D Street Underpass scheduled to be open Aug. 27

The D Street Underpass

No date has been set for a ribbon cutting, but the city of Idaho Falls is eyeing Aug. 27 as the day the long-awaited D Street Underpass will be open to traffic. Public Works Director Chris Fredericksen said curb and gutter, paving and some concrete curing remain to be done.

Trains began rolling over the bridge in May, months later than originally planned. The new structure will have two westbound lanes, one eastbound lane and a wide sidewalk, all at street level. Although there will be no lane specifically dedicated to bike traffic, the city has designed the lanes to be wide enought to accommodate bike traffic without trouble or incident.

Do what you love ... it's better than doing something you hate

Paul McCartney in concert last Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

You've probably heard the old adage, "Do what you love and the money will follow." I've never been totally convinced of that, but I will concede that doing what you love for money is a lot better than doing something you hate.

What if you don't need the money? The reason I ask this is I'm still buzzing from seeing Sir Paul McCartney in Salt Lake City on Thursday night. I don't describe many things as "awesome," but his show was. I have carried the Beatles in my heart for almost 50 years, so it was a big, big night for me. The Beatles were the reason I asked my parents for a guitar when I was 12. What they were doing looked like more fun than people were allowed to have, and I can't imagine what my life would have been like without their inspiration. I love singing and playing more than anything in the world, and even make a little money at it, but money isn't the point. Joy, generosity, creativity and good humor can make you whole. Sir Paul's performance Thursday night was a great reminder.

Let's get real. Here is a guy who does not need to make any more money than he already has. Although I am sure he is paid handsomely, the tickets to his show were not overpriced. My wife, son and I sat in the 14th row for less than $900. At a U2 or Rolling Stones show, the tab would have been closer to $3k, a sum I would never, ever pay.

My takeaway from the show was that McCartney, 72, gave it his all for more than two-and-a-half hours because he's still living the dream he had as a kid and loves it as much as he did the day he met John Lennon in 1957. That love is infectious, and something you can't put a price tag on.

Most of us put up with work in order to do the things we love in our free time. Today, before I go out and try to discover if there is any news to report, the question I want to ask is whether you can bring any love to what it is you do for a living? You're lucky if you can, but don't forget that we make our own luck.

How to find out if you are underpaid

Winning the Super Bowl wasn’t enough. A four-year contract for $30 million also wasn’t enough. He is one of the NFL’s top running backs – and at the brink of preseason football the Seattle Seahawks'  Marshawn Lynch decided he was underpaid.

Yes, you heard me -- $7.5 million a year wasn’t enough for Lynch. Luckily, for Lynch and the team, the powers that be were able to “move around” some money to guarantee Lynch $1 million in incentives and roster bonuses. Not too shabby for throwing a workplace temper tantrum.

I would say 99 percent of us would never get the same results as Lynch if we refused to work until we got a raise. In fact, I would bet most of us would get fired.

So my weekly words of wisdom: Don’t pull a Lynch if you feel your are underpaid.

Regardless of whether we all think Lynch was overcompensated, compensated fairly, or underpaid, most of us are in the same boat as Lynch and wonder if we are being compensated what we are worth. According to Glassdoor.com, a recruiting Web site, 39 percent of employees feel they are not being compensated fairly for what they are asked to do.

In an ideal world, we would all like to think we are all equal and should be compensated equally as well. The fact is, when it comes to the workplace we are not all created equal and therefore are not paid equally.

Employers have a number of factors to consider with each employee’s individual pay, including education, experience, productivity, performance, responsibility levels and specialized training and knowledge. These factors are typically combined with the “market rate” for a particular position (or similar positions) in a job market.

Being underpaid is probably one of the worst feelings in the world. What could make you feel worse or more worthless than not getting fair market rate for what you spend the majority of your life doing?

If an employee does feel underpaid, it can create a lot of problems sure to impact the business, including lower productivity (why work hard if it doesn’t matter in the end?), high turnover, absenteeism and decreased morale.

Aside from asking co-workers what they make – not a great idea and forbidden by a lot of employers --  how can you tell you may not be getting what you're worth?

A great place to start is online salary surveys. The Internet has resources literally at your fingertips to help you determine the overall basis for what the “market rate” is for your position. Great sites to start with would be the U.S. Department of Labor and recruiting sites like Glassdoor.com or Careerbuilder.com.

Also, visiting with others in your industry in similar positions is a good way to gauge where your compensation sits within the market.

Next, it is good to take a look at the company performance overall. If profits and revenues are growing and your salary is staying the same over an extended period of time, it may be time to have a visit with the boss. While a strong overall company performance without raises doesn’t exactly confirm you are underpaid, it still is something to explore if you are questioning fair compensation.

If your responsibilities have grown, but your paycheck hasn’t this also could be an indicator you are underpaid. Keep in mind however that many employers will assign expanded duties to employees who are productive. While expanded duties may not equal an expanded paycheck – and could be an indicator you are underpaid – it is good to keep in mind that expanded skill sets look good on resumes for future opportunities.

If you still have gone through all of these steps and feel like you are underpaid there is nothing wrong with sitting down with your manager or supervisor to discuss your compensation concerns. Recently, I have seen that most employers do not automatically or consistently hand out raises, but rely instead on employees asking for raises. In today's workplace, you will more than likely be the party to begin the discussions.

If you decide to ask for a raise, stick to presenting facts about your responsibilities and your accomplishments and how they relate to the company. Discussing personal financial needs or overall economic conditions usually deters employers from giving raises.

In the end if you do feel you are being underpaid and your employer is not willing to work with you, the job market is back up and booming – so it may be a good time to take a peek at what else is out there.

Monica Bitrick is CEO of Bitrick Consulting Group, a human resources company in Idaho Falls.

Tyler Schwendiman building Hitt Road insurance office

Tyler Schwendiman anticipates having his Insure It All building on Hitt Road finished by November.

I've gotten a few questions about the project happening on Hitt Road just north of Chuck-O-Rama. No it is not a new restaurant, it is the new 7,973-square-foot office Tyler Schwendiman is building for his Insure It All agency.

In business for 12 years, Schwendiman and his 15 employees are under two separate roofs and running out of room at that. The building, which he anticipates having finished by November, will put everybody under one roof with room to expand. Schwendiman said he anticipates adding seven more employees after the building is finished.

The new location, at 919 S. 25th East, will also give him better visibility on a more-traveled road, and he said he plans to have a sign that will attract attention.

Schwendiman is an independent insurance agent dealing in property, auto, health and life insurance. His Web site is www.coveryourstuff.com.

Double Down Bar and Grill offers simulcast horse racing

Danielle Wilde, Steve Laflin and Rachelle Hunter at the Double Down Betting Bar and Grill, 3078 Outlet Boulevard.

Horse racing enthusiasts in the Idaho Falls area don't have to go to Sandy Downs anymore for simulcast betting. Double Down, which opened in July at 3078 Outlet Boulevard, is offering live simulcast betting in a facility that serves food and alcohol.

The business, formerly the One 16 Sports Bar and Grill, is being run by Steve and Dottie Laflin and their daughters, Rachelle Hunter and Danielle Wilde. The betting side is being run by Jim and Melissa Bernard, owners of Intermountain Racing and Entertainment.

Laflin, CEO of International Isotopes, said they had no interest in running a regular restaurant, but that the simulcast element made the proposal attractive to them.

Betting on horses in Idaho has been legal since 1963, and the Legislature authorized simulcasting in 1990. Before July 2011, however, simulcasting was only allowed at live horse racing facilities -- Sandy Downs in Bonneville County's case. That year, the Legislature passed a bill allowing simulcast horse betting from other venues, supporters arguing that off-track locations could provide a better atmosphere, food and other incentives to attract paying customers. The 2011 bill did not allow new simulcast betting venues to be set up, but instead allowed operations like the Bernards' to move.

Pari-mutuel betting is a system under which all bets are pooled together. Once the outcome of an event is determined, winning betters are paid out of the pool. The idea is that a wagerer has a better chance of getting a better return.

This past session, the Legislature approved HB220, allowing pari-mutuel betting on historical horse races. Laflin said they anticipate having 50 historical race machines installed by November. So if you want to bet on a race at Aqueduct that happened in 1996, this will allow you to.

In Idaho, proceeds from simulcast pari-mutuel betting go to youth programs run by the Idaho Horse Board and the Robert R. Lee Promise Scholarship program, which annually awards 25 scholarships to students attending state colleges and universities. The remaining funds are distributed by the Idaho State Racing Commission to improve horse racing in the state.