers and nonprofit leaders who criticized the proposal, citing concerns about their bottom lines and ability to be flexible with employee scheduling. The new rules also change job duties descriptions used along with the salary threshold to determine if an employee can be exempt from overtime and bring the state more in line with federal standards, said Joel Sacks, director of Labor and Industries. The changes will restore overtime eligibility to an estimated 259,000 workers when fully implemented, and strengthen overtime protection for about 235,000 other workers. They are the first major updates to the state’s overtime rules in more than 40 years. Sacks said he understands the effect the new rules will have on businesses. “We recognize how all this might impact businesses. That’s why the implementation of the new state rules won’t begin until next July, and they will be phased in over several years. We also have an outreach plan to assist businesses with the transition,” he said in a statement. Employers have multiple options to comply with the rules. For example, they can convert current salaried exempt employees to salaried non-exempt or hourly non-exempt, and pay overtime for any work over 40 hours in a work week. To reduce overtime costs, employers could limit the number of hours of work to 40 per week, or less. If they wish to maintain the employee’s exempt status, they

Courtesy state Department of Labor and Industries

would need to ensure the employee meets the duties test requirements and is paid at least the updated salary threshold requirements. The changes specifically focus on whitecollar employees typically working in a management or professional capacity who receive a set salary. Initially, Washington employers will be required to follow the new federal overtime rule taking effect on Jan. 1. The new federal threshold, at $684 a week, or $35,568 a year, will be slightly higher than Washington’s until 2021. When state and federal thresholds conflict, businesses must meet the threshold most favorable to employees. Washington’s threshold will exceed the federal level on Jan. 1, 2021. At that time, businesses with 1 to 50 employees will have to pay exempt employees at least 1 1/2 times the state minimum wage, about $827 a week, or $43,004 a year. For businesses with 51 or more employees, the threshold will be 1.75 times the minimum wage, about $965 a week, or $50,180 a year. “These updates to the state overtime rules are a big step toward ensuring Washington workers are treated fairly and properly paid for the work they perform,” Sacks said. “This decision corrects a wrong, and is long overdue.” To be overtime exempt, an employee generally must be paid a fixed salary, must perform certain defined job duties, and the salary must meet or exceed the salary threshold. Under current federal guidelines, that threshold is $455 a week. The current

Please recycle the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business when you are done reading it, or pass it on to a coworker.

state threshold set more than 40 years ago is $250 a week. “This is an incredible day for Washington,” Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement. “We need to make sure the middle class shares in our state’s prosperity. Overtime protections ensure workers are fairly com-

pensated when they work more than 40 hours in a given week — time that would otherwise be spent with their families and in their communities.” To learn more about the process to change the rules, go to Lni.wa.gov/OvertimeRulemaking.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Sharing the spirit of the season across our state Sometimes you meet a person who makes you feel proud to be a human being. When that person is only 10 years old, it’s especially inspiring. Several of us at the Association of Washington Business had exactly that experience recently as we prepared for the lighting of the 31st annual Holiday Kids’ Tree in the Capitol rotunda in Olympia. Her name is Jayden Nelson, and she’s a dynamo. When Jayden turned 8 years old, she used her birthday money to buy toys for the young patients at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma. Since then she’s held bake sales, sold homemade candles and jewelry, led spaghetti feeds, and has raised thousands of dollars to buy toys that can bring comfort to children facing serious medical issues. This year, Jayden can add “tree-lighter” to her growing résumé as she flips the switch on the tree in the state Capitol rotunda. As the state’s business and manufacturing association, AWB is proud to lead a number of statewide efforts. Perhaps the most heartwarming is our job each December to coordinate the decorations and lighting of the state’s holiday tree. Those decorations are always bundled up after the new year and donated to a local children’s hospital. In the past few years we’ve asked military and law enforcement families to light the tree, which has been a powerful

experience. This year we decided to look for a child who exemplified the spirit of giving and charity. When we learned about Kris Johnson Jayden and her Association of love for Mary Washington Bridge, it was Business an easy choice. GUEST COLUMN Jayden was inspired to give after her second-grade teacher in the Lewis County town of Pe Ell read her a book about “Change Makers.” Jayden went home to tell her mom that she wanted to be a change maker. Her mom wasn’t sure what she meant, asking her if she wanted to work in a coin factory. “No mom!” she said. “I want to do good for the world.” A similar spirit has led Washington employers to donate a total of $420,000 to the Holiday Kids’ Tree project over the last three decades. Just before the annual tree-lighting ceremony, we give bags of toys and checks to representatives from rural fire districts who distribute the money to families in need. This year we were able to spread holiday cheer to families across the state, from Camano Island to Chelan and Walla Walla.

Courtesy Brian Mittge of Association of Washington Business Nick Bacon of Asotin County Fire District 1, drove 6 1/2 hours to Olympia from Clarkston to pick up this bag of toys and a check for $1,000 to bring holiday cheer to families in his community. Over the past three decades, the Association of Washington Business has raised nearly $450,000 for rural fire districts to provide a bright Christmas for families in need through this annual project.

It was particularly meaningful that one of the 19 rural fire districts receiving donations this year is in Jayden’s very own hometown of Doty, in the woods of west Lewis County. And speaking of trees, your state Capitol this year was filled with the greenery of a 34-foot noble fir, donated by Weyerhaeuser from its Vail Tree Farm near Rainier. The tree was harvested from a small area that is being cleared to make room for a series of wind turbines at the new Skookumchuck Wind Farm. This 38-turbine project, a partnership between Puget Sound Energy, Weyerhaeuser,

TransAlta and RES, will generate 137 megawatts of power — enough to power 48,000 homes. That will be a gift for generations to come. Christmas is always a special time for families and children. Through the generosity of donors to the Holiday Kids’ Tree project — and special young people like Jayden Nelson — the holidays will glow even brighter across our Evergreen State. Kris Johnson is president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s chamber of commerce and manufacturers association.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Business Profile

Tri-Citians launch new roof-spray treatment business Roof Maxx’s spray technology can extend the life of roofs BY JEFF MORROW

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Jeremy Dimond and Pete Kelley once worked together as wine salesmen. But they always wanted to own their own business. It happened this year when they launched Roof Maxx. Kelley was scrolling through Facebook one day when he learned about the Roof Maxx story. It looked like the right fit. Dimond looked at the company and agreed. So they bought a dealership in February. It’s not considered a franchise as there are no royalty fees. Roof Maxx offers a plant-based spray treatment to extend the life of roofs. The spray allows millions of micro-beads of all-natural oil to penetrate old, brittle roofs. The product was developed in partnership with Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio and the Ohio Soybean Council. An Ohio State University research team and Battelle scientists tested the product for five years. Roof Maxx Technologies LLC

Courtesy Roof Maxx Jeremy Dimond, left, and Pete Kelley man their Roof Maxx trade booth at the Regional Home and Garden Show to educate customers about their new business, Roof Maxx, which offers a plant-based spray treatment to extend the life of roofs.

brought it to the market in 2017. The spraying process restores a roof’s flexibility and waterproofing. Treatments come with a five-year transferable warranty. Repeating the treatment every five years — up to three times total — can extend a roof’s life by up to 15 years. The company – which holds the patent for one year – recently received

global recognition from the World Bio Markets 2019 conference in Amsterdam as one of the top 10 Most Dynamic and Inspiring Startups of 2019. Kelley likes that the product is ecofriendly. “It’s 100 percent green, with a soybean-based product,” he said. It’s made a believer out of Dave Retter, president and owner of Retter &

Company Sotheby’s International Realty in Kennewick. Retter had Dimond and Kelley spray the 20-year-old roof of his own house. “After 15 years, the roof is deteriorated,” he said. “I had those guys come over. Not only is the pliability back, but roofs also lose some of their color. It’s now deepened in color. “I am sold on it,” Retter added. “I am all in on recommending these guys. This is one of the coolest products I’ve seen in a long time.” Retter is recommending “anybody who has an existing house to ask these guys to check their roofs out. The $2,800 I spent is much cheaper than re-roofing my house for $12,000.” Andy Dollar, sales manager for Windermere Group One in Kennewick, also sings the praises of the Roof Maxx product. “It’s innovative. It’s new,” Dollar said. “The roof is one of the most important parts of the house. I like the longterm maintenance that (Roof Maxx) it provides. It’s definitely out there for an option to look at (for homeowners).” Kelley said it’s a product that makes all parties involved — except maybe roofers — happy. “It’s a meet-in-the-middle-of-theroad product,” Kelley said. “It saves the seller money, and the buyer gets security.” uROOF MAXX, Page 46

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Business Profile

Endive Eatery brings cafe-style dining to West Richland Tri-City native traveled around the world before opening restaurant in Kennedy Road strip mall BY KEVIN ANTHONY

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Interesting tidbit on the Endive Eatery, the new cafe-style restaurant in West Richland: aside from the sign on the building and various signage inside, there isn’t an endive to be found in the place. Yet. Chef and owner Edward Shoemaker is a big fan of the bitter, pricey little vegetable. It’s a key ingredient in chicory coffee, and it’s huge in Belgium – both of which hold a special place in his heart. However, the endive has to be imported and has a shelf life of four or five days at most. So the lemony-seared endive dish is still a ways off. Not to worry, there are still plenty of intricate offerings — sweet potato, zucchini, crimini mushroom, tomato and relish vegetable torte, anyone? “It’s where fine dining meets grab’n’go,” Edward said. The Eatery, which opened Oct. 21 at 4001 Kennedy Road, shares the building with a pizza shop and a yoga studio, among others. It’s open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., though there is no guarantee the display case will have anything left later in the evening. A dining area can seat up to 40 customers. The interior features a counter with the kitchen area behind and a glass-fronted case with the day’s offerings. Edward, 33, comes in about an hour before he opens and begins cooking food that will be portioned and displayed in the case. There are no paper or digital menus – just browse the case to see what’s available that day. After the morning rush peters out, Edward gets back to cooking, offering up new selections for the afternoon and dinner crowd. The menu is dynamic. On any given day, you might find a roast beef pita with curried yogurt, cucumber and arugula; sockeye salmon rosti with beetroot relish, herbed goat cheese, arugula, lemon cheeks and fresh dill; a chickpea fusilli with kale, roast tomato, mozzarella and pecorino. Or, for those who don’t know what all that is, a sausage roll. And for dessert, a cashew-raspberry chocolate chia pot; various scones and other baked goods. Warning: Don’t go scrolling down the restaurant’s Facebook page (@theendiveeatery) unless you’re ready to get hungry. There are plenty of vegan and glutenfree offerings, but there’s also plenty of meat and cheese. And lots and lots of coffees. “The Tri-Cities has a lot of good coffee, and a lot of good food,” he said, “but rarely does anyone put the two together.” The menu changes daily depending on what ingredients are on hand and what Edward feels like cooking. But count on

four to five salads and a couple soups (gluten free), six sandwiches, six savories (sausage rolls, quiches and the like). And six sweets. And it’s all made fresh daily. Coffee will cost between $2.50 and $5. Food starts at $3.90 and ranges up to $15 for the more intricate offerings. “Our style is to serve good food with creativity that keeps the cooks and staff energized,” Edward said. The business will employ 2 1/2 people, including Edward (but not officially counting his wife, Claire, a speech pathologist at the Children’s Development Center in Richland who suddenly knows a lot more about the restaurant business than she did a year ago). He’s applied for a beer and wine license. To date, his advertising is done on social media. Word of mouth also has been effective, as several students from the yoga studio next door made their way over on a recent morning. Plans are eventually to be open seven days a week. But, he stressed, there is no hurry to push too quickly. Instead, the key is to do what they can do well, and not reach too far too soon. While this is his first endeavor as a business owner, Edward has an extensive résumé as a chef, including seven years making the rounds in Australia and New Zealand at such food stops as Ten Minutes by Tractor and Dog With Two Tails. He grew up in the Tri-Cities, graduating from Kennewick High School before heading off to Seattle to major in international studies at the University of Washington. Along the way, Edward said, it became apparent that an international studies degree isn’t all that great unless you pair it with a law degree or the like. Edward already had experience around food. He started cooking while he was in Boy Scouts, had fond memories of cooking with his mom and dad, and spent time helping his mom at her cheese shop in Prosser, aptly named Le Grand Fromage. Also, during a student exchange to Belgium in high school, he expressed an interest in cooking and got his first exposure to classic fine dining. “It taught me a lot about food, wine, beer and chocolate,” he said laughing. Back in Seattle, he started working as a line cook and then a sous chef (second in command) for a couple years before deciding to go to Seattle Central Culinary Academy. He also spent time at the Northwest Wine Academy. Along the way, he figured out he was learning more in the kitchens than he was in culinary school, so he left school and got “paid to learn” on the job. He went to Victoria, Australia, with a one-year work permit on the country’s Working Holiday Program, an apprentice program for the food industry. “I worked as a chef,” Edward said. “You move around (to different restaurants), and it gave me a good opportunity

Photo by Kristina Lord Edward Shoemaker shows off the day’s offerings at Endive Eatery, which opened in October in West Richland. The restaurant at 4001 Kennedy Road is cafe-styled, offering fine dining in a grab-n-go fashion.

to learn. They do things differently.” After his year was up, Edward moved to New Zealand, continuing to cook and also spending two years managing a vineyard. All the time, he was soaking up the style of restaurant that would inspire the Endive Eatery. “The cafe-style scene is a lot more vibrant in New Zealand,” he said. “It’s a healthier alternative to fast food.” In New Zealand, he added, “the drive

thru is a foreign concept.” He came back to the states about 18 months ago, with his mom Alison Bryan battling illness. She died last March. He did his best to stay in the kitchen, but eventually began working as a server because, with tips, the money was better. “In this line of work, it’s easy to find something,” he said, “but it’s hard to find something good.”

uENDIVE, Page 47

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019 ROOF MAXX, From page 44

Photo by Jeff Morrow Jeremy Dimond, left, and Pete Kelley opened a Roof Maxx business earlier this year in the Tri-Cities.

Here’s how the three-step process works: Dimond and Kelley will go up on the roof for a detailed inspection. “We meet at your house, and we do a video inspection of your roof,” Dimond said. “We send you the video. The whole process costs about 15 to 20 percent of what a roof replacement costs.” Second, while up there, they’ll straighten up the roof with needed maintenance. Finally, they’ll apply the Roof Maxx treatment with a sprayer. There are times when a roof is so far gone, it can’t be treated. “Typically, a roof lasts 20 to 25 years,” Dimond said. “But we get on a couple of roofs, and we just can’t save

them.” Though Dimond and Kelley bought their business in February, the harsh winter that lasted into March meant they weren’t able to get out on rooftops until April. But they went to home shows, held meetings with clients and met with real estate agents. “Home inspectors really like our product,” Kelley said. “We’ve been super busy,” Dimond said. The co-owners are the company’s sole employees, and they’re happy they got in on the ground floor of the business. “Somebody just bought the Yakima dealership,” Kelley said. “It’s the largest, fastest growing startup in the country. In fact, somebody just bought all of Los Angeles. That’s 75 dealerships.” Having the Tri-City region is enough right now for these two. “There is enough work in the Tri-Cities,” Kelley said. “It’s something everyone can use. Now we’re just trying to get the word out.” As winter approaches, rooftop work will stop so they’ll be able to focus on promoting their enterprise. “We can’t go up on roofs when it gets below freezing,” Kelley said. Meanwhile, the men are enjoying being their own bosses. “It feels good to know you’re the boss and you have the freedom to do what you want,” Dimond said. Roof Maxx: Jeremy Dimond, 509-845-0818, Jeremy@roofmaxx.com; Pete Kelley, 509-537-5534; Pkelley@ roofmaxx.com.

uDONATIONS • The Annual Ag World Golf Classic donated $101,680 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities Inland Northwest, thanks to the generosity of 136 sponsors and donors, and 144 golfers. The Ag World Golf Classic has donated $425,647 over the past six years to the nonprofit which provides temporary lodging, comfort and support for families with children receiving medical services in Spokane. • Danielle Greene of Pasco Allstate organized a promotion called Gifting for Quotes. For the month of October and November, Allstate donated $10 to the Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin Counties when giving any new household an insurance quote. The office raised $400 to support the agency. • Dutch Bros Pasco, Richland and Kennewick and its customers raised $5,825 for Camp Patriot, an organization dedicated to empowering and thanking wounded and disabled military veterans of all generations through outdoor programs. • Dutch Bros Prosser raised $1,000 for Prosser High School. The money raised will support a local teacher diagnosed with breast cancer.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

WSU Tri-Cities nurses earn pins

Courtesy WSU Tri-Cities Washington State University Tri-Cities’ College of Nursing pinned 20 new nurses during a ceremony on Dec. 6 in the WSU Tri-Cities Student Union Building in Richland.

uBUSINESS BRIEF IRS issues reminder on filing wage statements, contractor forms

The IRS reminds employers and other businesses that wage statements and independent contractor forms still have a Jan. 31 filing deadline. Before the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, employers generally had a longer period of time to file these forms. But the 2015 law made a permanent requirement for employers to file their copies of Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, and Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, with the Social Security Administration by the end of January. The early filing date means that the IRS can more easily detect refund fraud by verifying income that individuals report on their tax returns. Employers can avoid penalties by filing the forms on time and without errors. The IRS also recommends employers verify employees’ information, including names, addresses and Social Security or individual taxpayer identification numbers.

Photo by Kevin Anthony The menu at Endive Eatery changes daily, with customers making their selection from a display case.

ENDIVE, From page 45 The answer, it seemed, was to open his own restaurant. The first key decision was finding a location. That, Edward said, would tell him what kind of restaurant he would open. That way he could service the surrounding neighborhood. “You pick the location,” he said, “then you figure out what you want to be.” And, he added, “you cater to local residents before you try to get everybody in town.” The location – on Kennedy Road near the intersection where Bombing Range Road and turns into Dallas Road – combined with the building space meant cafestyle, he said. He signed the lease Sept. 13, and some six weeks later the Endive Eatery was

open for business. “A lot of used equipment, and a lot of help from people in the industry,” Edward said of the quick turnaround. “We were extremely lucky in many ways,” he added. “The minute we needed something, it was like, ‘There it is!’ ” Startup costs were around $25,000, which Edward and Claire were able to fund themselves, with help from some money left to him by his mom. “As a guy with a backpack and some knives, it’s hard to convince someone with money to give it to you,” he joked. “It’s a risk,” he added. “But I wouldn’t have done what I did without (Claire’s) support and the experience I have in this industry. “But it’s paid off so far.” Endive Eatery: 4001 Kennedy Road, West Richland; 509-579-5852; Facebook.

for supporting local journalism

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

Experienced new owners buy Brazilian steakhouse

Page 53

Kennewick developer plans Pasco business center

Page 59

Catholic Charities wants to house the homeless in Pasco

Page 65

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION December 2019

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Photos courtesy Bookwalter Winery ABOVE: Architect MMEC’s rendering of the 20,000-square-foot addition at J. Bookwalter Winery at 849 Tulip Lane includes offices, a bigger kitchen, production facilities and banquet and tasting rooms. RIGHT: John Bookwalter is the president and chief executive officer of Bookwalter Winery.

Bookwalter Winery plans $4M expansion BY JEFF MORROW

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

For nearly 10 years, John Bookwalter dreamed of expanding his winery and restaurant. The dream begins taking shape in February, when J. Bookwalter Winery breaks ground on a $4 million expansion that will more than triple the size of its winery, tasting room and restaurant at 894 Tulip Lane, near Queensgate in south Richland. The 20,000-square-foot addition will

transform the way J. Bookwalter Winery and its Fiction restaurant operate, said Bookwalter, president and chief executive officer. The addition will displace a vineyard next to the current 8,000-square-foot building. “We’re hoping to open it in late August,” he said. The expansion will consolidate almost everything J. Bookwary offers in a single location. The new space will house offices, meeting and conference rooms, tasting rooms,

2 bidders buy Harris Farm for $5 million BY WENDY CULVERWELL editor@tcjournal.biz

A prominent west Pasco farm will sprout homes after an unnamed developer bought the land at a recent auction. The 45-acre Harris Farm sold for $5 million at a Nov. 14 auction conducted by Musser Bros. Auctions. The property at 11530 W. Court St. was sold in four parcels to two separate buyers. A private buyer bought the pair of houses occupying about two acres that front almost 400 feet of Columbia River shoreline. A developer purchased the larger parcels, said Scott Musser, who conducted the auction. The buyers won’t be identified until the uHARRIS FARMS, Page 58

barrel storage, expanded restaurant seating and a spacious commercial kitchen. “We outgrew our production space eight to 10 years ago,” he said. “We’ve needed the space.” Chervenell Construction of Kennewick is the general contractor. MMEC of Kennewick is the architect. Bookwalter is excited. “We’ve been in this business 36 years. But this new project, I’ve had in my mind for a good decade,” he said. Bookwalter expects to add new full-

and part-time workers with the expansion, which will let it bring home storage and production that currently happens off site. The majority of its case goods, or wine bottles, are stored at Vintner Logistics in Kennewick and its wine barrels at the Richland Airport. “We have almost 10 acres here. So a good portion of the case goods and all barrels come back here,” he said. Bottle and barrel storage isn’t the only uBOOKWALTER, Page 57

Land use questions draw concern in West Richland BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Whose land is it anyway? When it comes to portions of lots in West Richland, it depends on who you ask. “Legally, under my impression, this land has been mine, because Benton County has done all their due diligence recording their records,” said Pat Carranza, a West Richland landowner. Carranza and her neighbors own property that was originally platted as part of federal land patents issued by the United States during homesteading in the 1930s as a way to develop a community around the Hanford nuclear reservation. “There aren’t too many areas formed like this. It’s a somewhat unusual critter,” said Kenneth W. Harper, a Yakima attorney who specializes in land use and zoning, who spoke at a recent city council hearing on behalf

of the city of West Richland. Harper first got involved in 2017 when a landowner raised concern after trying to get a building permit for an area within his legal property description. “The city’s position had been, ‘We’d be happy to let you use this land. We just don’t have a process that confirms whether we continue to claim an interest in that land or we don’t,’ ” Harper said. As West Richland tries to clarify the issue, it has neighbors concerned the city will try to act on easements written into land disbursements granted back in 1938 as part of the Small Tract Act. The legal interpretation of the federal land patent ownership is now in question, as the federal government has said it has no interest or decisionmaking rights on the future of lots created by land patents. To muddy the

waters, it didn’t offer direction on who could. Carranza’s 2.3-acre parcel is close in size to hundreds of other similarlyaffected properties near the Bombing Range Sports Complex and Flat Top Park. The historical deed for Carranza’s property dates back to 1956, based on data from the county assessor, when the borders were solidified by Benton County. Prior to that, the federal government had platted the land into lots and access roads, with each plat reserving 33 feet along one or more of the boundaries for potential development or use as a right of way. These became known as federal patent reservations, or general land office easements, and allowed the U.S. to retain the right to use the land for uLAND USE, Page 51

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

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Real Estate & Construction LAND USE, From page 49 any public or private purpose if needed in the future. The agency responsible for dividing the land was the General Land Office, which eventually became part of the federal Bureau of Land Management. This federal office suggested in 1981 that in areas where no land action had been taken by the city of West Richland, any future development would fall under state law or city code, not federal rule. Harper called it a “funny intersection of Washington land use versus these fairly archaic deed reservations, or patent reservations, going back to the ’50s.” “My deed says it’s mine, but now the city said it’s going to be up to the homeowner to go file and change the description,” Carranza said. “One, that’s a lot of money for the city, and two, the homeowners are not aware of it because they assumed that if it hasn’t been used since 1981, the city doesn’t have a claim to it.” Carranza said it’s her land in particular that’s preventing West Richland from connecting a portion of South 48th Avenue to Collins Road. The areas in question are within city limits and shaped like a square, with borders near Bombing Range on the east, Belmont Boulevard on the west, Paradise Way on the south and just north of Flat Top Park to the north. There are two other sections affected by potential action: an L-shaped area bordered by Bombing Range, Northlake Drive, South 38th Avenue, Artemis Ridge Road, Paradise Way and Northlake Drive, and a smaller, rectangular area that includes 14 lots near South 38th and Paradise Way. About half this area is within city limits and the remainder in Benton County. The city may have once been interested in developing the affected land, according to a draft comprehensive plan discussed by the planning commission in 2016. While questioning whether the federal patents will ever be lifted, the draft document said, “these patent reservations, and the land divisions from the past, restrain development capacity in these specific areas.” The current issue is now to “explore this more thoroughly, get an understanding from what the record of what the BLM shows as far as its prior positions, and really apply some legal reasoning to what the Small Tract Act says, what significance should be placed on the termination of the classification, and then create a public process that would allow the community to understand what the city was trying to do, how it would or would not affect individual parcels, and give the city council a choice that would, in the staff’s opinion, streamline the city’s interests in these reservations,” Harper said. The BLM isn’t expected to weigh in with an official opinion, and Harper doesn’t expect the process to change anything as far as what rights of way the city has or has mapped, but rather to clarify so the issue wouldn’t need to be revisited each time someone applied for a building permit. As part of this process, the West Rich-

land City Council held a public hearing before a packed house on the issue in November. No city action was taken. The hearing offered a chance for residents to weigh in on a potential ordinance to accept or decline portions of land through an official action called an “offer of dedication.” By accepting an offer of dedication, portions of land used by homeowners could become city land instead. Harper said, “We think it’s fairly clear that as offers of dedication, the city can come along and say, ‘We need these as part of our road system. We need these because there’s public infrastructure. Or we need these because it’s pursuant to an agreement. Or we don’t need because of this, this, this and this.’ That was what the staff undertook, saying, ‘What can we get ourselves out of so the public can make use of it?’” Any chance of land being used as an offer of dedication has residents concerned. “We have paid taxes all these years on that land,” Carranza said. Additionally, a number of landowners complained at the hearing that much of the land up for discussion is not usable due to being sandy “just like a beach,” too steep for a roadway, or at a dead-end road that “leads to nowhere.” A property owner who spoke at the hearing encouraged the city to look at each lot individually rather than make a blanket determination on its ability to use the affected land. Carranza agreed, adding, “The city needs to look at each lot and determine if there was a right of way, per the termination notice and/or utility prior to 1981. If it wasn’t used for that purpose, go to the property owner and say, ‘Hey are you interested in vacating these lands and not having to pay taxes on them?’ You’ll make money, in kind of a win-win situation, because if they’re not using it anyway, they might say, ‘Take it.’ ” The city intends to review residents’ public comments from the meeting and those submitted to its public works director. “We’d like them to be as active participants as possible because it does affect individuals’ land. That’s always going to be a topic and potentially very sensitive, and the more we can communicate with the public about what we’re doing, and allow them to respond, I think the better the result will be,” Harper said. The city has no timeline for making a decision on an ordinance, or whether this will be the action taken at all. “The choice may come down to doing nothing, and we proceed as we have for the past several decades with this being a somewhat unclear issue,” Harper said. “Or, council could pass the ordinance and confirm, to the extent the ordinance does so, the lack of interest of the city in these rights of way that we don’t have any purpose for. There’s always a third choice that this could become a topic for further study because it may be that the council’s not quite prepared to take either of those two options, they want to hear more from staff or have more consideration of legal opinions, which would be fine.”

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Graphic by Vanessa Guzmán It’s up for debate whether the city of West Richland has the right to easements on lots in these two areas of West Richland and unincorporated Benton County. The parcels were established in the 1930s.

Some landowners hired an attorney and stated at the hearing their counsel would prefer the city allow the issue to be handled by the judicial system, not through an ordinance voted on by the council. There’s an argument to be made that deciding the issue with some finality could pave the way for future requests. “There’s been a regular concern brought to the city over whether or not these things can be vacated or whether the city can take a position of the land to make the use of the land burdened by

these rights of way no longer an interest of the city,” Harper said. “The city has been in a very difficult spot in terms of answering questions from the public on what these small tract reservations amount to.” Still, Carranza believes it is not for the city to decide. “It’s up to the homeowner because they actually own that land. The city doesn’t own it. The state doesn’t own it. It’s the patent property owner’s land and you need to respect their rights,” she said.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

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Experienced new owners buy Brazilian steakhouse BY WENDY CULVERWELL editor@tcjournal.biz

Kennewick’s Boiada Brazilian Steakhouse will remain open after a seasoned operator bought the unique restaurant from its founders. Helia Vieira, a 20-year veteran of Fogo de Chao chain of high-end Brazilian restaurants, and his partner, Josiane Ballin, bought Boiada from its founders for $64,000. The deal includes a fiveyear lease for the 6,000-square-foot restaurant, as well as equipment and furnishings. Boiada opened in late May at a re-

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Santiago plans $5 million manufactured home park

Santiago Communities Inc. wants to build a 200-unit manufactured home community near the Kennewick water treatment plant to offer affordable housing in a tight residential market. The Santa Ana, California-based manufactured home developer submitted a letter of interest to buy nearly 24 acres from the Port of Kennewick for $831,400. If approved, the port will retain water rights to the site, which is off East Third Avenue near Oak Street Industrial Park. The deal is pending before the port commission, with a closing date no later than Sept. 1, 2021. The long lead time is to give the buyer time to review the feasibility of developing the site, which is bordered to the north by the Columbia River. The $5 million project would be developed in phases, with a community center with kitchen, laundry, restrooms, recreation rooms and a manager’s office. Santiago sells manufactured homes for an average of $125,000 for a three-bedroom, two-bath home. At full buildout, the community would be valued at $25 million. The property consists of three parcels split between the city of Kennewick and Benton County. Lewis County River Estates borders the site on the east.

Grocery Outlet gets OK to do Richland interior

The city of Richland has authorized interior construction of the Grocery Outlet being built at Vintner Square, at Queensgate Drive and Duportail Street. Browman Development Co., which owns the shopping center, secured the permit for $1.8 million in tenant improvements on Dec. 5. Browman announced it would add Grocery Outlet, a discount grocery store, to the Target-anchored shopping center in July. The 18,000-square-foot store is under construction by O’Brien Construction Company Inc. of Kennewick at 2901 Queensgate, next to Party City. With Grocery Outlet in the mix, Vintner Square has only one retail pad left available for development, according to Jim Stephens, vice president for development.

ported cost of $200,000. Vieira and Ballin will focus on service and improving the quality of the food. Originally from Brazil, Viera has decades of experience managing Brazilian steakhouses in California and Washington, most recently in the Puget Sound area. He joined the Fogo de Chao chain more than 20 years ago and worked his way up to management. He opened the Bellevue restaurant, overseeing all aspects of operations, including hiring and quality control. A first-time entrepreneur, Viera said he heard about the opportunity in Ken-

newick and decided it was time to put his skills to work for his own benefit. Boiada offers a salad bar and tableside meat service. Diners order from servers who bring skewers of more than a dozen cuts of charcoal-grilled meats to their tables. Visitors can order as much or as little as they wish, signaling their intent by placing cards at the end of the table. Vieira advises customers to skip breakfast and arrive hungry. “It’s not a meal. It’s an experience,” he said. The restaurant sources much of its meat through Sysco, but custom orders

lamb from Australia. Boiada is at 8418 W. Gage Blvd. Vieira said the restaurant was in danger of closing when he learned it was for sale. The 182-seat restaurant has room for outdoor dining and a banquet room. Vieira said it’s probably the only eatery in town that can handle a group of 50 on five minute’s notice. Updated business hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 9:30 p.m seven days a week. Follow the restaurant on Facebook @ boiadabraziliangrill.

Kenyon Zero Storage expands cold storage in Pasco BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

Kenyon Zero Storage is expanding its cold storage complex after closing a $1.1 million deal for 21 acres at the Port of Pasco’s Foster Wells Business Park. Kenyon will begin construction of a 202,000-square-foot facility to serve growing demand from the Pasco Processing Center. The addition is next to an existing 410,000-square-foot cold storage center on the same property

built in 2014 and 2015. Kenyon is led by Scott Wingart. “One of the main deciding factors in constructing our cold storage facilities at the port property was the proximity to the many existing food processors at the Pasco Processing Center, the diverse agricultural crops grown in the Columbia Basin region, and the ease of access to major transportation routes to the Pacific Northwest,” Wingart said in a statement. The deal, worth $1.25 per square

foot, closed Dec. 5. The Port of Pasco Commission voted to sell the land at its Nov. 14 meeting. Kenyon facilities have the capability to freeze and/or refrigerate products to suit the needs of customers. Foster Wells is a 50-acre development that supports light industrial development. Tenants include Second Harvest, Rock Placing Company, Volm, Teton Gold, Pioneer Packaging and PECCAS LLC.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Real estate & ConstRuCtion

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Real estate & ConstRuCtion

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

Real estate & ConstRuCtion

P LANET FITNESS 1711 George Washington Way, Richland

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Real estate & ConstRuCtion BOOKWALTER, From page 49 thing it’s outsourced. Bookwalter has produced wines off-site at Mercer Estates and Goose Ridge. There will be three barrel rooms — one each for fermenting, finishing and reserves. Visitors will notice the upgrades. “On the production side, we’ll have a tasting room, plus a private tasting room,” he said. “It’s built around the customer.” The office and meeting space is long overdue. Bookwalter and his key employees have worked out of a trailer for temporary office space. The extra meeting space is a feature Bookwalter says is needed. “We’ll have two banquet rooms available to us, 365 days a year,” he said. The current setup includes a partial banquet room, when not in use as a wine cellar. “I would like to see companies view our entire property and facilities as a place to hold corporate retreats and events,” Bookwalter said. Bookwalter’s father, Jerry, was a ninthgeneration farmer working in the San Joaquin Valley in California when he moved the family to the Tri-Cities in the 1970s. Jerry Bookwalter spent several years planting vineyards before venturing into the viticulture business by establishing the winery that bears his name in 1982. John spent a decade in the late 1980s and 1990s working in sales and marketing for Ernest & Julio Gallo, the Winterbrook Beverage Group, and the Coors Brewing Co. He returned to the family business as a winemaker and soon put his own stamp on the business. In 2008, he opened a restaurant at the winery called Fiction to pair his wines with food. originated as a small bistro conceived to give wine tourists a spot to stop and enjoy the setting. That restaurant has become quite popular.

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Roasters Coffee opens 2 new coffee shops

Roasters Coffee, a locally owned and operated coffee company, recently opened two new shops. The Kennewick shop at 2615 W. Vancouver St. opened Nov. 15. The Richland shop at 9025 Center Parkway opened Dec. 13.

Layered Cake Artistry to open in Kennewick

Sisters Elena Gavin and Concetta Gullini will celebrate the opening of Layered Cake Artistry with a ribbon cutting and open house at 4 p.m. Jan. 3 at 117 W. Kennewick Ave. The sisters bought the historic building, originally constructed as a grocery, and spent the past year gutting it. They moved their wedding cake business from leased space in Prosser to the Red Mountain Commercial Kitchen in downtown Kennewick in anticipation of the move. The studio includes kitchen facilities and room to consult with brides and other customers. Layered Cake Artistry will sell limited items to the public.

Restaurant sales topped $1 million for the first time in 2016. “It will exceed $2.25 million in sales this year,” Bookwalter said. It’s won numerous awards under executive chef Fransisco Mendoza, who has been with Bookwalter for seven years. Food & Wine magazine named Fiction one of the best winery restaurants in America in August 2018. Bookwalter said the winery’s identity has evolved over the last few years. “We used to be a winery with a restaurant,” he said. “Now we’re known as a restaurant with a winery attached.” Currently, the restaurant can seat 80 customers at one time indoors, and during good weather, another 150 customers outside.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019 The expansion will add another 40 seats inside. One of the biggest additions will happen out of sight of customers. To help Mendoza and his staff, the kitchen will expand from 300 square feet to 2,000 square feet. “That should be ready by 2021,” Bookwalter said. Bookwalter’s wines have collected their share of awards around the Northwest and beyond through the years. Bookwalter wines were cited as part of the reason Wine Spectator magazine ranked the Pacific Northwest No. 4 in its Top 100 wine regions listing in 2018. In 2014, John Bookwalter turned over the winemaking responsibility to Caleb Foster. That’s allowed him to spend more of his

time overseeing the winery and the restaurant. And now this new, upcoming project. Though the business also operates a tasting room on the west side of the state in Woodinville, it’s the Richland location that draws a lot of interest. “Thirty percent of our customers come from outside the Northwest,” Bookwalter said. “A lot of local clientele love to come here, taste wine and then enjoy lunch or dinner.” People moving into the area are looking for activities to do, Bookwalter said. “We’re trying to create a destination,” he said. “There is more interest to come here. It’s about customer enjoyment. How do we do this? This is how. The customer wants an experience. And we need the space and facility to do this.”

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

HARRIS FARMS, From page 49 deal closes. The deadline is Jan. 10. The farm’s future as a residential neighborhood was all but guaranteed when the Harris family opted to sell the land they’ve owned since World War II. Musser called the farm one of the most exciting properties he’d ever auctioned, thanks to strong interest from developers straining to keep up with demand for homes. Pasco issued permits for 541 singlefamily homes in the first 11 months of 2019, 21 percent more than the same period in 2018. By comparison, Kennewick and Richland posted 8 percent and 16 percent increases, respectively, over the same period, according to the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities.

The Harris family took over the former Wexler Ranch when the government requisitioned their original property on Paso’s east side to support the World War II effort. Today, Big Pasco Industrial Park sits on the former Diversity Dairy site. Fred and Lura Harris moved their dairy, their livestock and even their house down Court Street to what was then a remote corner of Pasco. Family legend holds that breakfast was on the table – unspilled – when the house arrived at its new location. Fred and Lura eventually passed the farm to their son Wallace and his wife Lucille. Today, it is controlled by a trust that benefits their seven children and extended family, which includes grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Real Estate & Construction As the family grew, the farm dwindled from the original 115 acres to the current 45. The family decided to sell after receiving a private offer last year. That deal fell through but the heirs decided it was time to sell and simplify an estate that was getting more complicated with each successive generation. The property has long been a target for developers responding to demand for homes. It is in unincorporated Franklin County, but is encircled by the city of Pasco and is ripe for annexation into city limits. The property already is served by city utilities, key infrastructure as Pasco and Franklin County add new residents. The Washington Office of Financial

Management projects Franklin County will grow to nearly 140,000 residents by 2050, a gain of more than 50,000. That demand is reflected in the price the farm drew at auction. Musser said the $115,000-per-acre price is likely a local record for residential land. Nearly two dozen bidders registered for the hour-long auction. “It was an exciting day,” he said. A private buyer purchased the smaller home sites, which are upriver from the Interstate 182 bridge, on the Franklin County side of the river. Richland’s Columbia Point flanks the opposite shore. Harris Farm could support nearly 700 homes at 15 per acre. The final count will likely be much lower. Fans of the popular Harris Farm stand won’t lose access to the hard-to-find peppers and other vegetables the family cultivates. Lurene Harris Fleshman, the youngest of Wallace and Lucille’s children, will reopen the farm stand at her new home north of Pasco.

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Port of Benton wins $50,000 grant for planning study

The Washington State Community Economic Revitalization Board recently approved $3.5 million in statewide loans and $1.7 million in grants for economic development, public infrastructure development and economic feasibility studies targeting business growth, job creation and rural broadband development. The Port of Benton received a $50,000 grant from the board for a storm water master planning study to determine how the Horn Rapids Industrial Area can be developed to handle the large amount of surface water from planned industrial uses. CERB funds are matched by $50,000 in local resources. The city of Othello received a $50,000 grant for a study to examine the development of a market district/food makers’ incubator in downtown Othello. CERB funds are matched by $16,667 in local resources. Since 1982, CERB has committed nearly $176 million to local jurisdictions across the state, an investment generating more than 36,000 jobs, and private capital investment of a $5.7 billion ($36 to $1) return on CERB investment.

Edible Arrangements closes in Kennewick

Edible Arrangements has closed after five years in business in Kennewick. The local franchise announced its plans to close, effective Dec. 6, and confirmed it in a recorded telephone message. Customers outside the Tri-Cities can still order edible gifts through the parent company’s website, ediblearrangements. com. Edible Arrangements opened at 8530 W. Gage Blvd. in October 2014. It provided treats made from fruit and baked goods in lieu of flowers.

Real Estate & Construction

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Circle K plans gas station, convenience store, car wash in West Richland BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

Courtesy Port of Pasco A Kennewick developer will install restaurants, coffee shops and other services near the entrance to the Tri-Cities Airport after signing a 30-year lease with a 20-year extension for two acres with the Port of Pasco. Eighty acres are still available.

Kennewick developer plans retail, business center near airport, CBC BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

A Kennewick developer will build restaurants, shops and other businesses at the Tri-Cities Airport Business Park after securing a 50-year lease for 2 1/2 acres with the Port of Pasco. The port signed off on the deal with The Landing LLC, which is led by John Hawley, in October. The site is at the intersection of Argent Road and Varney Lane. The agreement promises to bring services catering to Columbia Basin College and the rapidly growing neighborhood at the Tri-Cities Airport entrance. A-1 Hospitality Group intends to open the Courtyard by Marriott hotel there in the first quarter of 2020. Under terms of the deal, Hawley’s company will pay monthly rent of $2,828, for an effective blended rate of 38 cents

per square foot, with rent adjustments over the 30-year lease. The deal includes one 20-year extension. Hawley will begin developing the first four-building phase in early 2020. The initial phase is described as commercial multi-tenant flex space, suggesting some light production could occur on the site. The second phase will consist of retail space for up to six stores and will begin later in the year. All development must comply with covenants guiding design and construction for the business park. Hawley must dedicate at least 20 percent of the property’s total assessed value to the exterior appearance. “This is a great location for new restaurants, coffee shops and other services,” Hawley said in a press release. The Port of Pasco commission approved the lease on a unanimous vote at its Oct. 24 meeting.

Pasco, Colvilles pledge to cooperate on casino project BY TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STAFF

The city of Pasco and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation have agreed to negotiate terms for the tribes to pay for police, fire and other services as they move to develop a casino and other amenities on land in the city. The Colvilles paid $10.8 million for 184 acres in early 2019, part of its continuing effort to buy land in its historic territory, which covers an area from the crest of the Cascade Mountains to the Continental Divide. The site is north of King City. The tribes plan to develop the property for the economic benefit of members and to provide support services to the several hundred members who live in the Tri-Cities. The land will be placed in a federal trust under the auspices of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, rendering it exempt from

paying the local property taxes that help support police, fire and other municipal services. The November agreement commits both sides to negotiating a deal to offset the city’s cost to provide those services. The agreement also calls on both sides to share information and to cooperate on press releases and other public outreach efforts. The Colvilles operate the 12 Tribes Resort Casino in Omak, Mill Bay Casino in Manson and Coulee Dam Casino at Coulee Dam. The Pasco casino could be many years away, but intermediate plans include a gas station and a water park. The Tri-City area is the traditional home of the Palus, one of the 12 tribes that comprise the Colville. The tribes were consolidated on the Colville Reservation at Nespelem following the Nez Perce War of 1885.

Circle K will build a convenience store, gas station and automatic car wash in front of Yoke’s Fresh Market in West Richland, according to plans submitted to the city in November. Circle K, operating as Land Development Consultants, outlined its vision for the property at 1501 Bombing Range Road at Paradise Way in an application pending before the West Richland Planning Commission. The Phoenix, Arizona-based developer needs a conditional use permit for the car wash and other approvals for the fueling station. The proposal includes a 5,187-square-foot convenience store, 10 covered fuel pumps and a 1,262-square-foot automatic car wash. If built, it will be the 21st Circle

K in the Tri-Cities and the second in West Richland, where the familiar red and white logo appears on West Van Giesen Street. The application does not identify the fuel brand, but Circle K fuel stations operate under the Exxon flag. It will be the second combination convenience store-gas station-car wash at Bombing Range and Paradise. Smitty’s Paradise 76 Gas is directly across Bombing Range. The proposed Circle K would be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, according to the application. The 1.8-acre site is owned by West Richland Group, a limited liability company associated with Greg Markel, a Kennewick-based real estate investor, developer and manager. The property has a taxable value of about $500,000, according to Benton County property records.

for supporting local journalism #READLOCAL tcjournal.biz

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Real estate & ConstRuCtion

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NUMERICA CREDIT UNION 3115 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick Numerica Credit Union completed the first phase of its Kennewick remodel in November. Work on the next phase begins in January and will add a drive-thru at 3115 W. Kennewick Ave. Renovations to the 10,100-square-foot branch provide space for financial conversations and enclosed the second story of the building to expand work stations and offices for staff. A training room was added to support Numerica staff members as well. Nancy Norbury-Harter, Numerica’s chief branding officer, leads the credit union’s construction projects. Leone & Keeble Inc. of Spokane was the general contractor. Bernardo Wills of Spokane was the designer. The remodeled Kennewick Avenue branch is at the southwest corner of West Kennewick and South Huntington Street, across from the UPS Store.

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Real estate & ConstRuCtion

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Real Estate & Construction

Expect changes to real estate excise taxes in coming year I was amazed at the number of items we voted to maintain or repeal that were listed on the Nov. 5 ballot that contained the phrase, “without a vote of the people.” I am not sure why I am surprised. I am learning a lot about how things are done in Olympia, and I thought I would share a few as they relate to real estate, taxes, housing shortages, planning issues, affordable housing and the like. There is a saying that goes something like, “I missed the meeting and got appointed.” Well, evidently, I missed two of those meetings and got myself appointed to the Washington

Association of Realtors, or WAR, Legislative Steering Committee and the Finance Committee. I will keep my Denis Gisi comments John L. Scott focused on Realty some of the GUEST COLUMN legislative issues. I also will say that these comments are my interpretation of what has or is happen-

ing in Olympia. Let me start with my first meeting during the 2019 legislative session. The Legislature reviewed a budget proposal for $44.6 billion containing a $4 billion surplus. So why is the governor looking at a minimum of 20 percent increase in taxes across the board? There are three main reasons: 1. Our public education system is broke. The culprits are the McCleary decision and the unions. 2. The governor wants to reduce or remove the deficit funding for the Public Employee Retirement System, or PERS. 3. The governor had promised annual 3 percent raises for the next two years to all Washington state public employees and wants to keep this promise. The result of these points above would equal a large future deficit in the budget. Therefore, the governor wants those addressed before he leaves office. At one point during the session, the governor proposed a general 20 percent increase to all potential sources of revenues. As the 2019 session moved on, the targeted funding sources, which applied to the real estate industry, became: • Washington expects to collect more real estate excise taxes in the coming year, but the vast majority of Tri-City home sellers will see the state tax go down. The 2019 Legislature lowered the excise tax to 1.1 percent for properties that sell for $500,000 or less, from the old rate of 1.28 percent. Properties that sell for $500,000.01 to $1.5 million will continue to be taxed at the 1.28 percent rate. • The proposal is increasing the tax from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent, raising an estimated $2.5 billion for the general fund. The win in this case was negotiated with the help of the Washington Association of Realtors and came as follows: 1. Real Estate Excise Tax (House Bill 1219): Real estate excise tax, or REET, is a tax on the sale of real estate. The real estate excise tax is typically paid by the seller of the property, although the buyer is liable for the tax if it is not paid. The tax applies to the seller. The tax also applies to transfers of controlling interests (50 percent or more) in entities that own property in the state. Changes are coming to REET effective Jan. 1. Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5998 made changes to the real estate excise tax program. Some of these changes include: • A graduated state REET rate structure for sales of real property. An exception is agricultural land/timberland which is excluded from the new rate structure and will continue to have a state REET rate of 1.28 percent. • Updates for controlling interest transfers (50 percent or more change of ownership in an entity that owns real property). It expands the transfer peri-

od from 12 months to 36 months and changes the reporting requirements during the annual corporate renewal cycle to disclose any transfers of 16 percent or more. Here’s what the graduated REET structure will look like, according to data from the Washington State Dept. of Revenue. Please note these rates are for the state of Washington. Local jurisdictions can add to this amount. Sale price thresholds

Tax rate

$500,000 or less

1.1%

$500,000.01 - $1,500,000

1.28%

$1,500,000.01 - $3,000,000

2.75%

$3,000,000.01 or more

Example A: If the total sale price is $600,000, then the first $500,000 is taxed at 1.1 percent. The remaining $100,000 is taxed at 1.28 percent. $500,000 x 1.1% =

$5,500

$100,000 x 1.28% =

$1,280

Total taxes

$6,780

Example B: If the total sale price is $4.4 million, then the first $500,000 is taxed at 1.1 percent. The next $1 million is taxed at 1.28 percent. The next $1.5 million is taxed at 2.75 percent and the final $1.4 million is taxed at 3 percent. $500,000 x 1.1% =

$5,500

$1,000,000 x 1.28% =

$12,800

$1,500,000 x 2.75% =

$41,250

$1,400,000 x 3% =

$42,000

Total taxes

$101,550

2. The capital gain tax was eventually defeated. To accommodate the affordable housing issues, the proposal was to institute a 7 percent to 13 percent capital gains tax on real estate. On the residential side, the scale would look something like this based on the value of the home. 3. Enormous housing policy session. Final proposals on the study regarding the Growth Management Act are being completed and we should see potential proposals or changes over the next couple of years, particularly as they relate to affordable housing and homelessness. 4. Affordable housing: • Fixing the Condominium Liability Law (Senate Bill 5334), making it harder for class-action attorneys to file lawsuits against developers that result in delaying projects for years. • Gov. Jay Inslee will allow local uEXCISE TAXES, Page 63

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Real Estate & Construction

Fitness studio franchise expands to Kennewick

Orangetheory Fitness to open in Southridge area this spring BY ROBIN WOJTANIK

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

A popular fitness studio is opening a second Tri-City location at a visible Southridge corner in Kennewick this spring. Orangetheory Fitness franchise owner Richard Cote said he’d been searching for a location for a while, making offers on three different places before moving quickly when the former Zpizza closed at 4101 W. 27th Place in Kennewick. “Things work the way they’re supposed to, and it just so happened this building came free and we moved very swiftly on it,” Cote said. Cote and his wife, Melissa, own the Orangetheory franchise in Richland, as well as two others in Spokane. They hold franchise rights to Eastern Washington for the national brand and are looking at putting another two to three studios in their territory, possibly in Yakima and Pullman. A typical 60-minute Orangetheory Fit-

EXCISE TAXES, From page 62 legislative bodies to delegate final plat approval to “an established planning commission or agency, or to such other administrative personnel.” The goal of the bill is to provide local jurisdictions with additional final plat approval options that could bring housing to the market faster and reduce risks and costs to homebuilders while retaining the basic platting framework. The city of Walla Walla already implemented a more streamlined process on small plats. As we prepare for the 2020 legislative session, we do not expect any major events or changes happening as it is a short session. The most that might happen is a tweaking or clarification of statements regarding last year’s bills. It will be interesting to watch what potential impact these tax and rule changes may have on the local as well as statewide economies. Editor’s note: This story was modified on Dec. 30 to reflect that most Tri-City property sellers will see the state portion of the real estate excise tax drop or remain unchanged in 2020. Dennis D. Gisi is the broker owner of John L. Scott Real Estate with offices in Pasco, Walla Walla, and Milton-Freewater and Hermiston Oregon. He serves as a member of the Washington Association of Realtors – Legislative Steering and Finance committees.

ness class includes use of a treadmill, stationary rower and weight room. The new location at the corner of West 27th Place and Highway 395 is similar in size to the current studio at 1034 Queensgate Drive in Richland, which opened in summer 2017. For those familiar with the fitness studio, Cote expects the Southridge location to offer a similar number of workout stations as the Richland studio opened with. It can now accommodate up to 45 people in a single class. As the only Orangetheory Fitness location in the area, some members have been anxious for another studio to open, Cote said. “We wanted to allow Richland to mature and develop some brand equity first,” he said. Cote praised the assistance provided by the city of Kennewick as he worked to find a suitable location for the new gym. He said Kennewick was supportive of his effort to locate a new franchise there and

A former Kennewick restaurant will be the future site of the Tri-Cities’ second Orangetheory Fitness, a national workout studio franchise that opened its first location in Richland in 2017.

kept in frequent contact. “The city’s leadership holds economic development as a top priority, and we want to ensure that every business, large and small, is provided with every resource in our toolbox to make a successful financial investment in our community,” said Miles S. Thomas, economic development manager for the city of Kennewick. “The city provides site selection assistance, referrals to business planning and financing resources and a five-week maximum development review on new construction.” Kennewick also assists businesses through an express permitting program that can turn commercial tenant improve-

ment permits around within 72 hours. The studio investment in Kennewick is likely to run $750,000 and is targeted to open by the beginning of May 2020, Cote said. It will join more than 1,100 studios nationwide, with half a million members across the globe, according to its corporate website. The Cotes are accepting applications and resumes for fitness coaches and a studio manager, and expect to hire about half a dozen people. Those interested in employment may send their qualifications to mcote@orangetheoryfitness.com.

It is led by Asael Rivas. Both newcomers are near JC Penney’s entrance on the mall’s east end.

sales and installation company with offices also in Cincinnati, Tucson and Chicago. The general contractor is Elite Construction of Pasco.

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Columbia Center welcomes two local merchants

Columbia Center in Kennewick has welcomed two local merchants to the mall. Get In Where You Fit In focuses on designer apparel. It is the fourth location for the business, which formed in Richland in 2013. Get In carries apparel by Jordan, Adidas, Supreme, Louis Vuitton and Gucci. It is led by Travis Higbee, chief executive officer and buyer. Monarca Ice Cream serves ice cream and small batch desserts prepared in house with locally-sourced ingredients.

Solgen to build solar-powered corporate office in Pasco

Pasco-based Solgen Power plans to break ground on a 23,000-square-foot building for its corporate headquarters on Dec. 17. The solar-powered building will be at 5715 Bedford St., off Sandifur Boulevard, in Pasco. Solgen will occupy 17,000 square feet. The 3,000-squarefoot offices on each end will be available for additional tenants. Solgen Power is a national solar

Harbor Freight opens in Kennewick

Harbor Freight Tools opened its second location at 2903 W. Kennewick Ave. in mid-December. The chain has an existing store in Richland. The new store takes over the former Goodwill next to the Kennewick Safeway. Store hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

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Real estate & ConstRuCtion

RICHLAND RETAIL BUILDING 1080 George Washington Way

Construction recently was completed on an 11,000-square-foot shell building with room for up to seven individual tenants at 1080 George Washington Way in Richland. The new center will cater to retailers and restaurants. Two letters of intent have been signed for the space, but the businesses’ names have not yet been announced.

The concrete block building echoes the design of its neighbor, Hilton Homewood Suites. Vandervert Developments LLC of Spokane is the owner. O’Brien Construction Company Inc. of Kennewick was the general contractor. Russell C. Page Architects of Spokane was the architect.

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

Catholic Charities wants to house the homeless in Pasco BY WENDY CULVERWELL editor@tcjournal.biz

Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington is putting the finishing touches on a $13.2 million, 52-unit housing project to serve chronically homeless people in the Tri-Cities. The Spokane-based religious charity has a deal pending with the city of Pasco for 2.25 acres of vacant land on Heritage Boulevard on Pasco’s east side. It is also finalizing requests for funding through the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, said Jonathan Mallahan, Catholic Charities’ vice president for housing. “The project is really coming along. There’s a high likelihood we’re going to get this off the ground if we get those allocations,” he said. If all goes well, it will break ground in 2020 and open the project, named Father Bach, about a year later. It will be the charity’s first Tri-City project to serve the homeless, but not its first local undertaking. The organization operates farmworker housing in Franklin County. The Father Bach effort fulfills its mission to serve the needy. Housing is a basic human right, Mallahan said. Catholic Charities has applied for a special use permit to build a residential project in what is a mixed industrial and residential neighborhood. The proposed four-story, L-shaped

residential building will include office space for social workers, clinics and other services to support staff. The Father Bach project mirrors similar housing efforts in Spokane and Walla Walla. Mallahan called Heritage Boulevard a great spot for people who need access to services beyond what will be available at Father Bach. It’s close to public transportation and shopping. The building itself is designed to be self-contained to minimize the impact on the neighborhood. It will be fenced with a community garden and on-site recreational facilities. The studio and one-bedroom units will be reserved for people who have experienced chronic homelessness. Catholic Charities will work with local service agencies to identify potential residents. Its Spokane residents were homeless for an average of 10 years before moving into housing there. Mallahan couldn’t say if that will be the same in Pasco, but Catholic Charities is convinced there is a real need for supportive housing in the Tri-Cities. “We could build three of these facilities and have no problem filling them,” he said. A study commissioned by Catholic Charities earlier this year said there are at least 40 chronically homeless people living in the Tri-Cities and that at least 700 people experience homelessness in the Mid-Columbia each year.

Courtesy Robert Vralsted/Architecture All Forms Catholic Community Services of Eastern Washington intends to build a $13.2 million, 52-unit home to serve chronically homeless Tri-Citians in east Pasco.

The study was performed by the Seattle office of Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate firm. The project design includes oversized corridors and abundant natural light, nods to the trauma residents have faced. “It’s a hard transition to move inside. We don’t want people to feel confined,” Mallahan said. Financing is the primary reason it’s building one rather than three. Catholic Charities applied for $2 million in housing trust dollars from

the Washington State Housing Finance Commission and expects to learn if it qualifies around Jan. 1. In January, it will apply for $11.2 million in federal low-income housing tax credits over 10 years. The tax credit program is also administered by the housing finance commission. It hasn’t yet selected a tax credit buyer. Robert Vralsted of Architecture All Forms in Spokane is the architect. Inland Group of Spokane is the contractor.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

’Tis the season to deck the halls, streets, sidewalks BY EAST BENTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The tinsel candles attached to the light poles gave a festive air to Kennewick’s downtown shopping district in 1978, which at the time included shops such as Coin Cradle, Brutzman’s Office Supplies and the Persian Palace. The festive spirit continued in downtown Kennewick with the annual Numerica Hometown Holiday parade held on Dec. 7. The parade featured floats, drummers and the Kennewick High marching band. Some longtime locals may remember the brick planters and concrete toadstool umbrellas featured in the accompanying photo that used to grace the downtown shopping district in its big push for modernization back in the 1970s. At the time of installation, the planters and shade were part of an effort by the Chamber of Commerce to keep retailers and shoppers from migrating west to the recently constructed shopping centers near Highway 395 and Columbia Center mall. Downtown parking was a key issue of the day. Prior to the redesign, much of the downtown streets ran on coin-operated parking meters. With the advent of the mall and free parking, something had to give. Several buildings came down near Washington Street and Kennewick Avenue to make way for more

Courtesy East Benton County Historical Society This view of Kennewick Avenue in 1978 is not just a holiday postcard, it’s a time capsule of downtown Kennewick development as it strived for relevance.

parking. Additionally, many buildings received facelifts to match the more organic and natural style of the time. Changes to facades included stone facias, wooden cladding and shingle fronts. The changes were helpful for a time, but the pull west was inescapable for some businesses. Coin Cradle moved closer to Highway 395; Brutzman’s moved to Columbia Center Boulevard. Everything comes around again. Kennewick’s downtown corridor went

through a bit of a renaissance at the start of the millennium. The streets again were straightened out to make room for more parking around in the early 2000s. The straight streets, while disliked by some, seemed easier to accommodate downtown events, such as the annual car show and shine. The now dated street lights were taken back to a style now considered classic and similar to what had originally lined the avenue. Honey locust trees were planted for shade. Additionally, these changes spread beyond just Kennewick Avenue

to First Avenue and some of the side streets as well. Heritage buildings along the street also were renovated to their original looks. These included the Roxy Theater, the Cascade Building and the building at 15 W. Kennewick Ave. A notable exception was Washington Hardware, which at the time had been key in the original revitalization process. The owners’ comments at the time were they had been through the process once before and they weren’t interested in doing it again. At the East Benton County History Museum, the Benton Theater Gallery features a new exhibit, “Christmas in the County.” It includes two local holiday traditions: Christmas Carol Lane and the Lighted Boat Parade. This exhibit features an original display from the historic neighborhood off Garfield Street and its musical songbook. It also highlights photos and the history of the Clover Island Yacht Club’s annual boat parade upriver. Video presentations of the past year’s boat parades are showing in the theater. Other historic holiday items and classic holiday films also are on display in December. The museum, located at 205 W. Keewaydin Drive, is open noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

PUBLIC RECORD uBANKRUPTCIES Bankruptcies are filed under the following chapter headings: Chapter 7 — Straight Bankruptcy: debtor gives up non-exempt property and debt is discharged. Chapter 11 — Allows companies and individuals to restructure debts to repay them. Chapter 12 — Allows family farmers or fishermen to restructure finances to avoid liquidation for foreclosure. Chapter 13 — Plan is devised by the individual to pay a percentage of debt based on ability to pay. All disposable income must be used to pay debts. Information provided by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Spokane. CHAPTER 7 Mark R. Nelson, 4815 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. Miguel A. and Martiza V. Valdovinos, 4815 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. Ignacio M. Montero, 1001 W. Fourth Ave., Kennewick. Thuy Linh Thi Le, 4811 Flores Lane, Pasco. Faith J. and Connie L. Gambetty, 7701 W. Fourth Ave., Kennewick. Jeffrey Driver, 504 Fallen St., Richland. Veronica Velarde-Acosta, 2017 W. Yakima St., Pasco. Albert Fetterhoff, 205904 E. 13th Ave., Kennewick. Angela C. Leighty, 465 N. Arthur St., Kennewick. Loreen C. Olds, 4604 W. Klamath Ave., Kennewick. Gabriel Delgado, 6626 Chapel Hills Blvd., Pasco. Kara M. Roberts, 10305 Chapel Hill Blvd., Pasco. Aryana Acedillo-Kupaukaa, 6405 Chapel Hill

Blvd., Pasco. Omar and Lola S. Adi, 825 S. Ione St., Kennewick. Gilberto Saucedo, 7471 Road 170, Mesa. Charlotte A. Magula, 4711 N. Dallas Road, West Richland. Adriana Mendoza, 812 N. Cedar, Pasco. Jaime Adams, 4420 W. Octave St., Pasco. David L. and Shelly A. Oglesbee, PO Box 422, Richland. David Henderson, 2306 W. Fourth Ave., Kennewick. Shawn M. and Jade E. Davis, 5604 McKinley Court, Pasco. John F. and Kimberly A. Canario, 2168 N. Vermont Loop, Kennewick. David and Beverly Rivas, 6112 Sandifur Parkway, Pasco. Michael H. Tarr, 9711 Mustang Drive, Pasco. Jose R. S. Rodriguez, 2105 Pullen St., Richland. Veronica M. Romero, 4113 Cornish Lane, Pasco. Byron D. Sparks, 334 N. Union, Kennewick. Diana Blaylock, 5113 Dove Lane, West Richland. Summer Singer, 209 N. Irby St., Kennewick. Deborah A. Hardesty, 2100 N. Quebec St., Kennewick. Patrick C. McWeeney, 7901 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. Margaret L. Wright, 1950 Bellerive Drive, Richland. Vanessa Fabre, 34203 N. Sage Drive, Benton City. Kimberely A. M. Schuler, 9711 Mustang Drive, Pasco. CHAPTER 12 Key Farms, Inc., 10492 Eltopia W. Road, Pasco.

CHAPTER 13 Dee A. Powell, 1402 W. 16th Ave., Kennewick. David W. Corkrum, 6408 Pimlico Drive, Pasco.

uTOP PROPERTIES Top property values listed start at $500,000 and have been rounded to the nearest hundred figure. BENTON COUNTY 92624 Northstar PRNE, West Richland, 2,717-square-foot, residential home on 5 acres. Price: $630,000. Buyer: David & Elaine Perkins. Seller: Scott & Deborah Johnson Trustees. E. Badger Road, Kennewick, 16,78 acres of undeveloped land. Price: $1,700,000. Buyer: Pro Made Construction. Seller: W McKay Construction. 3101 Mt. Rainier Court, West Richland, 2,260-square-foot, residential home on 0.93 acres. Price: $502,900. Buyer: Grant & Jayme Richardson. Seller: Steve & Tracy Richter. 3003 Mt. Rainier Court, West Richland, 3,132-square-foot, residential home on 1.31 acres. Price: $525,000. Buyer: Aaron & Monica Riggs. Seller: Kristie Hough. 68203 S. Meals Road, Kennewick, 3,239-square-foot, residential home on 3.3 acres. Price: $595,000. Buyer: Danielle Torres. Seller: Kevin & Paula Smith. 7501 W. Deschutes Place, Kennewick, 14,972-square-foot, commercial building on 0.52 acres. Price: $3,485,000. Buyer: Agena. Seller: Los Tres Amigos. 9 N. Waverly Place, Kennewick, 22,284-square-foot, commercial building on 0.77 acres. Price: $2,750,000. Buyer: Galt Ventures. Seller: 7D Development at Dolphin Apartments. 100926 Brandon Drive, Kennewick, 4,033-square-foot, residential home on 0.98

acres. Price: $724,900. Buyer: Brent & Nicole Crabtree. Seller: Susan Fick. 7139 W. Hood Place, Kennewick, 5,640-square-foot, commercial building. Price: $1,075,000. Buyer: RSH Investments. Seller: Celski Commercial. 91102 E. Badger View Road, Kennewick, 3,833-square-foot, residential home on 1.57 acres. Price: $660,000. Buyer: Gregory & Allison Edwards. Seller: Bruce & Peggy Flint. 1781 Silver Court, Richland, 3,212-squarefoot, residential home. Price: $516,500. Buyer: Rachel & Carlito Affogante. Seller: Jobey & Jennifer Smith. 8109 W. Grandridge Blvd., Kennewick, 7,670-square-foot, commercial building on 0.66 acres. Price: $1,900,000. Buyer: Olson Family Group. Seller: David & Linda Denchel Trustees. 2420 Tiger Lane, Richland, 2,684-square-foot, residential home. Price: $522,000. Buyer: John & Mary Ondrak. Seller: Jack & Connie Presson. 646 Summit St., Richland, 4,432-square-foot, residential home on 0.51 acres. Price: $907,000. Buyer: Bruce & Patricia Covert. Seller: Saumyajit & Deepshikha Datta. 8661 W. 11st Ave., Kennewick, 1 lot of undeveloped land. Price: $555,000. Buyer: Ralph & Jolene Broz. Seller: LaPierre Enterprises. 1001 N. Volland St., Kennewick, 3,124-squarefoot, commercial building. Price: $1,150,000. Buyer: Bhartu Ram. Seller: Balwinder Kumari. 172 Andrea Lane, Richland, 3,568-square-foot, residential home. Price: $515,000. Buyer: Jeffrey & Bree Muai. Seller: Lance & Courtney Frisbee. 1135 Country Ridge Drive, Richland, 1,967-square-foot, residential home on 0.75 acres. Price: $535,000. Buyer: Johnathan & Teresa Coats. Seller: Marilyn McDonald. 1686 Pisa Lane, Richland, 3,509-square-foot, residential home. Price: $739,900. Buyer: Lance

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page 68

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019

PUBLIC RECORD, From page 67 & Courtney Frisbee. Seller: Johnathan & Teresa Coats. 3377 River Valley Drive, Richland, 2,899 -square-foot, residential home. Price: $540,000. Buyer: Marilyn McDonald. Seller: Richard & Bonnie Raymond. 1906 S. Buntin St., Kennewick, 1,870-squarefoot, residential home on 4.23 acres. Price: $500,000. Buyer: R3T Ventures. Seller: Dennis McCrea. 138211 W. 206 PRSW, Prosser, 3,025-squarefoot, residential home on 5.18 acres. Price: $620,000. Buyer: Philip & Anita Maasen. Seller: Nathan & Byrne Vanvickle. 26736 S. 1998 PRSE, Kennewick, 2,120-square-foot, residential home on 2.5 acres. Price: $515,000. Buyer: Scott & Jodee Peyton. Seller: Ronald & Melanie Appleby. 1438 Badger Mountain Loop, Richland, 2,592-square-foot, residential home. Price: $550,000. Buyer: Neil & Cheryl Nissing Trustees. Seller: Matthew & Aimee Gebarowski. 85704 E. Sagebrush Road, Kennewick, 2,673-square-foot, residential home on 0.65 acres. Price: $529,000. Buyer: Leonard & Jennifer Ayres. Seller: Stephen Schab. 386 Columbia Point Drive, Unit 305, Richland, 2,981-square-foot, residential home. Price: $529,900. Buyer: Cleveland & Hollie Mooers. Seller: Gregory Mitchem. 3305 W. 47th Ave., Kennewick, 3,267-squarefoot, residential home on 0.89 acres. Price: $513,000. Buyer: Emily Nicoara & Andrew Curtis. Seller: Victoria Gravenslund. 2210 Legacy Lane, Richland, 0.71 acres of undeveloped land. Price: $901,800. Buyer: Douglas & Sara Mans. Seller: Pahlisch Homes at Westcliffe Heights. 710 Summit St., Richland, 0.46 acres of undeveloped land. Price: $611,000. Buyer: Sourabh Kubawat. Seller: Reena Sharma. 1615 E. Chemical Drive, Kennewick, 21,068-square-foot, commercial building on 3.9 acres. Price: $1,088,000. Buyer: Warrior Investments. Seller: Michael & Marissa Hillman. 1204 Plateau Drive, Richland, 3,011-squarefoot, residential home. Price: $574,900. Buyer: Jessica Hibler. Seller: Prama Chakravarti. 1790 Brianna Court, Richland, 2,425-squarefoot, residential home. Price: $615,000. Buyer: Benjamin & Mary Hummel. Seller: Robert &

Kelly Weissenfels. 2604 Falconcrest Loop, Richland, 3,176-square-foot, residential home. Price: $855,000. Buyer: Falcon Lane Investments. Seller: Prodigy Homes. Gentle Court; Carefree Loop; Serenity Court, West Richland, 11 lots of undeveloped land. Price: $605,000. Buyer: Green Plan Construction. Seller: Community Housing. 37 Columbia Point Drive Richland, 6,240-square-foot, residential home on 0.92 acres. Price: $1,200,000. Buyer: Columbia Point 3739. Seller: Paul & Joan Wimmer Trustees. 16601 S. Grandview Lane, Kennewick, 4,183-square-foot, residential home on 0.52 acres. Price: $690,000. Buyer: Michael & Kimberly Christanson. Seller: Colin & Eugerie Hanley. FRANKLIN COUNTY 12116 Clark Ford Road, Pasco, 2,562-squarefoot, residential home on 0.5 acres. Price: $521,700. Buyer: Mark & Patricia Huff. Seller: Hammerstrom Construction. Undisclosed location, 3.95 acres of undeveloped land. Price: $688,200. Buyer: TSK 2019. Seller: Parvinder Kaur. Hunter Road and Whiskey River Road, Pasco, 9 lots of undeveloped land. Price: $1,170,000. Buyer: P&R Construction. Seller: Rodney & Julie Burns. 6500 Nocking Point Road, Pasco, 1 lot of undeveloped land. Price: $577,200. Buyer: Leonel & Sandra Guzman. Seller: Alderbrook Investments. 12114 Blackfoot Drive, Pasco, 1 lot of undeveloped land. Price: $558,700. Buyer: Ericka Jordan. Seller: Hammerstrom Construction. Undisclosed location, 0.68 acres of residential land. Price: $500,000. Buyer: Darrell & Melody Otness. Seller: Greg & Melissa Olson. 8718 W. Richardson Road, Pasco, 2,794-square-foot, residential home on 2.81 acres. Price: $550,000. Buyer: Aaron & Michele Brooks. Seller: Dennis & Terrie Zeigler.

uBUILDING PERMITS Building permit values have been rounded to the nearest hundred figure.

BENTON COUNTY Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, 193106 S. 593 PR SW, $153,900 for new commercial construction. Contractor: Kralman Steel Structures. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, 239653 S. Canoe Ridge Road, $138,600 for new commercial construction. Contractor: Kralman Steel Structures. Richard Shaw, 60195 N. Demoss Road, $415,600 for new commercial construction. Contractor: Steel Structures America. FRANKLIN COUNTY City of Pasco, 957 E. Foster Wells Road, Pasco, $5,237,000 for new commercial construction. Contractor: Apollo Inc. Columbia River Old German Baptist Church, 4135 Dogwood Road, Pasco, $500,500 for new commercial construction. Contractor: C&E Trenching. Old German Baptist Church, 3010 Ringold Road, Eltopia, $1,192,300 for new commercial construction. Contractor: Circle K Enterprises. KENNEWICK Kennewick Truck, 900 E. Bruneau Ave., $18,200 for tenant improvements. Contractor: Flores Landscaping. Wallace Properties, 2905 W. Kennewick Ave., $11,600 for a sign and $10,000 for tenant improvements. Contractors: Signcraft and Storecrafters. The Mac Sports Co, 7113 W. Okanogan Place, $1,700,000 for new commercial construction and $90,000 for plumbing. Contractors: Vine Street Partners and Riggle Plumbing. Charles Mitchell, 1031 W. Columbia Drive, $130,000 for new commercial construction. Contractor: T3 Construction. Hiline Leasing, 712 S. Washington St., $87,500 for commercial remodel, $23,600 for HVAC and $21,000 for plumbing. Contractors: owner, Jacobs & Rhodes and Riggle Plumbing. Streetrodz Unlimited, 901 E. Chemical Drive, $535,000 for new commercial construction, $11,400 for HVAC and $16,000 for plumbing. Contractors: CRF Metal Works, Bruce Mechanical and Evergreen Plumbing. Juan Ramirez, 504 N. Fruitland St., $25,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: owner. CCH Executive Suites, 1030 N. Center

Parkway, $28,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: Legacy Telecommunications. Tesoro Refining, 5208 W. Clearwater Ave., $15,000 for a sign. Contractor: Promotion Plus Sign Co. Kennewick Public Hospital, 3810 Plaza Way, $9,000 for a sign. Contractor: Quality Signs. Wannarachue Trust, 721 S. Auburn St., $32,000 for commercial reroof. Contractor: Palmer Roofing Co. Kennewick Baptist Church, 2436 W. Albany Ave., $7,000 for HVAC. Contractor: M Campbell & Co. Loren Anderson, 4303 W. 24th Ave., $24,000 for a sign. Contractor: Mustang Sign Group. Benton County, 7122 W. Okanogan Place, $212,500 for commercial remodel and $27,500 for plumbing. Contractors: Banlin Construction Co. and Columbia River Plumbing & Mechanical. Breit SP MF Kennewick, 7803 W. Deschutes Ave., $281,300 for commercial reroof. Contractor: Royal Roofing. R&R Associate, 815 W. Columbia Drive, $8,500 for tenant improvements and $32,000 for HVAC. Contractor: Western Equipment Sales. PASCO Tim Corwin Family RV, 1226 N. Autoplex Way, $25,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: LCR Construction. Pasco School District, 9011 Burns Road, $101,800 for a fire alarm system. Contractor: Fire Control Sprinkler Systems. MB Smith Properties, 2705 St. Andrews Loop, $60,000 for commercial reroof. Contractor: Royal Roofing. Tim Corwin Family RV, Parcel 119 370 146, $60,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: LCR Construction. Tim Corwin Family RV, Parcel 119 402 058, $25,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: LCR Construction. Tim Corwin Family RV, 3200 W. Octave St., $140,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: LCR Construction. Spokane Teachers Credit Union, 4812 Athens Drive, $313,800 for a fire alarm system. Contractor: Camtek Inc. First Congregational Church of Pasco, 9915 W. Argent Road, $8,300 for HVAC. Contractor:

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page 69

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019 PUBLIC RECORD, From page 68 M Campbell & Company. Tri-Cities Community Health, 515 W. Court St., $19,000 for plumbing. Contractor: Elite Construction & Development. Sohal Truck Wash, 3508 N. Capitol Ave., $30,000 for a sign. Contractor: YESCO. Walmart, 4820 Road 68, $8,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: to be determined. Pasco One, 4501 Road 68, $15,000 for a sign. Contractor: Mustang Sign Group. Hogback Sandifur, 5710 Road 68, $229,800 for tenant improvements. Contractor: Stephens & Sons Construction. Port of Pasco, 2100 E. Ainsworth, $50,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: Apollo Sheet Metal. Pacwest Machinery, 1249 N. California Ave., $1,208,600 for new commercial construction. Contractor: Baker Construction & Development. Numerica Credit Union, 4845 Broadmoor Blvd., $88,000 for a sign. Contractor: Baldwin Sign Company. Columbia Basin College, 2600 N. 20th Ave., $30,000 for an antenna and $15,000 for commercial addition. Contractors: Mastec Network Solutions and Burton Construction. Peninsula International, 1440 N. 20th Ave., $6,000 for a sign. Contractor: Promotion Plus Sign Co. Donald Ireland, 836 S. Third Ave., $62,200 for a commercial remodel. Contractor: owner. Numerica Credit Union, 4845 Broadmoor Blvd., $11,000 for a sign and $6,400 for a fire alarm system. Contractors: Quality Signs and Fire Control Sprinkler Systems. Port of Pasco, 1810 E. Ainsworth Ave., $5,000 for commercial construction. Contractor: Bleyhl Farm Service. Franklin County, 1016 N. Fourth Ave., $9,700 for tenant improvements. Contractor: MP Construction. Simplot-RDO, 1825 N. Commercial Ave., $15,300 for a sign. Contractor: Quality Signs. St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1320 W. Henry St., $78,000 for HVAC. Contractor: Bruce Mechanical. PROSSER Yakima Federal Savings, 601 Market St., $7,600 for HVAC. Contractor: M Campbell & Company. RICHLAND Breit SP MF Richland, 2550 Duportail St., $76,100 for commercial reroof. Contractor: Royal Roofing. Twin Dolphin Apartments, 160 Van Giesen St., $100,000 for tenant improvements and $38,000 for plumbing. Contractors: Ramjack West and Roto-Rooter Serivce. Zentitram Properties, 1125 Aaron Drive, $5,000 for a sign. Contractor: Quality Signs. Hanford House Hospitality, 802 George Washington Way, $3,000,000 for tenant improvements. Contractor: Fowler General Construction. Drywall Interiors, 431 Wellsian Way, $16,100 for tenant improvements. Contractor: The Cabinet Shop NW. Kadlec Regional Medical Center, 945 Goethals Drive, $105,400 for tenant improvements. Contractor: Bouten Construction Co. Sands Condominium, 1305 Goethals Drive, $14,000 for tenant improvements. Contractor: Affordable Handyman Services. Richland Players, 608 The Parkway, $26,400 for HVAC. Contractor: Delta Heating & Cooling. CP Apartments, 1682 Jadwin Ave., $8,928,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: Wilshire Pacific Builders. Kadlec Regional Medical Center, 888 Swift Blvd., $75,200 for commercial remodel. Contractor: Bouten Construction Co. Energy Northwest, 350 Hills St., $22,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: Bestebreur Bros. Construction. Ben Franklin Transit, 1010 Knight St., $85,500 for tenant improvements. Contractor: Elite Construction & Development. First Creekside, 1650 Mowry Square, $42,500 for commercial reroof. Contractor: Palmer Roofing Co. WEST RICHLAND Benton Fire District 4, 8031 Keene Road, $3,400,000 for new commercial construction and $152,700 for HVAC. Contractors: G2 Commercial Construction and Hurlman Heating. Bush Living Trust, 3220 Kennedy Road, $45,000 for a sign. Contractor: YESCO.

uBUSINESS LICENSES Business Licenses can be found online at http://bit.ly/TCPublicRecord At press time, city of Richland business licenses were not available.

KENNEWICK Suburban Propane, 620 SE Eaton Blvd., Battle Ground. Urban Radiance, 19 N. Cascade St. Audi Construction, 151 S. Worthen St., Wenatchee. E&L Construction, 2108 N. Road 30, Pasco. Team Construction, 6701 NE 42nd St., Vancouver. Retail Construction Services, 11343 39th St. N., Lake Elmo, Minnesota. Doc JC Solutions, 750 N. Pittsburg St. Sprint 3313, 830 N. Columbia Center Blvd. Hernandez Beauty-N-Barber Salon, 308 S. Olympia St. Switch Electric, 7226 139th Ave. NE, Lake Stevens. Fred Meyer, 2811 W. 10th Ave. Codafogo, 3501 S. Volland St. Desert Sands MFD Home Contractors, PO Box 99, Pendleton, Oregon. J&H Construction Services, 615 S. Waldemar Ave., Pasco. Fitness Solutions for Woman, 1722 W. 14th Ave. Agile Elder Law, 3315 S. Bowdish Road, Spokane Valley. R. Homes, 8607 Packard Drive, Pasco. Greater Columbia Accountable Community of Health, 8836 W. Gage Blvd. A-Bomb Massage, 201 N. Edison St. T-Mobile Leasing, 124 S. Ely St. M Davis Consulting, 3608 W. Fourth Place. Gemmell’s Welding and Fabrication, 505 S. 26th Ave, Pasco. Lexar Homes-Yakima, 2410 Terrace Heights Drive, Yakima. J and Brothers General Construction, 2009 N. Road 34, Pasco. Rick Folkman DC, 1721 W. Kennewick Ave. Gonzales Boring & Tunneling, PO Box 187, North Plains, Oregon. Stephens & Sons Construction, 417 S. 51st Ave, Yakima.

D.R. Services, 4903 W. 24th Ave. Permittechnation, 1316 S. Irby St. First Interstate Bank, 8127 W. Grandridge Blvd. Alano Masonry, 6001 Pimlico Drive, Pasco. Dzab Family Trucking, 4404 W. Hood Ae. Pie Joy, 226 N. Fruitland St. Strata, 350 Hyacinth Road, Mason. DMCPC, 2011 N. Eden Road, Spokane Valley. Chaya Beauty, 2417 W. Kennewick Ave. AA&AA Construction, 1719 W. Fifth Place. Monarca Ice Cream, 1321 N. Columbia Center Blvd. Marquint Cleaning, 601 S. Kent St. The Sweet Shop, 1912 S. Ione St. The New Direction Project, 1213 N. Morain Loop. Armadillo Boring, PO Box 12219, Salem, Oregon. El Marino Taco Truck, 605 N. Gum St. Budget Construction, 2313 Pullen St., Richland. Landscape and Lawn Care Unlimited Services, 3407 W. Hood Ave. Wavelengths, 5009 W. Clearwater Ave. Layered Cake Artistry, 117 W. Kennewick Ave. T-Mobile Financial, 124 S. Ely St. Cinco de Mayo Family Restaurant, 3600 W. Clearwater Ave. Ride App, 2004 S. Olympia St. Valiant Homes, 725 W. 32nd Ave. Windsong at Southridge, 4000 W. 24th Ave. True North Management Services, 940 Biltmore Drive, Fenton, Missouri. Fondita Ilucion, 415 S. Rainier St. Ameresco, 222 Williams Ave. S., Suite 1, Renton. Wendell Holdings, 712 S. Ely St. T-Mobile West, 124 S. Ely St. VEC3 Construction, 4202 S. Kent St. Black Diamond Excavating, 4803 Saffron Court, Pasco. SV Event Planning, 624 E. Eighth Ave. Sure Built Structures, 5971 Deer St., West Richland. Woody’s Bullpen Bar & Grille, 4128 W. Clearwater Ave. Goodall Ag Repair, 26 N. Lyle St. Neat N Klean, 506 S. Juniper St. Underground Creative, 212 W. Kennewick Ave. King Dings Phillies and Wings, 703 S. Conway St. Boiada Brazilian Grill, 8418 W. Gage Blvd.

Barr Holdings, 1620 W. Fourth Ave. KT’s Construction Services, 36603 N. Teresa Lane, Benton City. Phoenix Radiological Solutions, 316 S. Olson St. Cedars at Pier One, 355 Clover Island Drive. Salon of Misfits, 312 N. Neel St. Potentials Construction, 5908 W. 20th Ave. Peace by Piece Therapy, 100 N. Fruitland St. Nana’s Tamales X-press, 212 W. Kennewick Ave. Conveyor & Rubber Resources, 3231 S. Conway Drive. Titanium Health, 15 N. Auburn St. Global Trac, 508 Hill Drive, Eltopia. Jim’s Customs, 226 N. Fruitland St. Columbia Basin Shear Service, 327 S. Buchanan Court. Be Present Layout Design Studio, 109 S. Louisiana St. Galaxy Landscaping, 6006 Ochoco Lane, Pasco. New Age Media, 1506 W. Fourth Place. Sash Wedding Rentals & Custom Décor, 132 Spring St., Richland. Still Rad Studios, 210 N. Perry St. Puddle Jumper, 3008 W. 47th Ave. Jump in Love, 6914 W. Third Ave. Kyle B. Photography, 7803 W. Deschutes Ave. Kastellan360, 3324 W. 19th Ave. Blankenship Bros. Racing, 614 N. Underwood St. Jatembs, 7010 W. Eighth Ave. Testcomm, 2211 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane. Dermatology Solutions, 8503 W. Clearwater Ave. Guardant Group, 8836 W. Gage Blvd. Stark Naked Fabrication, 427 S. Union St. MacDonald Healthcare, 6515 W. Clearwater Ave. SP Interpreting, 1548 N. Edison St. VVS Entertainment, 34 Vista Way. Best Week Ever Consulting, 5501 W. 23rd Ave. MJ Investment, 6830 W. First Ave. R-Squared Consulting, 2804 S. Dawes Place. Tetyanas Interpreting, 317 W. 21st Ave. Meg Williams Yoga, 4211 W. Hood Ave. PNW Environmental Consulting & Construction, 7230 W. 15th Ave. Level Up Construction, 99304 E. Clover Road.

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019

PUBLIC RECORD, From page 69 Senior Moments, 3617 Plaza Way. Finding Yesterdays, 307 S. Perry Place. Sprouts Dance, 7203 W. 15th Ave. 7D Development at Herald Building, 410 Fanning Road, Pasco. Top Spa, 7903 W. Grandridge Blvd. The Jordan Insurance Group, 7103 W. Clearwater Ave. Gallitos General Contractor, 218505 E. Cochran Road. HRJ, 1321 N. Columbia Center Blvd. Mercylux, 4406 W. Seventh Ave. PASCO Assured Quality Roofing, 1830 W. Seventh Ave., Kennewick. First Step Community Counseling, 3221 W. Court St. Sequential, 3305 N. Commercial Ave. The Thomas Talent Group, 6612 Yankee Drive. Tacos mi Ilucion, 2216 E. Hillsboro Road. Haze Power Athletes, 8425 Chapel Hill Blvd., Suite B. Accurate Drone Services, 5702 Wrigley Drive. GR General Contracting, 5515 Oriole Lane. JM Wilson Construction, 152 Hills West Way, Richland. FedEx Office and Print Services, 4802 Road 68. HDZ Construction Services, 3721 W. Jay St. Trustar Energy, 10225 Philadelphia Court, Rancho Cucamonga, California. McColeman, 8823 Sandifur Parkway. Sonilex Industries, 2505 N. Commercial Ave. Digital Repo, 5908 Thistledown Drive. Four Seasons Construction, 224 W. 21st Ave., Kennewick. Rosetta Pasco, 5921 Road 60. A&J Primary Deliveries, 2505 W. Marie St. Rock Landscaping, 530 N. Edison St., Kennewick. Groupag, 404 ½ N. 2 East, Rexburg, Indiana. Google Voice, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, California. J&V Concrete, 1720 W. Court St. Moor Divine General Contractor, 719 Jadwin Ave., Richland. Colossus Construction, 4111 Riverhill Drive. Goodlife Fitness, 218 W. Lewis St. Carlie Berry Piano Studio, 4211 Cochins Lane.

Livewire Solutions, 8820 Massey Drive. Country Line Strawberries, 501 Lower Country Line Road, Prosser. Candles and Silk, 146 Van Giesen St., Richland. All Star Countertops Granite and Quartz, 1004 S. Vercler Road, Spokane. CP Mechanical, 1505 S. 70th Ave., Yakima. Sidco, 29 W. 14th Ave., Kennewick. Nextiva, 8125 N. 86th Place, Scottsdale, Arizona. Skone Irrigation, 1304 E. Hillsboro Road. Amaris Skin Rejuvenation & Spa, 1620 Road 44. Custom Graphics, 303 N. 20th Ave., Suite C. Fabian Ubay Fotografia y Video, 3311 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. Level Up Construction, 99304 E. Clover Road, Kennewick. Traveler Mobile Espresso, 6007 W. Okanogan Loop, Kennewick. R&L Painting, 5008 Reagan Way. RLD Advisory, 2320 Sylvester St. Romero’s Contractors, 1818 W. Marie St. 2 Brothers Stone Masonry, 1007 S. Fifth Ave. USA Drywall, 720 W. River St. True Hair & Beauty, 8425 Chapel Hill Blvd. Northwest Spinal Rehab, 3603 W. Court St. Aimparable’s Nutrition Center, 430 W. Columbia St. Hometown Electric Tri-Cities, 6703 W. Willamette Ave., Kennewick. Switch Electric, 7226 139th Ave. NW, Lake Stevens. Summit Roofing, 850 Orchadvale Road, Zillah. La Voz Del Valle, 1123 Fourth SE, Wenatchee. Kraft Diesel Repair, 3165 Hanson Loop, Burbank. Above the Line Cleaning and Grocery Delivery, 161 Merrill Road, Walla Walla. Tri-City Cab, 1740 N. 22nd Ave. Lexar Homes-Yakima, 2410 Terrace Heights Drive, Yakima. Olga’s Barber and Beauty Salon, 118 N. Fifth Ave. Royal Citizen Painters, 1326 Mahan Ave., Richland. Paloma’s Daycare, 2920 W. Ella St. Mission Express, 1530 W. Clark St. PNW Environmental Consulting & Construction, 7230 W. 15th Ave., Kennewick. T&J Home Maintenance, 132 Mountain View Lane, Richland.

Amp Electric, 9202 W. Gage Blvd., Kennewick. RC Mechanical, 8028 E. Woodview Drive, Spokane. Murphey’s Construction, 124501 W. Heck Road, Prosser. Galaxy Landscaping, 6006 Ochoco Lane. Super Clean, 527 Pradera Court. Sash Wedding Rentals & Custom Décor, 132 Spring St., Richland. Valiant Homes, 725 W. 32nd Ave., Kennewick. WEST RICHLAND CB Electric, 605 S. 123rd Ave., Yakima. H.B. Painters, 6562 W. Brinkley Road, Kennewick. Superior Glass, 6476 W. Brinkley Road, Kennewick. Blind Systems, 212 E. Pacific, Spokane. Columbia Basin Striping, 1061 Road K 8 NE, Moses Lake. Hurlman Heating & Air Conditioning, 515 S. Dishman Mica Road, Spokane Valley. Dunn Wright Roofing & Exteriors, 1728 N. 18th Ave., Pasco. Family Resource Home Care, 6855 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. Temp-A-Cure, 15028 S. Curtis Court, Oregon City, Oregon. Hatton Homes, 6119 W. Pearl St., Pasco. Pools by Mirage, 7422 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. Columbia Energy & Environmental Services, 2701 Salk Ave., Richland. Systematic Wood Designs, 909 W. Main St., Walla Walla. MPJ Painting, 5616 W. Court St., Pasco. Green View Landscaping and Irrigation, 59 Nuclear Lane, Richland. Ysira, 5601 Glenbrook Loop. Sure Built Structures, 5971 Deer St. Reve Exteriors, 8318 W. Gage Blvd., Kennewick. AA&AA Construction, 1719 W. Fifth Place, Kennewick. Dynasty Construction, 8350 W. Grandridge Blvd., Kennewick. Yieldstreet, 300 Park Ave., New York, New York. Solara Solar, 324 W. Yakima Ave., Yakima. 360 Painting of Central Washington, 1010 S. 101st Ave., Yakima.

uJUDGMENTS The state can file lawsuits against people or businesses that do not pay taxes and then get a judgment against property that person or business owns. Judgments are filed in BentonFranklin Superior Court. The following is from the Franklin County Superior Court Clerk’s Office. Manuel A. Gomez, unpaid Department of Licensing taxes, filed Nov. 4. MG Exteriors, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 4. 3 Elements Restoration, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 4. Ram General Contracting, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 6. Sue J. Trass, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 6. Eleazar Salinas, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 6. Fidel Barajas, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 6. Jorge A. Fraga, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 7. Earl Moody, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 7. Daniel Alvarez, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 8. Alida B. Salas, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed Nov. 8. Navarro Orchards, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed Nov. 8. Carniceria Los Toreros #2, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 12. Alex B. Najera, MD PS, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 13. Andres L. Azpeitia, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 13. Fidel C. Valencia, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 13. Omega Sheet Metal HVAC, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed Nov. 13. Barajas Auto Body, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 13. Jose L. Serratos Olguin, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 15. Aissa A. Flores, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18.

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Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business • December 2019 PUBLIC RECORD, From page 70 Chouane Keoamphay, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Froilan Veliz, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Raul C. Guardado, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Fontaine Miley, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Jose J. Godinez, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Katherine Covarrubias, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Jose L. Aguilar, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Izaiah C. Sabala, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Robert J. Erb, unpaid Employment Security Department taxes, filed Nov. 18. Willys Mexican Restaurant, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 18. A&C General Contractors, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 18. Norma’s Laundry, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 18. Carniceria Los Toreros, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 19. Jesus M. Perez, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 19. Miranda Construction, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed Nov. 19.

uLIQUOR LICENSES Information provided by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board. BENTON COUNTY NEW APPLICATIONS Jackalope Bar & Grill, 107 Vista Way, Kennewick. License type: spirits/beer/wine restaurant lounge. Application type: assumption. Sake Espress Sushi & Teriyaki, 2576 Queensgate Drive, Richland. License type: beer/ wine restaurant. Application type: new. Cinco De Mayo Family Restaurant, 3600 W. Clearwater Ave., Suite G, Kennewick. License type: sprits/beer/wine restaurant lounge. Application type: change of location. Excalibur Pizza, 420 S. Vancouver St., Kennewick. License type: beer/wine restaurant. Application type: new. Woody’s Bullpen Bar & Grille, 4128 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick. License type: direct shipment receiver in/out of Washington; spirits/beer/wine restaurant lounge; kegs to go. Application type: new. APPROVED Fairchild Cinemas, 2823 S. Quillan St., Kennewick. License type: direct shipment receiver in/out of Washington. Application type: new. Shell Family Food Mart, 33 Goethals Drive, Richland. License type: beer/wine grocery store. Application type: change of corporate officer. Stick and Stone, 3027 Duportail St., Suite D, Richland. License type: beer/wine restaurant. Application type: assumption. Ros Wine Company, 500 Merlot Drive, Prosser. License type: domestic winery < 250,000 liters. Application type: change of corporate officer. The Growler Guys, 110 Gage Blvd., Suite 204, Richland. License type: direct shipment receiver in/out of Washington. Application type: assumption.

Above the Curve Vineyard, 67228 W. Island View PRNW, Prosser. License type: domestic winery < 250,000 liters. Application type: new. Boiada Brazilian Grill, 8418 W. Gage Blvd., Kennewick. License type: direct shipment receiver in Washington only. Application type: new. Friends Corner #2, 5151 Trowbridge Blvd., Richland. License type: beer/wine grocery store. Application type: new. DISCONTINUED Su Karne Meat Market and Deli, 402 N. Ely St., Kennewick. License type: beer/wine grocery store. FRANKLIN COUNTY NEW APPLICATIONS Xpress Mart, 1724 W. Clark St., Suite C, Pasco. License type: beer/wine grocery store. Application type: new. APPROVED Connell Gas & Food Mart, 457 S. Columbia Ave., Connell. License type: direct shipment receiver in Washington only. Application type: change of corporate officer. Porter’s Real Barbecue, 7425 Sandifur Parkway, Suite 103, Pasco. License type: beer/ wine restaurant. Application type: new.

uMARIJUANA LICENSES Information provided by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board. BENTON COUNTY NEW APPLICATIONS Cepran Corp., 56005 N. Thomas Road, Suite A, Benton City. License type: marijuana producer tier 3. Application type: assumption. Cepran Corp., 28503 W. Orcutt Road, Benton City. License type: marijuana processor. Application type: assumption.

Common Roots Cannabis, 22604 Hosko Road, Prosser. License type: marijuana producer tier 3; marijuana processor. Application type: assumption. APPROVED Cannabees Logistics, 17504 W. Yakitat Place NW, Suite A, Benton City. License type: marijuana transportation. Application type: new. Pure Tran, 233757 E. SR 397, Kennewick. License type: marijuana producer tier 3. Application type: added fees. FRANKLIN COUNTY APPROVED The Lucky Leaf, 3411 N. Capitol Ave., Suite A, Pasco. License type: marijuana retailer. Application type: change of corporate officer.

uBUSINESS UPDATES NEW BUSINESSES Del Taco has opened at 155 Wellsian Way in Richland. The restaurant serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, burgers and more. Hours: 6 a.m. to midnight Monday through Sunday. Contact: 509300-0037, deltaco.com. Dovetail Joint Restaurant has opened at 1368 Jadwin Ave. in Richland. The restaurant serves locally sourced, made-from-scratch food. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Contact: 509-578-1919, dovetailjointrestaurant.com. Columbia Regional Center for TMJ and Orofacial Pain has opened at 1363 Columbia Park Trail, Suite 101 in Richland. The clinic offers compassionate care of patients with pain and dysfunction of the head, neck and face that interferes with health and quality of life. Hours: 8 a.m. 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Contact: 509-578-5770, columbiatmjandpain.com. ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS Charter Communications Inc. has opened a Spectrum Store at 1102 N. Columbia Center

Blvd., Kennewick. Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Contact: 888-406-7063, spectrum. com. Columbia Point Vision Clinic has opened a new location at 3200 Duportail St., Suite 101 in Richland. Hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. Contract: 509-943-6565, columbiapointvision. com. Harbor Freight Tools has opened a new location at 2903 W. Kennewick Ave. in Kennewick. Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Contact: 509-873-3636, harborfreight.com. Jamba has opened a new location at 7425 Sandifur Parkway, Suite 101 in Pasco. Hours: 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Contact: 509-380-5052, jamba.com. Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches has opened a new location at 5025 Road 68, Suite J101 in Pasco. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday. Contact: 509-3800088, jimmyjohns.com. Fairchild Cinemas has opened a new theater, Southgate 10, at 2823 S. Quillan St. in Kennewick. Contact: 509-544-0780, fairchildcinemas.com. Porter’s Real Barbecue has opened a new location at 7425 Sandifur Parkway, Suite 103 in Pasco. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Contact: 509-942-9590, portersrealbbq.com. Roasters Coffee has opened two new locations: 2615 W. Vancouver St. in Kennewick and 9025 Center Parkway in Richland. Hours: 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Contact: roasterscoffee.net. CLOSED Showtime Subs at 950 George Washington Way in Richland has closed. Edible Arrangements at 8530 W. Gage Blvd. in Kennewick has closed.

Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019