Monday, February 1, 2010

Points from the President

By: Ray Phelps, President

We are starting 2010 with a very important ballot measure that can have a significant negative impact on the economic vitality of businesses in the south metro area and throughout the state. Your Chamber has recommended a “NO” vote on this measure in response to our mission – business is the priority.

We will have voted before you read this commentary. Hopefully, Oregonians will have settled this issue in favor of the businesses that employ Oregonians as well as providing the needed revenue to restore some of the jobs lost during the past 12 to 18 months.

Mayor Tim Knapp shared with us in last month’s Catalyst a progress report on new business in the City. His list of new companies coming to Wilsonville and current companies operating in the city that are expanding is impressive. This is a positive indication that economic vitality is functioning in our city.

Your Chamber has been pressing various public agencies for nearly a year on the need to bring the Coffee Creek I Regionally Significant Industrial Area on line to increase jobs and revenue for our community. We learned through these efforts that “market or shovel” ready means a site needs to have the infrastructure necessary for a tenant to move onto the site and build.

The city just received a $48,562.00 grant from the Department of Land Conservation and Development to prepare infrastructure plans and funding strategies to create “market ready” sites in the nearly 200-acres in the Coffee Creek I Regionally Significant Industrial Area. This area is northwest of the city between Day and Ridder Roads. This is very good news!

Construction of an “auxiliary” lane on southbound I-5 between I-205 and Elligsen Road is well underway. This is one of several transportation projects your Chamber promoted during the past three years in the I-5 to 99W Connector Project. It is nice to see that the Chamber’s effort is starting to pay a dividend for members. We will continually update you on the status of projects identified in the I-5 to 99W Connector Project report.

Your Board of Directors met on January 21, 2010 to plan specific actions to continue meeting the Chamber’s vision – create and promote economic vitality for business in the south metro area. These are exciting times and your Chamber will spend its energy finding the opportunities businesses need to grow. Your support of the Chamber’s efforts is well placed and greatly appreciated.

Together we make a difference in our community.

Small Business University- CHOOSING YOUR ROAD TO SUCCESS!

On January 20th, Chamber members gathered over lunch to get tips from one of the most respected marketing professional in our area, Bill Lovato, President of OMAC Advertising. Bill gave advice on how to avoid wasting valuable marketing money by identifying your target customer, how to market to that target, and how to measure if your promotion has worked. It is crucial that your target be correct, however your message is just as important for success to be achieved! He closed the luncheon with a great quote, “If you don’t know where you are going – any road will get you there!”

February brings our members yet another important topic – New Tax Laws that will affect small businesses. This topic will be co-presented by Bob Bennett and Frank Lilly, both local CPA’s. If you are a small business getting ready to tackle your taxes this class cannot be missed!

The Chamber’s Small Business University (SBU) Brown Bag Luncheon Series is designed to provide assistance, information, networking and opportunities for growth for small or home-based businesses. This is done by having our member experts to teach ‘classes’ on a variety of business aspects. The SBU classes begin promptly at Noon on the 3rd Wednesday of each month and conclude at 1:00 pm. For a list of upcoming speakers and topics, please visit the event calendar on our website at:

www.wilsonvillechamber.com

Governmental Affairs Committee

By: Wendy Buck and Elizabeth Peters

Your chamber’s government affairs committee is hard at work, keeping abreast of activities and changes that impact Wilsonville businesses. Our next meeting will feature presentations from key individuals in Salem. Rep. Matt Wingard and JL Wilson of Associated Oregon Industries will give us a forecast of what we can expect during the 2010 Special Oregon Legislative session.

At our January meeting, Lt. Nick Watt, Wilsonville Chief of Police gave us an overview of services provided to the city. While still contracted with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s office, the team essentially operates as a Wilsonville Police Department. It currently has 16 sworn and one non-sworn personnel and is headquartered in the old city hall.

The Clackamas County Sheriff’s office covers fifty percent of the area of Clackamas County and is one of the fastest growing agencies in the state. Among the services provided are marine, search and rescue, air squadron, and SWAT/HNT. The Search and Rescue Team handles about 100 missions yearly (mostly walk-away from rest homes). Headquartered in Wilsonville are the Fusion Intelligence Center (intelligence gathering) and Intercept (child pornography).

Last year in Wilsonville, the department responded to about eight thousand 911 calls.

Cassandra Ulven, Public Affairs Officer for Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue (TVFE) gave an overview of the services provided by TVFR and updated the committee on the $77.5 million general obligation bond for capital improvements passed by voters in November 2006.

Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue serves Wilsonville and eight other cities with a total population of about 432,000. District-wide they take 34,000 calls a year, about 18,000 of which are in Wilsonville. Of those, approximately 250 are for fire and most of the balance for medical. They have 23 fire stations strategically located, and a majority of their employees are cross-trained paramedics. It costs about $1.6 million/year to professionally staff a fire station.

Their operations center was to have been located on Elligsen Road in Wilsonville, but due to a slow economy they were able to purchase and build in Tigard, which is more central. The Elligsen Road station may change into a health and wellness center, expanding it as a revenue center.

In November of 2006, voters in the district passed a $77.5 million general obligation bond for capital improvement projects. This bond costs each household approximately $14/year. With some of the bond proceeds, they are buying land for future fire station sites, purchasing 23 new fire apparatus (trucks) at a cost of $450,000 each, building three new fire stations and remodeling five stations including the Elligsen Road station.

Ulven noted the effort to change their service model to contend with increasing call volume. This will involve sending smaller vehicles with one or two persons, which would increase response time and decrease cost. In further efforts to reduce expenses, the district is looking at funding its own health care and cutting overtime.

The district continues to forge relationships through Memorandums of Understanding with several adjoining cities/districts such as Aurora, Lake Oswego and Hillsboro. They are pursuing grants, assisted by the lobbying efforts of Chief Jeff Johnson in his role as President of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

The Government Affairs Committee welcomes all members to join them for important news and updates the first Wednesday of every month, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. in the Chamber conference room.