Bellingham leads state in company startups
Bellingham leads the state in company creation per capita, according to the Washington Technology Center’s 2006 Washington Index of Innovation and Technology.
Bellingham had 2,569 new company starts in 2004, more than double similar-sized Washington cities such as Yakima and Pullman. That equates to about 14 new businesses per 1,000 people, according to the study.
Washington ranked second in the country in new company creation, starting nearly 10 new companies for every 1,000 people in 2004, according to the study. The state has led the country in company startups for the last five years.
Washington also led the country in business closures, with 22.8 percent of businesses closing in 2004, according to the study.
Bellingham was one of four regions that showed a decline in technology jobs, seeing a 2 percent drop in technology employment in 2004, just as it did in 2003, according to the study.
Bellingham scored low in federal funding and didn’t secure any Small Business Innovation Research funding in 2004, according to the study. The funding is available to companies looking to commercialize breakthrough technology.
Bellingham placed third out of 12 regions for private funding per capita in 2004.
In regards to patents generated per capita, Bellingham was significantly behind Tri-Cities, Pullman, Seattle and Vancouver, but was ahead of Spokane, Bremerton, Olympia, Yakima and Tacoma.

Chambers honor top Skagit businesses
Each year Skagit County’s seven chambers of commerce nominate up to four businesses for a business of the year award. In addition, each chamber names its own business of the year. This year’s awards were presented in May.
The North Cascade Veterinary Hospital, owned by Timothy Howland, won the award for 2006 Skagit County Business of the Year.
The business of the year winner in Anacortes was San Juan Rehabilitation and Care Center, owned by James Roe.
The winner in Burlington was Bayside Specialties Inc., owned by Darrell and Stephanie Hooper.
The winner in Concrete was Versatile Dreams, owned by Val Berg.
The winner in La Conner was La Conner Drug Store, owned by Fred Martin.
The winner in Mount Vernon was Skagit Valley Gardens, owned by Gary Lorenz.
The winner in North Cascade was Buffalo Run Inn, owned by Marshall and Candi Cooper.
The winner in Sedro-Woolley was North Cascade Veterinary Hospital, owned by Timothy Howland.
A total of 23 Skagit County businesses were nominated for the awards.
Also, Lorenzo’s Mexican Restaurant in Sedro-Woolley, owned by Lorenzo and Laura Velasco, won the Latino Business of the Year award from the Washington Latino Business Association and Washington State Hispanic Chamber.

SSC named “Recycler of the Year”
The Washington State Recycling Association (WSRA) named Sanitary Service Company (SSC) the “Recycler of the Year.” The award was announced at the association’s annual conference banquet in May in Spokane.
SSC was awarded “Recycler of the Year” in the business primary category for their Food Plus! and Food to Flowers! programs that collect compostables from homes, businesses and schools, and for running their fleet of 60 garbage and recycling trucks on biodiesel.
The programs were recognized for their role in helping reduce pollution and disposal costs in the community, creating new jobs, supporting renewable fuels and reusing local materials.
More than 3,000 SSC residential and commercial customers in Bellingham, Ferndale, Birch Bay and parts of unincorporated Whatcom County use Food Plus! to recycle yard waste, food-soiled papers and food scraps all in one toter. The materials are then composted locally.
Food to Flowers! is SSC’s school-based composting program. More than 5,000 local students and teachers currently participate in the Food to Flowers! program, diverting an estimated 1,200 pounds a day to composting from Bellingham elementary schools.

Goosefoot Community Fund tries short-term leasing
Whidbey Island Ice Cream Company will have its own retail location in the Bayview Cash Store for three months this summer, June 15 through Sept. 15.
Whidbey Island Ice Cream Company owners Mike Rudd and Mary Stoll signed a short-term lease with Goosefoot Community Fund to open the seasonal ice cream store. Rudd and Stoll will consider a repeat next year if things go well.
Goosefoot is the landlord of the retail space in the Bayview Cash Store, where the ice cream store is temporarily located. Until April, Goosefoot is trying out the concept of short-term leases, geared toward people who want to try out retail or sell seasonal products, but who don’t want to make a commitment of several years.
Tenants of the space must sign a lease of at least two months, and the space is not available for long-term leases.
Goosefoot is accepting applications for the lease after Whidbey Island Ice Cream Company’s lease is up, although two parties have already expressed interest in the space.

Hampton opens in Burlington
The Burlington Hampton Inn and Suites opened in June on South Burlington Boulevard. The hotel is four stories tall and has 102 guest rooms.
A complimentary breakfast, USA Today newspaper and high-speed Internet access are available to all guests, as well as an indoor pool and fitness center. Rollaway beds, a guest laundry facility, meeting/banquet facilities and audio/visual equipment are available for a nominal fee.

Gigi’s under new management
Gigi’s Donuts & Sandwiches on Hannegan Road in Bellingham is under new management. New owners Bart and Barry Richmond have renamed the restaurant Gigi’s Cafe & Pastries.

Whatcom real estate firm ranks in nation’s top 500
RE/MAX Whatcom County, Inc. again ranked among the country’s top 500 real estate firms in sales volume, according to the REAL Trends survey released in May.
RE/MAX Whatcom County ranked 469th in 2005 for closed transaction sides, which means it represented either the buyer or the seller in residential real estate transactions. The Bellingham-based firm was the only Western Washington agency north of King County to earn a ranking in the top 500.

Mountain West to open new senior living community
Mountain West Senior Housing LLC is developing Spring Creek Retirement and Assisted Living Community in Bellingham, scheduled to open in October 2006.
Spring Creek will have 81 assisted-living, one-bedroom, apartment-style homes. Each apartment will be equipped with telephone and cable TV outlets, individual climate control with air conditioning, a kitchenette and private bathroom with a barrier-free shower. The community will also include 81 one-bedroom and two-bedroom retirement apartments with full kitchens.
Residents of the senior community on East Bakerview Road will enjoy regularly scheduled activities, a variety of indoor and outdoor recreation areas, and meals planned by a registered dietician.

Chrysalis Inn and Spa featured in book
Fairhaven’s Chrysalis Inn and Spa has been featured in Gina Hyams’ new book, “Pacific Spas: Luxury getaways on the West Coast.”
“Pacific Spas” profiles 20 destination resorts that offer a world-class spa experience. Six pages were devoted to the Chrysalis Inn and Spa.

Horizon authorizes stock repurchase plan
Horizon Financial Corp. declared a $.145 quarterly cash dividend and authorized a new stock repurchase program.
The quarterly cash dividend, which has been increased four times in the last two years, was paid May 2, 2006, to shareholders of record.
The stock repurchase program runs for one year ending March 31, 2007, and authorizes the repurchase of up to 500,000 shares of Horizon stock, or approximately 5 percent of shares outstanding.
This repurchase plan, which runs concurrent with Horizon’s fiscal year 2007, replaces the program approved a year ago, under which Horizon repurchased and retired 212,852 shares.

Local powersports retailer wins Top 100 award
Dealernews, the business-to-business magazine for powersports retailers, announced the winners of the Top 100 award in February. In their ninth appearance on the Top 100 list, Skagit Powersports, Inc., a Burlington powersports dealer, is the only dealership in Washington to receive the prestigious acknowledgement.
Skagit Powersports specializes in sport bikes, dirt bikes, cruiser bikes, ATVs and watercraft.

Horizon financial earnings up 24 percent in fiscal 2006
Horizon Financial Corp. reported that a continued focus on managing growth to maximize profitability resulted in record profits for both the fourth quarter and 2006 fiscal year.
At the end of the quarter on March 31, 2006, net income was $4.2 million, compared to $3.3 million the same quarter a year ago, with earnings per diluted share growing 31 percent to $0.42, from $0.32 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005.
For the year, net income was $15.7 million, versus $13.1 million in the preceding year, with earnings per diluted share growing 24 percent to $1.56, from $1.26 in fiscal 2005.

Kenmore Air to serve Oak Harbor
Kenmore Air began regular service from Oak Harbor’s Wes Lupien Airport to Seattle’s Boeing Field in May.
The airline offers four daily round-trip flights between the two cities, along with a free shuttle service to SeaTac Airport.
It should take about 40 minutes from boarding in Oak Harbor to arrival at SeaTac, said Tim Brooks, vice president of flight operations for Kenmore.
The airline offers one-way introductory fares for $29, and roundtrip tickets for $58.

Brenthaven manufactures student design
Western Washington University junior Shawn Deutchman designed an iPod case that will be sold nationwide by the carrying case manufacturer Brenthaven.
Deutchman designed the case as part of a class assignment in Western’s industrial design program.
Bellingham-based Brenthaven, which has worked with Western’s industrial design students before, sought help from Associate Professor Arunas Oslapas’ class. Students presented their ideas to company representatives, who selected Deutchman’s as one of three designs to pitch to the Apple Company.
Apple executives approved Deutchman’s minimalist design, which protects the iPod from scratches, maintains its distinctive look and gives the user a way to prop up the device for easier video viewing.
Users are unlikely to hold their iPods for long periods of time while watching a video, Deutchman said. His design will be available for purchase in August or September for $30 to $35.
Deutchman, who plans to intern at Boeing this summer, is interested in working in the automotive industry after he graduates.

MTC celebrates 25th anniversary
Materials Testing & Consulting (MTC) will host an open house July 21 at its Burlington office to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Local developers, architects, engineers and building officials are particularly invited to attend and learn more about MTC’s services and credentials.
MTC’s 30 employees offer geotechnical engineering, materials testing, special inspections and nondestructive testing services throughout Western Washington. Founded in 1981, MTC started with a small office and laboratory in Mount Vernon. Niall and Terri Hackett purchased the company in 1995 and directed its steady growth.
In response to demand for its services from four power-plant construction projects, MTC built an office and laboratory in Centralia in 2000. The company opened its Bellingham office in 2004 and moved earlier this year to a facility with a full-service laboratory on East Bakerview Road.
Curtis Shear and Brian Steele joined the Hacketts as co-owners of MTC in 2002. Shear serves as MTC’s laboratory manager and has facilitated development of the company’s three certified laboratories. Steele, manager of the geotechnical division, has overseen expansion of its capabilities to include consulting for large-scale commercial, industrial and public-works projects.

BCS celebrates 60th anniversary
Bellingham Cold Storage (BCS) celebrated its 60th anniversary in June. BCS began business operations in the summer of 1946 with the opening of its first cold storage warehouse and ice production facility located at the Squalicum Waterfront facility.
BCS has a long history of partnering with on-site processing customers to provide state-of-the-art processing facilities located immediately adjacent to their cold storage and transportation logistics operations.
With 16 warehouses, BCS has grown to become the largest and most diversified portside cold storage and frozen food processing facility on the West Coast, with over one million square feet of buildings. BCS facilities account for more than 1,200 year round jobs with more than 1,800 during the peak summer season at its Orchard Drive and Squalicum Waterway locations.

Bellingham’s Innovations wins service award
Innovations for Quality Living recently earned a service award presented by Sundance Spas, the world’s largest manufacturer of portable acrylic spas.
This award qualifies Innovations of Bellingham as an elite dealer in a select group, and Sundance Spas formally recognized them with the award at the manufacturer’s international Dealer Conference.
Sundance Spas’ service award recognizes and rewards dealers who have attained the highest levels of customer service and have demonstrated professionalism and dedication. These dealers have consistently resolved all customer disputes, and they have at least one factory certified technician on staff who has completed the manufacturer’s intensive technical service trainings.

Clearwire unveils VoIP service to Bellingham
Clearwire customers in Bellingham can now subscribe to its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, called Clearwire Internet Phone Service. This service, designed for use over the Clearwire wireless broadband network, enables simple, affordable and high-quality phone service over the Internet. Clearwire’s service operates across the company’s existing wireless network.

New housing in Bellingham filling quickly
The Archdiocesan Housing Authority’s newest affordable housing facility in downtown Bellingham is rapidly reserving rooms for its July opening.
Kateri Court Apartments has 26 studio and 14 one-bedroom apartments, with commercial space at street level and two floors of parking below.
The apartments will be LEED-certified (Leaders in Energy and Environmental Design), which requires the most current methods available for environmentally sensitive construction and design. Smoking will not be allowed in the apartments or common areas to ensure that clean air standards supported by LEED will remain high throughout the life of the building.

Sage Software recognizes Milestone’s support
Sage Software recognized Milestone Information Solutions as one of three Sage partners who have committed to support only Sage ERP and CRM products.Milestone is located in Bellingham and has been selling business management solutions for more than 10 years. The company offers end-to-end solutions with Sage MAS 90, Sage MAS 200 and Sage MAS 500 ERP, plus ACT! by Sage and Sage CRM. Milestone is a Sage Software master developer and has dropped the Dynamics NV (formerly Navision) line to become a Sage Select partner.

Fairhaven Laundry remodel planned
Fairhaven Laundry owners Myra and Terry Harmer have retained architect David Christensen to come up with a design in keeping with the redevelopment in Bellingham’s Fairhaven district.
Fairhaven Laundry has been in operation since the mid-1960s. The 2,275-square-foot building will be redesigned for rental as either a single space or two smaller spaces.
The Harmers indicated that they are in the initial phases of the project, but hope to have the new space available for rent sometime later this year.

Flats Tapas Bar featured on TV show
Flats Tapas Bar in Fairhaven was asked to share its recipe for Yams Bravas on the “Chefs 2006” show, which aired on KCTS (PBS) TV in Seattle earlier this year. They appeared on the television show to prepare the dish, which will be included in the KCTS fundraiser cookbook of dishes from favorite Northwest restaurants. The show will be rerun during fundraising drives throughout the year.
Restaurants are nominated by a member of the viewing audience to participate, and a KCTS panel invites only a few winners to cook live on TV. Flats is the only restaurant ever nominated from the Bellingham area.

Office Systems Northwest named dealer of distinction
Great America Leasing Corp recently named Office Systems Northwest, Inc. a dealer of distinction.
Office Systems Northwest was recognized as “an industry market leader with a long-term outlook and ethical business conduct, displaying the highest degree of customer care and loyalty to worthy business partners.”
Office Systems Northwest is a 25-year-old business in Bellingham. It provides local businesses and organizations with a wide variety of document management products and services including copiers, printers, print management services and electronic storage and retrieval systems. Last year Office Systems Northwest arranged financing for more than $1.25 million of leased equipment through Great America Leasing.

Bellingham espresso awarded for great coffee
Java Town Espresso of Bellingham has received the Golden Cup awarded by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) for brewed coffee excellence, one of only two issued in the state.
Applicants must be food service operators selling brewed coffee for public consumption and must meet stringent brewing standards.
Applicants for the Golden Cup must work with an SCAA-certified brewing technician who evaluates brewing procedures, equipment and the quality of the resulting coffee. Samples of the applicant’s coffee are tested at the SCAA’s laboratory.

Care facility for elderly awarded for excellence
Josephine, a long-term care facility for the elderly in Stanwood, received an award for excellence at the annual conference of Lutheran Services in America held in Seattle.
Each year awards for excellence are presented to Lutheran organizations for outstanding programs related to a timely topic. The theme for this year’s awards was “Embracing the gifts of all.”
Josephine was honored for producing a video, “Choosing Long-term Care,” featuring interviews with family members of their residents to help ease and affirm the difficult decision to move a loved one to a nursing home. The family members in the film are able to use their own experience to help others through a similar process.
Josephine’s program was one of three award-winners from a large group of applicants from across the country.

Learning Store profits from school products expo
Sandy Hiorns and Barbara Sanford, co-owners of Launching Success Learning Store, recently returned from the National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA) Expo in Orlando, Fla., where they attended seminars ranging in topics from customer relations to competition strategies for small business.
Hiorns and Sanford also used the event to reconnect with nationally known retail consultants Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender, who had used Launching Success as a case study to present in their workshop.
The experts listed suggestions for the Bellingham businesswomen, especially regarding store layout for their new location on Prince Avenue. The Learning Store had provided the Chicago-based consultants with photographs and drawings prior to the expo.

Ludeman Building breaks ground
The Ludeman Building, owned by Ludeman Capital, is a 7,000-square-foot, two-story commercial office building in the Barkley District in Bellingham. The owner, a financial consulting firm, will occupy the first floor and Snapper Shuler Kenner Insurance will occupy the second floor.
RMC Architects partner Brad Cornwell said although the project is designed in context with Barkley District standards, architectural details will give the building its own personality and street presence.
The Ludeman Building is scheduled to be complete in early 2007.
Mt. Baker SHRM receives superior merit award
The Mt. Baker chapter of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has received the Superior Merit Award for their work in 2005. Their efforts are testament to their commitment to the SHRM mission to “serve the professional and advance the profession.”
The Mt. Baker chapter serves approximately 130 members representing dozens of businesses in Whatcom County.

Pinnacle conducts inspections for national company
Tremco, Inc., a roofing restoration and repair service, selected Bellingham’s Pinnacle Inspections to conduct roof moisture surveys for its western clients.
Pinnacle Inspections will serve Tremco’s clients in Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and British Columbia. It will use infrared thermal imaging equipment to scan roofing surfaces and conduct core sampling and moisture testing. Pinnacle Inspections then will present drawings and reports on affected areas to clients for their review and determination of future repairs to roofing systems.

Whatcomputers moves, adds to staff
Bellingham-based Whatcomputers, founded by Warren Levine, recently opened in a new 850-square-foot location across the street from the Fairhaven library.
The company custom-builds computers and offers residential and business computer user training, virus removal, hardware repairs and upgrades both onsite and in office, and supports Windows and PC software. They recently became an official authorized representative of Clearwire, a wireless broadband company.
Since moving to the new location this year, Whatcomputers has donated more than $2,000 worth of refurbished computers and assistance to numerous local charities including the Bellingham Festival of Music, Sean Humphrey House and Envision Ministries.
Joining Whatcomputers are administrative assistants Hope Rietzen and Yael Shuval, both of whom were recruited from Western Washington University.
Josh Myers, who has over four years’ experience working for OpenAccess, a local Internet Service Provider, was hired on as a computer technician this spring.
Myles McMullen, an intern from Sehome High School, has assisted at the shop for six months.

Coldwell Banker launches user-friendly Web site
Whatcom County’s Coldwell Banker Miller-Arnason has updated their Web site, coldwellbankermiller.com, to be more user-friendly, attractive and content-rich.
Users can search all properties available for sale in the area, view pictures and peruse the current week’s open houses. Those looking for information about buying or selling homes will find the site to be a plentiful source of articles and links.
Coldwell Banker Miller-Arnason has partnered with local Web development companies Paige Data Management and Mindfly, Inc. to bring this site to fruition.

Terrace Ventures announces merger
Blaine-based Terrace Ventures, Inc. entered into an agreement and plan of merger with Sporg Corporation. Terrace’s wholly owned subsidiary, Sporg Technology Corp., will merge with Sporg and immediately thereafter Terrace will merge with the subsidiary and change its name to Sporg Technology Corp.

Wild Heart Ranch’s books available online
Wild Heart Ranch, Inc., an award-winning children’s toy and publishing company in Point Roberts, features educational illustrated children’s books currently marketed through Google Book Search and Amazon.com’s “Search inside the Book,” as well as other online retailers.
Three non-violent children’s books, “Bradford and the Journey to the Desert of Lop,” “The No More Night Mares, a Dream of Freedom” and “I Sea Horses, From Sky to Sea,” can be found easily on the Web and can also be viewed before purchasing.
Wild Heart Ranch Books were recently featured in the February edition of E/The Environmental Magazine.

US Bank contracts Ferndale landscaping service
US Bank awarded the Ferndale-based Management Services Northwest, Inc. a contract to provide all landscaping services for 36 of their Northwest Washington branches.
President and CEO Janelle Bruland started Management Services Northwest in 1995, specializing in full-service facility maintenance serving Whatcom to Pierce counties.
Management Services Northwest markets its services to commercial office buildings, banks, medical, school and industrial facilities.

Burlington Rotary receives awards
The Burlington Rotary morning club received the Rotary Literacy Award at the recent Rotary District Conference in Whistler, B.C.
The Burlington Rotary established a community project to create the Burlington Rotary Language Lab, which is housed at the Burlington Library. It presented the Burlington Student of the Month for the last year and selected the teacher of the year, presenting awards for both. It helped with the book collections for the Friends of the Library sale. It distributed children’s literature to under-privileged children during the Christmas season
The club also supported and donated funds to the Welcome Baby Project. It hosted at least five prominent speakers on relevant subjects regarding literacy over the last year. It donated to the Skagit Libraries for the Children’s Summer Reading Program.
Additionally, the Burlington Rotary morning club received the distinguished Presidential Citation for 2005 and 2006 from Rotary International President Carl Stenhammer.
Among the achievements the club was recognized for is its work to build a well in Cloane, Ecuador; sponsoring a clothing drive for Katrina hurricane victims; and its work for literacy.

Environmental Learning Center wins design award
The North Cascades Environmental Learning Center in Mount Vernon won a merit award at the annual American Institute of Architects Washington Council (AIA/WA) Civic Design Awards program.
Judges said the buildings’ large openings invite in spectacular views and light, and enhance the relationship between the buildings and the site. The materials and detailing used give a sense that the buildings belong where they are.
Civic projects earn the merit award by exemplifying their particular type of civic space.

Northwest Computer wins state contract
Bellingham’s Northwest Computer has been awarded a contract to supply the state of Washington with remanufactured laser printer toner cartridges, according to State Contracts Manager Connie Stacy of Washington State Central Stores in Olympia.
The company’s Blue Mountain brand remanufactured toner cartridges were selected by the state based on print quality, value and environmental criteria out of more than 250 responses to the state’s Request for Bid issued in April.
Blue Mountain toner cartridges are remanufactured in Bellingham and sold throughout the United States as an environmentally friendly and lower-priced alternative to original equipment manufacturer’s cartridges sold by Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Lexmark and others. Northwest Computer has seen sales of Blue Mountain toner cartridges surge in the last two years.
Each remanufactured cartridge used saves the equivalent of three quarts of oil and two pounds of plastic.

Condos slated for West Bakerview Road
Cabochon Construction & Development of Bellingham has gained city approval for a 126-unit development along West Bakerview Road.
The 10-acre parcel is located on the north side of West Bakerview Road, about halfway between Northwest Road and Eliza Avenue.
The development, as yet unnamed, will feature a trio of three-story buildings, each with 42 residential units and underground parking. Most and possibly all of the units will be marketed as condominiums. The development also will include a commercial pad with frontage on West Bakerview Road. Construction on the first residential building is expected to start in 2007 after building permits are issued.
Cabochon also expects to start sitework this summer on The Outlook, a 30-unit condominium project near the intersection of Telegraph and Deemer roads.

New truck routes protect watershed
The Bellingham City Council approved an ordinance to better manage truck traffic in the city and in the city’s portion of the Lake Whatcom watershed.
The council recently passed an ordinance amending its official truck routes within the city limits. The routes are developed to provide effective, yet limited, designated routes for large trucks.
Over the years, annexations and land use changes have made the existing truck routes obsolete. For example, Hannegan Road and Irongate Road were not approved city truck routes because these roads did not become part of the city until the mid-1990s.
New routes were carefully considered to minimize truck traffic within the Lake Whatcom watershed by designating Woburn from Sunset to Lakeway, and Lakeway out to the city limits as the appropriate truck route.
Trucks or other vehicles licensed for 28,000 pounds or more shall restrict their travel upon the other public ways of the city, only making pick-ups or deliveries of merchandise or freight to points not accessible by a truck route.

Housing inventory expands in Northwest counties
Competition to find a home close to urban job centers is still intense, according to the latest report from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS).
Other indicators tracked by the NWMLS show an uptick in pending sales and prices.
The NWMLS report for May reflects a gain in the number of active listings compared to the same month a year ago (27,660 versus 21,499). The snapshot at month’s end shows inventory of single-family homes and condominiums is up 18.3 percent across the 17 counties served by NWMLS.
Members reported 10,817 pending sales during May, outgaining the previous month by 1,115 transactions for an increase of 11.5 percent. Last month’s total lagged the record-setting volumes of a year ago when there were 10,973 pending sales (a difference of about 5.9 percent), but it was the highest number of pending sales since August 2005 when members notched 11,546 pending sales.
Six counties, including San Juan County, improved on year-ago totals for pending sales.
Prices system-wide jumped 13.7 percent from a year ago, with every county registering a double-digit increase. For last month’s completed transactions of single-family homes and condominiums, the median sales price was $302,500. A year ago it was $266,000.
Asking prices will remain high and may be driven even higher for properties close to employment centers, particularly if fuel prices continue to escalate, NWMLS Director Dick Beeson said.

New area code, mandatory 10-digit dialing delayed
Washington telephone companies will have at least four more years to assign customers phone numbers with the “360” area code, said the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC). As a result, Western Washington phone customers will avoid the need for a new area code and mandatory 10-digit local dialing.
Because of increased demand for new telephone numbers, the telecommunications industry earlier estimated that a new area code would have to be added next year in the area currently using the “360” area code.
However, during the past year the UTC worked with telecommunications companies to identify and set aside unused phone numbers in the “360” area. The existing stock of “360,” which was expected to run out in 2000, will last until at least 2010.
The new area code would have been overlaid across all of Western Washington, and the new code would be assigned to all new phone numbers in the western half of the state. Customers would be required to dial 10 digits for all phone numbers, including local calls.

L&I seeks employers for pilot project
The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) is looking for up to 500 employers willing to participate in a new way for workers to file workplace injury and occupational disease claims.
The state legislature this year approved a two-year pilot project giving employers and their workers the option of filing workers’ compensation claims through the employer. Up to 500 employers will participate in the project the first year, and as many as 250 more will be added in fiscal year 2008.
Unlike most states, workers’ compensation claims in Washington are filed through injured workers’ physicians rather than through employers. The doctor is responsible for sending the accident report to L&I.
L&I is recruiting various employers for the pilot project. L&I will evaluate injury claims over the course of two years to determine if reporting claims through employers results in lower claim costs and better outcomes for workers.
Because L&I will be measuring claim results, only employers who regularly have, or who L&I would anticipate having, workers’ compensation claims can participate.

Financing tool strengthened by federal legislation
With interest rates increasing, conventional business financing has become more expensive. Issued through the Port of Bellingham’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Industrial Revenues (IRBs) are a finance tool that can save costs for qualifying companies. IRBs are tax-exempt financings that provide low-cost debt to manufacturing and process facilities.
In May, the federal Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act increased the capital expenditure limit on small issue IRBs from $10 million to $20 million effective January 1, 2007. This means the tax-exempt borrowing from an IRB can be as much as $10 million, while the total project cost can reach $20 million, allowing for more significant private investment.
The Port of Bellingham’s IDC acts as a conduit for this tax-exempt financing.
The port or local taxpayers do not provide the actual project funding. Borrowers secure the financed funds through a lending institution.
This financing mechanism offers manufacturing and processing companies the advantage of below market interest rates for constructing new buildings, upgrading existing facilities and purchasing new machinery or equipment purchased land.
The port’s IDC can issue IRBs anywhere in Whatcom County.

Plans off for Ferndale convention center
Citing the rising cost of construction materials and property development, Emerald Bay Events and Faber Brothers Consruction have decided to discontinue plans for a convention center in Ferndale. The annoucement was made in late June.