KING 5 Home Team Harvest Comes to Puyallup Dec. 6th

Your favorite KING 5 personalities broadcast live from several Puget Sound locations as Northwest Harvest volunteers and staff spend the day collecting food and funds at the largest one-day benefit of the year! 

Northwest Harvest and KING 5 will be on site at So. Hill US Bank from 7-10am, and the specific times they will be live on TV are: 7:20, 8:35, 9:20, and 9:50. So bring your donation of food or funds Saturday morning and welcome your favorite KING 5 newscaster to Puyallup.  Bank address is 222 39^th Ave SW, Puyallup WA 98373, near the So. Hill Mall.

Follow this event on Facebook and twitter at #HTHARVEST.  See stories, video and more about Home Team Harvest on KING5.com.

Puyallup City Council Selects New City Manager

Puyallup, WA – Following an extensive recruitment process, the Puyallup City Council voted unanimously last night to appoint Kevin Yamamoto as Puyallup’s new City Manager. Yamamoto succeeds Bill McDonald who announced his intention to retire in August. Yamamoto has been with the City of Puyallup since 2007, serving as the Assistant City Attorney and Senior Assistant City Attorney before becoming City Attorney in 2011.

The appointment follows a nationwide recruitment process that attracted more than 30 candidates. The Puyallup City Council worked with the Prothman Company executive recruitment firm to seek out a pool of highly-qualified candidates and conducted multiple interviews before ultimately selecting Yamamoto to fill the position.

“We engaged in a rigorous hiring process because the citizens of Puyallup deserve a highly-qualified manager overseeing city services and watching over their tax dollars,” said Mayor John Knutsen. “After interviewing the top candidates, there was unanimous agreement that Kevin Yamamoto’s experience, work ethic, and passion for Puyallup made him the best fit for the City Manager position.”

Yamamoto will begin his work as the City’s chief appointed official on January 1, 2015. “I thank the City Council for the opportunity to manage the City of Puyallup.  I look forward to working with the City Council, city staff members and members of the Puyallup community to achieve the goals of the Council and better serve those that live, work and play in the City of Puyallup.” he said upon announcement of his selection.

Prior to his tenure at City of Puyallup, Yamamoto was an Associate Attorney for Williams & Johnson, P.S., and concurrently served as City Attorney for Mossyrock, Assistant City Attorney for Vader, General Counsel for Lewis County Fire District 12, Prosecuting Attorney for the City of Centralia, and Assistant City Attorney for Pe Ell. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Walla Walla College, College Place, Washington, and a Juris Doctor degree from Seattle University School of Law, Tacoma, Washington.
     City of Puyallup Press Release Nov 26, 2014

Design Dog Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting Livens Up The Chamber

Congratulations to Sign Dog business owners, Brad Moore and Donnie Juntunen, for opening their second business, Design Dog, in downtown Puyallup.  Located in the same building as the Chamber, they temporarily dominated most of the building square footage as they planned for the event on Thursday night.  More than 50 people stopped in to wish them well and introduce themselves and network with other Chamber members.  Guests were treated to the musical entertainment by D.J., Evan M. Taylor, food from TK Irish Pub & Eatery in downtown Puyallup and tours of their newly renovated office space.

If you didn't get a chance to attend the ribbon cutting, pop in and say hi to them the next time your at the Chamber office.  Their office decor includes many of the business logos and brands they have designed for businesses you may recognize so if you're in need of a new brand, developing a new website or just need some marketing advice, they're great to work with.  Plus, they're a Chamber member.

Small Business Roundtable: Healthcare Luncheon Follow Up

Take advantage of your Chamber membership and attend our Small Business Roundtable discussion about Healthcare.  This Chamber event is a follow up to our Healthcare Luncheon and is intended to assist our members with their November open enrollment and employee benefit decision making.

     DATE:  Tuesday, November 18th
     TIME:  4:30pm
     LOCATION:  Chamber Office, 323 N. Meridian, Puyallup
     RSVP:  membership@puyallupsumnerchamber.com  or 253.845.6755

• Find the right health plan for your business
• Learn about tax credits
• Decide if Health Savings Accounts are appropriate for your business

These topics and more will be discussed at the Nov. 18th Roundtable here at the Chamber.  We will have insurance brokers, a tax accountant, banking representatives and more available to assist you with making a decision and moving forward to implement your plan.

No charge to attend, just RSVP to Cathryn Lewis at membership@puyallupsumnerchamber.com.

Healthcare Luncheon Connects Businesses And Brokers

Dr. Dan Delgato, Group Health and
Dr. Al Fink, Multicare Good Samaritan Hospital

The Chamber welcomed six guest panelists at today's Healthcare Luncheon to speak about the current state of healthcare.  Responding to our member questions about the November open enrollment period, our program today included three panels.  

The first presenters were healthcare providers who spoke about changes in healthcare delivery and how businesses could take advantage of their new and existing programs.  Both Dr. Delgato and Dr. Fink spoke about efficiencies, new delivery methods and partnerships like the one between Multicare and the So. Hill Mall where you can walk in for a vaccination during a visit to the mall.

The second panel addressed about various programs and benefits businesses provide to their employees with an emphatic recommendation to work with a reputable broker.  

Our third panel included local brokers who talked about a variety of options our business members could take advantage of to minimize their healthcare costs while still providing benefits to their valued employees.  And Kim Halpain from Group Health shared which of their insurance programs were the most popular as well as their new programs planned for 2015.

We want to thank all of our guest speakers for taking the time to come and share their valuable healthcare information and experiences with our members.  We've received a lot of positive comments about the information presented and the audience appreciated the opportunity to ask healthcare questions specific to their own organizations.

We also want to thank our luncheon sponsor, Cascade Regional Blood Services, for their support of our event, as well as the Best Western Premier Plaza.

The Chamber is also hosting a follow up event to our luncheon, a Small Business Roundtable, on Tuesday Nov 18th at 4:30pm at the Chamber office.  Free to members, the roundtable will have brokers, a tax accountant, and banking representatives that can set up Health Savings Accounts.  If you missed our luncheon, be sure to take advantage of this Small Business Roundtable.  It's one of the benefits of being a chamber member!  

RSVP to membership@puyallupsumnerchamber.com

Kim Halpain, Group Health

Trudy Bleiler, Premier NW Agents

Chris Free, Rapport Benefits

Mike Lynch, Sumner Veterinary Hospital

Healthcare luncheon Sponsor
Cascade Regional Blood Services

Healthcare for Business Luncheon this Friday

Join us for our November Healthcare Luncheon.  Healthcare Providers will share about the changes they are making in how they deliver care to their patients.  Learn if the ACA requirements affected how businesses provide benefits to their employees over the past year.  Learn what insurance options are available to individuals and smaller businesses. 

Friday, November 14th, 2014. 11:30am-1:00pm (doors @ 11:00am) 

Best Western Premier Plaza Hotel & Conference Center 

620 South Hill Park Drive Puyallup, WA 98373. 

Pre-registered members $20.00/ Non Members $30.00. 

Day Of $25.00 for members and $30.00 for non-members. read more»

Haggen Northwest Fresh Moves to So. Hill

If you haven't been to Top Foods on So. Hill lately, it's worth the trip.  The first thing you'll notice is the new store sign proclaiming it is now Haggen Northwest Fresh, the new official name since the completion of their three week remodeling project.  They celebrated their grand reopening on November 5th.  

The first thing you'll notice inside the store is a life size cow in the middle of the floor surrounded by flowers and newly remodeled shelving, signage and flooring. They are even having a Name the Cow contest which ends on December 3rd.  Customers can stop and enter their favorite bovine name and the winning name will be chosen on December 4th.  

If you wander back to the meat department, you'll see a vintage red pickup parked where a frozen food refrigerator isle was.  There's new wall murals, new food selections and the wine and spirits have their own section of real estate near the front of the store.  

So the next time you're on So. Hill, be sure and stop in and say hi. And if you have a favorite cow name, be sure and let them know by December 4th.