Leadership Team  2017-2018
meet your team

• Cory Miller, President
  CH2M PRC
• Todd Johnson,  Immediate Past President,
  Energy Northwest
• Kyle Root, Treasurer
  CH2M PRC 
• Brian Hersch, Secretary
• Naila Prieto  Membership Director,
  CBC
• Scott Williams, Director,
  Cadwell Laboratory
• Dustin Wittman, Director, CBC

Program planner

• ISM-CB Program February 13
  Regional economic Impact
• Annual ISM membership dues are due now. Help us continue hosting local programs like this one by renewing your ISM-CB membership.

“When Washington State Employment Security Department Regional Economist Asja Suljic comes to talk to our group, the room is consistently filled with ISM-Columbia Basin members and guests ready to listen. It is not likely that there is a more qualified speaker in the local area to discuss the regional economy with us and for that reason, Ms. Suljic has been an annual speaker for ISM-CB. If you’re Interested in unemployment rates, effects of minimum wage increases, population demographics, and many more economic factors, bring your questions and join us.” –Cory Miller

Join us on Tuesday February 13, our annual Regional Economic Report Card. This is one of our most popular meetings of the year.

Our returning speaker is Ajsa Suljic, Regional Labor Economist, WA State Employment Security Department who will provide us information on the State of the Labor Market in the Kennewick Metro Area (Benton and Franklin Counties). See the PowerPoint from last year’s presentation here .

As the regional labor economist covering Southeastern Washington, Ajsa provides labor market information and analysis to local economic planners, administrators, businesses and residents. Currently serving as local labor market and economic expert on multiple organizations.
Here is the latest Benton County profile prepared by Ajsa & Franklin County

Due to the large attendance for this meeting, it will be held at the County Gentlemen in their large Event Center. To coordinate this large meeting, a buffet dinner will be offered with no host bar drinks available for ordering.

This year your ISM-CB Board voted to support our members by covering a portion of the cost for the buffet dinner and room rental and thus reduce the dinner fee for ISM-CB members. This is our way of saying “Thank You” for being a member of the ISM-Columbia Basin Chapter.

•  When: Tuesday February 13, 2018
•  Where: County Gentleman Restaurant, 9921 W Clearwater Ave., Kennewick
•  Time: Buffet starts at 5:30 pm Program starts about 6:15 to 6:30 pm.
•  Menu: Buffet Dinner- Marinated Tri Tip w/Demi Glaze, Herb Crusted Chicken, and sides.
•  Cost: $20 for members $25 for non-members
•  RSVP early – A head count has to be provided to County Gentleman no later than ??????????
•  You may pre-pay using a credit card via the PayPal link on the ISM-CB website
  or RSVP to RSVP@ismcb.org and pay cash or check at the door.

Questions: Please send any questions to Scott Williams admin@ismcb.org
Either way, we need to know if you are going to attend as early as possible.

Membership Renewal

Annual membership dues invoices are "in the mail".  Dues are due and payable for 2018.  We hope that will renew your membership and continue to accrue the value of having local educational programs and networking with other members. Payment can be made by check or by using a credit card via the Paypal link on our membership web page. If you have questions about dues or payment, contact Naila Prieto  Membership Director, or   Kyle Root, Treasurer

Contract Communication

We communicate with suppliers and contractors on a regular basis. Training [and auditors] have taught us to communicate in writing in order to build a contemporaneous record in the contract file. That’s important! However, when written communication is vague, unclear or ambiguous; the net effect may be adverse.

Unfortunately most of us developed writing skills in school where complex prose, building suspense and long paragraphs were praised. Likewise we have generally been exposed to legal documents from a lawyer’s perspective – with circumspect, over-qualified and long run-on sentences which sound official – but can only be deciphered after lawyers spend hours wrangling in front of a judge. And that is a problem. We are not writing for the Hugo award, we are not writing letters to our Grandmothers nor are we writing legal briefs.

In my opinion, written communication with contractors has to be different. Fortunately, there are some simple changes we can make in our writing style to be more direct, understandable and effective.

In our discussion at the NCMA meeting on March 8, we’ll talk about pitfalls in contract communication and suggest ways to improve the effectiveness and value of your contract correspondence.

Read more….

Here is a great example of our tax-dollars at work - providing very helpful advice from the government.

https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/write/legal-docs/clear-writing.html 

Here is an older article of mine on the same subject
http://www.mltweb.com/tools/articles/write.htm 

Here is an example of practical application:
http://www.mltweb.com/tools/imo.htm#Confirming 

Read more from Taylor at: www.mltweb.com  / Articles / Toolbox

Find more of my opinions and articles  at www.mltweb.com

There are a number of business trends that I think will affect our professional futures. Either from a personal-career 'opportunity' or a business-process impact - these are trends are worth understanding.  As managers, we should be adapting business processes; as professionals, we should be preparing for inevitable career changes. Here are a few terms I think we should all be familiar with:

• Legal Technologist- a growing career in the legal profession
• Forensic Auditing  - a growth industry in the accounting business sector
• Electronic Discovery - a powerful and expensive legal tool
• Big Data - rapidly multiplying connectivity, data sharing and analysis web
• Data Density - exponential growth of data elements and sources due to IoT
• IoT - explosion in technology expansion leading to ginormous data sets with much higher data densities  
• Blockchain Encryption - secure communication enabling technology

These trends, along with regulatory changes, expansion of world markets, social networking growth and generation turnover make a compelling case for comprehensive review of business processes and our future in the workplace.

MLT

Find more of my opinions and articles  at www.mltweb.com /  articles   /  Toolbox

A Heads up note for our members from our February speaker, Ajsa Suljic

81 percent of employers will have the same tax rate or lower

OLYMPIA – The Employment Security Department has issued 2018 tax rate notices to employers and updated our website with all the new information.  https://www.esd.wa.gov/employer-taxes/determining-your-tax-rates

Tax rates in all 40 rate classes remained the same as in 2017, ranging from 0.10 to 5.7 percent (not counting delinquency taxes). About 81 percent of employers will move into a lower rate class or stay the same in 2018.

Highlights

• 25 percent of Washington employers will have a lower tax rate in 2018, 56 percent will remain the same, and 19 percent will move to a higher rate class.
• The average tax rate will decrease from an estimated 1.21 percent in 2017 to an estimated 1.10 percent in 2018. The average total tax paid per employee will decline by $15 to $215 per year.
• About 41 percent of all taxable employers are in rate class 1, taxed at 0.10 percent. Ninety percent of employers in rate class 1 have five or fewer employees.
• The experience rated portion of the 2018 unemployment tax (paid by rate classes 2 and higher) will be based on benefit payouts from July 2013 through June 2017.
• Unemployment tax collections are estimated to decrease from $1.06 billion in 2017 to about $952 million in 2018.

Employers will pay unemployment taxes on the first $47,300 of each employee’s earnings in 2018. For an employee earning $47,300 or more, the total tax for the year will range from $61 (employers in rate class 1) to $2,706 (rate class 40).

Ajsa Suljic
Regional Labor Economist
Washington State Employment Security Department
Workforce Information and Technology Services

815 N Kellogg St., Ste D, Kennewick, WA 99363

Email: Asuljic@esd.wa.gov ; phone: 509-734-5928; website: www.esd.wa.gov 

Seminar:  Introduction to Public Procurement

05/23/2018 - 05/25/2018 ;   8:00 AM -5:00 PM
Location: 808 W Spokane Falls Blvd,  Spokane, WA 99201
Instructor: Christine O. Weber, CPPB,C.P.M.
Hosted By: Washington State Chapter of NIGP
registration information

American Society for Quality :  www.asq614.org/

Procurement Technical Assistance Center.
Washington PTAC - February Government Contracting Opportunities, News, & Events
Ashley Coronado  PTAC Government Contracting Assistance Specialist
Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, Kennewick www.tricityregionalchamber.com

The Institute For Internal Auditors, Mid-Columbia Chapter
https://chapters.theiia.org/mid-columbia/Pages/default.aspx

National Contract Management Association (NCMA)
 NCMA web site: http://ncmacolumbiabasin.com/index.html

Institute For Management Accountants
 IMA web site: http://ima.labworks.org/

WSU  Tri-Cities Professional Education https://tricities.wsu.edu/cepd/leadership-academy/

Emerging Tri-Cities http://www.emergingtricities.com/

ISM-CB professional network exchange is our way of encouraging communication and discussion among our members. Sharing information, expertise and experience are just some of the many benefits of membership. Networking with other members is a great way to build a professional support team.

Contact ISM-CB:  ISM-CB President / ISM-CB Membership Director/ISM-CB Information  / Web Site

ISM-Columbia Basin is the regional affiliate of the Institute for Supply Management a not-for-profit educational organization of over 40,000 Purchasing Agents, Buyers and Supply Chain Professionals. www.ism.ws  Local membership represents companies from Moses Lake to Walla Walla including food processing, government contractors, educational institutions, utilities and manufacturing. New members and business professionals are always welcome at ISM-CB events. Visit the ISM-CB web site at: www.ismcb.org

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