Web Development Live

Minutes after attending a seminar titled “Use Social Networking to Your Professional Advantage,” I opened my e-mail and found two invitations to join LinkedIn.com networks.

One came from a person I’d had professional contact with previously. I clicked “accept” and went on to other things. I didn’t recognize the other name, so I closed the e-mail without response. And, thanks to Ellen Levy, I didn’t feel bad about the tacit rejection.

Levy, vice president of corporate development and strategy at LinkedIn.com, just presented an overview of Internet social networking sites at the Central Exchange’s annual Women’s Lyceum, an educational and networking event. Understanding that attendees came to the conference from many different backgrounds and levels of Web familiarity, Levy prefaced her user advice with a primer. First, she explained, there was Web 1.0 — the mostly one-directional flow of information over the Internet. Think of Web pages.

We’re now in the age of Web 2.0 — an era of two-way communication that in three years spawned a host of interactive social networking sites. A show of hands indicated that about half the people used LinkedIn, a professional networking Web site, to build business relationships.

Even if you’ve never been on a social networking site, you understand the concept: It’s a cyberspace handshake. It facilitates connections. It does what Rotary meetings, phone calls, cocktail parties and e-mail have done for years.

Let’s say Joe wants a job at Hallmark Cards. Joe doesn’t know anybody in the human resources department or target department where he wants to work. But he is good friends with Sally, who has a Hallmark Gold Crown store. Sally knows people in Hallmark’s retail division. One, Bill, is the main liaison with Joan in the human resources department. And Joan knows that Fred is exactly the right person for Joe to meet. Fred, meet Joe. Joe, here’s Fred, who has someone vouching for him.

I made up that scenario, but that’s the six-degrees-of-separation concept.

A professional networking Web site might help make the connections that have always been an essential ingredient in job hunting, business development and sales prospecting. (A user also can get a wealth of professional responses quickly when posting a question on the appropriate area of the site.)

Levy emphasized that Web-based networking sites are only as good as the veracity and relevance of the people using them.

A LinkedIn connection may not make sense if you accept an invitation to join one’s professional network if you don’t know the person or don’t have ties to one’s business skills or services. “It should be a tool to leverage relationships you already have,” Levy said.

And a good professional network site should never be confused with a social networking site such as Facebook. The purposes are completely different, she said.

A professional networking site can be a good way to put your business profile — basically your resume and the services you can offer — online, where they can be seen by millions of other site users. It can spread “the message of you” a lot further and faster than passing out business cards and shaking hands at meetings.

But as much as Levy championed the professional development possibilities of Web 2.0, she reminded attendees of something that most knew well: “Time is a scarce resource.” Use networking sites judiciously. Understand that others might not have the time you do to dig deep into the site. And, most of all, she said, don’t get sucked into making a contest out of how many “connections” you can list. It’s not a matter of quantity; it’s the quality that counts.

Timeshare buyers are cautioned about labeling their weeks as “investments.” Think of it as prepaid vacations, timeshare developers famously say.

While an investment, especially in real estate, often stands an excellent chance of making money, the usual return on a timeshare typically centers on enjoyment rather than cash.

Timeshares continue to be big business — more than $8 billion a year — despite the sluggish economy. The American Resort Development Association reports that more than 4.5 million U.S. households own one or more timeshares in 1,604 resorts.

A growing number of entrepreneurs, with an exceptional grasp on how to purchase, close and sell timeshares have begun to acquire inexpensive weeks at upscale resorts via resale channels. They then rent out the properties at a weekly or a per-night rate comparable to what a nice hotel would charge.

“We have people who will go to our Web site and buy 10 weeks at a time,” said John Locher, vice president of sales and marketing for Redweek.com, an online conduit for timeshare buyers, sellers, landlords and renters. “They have studied certain resorts and markets and know what’s possible as far as rental income during a majority of the year.”

Steve Shermoen, a self-described “small-town attorney” from International Falls, Minn., said he now controls about 100 timeshare weeks and plans to spend most of his retirement years rotating through some of them in different parts of the world. Is he concerned about owning so many pieces of the only real estate asset class that always loses money when resold?

“You cannot make the rental concept work if you buy directly from the developer,” Shermoen said. “You have to be sure of what you are buying and purchase only on the resale market. The cost from the developer simply is too high for it to become a rental that will pencil out.”

Shermoen and others like him typically stick to Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and other upper level properties that they can pick up at a fraction of the original purchase price. They often seek sellers who are extremely eager, often desperate, to dump a timeshare contract because of unexpected circumstances including loss of job, divorce or death. Many timeshare bargains can be found online right after the annual fees are announced for the coming year. As an attorney, Shermoen also offers to close the transaction at a discounted fee.

“Many people are grateful that there is a buyer who is willing to take the week off their hands,” Shermoen said. “They simply are tired of paying the annual fee and can’t wait to get out from under it.”

I was one of them, yet I didn’t even consider renting it out. Nearly 20 years ago, I spent hundreds of dollars marketing the timeshare and considered myself extremely fortunate to get back most of my investment. While some people swear it’s the only way to travel with a family and that the international “bank” of resorts not only offers flexibility but also destinations they normally would not consider, it didn’t happen for us. Basketball tournaments, family reunions, budget restraints and four different school schedules, coupled with the fact that we are very picky about accommodations, led to a three-year timeshare shutout. We owned the “points” for three years and never spent one night in a timeshare resort.

Timeshares come in a variety of packages, including a points program where owners exchange a specific number of accumulated points for a week, weekend or individual nights at resorts that participate in the points arrangement. Some of the larger timeshare companies now offer a point system, permitting owners to split the traditional week into smaller segments. The concept has worked very well for out-of-town family reunions, weddings or simply a needed weekend getaway.

The idea of breaking up the timeshare week into a few one-or-two night stays can also make sense for vacationers traveling a country by car. The average worker typically receives two or three vacation weeks each year and often prefers not to spend a large percentage of that time in one location.

The value of the points can vary greatly. For example, weekend nights will require more points than weeknight stays, and popular resorts will demand more points than a run-of-the-mill getaway. In addition, the future value of points also can be a consideration — not unlike trying to predict the future value of money.

Similar to dollars, timeshare points can be worth a lot more today than they will be down the road. If a resort continues to increase the number of points necessary to rent the unit you covet, the value of your allotted points will decrease. You will need more annual points than the number you are receiving now to reserve the same unit. Seniors and other consumers on fixed incomes may not be getting the perpetual week they initially purchased, which could seriously curtail their dream vacations down the road.

Properly applying points and a resort’s bonus time are just two pieces to successfully renting timeshares. There’s also a huge caveat when shopping.

“Some people try to sell you weeks they don’t really own,” Shermoen said. “It’s another one of the pitfalls to consider when buying and selling. Acquiring and renting out timeshares is complicated and not for the unwary. If you are going to jump in, you have to do your homework.”

The University of Central Oklahoma office of the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center has been named one of the top 10 small business development centers in the nation after winning the regional “Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Award” from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

UCO’s development center office competed against small business development centers in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas for the award after winning a similar award on a state level.

The center, which helps those throughout central Oklahoma who want to start or expand a small business, is now in the running to win the national award, which would recognize it as the top small business development center in the country.

Susan Urbach, director of UCO’s development center office, believes they stood out from other centers because of their emphasis on pro-activity and innovative technology.

“We are so excited about this award. I believe that what makes us special is the fact that we focus very much on staying at the forefront of information and technology. By always embracing change and development, we can be as efficient as possible in assisting our clients,” she said.

“We strive to teach them how to go from young businesses to professional status by turning their ideas into professional realities. You might say we help give their ideas both wings and feet.”

James Faulconer, president of MIDI for Kids and a former professor of music theory and composition, wanted to start a business that helps children learn to problem-solve through music. He went to the OSBDC for help.

Today, he credits Urbach and the OSBDC for MIDI’s success, which is currently helping 1,500 students and has been noted by some major music instrument manufacturers as the nation’s largest independent after-school music program.

“With Susan’s help, we now have programs in nearly 100 schools in five states and our Web site organization is truly amazing,” Faulconer said. “Oklahoma is really fortunate to have the devotion to purpose and inspirational guidance available through OSBDC. Without Susan and OSBDC, our business would simply not exist.”

UCO’s OSBDC is a bilingual organization that serves about 500 individual clients annually, helping the Oklahoma economy create 330 new jobs last year.

Boise attorneys and human resources officials are reviewing whether two city employees are violating city rules by working at private wastewater treatment facilities.Interim Public Works Director John Tenson said he’s asked to see if the moonlighting work performed by Bill Duncan and Chris Linder and their company, Operations Management Consulting Services, conflicts with their city jobs. The city allows employees to have second jobs so long as they don’t interfere with city work and employees inform their supervisors.Duncan and Linder meet job performance requirements managing the city’s two wastewater treatment facilities, and have disclosed the work of their company, Tenson said. Since 1999, the men also have operated the company that contracts for daily operations at smaller, independent treatment plants such as Boise’s Hidden Springs and the Avimor planned community in Ada County.In January, Boise Mayor Dave Bieter had his staff create a policy designed to block sewage from outside communities after Avimor’s developers said they intended to truck sewage to Boise’s treatment plants. Bieter has opposed the Avimor development, calling it “leapfrog development” and urban sprawl. The company owned by Duncan and Linder will operate and maintain Avimor’s treatment facility.Last month, Boise blogger Dave Frazier complained about the arrangement, and the Idaho Statesman has received messages about the moonlighting. The company’s Web site touts Duncan’s and Linder’s experience within the city. It also lists the city’s 2006 Peak Performance Platinum Award - recognition for superior operations at the West Boise Wastewater Treatment Plant.Tenson said questions about the company have cropped up from time to time. But until a Statesman inquiry, Tenson wasn’t aware his employees’ company worked on several projects with a local firm, Pharmer Engineering, that sometimes contracts with Boise. Tenson asked the city’s legal and human resources department to rule out any potential conflicts with that company, he said.”We take conflict of interest very seriously. We want to make sure every step of the way, you are doing it right,” Tenson said. “It’s awkward. From a management perspective, moonlighting causes any manager a concern. But you have to respect what they can do in their private life, too.”Duncan declined to comment, other than to say he was “not doing anything wrong or illegal. Everything is above-board.”Linder did not return a message left on his city telephone.Robert Pharmer, president of Pharmer Engineering, which designed both the Avimor and Hidden Springs facilities, said the companies work separately. “They do not oversee our projects at all, and they do not work on our projects,” Pharmer said. “There is no connection, business-wise, contractually or any other way.”City contracts are selected through the engineering division, and neither Linder nor Duncan oversee any contracts, Tenson said. “We plan (to have) a meeting later this week to make sure there is no conflict,” he said.Tenson also referenced a 2007 document from the city’s ethics commission, which said it was ethical for city employees to work for companies performing similar work as their city job, when paid by the hour and there is not a conflict of interest or violation of the fiduciary duties owed to the city.Bieter is comfortable with a previous review and has no problem with the men doing outside work, said his spokesman Adam Park. “This case has been looked at carefully, and it was determined there was no conflict of interest or violation of city policy,” Park said. “Once that determination has been made, they’re free to do what they want with their own time.”Kathleen Kreller: 377-6418

Business software giant Oracle has decided against opening a data center in the Treasure Valley, the Idaho Department of Commerce confirmed Wednesday.The California company had narrowed its choices to the Treasure Valley and the Salt Lake City area.”Commerce has been involved in this with our economic development partners for about six months,” spokesman Bibianna Nertney said. The state has not been told why the Treasure Valley was passed over, Nertney said. The department didn’t deal directly with Oracle but worked through a site selector representing the company. She said Salt Lake has been working to attract Oracle for almost three years.The number of jobs Oracle would have brought to the Valley couldn’t be confirmed, but the Commerce Department said they would have been high-paying.Oracle is a Fortune 200 company that trades on the Nasdaq stock exchange. In 2007, it reported $18 billion in revenue and $5.3 billion in earnings.A call to Oracle’s public relations department wasn’t returned Wednesday.Although the Commerce Department confirmed the discussions with Oracle, Paul Hiller with the Boise Valley Economic Partnership declined to say if his organization was involved.”I can’t comment on the project at this point, and I can’t confirm that it is in fact Oracle,” he said.But Hiller did say his organization is still negotiating with an unnamed information technology company.”We’ve got nine projects currently under way, and one is with an information technology company,” he said.The negotiations with the IT company could bring between 200 and 300 high-paying jobs, but Hiller said any decision is “several months away from a conclusion.” The nine projects could bring about 4,000 jobs, he said. This is the third potential company expansion in the area that has fallen through in the past few months.In December, Hiller’s organization confirmed that two companies including a chemical company had been considering locating in Boise, but there wasn’t sufficient power available for the company’s heavy industrial needs.Despite the recent disappointments, Hiller said interest in the area remains high.He said the industries looking at the Boise area in a variety of fields, including manufacturing and high technology.But he said if Boise is chosen, some of the jobs wouldn’t arrive soon because the majority of the companies are looking at expansions in a five- to 10-year time frame after the current economic downturn is over.The Idaho Business Review first reported that Oracle had pulled out on its Web site Wednesday. Ken Dey: 672-6757

Boise attorneys and human resources officials are reviewing whether two city employees are violating city rules by working at private wastewater treatment facilities.Interim Public Works Director John Tenson said he抯 asked to see if the moonlighting work performed by Bill Duncan and Chris Linder and their company, Operations Management Consulting Services, conflicts with their city jobs. The city allows employees to have second jobs so long as they don抰 interfere with city work and employees inform their supervisors.Duncan and Linder meet job performance requirements managing the city抯 two wastewater treatment facilities, and have disclosed the work of their company, Tenson said. Since 1999, the men also have operated the company that contracts for daily operations at smaller, independent treatment plants such as Boise抯 Hidden Springs and the Avimor planned community in Ada County.In January, Boise Mayor Dave Bieter had his staff create a policy designed to block sewage from outside communities after Avimor抯 developers said they intended to truck sewage to Boise抯 treatment plants. Bieter has opposed the Avimor development, calling it 搇eapfrog development?and urban sprawl. The company owned by Duncan and Linder will operate and maintain Avimor抯 treatment facility.Last month, Boise blogger Dave Frazier complained about the arrangement, and the Idaho Statesman has received messages about the moonlighting. The company抯 Web site touts Duncan抯 and Linder抯 experience within the city. It also lists the city抯 2006 Peak Performance Platinum Award ?recognition for superior operations at the West Boise Wastewater Treatment Plant.Tenson said questions about the company have cropped up from time to time. But until a Statesman inquiry, Tenson wasn抰 aware his employees?company worked on several projects with a local firm, Pharmer Engineering, that sometimes contracts with Boise.
Tenson asked the city抯 legal and human resources department to rule out any potential conflicts with that company, he said.揥e take conflict of interest very seriously. We want to make sure every step of the way, you are doing it right,?Tenson said. 揑t抯 awkward. From a management perspective, moonlighting causes any manager a concern. But you have to respect what they can do in their private life, too.?p/>Duncan declined to comment, other than to say he was 搉ot doing anything wrong or illegal. Everything is above-board.?p/>Linder did not return a message left on his city telephone.Read more in Thursday’s Idaho Statesman.

WESTON, Colo. A hamlet near here of wooded gulches, rocky outcrops and views of the snowy tops of southern Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo mountains is the perfect escape for retirees and telecommuters who’ve settled in.But people who bought lots on the 4,000-acre North Fork Ranch about 200 miles south of Denver, hoping to leave behind big-city hassles, worry when they flip on a switch or take a drink of water. They’re afraid that volatile methane gas from drilling in the area’s coal seams could seep into their water wells or migrate inside their homes.That’s no idle fear. A house under construction near the subdivision exploded last April when methane gas leaked from an abandoned well and into the building. Two water wells in the subdivision were damaged in 2006 during gas drilling.Pioneer Natural Resources, a Dallas-based energy company, drilled new water wells, provided a filtration system and settled for an undisclosed amount with one family. The company, which contends it’s unclear whether it caused the problems, hasn’t settled with the other family.”You don’t know day to day when you turn on your faucet whether you’re going to have good, clean water or whether there’s going to be chemicals in there that you’re unaware of,” said Tracy Dahl, a design engineer who built a home atop a mountain on North Fork in 1995.Higher natural gas prices and the push for domestic energy development have made the Rockies’ unconventional sources more economical. That’s created conflicts with the area’s growing population, most of which lives on a split estate: when one party owns the land and another owns the minerals underneath.The split occurred across the West as the federal government granted homesteads but retained the mineral rights, or when people sold the land but kept the minerals. Federal and state laws give mineral owners or leaseholders the right to reasonable use of the surface to extract the minerals.Most of the gas drilled in the Raton Basin, which includes the ranch, is from coal-bed methane - gas trapped in coal seams that once provided a thriving coal-mining industry. Roughly 2,600 coal-bed methane wells have been drilled.Methane gas was a liability in coal mining because of its volatility, but then companies started tapping it as a fuel source. Pumping groundwater relieves the pressure that traps the gas, raising concerns among landowners about the effects on the water table and drinking water wells.The Raton Basin is one of the hot spots of an energy boom rippling throughout the Rockies. There are roughly 34,000 active wells across Colorado and tens of thousands more are expected over the next 20 years.Warren McDonald, who ranches west of North Fork, has a good relationship with Pioneer Natural Resources.”Typically, the people having the problems moved from cities and towns. They think they’re going to go up to the wilderness and live in harmony with nature, but those days are kind of gone,” said McDonald, whose family has ranched in the area since 1890.McDonald said energy development is a big boost for ranchers and farmers like him who own some minerals because they get royalty payments. Jobs, business and tax revenue are all up.”It’s night and day from when the coal mines shut down in the ’90s,” McDonald said.”I saw the downside when the coal mines closed,” said Glenn Moltrer, a businessman who heads the local chamber of commerce. “People actually put dummies in the windows of stores (in Trinidad) to make it look like something was there besides vacant storefronts.”On River Ridge Ranch, a rural subdivision near Walsenburg about 40 miles north, the state has halted gas production so the operator, Petroglyph Energy of Boise, Idaho, can figure out how methane is getting into water wells and how to stop it.A small fire erupted when a spark from an electrical switch ignited built-up methane at a water well on the ranch last summer. Around the same time, an explosion raised the roof on a shed over a water well near the subdivision.Petroglyph Energy provided homeowners devices to monitor whether their wellheads are venting methane. Petroglyph Chief Operating Officer Ken Smith said the company is monitoring groundwater and has seen nothing to indicate that people are in danger.Bruce Hopke’s home sports a view of hills covered in pinon pines rolling west for miles, slamming up against the snow-creased Spanish Peaks. Plans for about 50 wells have been approved on the 5,600-acre River Ranch site, but not all drilling permits have been issued.”I would love to see them fix it, I really would,” Hopke said of Petroglyph’s plan to block seeping methane. “If they fix it, nothing has changed, everything’s fine. You can have a cup of coffee and turn on a light switch - the small pleasures.”If it doesn’t fix it, then it’s a heckuva problem,” said Hopke, a retiree.Interest in the area by another gas company prompted Huerfano County to consider a drilling moratorium so it can study its rights and responsibilities, said John Galusha, county administrator.Dahl and Marcia Dasko, both members of the North Fork Ranch landowners’ association, acknowledged the strong support for the industry because of jobs. They said a hearing in neighboring Trinidad on strengthening state oil and gas regulations drew hundreds of energy workers and officials, many of whom criticized the proposals.”It doesn’t have to be done with a gold-rush mentality,” Dahl said. “Everybody knows about energy boom and bust cycles and yet everybody here seems to be turning a blind eye to it.”Dahl and Dasko noted that a recent state study estimated that drilling in the Raton Basin depletes area water by about 2,500 acre feet a year.That amounts to roughly 815 million gallons of water that aren’t returned to streams and rivers, a volume called “significant” by Matt Sares, deputy director of the Colorado Geological Survey. He said the current total is likely quite a bit lower because of the wells temporarily shut down on River Ridge Ranch. Those wells produce more water than ones farther south.Some of the water pumped out is reinjected. Some flows into streams or is used for irrigation or livestock if it meets state standards.Besides concerns about water, Dahl and Dasko said they wonder what happens to the land after wells are drilled, waste pits are dug and roads are carved out of hillsides.On a recent tour of North Fork Ranch, sections of small fences to prevent sediment from flowing into streams were lying flat in the mud.A March 11 report on the Web site of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the main regulatory agency, said an inspection found “numerous sediment and erosion problems.” It said Pioneer agreed to make repairs and improvements.At home, Dasko plopped two big binders on a table. The binders were packed with photos of alleged violations, correspondence with Pioneer and other documents. She said landowners have taken water samples and charted the fate of area wetlands and streams.”We went into this whole thing very proactive, fairly organized. We hired the best lawyers we possibly could,” Dahl said of the landowners’ agreement with Pioneer for use of the surface. “Most folks are not doing these kinds of things and it’s ridiculous to expect a citizen to have to.”

Boise attorneys and human resources officials are reviewing whether two city employees are violating city rules by working at private wastewater treatment facilities.Interim Public Works Director John Tenson said he’s asked to see if the moonlighting work performed by Bill Duncan and Chris Linder and their company, Operations Management Consulting Services, conflicts with their city jobs. The city allows employees to have second jobs so long as they don’t interfere with city work and employees inform their supervisors.Duncan and Linder meet job performance requirements managing the city’s two wastewater treatment facilities, and have disclosed the work of their company, Tenson said. Since 1999, the men also have operated the company that contracts for daily operations at smaller, independent treatment plants such as Boise’s Hidden Springs and the Avimor planned community in Ada County.In January, Boise Mayor Dave Bieter had his staff create a policy designed to block sewage from outside communities after Avimor’s developers said they intended to truck sewage to Boise’s treatment plants. Bieter has opposed the Avimor development, calling it “leapfrog development” and urban sprawl. The company owned by Duncan and Linder will operate and maintain Avimor’s treatment facility.Last month, Boise blogger Dave Frazier complained about the arrangement, and the Idaho Statesman has received messages about the moonlighting. The company’s Web site touts Duncan’s and Linder’s experience within the city. It also lists the city’s 2006 Peak Performance Platinum Award - recognition for superior operations at the West Boise Wastewater Treatment Plant.Tenson said questions about the company have cropped up from time to time. But until a Statesman inquiry, Tenson wasn’t aware his employees’ company worked on several projects with a local firm, Pharmer Engineering, that sometimes contracts with Boise. Tenson asked the city’s legal and human resources department to rule out any potential conflicts with that company, he said.”We take conflict of interest very seriously. We want to make sure every step of the way, you are doing it right,” Tenson said. “It’s awkward. From a management perspective, moonlighting causes any manager a concern. But you have to respect what they can do in their private life, too.”Duncan declined to comment, other than to say he was “not doing anything wrong or illegal. Everything is above-board.”Linder did not return a message left on his city telephone.Robert Pharmer, president of Pharmer Engineering, which designed both the Avimor and Hidden Springs facilities, said the companies work separately. “They do not oversee our projects at all, and they do not work on our projects,” Pharmer said. “There is no connection, business-wise, contractually or any other way.”City contracts are selected through the engineering division, and neither Linder nor Duncan oversee any contracts, Tenson said. “We plan (to have) a meeting later this week to make sure there is no conflict,” he said.Tenson also referenced a 2007 document from the city’s ethics commission, which said it was ethical for city employees to work for companies performing similar work as their city job, when paid by the hour and there is not a conflict of interest or violation of the fiduciary duties owed to the city.Bieter is comfortable with a previous review and has no problem with the men doing outside work, said his spokesman Adam Park. “This case has been looked at carefully, and it was determined there was no conflict of interest or violation of city policy,” Park said. “Once that determination has been made, they’re free to do what they want with their own time.”Kathleen Kreller: 377-6418

Business software giant Oracle has decided against opening a data center in the Treasure Valley, the Idaho Department of Commerce confirmed Wednesday.The California company had narrowed its choices to the Treasure Valley and the Salt Lake City area.”Commerce has been involved in this with our economic development partners for about six months,” spokesman Bibianna Nertney said. The state has not been told why the Treasure Valley was passed over, Nertney said. The department didn’t deal directly with Oracle but worked through a site selector representing the company. She said Salt Lake has been working to attract Oracle for almost three years.The number of jobs Oracle would have brought to the Valley couldn’t be confirmed, but the Commerce Department said they would have been high-paying.Oracle is a Fortune 200 company that trades on the Nasdaq stock exchange. In 2007, it reported $18 billion in revenue and $5.3 billion in earnings.A call to Oracle’s public relations department wasn’t returned Wednesday.Although the Commerce Department confirmed the discussions with Oracle, Paul Hiller with the Boise Valley Economic Partnership declined to say if his organization was involved.”I can’t comment on the project at this point, and I can’t confirm that it is in fact Oracle,” he said.But Hiller did say his organization is still negotiating with an unnamed information technology company.”We’ve got nine projects currently under way, and one is with an information technology company,” he said.The negotiations with the IT company could bring between 200 and 300 high-paying jobs, but Hiller said any decision is “several months away from a conclusion.” The nine projects could bring about 4,000 jobs, he said. This is the third potential company expansion in the area that has fallen through in the past few months.In December, Hiller’s organization confirmed that two companies including a chemical company had been considering locating in Boise, but there wasn’t sufficient power available for the company’s heavy industrial needs.Despite the recent disappointments, Hiller said interest in the area remains high.He said the industries looking at the Boise area in a variety of fields, including manufacturing and high technology.But he said if Boise is chosen, some of the jobs wouldn’t arrive soon because the majority of the companies are looking at expansions in a five- to 10-year time frame after the current economic downturn is over.The Idaho Business Review first reported that Oracle had pulled out on its Web site Wednesday. Ken Dey: 672-6757

Boise attorneys and human resources officials are reviewing whether two city employees are violating city rules by working at private wastewater treatment facilities.Interim Public Works Director John Tenson said he抯 asked to see if the moonlighting work performed by Bill Duncan and Chris Linder and their company, Operations Management Consulting Services, conflicts with their city jobs. The city allows employees to have second jobs so long as they don抰 interfere with city work and employees inform their supervisors.Duncan and Linder meet job performance requirements managing the city抯 two wastewater treatment facilities, and have disclosed the work of their company, Tenson said. Since 1999, the men also have operated the company that contracts for daily operations at smaller, independent treatment plants such as Boise抯 Hidden Springs and the Avimor planned community in Ada County.In January, Boise Mayor Dave Bieter had his staff create a policy designed to block sewage from outside communities after Avimor抯 developers said they intended to truck sewage to Boise抯 treatment plants. Bieter has opposed the Avimor development, calling it 搇eapfrog development?and urban sprawl. The company owned by Duncan and Linder will operate and maintain Avimor抯 treatment facility.Last month, Boise blogger Dave Frazier complained about the arrangement, and the Idaho Statesman has received messages about the moonlighting. The company抯 Web site touts Duncan抯 and Linder抯 experience within the city. It also lists the city抯 2006 Peak Performance Platinum Award ?recognition for superior operations at the West Boise Wastewater Treatment Plant.Tenson said questions about the company have cropped up from time to time. But until a Statesman inquiry, Tenson wasn抰 aware his employees?company worked on several projects with a local firm, Pharmer Engineering, that sometimes contracts with Boise.
Tenson asked the city抯 legal and human resources department to rule out any potential conflicts with that company, he said.揥e take conflict of interest very seriously. We want to make sure every step of the way, you are doing it right,?Tenson said. 揑t抯 awkward. From a management perspective, moonlighting causes any manager a concern. But you have to respect what they can do in their private life, too.?p/>Duncan declined to comment, other than to say he was 搉ot doing anything wrong or illegal. Everything is above-board.?p/>Linder did not return a message left on his city telephone.Read more in Thursday’s Idaho Statesman.