January 2023 Volume 22 | Issue 1
Legislature convenes with new faces and familiar issues By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
Legal
Trained mediators help to find common ground in workplace and beyond Page A13
Architecture & Engineering
Landscape architects see growing interest in Tri-City market Page A23
Real Estate & Construction
Ethos’ evolution includes return to Queensgate area later this year Page B1
NOTEWORTHY “We get to tackle all types of challenges with a small group of people we know and trust. That makes it all worthwhile.” - Salina Savage, majority owner of Richland’s Apogee Group LLC
Page A34
The 2023 Washington Legislature convened on Jan. 9 with a slew of new lawmakers and a lengthy list of familiar tasks before its scheduled end date of April 23. Transportation, energy, building codes, taxation, education and preserving the four Lower Snake River Dams are among the top issues raised by Tri-City leaders. The House and Senate are both controlled by Democrats. The biggest challenge of the 105-day “long session” is to adopt a budget. Gov. Jay Inslee has proposed a $70.4 billion 2023-25 budget. The governor’s request includes a few pieces of good news for the Mid-Columbia. The governor is seeking $10 million to establish an energy institute at Washington State University Tri-Cities and $15 million to upgrade the Connell railroad interchange, among other priorities. The Association of Washington Business called the budget a “starting point,” praising it for not raising taxes but complaining that it drains reserves at a time the state should be saving for a potential recession. “After years of strong budget growth, it’s time for lawmakers to make do with the considerable resources they have, and to make smart choices that will prepare the state for a possible downturn in the economy,” said Kris Johnson, AWB’s president.
Housing crisis The housing crisis, which affects the Tri-Cities as much as the rest of the state, is a top priority for both parties and for the governor. The governor proposes seeking voter approval for a $4 billion project to build more than 24,300 new “housing units” in the next six years. The Building Industry Association of Washington is asking the Legislature to make energy code reform a key piece of any attempt to address the shortage and to reform the State Building Code Council to emphasize cost-efficient options for new construction. In November, the State Building Code Council adopted rules requiring heat pumps in new homes built after July 1 of this year. BIAW estimates that adds $8,300 to the price tag, on top of tens of thousands of dollars associated with earlier uLEGISLATURE, Page A31
Photo by Wendy Culverwell Neil Lampson, founder of Lampson International Co., and Walt Trask, its head engineer, designed the company headquarters to resemble the boom of a crane. Forty-plus years later, it has not been significantly altered and continues to serve Kennewick’s iconic crane company well.
Lampson’s unique office is nod to company’s business By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
Neil and Billie Jane Lampson didn’t have to look far for inspiration when they decided their growing crane company needed a headquarters building. Neil Lampson enlisted Walt Trask, his head engineer and co-inventor on patented crane technology, and sketched out a building that looked like the boom of one of the company’s heavy lift cranes. The result is one of the more striking company-owned and occupied office buildings in the Tri-Cities, a glassy, angled structure perched aside the Columbia River on the Kennewick side of the cable bridge at 607 E. Columbia Drive.
“For someone who may not be familiar with the crane industry, this may seem like an odd design, but for an avid crane enthusiast, it is a rather innovative and interesting design,” said Kate Lampson, director of strategic communication and the third generation of the family to work in the business. Neil F. Lampson Inc., now Lampson International Co., moved into the four-story building in September 1980 after a year or so of construction. Forty-three years later, the unique building still serves the company well and has required little more than new carpeting. Kate Lampson said there was little deuLAMPSON, Page A28
Ag educators shine in 2023 Mid-Columbia Hall of Fame By Wendy Culverwell editor@tcjournal.biz
As a high schooler, Carol Travis was drawn to the flowers her classmates carried around Spokane’s Ferris High School, the results of a floral class offered through the ag program. She was drawn to the school’s charismatic ag advisor and to the thought of working plants. So, when faced with choosing an elective, the choice was obvious: She signed up for horticulture class, which would lead to a career in the plant world and
eventually to New Horizons High School in Pasco, where she launched a thriving Future Farmers of America chapter in 2010. Travis, together with fellow ag teacher Charlie Dansie of Connell High School, will be inducted into the Mid-Columbia Agriculture Hall of Fame on Jan. 19 as the 2023 Agriculture Advisor honorees. They will share the spotlight with Harold Cox, a longtime farmer and rancher honored with the Pioneer Award, and with Maury Balcom, a third-generation uAG HALL OF FAME, Page A4
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