Rob Ruth/Chieftain The Worksource Oregon office on Adams Avenue in La Grande is now the closest location for Wallowa County residents to access Oregon Employment Department services in person.

ENTERPRISE — The Prairie Creek Center still experiences the daily hustle and bustle of clients for its Department of Human Services offices, but the hope of getting in-person assistance in one’s search for gainful employment is no more. The Oregon Department of Employment closed its office a year ago, citing cost-cutting purposes.

Not everyone in the Wallowa Valley is convinced the benefit to the state outweighs what the community has lost. Executive director of the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce, Vicky Searles, is one of those people. “We’re so far out here, and we’re such a limited area for services, we need the employment office here,” Searles said.

The chamber director also said that because much of the work force is seasonal, the loss of the employment office corresponds with a loss of expediency in the hiring process.

Regarding local employer complaints. Searles said, “The tramway is a good example. They need to find the right people to work in their business, but don’t always have a lot of time (to screen candidates).” Searles also mentioned several other businesses — some in Joseph, some in Wallowa Lake — that she said were feeling the employment pinch.

Searles said that rumors (not from the employment department) indicate at least the possibility of a partial reopening. “When that happens, we’ll need to be more vocal and fighting to keep the office open,” Searles said.

Searles said that the La Grande office and the employment department’s online site handle most of the local employment issues, which the state uses as justification for closing the Wallowa County office. “That may be good to a point, but many people find it’s a challenge to do business with them online. It’s not the same,” Searles said.

Oregon’s Training and Employment Consortium (TEC), a state entity closely allied with the employment department, also shared the office (Prairie Creek Center) and provided job training. TEC is now limited to one day a week in a smaller office which is staffed by a member of their La Grande office.

It is possible for job-seekers or businesses to make appointments to meet with employment department personnel at the Prairie Creek Center, but employment department officials say those opportunities aren’t regularly scheduled.

Mike Lockhart, owner of Wallowa Lake Tramway, expressed his dissatisfaction with the office closure. “We have one of the higher unemployment rates in the state and it doesn’t make sense to close our office. I’m all for government offices trimming their budgets, but I don’t think this closure was well thought out,” Lockhart said.

Lockhart added he relied heavily on the office for obtaining his employees as many did not have home access to the Internet or even reliable transportation. He also questioned the handling of the shutdown. “They handled it horribly. I already had ads in the newspaper telling people to contact employment office for information and they were already shut down. The La Grande office isn’t working for us. We’re not getting the same level of service. Don’t let them tell you that.”

Lockhart said many other local tourist-oriented businesses are also unhappy with the closure. “It’s a real problem for all of us to get quality trained employees, and the employment office helped us screen them, which saved us a lot of time. We adapted, but I don’t think we got access to the best employees available — not just locally, but people interested in working in the area on a part-time basis,” Lockhart said.

As far as the efficacy of the transfer of services to La Grande, Lockhart remains unimpressed. “The La Grande office isn’t working for us.”

Debbie Gargalis, Worksource Oregon Region 13 manager, said the office closure related strictly to economics and also said Worksource Oregon held a number of public forums to allow community members to voice their opinion on the closure. The department also reached out and contacted Wallowa County commissioners, job-seekers, employers and other interested parties.

Teresa Sajonia, owner of Embers Brew House and member of the Joseph City Council, had mixed feelings about the office closure. “In all the years I’ve owned my business, I’ve maybe hired two people through unemployment, so it doesn’t affect my business significantly. However, it is a necessity for unemployed people in the county. When you’re looking for work, it’s important to have someone in the know to network with and also to have a face to talk to who understands and can help your situation.”

Lem McBurney, an employment specialist with the Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness, wants the office back. “It would not only help me, it would help the community as a whole. The employment office is more than someone at a desk. It’s resources, education, computers and community.”

The occasional staffing of the employment office is also a source of frustration to McBurney. “There’s no schedule, so you don’t know. It’s like if you ran a grocery store like that, some people would starve.”

McBurney added, “I suspect this was just a giant spreadsheet down in Salem and I think they read the numbers without seeing the need.”