Journal of Business + Hanford - April 2022

April 2022 Volume 21 | Issue 4

Local Bounti ‘pauses’ $40M Pasco greenhouse

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

Hanford

A specialty publication of the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business Page C1

Diversity

Longtime community leader works to make an impact Page A21

Real Estate & Construction

Transit hub to anchor development near Queensgate wine village Page B1

NOTEWORTHY “All the major decisions in life are made over a cup of coffee. That’s kind of my idea. I want people to slow down here.”

-Nena Cosic, owner of Café Magnolia

Page B5

Local Bounti Corp., the Montana ag startup behind one of the biggest economic development wins in 2021, has “paused” construction of its $40 million greenhouse complex in east Pasco.

The Pasco facility was supposed to be the second in a network of high-tech complexes where Local Bounti planned to cultivate lettuce, herbs and other greens in its pursuit of a share of the $30 billion U.S. market. The first is at its Hamilton, Montana, headquarters.

Local Bounti said it remained committed to building the facility, but was pausing to assess its needs after it entered a $123 million deal to acquire Hollandia Produce Group Inc., an established California indoor farming company that operates under the name Pete’s.

The pause, which includes stripping the construction site of all equipment other than a water tank, will “ensure that its design is fully optimized to drive best-in-class unit economics and that synergies with Pete’s existing growing systems are considered prior to continuing construction,” it said in its first-ever 10-K annual report, filed March 30 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company dismissed questions that it was unhappy with the local developer and said the property, at Oregon Avenue and A Street near Big Pasco Industrial Park, is not for sale.

Matt Dallas, a spokesman, said Local Bounti sees demand for fresh produce rising in the Tri-Cities. Its existing network of greenhouses is not capable of keeping up with expected demand, he said in response to questions from the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

The company will provide an update on the Pasco project in its first quarter earnings report in May. Dallas added that Local Bounti felt welcomed by the Pasco community and remains “very excited” about the project.

Established in 2018, Local Bounti became a publicly traded company in January 2021 when it merged with a special purpose acquisition corporation formed for that purpose, Leo uLOCAL BOUNTI, Page A4

Courtesy Douglas Browning Homes A custom home under construction by Douglas Browning Homes, a Tri-City builder specializing in upscale homes. The $1 million-plus market is taking off, brokers say.

Luxury market takes off while estate-worthy land lags behind

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

Nearly 5,000 new and existing homes sold in the Tri-Cities in 2021.

While most would be considered midrange, a small but growing number carried seven-figure price tags.

The top tier of the housing market tends to get overlooked in an economy where midrange homes – currently considered those in the $300,000-$500,000-plus range – sell in days. About 2,800 of the homes sold last year fell into this category.

But a growing number sold for $1 million or more, according to the Tri-City Association of Realtors, which recorded 35 such sales in 2021.

Within that group, the median price was

$1.14 million. The most expensive home closed for about $3 million in 2021, more than twice the highest price paid five years earlier, $1.2 million.

“It wasn’t that long ago that a $1 million home in the Tri-Cities was unheard of,” said Ron Almberg, president of the Realtors association and managing broker for Keller Williams Realty. “Now it’s ordinary.”

Strong demand means more homes will hit the million-dollar range, joining a growing number of custom-built homes that start north of $1 million. It’s a market that is here to stay, brokers say.

A luxury market focus Coldwell Banker Tomlinson serving Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana is creuDREAM HOMES, Page A10

Pasco will buy, demolish troubled Thunderbird Motel

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

The city of Pasco will raze the Thunderbird Motel and turn the site into a parking lot after reaching a $1.2 million deal to buy the “nuisance” property.

The deal is expected to close by late April, with the city set to take possession by May 25.

The city will demolish the 40-room motel at 414 W. Columbia St. as quickly as possible. It will close the business and install a fence to keep out vagrants. Police patrols will be stepped up as well, said Mike Gonzalez, the city’s economic development manager.

The city and downtown denizens have

long viewed the Thunderbird as a barrier to plans to refashion downtown into a friendly and safe destination. Demolishing the motel and replacing it with parking will serve two purposes – eliminate a nuisance and provide added parking in an area that needs it.

Gonzalez negotiated the deal with Thunderbird owner Song Ha “Mike” Hwang.

The 16,000-square-foot motel was built in 1965 and has two and three stories on either side of an “L” shape. It will be cleared of furnishings and equipment and will be assessed for hazardous materials such as asbestos before the wrecking ball comes in.

The .64-acre site will be repaved as a parkuTHUNDERBIRD, Page A13

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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Bookwalter launches Fable so Fiction restaurant can soar a fixed menu. Fiction will be reserved for the best J. Bookwalter Winery is expanding its of the best with a dining business in service of a lofty goal. menu focused on Owner John Bookwalter wants to transin-season food form the Richland winery’s Fiction restauavailable and a rant into a top-drawer establishment wormenu that changthy of the industry’s highest honor. To do es monthly. it, he’s opening a new restaurant in the forJohn Bookwalter “I would love mer R.F. McDougall’s Irish Pub & Eatery to see Fiction asto serve as a casual dining outlet, allowing sociated with fine dining anywhere,” he Fiction to focus on best-in-class service. said.

“The whole idea for Fiction is to beFiction will get a $1 million update, income a James Beardcluding an expanded nominated restaukitchen, as part of rant,” Bookwalter Bookwalter’s oversaid. “That takes a lot “The whole idea haul of the Richland of focus and time. It’s winery property, for Fiction is to a lofty aspiration, but where it recently dethat’s how I see it.” buted a new building become a James The James Beard at Tulip Lane and CoFoundation issues lumbia Park Trail for Beard-nominated its coveted awards wine tasting, storage, in honor of the late restaurant.” production and event Portland native once space. dubbed the “Dean of The McDougall -John Bookwalter, owner American Cookery.” renovations will McDougall’s cost an additional $500,000, dependbecomes Fable Fable Craft Bar, currently part of the ing on any unexpected surprises along the Bookwalter lineup in south Richland, will way.

As he spoke, the building was being open a second site as Fable Craft Bar and Kitchen at the former R.F. McDougall’s checked for asbestos. Bookwalter called spot, 1705 Columbia Park Trail, at the the McDougall’s deal an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. The restaurant closed Richland Wye. The new restaurant will open in late during the Covid-19 shutdowns and desummer or early fall, depending on the spite assurances it would reopen, it did scope of renovations and Bookwalter’s not.

“I didn’t plan on doing this,” he said. ability to buy the equipment and other maHe met with owner Bruce Ratchford terials he needs.

“Welcome to our supply chain world,” and signed a lease for a property he already knew well. he joked.

Bookwalter, whose parents established It is retaining Fable Craft Bar at its origthe winery he leads, said R.F. McDougall’s inal location to serve cocktails.

Bookwalter said Fable will cater to the was the spot he went to drink and eat as a casual market with upscale bar food and young adult. When he moved back to the

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

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Photo by Wendy Culverwell The former R.F. McDougall’s Irish Pub & Eatery at the Richland Wye will reopen as Fable Craft Bar and Kitchen. The new restaurant from J. Bookwalter Winery will allow owner John Bookwalter to focus on transforming the original Fiction restaurant into a James Beard Award-worthy eatery.

Tri-Cities and joined the family business 25 years ago, it was a regular stop.

Location, location, location The restaurant, perched above Columbia Park Trail, offers stellar views of Bateman Island at the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima rivers in the foreground and the Pasco shoreline in the distance. Generations of Tri-Citians know it well.

“It’s such a great location and so many people here have a good, positive mental image of their time spent there. For me, it’s exciting to freshen it up and bring a whole new life to it,” he said.

Bookwalter will install new kitchen gear and plans an overall refresh, designed

by Wave Design and carried out by Hummel Construction and Development. The

boxy, green building hasn’t been significantly updated in decades, he said.

“We have to dig in,” he said.

The area also is getting fresh attention after the city of Richland and its partners renovated Columbia Park Trail and shoreline amenities.

Bookwalter liked the symmetry between McDougall’s and his existing property, a few miles west, also on Columbia Park Trail.

The two bookend each other, he said.

Bookwalter said Fable, like the rest of the business, is committed to livable wages for its 70 employees, with 50 working on the food service side. That includes living wage levels, benefits and a profitsharing plan.

“It allows people to share in the success of the operation,” he said.

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 LOCAL BOUNTI, From page A1

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– UPCOMING – MAY Environment | Transportation JUNE Manufacturing Focus magazine: Agriculture + Viticulture in the Columbia Basin

/tcajob /tcajob /company/tcajob 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.

Holdings III. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LOCL. The Pete’s transaction is expected to close in the spring and will add two indoor farming operations in California. Pete’s has a third under construction in Georgia.

All three will be fitted with Local Bounti’s trademarked “Stack & Flow Technology” system.

City of Pasco officials said they received a brief notice that the work had halted but no further follow up.

The Pete’s acquisition improves Local Bounti’s outlook, said Alex Frederick, senior analyst for PitchBook Data, a Seattle research firm that tracks private capital markets. Frederick, who specializes in emerging technology and ag tech, said Pete’s could be the addition that gives Local Bounti the edge it needs to break into a competitive industry.

The deal will add $22.7 million in new revenue. Local Bounti believes implementing its growing technology could push that to $30 million.

The facilities are an important part of production. But the deal makes even more sense because Pete’s is an established operator with 20 times the market reach of Local Bounti.

Local Bounti serves about 500 retail locations through its relationships with Albertsons/Safeway, Associated Food Stores and URM banners such as Yoke’s Fresh Market.

Pete’s adds Kroger, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh to the mix – approximately 10,000 retail locations in 33 states and Canadian provinces.

Even if it takes time, Local Bounti’s pause could be worth the wait.

“It helps them grow very quickly and stand out in a very competitive industry,” Frederick said, noting that competition for grocery shelf space is fierce. “This seems to fall in line with that.”

Local Bounti is an emerging operator in one of the fastest growing sectors of the ag tech world: Indoor cultivation. The idea is the efficiencies that can be brought to high value crops by moving them indoors.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, Pitchbook tracked 11 indoor agriculture deals valued at nearly $500 million, eclipsing deals in animal tech and other categories.

“This space has become very hot in the last five years. Some of the largest deals in ag tech have been in this space,” Frederick

Photo by TCAJOB All equipment other than a water tank has been removed from the Pasco construction site for Local Bounti Corp.’s $40 million greenhouse complex.

The Hamilton, Montana-based ag tech startup said the project is paused due to its impending acquisition of Hollandia Produce Group Inc., an established California company operating as Pete’s.

said.

And each new deal raises the ante as operators move to build ever-larger facilities that leverage economies of scale.

“That’s helping to create a model where profitability is feasible,” Frederick said.

Local Bounti has advanced a similar argument in various investor reports and SEC filings: Controlled environments and the right growing equipment dramatically increase productivity and improve the end product, leading to longer shelf life and less spoilage.

Indoor agriculture requires less water, pesticides, fertilizer and even labor. Local Bounti’s initial target: The $10 billion lettuce and herbs market in the western U.S. Local Bounti said that in late 2021, its Montana farm supported greenhouse crop cycles of 14-24 days, depending on the type of plant. It reported “17 turns” in 2021, up from nine in 2020. Even in the best conditions, a traditional outdoor farm can hope for two growth cycles in a year.

Local Bounti’s vision centers on sustainably raised greens cultivated in greenhouses close to consumers. It says it can ship to its customers’ distribution centers within 24 to 48 hours. It boasts a three- to five-week shelf life.

Siting its first facility outside of Montana in Pasco seemed to fit in with its mission to grow near population centers. The Tri-Cities is midway between the major cities of the Northwest and boasts water, power and transportation.

Local Bounti helped cement Pasco’s reputation as a center for food processing in 2021 when it became one of three food processors to invest in major new plants there.

The others were Darigold Inc., the Seattle dairy cooperative building a $500 million state-of-the-art milk drying plant in north Pasco, and Reser’s Fine Foods, the Portland salad maker building a $120 million plant, also in north Pasco.

The future is promising, but Local Bounti remains a startup with a limited track record and minimal revenue.

It reported $638,000 in sales in 2021, compared to $82,000 the prior year. That represented a gross profit of $206,000, a positive margin of 32%.

It booked a net loss of $56.1 million, including $8.3 million for expenses associated with its merger deal with Leo Holdings, a special purpose acquisition corporation formed for the purpose of taking it public, as well as $18 million in stock-based compensation and $11.4 million in “other” income and expense items.

It has a $200 million debt financing with Cargill Inc., which together with $30 million of Local Bounti’s common stock is funding the Pete’s acquisition.

Local Bounti shares were trading at about $8 in mid-April compared to $6.10 before it announced the deal and its yearend results. The 52-week range was $4.40$12.87.

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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HPMC, owners agree to $3M settlement over Covid-19 loan fraud

By Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

HPM Corporation, the occupational health services contractor to the Hanford site, and its owners, Grover Cleveland Mooers and Hollie Mooers, will pay $2.94 million in restitution and penalties to resolve civil and criminal liabilities associated with allegations they defrauded the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Vanessa Waldref, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced the settlement agreement in March. The settlement also resolves individual False Claims Act liability of the owners.

According to the Department of Justice, HPMC applied for and secured a $1.35 million PPP loan in April 2020, one month after Congress established the program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and

uBUSINESS BRIEF Lamb Weston declares dividend

Eagle, Idaho-based Lamb Weston Holdings Inc. will pay a 24.5 cent dividend to shareholders on June 3.

The board of the frozen potato giant announced the dividend March 24 in advance of the April 7 release of its latest quarterly results on April 8.

Lamb Weston has significant production, research, testing and corporate offices in the Tri-Cities.

Go to: lambweston.com

Economic Security (CARES) Act during the early job-killing days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

PPP loans were guaranteed by the U.S. government and could be forgiven by the Small Business Administration if they were used to for payroll and other expenses. HPMC and its owners applied for forgiveness for the loan.

As part of the settlement, the company and its owners acknowledged they knowingly said the loan had been used for payroll and other allowable expenses when it had not. The couple transferred the entire loan amount to their personal account.

HPMC agreed to pay $2.7 million in restitution and penalties and agreed to a

three-year probational period following the filing and during the deferral of federal criminal charges in which it may not commit any further criminal or civil offenses.

It must immediately report any credible evidence of any violations to the government.

The couple agreed to pay an additional $250,000 civil penalty from personal funds. Grover Cleveland Mooers agreed to step down as a governor of the company or to serve as a principal employee, manager or advisor during the three-year probationary period.

The company agreed to hire an independent auditor at its own expense.

“These funds were intended to help

small and local businesses and keep the communities of Eastern Washington safe and strong, not to line the pockets of millionaire owners,” Waldref said in a statement announcing the settlement.

The case was investigated as part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Covid-19 Fraud Strike Force, an interagency team of federal law enforcement agencies dedicated to combatting Covid relief fraud in Eastern Washington.

The HPMC case was investigated by the Department of Justice as well as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Richland Field Office and SBA OIG’s Seattle Field Office.

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

DATEBOOK APRIL 16

• Tri-Cities Men’s Expo: 10 a.m.-5 p.m., The HAPO Center, 6600 Burden Blvd., Pasco.

APRIL 19

• Spring Senior Times Expo: 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Numerica Pavilion at Southridge Sports & Events Complex, 2901 Southridge Blvd., Kennewick. Go to: srtimes.com.

Free.

• The Houses That Hanford Built: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Westgate Elementary Library, 2514 W. Fourth Ave., Kennewick. Cost $25. Explore the differences in the various alphabet houses through the stories of those who lived there. Register at communityed.ksd.org.

APRIL 20

• Virtual PTAC Workshop, “GovCon Fundamentals: Tips for Making it in the Federal Marketplace”: 9:30-11:30 a.m.

Government contracts attorney Matthew Schoonover to discuss ways for small businesses to enhance their competitive standing.

Register at washingtonptac. ecenterdirect.com/events.

• Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities, “How ’bout Appetizers?”: 4:30-6 p.m. Murley’s Floor Covering, 6539 W. Clearwater, Suite A110, Kennewick. Free networking event, open to current and potential HBA members. RSVP at 509-735-2745 or heather@hbatc. com.

APRIL 21

• Virtual PTAC Workshop, “SE Washington PTAC/SBDC Small Business Roundtable”: 9-10 a.m.

Open forum discussion to learn from Procurement Technical Assistance Centers about government contracting and from the Small Business Development Center about how to grow your business. Register at washingtonptac.ecenterdirect. com/events.

• Building Bridges Networking Event: 5:30-7:30 p.m., Vinny’s Bakery, 1107 W. Lewis St., Pasco.

Joint event with Benton City, West Richland, Pasco and Tri-Cities Hispanic chambers of commerce.

RSVP: 509-967-0521.

APRIL 22

• Coffee with Karl: 9-10 a.m., webinar with president and CEO of TRIDEC Karl Dye and guest.

Facebook.com/tcdevcouncil.

APRIL 27

• Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce 4 Corners Legislative Luncheon: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Red Lion Hotel & Conference Center Pasco, 2525 N. 20th Ave., Pasco. Register at web. tricityregionalchamber.com/events.

• Humanities Washington, Online: Atomic Washington: Our Nuclear Past, Present, and Future: 1 p.m. Drawing from history, science and popular culture, author Steve Olson reveals the many influences of nuclear materials on the state.

Register at humanities.org/events.

APRIL 26

• Port of Kennewick Commission: 2 p.m. Details at portofkennewick.org/commissionmeetings.

• STCU virtual workshop, “Become debt-free”: 6-7 p.m.

Register at stcu.org/learn.

APRIL 28

• Virtual Ask the Experts: The Great Resignation - Deciphering the Trends: 10:30 a.m. Register at web. tricityregionalchamber.com/events.

• STCU virtual workshop, “Budgeting 101”: 1-2 p.m. Register at stcu.org/learn.

APRIL 29

• Coffee with Karl: 9-10 a.m., webinar with president and CEO of TRIDEC Karl Dye and guest.

Facebook.com/tcdevcouncil.

MAY 3

• Tri-Tech Teacher Career informational meeting: 6-7 p.m., Tri-Tech Skills Center, 5929 W. Metaline, Kennewick. Learn about opportunities for teaching high school and technical education courses. Zoom meeting option available by emailing kriss. bridgham@ksd.org.

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

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

OPINION OUR VIEW

Hanford begins transition into full operations mode

By Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Our annual section on the work being done to clean up the Hanford nuclear reservation north of Richland provides updates from the main contractors engineering and doing the work and the regulators tasked with making sure it gets done safely.

We also have stories on the massive budget required to clean up the site, a feature about Hanford’s unique geology and interviews with prominent business leaders who want to accelerate the cleanup so the site can be reused.

We like what Brian Vance, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy offices in Richland, had to say: the site is transforming into full operations mode, which hasn’t been seen since the ’80s.

This year Hanford will see multiple systems come online to stabilize radioactive waste. By early April, 200,000 gallons of tank waste had been treated by the Tank-Side Cesium-Removal system and are now awaiting the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, better known as the vit plant, to come online so it can be transformed into a stable glass form. This is expected to begin next year.

The vitrification process is compli-

cated.

Over the years, cleanup progress has been incremental – and expensive.

The 2022 fiscal year budget totals $2.6 billion.

Our 16-page section, which starts on page C1, offers a great primer for those seeking to understand what is going on at the 580-square-mile site in our backyard. For those who follow Hanford news more closely, the section also provides a solid update on the diversity of work and projects underway there.

And because we are a business journal, we’d be remiss if we didn’t have content on how the Hanford project affects economic development. To date, the Hanford Area Economic Investment Fund has loaned $25 million in loans to 47 businesses and municipalities.

The state Legislature created the fund to invest in job-creating businesses. It is fueled by fees levied on waste deposited at Hanford.

The Tri-Cities’ economy is intricately tied to what goes on at the nuclear reservation so all of us should be invested in understanding and being informed about the work being done to make the area safer for future generations.

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State lawmakers hit the gas on multiyear spending spree Looking back at the 2022 state legislative session, it’s hard not to be disappointed at the missed opportunities.

Yes, lawmakers accomplished some things that are good for the economy, like shoring up the unemployment insurance trust fund, lowering the B&O tax threshold for the smallest of small businesses and passing a transportation package that will invest billions in infrastructure, mostly on the west side of the state.

But it would have been the perfect time to give more of Washington’s astonishing surplus back to taxpayers, something we’ve seen other states do as state treasuries have swelled during the pandemic era. Bills to lower the state sales tax rate or reduce the B&O tax for manufacturers were introduced, but failed to even get a hearing as lawmakers appeared more intent on spending.

Even modest proposals for a threeday sales tax holiday and free Discover Passes for state parks and recreation sites fell by the wayside amid the spending spree.

The supplemental budget lawmakers approved this year tacks on an additional $5 billion to the current two-year budget, bringing it to $64.1 billion. That’s 24% larger than the previous two-year budget. Since 2017, Washington’s budget has increased an astounding 50%.

One of the best thing lawmakers did for employers is bring an end to a streak that saw 22 new or higher taxes adopted

over the previous three legislative sessions.

But given the size of the state budget surplus they had to work with this year — more than $14 Kris Johnson billion — the Association of Washington lack of a major Business tax increase is GUEST COLUMN hardly an accomplishment.

The transportation package that lawmakers passed this year, which will invest nearly $17 billion over 16 years, is another missed opportunity.

It will make much-needed investments in things like the Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River, and improvements to Highway 18, Highway 167 and Interstate 405. It also invests in maintenance and preservation of existing roads and provides funding for fish passage barrier removal.

But funding for the package includes nearly $2.5 billion in new and higher fees — fees that will fall on Washingtonians at the same time that inflation is rising. And the major new projects funded by the package are almost entirely located on the west side of the state. This represents a departure from uJOHNSON, Page A8

Gas prices, crime and health concerns fuel work from home model With Covid-19 vaccines widely dispensed and masking requirements mostly lifted, will “work from home” end?

Will workers return to the office at pre-pandemic levels?

Probably not! It is expensive to drive, and it is a waste of time and fuel to idle in traffic jams. Safety is another factor.

Gas prices continue to skyrocket.

Last year, the average cost at the pump was $2.62 per gallon. By early April, Tri-Cities gas prices averaged $4.39 a gallon, up from $3.09 a year ago, according to AAA. Higher energy costs are driving up prices for everything including public transit. The annual inflation rate in the United States was 7.9% for the 12 months ending February 2022 — the highest since January 1982, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.

Safe places to work are an added

problem.

Amazon temporarily closed a Seattle office building with 1,800 employees after a series of attacks in the neighborhood.

Don C. Brunell Many returned Business analyst to working from GUEST COLUMN home.

In February, MyNorthwest reported Seattle’s overall crime rate increased by 10% from 2020-21. Violent crime increased by 20%, property crime went up 9%, aggravated assaults were up 24%, and robberies rose by 18%.

It isn’t just Seattle. The Kennewick, Pasco and Richland police departments all reported increases in aggravated assault and other crimes in 2021.

“Working from home will be very

much a part of our post-Covid economy,” said Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford professor and co-director of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s productivity, innovation and entrepreneurship program. “(T)he sooner policymakers and business (employers) think of the implications of a home-based workforce, the better our firms and communities will be positioned.”

Reuters reported that U.S.-based Enterprises Technology Research surveyed 1,200 chief information officers who indicated more than one-third of their workers are “permanently remote” in 2021.

The logical follow-up question: Should employers (business and government) get rid of offices altogether?

“No, but you may want to move it,” Bloom said.

The pandemic reversed an urban growth pattern that started in the 1980s,

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when business and retail flocked to revitalized downtowns.

Occupied office space in Seattle has grown 34% since 2010, according to the Downtown Seattle Association.

Many of those towers sat hollow during the pandemic. Roughly 90% of the 47 million square feet of leased Seattle office space was vacated because of the pandemic.” (That survey was last year).

Regardless, whether offices are in tall buildings, strip malls or industrial parks, they must be reconfigured.

They need to be roomier and arranged for social distancing. So will lobbies, elevators, breakrooms, transit buses and commuter trains which often were crammed to capacity.

Working from home is not for everyone.

Bloom found only half of the people surveyed were able to work from home uBRUNELL, Page A8

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

BRUNELL, From page A7 at an efficiency rate of 80% or more.

“These are mostly managers, professionals and financial workers who can easily carry out their work on their computers by videoconference, phone and email.”

The other half cannot carry out their jobs at home and include employees in retail, health care, transportation and business services.

Forbes pointed out the decade between 2020 and 2030 will see the number of Americans eligible to work at its lowest point since the Civil War. “So, it is a good thing that remote work makes many employees happier and more productive because companies will want to hold onto those

employees.”

Remote vs on-site work is a complex issue requiring creative inclusive problem-solving.

Over the last two years inflation, public safety and soaring gas prices complicated the issue; however, those factors must be considered. 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.

The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business contributed to this column.

JOHNSON, From page A7 the way lawmakers have historically addressed the issue of transportation, and it’s a missed opportunity to invest in all of Washington.

Washington’s long-term care program is yet another missed opportunity. The program received attention last year as people realized that every employee in the state, except those who were able to opt out, would be subject to a new payroll tax scheduled to start in January.

Lawmakers did the right thing when they agreed to modify and delay implementation of the program, known as WA Cares, but they stopped short of addressing all of the issues with the program. It’s critical they use the extra time to work with employers, regulators and private-sector

insurance providers to find solutions to all of the issues surrounding this program.

Employers were relieved that some proposals failed to pass, including an attempt to regulate nurse staffing, a revival of the kind of ergonomics rules voters rejected nearly two decades ago and multiple bills aimed at limiting or banning natural gas.

In the end, though, it’s the spending decisions that stand out. Any legislative session will have hits and misses, but lawmakers’ failure to give back more of the state’s historic $14 billion surplus is regrettable. In particular, a boost for the state’s manufacturing sector would have been especially timely following passage last year of a bill aimed at doubling the size of the sector in a decade. Kris Johnson is president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s chamber of commerce and manufacturers association.

uBUSINESS BRIEF UTC staff announce settlement on Cascade Natural Gas rate proposal

Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff recently filed an agreement to settle Cascade Natural Gas’ request to increase customer rates in Washington.

The three-member commission, which is not bound by the agreement, will make a final decision on the utility’s revenueincrease request this summer.

A virtual public comment hearing is set for May 25 for customers to comment on the proposal.

Under the agreement, Kennewickbased Cascade Natural Gas will see an increase of $10.7 million, or 8.6%, a decrease from the $13.7 million (11.1%) in the company’s original request.

The company limited its request to a few major items, attributing most of its rate increase request to additional infrastructure that came into service since its most recent rate case, and wage increases that went into effect in 2021.

Offsetting the revenue increase request, the settlement also includes a $3 million reduction related to how the company calculated the depreciation of its assets in 2021. Over time, as facility and plant investments age and their value decreases, the amount utilities can recover for those investments from customer rates also decreases.

Parties to the settlement are UTC staff and Cascade Natural Gas; the Public Counsel Section of the Attorney General’s Office, The Energy Project, and the Alliance of Western Energy Customers participated in the proceeding representing customer interests but are not parties to the agreement.

Cascade Natural Gas serves almost 230,000 residential and business customers in 68 communities throughout the state, including Kennewick, Moses Lake, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Yakima, Aberdeen, Bellingham, Bremerton, Longview and Mount Vernon.

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DREAM HOMES, From page A1

ating a luxury division to focus on it, said Travis Davis, branch manager. Davis will succeed Almberg as president of the Realtors association.

Davis said the luxury team will include 10 certified specialists. The program includes a 30-day process to ensure luxury properties are properly staged and presented to qualified buyers.

“I believe in it so much and it’s unserved,” Davis said. “If you list with us, we’re going to set up staging, the right photographer and video before marketing. It is a whole different way of promoting.”

While $1 million-plus homes are on the increase, the price tag doesn’t automatically mean “luxury.” Tri-City home prices have appreciated at a rate of 18% to 20%

a year. A home worth $700,000 in 2019 topped $1 million in 2021 through appreciation alone.

Davis and Almberg say the luxury homes have extra touches, such as “9-foot doors and 16-foot ceilings.” They command at least $1.5 million and come with a list of amenities, starting with a view.

“Everyone wants a view,” Almberg said.

Almberg said the top end is fueled in part by buyers who sold homes in more expensive cities.

“We have a lot of people coming in with cash,” he said.

While rising prices are pushing more properties into the higher range, Tri-City buyers with big budgets face limits. At the end of March, 101 homes were priced at $650,000, 40 were priced at $750,000 or more and 10 were priced at $1 million or

more.

Almberg and Davis say demand isn’t the only challenge.

Available land Finding a place to build is increasingly difficult in a market constrained by Washington’s Growth Management Act and various regulations around access to wells.

The act drew lines around urban areas that work to limit land available for development and drive up prices.

“A few years ago, you could buy a city block for $85,000. Now it’s $135,000 for a postage-sized lot,” Davis said. And larger lots for luxury homes – typically half an acre or more – cost $225,000 or more. Land usually represents 25% of the final cost.

Builders pulled permits for 1,647 singlefamily homes in 2021, representing about

a third of the total market, according to the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities.

Doug Brown, a custom homebuilder who has won the Parade of Homes show three times, suspects few were for custom homes.

He blames the urban growth boundary for squeezing out custom builders. Production builders snap up land for subdivisions catering to midlevel buyers.

Brown, who normally has eight to 10 custom homes in development at a time, said he has five and the phones have been quieter in the past three years.

When he gets a call, it’s typically to ask if he has “estate” quality land. Prospective customers are often waiting out the current market before deciding to go ahead with a new home project.

“It’s kind of a scary deal actually,” Brown said. “It literally is just a perfect storm in the Tri-Cities.”

Hilltop dream homes Rosemary Giacci and her husband Fred bucked the trend when they bought 30 acres on a ridge above the Yakima River in south Richland. The property is subdivided into about 50 home sites, with smaller lots to the west and large ones ranging up to an acre-plus to the east.

Badger Mountain is to the south, the Yakima River to the north.

The couple are developers and builders who formed Devoted Builders in 2005 and turned it over to their son, Justin Carroll, two years later.

They were wrapping up a luxury townhome project and looking for their next project – and a place to build their dream home – when Carroll had an idea.

He’d built a home at Sundance Ridge on the same south Richland hilltop. He walked his dog on the undeveloped acres between Sundance and Richland’s Top of the World Park.

The Giaccis were intrigued by the property – centrally located with sweeping views and easy access to retail restaurants and transportation. They contacted the owner and bought it in two parcels.

They’re developing it as Sundance Estates. Devoted Builders is the primary builder. Only a handful of lots are unsold.

Buyers are doctors, business owners and Hanford professionals – “just people who have invested and have sound savings,” Giacci said. One thing they have in common: Most pay cash.

The Giaccis and Devoted Builders constructed Shockley Road and crushed thousands of pounds of boulders on the site into gravel, which they’ve used on site or sold to others. There is no shortage of boulders, but Giacci said it is worth the trouble.

Three homes are under construction on the larger lots, including the Giaccis’ dream home, which she said will be the couple’s last. To her, “dream home” means a wellappointed kitchen and comfortable outdoor living areas.

“I’m a cook,” she said. “I have a working pantry. My pantry will be my prep area.

I only will be cooking out in the great room area.” Other touches include his-and-her offices, an exercise room and an outdoor living space with a fireplace.

The dream home market isn’t going anywhere, she said.

“We never thought we’d be in a position that we’re in. We have just been very fortunate and blessed,” she said.

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Tri-City businesses find success with new locations in Spokane

By Robin Wojtanik

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

While many business owners felt fortunate to have emerged from the pandemic still operating, a handful of Tri-City entrepreneurs decided to take the plunge and expand – often to Spokane.

After noticing other businesses entering the market two hours north, Rich Breshears of Breshears Professional Photography jokingly questioned, “Is that the new black – to do business in Spokane?”

Breshears is one of those who put out a shingle in the larger market after getting his start in the Tri-Cities.

In hindsight, he wished he had done it sooner.

“During Covid, I had the realization for my business, and the way counties responded, that I could have been doing business in other counties while some were not allowed,” he said.

He now has a second studio in Mead, a suburb north of Spokane, which opened last fall.

“We’re subleasing from a chiropractor – and have already gotten established in just six months, so we signed a new lease in the Garland District to open on North Monroe

by May 1,” he said.

Breshears said the expansion hasn’t changed his operation in the Tri-Cities where production is still done.

“We just grew to the point that we could start scaling it,” he said.

Right now, the Spokane studio is open

Photo by Robin Wojtanik Nate Taylor is general manager of Boiada Brazilian Grill, a restaurant that opened in Kennewick and is expanding to Spokane.

a couple weekends a month, but it will be operating full time by the summer after adding more sales and photography staff. Breshears just needs a handful of people to run each location.

The payroll is much larger for Boiada Brazilian Grill, which will need about three dozen people to run its second location near the Spokane Convention Center in the next couple months.

“The owners are remodeling a building that was previously a Mexican restaurant and will be the only churrascaria in town,”

said Nate Taylor, general manager of the original Kennewick Boiada, near the Columbia Center mall. “We imagine the traffic is going to be a lot greater due to the location.”

Taylor said the owners spent most of 2021 scouting a second location and considered Coeur d’Alene or Yakima before the space in downtown Spokane became available. Deemed cost-effective, the new Boiada will mimic the Tri-Cities in size and menu.

Boiada opened in fall 2019, shortly be-

fore the pandemic, which could spell doom for any startup. Taylor said the restaurant was uniquely positioned to make immediate changes when in-person dining was initially shut down.

“We had a small fire just prior to Covid that forced us to close for two weeks. We had already established a to-go menu and purchased patio furniture, and people kept coming and supporting us. They like the fast and fun experience, which turned us into a premier location to dine that brings people back,” he said.

Kagen Crepes recently opened a second location in Spokane after seeing steady success in Richland’s Uptown Shopping Center.

A Tri-City marketing agency had been eyeing expansion and signed a lease for a site in Spokane in the fall 2020.

“The second Covid wave was just hitting when we signed in October and then left the office empty for three months,” said Torey Azure, CEO of BrandCraft.

Opening a second office was part of BrandCraft’s five-year plan for growth.

“Spokane was first on the list because of logistics,” Azure said. “It’s a two-hour drive. You don’t have to fly, we can have people commute back and forth, and especially for our management, it was important to be able to test the waters as far as expansion and still be able to drive back and forth.”

BrandCraft opened a third location in Boise in fall 2021 and has its sights set on uSUCCESS, Page A13

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 THUNDERBIRD, From page A1 ing lot to serve Pasco Farmers Market and Peanuts Park, which reopened in March following a $6 million redevelopment.

The Thunderbird is a longstanding nuisance. Pasco police responded to the property 201 times in the first three months of 2022, Gonzalez said.

It is a mostly cash business, serving migrant farmworkers, as well as prostitutes, drug dealers and pimps, Gonzalez said.

The body of an overdose victim was removed in early April – after the city and Hwang signed a purchase-sale agreement. It was declared a chronic nuisance on March 28 over public complaints, a designation that carries a daily fine of up to $1,000.

Gonzalez said the nuisance designation was driven by public complaints and not the city.

“We didn’t target Mike or the Thunderbird. It was a natural process – me asking Mike if he was interested in selling and him saying ‘yes,’ ” he said.

Gonzalez said he connected with Hwang in 2021 when he was discussing ways the city might help downtown building owners install sprinklers to facilitate business growth.

The sprinkler initiative didn’t pan out, but it introduced him to Hwang and his wife, who were interested in retiring after owning and managing the property for about 15 years.

He praised the city council for trusting him to move through the process. The council discussed the deal privately in executive sessions. Dave Zabell, city manager, said the plan replaces parking that was lost in the farmers market project. The council will SUCCESS, From page A11 Scottsdale next. Azure said the company had seen double-digit growth year after year since opening in 2012 and knew that this pace would eventually slow.

“We had already grown into one of the biggest agencies in town and we wanted to find another spot with high-growth potential,” Azure said.

Like Breshears, BrandCraft just needed a few people to open the doors and start operating. It now has 24 employees split across its three locations, with the largest number in the Tri-Cities.

“Our four Spokane employees don’t just work on Spokane,” Azure said. “We might close a project in Spokane, but our Kennewick office or Boise office might work on it. It’s important for sales, networking, and community to know we’re local, but honestly, the work isn’t always done exclusively in those local offices.”

BrandCraft is a startup in the Spokane market, whereas the company acquired an established marketing agency in Boise.

Azure expects any future growth would follow the Boise model after working to gain a foothold in Spokane.

“There’s still that network of people that know each other, and it’s hard to break into.

We’re getting through it. It’s been a success so far. We signed a new lease, and we’re excited and bullish about what we’re going to do there,” he said.

Azure said that since new residents continue moving into Spokane and Boise, it brings the opportunity to work with new businesses, across a range of industries.

Photo by Wendy Culverwell Mike Gonzalez, economic development manager for the city of Pasco, negotiated a $1.2 million deal to buy the Thunderbird Motel. The motel, a longstanding nuisance near the city’s popular Pasco Farmers Market and Peanuts Park, will be demolished and replaced with a parking lot.

discuss the project at its April 18 meeting.

“We saw a real opportunity to create a huge gathering spot,” Zabell said.

Gonzalez said the city considered retaining the Thunderbird for low-income housing, but the area’s industrial zoning made it nearly impossible.

The Hwangs operate the Thunderbird under a special use permit that won’t transfer to the city when it takes ownership.

Converting it to housing would require a change to the city’s comprehensive plan, a process that would take a year at a minimum. That would have left the Thunderbird empty for months, if not years.

Removing it is the best way to carry out the city’s vision for a thriving neighborhood

centered on its updated farmers market, or “mercado.”

Investors have expressed an interest in a long-empty car dealership across the street.

While there is no deal to report, it has been empty for 30 years and if it is repurposed, it could be a game changer for the area, Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also plans to reach out to the owner of an empty building that borders the Thunderbird to the west to investigate potential reuse.

If it all comes to fruition, the area around the farmers market could be transformed.

“There is a lot of potential right here on this corner,” he said of the stretch of Columbia between Third and Fourth avenues.

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While the motel is not licensed to serve long-term residents, Gonzalez acknowledged some people could be living there.

The city is working with social service agencies and the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission – another neighbor – to ensure anyone displaced when the motel closes is not left homeless.

An appraiser valued the Thunderbird at $950,000.

The city agreed to the higher price because the Hwangs will miss the 2022 growing season. Migrant farmworkers account for about 20% of the motel’s annual revenue. The motel grosses $60,000 to $70,000 a month.

Hwang also objected that the appraiser based the valuation on $50-a-night room fees. He said rooms rent for $60 to $70 a night and provided invoices to prove it.

“He had the documentation,” Gonzalez said.

The Hwangs paid $535,000 for the Thunderbird in 2007, according to Franklin County property records. They spent nearly $58,000 on updates between 2010-21, including $16,800 to replace the roof, according to building permit records.

It was valued at $557,100 for tax purposes for 2022.

The Thunderbird’s iconic sign is already being eyed by unrelated developers who want to refurbish it and use it in their projects.

Rob Ellsworth of SVN | Retter & Co., the city’s regular real estate broker, represented the city in the transaction.

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

Remove beneficiary designations on non-retirement accounts Non-retirement investment accounts are often set up with wealth management firms.

When the account is set up, there is an option to put a beneficiary designation on the account and oftentimes the account is then designated as a TOD (Transfer on Death) or a POD (Payable on Death) account.

With this type of designation, it allows the asset to transfer to the named beneficiaries at death without the necessity of probate. The customary advice is that this is an efficient way to transfer the asset and save some administrative complexity.

Contrary to this customary advice, it

is my belief that most non-retirement investment accounts are better off without a beneficiary designation.

Of course, there are exBeau Ruff ceptions to Cornerstone every rule, but Wealth Strategies I think that this GUEST COLUMN rule should be switched. Investment accounts should be set up without TOD designations. The efficiency and simplicity offered by the automatic

transfer on death designation can have the opposite effect and complicate the administration of an estate after death.

Liquidity maximizes benefits Your estate is made up of all the things that you own.

If an asset does not have a beneficiary designation, then it becomes part of the pool of assets covered by the will for distribution to your heirs.

Sometimes assets need liquidity to maximize the value to the heirs. As an example, let’s imagine you own a house at death. And, if you can pay $20,000 for upgrades to the house, then the house can sell for $40,000 more.

A savvy person would conclude that it is in the best interest of all beneficiaries to pay the money. But that payment requires that the estate have the liquidity to pay for those upgrades. Alternatively, consider the same example of a house and a death in November – a notoriously difficult time to sell a house.

Perhaps the estate would be better off waiting until the following summer to list and sell the house and reap the benefits of a higher selling price. This would require sufficient liquidity to pay for the ongoing costs of the upkeep to the house.

In either case, setting up a TOD designation deprives the estate of that liquidity.

Liquidity helps with distribution The additional liquidity also can offer better distribution options to the heirs.

Assume two assets: a house valued at $300,000 and an investment account

valued at $300,000.

Assume further that two heirs share equally in the assets per the terms of a will.

If the investment account is a TOD variety, then each heir gets the $150,000 and each heir gets an undivided 50% interest in the house resulting in a difficult fractionalized ownership scenario.

Maybe it would be better to be able to divide assets based on the desires of the heirs. If all the assets are controlled by the will (and not a TOD designation), the Executor could assign the $300,000 house to the heir that wants it and the remaining $300,000 of liquid assets to the heir that didn’t care to own the house.

Creditors are easier to pay After death, a creditor can make a claim against a deceased person’s estate for up to two years. If the claim is a valid one, the estate must pay that claim.

It is much easier to pay those valid claims when the estate has some liquidity to pull from to satisfy the bill.

Centralizes management Expenses naturally pop up after a death.

Those expenses might be the expenses associated with the last illness or injury causing death. They might be the costs of the funeral or cemetery plot.

They might be ongoing expenses to heat and cool the house or pay property taxes. Again, having a ready pool of uRUFF, Page A15

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 RUFF, From page A14 liquidity offers flexibility in the administration of a typical estate.

If the assets were distributed to the beneficiaries through a TOD designation, couldn’t the executor just get the necessary money from the beneficiaries?

Yes, that is a distinct possibility. But wouldn’t an estate be better served if one person was in charge of all the assets and had control of the liquidity and could properly distribute the remainder to the heirs after the payment of all reasonable and necessary expenses?

That is what is offered by allowing the liquidity to flow into the estate by not having a beneficiary designation.

People pay a lot of money to put in place a will to control the disposition of assets upon death.

By adding a TOD designation, it moves the asset out from under the control of the will.

This may not align with the intended distribution scheme outlined in that will.

Indeed, more often than not, the designation works to thwart the estate plan by creating disparate distribution plans.

uBUSINESS BRIEFS It’s Taco Crawl time in downtown Pasco

The annual Taco Crawl to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties returns April 22-May 7.

Taco trucks and Mexican restaurants in downtown Pasco are participating in the eat-at-your-own pace program.

Participants purchase booklets that contain vouchers good for one taco from each of the 20 participating establishments. Booklets are $35 plus fees.

Previous events have raised more than $35,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs. In addition to supporting youth programs, the crawl introduces Tri-Citians to some of the best tacos available in the region. Participants vote for the Best Taco in Pasco, with the winner announced during Cinco de Mayo festivities in downtown Pasco, to be celebrated May 7.

Go to: pascotacocrawl.com.

Numerica offers $20K for scholarships

Numerica Credit Union is offering $20,000 in scholarships to high school seniors and college students in its service area, which covers Eastern Washington, central Washington and north Idaho.

The application deadline is April 30.

The credit union will offer four $2,500 Continuing Education Scholarships to college students working full time on an associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree in fall 2022.

It is offering 10 $1,000 Starting Off Right Scholarships to seniors who will enter a trade, vocational, certificate, associate or bachelor’s degree program in the fall.

Go to: numericacu.com/learn/financial-education.

For example, the will might include specific bequests (e.g., $10,000 to Charity X) or some kind of testamentary trust.

Without sufficient assets existing in the probate estate, the estate might have trouble paying those intended beneficiaries.

Retirement accounts are different Note that retirement accounts are different. There are specific income tax benefits to naming beneficiaries on retirement accounts, so they pass outside of the rest of the estate. Those assets are not explored by this column. Beau Ruff, a licensed attorney, is the director of planning at Cornerstone Wealth Strategies, a full-service independent investment management and financial planning firm in Kennewick.

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Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8!

Show all those mothers in your life how much you love them. Call to order.

509.582.5123 604 W. Kennewick Ave.

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

uBUSINESS BRIEFS OCOchem secures $1.5M for clean energy project

The Washington State Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Fund awarded a Richland company $1.5 million to develop green portable generators and fuels for refrigerated cargo containers at the Port of Tacoma OCOchem, established in 2017, is partnering with Washington Martime Blue, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sacre-Davey Engineering, Johnston Engineering and Det Norske Veritas on the project.

The OCOchem approach uses naturally occurring formic acid for its liquid hydrogen carrier. The intent is for Tacoma Power to use the fuel technology to replace diesel generators at the port.

“This approach is as carbon neutral as green hydrogen gas but is much safer, uses existing fuel infrastructure and is delivered at nearly half the price,” said Todd Brix, co-founder and CEO

k c a b We’re ! s r o o ind

of OCOchem. “We believe Washington state and Tacoma are the best place to manufacture safe green electro-fuels for local and export use, creating high-wage manufacturing jobs.”

OCOchem is a venture-backed clean tech startup that develops and commercializes technology that uses recycled carbon dioxide to store green energy in a chemical form that can be converted to green hydrogen. It has received research and development funding from the U.S. departments of Energy and Defense and ARPA-E and is an inaugural member of Halliburton Labs.

It operates its principal laboratories in Richland. Go to: ocochem.com

was suspended for two years due to the pandemic.

The scramble format tournament is the primary fundraiser for the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, an interpretive center and museum of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

It has welcomed more than 500,000 guests since it opened in 1998.

The tournament entry fee is $95 per person, or $380 for foursomes, and includes green fees, complimentary range balls, tee prizes and a sack lunch. Beverage carts are available throughout the day and there is a drawing for merchandise, golf items and side bets.

Go to: tamastslikt.org/shop.

2022 Mammoth Cup Golf Tourney is May 13

Chamber’s Stephanie Barnard running for state House seat

A major fundraiser for the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute near Pendleton is back on the calendar.

The 2022 Mammoth Cup Golf Tournament is May 13 at the Wildhorse Resort & Casino Golf Course. The event

Stephanie Barnard, head of government affairs for the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, is running for the state House District 8 position currently held by Rep. Brad Klippert.

Barnard, a Pasco resident, is running as a Republican in the district whose boundaries have been adjusted to include portions of Franklin County. She announced she would run after Duane Davidson, former Benton County treasurer and former Washington state treasurer, said he would not run.

“I’ve been at the frontline with local businesses combating unnecessary regulations and mandates,” she said in her announcement. “I can’t sit back and watch disastrous policies continue to erode our economy, our families’ budgets and our liberties.”

Klippert, a Kennewick Republican, is challenging U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, for his seat in Congress.

Newhouse has endorsed Barnard.

May 16-20 is filing week for the 2022 election cycle. All House seats are up for election as is the 8th Legislative District Senate seat held by Sharon Brown, who is not seeking reelection.

State Rep. Matt Boehnke, a Kennewick Republican, is running for the vacant seat.

2022 Tuesday, April 19 9 a.m. − 3 p.m.

Free admission Numerica Pavilion at Southridge Sports & Events Complex 2901 Southridge Blvd., Kennewick • Visit booths to learn about products, services and ideas for better senior living.

• For more information, call (509) 737-8778 or visit srtimes.com.

Brought to you by:

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Covid policy: Attendees of the Senior Times Expo will be required to adhere to any and all Covid-related requirements, mandates, and/or laws established by the Numerica Pavilion at Southridge Sports & Event Center, and the City of Kennewick, and Benton County, and the State of Washington in effect on the date of the Senior Times Expo, including but not limited to mask wearing, showing proof of vaccination, and/or otherwise.

Should attendees refuse to follow these requirements, mandates, and/or laws, they will need to leave the premises immediately and are not eligible for re-entry.

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

DIVERSITY

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Owners of Pasco’s oldest restaurant plan to retire

By Laura Kostad

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Pasco’s oldest continuously operating restaurant has been serving the TriCity community for 58 years.

Chinese Gardens at 1520 N. Fourth Ave. has been a Pasco cornerstone since late founder Jack Lee opened it in 1965.

The building is hard to miss with its mashup of pagoda-esque midcentury brick architecture and flamboyant, dragon-flanked neon signs. And it’s unofficially up for sale for the third time in its history.

Owners Ted and Amy Wong plan to retire after operating it for the past 33 years. Ted turned 70 this year.

“Until the past two years, (Ted) has been working at the restaurant seven days a week, 10 hours per day,” Amy said. The couple decided to scale back and close on Mondays and are no longer offering delivery on takeout, but this hasn’t put a damper on business.

“People have lots of memories there,” Ted said. “A lot of people move out of town but when they come to visit, they still like to pick up food to take home.

We have a lot of longtime customers.”

Scrolling through the pages of customer restaurant reviews reveals fond memories and experiences spanning decades: birthday traditions, outings with grandparents and now grandchildren, retirement parties, Friday night takeout, memorable dates and more.

Customers old and new praise Chinese Gardens for maintaining its original vibe and not giving in to a cookie-

cutter overhaul.

Ted said there have been updates over the years – upholstery, carpeting and a restroom refresh, for example – but they have otherwise preserved Lee’s original vision.

Jim Beam collection One of Chinese Gardens’ trademarks is its extensive collection of vintage Jim Beam whiskey decanters on display throughout the bar and restaurant.

Produced between 1952 and the mid1980s as a promotion to drive sales, Jim Beam’s detailed ceramic bottles came in a variety of shapes, sizes and themes, commemorating predominately American historical events, people and more. They are popular among collectors. Chinese Gardens’ collection numbers 325.

Whether they simply circulated through the bar over the years or were sought out by Lee is unknown.

The Wongs said they don’t know the collection’s history, as the bottles were already there when they took over in 1989.

Becoming owners The couple spent nine years working at the restaurant after immigrating to

Photos by Laura Kostad Ted and Amy Wong have owned Pasco’s longest continuously operating restaurant, Chinese Gardens, for 33 years. With Ted now 70, they are ready to sell.

Customers enjoy its established menu and interior décor that fuses a classic diner layout with an elegant, moody feel.

the U.S. from Canton, China, in 1980.

Ted’s father immigrated in 1963 and later found work in the kitchen at Gim Tuen ‘Jack’ Lee’s then newly opened restaurant.

Lee also was an immigrant from Canton, arriving in 1948. He grew up in Walla Walla where he graduated from high school in 1956.

After a stint as an Army paratrooper, he briefly attended Washington State University before becoming a restaura-

teur with the purchase of the New China Restaurant in Walla Walla.

In 1964, he moved to Pasco and opened Chinese Gardens the following year.

Ted’s father’s arrival paved the way for Ted and Amy to immigrate, and later other family members seeking opportunity in America. Some also went to work for Lee.

uCHINESE GARDENS, Page A20

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CHINESE GARDENS, From page A19 When asked about the challenges they faced as immigrants and later as business owners, Amy said, “At the beginning, my husband didn’t even know A-B-C-D, so that was a big step for him.”

“We worked hard,” she added.

Amy recalled starting out as an assistant to the waitresses, setting and clearing the tables.

“Then, later, I was a waitress, so just a step by step. Even Ted was not a cook at the start; he was just cutting vegetables for a long time and then he became a cook,” she said.

In 1985, Lee sold Chinese Gardens to the Rupp family, the owners of Cost Less Carpet, and the Wongs managed

the kitchen.

In 1989, the Rupps decided to sell and so Ted and Amy stepped up.

Lee died in 2004 and according to his obituary, “he was always involved in all aspects of his restaurant. Besides managing it, he tended bar, cooked, and mingled with his customers. Good food and good service were his main priorities.”

Tri-Cities’ longtime restaurants Chinese Gardens isn’t the only TriCity restaurant with longevity.

Kennewick’s oldest is fast casual dining favorite Zip’s (including its Richland location), established at its spot by the cable bridge in 1953, according to the city of Kennewick. As far as sitdown establishments go, it’s Hill’s Res-

DIVERSITY taurant, which opened in 1962 at Columbia Center before moving in the 1990s to its current location on Vista Way. Richland’s oldest is the Spudnut Shop, which opened in 1948 at the Richland Wye before moving to its present location in the Uptown Shopping Center in 1950. Close on its heels is Lee’s Tahitian, also in the Uptown, which opened in 1952 as Vina’s Tahitian, according to the East Benton County Historical Society.

Hard work pays off The Wongs noted there’s a lot more competition today.

When asked their secret to success, both Ted and Amy replied, “Hard work.”

And of course, good food.

“We try to keep the quality and the menu the same and just add new items, but not take any away,” Amy said.

Photo by Laura Kostad Ted said customers really Chinese Gardens displays an extensive enjoy the variety of flavors ofcollection of vintage Jim Beam whiskey fered, especially in the chicken decanters throughout the bar and restaurant dishes. Their most popular numbering 325. meals are lo mein, almond chicken, pineapple chicken, said. “A lot of restaurants have come barbecue pork and egg rolls. and gone, but we’re still here.”

He mentioned that Panda Express is Search Chinese Gardens: 1520 N. Fourth going in on Court Street, but they aren’t Ave., Pasco; 509-545-6324; chinesefazed. gardens.com; Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

“We make our food fresh, so I don’t Tuesday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. think Panda Express will bother me.

Ten or 20 years ago, I might have been, Friday-Saturday; noon-9 p.m. Sunday; but it doesn’t bother me much now,” he Closed Mondays.

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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Longtime community leader works to make an impact

By Robin Wojtanik

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Chauné Fitzgerald continues to make a mark on the Tri-City community through her volunteer work and advocacy, operating her own business and starting a successful nonprofit.

She’s also working to launch a Tri-City chapter of the Washington African American Chamber of Commerce.

But the Richland entrepreneur says she regularly feels unseen or invisible and works tirelessly to change this, not just for herself, but for vulnerable and disenfranchised members in the community.

“People just don’t see us. You get this from a lot of Blacks, that we are invisible,” Fitzgerald said. “People don’t make eye contact with you. They don’t speak to you, so you just don’t speak rather than take it personal. When you do business, you hope you get someone kind. You have to prove yourself until they get to know you. I found myself sometimes having to prove myself in order to get a seat at the table, and then your voice can be heard.”

Fitzgerald’s voice is heard loudly through her role as founder of Women of Wisdom Tri-Cities, a service organization working to “improve health and wealth of marginalized communities through engagement and empowerment.”

Formed in 2015, WOW is working on a return to its yearly fundraising tea held each Mother’s Day weekend until Covid-19 put a stop to its rising popularity.

Courtesy Chauné Fitzgerald Bree Muai, left, opened her small business, Charcuterie by Bree, with help from Chaune Fitzgerald and her Own Your Business consulting assistance.

“We outgrew every venue in just three years until we reached the convention center, and then Covid,” she said. The event is tentatively scheduled for May and money raised goes toward scholarships to local high school graduates.

Own Your Business launch Through her work with WOW, Fitzgerald spun off a second effort called Own

Your Business (OYB), a consulting arm of the nonprofit focused on business startup and resiliency strategies.

When pandemic restrictions limited what kinds of businesses could operate in 2020, “hairdressers were going to lose their livelihood. Most didn’t have a nest egg or didn’t have their ducks in a row and would go under.” Fitzgerald owns Salon Remedi

in the Richland Parkway.

Many stylists didn’t qualify for Covidspecific loans or grant funding because they were operating without all the necessary licensing, didn’t have an employer identification number or hadn’t filed the previous year’s taxes, she said.

OYB “lets me help you legitimize your business,” Fitzgerald said. “Or maybe you are doing the walk of shame because you still don’t have a good accountant yet. The needs are different for many minorityowned businesses.”

Fitzgerald has a master’s in business administration with an emphasis on organizational leadership and business management. When she planned a fundraiser for local hairstylists and barbers, it got her noticed by the Washington State Microenterprise Association. The WSMA supports small businesses by assisting regional organizations, like WOW and OYB, and especially ones that reach people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds.

“These were the community members most affected by Covid, and most likely to die,” Fitzgerald said.

Her outreach efforts took off from there as she helped with diversity, equity and inclusion consulting for grant writing, finding the OYB aspect began to even outweigh the WOW work. She started hosting pop-up Covid-19 vaccine clinics with the Washington State Department of Health after the agency identified her as a “thought partner.” uFITZGERALD, Page A29

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uBUSINESS BRIEFS Murray earmarks $3M for MLK Center in Pasco

Pasco’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center will get a major facelift after securing $3 million in a federal appropriations bill signed into law in March.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, directed $116.4 million to local projects across the state.

Some of the other appropriations to Eastern Washington included $900,000 to build a new community center at Lake Chelan, $700,000 to build a research facility to support bull trout populations in the Upper Yakima River, $1.2 million to support education and feeding programs in Yakima County, $3 million to establish a health care training facility in Spokane

to address health care shortages and $1.8 million to pilot a licensed practical nurse apprenticeship program at Yakima Valley College.

The $1.5 trillion omnibus bill directed $2.6 billion to the Hanford cleanup.

Airport exhibit highlights Native American viewpoint

An exhibited curated by the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute now on exhibit at the Tri-Cities Airport showcases the region’s Native American culture.

The airport features art and exhibits each year in the secured site. The new exhibit replaces one curated by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The artwork supports the theme, “We Were, We Are, and We Will Be,” and offers a historical and cultural perspective on the

DIVERSITY region’s Natives. The Tamástslikt Cultural Institute is the only museum on the Oregon trail that tells the story of Western expansion from the perspective of tribes.

Tamástslikt is a museum and research institute on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton. The airport is in Pasco.

Social Security reopens offices, adds new option for gender

The Social Security Administration reopened local offices to in-person services on April 7.

Go to ssa.gov/locator to find the local office serving your zip code. For those who prefer to avoid the office or lines, services also are available at socialsecurity.gov.

In a separate move, Social Security

announced it will give people the choice to self-select their sex for their Social Security number record starting in the fall.

“The Social Security Administration is committed to reducing barriers and ensuring the fair treatment of the LGBTQ+ community,” said Kilolo Kijakazi, acting commissioner. “The policy change will allow people to self-select their sex in our records without needing to provide documentation of their sex designation.”

Those who update their sex markers will need to apply for a replacement SSN card.

To do so, they will need a document to provide their identity.

In February, the agency issued guidance to its employees to accept evidence documents that contain non-binary identifiers such as “X” for original SSN and replacement SSN card applications.

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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Q&A Number of employees you oversee: We have less than five paid employees.

However, we have approximately 30 members of the council and over 130 volunteers in the last year alone.

Brief background of your business or organization: Tri-Cities Diversity & Inclusion Council (TCD&IC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community organization dedicated to fostering a unified community, embracing cultures and celebrating diversity through education, advocacy and the promotion of cultural competence and compassion.

How did you land your current role?

How long have you been in it?

In October 2019 I invited a group of friends to my home to discuss the idea of creating a nonprofit that focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Initially, the plan was to only hold cultural events in the Tri-Cities to not only highlight the beauty in diversity but also educate folks on our differences while bringing the community together. When we began to formally structure our organization, I was voted into the position of our CEO and have held that role since our 501 (c)(3) status was instated back in January 2020.

NAIMA CHAMBERS-SMITH CEO Tri-Cities Diversity & Inclusion Council Why should the Tri-Cities care about what you do?

Tri-Cities residents should care about what the council does because, ultimately, we are here to serve this community. There is not one person in our community who cannot benefit from what the council has to offer. We not only focus on supporting folks from historically underrepresented and under-resourced communities, but we also act as a bridge to close cross-cultural gaps and unite all members of the TriCities.

TCD&IC has five focus areas: • To act as an information hub to connect marginalized community members to available resources and provide awareness of issues in the community that impact them.

• Offer diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consulting and training to local organizations and businesses to help create inclusive and equitable workplace environments through DEI practices.

• To partner with organizations that support under-represented communities.

• To host yearlong community events that support our mission.

• To provide culturally-specific educational services that promote growth and resiliency in all dimensions of wellness for those most impacted by intersectional oppression, systemic barriers and the

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impact of cumulative racial trauma.

You were honored with the 2022 MLK Spirit award in February. What did this mean to you and what message would you like to get out as a result?

Being awarded CBC’s 2022 MLK Spirit Award this year came as a surprise and an absolute honor.

I’ve mentioned in previous interviews that I’ve never considered my name being mentioned in the same sentence as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He played a monumental role in social justice and positive change, leaving a lasting imprint across the country, and for the role he played in the civil rights movement.

Although I truly appreciate the award and recognition, it’s important to me that the community understands that the work of the council is not done by me alone.

There are many amazing individuals that make up TCD&IC from our board, council members, staff, and the hundreds of volunteers across the Tri-Cities who make sure that they show up in allyship and give their all to support TRUE commu-

Naima Chambers-Smith

nity at every opportunity. For them, I am truly grateful.

Tell us a little about your background.

Where did you grow up? Go to school?

I am from Southern California where I lived most of my life. I grew up in both Los Angeles and San Bernardino County.

I come from a multicultural, multi-ethnic family. I am the eldest of eight children and have two children of my own. I have over 20 years of progressive law enforcement experience. I am a certified trauma informed care facilitator and ASCENT uCHAMBERS-SMITH, Page A24

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

CHAMBERS-SMITH , From page A23 Leadership graduate. I also hold two DEI certifications in addition to continuous quality improvement and real colors/real teams. I currently work for the Oregon Department of Corrections as the program manager over equity, inclusion, and organizational change, while also serving the Tri-Cities Diversity & Inclusion Council part time as the CEO. What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

I’ve observed that leading with authenticity can be difficult for many leaders.

Even myself. We have been socially conditioned to believe that leadership looks like a perfect package and must behave and act a specific way as opposed to seeing the beauty of showing up as our true, authentic selves and embracing our differences, our strengths and all that makes us unique individuals. Being a leader that models authenticity helps others do the same.

Leaders are supposed to lead by example, right? Encouraging folks to show up as their true selves creates a culture that supports diversity and inclusion where every person is valued, respected and open to all that makes us different. As a leader, this in turn helps to create healthy workplace environments. For many organizations, the workplace environment is lacking inclusivity and a sense of belonging for ALL. I believe that can be achieved by taking the first steps of leading with authenticity, love, and empathy.

If you had a magic wand, what would you change about your industry/field?

If I had a magic wand, the first wave of my wand would end the philanthropic injustice and bias within the nonprofit sector, ensuring equitable funding practices for nonprofits regardless of the demographic makeup of its leadership. Data shows that nonprofit organizations led by people of color are underfunded and under-resourced.

According to a report published in Philantrophy.com by the consultancy

Bridgespan and Echoing Green, an organization that invests in and provides support for leaders of emerging social enterprises, “white-led groups had budgets that were 24% larger than those led by people of color.” It also found that “groups led by Black women received less money than those led by Black men or white women.”

A report by Stanford Social Innovation Review found that “the unrestricted net assets of the Black-led organizations are 76% smaller than their white-led counterparts.

Disparities by the race of the leader repeatedly persist even when taking into account factors like issue area and education levels and intersect with gender disparities as well. For example, among organizations in Echoing Green’s Black Male Achievement fellowship, which focuses on improving the life outcomes of Black men and boys in the United States, the revenues of the Black-led organizations are 45% smaller than those of the white-led organizations, and the unrestricted net assets of the blackled organizations are a whopping 91% smaller than the white-led organizations – despite focusing on the same work.”

What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

My advice would be to understand that the role of a leader goes beyond management and titles. The role of leadership comes with great responsibility. As a leader we are responsible for both the failure and success of our organizations, businesses, teams, etc. Leadership defines culture and therefore before going into leadership, I recommend asking yourself, what culture do you want to create? What strengths do you want to help cultivate? Are you willing to support, mentor and coach others? Can you do so with love and empathy? Are you willing to model the behaviors you want to see amongst your team? Are you willing to be accountable for your own behaviors and admit to your own missteps/short comings?

I’d also add that leadership requires doing the work of engaging in self-reflection and

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developing a sense of awareness of our own biases and how our behavior impacts others regardless of our intent. Roy T. Bennett said, “it’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.”

What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

This is a really hard one to answer. If you asked for the top two, I would narrow it down to love and empathy. In my opinion love for others and for the work you do is a crucial characteristic for any leadership role. I also believe that in addition to leading with love, leading with empathy is imperative to your success as a leader, those you support and the impact of the work that you do. Making the effort to put yourself in the shoes of others and imagine seeing the other persons’ perspective helps us connect with each other with both our hearts and our minds. I believe practicing empathy as a leader encourages others to do the same.

How did you decide to pursue the career that you are working in today?

Prior to relocating to the Tri-Cities I expected to remain working in the juvenile justice system. I didn’t see a future where I wasn’t supporting youth, helping them discover their potential, or an understanding that they didn’t have to be victims of their circumstances. When I moved here and started with the Department of Corrections, I struggled finding a sense of belonging and happiness. This led to my participation in the DEI committee at work. That inspired me to take diversity certification courses to become educated on how to implement DEI best practices within the agency. That in turn inspired the birth of the council. At the time, I couldn’t see beyond the divisiveness and our siloed communities. I didn’t realize the need for culturally specific programs, DEI education, or the impact that the council was capable of making. I guess you can call it divine intervention. God ensures that the universe continues to unfold and guide my path. I’ve learned that the path we think we’re supposed to take is not always the one that is meant to be. I’m just grateful that my current path has created opportunities to enrich the lives of so many organizations and individuals in a variety of ways.

What do you consider your leadership style to be?

Recognizing that some leadership models become outdated, and that transformational leadership is the kind of leadership model our current workforce is looking for, I consider my leadership style to be one that is constantly evolving to meet the needs of those I support while constantly learning and growing to become a better version of myself. If I had to choose today where my leadership style currently lies it would be between servant leadership and visionary leadership, both of which has their strengths and weaknesses.

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How do you balance work and family life?

Most recently, it has been making a better effort to have a cut off time for work in the evenings. I must admit that achieving a work-life balance is a constant work in progress for me. It’s something I

find myself working at daily because for someone who is task oriented and results driven, I find it extremely challenging. I’m blessed to have accountability partners, great friends, family and a therapist to help remind me when I’m not taking the time to engage in self-care as well as “call me in” to have the difficult and sometimes uncomfortable conversation when they recognize an imbalance and the need for me to give one area or other in my life more focus and attention.

What do you like to do when you are not at work?

When I’m not working, I love to spend time with family and friends. I enjoy feeding those I love which usually looks like me cooking or providing food for us to share and spending time with one another.

I also enjoy shopping, watching a good movie or reading a good book. Traveling and learning about food and culture is also at the top of my list and something I’d like to do more of.

What’s your best time management strategy?

My best time management strategy is utilizing my calendar. Without it, it’s easy for me to get lost in time which can mean spending more time on one task than the other. My other, is making lists. I am a Post-it note person. Often, my desk is filled with them! But they act as reminders for me.

Best tip to relieve stress?

Breathe. I’ve recently discovered just how impactful taking a few minutes to take deep slow breaths can have on slowing the central nervous system down and having a calming effect when experiencing heightened emotions and stress. Five seconds in through your nose and 10 seconds out through your mouth almost instantly works.

What’s your favorite podcast?

Most-used app? Favorite book?

As of recent, my most-used app is the Calm Radio app or even YouTube. I have difficulty sleeping sometimes and I’ve learned that the Calm Radio app and its various sounds as well as You Tube’s “fan sound for sleep white noise,” works magic for me. I have several books that I would call favorites, however, if I had to narrow it down to one book that I would recommend to any and everyone, it would be “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz.

Do you have a personal mantra, phrase or quote you like to use?

I believe engaging in positive self-talk is a healthy practice. Depending on the situation, repeating mantras to keep us focused, encouraged, calm, etc., looks different. I use a few. During emotionally heightened/ tense conversations: “Focus on the end goal” or “Live with the end in mind” (S. Covey) or “Don’t take it personally” (Don Miguel Ruiz).

When I’m nervous, doubting myself or feeling discouraged, “You’ve got this.”

I would also say focusing on my own purpose statement which is to, “inspire love and impact change.” This keeps me grounded and helps me consistently tie my actions and words to what I believe is my life’s purpose.

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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Pandemic deals different economic hands to the Tri-City workforce Recently, the Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis was asked by the Port of Kennewick to conduct an “environmental scan” of the economy of the greater Tri-Cities. The overriding goal was to determine the impact of the pandemic on a variety of economic dimensions. One of these was equity.

Due to efforts of national and state statistical agencies, we can actually provide some answers. But first, let’s start with the lay of the economic land, pre-pandemic.

A summary measure, median household income (MHI), gives us a good reading.

While not available by race and ethnicity in the two counties on an annual basis, MHI is available as a five-year rolling average, thanks to the U.S. Census. The pre-pandemic period of interest is then 2015-19.

What do the estimates tell us for this period? In two words, huge gaps. For the five-year period, overall median household income was a little more than $67,000.

For non-Hispanic whites, MHI was nearly $82,000; for Asian-Americans, nearly $89,000. The MHI for Hispanics/Latinos was $48,000, and for Blacks, it was $24,000.

Admittedly, the estimates suffer a bit of accuracy due to the small numbers of Blacks and Asian-Americans in the general population. The margins of error for the estimates were wide, at +/- $12,224 and +/- $15,621, respectively. But even if we adopt the upper limit of the MHI estimates for Blacks and the lower limit for AsianAmericans, the result is still a yawning gap.

Since these data are available only on a five-year rolling year basis, we really won’t be able to pinpoint the effect of pandemic year 2020. There are a couple other measures, touched on in the Port of Kennewick study, however, that allow some conclusions.

First is earnings. Census reports average monthly on a quarterly basis by county by

race and ethnicity, among other characteristics. (The data product is Quarterly Workforce Indicators, or QWI.) In its study, the institute looked at the path D. Patrick Jones of monthly earnEastern ings from the start Washington of 2019 through University the first quarter of GUEST COLUMN last year, the most recent quarter available. The results both reinforce and counter the household income distribution.

Reinforcing the distribution of MHI are earnings by Asian-Americans. At the start of 2019, they were $4,801. Their cumulative growth rate over the 11 quarters was also the highest, increasing by 39%. NonHispanic whites started the period with the highest monthly wage, at $4,492. Yet, their rate of increase was the lowest, at 8%.

In between were other racial groups, showing cumulative increases in wages in tight ranges of 11%-13%. These are hardly the kind of increases that will move incomes of these racial and ethnic groups close to the overall median.

Another economic metric available by race and ethnicity stems from Washington Employment Security Department’s (ESD) Covid-19 tracking efforts. The agency has issued data on initial claims for unemployment insurance by race and ethnicity since the start of the pandemic. The number of claims can be converted into cumulative shares by race and ethnicity through the end of last year. These shares can then be juxtaposed against the average make-up of the greater Tri-Cities’ workforce by race and ethnicity over the same period, available from QWI. The results? Asian-Americans, though a small component of the workforce, showed

a much smaller share of initial claims for unemployment insurance relative to their share of the workforce.

On the other hand, Latinos made up nearly a third of the initial claims. Yet their average share of the workforce was 26%. And non-Hispanic whites? They made up 55% of the cumulative claims, yet their average size of the workforce was 61%.

The result for Blacks was actually similar, albeit at a much smaller scale. They made up, on average, 3.5% of the workforce, yet cumulatively about 2% of initial claims for unemployment.

Clearly, by this measure, the Hispanic/ Latino workforce endured a much harder knock from the pandemic than other groups. This likely reflects the high percentage of this group in customer-facing industries, such as lodging, restaurants and retail. It also reflects the challenges faced by agricultural firms, as Covid-19 hit its workforce hard. By mid-year 2021, agricultural headcount was still below prepandemic levels.

All in all, one group, Asian-Americans, posted substantial gains during the pandemic, after starting in an already high position.

The largest segment of people of color in the workforce, Hispanics, gained modestly in average earnings, but lost ground in

Courtesy Benton-Franklin Trends

employment. Non-Hispanic whites, still the overall dominant group in the greater Tri-Cities, did not gain much in earnings but avoided disproportionate employment losses.

Just as the pandemic treated various sectors differently, so it did to the workforce of the greater Tri Cities. D. Patrick Jones is the executive director for Eastern Washington University’s Institute for Public Policy & Economic Analysis. Benton-Franklin Trends, the institute’s project, uses local, state and federal data to measure the local economic, educational and civic life of Benton and Franklin counties.

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

BUSINESS PROFILE

The Granite Guy aims to meet demand for quality countertops

By Jeff Morrow

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Installing unique, shiny granite surfaces is The Granite Guy’s specialty.

The family-owned company, located just upriver from the cable bridge in Pasco, has been in business for 10 years.

“We basically do anything: kitchens, bathroom, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces,” said Irving Ortega.

He, his wife Cassandra, and his brother Omar, own The Granite Guy LLC, which launched in 2012.

“It’s been 8 ½ years or so since we’ve been on our own,” Irving said. “Before that, I worked 1 ½ years with my fatherin-law. He brought me on and showed me the ropes.”

After that, he felt it was the right time to break off on his own.

Business has been solid ever since, and it continues to improve — even during the pandemic.

“We’ve done a good job of staying busy during the pandemic, and we’ve continued growing,” he said.

In a region where it seems houses can’t be built fast enough, there is a demand for quality granite countertops, he said.

The company specializes in remodels and newly built homes.

Irving said technology has helped him and his team toward better and faster production.

“Granite is a love-hate thing,” he said.

“It can be heavy-duty work each day. But

it’s always good to have a good team.”

Which Ortega says he has.

“Back about five years ago, we used to cut everything by hand,” he said. “There is still a lot of work involved, but it’s not as heavy now. We have digital plating now.”

The Granite Guy staff can fabricate and install any hard surface with its new CNC Fab Center from Park Industries.

Here’s how the process works: Irving and his brother go out to the job site and get an estimate for the customer.

Using a big laser, they shoot exact measurements.

Once that is determined, they digitalize the granite layout, then fabricate it.

The programmer enters the measurements into the CNC machine which can cut up big sheets of material, at times 10by-6 feet tall.

“And then we fabricate them,” Irving said. “At that point, our group of three installers then install the granite. The process usually takes half a day.”

Success and technology have helped the company grow.

“Five years ago, we had four or five guys at most,” Irving said. “Right now, we have three installers, two fabricators, two people working the front desk, which is my sister and my wife, and myself and my brother are involved in sales.”

Irving wants the business’ growth over the next five years to be slow, steady and strong.

“We want to maintain a pace that keeps everybody on our staff happy and is not

stretching them too thin,” he said. “The problem is we’ve had so much trouble finding enough workers. Last year we had ads on Facebook almost every day, but we’ve had no luck in finding anyone.”

The Granite Guy is licensed in Washington and Oregon.

“We have a few big builders around the state that we work with, including Hayden Homes,” Irving said. “They do work mostly in the TriCities and Walla Walla.”

But it’s in Oregon where Ortega’s compaCourtesy Granite Guy LLC ny has found its wheelIrving, left, and Omar Ortega own Pasco’s The Granite house.

“We do a lot of our Guy LLC, along with Irving’s wife Cassandra. They work in eastern Oregon. said a lot of their customers are in eastern Oregon.

Honestly, there is not us to come back and do the bathroom.” as much competition in It’s why he sees more success down the eastern Oregon as there is in the Tri-Citroad. ies,” Irving said.

“In five years, I see us even bigger,” Ortega said his company does a lot of work with Cost Less Carpet in Hermiston. Irving said. “I’m more satisfied when the “We do a lot of work in Hermiston, and customer sees that transition in the home. some in Pendleton,” he said. “That’s been It’s something they see that’s a nice, new look. Everybody is happy, and that’s why I our main focus.” love doing this.”

Still, business is business anywhere.

Search The Granite Guy LLC: 900 W. River “We see a lot of repeat business. A lot of it is word of mouth,” Irving said. “We might St., Pasco; 509-619-9324; thegranitegdo a kitchen. And maybe later, they’ll want uyllc.com.

BUSINESS PROFILE

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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Need to release some tension? Take A Break here

By Jeff Morrow

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

The words scrawled on the walls after a smashing session at Take A Break in Kennewick show the catharsis.

“Women Veteran Approved.”

“It’s OK to Not Be OK.” “Know Your Worth.”

“Cancer Sucks.”

“Breathe In, Breathe Out, Swing.”

Brigette Rose hatched the idea for Take A Break last summer, saying what the area needed was a sort of rage room — a place where people could break (or spray-paint) things to alleviate stress.

By the end of 2021, she opened at 309 W. Kennewick Ave., next door to the Sports Page in downtown Kennewick.

“I got into the building around Thanksgiving, opened the break room around Christmas, and in February opened the paint room,” Rose said. “It’s therapeutic.”

And she’s not done.

She wants to build a sensory room.

“In here, kids can break boxes, pop bubble wrap,” she said. “Different physical activities.”

How does it work?

Walk in the front door of her shop and the first thing you might see are a pile of old television sets, with the innards pulled out.

The walls are painted in a type of Jackson Pollock way. The back room features shelves of breakables — glass bottles, porcelain, lamps, vases, coffee cups, knickknacks.

The goal is simple: starting at $10, someone can go into the break room and using a baseball bat or golf club — “I’m looking for a sledgehammer” — and can shatter a bunch of beer bottles.

To smash a bucket of 20-25 breakables costs $35.

The prices go up from there. Find out

what you can break and how much it costs at Takeabreaktricities.com.

“You sign a waiver, dress head to toe in safety gear, then go in and smash things,” Rose said. “It’s very therapeutic.”

People can play their own music in the break room, scream and yell, and when they’re done and their anger spent, they can write on the walls.

The idea Rose’s daughter, DeAnna, was diagnosed with autism at a young age.

“She was very aggressive and would break holes in the walls,” said Rose, who says she likes to parent outside the box.

DeAnna was frustrated with her anger and didn’t know what to do with it. So she’d lash out.

“At the age of 8, she would hit me,” she said. “I’d have to bear hug her to the ground, restrain her safely.”

Sometimes the health system can be such a frustrating maze. At times, Rose didn’t know what to do. There wasn’t really a playbook to handle some of the situations.

“I’ve spent so many years fighting to figure out the system,” she said. “People feel helpless. That feeling is what drives me.”

At one point, Rose was a drug and alcohol counselor, and she did art with her groups.

She also owns a company called Mindful Art, offering art for healing, working with several groups.

But then she discovered rage rooms.

“They started in Japan roughly 10 years ago,” Rose said. “You see them on reality TV shows.”

Think of the movie “Office Space,” where the frustrated workers steal the printer from their company, take it out into a field and destroy it with a baseball bat.

That scene resonated with a lot of people.

“I didn’t make this up,” Rose said.

“This is not a franchise.”

But she did her research.

She found there were three rage rooms in the state: one in the Seattle-Tacoma area, one in Vancouver, and one in Spokane.

“I did all of the work I had to do,” she said. “I visited two places in Washington to see what it was like. I wished I had something like this years ago.”

It was important enough to her that she paused her Mindful Art business in August to concentrate on Take A Break.

“This provides something new, out of the box, for coping,” Rose said. “There are a lot of people struggling out there for mental health. I’m a resource. Rage rooms have become more popular because people have become closed up. They’ve built up anxiety.

They’ve built up emotion.”

And it’s gotten worse since the pandemic started.

Courtesy Take A Break Brigette Rose takes a bat to old electronics at Take A Break at 309 W. Kennewick Ave. in downtown Kennewick. She created the business to give people a safe place to release tension and anxiety by breaking boxes, popping bubble wrap and yes, taking a bat to various items.

Women need an outlet Rose’s customer base is almost entirely women.

“They need to get it out.

About 99% of our customers are women between the ages of 25 and 65,” she said.

“That is my population. We will be at the

Men’s Expo next month at the HAPO Center.”

Recently, a group of 12 from the TriuTAKE A BREAK, Page A28

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 TAKE A BREAK, From page A27

The Blue Mountain Council would like to thank the following sponsors for their tremendous support of the 2022 Friends of Scouting Leadership Breakfast.

The event raised over $100,000 to help support the Scouting program in our community.

Thank you to the 572 people in attendance and all of our generous sponsors who made this year’s event a huge success.

- Title Sponsor Stevens Center Management - Media Sponsor Stevens Media Group - Life SponsorSun Pacific Energy - Star Sponsors Breshears Professional Photography Steve Gaines CBC, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society McCurley Integrity Subaru Cadwell Industries Brian Griffin Realtor Lampson International Sue Frost - First Class Sponsors Mark & Paula Gehlen Family FastSigns Basin Pacific Insurance Bob Macduff Family Petersen Hastings Deublin Company LLC Justin Teeguarden Family

Cities women’s veterans came in.

“We’re getting a lot of teambuilding groups,” she said. “The Richland High dance team of 20 girls recently came and were in the break room and the paint room.

A group from Bethel Church was just here.

We get birthday parties.”

Rose said she gets people from Walla Walla, Pendleton, Grandview and Yakima.

“I would like to end up having a mobile unit. And expand, go to other cities,” she said.

The paint room is like a blank canvas, and kids love going in there. Recently a group of mothers and kids came in, and the kids immediately started firing paint at each other wearing their protective coveralls.

“The mothers tried to stop the kids,” she said. “I said ‘Let ’em go,’ and started firing paint at everyone.

It was great. The moms were trying to control their kids. And you could hear the laughs in there. I’ve been buying up all of the black light paint in the Tri-Cities.”

The response The business has been successful so far, Rose said.

“From a business perspective, we’ve reached our monthly goals. We’re not in the red. I’ve come in with $6,000 raised in a month for the building rent and insurance. So I’m not in debt.”

The community also wanted to help her get it started because they saw the value in it.

“The rooms were built for free using volunteers,” Rose said. “It’s good support,

and good service for people.”

She also gets a lot of donated breakables.

“I also work with Safe Harbor’s secondhand store, the Seattle Children’s store, and the veterans secondhand store,” she said.

Those shops provide her with low-cost breakables.

“And I’m excited for yard sales. I just have to find a truck to take things away.”

She gets beer and liquor bottles from Sports Page, and soon from the Branding Iron down the street.

At the end of the day, either she or a volunteer take out the breakables and put them in the dumpster out back.

So far, Rose said, “the garbage men have been really nice.”

The aftereffect Rose said she loves how people look and feel when they’re done in one of her rooms.

“They come out feeling less heavy.

They’re sweating. It’s like exercise,” she said. “Nobody comes out of those rooms angry. It doesn’t say go break people’s stuff. It says ‘Here’s an outlet. Come and get it out.’

“Also people come here to do this because normally it’s something you’re not supposed to do.”

“I believe in it,” she said. “I had to because everything around me was telling me not to do it.”

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 FITZGERALD, From page A21 “This is someone they are taking advice and feedback from,” Fitzgerald said. “I met with the staff at the DOH so I can figure out how to navigate Covid-19 prevention strategies in my community. There was a lot of hesitancy in the Black and brown community around the Covid vaccine.”

Together with the DOH’s Care-a-Van, Fitzgerald organized numerous clinics, including one at her own salon. The Carea-Van targeted communities with vaccine gaps, often based on race or ethnicity.

“The vaccine clinics initially started in the Black churches so we could meet people where they are, on a Sunday, and they could get it before church or after church,” she said. “Most of these churches are located in east Pasco, in the heart of the Latino communities, so there was the intersectional reach.”

Diverse leadership Fitzgerald sits on the board of the TriCity Regional Chamber of Commerce, is part of the inclusion council for the MyTri2030 effort, unsuccessfully ran for a seat on Richland City Council in 2021 and was the 2020 winner of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Spirit Award, presented by Columbia Basin College. She received the award for her demonstration of King’s spirit of inclusion and promotion of social justice through her work with WOW and other organizations supporting marginalized members of the community.

Despite her education, accolades and presence on influential boards, Fitzgerald finds the business approach is far from a one-size-fits-all model.

“Maybe the tools weren’t culturally appropriate, or I wasn’t identifying with them. We didn’t have a Black chamber or African American chamber.”

It’s why Fitzgerald added this to her plate as well and is behind the 2021 establishment of the Washington African American Chamber of Commerce, with chapters intended for the Tri-Cities, Yakima and Walla Walla. She’s hoping to sign up 50 businesses to launch new software that requires a minimum number of members to sustain.

Moving to the Tri-Cities Fitzgerald said she was one of the first Black-owned business owners in Richland when she launched Salon Remedi in 2008 shortly after arriving in the Tri-Cities.

“I was determined to create a space for

uBUSINESS BRIEF Communities in Schools fundraiser is in May

Communities in Schools Benton-Franklin holds its fifth annual Spring Into Action fundraising breakfast at 7:30 a.m. May 12 at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.

Communities in Schools leverages relationships to address the systemic barriers students face due to marginalization, unequal learning environments, income equality, opportunity gaps, housing insecurity and more.

The event is free but attendees are asked to contribute to the organization.

Go to: bentonfranklin.ciswa.org.

me and my daughter. My husband was going to pay the rent even if I never had a client,” she joked.

Besides a master of cosmetology license, Fitzgerald has traveled the world styling hair for pageants like Miss USA and Miss Universe. She wanted to fill a need locally to serve all hair textures after relocating from Georgia for her husband’s job, a big transition and overall adjustment for a Black woman.

“There, I knew where to go and where not to go,” she said. “There is an unspoken segregation in the South. I didn’t know where to go here. I didn’t see anything that made me feel welcome. I am usually the only Black person in the room. I can often go a whole day and not see one of my clients.”

This desire to be seen is one of the reasons Fitzgerald ran for office in 2021.

“I wanted to at least show up and speak up. How do I share my story of how it feels to walk in the room and be the only (Black person) there? It’s not engaging, it’s not welcoming. You feel like you don’t have a voice. Or if you do have a seat at that table, that is the only reason why,” she said.

“It’s sad that historically Richland hasn’t had a Black person represent, and that bothered me because I pay taxes here, too. I look at the budget and I don’t see any reflection of my contributions. We have needs and wants from our community just as much, we just don’t have a voice,” she added. “I want people to realize sometimes representation does matter. If you don’t think so, think of if the whole Richland

A29

City Council was Black. Think if the decisions made would be the same. Maybe they would be, maybe not.”

When asked if she’ll run again, Fitzgerald said she “doesn’t have an answer for that.”

Fitzgerald sees the Tri-Cities as a diverse community, but without a large number of people to fill the racial or ethnic categories.

She hopes people will take time to embrace diversity.

“We all have differences – there’s good and bad in every race and we should judge people by their actions and not by the surface. After 15 years here, what has improved is my ability to cope. People are getting to know me and they’re more welcoming of me. Does that count for everyone or just me?”

A30

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

uNEW HIRES

• The East Benton County Museum in Kennewick has hired Cathryn Tames as its new executive director/administrator. Tames, the former executive director of the Children’s Development Center in Richland, brings more than 35 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Christy Watts, the former executive director, has retired.

• Michael D. Gallagher has joined Washington Policy Center, a free market think tank, as CEO and president. He is former president and CEO of Entertainment Software Association and served as an assistant secretary of commerce for telecommunications during the George W. Bush administration. During his tenure at ESA, he was credited with building bipartisan support for the industry at the state and federal level. He succeeds Daniel Mead Smith, who left in October to join Project 42, a Seattle nonprofit advocacy group.

• Dr. Gregory Bohn has joined Lourdes Health’s as a general surgeon. He specializes in general, thoracic, vascular, endoscopic and laparoscopic Dr. Gregory Bohn surgery, as well as wound care and management. Bohn earned his doctor of medicine from Wayne State University and his bachelor of science from the University of Michigan. Following medical school, he completed his internship and residency in general surgery with Blodgett Memorial

Medical Center and Saint Mary’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

• Debbie Bravo has been hired as the lead interior designer at Architects West and will oversee the development and growth of Architects West’s Debbie Bravo new interior design studio. She brings more than 25 years of interior design experience, a passion for good design and a goal to bring the human experience to a higher level. Bravo has worked on all aspects of building projects and brings an extensive portfolio with her including public and private projects from the commercial office, health care, recreation, multifamily and residential sectors.

• Distinctive Properties Inc. has hired Matt Calvert as its newest real estate broker/Realtor.

Calvert previously worked for five years in banking.

He will specialize Matt Calvert in residential real estate.

• Sierra Kellogg has been hired as assistant vice president of home loan center operations for Numerica Credit Union. She will help lead the credit union’s processing and funding teams across the Tri-Cities, Spokane, north Idaho and the Wenatchee Valley. She has 10 years of experience

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NETWORKING in the financial industry, specializing in mortgage and consumer lending. She was previously a processing manager at Caliber Home Loans.

Sierra Kellogg • Liz Renz has joined the Port of Benton as an accounting clerk. She joins the port team after many years of working as office manager for the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce.

With experience in office management, customer service, professional services, accounting, audit, Liz Renz managing budgets, reporting and software, she brings a wide variety experience. Her role with the port will focus on accounting and administrative duties..

• Cornerstone Wealth Strategies Inc., a full-service independent wealth management firm based in Kennewick, has hired Tyler Scott as a wealth Tyler Scott advisor and financial planner.

The certified financial planner started in the finance industry in 2014, and his latest

tenure was with one of the largest investment firms in the nation. He served a large client base and specialized in all aspects of financial planning, working to help his clients achieve their goals. He graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a bachelor’s degree in business finance.

• Walla Walla-based Divots Golf LLC, which has a shop in Richland, has named PGA Pro Brady Sharp as director of golf.

He will join a growing team of golf enthusiasts working to make golf more accessible year-round, as well as developing the next generation of golfers through the use of simulator technology, training and competitions. Sharp will spearhead engagement initiatives to increase golf participation.

In his role, he will oversee all private golf lessons at the Divots Junior Golf Academy and contribute to the success of various events and tournaments.

• Steve Fisk, a school administrator with a record of successful innovative educational programs and supporting students, will be the next principal of Richland High School. He replaces current principal Tim Praino, who was recently selected to be Richland School District’s new executive director of human resources.

Fisk has 22 years of experience as a building administrator, with more than half of that time at North Central High School in Spokane. While there, he worked with his staff to establish the Institute of Science and Technology to give first high school students and then those in middle school the opportunity to explore careers ranging from genomic research to archaeology. He also holds a superintendent’s credential and recently led the Colville School District.

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

NETWORKING uPROMOTION • Chaplaincy Health Care has named Zoe Diaz as the director of standards and compliance. Diaz will ensure the nonprofit’s compliance with state, Zoe Diaz federal and local regulations, as well as company policies and procedures, audit control and inspections, licensure inspections and audits and security of related records. She most recently worked at Chaplaincy Health Care as an executive assistant where she worked with compliance through contract management, policy and procedure development, licensure and regulatory requirements and survey preparedness. Prior to joining Chaplaincy, Diaz was the home manager and compliance support at From the Heart adult family homes, where she managed and supported compliance in multiple homes.

Her responsibilities included patient care auditing, care planning, home compliance for adult family home living standards and emergency preparedness.

uAPPOINTMENT

Dr. Amy Person

• Dr. Amy Person of Kennewick was appointed to the Public Health Advisory Board by Gov. Jay Inslee.

She is the health officer for the Benton-Franklin Health District.

uDONATIONS • The North Franklin School District received $2,500 through the CHS Seeds for Stewardship program to continue offering a Washington Office of Superintendent Public Instruction-approved Class A CDL preparatory course at Connell High School. The stewardship program was designed to support organizations and projects focused on safety and ag education. CHS SunBasin Growers donated the money to the program to empower a safer, stronger rural America as the money goes directly back into communities

where CHS owners and employees work, live and do business. Since 2019, CHS Ag Retail locations have donated more than $552,000 to CHS Seeds for Stewardship.

• The Pacific Power Foundation has awarded Heartlinks Hospice & Palliative Care a $10,000 grant to assist with its mission of enriching the lives of patients and their families in need of end-of-life care throughout Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties. Specifically, the grant will support the pediatric palliative care program which supports children up to age 20 who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness or chronic condition.

uAWARDS & HONORS

• The Richland-based BrandCraft was one of 21 Washington businesses with a combined $1.4 billion in revenue on 2022 Inc. Magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies in the Pacific region.

Collectively, the Washington honorees added 2,166 jobs in the past year. BrandCraft was No. 139 for the West, showing 75% growth. Legwork, a Wenatchee software firm, was the only other Eastern Washington firm, ranking No. 141 with 73% revenue growth.

• Matthew Riesenweber, an independent LPL Financial advisor in Kennewick, has been recognized by Barron’s as one of the 2022 Top 1,200 advisors in Matthew America. RiesenRiesenweber weber, CEO and wealth advisor of Cornerstone Wealth Strategies, was recognized as the 19th advisor in the state. The annual list highlights outstanding financial advisors based on data provided by about 6,000 financial professionals, according to Barron’s. Advisors are assessed based on varying factors contributing to the quality of their practice, including revenue produced for the firm, regulatory record and philanthropic work.

• Edward Jones Financial Advisor Shelley Kennedy of Richland was named to the annual list of America’s Top Women Wealth Advisors for 2022 by Forbes and SHOOK Research. Kennedy ranked No. 19 among Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-in-State in Washington.

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She has served area investors for the past 11 years.

To compile the 2022 list of 1,377 women, research analysts conducted more than 16,000 interviews Shelley Kennedy with nominees.

Criteria included client service, compliance records, community involvement, the investment process, assets under care and tenure in the industry. Kennedy is one of 36 Edward Jones financial advisors to be named to the 2022 Forbes list of America's Top Women Wealth Advisors and subsequently the Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-in-State, which is published in the February-March issue of Forbes.

• Tri-Citians Rob Koenig, a director in the Richland Seniors Association (RSA), and Larry Elliot, were recognized on March 17 by KAPP and STCU in their monthly Volunteers Count project as outstanding community volunteers for their years of service in Fields of Grace, a nonprofit organization whose volunteers harvest fruit and produce donated by local farmers to be distributed to food banks. In honor of their service, STCU presented a $1,000 check to Fields of Grace in their name.

• Michelle Clary of Piton Wealth is newly certified as an accredited estate planner designee by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils. Clary has earned multiple significant financial certifications, including certified financial

A31

planner, certified life underwriter, chartered financial consultant and retirement income certified professional. She has been in the financial industry Michelle Clary for more than 20 years, advising clients around the country in faith-based wealth management.

• Kennewick School District nurses recently were honored as recipients of a special achievement award given as part of Educational Service District 123’s annual Crystal Apple Awards program.

The award honors a person or group for contributions to the education community.

School nurses were recognized for their extraordinary efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic to protect and help students, staff, and families to navigate guidelines and address questions and concerns.

• The city of Richland received a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. The city was recognized for its annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2020. The report was judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a spirit of full disclosure to communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.

A32

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION Great Floors sells real estate portfolio, including Kennewick store

Page B3

Creating a café experience is on entrepreneur’s new menu

Page B5

April 2022 Volume 21 | Issue 4 | B1

GMA is aggravating housing shortage in Tri-Cities, officials say

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

A young relative asked Jeff Losey if he should wait for the housing market to cool down before purchasing his first home.

Losey, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities, said he advised against waiting.

“The water level is what it is,” he said, referring to current home prices. “It’s not going to precipitously go down.”

Losey, together with Ron Almberg, president of the Tri-City Association of Realtors, provided their insights into what’s driving the Tri-City housing market during a recent episode of the Tri-City Development Council’s weekly Coffee with Karl Dye program.

What is driving the market? Low interest rates, job creation and population growth. And the 1990 Washington Growth Management Act. The Federal Reserve may be raising interest rates in a bid to control inflation, but the other factors driving down inventory and driving up demand – and prices – aren’t abating, they agreed.

Young and first-time buyers are the hardest hit, but they aren’t alone, said Alm-

Photo by Wendy Culverwell Developers terrace home sites on the south side of Thompson Hill, near Kennewick’s Southridge High School.

berg, a designated broker with Keller Williams Tri-Cities when he’s not leading the industry association that represents about 850 local real estate professionals.

Older residents looking to downsize into single-level homes have few choices also.

“It’s not just first-time home buyers. It’s older folks. They’re having a challenge too.”

Fewer getting built Losey outlined how builders secured fewer permits for new homes in 2021 than

the year prior, not because demand is abating but because buildable lots are scarce in some areas.

Tri-City homebuilders secured permits to construct 1,647 homes in 2021, down 1,695 from in 2020.

He blames Washington’s Growth Management Act for making it difficult to expand city limits – and services.

“The GMA is the thorn in the side of every jurisdiction. It’s more expensive because you’ve restricted the supply,” he said.

Kennewick housing starts dipped to 238 in 2021, from 290. Losey anticipates a jump in 2022 as work proceeds in the Southridge area as land is prepared along the base of Thompson Hill. A drive along Bob Olson Parkway readily affirms that land is being prepared for future subdivisions.

Pasco saw a dip too and like Kennewick, it is not for lack of demand but rather available lots. When the urban growth boundary is approved, land will be developed.

“We expect that to pick up again,” he said.

Richland and West Richland were strong performers thanks to the available lots at Badger Mountain South for the former and uHOUSING SHORTAGE, Page B4

Transit hub to anchor development near Queensgate wine village

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

Ben Franklin Transit is embedding a transit hub into the heart of a future development in one of the most prominent retail corridors in south Richland.

The transit agency will build its hub on a strip of land bordering the Southwest Richland Park & Ride, off Columbia Park Trail near the Queensgate Drive roundabout.

Its neighbors include the J. Bookwalter, Tagaris and Barnard Griffin wineries.

The transit agency is buying the property from developer Randy Crosby.

Crosby began preparing the site for the $3.1 million project in March, a developer-led arrangement that saves on the final cost of development.

Keith Hall Keith Hall, Ben Franklin’s director of planning and service development, said the transit hub will be nestled into the larger development Crosby envisions for the site, which is accessed by Windmill Road and Tulip Lane.

The property is well known for its high-profile location next to the Interstate 182 interchange, to winery visitors and to area residents who brought their recycling to a station at the end of Windmill.

The city moved the recycling station to Truman Avenue, near the Benton County Emergency Management office north of Target.

Crosby, a Tri-City homebuilder, bought the former Russell vineyard in 2017, several years after it stopped producing grapes when the prior owners went out of business. The vineyard and related buildings are still on site.

He couldn’t be reached to discuss his current timeframe. But in 2018, his team outlined its plans.

Queensgate Plaza, as it was called at the time, would be among the region’s first privately funded mixed-use developments. The ports of Pasco and Kennewick are developing mixed-use projects, at Osprey Point and Vista Field, respectively, but both involve public agencies supported by taxpayers.

The Queensgate Plaza vision included a hotel with a possible water park, retail shops, condominiums and a “park-like” uTRANSIT HUB, Page B2

B2

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

TRANSIT HUB, From page B1 setting with walking paths and bike trails.

It is considered a welcome addition by at least one winery owner, John Bookwalter, who at the time said he was eager to see Tulip Lane improved to better handle the number of visitors coming to the wineries and related businesses, including restaurants.

As a transit center, the location near the Queensgate-Interstate 182 interchange is ideal.

It will serve as an anchor for bus routes serving the western side of the transit district as well as commuters headed to north Richland.

It will become the western hub for Ben Franklin’s Connect program, which offers on-demand rideshare services to make it easier for riders to access the bus network. Connect serves riders who are too far from bus stops to use the system.

The transit hub will have two bays for dropping off riders, three for picking them up and two for layovers as drivers take breaks or wait for the start of their next runs. Charging stations will serve its future electric-powered bus fleet.

Plans include a secured area for bicycle parking. Hall said there is potential to lease space to a commercial bike shop.

The hub will use shelters and landscaping to protect users from the heavy winds that rake the area.

A small building will house restroom facilities for drivers – but not the public – as well as other equipment, including charging equipment.

The hub will be accessed from a new

Courtesy Ben Franklin Transit Ben Franklin Transit’s Queensgate Transit Hub will feature drop off and pick up bays as well as secured bicycle parking and recharging stations for the electrical buses of the future.

one-way driveway on Columbia Park Trail, with buses leaving via Windmill Road-Tulip Lane, near the J. Bookwalter Winery.

The new driveway, which will traverse a deep ditch via bridge, will serve the future mixed-use development as well.

Hall said the transit agency is waiting for final permits from the city of Richland before it solicits construction bids.

The Washington Department of Transportation is paying about 80% of the cost.

The project doesn’t have a formal

name but is referred to as the Queensgate Transit Station.

It will take about 14 months to build after bids are opened and a contract is approved by the Ben Franklin Transit board.

The transit hub is one of several initiatives to facilitate connections to the regionwide transit system and to bring its facilities up to the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. On April 14, the transit agency board, comprised of representatives from area city councils and county commis-

sions, will vote on awarding a two-year, $1.3 million contract to ESF Development LLC to update 40 bus stop pads and add 30 shelters, garbage cans and other amenities each year.

In many cases, bus stops are inaccessible because there is a curb and grass or gravel barrier between the bus and the nearest sidewalk.

A recent update to a stop on Sandifur Parkway near Grocery Outlet in Pasco created a concrete pad that bridges the strip between road and sidewalk, making it easier for people who use wheelchairs and others to get on and off buses.

The project is locally funded, but the agency is seeking federal grant funding to expand its vision.

At the same April 14 meeting, the board will vote on a request to temporarily reduce its 0.6% sales tax rate to 0.5% and to submit a proposal to voters to make the change permanent. Advocates say taxpayers need the money more than the agency, which reported $66.6 million in cash and investments on March 31, 2022.

Nearly $24 million is allocated to capital projects over the coming year and an additional $20 million is budget for “future periods.”

Ben Franklin funds capital projects on a pay-as-you-go basis and does not bond or borrow money.

Sales taxes provide the lion’s share of the transit agency’s funding – an estimated $49.4 million in 2022. If the reduction is approved, it will trim $8.3 million in sales tax funds and an additional $3.4 million in support grants, the agency said.

At 0.6%, Ben Franklin is on par with its peers both large and small. Spokane Transit collects 0.8% while Pierce Transit, Valley Transit, Whatcom Transit, Clallam Transit and Mason Transit all collect about 0.6%.

The agency said it will adapt by reducing service, reducing capital expenditures, or a blend of both.

Go to bft.org/about/agendas-minutes for information and a Zoom link.

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

B3

Great Floors sells real estate portfolio, including Kennewick store

lumbia Center retail corridor.

The deal closed in November, according to Benton County Assessor records.

Great Floors signed 10-year triple net

leases with its new landlords, meaning there will be little outward evidence of the change in ownership of the real estate.

The Kennewick store was arguably the most lucrative sale from Great Floors’ point of view because of the aggressive capitalization rate. The cap rate of 4.91%, the lowest of the five, is a sign the new owner buyer is confident the location will be a sound investment.

“The buyer felt strongly purchasing in the Tri-Cities market moving capital up from California, felt very comfortable with the strength of the tenant and with the deal metrics (rent, location, asset type, property use, etc.,” said Chris Edwards, market director for Marcus & Millichap’s Brown Retail Group.

Coeur d’Alene sold for $7.7 million with a 4.95% cap rate.

Spokane Valley sold for slightly more than $8 million with a 5.18% cap rate.

Lacey sold for $7.4 million with a 5.35% cap rate and Yakima sold for $2.7 million, with a 4.95% cap rate.

Great Floors operates flooring stores in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. It employs 400 and boasts annual sales “well in excess” of $100 million.

The combined value of the portfolio sale was $32.7 million, with an average cap rate of 5.07%.

ers and sellers across generations.

The NAR report found that the combined share of younger millennial (23 to 31 years old) and older millennial buyers (32 to 41 years old) rose to 43% in 2021, up from 37% the year prior.

Almost two out of three younger millennials, or 65%, found the home they ultimately bought on the internet, a number that gradually decreases with older generations.

Eighty-seven percent of all buyers bought their home through an agent.

This number was highest with younger millennials (92%) and older millennials (88%).

Those between the ages of 42 and

56 – Generation X – had the highest median household income at $125,000.

They bought the most expensive and second-largest homes nationwide at a median price of $320,000 and size of 2,300 square feet, respectively. Older millennials purchased the largest homes

at 2,400 square feet, and the silent generation – those between the ages of 76 and 96 – bought the smallest at 1,800 square feet.

Across all generations, the largest share of buyers purchased in suburban areas (51%) and small towns (20%).

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

Great Floors, the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based flooring chain, sold five locations in a $33 million sale-leaseback deal that includes its Kennewick location.

The portfolio also included Great Floors stores in Coeur d’Alene, Spokane Valley, Lacey and Yakima.

The buyers were mostly 1031-exchange investors from California and Western Washington – meaning they were reinvesting proceeds from other commercial property sales to delay paying capital gains taxes under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue code.

The Seattle office of Marcus & Millichap represented Great Floors and released portfolio details in early April.

The Kennewick location, 7220 W. Okanogan Place, sold to Ancient Boundary LLC of Angels Camp, California, for a little more than $7 million, above the asking price of $6.7 million. The 26,000-square-foot store cost $1.7 million to build in 2015 and is a neighbor to the Three Rivers Convention Center, Benton County Justice Center and Co-

uBUSINESS BRIEF Report: Share of millennial homebuyers continues to rise

The share of millennial homebuyers nationwide increased significantly over the past year. This group also is the most likely generation to use the internet to find the home they ultimately purchase and most likely to use a real estate agent.

This is according to the latest study from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) which examines the similarities and differences of recent homebuy-

TCAJOB photo Great Floors of Coeur d’Alene sold five stores, including the one in Kennewick, in a sale-leaseback deal worth nearly $33 million. The flooring retailer signed 10-year leases and will continue operating in the stores as a tenant.

B4

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

HOUSING SHORTAGE, From page B1 Aho Development’s Heights at Red Mountain Ranch in the latter.

The numbers Almberg painted a difficult portrait of the Tri-City residential market for buyers.

The median home price in the Tri-Cities rose to $400,000 by the end of 2021, up 20% from the year prior.

The average list price for a three-bedroom home – the most common sold – was about $369,000 in 2021. Tellingly, threebedroom homes sold for slightly more than their average asking price, about $374,000 on average.

Agents now advise buyers not to put in offers that are less than full price.

There is a positive aspect, though.

The Tri-Cities is not Seattle, Portland or

even Boise, where homes sometimes draw headlines by selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the list price.

Local homes may sell for four figures over asking, but not six.

“Buyers aren’t that desperate,” he said.

“They won’t way overpay.”

The price range for homes is on the rise.

A decade ago, most homes sold in the $120,000-$330,000 range. Five years ago, the bottom end shifted up to $160,000.

Today, the range is closer to $330,000 to $500,000-plus.

“There’s a huge change,” Almberg said.

Interest rates With inflation approaching 8% in early April, homebuilders anticipate the Fed will take a series of steps to bring it under control.

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION Robert Dietz, NAHB’s chief economist, outlined his expectations in his e-newsletter, Eye on the Economy, in March.

“The economic projections provided by the (Federal Reserve) indicate that markets may expect six additional 25 basis-point increases through the end of 2022,” he wrote.

Losey warned buyers – and others – to be mindful that the cost to borrow will go up.

“Absolutely, rates are going up,” Losey said. “If you want to get that pool, you’d better do it now.”

Almberg said when the Federal Reserved approved a rate hike of 0.25 percentage points in March – its first in more than three years – it shaved $40,000 off the buying power of a typical buyer.

Affordability According to Losey, the Tri-City housing market is increasingly unaffordable.

Only 20% of families in the community have the income to afford a median new home price of $569,000. Statewide, only 24% can.

And he notes that for every $1,000 in added cost in the Tri-Cities, another 80 families are moved out.

That matters a lot to the Tri-Cities, which has traditionally marketed itself as an affordable place to live.

Almberg said one unintended consequence is the community is building out – with people choosing to commute to TriCity jobs from homes in Prosser, Connell and in his own case, Benton City.

Rising gas prices may dent the trend, but he said he’s noticed builders are moving further out. He said he moved to Benton City about seven years ago because he wanted new construction. But the alfalfa field next door now has 42 homes on it.

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Pasco plans for next-gen ag water treatment facility

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Pasco is looking to upgrade the plant where it treats wastewater from agricultural activities to extend its life and add an intriguing new element: Facilities to produce Renewably Natural Gas (RNG) from the water.

The city announced a request for proposals from developers in March. The deadline to submit is April 22, with a contract set to be signed around July 1.

The existing Industrial Process Water Reuse Facility has operated for more than 25 years, treating about a billion gallons of agricultural industrial wastewater on 1,854 acres of farmland. The system has reached the end of its design life and capacity, prompting the upgrades.

To meet the requirements of its permit from the state Department of Ecology, the city is looking for a developer who is experienced in using agricultural industrial wastewater to generate renewable gas.

The proposed new system would feature a digestor that can handle 7.3 million gallons per day and a biogas facility that can also remove nitrogen.

Go to: pasco-wa.gov/Bids. aspx?BidID=239.

Franklin County museum breaks ground

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The Franklin County Historical Society and Museum broke ground March 19 on its new annex at 305 N. Fourth Ave. in downtown Pasco.

The society said it needs additional space for exhibits, educational pro-grams and storage of material culture and archives.

The society recently acquired the archives of the Washington State Railroads Historical Society and the museum’s textile and other collections presently occupy considerable space off-site in the basement of the city’s Community Center.

The society also seeks to expand its agrarian art collection.

The 4,560-square-foot building and 15-by-70-foot storage area will be adjacent to the existing museum.

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

B5

Creating a café experience is on entrepreneur’s new menu

By Kristina Lord

publisher@tcjournal.biz

A determined Tri-City entrepreneur has changed her business model and business name and signed a three-year lease in a new place to launch it.

Nena Cosic of Pasco has operated European Desserts & Appetizers by Nena out of the Red Mountain Kitchen in downtown Kennewick for the past four years.

It will reopen as Café Magnolia, hopefully by June 1, in the space vacated by Koko’s Bartini at 4309 W. 27th Place, Suite A, in the Cynergy Centre near Southridge High School.

Café Magnolia will be a sit-down place for coffee and food in a “feminine, elegant and French themed” setting.

“My dream has always been to have a sit-down café. Us Europeans live for that. We live for our lunch breaks to meet a friend or after we get off work. All the major decisions in life are made over a cup of coffee.

“That’s kind of my idea. I want people to slow down here,” said Cosic, a Bosnian refugee who has lived in the Tri-Cities for more than two decades.

A full remodel is underway to transform the restaurant and patio into a European look and style. Cosic declined to share details, saying it will be a surprise.

Café Magnolia will offer breakfast and lunch, a catering menu and will transform into an event space after 5 p.m.

Cosic also plans to establish a commissary kitchen so when clients lease the space, they can bring their preferred chef.

The café will feature a full espresso bar, drive-thru window and patio seating.

Cosic said she’s also applying for a liquor license to serve wine and beer.

The breakfast menu will include sandwiches, in-house croissants with cured Italian meats, frittatas, crepes with different toppings and yogurt parfaits.

Lunch will feature small bites, spaghet-

Photo by Wendy Culverwell Nena Cosic watches the installation of the new signs for her business, Café Magnolia, at 4309 W. 27th Place, Suite A, in Kennewick, the spot once occupied by Koko’s Bartini. Bulldog Signs and Graphics in Kennewick put the signs up on April 7.

ti, mussels in white wine and garlic sauce, meatball subs, salads, soups and charcuteries platters – “every day, all day,” Cosic said.

European Desserts & Appetizers by Nena is known for its elaborate charcuterie platters for home and events and its handmade desserts, including Spartak cake, made with thin layers and iced with a cream cheese-based cream, Bosnia baklava, made from her mom’s recipe, Italian tiramisu and French pastries.

Cosic would like to eventually offer classes at the café, including charcuterie lessons.

And she just hired a person to run an indoor-outdoor Saturday market featuring food, farmers and crafters. She expects this to open the second week of June.

“I want this place to be an experience.

I want them when they leave, I want them to say, ‘I want to bring back my mom or

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someone I love.’ I want to create an experience and be different,” Cosic said.

One of the ways Cosic aims to create a special experience is to serve Turkishstyle coffee.

Her take on it will feature handmade copper coffee pots and coffee imported from Bosnia.

Water is boiled on the stove top and the grounds are dropped into the hot water.

The non-filtered coffee is served without sugars or creams as they take away from

its earthy flavor, Cosic said.

“It’s kind of like a homemade espresso shot without the machine, but less strong,” she said.

Cosic plans to staff up her eatery, from three to 10 employees. “We do expect to be very, very busy,” she said. Café hours will be 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

Her previous business model was successful, but then Covid-19 hit and slowed everything. The pandemic put her a yearand-a-half behind her plan to open a sitdown restaurant, she said. But it also gave her time to figure out what she wanted to do next.

She’s not daunted that Koko’s didn’t succeed in the location.

“I don’t see that as a bar area at all,” she said.

She thinks the café’s proximity to Southridge High School, several medical offices, including Trios Southridge Hospital, and the Gesa Carousel of Dreams, for which they do many catered events already, is ideal.

She bought Frost Me Sweet’s food truck a month ago, and it’s already booked out for private catering events for the next two months.

Cosic said she’s invested her personal savings, secured a loan and received plenty of help from friends and family, including support from her new landlords, to make Café Magnolia a success. “So much love has been coming our way,” she said.

“We plan to be here for many years to come.”

B6

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

Sculpt Wellness opens second location in emerging Pasco wellness mall Church, State Farm Insurance, Adore Formal Wear & Bridal Boutique, Grit Salon and Barber, The Vibe Dance Academy, Evol Octopus Jiu-Jitsu, Club 24 Fitness, HealthSource Chiropractor and Body Compass Massage.

Kirby said her landlord announced a tap house will be moving in soon, as well as a day care center.

Kirby points to the common thread between several of the businesses at Broadmoor: health and wellness.

She said the camaraderie among the business owners is encouraging.

“I feel very blessed to be in a group that’s all about supporting each other.

We want to work together to make this complex a success,” she said.

By Laura Kostad

for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

Business is booming for Sculpt TriCities Wellness Center, with the March opening of a second location at Broadmoor Park off Sandifur Parkway in Pasco.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, “people are just valuing their health more,” said owner Lindsay Kirby.

“There’s definitely been a huge shift in what consumers are seeking and how they’re spending their money … Before Covid, people came to us for weight loss, but we’ve always been about allencompassing health,” she said.

Sculpt, like a gym, provides its services under the umbrella of a monthly membership.

For $179 per month, or about $6 per day, members gain unlimited access to full-body and spot cryotherapy, cryofacials, infrared sauna, sauna pods, massage chair, compression therapy, LED red light therapy, vibration therapy and BrainTap sessions.

Members also receive discounts on appointments with a functional nurse practitioner, Rhonda Bonilla, vitamin drip IVs, body sculpting and facials.

Bonilla’s personalized care plans aim to tackle what’s ailing clients and achieve desired outcomes.

Sculpt’s first location opened in 2016 at 8503 W. Clearwater Ave. in Kennewick.

Photo by Laura Kostad Lindsay Kirby, owner of Sculpt Tri-Cities Wellness Center, opened the doors to a second location at 5224 Outlet Drive in Pasco. Sculpt, which has a clinic in Kennewick, offers clients access to cryotherapy, red light therapy, infrared sauna, vitamin IV drips, functional medicine, aesthetic services such as body sculpting, Botox and more.

Kirby said she had been wanting to open a Pasco location.

“The timing was finally right … we have so many clients who say they were just waiting for the location to open,” she said.

Burgeoning wellness mall Sculpt’s new 3,200-square-foot center at 5224 Outlet Drive in Pasco is tucked

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into the C-shaped complex once built in 1995 as an outlet mall.

Broadmoor Park has since attracted new attention in recent years as suburban residential and commercial development finally caught up to the Road 100 terminus of Sandifur Parkway.

Businesses calling Broadmoor Park home include: Charter College, Bethel

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Jim Carey Noe Madrigal Cruise Holidays A&A Roofing services and quality products.

Allyson Rawlings Katie Colby Rawlings Flooring AAA of Washington America & Design Troy Woody ROBERT BURGES Mr. Electric Jose Vasquez Swanky Lawn Care Burges Carpet Ken Hatcher Trevor Lang A.I.M.M. Care Services Fidelis Digial Media American Institute burgescarpetcare.com Tim Rosenthal of Mind Mastery, LLC (509) 295-2938 Perfection Glass George Hefter Carpet and upholstery Michael Thorn TCT Computer cleaning.

Cliff Thorn Solutions Construction Kim Palmer Elsie Leman MARCIA SPRY UPS Store in Pasco Perfection Tire Aloha Garage Dawn King James Atwood Spectrum Reach Door Company PCL Financial Group Tonya Callies alohagaragedoorcompany.com Mike Duarte Windermere Group (509) 491-1187 Paintmaster One Residential and commercial Services Inc. Amy Truscott service and sales of garage Tiffany Lundstrom Ideal Dentistry doors and gate automation.

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Tangible results Kirby described the services and modalities offered at Sculpt as “body hacking.”

One example is LED red light therapy, which, among other proven benefits, can be used to tighten skin and shed fat by stimulating fat cells to release their lipids and die, she said.

A red light machine was the first piece of equipment Kirby invested in when she opened Sculpt.

“I had no business background, but I just led with my heart of wanting people to feel better,” she said.

A registered nurse, Kirby worked for 14 years in labor and delivery, but became disenchanted with the “corporate” hospital atmosphere that seemed more focused on money than patient outcomes.

“What I hear from clients is they’re seeking help for that gray area. You’re not sick enough to be in the hospital, but you don’t want another prescription … that has more side effects sometimes than benefits and that’s what I see consumers in the market demanding is results,” she said.

It’s what eventually led her to start Sculpt, which operates on an upfront pay model and doesn’t contract with insurance companies.

Some may write off Sculpt’s services as alternative medicine, but Kirby, her team of 15, their clients, and a growing body of medical research, say otherwise.

Pat Cooper, 71, a retired Hanford T Plant worker, started coming to Sculpt in 2021.

In 2005, while on the job, he said he climbed a ladder and without warning “all of a sudden I just felt drunk.” Back on the ground, he experienced extreme difficulty walking. “And so, I went to the doctor, and he said, ‘You have cervical stenosis.’ ” To prevent him becoming a quadriplegic due to nerve damage, his C2 through C7 vertebrae were “taken out and reattached with bolts and wires and I had to learn to walk again.”

He started coming to Sculpt four times a week on the recommendation of a doctor that cryotherapy would aid the healing process and reduce pain and inflammation. Cooper also took advantage of the saunas and red light, massage chair and compression therapy. uSCULPT, Page B7

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION uBUSINESS BRIEFS Grant County projects receive state funding

Road improvement and community enhancement projects in south Grant County received funding in the recently passed 2022 Washington State legislative budget.

The “Miles Ahead” Transportation Package passed the Legislature included $12 million to improve Highway 243, a main transportation artery that goes through the Port of Mattawa, connecting SCULPT, From page B6 A testament to his persistence and determination, Cooper said he is no longer fully reliant on his wheelchair and drives himself to Sculpt.

“The goal was to get my peripheral nerves working again, and it’s working.

It’s not like a big overnight miracle, it takes time,” he said.

Kirby said most Sculpt’s clients are

B7

Mattawa and Desert Aire to Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Yakima and the Tri-Cities.

The Port of Mattawa called this project a very important freight mobility infrastructure project as well as a safety project, as the amount of freight and traffic that passes through has been increasing dramatically over the past few years.

It noted a higher-than-normal number of fatalities along the highway.

The port also received $125,000 in funding to upgrade its event center used to host community events, education and training activities and business meetings throughout the year in Mattawa.

Congress reauthorizes the EB-5 Regional Center program

The U.S. Senate passed a sweeping federal spending package in March that included the reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Program. The House passed the same bill.

Now the measure will be signed by President Joe Biden and reauthorize the program through September 2027. It is the first long-term reauthorization the program has received since 2015.

It allows federally authorized “re-

gional centers” to pool EB-5 visa applicants’ investments to exponentially fuel U.S. local and regional economies with projects that create and save jobs.

Unlike all other visa categories, federal statute requires that each EB-5 visa applicant make a significant up-front at-risk investment into a U.S. economic development project (either $800,000 or $1.05 million, depending on where the project is located), pass a two-step national security screening and create or retain at least 10 full-time U.S. jobs.

For more information, go to: iiusa. org.

middle aged and include several student athletes.

“Our mission is to make it affordable – we want to be accessible to all walks.

Compared to the national average for a membership like ours is, we’re a third of the cost and I want to prove that’s viable,” she said.

She said the upfront payment model is worth it to people when it means they can get in to see someone sooner.

“Our nurse practitioner is amazing; we really got from California one of the best NPs with more certifications and knowledge than anyone I know of. She’s a great resource right here in our backyard,” she said of Bonilla.

Sculpt has even created a specialized treatment plan for those combatting lingering long-term effects of Covid-19 such as brain fog and fatigue.

“You could throw out all the equip-

ment and there would still be a Sculpt because our team all genuinely love and care about our clients. Ultimately, what we are is a place that cares and wants you to feel better – that’s what I’m most proud of,” Kirby said.

Search Sculpt Tri-Cities Wellness: 509579-0089; 5224 Outlet Drive, Pasco; 509-579-0089; 8503 W. Clearwater Ave. Suite C, Kennewick; sculpttricities.com; Facebook; Instagram; YouTube.

Agriculture + Viticulture in the Columbia Basin Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business’ full-color, glossy magazine Focus: Agriculture + Viticulture takes a closer look at how our region serves

as the powerhouse that drives our state’s agriculture and viticulture industries.

Washington ranks top in the nation for producing the most apples, hops, spearmint oil, wrinkled seed peas, Concord grapes, sweet cherries, pears, raspberries for processing and blueberries. Our state is an epicenter of wines, boasting more than 1,000 wineries, 400 wine grape growers and 59,000 acres of wine grapes.

Focus: Agriculture + Viticulture will be inserted into the Journal of Business’ June 2022 issue.

Advertising and payment deadline: Wednesday, May 4, 2022 Space is limited.

Call to reserve your ad today!

For more information, call 509-737-8778.

Tiffany ext. 2 or Chad ext. 1.

B8

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

uBUSINESS BRIEFS Port of Warden’s new map aims to highlight its assets

The Port of Warden is promoting development with a new map detailing the port’s boundaries and highlighting its connections to interstate freeways and state highways, as well as rail, natural gas, electrical and water infrastructure.

The port’s boundaries cross Interstate 90 and Wheeler Road to the north, encompassing the U Road and I-90 freeway interchange.

In addition, rail lines to Moses Lake, Othello, Schrag and Connell and two natural gas lines (Cascade Natural Gas and Avista) go through the port district, as well as a major Grant PUD transmis-

sion line that comes into Warden from the north. The port’s boundaries touch Potholes Reservoir, a major irrigation storage reservoir to the west of Warden.

The port touts its economic development and freight growth, including a canola crushing and canola oil refining facility, a new fertilizer distribution facility, additional fresh produce packing and frozen and dehydrated food processing, and the associated warehousing for these products.

Several food processors, cold storage warehousing companies, fresh produce packers and agribusiness companies operate in the port district: Lamb Weston, Viterra, Washington Potato Company, Skone & Connors, Jensen Farms Produce, Baker Produce, Greater Pacific Cold Storage, Country Morning Farms, CHS

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Koko’s Bartini closes, cites Covid-19 and inflation

Koko’s Bartini, a Kennewick martini bar and restaurant at the center of a resistance against Washington’s 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns, closed on March 25.

In a March 25 post on its Facebook page, owner Dana Slovak cited the effects of Covid-19 and inflation for the decision.

“The higher cost of everything around us has led to this final decision,” he wrote.

Slovak together with Nichon Greene opened the martini bar in February 2019 at Kennewick’s Cynergy Centre, 4309 W.

TT Center

4827-A W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick TT Center LLC expects to complete construction of a 4,125-square-foot multitenant retail commercial building at 4827A W. Clearwater Ave. on April 20.

The $1.2 million project features a modern, stucco exterior and three retail spaces in shell condition, ready to be customized for tenants. The center is east of Autozone and west of Winco in central Kennewick.

“With every new development of raw land along the city of Kennewick’s busiest arterial, this will only help the city in its continued growth of the community and its residents,” TT Center said of the project.

The space is listed for lease at $16 per square foot. Rob Ellsworth of SVN | Retter & Company is the broker and can be reached at 509-737-9249.

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27th Place, offering a menu of 60 types of martini and a small plates menu featuring fresh ingredients.

When the pandemic hit and Washington restaurants faced the governor’s Stay Home Stay Healthy order to shut down, Koko’s refused.

The state Liquor and Cannabis Board issued an emergency liquor license suspension, citing repeated violations of Covid-19 guidelines.

The agency said it received 143 complaints that Koko’s was violating state rules and it confirmed the establishment was offering indoor service in violation of the rules on Dec. 30, 2020. The business settled its issues in a few weeks and the state allowed it to sell alcohol for outdoor consumption.

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION uBUSINESS BRIEFS Bonneville Dam island added to Superfund list

Bradford Island, which is part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Bonneville Dam complex, has been added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List.

The Army Corps used the Columbia River island at Cascade Locks, Oregon, as a landfill for 40 years and deposited electrical equipment in the river, resulting in toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) contamination.

The National Priorities List is a list of sites that EPA prioritizes for cleanup due to known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants or

contaminants.

The Oregon Health Authority and the Washington State Department of Health have issued “do not eat” advisories for fish caught near the site.

Go to: bit.ly/BradfordIslandSuperfundPage.

Property tax measures on Benton ballots

Voters in Kennewick, Finley and Prosser voted on levy measures to support their respective school districts.

The Benton County Auditor mailed ballots on April 6. They must be returned or postmarked by Election Day, April 26.

Return postage is prepaid.

Voters in all three districts rejected routine levy requests in February. The

districts can run the levies a second time in a calendar year. A second failure in any district will force it to cut its budget.

Individuals who are not registered to vote in Washington may register up to 8 p.m. on Election Day at the new Benton County Voting Center, 2618 N. Columbia Center Blvd., or at the courthouse in Prosser, 620 Market St. Verify ballot and voter status at votewa. gov.

Richland irrigation dam to be decommissioned

The Chiawana Richland Ranch Dam overlooking the Yakima River near the Queensgate shopping district will be decommissioned as an irrigation facility and converted into a stormwater retention

B9

pond.

The state Department of Natural Resources, which owns the dam, has determined it is unused and is pursuing plans to convert it into a stormwater pond. The 31.1-acre pond behind the dam has the capacity to hold 32 acre-feet of water.

Decommissioning will entail removing 21,500 cubic yards of material and filling nearly 22,000 more.

Work is expected to begin in the spring.

The project will decommission the pond by reducing the embankment height and creating a facility with one-third of the original storage capacity. As part of the project, workers will remove a high-density polyethylene liner.

The dam is near Truman Avenue, north of the Duportail shopping district. The site is zoned for multifamily residential.

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Creative_Concrete@live.com creativeconcreteandpolishing.com Lic. #CREATCD026C6

Contractor ID # COLUMRP919J2

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

uBUSINESS BRIEFS DOE updates energy rules for buildings, appliances

The U.S. Department of Energy has updated its energy rules for federal buildings and proposed new standards for consumer appliances.

DOE estimates the new codes and proposed standards could save more than $15 billion in net costs over the next 30 years and trim power demand by the equivalent of 13 million homes.

Starting in April 2023, all new buildings and major retrofits constructed by the federal government must comply with the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code and the 2019 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers Standard 90.1.

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DOE estimates the measure will save $4.2 million in operating costs within the first year.

In addition to the federal building standards, DOE is seeking comment on two proposed residential-focused rules that would tighten efficiency requirements for room air conditioners and for pool heaters. Go to: energy.gov/eere/ buildings/appliance-and-equipmentstandards-program.

Walla Walla, Spokane offices join Hometown Lenders

Hometown Lenders has announced that three branches have joined its family of mortgage professionals.

It recently added three new divisions, including two in Washington, to its coast-to-coast team: a branch in Walla

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION Walla, managed by Dustin Brown; a branch in Spokane, managed by Steven Di Lucca; and a branch in Westport, Connecticut, managed by Moshe Niv. Hometown Lenders identifies and reviews established mortgage lenders who have earned the trust of families in their respective local communities to determine which could become new branches of Hometown Lenders. Based in Huntsville, Alabama, Hometown Lenders has more than 100 branch locations and is doing business in more than 40 states.

Bleyhl Co-op sells Pasco store to Wilco

Bleyhl Co-op has sold its Pasco store to Wilco Farm Store, a farmerbased cooperative based in Mt. Angel,

Oregon.

The 20,000-square-foot store at 6705 Chapel Hill Blvd. opened in 2019.

Terms were not disclosed.

Wilco said the Pasco employees would be offered jobs when the transition takes place.

“This is a well-designed store, with a trained and established team, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue what Bleyhl has started,” said Sam Bugarsky, president and CEO of Wilco.

Bleyhl will retain its stores in Grandview, Sunnyside and Zillah, and will retain its direct-to-farm focus through its other businesses.

The Pasco store will be Wilco’s eighth in Washington and its 25th overall. It operates in Oregon, Washington and California.

Mid-Columbia Libraries Connell branch 118 N. Columbia Ave., Connell

GENERAL CONTRACTOR

WE ARE PROFESSIONALS WHO BUILD COMMUNITIES

Proud to be part of this project and team.

(509) 526-5249 ▪ nelson-corp.com Lic. # MORENNC930 BT

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The Mid-Columbia Libraries completed a $300,000 remodel of its Connell branch, 118 N. Columbia Ave., on Jan. 7. The updates included new shelving, paint, flooring, light fixtures, art and other fixtures.

The update included $17,000 for new materials for the collection.

The Connell branch is one of the 12 Mid-Columbia Libraries branches serving 260,000 residents in Franklin County, most of Benton County and part of Adams County. Richland operates an independent library.

The remodel modernized the 1,850-square-foot library, which was built in 1993. The single-story building has front and back entrances and is jointly owned and operated with the city of Connell. It initially served as a city hall and fire hall. Inmates from Coyote Ridge Corrections Center installed the exterior brick façade in 1995.

The library system has operated a Connell branch since 1965.

Design West Architects of Kennewick designed the project.

Nelson Construction Corp. of Walla Walla was the general contractor.

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION Paid Advertising

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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Trios Birth Center Trios Southridge Hospital 3810 Plaza Way, Kennewick

Trios Health, owned by LifePoint Health, debuted the $22 million Trios Birth Center on March 29 at Trios Southridge Hospital, 3810 Plaza Way, Kennewick.

The 23,376-square-foot addition occupies two floors that connect to the hospital above the emergency room, on the second and third floors.

It includes two dedicated rooms for cesarean section deliveries, six labor/delivery/recovery/postpartum rooms and a 10-bed critical care nursery.

Nearly 10,000 square feet of existing hospital space was renovated for the project, including converting 11 beds from the medical/surgical floors to serve as postpartum beds.

The move sparked a separate $6 million project to replace that space in the hospital, which opened in 2014.

With the opening of its new birth center at Southridge, Trios closed its Family Birth Center at the former Kennewick General Hospital, which welcomed Tri-Citians for 70 years.

The move consolidates Trios at a single location with 111 beds, which is unchanged.

Layton Construction was the general contractor. It remains on the hospital campus for the medical/surgical expansion project.

Congratulations Trios Health Family Birthing Center Thank you for choosing Apollo Mechanical!

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1133 W. Columbia Drive • Kennewick www.apollomech.com

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6200 W. Brinkley Road • Kennewick

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284 Wellsian Way / Richland, WA 99352 509.946.5656 / www.GarrettElect.com

Thank you for letting us be part of this project!

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

Conover Center 2713 N. 20th Ave., Pasco

St. Andrews Loop, LLC completed construction of Conover Center, a 22,000-square-foot Class A office building at 2713 N. 20th Ave. in Pasco on March 1.

HUB Northwest is the first tenant and has completed its office buildout. The remaining space is in gray-shell condition and can be built to accommodate almost

any tenant requirements.

Asking rent is $24 a square foot on a triple net basis, which makes tenants responsible for occupancy costs. A tenant improvement allowance is available.

The project is being marketed as a great opportunity for tenants who want to move to an exciting area of fast-growing Pasco near the Tri-Cities Airport and

Columbia Basin College.

MMEC Architecture & Interiors of Kennewick designed the building.

Chervenell Construction Co. of Kennewick was the general contractor.

Jenna Coddington, managing broker at The Paragon Group, is the leasing agent.

She can be reached at 509-539-8048 or by email at jenna@paragongroupwa.com.

GENERAL CONTRACTOR Creative Concrete Design, Inc. & Floor Polishing Systems Quality you can count on.

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REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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PUBLIC RECORD uBANKRUPTCIES Bankruptcies are filed under the following chapter headings: Chapter 7 — Straight Bankruptcy: debtor gives up nonexempt 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 Florence L. Coleman, 225504 E. Cochran Road, Kennewick.

Dannira Jimenez, 7610 Massey Drive, Pasco.

Shawn Michelle Campbell, 3400 W. First Place, #18, Kennewick.

Jose Carreon & Josefina Carreon, 1505 S. Road 40 East, #716, Pasco.

Stephen Rae Huff, 3617 S. Newport Place, Kennewick.

Tiffani Adrianna Edmondson, 1105 W. 10th Ave., #249, Kennewick.

Frank Earl Pullum & Cynthia Ann Pullum, 60304 N. Thomas Road, Benton City.

Sigifredo Araujo, 11525 N. Peaceful PR NW, Prosser.

Quentin Jared Holguin & Katie Nicole Holguin, 519 Catskill St., Richland.

Deborah Jean Wick, 7901 Budsage Drive, Pasco.

Swayze Michelle Valentine, 5705 W. 11th Place, Kennewick.

Danielle Marie Bender, 8701 W. Yellowstone Ave., Kennewick.

Iban B Madrigal, 2906 W. Seventh Ave., #50, Kennewick.

Jorge Andres Friedrich, 7701 W. Fourth Ave., #D306, Kennewick.

Kristy Lynn McKinnon, 8701 W. Ninth Ave., Kennewick.

Gerald Gregory Larman, 5031 W. Clearwater Ave., #117, Kennewick.

Madge Ellen Fraley, 4771 Corvina St., Richland.

Tony A. Harrington, 6200 James St., West Richland.

Austin Allen-Taylor Hoch, 4311 S. Kingwood St., Kennewick.

Maria Cisneros Farias, 401 Belle Ave., #3, Benton City.

Adrianna Nicole Salazar, 4227 Messara Lane, Pasco.

Rosario Saldana, 7818 Cassiar Drive, Pasco.

Bianca Soto, 9315 Chapel Hill Blvd., #F6202, Pasco.

CHAPTER 13 Yanet Garcia, 2906 W. Seventh Ave., #11, Kennewick.

Moises Alfredo Robles, 412 N. Arbutus Ave., Pasco.

uTOP PROPERTIES BENTON COUNTY 2481 Woods Drive, Richland, 2,088-square-foot home. Price: $810,000. Buyer: Eric & Paige Targon.

Seller: Jeffrey & Sherri Parker.

4942 Smitty Drive, Richland, 3,075-square-foot home. Price: $739,000. Buyer: Dwayne Carson & Denele Anderson. Seller: Christopher B. Smith & Jay L. Swope.

1707 W. Sixth Ave., Kennewick, apartment complex. Price: $1.8 million.

Buyer: Coldstream Investments LLC. Seller: Eleven on Sixth Ave. LLC. 13118 S. Furlong Lane, Kennewick, 1-acre home site. Price: $855,000.

Buyer: Jennifer & Jeremy Holbrook.

Seller: Riverwood Homes WA LLC. 5803 W. 29th Place, Kennewick, 0.5acre home site. Price: $885,000. Buyer: Charles R. & Molly E. Hamaker Teals.

Seller: Rickey Land & Cattle Company.

8825 W. 12th Ave., Kennewick, 0.27acre home site. Price: $835,000. Buyer: Justin Dale & Karen Renee Anderson.

Seller: Riverwood Homes WA LLC. 4246 Highview St., Richland, 0.54-acre home site. Price: $711,000. Buyer: Juan R. Marquina. Seller: P & R Construction LLC. 3590 Orchard St., West Richland, 1,739-square-foot home. Price: $773,000. Buyer: Roxana Roohi Moolla.

Seller: Dennis Sawby Construction LLC. 4199 Highview St., Richland, 0.27-acre home site. Price: $735,000. Buyer: Khea Longan. Seller: Juanita Cottages LLC. 3655 W. 49th Ave., Kennewick, 3,216-square-foot home. Price: $905,000. Buyer: Sally A. Petty & Geret C. Vines. Seller: TMT Homes NW LLC. 1262 Jolianna Drive, Richland, 0.35acre home site. Price: $707,000. Buyer:

Lynndell S. & Daniel M. Affleck. Seller: Alderbrook Investments Inc. 1388 Kensington Way, Richland, 3,490-square-foot home. Price: $880,000. Buyer: Daniel B. & Cheryl L. Heid. Seller: David W. & Linda C. Bechtel.

1214 Meadow Hills Drive, Richland, 0.41-acre home site. Price: $885,000.

Buyer: Kaylan M. & Justin D. Bentz.

Seller: TriCity Remodel LLC. 4023 Corvina St., Richland, 3,134-square-foot home. Price: $739,000. Buyer: Stephen & Nina Walker.

Seller: Juanita Cottages LLC. 7801 W. Quinault Drive, Kennewick, 25,629-square-foot hotel. Price: $4.9 million. Buyer: J&J Lodging LLC. Seller: Sunshine Investors LLC. 76202 E. Reata Road, Kennewick, 4,073-square-foot home. Price: $915,000. Buyer: David J. Peters Jr. & Julia M. Guardanapo-Peters. Seller: Weichert Workforce Mobility Inc.

456 Meadow Hills Drive, Richland, 3,517-square-foot home. Price: $830,000. Buyer: Timothy Carlson.

Seller: Larry E. Talmage.

7352 W. 22nd Place, Kennewick, 0.46-acre home site. Price: $765,000.

Buyer: Amy J. Kogelman. Seller: P & R Construction LLC. 16708 S. Lanell Drive, Prosser, 3,969-square-foot home on 3 acres.

Price: $1 million. Buyer: Joseph Clarence & Lori Ann Rollinger. Seller: Seth & Sara Johnson.

15683 S. Furlong Lane, Kennewick, 1-acre home site. Price: $727,000.

Buyer: Amanda & Joshua Harris. Seller: Hammerstrom Construction Inc. 4294 Highview St., Richland, 2,440-square-foot home. Price: $745,000. Buyer: Jeremy & Ashley Faust.

Seller: P & R Construction LLC. 313 W. 45th Ave., Kennewick,

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B16

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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to Top S

2,002-square-foot home on 1.2 acres.

Price: $720,000. Buyer: Nehemias Gonzalez Rosales & Bianet Gonzalez.

Seller: Brent E. & Melanie K. Westover.

665 Isola Vista Court, Richland, 3,847-square-foot home. Price: $1.1 million. Buyer: Aaron & Monica Dewitt.

Seller: Steve & Susan Weigel.

1232 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, 8,960-square-foot commercial building. Price: $5 million.

Buyer: Best Pals LLC. Seller: Argo Kennewick LLC. 1215 George Washington Way, Richland, 6,738-square-foot commercial office. Price: $750,000. Buyer: EIG14T Nova WA Richland LLC. Seller: Kahuna LLC. 3975 Corvina St., Richland, 0.23-acre home site. Price: $821,000. Buyer: Jason Beale & Shanon Michele Brown. Seller: Riverwood Homes Washington LLC. 35006 E. Red Mountain Road, Benton City, 1,569-square-foot home on 2.3 acres. Price: $745,000. Buyer: James & Martha Fagan. Seller: Kyle A. & Eileen E. Logan.

4424 Lolo Way, Richland, 0.3-acre home site. Price: $840,000. Buyer: Sharon Catherine Zamora & Scott Brumfield. Seller: Titan Homes LLC. 3971 S. Kellogg, Kennewick, 2,201-square-foot home. Price: $725,000. Buyer: Joshua & Jennifer Bain. Seller: Jeremy J. & Jennifer M. Holbrook.

3972 S. Beech Court, Kennewick, 1-acre home site. Price: $734,000.

Buyer: Dennis M. & Judith F. Turner.

Seller: Dennis Sawby Construction LLC. 107308 N. Harrington Road, Richland, 3,023-square-foot home on 6 acres.

Price: $855,000. Buyer: Amanda & Kevin H. Hart. Seller: Shirley A. Cook Trustee.

3982 Highview St., Richland, 0.57acre home site. Price: $711,000. Buyer: Aaron & Carrol Bailey. Seller: P & R Construction LLC. 450 Williams Blvd., Richland, 6,008-square-foot commercial building.

Price: $1.1 million. Buyer: Tevye LLC. Seller: Starmark Real Estate II LLC. 4978 Smitty Drive, Richland, 3,400-square-foot home. Price: $715,000. Buyer: Edwin N. & Shawnlee

E. Dodd. Seller: Laura Marquina.

10 N. Washington St., Kennewick, 10,823-square-foot office building. Price: $1.2 million. Buyer: Benton Franklin Elder Services. Seller: Sidney Lantor Trustee.

7417 W. 23rd Ave., Kennewick, 0.31acre home site. Price: $714,000. Buyer: Michael K. & Deanna L. Adams. Seller: P & R Construction LLC. 30808 S. 959 PR SE, Kennewick, 2,610-square-foot home on 2.5 acres.

Price: $860,000. Buyer: Daniel Kalani & Christine Boynton Tano. Seller: Weichert Workforce Mobility Inc. 43902 E. McWhorter Lane, Richland, 3,498-square-foot home. Price: $819,000. Buyer: Tammy Merrie & Michael Anthony Rose. Seller: Paul Austin & Denise Shoemaker.

8809 S. 674 PR SE, Benton City, 5 acres of irrigated ag land. Price: $810,000. Buyer: Ignacio Chavez. Seller: Muzzy Construction LLC. 389, 413, 405 Bedrock Loop, West Richland, 0.11-, 0.09-, 0.09-acre home sites. Price: $1.1 million. Buyer: Mistilyn & Christopher Moody. Seller: Red Mountain Construction LLC. 2852 Karlee Drive, Richland, 2,807-square-foot home. Price: $765,000. Buyer: Andrew J. & Katherine M. Hoover. Seller: Rick Alan & Amy Renee Nixon.

5105 S. Bermuda Road, Kennewick, 2,314-square-foot home on 2.87 acres.

Price: $706,000. Buyer: William & Andrea Cox. Seller: Jessie C. Evans & Randolph G. Lemmons.

2360, 2372, 2384, 2361, 2373 Hood Ave., Richland, apartment complex.

Price: $3.2 million. Buyer: New Construction on Hood LLC / 2360 Hood Avenue LLC. Seller: John D. Shaw.

FRANKLIN COUNTY 12414 Hunter Road, Pasco, 2,272-square-foot home. Price: $776,000. Buyer: Steven J. & Suzanne J. Marcellino. Seller: P & R Construction LLC. 3914 Road 92, Pasco, 2,008-squarefoot home on 2.33 acres. Price:

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B17

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 $720,000. Buyer: Tyson & Chandler Childs. Seller: Jeffrey L. Jensen.

2613 Road 80, Pasco, 3,317-squarefoot home. Price: $911,000. Buyer: Matthew Lee & Katie Christine Neff.

Seller: Ed & Jan Barron.

351 Giesler Road, Pasco, 2,318-squarefoot home. Price: $800,000. Buyer: Nathan Andrew Kennedy. Seller: Kyle W. Moser & Nicole Sommer.

Property off South Road 40 East, 72 acres of undeveloped land. Price: $5.2 million. Buyer: Pasco Road 40 LLC. Seller: Jay D. Compton.

541 Moore Road, Pasco, 3,060-squarefoot home. Price: $760,000. Buyer: Hannah & Jason Thomas Nanni. Seller: Isaias & Luz Maria Mendoza.

4403 W. Court St., Pasco, 9,969-square-foot commercial building on 1.38 acres. Price: $1.1 million. Buyer: Pasco School District No. 1. Seller: Riverview Professional Center LLC. 920 N. 20th Ave., Pasco, 16,780-square-foot commercial building.

Price: $2.1 million. Buyer: Hovde Family Properties LLC. Seller: Pasco 18 LLC. Property off Columbia River Road North, 109 acres of ag and undeveloped land. Price: $1.5 million. Buyer: Mis Nora Orchards LLC. Seller: Franklin County Orchard LLC. 133 Ridgeview Drive, Pasco, 2,117-square-foot home. Price: $732,000. Buyer: Joshua A. Beck. Seller: Robert Hamm (et al).

uBUILDING PERMITS BENTON CITY Pepper Preppers Kitchen, 713 Ninth St., $100,000 for commercial remodel.

Contractor: owner.

FRANKLIN COUNTY Basin City Hot Spot, 7380 Route 170, Mesa, $25,000 for sign. Contractor: Inland Sign & Lighting.

KENNEWICK Yakima Federal Savings & Loan, 8909 W. Gage Blvd., $40,000 for sign.

Contractor: Eagle Signs LLC. Creekside Building Partnership, 216 N. Edison St., $96,000 for sign. Contractor: Cascade Sign & Fabrication.

King Enterprises of Washington LLC, 1408 N. Louisiana St., Suite 104A, $14,500 for sign. Contractor: Mustang Sign Group.

Seahurst LLC, 1919 N. Pittsburgh St., $49,000 for commercial reroof.

Contractor: A & A Roofing Services LLC. Timothy T. & Yonie K. Goodman, $25,000 for commercial remodel.

Contractor: Northwest Tower of WA LLC. XSOS LLC, 2431 S. Quillan Place, $6,000 for sign. Contractor: Cascade Sign and Fabrication.

TTB Investments LLC, 5204 W. Okanogan Place, Suite 110, $7,500 for sign. Contractor: Mustang Sign Group.

Circle K Stores Inc., 6006 W. Clearwater Ave., $25,000 for sign. Contractor: Mustang Sign Group.

S & S Restaurant Holdings LLC, 9221 W. Clearwater Ave., $35,000 for plumbing, $40,000 for heat pump/HVAC. Contractors: Columbia River Plumbing; Total Energy Management.

CVKOB LLC, 30 S. Louisiana St., $125,000 for commercial remodel, $50,000 for heat pump/HVAC, $40,000 for plumbing. Contractors: DWP General Contracting, Silverline Electric/Plumbing.

Calvary Chapel of Tri-Cities, 10611 W. Clearwater Ave., $10,000 for commercial remodel. Contractor: owner.

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Moore Properties Three LLC, 2910 W. Clearwater Ave., $18,000 for fire alarm system. Contractor: Advanced Protection Services.

Northwest OSR Re Owner II LLC, 240 N. Ely St., $25,000 for sign. Contractor: Mustang Sign Group.

Pepper Tree LLC, 507 N. Arthur St., $20,000 for commercial remodel.

Contractor: Foreman Construction.

Jeffery D. & Yolanda M. Robison, 1110 N. Edison St., Suite D, $150,000 for new commercial. Contractor: owner.

S & S Restaurant Holdings LLC, 9221 W. Clearwater Ave., $18,500 for plumbing. Contractor: Riggle Plumbing Inc. DJS Herron Lake LLC, 51 N. Edison St., Buildings G201, H101, A 101, B101, $130,000 for commercial reroof and siding/windows. Contractor: Silver Bow Roofing.

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PASCO Lawrence B. Stone Properties, 216 S. Sixth Ave., $278,000 for demolition.

Contractor: C&E Trenching.

DK & G Development, 1025 S. Road 40, $385,000 for new commercial.

Project Oyster Pasco, 1351 S. Road 40 East, $8,400 for new commercial.

Contractor: Ryan Companies US Inc. Patterson Family 2, 5238 Outlet Drive, $9,100 for tenant improvements.

Contractor: Solgen Power LLC. Zepgon Investment, 2120 W. A St., $8.1 million for multifamily housing.

Contractor: Columbia River Walk Development.

Tri-Cities Community Health, 515 W. Court St., $11,000 for tenant improvements. Contractor: to be determined.

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B18

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

Reser’s Fine Foods, 5526 N. Capitol Ave., $75,000 for emergency responder radio coverage system. Contractor: Amplified Wireless Solutions.

Simplot-RDO LLC, 1825 N. Commercial Ave., $10,000 for fire alarm system.

Contractor: Fire Protection Specialists.

Wilbur-Ellis Co., 6221 Industrial Place, $146,000 for fire alarm system.

Contractor: Cascade Fire Protection.

BoomBoom Properties, 9425 Sandifur Parkway, $6,000 for sign. Contractor: Cascade Sign & Fabrication.

Juan Cardenas, 2120 E. Lewis St., $6,000 for sign. Contractor: Cascade Sign & Fabrication.

City of Pasco, 1015 S. Gray Ave., $10,000 for heat pump/HVAC. Contractor: A-One Refrigeration.

BS Group LLC, 5818 Industrial Way,

$13,000 for sign. Contractor: Cascade Sign & Fabrication.

Story Family Five LLC, 4011 Road 96, $60,000 for demolition. Contractor: Legacy Excavation LLC. Francisco Ibarra, 2005 W. Lewis St., $5,000 for demolition. Contractor: owner.

Sean Keys, 1520 N. Oregon Ave., $674,000 for multifamily housing.

Contractor: Cliff Thorn Construction.

Tim Corwin Family, 1225 Autoplex Way, $120,000 for commercial addition, $11,200 for sign. Contractors: LCR Construction LLC, Quality Signs.

Simplot-RDO LLC, 1825 N. Commerical Ave., $351,000 for commercial addition.

Contractor: Fisher Construction Group.

Port of Pasco, 2321 E. Dock St., $273,000 for new commercial.

Contractor: owner.

Roserock Holdings, 2252 E. Kartchner St., $339,000 for sign. Contractor: Musser Landscaping LLC. City of Pasco, Sylvester Park, $140,000 for commercial addition. Contractor: Musco Sports Lighting LLC. Isaac R. Garcia, 2021 Road 64, $5,000 for tenant improvements. Contractor: Cliff Thorn Construction.

Port of Pasco, 3105 E. Ainsworth Ave., T-252, $184,000 for commercial reroof.

Contractor: Leslie & Campbell Inc. Port of Pasco, 3305 E. Commercial Ave., 900, $126,000 for commercial reroof. Contractor: Leslie & Campbell.

Grigg Family LLC, 301 S. 20th Ave., $5.9 million for multifamily housing.

Contractor: Inland Group/Bobby Everson.

MOD Housing LLC, 2405 Ronan St.,

$1 million for multifamily housing.

Contractor: Ambience Anew.

Hogback Road 68 Taco LLC, 5326 Road 68, $10,000 for sign, $33,000 for fire alarm system. Contractors: Eagle Signs LLC, Cascade Fire Protection.

City of Pasco, 215 Sylvester St., $12,000 for sign. Contractor: Quality Signs.

RICHLAND Ford Group LLC, 1165 Columbia Park Trail, $5,000 for demolition. Contractor: TTap Construction Services.

Issoma LLC, 1045 Jadwin Ave., Suite 102, $200,000 for tenant improvements.

Contractor: Relentless Custom Home.

Brent Casper, 725 Swift Blvd., $5,000 for sign. Contractor: Cascade Sign & Fabrication.

Washington Securities and Investment, 2254 Keene Road, $25,000 for tenant improvements. Contractor: owner.

Grigsby Properties, 110 Gage Blvd., Suite 200, $11,000 for demolition.

Contractor: Pratt and Co. Construction.

Lane Griffin, 2438 Harris Ave., $30,000 for demolition. Contractor: Walker Family Homes LLC. ABC Wellsian Way LLC, 302 Wellsian Way, $2.2 million for new commercial.

Contractor: Northwest Construction Services.

ABC Wellsian Way LLC, 306 Wellsian Way, $1.2 million for new commercial.

Contractor: Northwest Construction Services.

ABC Wellsian Way LLC, 310 Wellsian Way, $2.1 million for new commercial.

Contractor: Northwest Construction Services.

ABC Wellsian Way LLC, 314 Wellsian Way, $1.2 million for new commercial.

Contractor: Northwest Construction Services.

ABC Wellsian Way LLC, 318 Wellsian Way, $842,000 for new commercial.

Contractor: Northwest Construction Services.

Grigsby Properties, 110 Gage Blvd., Suite 200, $12,000 for tenant improvements. Contractor: Vestis Systems.

Logan Properties, 2533 Logan St., $5,000 for grading. Contractor: Double J Excavating Inc. AG Bradley LLC, 295 Bradley Blvd., #102, $81,000 for tenant improvements.

Contractor: S & C Maintenance & Construction.

WEST RICHLAND David W. & Monika I. Rose, 4810 W. Van Giesen St., $21,000 for commercial reroof. Contractor: All West Floor Covering.

uBUSINESS LICENSES KENNEWICK Flint Services LLC, 764 S. Clearwater Loop, Post Falls, Idaho.

King Directional Drilling, 2462 Emmie Lane Tetonia, Idaho.

Eagle Painters LLC, 103 Buena Court, Umatilla, Oregon.

Molecular Inc., 157 McMillan Drive, Longview.

The Kirbyworks Company, 906 N. Ledbetter St. Precision Concrete Cutting Inc., 5624 128th St. East, Puyallup.

Total Concrete Services LLC, 1600 W. Clark St., Suite B1, Pasco.

Ivans Construction, 100 Garden Drive,

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B19

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 Pasco.

Home Builders Association of Tri Cities (Washington), 10001 W. Clearwater Ave. Big Lots # 4469, 3019 W. Kennewick Ave. Safway Services LLC, 1523 E. Hillsboro St., Pasco.

Brown & Rio PLLC, 530 W. Kennewick Ave. Heather Eileen Holinbeck, 1617 W. 38th Place.

Big M Electric Inc., 1135 268th Way SE, Sammamish.

Wrench Inc., 701 Fifth Ave., Seattle.

DDB LLC, 6103 Balsam Court, West Richland.

First United Methodist Church, 421 W. Kennewick Ave. Robb F. Heston Media, 1914 W. Second Ave. TC Investment Properties LLC, 601 S. Fir St. Construction Management Specialist LLC, 1515 Jones Road, Richland.

Spokane Five LLC, 6607 W. Canal Drive Kadlec Clinic Hematology and Oncology, 7360 W. Deschutes Ave. Tsunami Catering, 212 W. Kennewick Ave. Sarah Skagerberg LMP, 3911 W. 27th Ave., #84.

Aarnie’s Construction, 1015 N. Road 55, Pasco.

TJ’s General Contractor LLC, 1707 W. Brown St., Pasco.

Optimum General Construction, 4107 McLean Drive, Yakima.

Skyhawks Sports Academy Inc., 1826 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane.

Comfort Suites, 3703 Plaza Way. BR Fencing, 2003 S. Tacoma St. 10/Zero5 General Construction LLC, 5524 Cleveland Lane, Pasco.

Struxure Outdoor of Washington, 9116

E. Sprague Ave., Spokane Valley.

McKey Construction LLC, 104 S. Freya St., Spokane.

KV Cleaning, 1114 W. 10th Ave. Tarex, 679 Brock Ranch Road, Goldendale.

Corado Construction, 190 S. 38th Ave., West Richland.

JLB 1 Construction LLC, 623 Hanson Loop Burbank.

A.G.S. Counseling Services PLLC, 14 Jasmine Lane, Pasco.

Vista Pools Construction LLC, 4406 Chilcotin Lane, Pasco.

Adm Construction Group Inc., 1407 Valentine Ave. SE, Pacific.

Littan Transport Inc., 1086 S. Aster St. Rinse ‘N Clean LLC, 6002 Nauvoo Lane, Pasco.

Basil And Blush, 1156 Viewmoor Court, Richland.

Pressure Rangers, 2605 W. Fourth Ave. Capitol Custom Construction LLC, 4512 Chelan Drive, West Richland.

Taquerias Sahuayo LLC, 4812 W. Clearwater Ave. Renaissance, 3721 W. Metaline Ave. Checo Siding LLC, 460 N. Arthur St. Liberty Electrical Company LLC, 33503 319 PR NE, Benton City.

Watch Your Step Flooring LLC, 24807 S. Sunset Meadow Loop.

Tri-Cities Contractors Brothers, 623 N. Arbutus Ave., Pasco.

Sunset & Alberto Janitorial LLC, 9416 Palomino Drive, Pasco.

Adrian’s Landscaping LLC, 2301 W. 21st Ave. Mendez Quality Painting LLC, 1920 W. Sixth Ave. Landscaping Solutions, 425 S. Olympia St. Expert Sales Group LLC, 2746 Kingsgate Way, Richland.

North Star Gunsmithing and

Armament LLC, 8514 W. Gage Blvd.

Clover Island General Contracting LLC, 1031 S. Elma St. J’s Auto Detailing, 703 S. Penn Place.

Beast Performance, 416 S. Olympia St. Chaya Beauty LLC, 2417 W. Kennewick Ave. Hashventures LLC, 1521 N. Grant St. Crepe Haus, 2100 N. Belfair St. Love N Lore, 7312 W. 13th Ave. Darins Digital Solutions, 601 S. Kent St. Greener and Cleaner, 2017 W. Fourth Ave. Wood & Works Solutions LLC, 200814 E. Bernath Road.

Piel Esthetics, 8508 W. Gage Blvd.

IMG General Construction LLC, 1913 N. 11th Ave., Pasco.

L&M Appraisal Services, 326 N. Zillah St. Northwest Elite Tire LLC, 5405 W. 20th Ave. MM Transport, 2433 George Washington Way, Richland.

Urban Grounds LLC, 217 W. Kennewick Ave. Wildhorse 2 Go Express LLC, 4815 W. Clearwater Ave. Flash Clean LLC, 8515 Nash Drive, Pasco.

Muhlbeier Painting LLC, 531 S. Vancouver St. Ruben’s Garage, 1401 W. Kennewick Ave. Cetin LLC, 1321 N. Columbia Center Blvd.

Relentless Custom Homes LLC, 2714 Hyde Road, Richland.

Cindy Wright Counseling PLLC, 3821 W. Fourth Ave. JBM Properties LLC, 1611 W. 27th Ave. Groups Recover Together, 3180 W. Clearwater Ave. Unique Cleaning Services, 5031 W. Clearwater Ave.

B19

States Avenue Ventures LLC, 8836 W. Gage Blvd.

The Cute and Crafty Company, 44 S. Dawes St. The Cat & The Coil Tattoo, 8428 W. Gage Blvd.

Concord Motors, 11 E. Kennewick Ave. Smart Nutrition, 112 Vista Way. The Obsidian Boutique, 10251 Ridgeline Drive.

The Groom Lab, 95609 E. 382 PR SE. Double G Concrete LLC, 5514 Chapel Hill Blvd.

Almond Orthodontics, 8305 W. Quinault Ave. Sweet Things TC, 1815 W. 39th Ave. 9 Lives Furnishings LP, 10251 Ridgeline Drive.

7511 Opportunity LLC, 7511 W. Arrowhead Ave. Aesthetics by Carina, 1321 N. Columbia Center Blvd.

I’m This Many, 205 S. Washington St. Uncle Sam’s Saloon, 8378 W. Gage Blvd.

Cyber Cactus Computing, 1205 N. Dawes St. Ash Homes, 8836 W. Gage Blvd.

A Family Dental Center, 8511 W. Clearwater Ave. Powerstroke Siding, 1224 N. Union St. Foxy Freds, 3015 S. Dayton St. Cookhous.Com, 505 N. Ely St. Stefanie Archer Counseling PLLC, 4204 S. Anderson Place.

Myranda Wences Photography, 10251 Ridgeline Drive.

Ven-you, 5453 Ridgeline Drive.

Kounchaivisuals, 7900 W. Fifth Ave. RPX International LLC, 4104 S. Morain Place.

Ikigai Endeavors, 4008 S. Fisher St. Sausage Daddy, 212 W. Kennewick Ave.

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B20

B20

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

K & J Cleaning Services LLC, 2112 N. 24th Ave. C3 Revolution Inc., 8019 W. Quinault Ave. Eagle Eye Imagery LLC, 6025 W. 17th Ave. Desert Sage Psychiatry PLLC, 8927 W. Tucannon Ave. Herbal Creations, 538 N. Reed St. Sgt Sweets LLC, 1025 S. Keller Place.

Wize Guys, 3503 W. Clearwater Ave. Tri-Cities Cancer Center, 7350 W. Deschutes Ave., Suite. A. Thrifty Craft Lady, 1627 S. Dayton Place.

Tru Accounting Services LLC, 8350 W. Grandridge Blvd.

Mid-Columbia Wine & Spirits, 731 N. Columbia Center Blvd.

Lil’ Orbits WC, 8033 W. Grandridge Blvd.

Rescue Cleaning, 225 N. Wehe Ave., Pasco.

PASCO A Street Station, 2805 E. A St. Sprinkler Plus LLC, 503 E. Washington Ave. Enanos Flooring LLC, 2411 W. Henry St., Suite C. Murillo’s Trucking LLC, 504 N. 18th Ave. DRG Roofing LLC, 8014 Canyon Drive.

Charley’s Beauty Salon Corp., 507 N. Fourth Ave. Liebert Administrative LLC, 10121 W. Argent Road.

Coinophero LLC, 3801 Artesia Drive.

Phoenix Home, 1500 W. Court St. Kgian, 4302 Goldstream Lane.

Self Storage at Chapel Hill, 6615 Chapel Hill Blvd.

Vida Saludable Activa, 2508 W. Sylvester St., Suite C. Best Western Premier Pasco Inn &

Suites, 2811 N. 20th Ave. Tacos La Quinta, 1320 E. Lewis St. Mi Gusto Es, 114 N. Fourth Ave. Inovaciones Faviola, 123 N. Fourth Ave., #121.

Trauma-Informed Care Consulting LLC, 10100 W. Court St. Clarity Point PLLC, 5014 Seville Drive.

Pet Sitting LLC, 4211 Holland Lane.

Floor Fashions, 4103 S. Newport St., Kennewick.

Ground Support Coffee Company LLC, 9910 Gamay Drive.

Pharos Rentals LLC, 1904 N. 24th Ave. Art[e] By G, 2624 W. Marie St. Tri-City Transport LLC, 3912 Peppertree Court.

Martnez Mobile Truck Service LLC, 5012 Antigua Drive.

CM Motors, 200 S. 20th Ave., Suite A. JV’s Barbershop, 6615 Chapel Hill Blvd.

Bella Beautique, 123 N. Fourth Ave., #119.

Reflexion Weight Loss, 1500 W. Court St. Roberts Construction Group LLC, 6114 Midland Lane.

Melany Rios Makeup, 9608 Shetland Drive.

Lily’s Cleaning Services, 4615 Yucatan Court.

Capshaw LLC, 2616 Road 68.

United Contracting LLC, 20190 Sorrel Lane, #6.

Sara’s Child Daycare, 1502 Road 56.

DVK Trucking LLC, 4216 Laredo Drive.

Gold Label, 6001 Kent Lane.

Forever Bee, 1212 N. 20th Ave., Suite B. Leone & Keeble Inc., 108 W. Boone Ave. Brooklands Homes LLC, 2268 Sky Meadow Ave., Richland.

A & J Framing Construction LLC, 318 W. Pearl St., #F102.

Great Clips, 5024 Road 68 East.

Zolo Trans, 5812 Boise Drive.

Crystal’s Roofing LLC, 2700 Fleming Lane.

Lunaim Transport LLC, 3507 Angelo Lane.

SMO, 2302 Famville Court.

Lolita’s Little Ones LLC, 1731 W. Clark St. Douglass Management LLC, 10200 Willow Way. Powers Wholesalers, 6323 Del Mar Court.

J.A.T. Roofing LLC, 8 W. Second Ave., Kennewick.

L. Figueroa Transport LLC, 5518 Denver Drive.

Tere’s Daycare, 519 Pradera Court.

Huellitas Daycare, 3509 Kathren Lane.

Amalia Alejandra Arriaga, 3501 Road 68, #103.

New Life Wellness LLC, 5601 Concord Drive.

H&M Landscaping LLC, 203505 E. Bowles Road, Kennewick.

Novasteam, 306 N. Idaho Place, Kennewick.

Norlift Inc., 512 N. Fancher Road, Spokane Valley.

Surface Masters Inc., 2549 E. 150 South, Layton, Utah.

Pro Fire, 1100 E. Columbia St., B06 & B07.

G. B. Manchester Corp., 6000 NE 88th St., Suite B103, Vancouver.

Precision Power LLC, 1215 S. Cedar St., Kennewick.

Heaven’s Best, 1900 Canyon Breeze Road, Wenatchee.

Performance Heating and Air Conditioning, 1012 Central Ave. South, Kent.

Leyva’s Moon Landscaping LLC, 102

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B21

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 N. Quincy St., Kent Jaab Construction & Consulting LLC, 1411 Mazzard Ave., West Richland.

Koval Electric, 4425 Galway Lane.

Skittlez Barber Shop, 3616 W. Court St., Suite F. S.S. Services, 8309 W. 10th Ave., Kennewick.

Moonlight Wicks & Broomsticks Apothecary, 6201 Turf Paradise Drive.

Meadow View Healthy Choice, 3916 Meadow View Drive.

J R Perez Transport LLC, 4120 W. Henry St. O’Connor’s Cheese Shop, 5513 Pierre Drive.

Spring Green Tri-Cities, 4205 W. Argent Road.

Rogue Builders LLC, 33006 E. Red Mountain Road, Benton City.

Shoebox, 2504 E. Helena St. Mobile Home Specialist, 322 Horseshoe Bend Road, Goldendale.

Gregory Neft - Via, 10251 Ridgeline Drive, #Q278, Kennewick.

Eloy Cruz Lazaro - Uber, 4808 Galicia Court.

Installed Building Products-Portland LLC, 15429 NE Cameron Blvd., Portland, Oregon.

Preston Refrigeration Company Inc., 6100 Stillwell St., Kansas City, Missouri.

Solitary Home Flooring LLC, 209613 E. Schuster Road, Kennewick.

Movesafe, 2219 Rimland Drive, Suite.

301, Bellingham.

Midland General Contractors, 716 Windsor Road, Loves Park, Illinois.

Evolution Window Tinting & Graphics, 200 S. 20th Ave., Suite A. Thomas R. Dell - Via, 4902 W. 24th Place, Kennewick.

Laura Chavez Vargas - Via, 1907 N. 19th Ave. Francisco Chavez - Via, 132 W. Shoshone St., Suite M. Dollar Tree #2957, 1316 N. 20th Ave. La Clinica Pasco, 1115 W. Court St. Sister’s Tea Bombs and Treats LLP, 5407 Cleveland Lane.

Vanguard LLC, 4202 Campolina Lane.

K Elegans Rosys, 6016 Camden Drive.

Dogos El Gordo LLC, 1500 Court St. Little Learners Child Care, 4611 Peyote Drive.

The Corndog Company Eastern Washington, 215 N. 14th Ave., Othello.

Cart and Can LLC, 3420 Swallow, #58.

Columbia Physical Therapy Inc., 1600 N. 20th Ave. Don Rubios Inc., 1515 N. Fourth Ave. Marske Flooring, 10251 Ridgeline Drive, Apt. #G218, Kennewick.

B Cleaning, 8116 Ashen Drive.

Above & Beyond RN Care & Concierge, 6605 W. Argent Road.

Squarebook Solutions, 5906 Tyre Drive.

Withrow Construction Inc., 811 Game Ridge Road, Selah.

Chon Trucking, 1715 N. 17th Ave. Yax Professional Cleaning LLC, 8311 Quatsino Drive.

Tri-City Union Gospel Mission, 110 N. Second Ave. True Built Flooring LLC, 110 W. 21st Ave, Kennewick.

Group Health Foundation, 403 W. Lewis St. Morelos Trucking, 610 W. Lewis St., Suite A. URDC LLC, 4414 Bermuda Dunes Drive.

Partner Haiti, 9309 Majestia Lane.

C & M Landscape and Excavation LLC, 1338 Fairhaven Ave., Wenatchee.

Hardin Rehab Homes LLC, 1440 S. Buchanan Place, Kennewick.

Young Reefer Repair LLC, 408 E. Humorist Road, Burbank.

Universal Steel, 1639 Meadow Hills Drive, Richland.

Teto Industry LLC, 1034 W. Park Hills Drive, Kennewick.

L & L Painting Inc., 308 S. Kellogg St., Kennewick.

Equity Estate Sales LLC, 2705 S. Cedar St., Kennewick.

Axiom Construction & Consulting LLC, 1841 Front St., Suite A, Lynden.

509 Performance LLC, 5810 Industrial Way, B101.

Vapor N Glass, 6605 Burden Blvd., Suite B. New York Barber Shop #3, 524 W. Clark St. Dafigaro, 524 W. Clark St. Rodriguez Olga Lucia, 5207 Buchanan Lane.

Sunset & Alberto Janitoria LLC, 9416 Palomino Drive.

Treasure Valley Pest Control LLC, 1469 N. Deep Creek Way, Meridian, Idaho.

Legend Cleaning Services LLC, 914 S.

Cleveland St., Kennewick.

Annamarie Art, 3611 Whimbrel Lane.

Douglass Support Services LLC, 10200 Willow Way. C. Butterworth Staging & Design LLC, 15405 S. Grandview Lane, Kennewick.

Escamilla & Co. LLC, 3201 Travel Plaza Way. Big J Express, 1631 W. Yakima St. KMG - Pasco, 7505 Sandifur Parkway, #103/104.

Stu’s Team Sports Inc., 1823 W. Brown St. Expert Traffic Control LLC, 2746 Kingsgate Way, Richland.

JMF General Contractor LLC, 621 Madrona Ave. Donna Stewart, 3201 Syrah Drive.

Dykman Electrical Inc., 2724 W. Sylvester St., Suite B. Advanced Pediatric Dentistry of Pasco, 9720 Sandifur Parkway.

B21

Custom Design Homes Construction LLC, 4917 Athens Drive.

Shara Brush, 6415 Burden Blvd., Suite A. SML Cleaning Services, 8304 Lopez Drive.

TKO Construction General Contractor LLC, 220805 E. Perkins Road, Kennewick.

Complete Facilities Maintenance LLC, 910 N. 20th Ave. Bash Events LLC, 3315 W. Court St. Little Dreamers Childcare LLC, 4803 Sirocco Drive.

Jordan General Renovation LLC, 214002 E. 22nd Ave., Kennewick.

Lafferty Excavating, 225616 E. Cochran Road, Kennewick.

L B Painters, 1803 S. Huntington Place, Kennewick.

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B23

B22

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 Pacific Northwest Trucking LLC, 6041 Nauvoo Lane.

Romanthings, 4204 Sedona Drive.

Tacos Locos LLC, 3616 W. Court St. Desert Hills Cleaning LLC, 3714 Morehouse Place.

B4 Development and Consulting LLC, 2715 St. Andrews Loop.

Gonzalez Realty Group LLC, 6855 W. Clearwater Ave., Suite A104, Kennewick.

King Curbing and Landscape, 514 N. Green Place, Kennewick Zio Blendz, 524 W. Clark St. R & R Quality Drywall & Painting LLC, 828 S. 10th Ave. Dreams Fashion Clothing LLC, 122 N. Fourth Ave. Jacequeling Uriostegui, 491 Selph Landing Road.

Hillis Outdoor Specialist Inc., 354 Jake Whorton Road SE, Silver Creek, Georgia.

Expert Sales Group LLC, 2746 Kingsgate Way, Richland.

Messy House Creations, 7711 Thetis Drive.

Watch Your Step Flooring LLC, 24807 S. Sunset Meadow Loop, Kennewick.

Andrea Michelle Benson - Via, 3306 W. Barker Court, Benton City.

La Villa, 214 N. Fourth Ave. The Social Seed, Nourish the Free Life, 9309 Vincenzo Drive.

Santos Bulls Barbershop, 3616 W. Court St., Suite F. DL Valuations, 1914 School Ave., Walla Walla.

Silver Interpreting Services, 4302 Desert St. Lewis Street Storage, 2405 E. Lewis Place.

Curt Faus Corporation, 5755 Willow Lane, Suite F, Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Your Energy in Motion, 5011 Malaga Drive.

Luxury Home Renovations, 725 N.

Center Parkway, Apt. W101, Kennewick.

MM Transport, 2433 George Washington Way, #1104.

U-pull-it Auto Parts Inc., 904 S. Oregon Ave. Amplified Wireless Solutions Inc., 10100 SE Main St., Milwaukie, Oregon.

Unique Cleaning Services, 5031 W. Clearwater Ave., #96, Kennewick.

Bella Creazione, 4413 Finnhorse Lane.

Clover Island General Contracting LLC, 1031 S. Elma St., Kennewick.

One Rogue Construction LLC, 2009 Riverview Drive.

Wish Northwest Inc., 3405 E Ainsworth Ave. Skyler Ruth Parker, 6916 W. Argent Road, Suite B. Mendez Quality Painting LLC, 1920 W. Sixth Ave., Apt. B, Kennewick.

Jzamora Landscape & Maintenance LLC, 110501 W. OIE Highway, Prosser.

Convoy Supply Inc., 1865 N. Commercial Ave. Tri-Cities Contractors Brothers, 623 Arbutus Ave. Relax And Renew Skincare, 6916 W. Argent Road, Suite B. Amber Faudion Gurtisen, 6916 W. Argent Road, Suite B. Wood & Works Solutions LLC, 200814 E. Bernath Road, Kennewick.

Dirt Pretty LLC, 510 Orchard Road.

Anthony Andrew McFadden - Via, 1509 W. 27th Place, Kennewick.

Easy Street Funiture, 429 W. Main St., Goldendale.

Vista Hermosa Foundation/Nela, 3713 E. A St. Ayer Lawn Care, 5415 W. Court St. Jim Custer Enterprises Inc., 6600 Burden Blvd.

Premium Choice Construction LLC, 101 S. Washington St., Suite. A, Kennewick.

Civtech Inc., 14720 E. 20th Ave., Spokane Valley.

PCI Renewables Inc., 400 S. Jefferson St., Suite 301, Spokane.

Corado Construction, 190 S. 38th Ave, #3, West Richland.

Rudy’s Tree Service, 4411 Laredo Drive.

Mommy Meltdown, 8902 Bridger Court.

Evolution General Construction, 146402 W. Buena Vista Road.

McCurley Integrity of Walla Walla Inc., 1325 Autoplex Way. Downtown Pasco Development Authority, 110 S. Fourth Ave. Wrench Inc., 701 Fifth Ave., Suite 7250, Seattle.

Master Garage Doors LLC, 916 N. Elm Ave. J & R General Contractor LLC, 370 Kepps Road.

Eltjon Rizaj - Via, 21004 E. Cherry Drive, Benton City.

RICHLAND Fab Photography, 6931 E. Stevens Road, Cave Creek, Arizona.

Angel’s Master Framing LLC, 1001 SE TV Highway, Hillsboro, Oregon.

Dash Communications LLC, 1296 W. Poplar Ave., Hermiston, Oregon.

Meraz Construction, 519 Bagley Drive, Sunnyside.

Atomic Escape Rooms, 1653 Fowler St. Installed Building Products – Portland LLC, 15429 NE Cameron Blvd., Portland, Oregon.

JB’s Services, 83A Brown Ave., Unit 16, Hampton, New Hampshire.

Candela Construction, 4126 Couples Drive, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Lightspeed Networks Inc., 21 SW Washington St., Suite 37, Portland, Oregon.

Credo Mobile, 931 Village Blvd., West

B23

Palm Beach, Florida.

Building Material Specialties Inc., 201 SW Spring St., Hillsboro, Oregon.

Optimum Outcomes Inc., 3200 Spring Forest Road, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Startek Workforce Solutions LLC, 7913 Foxcatcher Court, Odessa, Florida.

Cascadia Fire Protection LLC, 1040 SW 316th Place Federal Way. Keystone Exteriors LLC, 99 Parry St., Luzerne.

Hot Tamales, 2521 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick.

Waypoint Financial Services, 1920 N. Pittsburgh St., Kennewick.

Liquid Environmental Solutions of California LLC, 16207 Meridian East, Puyallup.

JK Monarch LLC, 612 Harrison St., Sumner.

Sew Fabulous, 1937 Hetrick Ave. Fluor Federal Services Inc., 160 George Washington Way. Diamond Electric LLC, 1267 Evanslee Court.

Signs Of Success, 6824 N. Market St., Spokane.

Signs Plus Inc., 766 Marine Drive, Bellingham.

Williams Mechanical Inc., 3903 Smith Ave., Everett.

Teach Me, 26630 163rd Court SE, Covington.

Busy Bees & ABC’s Preschool, 1600 Davison Ave. Heaven’s Best, 1900 Canyon Breeze Road, Wenatchee.

DKs Associates, 719 Second Ave., Seattle.

B Cleaning, 8116 Ashen Drive, Pasco.

L & L Painting Inc., 308 S. Kellogg St., Kennewick.

Carpenter Drilling LLC, 11 S. Goose

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B24

B24

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

Save the date Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Three Rivers Convention Center 6:00 pm Social 7:00 pm Dinner/Program Join us for this year’s exciting event where another Tri-Citian will be honored for outstanding “Service Above Self” and their commitment to “Building Community Through Service”.

Keynote Speakers Scotty Smiley Veteran, Author, Speaker, Investment Banker, Eternal Adventure Seeker and Tiffany Smiley Motivational Speaker, Media Personality, Consultant Diamond Sponsor

Legacy Sponsor Stevens Center Management Speaker Sponsor Retter & Company Sotheby’s International Realty

Cadwell Laboratories Ruby Sponsors Arts Center Task Force Bechtel HAPO Community Credit Union Three Rivers Convention Center Wayne and Barbara Johnson

Reserve your table or tickets today.

Individual tickets are $60/person.

Sponsorship packages are still available.

For reservations and information, please see our website www.tricitianoftheyear.org or call (509) 948-0290.

Brought to you by:

Gap Road, Benton City.

Floormart Inc., 109 S. Scott St., Spokane.

Drilling & Sawing Services Inc., 1010 W. Bruneau Ave., Kennewick.

Agape Garden Designs LLC, 2521 Royal Palm Ave., West Richland.

Atomic City Roller Derby, 1847 Sagewood Loop, Richland.

Good Oman Insurance, 718 Jadwin Ave. J-3 Contracting LLC, 10005 Aurora Ave. North, Seattle.

America Residential Construction LLC, 179 Bitterroot Drive.

Hair By Haylee Bitton LLC, 400 Bradley Blvd.

Hardin Rehab Homes LLC, 1601 S. Washington St., Kennewick.

Inspire Construction LLC, 809 Washington Ave., Toppenish.

J.Glo Skinfix, 640 Jadwin Ave.,

Richland.

Clean House Matters Cleaning Services, 1623 S. Everett Place, Kennewick.

Mida’s Global LLC, 1853 Newhaven Loop.

U.S. Linen & Uniform, 1106 Harding St. Grizzly Handyman LLC, 6101 W. First Ave., Kennewick.

Pantoja’s Construction LLC, 720 W. Henry St., Pasco.

Breno Bittencourt BJJ LLC, 1324 Jadwin Ave. Gale Electric LLC, 2641 Torrey Pines Way. One Rogue Construction LLC, 2009 Riverview Drive, Pasco.

Carpentry and Woodworks LLC, 374 S. Fourth Ave., Walla Walla.

Acton Academy Tri-Cities, 1294

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B25

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 Country Ridge Drive.

Pacific Rental & Leasing LLC, 2811 Polar Way. Be.U.Stylz, 10 George Washington Way. J. Bookwalter, 1695 Malibu PR. Croskrey Development LLC, 1128 Tomich Ave. Jersey Mike’s, 2729 Queensgate Drive.

Dr. Bae Acupuncture, 134 Keene Road.

Atlas Cabinets & Design LLC, 2483 Robertson Drive.

Cannaconscious Massage LLC, 612 Wright Ave. AM Carpenter LLC, 1995 Stevens Drive.

Nails Spa Us LLC, 2185 Van Giesen St. Houghluck LLC, 410 Catskill St. Paint By Ross LLC, 1845 Leslie Road.

North Yellowstone Transportation, 2021 Mahan Ave. Clubhouse Sports Academy LLC, 509 Doubletree Court.

Santos General Construction LLC, 2405 Pullen St. Ivan X Hair, 1950 Keene Road.

Endo, 34809 N. Schumacher PR, Benton City.

House Rules LLC, 2000 Saint St. Wrld Customs, 1313 Goethals Drive.

The Metal Surgeons LLC, 1312 Williams Blvd.

Annegreenwellart, 1815 Hunt Ave. Deniz General Construction, 913 E. 15th Ave., Kennewick.

Professional Tree Care, 1505 S. Road E., Pasco.

M & J General Contracting, 641 Albro Road, Sunnyside.

Regency Park ICG LLC, 3003 Queensgate Drive.

P & H Concrete, 501 S. Larch St., Kennewick.

Meiers Higher Ed Solutions and Services LLC, 298 Wenas Place.

Alpha Construction and Design LLC, 6917 W. Arrowhead Ave., Kennewick.

Columbia Birth Center, 948 Stevens Drive.

Diamond Construction Solutions LLC, 2107 Trippe St. Lion Landscaping & Maintenance LLC, 449 S. Dawes St., Kennewick.

Living Stone Fine Arts, 204 Brookwood Loop.

Rattlesnake Mountain Services, 1113 Cedar Ave. The Wolf Solution, 329 George Washington Way. Enrich Therapy LLC, 60 George Washington Way. Kris Thomas Tattoo, 614 The Parkway.

Sugarfix Hair, Skin & A Lash, 315 George Washington Way. D.R. Worx, 6100 Kona Drive, West Richland.

Ssp Construction LLC, 1504 W. 47th Ave., Kennewick.

J.A.T Roofing LLC, 8 W. Second Ave., Kennewick.

Apex Brows, 1611 Jewett St. Delton’s Tutoring, 244 Saint Court.

Hopespring Aesthetics, 4723 Corvina St. Tacos Super Uno LLP, 33 Goethals Drive.

Atomic Exotics, 1526 Johnston Ave. Amber Ann McGuin, 1008 S. Belfair St., Kennewick.

Tamale Power House LLC, 608 Williams Blvd.

Evolution General Construction, 146402 W. Buena Vista Road, Prosser.

Quality Wrench, 1425 Jadwin Ave. Jaab Construction & Consulting LLC, 1411 Mazzard Ave., West Richland.

Eastern Washington Transportation, 750 Swift Blvd.

Expert Traffic Control LLC, 2746 Kingsgate Way. Trityca Anderson, 9202 W. Gage Blvd., Kennewick.

Unchained Sparrow Art, 2300 Camden St. Chad Perry, PA-C, 1863 Sagewood Loop.

Four Seasons Therapeutic Massage, 719 Jadwin Ave. Milans Handyman, 95 Casey Ave. Keith D. Pattison, 1202 N. Cleveland St., Kennewick.

Corrales Maintenance LLC, 201 W. Nixon St., Pasco.

Ateam Sign Dreamers LLC, 514 Wishkah Drive.

Tall And Flossy, 2895 Pauling Ave. Excogito LLC, 1037 Winslow Ave. Pacific Current, 910 Birch Ave. Local Boys Recycling, 510 Wellsian Way. JMT Driving LLC, 337 George Washington Way. Handyman Curt, 717 Jadwin Ave. Rudy’s Tree Service, 4411 Laredo Drive, Pasco.

Bospar, 2513 Duportail St. Complete Facilities Maintenance LLC, 910 N. 20th Ave., Pasco.

Faith & Libertees, 1218 Cottonwood Drive.

S.S. Services, 8309 W. 10th Ave., Kennewick.

CMH Topp Inc., 1404 Merrill Court.

KMS Realty LLC, 1791 Brianna Court.

Kabi Stitches, 962 Tomich Ave. Studio A, 604 Williams Blvd.

Floor Fashions, 4103 S. Newport St., Kennewick.

Blain Highland, 2371 Copperbrook Court.

La Fontaine Designs, 1013 Lethbridge Ave. Rimrock Anesthesia PLLC, 1811 Sagewood Loop.

The Spudnut Shop LLC, 228 Williams Blvd.

Kendall Cuts Hair, 315 George

B25

Washington Way. Blocksol LLC, 3003 Queensgate Drive.

BYOC Property LLC, 2565 Aileron Lane.

Gateway School For Young Children LLC, 1706 Bronco Lane.

Leyva’s Moon Landscaping LLC, 102 N. Quincy St., Kennewick.

Sidibe Digital, 99302 E. Sidibe PR SE, Kennewick.

Sig22 LLC, 723 The Parkway.

Vic’s Auto Parts & Supply, 877 Stevens Drive.

Plebis Arts, 385 Lombardy Lane.

True Built Flooring LLC, 110 W. 21st Ave., Kennewick.

H & M Landscaping LLC, 203505 E. Bowles Road, Kennewick.

TFDM LLC, 714 Lynnwood Loop.

Solitary Home Flooring LLC, 209613 E. Schuster Road, Kennewick.

Shine With Jeanne, 500 Amon Park Drive.

Alanna At B4salon, 1207 Aaron Drive.

MK Machine and Tool LLC, 596 Tanglewood Drive.

Christina Maria Sackmann, 1308 Hunt Ave. Above & Beyond RN Care & Concierge, 6605 W. Argent Road, Pasco.

Shannon Stephanie, 158 Aloe Court.

Better Than Naked Skin Studio LLC, 615 The Parkway.

Premium Choice Construction LLC, 101 S. Washington St., Kennewick.

Forevaa Beauty & Brows LLC, 1311 Mansfield St. Circle Shaped Love, 2798 Leopold Lane.

Rogers Training LLC, 1504 W. 40th Place, Kennewick.

Stone Circle Cinema, 501 Wright Ave. DJR Anesthesia PLLC, 2507 Harris Ave.

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B27

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 Precision Power LLC, 1215 S. Cedar St., Kennewick.

TKO Construction General Contractor LLC, 220805 E. Perkins Road, Kennewick.

Nailcessity By Susie LLC, 10 George Washington Way. Christopher Charles Medina, 612 The Parkway.

Sprouts Lawn Care, 1208 Fig St., Benton City.

Equity Estate Sales LLC, 2705 S. Cedar St., Kennewick.

Home and Office Solutions, 2469 Whitworth Ave. Great Start Karate LLC, 1496 Badger Mountain Loop.

Sage & Ivy Photography LLC, 3281 Wild Canyon Way. Spring Green Tri-Cities, 4205 W. Argent Road, Pasco.

Teto Industry LLC, 1034 W. Park Hills Drive, Kennewick.

Red Rover Construction, 1112 Road 70, Pasco.

Short Stack Survival, 1501 Cottonwood Drive.

Boho Chic Studio, 1950 Keene Road.

Doctor’s Pharmacy, 1776 Fowler St. Legend Cleaning Services LLC, 914 S. Cleveland St., Kennewick.

Paradigm Safety, 1502 N. Montana Court, Kennewick.

C. Butterworth Staging & Design LLC, 15405 S. Grandview Lane, Kennewick.

Henry B. Hathaway, 6348 Copper Court, West Richland.

Crane Nuclear Pft Corp., 25 Cobb International Blvd. North, Kennesaw, Georgia.

Bridgewater Group Inc., 7100 SW Hampton St., Tigard, Oregon.

Arizona Courtlines Inc., 8742 N. 78th Ave., Peoria, Arizona.

Exceleron Software LLC, 8144 Walnut

Hill Lane, Dallas, Texas.

Imperial Contracting, 16573 N. 92nd St., Scottsdale, Oregon.

Fluor Federal Services NWS Inc., 3160 George Washington Way. Vibetech Specialties LLC, 6435 SW 90th Ave., Portland, Oregon.

Northwest Tower LLC dba Northwest Tower of Washington, 9760 Summit Drive Missoula, Montana.

Beck Cabinet Company, 3247 W. Industrial Loop, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Luther Senior Center, 625 Berkshire Place.

Infrasource Services LLC, 14103 Stewart Road, Sumner.

Total Concrete Services LLC, 1600 W. Clark St., Suite B1, Pasco.

Copeland Chiropractic, 604 W. Fourth Ave., Toppenish.

Mattison Martinoli Inc., 12530 227th Ave. SE, Monroe.

Ivan’s Construction, 100 Garden Drive, Pasco.

Green Plan Construction LLC, 101 N. Morain St., Suite 100, Kennewick.

King Curbing and Landscape, 514 N. Green Place, Kennewick.

Dance By Beth Trost, 3729 S. Quincy Place, Kennewick.

Academy Of Children’s Theatre, 213 Wellsian Way. Indoor Outdoor Painting, 1500 S. Jefferson Place, Kennewick.

The Integrated Technologies Group Inc., 18122 State Route 9 SE, Snohomish.

Eternal Design, 3084 Wild Canyon Way. Richland Collision & Restoration, 76 Wellsian Way. Raelen Photography, 552 Holly St. Proinstallation 1410 NW 30th Ave., Battle Ground.

Akb Real Estate LLC, 2288 Firerock Ave.

Samuel Schlachter, 3919 Peppertree Court, Pasco.

Tru-Design Construction LLC, 1406 Fries St. Skyhawks Sports Academy Inc., 1826 E. Sprague Ave., Spokane.

Lourdes Health Crisis Services, 1175 Carondelet Drive.

Spotted Fox Inc., 1618 Terminal Drive.

Essentially Kneaded, 1388 Jadwin Ave. Gonzalez Realty Group LLC, 6855 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick.

O & E Concrete Services LLC, 3612 W. Wernett Road, Pasco.

10/Zero5 General Construction LLC, 5609 W. Richardson Road, Pasco.

Tytech Security Solutions, 4128 E. Wellesley Ave., Spokane.

Speedy Movers, 901 Aaron Drive.

Pro Fire, 1100 E. Columbia St., Pasco.

Spartan S Painting LLC, 163601 W. County Road 12, Prosser.

McKey Construction LLC, 104 S. Freya St., Spokane.

Halex Properties LLC, 2288 Firerock Ave. Van Leuven Cabinet & Remodel LLC, 501 W. Washington Avenue, Yakima.

Mario Castillo Interpreting, 203 Crestwood Drive.

Ashleigh V. Champion, 2550 Duportail St. La Bella Vita Kitchen & Bar, 1515 George Washington Way. Corado Construction, 190 S. 38th Ave., West Richland.

JLB 1 Construction LLC, 623 Hanson Loop, Burbank.

Speedway No. 2173 (USA), 1811 Leslie Road.

Pyrobros Discount Fireworks, 6013 Elizabeth Ave. SE, Auburn.

Division Eight, 4115 E. 61st Ave., Spokane.

Hair by Shaylee Richey, 123 Gage Blvd.

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Creations Salon & Spa, 87 Keene Road.

Mammoth Cabinet Installation LLC, 1031 Hoffer Road, Wapato.

Dirt Stars Excavation, 4012 W. Opal St., Pasco.

Two Oaks, 1835 Terminal Drive.

J & P Hospitality Management LLC, 1370 Tapteal Drive.

Proven Meals NW LLC, 1846 Terminal Drive.

The Space Richland, 1384 Jadwin Ave. Today & Tomorrows Contracting, 650 George Washington Way. Foodies on the Go, 701 The Parkway.

Fable Made, 2738 Willowbrook Ave. Velocicanine Agility, 301 Greentree Court.

Quail Yost LLC, 1245 Gage Blvd.

Kingsgate Way LLC, 2856 Kingsgate Way. Koval Electric, 4425 Galway Lane, Pasco.

The Backup House, 83 Sibert St. Lee Electric Enterprises, 573 E. Sunset Drive, Burbank.

Capitol Custom Construction LLC, 4512 Chelan Drive, West Richland.

Gieszler Kelly PLLC, 3108 S. Lyle St., Kennewick.

Jzamora Landscape & Maintenance LLC, 110501 W. OIE Highway, Prosser.

Katie’s Pet Grooming, 621 Cottonwood Drive.

Sunset & Alberto Janitorial LLC, 9416 Palomino Drive, Pasco.

Marathon Sports Cards & Comics LLC, 2451 Bay Court.

Fife 96 LLC, 723 The Parkway.

El Toro Towing LLC, 107 Casey Ave. Hightower Legacies LLC, 512 Douglass Ave. Christ In Diversity Equity & Inclusion, 1685 Brittlebush Lane.

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B28

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

JOY BEHEN

RYAN BRAULT

DUSTIN CLONTZ

JAY FREEMAN

SHELLEY KENNEDY

6115 Burden Blvd., Ste. A, Pasco

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

1060 Jadwin Ave., Ste. 325, Richland

16 W. Kennewick Ave., Ste. 101, Kennewick

767 Williams Blvd.

Richland

(509) 542-1626

(509) 545-8121

(509) 943-1441

(509) 783-2041

(509) 946-7626

CFP®

AAMS

CFP®

www.edwardjones.com TERRY SLIGER

HARRY VAN DYKEN

CARSON WILLINGHAM

T.J. WILLINGHAM

TARA WISWALL

1329 Aaron Dr. Richland

2735 Queensgate Dr. Richland

1020 N. Center Parkway, Suite F, Kennewick

1020 N. Center Parkway, Suite F, Kennewick

6855 W. Clearwater Ave., Suite C, Kennewick

(509) 943-2920

(509) 627-6537

(509) 735-1497

(509) 735-1497

(509) 783-2042

Forget Not, 3003 Queensgate Drive.

Fife 81 LLC, 723 The Parkway.

Mendez Quality Painting LLC, 1920 W. Sixth Ave., Kennewick.

Anneka Bracken Beauty, 1315 George Washington Way. Spark Innovative Learning Project, 723 The Parkway.

Landscaping Solutions, 425 S. Olympia St., Kennewick.

Michael J. Elsen, 2378 Copperleaf St. Gleaned Antiques, 1305 George Washington Way. Tri-Cities Urology, 948 Stevens Drive.

Desert Hills Cleaning LLC, 3714 Morehouse Place, Pasco.

Dl Valuations, 1914 School Ave., Walla Walla.

Clover Island General Contracting LLC, 1031 S. Elma St., Kennewick.

Cold Mountain Property Management LLC, 2969 Bellerive Drive.

Beast Performance, 416 S. Olympia St., Kennewick.

JJ’s Professional Cleaning Services LLC, 3510 Cook Lane, Pasco.

Veronica’s Cleaning, 163 Cedarwood Court.

Underdogsco, 216 Bernard Ave. Sally Jean Green, 424 Shoreline Court.

Wood & Works Solutions LLC, 200814 E. Bernath Road, Kennewick.

Badger Mountain ICG LLC, 451 Westcliffe Blvd.

Luxury Home Renovations, 725 N. Center Parkway, Kennewick.

JW-axxi-re LLC, 2525 N. Columbia Center Blvd.

First Thing, Coffee, 1305 Haupt Ave. Myers & Associates Real Estate, 348 Broadmoor St. Arasele Urueta, Realtor, 490 Bradley Blvd.

Appen-d-zy Inc., 3078 Bobwhite Way. Vector Solutions Inc., 2429 Mark Court.

Flash Clean LLC, 8515 Nash Drive, Pasco.

Matt The Ripper Sports Cards LLC, 1020 Moonstone Court.

Status A Studio LLC, 3509 Elon Lane, Pasco.

Tjim Honor, 345 Columbia Park Trail.

Unique Cleaning Services, 5031 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick.

Elleb Boutique LLC, 2137 Rainier Ave. Timeless Gems by Chelsie, 2331 Hood Ave. Leimon Mining, 1809 Alder Ave. HHS Culinary and Nutritional Solutions LLC, 1175 Carondelet Drive.

Ariana Ruiz, 311 S. Owen Ave., Pasco.

The Sarah Collective, 3010 Duval Loop.

Ashley, 1340 Tapteal Drive.

KFT Enterprises LLC, 106 Hills West Way. Empire Electric USA, 218 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick.

Bon Cafe Co., 66608 N. Highway 225, Benton City.

Double G Concrete LLC, 5514 Chapel Hill Blvd., Pasco.

Cameron Sullivan Consulting, 577 Marysville Way. Dog Haus Tri-Cities #001 LLC, 723 The Parkway.

Mary Jane Poulson, 719 Jadwin Ave. Drasko Construction LLC, 343 Sanford Ave. Lifetime Dental, 2469 Queensgate Drive.

Lady Alive Institute LLC, 300 Torbett St. Powerstroke Siding, 1224 N. Union St., Kennewick.

Robles Jimenez, Irving Armando, 1620 E. Superior St., Pasco.

Sunshine & Sunflowers, 50 Jadwin Ave. Rick Scott’s HVAC/R LLC, 579 N. 61st Ave., West Richland.

Muse Décor, 550 Roslyn Court.

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B29

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 WEST RICHLAND California All Steel Carports Inc., 85 Santa Fe Ave., Fresno, California.

Lazy River Taphouse, 4033 W. Van Giesen St. The Wash Stop, 4024 W. Van Giesen St. Northwest Refrigeration Services LLC, 874 Pikes Peak Drive.

Radiant Builders LLC, 26812 S. 875 PR SE, Kennewick.

Greg’s Septic Service, 26504 S. Dague Road, Kennewick.

VZ Precise LLC, 33812 Cantera St., Kennewick.

Tri-City Raceway, 8280 W. Van Giesen St., Richland.

Cornerstone Pro Roofing LLC, 3858 N. Tupiza Ave., Meridian, Idaho.

Greater Purpose Heating and Cooling LLC, 27528 Highway 730, Umatilla, Oregon.

Day Wireless Systems, 2608 W. Sylvester St., Pasco.

Skookum Home Solutions LLC, 5210 Tigue Court, Pasco.

Legend Cleaning Services LLC, 914 S. Cleveland St., Kennewick.

Landscaping Solutions, 425 S. Olympia St., Kennewick.

Relentless Custom Homes LLC, 2714 Hyde Road, Richland.

Ariana Ruiz, 311 S. Owen Ave., Pasco.

Design Drywall LLC, 2511 W. Park St., Pasco.

Best Choice Pro Painting, 5303 W. Skagit Ave., Kennewick.

Salty Captain’s Custom Woodworks LLC, 131 Columbia Park Trail, Richland.

KD’s Remodeling, 210 S. Olson St., Kennewick.

S & J Construction Services LLC, 3701 Artesia Drive, Pasco.

Expandim Home Flooring & Remodeling LLC, 4815 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick.

Fernandez Drywall LLC, 812 S. Everett St., Kennewick.

Vision Enterprises, 209411 E. Terril Road, Kennewick.

C. Watts Trucking LLC, 693 S. Idaho St., Kennewick.

Bobcat Berto Excavating & Construction LLC, 839 W. Entiat Ave., Kennewick.

Smart Concrete LLC, 1419 N. 16th Ave., Pasco.

Sammy & Sons Lawn Care LLC, 3815 S. Date St., Kennewick.

Soul2Soul Massage and Bodywork LLC, 6541 Agate Court.

Hair Studio West, 4900 Paradise Way. Full Frame Narratives LLC, 5101 Spirea Drive.

The Eclectic Button LLC, 4414 Everett St. James Safety Consulting, 4820 Chukar Drive.

Guardian Fence LLC, 1357 E. Raymond Drive, Moses Lake.

Bartlett Roofing, 1307 S. Maple Grove Road, Boise, Idaho.

Frontier Communications Northwest Inc., 135 Lake St. South, Kirkland.

Rad Towing West, 4771 W. Lattin Road.

Castle Hospitality, 706 Williams Blvd., Richland.

Manny’s Taping, 3004 W. Wilcox Drive, Pasco.

Nationwide Security Solutions Inc., 6407 NE 117th Ave., Suite B., Vancouver.

All Stiles Contracting LLC, 7803 Galiano Drive, Pasco.

Kettle Corn Factory, 6009 Bayview Lane, Pasco.

Brady’s Custom Concrete LLC, 22002 E. Sandstone Drive, Benton City.

Wassing Landscaping & Sprinkler Service, 3010 S. Elm Court, Kennewick.

Knockout Pavement Services, 71515

N. Highway 225, Benton City.

Arid Land Technical Services LLC, 1699 Goldfinch Court.

3 Peaks Logistics LLC, 5602 Ala Wai Court.

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 Benton-Franklin Superior Court. The following is from the Franklin County Superior Court Clerk’s Office.

Andrewjeski Farms LLC, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed March 18.

Barajas Auto Body LLC, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed March 18.

Recision General Construction LLC, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes,

filed March 18.

The Coffee Crush LLC, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed March 21.

Katie Jasmine Ramirez et al, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed March 21.

Extreme Landscaping LLC, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed March 21.

Leonard M. Obanion, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed March 21.

Trinity Pntg & Const LLC, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed March 21.

David Perez et al, unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed March 21.

Radhwan A. Abd, unpaid Department of Licensing taxes, filed March 21.

MBC Trucking, unpaid Department of

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Revenue taxes, filed March 21.

Carniceria La Catrina LLC, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed March 21.

Affordable Custom Concrete LLC, unpaid Department of Revenue taxes, filed March 31.

Eagle Building Inc. Corp., unpaid Department of Labor and Industries taxes, filed March 31.

uLIQUOR LICENSES BENTON COUNTY NEW Neighbors BBQ, 1115 Grant Ave., Prosser. License type: beer/wine restaurant – beer/wine. Application type: assumption.

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B30

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 Queensgate Food Mart, 999 Queensgate Drive, Richland. License type: grocery store – beer/wine.

Application type: assumption.

Royal Mart 104, 4212 W. 27th Ave., Kennewick. License type: grocery store – beer/wine. Application type: assumption.

Paradise Food Mart, 1400 Bombing Range Road, West Richland. License type: grocery store – beer/wine.

Application type: assumption.

Tirriddis Sparkling Wines, 2880 Lee Road, Suite B, Prosser. License type: domestic winery < 250,000 liters; beer/wine on premises endorsement; curbside/delivery endorsement; farmers market wine sales. Application type: new.

Avennia, 20206 E. 583 PR NE, Benton City. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: assumption.

Fable Craft Bar and Kitchen, 1705 Columbia Park Trail, Richland. License type: curbside/delivery endorsement; cocktails/wine to-go; growlers curbside/ delivery; spirits/beer/wine restaurant lounge +. Application type: new.

Sun Market, 6255 Keene Road, West Richland. License type: grocery store – beer/wine. Application type: new.

Crowe Wines, 10715 W. Acord Road, Benton City. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters; beer/wine specialty shop; wine retailer resellerspecialty; farmers market wine sales.

Application type: new.

Mid-Columbia Wine & Spirits, 731 N. Columbia Center Blvd., #100B, Kennewick. License type: direct shipment receiver-in/out WA; spirits sampling; beer/wine specialty shop; beer/wine specialty shop growlers;

spirits retailer; keg sales. Application type: assumption.

Columbia Club, 2500 Chester Road, Richland. License type: private club - spirits/beer/wine; non-club event.

Application type: new.

APPROVED Mid-Columbia Wine & Spirits, 731 N. Columbia Center Blvd., #100B, Kennewick. License type: direct shipment receiver-in/out WA. Application type: assumption.

Sun Market, 6255 Keene Road, West Richland. License type: grocery store – beer/wine. Application type: new.

Domaine Magdalena, 53222 N. Sunset Road, Benton City. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters.

Application type: alcohol permits.

Fidelitas Wines, 51810 N. Sunset Road, Benton City. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters.

Application type: alcohol permits.

Hedges Family Estate, 53511 N. Sunset Road NE, Benton City. License type: domestic winery >249,999 liters.

Application type: alcohol permits.

Hightower Cellars, 1918 E. 583 PR NE, Benton City. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: alcohol permits.

Klipsun, 8060 Keene Road, Suite A, West Richland. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: alcohol permits.

Palencia Wine Company, 421 E. Columbia Drive, #A140 & #A110, Kennewick. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: alcohol permits.

Red Mountain Trails Winery, 27314

uPUBLIC RECORD, Page B31

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022 E. Ambassador PR NE, Benton City.

License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: alcohol permits.

Terra Vinum, 56204 NE Roza Road, Benton City. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: alcohol permits.

Col Solare, 50207 Antinori Road, Benton City. License type: domestic winery >249,999 liters. Application type: alcohol permits.

Endo, 34809 N. Schumacher PR, Suite A, Benton City. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: new.

Whitstran Steaks & Spirits, 1427 Wine Country Road, Prosser. License type: curbside/delivery endorsement.

Application type: new.

DISCONTINUED R.F. McDougall’s, 1705 Columbia Park Trail, Richland. License type: spirits/beer/wine restaurant lounge+.

Application type: discontinued.

Vinagium, 40619 N. Sunset Road, Benton City. License type: grower.

Application type: discontinued.

Vinagium, 318 Wellhouse Loop, Richland. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: discontinued.

Fourth Base Pizza, 20 S. Auburn St., Kennewick. License type: beer/wine restaurant - beer/wine. Application type: discontinued.

Sonoris Wines, 318 Wellhouse Loop, Richland. License type: domestic winery <250,000 liters. Application type: discontinued.

Fries Family Winery, 2255 Chapman Lane, Suite B, Prosser. License type: domestic winery >249,999 liters.

Application type: discontinued.

Whitstran Steaks & Spirits, 1427 Wine Country Road, Prosser. License type: curbside/delivery endorsement.

Application type: discontinued.

FRANKLIN COUNTY NEW Royal Mart 103, 4804 N. Road 68, Pasco. License type: grocery store – beer/wine. Application type: assumption.

Ciao Trattoria, 112 N. Fourth Ave., Pasco. License type: cocktails/wine togo; spirits/beer/wine restaurant lounge+.

Application type: added/change of class/in lieu.

Tri-City Taps, 5236 Outlet Drive, Pasco. License type: spirits/beer/wine restaurant lounge +. Application type: new.

Fiesta Foods, 115 S. 10th Ave., Pasco.

License type: direct shipment receiverin WA only; grocery store - beer/wine; spirits retailer; beer and wine tasting.

Application type: added/change of class/in lieu.

Susie’s Saloon, 135 E. Weston St., Kahlotus. License type: direct shipment receiver-in WA only; curbside/delivery endorsement; tavern - beer/wine; off premises. Application type: new.

APPROVED The Underground Taphouse, 4525 Road 68, Suite J, Pasco. License type: direct shipment receiver-in WA only.

Application type: new.

Fiesta Foods, 115 S. 10th Ave., Pasco.

License type: direct shipment receiverin WA only. Application type: added/ change of class/in lieu.

Canna Green LLC (Title owner only), Othello. License type: retail certificate

holder. Application type: added fees.

DISCONTINUED GoPuff, 723 N. Third Ave., Pasco.

License type: grocery story – beer/wine.

Application type: discontinued.

uMARIJUANA LICENSES BENTON COUNTY NEW Sacred Sage LLC, 15505 N. Webber Canyon Road, Suite H, Benton City.

License type: marijuana producer tier 3; marijuana processor. Application type: change of location.

APPROVED Fireweed Farms, 133302 W. Johnson Road, Suite A, Prosser. License type: Marijuana producer tier 3. Application type: assumption.

Sunnyside Northwest, 41305 N. Griffin Road, Kennewick. License type: Marijuana producer tier 3. Application type: change of corporate officer.

TKO Reserve, 234805 E. Straightbank Road, Suite E, Kennewick. License type: Marijuana producer tier 2. Application type: change of corporate officer.

Olympus Group, 43001 N. Griffin Road, Suite B, Grandview. Marijuana producer tier 1. Application type: added fees.

uBUSINESS UPDATES NEW Amandabobbett.com has opened at 1022 Lee Blvd., Richland. Owned

by Amanda Bobbett, the business offers health and wellness journeys,

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including yoga classes, health coaching, red light therapy, hydration oxygen therapy. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Saturday-Sunday. Contact: 205-5099352; amandabobbett.com; YouTube; Instagram; Facebook.

Cora’s E-bike Shop has opened at 401 Wellsian Way, Richland. The shop offers a selection of bikes, board and scooters as well as accessories and snacks for your ride. Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m.5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Wednesdays.

Contact: 509-946-5466; Facebook; Instagram.

Baskin-Robbins has opened at 2617 W. Kennewick Ave. in Kennewick.

Owned by local franchisees, Kevin and Blake Still, who also own and operate the Baskin-Robbins at 140 Gage Blvd., Suite 205, in Richland, the new shop offers an expanded toppings lineup and new “ice cream novelties,” a collection of premium, frozen desserts for on-thego. The novelties include chocolatedipped bananas, Polar Pizza slices, smoothie bars and more. Customers also will be able to get their favorite treats including scoops, milkshakes, ice cream cakes and more. Contact: baskinrobbins.com.

MOVED Jade’s British Girl Treats has moved to 717 Sixth St. Prosser. The shop sells ice cream, chocolate, fudge, confections and simple baked goods.

CLOSED Koko’s Bartini at 4309 W. 27th Place, Suite 100, Kennewick has closed.

Newly remodeled event space for people looking to host meetings and banquets.

• The dining room can accommodate 130 people.

• The newly remodeled 19th Hole Event Center has 130 person capacity.

• Heritage room can host up to 25 guests.

• Legends room can accommodate 12 people.

509-783-6131 • zintelcreek.com 314 N. Underwood, Kennewick

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

HANFORD A specialty publication of the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

April 2022

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

HANFORD

INSIDE THIS ISSUE (509) 737-8778 8524 W. Gage Blvd., #A1-300 Kennewick, WA 99336 tcjournal.biz

STAFF

2022 highlights include vit plant startup, groundwater progress, reactor cocooning and more

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Battle over ‘disappointing’ Hanford budget heats up days after Biden signs 2022 plan

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Tri-City leaders push grout as better, faster, cheaper approach to Hanford’s low-level tank waste

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Melanie Hoefer Hair President / Founder 509-737-8778 ext. 5 melanie@tcjournal.biz

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

Geologist: Hanford was the right site for the Manhattan Project

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

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

U.S. Department of Energy

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Hanford Advisory Board

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Washington State Department of Ecology

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

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

Hanford Area Economic Investment Fund

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Bechtel National Inc.

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Washington River Protection Solutions

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Central Plateau Cleanup Company

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Hanford Mission Integration Solutions

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HPMC Occupational Medical Services

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Hanford Laboratory Management & Integration

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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.

GUEST COLUMNS

On cover: Photos courtesy Bechtel National Inc.

On cover: Photos courtesy Bechtel National Inc.

TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

HANFORD

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2022 highlights include vit plant startup, groundwater progress, reactor cocooning and more

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

Everything about Hanford is huge.

• Its area: 580 square miles.

• Its waterfront: 40 miles of Columbia River.

• Its workforce: 10,000, including 300 federal employees.

• Its payroll: $500 million plus, or about a quarter of all local wages.

• Its budget: $2.6 billion, with $560 million awarded to subcontractors in 2021.

• Its history: Helping end World War II by fueling the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

And its biggest challenge: 18 distinct waste storage units that include 177 underground tanks (149 single-shell, 28 double-shell) containing approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste from the production of weapons-grade plutonium.

Of those, 60 tanks have collectively leaked up to a million gallons that in some areas have reached the groundwater.

In 2022, Hanford still continues to draw attention.

Geologists are fascinated by the millions of years of forces that have acted on it. Historians note its pivotal role in bringing about the end of World War II and its role in the Cold War. Scientists and engineers embrace the daunting challenge of cleaning up nucle-

Courtesy Bechtel National In 2021, the vit plant team completed all startup testing of components and systems associated with transforming low-activity tank waste into a safe form for disposal.

ar and toxic wastes. Politicians battle for enough money to pay for it all.

A return to area-wide operations Progress is incremental, but 2022 will see the site return to the kind of area-wide operations that haven’t been seen since plutonium production and processing ended. Instead of producing material for the nation’s weapons arsenal, multiple systems across the reservation will come online to

Do you have this card?

Because there is no place like home

(509) 491-3821

ChinookHomeHealthcare.com

carry out the task of stabilizing radioactive waste.

“The site is fundamentally transforming into full operations mode. That hasn’t been the case since the ’80s, when the site last operated in a national security mission,” said Brian Vance, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy offices in Richland.

Vance recently updated the Tri-City Development Council on progress at the site.

Bechtel National Inc., DOE’s treatment plant contractor, completed construction of the $17 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant in 2021, with commissioning continuing into 2022. The first of two 300-ton melters will be heated up and tested this year, with formal vitrification expected to begin in 2023.

The second melter will be heated up once the lessons of the first have been assessed.

To kick off the vitrification process, tank waste must be treated for cesium and other solids. To that end, construction of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal System wrapped in 2021. It began operating in January and by early April had treated 200,000 gallons, which will eventually be sent to the vit plant to be stabilized in glass logs.

Infrastructure is key To support it all entails infrastructure, an upgraded effluent treatment facility and integrated disposal facility for storage of waste canisters at the end.

Elsewhere on the site, more than 2 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater were treated in 2021, bringing the total to 28 billion gallons as Hanford works to address subsurface contamination.

Vance, in his remarks to TRIDEC, was particularly happy to report on a task that uPROGRESS, Page C8

99336 ennewick, WA K , 0 0 3 . te S t.

S 100 N. Morain 21 (509) 491-38 om eHealthcare.c ChinookHom

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

HANFORD

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

2021 progress lays foundation for new cleanup era at Hanford Over the past year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and our contractor partners have made significant cleanup progress while establishing the safest possible environment for our workforce during the pandemic. Our One Hanford team has a lot to be proud of as we prepare to begin the next important chapter of our cleanup mission of the Hanford site.

2021 began with headlines to share the news that workers had finished constructing all Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant facilities needed for the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program, or DFLAW. The program involves a set of interdependent facilities and infrastructure systems operating together to successfully treat, vitrify (immobilize in glass) and dispose of millions of gallons of low-activity tank waste.

Over the summer, when DOE, state and contractor officials announced that workers had made the 3,500-foot pipeline connection between Hanford tanks and the Waste Treatment Plant, regional editorial boards praised the accomplishment and recognized Hanford is taking huge steps forward as we prepare to vitrify tank waste.

Last fall, the DFLAW program took another giant stride forward when

workers finished building and testing the TankSide Cesium Removal system, completing one of the top 2021 priorities of the DOE Office of Brian Vance Environmental U.S. Department Management, the of Energy office responsible for the safe and efficient cleanup of multiple defense production sites across the country.

Treating tank waste In January of this year, we started operating the system and entered a new era of our Hanford cleanup mission, the start of industrial-scale tank waste treatment.

The treated waste is being staged until it can be fed directly to the nearby vitrification plant when it comes online next year.

At the Waste Treatment Plant, workers completed testing on all the individual systems in 2021 and moved into the commissioning phase, where integrated systems and facility-level testing is underway. The first major commissioning test was successfully conducting a loss of electrical power to ensure backup systems functioned as expected. The next major

commissioning step is to begin heating up the first of two 300-ton melters later this year.

Other projects to support DFLAW across the site, including construction, facility upgrades and permitting activities, remained on track to support safe and efficient preparations for the initiation of treating tank waste by the end of 2023.

Groundwater treatment Beyond the DFLAW program, our team continued to deliver taxpayer value in 2021 by safely progressing cleanup projects and conducting site operations that enhance the safety of our workforce and the public and reduce environmental risks.

For the seventh year in a row, crews treated more than 2 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater for a total of 28 billion gallons since the project began in the mid-1990s. The groundwater treatment systems are part of an overarching effort to remove contaminants deposited during past operations from the ground to safeguard the Columbia River.

After demolishing the former Plutonium Finishing Plant, the Hanford team finished removing debris and sampling the soil. Now the site is covered with sand and gravel, fortified with a fixative and routinely monitored to ensure that

the area remains safe for our workforce.

Workers also finished stabilizing underground waste disposal structures near the former plant that were considered at risk of collapsing, achieving another Office of Environmental Management priority for 2021.

Workers also began preparing the foundation for construction of a weather-resistant structure that will cover the K East Reactor until radioactive material in the reactor core has decayed to levels safe for future demolition. By the end of 2023, the K East Reactor will be the seventh of eight former plutonium production reactors that will be placed in interim safe storage, or “cocooned.” With the historic B Reactor preserved as part of a national park, when the K West Reactor is also placed in interim safe storage by the end of the decade, all the reactors that operated at the Hanford site will be in a safe and sustainable configuration for decades.

Site infrastructure Our Hanford team also remains focused on right-sizing and modernizing our site infrastructure to support our future cleanup effort. In October, workers started building a new 10,000-square-foot Central Plateau Water Treatment Facility

uDOE, Page C6

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Battle over ‘disappointing’ Hanford budget heats up days after Biden signs 2022 plan

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

President Joe Biden cut an estimated $172 million from the Hanford cleanup plan in his fiscal year 2023 budget request released just days after he signed a belated spending plan covering the remaining six months of the 2022 fiscal year.

The president’s fiscal year 2023 budget request was released March 28, 13 days after Biden signed a $1.5 trillion spending bill that sent $2.6 billion to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the Hanford cleanup. The 2022 budget year ends Sept. 30.

Biden’s 2023 proposal includes $7.6 billion for nuclear cleanup activities at Hanford and its fellow weapons communities, including the Savannah River site in South Carolina.

David Reeploeg, vice president for federal affairs for the Tri-City Development Council, said the 2023 request is a starting point for discussions.

Gov. Jay Inslee weighed in immediately, saying he was “concerned” about

shortchanging Hanford as it prepares to begin turning the 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste stored in 177 underDavid Reeploeg ground tanks into glass at its new $17 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant in the coming year.

“Now is the time to redouble our efforts at Hanford, not to curtail them,” Inslee said via Tweet shortly after the budget request was released on the White House website.

Laura Watson, director of the Washington Department of Ecology, traveled to Washington, D.C., in mid-March to ask that the government allocate more than $7 billion in the next two years – $3.35 billion in 2023 and $3.76 billion in 2024.

The president’s budget was “terribly

disappointing,” she said via Tweet.

“I was in Washington, D.C., earlier this month talking to federal officials about the urgency of fully funding the Hanford cleanup. Failing to meet the needs at Hanford is risky and misguided,” she wrote.

Watson is no passive observer. The Department of Ecology is a party to the Tri-Party Agreement, the 1989 contract that governs the Hanford cleanup.

DOE and the Environmental Protection Agency are the others.

The federal government’s own figures show it will take far more than the $2.6 billion awarded each year since 2019 to vitrify tank waste.

Over its lifetime, the process will cost $320 billion to $660 billion, figures confirmed in DOE’s 2022 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report, which was released in January.

The 2022 budget sent $1.65 billion to DOE’s Office of River Protection and $950 million to its Richland Operations Office.

Reeploeg noted the 2022 plan funds

the next phase of the test bed initiative, or TBI, which is studying an alternative to vitrification for low-level waste – grouting. Grouting is a potentially less expensive way to address low-level tank waste, leaving the complex vit plant to handle high level waste.

Reeploeg said TRIDEC supports the grout approach if it is proven to be effective, particularly if Congress is reluctant to fund vitrification.

“One of the things on our minds is the long-term costs for cleanup and making sure it is actually done,” Reeploeg said. “Part of that is going to depend on budgets. It is not easy to figure out how to accomplish the cleanup mission at a cost we can expect to be funded.”

Priorities for 2023 include design work for treating high-level waste through vitrification and addressing aging infrastructure on the site, now in its eighth decade. As the cleanup mission evolves, the site’s utilities, roads and other facilities need to be updated and modernized.

HANFORD ADVISORY BOARD Hanford Advisory Board seeks volunteers to increase representation The Hanford Advisory Board, which provides a public voice to the Hanford cleanup mission, is seeking volunteers to increase representation.

The HAB has issued more than 300 advisories and recommendations in its 27-plus years. Its members are volunteers who dedicate themselves to learning all they can about Hanford cleanup, engage in civil discussion and reach consensus on advice that they hope will advance Hanford cleanup.

Its primary mission is to provide informed recommendations and advice to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Washington Department of Ecology – the parties to the Tri-Party Agreement, the legal agreement that governs the work.

The board receives information, pre-

sentations and engages in conversations with the Tri-Party agencies to become informed about cleanup issues and plans that affect or Steve Wiegman impact policy Hanford decisions.

Advisory Board The board aims to develop informed consensus, policy level recommendations and advice that represents the diverse opinions and perspectives of communities and organizations throughout the region.

It is also intended to be a component for Hanford tribal and public involvement and input, but not be the sole

conduit for those activities.

Through its work, the board helps the agencies in focusing public involvement.

The board helps the broader public become more informed through open, public meetings. Members are expected to communicate with their constituents as well to help them remain informed and meaningfully involved in Hanford cleanup decisions.

One of its fundamental responsibilities is to respond to requests for policy-level advice from DOE, Ecology and EPA. Each year, DOE, Ecology and EPA provide it with a draft work plan and receive its input in the finalized plan.

When new or emerging issues arise throughout the year, the TPA agencies may seek the board’s advice.

DOE, Ecology and EPA acknowledge that the board may identify additional

issues of concern to its members, consult with TPA agencies and provide advice.

The board works through a committee process to become educated on cleanup issues. Committee members develop informed draft advice to bring to a full board meeting for a discussion and vote.

The completion of cleanup is a decades-long project and the demographics of the region continue to evolve.

DOE is seeking to evolve HAB membership to be representative of regional interests. If you or an organization you represent are interested in participating in this important work by joining the board, please contact Gary Younger of DOE at 509-302-3972. Steve Wiegman is chairman of the Hanford Advisory Board.

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WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY

There’s reason for optimism in the year ahead at Hanford 2021 was an eventful year for cleanup work at the Hanford site.

That goes double for our Washington State Department of Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program team, which is responsible for overseeing the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup of Hanford’s nuclear legacy.

A lot of important work was accomplished, and we look forward to the work to be done in 2022.

PFP cleanup Late last year, we saw the demolition finish for the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), which was among the most contaminated facilities at Hanford. When operational, the plant took liquid plutonium and processed it into buttons, which were sent on to weapons production facilities.

The plant produced nearly two-thirds of the nation’s plutonium stockpile.

Upon closure of PFP in October 1996, plutonium-uranium solids, solutions, residues and polycubes, along with gloveboxes and pencil tanks, needed to be removed before demolition.

More than 90 buildings associated with the PFP Complex were demolished.

In December last year, the last boxes of plutonium-contaminated debris left the PFP site.

To bring this project to its successful conclusion, Ecology, DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with the Washington State Department of Health worked closely to resolve concerns of worker risk and public safety with improved work processes in safety, engineering, monitoring and regulatory review.

Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste Last year also brought construction certification of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) facility, which is expected to begin treating tank waste in 2023.

This process included extensive review DOE, From page C4 to replace the water plant that was built during the Manhattan Project, with a modern and supportable facility that will affordably deliver potable water to our site. We also are working on infrastructure projects, large and small, to ensure that our site’s electrical distribution system, information technology systems, water and sewer systems, and roads continue to support safe and cost-efficient cleanup progress.

Environmental legacy As we meet our responsibility to address the environmental legacy of Hanford, the site is fortunate to be surrounded by a skilled set of local industry partners, including small businesses that help us deliver results. Hanford also is surrounded by a diverse community and tribal nations who are important partners in planning for a safe and sustainable

and evaluation by structural and corrosion engineers, inspections for installation consistent with design, physical configuration David Bowen audits and a final Department certification that of Ecology the system and facility were constructed in compliance with the Hanford Dangerous Waste Permit.

On the permitting side of DFLAW, Ecology focused on processing 50 modifications to the Hanford Dangerous Waste Permit, in addition to an approval order for air permitting to support startup of the new treatment facility.

health and safety.

future. Ensuring that those most impacted by the environmental legacy of the past and the cleanup mission of today have a voice that provides valuable insight as we prioritize and plan cleanup.

As the Hanford team progresses its cleanup mission, stewardship of both natural and cultural resources on the 580-square-mile Hanford site is also one of DOE’s important responsibilities.

We work closely with local communities, and we engage with Native American tribes to provide the opportunity for them to share their perspectives and provide input on cleanup priorities and activities. Our stewardship role also has led to agreements with the U.S. Department of the Interior to manage most of the lands that make up the Hanford Reach National Monument.

We also are committed to carrying out our mission in a sustainable manner that minimizes the impact of emissions. This

year, we are updating our assessment of site systems, operations and facilities to help us continue to be proactive about enhancing the resilience of our facilities and adapting to climate change.

Ambient Air Boundary Our agency and DOE developed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) outlining the new Hanford Ambient Air Boundary and the measures used to maintain the boundary. The MOA became necessary as progress at Hanford had some unintended consequences, such as increased public access to B Reactor Museum events, changes in oversight at Rattlesnake Mountain and regularly observed accidental public access.

Applications for air permits in Washington require the permittee to demonstrate that emissions from the proposal ensure pollutants cannot cause or contribute to a violation of any ambient air quality standard and that toxic air pollutants must be sufficiently low to protect human health and safety.

The ambient air boundary, often the fence line, is the border where we consider the public to potentially have access, and a facility must ensure emissions that disperse outside of that boundary meet the ambient air quality standard and remain sufficiently low to protect human

Soil and groundwater cleanup Interim Records of Decision also were issued this past year, identifying actions to address primary groundwater contaminants in the central plateau, and in the area of B Plant and Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant (PUREX) operations.

This accomplishment represents a significant amount of work and coordination between all of the Tri-Party Agencies as we advance cleanup of soil and groundwater in the area, with continued monitoring of cleanup effectiveness to inform any future adjustments to actions.

Other projects Those were some of the long-term projects our program led or was a major participant in.

Other projects included coordinating closely with the Yakama Nation to resolve comments on state cleanup requirements for the EPA-led development of a Record of Decision at B Reactor and C Reactor, which will guide cleanup of soil and groundwater along the river corridor.

We also partnered with EPA and DOE to resolve structural stability issues for three underground structures at or near the PFP site, which posed risk to human health and the environment in the event of a structure collapse.

Staffing challenges On top of all this important work, our office entered into 2021 with a new Nuclear Waste program manager operating under Covid-19 health restrictions during a hiring freeze.

We experienced several retirements, promotions and transfers. Our office also created new positions and navigated through a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for Ecology, DOE and its contractors. We developed transition plans for team members leaving and assigned critical work to keep work moving.

Needless to say, we wrapped up

Workforce Every successful enterprise is built and sustained by people. The Hanford site is no different, and the people that make up our team are our most important asset.

While our cleanup effort is technically complex and the largest of its kind in our nation, our Hanford workforce continues to deliver safe and efficient progress through dedication and exceptional teamwork.

Our Hanford team is devoting its energy and expertise to further our important cleanup mission, while consistently delivering positive results for our site, our community and the environment of the Pacific Northwest. Looking to the future, we also are working with industry, labor

2021 and are starting 2022 with a major recruitment push. This includes 14 active job postings and eight more positions to be posted soon. If you or someone you know has an interest in working on the most complex cleanup project in the United States, we’re looking to add engineers, permit writers, permit coordinators, inspectors, project managers, IT professionals and administrative team members.

Looking ahead There is always more to do at Hanford.

In 2022 our planned work includes continued coordination with DOE, EPA, tribal nations, various state and local agencies, the Hanford Advisory Board and the public to develop work plans, removal actions at the PUREX complex, permitting to support DFLAW facility startup, and renewal of the Hanford sitewide permit.

Our program has permits with other non-Hanford entities, and we are planning to renew the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard dangerous waste permit and finalize preparation of the Perma-Fix Northwest permit renewal for public comment. We also plan to issue three wastewater discharge permit renewals and various air approvals.

We have optimism regarding paths forward with ongoing holistic negotiations with DOE and EPA, including setting pace and timing of tank waste retrievals, treatment, disposal and closure, along with actions to address leaking tanks and aging facilities going into the future.

2021 was a year like no other, and our team at Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program is looking forward to progressing cleanup of Hanford even further in 2022. David Bowen is the manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Nuclear Waste Program. and academia to develop a diverse and talented next generation of talented professionals who are ready for the challenges and satisfaction of delivering cleanup progress and risk reduction.

I am proud of the many important achievements that our Hanford team has safely delivered during challenging times.

Given the exceptional accomplishments over the last few years, and especially this last year, I am very optimistic about our site’s future. Finally, I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with the exceptional professionals of our Hanford workforce team, and I look forward to ushering in the next exciting phase of our site mission with the start of tank waste treatment. Brian Vance is the manager of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of River Protection and Richland Operations Office.

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HANFORD AREA ECONOMIC INVESTMENT FUND HAEIF has provided $25 million in loans to 47 businesses, municipalities The Hanford Area Economic Investment Fund was established by the Washington State Legislature in 1991 when local leaders, recognizing the mission of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation was changing, worked with legislators to establish an economic investment fund.

The primary goal of the Hanford Area Economic Investment Fund Advisory Committee (HAEIFAC) is to provide loan funding that allows for the creation of jobs and is a means to leverage funds to help diversify the local economic base in the “Hanford area,” which is defined as Benton and Franklin counties. The fund receives a portion of the waste fees collected from low level nuclear waste deposited at the U.S. Department of Energy site in the Hanford area.

The program is housed under the Washington Department of Commerce and is governed by all laws applicable to all state agencies.

Commerce Director Lisa Brown, Assistant Director Mark Barkley and their staff provide help, support and guidance with legal counsel provided by Washington State Assistant Attorney General Sandra Adix.

“Our partnership with HAEIFAC on local funding solutions is a unique and important opportunity to diversify the local economy and create jobs that strengthen

communities in Benton and Franklin counties,” Brown said.

Who makes up HAEIFAC? The advisory committee consists of 11 memSkip Novakovich bers representing Hanford Area the public and Economic private sectors in Investment Fund the two counties. Per RCWs, membership consists of a “balanced membership representing one member each from the elected leadership of Benton County, Franklin County, the city of Richland, the city of Kennewick, the city of Pasco, a Hanford area port district, the labor community and four members from the Hanford area business and financial community, all appointed by the director of the Department of Commerce.”

The committee chair also is appointed by the director of the Department of Commerce with approval from the governor’s office.

Other HAEIFAC officers are elected by the committee annually.

Current leadership is provided under the direction of the Department of Commerce

Courtesy HAEIFAC Randy Hayden, fourth from right, executive director of the Port of Pasco, and the port team and commission dedicate the new Reimann Industrial Center in north Pasco. The Hanford Area Economic Investment Fund provided a $2.25 million loan to buy the former agriculture property. Darigold Inc. is building a $500 million processing plant on the site and Old Dominion Trucking is eyeing the property for a new transloading center.

appointed chair, Skip Novakovich, who serves as the Hanford area port representative.

Other current appointed committee members are: Rebekah Dobbs, vice chair – financial community representative; Colin Hastings, secretary – business community

representative; Phil Lemley – treasurer, city of Richland; Pete Serrano, subcommittee chair of private business loans, city of Pasco; Austin DePaolo, subcommittee chair of municipal loans, labor represenuHAEIF, Page C10

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Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy

PROGRESS, From page C3 has dropped off the to-do list: The Plutonium Finishing Plant, or PFP. “We no longer have to talk about the Plutonium Finishing Plant because it’s done,” he said with relish.

The decades-long effort to place eight plutonium production reactors into interim safe storage extends to the River Corridor’s 100 Area. K East Reactor is being covered with a weather-resistant structure with foundations poured. K West Reactor

will be completed by the end of the decade.

The reactors With that work, all but one of the reactors will be cocooned, waiting for their cores to decay to levels safe enough to demolish them in the future.

TB Reactor, the world’s first production reactor and the source of plutonium in the war-ending bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, is preserved as part of the Manhattan Project National Park.

The park’s Hanford unit visitor center is closed and public tours have been post-

poned due to the pandemic. A reopening date has not yet been announced.

To better picture what the site looks like for those who have never visited, go to: bit.ly/HanfordTours.

Other top priorities Transferring nearly 2,000 radioactive cesium capsules from underwater basins so they can be placed in safer dry systems is another top priority in 2022, as is preparing to remove highly contaminated soil under the 324 building, which is north of the Richland city boundary and only a few

hundred yards from the Columbia River.

And finally, on March 15, President Joe Biden signed a $1.5 trillion appropriations bill that funds the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2022.

The budget includes $2.6 billion for Hanford and restored payments to local government that the president initially wanted to eliminate. With the 2022 budget finalized, negotiations for 2023 have started.

HLMI simulates vitrification in the 222-S lab

1

Lab techs simulated tank waste to vitrify in the laboratory.

2

The simulated waste is heated in the 222-S lab under conditions mimicking the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.

3

The liquified waste is poured into a stainless steel container.

4

The simulated waste takes glass form when cooled.

Photos courtesy HLMI

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Tri-City leaders push grout as better, faster, cheaper approach to Hanford’s low-level tank waste

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

A coalition of high-profile Tri-City business and civic leaders is pushing Hanford managers and regulators to encapsulate low-level tank waste in grout rather than glass, calling grout a better, faster and cheaper approach to cleaning up the nuclear reservation.

Northwest Energy Associates, a nonprofit formed in 2020, is led by Gary Petersen in partnership with Bob Ferguson and Bill Lampson. It formed to draw attention to the cost of vitrification, to the Hanford budget and to promote grouting as the best solution to handling the low-level waste that comprises most of the tank waste held at the Central Plateau.

The group operates under the banner “Clean Up Hanford Now.” The 2022 federal budget appropriates nearly $2.6 billion for the Hanford cleanup and includes funding for the next phase of the test bed initiative to prove the efficacy of grouting waste.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s spendy new Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant is still needed for high-level waste, Clean Up Hanford Now argues.

The argument for grout Grouting, the group argues, is the financially responsible alternative to vitrification and will let the community move to a post-cleanup economy. They want to see a 1999-approved master plan for the site put into action, allowing research, economic and recreational use of some of the 580-square-mile Hanford reservation.

“If not us, who?” asked Petersen, president of the NEA board. Petersen led efforts to keep federal dollars flowing to the site as vice president for government affairs at the Tri-City Development Council until he retired in 2017.

Bill Lampson, CEO of Lampson International, and Bob Ferguson, a former DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary and Energy Northwest executive, serve as co-chairs. Ferguson remains heavily involved while he recovers from a stroke.

Rounding out the team are Kate Lampson, also of Lampson International, and Kathy Lampson, a Tri-City advertising executive and marketing specialist and executive board member of TRIDEC. Former U.S. Reps. Norm Dicks and Sid Morrison serve as advisors. Sallie Ortiz is the science writer.

The group said it aims to collaborate with, not fight, DOE and the Washington Department of Ecology over the best way to treat waste.

Its pro-grout argument rests on the staggering cost to vitrify tank waste and on a 2019 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which said 90% of the 56 million gallons of waste generated by the production of plutonium for the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal could be treated with grout at a fraction

of the cost of vitrification.

DOE intends to vitrify half of the low-activity waste under terms of the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement, Gary Petersen reached between the state Department of Ecology, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency.

GAO studied the challenge Bob Ferguson of addressing waste held in 177 single- and double-shelled tanks on the Central Plateau at Congress’ request and concluded that a new approach is needed.

“Congress should consider specifically authorizing DOE to classify Hanford’s supplemental (low-activity waste) based on risk, consistent with existing regulatory authorities. GAO also recommends that DOE develop updated information on the performance of treating (low-activity waste) with alternate methods, such as grout, before it selects an approach for treating supplemental (low-activity waste),” it wrote.

Vitrification entails mixing waste with glass-forming materials to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit in stainless steel containers, then storing the logs at a disposal site in central Hanford pending a national repository to accept nuclear waste. DOE and its prime contractor, Bechtel National Inc., plan to begin heating up the first melter in anticipation of a 2023 start.

Speeding up cleanup For Clean Up Hanford Now, grouting low-level waste offers the clearest path to ending Hanford’s wartime mission and replacing it with a clean energy one.

Leaders said they acted because no one else was.

“We need an advocacy group to get Hanford cleaned up and turned over to new projects,” Petersen said. “We’re trying to speed up the Hanford cleanup.”

In January, the DOE released its 2022 Hanford Lifecycle Scope, Schedule and Cost Report, a detailed document that lays out the history of Hanford and the challenge that lies ahead. The report was produced in compliance with the Tri-Party Agreement and confirms that the cleanup carries a daunting price tag.

It brackets the total cleanup cost – with some caveats – at $320 billion on the low end and $660 billion on the high.

The higher number reflects uncertainty around the vitrification program.

Congress sent $2.6 billion to Hanford in 2019, 2020, 2021 and now 2022. The Clean Up Hanford Now team believes it will balk at spending $5 billion or more

Bill Lampson

Kate Lampson

to fully fund work over many years it will take to put tank waste through the vitrification process.

Hanford already consumes about a third of DOE’s Environmental Management budget, more than any of the 15 other sites across the U.S. “Congress isn’t going to agree to that,” Petersen said.

Clean energy campus Treatment is half the Clean Up Hanford Now argument. Readying the site for new missions is the other.

With an eye to the future, they are eager to see Hanford’s acres put back into public use as a clean energy campus for everything from small modular nuclear reactors to a carbon sequestration facility.

A Comprehensive Land Use Plan ap-

proved in 1999 spells out some of the new activities that could happen in some of the areas currently behind the fence. The plan Kathy Lampson was noted in the Federal Register on Nov. 12, 1999.

“Current DOE management and Ecology don’t have a history with it. But it is their plan, and it is approved by Congress,” Petersen said.

Petersen and Kate Lampson cite the 1,641 acres DOE transferred to the TriCity Development Council in 2016 following years of discussion.

A year later, the economic development agency transferred 1,341 acres to the city of Richland and the Port of Benton, which are working out the details of putting in roads, utilities and other infrastructure for future tenants needing large sites for energy, food and other production facilities.

The transferred acres are dwarfed by the land still contained within the site.

“If you can speed treatment up, you can get to redevelopment,” Petersen said.

Online: cleanuphanfordnow.org.

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BECHTEL NATIONAL INC.

Vit plant readies to heat up world’s largest melter In 2022, the Hanford Vit Plant team will tackle some of the most complex and challenging milestones on our journey to transform low-activity radiological and chemical tank waste into a glass form safe for long-term disposal. This process, called vitrification, will allow us to protect the Columbia River and its rivershore communities.

It’s an exciting time to be part of the project, also known as the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant project.

The efforts of thousands of people – our team, customers, suppliers, stakeholders and alumni – will culminate more than two decades with three historic steps: 1. Heating up the first melter. The melters are housed inside the Low-Activity Waste Facility and are the heart of the vitrification process, which will turn Hanford’s waste into a glass form for safe disposal.

When operational, the melters will mix low-activity waste with glass-forming chemicals at 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The mixture is poured into stainless steel containers to cool and solidify before being disposed at the Hanford Integrated Disposal Facility.

2. Conducting cold commissioning.

In this step, our team will run chemical simulants through the plant to demonstrate the operation of the vitrification process before Valerie McCain tank waste is inBechtel National Inc. troduced into the plant in 2023.

3. Heating up the second melter. We will apply lessons learned from the first melter heatup to bring the second one up to temperature after cold commissioning is complete. Both melters will remain at operating temperature into long-term operations.

Our team has worked diligently on 24/7 shifts to ensure we have the people, plant and paper/processes ready to move forward in bringing the largest melters in the world into operation. We started 2021 by marking all construction complete, a hallmark moment for this project. Throughout the year, we celebrated several significant achievements in all three of these areas.

ington Building Trades, we have hired many of the teammates needed into permanent positions, from laboratory technicians to radiological control technicians, and qualified key people for running the facility. Additional team members will be added this year to complete the hiring needed to fill the full team. Our team has grown and changed as we finished construction and shifted fully into commissioning.

Management Facilities.

These are just a handful of the accomplishments from 2021 that were made possible because of our team, our U.S. Department of Energy customer, regulators and many businesses in the Tri-Cities and across the country.

We safely advanced the project across all fronts thanks to our team’s focus on the right behaviors, teamwork, commitment and overall resiliency.

Our team is also incredibly generous, donating more than $340,000 to the Tri-Cities community in 2021. Those donations cross the spectrum of need in the community, such as the Children’s Reading Foundation, Toys for Tots, Bikes for Tikes, Special Olympics, United Way, STEM Foundation and Boys & Girls Clubs.

I’m so proud of the team and look forward to building upon our successes in 2022. I can’t think of a more exciting time to have the privilege of being a part of the vit plant team and advance our important national mission. Valerie McCain is senior vice president for Bechtel National and project director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.

HAEIF, From page C7

reviews the funding application, conducts an extensive evaluation of all criteria and when its process is completed, makes a recommendation to the full committee.

The Private Business Loan Review Subcommittee reviews loan applications submitted from for-profit businesses located within the two counties.

The Public Entity Loan Review Subcommittee reviews loan applications from governmental agencies or public entities.

The Grant Review Subcommittee reviews grant applications from governmental agencies or public entities.

The firm contracted to perform accounting and loan servicing works with all applicants to ensure their applications are complete and the applicant understands and desires to continue with the process before submitting the application to the appropriate subcommittee for review.

In addition to the formal program, early match assistance of $500,000 also was provided to establish the CREDiT Loan Fund managed by the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments.

An example of recent private sector funding was a loan made to Iconic Brewing, which opened at Richland’s Horn Rapids in 2021.

Owners Matt and Deb Driscoll contacted HAEIFAC through a referral from their local bank.

The advisory committee was impressed with the owners’ significant personal investment and the potential to expand job creation and the number of craft breweries in the community.

Iconic Brewing owners have told the committee they were very pleased to have a local community partner to assist financing their startup, especially during the pandemic.

“HAEIFAC has been very accommodating with their financing terms during the pandemic as we navigated the challenging Covid economy,” the Driscolls said.

Another recent private sector funding was awarded to The Lodge at Columbia Point in Richland.

HAEIFAC was excited to assist in providing needed gap financing that provided a local solution promoting the development of this “boutique hotel.”

The funding helped the hotel retain its 62 employees and “encourage quality and loyal visitorship and economic investment in southeast Washington,” said Wendy Higgins, general manager of The Lodge.

A recent public sector financing example occurred when the committee worked with the Port of Pasco to assist with timely

gap financing to buy land that led to the creation of the Reimann Industrial Center to support the immediate demand of industrial land for development.

The new Darigold plant chose the area, planning an estimated $500 million investment.

“We greatly appreciated the timely assistance of HAEIFAC in being able to put the financing together for this project,” said Randy Hayden, executive director of the Port of Pasco.

tative; Karl Dye, subcommittee chair of grants – business representative; Brad Peck, Franklin County representative; Will McKay, Benton County representative; and Paulina Perez, business community representative. The board had one vacancy in mid-April.

What does HAEIFAC do?

The RCWs give HAEIFAC the powers to (1) Adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of business; (2) Utilize the services of other governmental agencies; (3) Accept from any federal or state agency loans or grants for the purpose of funding Hanford area revolving loan funds, Hanford area infrastructure projects, or Hanford area economic development projects; (4) Adopt rules for the administration of the program including terms and rates pertaining to loans as, and criteria for awarding grants, loans and financial guarantees.

Contracts for support services HAEIFAC has no employees and committee members are not compensated for their service.

The advisory committee maintains various contracts for support services.

The state Attorney General’s Office assigns an assistant attorney general to provide legal services. Accounting and loan services are currently contracted through the CPA firm of CliftonLarsonAllen.

Jo Larr Management Consulting is contracted to provide administrative services support. It is contracted with One World Technology.

Three subcommittees support the review of applications for funding. Each group

Workforce By collaborating with the Central Wash-

Loan recipients The first loans to small businesses were funded in 1997 to Xactex, Plastic Injection Molding and One World Telecommunications.

In 1998 the first municipal loan was made to the city of Pasco for a water reuse facility to assist with infrastructure for the development of the agricultural food processing sector.

In 2011 a formal municipal grant program launched to provide local municipalities with a local funding match for grant applications.

The cities of Pasco, Kennewick, Richland, West Richland and Connell, as well as the Port of Benton and the Port of Kennewick, received grant funds which helped leverage additional federal and state funding totaling more than $20 million.

Plant testing We completed startup testing of all equipment, systems and facilities.

We successfully conducted a test to demonstrate that the plant could be brought back online safely if it experienced a loss of off-site power.

We began testing the movement of stainless-steel containers that will carry vitrified waste in the plant by moving them through the process using remotely operated crane systems.

Procedures and permits Our team created almost 5,500 step-bystep procedures required for operation of the systems and facilities.

The Washington Department of Ecology approved multiple permits necessary for both the Low-Activity Waste and Effluent

Loan totals to date To date HAEIFAC has provided $25 million in loans to 47 business and municipalities.

It is estimated these loans have created or retained over 4,300 jobs and supported well over $330 million in local investment in private and public funding.

The advisory committee has provided many local businesses, as well as municipalities, the ability to acquire financing that allowed them to pursue opportunities to grow, create jobs and diversify the local economy.

The fund’s current loan portfolio includes private business loans to Fuse, Iconic Brewing, Baum’s Chocolates, Prepper Peppers, The Lodge at Columbia Point, Second Chance Spirits and Cookies R Rusk. Public municipal loans went to the city of Pasco for wastewater treatment plant upgrades and the Port of Pasco for Reimann Industrial Center development and the purchase of airport land.

For more information, contact JoEllen Peters, administrative consultant, at jpeters@haeif.com or 509-547-9448. Skip Novakovich is chair of the Hanford Area Economic Investment Fund.

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WASHINGTON RIVER PROTECTION SOLUTIONS WRPS finds success through grit and resilience despite past year’s obstacles The Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business’ “Hanford edition” is a publication I look forward to every year. This is an opportunity to recognize our workforce and thank our community partners who enable our success as the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) tank operations contractor on the Hanford site.

In 2021, our success was unmatched.

Never before in our 13 years at Hanford have we delivered so much for our DOE customer, stakeholders and community. Our employees remain honored by having the privilege to accomplish this meaningful work, during some of our country’s most trying times.

Our workforce of 3,000 employees and subcontractors adapted to changing workplace conditions, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, to safely advance our critical work managing 56 million gallons of highly radioactive and chemical waste stored in Hanford’s 177 underground tanks. We redeployed resources as necessary, shifted schedules and increased our pace of operations to ensure we met our commitments for our client and community.

Making history That allowed us to make history here at Hanford earlier this year. In January, we began the site’s first-ever large-

scale tank waste treatment effort.

Over three years, during a historic pandemic, our team delivered the Tank-Side Cesium ReJohn Eschenberg moval (TSCR) Washington River system on time Protection Solutions and on budget.

The TSCR system is a key component of the Hanford mission to treat tank waste using the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) program.

TSCR filters out undissolved solids and uses an ion exchange system to remove cesium from radioactive and chemical tank waste. We have now begun work toward our goal of processing 1 million gallons of waste through TSCR so that it can be staged in a double-shell tank in preparation for direct-feed to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant’s Low-Activity Waste Facility when it comes online by the end of 2023.

At the Effluent Treatment Facility, our team completed a series of upgrades in 2021 and treated about a million gallons of wastewater from site oper-

ations. Now that the campaign is over, we are embarking on another series of upgrades at that facility to add capacity and efficiency needed to treat the condensate produced through DFLAW. WRPS’ award-winning physiological monitoring program protected employees during the summer’s record-setting heat. This allowed us to complete critical work, like replacing a cover on a wastewater storage basin, even as surface temperatures in the basin reached 140 degrees. I cannot tell you how impressed I am by this hearty group of employees that safely worked in conditions many of us simply can’t imagine.

Single-shell tank progress This year, we will complete retrieving waste from the site’s 20th single-shell tank.

The WRPS team has become very adept at safely retrieving and transferring waste from older single-shell tanks to double-shell tanks for safe storage until it can be treated.

We also are installing the needed infrastructure to retrieve waste in other tank farms, allowing us to seamlessly advance this critical risk-reduction priority. Simultaneously, our robust tank integrity program develops and deploys

unique robotic systems to inspect our tanks visually and ultrasonically on a regular basis.

In the coming year, we are also scheduled to finish needed upgrades to the 242-A Evaporator, enabling us to create more valuable storage space in our double-shell tank system. We also plan to begin preparatory work to install an asphalt surface barrier on U Farm, the fifth tank farm that will have a surface barrier preventing rain and snowmelt from driving existing contamination in the soil toward the groundwater.

Safety records We can achieve these accomplishments safely because we maintain one of the best safety records across the DOE Environmental Management complex. In 2021, we received nine external awards, recognizing our commitment to safety, quality assurance and environmental excellence. In late 2021, the Association of Washington Business honored WRPS as its Employer of the Year, recognizing our innovative job retention, creation, benefits and compensation plans that foster a thriving work environment.

We could not be a stellar employer

uWRPS, Page C16

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HANFORD

CENTRAL PLATEAU CLEANUP COMPANY

Completion culture drives continued cleanup progress It’s hard to believe it has been more than a year since the Central Plateau Cleanup Company (CPCCo) started work as the new prime contractor for nuclear waste cleanup on the Hanford site’s Central Plateau and along the Columbia River.

CPCCo began work in January 2021 with a mission to build on 30 years of cleanup progress with cost-effective and efficient solutions to safely finish several of Hanford’s highest-profile risk-reduction projects over the next decade. A new leadership team brings new energy, and a motivated and committed workforce is already delivering great results.

With a completion mindset in place, our highly trained crews hit the ground running and safely closed out one of our key projects in less than 12 months: the end of demolition activities at the former Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), once among the most contaminated sites in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) environmental cleanup complex. What exactly did that effort look like? Watch a time-lapse video showing PFP demolition over the last five years: bit.ly/PFPdemo.

I couldn’t be prouder of our team for working hand in hand with DOE and the Department of Ecology to safely move this project across the finish line. Yet, as exciting as this historic accomplishment

is for CPCCo and the Hanford cleanup mission, it is just one of several key projects on our “to do” list in 2022 and beyond.

Capsule transfer We continue to make significant progress toward the transfer of nearly 2,000 radioactive cesium and strontium capsules from an underwater basin in the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF) to safer dry storage. Last year, we completed construction of a storage area where casks loaded with capsules will be placed. We also awarded a subcontract to complete the necessary structural and utility modifications to WESF and install the new cask storage system.

This year, testing and training on equipment that will move the capsules into the casks will continue at our full-scale mock-up, and we will upgrade and modify areas in and around the WESF facility to prepare for the capsule transfer.

324 Building Last March, work resumed at the 324 Scott Sax Central Plateau Cleanup Company

Building after a yearlong pause to conduct important safety reviews. Over the past year, our team has made excellent progress on structural modifications needed to prepare the facility for the removal of contaminated soil under the building. That work will continue this year, along with other activities to ensure the safe completion of this key risk-reduction project near the Columbia River.

K reactors The area near Hanford’s former K West and K East Reactors also continues to be a busy place for CPCCo. Our crews recently removed contaminated filter material from the 1.2 million-gallon spent fuel storage basin in the K West Reactor.

Workers placed the material in shielded containers and transferred them about 10 miles away from the river to T Plant for safe interim storage. With the filter media gone, we are beginning work to stabilize about 15,000 pounds of radioactive debris in the underwater basin. Debris stabilization and removal are among the final steps needed to allow workers to safely drain and demolish the basin.

At the former K East Reactor, we are starting construction on a steel structure to be placed over the building. The enclosure will protect the reactor building while the radioactivity in the reactor core decays over the next several decades, making it easier and safer to complete disposition of the reactor in the future.

K East will be the seventh of Hanford’s eight former reactors to be “cocooned,” or placed in safe storage, with the ninth – B Reactor – preserved as part of a national park.

Groundwater cleanup We also continue to focus on accelerating the cleanup of groundwater. Fiscal year 2021 marked the seventh straight year the site has treated more than 2 billion gallons of contaminated groundwater, and Hanford is closing in on 30 billion total gallons treated during the life of the cleanup mission.

Our six pump-and-treat facilities continue to remove hazardous chemical and radioactive constituents on the Central Plateau and along the Columbia River, reducing risk across the Hanford site.

Engineered landfill Finally, CPCCo is making excellent progress on construction activities at the Integrated Disposal Facility in support of the site’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) program, a top priority

for DOE. This engineered landfill will provide permanent, environmentally safe disposal for containers filled with vitrified, or immobilized in glass, low-activity tank waste from the nearby Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and mixed low-level waste from Hanford operations.

The disposal facility is an excellent example of the collaborative One Hanford approach: DOE and all of the site’s contractors are working together toward a common goal of getting the waste out of the tanks and treating it for safe disposal.

Community involvement Just as important to CPCCo as tackling the technical aspects of Hanford’s cleanup mission is our role in making a positive impact on the Tri-Cities community we all call home.

Our incredibly generous workforce last year donated hundreds of volunteer hours supporting numerous community organizations, such as the Tri-Cities Cancer Center, Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, Columbia Basin College and United Way. We can’t wait to expand our engagement efforts in 2022, through additional volunteer activities, support of school STEM programs to provide opportunities for our next generation of Hanford workers, and service on local boards, just to name a few of our community involvement goals.

It’s an exciting time for CPCCo, and I’m proud of what we accomplished in 2021, as we safely navigated the challenges of an ongoing pandemic.

Our first year reducing risk on the Central Plateau on behalf of DOE’s environmental cleanup mission fills us with energy and optimism for 2022. With a talented and experienced workforce of more than 1,600 and fantastic support from the Tri-City subcontractor community, we look forward to continuing to partner with DOE, regulators and stakeholders to make Hanford a model for success across the DOE complex.

To learn more, go to: cpcco.hanford.gov. Scott Sax is president/project manager at Central Plateau Cleanup Company.

Editor’s note: Scott Sax recently announced his retirement. John Eschenberg, currently of WRPS, will succeed him effective May 16.

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

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Geologist: Hanford was the right site for the Manhattan Project

By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz

Long before the 580-acre Hanford site became a recognizable nuclear reservation and beating heart of the Manhattan Project, a unique combination of Bruce Bjornstad lava flows, ice age floods, tectonic rotation and wind acted to form the landscape.

About 17 million years before government scouts landed on it, to be precise.

The Hanford Engineer Works team, seeking a spot to pursue atomic technology, recognized its relative stability in 1942. By early 1943, plans were afoot to transform a corner of Central Washington into a home for the top-secret project’s B, D and F reactors and other support facilities to produce weapons-grade plutonium.

The site selectors chose well, said Bruce Bjornstad, a geologist and retired senior research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

Bjornstad offered a lively view of the forces that acted on the region to create Hanford and Central Washington for an audience of about 200 in February, part of the Washington State Department of Ecology’s ongoing “Let’s Talk About Hanford” series.

Watch the video at bit.ly/LetsTalkAboutHanfordGeology.

Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy The 100-D Area on the Hanford site overlooks the Columbia River and the White Bluffs, an area raised by plate tectonics and further shaped by ice age flood deposits within what is now the Hanford Reach National Monument. The geography of Hanford and Central Washington is due to millions of years of lava flows, ice age floods, tectonic activity and wind.

Hanford, he said, has some of the most unique geology in the world, thanks to the combination of lava flows (300 or more), ice age floods (at least 100), tectonic pressure pushing up the deep layer of basalt into the hills we see today and wind-blown sediments.

Did the government choose well when it picked the area? Bjornstad believes it did.

“Definitely yes,” he said.

“They could not have picked a better site to store nuclear and hazardous waste,” he said, describing how waste is stored in the

200 Area on Hanford’s Central Plateau, an area formed by ice age floods that left 200300 feet of sediment between the surface and the groundwater.

The waste is buried near the top, well above the water table below.

“I think they picked a very good place to store even though they didn’t know or understand it at the time. In the ’40s, they didn’t understand the geology and hydrogeology of Hanford. It was a fortuitous choice that they did pick a place like the Hanford Plateau for storing waste. We should be

happy for that,” he said.

That doesn’t mean waste hasn’t leaked along the Columbia River, but as Ecology staff noted, waste-filled tanks at Savannah River, South Carolina, sit in the water, not above it.

So, how did the region’s landscape form?

It involves 17 million years and begins with lava released from vents along the modern Washington-Idaho border, at least 300 individual flows.

Bjornstad and other geologists describe the spreading mass as a pancake-like batter that spread far and wide. It flowed onto the channeled scabland, down the Columbia River Gorge and to Portland and the Pacific Ocean.

Tectonic pressure rotating around Pendleton at about the same speed that fingernails grow pinched the deep basalt into the Yakima Folds – the hills (anticlines) and valleys (synclines) that define the region.

The Umtanum, Rattlesnake and Horse Heaven hills are all the result of the process. Gable Mountain on the Hanford site is another example. The pinching process is ongoing.

The basalt layers are deepest near Prosser, about 15,000 feet. The basalt is about 10,000 feet deep at Hanford.

The Ringold Formation, sediment laid down by the ancient Columbia River, formed 3-10 million years ago.

Ice age floods are far more recent. They rumbled through between 14,000 and uGEOLOGIST, Page C16

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

HANFORD

CENTRAL PLATEAU HANFORD MISSION INTEGRATION CLEANUP COMPANY SOLUTIONS New Hanford role in 2021 sets up site for a safe and secure 2022 Like many others have experienced, 2021 brought challenges and changes for Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS). With every challenge comes opportunity, and our team flourished in its new role.

We began operations of the Hanford Mission Essential Services Contract on Jan. 25, 2021, making significant progress to enable Hanford cleanup across a skilled workforce, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and our fellow contractors. HMIS, comprised of global leaders Leidos, Centerra and Parsons, proudly serves as the Hanford sitewide integrator.

In 2021, we consistently demonstrated the “One Hanford” philosophy, providing hundreds of specialized and essential services with an emphasis on integrating sitewide decisions from all stakeholders.

This foundation helped establish much success in our first year and will guide HMIS for years to come.

Ensuring safety and security is our No. 1 priority. Whether it’s our workforce, the environment or sitewide assets, HMIS plays a key role in the protection of Hanford. Our focus is broad – from the health of our workforce, especially through the pandemic, or safety during snowstorms, unprecedented heat waves

and high winds, to site security – HMIS offers best-in-class protection.

Integrated services HMIS provides and mainRobert Wilkinson tains reliable Hanford Mission power, water, Integration Solutions roads, information technology, emergency services, business systems, training and more, with a shared vision amongst DOE and our contractor partners on risk reduction and preparations to treat tank waste under the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) program.

By providing integrated services, we create solutions, connect the Hanford enterprise and deliver critical needs at the right time.

As the site integrator, a significant highlight of 2021 was the start of construction on the Central Plateau Water Treatment Facility, a critical project to support DFLAW and decades of future cleanup on the Hanford site. The new facility, expected to be fully operational in 2023, will produce a minimum of 3.5 million gallons of clean water daily,

using low-pressure microfiltration technology. It will automate water services to support risk-reduction cleanup projects and operations to manage, treat and dispose of tank waste.

In addition to a large volume of water, treating tank waste will require continuous, reliable energy to operate pumps and filters and keep melters heated, another crucial component of our site integrator scope. Recent upgrades to Hanford’s electrical infrastructure include modernizing miles of transmission and distribution lines, installing new cables and removing and replacing aging utility poles and conductors.

IT services Our information technology services support all Hanford operations and contractors and includes four networks, 1,250 servers, 1,800 applications and user support to nearly 9,000 Hanford workers. Support to DFLAW will include emergency management technology for an eventual one million gigabytes of data, more than 1,000 radios used daily and multiple external sirens for emergency notification.

HMIS also will evolve and enhance the One Hanford mission with proven technologies and cutting-edge innovations to better support our Hanford

customers. Innovations will include numerous engineering, information management and reliability projects to support DFLAW and future cleanup needs.

Improved mobile data capabilities and remote assistance will help those working in the field across the vast Hanford landscape. Virtual technology, easy to understand animations and software that blends the physical and digital worlds, will greatly improve the services we provide.

Using the Hanford Governance Model and an upgraded and holistic business management platform, with a focus on the highest level of safety and ethics, HMIS facilitates a rapid and cohesive decision-making process. This is critical as the One Hanford team moves toward an increased pace of operations.

HAMMER center Providing essential training is another key component of the HMIS scope, ensuring cleanup operations can continue safely. At our Volpentest HAMMER Federal Training Center, the team provides innovative, hands-on training and expertise to cultivate a safe and highly skilled Hanford workforce. uHMIS, Page C16

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HPMC OCCUPATIONAL MEDICAL SERVICES

HPMC works to improve, protect worker health at Hanford HPMC Occupational Medical Services (OMS) is managed by HPM Corporation, a local, woman-owned business that provides specialized services to federal government clients and their contractors.

Founded in 2001, HPM Corporation has grown into a multi-disciplinary organization capable of providing programs and services in occupational medicine, environmental safety and health, risk communication, health data analysis and trends, health education and promotion, industrial rehabilitation and ergonomics, behavioral health services and project management.

Our mission at HPMC OMS is to continuously improve occupational medical services for our patients, in collaboration with our stakeholders, while inspiring our staff to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value​​. While this mission is still true, over the last two years our new mission became to protect our patients, staff, their families and the community from Covid-19.

Our ability to maintain occupational medical services for essential personnel on site, as well as those teleworking off site, supports the Hanford cleanup mission by ensuring the health and well-being of Hanford workers.

The Covid team We met the challenge of Covid-19 by establishing and staffing a Covid team consisting of nurses and administrative staff that implemented on-site contact tracing, Covid testing and Covid vaccinations.

We obtained approval from Washington state early in the pandemic to administer all three types of Covid-19 vaccines, including second and booster doses, to make it easier for Hanford site employees to get vaccinations.

We have worked with the Benton-Franklin Health District to provide contact tracing for the workforce to quickly coordinate information on employees in isolation or quarantine.

The team also developed general medical information on Covid, including a website, to provide employees with up-to-date information.

Our staff also reached out to connect directly with site employees. HPMC OMS Risk Communicator Dr. Gary Hurwitz hosted weekly Teams meetings for workers to learn about the vaccines and get questions answered.

Vaccine scheduling We partnered with Hanford Mission Integration Solutions to develop a scheduling application so eligible workers could easily make, change or cancel appointments for vaccinations at our on-site facilities.

The application went live in March 2021, and we have administered approximately 2,000 Covid-19 vaccinations to Hanford emHiram S. Whitmer ployees.

HPMC Occupational In conjuncMedical Services tion with offering Covid-19 vaccines, we continue to administer the flu vaccine for employees. In 2021, we hosted several flu clinics across the site and provided approximately 2,000 doses of the flu vaccine.

Post-infection program Our company developed a Covid-19 work conditioning program that uses physical training to help Hanford workers restore their ability to work after a Covid-19 infection.

Following an evaluation by an HPMC OMS nurse or medical provider, site employees participate in a 12-week program that focuses on the improvement of aerobic conditioning and progressive strengthening of muscles. At the end of the program, another evaluation is done to assess results.

Wellness program kudos Our Health and Wellness Team earned silver level recognition for our employee wellness program, Own It!, from the American Heart Association’s Workplace Health Achievement Index, which recognizes organizations for their implementation of quality workplace health programs and a culture of best health practices.

During the pandemic, the team saw a need for more employee engagement so expanded its services through live wellness webinars, workshops, virtual lunch-and-learn series and on-demand prerecorded presentations available online.

These programs allowed employees to interact virtually with our staff so they could see their faces, hear their voices and have meaningful conversations.

Audrey Wright, health education specialist, is one of 257 professionals across the country who have received the faculty designation in 2021 from the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA). This designation is earned by completing 24 hours of annual training and signifies commitment, leadership and expertise within this rapidly evolving field.

Customer satisfaction Our company uses an in-house, web-based survey through SullivanLuallin to assess patient satisfaction with

our staff, facilities and services. This allows us to get feedback from each patient that walks through the door and takes the survey, and we use the feedback to manage the quality of our services.

We are constantly exceeding national averages for patient satisfaction.

At the end of the 2021 calendar year, patients gave our front desk staff an overall satisfaction rating of 99.5%, our health care team a 99.7% rating, and our facilities a 99.7% rating.

Patients indicated their overall satisfaction level of interactions with us was 99.7%.

Making a difference We believe in the importance of building relationships and enhancing the lives of those in the communities we serve. We recognize the diverse interests of our region and the people who live here. We continue to engage our community stakeholders and recognize the value of community service to our business. We also are extremely proud of our staff who volunteer their knowledge, skill and experience with community, professional and educational boards and organizations.

Because of pandemic restrictions, HPMC was unable to participate in any

in-person community events. However, the organization was able to support the surrounding community through financial donations and our annual holiday toy drive.

Our team has hands-on experience in supporting clients who are addressing a wide range of occupational health issues. We have the knowledge and capability to develop comprehensive and compliant occupational medicine programs, deal with specific workplace health issues, and perform risk analysis and medical surveillance for virtually any work environment. We are committed to providing patients with the best care experience possible. We recognize that this involves going beyond providing the highest quality medical care and outcomes.

Since our beginning, HPMC has developed not only business systems and infrastructure but professional knowledge and skill second-to-none in the small business community. We are proud of our growth and development and excited about our future success and expansion. Hiram S. Whitmer is president and program manager at HPMC Occupational Medical Services.

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TRI-CITIES AREA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS | APRIL 2022

HANFORD LABORATORY MANAGEMENT & INTEGRATION

HLMI provides analytical services to support cleanup mission April 15, 2021, marked the official start of work for Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration LLC (HLMI) as a new prime contractor for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear waste cleanup efforts on the Hanford site.

To support DOE’s Hanford cleanup mission, HLMI assumed sole responsibility for operation of the 222-S Laboratory, a full-service accredited analytical radiochemical laboratory.

The laboratory is in the center of the Hanford site and has served the Hanford mission for more than 70 years.

Its original purpose was to provide process control analytical services in support of Hanford’s plutonium production mission. It then transitioned in the 1980s to the primary radiochemical lab supporting the Hanford site cleanup mission.

The lab has been modernized over the years through multiple infrastructure upgrades, and HLMI has incorporated new employee training programs to ensure the staff is uniquely qualified to safely

handle the highly radioactive materials the lab is responsible for analyzing.

HLMI is a limited liability corporation formed by two Don Hardy small businessHLMI es, Navarro Research and Engineering Inc., and Advanced Technologies and Laboratories International Inc. The combination of these companies provides HLMI with the human resources and capital to ensure we consistently provide high-quality data to other Hanford contractors in support of the site cleanup mission. We at HLMI are proud to be a valuable member of the One Hanford team providing low-risk solutions to the complex challenges associated with remediating the Hanford site.

Since contract inception, HLMI has

supported critical Hanford operations with timely laboratory analysis and reporting, operated the facility in full compliance with environmental regulatory and permit requirements, and implemented improvements and efficiencies in waste minimization processes that have resulted in cost savings and reduced worker and environmental risks.

In addition, HLMI’s technical staff have developed innovative new processes to reduce turnaround times associated with the analysis and data reporting that support highly radioactive sampling projects. By doing so, HLMI is enabling the One Hanford mission to achieve its commitments to the community and stakeholders. Examples include performing characterization testing to ensure waste transfers can be performed safely and support a robust tank integrity program, and providing industrial hygiene sample analysis that assists in worker safety.

In the coming year, HLMI is especially excited to continue supporting Han-

ford’s Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) program and preparations to treat tank waste by immobilizing it in a glass form, called vitrification.

One of the ways the lab is supporting those preparations is by producing small, laboratory scale batches of vitrified materials, using liquids that mimic the properties of tank waste that has been treated to remove radioactive cesium and solids.

A glass-forming mixture of materials and liquid simulants is heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit to produce a glass sample. Through this process, we’re able to verify that our people, equipment and processes are ready to support conducting small-batch tests with real waste from the large underground tank that will feed waste to the vitrification plant when treatment operations begin. Don Hardy is lab manager at Hanford Laboratory Management and Integration LLC.

WRPS, From page C11

initiatives that we believe improve the quality of life for all of us who call the Mid-Columbia region home.

We live in a great community and remain fortunate to be able to execute this mission that is important to us all.

We faced several obstacles in 2021.

I am proud to say we not only overcame them; we greatly exceeded them through resilience, determination and

pure grit.

With this attitude and proof of performance, we’ve set the foundation for a tremendous 2022, advancing sitewide 24/7 waste treatment operations, waste retrieval, infrastructure upgrades and supporting the small businesses and community organizations that make this region so special. John Eschenberg is president and

chief executive officer of Washington River Protection Solutions.

be of value. Landscapers may disagree, but basalt itself is not a valuable resource.

How do geologists know so much about the miles of material underground? Drilling. Lots and lots of drilling.

More than 11,000 holes have been drilled at Hanford since the 1940s. About 4,000 are still used for monitoring, Bjornstad said.

The holes serve up data about subsurface geology and more practically, about the current cleanup mission.

“You need a lot of wells to understand how contaminants move over time,” he said.

Decommissioned holes or wells are filled

and sealed to keep them from inadvertently becoming new corridors for waste.

Nonscientists can see the evidence of the old lava flows in the basalt outcrops at Sentinel Gap, near Desert Aire, and at Wallula Gap, east of the Tri-Cities, where the upper 1,500 feet is visible.

The White Cliffs of the Hanford Reach National Monument – or in Hanford terms, across from the 100D area – offer another glimpse of the results of uplift and deposits.

For more videos about the geology of Hanford and the Northwest, check out Nick Zentner, a Central Washington University geology professor who has attracted a global audience with his instructional videos on YouTube and at nickzentner.com.

For his two-minute take on The White Bluffs at Hanford Reach, go to: bit.ly/ NickZentnerWhiteBluffs.

For an exploration of how basalt columns form in nature, go to: bit.ly/NickZentnerColumbiaBasalts.

For a lecture on the impacts of lava and floods on Eastern Washington, go to: bit.ly/ NickZentnerLavaFloodLecture.

dedicated and knowledgeable workforce – the HMIS family, as we often call ourselves. Attracting and retaining this workforce requires a focus on internal employee development, including training and mentoring programs that expand and enhance skills. We are committed to cultivating the next generation workforce through robust internship programs, scholarships and educational support to community partners.

beyond our workforce and positively affects the community around us. Through volunteerism and corporate donations, as well as workforce investment, we are committed to improving our local quality of life.

Looking to 2022 and beyond, we will continue to deliver mission integration, introduce new innovations and technologies and drive improvement of essential service delivery to enable the One Hanford cleanup mission.

As the Hanford site prepares for 24/7 operations and waste treatment, HMIS will continue to strive for efficiencies and improvements across Hanford in

its role as site integrator and essential services provider.

With a collaborative approach, we will implement reliability projects to upgrade and right-size infrastructure, focus on safety, provide world-class training, and bring the best in innovation and technology. Our success is only possible with the partnership, support and success of DOE, our fellow contractors and the community, and we look forward to serving all of you for years to come.

or key contributor of the DOE Hanford cleanup mission without our community partners. Since the beginning of our contract in 2008, we have issued more than $1.8 billion in subcontracts to businesses in Benton, Franklin and Yakima counties. We also have donated more than $8 million to programs and GEOLOGIST, From page C13 20,000 years ago, with water released from Lake Missoula temporarily pooling behind Wallula Gap and leaving a trail of debris carried in icebergs – and the occasional drowned mammoth – in its wake.

Windblown deposits have been filling in the valleys and holes ever since.

With all the lava and flood-born debris in the region, it is natural to ask: Did Mother Nature lay down anything that is commercially viable? Not so much, Bjornstad said.

No precious metals have been discovered at Hanford. Basalts have trace amounts of metals, but not concentrated enough to HMIS, From page C14 Life-size props and settings allow training in a safe, realistic environment to meet evolving challenges at Hanford.

HAMMER’s pandemic response and focus on safety earned a 2021 Safety & Health Outreach Award from the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association, recognizing dedication of the staff, worker trainers and subcontractors to successfully retool, restart and safely deliver critical training during the pandemic.

Workforce We know our people are our most valuable asset, and we value this diverse,

A giving culture The well-being of our community is vital to the HMIS family and the One Hanford mission. HMIS has created a company culture of giving that spreads

To learn more The Washington Department of Ecology posts Let’s Talk About Hanford programs to its YouTube page.

Editor’s note: John Eschenberg will leave Washington River Protection Solutions in May for a position at Central Plateau Cleanup Co., where he is succeeding Scott Sax, who is retiring.

Eschenberg will be succeeded at WRPS

by Wes Bryan.

Robert Wilkinson is president of Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS).