Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/815280
TehamaCountywants to bring new jobs for resi- dents, and help our existing local busi- nesses thrive. For that rea- son, in 2015, the Board of Supervisors created an economic de- velopment program, to continue and enhance the efforts of residents who have worked for many years to increase tourism and help local business. When the Board took this action, they cited meetings they had with economic devel- opment officials in Patter- son, California, who said economic development is a process and that it gener- ally takes five to ten years before significant progress is achieved. Even given that warning, we are proud of the progress we are making. In 2016, we saw a lot of positive growth and change for the expanding Tehama County Economic Develop- ment program. In February, Amanda Jenkins joined me, and has been an incredible addition. You can often find Amanda in the community, attending events and meet- ing with local business own- ers. Amanda heads up com- munity engagement, while I focus on program develop- ment and expansion. Over the past year, the economic development pro- gram worked on enhancing the program and preparing the county for future busi- ness expansion. We success- fully launched an economic development specific web- site this year: www.Tehama- 4Business.org. The purpose of this website is to help at- tract people outside of Te- hama County to consider us as somewhere they would want to locate their new or expanding business. The Te- hama County Economic De- velopment program is ac- tive on social media. We are on Facebook as Tehama County Economic Develop- ment, and on Twitter @Te- hamaCountyED. We have also completed a series of short videos to market Tehama County to people looking to relocate or expand their business. The video series features seven short films covering sub- jects such as education and healthy living, economic de- velopment, parks and recre- ation and more. These vid- eos are available for view at our website. The videos were viewed by the public in October, when we held a video premier party at the State Theatre in Red Bluff. We wanted to recognize and thank the many local business owners who con- tributed to this project, and stepped up to help make it a success. Another advantage that Tehama County has in it's favor is plenty of land available for new industry throughout the Interstate 5 and Highway 99 corridors. This is a huge asset for Te- hama County as land prices rise and vacant space be- comes scarcer throughout much of California. Busi- ness owners looking to move or expand want build- ing sites that are shovel ready. This means that available properties must have the necessary infra- structure in place like elec- trical access, water, sewer and, in some cases, broad- band Internet access. I am working with staff at the Rural County Repre- sentatives of California, lo- cated in Sacramento, to seek out grant and loan op- portunities to assist in pay- ing for the needed infra- structure improvements. It has come to RCRC's at- tention that the rural devel- opment arm of the USDA has a significant amount of funding available for infra- structure improvements in rural areas, but they have not been able to find the right vehicle to distribute those funds. RCRC, through its business arm, may be able to provide USDA with that vehicle, and has asked Tehama County to serve as a pilot county in working with RCRC and the USDA to see how the funds can be accessed and made avail- able to the local rural juris- dictions. If this has the po- tential that we believe it does, it will be a huge posi- tive for Tehama County. Amanda's meetings with local business own- ers are important, because they give the team an idea of what the local business community needs. She has heard from many commu- nity leaders that better ac- cess to high speed Internet is essential. For this reason the economic development team is working closely with Praxis Associates, who are trying to secure funding to run "middle mile" fiber optic cable through Tehama County to connect a fiber optic project on State Route 299 to Sacramento. Should funding be secured, the in- volvement of the Tehama County Economic Develop- ment Program will help en- sure the fiber optic cable is installed through areas that will benefit local business. Many exciting things lie ahead in 2017, I am work- ing with an organization that wants to bring a large scale solar facility to Te- hama County, which would create several permanent, local, high paying jobs, with many more created during construction. While nothing is signed, this is an exciting possibility for job creation in Tehama County. Additionally, Amanda and I have a long list of pro- gram goals in 2017, includ- ing implementing a quar- terly newsletter to help keep local residents up to date on our efforts, adopting an eco- nomic development strat- egy document identifying 10-20 year goals, working to ensure that our county is infrastructure ready and much more. We look forward to work- ing with our local busi- ness community, our Board of Supervisors, the state and private entities to help make Tehama County a place where businesses can thrive and where the fu- ture looks bright for our res- idents. CaylynWrightisthe Economic Development Director for Tehama County. UPDATE Tehama County sees growth in economic development Caylyn Wright The Olive City Agriculture and Nature Center, 5090 Ol- ive Road, will be hosting a barbecue and fundraiser be- ginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 29. Events at this Family Fun Day will include a tri-tip bar- becue or vegetarian lunch, hay ride tours of the agri- cultural areas, vernal pools and wetlands, bird viewing, a bounce house for children, horseshoesandbeanbagtoss. All events and lunch are free, but donations are greatly ap- preciated. For more information, call Dustin Fesler at 824-2600 or RSVPtocorningtomorrow@ gmail.com. Drugtake-back The Nationwide Prescrip- tion Drug Take-Back Day is set to run 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at both the Tehama CountySheriff'sOffice,22840 Antelope Blvd. in Red Bluff, and the Corning Police De- partment, 774 Third St. in Corning. The program is anony- mous — no identification is required nor will it be asked for — and free to partici- pants. Prescription and over the counter solid dosage medications, i.e. tablets and capsules are accepted. Liq- uid products, such as cough syrup, should remain sealed in their original containers. Intra-venous solutions, in- jectables, and needles and il- licit substances such as mar- ijuana or methamphetamine are not part of this initiative and will not be accepted. For any questions, contact the Tehama County Sheriff's Office at 529-7940 or Laura Calkins at the Corning Police Department at 824-7015. AgingMatters The Tehama County Health Services Agency with Northern Valley Catholic So- cial Service Inc. will be hold- ing Aging Matters; Mental Health and Suicide Preven- tion for Older Adults at the Corning Senior Center, 1015 4th Ave, 12:30-4 p.m. Thurs- day, May 4. This is an educational event to explore mental health and suicide preven- tion for older adults. Partic- ipate in a collaborative dis- cussion forum with mental healthprofessionalsandindi- vidualswithlivedexperience. There will be free depression andanxietyscreenings,photo booth, food, chair yoga, and free giveaways. For more information, call Kelly Keith at 527-8491 ext. 3713 or Elaine Benwell at 824-7670. Photosessions Dignity Health and Pic- ture Day Photography have joined together for Mama & Me Mother's Day Mini Ses- sions 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. Sat- urday, May 6 at the Dignity Health Solano Street Clinic, 2126 Solano St. The $75 session fee will be donated to The Corning High Parents Club. "Cards in Action"isanon-profit,volun- teer parent run organization that supports the students of Corning Union High School. There are limited spots avail- able,socall693-0677orwrite to picturedayphoto@gmail. com. Museumraffle The Corning Museum is selling raffle tickets for a drawing to be held at the Corning in the Evening on Thursday, May 11. Ticket cost is $2 each or 6 for $10. Proceeds will go to help fund museum oper- ations. For more information on this raffle or how to become amemberoftheCorningMu- seum,calltheChamberoffice at 824-5550. CORNING CHAMBER Ag, nature center to hold barbecue fundraiser For all of you who vol- unteered, promoted, par- ticipated, hosted, worked, watched, competed, do- nated and cheered during the 11 Days of Round-Up, thank you for making this a very special year. Networking Good Morning, Red Bluff the monthly net- working gathering is set for 7:50-9 a.m. Thursday, April 27 at Applebee's, 220 Antelope Blvd. Come out for this ex- cellent event and sample some great food. It's an inspiring time and lots of prizes too. We hope to see every- one at Good Morning, Red Bluff, the most pop- ular networking event in the county, so we can learn more about you and your business or organization. Please invite friends or associates to join you. Junior High Rodeo We are looking for busi- nesses and organizations to provide items for hos- pitality bags for all 200 entrants. Gift items, cou- pons, freebies, water bot- tles, taste samples, dis- counts and more. Please help support these great kids. Drop your hospitality item off at that Tehama Country Visitor Center by May 5. For more information, call Irene Fuller at 736- 8551 or write to rene. da.bean.rb@gmail.com. Thank you for your sup- port. Farmers markets Registrations are open for Wednesday and Sat- urday Markets. Saturday Market begin earlier this year, June 7. Looking forward to a great year with lots of great farmers, vendors, music and activities start- ing in June. For questions, to reg- ister or more info, visit www.redbluffchamber. com or call 527-6220 ext. 301. Training Sales Growth through Effective Marketing Strategies is scheduled for 9-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 6. Looking to grow your business in the next few years? It is important to have realistic goals and a plan in place to help you achieve them. This free workshop will focus on developing strategies to grow your sales and a marketing plan to help you achieve your goals. U sing your current sales information, we'll help you establish your goals, discuss the different roles of sales versus marketing and review what is nec- essary in a successful marketing strategy. This training will also help you understand what types of tools are available to you and what analytics are important to track. Red Bluff Chamber and the Small Business Devel- opment Center at Butte College present ongoing business training. The training will be at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 2810 Main St., Red Bluff. Easy registration, call 895-9017 or visit www.bc- sbdc.org. Golf results 1st place: Ryan Ste- phens, Jimmy Bennett, Mike Cox and Seth Wal- ters. 2nd place: Rufus Alex- ander, Darrell Grames, Santa Martinez and Chumley Williams. 3rd place: Bill Jourdan, Steve Judson, Greg Lee and Paul Martin. Closest to the pin on #18, Red Bluff Dodge $500, Sheree Owens; clos- est to the pin, Growney car, Tyler Verdun; Moule's Glass Break — Joey How- ard; closest to the pin #4, Bill Galbraith and Ken Hess. And thank you to all of our sponsors, volunteers, golfers, cowboys and Wil- cox Oaks Golf Club. RED BLUFF CHAMBER Thank you, Red Bluff Meme's on Main, serv- ing frozen yogurt, old time candy, truffles and gifts, has opened in downtown Red Bluff. Owned by Murl and Di- anne McDonald, the retail shop at 643 Main St. is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Dianne has been a Red Bluff resident since she was 3, graduated from Shasta College with a general edu- cation degree and was ac- tiveinPTAandLittleLeague while her children were in school. Murl lived in Los Moli- nos until he was 27, where he was a school board mem- berandactivein4HandFFA and graduated from Shasta Collegewithadegreeinfish- eries technology. They have three grown children, Dru in Sacra- mento, Natalie in Red Bluff and Dana in Durham. They are very involved with their three granddaughters. NEW BUSINESS Frozen yogurt, candy shop opens downtown CONTRIBUTED Meme's on Main opened recently in downtown Red Bluff. 25yearsprofessional experience. QualityWork Very Reasonable Rates Red Bluff Transmission • Automatic • Manual • Computer Diagnosis • Clutches • Transfer Cases • CV Axles CALL TODAY! 529-4493 440 Antelope Blvd. #6 Bob's Youcantmissus... 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