Jun 27, 1995

KPS Health Plans

Bremerton-based KPS Health Plans has promoted four of its managers. Cindy Rice, formerly director of managed care, has been named director of operations. Pamela Tiaro has been promoted from director of operations to director of information services. Nancy Venard is the new personnel manager. Formerly, she was personnel assistant. And, Tracy Cregg has been named manager of managed care programs. Cregg is the former assistant manager of managed care program.

Montage

Boston-based MacTemps, a national computer staffing agency, has announced the formation of a prototype multimedia venture in the Pacific Northwest region. Dubbed Montage, the new staffing agency will assemble teams of experts who manage, design and produce multimedia communications. Montage, which is being launched in the Puget Sound area due to the region's prominence in cutting edge technology and communications, will custom produce multimedia presentations and kiosks, CD content, on-line home pages and more for businesses without in-house multimedia production capabilities and those needing additional experts in-house. The company's market manager is An Webster. Webster is joined in the Montage launch by Seattle MacTemps executives Susan Berg and Sian Wiltshire. The agency's accounts will be managed by Tom Linde.

Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Steve Eirschele has been named facilities engineer of Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He specializes in the design and construction of mechanical and electrical systems for laboratory buildings. Eirschele began his career with Affiliated Engineers Inc. (AEI), where he worked his way up to a senior project manager. In 1987, he was named project manager and lead engineer for the AEI team that worked on the center's proposal for what became the South Lake Union laboratory buildings. In 1988, he set up a local office for the firm during construction of the center. For the past two years, Eirschele has managed his own consulting practice in Seattle.

Washington Transit Advertising

Seattle-based Washington Transit Advertising has added Matt Gittleman to its sales team. Gittleman returns to Seattle after four years as senior account executive at Los Angeles-based Gannett Newspapers. Gittleman previously worked in sales in the Puget Sound Business Journal, where he twice earned Salesperson of the Year honors.

FDSI Consulting

To accommodate growth, FDSI Consulting, an information technologies consulting company with a pool of 185 consultants, has moved from its home of 11 years in Redmond to a new expanded location in the Bellevue Corporate Plaza, 600 108th Ave. N.E. The new office, which is 50 percent larger than the previous one, enables some consultants to work for FDSI Consulting clients off-site, at the company's headquarters.

Engineers honored

Jack Bilsborough, Snohomish County engineer, has been honored as the 1995 Urban County Engineer of the Year by the Washington State Association of County Engineers and Public Works Directors. The award for 1995 Rural County Engineer of the Year went to Gary Rowe, Jefferson County public services director. Both awards were presented June 21 at the group's annual convention in Kennewick. Candidates for the awards are nominated by their respective county councils or boards of commissioners. Final selections are made by a statewide peer review committee. Candidates must demonstrate outstanding skills in leadership, management, public relations, engineering, public works, and community activities, both within their counties and on behalf of the County Engineers' Association.

CITC

The Construction Industry Training Council of Washington is accepting applications for apprenticeship programs in electrical, carpentry, plumbing, painting, sheet metal and HVAC. The nonprofit organization accepts applications every Thursday, from 9 a.m. to noon only. CITC requires the following of potential candidates: high school diploma or GED; transcripts, indicating one year of high school algebra or one semester of college algebra with a grade of C or better (electrical and plumbing only); one year of high school plane geometry or one semester of college plane geometry with a grade of C of better (plumbing only); proof of age, indicating at least 18 years old; Social Security card; physical; testing (electrical applicants must have a qualifying score of "high" on the S-72-R aptitude test, plumbing applicants must have a qualifying score of "high" on the S-61-R aptitude test, and sheet metal applicants must have a score of "high" on the S-82-R aptitude test); and applicants are required to submit proof of above qualifications before they are considered complete. For further information, contact CITC at (206) 454-2482.

Fall protection, work surface safety

The Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington is sponsoring a fall protection and work surface safety class July 18, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Construction Industry Training Council's facility in Bellevue. The hands-on class is being presented by Tom Davies, safety and health specialist with APPROACH Management Services of Seattle. Certificates will be given to all attendees as proof of attendance. Cost for ABC members is $65 for the first attendee and $20 for each additional attendee. Non-members are $130 for the first attendee and $40 for each additional attendee. Participants in ABC's Retro Plan are free. For further information, contact ABC at (206) 646-8000.

Golf tourney

The ABC of Western Washington is holding its 8th Annual Merit Shop Golf Classic Aug. 11 at Northshore Golf Club in Tacoma. Cost of the event is $85, which includes golf, cart, lunch, dinner, beverages and prizes. The tournament will begin at 1:45 p.m. with a shotgun start. Entry deadline is July 21. For further information, contact ABC, 1756 114th Ave. S.E., Suite 210, Bellevue, WA 98004; (206) 646-8000.

Warehouse fined for wastewater violations

YAKIMA (AP) -- The state Department of Ecology levied a $32,000 fine against a Moxee fruit packing company for what the agency calls a blatant disregard for state water quality laws. Olympic Fruit Co. was cited for three violations of state environmental laws on handling of its waste water. It is believed to be one of the largest water quality fines imposed in this region, said Joan Snyder, an Ecology Department enforcement specialist. Paul Koch, controller for Olympic Fruit, said Wednesday the company was investigating. He declined further comment. Olympic Fruit is accused of failing to obtain a general waste discharge permit, exceeding local discharge limits to the city of Moxee sewage treatment plant, and failing to obtain Ecology Department approval of the firm's engineering plans for wastewater treatment. The company began operating in March without a permit even though the state told the firm what it needed to do to protect water quality, fish and other aquatic life, said Mike Llewelyn, the Ecology Department's water quality program manager. The agency also ordered the company to apply for a wastewater discharge permit within 20 days and provide the Ecology Department with reports of how the firm will manage wastewater discharges and achieve compliance.

Science and technology park gets new head

Dr. J.T. Roberts, director of Batelle's new Economic Development Office, has been named executive director of the Tri-Cities Science and Technology Park Association in Richland. Located adjacent to the Hanford site, the 2,600-acre park was incorporated in 1990 to develop a world-class, university-related research facility to create and attract companies to the Tri-Cities which are not dependant upon Hanford funding. Roberts says the park is pursuing firms involved in technology developments for environmental cleanup, medicine, agriculture and improved energy production. The park association is composed of officials from Washington State University at Tri-Cities, the City of Richland, the Port of Benton, private land and building owners, tenants and associate members from the Department of Energy, its contractors and subcontractors.

Spokane city council fed up with odors

SPOKANE (AP) -- The stink must stop, City Council members have told the operators of a regional compost plant. Council members voted 5-1 last week to warn plant operator O.M. Scott and Sons that further odor violations cited by the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority could force the city to end its contract. The plant must reduce odors overall within the next 30 days, the council said. Council members took a similar action last September, after which odors from the plant decreased. The 43-acre, $2 million plant in Colbert, about 15 miles northwest of Spokane, was cited May 30 by the Pollution Control Authority. Nearby residents have complained for more than a year about fumes from the plant. The compost plant is a joint Spokane city-county operation, so the Spokane County Commission must be in agreement with the City Council's decision before it takes effect.

Redmond company reaches settlement on patent

Redmond-based Eau Tech Partners (ETP), a Washington general partnership which holds the patent on "staged cooling," a low-cost process that eliminates wastewater discharges, has retained its sole right to market the technology via an out-of-court settlement of its lawsuit against GEA Thermal-Dynamic Towers Inc. and GEA Power Cooling Systems. The lawsuit cited an attempt by GEA to convert ETP's system to GEA's ownership. ETP developed its "staged cooling" system in 1986 to address the need to inexpensively reduce or eliminate the discharge that occurs during industrial processes such as electric power generation. Discharging the effluent into lakes and rivers -- the traditional method of disposal prior to enactment of the Clean Water Act and other environmental legislation -- causes thermal and chemical pollution. Without admitting liability or wrongdoing, GEA admitted that exclusive ownership of the underlying patents is vested in William G. Sanderson and Richard L. Lancaster, two of the Eau Tech Partners, agreed that the zero discharge systems it was attempting to market are covered by Eau Tech process patents, and paid ETP an undisclosed sum to resolve lawsuit claims of conversion and business interference.

Stolen pilings a problem on lower Columbia

ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) -- Wooden pilings are disappearing along the lower Columbia River as thieves pull them out and trade them in for cash at timber mills. The pilings once supported canneries and other historic buildings, but now hold only mud and grass in their disintegrating fibers. Underwater, however, the wood is preserved with no oxygen to break it down. All the pilings were taken recently from the water in front of the Twilight Eagle Sanctuary, a small protected parcel of riverfront forest about four miles from Astoria. A mill will pay up to $400 for 30 feet of untreated old-growth cedar piling. Coated pine or fir pilings are reused, others become wood chips and firewood.

Polluter pays for Stilly restoration

Under an agreement reached between the Warm Beach Camp & Conference Center in Stanwood, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance and the state Department of Ecology, the center will clean up its operation and help salmon recovery efforts in local creeks. According to Puget Soundkeeper, the Warm Beach Center has been polluting the bay of Port Susan, near the Stillaguamish, with effluent from a failing sewage lagoon for over five years. The agreement requires the complex to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant and take measures to reduce load on the system, fence the center's horse pasture to keep animal waste from entering nearby streams, and provide funds for restoring fish habitat on the Stillaguamish, upriver of the sewage lagoon. Habitat restoration work will carried out by the Stillaguamish/Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force.