Economic development agencies merge to form REDI

There was a shift Monday in eastern Idaho’s economic development landscape as two agencies — Grow Idaho Falls and Bingham Economic Development — joined to form the Regional Economic Development Corporation for Eastern Idaho, REDI for short.

The merger was announced at Golden Valley Natural Foods in Shelley. “(REDI) is a vital partnership that allows us to offer prospective and existing companies the best locations, business and talent options to meet their needs,” said Bank of Idaho CEO Park Price, a member of REDI’s executive board.

Both organizations have been on the scene for years. Grow Idaho Falls started in the 1990s as Initiative 2000, then became the Eastern Idaho Economic Development Council. The name change to Grow Idaho Falls happened around 2003.

According to a news release, merger talks began in September 2013. “(There) was a compelling reason to change our strategy and combine forces for the benefit of business expansion, retention and job growth,” Price said. “Together, we represent the second largest workforce in the state of Idaho. … REDI builds on what we’re already doing and takes it to the next level with a unified voice and focus on putting business needs first.”

Darlene Gerry

Darlene Gerry has been named to serve as REDI’s interim executive director as a search committee looks for someone to fill the position. Gerry retired in 2014 from her job as Idaho State University’s executive director of research innovation. Her partners on the REDI executive search committee are Scott Hinschberger, Sylvia Medina, Roger Plothow and Mark Baker.

“REDI is about more than Bingham and Bonneville counties,” Gerry said. “It’s about the region in the broadest sense. When we work collaboratively to attract companies looking to relocate and to help our existing industries grow, we all win.”

On a separate but related note, the city of Idaho Falls is advertising for its own economic development coordinator. The job description reads: “This position assists in the recruitment, retention, expansion, and promotion of business to further economic and business developments in the city; participates in administrative and operational activities associated with economic business development; researches and formulates long-range goals for the city; develops policies and procedures, position papers and negotiates with administrative and/or elected officials regarding incentives for various types of projects that will further benefit the community’s economic development efforts. Interfaces and coordinates with the development community, local businesses and various city divisions, and staff.”

Salary range is advertised at $59,612 to $83,616 annually. Applications are being taken through 5 p.m. Thursday.

St. Vincent de Paul opens new Holmes Avenue store

St. Vincent de Paul has relocated to 805 South Holmes Avenue, the building that was the longtime home of Bill's Bike Shop.

The thrift store hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The social services office, which opens Wednesday, is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with an hour off for lunch at noon.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a Catholic Church organization dedicated to assisting those in need and seeking charity and justice.

Phone numbers are 528-9979 (store) and 522-6280 (office).

The Grille opens for business today

Ammon's newest eatery, The Grille, is officially open for breakfast and lunch. The official address is 929 S. 25 East, but if might be more instructive to say it is next door to World Gym. It is owned and operated by Pam and Doug Ferguson, a mother-son team. They are open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Here's a picture of the Rodondo Omlette, one of the many entrees on the menu. Find out more at The Grille.

How bad are Idaho's bridges? Survey points to deficiencies

The next time you drive over a bridge in Bonneville County, you might want to cross your fingers.

An analysis of the recently-released 2014 U.S. Department of Transportation National Bridge Inventory database shows there are more than 61,000 structurally deficient bridges in need of significant repair all across America. Idaho is home to 406 of them.

The analysis, conducted by American Road & Transportation Builders Association  Chief Economist Dr. Alison Premo Black, shows cars, trucks and school buses cross Idaho's 406 structurally compromised bridges 533,126 times every day.

Not surprisingly, the most heavily traveled bridges tend to be on the Interstate Highway System, which carries the bulk of truck traffic and passenger vehicles.

In Idaho Falls, the northbound and southbound lanes of I-15 at Broadway and John’s Hole, all built in 1962, have been classified as functionally obsolete. Another heavily traveled bridge past its prime is the U.S. 20 overpass at Lewisville Highway. But the most heavily traveled is SM 7406 on 17th Street between South Boulevard and Calkins Avenue, over the Butte Arm Canal.

The bridge problem could get a whole lot worse soon, Black said. The federal Highway Trust Fund, the source of 52 percent of highway and bridge capital investments made annually by state governments, has suffered five revenue shortfalls between 2008 and 2014. Over that period, it has been bailed out with nearly $65 billion in revenues from the General Fund just to preserve existing investment levels. Without action from Congress, the latest extension expires on May 31. Nearly a dozen states so far have canceled or delayed road and bridge projects because of the continued uncertainty over the trust fund situation.  ARTBA expects that number to increase as the deadline nears.

"State and local governments are doing the best they can to address these significant challenges, given limited resources," Black said. Bridge investments have been growing in recent years, but it has come at the expense of highway and pavement spending, which has dropped over 20 percent in the last five years.

"Without additional investment from all levels of government, our infrastructure spending will be a zero-sum game," she said, noting that there is a current backlog of over $115 billion in bridge work and $755 billion in highway projects. “Many of the most heavily traveled bridges are nearly 50 years old. Elected officials can't just sprinkle fairy dust on America's bridge problem and wish it away," Black said. "It will take committed investment by legislators at all levels of government."

Bridge decks and support structures are regularly inspected by the state transportation departments for deterioration and are rated on a scale of zero to nine—nine being "excellent" condition. A bridge is classified as structurally deficient and in need of repair if its overall rating is four or below.
While these bridges may not be imminently unsafe, ARTBA believes that signs should be posted so the public understands they have structural deficiencies that need repair.

The ARTBA analysis of the bridge data supplied by the states to the Transportation Department also found:

• Idaho ranks 35th place nationally in the number of structurally deficient bridges— 406.
• Idaho ranks 24th place in the percentage of its bridges that are classified as structurally deficient — 9 percent.

State specific bridge information from the analysis—including rankings and location lists of the 250 most heavily travelled structurally deficient bridges in the nation and top five most heavily travelled in each state—is available at www.artba.org/bridges.

Advertising Federation lists Gem Award winners

The Idaho Falls Advertising Federation gave the following Diamond Awards at its recent annual banquet.

Category: Poster Campaign
Winner: Artcore Visual Studio
Client: The Rex and Tiffany Redden Foundation

Category: Logo or Trademark Design
Winner: Soapbox Agency
Client: BYU-I Food Science Dept

Category: Animation or Special Effects – Video Film or Digital
Winner: Soapbox Agency
Client: BYU-I Food Science Dept

Category: TV Campaign, Local, Budget Larger Than $20,000
Winner: East Idaho Credit Union
Entry Title: Brand Launch
Winner: East Idaho Credit Union
Entry Title: Get Ready

Category: TV Campaign, $5K-$20K
Winner: IE Productions
Client: Bank of Commerce
Entry Title: Our Bank of a Lifetime

Category: Complete Campaign Regional/National
Winner: IE Productions
Client: Eastern Idaho State Fair
Category: Radio Single 60
Winner: IE Productions
Client: Eastern Idaho State Fair

Category: Billboard Campaign
Winner: IE Productions
Client: Eastern Idaho State Fair
Entry Title: Feed Your Need For Fun

Category: Single, 3-D Direct Marketing
Winner: IE Productions
Client: Eastern Idaho State Fair

Category: Social Media
Winner: Idaho State University
Entry Title: Ultimate Bengal

Category: Photography
Winner: Idaho State University
Entry Title: Class of 2014 photos

Category: Advertising for Arts & Sciences/Poster
Winner: MCS Advertising
Client: Idaho Falls Arts Council

Category: Magazine, Fraction Page
Winner: MCS Advertising

Category: Sales Kit/Packaging
Winner: Printcraft Press

Category: Radio Single 60
Winner: Riverbend Communications
Client: Scare Tower & Straw Maze

To see the complete list of winners, please visit http://ifadfed.wordpress.com/

Rubio visits Idaho, speaks at Melaleuca headquarters

Presidential aspirant and Florida senator Marco Rubio shakes hands after speaking Wednesday morning at Melaleuca world headquarters near Idaho Falls. 

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., made his first visit to Idaho Wednesday morning, dropping a strong hint that he will be soon making his candidacy for the White House official.

Speaking to an audience of about 400 people at Melaleuca world headquarters, near Idaho Falls, Rubio gave his positions on immigration, foreign affairs, the national debt and economic development.

The speech was at the invitation of Melaleuca CEO Frank VanderSloot, who contributed prominently to the campaign of the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.

Rubio called it “improbable” that he, the son of a bartender and made who emigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1956, should be where he is today.

In most parts of the world, people don’t have much opportunity to rise above the station to which they are born, he said. “(Here) they have a God-given right to go as far as their talent and their work will take them.”

Rubio said that under President Barack Obama the United States has been on “the path of decline.” A change in policy is needed, he said, “and the best way to change policy is to change the people who are making it.”

Like other Republican hopefuls he called for an end to Obamacare, labeling it a burden to business and a drag on growth. On other economic issues, he said he is for simplifying the tax code and reforming the nation’s education system.

“We are stuck with a 20th century higher education system,” he said, stressing the need for more training in vocational fields and transparency when it comes to student debt loans.

The American Dream is not about getting rich, he said. It is about having a good enough job to make ends meet, being able to save for a comfortable retirement and for families to have the freedom to do what they enjoy doing. “We have a unique and special obligation not just to preserve it but to expand it,” he said. “If we lose it, we lose what makes us different.”

With regard to international affairs, Rubio said the United States must stand up to radical Islamic jihadism and tyranny around the world. “If America can’t lead on the global stage, no one else can,” he said.

Taking questions from the audience, Rubio called the nation’s current immigration system unsustainable. The problem of 12 million immigrants inside the United States without documentation has to be addressed realistically, he said. If a new immigration system can be enforced fairly and effectively, “I think the American people are willing to be reasonable.”

On the subject of the national debt, Rubio said he favors policies that create dramatic economic growth coupled with fiscal discipline. “We can’t cut or tax our way out of this debt,” he said.

With a mother on Social Security and Medicare, he said he has no plans for changing those programs for people in their 50s and up. For younger people, however, “(they) are going to look different than they have in the past,” he said. “Do we do it now or do we wait until it’s a crisis?”

Zions names new president for eastern Idaho

Merri Johnson

Zions Bank has named Merri Johnson its Eastern Idaho region president.

Johnson joined Zions in 2001 as a customer service manager in the Idaho Falls Downtown Financial Center and later was promoted to operations manager for the region. She has served as financial center manager, commercial loan officer and consumer loan officer.

In her new position she is responsible for the “strategic direction, market share growth and profitability of the region’s 13 financial centers,” according to a Zions news release. She also directs the region’s retail sales and service, small business lending, financial center operations and community relations efforts.

Zions Bank operates 25 full-service financial centers in Idaho and 100 financial centers in Utah. The company's Web site is www.zionsbank.com.