What’s that we see happening in the local economy? A recovery? No, it’s too soon to elevate such a thought above wishful thinking? Perhaps the foundation for a recovery? Let’s just say a few strands of rebar are in place, waiting for the foundation’s concrete to be poured. No cause for excitement yet, but the Great Recession has us searching frantically for any reason to be optimistic.
Slowly, those reasons are sprouting. Let’s start with the ultra-long-term. Consider the possibility of more than 1,000 new jobs in Camas, each paying $50,000 to $250,000 annually. That could be the long-term impact of Fisher Investments on our community, operative word being “could,” of course. In the next month or so, the investment giant that’s headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., is likely to start construction on the first building of what could become a $30 million campus in Camas. And in the past three years, the company’s east Vancouver office has grown from 50 employees to 270.
That’s the kind of good news that helps build — or at least plan — the foundation of a local recovery. “We are going to continue growing the Clark County work force,” founder and CEO Ken Fisher said in a recent Columbian story. But don’t jump to conclusions about the long-term future. “That headquarters question is not going to be decided in 2010,” Fisher added.
Still, that question is not going away. Camas appears to be in competition with sites in Florida and Texas for a relocated Fisher headquarters, and this is the first of the three satellite sites to break ground on expansion facilities.
What draws Fisher to our community? Flawless, universally agreeable people and perfect weather, we suppose. But another similarity that the three finalist states have is the absence of a state income tax, which currently burdens the Fisher operation in San Mateo. Economic-development outreach efforts here and a pro-business climate don’t hurt, either. Fisher also was quoted in The Columbian’s story: “The city of San Mateo and County of San Mateo is employee hostile. They hate my employees. They hate everybody’s employees.”
The opposite attitude awaits any relocating corporations in Clark County, we insist. Fisher’s site here is a 150-acre parcel near Southeast 192nd Avenue, and Fisher has notified Camas that it plans to file for building permits and wants the city to approve completion of $2.2 million in regional water and sewer line improvements.
This is no mom-and-pop outfit. Fisher manages about $40 billion in stocks and bonds for clients with $500,000 or more, pensions for governments and financial planning for large corporations.
And Fisher is not the only ray of hope that’s popped up recently. Clark County still has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the state, but the number of local foreclosures has dropped by 35.5 percent. That’s kind of like, “We’re not bleeding so profusely these days,” but we take it as a positive.
And ports at both edges of the county have churned out good news recently: Imports and exports were up slightly at the Port of Vancouver in the first quarter, and the Port of Camas-Washougal recently announced $895,119 in net income for 2009.
However, the consummate measurement of a recovery has yet to leave the starting blocks in Clark County. Until the jobless rate stops flirting with 15 percent and starts heading for single digits, there’s no cause to celebrate. But keep looking at the rebar and hoping for the concrete truck to arrive.
