Bellingham Business Journal, August 03, 2015

Vol. 23 No. 8

August 2015

Pinball collective finds permanent home in new bar on State Street [Page 14]

The Buzz The Oyster Kings: Family built shellfish empire “one shovelful at a time” Taylor Shellfish Company with Samish Bay farm operates a global business.

SHELLFISH, 9

WWU construction project to employ up to 200 for 18 months A $70 million renovation to the Carver Academic Facility is poised to start.

CARVER, 7

Business toolkit Matt Cooper, left, chats with Ian Lottis at Cascade Herb Company, a recreational marijuana shop at 1240 E. Maple St. [OLIVER LAZENBY PHOTO | THE BBJ]

What does a strong dollar mean for investors?

Legal roller coaster continues for marijuana

TOOLKIT, 19

New laws set to shake up the year-old industry as medical cannabis is rolled into legal system

It’s time to stop thinking of vacation time as a benefit.

BY OLIVER LAZENBY The Bellingham Business Journal Business has been steady at Cascade Herb Company in Bellingham since it opened last August. According to data from the recently renamed Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, taxable sales have grown each month at the shop and Justin West, store owner, said the number of younger customers has increased—a sign that the legal market is supplanting the black market.

West and other marijuana business owners in Washington are riding a legal roller coaster that will soon take another turn. Gov. Jay

Inslee signed a bill in April aimed at eliminating the medical marijuana market. By July 2016, medical dispensaries will need to either close or obtain a license to operate under the recreational system.

The law’s purpose is to reduce the “gray market” of medical marijuana patients who are really recreational users. Some regulated stores see the law as leveling the playing field.

They would no longer have to compete with medical dispensaries, which aren’t as tightly regulated as recreational stores and don’t pay a 37 percent state excise tax. Prices for recreational marijuana have come down during the last year, but they’re

still a couple dollars more than medical prices, retailers say.

Business owners in both the recreational and medical industries expect the law change to help them financially.

The Liquor and Cannabis Board plans to issue retail licenses to some current dispensaries and that could help recreational marijuana growers, which currently outnumber

VACATION, 22

Marijuana, PAGE 12

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2

The Bellingham Business Journal

August 2015

Contents

When you need a Jumbo mortgage, we have options and flexibility If you plan to purchase or refinance a higher-priced property, our jumbo mortgage options may help you make the most of today’s inviting home prices and low interest rates.

Whether you want to purchase or refinance a primary residence or a second/vacation home, we have versatile financing options to meet your needs.

Call us to explore your options.

Paul Taylor (left) and his brother, Bill, at Taylor Shellfish Farms on Samish Bay. DIANE GUTHRIE PHOTO | FOR THE BELLINGHAM BUSINESS JOURNAL

Larry W. Evans Branch Manager 360-738-2376

[9] Taylor Shellfish Farms built “one shovelful at a time.”

NMLSR ID 856141

The Taylor Shellfish Company, which has a farm on Samish Bay, started 120 years ago and now brings in more than $60 million in revenue annually.

Connect with us Anndi D. Pena

Home Mortgage Consultant 360-738-2363

NMLSR ID 413608

Ross Schram von Haupt

Home Mortgage Consultant 360-746-4050

NMLSR ID 1026086

Ryan D. Martin

On Twitter @BBJToday

NMLSR ID 404824

On Facebook facebook.com/ BBJToday

Home Mortgage Consultant 360-293-1160

[14] Pinball

The Bellingham Pinball Collective got a lot busier with the opening of The Racket, a new bar and pinball lounge.

On Google+ Bellingham Business Journal

[4] B.C. company makes Ferndale investment Barry Weafer

Home Mortgage Consultant 360-647-0897

Brandon C. Mankle

Reah Marie Dewell

NMLSR ID 634610

NMLSR ID 156730

Home Mortgage Consultant NMLSR ID 420701 360-738-2362

A Vancouver, B.C., company bought a $1.2 million Ferndale property and plans to lease space to marijuana growers or other “high-value” clients.

[3] People On The Move [6] Market Indicators

Home Mortgage Consultant 360-384-4975

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[18] Public Records [19] Business Toolkit

The Bellingham Business Journal, BBJToday.com (ISSN 21620997) is published monthly by Sound Publishing Inc. at 1909 Cornwall Ave., Bellingham, WA 98225.

Periodicals Postage Paid at Bellingham, WA, and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: BBJToday.com Circulation, PO Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.

August 2015

3

The Bellingham Business Journal

People On The Move WECU hires two to growing business department Whatcom Educational Credit Union added Wade Stringfield and Mike Yeend to its growing business services department.

Stringfield will manage the credit union’s Small Business AdministraWade Stringfield tion program and Yeend will lead the Member Business Loans team.

Stringfield, a former business advisor for Western Washington University’s Small Business Development Center, has nine years of banking experience and previously worked for U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and Coastal Community Bank, according to a press release from WECU. Yeend joins the credit union with more than 25 years of commercial lending experience.

He previously worked as a relationship Mike Yeend

manager at Banner Bank and a commercial lending team leader for U.S. Bank.

County Auditor named Auditor of the Year Whatcom County auditor Debbie Adelstein received the Auditor of the Year award from Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman at a conference in June.

Wyman recognized Adelstein’s work on the Elections Division’s Voter Intent Committee and her willingness to help neighboring counties by sharing procedures, templates and documents, according to a blog post on the secretary of state’s website.

Wyman said Adelstein is “always ready to share her insights. We rely on her county perspective to help us make informed decisions.”

Lisa Keeler joins Carmichael Clark as an associate Lisa Keeler Joined Bellingham law firm Carmichael Clark as an associate, the firm announced in a press release. Keeler practices in the areas of insurance defense and general litigation at the trial and appellate level.

Keeler earned her doctorate

Lisa Keeler

from Gonzaga University School of Law. She brings seven years of experience to the firm as assistant attorney general for Washington state.

Litzia hires team member, adds certification Natalie Thomson joined Litzia, a Bellingham information technology company, as a marketing intern. She will be helping the company with administrative support, marketing and technical writing, according to a press release from the company.

Thomson is currently doublemajoring in management information systems and marketing at Western Washington University and plans to graduate in spring 2016.

Also, two Litzia staff members recently earned new certifications for Microsoft products. Jeff Long, software engineer, acquired the Microsoft Certified Professional Designation. Matt Henderson, Litzia president, earned a certification for Microsoft’s Enabling Office 365 Services.

WAHU appoints Keith Wal- Alsos joins Peoples Bank lace as president-elect as downtown branch manager Keith Wallace, health care reform broker and principal of Bellingham-based Wallace Rice Benefits was sworn in as president-elect of the Washington Association of Health Underwriters (WAHU) on July 1, 2015.

Wallace has been involved with the Northwest Chapter of the WAHU in various board positions and committees and serves as the Northwest Chapter’s 2014Keith Wallace 2016 President.

He’s a 25-year veteran in the insurance industry.

“I’m honored to have served as President of the Northwest Chapter and am eager to serve at the state level,” Wallace said in a press release. “The agents and brokers in the association serve as a source for information about healthcare coverage and work hard to create a fiscally responsible and healthy healthcare system for individuals, businesses and policy makers.”

Ali Alsos joined Peoples Bank as assistant vice president and branch manager of the downtown Bellingham branch.

Alsos has 12 years of financial services experience. Most recently, she managed multiple branches in the Bellingham area for Heritage Bank, according to a press Ali Alsos release from Peoples Bank.

“Ali’s leadership, strong connections in Bellingham and her knowledge of the community will be of great value to the downtown team and the local community,” said Mark Swanson, vice president and regional retail banking manager.

Alsos was born and raised in Bellingham. She’s on the board of directors and is co-chair of the budget committee for the Historic Fairhaven Association. She’s also a member of the Historic Fairhaven Merchants Association.

Strong, Local Relationships.

“For several years we had heard good things about WECU®.

They made the decision easy for us; great rates and service.”

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Business Services 360.676.1168 ext 7320 www.wecu.com

Grant Dykstra 360.676.7658 grant.dykstra@wecu.com

4

The Bellingham Business Journal

August 2015

B.C. company makes $1.2 mil investment in state marijuana industry Lack of permissible pot growing space could make 9.7-acre Ferndale property a good investment

BY OLIVER LAZENBY The Bellingham Business Journal

Want to invest in legal marijuana in Washington state? Better be a resident.

A three-month residency requirement in Washington state for all involved in marijuana businesses, including investors, has frustrated some business owners and potential financiers.

That requirement makes cross-state and cross-border business and investment almost impossible, but there’s at least one way that out-of-state investors have gotten involved in Washington’s legal marijuana industry: by being a landlord.

A Canadian company is setting itself up to use the law’s landlord exemption to profit off of Washington’s legal marijuana industry.

Chlormet Technologies of Vancouver, B.C., bought a 9.7-acre property at 2010 Grandview Road in Ferndale on May 29 for $1.2 million. The company said in a November 2014 news release that it intends to get involved in the state marijuana industry by providing buildings, equipment and non-grow related services to licensed producers and processors.

Chlormet Technologies is a mining company that has made several ventures

into the marijuana industry in the last few years. Last year, Chlormet signed a takeover agreement with AAA Heidelberg, an Ontario-based firm with plans to grow medical marijuana, and acquired a vaporizer and electronic cigarette company called VapeTronix. The company is also involved with a project called WeedBeacon, which is a vaporizer kit and app that would allow users to track marijuana dosage, use and other variables, according to the company’s website.

Providing a facility for marijuana producers and processors could be lucrative, said Heather Wolf, a Bellingham attorney who works with marijuana businesses and wrote a book titled Turning Green to Gold: Tips on starting a new legal marijuana business.

Helping clients legally locate their businesses is a big part of Wolf ’s work, she said.

A variety of regulations make it hard for her clients to find a site for their marijuana growing and processing businesses, she said. There’s a 350-foot setback requirement from residences in rural areas, some jurisdictions have banned recreational marijuana businesses altogether and most jurisdictions don’t have a lot of industrial land.

“The places where you can locate these

One of several buildings on a property purchased by Chlormet, a Vancouver, B.C., company that may lease the property to marijuana producers/processors. [OLIVER LAZENBY PHOTO | THE BBJ] businesses are very few and far between,” she said. “If they are able to achieve buildout of a location for I-502 licensees that could be a terrific investment.”

The property is in Ferndale’s city limits, and marijuana growing and processing would be allowed on the site, said Ferndale community development director Jori Burnett.

The site is on a septic system, and depending on water requirements for busi-

nesses on the site, sewer lines may need to be extended to reach the facility, Burnett said. Whether or not that’s necessary would depend on the specific users, as there are many different ways of growing marijuana, Burnett said.

“They’ve told us that they are interested in making this site I-502 compliant and

Chlormet, PAGE 21

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The Bellingham Business Journal

August 2015

Market Indicators

Jobs: Unemployment rate nearly unchanged Bankruptcies

Unemployment rate June 2015: 5.8 % June 2014: 6.1 %

June 2015 total: 38 Annual change: + 26.32 %

Includes non-seasonally adjusted figures in Whatcom County

Includes filings for Chapters 7, 11 and 13 in Whatcom County

40

8%

June 2015: 63.5% June 2014: 63.4 %

Includes non-seasonally adjusted figures for Washington state

Chapters 11,13 Chapter 7

35 30

7%

Labor force participation rate 70% 67.5%

25 20

65%

15

6%

10

62.5%

5

5%

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J 2014

0

2015

J F M A M J

J A S O N D J F M A M J

2014

SOURCE: WASHINGTON STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY DEPARTMENT

60%

J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J

2013

2015

SOURCE: U.S. BANKRUPTCY COURT, WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON

2014

2015

SOURCE: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

Spending: Sales-tax distribution higher than ‘14 Sales-tax distribution �

June 2015: $1,602,850.4 Annual change:

$2.5M

2014

Includes monthly averages (Canada-to-U.S.) at market closing

$30M

$1.2

$25M

$1.0

$1.5M $1M

$0.8

$20M

$0.6

$15M

$0.4

$0.5M 0

June 2015: $22,376,612 June 2014: $15,926,877

June 2015: $0.81 June 2014: $0.92

2015

$2M

Building-permit values

Canadian dollar

6.11%

Includes basic and optional local sales tax to Bellingham

$10M

$0.2

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

SOURCE: WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

$0.0

J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J

2013

$5M

SOURCE: BANK OF CANADA

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J

2014

2015

2014

2015

SOURCE: CITY OF BELLINGHAM

Housing: Spring’s over but home sales continue Housing sale prices

$350K

Foreclosures & delinquencies

Housing sales

Average: June 2015: $298,006 June 2014: $304,840 Median: June 2015: $279,450 June 2014: $270,625

Delinquency rate: April 2015: 1.96% April 2014: 2.71% Foreclosure rate: April 2015: 0.70% April 2014: 1.07%

Closed, June 2015: 378 Annual change: + 23.28 % Pending, June 2015: 469 Annual change: + 19.62 % Includes sales of single-family houses and condos in Whatcom County

500

Average price Median price

400

$300K

5%

Pending sales Closed sales

Delinquency rate

4%

Foreclosure rate

3%

300 2%

$250K

200 $200K

J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J

2013

2015

2014

100

1%

J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J

2013

SOURCE: NORTHWEST MULTIPLE LISTINGS SERVICE

2014

2015

SOURCE: NORTHWEST MULTIPLE LISTINGS SERVICE

0%

J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J A S O N D J F MA

2013

2014

2015

SOURCE: CORELOGIC

Other factors: Airport traffic down, as forecast Cruise terminal traffic

Airport traffic Includes total passengers flying from Bellingham International Airport

80K 60K

2015

5,000

2014

4,000

2013

50K 40K 20K

F

M

SOURCE: PORT OF BELLINGHAM

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

2014

1.5M

3,000

0

2015

1.75M 1.25M 1M 0.75M 0.5M

1,000

10K

Includes southbound passengers crossings into Whatcom County

2M

2,000

30K

J

June 2015: 1,258,958 Year-over-year: � 12.26 %

Includes inbound and outbound passengers at Bellingham Cruise Terminal

70K

0

Border traffic

June 2015: 3,134 May 2014: 3,236

June 2015: 31,576 Annual change: - 30.23%

0.25M

J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J 2013

SOURCE: PORT OF BELLINGHAM

2014

2015

0

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

SOURCE: WWU BORDER POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Notes: Graphs include the most recent data available at press time. Annual changes show cumulative difference from the same time period during the previous year. Data include raw numbers only and are not adjusted to account for any seasonal factors.

A

S

O

N

D

August 2015

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The Bellingham Business Journal

Renovation poised to start at WWU that will employ 200 $70 million in seismic, mechanical, electrical and other work to Carver Gym has been in works since 2007

BY OLIVER LAZENBY The Bellingham Business Journal As chair of the largest and fastest growing academic department at Western Washington University, LeaAnn Martin had to deal with some facilities challenges.

The Physical Education, Health and Recreation department that she led from 2004 to 2008 is housed in the Carver Academic Facility, which was built in 1936 and is the building that is most in need of repair.

“I taught in the building for 22 years and can recall having to put more than 10 buckets on the floor during my class to catch leaking water from the ceiling,” Martin said in an email. “In one laboratory, pieces of electrical equipment had to be unplugged in order for other pieces to operate.”

Earlier this year, state legislature approved $70 million in funding for a renovation to the Carver building that will employ up to 200 people for more than 18 months during construction. Over the course of the project more than 750

workers will be at the site. The project will increase the number of classrooms, offices, gymnasiums and other facilities.

Jobs associated with the renovation will pay family wages, said Paul Cocke communications director for Western.

The building’s problems include seismic concerns, disability access issues and aging mechanical and electrical systems. The building is in the worst shape of any building on campus and on a recent seismic stability survey it scored five out of 100, Cocke said.

“This was the highest priority on many levels,” he said. “It was by far our greatest vulnerability in terms of safety and seismic concerns.”

The project will replace the building’s center section with a three-story addition and wrap the east and south sides with glass windows.

Mortenson Construction, a national firm with a Bellevue office, is the project’s general contractor. Diamond B Contractors of Bellingham is the mechanical contractor/ construction manager and VECA Electric,

BUSINESS BRIEFS Misty Mountains Realty bought by national firm Weichert Realtors, a national network of real estate franchises, bought Misty Mountains Realty, which had offices in Bellingham and Maple Falls and has been operating for more than 25 years.

The new Weichert offices will be led by former Misty Mountains Realty owner Bret Van Lant, along with branch manager Jack Hovenier and broker Tyrel Jackson.

“We went looking for a partner to assist in growing our business and Weichert was a perfect fit,” Hovenier said in a press release.

“They provide a very strong internet presence and the tools and training to be a dominant force in any market.”

The real estate management branch of the company will continue under the name Misty Mountains Real Estate (MMRA), according to a press release.

Misty Mountains Realty moved out of its former office, at 1229 Cornwall Ave., earlier this year.

The new Weichert branch is hosting an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. on Aug. 6 at it’s Bellingham office, at 2900 Meridian St., across from Haggen on Meridian Street.

Whatcom County Councilwoman Barbara Brenner will cut the ribbon, and neighbors and interested members of the com-

munity are invited to attend, tour the new office and enjoy light refreshments.

The Maple Falls office will stay in the same location, at 8193 Kendall Road, in Maple Falls.

Vendors sought for new Commercial Street Night Market Sustainable Connections is seeking vendor applications for a new night market to be held at on Fridays at the Commercial Street Plaza from Sept. 4 to Oct. 2.

Market organizers plan to have 20 unique vendors in the hidden plaza next to the parking garage at 1300 Commercial St., as well as live music or local DJs. Crafts people, makers, entertainers and other types of vendors can apply online for $10 at http:// commercialstreetnightmarket. com/vendors/.

Applications submitted before Aug. 3 will get priority, according to a news release from Sustainable Connections. Participation in the market costs $75 a night for food vendors and $35 a night for nonfood vendors.

The Night Market was a winning idea at KAPOW! The design competition sought ideas for inexpensive projects to enhance downtown. Ten out of 50 contestants went on to present their ideas at Bellingham’s sixth annual

also of Bellingham, is the electrical contractor/construction manager.

Local subcontractors will be able to bid and work on projects, Cocke said.

As far as commercial construction projects go, the renovation is huge for the industry but not the biggest local project in recent years, said Liz Evans, northern district manager for the state Association of General Contractors.

“It is a major project but we’ve had many projects that are that big,” she said.

Evans said jobs at Ferndale refineries are the “bread and butter” for local commercial contractors.

The last big construction project at Western was a renovation of Miller Hall, on red square. Renovation of the 134,000-square-foot building was also funded by the state and cost $51.5 million.

That project generated 277 direct jobs.

The Carver project has been in the works since 2007, when the state legislature approved pre-design funding. The legislature approved design funding for the project in July 2011, Cocke said. Western was

PechaKucha, where voters picked winners.

The market is a collaboration between Sustainable Connections, the City of Bellingham, Downtown Bellingham Partnership, Make.shift Art Space and Whatcom County Association of Realtors.

Canadian dollar drops to 77 cents after central bank cuts interest rate The Canadian dollar took another surprise dive on July 15 after Canada’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate to 0.5 percent.

The Canadian dollar was worth 77.1 cents at market close on Thursday, July 16, down from 78.6 cents at close on Tuesday, July 14.

It was the second time this year the Bank of Canada dropped the rate after keeping it at 1 percent for nearly four years. The cut is an attempt to boost the country’s economy by making corporate and consumer borrowing easier.

The cuts are a response to new estimates by the bank that show the country’s economy contracted in the first half of 2015, according to a Bank of Canada news release.

The Bank of Canada last cut its benchmark interest rate in January 2015 when it went from 1 percent to 0.75 percent. The cut resulted in the Canadian dollar falling to 81 cents, down from an average of about 86 cents in December 2014.

City accepting tourism

denied construction funding in 2013, but state legislators included it in the budget this year.

Out of the $70 million in funding, $6 million is in the form of “certificates of participation” that will need to be paid back over the next 10 to 20 years, Cocke said.

Other construction projects this summer at Western include roof repairs at the Performing Arts Center and renovations to Nash residence hall to bring it up to code.

The university’s next big project is will be renovating the Environmental Studies Center. Western’s Board of Trustees approved the predesign phase of the project on June 20, and construction is a few years out, Cocke said. The renovation and addition to the 41-year-old building will provide more classroom and instruction space to accommodate a growing number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) majors at Western, Cocke said.

The cost for that project is estimated at $92.1 million.

promotion grant applications The City of Bellingham is accepting applications for its 2016 tourism promotion grant program.

Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Friday September 11, 2015. The grant is competitive and applications are available in the city’s Planning and Community Development Department at Bellingham City Hall or on the city website at www.cob.org/ services/business/tourism-grants. aspx.

This program is designed to fund marketing and promotion for projects or events that bring tourists to Bellingham, according to a city press release.

Events that occur during the tourism off-season between October and May and applicants that partner with other agencies or events to reduce duplication of activities will get special consideration, the press release said.

Complete program eligibility requirements are in the application packet.

For questions about the grant program contact Shannon Taysi, in the planning and community development department, at staysi@cob.org or 360-778-8360.

Construction on $3.5 million memory care facility could start this summer Construction on a new memory care assisted living facility at 4400 Columbine Drive, near the intersection of Cordata Parkway

and West Stuart Road, could begin this summer.

Silverado Memory Care plans to build a community with 80 beds in a 41,000-square-foot facility on four acres. The facility is designed to care for people with a range of memory-impairing conditions including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lewy body and other types of dementia.

Silverado spokesperson David Gill said construction could start in a couple weeks and they hope to be open by the end of 2016.

Bellingham has several other memory care facilities. Sitker said the need for these facilities is growing as baby boomers age. Currently one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, according to an Alzheimer’s Association fact sheet.

The estimated value of the project’s construction is $3,454,157.

The project’s architect is James Brown with Wattenbarger Architects of Bellevue, and the engineer is Craig Parkinson with Bellingham-based Cascade Engineering, Gill said. The project doesn’t yet have a contractor.

Once up and running, the facility will employ about 80 people.

Silverado hasn’t set prices yet, but treatment at their facilities is all-inclusive and usually costs between $6,000 to $8,000 a month, Gill said.

For updates on the Bellingham project, check silveradocare.com/ bellingham.

Briefs, PAGE 8

8

The Bellingham Business Journal

August 2015

BRIEFS, FROM 7 Community Food Co-op Bakery open for business

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The Community Food Co-op’s new bakery and cafe opened Monday, July 13. The addition gives customers a place to grab to-go items and frees up space for increased production at the downtown and Cordata Community Food Co-op locations.

The Co-op Bakery, at 405 E. Holly St., across the street from the downtown co-op, is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m daily.

The cafe sells baked goods made in the new bakery, pre-prepared deli items, tea, coffee and espresso drinks.

The bakery isn’t just for to-go items; it also has inside seating and an outdoor patio overlooking the corner of East Holly and North Forest streets.

The addition gives the co-op more baking space and frees up space for increased deli production at its Cordata location, which will in-turn give more space to the meat and deli departments at the down-

town store, Steiger said.

The new building also houses community meeting space, administrative offices and a teaching kitchen for cooking classes.

Waddell & Reed move to larger Barkley office National financial advising and planning firm Waddell & Reed moved its Bellingham offices across town after outgrowing its old space.

The firm is hosting a grand opening at its new location from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 8, at 2122 Barkley Boulevard Suite 200. The firm’s old office was on the Guide Meridian.

Sixteen financial advisors work at the firm’s new office, according to a press release.

For more information on Waddell & Reed, call their office at 360-734-4728.

Chamber speakers to discuss business succession The next installment of the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s speaker

series will feature two speakers discussing the process of business succession planning.

The presentation starts at noon on Tuesday, Aug. 4 at the Bellingham Golf and Country Club.

Speakers Bob Sytsma and Justin Remaklus of VSH CPAs will discuss the process of selling a business including valuation and step-by-step planning. They will take questions from the audience throughout the presentation.

“The questions will raise specific issues that local businesses are facing and our expert panel will be able to provide guidance based on each individual’s question,” said chamber CEO Guy Occhiogrosso, in a press release.

The event costs $25 for chamber members and $35 for nonmembers and includes lunch. Alcoa Intalco Works and VSH CPAs are sponsors for the event.

RSVP online on the chamber’s website: www. bellingham.com, or call 360-734-1330

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August 2015

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The Bellingham Business Journal

Samish Bay shellfish business built one shovelful at a time

tractors are parked on a platform float, then driven down a ramp at low tide. A tractor and an ingenious harvesting tool also do the dirty work once performed by metal racks and human clam diggers.

As a team of Taylor employees work the tractor’s chute, guiding gliding white sandy clams into blue nets, Bill Taylor explains how they adopted a technique more common to tulip farmers down the road.

“We modified a machine used in Europe for harvesting tulip bulbs,” he says. “It creeps along the tidal flats raking up the clams, shaking the sand off of them and sending them to a bucket in the back.”

The method saves time, money and backs. “It can do the work of five to six people in half the time,” Dewey said. “The clams we had to still dig by hand so doing it this way is pretty unique. And seeding the clams makes the business much more predictable and we can inventory it better.”

What they can’t control is the natural rhythm of the ocean.

Every two weeks, there is a tidal cycle, so Samish Bay employees generally work 10 days on, four days off. They also only have a window of three to four hours out on the flats before their crop “fields” turn back into a bay for everyone’s use. Sometimes, that means hip-boot duty at 1 a.m. under moon light and head lamps.

BY PATRICIA GUTHRIE For the Bellingham Business Journal Bill Taylor looks out at Samish Bay as the waterline creeps lower and lower on a dreary overcast April day.

“When the tide goes out, what’s exposed, we own it,” he says peering out at a 5-acre chunk of muck. “It will go completely dry from the shore over to Samish Island,” he says pointing out from his rustic office located on a dead-end road off Chuckanut Drive in Bow, about 13 miles south of Bellingham.

As more of the gray bay is exposed, darkening tones of sand and sky seem to blend together, creating a double-image of still life along the tidal flats of the Pacific Northwest.

Low tide, high tide, minus tide.

Such cycles have marked the days and nights of Bill and his younger brother, Paul, for as long as they can remember, since the days that their father, Justin Taylor, began passing along the family business that began with ancestor J.Y. Waldrip.

“In Olympia, I grew up falling out of my Dad’s boat working out on the bay,” Bill recalls with a smile. “I was digging clams at age 6.”

Waldrip, a former frontiersman roaming from Arizona to Alaska to Alberta trying his hand as a gold miner, pharmacist, blacksmith, and Army horse breeder, settled on oystering with a 300-acre tideland title in the late 1880s.

Justin Taylor died in 2011 at the age of 90. He is remembered as a “humble giant,” the one who built the family venture into the nation’s largest shellfish-farming operation “one shovelful at a time.”

In his three children (including daughter Janet Pearson) he instilled an environmentalist ethic, teaching them the importance of water quality and conserving the ecosystem of Puget Sound.

Now, Justin Taylor, dressed in his ever-present work shirt, bill cap and waders greets visitors to Samish Bay Farm in the form of a metal sculpture attached to a wood piling.

Clam rake at the ready, coffee cup in hand, the memorial slips in and out with the tide, placing the patriarch at his favorite position “down on the flats.”

This small Skagit County shellfish operation, which includes a farm retail store of all things fresh and fishy, including Dungeness crab, salmon, halibut, and vats of oysters on ice, shucked and smoked, a few picnic tables and a grill available for alfresco outings, is just a sliver of the Taylor enter-

Above: Paul Taylor (left) and his brother, Bill, at Taylor Shellfish Farms on Samish Bay. Taylor Shellfish Company’s annual revenue is more than $60 million Right: Samish Bay tidal flats at Taylor Shellfish Farms. The Taylor Shellfish Company owns 11,000 acres of tideline in Washington state and British Columbia.

DIANE GUTHRIE PHOTOS | FOR THE BELLINGHAM BUSINESS JOURNAL

prise that’s spread from Hood Canal to Hong Kong.

Geoducks pack big bucks Familiar to locals by the simple company logo of a heron atop wood pilings, Taylor Shellfish is a fifth-generation family business proud of its rugged western Washington roots and long ties to land and water. But it’s also grown into a power player in the burgeoning business of bivalves — mussel farmers with some serious muscle.

Long the leading producer of manila clams, it’s now one of the biggest exporters of the Evergreen State’s strange claim-to-fame clam, the hefty, hilarious-looking geoduck, which is revered as a delicacy in China and Hong Kong.

“It’s mostly Asian communities that want the geoduck but we’re starting to see more going to white-tablecloth restaurants locally,” Bill Taylor explains. Not easy or fast to produce, the world’s largest burrowing clam requires six years to grow to market size and needs 6-inch diameter PVC pipes or mesh pipe to protect them. Then comes the fun part,

Hatchery to harvesting plunging an arm two to three-feet into the muck and pulling out the squirting mollusk by its neck.

Company spokesman Bill Dewey, who raises his own geoducks in a separate venture from the Taylors, has been talking a lot about the bizarre bivalve lately as the global press discovers Washington state’s King of Clams.

(Some of his descriptions are not suitable for family publications.)

“It’s eaten sashimi style, raw and sliced and it has a cucumber texture with a crunch,” says Dewey, “and it’s not particularly fishy.” It’s often sautéed, made into chowder or blanched in a broth, he says.

Tractors in the tidewaters The Taylors bought the property tidal rights to its Samish Bay operation in 1991 and converted the old farmstead into a clamming community of sorts.

(Shigoku oysters are also grown here on rafts while geoducks thrive in several locations.) Some 40 people are involved in the seeding, harvesting, transferring and selling of the net loads of clams that are scooped up by at low tide. To get to the center of

the clam farm requires proper timing and a boat — leaving the shore while there’s enough water for the boat, then anchoring and jumping out when the water is not above hip-wader high. The underside of the tide reveals rows and rows of metal netting that’s covering a crop of the small popular manila clams. As the tide continues receding, what was once a bay of water is now a mudflat pattern of green and gray that seems to extend into the horizon and beyond.

“When we grow the clams, we have to put a net over the top of them. We plant little tiny seeds through the net. In the spring, the net gets marine algae growing all over it so we sweep off the algae,” Bill Taylor explains, trudging through the rows. Using what? A street sweeper, of course, attached to the end of a tractor. The Taylors use tractors in aquaculture just as agricultural farmers do on land — for just about everything: Laying down four-feet wide nets in neat rows, sweeping the nets, and finally, harvesting the clams after about three years of incubating in the sand.

The one difference is these blue

Washington state is the largest producer of hatchery-reared and farmed shellfish in the United States. With more than 300 shellfish farms, it accounts for 25 percent of the nation’s total domestic production by weight, according to the Shellfish Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides scientific and technical information to the shellfish industry, government and public.

Washington state shellfish farmers own their tidal territory, unlike most states where tidelands are leased. Because of a state law passed 120 years ago, nearly 70 percent of the intertidal areas of the Puget Sound are privately owned. To address the need for access to coastal waters for transportation, oyster and clam farming and other water-oriented industry, the 1895 Washington Legislature passed the Bush Act and the Callow Act, authorizing the sale of public tidelands to private individuals. The sales continued until 1971, when the state began leasing tidelands for up to 55 years.

Of the 11,000 acres of tidelands

Shellfish, PAGE 10

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Taylor Shellfish Farms owns, about 20 to 30 percent is actively farmed.

Finding locations best suited for various types of oysters and clams is a large part of the company’s success. For instance, Kumamoto oysters, known for their distinctive green tinge and sweetness, grow best in Chapman’s Cove near Shelton, where three freshwater creeks enrich a tidal plateau. Totten Inlet in the south Puget Sound area is best for Olympia, Pacific

Shellfish has battled many environmental threats, starting with the near extinction of the native Olympia oyster from over harvesting and declining water quality conditions.

Once abundant in Willapa Bay and South Puget Sound, by the 1980s the Olympia oyster was all but shucked-out up and down the West Coast.

“By 1956, a pulp mill in Shelton had killed all oysters in the bay and that’s when we realized how important water quality is,” Bill Taylor said. “Then the shorelines were developed

SHELLFISH, FROM 9 and Virginica oysters. It’s also where the Taylors harvest mussels clinging onto rafts. In Willapa Bay in southwestern Washington along the Pacific Ocean, where the Taylor’s own 6,300 acres, they seed and harvest 90 percent of their total oyster production.

The wide expanses and tumbling tides of both Willapa and Samish Bays result in fatter, meatier oysters.

Protector or peril?

Over the years, Taylor

1983

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August 2015

in the 1960s and human pollution became a problem.”

His father was the first to recognize the threat of human activity on the native oyster and filed the first environmental lawsuit ever in Washington state against the pulp-mill industry. Taylor Shellfish Farms is credited with helping in the restoration efforts of Olympia oyster populations in South Puget Sound and with the resurgence in their popularity.

While Bill Taylor enjoys the challenge of raising the ornery Olympia oysters that need a specific water temperature, plenty of plankton, and three or four years for best cultivation, he’s also in it for the taste.

Of Olys — be they raw, shucked, smoked, sauteed — “there’s nothing better,” he says.

But Taylor Shellfish has also been criticized by environmental organizations and coastal communities concerned about the company’s growing footprint and its effect on tideland creatures.

In May, after an outcry from area chefs and customers, the company backed down from a plan to use a neurotoxin

approved by the state called imidacloprid to kill native shrimp burrowing into oyster beds of Willapa Bay. Its geoduck production is also considered a shoreline eyesore because of the PCV pipes used to stabilize the giant clams; Dewey says the company is moving toward mesh netting. Taylor Shellfish is one of many companies applying to the state’s Pilot Geoduck Aquaculture Program for additional plots to plant immature geoduck seeds, a plan that’s receiving some criticism.

The company’s biggest threat arrived in the summer of 2009. Millions of oyster larvae suddenly died around Washington state hatcheries, dropping production by 80 percent and costing the industry an estimated $110 million.

The cause? Ocean acidification, which occurs when oceans absorb carbon dioxide emissions.

“The oceans surface waters have become 30 percent more acid,” says Dewey, calling it the biggest threat to seafood around the globe. In 2013, the state allotted funds for ocean acidification research.

Taylor Shellfish has since invested in $45,000 in sophisticated monitoring

Pollution, pests and press calls. These are just a few of the pressures facing Taylor Shellfish executives daily.

The company owns and operates the entire process of the shellfish they sell from hatchery to harvests to hardy servings of steaming clams. It just opened its third restaurant in Seattle in Pioneer Square adding to its Capitol Hill and Lower Queen Anne oyster bars.

With 500 employees in multiple locations around the state, business contracts around the country and world, and an annual revenue of $60 million, there’s a lot more to Taylor Shellfish Farms than is revealed at its quaint picturesque locale down a gravel road off Chuckanut Drive.

Or as Bill Taylor puts in the understated Taylor family way, the shellfish business “is a little more complicated that just digging for clams.”

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August 2015

PORT NEWS

Maritime Industry Economic Impact & Infrastructure Improvements

Sponsored content provided by Port of Bellingham

Marine trades are a critical part of the region’s economy and culture and the Port is making multi-million dollar infrastructure investments to support the continued growth of Whatcom County’s diverse waterfront industries. According to an economic impact study of Port operations, marine trades tenant activity supports over 2,600 direct jobs, $122 million in direct income and provides over $18 million in taxes.

Two of Whatcom County’s largest waterfront employers, All American Marine and Fairhaven Shipyard’s Puglia Engineering, are based out of the Port’s 8-acre marine industrial property in Fairhaven. These companies provide over 150 familywage jobs for Whatcom County residents. Not only do maritime activities like vessel construction, ship repair, and commercial fishing provide a significant number of jobs, they are good paying familywage jobs, averaging $70,800 to the statewide median pay of $52,000.

To help create and safeguard working waterfront jobs, the Port is scheduled to build All American Marine a new 39,000 square foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility allowing the company to build larger vessels and hire an additional 27 employees. The cost of the building will be repaid through a new 25-year lease with the Port.

The Port is also budgeting for the $7.6 million replacement of a wooden pier which is used by Fairhaven Shipyard, but is under heavy load restrictions. The removal of the pier will allow for the comprehensive cleanup of contaminated sediments underneath followed by replacement with a new pier which has an increased load capacity to better meet the needs of Fairhaven Shipyard.

Just north of property leased by All American Marine and Fairhaven Shipyard, demand is high from water-oriented businesses for work space at the Port’s Fairhaven Marine

million dollar cleanup of three statelisted cleanup sites to support the redevelopment of this property and create new marine trades jobs.

The Port’s ongoing investments in infrastructure, dock improvements and environmental cleanup will ensure marine trades remain an important part of Whatcom County’s economy well into the future.

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Industrial Park (FMIP). The Port recently completed a $1 million waterline replacement project and restored the decking and bracing at the FMIP Haul-out Pier in support of its marine industrial tenants.

In the middle of August, barges and cranes arrive to start work on a $30.6 million project to clean-up the Whatcom Waterway on Bellingham’s central waterfront. This project includes the installation of new bulkheads, pilings and docks on the north side of the Whatcom Waterway to support ongoing marine trade activities, including a barge terminal and a boatyard. On the south side of the waterway, the project will result in increased navigation depth for cargo ships and other ocean-going vessels calling at the Bellingham Shipping Terminal. Following the Whatcom Waterway project, the Port plans to continue the redevelopment and cleanup work on the uplands in the adjacent C street terminal and Shipping Terminal areas to further enhance the marine trades industry and working waterfront.

The Port recently completed structural piling and electrical upgrades to a sawtooth pier in Squalicum Harbor which allows commercial fishermen to drive vehicles out to their boats and conveniently load and unload gear.

Commercial fishing creates 1,781

direct jobs and generates $320 million in revenue from purchases by the fishing fleet at the Port’s marinas.

The Port has over 100 slips set aside in Squalicum Harbor for commercial fishing vessels and can accommodate an additional 100 commercial fishing vessels in Blaine Harbor.

The west end of Blaine Harbor is reserved for marine-related commercial and industrial uses, and the Port is leading the multi-

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MEETINGS: 3 p.m. on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month.

Agendas are on the Port website.

THE PORT OPERATES: Bellingham International Airport Bellingham Cruise Terminal Squalicum Harbor Blaine Harbor Fairhaven Marine Industrial Park Bellwether on the Bay Shipping Terminal Airport Industrial Park Sumas Industrial Park

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MARIJUANA, FROM 1 retailers by more than four to one—the board has issued 751 producer and producer/processor licenses, but just 180 retailer licenses. And only 159 of those are currently reporting sales.

There is plenty of marijuana to go around for retailers. That situation has reversed from a year ago, when retail stores couldn’t keep product on their shelves.

Danielle Rosellison, community relations director for Trail Blazin’ Productions, a growing and processing business in Bellingham’s Irongate neighborhood, thinks more retail stores are necessary for the amount of marijuana being grown in the state.

But she fears the Liquor and Cannabis Board won’t issue enough new licenses to serve the market.

“I foresee the possibility of July 2016 as a bottleneck and hope that not too many medical patients are negatively affected,” Rosellison said in an email.

Leveling the playing field

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Some local retailers are looking forward to July 2016 in hopes that it will give them access to more customers. That’s the case for Aaron Nelson, senior vice president of operations for 2020 Solutions, which has two recreational stores in Bellingham. Nelson wishes the new law would take effect sooner, he said.

Currently six recreational stores are reporting sales in Bellingham, according to Liquor and Cannanbis Board data, and about eight medical stores, said Kurt Nabbefeld, City of Bellingham senior planner.

Todd Russell, co-owner of Healthy Liv-

The Bellingham Business Journal ing Center, a medical marijuana stores at 2118 James St., in Bellingham, hopes to obtain a recreational license and thinks the change will be good for his bottom line for the same reason Nelson does—access to more customers.

“Our market is sick people,” he said. “We probably send 20 to 30 people a day to 2020 Solutions.”

Medical marijuana is Russell’s passion and he fears the new law will make it harder for his patients to get their medicine, he said. The shop’s reception area has a guest book filled with patient stories about marijuana helping with ailments including Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, cancer and PTSD. “I wish people would really truly understand that there are sick people out there who are helped by cannabis,” Russell said.

“We’ve had a plethora of patients die.”

Dispensaries in limbo Russell is preparing for the new law by converting an unused room in the shop into a retail area with display counters and a separate entrance. He thinks the configuration would work well for serving both medical and recreational customers, but he doesn’t know yet how the licensing process will work.

Who will get licenses, how stores could obtain a “medical endorsement” and other rules are still being ironed out by the state Liquor and Cannabis Control Board, said Brian Smith, communications director for the agency.

He expects the state to be taking new license applications from medical dispensaries by January 2016, he said.

Until then, Healthy Living Center and other medical businesses are in limbo.

“We want to know. We’re chomping at

the bit, talking everyday about what we need to do to remain a viable business for the community and for our employees,” Russell said. “We have an enormous amount of money tied up in this business.”

The bill, HB 5052, set out a list of priorities for which medical stores should get new licenses. It gives first priority to medical dispensaries that applied for a marijuana retailer license before July 1, 2014 and who have operated or been employed by a collective garden since before November 6, 2012. Next in line will be applicants who were operating or employed by a collective garden before November 6, 2012 but have not previously applied for a marijuana license.

But how many, and whether there will be local limits to the number of licenses issued is still unknown.

Several Bellingham dispensaries, including Healthy Living Center, applied for a retail license before July 1, 2014 out of concern about changing laws and regulation.

“It was out of fear, it really was,” Russell said about his store’s retail license application. “We are glad we applied.”

Hugh Newmark almost applied for a retail license, but decided not to. In response to the new law, Newmark, owner of Best Buds, a medical dispensary with two locations in Bellingham, co-sponsored an initiative that would keep medical marijuana as a separate system. The initiative didn’t get enough signatures for the November ballot.

“If I could go back I’d apply for a license,” Newmark said. “I never wanted to be a recreational store. Why would I have applied for a 502 license back then?”

Newmark thinks giving future licensing priority to dispensaries that applied for

August 2015 recreational licenses before July 2014 will result in a lack of shops that are focused on medical patients once the new law takes effect, he said.

Jeff Clark, owner of Top Shelf Collective medical dispensary, hopes to stay in business though he only meets half the board’s guidelines—he wasn’t operating before November 6, 2012.

Clark is an oddity in the medical marijuana business because he supported regulation for the industry. Clark set out to open a recreational store. When his retail license application wasn’t drawn in the lottery, he opened a dispensary.

“I opened up because otherwise I would have went broke and wouldn’t have been able to keep this building,” Clark said.

Though Clark didn’t intend to get into medical marijuana, he thinks patients need access to marijuana.

“I’m in favor of regulation, but I am in favor of medical marijuana as well,” Clark said. “I don’t want to see the medical marijuana patients who need and rely on marijuana as a medicine to be left out and hurt by this.”

Rule changes likely not over In addition to HB 5052, which folded the medical system into the recreational market, state legislature also passed a bill that changed the excise tax structure.

Originally, marijuana was taxed at 25 percent in each step of the supply chain: from grower to processor, processor to retailer and retailer to consumer.

Under the new law, which took effect in July 2014, the product is taxed at 37 percent, but only in the final sale to the

Marijuana, PAGE 21

August 2015

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The Bellingham Business Journal

Sponsored content provided by Loni Rahm, and Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism.

Making Observations through the Eyes of a Visitor signage that gets visitors from point “A” to point “B” effortlessly, and provide products and services that intrigue visitors to spend more time, which ultimately results in spending more dollars. Tourism is, after all, an industry of commerce, job creation and economic development.

Some of the observations reflected the areas of potential confusion to first time visitors. Did you know, for example, that signage along I-5 highlights the WWU sculpture exhibit but once you leave the freeway, there are no follow up signs to guide you?

That Chuckanut Drive is referred to as Chuckanut Drive in signage until you get to the point where you actually need to turn left from Fairhaven Parkway and then it’s referred to only as Hwy. 11? You and I know they are one and the same – but someone unfamiliar with the region probably doesn’t.

And some of the observations reflected areas of neglect that discourage visitors from stopping.

Roger’s team cited examples ranging from weeds covering signs, overgrown shrubs at scenic viewpoints, park kiosks that list only restrictions and warnings without one message of welcome, let alone a take along trail map.

The process was eye-opening.

And it’s a process we are happy to share with everyone. We filmed the presentation which will be available to download from our website – bellingham.org – in approximately 3-4 weeks. We will also provide a link from the same website to the findings and observation report from Roger Brooks International which should be finished in 60-75 days.

If you would like personal notification of either of these information resources once they are available, please contact angie@ bellingham.org. In the meantime, I encourage you to take a look at how we present our home to expected and spontaneous guests, and do whatever you can as a resident, community leader, or business owner to enhance our visitor hospitality.

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Which is easier? Knowing that company is coming? Or opening the door to find an unexpected guest on your front porch?

When I know in advance, I can scurry around in a frenzy of cleaning and shopping to make sure my home is tidy and welcoming. For the record, our house is well-lived in (dogs, kids, normal life) so this tidiness is only a facade that barely lasts long enough for the guest(s) to walk in the door, but it makes me feel better. The expectation of an anticipated guest is that we have prepared, in some way, for their arrival.

My spontaneous guests pretty much have to take what they can get. I may or may not have a bottle of local wine.

I may or may not have fresh towels in the guest bathroom. I may or may not have put away enough folded laundry to create a space on the couch for them to sit down. This guest has entered my reality zone environment. We will enjoy the visit regardless because their expectation is probably more casual.

Visitors to our “community home” represent both scenarios. They are simultaneously invited guests and spontaneous ones. We know they are coming because our area is a popular tourism destination. We also know they arrive spontaneously – even though the “instant” decision to visit may have been motivated by months, possibly years of growing awareness of our region’s activities and amenities. We absolutely know they have expectations for the experience we will deliver once they arrive at our house.

So, how are we stacking up?

Recently, community members were provided with a no-holdsbarred secret-shopper/community assessment presentation by Roger Brooks International. Roger and his team spent more than a week in and around Bellingham, viewing our communities through the eyes of a first-time visitor.

Some of the observations reflected the efforts of individual businesses, municipalities and organizations to create welcoming spaces, develop

TH R O N T

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August 2015

Bellingham Pinball Collective: repair wizards own and maintain local machines Pinball’s popularity is growing in Bellingham and around the world

BY OLIVER LAZENBY The Bellingham Business Journal

1372117

Heather Seevers’ income depends partly on unsticky flippers, bumpers with fresh rubber and coin slots that don’t jam.

She owns and maintains pinball machines parked in Bellingham hangouts.

If their parts don’t work, Seevers, a self-described nerd with a strong opinion on the best comic book shop in town, doesn’t collect her paycheck from their coin slots.

Revenue rolls in 25 cents at a time for Seevers and her business partner Collin Topolski, who formed the Bellingham Pinball Collective in 2014. In June, the collective got much busier and started collecting a lot more quarters, which they split 60/40 with venue owners, when the owners of The Shakedown opened an attached bar and pinball lounge at 1220 N. State St. The 14 pinball machines that light up the dark second floor of the new bar, called The Racket, more than tripled the number of machines the collective has around town, as well as its earning potential. So far, pinball is popular at The Racket, Seevers said.

“I’m not planning any tropical vacations yet but I

Pinball machines line the second floor of The Racket, a new bar and pinball lounge at 1220 N. State St. The Bellingham Pinball Collective owns and maintains pinball machines at The Racket and other local hangouts. [OLIVER LAZENBY PHOTO | THE BELLINGHAM BUSINESS JOURNAL] think I’m going to be able to pay my dental bill,” she said.

The Bellingham Pinball Collective also has machines at The Shakedown, McKay’s Taphouse and The Swillery Whiskey Bar. Seevers put her first public pinball machine in the second floor of The Shakedown in 2012. It was a hit with the venue’s owners, which includes Seevers’ husband, Marty Watson.

The Shakedown is known for being a rock concert venue. The addition of pinball tables to the bar gave the space another dimension.

“The number of people who were in The Shakedown when there wasn’t a

show increased.” Seevers said. “Suddenly, people were hanging out upstairs” The Shakedown’s owners Hollie Huthman, Spencer Willows and Watson opened The Racket to give concertgoers an escape from the music and give other customers an admission-free place to go during concerts.

When the owners first toured the space, which is next door to The Shakedown, and saw the narrow room upstairs they thought it would be perfect for more pinball machines and a permanent home for the Bellingham Pinball Collective, Seevers said.

Maintaining the machines

Seevers visits The Racket daily. After cleaning the glass on all the pinball machines she pulls out her repair kit, which includes a hydraulic pump, a soldering kit, and a toolbox packed with cotton swabs, Allen wrenches, sockets and other tools.

Donning a headlamp, she slides the glass off a machine based off of the 1994 film “The Shadow,” puts its four steel balls in a plastic tube for safekeeping and raises the machine’s playing field to reveal a web of wires and circuitry underneath.

The machine’s diverter, a wedge at the top of a ramp that can move back and forth to send the ball one way or another, is broken.

The diverter and the extra set of buttons that control it make “The Shadow” one of the more needy machines.

“I love it so much but it breaks my heart because it is so finicky,” Seevers said about “The Shadow.”

The problem is a faulty screw. Many pinball parts need to be ordered online, but Seevers hoped to find the screw at Hardware Sales.

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(360) 734-1330 www.bellingham.com

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Bellingham / Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry : Representing Businesses Across Whatcom County

An Update from the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry

DelBene visits Chamber’s GA committee

The Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry welcomed Congresswoman Suzan DelBene as a guest speaker to the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee on July 6 to give the committee a legislative update. DelBene’s presentation included an update on the federal budget, the recently enacted Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the financial impacts of the Greek economy crisis, immigration, tax reform, health care, EPA regulations regarding water rights, and cross border issues.

The primary topic of discussion was the City of Bellingham’s proposed paid leave ordinance. The committee voted that the Chamber should take a stance on the proposed ordinance. However, Chamber President/ CEO Guy Occhiogrosso said that more time was needed before the Chamber could take a position on the issue as it was proposed one business day prior to the committee meeting.

In addition, the Chamber will be polling its members to gain input from their individual business’ perspective.

“As a Chamber of Commerce, it is our responsibility to advocate for business-friendly policies. Our member businesses will have a chance to weigh in on this issue,” said Occhiogrosso. Businesses are encouraged to email the Chamber at info@bellingham.com.

The Government Affairs committee is a group of industry leaders that help to develop Chamber policy regarding certain politically charged issues. Committee members represent a wide variety of industries including agriculture, automotive, construction, education, financial, hotel, health care, large and small

PRESENTED BY

260 TOBACCO & FINE SPIRITS&

BELLINGHAM/WHATCOM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

CELEBRATE BELLINGHAM’S CRAFT BEER CULTURE!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 10 A.M. — 8 P.M .

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Suzan DelBene

retail, oil & gas refinery, marijuana, manufacturing, transportation & shipping, technology, and tourism. Their combined knowledge and experience help to provide input and guidance on political issues.

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CHAMBER GOLF CLASSIC Presented by Lummi Indian Business Council

Friday, August 28 Shuksan Golf Course Register your team at events.com

Must be 21 or older to enter beer garden

12:00 p.m.

Registration & Lunch from Applebee’s 1:00 p.m.

Shotgun Start 6:00 p.m.

Awards & Dinner Foursomes: $400 Early Bird Rate Individual golfers: $120

The Bellingham Business Journal

August 2015

PINBALL, FROM 14 Pulling the plunger

1374359

16

Seevers bought her first pinball machine four years ago. She gradually got into the business of operating pinball machines in bars and restaurants because she needed an excuse to keep buying machines, she said.

Seevers buys most of her machines from collectors, who form a tight community. The story of Seevers first machine exemplifies the way collectors go about getting the machines they seek, she said.

Seevers traded her first game, “Jurassic Park,” for a machine with a “Terminator 2” theme. She then sold “Terminator 2” to a friend after deciding the game didn’t have enough depth. She later bought the machine back, only to trade it for one based on the 1995 film “Congo.” (“There’s a long history of bad movies becoming cool games,” she said). The collective has since acquired a different “Jurassic Park” machine.

Pinball is growing more popular and Seevers hopes its resurgence will allow her to quit one or two of the

Heather Seevers working on a pinball machine at The Racket, a new bar and pinball lounge at 1220 N. State St. [OLIVER LAZENBY PHOTO | THE BBJ]

other jobs she’s juggling: She teaches a knitting class, works at Artwood Gallery in Fairhaven and NW Handspun Yarns downtown, designs jewelry and hosts a monthly geek trivia night at The Shakedown.

Her work experience transfers well to repairing pinball machines.

“All of my past skills have

kind of led up to it — my metal fabrication skills, my soldering skills, my woodworking skills, those five years of sculpture in art school,” Seevers said. “It’s kind of a weird thing but it’s a really good fit.”

But mostly she learned

Pinball, PAGE 21

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17

The Bellingham Business Journal

August 2015

We are local. We are small business. We are the professionals.

We live, work and play here in Whatcom County.

Our member businesses provide thousands of local family wage jobs.

Our combined economic impact strengthens neighborhoods throughout Whatcom County.

August 2015

May 2014

Sponsored content by BIAWC

Sponsored content by BIAWC

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A private, not-for-profit, trade organization of builders, remodelers and other businesses related to the home building and construction industry.

We are local. We are small business. We are the professionals.

We live, work and play here in Whatcom County.

Our member businesses provide thousands of local family wage jobs.

Our combined economic impact strengthens neighborhoods throughout Whatcom County.

BIAWC has long believed and affirmed:

Homeownership can and should be within reach of every American family. American homes should be well designed, well constructed, and well located in attractive communities with educational, recreational, religious and shopping facilities accessible to all.

American homes should be built under the American free enterprise system.

We support and encourage Smart Growth:

Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective.

Strengthen and direct development within existing communities.

Create a range of housing opportunities and choices.

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Mix land uses. Utilize impact building design.

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18

The Bellingham Business Journal

August 2015

Public Records BUSINESS LICENSES Listings, which feature both new and renewed licenses in Bellingham, include business name, licensee name and the business’ physical address.

Records are obtained from the City of Bellingham.

Business licenses could not be obtained in time for print this month.

BUILDING PERMITS Includes commercial building activity in Bellingham with an estimated valuation listed at $10,000 or more. Records are obtained from the City of Bellingham’s Permit Center. Status updates on permits are available on the city’s website at http:// pnw.cc/sVCen. 6/15/15 to 6/19/15 Permits issued PA Western Washington University, $260,000 for commercial: removal of existing roof/insulation system and installation of new roof/insulation system above lightweight concrete deck. Contractor: CDK Construction Services. Permit No.: BLD2015-00105.

6/15/15.

110 Flora St., $25,000 for commercial: construct new service entrance off alley: First Baptist Church.

Contractor: Lummi Nation Construction Co. LLC. BLD2015-00219. 6/17/15.

1616 Cornwall Ave. 111, $24,900 for tenant improvement: interior remodel of existing office: Boys and Girls Club. Contractor: Braam Construction. Permit No.: BLD2015-00229. 6/18/15.

1200 Lincoln St., $91,000 for commercial alteration: renovate clubhouse kitchen: Lakeway Mobile Estates.

John Piazza Jr. Construction & Remodel. Permit No.: BLD2015-00209. 6/18/15.

1420 N. State St., $115,000 for tenant improvement: establish new microbrewery and tap room in existing tenant space: State St. Brewery. Permit No.: BLD201500192. 6/19/15.

Pending applications 845 Viking Circle, $374,047 for foundation only for a new 16-unit multifamily building (building type E).

Permit No.: BLD2015-00251. 6/15/15.

835 Viking Circle, $374,047 for foundation only for a new 16-unit multifamily building (building type E).

Permit No.: BLD2015-00250. 6/15/15.

805 Viking Circle, $374,047 for foundation only for a new 16-unit multifamily building (building type E).

Permit No.: BLD2015-00249. 6/15/15.

845 Viking Circle, $1,496,190 for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type E). Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00247.

6/15/15.

835 Viking Circle, $1,496,190 for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type E). Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00246.

6/15/15.

805 Viking Circle, $1,496,190 for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type E). Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00245.

6/15/15.

4400 Columbine Drive, E-file: $3,454,157 for new 41,206-square-foot memory care facility: Silverado Care. Permit No.: BLD2015-00255. 6/17/15.

804-812 W. Bakerview Road, $18,000 for four new CMU retaining walls. Permit No.: BLD2015-00256.

6/17/15.

CV Western Washington University, $36,728,746 for commercial: complete renovation and addition: Carver Academic. Permit No.: BLD2014-00574.

6/17/15.

3123 Old Fairhaven Parkway, $57,000 for tenant improvement: interior remodel for new restaurant: Subway. Permit No.: BLD2015-00263. 6/18/15.

Primrose Lane, $20,000 for constructing ecology block retaining walls on both sides of pedestrian trail extending approximately 120’ north from bridge structure. Permit No.: BLD2015-00265. 6/19/15.

Primrose Lane, $120,000 for constructing a 75’ pedestrian bridge across Baker Creek. Permit No.: BLD2015-00264. 6/19/15.

Demolition permits None for this date range.

6/22/15 to 6/26/15 Permits issued AH Western Washington University, $10,000 for commercial: demo and rebuild portions of concrete floor and roof for access to install new transformer.

Contractor: Dutton Electric Company Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00205. 6/22/15.

4173 Meridian St., $20,000 for tenant improvement: removal of stage and reconfiguration of storage areas and coffee, storage and removal of stage: Christ the King. Permit No.: BLD2015-00242. 6/23/15.

3033 Coolidge Drive, $2,500,000 for commercial: 5,882-square-foot addition and remodel to existing elementary school. Contractor: Faber Construction Corp. Permit No.: BLD2015-00164. 6/24/15.

4349 Water Lily LP, $526,022 for new three-story multifamily building. Contractor: Grandview North LLC. Permit No.: BLD2014-00455. 6/24/15.

1041 24th St., $15,000 for new retaining walls for Happy Valley Elementary School Replacement.

Contractor: Tiger Construction LTD. Permit No.: BLD2015-00175. 6/25/15.

1041 24th St., $8,214,000 for new two-story replacement of elementary school on existing site: Happy Valley Elementary. Contractor: Tiger Construction LTD. Permit No.: BLD2015-00066.

6/25/15.

Pending applications 200 E. Maple St. 101, $110,000 for tenant improvement: new tenant in existing building: Naan and Brew. Permit No.: BLD2015-00266. 6/22/15.

800 Viking Circle, $2,734,041 for new clubhouse for student housing complex to include fitness center, offices, a model unit, lounges, reception, cafe and 8-unit apartment (building type A). Permit No.: BLD2014-00273. 6/25/15.

1220 N. Forest St., $325,000 for tenant improvement: renovation of existing space with new seating in mezzanine, kitchen remodel with new exterior freezer, exit landing above new ADA restrooms.

Permit No.: BLD2015-00275. 6/26/15.

1504 Iowa St., $155,000 for tenant improvement: addition of restaurant in existing gym: Place Sociale.

Permit No.: BLD2015-00160. 6/26/15.

3217 Squalicum Parkway, $1,400,000 for tenant improvement: remodel of one-story building.

Addition of approximately 2,000 square feet to include classroom, therapeutic pool and associated patient changing/shower areas. Permit No.: BLD2015-00273.

6/26/15.

870 Viking Circle, $2,377,074 for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Permit No.: BLD2014-00240. 6/26/15.

860 Viking Circle, $2,377,074 for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Permit No.: BLD2014-00239. 6/26/15.

830 Viking Circle, $2,377,074 for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Permit No.: BLD2014-00238. 6/26/15.

820 Viking Circle, $2,377,074 for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Permit No.: BLD2014-00237. 6/26/15.

810 Viking Circle, $2,377,074 for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Permit No.: BLD2014-00234. 6/26/15.

865 Viking Circle, $4,307,747 for new 32-unit multifamily building (building type C). Permit No.: BLD2014-00233. 6/26/15.

855 Viking Circle, $4,307,747 for new 32-unit multifamily building (building type C). Permit No.: BLD2014-00232. 6/26/15.

807 Viking Circle, $4,307,747 for new 32-unit multifamily building (building type C). Permit No.: BLD2014-00229. 6/26/15.

Demolition permits None for this date range.

6/29/15 to 7/3/15 Permits issued 4029 Northwest Ave. 201, $20,000 for commercial alteration: demolish 3 interior walls to create larger rooms. Contractor: Pearson Construction Corp. Permit No.: BLD2015-00261. 6/29/15.

OM Western Washington University, $25,000 for educational: add walls and doors to create two new offices at OM 245. Permit No.: BLD2015-00232.

6/29/15.

306 W. Holly St., $143,490 for tenant improvement: more service counter, add new bathroom. Contractor: Pearson Construction Corp. Permit No.: BLD201500212. 6/29/15.

306 W. Holly St., $90,000 for commercial: removal of existing roofing to roof deck. Install new plywood, insulation and membrane roofing. Contractor: Pearson Construction Corp. Permit No.: BLD2015-00208.

6/29/15.

1711 Carolina St., $10,500 for constructing roofs over existing decks of multifamily building. Permit No.: BLD2015-00195. 6/29/15.

4090 Meridian St., $27,504 for tenant improvement: interior renovations to create a private consult room adjacent to pharmacy: Walgreens. Contractor: Modern Construction and Consulting. Permit No.: BLD201500136. 6/29/15.

3121 Squalicum Parkway, $950,000 for commercial: interior renovation of skilled nursing facility. Contractor: LCG Pence LLC. Permit No.: BLD2014-00519. 6/29/15.

4345 Water Lily LP, $526,022 for new three-story multifamily building. Contractor: Grandview North LLC. Permit No.: BLD2014-00456. 6/30/15.

1 Bellis Fair Parkway 608, $100,000 for tenant improvement retail store: Earthbound Trading Co. Contractor: Avast Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00206.

7/1/15.

1616 Cornwall Ave. 115, $58,000 for tenant improvement: remodel suite for staff offices: Interfaith.

Contractor: Faber Construction Corp. Permit No.: BLD2015-00188. 7/2/15.

1616 Cornwall Ave. 205, $1,178,960 for tenant improvement: second floor renovation to add behavioral health and dental offices: Interfaith.

Contractor: Faber Construction Corp. Permit No.: BLD2015-00187. 7/2/15.

920 Lakeway Drive, $486,916 for commercial: expansion of Fred Meyer fuel center. Contractor: Joe Hall Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2014-00358.

7/2/15.

Pending applications 4104 Bakerview Spur, $3,291,793 for commercial: new 34,402-square-foot pre-engineered metal building for warehouses and offices. Contractor: Wellman & Zuck Construction LLC. Permit No.: BLD2015-00185. 6/29/15.

4051 Hammer Drive, $68,000 for tenant improvement: new marijuana growing facility. Permit No.: BLD3015-00281. 6/30/15.

1270 Barkley Boulevard, $72,288 for tenant improvement: new branch bank. Permit No.: BLD201500211. 7/1/15.

808 W. Bakerview Road, $90,000 for Stormwater detention vault (vault #2). Permit No.: BLD201500285. 7/2/15.

804 W. Bakerview Road, $110,000 for stormwater detention vault (vault #1). Permit No.: BLD201500284. 7/2/15.

110 Park Ridge Road. $20,000 for educational: new portable classroom: Fairhaven Middle School. Permit No.: BLD2015-00238. 7/2/15.

2713 Alderwood Ave., $20,000 for educational: new portable classroom: Shuksan Middle School. Permit No.: BLD2015-00237. 7/2/15.

Demolition permits None for this date range.

7/6/15 to 7/10/15 Issued permits 424 14th St., $69,875 for commercial: reroof of condo buildings with TPO membrane. Contractor: Hytech Roofing Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00295. 7/8/15.

800 Viking Circle, $546,808 for foundation only: new clubhouse for student housing complex to include fitness center, offices, a model unit, lounges, reception, cafe and 8-unit apartment units (building type A). Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00289. 7/9/15.

1504 Iowa St., $155,000 for tenant improvement: addition of restaurant in existing gym: Place Sociale.

Contractor: Eagle Contracting/STL bldg inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00160. 7/9/15. pending applications 2101 Woburn St., $44,760 for commercial: Install

two 40’6” sections of 17” tall cantilever racking in warehouse. Permit No.: BLD2015-00214. 7/7/15.

1313 N. State St., $1,444,300 for tenant improvement: renovation of existing building into multi-use building. Contractor: Franklin Corporation.

Permit No.: BLD2015-00294. 7/7/15.

2901 Squalicum Parkway first floor, $20,000 for commercial: add 15’ of non-bearing wall to divide medical library space. Contractor: Scoboria Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00296. 7/9/15.

2106 Pacific St., $40,000 for tenant improvement: interior work for wholesale liquor store: Young’s Market. Permit No.: BLD2015-00300. 7/10/15.

1313 N. State St., $30,000 for partial demolition of existing building to support renovation. Contractor: Franklin Corporation. 7/7/15.

Demolition permits None with an estimated value of $10,000 or more for this date range.

7/13/15 to 7/17/15 Issued permits 870 Viking Circle, $475,414 for foundation only for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00293. 7/13/15.

860 Viking Circle, $475,414 for foundation only for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00292. 7/13/15.

820 Viking Circle, $475,414 for foundation only for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00291. 7/13/15.

810 Viking Circle, $475,414 for foundation only for new 16-unit multifamily building (building type B). Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00290. 7/13/15.

2713 Alderwood Ave., $40,000 for educational: interior modification, enclosing open classroom and one small office. Contractor: Dawson Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00276. 7/13/15.

2900 Yew St., $20,000 for educational: new portable classroom: Roosevelt Elementary. Contractor: Acc-USet Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00239.

7/13/15.

110 Park Ridge Road, $20,000 for educational: new portable classroom: Fairhaven Middle School.

Contractor: Acc-U-Set Construction Inc. Permit No.: Permit No.: BLD2015-00238. 7/13/15.

2713 Alderwood Ave., $20,000 for educational: New portable classroom: Shuksan Middle School.

Contractor: Acc-U-Set Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD015-00237. 7/13/15.

1 Bellis Fair Parkway 504, $70,000 for tenant improvement: interior remodel for new restaurant in food court: Express Japan. Permit No.: BLD201500237. 7/13/15.

2005 Alpine Way 101, $85,000 for tenant improvement: new facility for growing and processing retail cannabis: West Coast Cannabis Co. Permit No.: BLD2015-00231. 7/15/15.

1919 Broadway St., $23,230 for commercial: remove bur roofing assembly and replace with TPO membrane. Contractor: Hytech Roofing Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00305. 7/17/15.

2410 James St., $45,000 for tenant improvement: relocate manager’s work station, install two new checkstands, & install rooftop curb for new condenser for walk-in cooler (separate mechanical permits req’d).

Contractor: J Hughes Construction Inc. Permit No.: BLD2015-00282. 7/17/15.

900 C St., $1,490,200 for commercial: install new Maple Street bulkhead as part of the Whatcom Waterway Cleanup in phase 1 site areas remedial action. Contractor: American Construction. Permit No.: BLD2015-00218. 7/17/15.

4333 Water Lily LP, $480,976 for new three-story multifamily building with three units. Contractor: Grandview North LLC. Permit No.: BLD2014-00510.

7/17/15.

4360 Fuchsia Drive, $580,469 for new threestory, four-unit multifamily building with attached garages. Contractor: Grandview North LLC. Permit No.: BLD2014-00469. 7/17/15.

4354 Fuchsia Drive, $580,469 for new threestory, four-unit multifamily building with attached

garages. Contractor: Grandview North LLC. Permit No.: BLD2014-00468. 7/17/15.

4341 Water Lily LP, $526,022 for new three-story, four-unit multifamily building. Contractor: Grandview North LLC, Permit No.: BLD2014-00458. 7/17/15.

4335 Water Lily LP, $526,022 for new three-story, four-unit multifamily building. Contractor: Grandview North LLC, Permit No.: BLD2014-00457. 7/17/15.

4335 Water Lily LP, $526,022 for new three-story, four-unit multifamily building. Contractor: Grandview North LLC, Permit No.: BLD2014-00455. 7/17/15.

Pending applications 3123 Old Fairhaven Parkway, $57,000 for tenant improvement: interior remodel for new restaurant.

Permit No.: BLD2015-00263. 7/16/15.

1400 Cornwall Ave., $160,000 for tenant improvement: remodel of retail pharmacy includes new storefront glazing. Permit No.: BLD2015-00304.

7/16/15.

4104 Bakerview Spur, $3,291,793 for commercial: new 34,302-square-foot pre-engineered metal building for warehouse and offices. Contractor: Wellman & Zuck Construction, LLC. Permit No.: BLD2015-00185. 7/16/15.

1125 N. Garden St., $678,660 for multi-family: expansion of the service care use. Permit No.: BLD2015001167. 7/16/15.

468 W. Horton Road, $126,000 for commercial: installation of walk-in freezer with racking inside and outside of freezer. Permit No.: BLD2015-00157.

7/17/15.

Demolition permits No permits have been issued for this date range.

FEDERAL TAX LIENS

Tax liens of $5,000 or more issued by the Internal Revenue Service. Listings include taxpayer name(s), lien amount, document number and filing date.

Records are obtained locally from the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office.

Federal tax liens Innovative Industrial Constructors Inc., $432,627.01, 2150603784, 6/29/15.

Classic Cleaners, $7,573.74, 2150602785, 6/29/15.

Jerry & Karen Scholten, $27,104.99, 2150603786, 6/29/15.

Igor & Elena Golub, $31,753.42, 2150700556, 7/6/15.

Sichangu Lee, $11,692.95, 2150700557, 7/6/15.

Walter Glassett, $34,868.66, 2150700558, 7/6/15.

Kojo Inc., $20,000.00, 2150700559, 7/6/15.

JK General Contracting Inc., $12,644.77, 2150700560, 7/6/15.

Dynamic Plumbing Heating & Electric, $253,825.96, 2150700915, 7/9/15.

Elizabeth Welch, $445,652.03, 2150701169, 7/13/15.

James Sofie & Debra Glessner, $8,668.03, 2150701171, 7/13/15.

Reference Media Inc., $18,680.13, 2150701172, 7/13/15.

Dynamic Plumbing Heating & Electric, $17,398.66, 2150702286, 7/21/15.

Release of federal tax liens Point Roberts Storage Inc., $30,000, 2150700561, 7/6/15.

Michael & Susan Burnett, $61,622.41, 2150700562, 7/6/15.

Kestrel Homes Inc., $11,066.84, 2150701170, 7/13/15.

Bakerview Creameries LLC, $15,596.29, 2150701173, 7/13/15.

STATE TAX JUDGMENTS

Tax judgments of $5, 000 or more issued by Washington state government agencies and filed locally in Whatcom County Superior Court. Listings include taxpayer name(s), judgment amount, the state agency filing the judgment, originating case

RECORDS, PAGE 19

August 2015

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The Bellingham Business Journal

Business Toolkit

What does a strong dollar mean for investors?

A “strong dollar” sounds like a good thing. And, in some ways, it may be. But what does it mean to you as an investor?

Before you can answer this question, you need to be familiar with what the phrase “strong dollar” really means. The worth of the U.S. dollar can’t really be assessed in isolation. Instead, the dollar’s value is determined by its constantly changing strength relative to other currencies.

And right now the U.S. dollar is flexing its muscles. In fact, earlier this year, the dollar hit a 12-year high versus the euro, and it’s also strong against almost every other major currency in the world. The Canadian dollar, which many investors in northwest Washington watch closely, has fallen 17 percent against the dollar over the last year. And with weak oil prices dampening economic activity in the Canadian oil sands sector, the loonie continues to face headwinds. Although the pace of its decline is likely to slow.

Meanwhile, a number of factors seem to be driving the strength of the dollar. First of all, the U.S. economy has been relatively robust, making the U.S. a more appealing destination for foreign capital. Also, we’ve reduced imports thanks in part to the boom in U.S. energy production and subsequent drop in oil prices. We’ve also increased exports since the recession due to the rebound in the global economy.

This smaller trade gap has helped shore

up the dollar.

And even though interest rates in the U.S. are quite low by historical standards, they are still higher than those being paid in Europe and Japan. These higher rates have Patrick made U.S. bonds more attractive Swesey to foreign investors, consequently On increasing the Investing & attractiveness of the dollar.

Finance In some aspects of your own life, you may also find the strong dollar to be beneficial. As a consumer, then, you may well appreciate the strong dollar. For one thing, you might see a drop in the prices of some imported items, such as clothing, electronics and automobiles. And if you are planning to travel to the eurozone (those countries within the European Union that use the euro as their common currency), you will find that your dollar will go farther than it did a year or more ago. In the summer of 2014, your dollar would have converted to about .75 of a euro, but now, that same dol-

lar would fetch you almost one full euro.

In other words, you can buy more euros — and more goods and services priced in euros — because the dollar is stronger.

But, in getting back to the original question above, how might the dollar’s strength affect you as an investor? In this case, you may find a strong dollar to be somewhat of a mixed bag, with different outlooks for different types of investments.

For one thing, just as foreign goods are cheaper for you, U.S. goods are now more expensive for Europeans, causing them to buy fewer of our products, which is not good news for U.S. companies with a global presence — of which there are many.

By that measure, you might think that the strong dollar will eventually drag down the stock market — but that hasn’t always been the case. At various times, the financial markets have done quite well, even with a strong dollar. As imports become cheaper, U.S. consumers have more money in their pockets, and when they spend this extra money on U.S. goods, it can help the bottom line of U.S. businesses, and perhaps counteract some of the effects of weaker sales abroad.

Furthermore, in contrast to its impact on U.S. companies, a strong dollar can help foreign companies compete, and may give them an earnings boost from their U.S. sales. The stronger dollar also makes foreign investments “cheaper” for you.

Even more importantly, though, by taking advantage of the stronger dollar and investing an appropriate amount internationally, you can help diversify your holdings — and proper diversification is essential to investment success.

Ultimately, you’ll want to be aware of the dollar’s strength, and you shouldn’t be surprised if it affects some of your holdings.

Nonetheless, don’t overreact to the dollar’s movements. Currency exchange rates fluctuate rapidly and it’s impossible to predict how long the dollar will remain strong, so you’re better off by not speculating on the dollar’s future. By owning a diversified mix of quality investments, including some international investments, and by following a long-term strategy that’s suitable for your risk tolerance, goals, and time horizon, you can build your own “strength” as an investor — no matter what’s happening with the dollar.

Patrick Swesey is a financial advisor and branch director of RBC Wealth Management’s Bellingham branch at 3101 Newmarket St. #101. RBC Wealth Management is a division of RBC Capital Markets.

RECORDS, FROM 18

number and filing date. Judgments can later be lifted or paid; listings are only current as of their filing dates. Records are obtained from the Whatcom County Superior Court Clerk’s Office.

Right Choice Carrier LLC, $8,428.72, Labor & Industries, 15-2-01126-6, 6/19/15.

Kesslau Construction, $5,677.89, Labor & Industries, 15-2-01127-4, 6/19/15.

Oso Valley Construction, $5,784.04, Labor &

Industries, 15-2-01084-7, 6/12/15.

Bellingham Autoworks, $7,304.83, Revenue, 15-201073-1, 6/11/15.

Bakerview Lawn Care, $5,823.89, Revenue, 15-201059-6, 6/9/15.

Copper Hog LLC, $6,467.72, Labor & Industries, 15-201053-7, 6/9/15.

Cloud 9 Logistics, $9,123.67, Labor & Industries, 15-2-01054-5, 6/9/15.

Freshlook Family Painting, $11,042.74, Revenue, 15-2-01056-1, 6/9/15.

Blaine Marine Services 2000, $19,314.21, Revenue, 15-2-01057-0, 6/9/15.

Rutledge Embroidery Corporation, $10,319.85, Revenue, 15-2-01058-8, 6/9/15.

West Coast Pallets, $5,644.91, Labor & Industries, 15-2-01003-1, 5/28/15.

West Coast Pallets, $10,116.06, Labor & Industries,

15-2-01001-4, 5/28/15.

Cascade Natural Interiors, $15,713.96, Revenue, 15-2-00977-6, 5/27/15.

K & B Lawn Care, $9,312.96, Revenue, 15-2-009407, 5/21/15.

Washington.

6/20/15 to 7/20/15 None reported during this time period.

BUSINESS BANKRUPTCIES Whatcom County business bankruptcies filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District of

Get your daily business news on the web... ...including company profiles, breaking news reports, industry trends, commercial realestate development, regularly updated business licenses, liquor licenses, building permits, bankruptcies, tax liens, judgments, local roadwork reports, major property sales and more...

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August 2015

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PINBALL, FROM 16 by taking machines apart and putting them back together.

The first time she did this, she found herself overwhelmed by the size of the project—machines can have up to half a mile of wire connecting the circuitry underneath their slanted playing fields.

Because pinball machines are finicky, people who can repair them are important to the game. Stern Pinball, the biggest manufacturer of pinball tables, has a network of people who can repair machines in most major cities, said the company’s marketing director, Jody Dankberg.

“People with knowledge of how to keep pinball machines going is really imperative,” he said.

21

The Bellingham Business Journal one else’s score, but they can’t win—there’s no end goal and players can always score higher.

Repairing pinball machines is similar. It’s also never over. Seevers found the screw that she needed to temporarily fix “The Shadow” and ordered the rest of the parts online. A week later, the electronic cannon on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was misfiring.

Oliver Lazenby, associate editor of The Bellingham Business Journal, can be reached at 360-647-8805, Ext. 5052, or olazenby@bbjtoday.com.

CHLORMET, FROM 4 what we’ve told them is to look at our standards and follow the process,” Burnett said. “If they’re able to do it then good for them and they’ll get all their permits, and if they don’t then they won’t. We’ve made it pretty easy for them.”

Chlormet hasn’t applied for any building permits on the site, Burnett said.

The company doesn’t have a timeline for work on the site. Chlormet director Ian Foreman said they’re taking it slow and being “somewhat noncommittal,” with the project, and that non-marijuana tenants could also be a possible fit for the space.

“We have purchased a property

with the intent of leasing it out to high-value, long-term tenants,” Foreman said. “We have to make sure that we go through all the processes with the City of Ferndale first.”

The property currently has a several buildings on it. The largest is 13,000 square feet and is divided into 8 bays. There’s space on the property to construct multiple other buildings and Chlormet engaged a developer to provide schematics and zoning guidance, a company press release said.

“Ultimately, if the grand concept were to succeed, then there would be potential on the property for other buildings,” Foreman said. “We have to be concerned with budgets and the reality is that we don’t have a designated tenant at this point in time.”

MARIJUANA, FROM 12 consumer.

After 70 years of prohibition, these new laws probably won’t be the last changes to recreational marijuana in Washington state, said Smith, from the Liquor and Cannabis Control Board.

Clark tells his customers to speak up if the law isn’t working for them.

“We have another legislative session between now and July 2016, when this law is going to be implemented,” he said. “I’ve told all of our patients: If there are things you don’t like about it, you get one more chance to have your voices heard.”

Pinball resurgence Pinball’s popularity peaked in about 1993, but by the late ‘90s, the game was fading. Stern became the last pinball manufacturer in 1999 when WMS Industries closed its pinball division. The game took another hit during the recession, he said.

“I’ve been involved with the company since 2009 and when I came in pinball was on its last leg,” Dankberg said. “In the past six years we’ve seen a huge resurgence.”

Since 2009, Stern has increased production by 300 percent and moved to a 110,000-square-foot building that roughly doubles the size of the facility it moved from. And Stern is no longer the only company making pinball machines; a few boutique companies got into the market.

Pinball’s popularity isn’t confined to the United States. Stern exports 50 percent of its machines, mostly to Western Europe, Australia and South America, Dankberg said.

Why is the game getting more popular?

“It’s unique from other entertainment forms,” Dankberg said, “It’s a really cool, unique experience.

No two games are alike.”

Seevers’ theory about pinball’s popularity is that video games have become something that people do at home but pinball is harder to do at home, and therefore, more social. Another factor is that it’s addicting, she said, because players can get better or beat some1372081

22

The Bellingham Business Journal

August 2015

BUSINESS TOOLKIT

It is time to stop thinking about vacation time as a benefit

Recently I was speaking with a neighbor, a younger person, who was talking about his feelings of needing to take some time off work. “So why not just schedule some time in the next month,” I asked. I was taken back by his response.

“Well, I only have a week paid vacation time each year and I’d like to hold off until the weather gets cooler,” he said.

It has been a long time since I worked for someone else but one week of paid vacation annually hardly seemed adequate for my young friend to recreate, refresh and ready himself for extended periods of performance in the mentally challenging role he holds.

When I started my “career” with a major petroleum company in 1973 I recall how my new manager explained to me that the company was going to generously provide me two weeks paid vacation time after one year of service and after five years I’d have another week added. I am not sure my manager realized that since I was just coming from six years of higher education with three weeks off between trimes-

ters in addition to summers, a “generous” twoweek vacation seemed more Mike like a sentence Cook to servitude On than a Managers & benefit.

That was Employees more than 40 years ago and here my young friend was in 2015 with just a single week paid vacation time after a couple of years with his employer!

That conversation disturbed me! I started thinking about the necessity for knowledge workers to regularly and intentionally involve themselves in the practice of refreshment. I am not talking about the worn out conversation around “using all your vacation time.” I mean an intentional prac-

tice of unplugging, shutting down the commercial part of our brains and just playing at something. So I started this morning with a visit to Webster’s online dictionary: Main Entry: 1va·ca·tion 1 : a respite or a time of respite from something : INTERMISSION, REST 2 obsolete a : freedom from work or cares : LEISURE b : time free for something else; specifically : time for contemplation 3 a : a scheduled period during which activity or work is suspended.

Three usages of the word into the common definition and there has yet to be mention of vacation as an employee benefit or employer concession! To be fair, that meaning does come shortly after what I have shown here but it is not at the top of the list.

The point I mean to get to is that the subject of employee vacations remains as symbolic as it is practical and to that extent I see an issue that potentially affects employee engagement. The symbolism of course is reflective of an era where employers were

Build your own home

Mike Cook lives in Anacortes. His columns appear on BBJToday.com every other Tuesday.

He publishes a semi-weekly blog at www. heartofengagement.com and also facilitates a monthly business book reading group at Village Books.

La Belle Associates, Inc. seeks a Vice-President of Technical Operations in Bellingham, Washington to provide specialized management and technical support for all operations. The position has significant management responsibilities for the oversight of La Belle’s planning and development, with an emphasis in opportunities for bioactive nutraceutical products, bovine colostrum, and avian antibodies.

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business than you do productivity. Viewed from the perspective of prioritizing practices that promote engagement, a change in your current policies may be worth looking at.

You would of course need to consider your own business and the needs for customer satisfaction as the basis to work from.

But here’s some encouragement: The company I started in 1989 began with a flexible vacation policy and until I left in mid-2010 I can say for sure that we never had a recorded incident of abuse of this practice. More often than not I found myself in the position of telling employees that they needed to take time.

When was your last vacation?

Did you really disconnect?

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considered the “grantors” of any condition of employment. For many, many years in the North American economy employment was considered to extend at the pleasure of the employer. This mindset was simply a matter of fact for decades. The times may have changed but much of the mindset remains intact.

In an article I found in Fortune, “Flexible Vacation Policies are Here to Stay,” reporter Shelley DuBois opens with a most provocative series of questions: “You’re an adult. You know how to prioritize your time to do your job. So why should your company ration out vacation reluctantly and monitor when you spend it?

Wouldn’t it be nice to do away with vacation-day limits entirely, so you could leave work whenever you want for as long as you feel you need?'

So, if you are an employer, does considering this concept of flexible vacation time sound revolutionary and make you a bit lightheaded? Does it leave you feeling weakened in some way?

If it does I’d suggest that you may unconsciously place more of a premium on control in your

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August 2015

The Bellingham Business Journal

23

Sustainability matters.

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24

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Bernie Garcia, Moctezuma’s World traveler Photographer Fiery foodie

Each and every one of us is an original. Shaped by unique inuences that make us who we are today.

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August 2015