The Chamber is exploring options to expand its offices in order to provide larger group meeting space and allow for future growth. Locations being explored in the Bloomsburg area would have good visibility, public accessibility, and space for additional organizations. Businesses or organizations that are interested in up to 2,000 square feet of office space should contact Fred Gaffney at the Chamber at 570-784-2522 or email.
From ChamberChoice
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) collects workforce data from all employers with 100 or more employees through an annual EEO-1 Report. The report, in its current form, collects data about gender, race, and ethnicity of employees by 10 different job groupings. In 2016, the EEOC revised the form in order to begin requiring employers to provide employee pay data.
The EEOC’s goal in gathering this additional data is to identify businesses that may have pay gaps, and then target those employers who are discriminating on the account of gender — and possibly race or ethnicity —through enforcement actions. The EEOC plans to publish reports using aggregated data and to train its investigators to identify potential indicators of discrimination warranting additional investigation.
This new information was to be provided in the 2017 form, and to give employers time to collect that data, the deadline for 2017 was extended by six months from September 30, 2017 to March 31, 2018. The “workforce snapshot period” has also changed to any payroll period of the employer’s choice between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2017 (rather than, as previously, a payroll period between July 1 and Sept. 30).
Although the reporting deadline was extended to March 2018, there was indication that the new pay data reporting requirement may be further suspended or even canceled. As a reminder, President Trump signed an Executive Order in January addressing reducing regulation and controlling regulatory costs. Specifically the Order provided, “…it is important that for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations be identified for elimination, and that the cost of planned regulations be prudently managed and controlled
through a budgeting process.”
To that end, on Aug. 29, the EEOC was informed that a review as to the new burdens that would be placed on employers under the pay data reporting regulations is being initiated. Furthermore, an immediate stay (suspension) was placed on the requirement for an employer to report pay information.
Therefore, the previously approved EEO-1 form which collects data on race, ethnicity and gender by occupational category remains in effect. However, employers may still plan on complying with the previously set filing date of March 2018.
Employers with 100 or more employees are required to file an annual EEO-1 report. A 2016 revision to the form would require an employer to report pay data information. However, this pay data reporting requirement has been suspended as of Aug. 29. However, employers should continue to monitor any further guidance from the EEOC.
From SEDA-COG
For a limited time, a 2% fixed interest rate is being offered for Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) loans, which are offered through SEDA-COG.
Those interested should contact SEDA-COG (contact info is below) before Nov. 15, as applications need to be received by Dec. 31 to get this excellent rate locked in.
The PIDA board approved this interest rate incentive to encourage businesses to make investments and grow jobs in Pennsylvania. For more information about PIDA and eligibility, click here.
Then, starting on Jan. 1, 2018, interest rates will be set quarterly on Jan. 1, April 1, July 1, and Oct. 1 of each year using the current 10-year U.S. Treasury rate as an index benchmark, as follows:
b. For term loans with a regular amortization, a fixed interest rate for the first seven years of the loan term, set at the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate, rounded to the closest quarter point. After the initial seven-year period, the rate will automatically reset to the then-current 10-year U.S. Treasury rate, rounded to the closest quarter point. The reset rate is limited to a 200 basis point increase/decrease.
c. For 10-year term loans with a 20-year amortization period, a fixed interest rate for the full term of the loan, set at the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate, rounded to the closest quarter point, plus 100 basis points.
d. For 10-year term loans with a 20-year amortization period, a fixed interest rate for the first five years of the loan term, set at the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate, rounded to the closest quarter point. After the initial 5-year period, the rate will automatically reset to the then-current 10-year U.S. Treasury rate, rounded to the closest quarter point. The reset rate is limited to a 200 basis point increase/decrease.
To take advantage of this ultra-low interest loan, contact SEDA-COG at 570-524-4491 or email one of its senior relationship managers directly!
John Reichard, Senior Relationship Manager II
Ray Haden, Senior Relationship Manager I
The Columbia Montour Chamber also offers its own ongoing low interest loan program, which allows qualified borrows to take out between $5-20K for no longer than five years.
Brad Bason, owner of Bason Coffee Roasting, and Elisa, one of his guides in Rwanda.
By Lisa Z. Leighton
Twenty years after the genocide that devastated Rwanda, families continue to put their lives back together. Children have lost fathers and women have lost husbands, but the strength and perseverance of the Rwandan people was recently witnessed by Bradford (Brad) Bason, owner of Bason Coffee Roasting, and his sixteen year old daughter, Elizabeth, on a recent trip to Rwanda.
The excursion wasn’t a pleasure trip, but rather an opportunity to complete a feasibility study and draft a business plan that might assist local families with increased and more efficient coffee planting and production.
The Bason family isn’t a stranger to the region. In fact, Elizabeth traveled to Rwanda twice before this trip and served as a guide of sorts for her father. Over the years, through their home church, Bloomsburg Christian Church, the Basons have supported the City of Joy Rwanda mission and the ministry of Todd and Andrea Ellingson.
For a week in August, Brad and Elizabeth traveled to Gatagara, about two hours south of the Rwandan capital of Kigali, and met with local farmers and government officials to see how their experience with coffee planting and production might serve the Rwandan community. They analyzed soil samples, climate, rainfall, harvesting techniques and production methods to see how operations might be improved.
Now that the feasibility study has been completed and the varieties of beans have been selected based on the trip’s findings, Brad is writing a business plan that will be presented to the City of Joy Rwanda board of directors. Upon approval, a fundraising effort for $15,000 will be launched; once $10,000 is secured, the project will take root.
Funds raised will be used for additional land acquisition as well as fair labor rates for coffee farm workers. Brad hopes that the coffee farm will largely be women-run, with a particular emphasis on employing widows who continue to suffer from the loss caused by the genocide decades ago.
Because the beans will be sold to a co-op, the Basons will likely never see the beans that they will help to grow, but the impact of their research will be felt one-thousand fold.
To learn more about the effort, contact Brad at 570-764-2740, or email.
Lisa Z. Leighton is a marketing professional and freelance writer who lives in Columbia County.
Green coffee cherries hang full on coffee plants. They are picked when they ripen to red.
This machine pull the hulls off of the ripe red cherries, exposing the coffee bean inside.
Women carrying full sacks of picked coffee beans in Rwanda.
Member News
Angela Slusser of Peters Consultants, Inc.
Angela Slusser, project manager at Peters Consultants, Inc., recently became certified as an Asbestos Building Inspector following training and testing. Training for asbestos professionals is required under the EPA Asbestos Model Accreditation Plan (MAP), which the EPA issued under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986 (AHERA). The MAP requires the use of trained and accredited asbestos professionals when conducting asbestos inspections or designing or conducting response actions at schools and public and commercial buildings. MAP provides guidance to states on the minimum training requirements for accrediting asbestos professionals. Pennsylvania also requires asbestos inspections for demolition of residential structures. Angela works in the Berwick office of Peters Consultants, Inc., and can be reached by email or at 570-752-4433. For more information on Peters’ asbestos inspection and other services, visit its website.
Event organizers are also seeking donations of small items (approx. $10-20 in value) from area businesses and individuals for an auction. If interested in making a donation, please contact Linda Vaji at 570-214-2581 or email.