Category: Press

Local Food, Local Dollars: Community Partnership Promotes Klamath Basin Agriculture

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Klamath Grown Online Market highlights farmers and ranchers who are producing a rich diversity of agricultural products in the Klamath Basin

Klamath Grown
Katie Swanson (far left), owner and operator of Sweet Union Farm in Klamath Falls, meets with Sarah Akbari (middle) and Nicole Sanchez, OSU Extension horticulturist, on a farm visit. (Courtesy Photo)

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Farming can be a challenge in the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon.

The high desert climate produces wide temperature swings from day to night. The growing season is short. But a visit to a new digital directory highlights resilient small- and medium-sized farmers and ranchers who are producing a rich diversity of agricultural products.

Scrolling through the directory reveals seasonal fruit and vegetables, eggs, garlic, herbs, honey, goat milk, microgreens and pork and lamb. A half-dozen businesses grow flowers, and one farm produces mushroom products for cooking and medicinal purposes. The directory includes a restaurant, a local grocery store, a brewery and a winery.

While the directory gives southern Oregon and northern California residents a chance to meet their farmer, a companion resource allows them to buy from them. A re-envisioned Klamath Grown Online Market launched in December. There, customers can purchase many of the foods and beverages that are produced by the businesses in the directory. The directory provides opportunities for businesses to find out where they can source local ingredients.

The directory also provides an opportunity for people outside of Klamath who are curious about visiting or moving to the area, Akbari said. That kind of economic benefit interests Alison Smith, deputy director for the South Central Oregon Economic Development District, which serves Klamath and Lake counties.

The development district is a strong supporter of the OSU Extension-Klamath Grown partnership because “promoting and buying local food means local dollars stay here,” said Smith, who is also a board member for Klamath Grown.

“That’s vital rural economic development,” Smith said.

Klamath Falls farmer Katie Swanson, a Klamath Grown co-founder and director of community relations for the nonprofit, said the Klamath Basin needs a strong local food system.

“There are so many pieces to a community being able to feed itself,” said Swanson, who owns and operates Sweet Union Farm, a small, diversified vegetable farm in Klamath Falls. “Part of it is cultural and social: Having pride in your community and the land that you live on. That’s important to us.”

Increasing local food awareness

Akbari has contributed to the digital directory and online market of local producers for Klamath Grown’s website as part of her work as an AmeriCorps Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) service member. The position is supported and funded through a unique partnership of the Oregon Food Bank, Klamath Grown and OSU Extension in Klamath County.

Akbari was hired in September 2022 to work on a campaign to promote local food to the community by creating the digital directory and communicating with customers via social media and email newsletters. She’s also conducting research and surveys that will seek to increase customer accessibility to local products and markets.

“The directory is a great resource for people in the area who want to find local food and who are interested in supporting local farmers,” said Akbari, a University of Oregon graduate who grew up in the Portland metro area. “It’s a great marketing tool for farmers, who can join the directory for free. There’s been so much interest from people who are excited about what Klamath Grown has been doing, so being able to support local food in a rural area has been very impactful.”

Akbari’s next major project is to break down access barriers to local food. She collaborated with Oregon Health & Science University to conduct a survey that generated 200 responses from individuals and families who receive SNAP benefits. One of the goals of the Farmers Market Promotion grant is to create a first-of-its kind Harvest Box for underserved residents.

“None of this would have been possible without OSU Extension,” Swanson said, noting that Patty Case, a professor emerita in the Extension Family and Community Health Program in the College of Health, was instrumental in writing a successful grant proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers Market Promotion Program, which was awarded to the South Central Oregon Economic Development District. The district disperses the funds to OSU Extension and Klamath Grown.

“OSU support has been essential to everything we’ve attempted do,” Swanson said.

Through the grant, which was for nearly $250,000, OSU Extension has been providing technical expertise and education in the areas of food systems, small farms, supply chain dynamics, market analysis, drought resiliency, irrigation efficiency, food production efficiency, season extension, nutrition education and public health.

Extension’s role in the grant also includes:

  • Facilitating locally grown food bulk sales by schools and serve as the lead for Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Procurement.
  • Collaborating on community and school education and promotion efforts to raise awareness of the benefits of eating locally produced food.
  • Sharing contacts with relevant OSU faculty, connections to local experts and peers through the Oregon Food Hub Network and other local and regional food networks.

“OSU Extension has established connections and relationships both locally and at the campus level,” Case said. “We knew that we had a lot of ways that we could contribute. The question came up, ‘How can we get the boots on the ground and make things happen in our community?’ That’s where we shine as Extension.”

Blue Zones set the tone

Case, who retired in December, helped bring The Blue Zones Project to Klamath County, resulting in what is now Healthy Klamath. She worked with the Klamath County School District to place a FoodCorps service member in two schools. She also partnered with the county school district and Klamath Falls School District to implement a Farm to School and School Garden Program.

In 2015, Klamath Falls was selected as Oregon’s first Blue Zones Project Demonstration Community. The Blue Zones Project brings communities together in a commitment to bolster healthy habits. Blue Zones created a readiness for the Klamath Farmers Online Marketplace, which is now Klamath Grown and the Klamath Grown Online Market. Case said.

“Access to local foods was always something that Blue Zones aimed for,” Case said. “Eventually, our residents will consider supporting local foods as an important value of our community.”

— OSU Extension Service

This article first appeared on Morning AgClips and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Elkton hosts 16th annual ‘Butterfly Run’ to bring together local community

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ELKTON — It was cloudy on Saturday morning when a group of dozens gathered at the Elkton Community Education Center to take part in the annual Butterfly Run, a community oriented event to kick off the summer season.

The event was started 16 years ago by John Bradley, an Elkton winemaker, and has continued since as a way to bring locals together.

“I knew John when I was a kid, and his involvement in the community for the schools, the other winemakers and the community in general, was just tremendous,” said Dan Burke, the mayor of Elkton.

Kendra Peterson, a worker with the Resource Assistance for Rural Environments program, operated by AmeriCorps, works with the Elkton Community Education Center to create health and wellness initiatives. Peterson helped organize the Butterfly Run this year as part of a larger effort to improve the wellness of Elkton’s rural community.

“I was asked to help with the butterfly run because it’s something they do every year, but it’s incorporated under the health and wellness umbrella, so it kind of fit with my work here,” Peterson said. “I’ve never done this before, so it was a new experience, but it was good. I think it was pretty successful.”

Visitors came from across Elkton and from beyond, including the Edmans family from Florence, who arrived in butterfly costumes to take part in the fun.

“It’s actually really well attended,” said Jayne Edman. “I had no idea about this, this is really fun.”

Why butterflies? Organizers said that the name came from the local monarch butterfly population, and has stuck ever since.

“June is the time of year when the monarchs [butterflies] start arriving in Elkton,” said Marjory Hamann, the executive director of the Elkton Community Education Center. “So the event, it’s really about us all conjuring the butterflies, telling them they’re welcome here. It’s just a big, big celebration.”

After the 5k took place in the morning, visitors were able to take part in a butterfly costume contest, shop from a number of local vendors and listen to live musical performances.

Will Geschke is a multimedia reporter for The News-Review. He can be reached at wgeschke@nrtoday.com.

This article first appeared on The News-Review and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The PLAYA 23 Statewide Rural Energy Convening Brought Together Rural Energy Stakeholders from Across the State

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On April 19th, 2023, a network of rural energy stakeholders from across Oregon gathered in Lake County, Oregon, at the PLAYA Center on Summer Lake, for the second annual Statewide Rural Energy Convening.

PLAYA, as the event is often referred to, is a unique multi-day opportunity for non-profit organizations, federal and state agencies, utilities, and landowners to connect in a remote, distraction-free environment to discuss and strategize on overcoming barriers and advancing opportunities for rural community energy development.

The event, which was co-hosted by Lake County Resources Initiative (LCRI), Sustainable Northwest (SNW), the RARE Americorps Program, Wy’East RC&D, and USDA Rural Development, had roughly 30 people from various organizations participating. The relatively small number of attendees allowed each individual to participate actively during the various workshops, personal story-telling activities, and lively panel discussions. This event and network are made possible by Energy Trust of Oregon and a USDA Rural Energy Development Assistance (REDA) grant that aims to fund renewable energy technical assistance for agricultural producers and rural small businesses.

As the country moves rapidly to transition to a clean energy future and take advantage of the unprecedented funding opportunities introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), convening to discuss rural energy needs has never been more important. Rural communities have been historically underrepresented in energy transition conversations and overburdened by energy costs. The PLAYA attendees, collaborating with their affiliated organizations, aim to develop a statewide, coordinated rural energy network that is customer-focused and results-driven. This includes developing effective strategies to ensure rural communities can access their fair share of the incoming federal funding.

The conversations, ideas, and connections that PLAYA cultivates are unparalleled due to the unique, off-the-grid nature of the event. The PLAYA center, which is located in the high desert region of the state right on the edge of Summer Lake – an alkali lake with breathtaking views and vast wildlife activity, offers little to no cell service and very limited wifi. This environment allows attendees to dive deeper into each conversation, collaborate more efficiently, and work together to formulate effective strategies for overcoming barriers to funding, capacity, and information gaps.

Top-level themes that were discussed included:

  • Due to capacity constraints of organizations and agencies, the influx in federal funding is not only an opportunity but also a challenge

  • Rural communities (landowners/customers) require more technical assistance when navigating energy incentives, grant applications, and project technical assistance

  • Further resource-sharing and collaboration across the rural energy network is crucial to properly assist rural energy customers.

As PLAYA concluded, it was increasingly clear that there is a monumental amount of work to be done to ensure community energy development prioritizes the needs of rural communities. Fortunately, it was even more evident that the strong, diverse, statewide network that gathered at PLAYA was equipped with the skills and resources to create a clean energy future that elevates rural voices and priorities.

For more information, contact

Faith Yorba

SNW Energy Program Associate

fyorba@sustainablenorthwest.org

Learn more about SNW’s Energy Program, the Making Energy Work Coalition, and our work in Rural Electrification.

This article first appeared on Sustainable Northwest’s site and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Financial Support Available for 2023-24 RARE AmeriCorps Host Sites!

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The RARE AmeriCorps Program is a firm believer in the power of partnerships. We deeply value the reciprocity and support provided by each of our statewide partners. We strive to create catalytic change across rural Oregon, and our generous partners ensure we have the tools and resources to make that happen. One such partner is The Ford Family Foundation, who is committed to offering financial support to help offset the cost of hosting a RARE AmeriCorps member.

The Ford Family Foundation prides itself on empowering Oregonians to become catalysts of change and stalwarts of sustainability outside of the state’s urban strongholds. The organization’s ideology is simple, yet dynamic: “We believe in the power of rural communities. Communities create the conditions that allow children and families to thrive. Communities are the backbone of our democracy. We believe that a community works best when it works for all its members, especially for those who are disadvantaged or excluded due to poverty, race/ethnicity, and geography. Our investments provide rural communities with the tools and capacities they need to build a vital future for themselves – a future where every resident can thrive.”

Without The Ford Family Foundation’s support, many local government departments, NGOs, and economic development entities across the state would not be positioned to partner with the RARE AC Program. Please visit the Funding Opportunities section of our website to learn out more about the financial support available via The Ford Family Foundation.

Rural Oregon Nonprofit Focuses on Sustainable Natural Resource Management

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By Annissa Anderson / The Roundhouse Foundation, The Daily Yonder

Learning how to work together as a community in the face of changing climate, resources and economies has been the focus of Lake County Resources Initiative (LCRI) since its inception. The economy of Lake County, located in south-central Oregon, was long driven by agriculture and forestry. After a decline in lumber production and subsequent loss of jobs in the late 1990s, county leaders such as LCRI founder Jim Walls began to look for ways to create a more sustainable economy and future.

Walls created the nonprofit in 2002 to promote local workforce training and sustainable forest management. Today, its mission is to demonstrate an economic, ecological and sustainable approach to natural resource management, climate disruption solutions, youth and community education, and increased economic development in the pursuit of continual improvement of the quality of life for present and future generations.

One of LCRI’s first collaborations was with the Lakeview Stewardship Group, formed in 1998 to redefine land management goals in Lake County’s Fremont-Winema National Forest, incorporating ecological restoration and community values.

“This is a role we still play today,” said Nick Johnson, executive director of LCRI. The area’s forest and land health–and more recently, ways to mitigate forest fire danger–are all approached on a restoration scale by the stewardship group that includes conservationists, timber workers, local government officials, and other civic leaders.

The other focus for Lake County Resources Initiative is its energy programs. LCRI provides information and resources on energy efficiency and renewable energy options to residents, businesses, and community organizations to strengthen the local economy and work toward a zero-emissions goal for the county.

“Solar and geothermal are the two most readily available renewable resources right now,” said Johnson. While tapping into the county’s geothermal energy is mostly in the planning phase, LCRI has helped to implement utility-scale and rooftop solar projects throughout the county. With the help of local governments and businesses in the area, a variety of solar arrays aim to create community resilience in the face of increasing climate change.

Johnson believes LCRI’s work to help Lake County move away from an extraction economy and into one that uses sustainable technologies and practices could be a model for other counties. Its role as an intermediary between land developers and the county facilitates the community’s ability to adapt to and mitigate climate change.

The Roundhouse Foundation in Sisters first learned about LCRI after watching the 2020 documentary “Other Side of the Hill,” about how and why these collaborations in rural Oregon worked. Erin Borla, trustee and executive director of The Roundhouse Foundation, was so impressed with what LCRI and their partners had accomplished to innovatively support the economy of rural Lake County that her staff reached out to learn more.

“After getting to know Nick and the small-but-mighty LCRI team, it was clear that they are doing great things with a very small staff. Offering support to help leverage additional funding so they could hire an office administrator was what made sense to our team,” said Borla.

That support made a difference for LCRI. “Thanks to Roundhouse, we hired one new, full-time employee supporting energy programs and administrative work so we can now serve our constituency better,” said Johnson. “It’s another huge step forward, and we’re very thankful to them for that,” he said.

Another way that LCRI acts to increase the county’s energy efficiency is as a community partner of Energy Trust of Oregon. Facilitating energy efficiency projects through Energy Trust helps both residential and commercial customers save money on upfront costs.

Johnathan Van Roekel, the renewable energy coordinator for LCRI, said LCRI’s role with Energy Trust is in helping homeowners and small businesses navigate the industry to capture available funds for projects like weatherization, HVAC and solar energy arrays.

“We help homeowners get their attics insulated for zero dollars,” said Van Roekel, whose position is made possible through the University of Oregon RARE (Resource Assistance for Rural Environments) AmeriCorps program. The RARE program aims to increase the capacity of rural communities to improve their economic, social and environmental conditions, through the assistance of trained graduate-level members who live and work in communities for 11 months. Van Roekel in his second 11-month term.

“The way RARE and LCRI have come into a partnership to host my position is through a USDA program known as Renewable Energy Development Assistance (REDA),” said Van Roekel. The REDA team, which consists of many statewide project partners such as Wy’East RC&D, Sustainable Northwest, Wallowa Resources, the Oregon Department of Energy, and Energy Trust of Oregon, enables LCRI to work with small businesses and agricultural producers on a statewide scale.

Van Roekel said his greatest success during his time at LCRI has been helping in the effort to raise more than $400,000 in USDA REAP (Rural Energy for America Program) grants that have gone to help people with costs for implementing renewable energy projects statewide. “It is through the REDA effort that I have helped write requests for the REAP grant applications,” said Van Roekel.

“When we are helping leverage money that needs to be spent in the community, we are helping to establish how this money is distributed statewide,” said Van Roekel. “I am inspired to think that we can make this more accessible for people.”

Annissa Anderson writes for The Roundhouse Foundation, a private, family foundation, based in Sisters, Oregon, since 2002. The Foundation believes that solutions to the unique challenges of rural communities can be found through creative thinking and problem-solving, innovation, and collaboration. We partner with community organizations to develop, implement and sustain creative, place-based approaches and programs designed to strengthen and celebrate rural Oregon and beyond.  The foundation provides grant services to rural communities and tribal regions throughout Oregon and operates Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture in Sisters. 

This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

City develops new tool for business builders

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By The News-Review

People who are interested in building a business in Roseburg have a brand-new tool at their fingertips. For the first time, an online interactive map is available to help locate developable spaces.

The Developable Business Lands map, made available by the Roseburg Community Development Department, shows the commercial and industrial parcels of land that are available for development with the city. It targets parcels that are vacant or could be redeveloped.

Real estate developers, business owners and entrepreneurs may find the tool useful to identify options for locating a business within Roseburg.

“We wanted to make something that takes public information from local, county and state agencies and puts it in one place,” Kate Bentz, the city’s RARE AmeriCorps service member who has worked as a long-range planning assistant in the RCDC since September, said in a news release.

Located on the city website’s ‘Economic Development’ webpage, the map also provides users with additional information about each site. It allows users to filter out parcels based on size (acreage), zoning and existing use. Users can then browse a list of narrowed-down locations to find parcels that best match what they are looking for. Users can also search by address if they already have a specific site in mind.

“We hope that members of the public find this tool to be helpful in exploring Roseburg and gaining a better understanding of what to expect when they find a commercial or industrial property that they want to develop,” said Bentz. “Our goal is to give people the info that they might need before calling us and applying for permits.”

The map is accessible and available in two formats that are optimized for desktop computers and mobile devices. A full tutorial to walk new users through all the features is also included.

For more information, contact RCDC at cdd@cityofroseburg.org, kbentz@cityofroseburg.org or 541-492-6750.

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, THE INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH AND ENGAGEMENT IS BRIDGING THE DIVIDE BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND PRACTICE

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By the US Economic Development Administration, eda.gov

Whether it’s developing a business incubator, building new broadband infrastructure, or expanding a wastewater management system, economic development is often a heavy-lifting activity. Sometimes, though, no challenge is as great as bridging the divide between academia and practice. At the University of Oregon, the Institute for Policy Research and Engagement (IPRE) is helping Oregon’s economic development community remove the barriers that separate research from action.

Home to an Economic Development Administration (EDA) designated University Center (UC), IPRE lends the expertise of the University of Oregon (UO) to economic development practitioners in the Pacific Northwest, helping them integrate best practices and emerging research into innovative solutions to regional economic issues. Its past successes include an expansive study on the economic impacts of the 2017 solar eclipse that is helping communities prepare for future events, and the award-winning Disaster Planning for Heritage Resources guidebook.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in 2020, however, IPRE faced its biggest challenge yet. Faculty and staff sprang into action, mobilizing resources to provide strategic guidance on resilience and recovery to Oregon’s policymakers and business leaders.

“In June of 2020, we put out a white paper on a framework for economic recovery from the pandemic,” recalls Bob Parker, recently retired as Executive Director of IPRE and now serving as its Director of Strategy and Technical Solutions. Presciently, the white paper identified widespread testing as a key component in securing the state’s successful emergence from the pandemic and laid out the position that the expense of action would be outweighed by the cost of inaction in terms of jobs lost. “Obviously we didn’t know at that point that the federal government would have the response that they did.”

An October 2021 study by researchers at the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy validated the strategic jumpstart IPRE offered Oregon policymakers, finding that Oregon was among seven states with the strongest pandemic-era job growth relative to February 2020 employment levels.

In 2021, EDA awarded additional funding to UO through a CARES Act grant to support expanded pandemic recovery work. Those resources, in combination with support from the Ford Family Foundation, allowed IPRE to grow its successful Resource Assistance for Rural Environments (RARE) program. RARE embeds AmeriCorps Volunteers into Economic Development Districts (EDD), helping expand the geographic reach of the university’s expertise well beyond UO’s Eugene campus.

RARE’s AmeriCorps staff underwent IPRE-administered training in economic development principles and, once deployed, helped rural EDDs put those principles into practice. During the pandemic, they assisted EDDs in completing complex COVID-19 needs assessments, helped businesses source funding for renewable energy infrastructure, and even collaborated with farmers to facilitate the launch of a new local food brand, Klamath Grown.

The RARE expansion was just one of several tactics activated by IPRE to help Oregon recover and rebuild from the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. It also collaborated with social impact consultancy X4 Health to launch Community ROCKit, a COVID-19 recovery planning tool; it undertook a series of state-wide attitudinal surveys to support business leaders and policymakers preparing for the post-pandemic economy; and it participated as a key component of the university’s Community Recovery Branch, which served as an interlocutor between UO and local government on pandemic issues.

“I think it’s one of the most unique things that the federal government does,” Parker explains, in reference to EDA’s University Center program. “It allows us to work with communities in a way that moves the discipline of economic development forward. That partnership of bringing the capacity of higher education into practice is so important.”

EDA’s UC program enables institutions of higher education to establish and operate University Centers focused on leveraging institutional assets to build regional economic ecosystems that support innovation and high-growth entrepreneurship, resiliency, and exclusiveness.

Learn more about the UC program at eda.gov.

A 29-year-old gamer aims to shake up John Day as city manager

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By Antonio Sierra, OPB

Just a few months after moving to John Day, 29-year-old Corum Ketchum was promoted to city manager.

Corum Ketchum graduated from his master’s program and is now running his own city less than a year later.

The John Day City Council appointed Ketchum as an interim city manager May 10. The appointment is on a trial basis: Should both Ketchum and the City Council remain satisfied with the arrangement, he’ll be made the permanent CEO in six months.

Ketchum now manages a 14-person staff in a town of about 1,600 people.

For a 29-year-old who once considered a career as a pro gamer, the sudden upswing in his career wasn’t expected. But Ketchum said he’s ready for the job.

Running John Day wasn’t a part of Ketchum’s original plans. He attended the University of Oregon as an undergraduate so he could become a public planner.

His career outlook changed after he joined Americorps’ Resource Assistance for Rural Environments program. He spent two years in Veneta, a town of 5,000 people west of Eugene, working with the city administrator on economic development projects.

Ketchum learned to enjoy working in a smaller community, where trying to get things done wasn’t as difficult as it was in larger and more “calcified” cities.

“The bureaucracy is always much thicker, where if you spend time in a rural community, you get to meet the couple dozen people who are really excited about investing in their place,” he said.

He returned to the University of Oregon to get his master’s in public administration with the intent of seeking a leadership role, but another passion almost took him down another path.

Ketchum grew up playing video games and was good enough at games like Overwatch and Team Fortress that he helped form an e-sports team. The team was competitive if not exactly lucrative.

“We never really made any money,” he said. “I’d say we earned pizza money. If we placed low on a tournament, we’d get paid like 100 bucks as a team, and then I’d divvy that six ways. We’d get like, 10, 15 bucks.”

As Ketchum wrapped up his master’s degree in 2021, the University of Oregon was looking to start its own official e-sports team and was looking for someone to manage it. He didn’t get the job after applying, but a university administrator encouraged him to think bigger.

It was around this time that Ketchum read a John Day investment plan that was focused on a project to build a water reclamation facility that would repurpose the city’s wastewater for other uses like agriculture.

John Day was looking for a community development director and Ketchum felt like it was a good match for him based on his work in Veneta.

“It seemed like a really natural fit for my skill set and who I really am, and more or less a calling for me to come out here and fill that gap,” he said.

Ketchum grew up in Eugene but he has family ties to Grant County. His grandfather was a ranger for the U.S. Forest Service and worked in the Prairie City district.

During that time, his grandmother taught at Grant Union High School and his father learned to swim at the pool in John Day. His grandfather eventually transferred to a different district, but Ketchum said he still has family who live in Eastern Oregon.

In March, Ketchum started work under City Manager Nick Green, who had built a reputation on introducing novel ideas to John Day, like building 3-D printed houses and the water reclamation project.

Ketchum wanted to absorb as much knowledge from Green as possible since Green was already planning his exit. Ketchum had only been working for the city a few months when Green entered his office.

Green told him the city could spend thousands of dollars on a search firm, but he had a feeling they wouldn’t find a better candidate than Ketchum. The City Council agreed and gave Ketchum the top job.

As the city manager, Ketchum said he wants to continue Green’s initiatives, while also offering more “short-term wins” for John Day, like more community events, downtown investments and outdoor trails.

Housing is also a concern for Ketchum. Although Grant County was the only county in the state to lose population in the 2020 Census, Ketchum said John Day has a less than 1% vacancy rate in its housing market.

Anticipating growth fueled by Boise to the east and Bend to the west, Ketchum said the city is working toward making more of its land developable for future housing. After decades of stagnancy, Ketchum said 40 houses will be built this summer and another 70 in the fall.

Ketchum only brought a few years of experience to the job by the time he became city manager and he’s now a part of a profession where most of his peers are 40 and over. But Ketchum said his youth is a good match for the town.

“I think my youth is a real asset,” he said. “My demographic is the exact kind of person that we want to be seeing more of out here in John Day. People my age going into their 40s, the prime earners, the people that have families, the people that start businesses and are really in the rocket years as professionals.”

 

Matthew Klebes prepares for The Dalles new city manager position

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By Alana Lackner, Columbia Gorge News

When Matthew Klebes first came to The Dalles eight years ago, he never intended to stay.

Klebes’ arrival in The Dalles was with his work. He was with AmeriCorps Resource Assistance for Rural Environments, preparing to be part of a program that was set to last less than a year.

“I came to The Dalles expecting to be here over (a period of) 11 months,” Klebes said. “And here I am, eight years later, with a house and two kids and getting ready to take the city manager position and everything. I had no idea coming in that was going to happen.”

With AmeriCorps, Klebes was a volunteer with The City of The Dalles, working to establish a local branch of Main Street. Klebes was working out of the chamber of commerce, helping to grow and strengthen the organization so they could move into their own building.

“We built a volunteer base and revenue stream and grew the organization that way,” he said. “And a lot of the work that I did at Main Street was in partnership with the city.”

At the end of Klebes’ 11 months working with AmeriCorp, Main Street hired him on to continue working to grow the organization. He was the first official staff member they were able to have.

“There had been volunteers who had been talking about it and trying to get the Main Street program going,” Klebes said. “And they had some of the pieces coming together, but they needed a staff person to do that work and answer the phone, have the lights on, just those basic things.”

After his transition into working for Main Street as an official full-time job, he stayed there for two years, before taking a job with the city, as the assistant to the city manager. There, Klebes worked closely with current city manager Julie Krueger.

“One of the things I liked about Main Street … is that I worked with a lot of business owners, property owners, restaurant owners, retail owners, breweries,” Klebes said. “You get to kind of learn about and dive into all these different worlds, the world of a brewer, the world of a restaurant, the world of a property owner, and you get to have conversations with them. You learn what their challenges are, their opportunities are, and then take a step back and see how that aligns with all the other entities, and where Main Street can help.”

Klebes said this kind of approach was useful in his new position as assistant to the city manager, and that there was quite a bit of overlap.

“At the city, it’s kind of similar, where you have public works, planning, airport, police department, and then you have your department head in each of those areas, the specialists,” he said. “We get to work with them and learn about the same thing: their challenges, their opportunities. And as city manager, you have to step back and figure out okay, where’s our overlap? Where’s their alignment? How can I support each one of these individuals and their departments and staff?”

Klebes said he enjoyed his time working with the city manager, as he worked with the city for about three years. He said he was able to work with a variety of people and groups. He was also able to work on special projects for the city manager.

One of his special projects was a “Local Government Academy,” which strived to increase transparency in local government and help teach residents about the city and what it does and doesn’t do.

“Ultimately, the hope was that we would have graduates from the academy that volunteer to serve on different city committees and commissions, because they now have a better understanding of their own local government, and they feel more comfortable or confident with it,” he said.

Though the Local Government Academy was put on pause with COVID, Klebes said it was a project he was proud to be a part of. He said there are hopes to return some time in the future, likely with one class a year, rather than the two they did before.

After three years with the city, Klebes moved to working as the Wasco County Administrative Services Director, which is the position he currently holds and will be transitioning out of as he switches to his new role as city manager.

As administrative services director, Klebes said he was able to work with the county and develop a better understanding of how the county operates, how it interplays with the state, and how that affects cities. In some ways, Klebes said, this prepared him for the city manager role in a different way, as he now has an understanding of what happens at the county level.

Klebes said he’s excited to take on this new position as city manager, and to return to the city to continue the work that he’s been doing.

“I’ve been really lucky and pleased with this progression that I’ve had, working and focusing in the downtown core. We’re stepping back a little bit more and working across the city, stepping back even a little bit more and working with the county,” Klebes said. “And so the opportunity to stay in this community, continue to do that work and continue to build upon that, well, it’s hard to pass that up.”

The city council officially approved Klebes’ contract at the regular city council meeting on April 11. Klebes will start his new position as city manager on May 16.

City of Talent to receive support to create more ‘resilient’ power grid

Posted on by kcoenen

By Erik Neumann, Jefferson Public Radio

The City of Talent in the Rogue Valley is one of three communities in Oregon that will get help from the Department of Energy on a new program to create a more resilient power grid.

Along with Pendleton and Warm Springs, Talent was recently selected for the Energy Storage for Social Equity Initiative, a new program of the DOE’s Office of Electricity aimed at “underserved and frontline communities.” As a participant, the Pacific Northwest National Lab will provide technical assistance to assess battery storage feasibility, locations for community solar projects, and do economic analysis, among other things.

The non-profit Rogue Climate applied for the initiative to prepare Talent for future energy challenges in the face of extreme weather.

“Essentially trying to create a system that would be more resilient to potential power outages and things like that by incorporating battery storage,” says Maeve Hogan, an AmeriCorps member working with Rogue Climate.

“The [Energy Storage for Social Equity Initiative] supports underserved communities’ use of energy storage as a means of increasing resilience and maximizing energy flexibility in the face of a changing climate,” reads a statement from the office of Sen. Ron Wyden, D-OR, who announced the participating Oregon towns.

The exact details of Talent’s energy project are not defined, but Hogan says this initiative will contribute to the town’s clean energy plan and hopefully lay the groundwork for a “shovel-ready” project that could incorporate battery storage and community solar in the future.

“Battery storage enables us to ensure access to power even when it goes out, even for a limited amount of time which can be really life-saving. As we’ve seen, extreme heat and smoke and fire can be really life-threatening,” Hogan says.

Talent, Pendleton and Warm Springs are among 14 communities nationwide that are participating in the program.

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