“It will be dedicated to workforce training,” said Lacey Jarrell, public information officer for KCC.

The H&N toured the 20,184-square-foot building with KCC Facilities Director Mike Homfeldt Friday morning to get a progress report on the $5.6 million center, which is being built by Bogatay with additional subcontractors.

“The interior and exterior walls are set, about 95 percent of them,” Homfeldt said. “The roof structure … is probably 90 percent in place. They’ve built the mechanical mezzanine, and they’ve sheeted probably 60 percent of the roof, which really helps to get us dried in.”

Setting a foundation

With a concrete slab placed at the site in November, the foundation was set for installing pre-made walls despite persistent winter weather.

“Our general contractor and subcontractor doing the framing have just persevered,” Homfeldt said. “It’s been a cooperative effort to clear ice and snow between KCC and them, and they just kept working. Even those bad snow days they were working. They’ve kept us ahead of schedule.

“Probably the second week of February, we should be dried in and covered completely,” Homfeldt said.

“We won’t have to worry about snow and ice on the inside. Once we’ve got a lid on there, it really helps.”

Ahead of schedule

The project is ahead of schedule by a week and scheduled to open to students and faculty in September.

“We don’t want to overpromise,” Homfeldt said.

“The way things are going, and now that it’s almost dried in, we’re going to be able to stay on schedule.”

Founders Hall, named in honor of those who founded the community college, is expected to be a one-stop center for services to students, with a campus book store, business office, financial aid and registration services.

Construction on Founders Hall is scheduled to go to bid for the project later this month.

To read this article and others on the Herald and News website, please refer to the link below:

KCC Construction: Phase II Progress Report (H&N) 

The grand opening event offers incentives such as free socks for a year to the first 10 people in line. The first 50 in line will receive double entry into the drawings throughout the day for a pair of Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Damian Lillard shoes. Each person after 50 will receive one entry to win.

Additional items the store carries include letterman jackets, backpacks, customizable team wear and fan gear.

To read this article and others on the Herald and News website, please refer to the link below:

Grand Opening Set for Klamath Footwear, Clothing Store (H&N) 

“Her itinerary is still being built,” Pair said. “She’s very much looking forward to visiting Klamath Falls.”

Klamath Falls City Manager Nathan Cherpeski commented on the governor’s visit, “We’re excited to have her down here.”

It has been confirmed that Jay Kenton, interim president of Oregon Institute of Technology, and Hallie Neupert, interim dean of Engineering, Technology, and Management at Oregon Tech will be among community leaders to meet with Gov. Brown, according to Ashley Van Essen, public affairs specialist for Oregon Tech.

Neupert also serves on the executive board of directors for the Klamath Inspire Development – Energize Acceleration (IDEA).

Klamath Community College President Roberto Gutierrez confirmed he will also meet with Gov. Brown during her visit.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

To read this article and others on the Herald and News website, please refer to the link below:

Gov. Kate Brown to Visit Klamath Falls Tuesday (H&N) 

In September 2016, the employee wellness committee at CCC began following a list of Blue Zones-suggested activities to meet the requirements to become certified. In December, CCC attained its goal.

Among the crowd of supporters wearing blue Blue Zones T-shirts were members of the employee wellness committee, CCC staff and board members and Blue Zones Project employees.

Blue Zones Project Organization Lead Erin Cox kicked off the ceremony with an introductory speech commending CCC on their continued commitment to becoming Blue Zones approved.

“As representatives of the initiative, (CCC) will help promote well-being in the community,” Cox said.

Blue ribbon moment

Following speeches from Blue Zones Project Community Program Manager Jessie DuBose and Klamath County Commissioner Kelley Minty Morris, CCC President and CEO Tayo Akins cut the blue ribbon alongside his team members from the employee wellness committee.

“The health and wellness initiative will bend the cost of healthcare and improve healthy outcomes for a low-income community,” Akins said.

Minty Morris iterated the positive impact the Blue Zones Project has had in Klamath Falls and the organization’s continued efforts to create a healthy community through healthy living strategies.

Also, the crowd paused for a moment to remember Dr. Stephanie Van Dyke who died last week, but remains an influential part of the Blue Zones Project. Minty Morris encouraged listeners to move forward with Van Dyke’s enthusiastic spirit, inspiring health and wellness incentives in other people.

“We all have the power to inspire those around us,” she said. “Take what Stephanie Van Dyke strived for and embody those principles in our own lives and inspire others.”

The group then stepped outside, taking to the streets to walk a celebratory lap around the neighborhood, embodying the Blue Zones Project initiative and encouraging healthy choices for everyone in the community.

To read this article and others on the Herald and News website, please refer to the link below:

Cascade Comprehensive Care Joins Blue Zones Healthy Worksite (H&N) 

“We are here to stay,” said Dave Hall, chief operating officer at PenAir, in a news release. “We’ve made a major commitment to the Port of Portland by committing to a contract through 2025. We believe that shows our commitment to our West Coast operation, which includes the community of Klamath Falls.”

Starting Feb. 1, flights will leave Crater Lake-Klamath Regional Airport (LMT) in Klamath Falls at 7:15 a.m., 3:45 p.m. and 7:40 p.m., according to a news release.

Departures will leave from Portland International Airport (PDX) at 5:30 a.m., 2 p.m., and 5:55 p.m. Monday through Friday, with two flights each on Saturday and Sunday.

Maintenance base

Hall believes the most significant operational change still for PenAir is moving its maintenance base from Aurora, Ore., to a hangar at Portland International Airport.

“Our aircraft have had to be flown to the Aurora maintenance facility in order to perform daily maintenance checks required by the FAA, causing flight crews and mechanics to drive the distance between Aurora and Portland, which adds significant time to flight delays,” Hall said.

More changes have been made in regards to consumer affairs and flight performance analysis.

“The company has created new positions that will help better manage on-time performance and staff and a consumer affairs office that will help us improve our customer communications,” Hall said. “Most importantly, the on-time performance position will continually analyze reasons for flight delays and generate efficiencies so we can keep our airline on-time.”

The additional flight and transfer of aircraft maintenance to Portland is expected to eliminate the need for aircraft to stay overnight in Klamath Falls, and is one of several steps the Alaska-based based airline is taking to increase efficiencies and ensure on-time flights.

“Increasing the time available for our maintenance team to perform required checks on the aircraft overnight at our Portland maintenance facility will reduce the need to complete these checks between flights, which often creates delays. These delays often result in canceled flights due to FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) regulations governing the maximum time a flight crew can be on duty,” said Bill Batman, director of operations. “The company has also taken steps to add an additional Saab 340 aircraft to its fleet over the next few months, which should allow more flexibility in aircraft scheduling.”

PenAir has also relocated its aircraft parts department from Alaska to a new regional office in Portland.

“Relocating our aircraft parts to Portland constitutes a significant investment in support to the Pacific Northwest markets that will reduce the need to ship parts between Anchorage and Portland,” said Nick Aderman, director of maintenance, in a news release.

To read this article and others on the Herald and News website, please refer to the link below:

PenAir: “We Are Here to Stay” (H&N) 

Applicant Marc Wendt, who is overseeing construction at the project site, asked commissioners to consider changing the 19.8-acre site from industrial to commercial use so it can house tenants for multiple uses such as a church, a park, retail and office space. Wendt also asked that the planning unit development be subdivided into 14 lots, ranging from one-third of an acre to 4.1 acres.

Several spoke in favor of the site changes and the project overall.

‘Transformative campus’

“What this campus and this zone change allows us to do is to create a transformative campus for these people to re-create their lives,” said Heidi Biggs, a Klamath Works board member. “It provides us with the opportunity to transform and recreate the way in which we deliver services here in this community. We’re allowing service providers the opportunity to communicate and collaborate in a way that is not possible at this time.”

Jessie DuBose, local manager of the Blue Zones Project, has been working with the site developer and engineering staff on ways to develop a site that is “not just a place, but a place of wellbeing.”

“We now officially consider it a Blue Zones Project Built Environment model,” DuBose said.

Lauren Jespersen, an employee of Sky Lakes Medical Center and a member of the Klamath County Economic Development Association, also spoke in favor of the site changes.

“It’s hard for me not to look at this from an economic development standpoint,” Jespersen said.

“This being taken out of (industrial) inventory will actually help us in the future if we ever want to have more industrial land that is actually attractive to prospective companies.”

Neighborhood impact

Klamath Falls resident Rick Lukens spoke neutrally about the site changes, but with concerns about the impact to his rental tenants nearby from foot traffic from homeless individuals when the mission relocates to the site.

Planning Commission chairman Brian Fitz Gerald acknowledged the comment, and advised Lukens to speak with personnel at the Klamath Falls Gospel Mission.

“I think it’s appropriate to communicate with and be a part of the planning process,” Fitz Gerald said to staff. “Let’s not lose his concern.”

Klamath Falls Planning Manager Erik Nobel said the concern would be kept for the record.

When asked to declare any conflicts of interest before votes were cast, Commissioner Stan Gilbert acknowledged he will oversee the sobering station as executive director, which will be part of the human services campus. But he did not see the distinction as a conflict of interest.

To read this article and others on the Herald and News website, please refer to the link below:

‘A Place for Wellness’ (H&N) 

Measure 97 was an attempt to impact one type of corporation. A “C-corporation” is an IRS designation for a business that pays its own taxes. In Oregon, C-corporations pay either a “minimum tax” of roughly 0.1 percent on sales or 6.6 percent on taxable income up to $1 million; taxable income over $1 million pay a 7.6 percent tax or whichever amount is greater. The minimum tax on sales is capped at $100,000.

If Measure 97 had prevailed at the polls, it would have altered the minimum tax on sales: the cap of $100,000 would have been jettisoned; sales above $25 million would have been taxed at a rate of $30,001 plus 2.5 percent; and, sales below $25 million would have continued to be taxed at roughly 0.1 percent. C-corporations with a high enough income would have continued to be taxed according to their income versus gross sales.

Businesses known as “benefit companies,” (those that adopted goals to help communities and the environment), also would have been exempt from the increase. C-corporations with $25 million or less in sales would not have been affected by the change. A corporation with $100 million in sales would have seen its minimum tax obligation increase from 0.1 percent to 1.91 percent.

As the managing partner in a mid-sized accounting firm employing 18 FTEs year-round (and up to 24 during the busy tax season), I don’t believe in a tax on sales. You’re scaring off potential new business. We want to be business friendly. We want to tax people (for their individual choices and preferences) not a tax on sales (that would be passed along to everyone.)

Think of an example of a grocery store. Whereas they have huge sales they only have a 2 to 3 percent profit margin. A sales tax would simply be passed on to the consumers. It’s regressive and punitive. The people who can least afford it would pay the price, pay the tax (through the new, higher prices for their purchases.)

The reason behind Measure 97 — and now the behind-the-scenes attempt by the Legislature — to generate additional funds for the state’s budget was earmarked for our schools and the continued funding of the state’s Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). Granted, PERS is chronically underfunded and has led to less hiring for schools and larger class sizes.

But, in spite of the biannual state budget having increased 14 percent over the prior year, the Democrat-controlled state Legislature is currently overspending their available funds and are, therefore, not fiscally responsible. And now they’re looking for another way to tax businesses to fund their irresponsible actions.

Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, said immediately after Measure 97’s defeat that lawmakers would propose a more “reasonable” tax revenue proposal next session to offset a $1.4 billion revenue shortfall in the 2017-18 budget.

But, new and/or additional taxes on businesses are clearly not business friendly and not supported by the majority of Oregonians. On the flip side attracting new businesses with greater employment would raise tax dollars not drive away the businesses we already have. We need to put more people to work. If we’re pro-active then one new job’s impact would circulate seven times for additional tax dollars.

An example would be if Oregon were to issue more permits for environmentally sound logging we could create more jobs. If we were to open up our state forests to the timber industry, we would have a more sustained yield of timber and we would create more jobs.

Seventy percent of Oregon’s forests are owned by the federal government who pay no taxes. But when you thin out forests they explode in growth. You make the forest safer, you spend less on fire-fighting and you create jobs and tax revenue.

I’ve lived in Klamath Falls for some 34 years. My wife and I, along with five adult daughters and 10 grandchildren, all call Oregon home. All I want is a future for them in Oregon with good paying jobs. Fostering new businesses and jobs within the state can help the state prosper and generate the new tax dollars we need. The Democratic legislature’s plan to further tax our businesses is nothing but a path to the state’s decline and an anti-business environment.

To read this article and others on the H&N website, please refer to the link below:

Oregonians Already Said No to Additional Corporate Income Tax (Herald and News) 

• The total dollar volume of residential homes sold in 2016 was $150,834,410 or a 7 percent increase over the previous year;
• The average sales price in the fourth quarter was $176,491 or a 10 percent increase over 2015;
• And the number of residential units sold was 941, a 7 percent increase over 2015.

“We’re seeing a large uptick in the numbers,” Shaw said last week. “Commercial property is starting to move, too.”

“In 2014, we had about a 4.5 percent gain in the dollar volume sold. In 2015, we saw a 7 percent increase in total dollar volume and total units sold. Last year, there was $142 million in total sales; this year about $151 million in sales. That up $10 million,” Shaw said.

A recovery pace

And that is where the market should be at as a telltale sign it has pulled out of the recession, Shaw has said in the past. When the market hits that 7 percent pace that makes it more stable, he noted.

“I look for a 9 or 10 percent increase in 2017,” he said.

This year, there were 82 new housing starts, up about 20 homes from the previous year.

“New construction stimulates a lot of things in the economy,” Shaw said. “It means jobs for electricians, plumbers, framers, roofers, sheetrockers, lumber sales people, concrete. What one new house does to the economy is very important.”

Where are the buyers coming from?

Shaw said the majority of buyers are retirees from Northern California (the Bay Area on up) and from Reno and Carson City, Nev.

“What I’m convinced of is that we are drawing people in who are retirees due to our affordability. It is just about unmatched in southern or central Oregon,” he said.

For example, a 1,700-square-foot home at Pheasant Run subdivision off Homedale Avenue, sells for about $265,000. In Bend, the same floorplan sells for about $485,000 and has less acreage. The value to a retiree is great because it gives them more disposable income; money they would spend on dining out, for example, or putting into their property in the form of improvements.

The second wave of home buyers are the young professionals, young families.

“We are also seeing several small businesses expanding, thanks to the help of the Klamath County Economic Development Association (KCEDA) and those people are coming in for jobs, family wage jobs. Sky Lakes Medical Center is also bringing in new families,” Shaw said.

Average home price climbing

The total residential housing units sold in 2015 was 881; this last year it topped 940.

“And here’s a biggie,” Shaw said. “The average sale price of a home was $162,000 in 2015. This year it was $176,000; almost a 10 percent increase.”

Further, the list of homes that were foreclosed on by lenders from the recession – and are still in the market – are selling for an average of $87,000. Once those homes are out of the market and off the books, the average home sale price should climb to about $190,000, Shaw said.

Also, it was rare that a higher-end, $400,000 home sold in the county. That is starting to pick up as well, he said.

The big challenge the area faces is convincing developers the Basin is a smart place to invest.

There are several large subdivisions awaiting development; such as the Regency subdivision near Hosanna school; the River Run subdivision; Southview and other property adjacent to the Stewart-Lennox and south suburban areas; all have about 200 lots on them.

“We still have a fair amount of inventory on that type of property,” Shaw said. “But if you look at the restrictions being placed on the more populated towns in Oregon – Portland, Salem, Beaverton – they have nowhere to expand. We have less restrictions here.”

Comfort, a 28-year-old single mother of three boys, experienced postpartum depression after her second child was born, causing her to stop taking community college courses. She’s been out of work since February, but as part of the new Klamath Works life skills program, Comfort plans to graduate from it with a certificate of completion in January, and the skills to eventually finding a job as a preschool aide.

“It gives us something to do instead of just searching for a job on our own,” Comfort said. “It gives us more help and you, know, encouragement.”

A life-skills plan

Although not part of the original class of students, which started Oct. 3 and graduated on Dec. 2, Comfort is an example of the kind of results Klamath Works is hoping to see in the lives of those who enroll in the first-time program; the goal of which is to help create a path to self-sufficiency for those on or eligible for public assistance, and to create a broader pool of qualified employees for the local job market.

Klamath Works was awarded the contract to operate the program as an innovative response to a request for proposals by the State of Oregon to provide those receiving or eligible for assistance through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) the means to develop a self-sufficent pathway. The program operates inside the Sky Lakes Community Health building on the site of the Klamath Works Human Services Campus, an 18-acre site that will eventually host other social service organizations.

Participants keep a detailed binder of their activities and curriculum, volunteer at various local entities, and are required to write a resume at the completion of the program. They also receive assistance in job placement, and may qualify for a subsidy to their employer for a portion of their salary under the Job Plus Program.

“It’s life skill focused,” said Bryan Irwin, executive director of Klamath Works. “You have to have a solid platform at home in order to be able to get to work regularly.”

Planning, looking forward

The program, overseen by Irwin and a team of job coaches, teaches skills ranging from parenting and time management to organization, communication, and resume-building. Participants are largely referred by DHS. New groups of students start the program every two weeks.

In the mornings, job coaches work with participants and their team, assigning each a project, Irwin said.

“Keeping them rolling forward and improving the things that they need to be employable,” Irwin said.

“It starts to build the regimen of planning and looking forward, and paying your bills and taking care of the laundry, taking care of the kids. All those pieces start to fall into place with the regimen.”

Out of the first 10 students to enroll in the program in October, eight are off of public assistance. Four students from the initial class completed the entire program, and two found employment before the end of the program, with two other participants unable to finish the program due to other factors.

“We wanted to have 100 percent job placement, however we’re pretty proud of the numbers that we reached,” Irwin said.

Building up a workforce

Irwin led H&N staffers through the Klamath Works campus on South Sixth Street, showcasing a study lounge, kitchen, group areas, and more.

During the tour, Irwin greeted Job Coach Dewey Taylor II and Comfort, who were cleaning out lockers donated to the program by Klamath Union High School, surrounded by cubicles which have parts contributed by Cascade Comprehensive Care.

Comfort smiled brightly as she scrubbed lockers and talked about her affinity for volunteering.

She attended Klamath Union and took some courses in early elementary education at Klamath Community College, obtaining her GED in 2009. The Employment Readiness program at completion will give her volunteer experience, community contacts, and a certificate of completion.

The program also helps her meet goals at home, such as shopping on a budget, cooking healthy meals, and tips for parenting her boys, ages 2, 4, and 6.

“It’s crazy at my house,” she said, with a laugh.

But she hasn’t always been able to laugh in regards to her personal life.

Speaking of her postpartum depression, she said,“I didn’t really care about much … my depression wasn’t really being taken care of.”

After having to quit taking courses at Klamath Community College in 2014, Comfort now is working on getting back into the workforce.

“I want to be a good example for them,” Comfort said. “Being on the system kind of gets dropped down from generation to generation … I want my boys to see me working.”

She wasn’t always so sure what she would find in the program when she first started in late October.

“When I found out about it, I was like, eight weeks; what are we going to do all day?” Comfort said.

“We’re really not just sitting here all day,” she added.

What Comfort has found is a full-circle program, equipped with cooking classes each day followed by volunteer work in the afternoon.

She’s already amassing volunteer experience and networking contacts during the several weeks since she started, volunteering at a variety of places in the community, including the Klamath County Fairgrounds.

“It feels good,” Comfort said.

Participants write thank you cards to the places where they volunteer, forging camaraderie and good networking opportunities. Each part of the program is a step toward reaching her goals.

Mentorship along the way

Taylor, Comfort’s job coach and mentor through the program, is alongside to help.

He is one of four job coaches, one for each class of students enrolled in the program, according to Alan Eberlein, of Klamath Works.

Having obtained his own GED, associates, and soon-to-be bachelor’s degree, Taylor can relate with students who have experienced bumps along the road of life.

“I tell them my story, and I say, “What makes you any different?” he said. “If you don’t take the time to invest in yourself, what’s going to make everybody else invest in you? You’ve got to know how to sell yourself,” he added. “You improve the product. The product is you. You become the best you you can be.

Slumping his shoulders, Taylor explained that many who come into the program do so with deflated self-esteem. Within eight weeks, the goal is to see them lift their confidence level as well as their skills.

“Because they’re on assistance, they’re perceived as lazy or non-achieving,” Taylor said. “They get brain-washed to that mindset. But when they come here and start achieving and reaching their goals, it turns on a light.”

Taylor mentors those enrolled in the program to take stock of themselves and build up self-sufficiency, and keeps track of them after they leave and become employed.

“One of the main goals of this program is to leave and become employed, Taylor said.

But the focus is also for students to leave with their shoulders and spirits high.

“Nobody’s ever said, yeah, you can,” Taylor said. “Too much they’ve said, ‘Get back, you can’t.

“When they see themselves taking what they thought was an obstacle and now they turn it into a stepping stone … I tell them, “‘You did that.’”

Employers interested in taking part in the Jobs Plus Program can contact the Klamath Works Readiness Program at 541-887-8495.

To learn more, go online at www.klamathworks.com.

To read this article and others on the Herald and News website, please refer to the link below:

Building a Road to Self-Sufficiency (H&N)