Stimulus Funds at Work in: State Energy Plan.$42.1 million Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant...$9.6 million Oregon Putting Oregon contractors to work now and in the future The US Department of Energy awarded federal stimulus (Recovery Act) funds to the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) to stimulate the economy and put Oregonians to work on energy projects. In 2009, ODOE announced $42.1 million in State Energy Plan awards and $9.6 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Formula Block Grant awards to public entities and private businesses for nearly 300 energy projects in all of Oregon s 36 counties. The stimulus energy projects pay Davis-Bacon or Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) prevailing wages, whichever are higher. In addition, all iron, steel and manufactured goods used in stimulus projects must be made in the United States. Forbes Plumbing opened a satellite office in Wilsonville to expand their service area to the Portland market. The business has increased 30 percent since being awarded the Dallas School District projects. Justin Moore, co-owner of DC Electric of Rickreall also benefitted from the work provided by the Dallas School District s stimulus projects. Create new jobs and save existing ones. When a project is completed, we ask the contractors involved: What impact did this project have on your business? said Recovery Team Manager Paul Egbert. The feedback from contractors, sub-contractors and manufacturers affirms that these funds have made a difference for Oregon businesses. -Recovery.gov I had just laid off some of my 24 employees when these projects came along, Moore said. The Dallas School District contract allowed me to bring all my guys back to work and hire three additional electricians, two of whom we still employ. Moore, too, saw a change in his business model following the work his firm did for the school district. Small town contractors Two small contracting businesses in the mid-valley were struggling with the downturn in the economy when they won bids from the Dallas School District to install direct digital controls that were paid in part with Recovery Act funds. Most of the work on the Dallas School District projects was performed in 2011. The jobs we did for the school district were a turning point for us, Sean Dickey, manager of Forbes Plumbing of Dallas said. It was the biggest contract we ve ever done. I brought on two more plumbers for the school district jobs and we ve been able to keep them on since then. Sean Dickey, manager of Forbes Plumbing of Dallas, worked on several Recovery Act (stimulus) projects for Dallas School District. He hired two more plumbers for the school district jobs and has kept them employed since the project was completed. December 2011
funding from the Oregon Department of Energy amounting to $990,000 helped finance the projects. That project kept us busy for approximately eight months, said Nanson. It was very beneficial to our branch and to the people working on the project. Nanson was proud of the project results, especially the work on the county library buildings that had been overlooked in recent years due to tight budgets. Justin and Kim Moore of DC Electric in Rickreall worked on several Recovery Act (stimulus) projects that helped grow their small-town business. Five or six years ago, our business was primarily residential. Today, it is mostly commercial, Moore said. This contract let us build a relationship with McKinstry (energy consulting company) and Northwest Control Co. that might not have happened otherwise. This led to other work. Coming out of a small town, we don t get that opportunity too often. It allowed us to get our foot in the door and show what we can do. Big town project Siemens AG, headquartered in Germany, is a very large technology and solutions provider with more than 420,000 employees worldwide and approximately 70,000 employees in the U.S. But drill down from the global Siemens to the North American operations of Siemens Building Technologies Division, to the Pacific Northwest Rocky Mountain Zone regional operations of Siemens and eventually you will get to the Oregon branch offices of Siemens Building Technologies in Beaverton and Coburg. We re a global company acting locally, said the Oregon Siemens Account Manager Mike Nanson. In reality we re just a bunch of people who choose to live and work in Oregon. Our customers are here. Siemens is invested in our business here, and our paychecks are spent here. The Oregon branch office in Beaverton and the satellite office in Coburg employ approximately 120. Recently Siemens won a contract to perform energy efficiency upgrades to 38 Multnomah County buildings, including many county libraries. Recovery Act (stimulus) Depressed Coos County Coos County electrical contractor Randy Rema can tell you that being a small business owner in Coos County is tough these days. Private dollars are just not there, said Rema, the owner of Reese Electric. It s been a struggle. The 63-year-old North Bend family-owned business went from $7.2 million in sales in 2007 and 2008 to $5.8 in 2009 and $4.2 million through nine months of 2010. Rema had to cut his employees from a high of 63 in 2007 to 33 in 2010. The Oregon Department of Energy awarded Recovery Act (stimulus) funds to several public entities in Coos County for energy projects. Reece Electric was the winning bidder on many of the projects. These projects certainly helped us stay afloat, Rema said. It has been a tough year and a half and these projects came along at a very slow time for us. They made a big difference in a lot of ways. Rema, a union contractor, was able to hire two journeyman electricians back to work with the Recovery Act jobs. In addition, he hired two late-term apprentices back to work. They were close to completing their 8,000-hour training requirement, but just needed more hours. They are now journeymen. I felt really good about that, Rema said. They really worked hard, and were very appreciative for the work and money to feed their families. Family-owned electrical contracting firm Hire Electric, a family-owned business, has been in The Dalles since 1935. Hire Electric has 17 employees and works within a 100-mile radius of The Dalles. The firm primarily does industrial and commercial electrical
contracting. In 2010, Hire Electric purchased a renewable energy company and now does solar installations. Dan McHale, president of the firm, notes that Recovery Act (stimulus) funding projects provided work for Hire Electric in 2010 and 2011 during the economic downturn. They worked on three projects directly funded through the Oregon Department of Energy s federal stimulus awards: Hire Electric was a sub-contractor on a large-scale solar installation for the Oregon Military Department in Christmas Valley. We had four to five electricians at a time on the job and even hired a guy out of Roseburg to help, said McHale. That job lasted about 10 weeks. Hire Electric contracted with individual agriculture growers who did irrigation efficiency projects in partnership with local water and conservation districts funded in part with stimulus dollars. Hire Electric completed two lighting installation projects for tiny Fossil School District in North Central Oregon s Wheeler County. It was Hire s first stimulus project. Things had been really slow when we got the Fossil job. Some of my electricians weren t working full 40-hour weeks and some were on unemployment, said McHale. I was able to keep two electricians busy for two weeks on the Fossil job. In addition, McHale said the Recovery Act jobs had a trickle-down effect. It kept our material handler and supplier busy. All the way around, it helped, McHale said. Waste management business Dick Heard of Heard Farms in Roseburg received a State Energy Program award to help pay in part for a highdensity polypropylene gas collection cover to contain the odor from his waste management business and limit the energy needed for aeration. Without the cover, his business would have been severely reduced. Heard employs nine full-time employees whose jobs were maintained as he was able to continue and even expand his business now that the odor issue is under control. Specially trained workers from Industrial Environmental Concepts, Inc. of Minnesota installed a high-density polypropylene gas cover to contain odors and limit the energy needed for aeration at Dick Heard s waste management business in Roseburg. The workers stayed in Roseburg for seven weeks. In addition, the contractor who installed the specialty cover was based in Minnesota and sent seven specially trained installers to work for seven weeks in Roseburg. The installers stayed in Roseburg area motels and ate in local restaurants during their stay. Two of the workers made more of an economic mark in the area. They purchased used cars from a car dealer in Roseburg as they knew the cars had not been exposed to road salt and subject to rusting like cars in Minnesota. Solar business For Dave Eveland who founded a small solar installation company several years ago in Philomath and has since rolled his company into the national firm, SunWize, the Recovery Act awards have brought in a number of major jobs. One Oregon job was to place 306 roof-top solar modules on a new 12,000-square-foot livestock building and Solar Education Center at the Benton County Fairgrounds. The installation of the solar modules and construction of the Solar Education Center were paid for with Recovery Act funds. Every job helps, Eveland said. Benton Electric of Albany had four of their workers on this job for two to three months. T. Gerding Construction of Corvallis had two workers for two months. SunWize had an engineer working part-time for over a year, a project manager part-time for six months, a project administrator part-time and a superintendent on site for three months.
We ve grown from two to six employees (in Western US commercial solar project sales) during the economic downturn because of Recovery Act funding, Eveland said. It s very tangible. Sherman County benefits Todd Hess Building Company of southwest Portland, formed in 1982, won the bid to work on a HVAC upgrade project for Sherman County Courthouse in Moro funded in part by the Recovery Act. It was the first stimulus project for the construction company. As prime contractor, the company hired a number of local area subcontractors, including Hire Electric, Brown Roofing and Kiwi 4 Construction of The Dalles; Central Oregon Heating and Cooling, Inc. of Redmond; and Severson Plumbing and Mechanical, Inc of Bend. We had an average of eight, but up to 20 subcontractor employees at a time working on this project, said Don Fraly, an estimator project manager supervisor for Todd Hess Building Company. We helped fill the local Moro, Biggs and Grass Valley motels and took over the Moro Café. The Moro Café is on my speed dial! I m sure all the guys made an economic contribution to the region. The stimulus project had an even longer-term benefit for rural Sherman County. Fraly found that he really liked the area when he was on site for the project and has started to look for a home to purchase in the area. He wants to take his 20 years of construction and experience as a certified energy auditor and set up business in Sherman County. The County could use a contractor with my expertise, he said. Biomass manufacturer in St. Helens A requirement of using Recovery Act funds is that a public entity must follow the Buy American Recovery Act. All iron, steel and manufactured goods used on the project must be produced in the United States. ODOE awarded six public entities Recovery Act funds for the installation of biomass boilers. Five of the project owners selected an Oregon manufacturer, SolaGen Incorporated, to supply their biomass boiler. Days Creek Charter School, Vernonia School District, Estacada School District, Three Rivers School District, and Oakridge School District have (or will have in 2012) SolaGen of St. Helens manufactured the biomass boiler installed at Days Creek Charter School and four other Oregon school districts. The boilers were paid in full or part by Recovery Act (stimulus) funds through the Oregon Department of Energy. SolaGen biomass boilers to heat their school buildings. All used stimulus funds to pay for all or part of the boiler installation project. SolaGen, located in St. Helens since 1985, employs 20 and sources US manufactured components and raw materials to manufacture biomass boilers for the commercial and industrial sectors. SolaGen is one of the leading US manufacturers of biomass boilers. We saw a significant increase in our commercial applications with the Recovery Act, said Wendy Hines, project coordinator for SolaGen. These jobs benefitted our organization by not only allowing us to maintain our existing staff, but allowing us to increase it. Hines said that SolaGen uses local material and components when possible, such as Farwest Steel out of Eugene, so the Recovery Act projects have an impact on even more Oregon workers. When we also install our biomass boiler for the customer, we hire local sub-contractors, such as Olsson Industrial Electric in Springfield and US Metal Works in Sandy, Hines said. Window manufacturer on Oregon Coast Bergerson Cedar Windows, Inc. of Fort Stevens on the Oregon Coast, manufactures specialized windows. When new housing construction slowed, Bergerson, a family business that started in 1957, felt the pinch.
The firm focuses on high-end and historic windows and doors to bring together the high quality craftsmanship of old with the technological advances of today into a perfect union. Chuck Bergerson, his son, Ray, and his grandson all work in the business that employs eight. Our company has changed with the times, said Ray Bergerson. Work on historic buildings has become more important as new construction has been slowed by the economy. When Morrow County received a Recovery Act award to replace historic windows in its Courthouse that was on the National Register, Bergerson bid for the job and received the contract. Bergerson used information on the original windows to fabricate a very similar looking replacement window that drastically cut energy losses. Chuck Bergerson was pleased with the job for his employees who had experienced some down time. The Morrow County job paid prevailing wages, he said. It was a big shot in the arm for my employees. The historic Morrow County Courthouse in Heppner has new energy-efficient windows that were made off of templates from the original windows. Bergerson Cedar Windows, Inc. of Fort Stevens specializes in historic windows. The project was paid for with Recovery Act (stimulus funds) through the Oregon Department of Energy. Closed projects Recovery Act projects must be completed in 2012. For a list of Oregon s completed Recovery Act projects, click on the following links: State Energy Plan closed projects Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant closed projects Recovery.gov On Feb. 13, 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 at the urging of President Obama, who signed it into law four days later. A direct response to the economic crisis, the Recovery Act has three immediate goals: An installer from Hire Electric of The Dalles works on a solar installation for the Oregon Military Department at a former radar base near Christmas Valley. Hire had up to five installers on the job that lasted 10 weeks. It was paid for with Recovery Act (stimulus) funds. Create new jobs and save existing ones Spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth Foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending The Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) awarded these energy projects with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus) funds through the State Energy Program (SEP) and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBG). The U.S. Department of Energy administers the funds, approves the projects and reviews the state s progress. The Oregon Department of Energy received $42.1 million in SEP funding and $9.6 million in EECBG funding.. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Numbers #DE-EE0000140 and #DE-EE0000926. This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.