Business Roundup, March 2023

Family-owned, The Wild Huckleberry, took over Dusty’s In-N-Out diner after it closed in October 2022. Dusty’s reopened on Jan. 11, keeping much of the same look and food.

This is now the fourth restaurant in the area for the Decker family. Dusty’s, at 1427 N. Wenatchee Ave., joins the Big Y Cafe in Peshastin, The Huck at Pybus Public Market, and of course, The Wild Huckleberry in Wenatchee.

Unlike the other breakfast and brunch-orientated restaurants the Deckers operate, Dusty’s will stay the way it is – a burger and shake diner. Meanwhile, The Huck serves breakfast, brunch and dinner.

“We wanted to keep it true to what Dusty’s was. It had such a lure to the valley. People loved Dusty’s for so long that changing it wasn’t something that we wanted to do,” said Bryon Decker, chief operating officer and oldest son in the Decker family.

Decker also said the Dusty’s landlord wanted it to remain a burger joint.

The new menu still features burgers, fries, milkshakes and sundaes, along with the family’s own recipes, Decker said, and the original Dusty Burger with the original recipe is back on the menu.

Decker said the move to running a diner that serves burgers and shakes is different from what the family members are used to, but they are excited.

“When you have been doing the breakfast, sit-down restaurant for 23 years, sometimes change is kind of fun. That’s what drew us to it,” Decker said.

He also said his family loves the historic stuff, as the Big Y Cafe location is in an old building and The Wild Huckleberry is in a historic house.

“Dusty’s is a very long tradition in the valley, and we like that a lot,” he said.

Decker added his family is glad it gets to preserve Dusty’s legacy and doesn’t plan on making any physical changes to the building.

Regional Sports Complex feasibility study likely to be completed by January 2024

WENATCHEE — A feasibility study on the proposed Regional Sports Complex (formerly dubbed the Regional Aquatic Center), spearheaded by local stakeholders and 12th District Sen. Brad Hawkins, is anticipated to start mid-April with completion set for January 2024.

Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority board members on Tuesday approved beginning the search for a consultant to conduct a feasibility study. The study will focus on economic impact, facility options and site analysis.

The 11-member steering committee for the complex includes elected officials from Chelan and Douglas counties and cities in the two-county area, the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Business Council and interest groups, like a swimming club advocate. The group reviewed the scope of the work and approved getting a consultant at a Jan. 18 meeting.

“We also did appoint a subcommittee to help with the consultant selection,” said Stacie de Mestre, port public works and capital projects manager who sits on the steering committee. “Essentially, I’d be soliciting qualifications for about a month and then reconvene with the selection subcommittee and determine two or three consultants to interview.”

The contract with the selected consultant would come before the steering committee and port prior to contract approval, de Mestre said. Phase I of the feasibility study will be reviewed in August, and Phase II of the study is expected to run from late August through January 2024. A survey of voter support is likely to be circulated in February and March 2024.

The potential regional development was loosely framed as a Regional Aquatic and Sports Complex previously. According to de Mestre, the change in title from “regional aquatic center” is due to the “different components that we’ll be looking at,” in the study.

Port CEO Jim Kuntz said the change in title allows the study to be more well-rounded and the scope of work to include elements like athletic fields, along with an aquatic center.

“Let’s call it a sports complex feasibility study. Obviously, an important element of that is the aquatics,” Kuntz said. “We’re trying to get the broadest population possible … so most people can participate. Because more folks can go to both.”

Chelan County District 2 port commissioner JC Baldwin posed the question about when the study will focus on transportation impact.

“I love this idea of course, like everybody in the valley, but the cost of infrastructure improvements is significant when you put something like this in,” Baldwin said. “I think we need to be looking at it throughout the entire process. Making (it) broad, I worry that its (transportation component) will get lost.”

De Mestre pointed to the study’s site analysis work.

“So we’re keeping that in mind, if we need to construct major roadways, major utilities then, that’s when it would be covered,” she said.

The port is likely to kick in $30,000 for the study in conjunction with other local entities. The study is estimated to cost $300,000 and be split among local stakeholders, including the port, city of Wenatchee, city of East Wenatchee, Chelan County and Douglas County. Upon the selection of a consultant, the total fee will be negotiated and funding contributions will be finalized with an interlocal agreement, de Mestre said.

Wenatchee awards $6.5 million contract for 'MegaKittrick' project

WENATCHEE — The Wenatchee City Council awarded a $6.5 million contract for its “MegaKittrick” Street improvement project at a recent meeting.

The project is a culmination of smaller projects in the vicinity of McKittrick Street, North Wenatchee Avenue and North Columbia Street.

J&K Earthworks, based in Rock Island, was awarded the contract. It is expected to begin construction in the spring and continue for 180 days.

The project includes a new traffic light signal between McKittrick Street and North Wenatchee Avenue and extends McKittrick Street to create an underpass for the train tracks to join a new intersection with North Columbia Street. Sidewalks and crosswalks are also included.

Jake Lewing, the city’s senior project engineer, said federal Surface Transportation Block Grant money will provide $4.8 million to the project. The rest will come from local sources, including the city’s arterial, economic development, sewer, and storm sewer funds.

Port Authority’s future Trades District moves into design development phase

WENATCHEE — Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority is moving to the design development phase of the Trades District, which will include expanding the square footage of a handful of the 25 abandoned crypto pods near Pangborn Memorial Airport.

The selected architecture firm, Design West Architects, provided an update for the estimated $11.6 million small business incubator project at the Jan. 24 port board meeting.

The design development phase includes solidifying the existing conditions and working out the “finer details,” said Stacie de Mestre, public works and capital projects manager for the port authority, at the meeting.

“(During the design development phase) We start bringing all the systems together. Currently, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, architectural – we’ve all been working individually with the thought of each other,” said Amy Browne Minden, lead architect on the project. “But in design development, we have to make all of our bits and pieces come together, and that’s the big hurdle for us in design development.”

Browne Minden presented the latest schematic design for the port to give the green light to move ahead to the design development phase.

Browne Minden described the site’s design as an organic layout that’s friendly for pedestrians and events. A pedestrian path, a food truck avenue, ample green space, and modifiable lanes of traffic are included.

“We felt that this (design) gave us more options of how the overall site gets used,” Browne Minden said. “After we started talking about the site, we started talking about thinking about how we would develop the existing pods.”

In the new site plan, 12 pods between the cul de sac and Union Avenue on the west side of the property would increase in size; however, not with one uniform expansion nor type of floor plan. This side of the 8-acre property where the 12 pods sit is ideal to complete first because the existing conditions of the pods run similarly, Browne Linden said. The other portion of the property is “in varying degrees of completion.” Due to funding, port staff said it would focus on 13 buildings to start in October.

Some of the 12 pods would increase by half their size, some pods would double in size and other pods would be combined with a space in between them. The total square footage for the pods would round out to 22,130 square feet with a rentable square footage 21,128 square feet, according to Browne Linden.

“Going through this concept of expanding the pods, we determined that building out 25 of them probably is not in our overall budget,” de Mestre said. “That is why we’re focusing on the half where the pods are mostly built out. We are planning on designing the other half … but for now we’re trying to nail down developing actual rentable space.”

According to Jim Kuntz, port CEO, Design West was selected as the firm because the architects “pushed our buttons” during the interview process and suggested that the pods’ original square footage proposed, 1,300 square feet, was too small. Design West made the argument tenants could outgrow the size.

“A little bit bigger buildings are going to have a little bit more utilitarian value for the clients you’re trying to attract out there,” Kuntz said. “If this first half is successful in its design … that’s going to help us in the grant-writing business try to duplicate that on the other side. Let’s make it a very fun, funky district. I think it will build upon itself.”

During the design process, Twisp Creative District and a California business park were used to spur inspiration for the Trades District. Design West also explored Latin American and Mexican design influence for crafting the Trades District development, Browne Minden said.

The design development phase includes solidifying the existing conditions and working out the “finer details,” de Mestre said at the meeting.

The project is expected to go out for construction bids in May 2023.

“I like the bigger buildings. The smaller buildings were glorified closets, I think these will actually be easier to lease quite frankly,” Kuntz said. “I like their (Design West) outside the box thinking, I think we’re off to a good start.”

Retail theft a widespread problem, attorney general says

WENATCHEE — Addressing a crowd of business owners and operators, law enforcement, elected officials and representatives of industry groups, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said an increase in organized retail crime is not unique to North Central Washington.

“It’s a statewide problem,” he told the attendees of a forum presented by the Wenatchee Valley, Lake Chelan and Leavenworth chambers of commerce in January.

Also in attendance was Renée Sunde, president and CEO of the Washington Retail Association, who outlined the issue and discussed steps taken to address its rise and the additional work needed.

During her presentation, Sunde said organized retail crime occurs when someone steals a product to resell for a profit, often to fund other crimes. The thefts typically include two or more people across multiple events and  jurisdictions.

Ferguson said these crimes are often more sophisticated and better coordinated than the typical instances of shoplifting.

Sunde said in Washington alone, organized retail crime is a $2.8 billion issue. It is on the rise, and retailers are seeing increased violence associated with it.

“These are not victimless crimes,” Sunde said, adding that theft can impact employees’ mental health and that law-abiding citizens often absorb the costs through higher prices.

The issue isn’t unique to Washington, according to Ferguson. The attorney general said discussions with other state AGs revealed the issue is a nationwide problem.

Ferguson has proposed additional funding for a unit in the Attorney General’s Office dedicated to organized retail crime. At Ferguson’s request, approximately $2.3 million for the unit is in Gov. Jay Inslee’s initial budget proposal to the legislature. Ferguson encouraged attendees to contact their local legislators to keep funding in the budget.

If funded, the unit would include two prosecutors, four investigators and a data analyst. According to Ferguson, Michigan pays $1.75 million for a similar unit, while Arizona’s unit costs $1.5 million.

Ferguson said it’s important to remember that while the largest retailers can absorb the costs easier, theft from a smaller shop can directly impact the owner’s bottom line.

“We just have to do what we can to help those folks out,” he said.

In response to an audience question about his support for repealing or adjusting recent legislation that restricts when law enforcement can pursue a suspect, Ferguson said his role is mainly as a legal adviser to lawmakers.

“I’m not a legislator,” he said. “My job is to defend and enforce state law.”

In attendance at the event were the mayors of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, council members and the leaders of local law enforcement agencies.

Mountain Chick Floral brings a zen atmosphere to plant shopping

WENATCHEE — Michelle Signett came to the Wenatchee Valley two years ago with the dream of opening a shop that not only offered a large variety of unique plants and floral arrangements, but also a zen atmosphere.

“I have been in the floral industry my whole life and wanted to open a boutique flower and plant shop,” said Signett. “Business is hoppin’ and has steadily increased as more people find out about our store.”

Mountain Chick Floral officially opened in the Wenatchee Valley in April 2022 at 30 S. Wenatchee Ave., Suite 1A. The boutique shop offers plants of all shapes and sizes, such as Calatheas, Monsteras, and more, as well as floral arrangements for every occasion.

Having never been a shop owner, Signett said she is excited to be part of the community’s collection of locally run businesses and strives to give back by supporting several local charities.

“We offer a unique shopping experience in a fun and zen-like atmosphere,” said Signett. “When you don’t know what to say, say it with flowers.”

Chelan County PUD plans for increased electric vehicle use

WENATCHEE — Chelan County PUD is strategizing how to accommodate increased electric vehicle use and trying to maximize customer benefit as the state implements the Washington Clean Fuels Standard law this year.

Mitigating utility costs for its customers and for itself that stem from load growth from electric vehicles, and alignment of costs and revenues, while maintaining fuel savings, were identified by Chelan PUD as some electric vehicle strategies at the Jan. 23 board meeting.

The Clean Fuel Standard, which began Jan. 1, requires fuel suppliers to gradually reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels to 20% below 2017 levels by 2034.

“Knowing EVs (electric vehicles) are going to continue to be adopted, so what does that look like for infrastructure? What’s interesting is the availability and affordability of electric vehicles … those numbers are increasing,” said Andrew Grassell, customer energy solutions manager, at the meeting. “From a few years ago in 2017, all anyone could talk about was a Tesla; now there’s a whole range of cars. Prices are coming down.”

A guiding goal for the utility is to support customers who are adopting electric vehicles, while minimizing impact to non-participating customers, according to Grassell.

“We’ve got … wholesale electric prices (to keep an eye on), especially DC fast-charging units; we want to make sure we’re charging appropriately there,” Grassell said. “And volatility of gasoline prices; someone who charges in their home in Chelan pays about 30 cents (per) gallon compared to $3 or $4 down the road at the gas station.”

According to Grassell, the PUD has developed a DC (direct current) fast-charging cost-of-service rate, since, “most (out of town) people traveling through town are going to use a DC fast charger.” DC fast chargers deliver a large amount of electricity at a fast rate, like Tesla Superchargers. The PUD is also exploring incentivizing customers to charge at non-peak hours.

“But we want our resident customers to charge at our current rates, so if you’re charging at home, that’s a benefit of living in our community and our county,” Grassell said.

The PUD was also prompted to make the moves by the Washington Clean Fuel Standard, also referred to as the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, implemented this year. According to Grassell, the legislation targets emissions from the transportation sector and assesses carbon intensity from different fuel sources, with credits available.

“(We’re) trying to put some plans in place to take advantage of any opportunities that might be there, but also try to identify any pitfalls that might be there, as well,” Grassell said. “So clean fuels from electricity from our hydro(project) can generate credits. Fuels met with higher intensity would need to purchase credits themselves in some other way or reduce those emissions.”

A system is in the works that will enable the utility to gather and monetize the credits earned and spend them within the county. “Whereas if some other third-party aggregators came in (and scooped up the credits), which is possible under the law, we don’t know where those are going and could go outside” of the county, Grassell said.

An aggregator tracks companies’ consumption and transmission system operators’ requirements in real time.

According to Grassell, the PUD wants to ensure the value of the credits stays  within the Chelan PUD jurisdiction.

“We can use funds towards our own fleet vehicles, so if we wanted to electrify our own fleet we could use some of those funds toward that,” Grassell said, as an example of spending the funds, at the meeting. “Funds do need to be spent toward continued electrification.”

As labor force shrinks, unemployment increases in Chelan and Douglas counties

WENATCHEE — The unemployment rate for North Central Washington rose more than a percentage point to 6.1% in December, though employment in nonfarming jobs numbers remained largely steady.

Chelan and Douglas counties had an unemployment rate of 4.9% in November.

In total, there were only about 100 fewer people employed in nonfarming jobs between November and December, according to a labor area summary of the Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area prepared by Don Meseck, a regional economist with the state Employment Security Department. The MSA is a combination of Chelan and Douglas counties.

In November and December, total private employment remained unchanged. Goods-producing and service-providing jobs each dropped by around 100 jobs, while the leisure and hospitality sector added about 100 jobs.

While the counties have added 1,700 nonfarming jobs over the past year, the unemployment rate is up over a point and a half from last December’s 4.4%. Meseck attributed the increase to two factors: a declining labor force and increased unemployment.

A declining labor force is not unique to Chelan and Douglas counties. Meseck said he’s noticed similar trends in Okanogan, Kittitas and Yakima counties, where he also serves as the regional economist.

The labor force in Chelan and Douglas counties decreased monthly from May through the end of the year in 2022 compared to the corresponding months of 2019.

Douglas County PUD adds money for Northern Mid-Columbia Joint Project

EAST WENATCHEE — Douglas County PUD tacked on an additional $350,000 “not to exceed” limit to its contract for the Rapids-Columbia 230-kilovolt transmission line, included in the Northern Mid-Columbia Joint Project.

Commissioners recently approved the money for design and construction management of the transmission line that will run from Douglas County PUD’s Rapids Switchyard in Rock Island to the Bonneville Power Administration’s Columbia Substation, near the entrance to Palisades off Highway 28, but on the west side of the highway.

The $350,000 boost brings the contract with Perteet engineering firm to a limit of almost $1.8 million. Perteet’s contract as the transmission line designer and construction management consultant started in 2019, according to Meaghan Vibbert, Douglas County PUD spokesperson.

Douglas County PUD selected Magnum Power LLC as the contractor for construction of the line in March 2022 for roughly $5.8 million. The total project cost is estimated at $23.9 million, to be split by BPA, Chelan, Grant and Douglas county PUDs, Vibbert said.

In November, the total cost estimate was $21 million, Vibbert said then.

“Part of the resolution are some cost increases that Perteet is passing along to us,” said Gary Ivory, Douglas County PUD general manager, at the Monday meeting. “They’re asking for an increase of approximately 10% (from 2022 to 2023 rates).”

The contract with Perteet permits annual adjustments to the rate schedule, according to PUD documents. Construction will run longer than the previous projected timeline, which was expected to be completed by spring 2023, and is related to the cost increase, said Dennis Baker, Douglas PUD distribution engineering supervisor.

“Because of material delays and some other issues, construction is going to go past what we originally thought,” Baker said. “This is to kind of cover that extra amount of time we need those folks there.”

Baker added construction is anticipated to be completed by June due to material delays and limited working hours related to avian and big game restrictions, according to PUD documents.

“An agreement with that many parties on a large project was the main delay,” Vibbert wrote in November.

Chelan County PUD sees record energy use; staff praised for work during outages

WENATCHEE — Chelan County PUD commissioners applauded staff efforts during the power outage that spanned the upper valley and other pockets of Chelan County during the December cold snap.

The PUD managing director of customer utilities, John Stoll, also said the PUD hit an all-time peak for energy use at 560 megawatts during the cold snap. The previous all-time peak was 492 megawatts, a 15% jump. The total generator nameplate capacity of PUD’s electrical generation is 1,988 MW, enough to run about a million Northwest homes of average electrical use, said the Chelan PUD website.

Commissioners highlighted the PUD’s linemen crew and their work at the Jan. 9 board meeting.

“I heard from a number of constituents how pleased they were and they saw our crews out there,” said Commissioner Garry Arseneault. “I got virtually zero complaints about being out of power, even on those cold winter days. I got accolades for our crews.”

Arseneault added that he has a photo of a lineman “on a snow, ice encrusted pole putting things back together so people could have power.”

Over 3,700 customers in Lake Wenatchee and Stevens Pass and over 100 customers in the Leavenworth and Chumstick Highway area were without power for several hours during the outage on Dec. 27. The week prior, Dec. 23, another outage struck around 900 customers, also primarily in the upper valley.

The PUD braced itself for the cold snap and intense cold weather.

“(It) is an opportunity to see how our systems work,” Stoll said.

“I think I saw reports that in certain areas of our territory it was -13 degrees … we haven’t seen that in a long time,” Stoll continued. “Even in the warmer parts, it was right around zero. The line crew, man, it was cold out and for them to work through the night, we appreciate what they did.”

According to Stoll, the first outage on Dec. 23 in Leavenworth was caused by the lows impacting substation equipment. 

As snowfall grew heavier over the course of the month, the snow created issues for the PUD by causing trees to fall on transmission lines, Stoll said.

Former manager at Chelan resort arrested

WENATCHEE — A former manager of a Chelan resort was arrested by the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of first-degree theft, money laundering and leading organized crime.

Dennis Jonathan Sullivan, 38, allegedly added five employees to GrandView on the Lake’s payroll, who never worked there, and continued to pay two other employees after they had already been terminated, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Chelan County Superior Court. The reported loss was estimated at $134,181.

Sullivan’s employment at the resort was terminated prior to his arrest due to his alleged treatment of other employees, according to the affidavit.

Sullivan made a preliminary appearance Feb. 7 in Superior Court, where bail was set at $25,000. He was being held at the Chelan County Regional Justice Center.

Chelan County PUD enters into 20-year contract with Puget Sound Energy

WENATCHEE — Chelan County PUD on Feb. 6 entered into a 20-year contract with Puget Sound Energy for the PUD to provide the west side energy utility company 25% of Rock Island and Rocky Reach hydropower projects’ output.

The two-decade contract will replace the expiring contracts Chelan PUD and Puget Sound Energy are currently under, one expiring in 2026 and the other expiring in 2031.

“The 20-year contract increases Puget’s carbon-free resources toward its future renewable energy goals, as well as contributes flexible capacity to identified needs in Washington,” a Chelan PUD press release stated.

According to the press release, hydropower’s value is boosted as a carbon-free renewable source of energy as companies shift to meet Climate Commitment Act and Clean Energy Transformation Act requirements. Chelan PUD offers short-term market-based and long-term cost-based products.

“We build a diverse portfolio by offering a mix of different contracts in order to reduce risk, create value, and provide financial stability for decades to come,” said Kelly Boyd, Chelan PUD chief financial officer, in the release. “That balance allows Chelan PUD to support stable and predictable rates for customer-owners, as well as support for parks and broadband services.”