Officials predict little impact from Woodgrain layoffs
Slowing economy actually helping several Fruitland projects
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Friday, March 21, 2008 11:53 AM PDT
FRUITLAND — Fruitland city officials said Thursday they do not believe the layoffs at Woodgrain Millwork will spill over and impact the city.
In fact, in an ironic turn of events, officials said the downturn in the economy may even appear to be benefiting Fruitland.
“I can’t think of any way that it (the layoffs) would impact the city,” Fruitland City Administrator Rick Watkins said.
Woodgrain Millwork Fruitland Public Relations Representative Brooks Dame said the decreased housing starts, lower demand of housing materials for new homes and uncertain economy prompted the company-wide mandated layoffs of approximately 2 percent of its workforce.
About 20 employees were laid off from Woodgrain Millwork in Fruitland two weeks ago.
Fruitland Mayor Tom Limbaugh said he does not know if the Woodgrain layoffs will impact the city because it is only a small part of the workforce.
“If a company that size had to lay off 50 to 60 percent of its employees then, yes, it would have quite an impact on the area,” he said, adding, it could even have an impact on the city if all 20 employees laid off resided in Fruitland, but he does not know the demographics involved.
Fruitland, however, is only beginning to experience some of the bite from the housing market and economic situation.
Watkins said the city has definitely seen the impact of the housing market slump when comparing the number of building permit applications received this year with last years.
Yet on the public works side of the house in Fruitland, the flagging economy is “absolutely” benefiting the city, Watkins said.
The city has seen an increase in the number of contractors vying for projects, and has a result, city staff have that many more bids to choose from when selecting a contractor.
“A year ago we would have gotten two or three bidders, now we’re getting double digits,” he said.
Watkins said the project bids coming in are in some cases significantly lower than what city engineers originally estimated. He estimates the city is paying 60 to 75 cents on the dollar of what city engineers estimated projects would cost.
“We know we’re saving a bunch of money right now,” Watkins said.
The city has a number of projects currently in the works or set to begin, including installation of a new Allen Avenue water main; a water main extension from Washoe Road to south of Idaho Highway 30; reconstruction of Allen Avenue to name just a few.
The city has boosted its completion schedule for some of the projects tied with the new water treatment system, however, to take advantage of boost in contractor activity. The Allen Avenue water main project that is nearly completed was moved up, Watkins said, as was the water main extension on east and west First Street.
Currently, Watkins said, city engineers are determining if other projects tied with the water treatment plant project can be moved up, however, the city needs Idaho Department of Environmental Quality approval before switching dates. He said he doesn’t know if the recent savings the city has seen will affect the water treatment bond payments, however, because so much of the project is left to complete, and a lot can take place before then. So far, however, the city is under budget.
“It’s really hard to say how things are going to shake out,” Watkins said.
