NNY Business October 2013

BusIness

// POTSDAM’S LAVALLE TRANSPORTATION INVESTS NEARLY $9M IN GROWTH P. 32

nnybizmag.com

OCTOBER 2013 Volume 3 No. 11

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AIR SERVICE, HIGHER ED, HOUSING OPEN DOORS FOR A MORE ROBUST REGION

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THE INTERVIEW

St. Lawrence BOCES Chief Thomas Burns p. 46

$2.95

/nnybusiness @NNYBusinessMag

// NORTHERN NEW YORK’S PREMIER BUSINESS MONTHLY //

October October2013 2013| |NNY NNYBusiness Business| |33

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NNY Business | October 2013

>> Inside OCTOBER 2013 36

18

43

32 |

COVER |

18 SKY’S THE LIMIT The north country has been in a remarkable period of growth in the past three decades.

27 SUCCESS IN SLC In New York’s largest county, future growth is tied to higher education and tourism. |

SMALL BIZ STARTUP |

17 LATE NIGHT COMFORT New owners of the Hop in Potsdam have a laser focus on serving quality food. |

FEATURES |

30 WLADIS SOLDIERS ON Syracuse-based Wladis Law Firm opens a new office in Watertown.

66 34 A BEAN DYNASTY Jean’s Beans, purveyor of fried haddock and baked beans, marks 60 years.

36 DIGNITARIES OF DESIGN Long-time leaders of Bernier, Carr discuss their hopes for the firm, leadership lessons. |

ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY |

32 DRIVING THE FUTURE Potsdam-based LaValle Transportation has invested millions to modernize its fleet. |

CONSTRUCTION |

43 2013 SEES UPTICK Building permits for the Watertown area are slightly up so far in 2013 compared with 2012 building activity.

68 WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE? Northern Federal Credit Union is building its seventh north country branch on Route 11 in front of the LeRay Walmart. |

REAL ESTATE |

42 REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP What you should know about STAR and other happenings in NNY’s real estate industry.

45 TOP TRANSACTIONS Top 10 real estate sales recorded in St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties. |

BUSINESS HISTORY |

66 A SHOPPING MECCA Empsall’s Department Store catered to locals’ every need during its 86-year reign.

October 2013 | NNY Business

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NNY Business | October 2013

|

INTERVIEW

|

|

ABOUT THE COVER

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46 CAREER EDUCATION VITAL Thomas R. Burns, St. LawrenceLewis County BOCES district superintendent, discusses the potential for school mergers and the success of BOCES’s career and technical education centers. |

COLUMNS

49 50 51 52 |

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NONPROFIT TOOL KIT ECONOMICALLY SPEAKING BUSINESS LAW COMMERCE CORNER

DEPARTMENTS

10 11 12 14 17

53 AGRI-BUSINESS 54 BUSINESS TECH BYTES 55 SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS

|

EDITOR’S NOTE PEOPLE ON THE MOVE ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT BUSINESS BRIEFCASE SMALL BIZ STARTUP

42 56 58 66 68

REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP CALENDAR BUSINESS SCENE BUSINESS HISTORY WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE?

For this month’s cover, photography editor Norm Johnston captured an American Airlines jet at Watertown International Airport. From our archives, St. Lawrence University graduates prepare for commencement. Photographer Justin Sorensen shot Autumn Ridge housing development off County Route 202 with the backdrop of fall colors.

October 2013 | NNY Business

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CONTRIBUTORS

BusIness www.nnybizmag.com

Chairman of the Board John B. Johnson Jr.

Lance Evans is executive officer for the Jefferson-Lewis and St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors. He writes about STAR procedures and real estate happenings. (p. 42)

Diane Leonard is a certified grant professional who owns a consulting company in Clayton. She discusses strategies for successful proactive grant seeking. (p. 49)

Star Carter is a GIS specialist at the Development Authority of the North Country.

She writes about the beneficial uses of GIS technology in everyday life. (p. 45)

PuBlishers

John B. Johnson Harold B. Johnson II

VP news oPerations Timothy J. Farkas

magazine editor

Kenneth J. Eysaman

magazine staff writer Leah Buletti

PhotograPhy

Larry Covell is a professor of business at SUNY Jefferson and an attorney. He discusses the three different ways to create an express warranty and its uses. (p. 51)

Lynn Pietroski is president and CEO of the Greater WatertownNorth Country Chamber of Commerce. She writes about the importance of employee training. (p. 52)

Jay Matteson is the agricultural coordinator for the Jefferson County Industrial Development Corp. He writes about a newly opened shareduse kitchen at Madison Barracks. (p. 53)

Norm Johnston, Justin Sorensen, Jason Hunter, Melanie Kimbler-Lago, Amanda Morrison

magazine adVertising manager Matthew Costantino

slC adVertising direCtor Tammy Beaudin

adVertising graPhiCs

Brian Mitchell, Rick Gaskin, Heather O’Driscoll, Scott Smith, Todd Soules

CirCulation direCtor Mary Sawyer

Jill Van Hoesen is chief information officer for Johnson Newspapers and a 25-year IT veteran.

She writes about why 2014 is the time to consider moving to an IP phone system. (p. 54)

Brooke Rouse is an advisor for the state Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton. She provides growth strategies for home-based businesses. (p. 55)

Leah Buletti is a staff writer for NNY Magazines. She writes the cover story on the tri-county area’s growth over the last three decades and its future prospects. (p. 18)

MARKETPLACE

A&B Office Equipment ................. 10 AmeriCU Credit Union .................. 4 Bach & Company ....................... 11 Bay Brokerage ............................ 24 Bayview Shores Real Estate ........ 44 Beardsley Design ........................ 68 Beaver Meadows ........................ 44 Body Pros .................................... 72 Bond, Shoeneck & King ............... 7 C&M Auto .................................... 41 Carthage Area Hospital ............ 27 Cheney Tire ................................. 56 CITEC Manufacturing ................. 31 Clayton Dental Office ................ 11 Coleman’s Corner ...................... 64 Cortel Improvement .................. 22 Creg Systems .............................. 16 Dano’s Pizzeria ........................... 64 DANC .......................................... 52 Fairground’s Inn .......................... 64 Foy Agency ................................. 15 Fuccillo Automotive ................... 41 Fuller Insurance .......................... 29 Great American Grill ................. 64 High Tower Advisors ................... 38 Howard Orthotics ........................ 50

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Innovative PT Solutions .............. 51 JCC Foundation ......................... 40 JCC Small Business Development Center ................. 59 Jefferson County IDA ................. 67 Ken Piarulli/Ameriprise .............. 15 KIMCO Steel ................................. 2 LaClair Family Dental .................. 28 LoFink Ford Mercury ................... 60 LTI ................................................. 55 Macar’s ....................................... 63 Marra’s Homecare ..................... 61 Moe’s Southwest Grill ................ 64 NNY Business ........................ 10, 56 NNY Community Foundation .... 70 Nortz & Virkler ............................. 41 NY Department of Health ............ 6 Painfull Acres .............................. 11 Phinney’s Automotive ................ 41 Phinn’s Auto Body ...................... 41 RBC Wealth Management ........ 25 Richard J. Meagher, DDS .......... 14 River Hospital .............................. 14 Robert’s Automotive .................. 41 Sandy’s Luncheonette ............... 64 SeaComm Federal CU ............... 49

NNY Business | October 2013

Service Plus Automotive ............ 41 Shred Con ................................... 54 Slack Chemical Co. ................... 53 Steven Duffany ........................... 29 Stratton Hardware LTD ............... 35 Succession Partners ..................... 3 SUNY Potsdam ............................ 45 The Blue Heron ........................... 64 Three C Limousine ..................... 65 Thousand Island Realty ............. 44 Tilted Kilt ...................................... 64 Waite Motor Sports ..................... 62 Waite Toyota ................................. 8 Washington Street Partners ........ 71 Watertown Auto Repair .............. 41 Watertown Daily Times ............... 48 Watertown Dental ......................... 9 Watertown LDC ........................... 42 Watertown Savings Bank ........... 33 Watertown Spring & Alignment ................................ 41 Wells Communications .............. 67 Wills Wrecker .............................. 41 Worden Insurance ..................... 29 WWTI TV 50 .................................. 69 Ziebart ......................................... 41

NNY Business (ISSN 2159-6115), is published monthly by Northern New York Newspaper Corp., 260 Washington St., Watertown, NY 13601, a Johnson Newspaper Corp. company. © 2010-2013. All material submitted to NNY Business becomes property of Northern New York Newspaper Corp., publishers of the Watertown Daily Times, and will not be returned.

suBsCriPtion rates 12 issues are $15 a year and 24 issues are $25 for two years.

Call 315-782-1000 to subscribe. suBmissions Send all editorial correspondence to keysaman@wdt.net adVertising For advertising rates and information in Jefferson and Lewis counties, email mcostantino@wdt.net, or call 315-661-2305 In St. Lawrence County, e-mail tbeaudin@ogd.com, or call 315-661-2512 Printed with pride in U.S.A. at Vanguard Printing LLC, Ithaca, N.Y., a Forest Stewardship Certified facility.

Please recycle this magazine.

Meet Dr. Robert Agnetta Board Certified Orthodontist Watertown Orthodontics

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — From his earliest memory as Dr. Agnetta followed his father’s career in hospital administration from Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon, and then to Glendale, California, he always knew he wanted to be a health care professional. He received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Pacific Union College in the Napa Valley in Northern California. After receiving a Doctor of Dental Science degree from Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, he practiced as a general dentist in Micronesia on the Island of Guam for three years. Returning stateside when his family started to grow, he moved with his wife, Karen, to Boise, Idaho, where he established a successful private practice while they raised their two children, Alison and Evan.

In 1996, Bob had the opportunity to specialize and again attended Loma Linda University where he achieved his master’s degree in Orthodontics.

Upon completion of his residency he returned to Boise and established a busy private practice as an Orthodontist. During his professional tenure, Dr. Agnetta has consistently kept up to date by attending continuing education courses. Since graduation he has been a member of several dental organizations including the American Dental Association, Board Certified member of the American Association of Orthodontics and has recently been appointed as a director in the Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists (PCSO).

Why orthodontics? The most rewarding aspect of dentistry for Dr. Agnetta is when he can help a person succeed in life by improving their self-

confidence. Orthodontics is a field that can visibly do this, and it is extremely gratifying for him to witness his patients develop into more confident and self-assured individuals.

During the times Bob is not at the office, he is most likely devoting his time to family endeavors.

He enjoys being very busy and is always looking for ways to help his family and friends. He has enjoyed mountain and cross-country biking, water and snow skiing.

Bob’s children have continued the family tradition of health care. Alison finished medical school in 2011 and is completing an Internal Medicine / Pediatric residency in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Evan struggled with the decision of what he wanted to do for his life’s work. He is making his father proud as he follows his father’s footsteps into Dentistry. He applied to and was accepted to his father’s alma mater. Classes began in August 2013 and although he is not sure what aspect of dentistry will be his favorite, he is looking forward to serving the needs of his community as a dental professional.

He loves to travel and his favorite place so far is New Zealand, where they visited Karen’s extended family and watched his children jump off tall buildings, bridges and out of a perfectly good airplane. Still top on his wish list of destinations is India, China, the Himalayas and spending more time on more warm, tropical islands.

Dr. Agnetta is available for consultation at the Watertown Dental Health Group, 315-788 1070. He would be happy to share with you the possibilities for your smile.

“The Most Rewarding Aspect of Dentistry For Me Is When I Can Help a Person Succeed In Life

By Improving Their SelfConfidence. Orthodontics Can Visibly Do This.”

— Paid Advertisement —

October 2013 | NNY Business

|9

EDITOR’S NOTE

20UNDER40

NORTHERN NEW YORK’S EMERGING LEADERS

Save

the date.

Join us for a luncheon at Hilton Garden Inn, 1290 Arsenal St., Watertown, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 11, to recognize the 2012 Class of 20 Under 40.

Look for profiles of this year’s class in December’s issue of NNY Business.

RSVP to Editor Ken Eysaman at keysaman@wdt.net by noon, Wednesday, Dec. 4. Luncheon is $18 and includes a house salad, fresh baked rolls, cranberry and walnut stuffed chicken with sage infused cream sauce, red skin potatoes, green beans, N.Y.-style cheescake with raspberry sauce and coffee, tea, decaf or water.

Vegetarian option is available. Need a hotel room the night before? Mention the 20 Under 40 event for a discount.

Sponsored by:

W

hen my family moved to Northern New York in 1979, Watertown’s Arsenal Street was little more than a two-lane road peppered with restaurants, retail shopping plazas and a movie theater. Not much stood west of Interstate 81. An old barn with a soft-serve ice cream stand inside was all that occupied a field where Salmon Run Mall now houses nearly 750,000 square feet of retail, entertainment and dining.

Fort Drum was practically mothballed, a hard-tobelieve version of its present modern self, and north country Ken Eysaman residents traveled to Canada for the best deals with a dollar-fordollar exchange rate far more favorable to those south of the border.

Fast forward more than three decades and it’s nothing short of amazing to see how the region has changed.

Now, Canadians flock to a one-time field that has grown to an international shopping destination for our friends north of the border, and there are few things I can think of that require north country residents to make the 65-mile trek south to Syracuse that they can’t find at home.

In this month’s cover story, which begins on page 18, staff writer Leah Buletti examines growth in our region during the past 30 years.

Her in-depth look at how officials across the tri-county area are working to capitalize on opportunities for future sustainable growth focuses on three key areas: expanding air service and infrastructure at Watertown International Airport, leveraging post-secondary educational assets in St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties, and fixing the inadequate housing supply.

I invite your feedback on this topic as we all have a stake in ensuring the north country is an area that not only prospers, but thrives. What do you think we’re missing on the path to a better tomorrow? Email me at keysaman@wdt.net and I will share some comments in next month’s issue.

interview is a conversation with Tom Burns, district superintendent of the St. LawrenceLewis County Board of Cooperative Education Services. Now 43, Tom was tapped to lead the BOCES in New York’s largest county when he was just 38. But don’t let his age fool you. What he lacks in years he more than makes up for in experience. A St. Lawrence County native, the north country is in his blood. Tom works tirelessly to improve educational outcomes for the nearly 16,000 students in the “big county” and, as a father of two, his commitment to realizing a brighter future for our youth is deeply personal.

What’s more, he’s not anxious to leave. St. Lawrence County is home. Our conversation with him begins on page 42.

BUSINESS SCENE — This month’s Scene section, which begins on page 58, features 71 faces from nearly four dozen north country businesses and organizations. On Aug. Sept. 5, we joined the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce for its 2013 Athena Award Presentation and Dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn, where longtime community activist Margaret B. “Peggy” Coe was honored on what also happened to be the 60th anniversary of her marriage to husband Ben, a past recipient of the chamber’s Israel A. Shapiro Award. On Sept.

19, staff writer Leah Buletti joined the Clayton Chamber of Commerce for Business With A Twist at the Antique Boat Museum. That same night, Lowville editor Jeremiah Papineau joined the Lewis County Chamber of Commerce for its Annual Meeting. Also on Sept. 19, we joined the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce for Business After Hours at Barrett Paving Materials. Finally, on Sept. 27, we headed to Alexandria Bay for the kick-off celebration of this year’s Jefferson Leadership Institute at the Riveredge Resort.

SAVE THE DATE — For those of you who like to plan ahead, our annual NNY Business 20 Under 40 luncheon honoring emerging leaders is set for Wednesday, Dec. 11, at the Hilton Garden Inn, Watertown. Complete details are printed in the ad next to this column. Mark your calendars for a great event and I will see you at the Hilton.

Yours in business,

20 QUESTIONS — This month’s featured

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NNY Business | October 2013

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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE SMC appoints Children’s Miracle Network manager Samaritan Medical Center and the SMC Foundation of Northern New York announce the appointment of Morgan O’Brien Bocciolatt as the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals development manager.

As development manager, Miss Bocciolatt will manage fundraising, sponsor/donor relations and overall awareBocciolatt ness of CMN’s mission of helping north country children. She plan and implement all CMN events, foster relationships with CMN national and local sponsors, build a core group of CMN volunteers and assist families of children who face a medical crisis.

Miss Bocciolatt was previously director of sales and events at Savory Downtown.

She is a north country native and grew up in Chaumont, where she remains active in the Lyme Community Foundation as a volunteer and spokeswoman and with the Lyme Community Theatre as producer and volunteer. Miss Bocciolatt holds a bachelor’s in communication management and design from Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communication, and was crowned Miss Thousand Islands in 2011.

Children’s Miracle Network of Northern New York at Samaritan Medical Center raises money to support childcentered areas of the hospital and other qualified health care organizations in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.

All money raised through CMN remains local to benefit children in our area. Samaritan is one of only five CMN-affiliated hospitals in the nation that provides direct assistance to children and their families.

ABM announces board elections, appointments

The Antique Boat Museum, Clayton, has announced the recent re-election and appointment of its Board of Trustees. Reelected to three-year terms through 2016 during the museum’s annual membership meeting in July were: Donald E. Babcock, Kathleen R. Cross, Marvin C. Hart, Lee T. Hirschey, Anthony S. Mollica Jr., Allan P. Newell, W. David Richardson, John F. Stopper and R. Ian Tatlock.

Appointed as officers for 2013-2014 were: Harold B. Johnson II, chairman,

Richard W. Tague, vice chairman and Kathleen R. Cross, secretary and treasurer.

The ABM also announced the addition of Christopher T. Lytle as senior advancement officer and Rebecca L. Hopfinger as director of advancement. Mr. Lytle has 35 years of experience in nonprofits, including Rotary International and the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.

At the ABM, he will lead fundraising efforts and support the ABM’s growth strategies through developing relationships with philanthropists, foundations and corporations.

Mr. Lytle graduated from Mercyhurst College and received post-graduation certifications from Adelphia University and New York University. He lives with his wife, Laurie, in Seneca Falls, where he serves as a board member of the Finger Lakes Boating Museum.

Ms. Hopfinger is returning to the museum after serving as executive director of the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton. She served as curator of the ABM beginning in 1996 after graduating from Syracuse University and in 2004 was promoted to director of development and curator of special exhibits before departing in 2008. In her new role, she will oversee the Friends of the Museum program, general membership and other fundraising.

Ms. Hopfinger lives in Clayton and serves as a board member of the Clayton Local Development Corporation and the Clayton Chamber of Commerce.

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JCC Foundation names executive director

Alicia M. Dewey was appointed executive director of the Jefferson Community College Foundation, effective September 2013, a position in which she will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies related to annual, major gifts, capital and planned giving programs; grant coordination; and alumni Dewey programming.

For the past six years, Ms. Dewey has been the grant administrator and executive assistant to the Clayton town supervisor. Since January 2012 she has been director of finance and human resources for the town of Clayton.

Please see People, page 16

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www.BachAndCo.com October 2013 | NNY Business

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NNY

Economic indicators Average per-gallon milk price paid to N.Y. dairy farmers August 2013 $1.82 July 2013 $1.83 August 2012 $1.62

12.3%

ECON SNAPSHOT

Vehicles crossing the Thousand Islands, OgdensburgPrescott and Seaway International (Massena) bridges

Source: NYS Department of Agriculture

586,670 in August 2013 536,036 in July 2013 584,992 in August 2012

Average NNY price for gallon of regular unleaded gas

Source: T.I. Bridge Authority, Ogdensburg Bridge & Port Authority, Seaway International Bridge Corp.

August 2013 $3.81 July 2013 $3.76 August 2012 $3.60

U.S.-Canadian dollar exchange rate (Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar)

5.8%

Average NNY price for gallon of home heating oil

12 |

(Percent gains and losses are over 12 months)

August 2013 $3.66 July 2013 $3.67 August 2012 $3.75

2.4%

0.29%

$1.05 on August 22, 2013 $1.03 on July 22, 2013 $0.99 on August 23, 2012

6.1%

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of N.Y.

Average NNY price for gallon of residential propane

Nonagriculture jobs in the Jefferson-Lewis-St. Lawrence counties area, not including military positions*

August 2013 $2.86 July 2013 $2.84 August 2012 $3.01

89,700 in August 2013 89,200 in July 2013 89,700 in August 2012

5.0%

Source: NYS Energy Research and Development Authority

Source: NYS Department of Labor

Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors single-family home sales

St. Lawrence Board of Realtors single-family home sales

96, median price $161,000 in August 2013 119, median price $148,000 in July 2013 143, median price $152,700 in August 2012

59, median price $93,500 in August 2013 67, median price $91,000 in July 2013 70, median price $92,750 in August 2012

32.9% Sales

5.4% Price

Source: Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors Inc.

15.7%

0.81%

Sales

Price

Source: St. Lawrence Board of Realtors Inc.

NNY unemployment rates* Jefferson County

August ’13 June ’12

8.3% 8.5%

August ’12

8.8%

St. Lawrence County August ’13

9.1% 9.4%

June ’12 August ’12

10.3%

Lewis County August ’13 June ’12 August ’12

8.2% 8.4% 8.6%

Source: New York State Department of Labor (Not seasonally adjusted. Latest available data reported.) * Latest available data reported due to annual data updates at the New York State Department of Labor.

Note: Due to updates in some “Econ. Snapshot” categories, numbers may differ from previously published prior month and year figures.

NNY Business | October 2013

NNY

Economic indicators New automobiles (cars and trucks) registered in Jefferson County Cars 571 in August 2013 530 in July 2013 547 in August 2012

4.4%

Trucks 135 in August 2013 132 in July 2013 109 in August 2012

23.9%

Source: Jefferson County Clerk’s Office

Passengers at Watertown International Airport

Open welfare cases in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties

3,884 inbound and outbound in August 2013 4,036 inbound and outbound in July 2013 3,788 inbound and outbound in August 2012

2,001 in August 2013 2,008 in July 2013 1,897 in August 2012

5.5%

2.5% Source: Jefferson County Board of Legislators

DBA (doing business under an assumed name) certificates filed at the Jefferson County Clerk’s office Sept. 3 to Sept. 30, 2013. For a complete list of DBAs filed in past months, visit us at WWW.NNYBIZMAG.COM.

SEPT. 30: Danick Home Improvements, 142 Union St., Watertown, Daniel Jones, 142 Union St., Watertown, Nicholas Wescott, 14324 Pearl St., Harrisville.

SEPT. 27: K Korp, 13150 Ridge Road, Sackets Harbor, Jeffrey J. Kenney, 13150 Ridge Road, Sackets Harbor.

Baxter’s Electronic Repair, 323 S. Washington St. Apt. D22, Carthage, Christopher Baxter, 323 S. Washington St. Apt. D22, Carthage.

SEPT. 25: Bob Williams, 25721 state Route 12, Alexandria Bay, Robert Williams, 25721 state Route 12, PO Box 366, Alexandria Bay. Nana’s Kitchen, 560 West End Ave., Carthage, Amy L. Lortie, 14945 Watson Road, Copenhagen.

SEPT. 24: Black River Vineyards, 21398 Weaver Road, Watertown, Jennifer A. Sholette, 21398 Weaver Road, Watertown.

Moon Lake Farm, 31947 County Route 22, Theresa, Ronald E. Trickey and Michael C. Trickey, 232 Commercial St., Theresa.

Pier Marine, 23791 Forest Drive, Watertown, Michael C. Pierson, 23791 Forest Drive, Watertown.

SEPT. 23: Unique Creations, 419 Factory St., Watertown, Victoria Pritty Pitcher, 14741 County Route 145, Sackets Harbor.

Country Designs, 320 Dodge Ave., Sackets Harbor, Sandra J. Clement, 320 Dodge Ave., Sackets Harbor.

Jimmy Dean Construction, 5 High St., Carthage, James D. Rounds, 5 High St., Carthage.

S&S Contracting, 16000 County Route 11, LaFargeville, James Storozow, 16000 County Route 11, LaFargeville.

Moose Head Storage, 34621 Route 12E, Cape Vincent, John Corso and Sheryl Corso, 34289 Downing Lane, Cape Vincent.

SEPT. 20: Plumberry Hollow Gift & Crafts, 55 Bridge St., Carthage, Margaret G. Cleland, 55 Bridge St., Carthage.

Act One Child’s Play, 19317 U.S. Route 11, Watertown, Lisa Stepp, 19317 U.S. Route 11, Watertown.

McMurray and Sons, 10968 Route 12E, Chaumont, Wanda Way and Adam Beshures, 10968 Route 12E, Chaumont.

SEPT. 19: Knorr’s Chug a Lug Pub, 43488 state Route 37, Redwood, Aaron A. Knorr and Patricia A. Knorr, 46675 state Route 37, Hammond.

Tug Hill Maid Brigade, 7 Wardwell St., Adams, and Nichole Cedar, 13432 County Route 75, Adams, and George Cedar III, 7 Wardwell St., Adams.

Jaam Creations, 221 W. Lynde St., Watertown, Amanda Battista, 221 W Lynde St., Watertown.

AE Photography, 26217 Mountain Lane, Evans Mills, Allison Sauer, 26217 Mountain Lane, Evans Mills.

SEPT. 18: Sanders Construction, 24432 Gracey Road, Calcium, Penny Kay Dulkoski, 24432 Gracey Road, Calcium.

Through Tiffany’s Lens, 94216 B Holdenbury Drive, Fort Drum, Tiffany Meehan, 94216 B Holdenbury Drive, Fort Drum.

SEPT. 17: Young’s Business Services, 212 William St., Cape Vincent, Pamela H. Youngs, 212 William St., PO Box 685, Cape Vincent.

SEPT. 16: Powers Group, 13680 County Route 123, Henderson Harbor, Susan Powers Washburn, 13680 County Route 123, PO Box 60, Henderson Harbor.

Bagby’s Vintage and More, Fort Drum, Cynthia Bagby, 333 Clay St., Watertown.

SEPT. 13: Pellicella Properties, 110 Bishop St., Watertown, Joshua Coburn, 110 Bishop St., Watertown.

In a Mess Call Jess, 628 Bronson St., Watertown, Jessica Barker, 628 Bronson St., Watertown.

John R. Berry Transport, 16438 County Route 11, LaFargeville, John R. Berry, 16438 County Route 11, LaFargeville.

Aldebaran Interpreting and Third Eye Theater, 150 Ward St., Watertown, Michelle Maphey, 150 Ward St., PO Box 6584, Watertown.

Kaitlyn Meeks Photography, 36430 Clayton Center Road, Clayton, Kaitlyn Meeks, 36430 Clayton Center Road, Clayton.

Footprint Productions, 25419 Huntley Lane, Carthage, Kingsley Malcolm, 25419 Huntley Lane, Carthage.

SEPT. 12: Messenger Cross Fit, 270 State St., Carthage, Gracey E. Wike, 802 B. Tamatac Drive, Carthage.

Embracing Birth Doula Services, 9502 F. Gillman Loop, Fort Drum, Rebecca Laaser, 9502 F. Gillman Loop, Fort Drum.

SEPT. 11: Warrior Within Fitness, 36807 Deferno Road, Clayton, Matthew Delaney, 36807 Deferno Road, Clayton.

Sink or Swim Vintage, 746 James St., Clayton, Pia M. Hogue, 725 Beecher St., Clayton.

Green Leaf Mechanicals, 101 C Purcell Drive, Clayton, Dorian Ladd, 101 C Purcell Drive, Clayton.

SEPT. 10: North Country Diesel, 5649 County Route 120, Woodville, Bryant Gleason, 5649 County Route 120, Woodville.

Splash Camp N Splash Kids, 217 Harewood Ave., Watertown, Harold Newkirk, 217 Harewood Ave., Watertown.

Dip Tech, 23361 Route 37, Watertown, John Palamountain, 150 N. Main St., Black River, and Thomas Logan, 23361 Route 37, Watertown.

RTS Tranz, 9 Pearl St., Philadelphia, Randy Dobson, 9 Pearl St., Philadelphia.

SEPT. 9: Upscale Detail, 18841 Route 11, Watertown, James. L. Shaffer, 151 Dewey Road, Mexico.

Sept. 6: A&R Superior, 2024 Doran Road, Copenhagen, Alan Harris, 2024 Doran Road, PO Box 96, Copenhagen.

Legacy Tattoo, 26220 Route 283, Watertown, Christopher Hall, 15 Franklin St., Carthage.

Thousand Islands Armory, 37919 Route 180, LaFargeville, Robert M. Owens, 37919 Route 180, PO Box 302, LaFargeville.

SEPT. 5: Scott Robbins Contracting, 27638 High St., Natural Bridge, Scott M. Robbins, 27638 High St., PO Box 123, Natural Bridge.

Hollies Little Monsters Daycare, 20804 County Route 63, Watertown, Hollie Hoover, 20804 County Route 63, Watertown.

SEPT. 4: This is the Day Productions, 12095 Wright St., Adams Center, Joy G. Besaw, 12095 Wright St., Adams Center.

Auto Specialist of Watertown, 18841 Route 11, Watertown, Emmanuel E. Khan, 266 West Lake St., Cape Vincent.

SEPT. 3: Kidder Automotive, 18851 County Route 165, Watertown, Ralph J. Kidder, 28591 County Route 165, Copenhagen.

River Trades, 15182 School St., Depauville, Daniel P. Brown, 15182 School St., PO Box 32, Depauville.

TRANSACTIONS

DBAs

Source: Social Service Depts. of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties

October 2013 | NNY Business

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BUSINESS BRIEFCASE Clarkson University’s entrepreneurship program honored

Clarkson University’s entrepreneurship program has been named in the top 15 in the nation, according to the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.

It ranks 14th on both publication’s 2014 list of “Top 25 Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Programs” based on surveys of business school administrators at more than 2,000 institutions.

The lists are based on schools’ level of commitment to entrepreneurship inside and outside the classroom, the percentage of faculty, students and alumni actively involved in entrepreneurial endeavors, the number of their mentorship programs, and funding for scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies and projects, according to a release from the university.

Clarkson was also ranked first on U.S. News & World Report’s 2012 list of schools that produced the largest percentage of interns among the class of 2011, with 86 percent. The university reports that 96 percent of students in its class of 2012 who used the campus Career Services Center said they were placed in their field of study or career aspiration in the first year after graduation.

Clarkson’s Reh Center for Entrepreneurship was established in 2009 and offers the popular course My Small Business 101 to north country small business owners. Clarkson University’s Shipley Center for Innovation aims to help commercialize innovations and has led to the creation of 61 startups since it began in October 2010, with another 170 projects currently in its pipeline.

Visit www.clarkson.edu/entrepreneur to learn more.

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Attendance up at ABM

The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, which has a collection of more than 300 antique and classic boats and thousands of recreational boating artifacts, saw a 24 percent increase in gate admission in August compared to August 2012. Attendance also grew by 10 percent overall through Aug. 31 since the museum opened for the season in May, according to a release from the museum.

The ABM’s annual Boat Show and Auction also had a 14 percent increase in attendance, with 6,335 visitors attending the three-day August event.

The museum’s summer season wraps up on Columbus Day weekend, with its fall/ winter season running through Dec. 20.

Visit www.abm.org for schedules and to learn more.

Climax Paperboard announces expansion

Climax Paperboard, 30 Champion St., West Carthage, is the midst of a multimillion-dollar expansion, with plans to rebuild its paper machine to increase the production capacity by 23 percent. Though the expansion, which will allow for the purchase of equipment to produce more and better quality paperboard, won’t create any new jobs, it will create job security for the company’s 80 employees, according to company President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick J. Purdy.

The company will also change its name to Carthage Specialty Paperboard and remain under common ownership with the folding carton operation, Climax Manufacturing Co., Lowville, though Mr. Purdy said both companies will now operate more independently. Climax Paperboard was owned by the Hirschey family until

five years ago and is now owned by a private equity group that includes DeltaPoint Capital Management LLC of Rochester as the major owner, another equity group and a group of private individuals.

The company manufactures graphic arts boards used for photo mats, pharmaceutical closures, white gift boxes, a variety of products used in packaging, specialty packaging and colored paper— all from recycled fibers. Its products are distributed worldwide.

Otis Technologies awarded military contract Otis Technologies, Lyons Falls, was awarded a $39.2 million Army contract to supply weapons cleaning kits late last month. The estimated contract completion date is Sept. 23, 2016.

The company’s kit is a component of the Close Quarters Battle Kit used on the M4 and M16 family of small arms and works on all currently fielded 5.56mm, 9mm, 7.72mm and .45 caliber military weapons.

Otis Technologies manufactures all of its products and components in Lyons Falls and Phoenix, New York and has been a family owned and operated business since 1985.

F.X. Caprara to launch Honda auto dealership

F.X. Caprara Auto Sales has announced it was chosen by California-based American Honda Motor Co. to become a certified dealer.

The Watertown-based company already is making plans to build a 32,000-squarefoot dealership in the area, co-owner Charles G. Caprara said. The dealership likely will open by March, he said, but a

BUSINESS BRIEFCASE location has not yet been selected.

Two years ago, F.X. Caprara applied to become a Honda dealership along with several competitors in the north country, after DealMaker Honda closed in 2010.

Mr. Caprara said that the dealership sells more than 900 cars a month.

The company bought Iron Block HarleyDavidson in Adams Center in June.

Building a Honda dealership will create about 50 jobs to staff the location, Mr. Caprara said. The company will have to wait until the winter to start construction, he said, because its contractor is now busy constructing a Chevrolet and Ford dealership in Pulaski.

MMH celebrates nephrology nurses

Massena Memorial Hospital’s Dialysis Center joined the American Nephrology Nurses’ Association in a nationwide celebration honoring nephrology nurses who care for patients with kidney disease during “Nephrology Nurses Week” in mid-September.

The theme of this year’s week was “Nephrology Nurses Take Action.” The ANNA started the week in 2005 to recognize nurses and spark interest in the field of nephrology in other nursing professionals. Approximately 20 million Americans suffer from kidney disease. Of those, over 400,000 experience kidney failure.

Call 705-0101 to learn more about the MMH Dialysis Center.

Medical Imaging Department accredited

Carthage Area Hospital’s Medical Imaging Department has received mammography accreditation by the American College

Got business news? n Share your business news with NNY Business. Email news releases and photos (.jpg/300 dpi) to nnybusiness@wdt.net. The deadline for submissions is the 10th of the month for the following month’s issue. Photos that don’t appear in print may be posted on our Facebook page.

of Radiology, based on peer review and feedback on staff qualifications, equipment, quality control and assurance, image quality and dose. The accreditation will expire in December, 2016.

The ACR offers accreditation programs in CT, MRI, breast MRI, nuclear medicine and PET and has accredited more than 35,000 facilities in 10 imaging modalities since 1987.

For more information, visit www.carthagehospital.com/services/radiology.

Women’s Council of Realtors honored

The local chapter of the National Women’s Council of Realtors was recently awarded the 2012 Chapter Excellence Silver Level award for effective chapter operations. Lisa A. L’Huillier, 2012 WCR Tri-County New York Chapter president, accepted the award.

Criteria for the award include communications, chapter effectiveness and membership value, programs that enhance real estate performance, governance, leadership development and recruitment and retention.

The chapter was formed in 2008. This was its first WCR award.

Last month, the chapter also donated $1,000 to the Sci-Tech Center of Northern New York for its children’s programs.

Walmart, Stewarts Shops CU awarded wetlands restoration grant donate to CPH The University of Michigan’s Water The Potsdam Walmart Supercenter last month donated $1,500 to the Canton-Potsdam Hospital Foundation to buy materials on nutrition education for CPH’s cardiac and pulmonary-rehabilitation program, which provides individualized fitness programs for more than 100 patients annually. Patients usually attend the program two days per week for about three months, with a key goal of creating weight loss goals and dietary habits.

This is the sixth year that Walmart has donated to the hospital.

Stewarts Shops also recently donated $1,000 to the Foundation as part of its celebration of opening a new location on Maple Street in Potsdam in mid-September. Stewarts has donated $32,000 to support the hospital since 1999.

Visit www.cphospital.org to learn more.

Center has awarded a research team at Clarkson University a $390,000 grant to study the effectiveness of wetlands restoration projects on 50 private properties throughout Northern New York in terms of their correlation with higher property values and homeowner satisfaction.

The team is composed of Tom Langen, associate professor of biology, Martin Heintzelman, associate professor of economics and financial studies and Michael Twiss, professor of biology. Two Syracuse University professors, Rick Welsh, sociology and David Chandler, civil and environmental engineering, will also collaborate on the study.

The grant is one of eight awarded nationwide by UM’s Water Center, for a total of $2.9 million.

1950

2013

“Your Independent Agent”

October 2013 | NNY Business

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PEOPLE, from page 11 She earned an associate’s degree in business administration and paralegal studies from Jefferson Community College, and a bachelor of arts degree in history and a master’s degree in education from St. Lawrence University. She received the Jaycees Young Professional Award for civic engagement in spring 2009, graduated from the Jefferson Leadership Institute in 2007, co-founded the nonprofit group the Thousand Islands Young Leaders Organization and owns her own consulting business which provides grant application services and helps small businesses and nonprofits with business and marketing plans.

Ms. Dewey plans to continue to serve as a trustee of River Hospital, Alexandria Bay, and in her other volunteer positions in the north country.

CHJC recognizes staff

The Children’s Home of Jefferson County recently recognized eight staff members for their years of service. Staff honored at an employee breakfast meeting were: Chris Manning, agency chef, 10 years; Vicky Shaw, purchasing coordinator, 15 years; Mark Riley, foster care, five years; Michelle Monnat, director of foster care,

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NNY Business | October 2013

Got business milestones?

n Share your business milestones with NNY Business. Email news releases and photos (.jpg/300 dpi) to nnybusiness@wdt.net. The deadline for submissions is the 15th of the month for the following month’s issue. Photos that don’t appear in print may be posted on our Facebook page.

five years; Karen Y. Richmond, executive director, 30 years; Jesse Roshia, director of residential services, 10 years; Dave Loomis, maintenance director, 15 years; Delores Cross, foster care, five years.

The Children’s Home began as an orphanage called the Watertown Asylum in 1859 and in 1930 became the Children’s Home of Jefferson County after expanding into a new building on State Street and adopting a “cottage system” care model with a less institutional atmosphere. The home has since transitioned into a residential treatment facility and expanded community-based programming including delinquency prevention, foster care and casework services.

Appointed North Country Children’s Clinic director

Daniel A. Wasneechak was recently appointed executive director of the North Country Children’s Clinic. Mr. Wasneechak was previously director of government programs at Martin’s Point Health Care, Portland, Maine, where he was responsible for ongoing operations, Wasneechak development and execution of the strategic plan for the Tricare Uniformed Services Family Health Plan at Martin’s Point. He is a registered nurse in New York and Maine and a retired U.S. Navy captain who has been a practice administrator for 16 family practice physicians and an executive officer of a naval hospital.

He is also a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and on the board of directors for Operation Tribune, a regional program that honors children of active-duty service members, and the Military Officers Association of America in southern Maine.

Mr. Wasneechak succeeds Collene D. Alexander, who resigned from the position last October.

Mr. Wasneechak grew up in New York’s

Southern Tier and has a wife, Barbara, and three grown children.

Joins staff at CPH

Alexander Lyapin, an internal medicine specialist, recently joined the staff at Canton-Potsdam Hospital and is providing adult primary care to patients from his office at 190 Outer Main St., Potsdam.

Dr. Lyapin completed medical training in internal medicine at the Medical University of Lugansk Lyapin and completed internships in general surgery at Lugansk City Hospital and in general surgery at Lugansky City Hospital and in internal medicine at Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv. He also completed residency in internal medicine at Texas Tech University Health Science Center.

Dr. Lyapin is fluent in six languages— English, French, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew and Ukranian.

Following completion of the medical campus extension at 49 Lawrence Ave., Dr. Lyapin and colleague Dr. Flos Piit, family practice, will be housed in that facility’s primary care suite.

Named CEO

Patrick J. Lafferty, a 1984 Immaculate Heart Central graduate, was hired as North America CEO of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, one of the world’s largest creative marketing companies, with locations across the globe.

Mr. Lafferty, son of former Jefferson County Sheriff James L. Lafferty, previously served Lafferty as the CEO of McCann Erickson in North America, an advertising company in New York City.

Mr. Lafferty will be responsible for driving growth at the company’s offices in New York and Los Angeles, according to a company statement.

Mr. Lafferty earned an MBA through a program of Queen’s College, Kingston, Ont., and Cornell University, Ithaca. He also served as a commander of the 511th Military Police Company at Fort Drum.

S M A L L B I Z S TA R T U P BUSINESS

The Hop THE INITIAL IDEA

The Hop’s new owners Daniel and Rebecca McDermott reopened the 1950s-style restaurant known for its late night fare after eight years of dormancy after about six months of what Mrs. McDermott described as “a lot of detailed cleaning” and more than $10,000 in small-scale renovations that included a new basement floor, re-painting and new furniture. The Hop opened its doors in early June and had a formal grand opening and ribbon cutting in mid-September.

“We wanted to get all the kinks out on our main food and we had such high success with the Hop to begin with that we never had time to plan it,” Mrs. McDermott said of the decision to delay the grand opening.

Mrs. McDermott, a Massena native, worked as a server at Mama Lucia’s and Maxfield’s restaurants in Potsdam for several years before deciding to open her own business. She still works about twice a week or as needed as a server and her husband, who works full-time as a registered nurse for the state at night, grew up in a family in the restaurant business.

Last November, the McDermotts bought a building in Massena to open a bakery, but after purchasing equipment, plans were stymied by municipal issues with the building’s water and electricity supply. Mrs. McDermott said the two “wanted to do something quicker” and were encouraged to lease the Hop and helped through the process of opening a business by its former owners, Lawrence and Pamela Hazen, whom she worked for at Maxfield’s. Many people in Potsdam were also clamoring for the Hop to be re-opened, she said.

Still, opening a restaurant that serves comfort food attractive to hungry college kids was somewhat of a departure for Mrs. McDermott, a trained cake decorator and water-based bagel maker who doesn’t, unlike her husband, eat burgers.

“I’ve had maybe three burgers only because I had to because of the way we hire,” she said.

The “interview” for employment at the Hop consists of making a burger and an egg on the grill to certain exact specifications, a process that she says “cuts out all of the biases” in hiring.

TARGET CLIENTELE “You’re opening a restaurant in the beginning of summer—the quietest time of the year?” Mrs. McDermott said her husband skeptically asked her last spring.

But thanks to the community’s support, the Hop was able to make it with only a few slow days, she said.

With school back in session, business had already “picked up a lot” by the first week of September, she said.

While the clientele is community members during the day, the Hop’s low prices make college kids the primary audience for the restaurant’s 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday year-round hours.

MELANIE KIMBLER-LAGO | NNY BUSINESS

“We’re anal. The food has to come out perfect.

The presentation has to look great.”

— Rebecca McDermott, The Hop “It’s amazing how many people want to eat late at night,” she said.

THE JOURNEY Despite her full-time job as a server and two young boys ages nine and 11, Mrs. McDermott took a course on running a small business at the Reh Center for Entrepreneurship at Clarkson University before opening the Hop. “I learned a lot,” she said, adding that she intends to take additional courses this fall to keep abreast of marketing strategies. “I had to be dedicated, I had to put everything into it.”

Opening her own business was “probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done,” she said, crediting the support of the Hazens with much of the Hop’s success.

Continuing to work as a server also balances out a busy and stressful life.

“One day I might get to the point where I want to expand so I won’t have the time, but right now I need to make the time,” she said.

“It’s a check and balance thing.”

Both Mrs. McDermott and her husband put in “countless hours” and are “physically at the restaurant every single day and night,” with Mrs. McDermott covering the night shifts and Mr. McDermott helping during the day, including making daily trips to buy fresh vegetables and bread from local businesses.

Her two sons also help out when not in school and over the summer. The Hop has about nine employees total, three who work more than 30 hours a week and the rest part-time college students.

IN FIVE YEARS

“I think the menu will probably expand and be tweaked a little,” Mrs. McDermott said. Following their September grand opening, they added more salads and vegetarian dishes. “Hopefully we’ll be able to expand and go further than just the Hop, maybe expand into another college town as well.”

In the meantime, the McDermotts plan to purchase another fryer to be able to serve at a faster pace, a larger sandwich prep table and another freezer and possibly another refrigerator to accommodate more frequent deliveries. All equipment should be in place by the end of the year, she said.

The McDermotts are also contemplating adding evening dinner hours and late night hours on Monday and Tuesday.

And they still plan to open the Massena bakery within the next year, which will make deliveries to local restaurants and provide the Hop with fresh bread and baked products.

For now, though, the couple remains intensely focused on analyzing the Hops’s day-to-day performance and strategizing to increase business on slow days.

“We’re anal,” she said. “The food has to come out perfect, the presentation has to look great.”

But business is overall going well. Recently, a college student employee told Mrs. McDermott that she couldn’t handle the fast-paced environment and was surprised by the constant business.

“It takes a special person and a hard worker,” Mrs. McDermott said.

— Leah Buletti

WHERE 3 Market St., Potsdam | FOUNDED 2013 | WEB www.facebook.com/TheHopPotsdam October 2013 | NNY Business

| 17

COVER STORY

The push for sustainable

GROWTH WITH PLENTY OF ASSETS TO MARKET, MANY AGREE NORTH COUNTRY SHOULD DIVERSIFY FOR FUTURE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

F

STORY BY LEAH BULETTI | NNY BUSINESS STAFF WRITER

FROM THE VIBRANT LAKE AND riverfront destinations of Sackets Harbor and Clayton, to sprawling new housing developments cropping up across Watertown to the bustling commerce on Arsenal Street, Jefferson County’s growth over the past two decades has been noticeable and transformative. While the narrative follows a somewhat different line in Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, business owners, educators and economic development officials paint a picture of vibrancy in the tri-county region, and pin hopes on entrepreneurship, education and natural resources as future drivers. Though Jefferson County is the fastest growing in the state in terms of population, its progressive growth over the past 25 years could be bounded in the future by a struggle to attract new businesses because of New York’s historically unfavorable business climate and uncertainties over troop levels at Fort Drum.

TIED TO POST Few could deny that Fort Drum is to

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NNY Business | October 2013

credit for much of Jefferson County’s transformation. It has left an indelible mark since the Sept. 11, 1984, announcement that the north country would become home to the 10th Mountain Division, with about 29,000 people arriving to live and work on or near post by 1988.

Since fiscal year 1988, the post has injected a staggering $18,345,535,016 into the local economy, as of the most recent economic impact statement officials released in March for fiscal year 2012. That report credits the post with $1,441,992,825 in economic impact for the north country in fiscal 2012, accounting for the presence of about 19,000 soldiers and 20,000 family members.

But with two opposing forces — federal sequestration threatening cuts on one hand and September’s announcement that Fort Drum was one of five sites chosen by the Missile Defense Agency as a potential East Coast missile defense site — the looming question is whether the county’s economic development can continue or if the area has arrived at

somewhat of a tipping point.

The impact in 2012 represented a roughly $63 million decline from 2011 and 2010, when $1,505,857,420 was generated.

But, “we really haven’t gone down in any significant way,” said Carl A. McLaughlin, executive director of the Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization.

Still, no new military construction was planned for fiscal year 2014 until the announcement of about $4.7 million for a hanger expansion at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield, and only $15.8 million is listed for fiscal years 2015 through 2019, compared with $137.5 million for fiscal year 2013.

As a result of sequestration, post officials announced in June a net loss of approximately 1,500 soldiers by the end of fiscal year 2017 as part of Army-wide restructuring, about an 8 percent cut.

“I don’t think we’re going to see a precipitous drop as the plan is implemented,” Mr. McLaughlin said of the troop reduction’s effect on the post’s economic impact. “Are we going to feel it? Sure, you

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Crews work on Interstate 781, also known as the Fort Drum connector road, in March 2012. The limited access, four-lane highway opened to traffic Dec. 6, 2012. Until its completion, the post lacked direct access via an Interstate highway. The project was in the works for several years.

never want less.”

Long term, though, he called it a “much more confusing picture.”

“It’s very, very unclear what the general direction is,” he said. “Where we go from here is really dependent on the way Congress moves, the president moves, the Department of Defense moves. There are still big issues. There simply isn’t a clear path.”

He also said the decline in military construction will have a noticeable impact because most contractors who work on post are either from the area or from New York state, and become part of the north country’s economy when doing so.

If Fort Drum is selected for the missile test site, it would mean a “major construction effort and a major acquisition on the part of the Army,” but once it’s built and established, such sites typically don’t result in significant increases in soldiers, support personnel or local jobs, Mr. McLaughlin said.

Regardless of the federal government’s

budget decisions or the feasibility of the missile site, he believes Fort Drum’s caliber as a training facility means it’s here to stay.

“I think of Fort Drum as permanent,” he said. “It’s a pretty special place.”

James W. Wright, executive director of the Development Authority of the North Country, noted that a 1,500 troop reduction might not have a significant impact on the population, depending on deployments, which in the past decade have resulted in the post being about 4,000 below its total number of assigned troops on average. If the post did close, Mr. Wright cited Plattsburgh as an example of a city that has been able to recover from the loss of its Air Force base.

“The dynamics there are not necessarily different than Watertown,” he said. “Initially it was a slow start, but it has picked up momentum.”

Some studies have shown that military communities end up with a stronger economy that’s more diversified and less subject to the whims of a single employer

after the loss of an installation, he said.

Key to this could be marketing the north country’s quality of life as technology makes it less essential for employees to be located in the same place as businesses, he said.

“People have a growing recognition of that and where it fits in business attraction,” he said. “More and more as we become dependent on technology, that puts us in a strong position to compete because you no longer have to physically be someplace to produce value.”

While these are likely to be smaller businesses, Mr. Wright said that’s not necessarily negative, as it diversifies the economy so it’s not as dependent on one large employer.

Positive growth needs to be a community-wide effort focused on cultivating strengths outside the post, said Donald C. Alexander, CEO of the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency.

“I don’t see a great risk of losing Fort Drum. I do, however, see a point, and October 2013 | NNY Business

| 19

COVER STORY Lewis County: Maintenance of existing assets key

G

rowth in Lewis County, which tallied its population at 27,224 according to 2012 U.S. Census estimates, has historically been a story more fraught with the travails of manufacturing days gone by.

In 2013, the county lost about 70 manufacturing jobs with the closing of Interface Sealing Solutions in Croghan and Harrisville Dry Kiln plant.

“Manufacturing is very difficult in this county — we just hope to maintain what we have,” Richard H. Porter, executive director of the County of Lewis Industrial Development Agency, said.

Nonetheless, Otis Technologies, Lyons Falls, was last month awarded a $39.2 million Army contract to supply weapons cleaning kits through Sept. 23, 2016, which the company says could result in additional jobs.

The most active new development in the county are wind projects at Roaring Brook, slated for completion in the spring, and the Copenhagen Wind Farm, slated for operation in late 2014 or early 2015. Neither project, though, will create more than 10 jobs after construction, Mr. Porter said.

“We’re fighting to survive,” Mr. Porter said. “We’re not located close enough to Fort Drum for it to impact the county.”

Maple Ridge Wind Farm, a prominent 12-by-3 mile stretch of land off Route 177 through the towns of Martinsburg, Lowville, Watson and Harrisburg peppered with 195 wind turbines and built about seven years ago, has also been a success story for the county. It has the capacity to produce enough power for 96,000 homes. The project also brought more than $55 million into the local economy, creating roughly 400 construction jobs and 35 full-time local jobs. In addition to millions in annual tax payments landowners involved receive $1 million in annual revenue.

Agriculture, particularly dairy, will always be the county’s top industry and is stable; the local foods movement gaining traction doesn’t necessarily create jobs, but helps retain agriculture jobs, Mr. Porter said. He added that infrastructure limits Lewis County’s ability to grow, particularly the fact that it doesn’t have much excess capacity for water and sewer.

— Leah Buletti

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NNY Business | October 2013

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Crews work at Emerald Acres, a 53-home project at Route 37 and Graham Road, Pamelia, this July.

we’re there or coming there quickly, where we’ve reached a plateau,” he said. “Now how do we get to the next level? Fort Drum has provided energy to help us get there.

We need to use that as a springboard.”

Mr. Wright subscribes to an 80-20 theory on job growth. As he sees it, 80 percent of growth is likely to be native, like businesses hiring additional employees or the result of entrepreneurial efforts, while 20 percent is likely to be from companies that locate in the area.

“Job development is really one job at a time — growth occurs slowly for the most part. Rarely are we ever going to get a GM or a Toyota to locate a plant here,” he said, but companies such as Current Applications or New York Air Brake may add a few new jobs if JCIDA helps them do it, thereby slowly expanding the workforce over time.

“We’re more likely to be witness to successful growth by cultivating our own than we are by attracting from outside the area — there are companies internally who we are more likely to get to expand and get jobs than we are to attract someone from Hoboken up here,” he said, noting that that doesn’t mean JCIDA shouldn’t try to attract new firms to the area.

Drum Country Business, a tri-county marketing campaign between the Development Authority of the North Country, JCIDA, the Lewis County Office of Economic Development and Planning, the St. Lawrence County IDA Local Development Corporation, the Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization and National Grid, has invested about $180,000 to trumpet the

area’s strengths since it launched marketing strategies and a website in 2011.

While Mr. Wright called the success of the initiative “marginal,” in part because of the time it was launched, Michelle L. Capone, director of regional development for DANC, said the Drum Country brand is gaining traction.

“It’s raising our profile, it doesn’t happen overnight,” she said. “It’s provided the north country with visibility that it otherwise wouldn’t have had as a region,” she said. Businesses outside the area don’t look for a “dot on the map,” but for regions and their assets, she said, noting the north country’s strengths in education, dairy production, agriculture, telecommunications and energy.

Also key to Jefferson County’s ability to attract new business is the availability of affordable housing, a perennially vexing issue. Businesses are hesitant to locate in the county without an available supply of housing for employees, local officials say.

Significant progress has been made on that front, according to Mr. Wright, who said that once the development and downtown revitalization projects now under way come online, housing will become significantly less of an obstacle.

When vacancy rates get to about 5 percent, it becomes possible to replace existing inadequate housing; the present rate is about 4 percent, and has consistently been as low as less than 1 percent, he said.

Those projects include Beaver Meadows Apartments, a 298-unit complex on outer Arsenal Street that broke ground in December 2011. Its developer, COR Devel-

COVER STORY opment Co., Fayetteville, is also working to redevelop the former Mercy Hospital property in downtown Watertown into a mixed-use complex that is expected to have about 168 rental housing units in addition to retail space.

The Community Rental Housing Program DANC created in 2006 contributed $2 million for the Mercy redevelopment project. The program will also contribute $250,000 to help restore Public Square’s Lincoln Building.

Morgan Management, Pittsford, is also building a massive complex at Autumn Ridge on County Route 202, next to Sam’s Club, which started to open this summer. The project includes 294 units in two phases; the first phase of 244 two- and three-bedroom townhouses is slated for completion next fall.

SCRAMBLING TO CONSTRUCT NEW INFRASTRUCTURE In the nearly three decades since the announcement of the 10th Mountain Division’s arrival, Jefferson County was confronted with demands to grow its infrastructure nearly overnight. DANC broke ground on its first major infrastructure project in 1986 — a $15.5 million, 12mile sewer line to link Fort Drum to the city of Watertown, finished a year later.

DANC also installed 11 miles of water lines and built two pumping stations to supply water to Fort Drum at a cost of $8.5 million in 1991.

Mr. Wright said the water line can accommodate additional growth; DANC has plans to expand it if need be, “not detailed designs, but conceptual” plans. The agency also has plans on the shelf to double the sewer line if it could secure funding.

“If we had to twin the sewer line from Fort Drum to Watertown because of expansion of Fort Drum or more importantly for development around the area, we have invested in design costs to have that in place,” he said.

DANC is also in its tenth year of providing broadband services to the north country and has invested about $25 million, Mr. Wright said. Broadband is an ongoing expense; DANC has already replaced circuits and upgraded its original $15 million network at a cost of more than $2 million.

Broadband networks are often attractive to companies looking to locate in the area. California-based Internet firm Shutterfly this summer announced plans to expand into a $60 million facility in Scott County, Minn. The company completed an agreement with the county to lease

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Crews work on a new hangar last month at Watertown International Airport, Route 12F near Dexter.

its fiber-optic infrastructure to defray data transfer costs. Though factors other than the availability of such a network were likely at play — likely lower costs of doing business — the north country’s network could be used for a similar deal, Mr. Wright said.

“Nothing would prevent us from providing free circuits as part of an economic development deal,” he said, noting that the Shutterfly deal was also part of a larger economic development package including tax rebates, state incentives and grants.

“I think we are in a position to compete with anywhere when it comes to broadband because of the level of investment that has been made,” Mr. Wright said. “I cannot envision not being able to meet the broadband needs of any company that was looking to locate here.”

THE LITTLE AIRPORT THAT COULD Since Jefferson County acquired Watertown International Airport in 2006, it has invested about $20 million, largely through federal and state funding, to improve and grow the facility, which has benefitted the community’s transportation needs and economic development, Jefferson County Administrator Robert F. Hagemann III said. “[The airport] is not only a success from Jefferson County’s perspective, it’s a success for the community — people are investing local money and staying local,” he said.

In July, the airport tallied a record 4,036 passengers flying into and out of the airport, a 13 percent increase from 3,579 in

July 2012. Before American Airlines took over passenger service, Cape Air flew nine-passenger twin prop planes to Albany. The numbers paled in comparison, tallying just 384 passengers flying into and out of the airport in July 2010.

If the airport records 10,000 enplanements for three consecutive years, its Federal Aviation Administration annual allocation for operations will increase from $150,000 to $1 million, Mr. Hagemann said, which the airport is well on pace to accomplish, nearly doubling that at the close of 2012.

The airport commenced service to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in November 2011 through American Eagle, American Airlines’ regional subsidiary, with a federal Department of Transportation subsidy, Essential Air Service, currently $3,047,972. American Eagle runs flights there twice a day during the week and once daily on the weekends. Long term, officials would like to see the airline operate in Watertown without a subsidy; in its new two-year contract application, American Airlines has asked for a $200,000 increase in the subsidy to start a second flight on Sunday.

“In terms of gauging the continued success of the airport, which means continuing opportunities for business development in the greater Watertown-Jefferson County-Thousand Islands region, those are critical numbers,” Mr. Hagemann said of increases annual ridership.

The airport is also in the midst of several capital improvement projects, with a key goal to enable American Airlines October 2013 | NNY Business

| 21

COVER STORY to move from 44-passenger jets to 50- or 60-passenger jets. Necessary for that is extending the airport’s runway by 1,000 feet, a $3.3 million project officials hope to complete within the next year that will be made possible by two grants that have enabled taxiway rehabilitation.

The airport has initiated eminent domain proceedings to secure about 200 acres at the east and west ends of the runway for safety clearance necessary for the expansion, which could cost the county upwards of $175,000, according to rates outlined in August.

When American Airlines took over, the airport expanded the same eastern runway by 1,000 feet to accommodate the new jet service, Mr. Hagemann said.

“Sooner than later the likelihood of the 44-seater regional jet being in existence with major air carriers is slim because of the efficiency of the airplane itself,” Mr. Hagemann said. “It’s a practical reality in order to have the airport continue to grow.”

In September, the airport secured a $451,800 state grant to expand its terminal and free up an additional unused bath-

“

room now blocked by TSA equipment, a project expected to commence this spring.

Beyond a second Sunday flight, opportunities for the airport’s growth, like adding another destination such as New York City or a southeastern or mid-

We have to make sure that the local population is very much aware of the travel potential out of Watertown.

— Robert F. Hagemann III,

Jefferson County administrator Atlantic city such as Washington, D.C., are limitless, Mr. Hagemann said. The recent merger of American Airlines and U.S. Airways opens up a broader menu of regional hubs and destinations, but the airport will continue to serve Chicago, as it caters well to Fort Drum, its largest client. Many of the army’s training destinations only require one additional flight from Chicago, he said.

Mr. Hagemann attributed increased enplanement numbers in large part to more soldiers using the airport when flying elsewhere in the country for training.

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Maj. Joshua T. Jacques, 10th Mountain Division’s deputy public affairs officer, agreed that the post is using the airport more, calling it “now a viable option.” The post requests Watertown and Syracuse for group travel and chooses the lower cost or the best availability. For larger group travel, it can also charter a plane from Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield, he said.

The airport has pretty well tapped the Fort Drum market, and is actively working to grow two others — Canadians and locals — through a significant marketing campaign in eastern Ontario and locally, Mr. Hagemann said.

“We have to make sure that the local population is very much aware of the travel potential out of Watertown,” he said.

The airport has seen an increase in Canadian traffic, but doesn’t track that data.

A New York Times article in July reported that about five million Canadians cross the border each year to fly from U.S.based airports. Mr. Hagemann said the airport aims to attract Canadians who are already flying out of the U.S. but driving to Syracuse to do so; flying out of the U.S. is appealing for Canadians because of the tax structure in Ontario and the fact that crossing the border is easier by land than by air, he said.

“Ultimately there’s going to be a cap on what our market is, but we’re nowhere near there yet,” he said. “We’re miles ahead of our business plan.”

To further propel success, the airport has hired Grant W. Sussey as a full-time airport manager. Mr. Sussey, 31, formerly director of Orange County Airport, Montgomery, holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from SUNY Oswego and is a licensed pilot and a certified flight instructor. The Jefferson County Board of Legislators created the position and an Airport Department in June. Mr. Sussey starts work Nov. 13, taking over from County Highway Superintendent James L. Lawrence Jr., who, along with an ad hoc airport committee, has been managing the airport in addition to other responsibilities since the county took over operations.

When the county did so, it turned its focus from maintaining the facility to investing time and money in infrastructure and expansion, Mr. Hagemann added.

The county also acquired the airport’s FBO business in May 2012, which led to revenue from fuel sales flowing directly to the county. When revenues exceed ex-

COVER STORY penses, the airport will be able to reinvest in itself for further growth, he said.

CAPITALIZING IN THE AIRPORT’S SUCCESS: AIRPORT BUSINESS PARK TAKING SHAPE Officials have pinned hopes for future economic impact on construction of an airport business park that, while still in its infancy, could mean as many as 1,000 new jobs over the next five to seven years.

The largest obstacles are acquiring about 200 acres — JCIDA so far owns 45 and has another roughly 40 under contract — and building adequate infrastructure.

“We’re hot on the trail of trying to find additional acreage,” Mr. Alexander said.

With 200 acres, costs could be spread across enough businesses that the county has a “reasonable chance of recouping the investment over time,” he said.

Rapidly decreasing space in the county’s existing corporate parks precipitated plans for an airport business park.

So, too, did the idea that companies from outside the region might be attracted to locate near an airport for transportation of goods and people, Mr. Alexander said.

Two local companies have so far expressed interest in locating in the park, Mr. Alexander said. He also believes it could be attractive for companies from outside the county or the U.S. that could do business more cheaply in Jefferson County than in a larger metropolitan area.

The business park would have access to a town of Hounsfield water line, but would need sewer infrastructure. The town has applied for grant money to finance a feasibility study on the sewer district project, which would also benefit any future expansion at the airport, Mr. Alexander said.

A realistic number of businesses in the park is 10, he said, possibly half from outside the U.S., particularly Canadian companies seeking a toehold in the U.S. market.

“If we got 10 good companies that employ 100 or 150 people each as of just kind of a ballpark, we’d be well on our way to establishing the kind of thing that I’d like to see,” he said.

Mr. Hagemann called airport expansion and business park development projects that are on parallel paths, but that must be compatible.

“Given the development that’s taken place at the Watertown airport, there’s a lot of logic and synergy toward developing something that complements that type of activity,” he said. “It opens the door for businesses that are looking to

AMANDA MORRISON | NNY BUSINESS

JCC President Carole A. McCoy in front of the college’s first dormitory that is slated to open at the Coffeen Street campus in time for the 2014-15 academic year.

expand their client base to areas they don’t service.”

JCC SEES RECORD ENROLLMENT, CONSTRUCTING ‘CAMPUS VIBRANCY’ Growth in many communities is often spurred by and tied to academic institutions. While Jefferson County isn’t home to as many colleges as St. Lawrence County, Jefferson Community College has been growing for the past seven years, like many community colleges in the state have because of the economic downturn, President Carole A. McCoy said. Enrollment this year hit a record 4,000 for fall classes as of early September, a 1.74 percent increase over last year, with a record 401 military veterans also enrolled.

In the past five years, the college has focused on expanding its partnerships with a handful of four-year institutions to offer students more options for continuing their studies locally. And, with a new residence hall on pace to open next year, JCC seems to be in a growth mode beyond just enrollment increases tied to the economy.

Mrs. McCoy said she expects the new residence hall, a $17 million, 298-bed project, to create “campus vibrancy.” Based on experiences of other colleges that have built residence halls, Mrs. McCoy anticipates students who live on campus will be more interested in activities and athletic events, as well as be more focused and so perform better academically and have a greater chance of completing a degree.

Mrs. McCoy also estimates that 30 to 40 percent of students who will live on campus would not have come to JCC otherwise — students who were seeking

a residential college experience or didn’t want to live at home. These students will be “brand new and wouldn’t have considered JCC before,” she said.

Construction of the 98,000-squarefoot building began this summer and is slated to open to students in time for the fall 2014 semester. Model units, as part of the college’s marketing campaign, are expected to be open early next spring for prospective students to tour.

JCC has eight partnerships with fouryear schools through its Higher Education Center that enable students to complete a degree locally without having to travel to four-year schools in Oswego, Potsdam or Rochester, for example. The partner schools — Bryant & Stratton College, the College at Brockport, Keuka College, Nazareth College, SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Empire State College, SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Upstate Medical University — offer six program-specific bachelor’s degrees, seven program-specific master’s degrees, an advanced graduate certificate in special education and various individualized bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.

“We set it up so that there are specific programs to meet very local needs in Jefferson County and so that no campus is in a position of trying to offer the same thing that something close is,” she said. “We’d love to have as many bachelor’s degrees here as possible — I’d love to have a doctorate — but we try to be targeted.”

JCC offered a doctorate program through St. John Fisher, Rochester, in 2012, that failed to garner enough student interest.

Part of the center’s focus is also stopOctober 2013 | NNY Business

| 23

COVER STORY ping outmigration of the labor force — “if someone gets their education in Jefferson County, they’ll stay in Jefferson County, that means they’ll pay taxes in Jefferson County,” she said. More students not only mean a greater economic impact on the community in terms of buying gas and eating in local restaurants, but what Mrs. McCoy called the social cost side — educated members of a community are less likely to be on welfare, smoke or be incarcerated, for example.

“There are lots of things you can demonstrate than an education does for a

community,” she said.

JCC also offers six degrees that can be completed entirely online, an area that has also seen increased demand, she said.

The college has seen increased demand for health information technology courses, an area in which it has partnered with the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization; the college hopes to soon offer such courses as part of a degree program.

This fall also marks the first full year for new courses in chemical dependency, creative writing, fire protection technology and winery management, all of which

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had what Mrs. McCoy considers “tremendous success” in enrollment, including 49 students in chemical dependency studies.

The school also works with an advisory board comprised of local employers, the Workplace, JCIDA and others to help devise non-credit courses that target local needs in areas such as phlebotomy. While non-credit bearing, Mrs. McCoy called such courses “an important piece of what JCC does for the community.”

Though 38 percent of JCC’s student body has a tie to Fort Drum, the vast majority of that number is spouses or children of soldiers, so Mrs. McCoy said the college is not overly anxious about the impact of federal budget sequestration on potential cuts to tuition assistance for active-duty military students.

“We are so very rich, there are so many different things going on at one different time here,” Ms. McCoy said. “That’s part of our strength, part of why I think we can be resilient when there are changes in the economy — the fort’s size or anything — because we are just many, many different things.”

JCC’s Center for Community Studies, which conducts community-based research, does a “tremendous service for the community,” she added. The center gives students an opportunity for hands-on applications of statistical learning, while also providing useful data for businesses, tourism and economic development.

With such growth and success — JCC also posted the highest six-year graduation rate among the state’s 35 community colleges, according to the 2013 Completion Day report, released this spring by The Center for an Urban Future — one significant project now in discussion is a 7,000-seat multi-purpose facility. A $40,000 feasibility study was completed in February for the $44.5 million project, which would include a $12.3 million higher education center, a $7 million field house and a $25 million events center, to be built on the site of the former Whispering Pines.

“We’re continuing to press along as to how we as a community might be able to make this project happen,” she said, adding that the additional space for classroom instruction, athletics and community events would be “extraordinary.” She envisions it as “college space that gets a good workout by the college all the time, and then is opened up to the community.”

1000 ISLANDS HARBOR HOTEL: THE NEW FACE OF CLAYTON In the past decade, Clayton has grown

COVER STORY into a thriving community with vibrant restaurants, culture and spectacular views of the St. Lawrence River. With construction under way on a 105-room, four-story riverfront hotel on the site of the former Frink snowplow factory, the community is destined to see ever more substantial growth in tourism. The $22.5 million 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel is expected to create about 90 full-time jobs and generate about $11 million in annual revenue after it opens in May. The town of Clayton and the Clayton Local Development Corp. took ownership of the site in 2004 and spent several years preparing it for redevelopment, removing about 20,000 tons of contaminated soil from the 8.4-acre property before declaring it ready to develop in 2010. The LDC’s Frink Redevelopment Committee and a group of volunteers spent considerable time soliciting public input about the best use of the land according to the community’s vision, aided by a professional land planner hired in 2009 to help determine the best use of the property, said Kristi P. Dippel, LDC director. Public forums revealed that the community wanted public access to the waterfront and that Clayton lacked a large-scale hotel and needed a way to keep tourists in the community overnight, she said.

Frink’s waterfront and riverwalk are still in the public domain, while the remaining 7.04 acres are owned by Clayton Harbor Hotel LLC, a partnership between Buffalo-based Krog Corp. and Hart Hotels. Clayton has plans in the works to install a dock with 56 transient boats slips between Frink and Washington Island, which Ms. Dippel said are likely to be completed for next summer concurrent with the hotel.

Krog, which is building the hotel while Hart Hotels assumes responsibilities for its marketing and management, agreed with the town and public’s vision and desire to respect Clayton’s culture, Ms. Dippel added.

“We didn’t want to put up a 20-story skyscraper made of concrete — we knew we needed something in contact with the community,” she said.

The luxury hotel will also feature an 80to 100-seat restaurant, a 275- to 300-seat conference center, an indoor pool and Jacuzzi and business and fitness centers.

Justin A. Taylor, Clayton town supervisor, said that after a November 2011 public meeting, the developer scaled back initial plans that called for 120 to 140 rooms in a five-story structure.

“Clayton is a progressive community,

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Construction continues on the Thousand Islands Harbor Hotel last month in Clayton.

but I think at the same time we’re progressive, we make every attempt to not lose

the values we have for the community and how our community looks,” he said.

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 25

COVER STORY While there are concerns about the difficulty of keeping such a facility in use 12 months a year, Hart Hotels is already working to ensure conventions and banquets are booked in the winter months, Ms. Dippel said.

“Certainly it’s not going to do the same business in January than in July, but the owners and operators are well aware of that,” she said.

David P. Hart, president and CEO of Hart Hotels, said in an interview that the winter season will be a challenge, but he hopes the hotel can build itself into a “very strong eight-month business that can withstand the four months of winter.”

Hart Hotels built a similar Harbor Hotel in Watkins Glen in 2008 that has successfully overcome similar seasonal challenges, he said, and done a significant business in weddings. Hart also has a Harbor Hotel in Portland, Maine. Developers made some changes to the Clayton location so it would fit in locally, such as incorporating exterior materials of the style and color of the Thousand Islands, like a variety of river rock, Mr. Hart said.

“It’s a fairly significant structure and is going to be a dominant building, so we wanted to make sure we were building an aesthetically pleasing building,” he said.

Ms. Dippel also said that she believes there are enough tourists in the area that the large-scale hotel won’t significantly dampen the business of the smaller “mom and pop” bed and breakfasts and hotels in Clayton, such as the adjacent Thousand Islands Inn, but rather complement their offerings.

“There are enough customers out there that they’re still going to have the sufficient occupancy that they’re accustomed to,” she said.

Mr. Taylor said town officials talked with several business owners in Watkins Glen to study its impact and “without exception” operators said it increased business by drawing in more customers to patronize restaurants and shops. Mr. Taylor anticipates that Clayton shops will extend hours earlier and later in the season and that the town will also see additional traffic, for which it has been planning.

He also said the town is seeing a “steady flow” of new zoning and building permits to enhance properties or build new ones.

“I think we will see a continued retail growth, more tourism and repeat tourism and more housing developed,” he said. “I think we will see folks who have never been to Clayton or this part of New York as a result of the hotel hosting conferences and weddings.”

26 |

NNY Business | October 2013

NORM JOHNSTON | NNY BUSINESS

Staff tours the Marina Inn & Suites at Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor. Developer Lawler Realty turned the former Army administration building an 18-room hotel at the barracks in 2011.

SACKETS HARBOR: A ‘DINING DESTINATION’ Now a destination village with a Main Street that bustles in the summer with unique restaurants, small boutiques, art galleries and living history on the shores of Lake Ontario, Sackets Harbor has seen abundant growth apace of the post’s growth.

“When I left years ago, the dining scene was just starting to evolve. Now it’s the dining destination for this area — in a radius of two blocks, you have such a selection of unique, well-designed restaurants with their own theme and focus and they’re all really well done,” said Sackets Harbor native Cheryl M. Cring Chaif, who left the area for 10 years and returned to open The Hops Spot on Main Street in June 2010 with her husband, Ryan N. Chaif.

The Hops Spot has been so successful — growing about 20 percent each year, Mrs. Chaif said — that it plans to open a second location, Skewed Brewing, inside Watertown’s Salmon Run Mall this month.

It stayed open year-round for the first time last year, and saw “phenomenal” business, with almost every Friday and Saturday full, she said.

The Hops Spot uses locally sourced ingredients in 80 percent of its menu, and also features craft beers. It also features beef from Black River Cattle Co. in Sackets Harbor, regional cheese, including Adams Reserve Cheddar, and local bread and produce that are in season.

Mrs. Chaif said The Hops Spot’s

growth is evidence of the strength of the local foods movement.

“We’re really seeing it on a small scale — it’s almost like a food revolution,” she said.

And customers are generally understanding of the higher costs, time investment and stocking challenges involved in placing the premium on local foods.

“We’re pretty aligned with other restaurants in Sackets — I don’t think we’re noticeably more expensive,” she said.

And she’s noticed a change in demographics over the years as a result of Fort Drum.

“It has added some wonderful new cultural elements to the community — we’re exposed to people from different places on a regular basis,” she said.

Military personnel are a “very big part of our customer base,” she said, and deployments create a “rotating family.”

“It’s a very unique sort of microclimate,” she added. “It’s a unique thing that 10 years ago you didn’t see in Sackets.”

Development of Madison Barracks has also been a noticeable avenue of the community’s growth. Lawler Realty LLC, Sackets Harbor, bought the remaining undeveloped property at the barracks in early 2011, subdividing it into 14 single-family home lots and a three-phase project for 90 rental units, the first phase of which was completed this summer. In 2010, Lawler Realty redeveloped the former Army administration building into an 18-room boutique hotel, Marina Inn & Suites.

Please see GROWTH, page 29

COVER STORY

Higher ed, tourism important drivers for St. Lawrence Co.

By LEAH BULETTI

W NNY Business

ith five colleges and universities and more than 200 rivers and streams, growth in St. Lawrence County is in some ways about finding a way to market these assets.

Patrick J. Kelly, St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency CEO, said installing adequate broadband infrastructure is a key to economic development. Slic Network Solutions Inc. secured $33 million in federal stimulus money in 2010 to install 660 miles of fiber-optic cable in St. Lawrence County and 136 miles in Franklin County. In August, DANC received $250,000 from Empire State Development to install six miles of fiber optic cable in Canton and Rensselaer Falls, which will connect to a system that Slic operates there.

“One of the most important things is the development of broadband,” Clarkson University President Tony Collins said, noting broadband’s role in business development since so much can now be done remotely.

“We’re reaching the point where it’s not the hindrance to development that it was even

Daniel N. Valyou, facility manager for a blade test facility at Clarkson University, talks about how wind turbine blades are stress tested at Clarkson’s Center for Advanced Materials Processing in August.

JASON HUNTER | NNY BUSINESS

two years ago. It makes us more reliable and that’s a huge advantage.”

In addition to redevelopment efforts at industrial sites like the former General Motors powertrain plant in Massena and Star Lake’s former Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., Mr. Kelly said identifying potential relationships between higher education and economic

development is significant to the county’s future development strategy.

“The strength we have with the colleges and universities is going to become more important to us,” he said. The IDA recently leased more space in Potsdam Commerce Park to Clarkson University, which it uses for various research initiatives

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 27

COVER STORY including biofuel testing.

“There are times we have assets that match the work they’re doing,” he said. “The trick is finding ways to connect what we’re doing and what the college is doing in ways that result in job creation and development.”

The IDA recently assisted ACCO Brands with its move of manufacturing and distribution operations from Brampton, Ont., to its Ogdensburg distribution center, providing sales tax exemptions for equipment purchases and infrastructure improvements and reimbursements for training expenses.

The company is expected to add 30 jobs as a result. Mid last month DeFelsko Corp. and A.N. Deringer Inc. announced plans to create 55 jobs between them as part of expansions and relocations.

A focus on entrepreneurial education and incubating startup companies at Clarkson University has also resulted in tangible business growth. Clarkson’s Shipley Center for Innovation has led to 61 startups since it began in October 2010 and has an additional 170 projects in the pipeline. The Peyton Hall business incubator was re-launched in July 2011 after renovation of the space to include four wet labs, 13,000 square feet of office space, two fully furnished conference rooms and in-house Web development and prototyping services. The incubator now has 23 business-

es, which have garnered more than $3 million in funding though angel investment, venture capital and business plan competitions.

Last month, Clarkson ranked 14th on The Princeton Review’s 2014 list of “Top 25 Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Programs.” University officials say more than 800 people have taken the Reh Center for Entrepreneurship’s My Small Business 101 course, which primarily targets regional small business owners. The course has led to an 85 percent business survival rate for those who complete it, the university says.

Mr. Collins said Clarkson’s location in a county with other higher education institutions helps inculcate the kind of support and intellectual vibrancy often key to startup success.

“We’re beginning to see that we can create that environment here,” he said.

Clarkson itself is in growth mode, in the midst of a multi-million dollar downtown redevelopment project that includes renovation of Clarkson Hall for health professional programs, an area in which Mr. Collins said the university is seeing notable growth, and the renovation of Peyton Hall. The university last month began renovations to its historic Old Main building that will house the north country’s first green data center using IBM technologies and research facilities for the

Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries.

Outside of higher education, FISHCAP, a public-private partnership established in 2010 with an annual budget of $170,000 for its first three years, takes aim at the need to market the county’s plethora of natural resources, particularly as “the fishing capital of the world.”

Thanks largely to FISHCAP, the four-day Bassmaster Elite Tournament held in August in Waddington set an all-time attendance record for the nationwide, drawing 34,100 people.

“We broke ground in every possible way,” said Pat L. McKeown, executive director and the CEO of St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce and co-chairman of FISHCAP, adding that there is no question that FISHCAP is what brought Bassmaster to the region. “We’ve long thought the world saw what kind of fisheries we have here and what better way to try to go after one of the premier fishing competitions in the country.”

FISHCAP coordinator Donald R. Meissner said Bassmaster was the result of a year of negotiations with tournament officials, who had “no consideration of having an event up here,” as the organization typically selects places with larger population bases.

“FISHCAP was the reason they came here,” he said. “It was the organization they had heard about.”

He added that the event was an overwhelming success for the area and everyone who worked on it, demonstrating the area’s huge base of local people willing to come together and volunteer.

“The event was a colossal success not just by itself, but for what it represents for the future of the area,” he said. “This is just the beginning as I see it.”

Phase two of FISHCAP will concentrate on marketing recreational fishing in the entire region, expanding into Jefferson and Franklin counties, and across the border into Ontario and Quebec. The organization has applied for funding through the state’s regional economic development council and has already received a commitment of $20,000 from the Alcoa Foundation. While Bassmaster seldom hosts the tournament in the same location two years in a row, FISHCAP plans to work for its return in 2015 and hopes the exposure will lead to repeat tourism from participants in Bassmaster and to interest from other fishing organizations looking to host similar events in the region, Mr. Meissner said.

“I can see the day when people from all over New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ontario and Quebec flock to the north country for fishing excursions,” Ms. McKeown said. “I think we could be a tourism mecca.” n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

28 |

NNY Business | October 2013

COVER STORY GROWTH, from page 26 Lawler Realty’s Michael A. Lawler said in September 2010 that the barracks is “a lovely piece of historical property and I’d like to see it stabilized.”

“It looks like something needs to be done and I just feel like this is a challenge and the reward is seeing it restored with nice residential-type homes. I’ve watched this place deteriorate. It’s a big part of Sackets Harbor,” he said at the time.

In an interview last month, Mr. Lawler said his company is continuing to develop the site based on its initial outline, but is still drawing plans for the remainder of the site, notably development plans for the former theater and mess hall buildings that have caused some controversy in the community.

Demand, though, has noticeably slowed with new housing developments in the Watertown area.

“When we started, there was a real shortage of accommodations for military people in Watertown. The larger companies have caught up with quite a lot of demand, but I still think there’s some sort

“

of need,” he said.

And, “with two brigades deployed, that’s slowed demand down,” Lawler Realty’s Michael W. Campbell said. But, “people still want to live in Sackets Harbor.”

Work on the 90-unit market rate apartment complex is continuing in three phas-

village and town of Hounsfield economic development coordinator, said. “Sackets Harbor is very historic. We have a lot of history here that needs to be maintained.”

Although Solarquest, a Nebraskabased distance learning school centered on sustainable technology, toured the facility this summer, discussions were preliminary, according to Mr. Bryant and Mr. Campbell.

A New England group that specializes in construction of managed care facilities has also expressed interest, but Mr. Bryant said that is just one possibility; demand is still a question.

Consulting firm edr Resources, Syracuse, conducted a site proposal for the barracks in July, and revised it to be more specific in late August. The proposal covers redevelopment of the five empty buildings between Pike Road and the shoreline.

Mr. Bryant said an upcoming forum will enable local and regional developers, bankers and economic development consultants to evaluate the proposal and discuss ways to proceed.

The reward is seeing it restored with nice residential-type homes.

I’ve watched [Madison Barracks] deteriorate. It’s a big part of Sackets.

— Michael A. Lawler, Lawler Realty,

on redeveloping historic Sackets Harbor es. The first, with 20 units in two buildings, opened this summer, while the second with three more 10-unit buildings is expected to open next summer. An additional four buildings are slated to open in 2015.

The theater and the mess hall on Pike Road were built in the late 1800s and have sat vacant since the end of World War II; both now need millions in repairs.

“The situation is trying to reach out to potential users, taking the old buildings and bringing them back to life,” Peter B. Bryant,

n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

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110 South School St. 493-2110 Carthage, NY www.fullerinsuranceagency.com October 2013 | NNY Business

| 29

F E AT U R E S

Firm grows ties to region CNY-based Wladis Law opens office in north country

By LEAH BULETTI

E

NNY Business

ast Syracuse-based Wladis Law Firm has opened an office in downtown Watertown that partners say represents three years of work to expand services to the north country in all of its practice areas, which include municipal, banking, government relations, litigation and environmental law.

The firm hired Leann I. West as a government relations specialist in 2010 to help grow its client base in the north country, founding attorney and president Mark N. Wladis said. The practice has worked on a variety of projects for businesses and municipalities across the tri-county area, notably lobbying for St. Lawrence County to gain approval to raise its local sales tax, helping win grant money for a dialysis center in Lewis County and helping garner grant funding and loans for public and private development in Cape Vincent.

“We see the north country as an underserved market right now and one that needs a different type of legal representation and a different type of economic development champion,” said Mr. Wladis, a DeWitt native and attorney with nearly 25 years of experience who holds a juris doctor and a master of laws in taxation from Syracuse University College of Law. The firm has invested more than $100,000 in the region during the past three years, including the cost of leasing a new office at 215 Washington St. next door to Watertown’s Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library, charitable contributions and the cost of gas and meals for employees who serve the area.

“We think it’s a great opportunity — we think we can add some value up here as well, through relationships, through our legal work, through development work, but also through helping the community continue to grow and strengthen — it’s very important to us,” he said.

Wladis employs seven attorneys — three in government relations — and has

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NNY Business | October 2013

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

Wladis Law Firm founding attorney and president Mark N. Wladis and Leann I. West, government relations specialist. The East Syracuse-based Wladis Law Firm recently opened an office in downtown Watertown.

Wladis Law Firm / About HEADQUARTERS: 6312 Fly Road, East Syracuse NNY OFFICE: 215 Washington St., Suite 107, Watertown PHONE: (315) 445-1700 ONLINE: www.wladislawfirm.com

sought work in the north country off and on since it opened with three lawyers in 2004. The practice “started focusing on doing more and more in the north country” after Mr. Wladis hired Ms. West, a Belleville native who earned a bachelor’s degree in global studies and French from St. Lawrence University, Canton, she said.

She estimates that she will work in the Watertown office twice a week going forward, and other members of the firm will also be in the area as needed. On a recent Monday in September, attorney Kevin C. Murphy was in Ogdensburg and attorney Scott Hatz was closing a corporate transaction in Watertown. Mr. Wladis and Ms. West were also both in the area, working on cases and attending community functions.

“The bulk of our business is still located elsewhere, but we are concentrating a lot of our time on serving our north country

clients,” Ms. West said.

In addition to the Syracuse area, the firm does work in Albany, New York City, the Mohawk Valley and the Southern Tier. With such an expansive geographical area, the fact that Wladis chose to open its second office in Watertown is evidence of the firm’s “commitment to the north country,” Mr. Wladis said, adding that he views Watertown as “one of the greatest walk-able downtown communities.”

The firm exceeded its goal for in the north country in 2012 and, as of early September, had already exceeded its 2013 goal; each year the percentage of the firm’s work in the area climbs, he said.

Attorney Kevin C. Murphy, who works in business, commercial and environmental litigation, said he is representing an increased number of private north country clients in environmental matters and other litigation; the firm’s work in that area has “grown significantly” since 2010, he said.

Mr. Murphy is involved in advising the Local Government Task Force in Massena broker its agreement with the New York Power Authority.

Mr. Wladis also said that Ms. West spent her first six months on the job driving around the north country and forging relationships, which are key to the firm’s long-

F E AT U R E S Wladis Law Firm / North Country Highlights THE FIRM’S NORTH COUNTRY WORK HAS INCLUDED: n Helped Cape Vincent secure funding to extend municipal water service to Tibbetts Point, where a multi-million dollar project will provide potable water to more than 90 households and the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse facilities west of the village.

The funding comes in part from an $885,594 state Environmental Facilities Corp. grant, and the rest from a 30-year, interest-free loan. n Helped St. Lawrence County pass legislation to raise its local sales tax rate from 3 to 4 percent, which takes effect Dec. 1. In an August meeting, the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators voted to keep Wladis as the county’s lobbyist.

$300,000 in Empire State Development grant and roughly $100,000 from Lewis County Hospital Foundation through various fundraising efforts. n Submitted an application for consolidated funding for the Bridge and Port Authority in Ogdensburg to increase storage capacity and complete work on two rail bridges. n Worked with owners of the Lincoln Building on Watertown’s Public Square to apply for consolidated funding to help revitalize the building into residential and commercial space.

n Retained to help St. Lawrence County officials evaluate strategies related to unpaid gaming compact money owed by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, which claimed that its exclusivity was violated and did not turn over the state’s 25 percent share of slot machine revenue since 2010. The state brokered a settlement agreement that resulted in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties each receiving $1.8 million in July, part of $7.5 million in back payments that the counties and affected towns will share.

n Working with Local Government Task Force in Massena to review terms of the now decade-old 50-year relicensing agreement with the New York Power Authority and provide analysis and strategy for any potential modifications. n Worked with Kingston, Ont.-based MetalCraft Marine to help it expand in Cape Vincent, including its entrance into the Excelsior Jobs program in the first round of Regional Economic Development Council awards worth up to $400,000. Has also advocated for economic development in Cape Vincent since July 2011, working directly with the town and village and is having its contract renewed in three-month segments. n Helped Lewis County General Hospital secure $1.2 million in grant money for a dialysis project, confirmed in April; received $904,837 in discretionary grant from commissioner, remaining

term strategy. Much of the firm’s expansion into the area is testament to her continued and dedicated outreach, he said.

“We wanted to do it right,” he said of opening the new office, adding that the firm wants to be in the area for the next 25 to 30 years at a minimum. “It was important to us that we have an established foothold in the north country.

“If we’re friends with you, we’re friends with you if you have this job today and another job tomorrow — we don’t want to be your friend only because you’re in this position, we want to be your friend no matter what,” he said of the firm’s commitment to building relationships.

Ms. West is also one of two north country natives at the firm. She and her husband, Ryan, a real estate agent, live in Sandy Creek. The second is Jennifer B. Granzow, a Richville native who also earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University. Ms. Granzow, a Syracuse University College of Law graduate, practices municipal, real estate and business law.

Please see WLADIS, page 70 October 2013 | NNY Business

| 31

S T. L AW R E N C E C O U N T Y

Randy L. LaValley, owner of LaValle Transportation Inc., at his 20 Madrid Ave. headquarters in Potsdam.

The trucking firm has invested millions in new equipment in recent months.

JASON HUNTER | NNY BUSINESS

A local investment

LaValle Transportation secures $8.6m in new equipment

By LEAH BULETTI

O NNY Business

wner of Potsdam-based LaValle Transportation Inc. Randy L. LaValley laughs and hesitates when asked what his day-today job at his rapidly growing trucking company looks like today.

Launched in 1994 with one carrier, LTI today offers regional and long-haul transportation with a fleet of 175 trucks, more than 500 trailers and about 190 employees.

“My main goal here is trying to move the company forward,” Mr. LaValley, a Potsdam native, said. “My job is to steer, not to row an oar.”

In a business that requires 24-7 vigilance, he acknowledges that he does sometimes get tied up in rowing an oar, overseeing operations and scheduling trucks, as well as meeting with dispatchers and helping map out optimal routes.

But his day-to-day consists of strategizing on how the company can obtain more drivers and equipment and improve ef-

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NNY Business | October 2013

ficiency of current operations.

It’s a mission that has proved successful in 2013 — a year in which the company has grown by 70 percent. LaValley Transportation and Body Shop Fitness & Salon, both of which are owned by Mr. LaValley and his wife, Penny, received the Potsdam Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 Business of the Year award in May. LTI got its name as a hybrid between Mr. LaValley’s last name and that of an original partner, William A. “Bill” LaVallee, who worked at LTI until his passing in 2011; Mr. LaValley said he would never change the company’s name though he bought him out in 1997, as a tribute to his employee.

In the last 60 days, LTI has purchased 160 new trailers for a total of $4.4 million and in the last 30 days has purchased 40 new trucks for $4.2 million, a combined $8.6 investment in new equipment. The company has also hired about 25 new employees, primarily drivers, in the last 45 days, and will add another 40 driving positions by the end of October.

The investments were in large part the result of newly acquired contracts with General Motors and Ford Motor Company, which LTI initiated in May and secured within about 30 to 45 days, Mr. LaValley said.

On Aug. 1, LTI opened a new terminal in Detroit, Mich., that will allow it to serve the companies’ Midwestern car operations. LTI is a Tier 1 carrier for both GM and Ford, which is the highest stature and means LTI is held in the same regard as companies than run 5,000 trucks, Mr. LaValley said.

On Nov. 1, the company will start a 70-truck, 25-load per day contract with Ford to its F-150 plant in Kansas City.

LTI was awarded that contract based on its performance for Ford in August, Mr. LaValley said. Through its contract with GM, LTI will ship 30 loads a week to its Chevy Tahoe plant in Arlington, Texas.

The company’s revenue last year was about $30 million, and since the contracts didn’t come into effect until late in the

S T. L AW R E N C E C O U N T Y year, he estimates revenue for 2013 will be about $40 million, but could jump to about $65 million by 2014.

“It isn’t that the economy got that much better, it’s just that we’ve been working hard and trying to grow the company,” he said. “We have good day-to-day operations here.”

LTI didn’t lay off any employees during the recession, but just “kept our heads above water and kept going,” Mr. LaValley said. The trucking business saw the recession’s impact early on when it hit in 2007, but was also the first to see it start

to rebound; LTI went after new contracts in 2010 to 2011 and has been able to grow every year since, he said.

He thinks the company has the potential to expand to 400 trucks in five years, aided by the fact that many large companies like GM and Ford prefer to deal with as few partners as possible; if LTI can continue to add more trucks and equipment, it’s poised to grow with those partners. Contracts with car manufacturers provide year-round work and, with an August report from R.L. Polk that the average age of all light vehicles on

the road is a record high of 11.4 years, Mr. LaValley said car sales are likely to rise.

“Our business is poised to do nothing but grow,” he said.

Locally, LTI is doing more shipping for Acco, an office supply company that has increased business from its Ogdensburg location. Since 2005 when Domtar Paper closed its Cornwall, Ont., mill, LTI hasn’t done much business with Canada, but last year began shipping with Kruger and now makes trips in and out of Canada 10 times

Please see LAVALLE, page 40

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 33

MILESTONES

Jane Fuller, center, owner of Jean’s Beans on Eastern Boulevard, with daughter, Heather BowmanBates, secretary, and son, Mark Bowman, vice president and cook.

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

A diamond anniversary

Eatery marks 60 years dishing up a north country tradition

By LEAH BULETTI

E

NNY Business

ven though Jean’s Beans sells about 500 pounds of its famous baked beans every July 4, and about 100 pounds in an average day, that’s not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when you enter the family-owned eatery in its iconic red building on Eastern Boulevard.

Rather it’s the scent of fresh-baked goods all homemade on premises, and appearing plentiful on industrial counters and cases to the right of the main counter — fresh donuts, cookies, pies, brownies, and of course, the popular, doughy, fresh rolls that serve as essential companions to the dish Jean’s Beans is best known for — fried haddock, and lots of it.

The 259 Eastern Boulevard location is the last remaining Jean’s Beans, which was started by a French chef named Jean who sold his famous baked beans by horse and buggy on the streets of Syracuse in the early 1900s. A man named Dick Childs and his father allegedly adopted his recipe and opened the original Jean’s Beans in

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NNY Business | October 2013

Syracuse in the years before the Great Depression. Mr. Childs decided to set up a promising employee, Neil J. Fuller, with a Jean’s Beans franchise in Watertown in 1953 at the location where it still operates. Since 2000, Mr. Fuller’s daughter, Jane E. Bowman, her husband Donald M. and her two grown children, Mark R. and Heather J. Bowman-Bates have run the reataurant that celebrated 60 years in business in August.

Mr. Fuller also opened stores in Elmira, which is still open but with different owners, Carthage and Ogdensburg, both of which closed in the late 1950s. In the 1940s, Mr. Childs opened a potato chip plant, Jean’s Foods, that produced Jean’s Potato Chips; although the brand was acquired by Tyrell’s Potato Chip Co., Syracuse, Jean’s Beans still sells the individual snack bags.

Jean’s Beans was originally based around baked beans and salads until Mr. Fuller saw potential to expand and added a bakery in the early 1960s, Mrs. Bowman said. Her father learned all his recipes and baking techniques from a baker at Mohican Bakery on State Street in Watertown after it closed in the early 1960s.

Today, Jean’s Beans continues to make everything from scratch, including grinding bread crumbs for fried haddock and its own mayonnaise, and doesn’t use any preservatives.

“We did that before it was cool not to use preservatives,” Mrs. Bowman said.

Jean’s Beans has been able to overcome the challenge presented by the proliferation of chain eateries in Watertown that has come with Fort Drum’s expansion by a laser focus on producing quality food and old-time favorites.

“My philosophy is that we put out a high quality food—it might be a little more expensive sometimes, but I never cut on cost because I think that most people are interested in really delicious, good quality food rather than price,” Mrs. Bowman said.

The basic principles of good food and good service, as well as a strong family worth ethic, have been key to the restaurant’s success, she added.

“It fulfills a certain portion of me to know that we can successfully run this business and give something to the community,” she said.

MILESTONES Jean’s Beans opened a second Watertown location at 1196 Arsenal St. in 2002, but closed it two years later even though it was successful because “we’re a family business and we were just stretched way too thin,” Mrs. Bowman said.

The restaurant’s clientele is evenly split between locals and people from Fort Drum, she said, noting that it has a large number of repeat customers, including many who remember the day it opened in 1953 when free potato chips were given out; as a tribute, Jean’s Beans also gave out free potato chips on its 60 year anniversary in August.

Ms. Bowman’s son has a “phenomenal memory” and asks about a quarter of the customers who come in if they want their regular order, Mrs. Bowman said.

“He remembers everything they get,” she said.

Mark Bowman agreed that much of the restaurant’s success is based around tradition, with three to four generations of families patronizing the eatery.

“People enjoy the nostalgia factor,” he said from his place by the fryer on a recent late morning, surrounded by huge slabs of breaded fish ready to be cooked. Mr. Bowman earned a degree in economics from St. Lawrence University, but chose to return to the family business full-time 13 years ago.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said when asked about his future plans, though he just as easily might have been talking about leaving the fryer, where he remained during an interview, shouting answers over the popping and sizzling din, a group of early lunch customers eagerly looking on. Mrs. Bowman recently cut back to parttime, but has no immediate plans to retire and says her children absolutely plan to continue its operation.

Though the fried haddock is still the restaurant’s “bread and butter,” Mr. Bowman said, it makes up only about a third of the restaurant’s business, the rest being salads and baked goods.

While the restaurant has made some changes to the menu over the years — adding coconut shrimp, hamburgers and Hoffman hot dogs, chicken wings, various hot lunch specials, fudge and more — it still relies on the tried-and-true family recipes for its traditional favorites.

“We maintain the favorites all the time,” Mrs. Bowman said. “We’ll always keep our mac and cheese — we’d have a real riot if we stopped our mac and cheese.”

Jean’s Beans also tries to buy from the same local suppliers that Mr. Fuller originally used and sells various locally made products such as maple syrup, cheese and baloney.

“People who want our foods also want

Jean’s Beans / Fast facts WHERE: 259 Eastern Boulevard, Watertown HOURS: 6:30 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Friday; 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Saturday; 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday PHONE: (315) 788-7460 ONLINE: www.watertownjeansbeans.com

the traditional north country foods,” Mrs. Bowman said.

In addition to new menu items, Mrs. Bowman said Jean’s Beans works to

increase business in some way each year.

About three years ago, the restaurant built a long indoor lunch counter along one wall with bar stools for customers to dine inside. Even though it has added an outdoor, walk-in freezer to expand its cooking area, it’s starting to outgrow the building because business has increased so much, she said. Jean’s Beans also started city deliveries a year ago, which Mrs. Bowman said have been “very popular.”

The spirit of a family business — Mrs.

Please see JEAN’S BEANS, page 70

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strattonhardware.com October 2013 | NNY Business

| 35

F E AT U R E S

The new faces of lead

Bernier, Carr future in hands of partnership team

L

By LEAH BULETTI NNY Business

eadership at Bernier, Carr and Associates will continue as a collaborative effort, according to Bernard H. “Bernie” Brown Jr., outgoing CEO of the Watertown firm.

Operations will be led by a five-person team in a “partnership model” following the retirement of Mr. Brown and Pamela S. Beyor, chairwoman of the board of directors, each of whom will retire at the end of the year. The team will consist of Rick W. Tague, president, Mickey G. Lehman, executive vice president, Kris D. Dimmick, vice president of operations, Michael J. Harris, vice president of architecture, and Kevin E. Lewis, director of business development. Michael F. Peck, chief financial officer, and Joseph A. Escudero, comptroller, will continue as members of the senior leadership team in supporting roles.

“Even though Bernie and I have had specific titles, we have worked cooperatively as a management team for the last 15 years,” Mrs. Beyor said. “It’s not really a big change in that regard, except that the specific title of CEO is not going to be filled.”

The biggest changes to the leadership structure was the creation of Mr. Dimmick’s new position, in which he will assume Mrs. Beyor’s responsibilities of managing daily operations of the firm, and the creation of Mr. Lewis’s post. A registered architect, Mr. Lewis joined the firm in September after serving as the group president of Tetra Tech Architects and Engineers, Syracuse, for the past decade.

Bernier, Carr, 327 Mullin St., provides a full range of engineering, architectural, surveying and construction management services and has a 43-year history in the area.

Mr. Tague said the partnership model is the result of year-long discussions and described it as disseminating various responsibilities of the chairwoman and CEO roles to different partners in the firm, complemented by the “strategic hire” of Mr. Lewis.

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NNY Business | September 2013

“Growth is part of our “We’re distributing the “Growth is part of our chalchallenge going forward — do responsibilities out to that lenge going forward — how how do we integrate what weand management group to make we integrate what we have have and how do we move it Mr. sure that we cover all the duties how do we move it forward,” forward,” Mr. Lewis said. and responsibilities that we’ve Lewis said.

To that end, Bernier, Carr always had,” he said.

To that end, Bernier, Carr on Sept. 1 expanded its geoBernier, Carr might someday on Sept. 1 expanded its geographic reach south with the fill the CEO seat, but there is graphic south with the opening reach of a new Ithaca office. no urgency; waiting is in fact opening of a new Ithaca office.

The firm hired a new architect, beneficial in that the firm will be The hired a new Michael J. Harris Scottfirm Duell, to staff thearchitect, office better prepared to define the role Scott Duell, to theK-12 office and and expand thestaff firm’s as time goes on, Mr. Brown said. expand thethe firm’s K-12 work work into Southern Tier into andSouthern Westchester Mr. TagueCounty, said.

“I’m very confident that the role of the the TierCounty, and Westchester The Tague office will intowill municipal management group as leaders within the Mr. said.also Thetap office also tap into engineering work, he said, noting thatnoting organization is going to continue to work municipal engineering work, he said, within 24 hours of its opening, Bernier, very well and it diminishes the need to have that within 24 hours of its opening, Bernier, Carr submitted a proposal for a water someone sitting in the seat of CEO,” he said.

Carr submitted a proposal for a water plant plant in Broome County and was able to Unlike Mr. Brown, Mr. Lewis will not in Broome County and was able to put the put the Ithaca office’s address on the spend too much time directly working with Ithaca office’s address the going proposal, proposal, which helps on when afterwhich clients in his new role, but focus more on helps when going after new work, he said. new work, he said. “overhead of management of the business In addition additiontotopursuing pursuing more K-12 work, In more K-12 work, side, enterprise and strategic business develfirmplans planstotopursue pursue more work around the firm more work around opment,” he said.

Fort Drum Drumand andininhighway highway engineering.

Fort engineering.

It It

F E AT U R E S

dership

halo d Mr.

rr

. , nd nto y, o ng r, nt

ich . k, d

The new leadership team at Bernier Carr and Associates, from left: Kris D. Dimmick, vice president of operations, Kevin E. Lewis, director of business development, Rick W. Tague, president, and Mickey G. Lehman, executive vice president.

Michael J. Harris, vice president of architecture, is pictured below.

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

has also identified what it calls “market area leaders” who are the most skilled in the firm’s areas of work: health care, municipal/wastewater, civil/structural, construction management, public education, higher education, health care and government services.

“We wanted to set these up as studios with teams that are being trained and becoming experts exclusively in those fields,” Mr. Lehman said.

Mr. Tague added that the Ithaca office could grow to a staff of three or four. The firm also in September moved an employee to its Syracuse office, bringing that office’s staff to two engineers. In the last year, the firm has bolstered its support staff in Watertown, which is crucial to support the firm’s expansion, adding about five people, he said.

The firm’s work in the health care sector has notably grown over the last three years, and will be a large part of its work going forward, as will work in the K-12 sector, govern-

Please see LEADERSHIP, page 38

AMANDA MORRISON | NNY BUSINESS

Pamela S. Beyor, chairwoman of the board of directors at Bernier, Carr & Associates, and Bernard H. “Bernie” Brown Jr., CEO, pictured in March, will retire in December after a combined 57 years with the firm.

For retiring CEO, board chairwoman, legacy is leaving firm in great care

By LEAH BULETTI

P

NNY Business

amela S. Beyor, chairwoman of the board of directors at Bernier, Carr and Associates, jokes that she’s worked with Bernard H. “Bernie” Brown Jr., the company’s chief executive officer, longer than she’s been with her husband.

When the pair’s professional career — a combined 57 years of service and leadership of a firm that has been part of many prominent north country developments in its 43 year history — ends at the close of 2013, they do so with complete confidence in the capable and talented team of leaders they’ve mentored.

And, with neither planning to leave the area they’re entrenched in professionally and personally, the two say they’ve managed to keep glimmers of sadness and nostalgia at bay with the prospect of continuing on as chairwoman and CEO emeritus, respectively, delving into hobbies and community service.

“Our entire careers at Bernier, Carr we have developed together as professionals — we’ve always led together,” said Mrs. Beyor, 51, who was hired in 1985, a year after Mr. Brown, initially as his assistant. Both are registered architects in the state of New York.

“It’s not the age, it’s the mileage and we have the same sort of mileage.”

In the context of their retirement, announced in March, Mrs. Beyor said it was “unimaginable” that she wouldn’t leave at the same time as Mr. Brown, 61.

“We always thought we would leave together and we think it has allowed for the people remaining to have a really great foundation to start their own leadership,” she said.

The timing for their departure was somewhat personally motivated, but strategic.

“We’re in a good place, we have strong leadership under us,” Mr. Brown said.

“There probably couldn’t be a better time to do it and in order to ensure future success, we came to the conclusion that as leaders we need to do this.”

The leadership transition since March has so far been smooth, Mr. Brown said, in large part because those in the firm’s so-called “blue box” of leaders have been training and anticipating the change for some time; the firm spends significant time and resources focusing on leadership development with employees, Mrs. Beyor said.

She’s spent the past six months “in the weeds and involved in the nitty-gritty” aspects of the transition, Mr. Brown said, re-assigning and transferring the minute details of the firm’s daily operations, to 22-year employee Kris D. Dimmick,

Please see RETIREMENT, page 39 October 2013 | NNY Business

| 37

F E AT U R E S LEADERSHIP, from page 37 ment services and wastewater treatment, Mr. Tague said. In the last three years, Bernier, Carr has picked up $2 million in New York State government services and in the last five years has done $55 million worth of design and construction for municipal wastewater treatment plants.

“We don’t see ourselves growing new service lines, but expanding projects that we do in those service areas,” Mr. Tague said of the firm’s future plans, adding that the firm has demonstrated its capability in

“

They set the bar pretty high and we need to make sure we maintain that bar.

— Rick W. Tague, president, Bernier, Carr and Associates

government services and health care with the recent completion of several large projects, such as Samaritan Medical Cen-

151 Mullin Street Watertown, NY 13601

ter’s Summit Village project, a $64 million senior care facility completed in April on Outer Washington Street in Watertown.

With “the right opportunity,” the firm would also consider opening another office to the west or east of its current line of offices, he said.

With most of the blue box having significant tenure at the firm — Mr. Tague 24 years and Mr. Lehman 17 — both say that Mr. Brown and Mrs. Beyor’s ample talents and leadership style will be missed.

Both have been great mentors over the years, helping the staff grow and develop professionally, talents the new leadership team “wants to harness and continue to utilize for our younger staff,” Mr. Lehman said.

The firm’s internship program, for example, has provided hands-on experience in the field to an average of 15 college students and as many as 25 each summer since 1980. Fourteen of the firm’s present employees, including three partners, were interns.

Mr. Tague said that Mr. Brown has been instrumental over his career in developing the firm’s K-12 schools work and “defining a vision for a project,” an area in which a smooth transition will be “crucial.” Maintaining the outgoing leaders’ standard of care for clients and projects will also be key.

“They set a pretty high bar and we need to make sure we maintain that bar,” he said.

Mr. Lehman echoed Mr. Tague.

“They’ve always led by example and we definitely want to make sure we still do that,” he said.

Both also expressed a desire to continue to grow the firm’s staff and create a sustainable firm, adjusting the leadership structure and model as necessary as time goes on.

“The idea that we’ve created 80 to 90 jobs here in Watertown—10 years from now we want to make sure those jobs are still here, if not more,” Mr. Tague said.

Creating a sustainable firm has ripple effects in the region’s economy, Mr. Lehman added—when Bernier, Carr can secure funding for a wastewater treatment plant, that in turn translates to 20 new construction jobs for the season.

“If you multiply that 10-fold, it’s a big economic driver for the community,” he said. n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

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F E AT U R E S RETIREMENT, from page 37 previously vice president of municipal engineering, who was appointed vice president of operations. Mr. Brown, on the other hand, has been “focusing more on the visual big picture,” and dealing with client relations and contracts, public relations and marketing.

The transition has allowed him to see and recognize abilities within the company’s leaders that are “above and beyond” what he already knew.

“The more we work with the partners who are going to be remaining, we really appreciate more and more what their capabilities really are, and more importantly what their potential is,” Mr. Brown said.

Both plan to be involved in the future “as much as they would like us to be,” Mr. Brown said.

Mrs. Beyor hopes that involvement will primarily be in developing the curriculum and teaching a program of leadership begun about four years ago called the BCA Institute. So far, the curriculum consists primarily of monthly seminars, but has been very well received by staff and could be broadened to include educating clients outside the office, she said.

She also intends to make herself available to Mr. Dimmick and to continue some ongoing work with some specific clients.

Mr. Brown also plans to be involved with “certain strategic clients,” as the two have developed a number of strong relationships with clients and community members over the years. He also hopes to continue to help promote the firm, assisting its artistic director with production of promotional materials from time to time.

And, he says he hopes to be called in from time to time to “firefight” complicated situations.

“There’s a real good feeling about being able to step in as part of the team and help solve a problem,” he said. “I’m involved in that every day in one form or another.”

On the theme of education, Mr. Brown also hopes to eventually help develop a curriculum and teach a course on design at Jefferson Community College. The school has a pre-engineering program, but less in the way of offerings for students who want to pursue careers in design — not just architecture, but industrial, landscape and living environment design, he said.

Moreover, with what Mrs. Beyor calls a “very unique skillset” — training as design-

“

ers, education as architects and 28 years of problem solving and learning people skills and leadership — she envisions herself and Mr. Brown as “community resources,” for organizations such as nonprofits that may not have the resources to provide employees with leadership training.

“I think I have a skillset that could be useful to other organizations,” she said.

“I’m really looking forward to that volunteer aspect.”

The two do plan, however, to squeeze in time to enjoy themselves in retirement, with Mrs. Beyor hoping to embrace gardening, cooking and sustainability and Mr. Brown hoping to spend more time in

communicate and high standards of morals, values and honesty are key when hiring the best people.

“I want to get an idea that you can establish a very strong level of trust. Usually if you have that in an individual, they’re pretty good at what they do,” he said.

Moreover, personality is key since Bernier, Carr doesn’t manufacture a product, but creates spaces that impact thousands of people.

“We’re always engaged in conversation with people,” he said. “People skills are really prized in my mind.”

In recent years, Mrs. Beyor’s job has ebbed and flowed at about a 50-50 split between running the company and project-based work, though she spent the first eight years of her career solely working in the field. Since 2010, she has been involved as project manager for Samaritan Medical Center’s Summit Village, a project that Mrs. Beyor described as the — Pamela S. Beyor, chairwoman of the board “culmination of my career in so of directors, Bernier, Carr and Associates many ways.”

It has been immensely satisfying profesthe studio above his garage at his Sackets sionally and personally, she said.

Harbor home. “[The project] has sent such a powerful As they near the end of their tenure at social message that this is now the level of the firm and a whirlwind period of transicare and facility that we believe our elderly tion that both say has afforded little time folks are entitled to,” she said. “It changes for emotion, Mrs. Beyor and Mr. Brown expressed an overwhelming amount of pride the whole dynamic of how we view those folks in our community.” in having helped to create a firm positioned For Mr. Brown, who has focused on to continue to provide meaningful and stable school projects for much of his career, jobs in the north country with a culture that working with the Ogdensburg School Mr. Brown described as family-like.

“The whole nurturing, family attitude — District for six years on a $57 million renovation project and seeing all of the parts we’re very protective in that regard when come together from inception to complewe need to be. I think that’s really helped tion was “very gratifying.” us,” he said.

In talking about juggling all the players Creating such a culture is somewhat akin in such a complicated project, Mr. Brown to being a good parent, he said, with days seems to sum up what it takes to work for, when your children really aren’t going to and lead, a firm like Bernier, Carr. like you and days when you have to take “You really have to have tenacity and the tough disciplinarian stance and depatience,” Mrs. Beyor says, and, Mr. mand certain things, balanced with letting Brown adds, “you really have to adjust on employees find happiness and celebrate. your feet.”

“As architects you would think that our It’s that word, tenacity, that comes up career is focused on creating things and when the they discuss their work and projects and beautiful buildings and that’s their obvious drive for it, and is evident in all true and wonderful, but our culture here conversations with the two leaders. is all about the people,” Mrs. Beyor said.

“We really are proud of, Pam says, our Mrs. Beyor grew up in Black River and tenacity,” Mr. Brown said. “I think we said she never envisioned the opportunity really have done a really good job sticking for a 28-year career in her hometown, but with our clients and have been able to be a now views it as “life’s biggest blessing,” real benefiting resource.” and takes pride in having perpetuated that

As architects you would think that our career is focused on creating ... beautiful buildings. That’s all true and wonderful, but our culture here is all about the people.

opportunity for others, she said.

Mr. Brown said that the ability to clearly

n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 39

LAVALLE, from page 33 per day, Mr. LaValley said. Shipments to Canada are expedited through a CT-PAC certification for crossing the border that LTI obtained eight years ago through a competitive and stringent approval process, Mr. LaValley said. He anticipates the company’s business with Canada will grow as it taps into the automotive manufacturers in Quebec and Ontario shipping to U.S. assembly plants.

LTI chief financial officer Mark J. Norman said the company is somewhat at the limit of its expansion in Northern New York, necessitating the expansion elsewhere, because little new manufacturing is coming to the area and the existing manufacturing isn’t necessarily increasing freight.

LTI also operates a sister company, Express Logistics Systems, a full-service freight brokerage company, through which it has been able to sign on some new agents and small fleets, Mr. LaValley said.

With expansion, Mr. LaValley said the company continues to strive to increase fuel efficiency and monitors all drivers’ speed and idle time, coaching them each week based on their performance. It also scrutinizes tires, engines, transmissions and other parts of all equipment for possible fuel-saving improvements, and

40 |

NNY Business | October 2013

constantly refines routes to find the shortest and fastest.

“We employ every possible fuel-saving technology we can,” he said.

In 2010, 10 of LTI’s tractor-trailers were outfitted with TrailerTails, four extra flaps designed to make trailers more aerodynamic and fuel efficient, designed at Clarkson University. Mr. LaValley said the technology is effective, but that LTI has had to remove most of the test units because they were a “maintenance nightmare” as they shook themselves apart from vibration.

LTI’s location in Potsdam has proved advantageous in that St. Lawrence County has an excellent workforce, but disadvantageous in that tolls and highway use taxes in New York are among the highest in the country, he said. With aggressive inspections at truck stops in most states, LTI has to be constantly vigilant about maintaining equipment and instilling safety knowledge in drivers; the company recently completed an installation of cameras in all of its trucks, which monitor what happens in front of a truck as well as driver behavior, to keep track of safety and determine events in accidents, Mr. LaValley said.

Mr. LaValley summarized the primary challenge he’s faced in his years of leading the firm as one of balance—between customer requests and what is actually

feasible and between the quality employees want and personal needs.

“It’s all about maintaining a balance for employees and yourself and constantly trying to make sure everything is flowing smoothly,” he said. He also credits his wife’s support for much of his success and enabling him to travel while she takes care of things home, including his three children, the youngest of whom is 12.

“One of the main reasons I have the success is because I have her here at home, allowing me to be able to go after all these business endeavors,” he said.

Mr. Norman, who has worked for the company for its entire 19-year history and is in charge of dealing with registrations and licensing as well as paying vendors, drivers, taxes and mileage, described being part of the company’s growth as “sleepless for the most part.”

“It’s 24-7, it’s a lot of sacrifices,” he said.

“It’s all day every day.”

But it’s been rewarding to see the company’s growth, he said, and he considers himself fortunate to have been able to work for the same company for 19 years, and hopefully another six to 10.

“It has been a challenge, but it has been exciting,” he said. n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

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R E A L E S TAT E R O U N D U P

Re-register for STAR by year’s end

H

omeowners who receive the Basic STAR exemption need to re-register with the New York State Tax Department in order to receive the exemption in 2014 and subsequent years. There is no need to register to receive the 2013 STAR exemption or to re-register every year. Based on the information provided, the Tax Department will monitor homeowners’ eligibility in future years.

Registration ends Dec. 31 and can be completed by clicking on “Register for STAR” at www.tax.ny.gov or by phone at (518) 457-2036.

Senior citizens who receive the Enhanced STAR exemption are not affected by the new registration requirement.

They must, however, continue to apply annually or participate in the Income Verification Program.

net Handschuh, Betty Compeau, Kim Delles and Mary Lou Williams won the women’s division with a 73. In individual honors, Nick Felice won the men’s longest drive and the Lance Evans “closest to the pin,” while Janet Handschuh had the women’s longest drive and Mary Lou Williams the women’s “closest to the pin.” Ten skins were paid out. The event was spearheaded by WCR members Debbie Staie and Janet Handschuh. Next year’s tournament will be held on July 25.

Adams, attended the Real Estate Broker Conference hosted by NAR. The conference focused on issues facing real estate and property owners over the next 12 months, including the possible elimination of the mortgage interest deduction, flood insurance and reform of the financial markets. There were also sessions on the Affordable Care Act, data management and security.

The Tri-County WCR Chapter 2014 President Charles Ruggiero of Hefferon Real Estate attended the WCR Leadership Conference, which is designed to prepare state and local chapter presidents-elect and regional vice presidents-elect for their year ahead. The local chapter is one of more than 300 local and state chapters nationwide and was chartered in 2008.

Mr. Ruggiero will be its fifth president and the first man to head the chapter.

WCR HOLDS SUCCESSFUL TOURNAMENT The Tri-County Chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors held its third annual golf tournament to benefit the SciTech Center of Northern New York on Saturday, July 20 at Highland Meadows Golf Course. Steve Karon, the center’s director, attended and presented a short science show. Many local businesses contributed to its success by sponsoring holes and contributing raffle items.

In the men’s division, the Peebles Realty team of Aaron Nakick, Ryan West, Jeremy Felice and Nick Felice won with a score of 61. The co-ed division’s winners were Robin Martin, Steve Martin, Lucy Gionet and Mike Gibbs, with a score of 69. Heart Homes Real Estate’s team of Ja-

2014 LEADERS TRAIN IN CHICAGO Elizabeth Miller, Century 21 Gentry Realty and 2014 Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors president, and I went to the National Association of Realtors Leadership Summit in Chicago in August. Through exercises and speakers, we identified priorities for the year ahead and connected with other Realtor association leaders.

A highlight was Roger Nierenberg’s presentation, “Leading through Listening,” which included an embedded symphony orchestra in the audience. He lead us through a series of demonstrations on why an association needs to listen to all of its members and what happens if the organization is micro-managed, not lead with passion or absent a leader.

Karen Peebles of Peebles Realty,

INSTRUCTOR ATTENDS TRAINING Linda Fields, owner of the Professional Institute for Real Estate Training, attended the New York State Association of Realtors’ Instructor Training Institute. In addition to learning numerous techniques for effective presentations, each participant had instructional presentations videotaped and evaluated. Ms. Fields teaches a number of real estate courses regionally, including the real estate and broker licensing classes, and numerous continuing education courses. n LANCE M. EVANS is the executive officer of the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors and the St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors.

He has lived in the north country since 1985.

Contact him at levans@nnymls.com. His column appears monthly.

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Watertown Local Development Corporation (WLDC) 82 Public Square Watertown, NY 13601 42 |

NNY Business | October 2013

Phone: 315.786.3494 Fax: 315.786.3495 email: don@watertownldc.com

R E A L E S TAT E

Building activity shows uptick in ’13

By LEAH BULETTI NNY Business

A

fter a somewhat sluggish 2012, construction activity in the Watertown area has picked up through the first half of 2013 but still lags in comparison to the past five years, building permits show.

Total declared value in construction permits filed in the City of Watertown Bureau of Code Enforcement, including new structures, additions, alterations, repairs and maintenance, totaled 3,278,356 over the first two quarters of 2013, while that figure was 1,942,067 through the first half of 2012.

Total declared construction value for 2012 reached just 16,326,074, down about 63 percent from a high over the last five years of 43,882,327 in 2011.

Major projects including renovations at Samaritan Medical Center and the construction of the Creek Wood Apartments off Mill Street contributed to the spikes in the third and fourth quarters of 2011.

So far in 2013, the largest single building project in declared value according to permits filed was the addition of a 60-by100-foot shell at 1340 Washington St., North Country Neurology, valued at $800,000.

The practice expanded from about 3,600 square feet to just over 10,000 square feet to accommodate an expanding pool of clients and additional neurologists, a project begun in late spring and completed this fall by Lunco Corp., Carthage, which also designed and built the original structure.

The uptick in the third quarter of 2012— from $49,496 in the second quarter of 2012 to $4,130,477 in the third quarter—was due in large part to the construction of the $3,500-square-foot AmeriCU Credit Union at 871 Arsenal St., declared at $1,100,000, and the $765,500 alteration to a sprinkler system at 133 Pratt St., Samaritan Keep Nursing Home.

Terry M. Petrie, executive director of the Northern New York Builders Exchange, called 2012 a level year and said 2013 has slightly improved, evidence of the trend of modest increases he believes will continue going forward.

“You’re not going to see the big swings that you saw in 2008 to 2011, but a constant, stable flow,” he said.

Though the period of expansion result-

City of Watertown building permits / Declared value 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Q1 BUILD

1,974,601

1,230,139

1,296,442

525,453

Q1 REPAIR

373,115

2,370,250

218,827

100,900

237,570

Q1 TOTAL

2,347,716

3,600,389

1,515,269

626,353

1,279,722

Q2 BUILD

5,781,637

3,213,189

9,473,195

49,496

686,981

Q2 REPAIR

567,576

1,197,565

676,060

1,266,218

1,311,653

Q2 TOTAL

6,349,213

4,410,754

10,149,255

1,315,714

1,998,634

1,042,152

Q3 BUILD

1,228,820

252,951

15,921,676

4,130,477

n/a

Q3 REPAIR

286,475

723,984

1,203,617

962,555

n/a

Q3 TOTAL

1,515,295

976,935

17,125,293

5,093,032

n/a

Q4 BUILD

323,710

9,765,347

13,744,659

431,437

n/a

Q4 REPAIR

431,445

1,533,563

1,347,851

1,354,358

n/a

Q4 TOTAL

755,155

11,298,910

15,092,510

1,785,795

n/a

ANNUAL TOTAL

10,967,379

20,286,988

43,882,327

16,326,074

3,278,356

Source: City of Watertown Bureau of Code Enforcement

ing from Fort Drum’s growth is leveling out, Mr. Petrie said he “still sees a lot of good things on the horizon,” particularly in the private sector with projects like the 1000 Islands Harbor hotel in Clayton as work in the public sector levels off.

The Northern New York Builders Exchange has 280 members from companies throughout the north country that focus primarily on commercial building.

Not included in second quarter 2012’s building total is pool construction, which was valued at $51,843, more than the total building amount, and declined to $2,050 in the second quarter of 2013.

Sundance Leisure, Watertown, which installs and sells pools, hot tubs, fireplaces, spas and more throughout the tri-county region, has seen an increase in work in 2013 over 2012, other than June being a tough month because of the copious rain, said owner Brian J. Fraser. Above ground pools are up in 2013, while in-ground installations are about the same. But projects have been more involved, and therefore more expensive, in 2013, with amenities like waterfalls and spas, he said.

Sales in 2013 are down in numbers from 2008 before the recession’s impact was felt, after which they declined until picking up

in 2012 and continuing that trend through this year, Mr. Fraser said.

“In 2008 we did more pools, but people now are spending more and doing more complex projects,” he said.

Repair and maintenance permits, which include new windows, roofs, porches or sheds, contribute substantially to construction’s declared value, eclipsing new building totals in the second quarter of both 2012 and 2013, which was not the case in the second quarters of the prior four years.

Despite the continued drumbeat about the need for new housing to fill the need created by Fort Drum soldiers, the nonprofit Neighbors of Watertown also has numerous programs in the works to rehabilitate the city’s stock of deteriorating housing. In August, Neighbors applied for $1 million in funding from Empire State Development Corp. to be used to repair about 50 units in the city of Watertown and in municipalities within a 20-mile radius of Fort Drum.

Neighbors plans to establish a revolving loan fund that would enable landlords to borrow up to $20,000 per unit if the state money is made available. Jefferson County and the city of Watertown are also engaged

Please see Permits, page 44 October 2013 | NNY Business

| 43

PERMITS, from page 43

distribute throughout 2013 at the end of 2012. Construction has to be completed and paid for by the end of 2014.

Lori A. Borland, executive director of the chamber, said the chamber is seeing high demand for the funds, awarded on the basis of age, income and need, and has so far selected four projects. The chamber awards a maximum of $25,000 per project, meaning it can fund about 16; so far 27 applications have been completed and at least another 20 given out, Ms. Borland said.

The increase in demand is difficult to

in similar efforts through Community Development Block Grant programs, which total another $1.5 million.

Rehabilitation efforts are also under way elsewhere in Jefferson County, with the Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce providing homeowners with funds for housing rehabilitation through a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant. The chamber has participated in the program since 2008 and received the money it will

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gauge, however, because in 2012 the program’s jurisdiction was expanded from the villages of Carthage and West Carthage to the two townships of Wilna and Champion.

“Now that we’ve expanded into two townships, we see a tremendous amount of need in the townships,” she said.

Visit www.neighborsofwatertown.com or call the Carthage Chamber at 493-3590 to learn more about grant funding. n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at lbuletti@wdt.net or 661-2381.

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NNY Business | October 2013

TOP TRANSACTIONS Top 10 property sales by sales price recorded in the Jefferson County clerk’s office in August 2013: $2,500,000: Aug. 8, Town of Lyme and Clayton, 10 parcels, 1) 86.36 acres, highway from Chaumont River to Three Mile Creek; 2) 66.13 acres, Old Town Springs Road; 3) 481.49, 1, 1.50, 18.75, 17.25, 1.50 acres, Chaumont Creek; 4) Chaumont Creek; 5) 26.79 acres, 6) 1,711.7 acres, 7) 39 acres, 8) 27.2 acres, 9) 7.9 acres, all Old Town Springs Road; 10) 246.74 acres, County Route 9, Denise A. Miller, Lawrence J. Williams, Nicholas O. Williams and Jack B. Capron, co-trustees, the Doreen A. Marks Irrevocable Realty Trust, Chaumont; Doreen Garrett, Lawrence J. Williams, Nicholas O. Williams and Jack Capron, co-trustees, the Denise A. Miller Irrevocable Realty Trust, Chaumont; Doreen Garrett, Denise A. Miller, Nicholas O. Williams and Jack B. Capron, co-trustees, the Lawrence J. Williams Irrevocable Realty Trust, Chaumont; and Doreen Garrett, Denise A. Miller, Lawrence J. Williams and Jack B. Capron, co-trustees, the Nicholas O. Williams Irrevocable Realty Trust, Chaumont, sold to Doreen Garrett, Clayton $2,500,000 $850,000: Aug. 1, City of Watertown, Village of Chaumont and Village of Cape Vincent, Five parcels, 1.946 acres, 1401 Holcomb St.; 3.378 acres, Holcomb Street; 1.052 acres, 404 Sherman St.; 0.173 acre, 12007 Route 12E; 0.312 acre, 188 Broadway, Lynn S. Cleveland and Corby L. Cleveland, Watertown, sold to Darrell W. Main and Deltra L. Main, Watertown $850,000 $600,000: Aug. 1, Town of Clayton, Two parcels, 1.3 acres, 1,1 acres, Murray Island, David W. Heinrich and Susan A. Heinrich, Lockport, sold to Thomas J. Farrell and Luise S. Farrell, Champaign, Ill. $500,000: Aug. 6, Town of Pamelia, 22.82 acres, Patterson Road, Kenneth Ronald and Margaret S. Granger, both of Watertown, sold to Shawn W. Granger, Watertown $490,000: Aug.12, Town of Clayton, 75 acre, 40048 Papoose Island, Edward L. Proskey and Susan E. March, co-executors, will of Karin Proskey, late of town of Onondaga, sold to Charles E. Phyle II and Bethany L. Phyle, Clarkston, Mich. $450,000: Aug. 16, Town of Alexandria, 46553 Tennis Island Road, Carol Felter, Huntington, sold to Michael J. Coene and Tracy P. Coene, Hamburg $314,000: Aug. 1, Town of Clayton, two parcels, 0.15 acre, 16981 Blanchard Lane West; 0.15 acre, Blanchard Lane West, Ronald A. Bretsch, trustee, Ross K. Bretsch Living Trust, Norwood, sold to Carol B. McCabe and Francis X. McCabe, Lighthouse Point, Fla. $300,000: Aug. 15, City of Watertown, four parcels, 5.590 acres, South Massey Street; 1.152 acres, 2.063 acres, Stone Street and Rexford Place; Arsenal and South Massey streets, MGNH Inc., Lake Katrine, sold to COR Arsenal Street Company, Fayetteville $298,000: Aug. 14, Town of Henderson, 0.112 acre, White’s Bay Road, Roger J. Irwin, Fairport, sold to Andrew Hegner and Rachel Hegner, Long Branch, N.J. $282,500: Aug. 9, Town of Pamelia, lot 12,

On the Web

n Visit us at WWW.NNYBIZMAG.COM for current real estate sales from Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, updated weekly.

Click on ‘Data Center’ to access transactions.

proposed subdivision of land owned by Francis X. and Helen Caprara, Sciuga Corp., Solvay, sold to Dawn Caccavo, Watertown Top 10 property sales by sales price recorded in the St. Lawrence County clerk’s office in August 2013: $606,109: Aug. 16. Town of Hammond, Three parcels, 127.23 acres more or less, 105.63 acres more or less, and 70.12 acres more or less, bounded by County Route 37 and Webster Road, Sheila A. Beamish, Hammond, sold to Russ Farm LLC, Lisbon $435,000: Aug. 28, Town of Oswegatchie, Two parcels, 1.2 acres more or less, and 0.402 of an acre more or less, both in River Lot 9, Lucinda A. Barry, Ogdensburg, sold to M&SA Family Trust LLC, Series M-Lord, Bakersfield, Calif. $345,000: Aug. 29, Town of Colton, 17/100 of an acre more or less, in Section 13 of Township 10, Thomas and Karen Furh, Colton, sold to John B. and Louise J. Saunders, no address given $283,000: Aug. 23, Town of Potsdam, 3.36 acres more or less, bounded by River Road, Brent R. and Kathy Ann Mclean, Potsdam, sold to David and Nelinda Lucht, Horseheads $259,000: Aug. 20, Town of Massena, Unknown acres, in Tract M, bounded by North Raquette River Road, Kevin S. and Rena S. Ward, Massena, sold to Louise Sanderson Irrevocable Income Only Trust, Lisbon $259,000 $250,000: Aug. 8, Town of Fine, 1.40 acres more or less, bounded by South Shore Road, Richard F. Kovacs and Angela K. Oliver, Wanakena, sold to Richard F. Kovacs and Angela K. Oliver (½ interest), Wanakena and Michael Joseph Blackburn and Marie Ladner (½ interest), Ponte Verda Beach, Fla. of Louisville: 3.502 acres more or less, bounded by Green Drive, National Residential Nominee Service Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn., sold to Andrew S. and Karen M. Gayeskie, Massena $240,000: Aug. 29, Town of Stockholm, 158.82 acres more or less, in Lot 55, bounded by Route 11, Ralph Eric McGregor, Bridgewater, Va., sold to Thomas W. and Lisa M. Oakes, Canton $225,000: Aug. 14, Village of Canton, 0.343 of an acre more or less, in Mile Square 4 of Range 5, Joseph C. Pierson and Elizabeth Kingsley Pierson, Canton, sold to Justin D. and Amy J. Sipher, Canton $210,000: Aug. 8, Town of Stockholm: Town of Norfolk, 101.22 acres more or less, bounded

by Murphy Road, Rollin and Anne Waite, Norwood, sold to Thomas M. and Amy B. Trimboli, Blaine, Wash. $204,036: Aug. 6, Village of Massena: Town of Louisville, unknown acres, in Block 314, bounded by Dover Street, Robert M. and Nancy M. Adams, Massena, sold to Carla M. Christopher, Massena

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20 QUESTIONS

JASON HUNTER | NNY BUSINESS

EDUCATOR on a MISSION

A

t just 43 years old, Thomas R. Burns might be young to hold a district superintendent position, but he brings a youthful, vivacious energy to the position at a time of great challenge for public education. In a wide-ranging conversation, he discusses how the need for innovation invigorates him, his views on school district consolidations and his opinions on standardized testing, teacher evaluations and employee benefit reform.

1

NNYB: How has BOCES evolved to meet the changing demands of our business community?

BURNS: BOCES has greatly expanded over its 60plus years. It was formed in 1948 primarily for vocational programs at small rural schools that couldn’t afford it or didn’t have capacity. We’ve grown into so much more. Special education is our largest division.

We have hundreds of employees — teachers and teacher assistants — in special education alone. We have 18 small and rural component school districts.

In this fiscal climate, they are challenged to bring resources to bear on specialized programs. When times are good, in some instances BOCES suffers because districts can afford to take back programs and build more specialized, costly ones. When times are bad, inversely we grow or stabilize, and we’re experiencing that. We now have 13 districts sharing business office support functions and cafeteria management, so we’re seeing more of those non-instructional pieces.

2

NNYB: What steps are you taking on consolidation?

BURNS: This region has a long history of sharing.

I think we’ve been resource poor long before the fiscal crisis in 2008, so there’s a culture of doing that already. I find that sharing some of the regional services and the non-instructional services is a comfortable way for districts to step into sharing. It takes the direct student out of it, which sometimes is the more emotional piece. In education, as in every business, the work is becoming increasingly specialized, so it’s become much harder to have generalists. With all the state and federal initiatives, like the Common Core, we’re able to provide a lot of specialized services.

46 |

NNY Business | October 2013

n In tough fiscal climate, BOCES is a vital resource for rural schools

3

NNYB: Is there a fear that if we get bigger we’ll lose some of what is special in St. Lawrence County?

BURNS: People have really strong feelings about their schools. In many instances the school is the center of the community and provides a sense of identity and those are all valid feelings and concerns.

The thing I worry about is the overall academic program that students receive. I’m seeing school districts squeezed by fewer resources with decreases in student enrollment, less state aid and increased expectations from the state and federal governments.

When it comes to any type of consolidation, the community has to be comfortable with it. Ultimately, we have local control of schools in New York. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the financial arguments, but the primary issue is what do our kids need and how do we get it to them. I think we have to be agnostic about the method and focus on outcomes.

4

NNYB: Heuvelton, Morristown and Hermon-DeKalb central schools have discussed forming a regional high school. You expressed some disappointment about the lack of legislative action in July. What needs to happen at the state level and what’s next them?

BURNS: We need to carve out more hours in the day because we all need to communicate a lot more with one another. I need to reach out to legislators more, other than just when there’s a problem. I think we’ve all gotten so busy and taken on more that communication doesn’t take place. Despite disappointment, I’m still optimistic. I’m not suggesting that it’s the single avenue schools should pursue. I want schools and communities to have choices, so why not make this a viable legal option so school districts could pursue that choice if they wanted to? We’ve gotten our foot in a couple of other doors recently with the business community and economic development line of things and that’s valuable. We need businesses to push pol-

icy makers from the other direction — saying this is what we need in the workforce. I think those districts receive the services, the study and data they paid for and were looking for and have options. They came up with six working models — three of them regional high schools — but also looking at a traditional type of centralization and tuitioning. Of the six models, five would save a significant amount of money and dramatically increase programs.

5

NNYB: How are the opportunities between economic development and education unique in St. Lawrence County?

BURNS: When you compare us to Jefferson and Lewis, the thing that strikes me is the lack of a fourlane highway and the fact that significant parts of this county have secondary roads. It’s very limiting.

But we have some advantages. There’s already a long history of collaborating and sharing. Because of the size of our county, we really have three counties within a county. BOCES happens to have a career and technical education center within each of those three parts — in Gouverneur, Ogdensburg and Norwood. We boast the highest CTE participation rate in the state by far of any of the 37 BOCES. Last year, 44 percent of our juniors and seniors participated in a CTE program, so almost half the kids in the county participate in regional education. We just don’t call it that. And transportation streams are already set up going to regional hubs in those three areas. Part of people’s great fear is the elementary schools. I don’t see that as a disadvantage; I see that as an opportunity. Elementary schools really belong in local communities. Even though we’ve been resource challenged, all of our districts have done a nice job keeping up facilities. Down the road, I don’t see any need to move elementary students. But we’re seeing pressure with decreased enrollment in

20 QUESTIONS high school programs. That’s where it gets more specialized and more costly.

6

NNYB: What are some of the more popular programs that keep drawing students to BOCES? BURNS: The quality of CTE has greatly improved.

The fact that we have a 44 percent participation rate means we’re getting all types of students. The stigma of days when students going to career and tech were considered of lesser academic ability isn’t true anymore. There’s great research that participation in CTE — about 90 percent of students in CTE in the state graduate — actually helps in academics and in people and soft skills that students don’t always get in strictly academic courses. We’ve had some success recently with some of these programs like allied health, which we have at two of our centers. We continue to get high enrollment in some of the more traditional programs like building trades. In environmental technology, students get to work with heavy equipment and there’s a forestry landscaping component that’s popular with students in this region. We’re excited about a new pharmacy technician program starting this year in our centers. It’s a great example of the way a CTE program should start: A business approached us — ProAct and Kinney Drugs. ProAct came to us and said we’re probably going to double the number of job opportunities at our facilities in Gouverneur and there might be other openings. These typically wouldn’t be positions for pharmacists, but support positions in those labs. That’s really powerful — a high-end program that would prepare students to go on to pharmacy school if they wanted or to pursue other degrees in the health field, but they could also walk out of high school with a sustainable wage, ready-to-go job and we’re not outsourcing kids.

7

NNYB: What are some other examples of connections BOCES has with the business community?

BURNS: BOCES is the best job I’ve ever had. It took a couple of years to reach a comfort level in an organization that has 650 employees and in 2008 had 15 facilities across the county. We have a lot of connection points — our adult education program is very connected with businesses and with the Workplace Investment Board. I try to attend monthly chamber of commerce meetings. Last week, I appeared before the North Country Regional Economic Development Council, which is an important group for us to connect with so we can really stress education as economic development, not as a public sector drain on the system. What we’re finding with the Cuomo administration is that there are grant opportunities, but they come very quickly. They usually involve a mix of business agencies, business connections and higher education. This summer we formed a partnership with CITEC and then had Alcoa chip in $50,000.

We need to take partnerships we already have and improve worksite and work-based experiences. It’s hard, but it ultimately benefits students and businesses if we can give kids a clearly articulated path to a career. Educators and schools can’t do that alone.

We need businesses to help.

8

NNYB: How do you convince people that the path forward doesn’t always have to be a four-year degree, but rather good vocational training?

BURNS: I always think of it generally as post-secondary; to me it’s not important if it’s a four-year college or a university degree. The military does an incredible job with post-secondary training. One of the most powerful things I ever attended was the weeklong Marine Corps annual educators’ tour on Parris Island. I was truly impressed with how the students walking in the door came out 13 weeks later and the incredible job of teaching and organization-

JASON HUNTER | NNY BUSINESS

Thomas R. Burns, St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES district superintendent, in his Canton office. Mr. Burns has been in the job for the past five years, after working as a social studies teacher, principal and superintendent. al management. Everybody knows everybody else’s job and is focused on outcomes. There can be many different types of successful post-secondary training — keep the outcome in mind. Everybody talks about the global economy. The U.S. came out of World War II on top and did a tremendous job with the post-war economy and now we’ve come back to earth. In those decades, other nations studied very carefully what we were doing, benchmarked us, adapted those strategies to fit their own countries and did it better. In the educational sense, we know the commonalities among high-achieving countries, so we need to study those so we can replicate and improve them here.

9

NNYB: What kind of success have you had in getting kids excited about opportunities here?

BURNS: It’s going very well. The participation rate is evidence of that. Our success really comes down to one word: engagement. Students love CTE because they don’t feel that it’s cookie-cutter activity like being handed a worksheet to keep busy. They feel like they’re doing adult, hands-on work and they can see the applicability of the academic component to the CTE program. We should do more of that in general instruction.

10

NNYB: How many students are there in the CTEs? BURNS: We have just above 1,000 and we’ve been there for about a decade. We have just above 16,000 students in the K-12 system. We’re one of the few in the state where the BOCES is almost completely contiguous with the county border. Harrisville Central School is the only one of the 18 not fully in St. Lawrence County — about two thirds of it lops over into Lewis County — the other 17 districts sit completely in St. Lawrence County.

11

NNYB: How is the increased competition for grants and state aid impacting BOCES? BURNS: It’s a real challenge. Our districts are small and rural and 16 are considered high needs under the state education department’s formula from a property value and personal income standpoint, while the other two are average. That’s forced our schools to share and collaborate. Competition for grants initially looks disadvantageous to us, it’s not like every district has a grant writer and administrators in here wear a lot of hats. But we’re behaving like a region through things like our grant writing consortium. We are entering into a partnership with Jefferson-Lewis BOCES to share grant writing services, so we’ll have 30-plus districts instead of 18. For

The Thomas R. Burns file AGE: 43 JOB: District Superintendent, St. LawrenceLewis BOCES FAMILY: Wife, Sheila, two daughters, Ellie, 14, Lucie, 8 HOMETOWN: Norwood EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in history and certification in education from SUNY Potsdam, master’s degree in secondary education and social studies from SUNY Potsdam, certificate of administrative coursework from St. Lawrence University EXPERIENCE: District Superintendent at St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES for last five years, previously superintendent of schools at ParishvilleHopkinton Central School for four years, junior/senior high school principal and athletic director at Parishville-Hopkinton, high school social studies teacher at Watertown High School from 1992-1997, social studies teacher at Norwood-Norfolk Central School District from 1997-2000, then assistant principal there for one year LAST BOOK READ: “The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War”

by Andrew Roberts some grants, you have to meet certain demographic criteria, which Jefferson-Lewis can help us do. With the issue of physics this year at General Brown, it’s not just that it looked like they weren’t going to get physics, but a unit cost issue from the financial side — it’s not very efficient to run a physics class with four students. People intuitively like lower class sizes, but four students taking physics in one small school is not the most challenging academic environment.

Wouldn’t it be better if you could bring 15 or 20 really high end kids together from different schools to offer some diversity and originality of thought?

12

NNYB: What’s the technology side of that type of distance learning?

BURNS: We’ve actually been doing distance learning for quite some time — at least 15 years. It’s a good technology and it’s worked for our districts over the years, but it’s been limited when not all of the school district schedules align. We’re trying to

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 47

20 QUESTIONS take a look at this BOCES in terms of online opportunities because we want to keep our DL network going. We also recognize that it’s quickly becoming old technology. We see higher education moving toward online. We’re just staring to create some capacity here, but we’re trying to be mindful of what doesn’t seem to have worked very well, which is straight online learning where the student is just at the computer and not supported. The most popular approach now is blended online — a combination of classroom instruction with online, which is very important. It still takes a dedicated, effective teacher to deliver and facilitate effective instruction.

13

NNYB: What gets you excited to come to work every day and do this job?

BURNS: It’s probably the thing that’s making many people nervous and apprehensive right now in education — that we’re in a time of great change. In 10 years, the whole educational landscape could look very different. That’s freaking a lot of people out, but it speaks to me. Any job I’ve ever held in teaching or in administration, I’ve constantly had to learn new things and utilize different things in my lessons. When it comes to the instructional day, the school schedule, how we deliver instruction, I have a restless personality. I do respect and hear about and grapple with every day the idea of how to do this in a climate of doing more with fewer resources. But I think that will drive innovation and point us in some new directions. To not know what this all looks like in five or 10 years is pretty exciting.

14

NNYB: Is there some frustration in education over the continual redevelopment of core curriculum?

BURNS: You get this cyclical mentality in education, some of which I suppose is well deserved. But I do think it comes from a faulty sense that educators have about professional development. You don’t hear people in other professions, for example doctors, refusing to go to training or saying that training is irrelevant.

Maybe our training hasn’t been relevant enough or isn’t good enough, and it’s something we need to work on. The reason we always struggle with this in educational reform is the same reason behind every issue we ever confront this country — the inherent push-pull between local, state and national control.

Now we’re in the midst of Common Core standards.

Just within this county, we’re doing a much better job with having our school districts use similar methods for teacher and principal evaluations and for curricula, which benefits kids because we have a huge transient population. Nobody would ever want to see us hinder teachers’ creativity. But to have a common curriculum map and timeline is tremendously valuable.

NNYB: Do you think we’ll ever see a merit-based teacher compensation system or tenure reform?

15

BURNS: The results come back mixed in terms of teacher evaluations. We have to be careful with linking that to tests and pay. I would look to more of the Finnish model where they have established very, very high standards for their teacher training programs so it’s a recruitment issue on the front end by making teacher education programs extremely rigorous and hard to get into. Then in Finland they give them great autonomy and pay them well — they’re considered on a par with other professionals who have gone through research programs at universities.

They’ve gotten good results. It took them 15 to 20 years. We’re trying to do this with short-term policy decisions, but ultimately when you change a whole system like this it’s usually a long-term policy change that takes 10 to 15 years. I’ve seen great benefits from collaboration, not from competition. With merit pay, I see some problems in that you’re creating a competitive model rather than a collaborative model.

16

NNYB: Is there too much emphasis on testing?

BURNS: I think there’s a general misunderstanding about testing. Testing is very necessary and very useful when it’s used in the right context and when there’s the right amount of reliability and validity to the questions. Let’s do this in a long-term policy way where we connect curriculum to assessments. When people start doing polls, it appears that communities and politicians and certain bodies like testing, because it gives them a very clear standard that they can quickly assess. But any of us who have worked with kids and teachers know that many variables go into that.

17

NNYB: There are concerns that there should be some kind of benefit and pension reform. What do you think could lead to more sustainable practices?

BURNS: We’re changing the benefit design of our programs and going for more premium contributions from the employees. Years ago we just offered one traditional health plan and now we have evolved into some Plan B riders, instituted three-tier co-pay and increased co-pays on the medical side. We started a high deductible program in some districts. At some point it’s going to require a more drastic, fundamental change in how that’s delivered. In this region, we have teacher contracts that go back many decades, probably to the 60s or early 70s when teachers might have been earning $5,000 or $7,000 a year.

Because Alcoa and GM were going strong in this county, adults were leaving teaching jobs and taking jobs at the plants. A logical thing for schools to do then was to offer health insurance, which was cheap.

Unfortunately, we carried those contracts forward for many decades. I don’t know if we’ve seen the biggest part of the baby boomer bubble exit stage right

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NNY Business | October 2013

yet but I think when that group all goes, their legacy costs are going to hit the books and it could become unmanageable. The last two years I’ve had a greater than average number of retirees, so my sense is that we’re starting to see that group go.

18

NNYB: What about pension reform? Do you see a future where it has a more private sector structure?

BURNS: Some other states and, from a distance, it seems to work a little better, have moved those costs to the state level. But their overall school funding has also changed so we get back to this inherent pushpull between local and state control. People want local control of schools, but they don’t want to bear local costs. I think shifting to a private sector structure would drastic at least in New York. The Teachers Retirement System in New York has done fairly well and been well managed so that might give us some flexibility. Like everything else, we have to be creative.

We started offering high deductible insurance that’s somewhat more privatized — we don’t have it here at BOCES, but about a half dozen schools use it. The reason it caught on in this county is that farmers who ran their own farms in the western part of the county and sat on school boards offered high deductible insurance to farm employees. The critical difference is that I don’t think the farm employees were entitled to health insurance in their retirement, so that’s an interesting twist and maybe a way to think about it going forward to create options for employees. If we can get employees to take control of their own health insurance, that’s where real savings comes in.

19

NNYB: What’s next? Where would you like your organization to be in five years?

BURNS: We’ve done some really good things here — moving to this building was tremendous. That process started long before I came on board, but it took about 10 years. For the first time we’ve got seven different facilities here at one site so we’re re-configuring everything from our human resource functions to every other division. I hope we will have addressed statewide a different way to fund school districts that is more equitable so rural communities are not disadvantaged and rural kids get their fair shake. I would hope the financial situation in the country is alleviated to the point where maybe we develop some more innovative ways to do business and we can get back to the more important business of improving educational outcomes. And I hope to see education and economic development in this county more integrated so we’re not losing as many people — hopefully see some more businesses coming back and businesses staying in the area to benefit our schools and our kids.

20

NNYB: What’s special about this area to you and what’s next for you personally?

BURNS: I’m a St. Lawrence County guy. I grew up here. It’s a great place to raise a family. We have so many precious natural resources. We’ve got the colleges and universities and all the art and music opportunities. Every weekend there’s so much to do.

People are really decent here. People take pride in the fact that they’re north country people and I do see a difference here compared to other parts of the state — people are more collaborative. So it doesn’t have me in a hurry to do bigger things in some other part of the state. I just want to get some good things done for the kids in St. Lawrence County. There are many things we have the power to do in the next decade or so.

— Interview by Ken Eysaman.

Edited for length and clarity.

NONPROFIT TOOL KIT

Consider a proactive grant strategy

Y

ou may be asking, “What is proactive grant seeking?”

Isn’t the act of submitting an application for grant funding proactive rather than merely sitting back and waiting for foundations to find you and make grants? True. That is an initial way to look at being proactive in your grant-seeking efforts.

For the sake of this column, proactive grant-seeking is the act of writing a proposal — or at least a proposal outline — before you identify a funding source or even a request for proposal or application.

I can hear the questions now: “Why write a proposal if you aren’t sure there will even be a funding source to submit the proposal to?”

Responding to open RFPs/RFAs is a critical piece of a grant-seeking strategy for any nonprofit organization. However, responding only to open RFPs/RFAs leaves your organization in a position where you are missing out on funding sources that do not publish formal requests for proposals. In that case, you and your organization are being reactive in scheduling applications for grant money.

When you write a proposal for a program that you want to launch, expand or find additional support for prior to reading a RFP/RFA or making a list of funders that you want to approach for support, you have increased the chances for a better outcome by: n Focusing on the ideal layout for your proposed program.

n Creating a true project budget for the pilot or expansion rather than building a budget based on a grant award ceiling. n Keeping the proposal in-line with your Diane Leonard organization’s strategic plan – or at least its stated mission, vision and goals if you don’t have a concrete strategic plan.

A number of grant databases that include private and corporate foundations for nonprofits are available for research.

Using these search results to create a proactive plan is an excellent start. There are also forecasting sites available for some state and federal agencies that are appropriate for nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Finally, for state and federal agencies, you can look at their deadlines for the previous year or two in specific program areas and use that as a guide to determine what funding may become available. It can serve as a basis to reach out to agency staff to clarify their understanding of funding priorities and timelines for the upcoming year.

I encourage you to sit back and consider what programs you would seek funding support for if you weren’t focused on specific restrictions of a RFP/RFA and let that start to guide your grant-seeking strategy.

There will always be open RFPs/RFAs to respond to, and while you shouldn’t stop applying through those avenues, you may want to consider being more proactive in your grant-seeking approach as a way to cast your net wider. Who knows, a new strategy may just work to grow grant revenues in your organization’s budget.

I encourage you to sit back and consider what programs you would seek funding support for if you weren’t focused on specific restrictions of a RFP/RFA and let that start to guide your grant-seeking strategy.

Outlining the proposal and project budget first as “boiler plate” and then looking for funders that have missions and values similar to your organization or proposed program accomplishes two important things: It leads to a higher percentage of success for submitted proposals.

And it makes implementation of funded programs more seamless so they are well aligned with your organization’s strategic plan or mission.

I can hear your second question: “How do we find out about these funding opportunities and create a proactive grantseeking strategy?”

n DIANE H. LEONARD is a certified grant professional who is president and owner of DH Leonard Consulting & Grant Writing Services in Clayton. Contact her at 285-5194 or diane@ dhleonardconsulting.com. Visit her online at www.dhleonardconsulting.com.

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 49

E C O N O M I C A L LY S P E A K I N G

GIS programs have numerous uses

A

Geographic Information System is a computerized system used to store, analyze, retrieve and manipulate spatial data.

Many people use GIS technology without realizing it. The last time you were in a new city looking for the nearest coffee shop, you may have used your smart phone’s map app to find it. MapQuest, Google Earth and the GPS device in your vehicle are all examples of GIS. GIS technology is a combination of hardware, software and data that is used to collect, manage and display information. GIS has a wide range of uses and capabilities.

Trucking and distribution companies use it to plan delivery routes.

Retailers use GIS to track sales and manage their inventory. If Bob’s Outdoor World has two locations, he might use GIS to track his sales. Bob’s data shows that one store sells hundreds of fishing lures while another sells more hiking equipment. He can use this information to plan next year’s inventory and promotional sales or target advertising to the right people.

Location is the heart and soul of the real estate business. Firms use GIS for everything from planning commercial development sites to calculating the quality of life in a neighborhood. Data like the locations of schools, grocery stores, business parks, recreational areas and public transportation can help a realtor guide a home buyer to the perfect house.

Emergency responders use GIS to prioritize disaster areas and send personnel and resources where they are needed the most.

Superstorm Sandy ravaged many parts of New York state and GIS was a critical tool

in the rescue and recovery phases.

Maps created in GIS showed the extent of flooding and infrastructure damage in areas affected by the storm. The public had access to an Internetbased application Star Carter that allowed them to search for their address and view images of their homes.

Other applications featured maps showing which gas stations were open and where the power was out. This kind of real-time information is extremely useful to emergency crews, government officials and the public during natural disasters and crisis situations.

The ability to combine unrelated data by spatial location is a key benefit of GIS. This utility is particularly useful to north country government organizations that are responsible for managing public infrastructure and coordinating environmental protection and community planning. Municipalities and local governments in the north country are utilizing GIS technology to be more efficient and to better serve their constituents. GIS is used for asset management, site planning, maintaining tax parcel data and more.

With the help of grant funding, several north country municipalities have implemented GIS to better manage their water and wastewater infrastructure. These towns and villages were juggling aging infrastructure systems, in addition to new construc-

tion and additions to their water and wastewater systems. They relied on paper records to keep track of their infrastructure, many of which were decades old, damaged or incomplete. By implementing a web-based GIS, these communities created a centralized repository of water and wastewater records that could be shared and accessed by members of the community’s staff and the general public. The GIS allows users to store, view, share and maintain water and wastewater records quickly and easily, saving time and money.

Several GIS map viewers are available to the north country public. Many of the local government websites, including the counties of Jefferson, St. Lawrence and Lewis, provide links to their GIS applications featuring tax parcel data and other information. The Development Authority of the North Country maintains a map viewer, accessible to the public through a link on their website’s main page, www.danc.org, which features DANC-owned infrastructure, in addition to tax parcel and other data. These map viewers give the public free access to valuable information to make business plans, determine site selection for new construction or just satisfy their curiosity about their neighborhoods.

The applications and capabilities of GIS are endless. From a simple map that shows customers where to find a coffee shop to a complex application that tracks regional market trends, GIS can help businesses and governments use their time, money and resources more efficiently. n STAR CARTER is a GIS specialist for the Development Authority of the North Country.

Contact her at scarter@danc.org.

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NNY Business | October 2013

B U S I N E S S L AW

Express warranties certify standards

T

here is one important legal pitfall that small business owners who sell or lease goods should be aware of— the creation of a warranty. A warranty is an assurance that leased or sold goods will perform to a certain standard, are fit for a particular purpose or are fit for their ordinary purpose. Warranties are either express or implied in law.

An express warranty is created by representations of a seller or lessor of goods that they conformed to a certain quality, condition or performance. An express warranty can be created even if there wasn’t an actual intent of the seller or lessor to do so. A small business owner should be careful in their customer relations so that they do not inadvertently do so. An owner may want to examine their advisements and review any written material or statements that they provide to customers.

Generally, express warranties are created in three ways. Any affirmation of fact or promise made by a seller or lessor creates an express warranty that the goods actually conform to the affirmation or promise. For example, if a farmer is selling milking cows and has made promises on their milk production, then an express is created that the milking cows will perform to that standard.

The second way an express warranty can be created is by a description of the goods, which means that the leased or sold goods must conform to the description. In this

circumstance an express warranty is created if a blueprint or drawing is used to help facilitate the sale or lease of goods.

Lastly, an express warranty can be created if the Larry Covell small business owner uses a sample or model to induce a sale or lease of the goods. If the owner

necessary under New York law is that a reasonable buyer or lessee regarded the representations as part of the bargain.

Suppose someone selling a used boat represents the following to a potential buyer: “This is the best fishing boat on the St. Lawrence River, it is powered by 25 horsepower outboard motor and it was refurbished this year.” Generally, only statements that are factual and verifiable are actionable, while opinion statements are not. The actionable representations are that the boat is powered by a 25 horsepower outboard motor and was refurbished this year. The statement that “this is the best fishing boat on the St. Lawrence River” is an opinion because it is not verifiable or factual.

Opinion statements are referred to as “puffery”: words and actions that enhance and embellish goods to help in their sale or lease, but which are not verifiable or factual.

Statements of opinion as to the value of the goods are not actionable either. These type of statements are that goods are valued at a certain price or could easily be sold for certain amount. For example, if the above seller stated that the fishing boat is easily worth $15,000 or more, that would be a statement of value and an express warranty is not created that the fishing boat is actually worth $15,000.

An express warranty is created by representations of a seller or lessor of goods that they conformed to a certain quality, condition or performance. does use a sample or model then the good must conform to sample or model. When a seller or lessor of mobile homes uses a sample mobile home to show potential buyers or lessees what their mobile home will be like, he or she has created an express warranty.

Once the representations are made by the seller or lessor, they must become the “basis of the bargain” for the buyer or lessee’s decision to go ahead with the transaction. Basis of the Bargain means that the representations were made in a way that helped induce the buyer or lessee to make the transaction. An express warranty can be created even though the seller or lessor did not use legal or formal words such as warrant, guarantee or promise. All that is

n LARRY COVELL is a professor of business at Jefferson Community College and an attorney.

Contact him at lcovell@sunyjefferson.edu. His column appears every other month in NNY Business.

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 51

COMMERCE CORNER

Employee training key to success

D

oes your organization have an orientation process or training program for all new hires? Do you offer continuing education training to ensure employees receive necessary tools to be successful within the organization? If the answer is no, you could be doing your employees and your business a disservice.

Training can be defined as many different things and means different things for different types and sizes of business, but it is necessary. The first step in assessing the needs of a training program for your organization is to specifically define what you expect your employees to be able to do upon completion of the training. Training programs benefit both the employee and the employer.

What better way to welcome a person to your organization and ensure they have the fundamentals of the company than through training? The message conveyed to employees is invaluable. Additionally, educating employees on what specifically the organization does assists in making the employee feel knowledgeable about the organization, which ultimately boosts the employees’ confidence in their ability to support the employer’s mission.

In many organizations, core curriculums offered to new employees include: n Mission, vision and organization philosophy n Policies and procedures

n Language

and verbiage of the organization n Quality Assurance and Corporate Compliance n Safety training Regardless of the content of the new Lynn Pietroski orientation for employees, it is a crucial opportunity to connect your employees to the company’s business needs and goals.

Employees may admit to being stronger in some areas and needing improvement in others. Providing training or development programs to veteran employees addresses employees’ needs and provides opportunities to improve skills and knowledge. This form of training will likely result in increased productivity and confidence in completing a job.

When an employer makes investments in an employee, the employee feels valued and connected to the organization, resulting in the employee being more effective, creative and loyal to the organization. Ongoing training and professional development yeild productivity, team spirit, quality work, a healthy work environment, improved morale, profitability and an overall positive image of the company internally as well as externally.

Training comes via various venues. Some can be developed internally, while other training can be completed online or off-site. Regardless of the means, there are creative ways to incorporate employee training into the everyday office environment.

Take the time to research what type of training best meets the needs of your organization and employees: employees often become the foundation for an organization’s success or, conversely, can spell its demise.

Regardless of the means, there are creative ways to incorporate employee training into the everyday office environment. Take the time to research what type of training best meets the needs of your organization.

In most organizations, training does not end with new employees or new orientation training; continuous learning not only benefits the employee, but in many ways benefits the employer.

Providing employees with a structured training and development program ensures employers that employees are receiving experience and background knowledge consistent with trends, current topics relevant to the company and any needed support. Having all employees continually receive the same training also ensures that all have the same exposure to the company’s initiatives.

n LYNN PIETROSKI is president and CEO of the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce. Contact her at ceo@watertownny. com. Her column appears monthly.

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NNY Business | October 2013

AGRI-BUSINESS

Cook up business in a new kitchen

E

ntrepreneurs trying to cook up new business now have a great facility in Jefferson County to work in. A shareduse kitchen at Madison Barracks opened its doors last month, providing existing or budding entrepreneurs who manufacture food products a more efficient means of doing so that can in turn help them expand their business.

The facility, which has a 20-C license, allows small-scale, value-added food producers to rent time and space to make their product.

A 20-C kitchen is a facility approved by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Not everyone who makes food products for sale is required to use a 20-C kitchen. According to the department’s website, processors of home-processed foods may be exempted from the 20-C licensing requirements if they meet the following conditions: n All finished product containers are clean, sanitary and properly labeled. n All home processed foods produced under this exemption are neither adulterated nor misbranded. n Glass containers for jams, jellies, marmalades and similar products are provided with suitable rigid metal covers. n All home-processed foods are sold only within New York State.

The exemption is only available to these non-potentially hazardous homeprocessed foods; bakery products, like bread, rolls, cookies, cakes, brownies, fudge and double-crust fruit pies for wholesale marketing or retail agricultur-

al venues such as farms, farm stands, farmers markets, green markets, craft fairs and flea markets; traditional jams, jellies and marmalades made with high Jay Matteson acid/low pH fruits; repacking/blending dried spices or herbs; snack items such as popcorn, caramel corn and peanut brittle; and candy (excluding chocolate—tempering chocolate or candy melts for molding or dipping is not allowed). Any finished product that requires refrigeration is not allowed to be produced as a home processor.

Products that do not fall under the 20-C kitchen exemption as noted above may be required to manufacture their product in a licensed facility. Many producers buy time in private facilities used by an individual business or organization. The producer still has to obtain the permit and have the facility inspected for their own use.

Often the facility may not have the capability to support the needs of a business. For example, someone producing pepper jams may develop enough demand for their product that they outgrow the capability of the current kitchen. The pepper jam producer hasn’t grown enough to justify building its own facility for manufacturing its product.

This is where the shared-use kitchen like the one at Madison Barracks can come in.

The kitchen can support someone who is just starting production of their own product. An entrepreneur who has a food product that requires the use of a 20-C facility and has gone through the product development steps required by the department of Ag & Markets, but doesn’t have a place to begin making it can rent space and time at Madison Barracks to start their business.

The Spicy Wench, a Watertown-based producer of pepper and fruit jellies, is the first client of the Madison Barracks facility and now has the ability to make more product in less time. The increased efficiency also allows the owner to experiment with new flavors and products.

Visit www.madisonbarrackskitchen. com or call 646-3374 or Betsey Nichols from the state Ag and Markets Syracuse office at 487-0852 for more information or to book time in the kitchen.

For those who are just beginning to explore the idea of becoming a value-added food processor, the best place to start is the Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship at Cornell University located in Geneva. Visit www.necfe.foodscience. cals.cornell.edu or call 787-2273.

My office can also help you decide what steps are necessary to get you “cooking up business.”

n JAY M. MATTESON is agricultural coordinator for the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency. He is a lifelong Northern New York resident who lives in Lorraine. Contact him at coordinator@comefarmwithus.com.

His column appears monthly.

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| 53

BUSINESS TECH BYTES

IP phone systems worth the move

E

ven as more and more people are sporting cellphones, your business’s land line is in many ways still the lifeline to your customers. If you have not made the move already, 2014 should be the time you look to an Internet Protocol phone system and unified communications at your organization. An IP phone system uses your existing Internet connection to converge or unify your voice, data and even video conferencing, providing cost savings over traditional copper telephone lines and a PBX phone system.

Before you make the leap, there are several considerations to ensure a satisfactory employee and customer experience.

Voice and video conferencing are not as forgiving as mail and file sharing. Have you experienced a slight delay when retrieving email or downloading something from your file server or the Internet?

That same slight delay, which is actually caused by network latency, called jitter or packet loss, is highly noticeable while on an IP call or during a video conferencing session. Your network’s bandwidth needs to be examined for its potential to handle your business’s simultaneous calls and video sessions.

You will also need to work with your phone vendor to discuss the voice encoding schemes that will be used with both the IP handsets, as well as the computer softphone you might consider.

Other considerations will revolve around the age of your network infrastructure and your switching and routing network equipment. If your network

is aging, now is the time to invest in high performance equipment that is manufactured as business grade, versus that designed for consumer use.

If wireless is Jill Van Hoesen going to be a consideration, now is the time to rid yourself of the wiring and cable clutter in many older networks today. This is also the time to consider Power Over Internet switches, which are equipped to provide power to your IP devices, eliminating the need for a second local area network drop and saving both time and materials.

Is this going to be a single location upgrade or does your business have one or more branch offices? If so, those wide area network Internet connections also need to be examined and upgraded to take advantage of IP and unified communications. While a typical DSL connection might support two simultaneous calls, if you plan on strengthening your interoffice collaboration via technology, you will need to have SIP trunks, metro Ethernet, MPLS or possibly a T1 connection to these offices.

Your network assessment discussions with your phone vendor will include deployment of virtual LANS, which will segment voice and data on your network.

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NNY Business | October 2013

of service will also be recommended endto-end across your wide area network. The use of QOS will prioritize voice and video traffic over less latent sensitive network traffic such as web surfing and email.

Network resiliency and security also need to be considered as you move to unified communications. Redundant connections between critical business locations can ensure an unplanned network outage will not disrupt business. As more and more businesses are being targeted by hacktivists and cybercriminals, it is imperative with unified communications to install a firewall between your newly designed network and your connection to the outside world. This is especially important if you deploy wireless.

Gigabit WiFi, slated to be finalized in 2014, can be an asset to your unified communications. 802.11ac is shaping up to be faster and more reliable, while delivering more capacity; it is slated to deliver up to 1.3 gigabytes per second, providing capacity for real time applications like IP voice and streaming video.

802.11ac will also operate at the 5 GHz band, not the 2.4 GHZ now used by most wireless access points, as well as garage door openers, cordless phones and other common household appliances. This will translate into less interference between WiFi devices, which in turn means an improved user experience and longer battery life of mobile devices. n JILL VAN HOESEN is chief information officer for Johnson Newspapers and a 25-year IT veteran. Contact her at jvanhoesen@wdt.net.

Her column appears monthly.

SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS

Don’t let a home base limit growth

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any north country entrepreneurs start a business in their home, whether it’s a hobby, a professional service or a mobile business that does not require Main Street or production space. Just because you are home-based, does not mean that your growth has to be limited.

Expand your distribution channels.

If you are selling directly to customers, consider setting up intermediaries to resell your goods or services. Is there a gift shop, mechanic, restaurant, spa or florist that might be interested in selling your product or promoting your service? Can you partner with any of these businesses to create a package or an integrated referral system? Identify these potential clients (they may purchase directly or set up a consignment agreement), then craft your sales pitch and marketing materials to sell in bulk, deliver or ship.

Be prepared to talk about sharing sales or offering discounts. You always want to analyze your costs before beginning negotiations over pricing.

Penetrate your market. If you already have a good client base, there might be a way to increase sales from that group.

Are they seeking other products or services that would complement what you are already offering, such as a higher end product or more variety? If they are reselling your product, perhaps they want to expand your line to include an economy item and/or deluxe, premier or family-sized item. Ask “what more can I offer?” and make it a goal to increase the sales with each of your current customers

by 10 percent.

Develop new markets. Are there other people who might be interested in your product or service if you presented it in a different way?

Brainstorm Brooke Rouse ways that you could repackage, repurpose, perform and present something you already offer; it may be simple to sell your products or services to new groups of people. For example, a hygiene product for humans could be altered to be used for animals; a professional or creative service (think accounting or photography) focused on new parents could be altered to help small business owners. Understand the needs of the new market and see if there is potential growth there.

Hit the road. If you have a mobile unit, consider expanding your fleet to cover a larger area. Bring the business to the customer. If you are selling a product or service within a short distance of your home base, consider expanding that coverage area.

Get online. The Internet is an endless world of growth. You can create your own online store to enhance the purchasing experience for your current customers, or to create follow up opportunities from direct marketing efforts. You can either stock inventory, which may be difficult at home, or set up drop-ship

distribution with companies that carry products you want to resell. You sell the product on your site, the manufacturer or distributor ships it directly to the customer and you get a percentage of the sale.

There are other distribution channels on the Internet, such as Amazon.com, EBay, Etsy and many others, where you can set up space to sell and have access to existing markets.

Leave your home. It is wise to manage growth, start small and expand, resources permitting. Having a business in your home helps to keep overhead down and enables you to benefit from certain tax opportunities.

When starting a business, you want to create cash flow, establish a brand and a client base; these things take time and can devastate a business overwhelmed with overhead.

There will come a time when you wonder whether or not “moving out” will help or delay progress. This is a critical strategic decision in your business development, and should be managed with a growth plan. Identify the changes in the business, and analyze whether or not you can manage the growth in expenses and sales; that way you will know and feel confident with your decision and how you can make a successful transition.

n BROOKE (JAMES) ROUSE is a business advisor with the New York State Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton.

She is a small business owner and event planner and holds a master’s degree in tourism and hospitality management from the University of the West Indies, Barbados. Contact her at jamesb@canton.edu.

October 2013 | NNY Business

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COMMUNITY / BUSINESS CALENDAR

ADAMS SATURDAY, NOV. 16

n South Jeff Taste of the Town, 6 to 9 p.m., Adams Fire Hall, 4 N. Main St. Enjoy a taste of food prepared by some of Six Town’s best chefs and cooks.

Sponsored by South Jeff Chamber of Commerce and hosted by Adams Revitalization Committee. $15 admission benefits the Adams Volunteer Fire Department and the South Jeff Rescue Squad. Information: www.southjeffchamber.org.

BOONVILLE THURSDAY, OCT. 17

n National Bioenergy Day, 1 p.m., Agens Farm, 7453 East Ava Road. Shrub Willow Biomass Harvest Demonstration by biomass energy supplier Celtic Energy Farm. Collaboration by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and ReEnergy Holdings as part of National Bioenergy Day. Free and open to the public. Information: www.newyorkbiomass.org or 1 (607) 316-3437.

CAPE VINCENT MONDAY, NOV. 11

n Veteran’s Day Services, 11 a.m., Parade down Broadway to Memorial Park on N. Esselstyne Street.

Free. Information: Cape Vincent Chamber of Commerce, 654-2481.

CANTON

Style BBQ Contest, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Frink Park.

Participants will build trebuchets, a siege engine used in the Middle Ages, to toss a pumpkin as far as possible. Day includes horse drawn carriage rides, boat tours, pumpkin sales, pumpkin bowling, children’s pumpkin smashing, farmers market, pumpkin crafts and carving, a scarecrow contest and more. Punkin Chunkin at 11 a.m., awards at 2 p.m., barbecue serving to the public at 11 a.m.

Two categories of the Punkin Chunkin competition: best overall design and farthest throw for height of trebuchet. Teams of local grillers will face off in a non-sanctioned Kansas City-Style BBQ contest; people’s taste test at 11:30 a.m., pork and chicken samples will be sold with proceeds to benefit local nonprofits. Free admission. Information: www.1000islands-clayton.com/punkinchunkin.

FRIDAY, NOV. 1

n Annual roast pork dinner to benefit the Thousand Islands Museum, 5 to 6 p.m., Clayton American Legion, 518 Riverside Drive. Takeout available at 4:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit the museum. Tickets: Adults, $10; Children 12 and younger, $7. Information: Sharon@timuseum.org or 686-5794.

SATURDAY, NOV. 2

n Battle of French Creek presentation, 1 to 3 p.m.

Presentation on two-day battle fought near Clayton during the War of 1812. Speakers include Norm Wagner, Clayton historian. Forsyth Rifles, a reenactment group, will have displays and give a presentation. Admission: $5, includes luncheon.

Reservations: 686-5794.

SATURDAY, NOV. 9

TUESDAY, OCT. 22

n Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County and American Dairy Association joint annual dinner, 7 p.m., Best Western University Inn, 90 E. Main St. Cocktails begin at 6:30 p.m. Tickets: $20; ADA members will receive two free tickets.

Information, registration: 379-9192.

CARTHAGE WEDNESDAY, NOV. 13

n Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Little Sisters Inn at Herrings, 35802 New York Route 3. Refreshments, prizes, networking. Cost: $4. Information, registration: 493-3590 or carthagechamber@central ny.twcbc.com.

CLAYTON SATURDAY, OCT. 19

n 2nd Annual Punkin Chunkin and Kansas City

n “Basic joinery” boat building course, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Antique Boat Museum. Learn the basics of joinery in this hands-on workshop. Tuition: Members, $100; Non-members, $110. Registration: www.abm.org.

LOWVILLE SATURDAY, OCT. 19

n Taste of Home Cooking School, 3 to 6 p.m., Lowville Academy & Central School Auditorium, 7668 North State St. Doors open to view vendors at 11 a.m., show starts at 3 p.m. Lunch will be available to purchase. All participants receive a gift bag. Door prizes. Cookbooks will be sold.

Taste of Home publishes magazines, special interest recipe collections and cookbooks and hosts more than 300 cooking schools around the country each year. Admission: $15; VIP, $50. Tickets: 376-2321 or www.mountainviewprevention.org.

MALONE

SATURDAY, OCT. 19

n Rotary Foundation Fall Blast 2013, 6 p.m.,

Malone Golf Country Club, 79 Golf Course Road.

Dinner, dancing to Slab City, raffles and prizes.

Tickets: $100 per couple. All proceeds benefit the Rotary Club of Malone youth programs. Information: events@malonerotary.org.

OGDENSBURG SATURDAY, OCT. 19

n Fort la Presentation Annual Dinner, 5:30 to 10 p.m., Gran-View Restaurant, Route 37. Fort la Presentation Association will honor Anne Marie Johnson with the Persis Yates Boyesen Award and Larry Mix with the David Dickinson Award.

Period dress is encouraged but not required. Cost: $35. Tickets: Barbara O’Keefe, 323-2593 or from members of the Fort Board.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23

n Senior health and wellness fair, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Odd Fellows Temple, 424 Bigelow St. Agencies and businesses promoting health and wellness for seniors will attend. Admission is free. Register a business: state Sen. Patricia A. Ritchie’s office, 782-3418.

MONDAY, OCT. 28

n Look Good…Feel Better Program, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, HR Conference Room, Annex Building. Free program offered by CHMC’s Winter Cancer Treatment Center and the American Cancer Society for female cancer patients. Get beauty tips, learn make-up, hair and wig techniques and more.

Held the last Monday of the month. Information: 393-2314 or www.chmed.org.

OSWEGO FRIDAY, OCT. 18

n Fourth annual Oswego County harvest dinner, 6:15 p.m., The American Foundry, 246 W. Seneca St. Event includes social hour, beverage sampling, six-course meal, guest speaker Chris Fesko—educator, farmer, videographer and producer. Tickets: $35; two, $65. Reservations and pre-payment required: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County, Harvest Dinner, 3288 Main St., Mexico, NY 13144.

REDWOOD SATURDAY, OCT. 19

n Celebrate fall with the IRLC, 1 p.m., Grand Lake Reserve. Retired geologist Ken Schwarz will lead a two-mile hike along the rugged North Ridge Trail. Sponsored by the Indian River Lakes Conservancy. Refreshments will be provided. To

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NNY Business | October 2013

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SYRACUSE THURSDAY, OCT. 17

 CenterState Business Showcase, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., The Oncenter, 800 S. State St. Largest business show in the northeast, featuring businesses across 12 counties and more than 200 exhibitors.

Presented by Time Warner Cable Business Class.

Event also includes speakers and an after-event networking function. Tickets: $5. Exhibit space or to register: www.centerstateceo.com.

SUNDAY, OCT. 20

 Monster Scramble, 10 a.m., 800 Woodlawn Cemetery, Grant Blvd. 5k, 10k and 1-mile Halloween-themed races to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Upstate New York Chapter. Registration from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m.

Registration fee: $25, advance; $30, day of event; registration fee waived for participants who raise $100 or more; walkers ages three and older, $5. Prizes will be awarded to top male and female finishers, best in each age category and best costume. First 200 registered runners and first 200 registered walkers that raise at least $30 by the day of the event will receive a free Monster Scramble T-shirt. Registration, information: bit.ly/1aMIpDF.

TUESDAY, OCT. 24

 Make it Your Mission to Fight Heart Disease in Women, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Holiday Inn Syracuse/Liverpool, 441 Electronics Parkway.

Transformational speaker Joleene Moody will deliver a keynote address. Other health and fitness experts and medical professionals, including Denise McGraw of the health and wellness company Arbonne International, will give presentations on how to improve heart health. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women. Information: www.joleenespeaks.com.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 6

 Fall 2013 Labor and Employment Law Breakfast Briefing: Performing HR Audits: Identifying and Avoiding Employment Risks, 8 a.m., Holiday Inn, 441 Electronics Parkway, Liverpool. Registration, continental breakfast from 8 to 8:30 a.m., program from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Discussion on audits. Cost: $25, Bond client; other guests; $35.

Register: www.bsk.com.

THURSDAY, NOV. 7

 Six Common Mistakes Made by Business Owners, Part 1, 8 to 9 a.m., The Tech Garden, 235 Harrison St. Mistakes include not knowing the true value of your business, being too busy “running the company” to properly execute long-term strategies and assuming you can avoid major disruptions.

Panelists include Andrew Hagen, CFP from AXA Advisors, Robert Cherry, CPA from Dermody, Burke and Brown and Douglas Gorman from Crisafulli and Gorman. Presented by AXA Advisors, LCC. Part two 8 to 9 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 14 at The Tech Garden. Registration, information: www.centerstateceo.com.

WATERTOWN WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16

 2013 Business Networking Expo, 2 to 7 p.m.,

Dulles State Office Building, 317 Washington St. www.watertownny.com or 788-4400.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16

 Business After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Dulles State Office Building, 317 Washington St. An evening of networking, prizes and food sponsored by Samaritan Medical Center. Register by noon on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Admission: Members registered in advance, $8; non-registered members, $10; nonmembers, $12. Registration, information: www. watertownny.com or 788-4400.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16

 Nature’s Nursery, 10 to 11 a.m., New York State Zoo at Thompson Park. Toddlers will discover the zoo through activities including crafts, games and live encounters. Admission: $7; Children of Zoo members, $5. To register: 782-6180.

Information: www.nyszoo.org.

THURSDAY, OCT. 18

 Parents’ Night Out!, 5:30 to 8 p.m., New York State Zoo at Thompson Park. Parents can enjoy a night out while children participate in activities similar to a day of Zoofari, with games, crafts, live animals and some learning. A light snack will be provided. Admission: $10/child; Families with three or more children, $25; Familes of Zoo members, $8 or $20. Payment required in advance: 782-6180.

Information: www.nyszoo.org.

SATURDAY, OCT. 19

 Sing Fling, 7 p.m., Dulles State Office Building, 317 Washington St. Northern Blend Chorus will perform music from classical to contemporary.

Admission: $12; military, $10; children 12 and younger, free. Tickets can be purchased at Arts on the Square or at the door. More information: www. northernblendchorus.homestead.com.

SATURDAY, OCT. 19

 Women Who Make a Difference luncheon/ fashion show, 12 p.m., Paddock Museum. Wine tasting/cocktail hour 12 p.m., lunch 12:30 p.m., fashion show 1 p.m. Presented by the Jefferson County Historical Society. Tickets: Members, $30; Non-members, $35. Reservations by Wednesday, Oct. 16: 782-3491 or admin@jeffersoncountyhistory.org.

SUNDAY, OCT. 20

 14th Annual First Frost AIDS Walk/ Run, 1 p.m., Thompson Park. Proceeds to support the Northern New York AIDS Community Resources Adolescent Prevention Program and client support services.

Participants are asked to raise a minimum of $25; military a minimum of $20. Information: www. firstfrostwalkrun.aids.walkcny.com or 475-2430.

SUNDAY, OCT. 20

 Benefit for Ray John, 12 p.m., North Side Improvement League, 633 Mill St. Benefit to help defray medical costs for Mr. John, who is in stage four renal failure. Live music by Dave Scanlin and Friends, Fred and the Eds and Dawg Bros. Donation: $3. For personal or business donations: John Nickerson, 788-3592.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23

 Frank Warren, 7 p.m., Sturtz Theater, McVean Center, Jefferson Community College. Frank Warren founded PostSecret, which gives people the opportunity to share a story or secret by mail or on decorated postcards. The website has been visited by more than 450 million people and Mr. Warren has received more than 500,000 secrets spanning sexual taboos and criminal activity to confessions. He has written two books about it, appeared on national news outlets and was named the fourth most influential person on the Internet by Forbes in 2009. Free admission. Information: 786-2431.

FRIDAY, OCT. 25

 Occupational Health and Safety training workshops, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Charles H. Bohlen Technical Center (BOCES), 20104 state Route 3.

Accident investigation workshop from 8:30 to 10 a.m., MSDS from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and emergency evacuation from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

Free. Part of series of workshops covering 19 different topics taught by staff from CITEC Business Solutions, Potsdam, and offered by the Jefferson County Industrial Agency from a grant from the New York State Occupational Safety and Health Hazard Abatement Board’s Training and Education Fund. Future workshops will be held on Nov. 22 and Dec. 20 and additional topics are schedule from January to June 2014. Advance registration required: Send name, title, email, phone number, company name, complete address and topics attending to Wilson@citec.org or call Ellie Newvine, 268-3778 x21. Information: George Mauch, 268-3778 x24 or Steve Lockwood, 1 (518) 907-4929.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30  Trusted Trader Initiative, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Fairfield Inn. Workshop will focus on the new U.S. Customs Trusted Trader Initiative, which aims to integrate Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and the Importer Self-Assessment programs. Hosted by the Jefferson County Local Development Corporation Manufacturing Council. Information: http://blog.amberroad.com/ amberroad_blog/?p=871. Register: 782-5865.

SATURDAY, NOV. 9  Jefferson Gala 2013, 8 p.m. to midnight, Jefferson Community College. Cash bar, hors d’oeuvres and desserts. Black tie optional. Event benefits the Jefferson Community College Foundation, which awards 290 scholarships totaling about $300,000 per year. Individual tickets: $95. Tickets, information: www.sunyjefferson.edu.

COMMUNITY / BUSINESS CALENDAR

get to the Grand Lake Reserve parking lot, travel three miles on Cottage Hill Road, bear left on Burns Road, second parking lot on the left. Register: Dani Baker, 482-3663.

SATURDAY, NOV. 13

Fall 2013 Labor and Employment Law Breakfast Briefing: Performing HR Audits: Identifying and Avoiding Employment Risks, 8 a.m., Ramada Inn, 6300 Arsenal St. Registration and continental breakfast from 8 to 8:30 a.m., program from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Discussion on various audits and strategies. Cost: Bond client, $25; other guests, $35.

Register: www.bsk.com.

MONDAY, OCT. 21

 Animal enrichment, 10 to 11 a.m., New York State Zoo at Thompson Park. Create special treats to engage the interest of your favorite zoo animals.

Fee: Members, $4; non-members, $6 plus zoo admission. Advance registration required: www. nyszoo.org or 782-6180.

 GOT A BUSINESS EVENT or calendar item? Email nnybusiness@wdt.net. Deadline is the 10th of each month for the following month’s issue. Visit us on Facebook at www. facebook.com/NNYBusiness or www.nnybizmag.com for events calendar updates.

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 57

BUSINESS SCENE GWNC Chamber of Commerce Athena Award Dinner at Hilton Garden Inn

From left, Margaret B. “Peggy” Coe, 2013 Athena Award recipient, and husband, Benjamin P., Watertown.

Ben and Amber Krug, the Coe family, Rochester.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Marie Watkins, Lynn Schwabenthal, and Rowena Miller, American Association of University Women, Jefferson County Branch. The Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce held its 2013 Athena Award Presentation and Dinner on Sept. 5 at the Hilton Garden Inn, Watertown. Bernier, Carr & Associates, WWNY 7 News/WNYF Fox 28 and Timeless Frames, Décor& Expressions sponsored the event.

Aileen Martin, Transitional Living Services of Northern New York, Watertown, and Deborah Vink, Belleville Henderson Central School District.

COME VISIT THE ALL NEW REDESIGNED WAITE TOYOTA. Serving NNY Since 1929.

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58 |

NNY Business | October 2013

SERVICE

BUSINESS SCENE Clayton Chamber of Commerce Business with a Twist at Antique Boat Museum

Charlie Moehs, Clayton Food Co-op, and Theresa VanBuren, Hazelwood Mechanical, Clayton.

LEAH BULETTI PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

Julie Broadbent, Antique Boat Museum, Mary Zovistoski, The Scoop, Clayton, and Nancy Hyde, Clayton Chiropractic. The Antique Boat Museum, Clayton, hosted the September Business With a Twist on Sept. 19.

Patrick Signor, Patti Kittle and John Nuber, all of RBC Wealth Management, Watertown.

LEAH BULETTI PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

Walt Cummings, Cummings Funeral Service, Watertown, Linda Brown, K’s Motel, Clayton, Mike Hazelwood, Hazelwood Mechanical, Clayton.

BUSINESS OF WOMEN 10TH ANNUAL NETWORKING CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY , NOVEMBER 20, 2013 n LIKE NNY BUSINESS ON FACEBOOK

at www.facebook .com/nny business or scan this QR Code with your smartphone for links to exclusive content, daily updates and sneak peeks of coming issues.

8:30 - 4:00 Ramada, Watertown, NY Tickets: $30 by Nov. 6; $40 by Nov. 14 KEYNOTE SPEAKER plus workshops on a variety of business and personal growth topics. *includes continental breakfast & lunch For more information, contact SBDC at 315-782-9262 or visit facebook.com/businessofwomen October 2013 | NNY Business

| 59

BUSINESS SCENE GWNC Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at Barrett Paving Materials

From left, Pat Dewey, Barrett Paving Materials, Watertown, Annette M. Mason and Jennifer Foley, Aubertine & Currier Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors, Watertown.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Summer Brown, Barrett Paving Materials, Watertown, Kim Cook, Cook Trucking, Watertown, Sally VanTassel, Barrett Paving Materials, Watertown. Barrett Paving Materials hosted the September Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at its Route 37 facilities.

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NNY Business | October 2013

Sylvain Gross, regional manager, Barrett Paving Materials and, Mickie Shepard, administrative assistant, Barrett Paving Materials, Watertown.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Lisa Tyo, Scrub Hub, Watertown, and General Brown Central School District, Dexter; Emily Herman, Scrub Hub; mother, Bonnie Herman, Scrub Hub and Samaritan Medical Center; Janelle Longton, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Watertown; and Rose McDermott, Samaritan Medical Center.

BUSINESS SCENE GWNC Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at Barrett Paving Materials

From left, Cathy Calhoun, Key Bank, Watertown, and Nina Cicone and Andrew LaPlaca, AT&T Wireless, Watertown.

From left, Justin Krafft and Lily Dellinger, Krafft Cleaning Service, Watertown, and Ramon Rivera, Case Supply, Syracuse.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Bill and Sue Scott and Kevin and Patti Shaughnessy, all of North Country Goes Green Irish Festival, Watertown, and Patrick Currier, Aubertine & Currier Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors, Watertown.

From left, Eric Pond, Barton & Loguidice, Watertown, Valerie Deon, Development Authority of the North Country, Watertown, husband, Dan, Barrett Paving Materials, Watertown, and Dustin Clark, also of Barton & Loguidice.

Marra’s Homecare

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October 2013 | NNY Business

| 61

BUSINESS SCENE Lewis County Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting

Alyssa Taylor and Wes Kujawa, Farm Credit East.

Mary Ann Kaputa and Craig Kaputa, Geo Integrate, LLC.

JEREMIAH PAPINEAU PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

Mary and Doug Hanno, Lewis County Clerk. The Lewis County Chamber of Commerce held its Annual Meeting and Anniversary Recognition Presentation on Sept. 19 at its Lowville offices.

JEREMIAH PAPINEAU PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Rose Larkins, The Arc, Judy Colton, Volunteer Transportation Center, and Romey Noftsier, The Arc.

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WWW.WAITEMOTORSPORTS.COM 62 |

NNY Business | October 2013

BUSINESS SCENE Jefferson Leadership Institute Class of 2013 Kick-off Dinner at Riveredge Resort

Jeanne LaRock, New York Air Brake, Watertown, and Cathy Stenfeldt, Community Action Planning Council, Watertown, both Jefferson Leadership Institute Class of 2014.

Edie Feickert-Peck, Indian River Intermediate School and husband, Robert Peck, New York State DOT and Jefferson Leadership Institute Class of 2014.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Brad Arthur, GYMO Architecture, Engineering & Land Surveying; Andrew Nichols, City of Watertown; Bonnie Eppolito, WPBS-TV, Watertown; and Justin Wood, City of Watertown, all Jefferson Leadership Institute Class of 2014. The Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce kicked off its new Jefferson Leadership Institute class at the Riveredge Resort & Conference Center, Alexandria Bay, on Sept. 27.

From left, Morgan Bocciolatt, Samaritan Medical Center Children’s Miracle Network; Michelle Monnat, Children’s Home of Jefferson County; Jennifer Dindl-Neff, Humes Realty and Appraisal Service; Shawna Cutuli, Watertown Family YMCA, all Jefferson Leadership Institute Class of 2014, and Jasmine Borreggine, NNY Cheer.

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Watertown • 788-3732 October 2013 | NNY Business

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NNY Business | October 2013

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We offer chauffeured limo service for weddings, proms, sporting events, concerts, bachelor/bachelorette parties, or anywhere you want to go! Choose from our selection, which includes features like a Hummer limo and an F250 Harley Davidson Edition truck limo.

Three C ’s Limousine threecslimousine.com • Contact Jeff Powis @ 315-523-0007 9421 Number Three Rd., Lowville, NY 13367 October 2013 | NNY Business

| 65

BUSINESS HISTORY

One-stop shopping

n Empsall’s once

reigned supreme in elegance, service

By LEAH BULETTI NNY Business

E

mpsall’s Department Store, a Watertown icon for 86 years, was like a cat with nine lives, enduring seemingly insurmountable obstacles: the opening of Salmon Run Mall built outside the city in 1986, the evolution of casual everyday style, the proliferation of catalog shopping, floods.

But the beloved and prestigious store, which had 50 departments at its peak and was the cornerstone of downtown Watertown commerce, succumbed to a lack of financing after the February 1993 collapse of Jefferson National Bank; the owners unsuccessfully sought alternate sources of financing and Empsall’s doors at 122 Court St. closed for good in 1993, the once vibrant hub taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The Santee and Roth building that became known as Empsall’s opened in 1904 and was a commanding eight-story structure made of 600 tons of steel and 6,000 bricks and described in newspaper articles at the time as “almost a village,” where one could sleep, eat and shop all in the same place. Indian limestone and white, glazed brick with terra cotta trimmings made up the outside, while large plate glass windows made up the first and second stories and red birch mahogany contributed to the inside’s regal atmosphere. A balcony with easy chairs and cradles for mothers with babies enabled leisurely shoppers to rest.

Empsall’s reign began in 1907 when Frank A. Empsall, who had merchandising training from various stores in his home state of Massachusetts, purchased the Florintine D. Roth store (Florintine Roth was Watertown’s mayor in 1892). He immediately began the process of modernizing the business and enlarging it onto property he had purchased behind the building. The store saw notable success, growing to include 33 departments, 200 employees and seven trucks. A 44,000-square-foot annex was added in 1911 and a 36,000-square-foot building on West Main Street was acquired in 1919 for bedding, mattresses, springs, porch hammocks, inte-

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NNY Business | October 2013

WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES ARCHIVES

Empsall’s Department Store had 50 departments at its peak, but succumbed to a lack of financing and closed its doors for good in 1993. The Brighton Apartments make up floors two through eight today.

rior decorating and upholstery.

Watertown’s burgeoning population—it nearly tripled from 1880 and 1920—led to the lavish lifestyles of Empsall’s patrons, which extended to the Empsall family, who traveled to the Waldorf Astoria in New York City and spent winters in Daytona, Fla. After running the business for 13 years, Mr. Empsall sold most of his stock to Frank B. Clark, who became president of the firm, and Henry A. Hickok, retiring at 53.

Mr. Clark, a native of Dexter, operated the business until his death in 1937, seeing the store through a fire in 1934 that destroyed much of the business block and resulted in extensive water damage. The front of the building was remodeled with black granite,

bronze grills for the ornamental windows and a central entrance in 1938.

Edwin S. Clark continued operation of the firm, with Mrs. Frank B. Clark serving as vice president, and the store expanded from 33 departments in 1923 to 50 by 1938, including interior decorating, a drapery workroom, furniture, picture framing, carpeting and linoleum sections, a photography studio, an optical department and a tea room that served 275 people a day at its height and was famous for its pecan pie with whipped cream.

Mr. Clark continued to operate the firm until his death in 1948; his widow Lucille Clark Matthews eventually became president and owner of the company until it was

sold to three partners in 1990 — Marion A. Capone, who joined Empsall’s as a general manager in 1986, Geno E. Martini and Shirley R. Gilbert — who ran it for its last three years.

The first signs of cracks in Empsall’s veneer of opulence and prosperity began to show in the 1960s with the demolition of the old City Hall, the Armory, the Unity Building, the Flatiron Building and the Electric Building completed by the end of the 1970s.

As if foreboding Empsall’s ultimate fall from grace, a crane knocking down the Woodruff Hotel on Public Square fell backward and damaged part of the Empsall building in 1976. Negative vibes continued. A $40 million shopping mall was proposed for downtown in 1980 and rumors of demolishing Empsall’s were floated. The project was scrapped in 1981, but the seed for a different type of shopping had been planted.

In 1983, Lucille Clark Matthews’s son, Thomas L. Matthews, purchased the building from the Empsall Corp., renaming it Empsall Plaza. Though he had lofty visions of creating an atrium style mall and restoring the Brighton Hotel, none came to fruition; he sold the hotel to the Development Authority of the North Country in 1991.

On Friday, July 15 at 5 p.m., with bare shelves and empty racks, the lights and cash register in Empsall’s were turned off for the last time, casting darkness on an entire chapter in Watertown history.

The sadness among customers who went to Empsall’s for hats, wigs and personalized fitting and among employees who went to such lengths to help patrons that they would measure individual drapes was ample.

“We had very loyal customers,” Mrs. Gilbert, one of the store’s owners, said in a Times article the Sunday after the closing, worrying about their future: “We always helped this elderly lady with a cane. Where will she go?

Who will help her try on clothes?”

One shopper, Watertown resident Jane W. Huey, who first went to Empsall’s with her mother when she was a little girl in the 1920s and later took her children shopping there, called the tea room a “very pretty place to go,” an occassion her family dressed up for.

Though Mrs. Huey’s husband would later go to Salmon Run Mall, she said she stayed in the car, doing crossword puzzles. Her reason might sum up the entire Empsall’s story: “I didn’t patronize those stores,” she told the Times. “What I needed, I would get at Empsall’s.”

Watertown, NY 22746 Plaza Drive Watertown, NY 13601 Toll Free: 877.417.2346 Phone: 315.782.2422 Also located in Troy & Plattsburgh

n BUSINESS HISTORY IS A monthly feature from the archives of the Watertown Daily Times. Visit www.watertowndailytimes. com to access digital archives since 1988, or stop by the Times, 260 Washington St., Watertown to research materials in our library that date back to the 1800s.

October 2013 | NNY Business

| 67

W H AT ’ S H A P P E N I N G H E R E ?

NORTHERN CREDIT UNION LERAY BRANCH WHAT: Northern CU’s seventh branch, broke ground Monday, Aug. 26. Other Northern CU branches are in Gouverneur, Lowville, Adams, West Carthage and two in Watertown. The LeeRay branch will feature a self-service area with ATMs and an automatic coin counter, three SMART offices where members can speak with loan officers through video chat, four drive-through lanes with ATM and SMART technology and tablet-equipped waiting areas to expedite service.

LOCATION: Route 11, in front of the Evans Mills Walmart COMPLETION: February/March 2014 DECLARED VALUE: $2.5 million ARCHITECT: GYMO Architecture, Engineering and Land Surveying, Watertown GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Hueber-Breuer Construction Company, Syracuse; Louis Box, Sandy Creek, is project manager and Scott Phelps, Dexter, is superintendent.

LOCAL JOBS: Four new full-time positions at the branch, in addition to numerous construction jobs for six months.

LEAH BULETTI | NNY BUSINESS

Construction on Northern Credit Union’s seventh north country branch began in late August in front of the Walmart Supercenter on Route 11 in the Town of LeRay and is slated for completion in early 2014.

NEXT MONTH

I

n our November issue, we look at Northern New York’s energy industry.

From nuclear to hydro and wind power, the region is a net exporter of electricity, which makes it attractive to businesses that depend on afordable power supplies.

Also coming next month: n 50 YEARS IN THE BARN: Massey’s Furniture Barn this year marks a half-century in business. We visit with second-generation owner Shawn Massey for the story behind this lasting family enterprise. n FORGING A PARTNERSHIP: St. LawrenceLewis County BOCES is working with ProAct and Gouverneur-based Kinney Drugs to offer students pharmacy technician training.

We look at this new program. n PLUS: Small Business Startup, NNY Snapshot, Economically Speaking, Commerce Corner, Business Law, Business Tech Bytes, Small Business Success, Real Estate, Agri-Business, Business History and Business Scene. n VISIT US ONLINE at www.nnybizmag.com.

Follow us on Twitter for daily updates at @NNYBusinessMag, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nnybusiness, and view eEditions at www.issuu.com/NNYBusiness.

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NNY Business | October 2013

October 2013 | NNY Business

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JEANS BEANS, from page 36 Bowman’s older brother and mother, who is 84, both help out — also extends to employees. Five employees have been at the business since Mrs. Bowman took the helm in 2000, a notably high retention rate in the restaurant business, she said.

Employee Ashley A. Kaler helped set up a Facebook page for the business last month that in three days had already acquired more than 500 “likes.”

“Our employees think of [the business] as partly theirs,” Mrs. Bowman said.

Ms. Kaler worked as an intern at Jean’s

Beans during her junior year of high school through BOCES’s culinary arts program.

While she said she learned much of the basics of cooking at BOCES, she cites Jean’s Beans’ chef George J. Stevens, an employee since 1999, as a vital mentor.

“I really learned everything here,” she said.

Ms. Kaler has now been working at Jean’s Beans full-time since June and said she likes its “really homey” atmosphere.

She also has fond memories attached to it as a result of growing up across the street.

“I have nostalgia from coming here as a kid,” she said. “We were here every Friday.”

Mr. Stevens, whose wife, Vanessa A., is also employed as a manager at Jean’s Beans, said he loves that the job is a challenge every day, in large part because of the quantity of food the restaurant churns out. Jean’s Beans frequently caters weddings in the region and functions on Fort Drum, and does at least one “huge” order, which can mean up to 300 people, per week. Two years ago, Jean’s Beans catered an event on Fort Drum for 5,000 people that included 500 pounds of chicken and 1,000 pounds of salads.

“There’s no other place in town that can put out the quantity of food we do,” Mr. Stevens said.

Back when her father ran it, Jean’s Beans used to deliver fish to all of the schools in the city on Fridays, Mrs. Bowman said; her mother was originally hired because the restaurant needed a driver.

“Every Friday people were lined out into the parking lot,” Mrs. Bowman recalled.

Business still spikes during Lent and Fridays remain the restaurant’s busiest day.

“But we try not to let the line get out to the parking lot,” she said. n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

WLADIS, from page 31

BusYIness nnybizmag.com

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NNY Business | October 2013

Further evidence of the firm’s commitment to the area, Mr. Wladis said, can be seen in its charitable contributions. Fostering such a corporate culture requires that the firm itself set the example. Ms. West joined the United Way of Northern New York’s board of directors in January.

Wladis employees donate to the Jefferson County Historical Society, the Community Action Planning Council’s food pantry and the North Country Children’s Clinic, where last winter it gave hats and gloves for local schoolchildren in need.

Wladis also sponsors the North Country Procurement Technical Assistance Center at the Greater-Watertown North Country Chamber of Commerce. The firm became a sponsor of PTAC, which aims to help local businesses do more business with the federal government, in 2012 and holds seminars for the organization on a variety of topics, including Minority-Women Owned Business Enterprises, estate planning, federal procurement, veteran-owned businesses and grant writing.

On average, the firm returns $10 to $12 for every dollar spent over a two-year period for municipal work, Mr. Wladis said. n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

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