HONORS

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Graham Parker won a lifetime energy efficiency leadership award from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.

The Tom Eckman Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award recognizes Parker for a career spanning more than 40 years where he advocated for and advanced the cause of energy efficiency in the Northwest and beyond.

Parker received the award Dec. 5 at the alliance’s annual meeting and awards ceremony in Portland.

The 2018 inductees to the 18th annual Mid-Columbia Agriculture Hall of Fame will be honored at a Jan. 18 dinner at the Pasco Red Lion.

Presented by the Pasco Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Pasco, the Hall of Fame honors families and agribusiness leaders in Franklin County and neighboring Mid-Columbia counties. Winners are:

• Mid-Columbia Ag Hall of Fame Pioneer Award: James and Ann Moore of Kahlotus, third generation wheat farmers who have lived in the Kahlotus area for more than 70 years.
• Agriculture Advisor Award: Don Kinion of Pasco, an active volunteer with many organizations throughout the Tri-City region beyond his professional career with various roles in the ag industry.
• Stewardship Award: Allen Olberding of Pasco for his involvement in the Washington Potato Commission and National Potato Council.
• Visionary Award: David Roseleip, retired president of Washington State Agriculture and Forestry Education Program.

For reservations to attend the gala, which features a full-course dinner, call the Pasco Chamber at 509-547-9755 or drop by the office at 1110 Osprey Pointe Blvd., Suite 101, in Pasco.

Fowler General Construction received the ENR (Engineering News-Record) Regional Best Project award for the Northwest region in the K-12 education category for the construction of Desert Hills Middle School in Kennewick.

The annual program is dedicated to honoring the best construction projects. Entries are judged on overcoming challenges and teamwork, safety, innovation and contribution to the industry/community, construction quality and craftsmanship and functionality of design and aesthetic quality.

The 110,400-square-foot school at 1701 S. Clodfelter Road features an exterior finish comprised of composite metal panels and concrete masonry veneer, sheet metal and thermoplastic polyolefin roof. It opened in August 2016.

Along with Fowler Construction (Jeff Durfee, project manager; Paul McElroy, superintendent; Eric Petersen, project engineer), Design West Architects served as the design firm, Lochsa Engineering was the structural engineer, DEI Electrical Consultants were the MEP Engineer, MSI Engineers was the mechanical engineer and The Land Group was the landscape architect.

Crazy Monkey Media Inc. in Kennewick received a Best of 2017 Marketing Agency award by Marketing Digest.

The company is one of 14 across the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom to receive the award, which is given to local, specialized digital marketing agencies.

Owners of Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Eastern Washington in Benton City, Dan, Jill and Shaylin King, received the Excellence in Leadership Award and Top Gun honors at the 2017 Dwyer Group International Conference.

The award is presented to business owners who operate a model business and are willing to positively impact others in a proactive manner. The Top Gun award, inspired by the “Top Gun” movie, is given to owners who achieve operational benchmarks and represent the top 10 percent of Mr. Rooter Plumbing, which has franchises across the world.

Lamb Weston received the Toastmasters Corporate Recognition Award for Toastmasters District 9 region for continued support of its Tater Talkers Club.

Toastmaster is an international nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs.

District 9 includes more than 60 clubs in Eastern Washington, Northeastern Oregon and the Idaho Panhandle

Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick, was honored with a City Champion Award from the Association of Washington Cities.

Brown is one of eight state legislators recognized for work during this year’s legislative session.

The awards are a part of the group’s Strong Cities, Great State campaign to bring cities and towns together to achieve greater results and stronger services. This is the fourth year the award has been presented to legislators.

The American Nuclear Society honored the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Radiochemical Processing Laboratory with the Nuclear Historic Landmark Award.

The award recognizes the notable research and work in the areas of reactor safety, isotope isolation to cure cancer, environmental cleanup and the advancement of nuclear nonproliferation. It was established more than 30 years ago to commemorate nuclear facilities demonstrating outstanding accomplishments.

Kiwanis Club of Kennewick members Wayne and Maureen Bell received the Kiwanian of the Year award. Chuck DeGooyer received the Hixson Award.

Mid-Columbia Tri-Cities SCORE has been awarded platinum status and a Nation Builder Award for its success of helping launch more than 250 startups in the past three years, as well as mentoring to thousands of people and creating more than 2,500 jobs.

An independent media services firm that offers award-winning branding, marketing and communication strategies in both federal and commercial market spaces has received three Gold Awards in the 2017 MarCom Awards.

The Kennewick-based firm i3 Global was selected in this international competition based on results achieved from an internal rebranding campaign for i3 Global, and for branding and website design for its client, Tri-City Water Follies.

Hosted by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals, the 2017 MarCom Awards honor excellence in marketing and communications disciplines while recognizing the creativity, hard work and generosity of industry professionals.

Pasco School District’s School and Family Partnership program has earned a Partnership District Award from the National Network of Partnership Schools, or NNPS, at Johns Hopkins University. It is the 11th time the district has received the award.

The NNPS also awarded Franklin STEM Elementary with a Partnership School Award for its annual Family Kite Engineering Challenge event. The district was among the partners selected to participate in the NNPS 2017 Leadership Institute in mid-October.

Washington River Protection Solution received the Project Management Institute’s 2017 Project of the Year for its work to remove radioactive waste from an underground storage tank at the Hanford site.

The double shell tank AY-102 recovery project focused on removing and transferring waster out of the leading tank to a double-shell tank for storage. WRPS completed recovery of the 725,000 gallons of nuclear waste ahead of schedule, and the project completed $8.7 million under budget. WRPS is the Hanford tank operations contractor for the Department of Energy Office of River Projection.

The award recognizes a project with a budget of $100 million or more that best delivers superior performance of project management practices, superior organizational results and positive impacts on society.

Columbia Basin Satellite & Electric received the “Premier Local Retailer” status for top DISH nationwide retailers.

The award is DISH’s highest honor for businesses that demonstrate excellence in performance and customer experience. Five percent of authorized DISH dealers are in the premier program.

Edward Jones received the top ranking for full-service investment firms by The U.S. Investment Firms Customer Experience Index in 2017. This is the third year the company, with offices in Kennewick and Richland, has earned the highest spot on the index.

The index is based on a survey of 118,000 customers of 314 brands, including 12 direct or discount brokerage firms and 11 full-service investment firms.

Elder Law Group PLLC, with offices in Kennewick and Spokane, was ranked No. 25 on the Law Firm 500 Award Committee’s second annual Law Firm 500 Honorees List.

The list recognizes the top 200 fastest-growing law firms in the U.S. Elder Law Group had more than a 400 percent growth.

A photo by Tri-City photographer Sonja Yearsley was featured on the October cover of Professional Photographer Magazine.

“Mother Nature” also was among 18 images to represent the U.S. in the Photographic World Cup.

Shelley Kennedy, an Edward Jones financial advisor in Richland, has been invited to attend Barron’s Top Women Advisors Summit to be held in Palm Beach, Florida.

The conference gathers the nations top female advisors and leading decision-makers in the industry.

Gene Van Liew of Richland has been recognized with a special service award by the Washington Association of Conservation Districts.

Van Liew has been a volunteer in conservation for more than two decades—maintaining wildlife guzzlers, servicing wood duck boxes and participating in bird banding and fish sampling. He also has fueled the growth of Benton Conservation District’s Salmon in the Classroom program from five to 180 classes.

Visit Tri-Cities honored a community advocate and a Red Mountain business for their work to promote tourism around the region at its annual meeting and tourism showcase event on Nov. 13.

Dave Bryant was recognized as the 2017 Tourism Champion of the Year, Visit Tri-Cities’ highest honor. Bryant served in the city of Richland’s Parks Department for 36 years. During his tenure, he was instrumental in the development of many community infrastructure projects such as the Sacagawea Heritage Trail, the Horn Rapids Sports Complex, Badger Mountain Park, John Dam Plaza and HAPO Community Stage. He also played an important part in securing the Washington Trails Conference, which took place in October 2016.

Bryant was selected for the honor by demonstrating leadership, enhancing infrastructure and supporting the efforts of Visit Tri-Cities to elevate the region as a premier tourism destination.

Red Mountain Trails, which offers guided horseback rides through Red Mountain vineyards, was recognized for providing outstanding customer service with the Excellence in Service award. The company earned the honor by providing exemplary customer service and creating a memorable visitor experience for its customers.

Ben Kravitz, a scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has led a study that shows a potential to limit Earth’s warming.

The paper, published in a special issue of Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, shows through using a sophisticated computer model that a new research approach to geoengineering could be used to limit the Earth’s warming. The team also included researchers at National Center for Atmospheric Research and Cornell University.

The work was funded in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation.

Kadlec Foundation recently recognized members of the community who volunteer and donate to Kadlec Regional Medical Center at its annual Celebration of Philanthropy event: Jane Powers, Volunteer of the Year; Columbia Basin Imaging, accepted by Dr. Sean Koskinen, Physician Philanthropist Award; Sam and Mary Volpentest, Sustaining Philanthropist Award; Dave Pearson, Employee Philanthropist Award; and Garrett Electric employees, accepted by Mary Rosen, Philanthropist of the Year.

Attendees of the annual event donated more than $72,000 toward breast imaging technology and mammograms for patients who could not otherwise afford the care

BOARDS

New leadership has been named for Mid-Columbia Tri-Cities SCORE.

Paul Casey will be the new chapter chairman, Doug Lemke will serve as vice chairman and Dan O’Conner will be treasurer. The national organization that started in 1964 focuses on helping people launch new businesses.

The Academy of Children’s Theatre has added Janice McIntyre, Chris Wagar and Stephen Miller to its board of directors.

McIntyre, who works at Wild Birds Unlimited, has worked with ACT for many years as costumer, director and producer. Wagar is an instructor at Columbia Basin College and lends his expertise in business to his interest in performance. Miller is a teacher at Leona Libby Middle School in West Richland, as well as an ACT alumnus and a longtime supporter. Each member will serve a four-year term.

Cheryl Dell, former Tri-City Herald publisher, has been selected to serve on the board of directors of the Kennewick-based Children’s Reading Foundation, a national nonprofit founded in 1996.

Dell recently retired after spending more than 30 years in the newspaper industry. She spent the last 20 years with The McClatchy Co.

Dell lives in Nevada City, California.

Steve Blodgett has been named the newest member of the Kennewick Public Hospital District’s Trios Health board of commissioners.

The longtime Tri-City resident retired in 2014 after a long career in finance and accounting.

Blodgett fills a vacancy left after Don Campbell resigned in August.

Kiwanis Club of Kennewick recently installed this year’s officers: Chuck DeGooyer, president; Cory Manley, president elect; Rick McKinnon, vice president; Maureen Bell, secretary; Penny Gardner, treasurer; and Cyndi Kittson, past president.

Board Kiwanis Club board members are Russ Burtner, Amy Coffman, Kevin Gunn, Pat Johnstone Jones, Bob Kelly, Micki McKinnon, Steve Osborne and Gloria Seeley.

Five new faces were elected to the Visit Tri-Cities Board of Directors: Deborah Barnard, co-owner of Barnard Griffin Winery; Gloria Boyce, general manager of Ben Franklin Transit; Brian Lubanski, general manager of KAPP/KVEW TV; Brent Miles, president of the Tri-City Dust Devils; and Steve Simmons, owner of CG Public House & Catering. The newly elected board members will serve three-year terms.

PROMOTION

Joshua McKenzie of Desert Canyon Mortgage Company has been promoted to producing branch manager of the Kennewick branch.In his new position, he will oversee and support the production of branch loan originators, while facilitating loan officer training, local outreach and managing quality standards.

NEW HIRES

 A 35-plus-year veteran of nuclear construction has been picked to serve as the next project director for Hanford’s vitrification plant.

Brian Reilly will guide completion, startup and commissioning of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant project, a seven-story, sports arena-sized facility designed to treat 56 million gallons of nuclear waste for disposal at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state.

Reilly succeeds Peggy McCullough, who will move to Bechtel’s operational headquarters in Reston, Virginia, to lead the company’s nuclear, security and operations business line.

Trios Health has announced several updates to its medical team.

Dr. Lee Thorpe has joined Trios Medical Group – Hospital Medicine as a hospitalist. He will be providing patient care at Trios Southridge Hospital, 3810 Plaza Way, Kennewick.

Family Nurse Practitioner Joseph Poston has joined Trios Medical Group—Urgent Care. He will provide outpatient care at Trios Urgent Care Center – Columbia Center, located at 7201 W. Grandridge Blvd., Suite 100 in Kennewick.

Family medicine practitioner Dr. Marvin Roman is accepting patients at the Trios Care Center at Chavallo. 7211 W. Deschutes Ave., Suite B, Kennewick.

The Pasco City Council ratified the appointment of Craig Stillwill to serve as the newest Pasco Municipal Court Judge on Dec. 4.

Stillwill has served in the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, as a defense attorney, a Benton County Court commissioner and as a Judge Pro-Tem for the Pasco Municipal Court. Most recently, he has operated his own criminal defense practice in Kennewick and serves on the Franklin County Defense Panel.

James Atwood is now practicing financial services at Guild Mortgage Co. in Kennewick.

He has been working in financial services since 2004 and mortgage lending since 2016.

Robert Taylor-Manning has been hired at Ashby Law in Kennewick.

He has more than 25 years in the legal field and focuses on family law. He graduated from the University of Washington Law School.

Curt Bell Sr. and Curt Bell Jr. have joined Copiers Northwest and BlueZEBRA Technologies in Yakima.

The companies, with a location in Kennewick, recently moved into the former location of Cascade Copier in Yakima, which Curt Bell Sr. had co-owned.

Amy Basche has been hired as Mission Support Alliance’s new chief operations officer.

Basche has more than 25 years of experience across Hanford, and most recently served as the vice president for Project Support Services with Washington River Protection Solutions.

She graduated from Gonzaga University with a bachelor’s in business and from City University with a master’s in business administration.

Chad Foltz has been named principal for Kennewick School District’s new Elementary No. 16 under construction in the Clearwater Creek development.

Foltz earned his bachelor’s in elementary education from Washington State University and master’s degrees in school administration and professional development from Heritage University. He has been the principal of Cascade Elementary School since 2008.

Jesse Smit has been hired by Banner Bank in Kennewick as a relationship manager serving agricultural clients in central Washington.

Smit has been an agriculture banker in the region for five years and has 10 years of agriculture management experience.

He graduated from the University of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture economics.

ON THE MOVE

Trio’s Medical Group’s Dr. Elton Kerr now is seeing patients at his new practice at the Trios Care Center at deBit, 320 W. 10th Ave., Kennewick. His former gynecological practice at the Trios Care Center at Southridge closed Oct. 6. The deBit location is where the majority of Trios Medical Group’s women’s health providers are based, and is adjacent to Trios Women’s & Children’s Hospital.

Podiatry provider Robert Kiddy is seeing patients in his new practice space on the fifth floor of the Trios Care Center at Southridge, located at 3730 Plaza Way in Kennewick. Dr. Kiddy’s practice at the Trios Care Center at Vista Field closed Nov. 9.

DONATIONS

Second Harvest recently received $8,000 from Washington River Protection Solutions to support the Bite2Go program at Amistad Elementary in Kennewick and Virgie Robinson Elementary in Pasco.

Bite2Go provides elementary schools students with weekend food kits to combat chronic food shortages at home. More than 95 percent of students at both schools are eligible for free and reduced meal programs. The kits provide four meals and several snacks that are nonperishable, easy to open, nutritious and don’t require cooking.

Donations to the program can be made at 2-harvest.org/Bite2Go.

Pasco-Kennewick Rotary awarded $1,500 to Cami Oberman of the Blue Mountain Council Boys Scouts of America to support the June Cub Scout Day Camp Programs geared toward Cub Scouts ages 6 to 10.

Mission Support Alliance has made several recent donations to the Tri-City community.

Included in its charitable giving is a pediatric stander to help with critical therapeutic care for the Children’s Development Center, a donation to Second Harvest Tri-Cities to provide 25,000 meals to those in need as well as gifts to Habitat for Humanity, Domestic Violence Services and the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission.

CERTIFICATIONS

Ashley Coronado, business counselor at the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Washington PTAC, received certification as a certified procurement professional by the Professional Review Committee of the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers.

ELECTIONS

The Pasco City Council swore in five new council members on Dec. 11.

The 2017 council election was historic with all seven council seats up for election due to the January 2017 federal court ruling that changed the election process to a more district-based system.

The new council members are: Blanche Barajas, District 1, elected to a four-year term; Ruben Alvarado, District 2, elected to a two-year term; Pete Serrano, District 4, elected to a four-year term; David Milne, District 5, elected to a two-year term; and Craig Maloney, District 6, elected to a four-year term. Two incumbent council members retained their seats: Saul Martinez, District 3, elected to a four-year term; and Matt Watkins, at-large, elected to a two-year term.

GRANTS

Washington State University Tri-Cities and the Pasco School District have received a $500,000 grant to support after-school activities.

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program grant will aid before- and after-school programs at several elementary schools in Pasco including Emerson, Longfellow, Rowena Chess and Virgie Robinson schools.

The money will help fund community learning centers that will provide academic enrichment opportunities outside of school hours.