Yahoo! deal still pending

Company visits, provides help to Reiman-Simmons house

QUINCY — A final announcement still hasn't come forth, but Yahoo! is already making its presence felt in the community.

All Port of Quincy public affairs consultant Pat Boss can say on the Yahoo! subject is that things look promising, but the company, which signed a purchase and sales agreement on one of two sites in the port district in February, has already made several visits to the area and, in one particular circumstance, lent a helping hand April 20.

"It's really close," Boss said. "They're visiting regularly, they're going through the county, local and state types of permitting processes … We're anticipating some good news in the next couple of weeks," but it's not quite a done deal, he added.

It looks very promising that some announcement will occur, Boss said, pointing to the fact that Yahoo! also has plans for a facility in Wenatchee.

"It tells us that they clearly have an interest in the area, and I think in the end they're going to have two or three facilities, one in Wenatchee, one in Quincy and one possibly somewhere else," Boss said. "They're definitely in the area a lot, and they're moving very aggressively to get all of their permitting and all their various check-offs that they have to do with the government permitting processes."

Yahoo! spokesperson Kiersten Hollars said the company is still getting paperwork in place and recently publicly filed its state-required environmental checklist.

"We're still in the process of completing all that," Hollars said. "We're going forward with the build."

Yahoo! recently contacted Quincy city administrator Tim Snead, asking if there were any community projects with which the company's management team could assist.

Snead said that, as far as he is aware, such overtures from a company are not commonplace.

"It really showed me that they want to be part of the community and work with the community," he said.

Snead contacted Harriet Weber, volunteer public events coordinator for the historic farmhouse, asking if there was anything that they could ask Yahoo! to do.

"I said, 'Could we ever!'" Weber remembered. "There was a whole list of things that needed to be worked on. It was a wonderful experience and they accomplished a lot while they were there."

One of Weber's requests was for helpers with any kind of construction experience to assist with a new interior storage area addition, with a 12-foot high ceiling, that needed to be sheeted with plywood. Several of the team had the experience necessary, and Weber said three people tackled that project. A total eight Yahoo! members turned out to offer assistance.

The team was on site from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with time for lunch, Weber said. Other duties performed included fertilizing the lawn, hoeing, barking, and putting mulch down on the rose garden, planting four raised vegetable beds, other flower and shrub landscaping, moving interior kitchen cabinets to a new kitchen location, putting together rolling kitchen carts and working with light fixtures.

"They accomplished a lot in six hours," Weber noted, adding that considering the historical society has a small volunteer base, the whole thing would have taken two months to get done without the assistance of Yahoo! "We were real concerned about getting some (projects) finished prior to pending May events. It was fortuitous for us."

Hollars said efforts at the Reiman-Simmons house are not directly tied to Yahoo! making progress towards finalizing its deal with the port district.

"We want to be a part of the community and want to show our appreciation for all the work you guys have put into this," Hollars said. "The folks that went out to the Reiman house were really well received. People were stopping by to thank them."

Weber thinks the Yahoo! team was just as excited, and said they "hit the ground running" when they showed up.

"I was very impressed with their efficiency, but they were so nice to work with and visit with," she said, noting her teen-age son worked side by side one Yahoo! team member in putting the kitchen carts together. "They were real down to earth people, family people. It was a real pleasure to get to know them."

Weber said many people in the Quincy community have been excited about the possibilities coming into the area, like Yahoo! as well as Microsoft, which has finalized its deal with the Port of Quincy and begun construction.

"I would say they, for me, really strengthened my excitement about them coming, and they helped me to see they really have Quincy's best interests at heart, as well as what they're trying to accomplish for their company," Weber said. "They're very community-minded, they really want to connect with local people and I think that's tremendous."