Meeting highlights economic issues

By Larry Meyer — Argus Observer
Friday, September 28, 2007 12:20 PM PDT

Workers move dirt near the north interchange project in this early September photo. Economic development was the key theme at a meeting in Ontario Sept. 5 that involved local officials and state members of the governor’s revitalization team.

ONTARIO — Malheur County is gradually beginning to see benefits from the overflow pushing out from the Boise metro area, and that trend could continue, county Economic Development Director Jim Jensen told a group of area and state officials at an early September meeting in Ontario.

The Sept. 5 session, centered around a visit from the Oregon Economic Revitalization Team and allowed area leaders to voice needs, frustrations and future goals to representatives from Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office.

The team, spearheaded by Ray Naff representing the governor’s office, visited Ontario as part of a region-wide tour.

Naff said the purpose of the trip revolved around a process to allow state government officials and agencies to reach out to communities and discover and work on specific issues.

“One of the reasons is to facilitate projects at the local level and move them forward,” he said.

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Sixteen state officials participated in the session, which was held at the Oregon Department of Transportation office in Ontario.

At the session Jensen noted that one company had moved part of its operation to Ontario because it could not hire a certified welder who could afford to live in Boise.

“We’re going to see more and more of that,” he said.

Jensen also told state leaders that local communities need to be ready with industrial land that companies can move onto.

“There is lots of competition for businesses,” Jensen said, adding if communities are not prepared, companies will go elsewhere.

Jensen, and other local officials, also advocated streamlining the planning process to allow land use actions to move forward faster.

“It’s important we have a planning process,” he said.

Lack of housing locally was another key issue discussed at the session. Planning and land use regulations were cited as one key reason for the housing shortage and for stalled growth.

However, Cheri Davis, the Eastern Oregon representative of the governor’s office, said she looked into the issue and discovered there are a variety of reasons for the slow growth in Malheur County.

Vale City Manager Brent Barton said there is a lot of interest in locating in Vale, but one problem it has is that it boasts older historical buildings that are not up to code and require a lot of money to fix.

Malheur County Commissioner Louis Wettstein talked about his concern regarding drought conditions, including the fact the water levels in area reservoirs are very dry and the impact that could have on the economy.

He said he is also concerned about the county losing any of its payment in lieu of taxes funds from the federal government. With most of the land in the county owned by the federal government, Wettstein noted those funds are important to the county.

He also said he hoped that money set aside by the Oregon Legislature for county roads comes through.

“There is not enough money (for the county road department) for new equipment,” he said.