Keeping the dynamic wheels of commerce rolling is of paramount importance to Central Oregon Trucking Company and now its proposed haul to Redmond later this year will provide a solid player in the city’s urban renewal plan and valiant attempts to lure lucrative businesses to its new enterprise zones.
CEO Rick Williams has been at the helm of the massive transportation operation for nearly twenty years and has been vocal in his enthusiasm for the good business promotions extended by the City of Redmond.
Unavailable for further comment, he expects continued growth in his transport sector and sees Redmond as a beneficiary of those expansion plans that will mutually benefit the community and the whole Central Oregon region.
Last month, Williams announced plans to bring its entire fleet and base of operations to Redmond, consolidating two existing sites in Prineville and Terrebonne for greater efficiency. His company ships and delivers freight and cargo using more than 200 power units throughout the lower 48 states and Canada and employs 170 drivers and 45 office staff members at its headquarters. By doing so, Central Oregon Trucking is taking full advantage of several local and state incentives to attract enterprise to the Redmond area and spur job growth in an anemic economy.
Bill Smith of William Smith Properties in Bend was one of the architects of this partnership and helped Central Oregon Trucking broker and acquire the site necessary to keep them from relocating to Reno, closer to the national trucking routes and interstate arteries. He believes this to be a perfect marriage of economic development and civic innovation.
“We as a community spend a lot of time recruiting businesses to Central Oregon,” Smith explained. “Imagine if a major one were to leave and take with it all its operations. That would be bad. The City of Redmond and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) came together to keep a great company right here in Central Oregon.”
Under the stipulations offered in the new contract and their relocation within the specially designated Greater Redmond Enterprise Zone, Williams’ company receives a three-year exemption on property taxes, waives the application and all water and sewer hook-up fees, reduces building permit and land-use costs and greatly expedites the city permitting process. These perks are dependent upon a certain guarantee of jobs created by the new business. A much-needed “acceleration lane” will also be built along U.S. Highway 97 with state and city transportation funds to safely allow trucks to pick up speed as they merge onto the highway.
The brand new facility and hub for Central Oregon Trucking’s fleet of late-model Kenworth and Peterbilt cabs will emerge within the heart of Redmond’s Downtown Urban Renewal District, sandwiched between Hemlock Avenue and Antler Avenue. Luckily, the trucking firm also conveniently falls into the classification that gives it access to the city’s Industrial Development Fund, offering an enticing menu of forgivable loans that waive repayment for companies that meet workforce and wage requirements.
“Saving a business counts as much as getting one, and that’s important,” said Smith of his client. “They could do it in Oregon or they could do it in Reno. Redmond kept them from moving to Reno. It’s pretty simple.”
Construction of the new trucking home is due to start sometime this year and is sure to be the cornerstone of a burgeoning renaissance of business in Redmond and a shining example of creative commerce at its best, ensuring the pale-green trucks of Central Oregon Trucking will remain.
www.centraloregontruck.com, 800-394-0222.
