The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency represents an unusual approach to protecting air quality. In most of the State that task is a function of the State of Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. LRAPA presents a local opportunity to maintain air quality. The presentation will discuss how LRAPA provides essential local services through monitoring, enforcement, and community engagement, while creating a balanced approach that serves both environmental and economic interests. This presentation will explore emerging challenges, including increasing wildfire smoke events, and new opportunities through technological innovation. As federal environmental policies shift, Executive Director Travis Knudsen will outline how LRAPA creates certainty and stability for Lane County residents and businesses while maintaining its commitment to public health and environmental protection. Mr. Knudsen will also discuss his vision for the agency which includes embracing AI technology as a transformative tool for the agency’s work, creating certainty for businesses and residents amid changing federal environmental policies and addressing the growing challenge of wildfire smoke in the region.

April 3: School district 19 Candidate Forum
Seven candidates have filed to run for seats on the Springfield School Board at the May 20 election. Springfield City Club and the League of Women Voters of Lane County have invited all candidates to attend a forum to be held at noon on April 3 to allow them to explain their candidacy.

The candidates that have filed, and the positions they are seeking are as follows:
Name                    Position
Heather Quaas-Anna              2
Sarah Bosch*                           2
Johnathan Light                      3
Justin Martin                           3
Amber Langworthy                 5
Bob Brew                                5
Robert Morgan                       5

*Ms. Bosch has advised that she will not be actively campaigning.

Five of the remaining six candidates have accepted the invitation. The final candidate has informed us that scheduling conflicts may preclude his attendance. Each candidate been invited to submit a statement describing their candidacy. The statements received so far can be found here: Candidate Statement.

The forum will be held at Roaring Rapids Pizza, 4006 Franklin Boulevard in Glenwood. It will be in-person and livestreamed on Zoom. Each candidate will be asked to give an opening statement and then respond to questions proposed by a moderator designated by the League of Women Voters. Attendees may submit written questions to the moderator. The forum is planned to last for 90 minutes.

Guests who wish to purchase lunch are encouraged to arrive by 11:30 so they may be in place by the time the forum starts.

Even though the largest workers’ comp insurance carrier has been around for more than 100 years, there still seems to be people out there who don’t know what we are or what we do. In this session, learn the history and purpose of SAIF, including a brief overview of operations. As a safety and health focused company, we will also share links to free resources to help employers keep their workers safe and healthy on the job.

Leigh Manning, MPH, CSP, ARM has been Senior Safety Management Consultant with SAIF Corporation since 2010 and has been working in occupational health and safety for almost 20 years. In her current role, she creates safety and health training materials, speaks at regional conferences, and works with employers to improve the health and safety of their workers. She is an active member of the Cascade Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, serving in many leadership roles over the years. Leigh has a BA from the University of Oregon in Journalism, Public Relations and Communications and a Master of Public Health from Portland State University.

Rob Miller brings over 30 years of experience in Oregon workers’ compensation insurance, with nearly 23 years dedicated to SAIF Corporation. He moved to Springfield in 1999 and has been in his current role for the past three years. Rob’s extensive insurance experience is primarily in the premium audit function. Rob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Communications from Concordia University-Portland. Born in Portland, Oregon, he has a deep connection to the state.  In his spare time Rob enjoys following the Seattle Mariners and all things baseball. He and his wife Shannon are celebrating their fourteen-year wedding anniversary in April, and they enjoy spoiling their two amazing grandkids every chance they get.

One of the newest business additions in Springfield is a franchise of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain. The new restaurant is located in the Gateway area, near the intersection of Gateway and Beltline. Chick-fil-A’s franchise model is essential to how the restaurant serves others. Most Chick-fil-A restaurants are owned and operated by a single individual, which means Chick-fil-A’s local Owner-Operators are small business owners, not passive investors, who work in their restaurants side by side with their Team Members each day.

In Springfield, Jared Coleman will be responsible for all day-to-day activities of the business, including employing approximately 150 full- and part-time Team Members, serving Guests, cultivating relationships with local organizations and businesses, and tailoring philanthropic efforts to meet the Springfield community’s needs.

Driven by a heart for service from an early age, Coleman began his journey with Chick-fil-A in high school, serving as a Team Member in Tucson, Arizona. He attended the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, and later pursued graduate studies at Florida State University. During graduate school, he worked at a Chick-fil-A near campus, which reignited his passion for the restaurant’s people first-culture. In 2013, Coleman joined Chick-fil-A in Tallahassee, Florida, where he spent nearly six years under the mentorship of a local Owner-Operator. This pivotal experience led him to shift his focus from pursuing a doctorate to becoming a Chick-fil-A local Owner-Operator himself. In 2019, he achieved this goal, becoming the local Owner-Operator of Chick-fil-A Cedar Hills Blvd in Beaverton, Oregon. Now, Coleman, along with his wife and three children, looks forward to opening Springfield’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant, where he plans to build strong partnerships with local educators and schools.

“Chick-fil-A has deep roots in our family – my father became a local Owner-Operator in Tucson after retiring from the Air Force,” said Coleman. “As I introduce Chick-fil-A to the Springfield community, I am honored to continue our family legacy and uphold the company’s culture of care. At Chick-fil-A Gateway & Randy Pape Beltline, we aim to create a supportive environment where Team Members can grow and pursue their dreams through the same kind of mentorship that shaped my journey.”

Lane County, Peace Health and other community partners are combining to provide expanding resources to deal with behavioral health issues in the community. The Lane County Stabilization Center, and the Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital are being planned for areas near the existing PeaceHealth Riverbend campus to offer immediate support for behavioral health issues as well as inpatient and outpatient services to all residents of the area. Join City Club on February 6 to hear Britni D’Eliso, Lane County Health & Human Services, Behavioral Health Project Manager and Alicia Beymer, Chief Administrative Officer at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend and learn about the development of these two facilities.

The Stabilization Center will offer 24/7 access for anyone in Lane County experiencing a behavioral health crisis via:

• Immediate triage and intake for care
• Person-centered behavioral health services
• Connections to specialty and/or long-term support organizations, schools, etc. can refer and provide warm handoff.
• Discharge with transportation and warm handoffs
• A place to connect with support for long term-healing

It will have the capacity to serve up to 42 individuals at one time.

The Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital will provide comprehensive inpatient behavioral health services for adolescent, adult and geriatric patients, as well as intensive outpatient treatment. Timber Springs Behavioral Health Hospital will replace PeaceHealth’s current 35-bed behavioral health unit located on the University District campus, nearly tripling capacity for behavioral health patients across the region. The current unit is designed to treat only the most acute adult psychiatric patients, meaning the new hospital will not just increase capacity, but expand services to many new patients. It is planned for completion in 2027.

Britni D’Eliso, Lane County Health & Human Services, Behavioral Health Project Manager. Britni has been working locally in the behavioral health field for over 10 years, primarily serving individuals who are navigating chronic and complex behavioral health conditions. She translates her experience as a therapist to maintaining a person center approach while working to address system wide barriers and believes the key to making impactful change is genuine collaboration.

Alicia Beymer, Chief Administrative Officer at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend has more than 25 years of varied experience serving Lane County with a demonstrated record of bringing stakeholders together to improve healthcare access to all and strong patient advocacy. She previously served as director of Home Care Services in the PeaceHealth Oregon network and has experience in risk management and as a regulatory consultant at PeaceHealth. Alicia first answered her calling as an advocate during the 10 years she worked at Lane Council of Governments—Senior and Disabled Services, where she spearheaded the quality improvement program, implemented the Medicare Part D program and served as an adult protective services worker protecting clients and safeguarding rights as a key investigator of abuse and neglect. Alicia earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Oregon and master’s degree in business administration from Northwest Christian (now Bushnell) University.

The program will be held at Roaring Rapids Pizza 4006 Franklin Boulevard in Glenwood. The program will be live in person and also broadcast over Zoom. It will be saved on the City Club You tube page for later viewing.

Natural areas are vital to our wellbeing. Spending time in nature is linked to both cognitive benefits and improvements in mood, mental health, and emotional wellbeing, according to the American psychologist Association. Not only are natural areas vital to us as humans, they are critical to providing habitat for plants and wildlife. Willamalane staff will share their experience implementing large restoration projects at various natural areas, including Thurston Hills Natural Area and Dorris Ranch, to improve conditions for both humans and wildlife. Staff will discuss some threats, such as wildfire, to our local natural areas and what Willamalane is doing to try and address them. You’ll hear about Willamalane’s efforts to balance habitat restoration work with recreation and creating fire resilient landscapes in Springfield.

Jackie Rochefort is the Planning and Natural Resource Manager for Willamalane Park and Recreation District.  Prior to her role with the district, she spent 24 years as the Park Planner for the City of Corvallis Parks and Recreation Department where she designed and managed the construction of almost all of their parks and trails.  In earlier years, she has had the great privilege of working with native plant communities at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and designing environment enclosures for primates at the San Diego Zoo. She has also served as an Adjunct Instructor At UO of where she got her Master of Landscape Architecture.

Join us for an engaging presentation by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Vonnie Mikkelsen, as she delivers an insightful overview of the state of the Chamber, the local business environment, and the broader business climate. This program will explore key trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping Springfield’s economy, as well as the Chamber’s ongoing efforts to foster business vitality and community growth. Gain valuable insights into how businesses and industries are navigating today’s landscape and what lies ahead for Springfield’s economic future. View the program on Zoom.

Vonnie is energized by the collective knowledge, resources & expertise she encounters every day in her work with Chamber members. A seasoned professional with a diverse set of tried and tested competencies, she understands first-hand the value of an all-hands-on-deck approach when it comes to helping businesses grow and succeed. An Oregonian with local roots, Vonnie earned a BA in Intl. Relations/PoliSci from Willamette University and spent 16 years living and working abroad. In addition to having served as E.D. for a Chamber in the Tampa Bay (FL) region, Vonnie has worked on World’s Fair promotions, in cable TV programming & acquisitions, and in association management. On her days off, you likely will find Vonnie hiking or biking along one of the many beautiful area riverfront trails or at the park enjoying the outdoors with her dogs.

With the holidays approaching, many of us are looking forward to seeing family and friends. This can also bring lively and sometimes heated debate on topics that family members and friends have opposing views. With the election wrapping up, this year may be a more stressful year for some. Dr. David Rettew, Medical Director of Lane County Behavioral Health, will share tips on how to deal with the stress and how to have a positive dialog with family and friends when there are opposing views. He’ll use his professional and personal experience from his own family gatherings to relate how you can provide your point of view and maintain healthy relationships.

David Rettew, MD is a child & adolescent psychiatrist who currently works as the Medical Director of Lane County Behavioral Health in Eugene, Oregon. He is also a clinical faculty member in the Psychiatry Department at OHSU. Before moving to Oregon in 2021, he worked as a tenured associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Vermont Medical Center and was Medical Director of the child and families division of the Vermont Department of Mental Health. He was also past president of the Vermont Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  Dr Rettew built and then acted as the first Training Director of UVM’s child psychiatry fellowship program.

He is the author of over 60 peer reviewed journal articles on a variety of mental health topics as well as two books, including Parenting Made Complicated: What Science Really Knows About the Greatest Debates of Early Childhood. He has served as the co-chair of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry’s (AACAP) Health Promotion and Prevention committee and was previously on their journal’s (JAACAP’s) editorial board. Dr. Rettew did his general psychiatry and child & adolescent training at Harvard Medical School within the combined Massachusetts General/McLean Hospital programs. Dr. Rettew writes a regular blog on Psychology Today that has over one and a half million views.