Ad-Hoc Group Addresses Key Housing Choke Points

Realtor Greg Lund, the Vice President of 21st Century Lund based in Chehalis, has it right, as detailed in the story “The Alliance Tackles Lack of Housing in L.C.: Ad-Hoc Steering Committee Composed of Economic Leaders.”

He said developers are frustrated and need a helping hand in overcoming barriers to building a spectrum of appropriate housing.

The Economic Alliance of Lewis County has formed a subgroup called the Housing Alliance, led by The Alliance Initiative Program Manager Todd Chaput. They’ve met in The Alliance board room for about six months in their attempts to help county, cities and developers find a common path to help overcome the extreme need for additional housing in Lewis County.

It is clear growth is coming to our area, as WinCo Foods Vice President of Real Estate Greg Goins said in an article in today’s The Economic Report. “WinCo research clearly shows the Lewis County market is ready for WinCo.”

Lund said the Housing Alliance is pushing for private-public cooperation to help alleviate this difficult-to-solve problem. I look forward to the group’s success in finding solutions to this long-simmering puzzle.

Inflation Impacts Small Businesses

The U.S. inflation rate for September hit 8.2%, led by increases in food, gasoline and energy. This is hurting our small businesses in Lewis County. According to a report from the NFIB Research Center, “79% of small employers report that rising fuel prices are a substantial contributor to higher costs.”

“Inflation has set in on Main Street and owners across the country continue to make business decisions in response,” said Holly Wade, Executive Director of NFIB’s Research Center. “As owners manage the highest inflation rate in decades, they are also managing an ongoing worker shortage and supply chain disruptions, which is hurting their businesses and consumers.”

The Fed uses rising interest rates to attempt to control inflation. The problem is that it hits housing sales and slows consumer spending. Perhaps the U.S. government overspent in the past few years. Next up is increased taxes or cuts in spending.

Hang in there, small business owners. What goes up always comes down. The opposite is true as well.

Annual Alliance Banquet Features Brandy Kruse

Our 40th Annual Economic Alliance of Lewis County banquet is set for Friday, Feb. 3 at Jesters Museum, with Guest Speaker Brandi Kruse.

Attendees are in for a treat with Kruse — a spark plug of a journalist known for telling it like it is.

Kruse quit her job at Fox’s Seattle TV station KCPQ and started her own podcast.

“I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to do my best work — my best work for the public — I didn’t believe I could work for corporate media and work for the public at the same time,” she told Seattle’s KIRO Radio.

Kruse said she quit after indications her weekly talk show The Divide was in danger of cancellation.

“When it became clear The Divide, a show I created, wasn’t going to move forward, which was a decision I did not agree with, I knew I was going to have to leave.”

You can hear all about it and more of her insights and opinions at our anniversary banquet.

Three New Members Join Board of The Alliance

The Economic Alliance of Lewis
County is proud to announce three new
members to its Board of Directors.

The new board members are Shane
Wood, Business Services Manager
and Commercial Lending Specialist
for TwinStar Credit Union; Samantha
Styger-Magnuson, Co-Owner of Lewis
County Coffee and Nomad Truck and
SUV Outfitters; and Tyler McCallum,
President of McCallum Rock Drilling

Shane Wood

Wood has worked for 14 years at TwinStar Credit union and currently does commercial accounts and loans there. He serves on a variety of boards and committees in the Lewis County community, and is happily married to wife Stephanie and they have “two beautiful kids,” Kyler and Kyndal. 

“In my free time I enjoy traveling and camping with my family,” he said, adding his favorite family vacation spot is Disneyland, and he also volunteers as a coach for his kid’s teams. 

He is excited to join the Economic Alliance of Lewis County. 

“For one, I am passionate about businesses and as a business guy — as a commercial lender at the credit union I get to know a lot of business people in the area,” he said. “I want to advocate for them. And I am super excited about The Alliance. They have done a good job at shifting some of the focus to small businesses.” 

Samantha Styger-Magnuson

Tyler McCallum

McCallum is a graduate of WF West High School and the University of Washington. He was born and raised in Chehalis and grew up heavily involved in sports and the community. McCallum and his wife Callie have two kids and are building a home in Chehalis. They want to invest and support the community they grew up in and continue to help make Lewis County a great place to live and raise a family.

In 2016, McCallum and his sister Hayley Coronel, purchased McCallum Rock Drilling from their parents. In the six years of ownership, they have grown the business from 30 employees to well over 100, operating throughout the entire Pacific Northwest. Although the region they cover is large, a majority of McCallum’s employees live in Lewis County.

In 2021, McCallum purchased a warehouse property in the Chehalis Industrial Park. This purchase has allowed McCallum Rock Drilling to grow and offer good paying careers to people in Lewis County for many years to come.

“I’m passionate about this area and I think there’s a lot of good people who can benefit from continued economic growth,” he said. “I know a few of the current board members, they’re pushing to get the right people and businesses to not only help us grow, but to grow in the right way.”

Labor foundation helps union families in need

The Foundation for Working Families is a charitable nonprofit organization formed by the affiliated unions of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO to assist union members and their families in times of hardship or disaster. As you can imagine, the FFWF has been quite busy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the past two years, the FFWF has delivered thousands of $300 Fred Meyer gift cards to fami-lies suffering extraordinary hardship. That’s hun-dreds of thousands of dollars in donations to help folks get through difficult times.

In addition, families that have experienced loss due to natural disasters such as wildfires and floods can apply for FFWF assistance.

Generous contributions are made to the FFWF by unions and rank-and-file members throughout Washington state—and those contributions are making a real difference. The families the FFWF is helping are extremely grateful for the assistance.

“I can’t thank you enough for the incredibly generous Fred Meyer gift card,” Jessica wrote in one of many thank-you notes the FFWF has re-ceived. “I used it to make a HUGE shopping run of groceries that will help my family and me for a long time. We are so grateful to you for your sup-port during this strange and difficult time.”

Because the WSLC covers all administrative and overhead costs of running the FFWF, 100% of contributions—every single dollar—goes directly to people in need.

“The Foundation for Working Families is an important part of the WSLC and its affiliated unions’ work,” said WSLC President Larry Brown. “Helping families get through difficult times is what unions have always done. We lift each other up, particularly when some of us are struggling, so we can get through those hard times and ultimately share in the prosperity we have created together.”

Learn more about the Foundation for Working Families at www.wslc.org/FFWF. You can also make a contribution or apply for assistance there.

The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is the largest labor group in the state. It repre-sents some 600 union organizations, including the Thurston-Lewis-Mason Counties Labor Council, with more than 550,000 members statewide.