T H E M O N T H LY B U S I N E S S S E C T I O N F O R L I N N A N D B E N T O N C O U N T I E S A N D T H E M I D -W I L L A M E T T E VA L L E Y

w w w.democratherald.com/business • w w w.gazettetimes.com/business JULY 2012

Tim Fitzpatrick, of Fitzpatrick Painting located on Pacific Boulevard in Albany, is one of many mid-valley small business owners who doesn’t have a large staff torely on when he wants to take a few days off.

DAVID PATTON | MID-VALLEY INBUSINESS

hen summer hits the mid-valley, most of us like to packup and head for the beach orthe mountains.

But when you own a smallbusiness, taking a vacation is more com-plicated than just figuring out how to fityour luggage in your car. If you run a fam-ily business, then taking a family vacationmeans having a number of key employees— or in some cases, all the employees —gone at once.

“We have to take turns going on vaca-tion. One of us goes at a time,” said CaseyCollett, co-owner of Oregon Coffee andTea in downtown Corvallis.

She and her husband, Dennis Collett,run the shop with help from their daugh-ter and son. Their daughter was gone for afew days in July; Casey plans to spend aweek visiting family next; later in the year,her husband will take time away.

“We’re here 52 weeks a year,” Collettsaid. “Our business is the type of thingthat’s a comfort for our customers. Whenyou need coffee and tea, you want it to behere, and we take that seriously.”

The Colletts are not alone. Accordingto the Manta Wellness Index, a survey ofsmall businesses released this month,half of the owners polled said they won’thave time to take a vacation this sum-mer.

That’s a lot of people not relaxing. Smallbusiness owners make up a significantchunk of U.S. firms. According to statisticsfrom the U.S. Census Bureau, 61 percent ofU.S. companies have fewer than four em-ployees. Even more telling is the fact that

three-quarters of U.S. firms — 21 millioncompanies — have no employees at all.These are self-employed individuals, andfor them, taking time off means planningin advance to do without income theycould have earned if they stayed andworked.

Time and trainingIn the mid-valley, business owners who

are able to vacation this summer say thatwaving goodbye to their business — evenfor a short trip — requires two things: timeto build up the business and a well-trainedstaff.

Tim Fitzpatrick, owner of FitzpatrickPainting, spent the month of August lastyear road-tripping with his family in anRV. But it took 16 years of building thebusiness before he felt comfortable leavingfor an extended trip.

“I’d never have done that even five yearsago,” he said.

What makes it possible now, he said, ishaving systems and procedures in place forevery aspect of the business.

“You can build your company so thatyou have a specific job, and if you stepaway it falls apart,” he said. “But then,the company owns you, and all you own

is a job. We’ve worked to put systems inplace so that it can operate with or with-out me, and it’s taken us a long time to dothat.”

He said that in the past, if a crew was outon a painting job and the client asked forsome additional work — painting the fencein addition to the house, for example — thecrew would call him for the authorizationand pricing information.

“Now, my employees know exactly howto do that job and how to charge for it,” hesaid. “They can handle it. My phone rings10 times less now than it did when we were10 times smaller.”

Priorities and balanceBrian Egan, owner of Corvallis Custom

Kitchens and Baths, said he also encour-ages employees to take on additional re-sponsibility for that reason — so that heand his wife, who also works for the busi-ness, can take time away.

“It’s always been a priority for my wifeand me to keep a balance in our lives. Weworked for that from the beginning,” hesaid.

But in some businesses, like retail andrestaurant work, employees tend to changejobs more frequently, making it tough forowners to count on a regular vacation.

“It’s completely dependent on the staffI have at the time,” said Errol Noel, whowith his wife, Katey Noel, owns the ToyFactory in Albany and Corvallis. “Some-times I have staff I feel quite comfortableleaving the store with, and other times Ihave a newer staff and we’re in the storemore frequently.”

By JENNIFER ROUSE

WWith few or no employees, business owners have little time for vacationing

SEE SACRIFICES | A7

Small companies, big sacrifices

FILE | MID-VALLEY INBUSINESS

Dennis and Casey Collet co-own and, with their children, run Oregon Coffee and Tea in Corvallis.

CHANGES AT SUBLIMIITY:Andrew Trower of Albany will

take over as president of Sublim-ity Insurance Co. on Jan. 1,2013, the company announced.Trower will step in for Rick Budke,who is retiring after 17 years ascompany president. Trower is ex-ecutive vice president of market-ing and underwriting and hasbeen with Sublimity for 13 years.Originally from Corvallis, he hasbeen in the insurance industrysince 1983. Kevin Lucke ofAumsville, senior claim executive,will move into Trower’s position.

As part of the succession plan,Budke will retain the position ofchief executive officer and willalso continue to serve on theboard of directors through June2013.

SMITH EARNS AWARD: The Edward Jones financial

firm has presented Leo Smithof its Lebanon office with thefirm’s Ed Armstrong Award forexceptional achievement inbuilding client relationships.Smith has been with EdwardJones for 24 years as a financialadvisor.

Originally from LaGrande and agraduate in economics fromEastern Oregon University, heworked at Boise Cascade beforegoing into financial services. TheLebanon Edward Jones office islocated at 56 East Airport inLebanon. Smith can be reachedat 541-451-4402.

AMSBERRY ELECTED:Steve Amsberry, a small-ani-

mal veterinarian and owner ofWest Hills Animal Hospital inCorvallis (westhillsanimalhospital.com),has been elect-ed vice presi-dent of the Ore-gon VeterinaryMedical Asso-ciation, a non-profit member-ship group forveterinarians.As vice presi-dent, Amsberry holds an ascend-ing position on the associationexecutive board and will be presi-dent during its 2013-14 fiscalyear.

Amsberry completed his un-dergraduate work at OregonState University, and is a 1979graduate of the veterinary pro-

gram at Iowa State University.After graduation, he and hiswife, Kristi, moved to thesouthern coast of Oregon,where they started their familyand operated a veterinarypractice until returning to Cor-vallis in 1997. Amsberry pur-chased West Hills Animal Hos-pital in 1998.

JACOBSON JOINS KELLER WILLIAMS:

Laura Jacobson has joinedthe team at Keller Williams Re-alty Mid-Willamette. Jacobsonwill work out ofthe CorvallisKeller Williamsbranch, with apossible special-ization in work-ing with first-time home buy-ers. She earnedher real estate li-cense in June,but, as she explains, real estateruns in her family.

Her entire nuclear family is ina real estate-related field, andshe has always had an interestin the subject. Jacobson hasheld jobs such as marriage andfamily therapist and life andcareer coach. She can bereached at 541-224-2081, orthrough the Corvallis office at

1121 N.W. Ninth St.

LAUNDROMAT HIRES TWO:South Side Suds Laundro-

mat, 1910 S.W. Third St. in Cor-vallis, has two new employees.Allison Dean and Ivy Farrell arenew customer service associ-ates. The locally owned familybusiness now offers wash, dryand fold drop-off service with a24-hour turnaround time.Drop-off service is availablefrom 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mon-days through Fridays. Creditcards are now accepted fordrop-off service only.

RIGGAN TAKES REINS AT OAK CREEK:

A juvenile corrections profes-sional who has headed threeOregon Youth Authority facili-ties startedwork recentlyas superinten-dent of the au-thority’s 60-bedOak CreekYouth Correc-tional Facilityin Albany. MikeRiggan of New-berg wasnamed to lead the Albany facili-ty, which serves girls and youngwomen ages 12 to 24 with bothcorrectional and transitionalprograms. Riggan succeedsLory Humbert of Keizer, super-intendent since 2008, who is re-tiring. Riggan was an authorityemployee from 2005 to 2010.

For the past two years he hasmanaged Harkins House, ashort-term residential sheltercare and evaluation program inHillsboro operated by theWashington County JuvenileDepartment. Riggan’s most re-cent assignment for the au-thority was as superintendentof MacLaren Youth CorrectionalFacility in Woodburn, theagency’s largest close-custodyfacility, from 2008 to 2010. Healso served as interim superin-tendent of the Hillcrest YouthCorrectional Facility in Salemand the RiverBend Youth Tran-sitional Facility near La Grande.He holds an undergraduate de-gree in psychology from Port-land State University.

HOFFMAN JOINS HOSPICE:Katrina

Hoffman re-cently joinedSamaritanEvergreenHospice asboard-certifiedfamily nursepractitioner.Hoffman holdsa Master of Sci-ence in nursing from Gonzaga

University, and a Bachelor ofScience from Oregon StateUniversity. She brings morethan 20 years of nursing expe-rience in intensive care, super-vising and home health to thehospice team. She is certifiedin hospice palliative and criti-cal care.

NORLANDER WINS HONOR:Mortgage loan officer Greg

Norlander has received theUmpqua Bank Home LendingCircle of Excellence award forthe second quarter of 2012. Theaward is earned by the top-pro-ducing loan officers throughoutUmpqua Bank’s entire HomeLending Division. Norlander

was in the top 2 percent for to-tal loan volume. Norlander hasbeen withUmpqua Bankfor more than ayear, and has 14years of locallending experi-ence. He con-sistently ranksamong the top10 loan officersfor the numberof loans closed and total loanvolume. Norlander is active inlocal community groups. Hehas run nonprofit sportscamps, worked with at-risk chil-dren and coached high schoolfootball.

July 2012MID-VALLEY InBusinessA6

Jacobson

Hoffman

MOVERS&SHAKERS

Norlander

Amsberry

Riggan

product developed by aCorvallis soil-sciencecompany is being con-sidered by Japanese au-thorities looking for ways

to deal with soil contaminated byradiation in the wake of thetsunami and nuclear-reactor dis-aster that struck Japan last year.

And the product has helped thecompany, Earthfort, earn semifi-nalist status in the CleanTechOpen, an international competi-tion that seeks to find – and fund –companies with ideas that addressenergy, environmental and eco-nomic challenges.

If Earthfort’s product fulfills inJapan the promise it’s shown intesting at Oregon State University,it’s potentially a massive deal forthe company.

As Scott Smith, the company’sCEO, put it, with a touch of under-statement: “The market in Japan isnot a small market.”

Earthfort develops soil microbi-ology products – products thatuse natural microbes, for example,to repair damaged soils. When aJapanese contact reached out toEarthfort’s Matthew Slaughter, thecompany’s president and lab di-rector, to ask whether Earthfortproducts would be of any use indealing with the irradiated soils inthe Fukushima region, the com-pany’s initial response was, well,we don’t know.

But Smith and Slaughter knewwho to ask to start getting someanswers: Earthfort reached out toOSU’s Department of Nuclear En-gineering and Radiation HealthPhysics. Professors in the depart-ment, always on the lookout for re-search projects that can involvestudents, responded enthusiasti-cally – and it helped, Smith said,that the OSU researchers had anuclear reactor they could use to ir-radiate soil samples in columns, es-sentially big tubes made of PVCpipe stuffed with dirt.

The results of the test indicatedthat Earthfort’s product demon-strated promise in limiting themovement of radiation into groundwater. Here’s why that’s poten-tially a huge deal: If the productcan successfully slow or limit thespread of radiation, that meansthere’s much less contaminatedsoil for Japanese officials to dealwith.

It’s not, of course, a done deal:Slaughter’s contact in Japan has acontract with the Japanese govern-ment to do additional work, butthere’s no indication when the gov-ernment might release the neededfunds to deal with the issue. Andother companies are pitching otherpotential solutions as well.

Earthfort plans to begin small,by shipping one-liter containers of

the product to Japan so that usersthere can assess it for themselves.

In the meantime, Earthfort sub-mitted the project into the 2012CleanTech Open competition –Smith said the organizers bill thecompetition as “The AcademyAwards of clean tech” – and re-cently learned that it had beenpicked as one of 17 regional semi-finalists. (Earthfort’s region in-cludes Oregon, Washington andIdaho. Nationally, there are 150semifinalists.)

Regional finalists are chosen inOctober and the overall winner isannounced in November. The win-ner gets some $250,000 worth ofcash and in-kind services.

As regional semifinalists, Smithand Slaughter traveled recently toSan Jose, Calif., to attend theCleanTech Academy, a three-dayseries of workshops and speakers.

They also were paired with men-tors.

The event exceeded their ex-pectations: “My expectation wasthat my head would hurt by theend of the three days,” Slaughtersaid. “My expectations were ex-ceeded by lunch on the first day.”

Smith and Slaughter – and theirmentors – are spending the sum-mer refining the Earthfort planthat goes into the regional compe-tition.

But, even if the company doesn’tadvance to the next level, Slaugh-ter and Smith say the experiencealready has been golden in terms ofcontacts gained and informationabsorbed.

“We’re excited about it,” Smithsaid. “Already, we’ve gotten somuch out of this event.”

Thinking clean, thinking green

AAMMAANNDDAA CCOOWWAANN | CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES

Scott Smith, left, and Matt Slaughter, both of Earthfort, pause for a photo with their soil microbiology product in the front room of their Corvallis office. Below,Slaughter displays a soil column. The product may be used to deal with contamination in the Fukushima region of Japan.

By MIKE MCINALLY

A

SOIL-SCIENCECOMPANY GROWING

TO PROMINENCE

Today through Friday: Accep-tance of applications for plumberapprenticeships, 9 a.m. every dayexcept Wednesday; 1 p.m. onWednesday, 2861 Pierce Park-way, Springfield. The Oregon,Southwest Washington andNorthwest California PlumbersJoint Apprenticeship and TrainingCommittee is seeking applicantsfor its pool of people eligible forselection to its plumber appren-ticeship program. Info: 541-521-1400.

Today through Friday: Accep-tance of applications for steam-fitter apprenticeships, 9 a.m.every day except Wednesday; 1p.m. on Wednesday, 2861 PierceParkway, Springfield. The Ore-gon, Southwest Washington andNorthwest California Steamfit-ters Joint Apprenticeship andTraining Committee is seekingapplicants for its pool of peopleeligible for selection to its steam-fitter apprenticeship program.Info: 541-521-1400.

Thursday: Notary Seminar.Time: 1 to 4 p.m., Lebanon Jus-tice Center, 40 North Second St.,Suite 100. Free to public. Info:Heather Wilson at heather.s.wilson@state.or.us.

Aug. 8: Society of Human Re-source Management chaptermonthly membership breakfast:“Strategic Conversations Skillsfor HR Professionals.” Speaker:Cheryl R. Good, PHR and certi-fied facilitator for Fierce Conver-sations. Time: 7:30 to 9 a.m., Al-lan Bros., 1852 Fescue St. S.E., Al-bany. Free to SHRM and MHRAmembers; nonmembers $15.

Info: diamondbluerose@centurytel.net.

Aug. 16: Lebanon Area Cham-ber of Commerce Business AfterHours. Time: 5 to 7 p.m., Santi-am Place, 139 S. Main St.,Lebanon. Cost: $8. Info: 541-258-7164.

Sept. 5: Albany Area Chamberof Commerce Women In Busi-ness Luncheon: “Getting theMost Out of Life: Tips and TricksFrom 20 Years of Coaching.”Speaker: Joseph Bailey, Linn-Benton Community College.Time: 11:45 a.m., Phoenix InnSuites, 3410 Spicer Drive S.E., Al-bany. Cost: $15 members; $20nonmembers. Info: 541-926-1517.

Sept. 18: “High Impact Non-profit Board Training.” Presenter:Vanessa Becker, V Consulting.Time: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Linn-Benton Community CollegeLebanon Center, 44 IndustrialWay. Cost: $5 East Linn Countychamber members; $15 non-members. Info: 541-258-7164.

Sept. 24: Lebanon Area Cham-ber of Commerce Forum Lunch.Speaker: Ted Wheeler, Oregonstate treasurer. Time: 11:30 a.m.to 1 p.m., Samaritan LebanonCommunity Hospital TrainingCenter, 525 N. Santiam Highway.Cost: $13. Info: 541-258-7164.

Sept. 26: Albany Area Cham-ber of Commerce Business Ex-travaganza. Time: 1 to 6:30p.m., Linn County Fair & ExpoCenter, 3700 Knox Butte Road,S.E., Albany. Free to the public.Vendors should contact thechamber for rate information.Info: 541-812-6076.

The numbers: The Universi-ty of Oregon Index of Econom-ic Indicators gained 1 percentin May, jumping to 92.1(1997=100).

The good news: Almost allthe indicators in the indexposted improvements in May,said the report’s author, Timo-thy Duy of the University ofOregon Department of Eco-nomics. Initial unemploymentclaims continued to declineand employment service pay-rolls (mostly temporary hir-ing) increased, signaling im-proved labor market condi-tions. Residential building per-mits rose to their highest levelsince November 2008. Con-sumer sentiment improved,and core manufacturing or-ders rose. The weight distancetax, a measure of trucking ac-tivity, grew as well.

The bad news: The only in-dicator in the index that lostground was the interest ratespread, reflecting investors’concerns about the pace ofeconomic growth and the Eu-ropean debt crisis.

The upshot: Duy said thenumbers suggest continuedgrowth in Oregon in 2012,which should also be support-ed by continuing U.S. growth,although he noted that “thenational recovery remains

muted.”Another view: Duy’s other

index, the Oregon Measure ofEconomic Activity, rose in Mayto 0.2. (A measure of zero cor-responds to the averagegrowth rate for the period, inthis case from 1990-2011. Anumber above zero indicatesthat the economy is growingat an above-average rate.) Duynoted that both the manufac-turing and services sectorsmade positive contributionsto the measure, but the con-struction and household sec-tors remained a drag. Overall,Duy said, it’s likely that Oregonis growing at or somewhatabove its average growth rateof the last two decades.

To learn more: Check outthe full report at the websitehttp://pages.uoregon.edu/oefweb/

MID-VALLEY InBusinessJuly 2012 A7

Unemployment Rate

U.S. Oregon Linn Co.Benton Co.

16%14%12%10%

8%6%4%2%

0

Source: Oregon Employment Department Note: Data are seasonally adjusted.

June 2011 June 2012May 2012

9.6

6.7

11.8

8.2 8.45.8

10.78.2 8.5

6.0

10.89.1

Mid-Valley Residential ReportUnits sold Units sold Average Averagepast year past year sales prices sales priceJune 2012 June 2011 June 2012 June 2011

Albany 419 428 155,980 150,372N. Albany 113 113 229,576 243,658Brownsville 19 23 187,542 154,645Corvallis 516 447 286,119 276,624

Units sold Units sold Average Averagepast year past year sales prices sales priceJune 2012 June 2011 June 2012 June 2011

Independence 63 50 142,909 218,870Jefferson 45 57 190,891 188,668Lebanon 276 289 137,153 142,050Philomath 77 71 242,648 242,627Sweet Home 127 133 125,366 113,241

Source: Willamette Valley Multiple Listing Service

Source: Oregon Employment Department June ’12 May ’12 June ’11 May ’12 June ’11

June ’12 May ’12 June ’11 May ’12 June ’11

Change fromCorvallis MSA (Benton County) Nonfarm Payroll Employment

Source: Oregon Employment Department Change fromLinn County Nonfarm Payroll Employment

Residential Average Sales Price by Area

Thou

sand

s

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

299,687

148,961

271,716

325300275250225200175150125

Source: Willamette Valley Multiple Listing Service

Mining, logging and construction 1,170 1,130 1,190 40 -20Manufacturing 3,180 3,220 3,300 -40 -120Trade, transportation and utilities 4,430 4,410 4,390 20 40Information 790 790 800 0 -10Financial activities 1,390 1,390 1,390 0 0Professional and business services 3,830 3,780 3,810 50 20Educational and health services 5,800 5,810 5,760 -10 40Leisure and hospitality 3,230 3,210 3,550 20 -320Other services 1,220 1,240 1,210 -20 10Federal government 590 590 620 0 -30State government 10,240 10,310 10,190 -70 50Local government 2,900 2,880 2,950 20 -50

Total nonfarm payroll employment 38,770 38,760 39,160 10 -390

Mining, logging and construction 2,050 1,980 2,210 70 -160Manufacturing 6,530 6,550 6,720 -20 -190Trade, transportation and utilities 8,480 8,540 8,400 -60 80Information 360 360 380 0 -20Financial activities 1,260 1,270 1,210 -10 50Professional and business services 3,030 3,020 2,970 10 60Educational and health services 4,870 4,900 4,830 -30 40Leisure and hospitality 3,060 2,980 3,150 80 -90Other services 1,310 1,300 1,310 10 0Federal government 330 330 330 0 0State government 1,200 1,170 1,250 30 -50Local government 5,730 5,780 6,120 -50 -390

Total nonfarm payroll employment 38,210 38,180 38,880 30 -670

Benton CountyLinn County

BUSINESS DATA

191,847

DAT E B O O K

Index, 1997 = 10093

92

91

90

89

88

87

U O I N D E X O F EC O N O M I C I N D I CATO R S

Dec-11 Jan.-12 Feb.-12 March-12 April-12 May-12

Cyndi Alire, owner ofSweet Red Bistro in Albany,which opened in fall 2011,said she hopes to takelengthy vacations someday,but with a newer businesshas to content herself withan occasional weekend. Shedoes, however, encourage

her employees to take timeoff and is willing to work outcreative schedules, lettingstaff trade shifts with eachother when they can.

“It’s important to us, boththat our employees have alife and that our businessruns well.”

SacrificesContinued from A5

TOURISM JOBSBy JENNIFER ROUSE

Taking your work cellphone with you while on vaca-tion may seem like an oxymoron — it can’t be a vacationif you’re working, right?

But for many small business owners, technology pro-vides them the connectivity and peace of mind thatmakes it possible for them to vacation at all.

According to a July survey of small business owners,the Manta Wellness Index, 71 percent of small businessowners say they use mobile devices to access work doc-uments while on vacation — and 60 percent of them saythat helps them enjoy their vacations more.

“We’re hardly ever out of cell phone range,” said ErrolNoel, co-owner of the Toy Factory stores in Albany andCorvallis. Although he said he and his wife will go fordays at a time without setting foot in the store, he usestechnology to stay connected.

“I usually talk to the stores at least once a day,” he said.“If we’re away, often I take a laptop and have an Inter-net connection, and I can do a lot of work remotely.”

Tim Fitzpatrick, owner of Fitzpatrick Painting, said helikes to disconnect while on vacation, but he tries to beavailable should a true need arise in his absence.

“I’ve got my handy iPhone,” he said. “If it’s somethingthe owner needs to know about, they know they can callme for anything.”

Others, however, say taking a complete break from thebusiness is necessary.

One of those is Brian Egan, owner of Corvallis CustomKitchens and Baths, who said he takes about three to fourweeks off each year. “On vacation, we don’t take busi-ness calls, and the employees don’t bother us,” he said.“We maybe check email a couple of times, but a lot oftimes we’re in places where we’re out of range for any-thing like that.”

Knowing that they can completely disconnect helpsthem renew their focus for when they do return, he said.

“That’s our stress release,” he said.