Chamber Thanks Sponsors of Upcoming Golf Outing

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Some of the sponsors for the upcoming Chamber Golf Outing at Knoebels Three Ponds Golf Club have been finalized, and the Chamber would like to take a moment to thank the following sponsors:

Sponsors:

Event – Williams

Beverage- Generations Construction, Inc.

Dinner- Geisinger-Bloomsburg Hospital

Dinner- MetroCast Communications

Lunch- Berwick Health and Wellness Fund of CSCF

Snack- First Columbia Bank & Trust

Hole-In-One- Alexander Family Buick GMC Truck

Hole Sponsors:

3B Cleaning & Floorcare

Berwick Hospital

Bloomsburg Carpet

Bodnar Sales & Service

Danville Child Development Center

First Keystone Community Bank

Gordner Coombs Insurance, Inc.

Hampton Inn-Bloomsburg

Hutchinson Insurnace Agency

PenTeleData

Service Electric

Steph’s Subs

The Farmhouse at Turkey Hill

The Inn at Turkey Hill

Turkey Hill Brewing Company

Villager Reality-Bloomsburg

Wagner’s Trophies & Engraveables

Zimmer Insurance Agency, Inc.

 

 

 

We sincerely appreciate all of your commitment!

Quality Living Guide Published

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The Columbia-Montour Chamber of Commerce and Columbia Montour Visitors Bureau are pleased to announce the release of the Quality Living guide.  The publication is complete with high quality images and detailed information about Columbia and Montour counties.  It will be distributed as a tool to promote and grow our area’s economy.  The 40-page guide showcases everything that makes the area a desirable place to live, work, visit, and enjoy.  Sections include Healthcare, Education, Outdoor Recreation, Real Estate, Dining and Shopping, along with many others. Copies are available free for member use by contacting the Chamber office at 238 Market Street in Bloomsburg or by calling 570-784-2522. To see the new guide, click here.

Understanding New Overtime Regulations

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Employers have until December 1, 2016 to comply with new overtime eligibility regulations developed by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The update, announced May 18th, is expected to extend overtime eligibility to 4 million workers. Detailed information, including fact sheets for non-profit organizations, higher education, and local governments can be found on the Department’s website, along with a schedule of free webinars for all employers.

A few of the key details on the new rules:

•  The final rule increases the salary threshold under which most employees will be automatically eligible for overtime pay.  The current salary level required for exemption is $455 a week ($23,660 for a full-year employee), which was last updated in 2004, and the new exemption threshold will be $913 a week, or $47,476 per year.

•  Employers can take up to a 10% credit towards the salary threshold from commissions or bonuses as long as they are paid at least quarterly.

•  In addition, the change in the salary threshold also includes an automatic adjustment every three years. The adjustment will be tied to the 40th percentile of full time salaried workers in the lowest wage region of the country (currently the Southeast).

•  The overtime rule leaves intact the current “duties test” that employees must meet to be exempt, in addition to being paid a salary above the $47,476 threshold.

Legislation to block the new regulations has been introduced in the House (H.R. 4773) and Senate (S. 2707). The Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act would also require the DOL to perform a better analysis on the impact changes to the overtime threshold will have on small businesses, nonprofits, regional economies, and local governments, in any succeeding proposed rule.

DOL Releases New Overtime Regulations

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Last Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced updates to overtime regulations, which extends overtime eligibility to over 4 million workers. President Obama directed the Department to update the regulations in 2014. Employers have until December 1, 2016 to comply. Key highlights are as follows:

  • The salary threshold will be increased to $47,476 annually ($913/week)—an increase of slightly more than 100% from the current threshold of $23,660 annually ($455/week). The proposed level was $50,440 annually.
  • There will be no changes to the duties test. The DOL had indicated it was considering adding a quantification component similar to California’s that would have required employers to show an employee was performing exempt duties a certain percentage of time to qualify under the specific exemption.
  • The salary threshold will be updated every three years and tied to the 40th percentile of full time salaried workers in the lowest wage region of the country (currently the Southeast).
  • Employers can use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) to satisfy up to 10 percent of the new standard salary level.

Detailed information including fact sheets for non-profit organizations, higher education, and local governments can be found on the DOL’s website. Informational webinars are also scheduled. The Chamber is working with its partners, including ChamberChoice, to provide additional resources for members.   Legislation has been introduced in both the House (H.R. 4773), and Senate (S. 2707), which would block these new rules.

Flood Protection Project Proceeding On-Time

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From SEDA-COG

 

The Columbia County flood risk management project is about 75 percent complete with full completion anticipated in November. To date, the project is on time and on budget.

Construction started last March with the official groundbreaking following that April.

The $30 million project will preserve over 700 jobs at the Autoneum North America Inc. facility, as well as maintain the potential for industrial development and local employment at the former Windsor Foods site. Without a flood risk management system, the former Windsor Foods facility would be unsalable and fall into a state of deterioration, becoming a blighting influence in the Town of Bloomsburg.

The project continues to have a positive effect on the local and regional economy. The project’s general contractor remains committed to local sourcing of suppliers and subcontractors from the area when it is feasible. Several local suppliers and subcontractors continue to provide material, equipment and labor to the project.

The weather has been conducive, allowing work to continue through most of the winter. Most of the subterranean work is complete. The H-pile and pre-cast concrete panels along West Fifth Street, Magee Avenue and Sixth Street are nearing completion. Most of the concrete work for the closure structures along the West Fifth Street corridor is complete. The structure to be constructed at the western end of the Autoneum facility over the next couple of months is a Mechanically Stabilized Earthen Levee. This type of levee is best described as half of an earthen levee (wet side) and half of a retaining wall (dry side). Work along the North Shore Railroad mainline continues.

On West 11th Street, an earthen levee has been constructed along a portion of the western border of the former Windsor Foods facility. Tying into the earthen levee is a Mechanically Stabilized Earthen Levee which extends to West 11th Street, turns and runs east along West 11th street. Work will begin over the next few weeks to complete the Mechanically Stabilized Earthen Levee. This will allow the construction start of the full earthen levee, which will cross old West 11th Street and connect to high ground in a previously wooded area west of Barton Street.

In addition to the construction of the flood wall, substantial work has occurred and continues on several sanitary sewer pump stations and a storm water pump station.