Breakout Groups: Themes & Issues
Medford/Southern Oregon Regional Meeting

Group #1

People

  • K-12 system produces quality; community colleges add value
  • Hispanic community is a benefit
  • Inconsistent quality across regions, K-12 school systems
  • Unemployed citizens can be asset for region
  • Culture differences/groups limit achieving potential
  • Hispanic community hasn’t been fully integrated region’s economy
  • Need for advancing tech skills within workforce
  • Community college has provided essential workforce skills capacity within the workforce
  • Need to inform public on need for integrated K-16 system

Place

  • Communication across communities and industry
  • Land capacity to support industries
  • Infrastructure, transportation access
  • Land use planning limits regional issues and needs
  • Quality of place will not overcome regional differences
  • Great natural attractions
  • Arts/cultural and natural amenities
  • Air quality limits regional economic opportunities

Productivity

  • Tax structure has negative impact on high income citizen/entrepreneur
  • Transportation system in crisis condition, bridge limits
  • Medford to anywhere” is most expensive airfare; limits tourism and business travel
  • Insurance/tort liability costs are negatives to business
  • Rural medical liability increases costs, limits access to affordable medical services
  • Employee benefit costs are limiting ability to attract quality workers

Pioneering Innovation

  • Southern Oregon has significant business exporting goods/services to international markets.
  • Limited access to capital to fuel entrepreneurial ideas/companies
  • OSU advancing as “premier” engineering institution
  • Ability to recruit quality executive talent to Southern Oregon
  • Hi-tech business ‡ mix of entrepreneurial start-ups and satellites of national companies
  • Education in “creative thinking” and entrepreneurial business


Group #2

People

  • Number of people; migrant farm workers; more diverse skill set
  • Drug-free workforce
  • Integrating Hispanic workers: cultural differences; language/skills
  • Interpersonal/teamwork/communication
  • "Respect" for business
  • Education: best and brightest leave; develop local talent (especially high skills)
  • Work ethic is a plus
  • Resources for education; kids and institutions
  • More diverse university education locally

Place

  • Lack rail transport
  • Lack East-West connections
  • Cost of transport
  • Housing Costs
  • High end products (cars, shoes)
  • Forest land base (management is poor)
  • Water quality and quantity for irrigation/fisheries
  • Top ten place for retirement
  • #2 place to do business, etc.
  • Beautiful, good weather/climate; low traffic, outdoor recreation, safety, arts, cultural amenities, shopping
  • Healthcare = retirement

Productivity

  • Insurance costs (property liability); seismic retrofit
  • Rising health care costs (25% rises)
  • Ballot Measure #23
  • Malpractice costs/insurance threaten health care
  • Low Medicare reimbursement rates (Oregon to Federal)
  • Distribution costs: transportation, USPS, distance to markets
  • Labeling requirements; GMO
  • User fees to low in some cases (driver’s license)
  • Equipment dealers – difficult to get

Pioneering Innovation

  • Lack incentives for job creation
  • Recognition of major industries
  • " Business friendly state"
  • Tell stories of success/survival
  • Agriculture experiment station
  • Niche value added agriculture products
  • Moving away from commodities
  • Concern about trade restrictions: foreign competition, China; denied markets, Japan.
  • Southern Oregon University: Forensic Center
  • People move here and start-businesses
  • Some innovative machinery makers
  • LVL @ Boise was innovative
  • Biomass Fuel from slash
  • RAINS: security


Group #3

People

  • Education funding (stable)
  • Attracting more value to education
  • K-16 Funding
  • More higher education grads matched to industry needs
  • Lower geographical barriers to education
  • Responsiveness of education

Place

  • More cooperation/coordination between federal/state/local land managers
  • Finding resolution to the air-shed issue
  • Developing long-term land use strategies: protection of agriculture lands, resource protection, transportation, regulatory reform/flexibility
  • Expansion of Mt. Ashland
  • Combating the drug problem

Productivity

  • Better transformation infrastructure
  • More access to lands for growth (Urban growth boundary); make expansion easier/flexible
  • Reexamine Oregon’s healthcare model
  • Target industries which pay “middle range” incomes to locate in the region
  • Flexible/streamlined permit process and regulations

Pioneering Innovation

  • Developing industry clusters, creating incentives to encourage cluster development
  • Virtual University


Group #4

People

  • Challenge: ability for existing employees to receive additional/higher skill training/technical training
  • Community colleges: right place to do training – running out of capacity
  • Difficulty in keeping existing employees off of drugs/alcohol or fact that labor pool has drugs/alcohol problem
  • New business (i.e. fabrication plant) may not seriously look here because we don’t have workforce to meet needs
  • Low end pay scale – drugs and alcohol problems
  • Higher end pay scale – don’t have training/education
  • Need to be able to bring technology training and education capacity here
  • Labor is main driver in industry relocation
  • Labor market tight nationally, exacerbated here; regionally this is a big issue; labor pool is declining ‡ demographics here ‡ losing young people; in migration is from retirees; need to keep our young people and try to bring in young people
  • Lack of local career ladder
  • Tie in better with OIT, etc. (virtual college)

Place

  • Feel place may be the strongest for this region
  • Do have air schedule challenge – gets into business productivity
  • Could improve on diversity of culture if trying to keep young people or recruit young people – have amenities: culture, recreation, minority groups, etc.
  • Ashland: may close 2 elementary schools because losing elementary school population
  • Challenges in availability of water, industrial land, air schedule credits
  • Are we using federal/state lands; if not for resource then ought to maximize tourism benefits/recreation
  • Challenges in restricting access for recreation

Productivity

  • Policies can be a challenge
  • Oregon’s high income tax loads people to believe we’re a high tax state when in reality we’re not
  • Links back to tax structure
  • Need to find a way to find stable funding for education; look at preK-12 education system
  • Drugs also figure in here
  • Transportation (including rail and rail served industrial land; e.g. to Port of Coos Bay by rail) and telecommunications infrastructure will continue to be key issues
  • At least cut what was authorized in the NW Forest Plan; need the State to back it up
  • Oregon perceived as an unfriendly place for business; need to address this – PR/marketing campaign?
  • Cost of land going up, price of industrial land in this region as result of our land use system
  • Capital gains taxes should be looked at.
  • Tax structure in Oregon is “all screwed up,” internally not necessarily external
  • Regulatory difficulties – permitting process takes time, difficult to get through, process quickly
  • Linked to shovel ready land shortage; infrastructure wetlands, UGB (outside)

Pioneering Innovation

  • Feel International Trade Division is doing a great job at getting out and around the state – generating good ideas
  • State funding – specifically state business development fund matches local assistance to starting small business
  • Don’t get the greatest return on investment on focusing on small/entrepreneurial businesses inherently a riskier ventur
  • Southern Oregon needs global markets access
  • Need to encourage new ideas (cities, counties, and state) – be creative
  • Funding of small business development centers – losing funding support
  • Need for higher education to get more involved with business/tech transfer, etc.


What’s Missing from Policy Initiatives?

  • Commitment to collaboration and information sharing
  • Knowledge of one another’s business activity
  • Small business development: resources to SBDC $; technical assistance
  • Place: expand definition of Quality Community; more than selling Oregon and its attributes; arts should be arts and culture
  • People: levels of education are fragmented, not streamlined and competing for similar funding sources
  • Taxes (business climate) versus revenue stability (public finance, tax structure overhaul)
  • Branding Oregon

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