Feb 03, 1998

Lane Marketing Communications

Lane Marketing Communications has added Brandon K. Bruins and Heather Stammer as account assistants. Lane Marketing Communications, headquartered in Portland, represents a variety of clients in the architecture, real estate, health care, business to business services and financial services industries.

FirstBank Northwest

Lewiston, Idaho-based Idaho FirstBank Corp., the holding company for FirstBank Northwest, has received approval for its conversion from a federally chartered stock savings bank to a Washington state-chartered savings bank. The bank now can expand in Oregon and Washington and other states that have reciprocal interstate banking agreements with Washington. FirstBank Northwest has designated its Clarkston location as its main office. Administrative offices will remain in Lewiston.

Holaday-Parks

Holaday-Parks Inc. has added three new employees to its Engineering Department. They include: Michael Cook, who is assigned to a kitchen remodel project at the University of Puget Sound and tenant improvement engineering at 600 Broadway in Seattle; David Morse III, who is working on the Woodinville shopping center project and assisting with engineering for a job with SeaMed in Bothell; and Jeff Butler, who is providing CAD support to the engineering group.

Lake cleanup hit with mounting repair costs

LAKE STEVENS (AP) -- For nearly five years, a $1 million oxygen pumping system has kept phosphorous in check, stemming the growth of algae which otherwise would choke Lake Stevens. While the state paid most of the installation costs, the mechanical aerators also have cost local governments about $283,000 in repairs -- $78,000 in 1995, $70,000 in 1996 and $135,000 last year. The question of who will pay for additional work is the subject of a meeting today of representatives of this suburb east of Everett, Snohomish County, Drainage District 8 and the state Ecology Department. "At the time the aerator was put in the lake, there was no written agreement on who would pay for what if repairs were needed," said Gene Williams, a county surface water planner and project manager for the installation. "As repairs have come up, various departments have paid for them. The designer and contractor have even paid for some of them. Right now we're sorting all that out and trying to determine who owes what," Williams said. The system is a success, he maintained. "At the time we placed it, we were worried more about the concept, not about leaks in pipes or anchors coming loose," he said. Other work includes adding more floats to keep the air supply line flat, replacing burned-out air compressor gaskets and repairing the fabric around underwater fiberglass pipes after the sheathing tore loose from anchor ropes. Now more anchors and parts of the onshore pipeline need replacing, Williams said. With a depth of 150 feet, Lake Stevens is the largest lake anywhere known to use an aerator system, he said. Designed by KCM Inc. of Seattle, the system releases air through four vertical pipes about 10 feet above the lake bed. Onshore compressors force the air through underground 10-inch pipe, each aerator circulates 80 million gallons of water a day and the machines run around the clock about eight months of the year. The added oxygen and circulation of cold water at the lake bottom suppresses phosphorous from fertilizer and other sources of surface runoff pollution. A state grant paid for 75 percent of the initial cost, Snohomish County paid 12.5 percent and the town and the drainage district split the other 12.5 percent. The aerator system was expected to be in use for 15 to 20 years but may be needed much longer, Williams said. "With the amount of development going on in the Lake Stevens area and the resulting pollution, it could need to be there 30, 40 or 50 years," he said.

Feb 02, 1998

Deloitte & Touche

Deloitte & Touche, based in Seattle, announced the formation of Enterprise Risk Services, a new national practice designed to help corporations address risk and control issues. Enterprise Risk Services resulted from the unification of three separate practices: computer assurance systems, outsourcing and risk solutions.

Jan 30, 1998

Mackie Designs

Mackie Designs Inc. has finalized plans to open its first overseas reload center in The Netherlands. The Woodinville-based firm is a manufacturer and marketer of professional audio systems.

Seneca Group, Domoto

The Seneca Real Estate Group and Domoto Co. have announced plans to merge. The Seattle-based Seneca Group is a real estate development and management advisory firm whose clients include the Seattle Mariners, Pine Street Development, Obayashi Corp., City of Seattle, YMCA and Adobe Systems. Domoto Co. is a Seattle project management firm which specializes in owner representation in development, design and construction of office, manufacturing and other projects. Founded by Laura Domoto in 1989, the firm has managed projects worth over $250 million collectively. Current Domoto clients include Visio Corp., Optiva Corp., AT&T Wireless, File Net and the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority.

RE/MAX

Karen Schweinfurth, a sales agent with RE/MAX Masters, has been awarded the Accredited Buyer Representative designation by the Real Estate Buyer's Agent Council of the National Association of Realtors.