NNY Business July 2015

B

NNY usIness // Annual agriculture issue

JULY 2015 Volume 5 No. 8

nnybizmag.com

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THE INTERVIEW North Harbor Dairy’s Ron Robbins p. 26

Keeping ag money local $20m meat-processing plant an investment in north country

$2.95

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// Northern New York’s Premier Business Monthly //

2 | NNY Business | July 2015

July 2015 | NNY Business

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Inside JULY 2015 13

14 22

20 |

COVER |

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SMALL BIZ STARTUP |

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14 growing ag assets A modern meat processing plant could soon be a reality in Jefferson County. |

13 an olive oil mecca A trip to North Carolina inspires local couple to open a gourmet olive oil boutique. |

FEATURES |

20 a new ag land high Ellisburg’s Sheland Farms buys neighboring farm for record-setting $6,500 an acre.

milestones |

22 a final sign off St. Lawrence County’s WYBG radio powers down after 57 years on the air.

REAL ESTATE |

24 honoring realtors Real estate professionals are recognized for years service. |

TOP TRANSACTIONS |

25 JEFFERSON COUNTY The top 10 property sales in the Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties topped more than $13.5m in May.

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BUSINESS SCENE |

40 NETWORKING, NNY STYLE From Jefferson to Lewis counties, businessmen and women connect for success. |

BUSINESS HISTORY |

44 first flights The 1913 Jefferson County Fair was the stage for a local aviation milestone. |

ONLINE |

NNYBIZMAG.COM Connect with us online for daily updates, more photos and exclusive Web content.

July 2015 | NNY Business

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BusIness

C o n tr i b u t o r s

www.nnybizmag.com

Chairman of the Board John B. Johnson Jr.

Lance M. Evans is executive officer for the Jefferson-Lewis and St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors. He honors dozens of Realtors for their service. (p. 24)

Rande Richardson is executive director of the Northern New York Community Foundation.

He writes about the real fruits of philanthropy and giving. (p. 29)

Paul Luck is a principal partner in the Succession Partners, Clayton. He writes about why ‘easy’ is the last choice you should make in any good business. (p. 30)

Bob Gorman is president and CEO of United Way of Northern New York. He urges younger generations to commit to making a substantive difference. (p. 31)

Publishers

John B. Johnson Harold B. Johnson II

VP News Operations Timothy J. Farkas

Magazine Editor

Kenneth J. Eysaman

Staff Writer / Editorial Assistant Lorna Oppedisano

Photography

Justin Sorensen, Jason Hunter, Melanie Kimbler-Lago, Amanda Morrison Lynn Pietroski is past president and CEO of the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce. She writes about an upcoming health care summit. (p. 32)

Jay Matteson is the agricultural coordinator for the Jefferson County Industrial Development Corp. He writes about the impact of a meatprocessing plant. (p. 33)

Jill Van Hoesen is chief information officer for Johnson Newspapers and a 28-year IT veteran. She writes about the latest innovations in mobile devices. (p. 34)

Sarah O’Connell is an advisor for the state Small Business Development Center at SUNY Jefferson. She offers tips to continually assess your risk levels. (p. 35)

Director of Advertising Michelle Bowers

Magazine Advertising Manager Beth Hornbarger

Advertising Graphics

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

Circulation Director Mary Sawyer

Joleene Moody is a freelance writer who lives in Pulaski with her husband and daughter. In her debut column, she writes about risk-taking and seizing success. (p.36)

Lorna Oppedisano is an editorial assistant and writer for NNY Magazines. In Startup, she writes about 1000 Islands Cruet. In our cover story, she writes about a new investment in local ag. (pgs. 13, 14)

Bob Beckstead is a Massena-based Johnson Newspapers staff writer.

He writes about WYBG radio, which signed off the air after 57 years last month in St. Lawrence County. (pg. 22)

Lenka Walldroff is a former museum specialist, conservator and curator who lives in LaFargeville.

In History, she writes about a 102-year-old north country aviation milestone. (pg. 44)

MARKETPLACE Aubertine & Currier .................... 8 Bach & Company .................... 16 Bay Area Bakery ...................... 37 Bills Feed Service ..................... 16 Bond Schoeneck & King ........... 3 Bonnie Castle Resort & Marina ................................... 46 Bradley’s Trophy & Promotion .... 23 Burton Livestock ....................... 16 Cantwell and Associates .......... 4 Caskinette’s Ford ..................... 43 Center for Sight ........................ 24 CFS Medispa ............................ 29 Clayton Dental Office ............. 37 Coleman’s Corner ................... 37 Community Bank ..................... 12 Countryside Veterinary Clinic .... 16 Creg Systems Corp. ................... 8 Crouse Hospital ......................... 3 D.L. Calarco Funeral Home .... 31 Dr. Guitar .................................. 37

6 | NNY Business | July 2015

Equipment Rentals ................... 16 Fairground Inn .......................... 37 Farm Credit East ....................... 19 Foy Agency ................................ 4 Fuller Insurance ......................... 4 Gambles Distributors ............... 18 Garlocks Design Center ......... 17 Geico ........................................ 46 Gerald A. Nortz Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge ....................... 30 HD Goodale ............................... 4 High Tower Advisors ................ 28 Hospice of Jefferson County ..... 45 Immaculate Heart Central School ......................... 45 Jefferson County Economic Development ......... 21 Lyons Falls Tire .......................... 16 Nationwide Insurance ............. 21 New York Center For Agricultural Medicine and Health ................ 7

New York Farmers Market ...... 16 NNY Community Foundation .... 25 Northwestern Mutual ................. 8 Nortz & Virkler Ford .................... 9 Rainbow International .............12 Sea Comm Credit Union ......... 35 Shred Con ................................ 34 Stafford Owens Attorneys ......... 4 State Street Liquors .................. 37 SUNY Oswego .......................... 23 T.F. Wright & Sons ..................... 32 Tunes 92.5.................................. 42 Waite Motorsports .................... 40 Waite Toyota ............................ 41 Walldroff Farm Equipment ...... 48 Watertown Daily Times ............ 36 Watertown Savings Bank .......... 2 Watertown Spring & Alignment .... 9 White’s Farm Supply ................ 33 WWTI TV 50 ................................ 47 Ziebart ......................................... 9

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. © 2010-2015. 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 bhornbarger@wdt.net, or call 315-661-2325 In St. Lawrence County, e-mail blabrake@ogd.com, or call 315-661-2507 Printed with pride in U.S.A. at Vanguard Printing LLC, Ithaca, N.Y., a Forest Stewardship Certified facility.

Please recycle this magazine.

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INTERVIEW

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ON THE COVER

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26 diversified for success By age 7, North Harbor Dairy co-owner Ron Robbins knew that he would devote his life to farming.

Some 50 years later, he manages a $12m operation that includes crops, dairy cattle, and ag education. |

COLUMNS

29 30 31 32 |

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NONPROFITS TODAY STRATEGIC PLANNING NONPROFIT TOOLKIT COMMERCE CORNER

DEPARTMENTS

8 9 10 12 13

33 34 35 36

AGRI-BUSINESS BUSINESS TECH BYTES SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS entrepreneur’s edge

24 38 40 44 46

real estate roundup CALENDAR BUSINESS SCENE BUSINESS HISTORY next month

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

For this month’s cover shot, photographer Amanda Morrison captured Kyle Hafemann, Jefferson

County president of the New York Farm Bureau, during the announcement of New York Meat Co. The local ag firm plans to build a $20m USDAcertified meat processing plant in the town of Watertown. Our cover story about its impact on Northern New York’s agriculture industry by staff writer Lorna Oppedisano begins on page 14.

July 2015 | NNY Business

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his month, in our annual agriculture issue, we are excited to share a story of perseverance in the ag sector. When progress stalled and the original developer of a local USDA-certified meat-processing plant withdrew, a steering committee of north country stakeholders didn’t accept defeat. Instead, the group strengthened its resolve to move forward, saying such a project “makes too much sense to let it die.”

Ken Eysaman On June 25, that same group, which now includes a handful of local farmers, economic development officials and a new developer, unveiled plans for the New York Meat Co. The initial $20 million facility would be built in the town of Watertown at the Jefferson County Industrial Park off Coffeen Street near Interstate 81. If plans progress on schedule, ground could be broken as early as next spring.

A certified meat-processing plant in Northern New York means that farmers would have a local choice for livestock processing. No longer would they be forced to truck cattle, pigs and other animals to facilities in Utica and Pennsylvania. In our cover story, magazine staff writer Lorna Oppedisano examines the impact of such a plan and what it could mean to grow capacity in a marketplace that’s long needed a local option. Lorna’s cover story begins on page 14. n

Follow financial principles, not fads or trends.

n

partner at North Harbor Dairy in Sackets Harbor. A fourth-generation farmer, Ron knew he was destined for a life on his family‘s dairy farm by the time he was 7 years old. Today, his own son and daughter work in different parts of the operation as the fifth generation of family on a sprawling spread that includes about 1,000 cows and crops that cover several thousand acres. In a wide-ranging conversation, Ron shares his thoughts on the future of local agriculture and what it means to be a diversified operation. Our interview begins on page 26. n

n

n

BUSINESS SCENE — This month’s Scene section, which begins on page 40, features more than three-dozen faces from more than two-dozen businesses and organizations from across the north country.

On June 12, we joined the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce for its Jefferson Leadership Institute class of 2015 graduation at the Ramada Inn. On June 18, we traveled to Bonnie Castle Resort in Alexandria Bay for the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce June Business After Hours.

The next day, editor Jeremiah Papineau joined the Carthage Area Hospital for a Garden Party to celebrate the hospital’s 50th Anniversary. Finally, on June 25, Carthage staffer Elaine Avallone joined the Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce for its June Business After Hours at Eagle Graphics Digital Printing Center. n

n

n

As always, if you have any questions, comments or general feedback, please contact me at keysaman@wdt.net or 661-2399.

Yours in business,

n

20 QUESTIONS — This month, we sit down with Ron Robbins, a principal

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05-3054 © 2015 Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (NM) (life and disability insurance, annuities) and its subsidiaries.

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8 | NNY Business | July 2015

PEOPLE O N T H E MO V E

Financial advisor celebrates anniversary

Brian Wilcox celebrated 30 years with Northwestern Mutual in June.

Mr. Wilcox joined the company immediately upon graduation from St. Lawrence University in 1985 with a degree in economics.

During his career, he has Wilcox served thousands of people across the north country as a financial advisor and in his 11-year role as managing director of the Watertown branch from 2001 to 2012.

Mr. Wilcox has earned several professional credentials to enhance his career, including CLU, ChFC, CLF, RICP and CASL from The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He is associated with the Greater New York Group and the Dodd Network Office.

Veteran accountant joins Stackel & Navarra

Amy Rapholz recently joined the accounting firm of Stackel & Navarra, Watertown, after nearly 30 years of public accounting experience with the former Poulsen & Podvin, Watertown.

Ms. Rapholz’s areas of focus are governmental auditing, corporate financial reporting and tax return preparation and personal tax return preparation.

Thousand Islands Arts Center hires curator

Jessica M. Phinney recently joined the staff of the Thousand Islands Arts Center, Clayton, as a part-time curator. Since August 2013, she served as executive director of the Jefferson County Historical Society, Watertown. She began her new job in June.

Before joining the historical society, Ms. Phinney served as curator of exhibits and general collections at the Antique Boat Museum, Clayton, from July 2010 to October 2012. She also served as executive director of the Ulster County Historical Society, Stone Ridge, from June 2008 to December 2009.

Got business milestones? n Share your business milestones with NNY Business. Email news releases and photos (.jpg/300 dpi) to editor Ken Eysaman at keysaman@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.

SUNY Canton employees earn president’s awards

Kathy A. Limoges, a secretary in the dean’s office of SUNY Canton’s School of Business and Liberal Arts, and Randy B. Sieminski, director of athletics, were awarded the 2015 President’s Meritorious Service Award during the school’s employee recognition day in May. Ms. Limoges recently retired after working at the college for 35 years. She graduated from SUNY Canton in 1980 and previously earned the college’s award in 2006.

Mr. Sieminski began at SUNY Canton in 2005 as the college’s public relations director. Since his appointment to athletic director in 2010, he has guided the college through its transition to NCAA Division III. He has also served two years as the Canton Chamber of Commerce president and is the president of the Canton Hoopsters Youth Basketball Association. He is a 1987 graduate of St. Lawrence University.

JRC Foundation hires first director

The Jefferson Rehabilitation Center Foundation Inc. has hired Michelle A. Carpenter as its first director.

Established in June 2012, the foundation raises money for and increases awareness of JRC services.

As director, Mrs. Carpenter will Carpenter help the foundation educate the public, organize fundraising events and expand its planned giving program.

Mrs. Carpenter has worked for the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce for seven years, with the last six as director of events.

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Average per-gallon milk price paid to N.Y. dairy farmers May 2015 $1.56 April 2015 $1.53 May 2014 $2.30

32.2%

Source: NYS Department of Agriculture

449,697 in May 2015 397,410 in April 2015 461,003 in May 2014

Average NNY price for gallon of regular unleaded gas

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

May 2015 $2.73 April 2015 $2.57 May 2014 $3.83

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

28.7%

26.1%

14.7%

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

May 2015 $2.70 April 2015 $2.81 May 2014 $3.14

92,100 in May 2015 90,200 in April 2015 91,800 in May 2014

14.0%

0.3%

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 $150,000 in May 2015 72, median price $106,500 in April 2015 91, median price $133,000 in May 2014

55, median price $94,000 in May 2015 42, median price $73,000 in April 2015 47, median price $102,000 in May 2014

5.5% Sales

12.8%

17.0%

Price

7.8%

Sales

Source: Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors Inc.

Price

Source: St. Lawrence Board of Realtors Inc.

NNY unemployment rates

6.1

5.4 April 2015

May 2014

5.3

United States

May 2015

6.2 May 2014

5.7 April 2015

May 2015

5.3

7.3

7.4 May 2014

May 2014

7.1 April 2015

7.5

6.6 May 2015

New York State

April 2015

7.1 May 2014

Lewis County

6.4

7.2

St. Lawrence County

April 2015

6.3

Jefferson County

May 2015

ECON SNAPSHOT

May 2015 $2.86 April 2015 $2.95 May 2014 $3.87

2.5%

$1.25 on May 29, 2015 $1.21 on April 30, 2015 $1.09 on May 30, 2014

Average NNY price for gallon of home heating oil

10 | NNY Business | July 2015

(Percent gains and losses are over 12 months)

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

May 2015

NNY

Economic indicators

Source: U.S. Department of Labor and New York State Department of Labor (Not seasonally adjusted. Latest available data reported.)

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

Economic indicators New automobiles (cars and trucks) registered in Jefferson County Cars 441 in May 2015 527 in April 2015 436 in May 2014

1.1%

Trucks 108 in May 2015 115 in April 2015 92 in May 2014

NNY

17.4%

Source: Jefferson County Clerk’s Office

Passengers at Watertown International Airport

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

4,057 inbound and outbound in May 2015 3,135 inbound and outbound in April 2015 3,408 inbound and outbound in May 2014

2,310 in May 2015 2,366 in April 2015 2,250 in May 2014

19.0% Source: Jefferson County Board of Legislators

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

DBA (doing business under an assumed name) certificates filed at the Jefferson County Clerk’s office May 29 to June 30, 2015. For a complete list of DBAs filed in past months, visit www.nnybizmag.com.

June 29: Twisted, 47330 Dingman Point Road, Alexandria Bay, Emily Elizabeth Dorr, 47330 Dingman Point Road, Alexandria Bay. n Text and Tunes, 12741 U.S. Route 11, Apt. E, Adams Center, Pieter David Gaskins, 12741 U.S. Route 11, Apt. E, Adams Center. n MIAS, 23763 Pines Park Drive, Alexandria Bay, Joanne M. Alari, 23763 Pines Park Drive, P.O. Box 524, Alexandria Bay. June 26: Aqua Plus, 607 Coffeen St., Watertown, Pamela Jean Whiting, 21452 Fox Ridge Road, Watertown. n Robert Skrzypinski Consulting, 273 Flower Ave. W., Watertown, Robert Rene Skrzypinski, 273 Flower Ave. W., Watertown.

June 25: Reckoning Studios, 20 Mansion Grounds Road, Gouverneur, Jamieson P. Crast, 20 Mansion Grounds Road, Gouverneur. n Fowl Exposure, 20 Mansion Grounds Road, Gouverneur, Jamieson P. Crast, 20 Mansion Grounds Road, Gouverneur.

June 22: BG’s Games and More, 712 Stonewood Drive, Philadelphia, Cody Guadalupe, 712 Stonewood Drive, Philadelphia, and Bryan Susice, 606 Philadelphia Court, Philadelphia. n SnapGemology, 23647 county Route 16, Evans Mills, Trina Carol Narrow, 23647 county Route 16, Evans Mills. n RND Heating and Electric, 54 Spring St., Adams, Rickey R. Martin, 54 Spring St., Adams. n Pecks Frozen Vines, 12923 N. Croghan Road, Natural Bridge, Donald S. Peck, 12923 N. Croghan Road, Natural Bridge. n Simply Spotless, 607 Merrick St., Clayton, Hailey Sanchez and Sierra Wright, both of 607 Merrick St., Clayton.

June 19: Concrete & Masonry Solutions, 3 Greens Creek Road, Alexandria Bay, Trevor G. Frost, 3 Greens Creek Road, Alexandria Bay. n 3B Sports, 15994 Ives St., Watertown, Andrew James Boulter, 153 Barben Ave, Watertown, and Joshua Lee Biolsi, 15994 Ives St., Watertown.

June 18: Mike’s Automotive, 19059 U.S. Route 11, Watertown, Michael Edward Rounds, 34200 Sayre Road, Carthage.

June 17: 50 Shades of Green Lawncare Services, 816 Superior St., Watertown, David Michael Shannon, 816 Superior St., Watertown. n Angels for Seniors, 15614 Eimicke Place Apt. 406, Watertown, Christine Collette, 15614 Eimicke Place Apt. 406.

June 15: House Unlimited, 6949 state Route 26, Lowville, Tamara L. Widrick, 6949 state Route 26, Lowville. n PCS Vending, 27635 state Route 3, Watertown, Stanley Soboleski, 27635 state Route 3, Watertown. n P. Miller Hunter Jumpers, 23 W. Church St., Adams, Paula Eryn Miller, 23 W. Church St., Adams. n T. F. Masonry & Construction, 3 Greens Creek Road, Alexandria Bay, Trevor G. Frost, 3 Greens Creek Road, Alexandria Bay. n Toad Hollow Boys Auto Repair, 12302 county Route 155, Adams Center, Jeffrey James Burnham, 12302 county Route 155, Adams Center.

June 12: The Mix, 210 Factory St., Watertown, Michael J. Fusco, 1376 Washington St., Watertown. n Jenny Haury Photography, 40020 Selos Road, Carthage, Jenna Rebecca Haury, 40020 Selos Road, Carthage. n Petrillose House and Carpet Cleaning, 735 Main St., Glen Park, Erica Marie Hallisey, 735 Main St., Glen Park. n B & B Entertainment, 19 Main St., Antwerp, Bruce Allen Mitchell,

19 Main St., Antwerp. n Turtle Shine Detail, 18251 Spookhill Road, Adams, Jodie Lynn Foster, 18251 Spookhill Road, Adams.

June 11: Queen K Hair Supply, 204 Franklin St., Watertown, Shanda and Andrew Felix, both of 21639 Heather Acres Drive, Watertown. n Rob’s Lawn Care, 35279 county Route 30, Philadelphia, Marilyn K. LaForty, 35279 county Route 30, Philadelphia. n Wood Stock Design, 18611 Owens Road, Adams Center, Carolyn Ann Marra, 18611 Owens Road, Adams Center.

June 10: Anna Elizabeth Photography, 814 Brady Road, Sackets Harbor, Anna Elizabeth Perkins, 814 Brady Road, Sackets Harbor. n Twin Sportswear, 35 Crossmon St., Alexandria Bay, Jason Mullins, 35 Crossmon St., Alexandria Bay. June 9: C Coaching for Health & Wellness, 24901 state Route 12, Watertown, Cathryn Chrisman, 24901 state Route 12, Watertown. n CJ’s Corner Gas Mart, 16 Bridge St., Carthage, Jude Astafan, 429 S. Mechanic St., Carthage. n Tas Cru, 26761 Three Mile Point, Chaumont, Richard James Bates, 26761 Three Mile Point, P.O. Box 158, Chaumont.

June 8: Salon 1033, 141 JB Wise Place, Watertown, Briana Lynn Chartrand, 14960 Maltby Road, Copenhagen.

June 5: Guzzle, St. Lawrence Ave., county Route 100, Thousand Island Park, Garrett Humphries, 42822 St. Lawrence Ave., Unit 57, Thousand Island Park. Flynn Bay Farm, 40560 Head Island Road, Clayton, Jeremy Bryan Shoultes, 7341 Lakeshore Road, Cicero. n EyeCrave Optics, 11 Public Square, Suite 102, Watertown, Jody Allen Shuler, 332 S. Hamilton St., Watertown. n Adrenaline Paint Work, 5741 U.S. Route 11, Adams, Michael Joseph Chamberlain, 5741 U.S. Route 11, Adams. n Mill Creek Farm, 19830 Eddy Road, Carthage, Jonathan James Schell, 19830 Eddy Road, Carthage.

June 4: JJ & Sons Outdoor Improvement Specialist, 18059 Wood Park Road, Adams Center, Jeffery Clarke, 18059 Wood Park Road, Adams Center.

June 3: Furry Friends Pet Services, 35033 Eddy Road, Lot 92, Theresa, Jamie Ernst Vent, 35033 Eddy Road, Lot 92, Theresa. n Calls Plowing and Landscaping, 37969 Waite Road, Antwerp, Jamee R. Call, 37969 Waite Road, Antwerp. n Wedding and Event Florals by Vinnie, 652 Boyd St., Watertown, Michael F. Barbarito, 652 Boyd St., Watertown.

June 1: Doug’s Sharpening Service, 51 Liberty St., Adams, Douglas M. Claflin Jr., 45 Liberty St., Adams. n Otter Creek Cattle Company, 43921 county Route 2, Redwood, Michael Roy Stiefel, 43921 county Route 2, Redwood. n JohnnyCake Auto, 35695 Jackson II Road, Carthage, Joseph D. Palladino II, 258 Champion St. Apt. 305, Carthage. n Firehouse Beverage, 2 Elmwood Dr., Adams, Francis Edward Livingston, 8792 state Route 178, Henderson. n R. E. Alexander Jr. Real Estate, 162 Paddock St., Watertown, Richard E. Alexander Jr., 162 Paddock St., Watertown.

May 29: Uncle Marty’s Trash, 36250 state Route 26, Carthage, Ira J. Odett, 36250 state Route 26, Carthage.

transactions

DBAs

2.7%

July 2015 | NNY Business

| 11

business briefcase HEALTH CARE

Medical equipment company opens

Franciscan Companies and Lewis County General Hospital recently announced the formation of Lewis County Health Support Services, a full-service home medical equipment company, on the ground floor of the Medical Arts Building, 7785 N. State St., Lowville.

Health Support Services aims to provide patients with medical equipment and respiratory care services including home oxygen therapy, sleep therapy, asthma management and home assessment using a team of registered respiratory therapists and sleep disorder experts. Dr. Sherif El Bayadi, who is board-certified in pulmonology and sleep medicine, plans to lead the team.

AGRICULTURE

Farm institute awards funds for research

The New York Farm Viability Institute recently announced it has awarded 21 research projects a total of $1.54 million.

Led by a 10-member volunteer board composed of farmers from across the state, the nonprofit has chosen to fund a variety of research projects that involve dairy farms, berries, trees and emerging pests, among other things.

A full list of funded projects is available on the institute’s website, nyfvi.org.

SMALL BUSINESS

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Three local small businesses were recognized during National Small Business Week at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 17th Annual Small Business Excellence Awards luncheon in Syracuse.

Watertown’s Small Business Development Center at JCC honored Tug Hill Vineyards, Lowville, with a 2015 Small Business Excellence Award. Tug Hill Vineyards opened in 2009 and by 2011 unveiled its first wine products made from grapes grown on the property. Owners Michael and Susan Maring used two USDA Rural Development grants for bottling equipment to increase production and the winery has won more than 45 awards.

Watertown Savings Bank recognized Finley’s Closet, Clayton, with a 2015

Please see BRIEFCASE, page 46

S mall Bu siness start u p BUSINESS

The 1000 Islands Cruet THE INITIAL IDEA

Tom J. and Cindy A. Novobilski, the husband and wife team behind The 1000 Islands Cruet, don’t just sell their products — they live them.

The couple fell in love with the idea of a boutique extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar store on a visit to North Carolina. In fact, they liked it so much that they bought eight bottles to bring back.

“There wasn’t anything like that here,” Mrs. Novobilski said. “We started talking about it and said it would be great in Clayton. It was just finding the right location.”

The Novobilskis kept their eyes open for an ideal spot in Clayton or Alexandria Bay, and in late 2013, they found it. After connecting with the right supplier for the goods and creating the right aesthetic for the shop, the duo set out to build the perfect tasting room.

TARGET CLIENTELE The Cruet’s products are niche, but the target customer is not.

“We actually have them from four or five years old to 80 years old,” Mr. Novobilski laughed, and his wife added that they do encourage the interest from young children.

Since the store opened last year, Mr. Novobilski said it’s common for women to discover the shop, and then return with husbands, boyfriends and families.

“It’s become a destination,” he said.

The couple agreed that one of the most rewarding aspects of running The Cruet has been seeing customers interact with each other. Shoppers share opinions, stories and recipes while they browse and taste. A couple have even hailed down passersby to join the party, Mr. Novobilski said.

“It’s like a store conversation,” he said. “It’s how we all learn.”

The Cruet offers a variety of extra virgin olive oils from around the world, white and dark balsamic vinegars from Italy, salts and seasonings, rubs, teas, bread dips, skin care products, locally-made jewelry and more. The store offers a military discount, as well as a customer loyalty program. Planned summer hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week.

THE JOURNEY After that fateful olive oil and balsamic vinegar discovery in North Carolina, the Novobilskis knew it was only a matter of time and location until they opened a similar shop in the north country.

Once they found a spot on James Street with the help of Melanie Curley, owner and broker at Weichert, Realtors — Thousand Island Realty, the next step was to find a supplier. After exploring their options, the couple picked Veronica Foods Company because of its highest standards, Mrs. Novobilski said.

“The quality is above the rest of the market,” Mr. Novobilski agreed.

Veronica Foods, a family-owned business based in Oakland, California, has specialized in extra virgin olive oil since 1924. The company’s

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

“If [the customers] walk out of my store with more information than when they came in, I’m doing my job.”

— Tom J. Novobilski, co-owner, The 1000 Islands Cruet standards extend past its products to the businesses they supply. The Novobilskis had to write a proposal explaining why The Cruet was a good fit for Veronica Foods products.

The couple began leasing the space in November, hoping to hear a “yes” from Veronica Foods by the start of the new year so they could set up shop. While they did get the positive response in January, the Novobilskis hit a roadblock around the same time. Their perfect location had water damage, and the move-in date was pushed to late March.

For the next two months, they built wooden shelves to line the walls and constructed their displays, opening for business on May 29, 2014.

Since, customer service has been the No. 1 priority, Mr. Novobilski said “We try to greet every person. We try to explain what’s new,” he said. “People who aren’t familiar with it, we walk them through the store.

It’s important for them to know what the store has to offer and to try different things.”

The Novobilskis have been pleasantly surprised by customers’ genuine excitement, as well as the number of people who have passed through their doors.

“Going into this business, we knew it was going to be busy,” Mr. Novobilski said. “We didn’t know how busy it was going to be. We’ve had 30 or 40 people in here at once.”

People have even told the couple they should open a restaurant to showcase their products, Mrs. Novobilski said.

“We would love to expand to that level,” she said, “and that’s why we’re trying to work more with the restaurants.”

A couple of local chefs, including the head of the kitchen at Lyric Coffee House & Bistro, have begun to use the shop’s products in their dishes.

The success of The Cruet comes down to that community atmosphere.

“If [the customers] walk out of my store with more information than when they came in, I’m doing my job,” Mr. Novobilski said.

IN FIVE YEARS

Right now, Mr. Novobilski, a retired fire lieutenant, runs the store with the help of two or four employees, depending on the season. Mrs. Novobilski is employed full time by IBM and works at The Cruet on the weekends. Looking to the future, the Novobilskis have a couple of plans in mind.

Mr. Novobilski said he’d like to get certified as an olive oil taster soon. This accreditation is similar to that of a sommelier for wine, he explained.

Further ahead, they hope that Mrs. Novobilski can retire. Then they might open a second location, each of them running a store, Mr. Novobilski said.

“And hopefully we’d take two months off in the summertime,” he added.

Mrs. Novobilski laughed.

“Ok,” she said, “you’re dreaming.” ­— Lorna Oppedisano

WHERE 226 James St., Clayton | FOUNDED May 2014 | WEB thecruet.com

July 2015 | NNY Business

| 13

C OV E R STORY

Agriculture’s missing link As plans for a state-of-the-art meat-processing facility are unveiled, north country farmers say the project is the latest boon for an ever-growing local industry

T

BY LORNA OPPEDISANO | NNY BUSINESS

The trip down Interstate 81 to Pennsylvania is a long and bumpy road.

From North Harbor Dairy in Sackets Harbor, it’s more than 330 miles. That’s about a five-hour trip for the cull cattle, those dairy cows that no longer produce milk, to be transferred from a north country farm where they were raised to the outof-state harvesting site. Co-owner Ronald C. Robbins’ animals are only a fraction of the 160,000 large livestock available annually for meat production within a 100-mile radius of Watertown, 90 percent of which leave Northern New York.

Nearby Lucki 7 Livestock Co. in Rodman is a naturally certified livestock farm specializing in pork. Owner Steve G. Winkler ships his animals, some of the 3,258 head of hog in the north country, to Utica to be processed. That’s about a 70-mile, 90-minute trip.

North country livestock are shipped miles away from home for harvest because the region has no large-scale U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified meat processing facility of its own.

14 | NNY Business | July 2015

A group of local farmers, developers and educators recently announced a plan to change that.

On Thursday, June 25, details were unveiled for the New York Meat Co., a 42,000 square-foot USDA-certified meat processing facility with the capacity to harvest 100 large cattle a day, along with 200 to 300 smaller animals. Leading the efforts is a steering committee of investors including Mr. Robbins, Mr. Winkler and farmer Ronald R. Porter, Adams, and developer Michael E. Lundy, CEO of Lundy Development Corp., Carthage.

“If you look at just the pure numbers on this, this is truly a transformational project for the community,” Mr. Lundy said. “I’ve been around large-scale manufacturing, and I can’t think of a project that would have this kind of impact on an industry that this will have for agriculture.”

According to current projections, the plant is to be built in three stages, starting in spring 2016. The first stage is expected to cost $20.6 million, with another $10 million added with the completion of

stages two and three.

The committee estimates the facility will employ about 60 people, along with an additional 100 or more working on its design and construction.

The idea was floated and a committee formed in 2014, but progress faltered when the original developer withdrew.

Those involved at that point knew the project had potential.

“Our small steering committee said, ‘This makes too much sense to let it die,’” Jay M. Matteson, Jefferson County agricultural coordinator, said.

The past 10 years have brought growth in smaller USDA-certified plants, but not larger facilities, Mr. Winkler said. There are presently two USDA-certified plants in the north country: Red Barn Meat in Croghan, about 33 miles from Watertown, and Ward Willard & Son in Heuvelton, about 58 miles from Watertown. Local farms also utilize Gold Medal Packing, a USDA-certified plant in Utica, about 75 miles from Watertown.

Livestock not processed by these plants are usually sent to Pennsylvania for harvest.

Pigs surround Lucki 7 Livestock Co. owner Steve G. Winkler, Rodman. Mr. Winkler is a member of the steering committee that is working to develop a USDA-certified meat-processing plant in Watertown. Mr. Winkler’s manages a naturally certified livestock farm specializing in pork.

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C O V E R S T O RY By the numbers Nearest USDA-certified meat processing facilities n Red Barn Meat, Croghan, about 33 miles from Waterxtown n Ward Willard & Son, Heuvelton, about 58 miles from Watertown n Gold Medal Packing, Utica, about 75 miles from Watertown Dairy livestock annually available n 385,200 dairy cows within 100 miles of Watertown n 90 percent leave the area n 86,500 dairy cows in the tri-county area n 25,950 dairy cows go for beef production annually in the tri-county area n 40,000 bull calves available annually in the tri-county area n 65,950 animals available annually in the tri-county area n 1,268 animals available weekly in tri-county area

Completion of New York Meat Co. would keep livestock local, as well as jobs and money, Mr. Winkler explained.

Animals shipped long distances to processing plants tend to lose up to 15 percent of their body mass on the trip due to lack of food and water, and also because of high stress. This means a loss of revenue for the farmer, on top of transportation costs. Having access to a plant located off Interstate 81 could cut down on those losses and fees.

“We can talk about all the economic benefits, but there’s also a humane side of this as well,” Mr. Robbins said. “Having these animals go through a facility [like New York Meat Co.] would nearly eliminate stress levels on these animals.”

The steering committee hopes the impact will reach well past Jefferson County, and into Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties, as well as Central New York and Ontario.

Farmers have already begun to consider what a local meat processing plant would do for them. Andrew J. Gilbert is the co-owner of Adon Farms in Potsdam, a dairy operation producing about 30 cull cattle a month. Right now, most of those livestock go to sale and then are processed in Pennsylvania. Mr. Gilbert said he hopes to utilize New York Meat Co. “It’s good to have another outlet for beef processing. There’s no processing plant to handle a large number of cattle around here,” he said, adding that he’s glad to see potential job creation in the north country as well.

With 60 positions to fill at the facility, it could help not only farmers in a 100-mile radius from Watertown, but also those looking for work.

AMANDA MORRISON | NNY BUSINESS

Developer Michael E. Lundy, CEO of Lundy Development Corp., Carthage stands in front of the site for the proposed $20m New York Meat Co. in the Jefferson County Industrial Park off Coffeen Street at Interstate 81 in the town of Watertown. Investors hope to break ground on the plant in spring 2016.

“People will travel for employment and bring their animals to where they’re going to get their best service,” Michele E. LeDoux, executive director of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County,

said. She explained that while the facility is planned to be built in Jefferson County, she believes it will have a regional impact on an area plagued by high unemployment.

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COV E R STORY run the Adirondack Beef Co. in Croghan.

The diversified livestock farm produces about 40 beef cows a year, along with sheep, hogs, chickens and turkeys. Until recently, they sent their livestock to Red Barn Meats and Tri-Town Packing Corp., the latter of which has lost its USDA-certification.

“So from our standpoint, it was a bit of a dilemma,” she said.

Mrs. Ledoux explained that a smaller operation like Red Barn Meats doesn’t have the same capacity to do new and different cuts of meat that consumers demand. With a new state-of-the-art facility, a beef farm like the Ledoux’s will not only have another outlet for their product, but one that could satisfy growing consumer needs.

With the groundwork for the plant proposed, and a potential location at Mr. Lundy’s 9-acre property at the industrial park site earmarked, plans began to fall into place. Those involved agree that the timing couldn’t be better.

“It’s really ramping up and that’s mostly because the local food movement is really on a straight arrow upward in growth,” Mr. Winkler said, explaining that customers are now demanding local products, and there are local businesspeople willing to invest in production costs.

18 | NNY Business | July 2015

A rendering of the proposed New York Meat Co. in the Jefferson County Industrial Park off Coffeen Street near Interstate 81 in the town of Watertown.

COURTESY NEW YORK MEAT CO.

Consumers want to know where their food is coming from and easily be able to follow that path from farm to table, Mr. Robbins said. If locally raised livestock is being harvested at a local facility, it’s easier for people to connect those dots.

The team is still developing a long-term business plan, but already has initial ideas for funding in hand. The development group plans to seek a payment-in-lieu-oftaxes agreement from the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency, and also to apply for funding toward equipment through the governor’s $1.5 billion upstate revitalization competition. Private inves-

tors, including local farmers, will also serve as a source of funding.

The construction of the entire 110,000 square-foot facility is planned to be broken down into three phases, with hopes to begin operation after the completion of phase one in late 2016 or early 2017.

“When we first started putting our team together, the entire team’s mentality was to try to develop a facility that’s exceptionally modern, state-of-the-art and exceptionally clean,” Mr. Lundy said.

One planned component of the first phase is the installation of a well for potable water to supply the 50,000 gallons of cleaning water needed a day. The harvest area is to be cleaned and disinfected each night, Mr. Lundy said. All the harvest and processing equipment, as well as an administrative area, classroom and lab space, also fall into the first phase of construction.

The classroom and lab could be utilized by students enrolled in Jefferson Community College’s culinary arts program.

“The building itself is going to be extremely green,” Mr. Lundy said, explaining that for the initial plans, the developers aim to use geothermal and solar energy, with the consideration of wind energy in the future.

Also included in phase one is the holding pen area, which will be relatively dark, with heated floors and fresh water, Mr. Lundy said. The facility is being designed so the trucks bringing in the livestock unload directly into the building. “[The plant is] relatively conservative in its appearance,” he said. “The whole idea was to make it look like it belongs in the industrial park.”

The remnants of the process are to be taken out daily, Mr. Lundy said. Ninety percent of the animal is used, and the remainder — hides, manure and any other parts — are to be picked up and transported out of the facility via trucks.

Phase two would add an additional 20,000 square feet to the facility, doubling

C O V E R S T O RY New York Meat Co. / glance Size: Phase one of production: 42,000 square-feet; Phases two, 20,000 square-feet; phase three, 50,000 square-feet phase one PRODUCTION: 100 large cattle a day, along with 200 to 300 smaller animals COST: Phase one: $20.6 million; phases two and three: $10 million phase one employment: 60 people at plant; 100-plus people in construction and design

eventual harvest at New York Meat Co. The north country has seen recent growth in the sector of small livestock production, Mr. Matteson said, adding that this facility could spur development in that industry even further.

Since the project was initially proposed, the steering committee has yet to come across any major problems. Until this point, they’ve looked at the “what if,” Mr. Winkler said; now that the public has been clued in and the committee has started to put pen to paper, the real work begins.

Those involved agree they have a long road ahead, but they remain optimistic.

“We’re pretty excited to see this,” Mr. Matteson said. “Since 2002, it’s been on the radar screen as a need here in Northern New York. The pieces started coming together in 2014. We think we’ve got the right momentum. The right situation is at hand. We’re hoping that we can make it happen this time.” n LORNA OPPEDISANO is a staff writer and editorial assistant for NNY Magazines. Contact her at loppedisano@wdt.net or 661-2381.

the holding pen area and increasing the processing and packaging area.

The increased area translates into increased production, with the plant processing six days a week and 8,000 animals a month, Mr. Lundy said. That’s the maximum capacity they’re aiming for, he added.

The project is planned to be completed by the addition of 50,000 square feet of refrigerated warehouse space in phase three, which will facilitate direct distribution from the facility.

Phases two and three add about $10 million to the estimated project cost.

New York Meat Co. is aiming to impact far more than just the north country.

“I think we at first will be addressing the northeast market, primarily New York City. Nobody has scratched the surface of supplying local to New York City,” Mr. Winkler said, referring in particular to the New York City school district, which currently imports meat from out of state.

He added that he wouldn’t want to forget about cities closer to home, like Albany, Rochester, Utica, Buffalo and Syracuse. The team hopes to get their products into everything from larger chains like Wegmans and Hannaford Brothers to smaller “mom and pop” grocery stores and bodegas, he said. Local restaurants would be another potential market.

“You put a pocket of restaurants together from Sackets Harbor or Syracuse or the Adirondacks, you’re going to support a whole bunch of farmers,” Mr. Winkler said.

If plans for this proposed plant come to fruition, it has the potential to change the agricultural community in the north country.

“It’s going to allow the beef industry to just explode,” Mr. Lundy said.

The north country is known for its success in the dairy industry, but has not yet had the opportunity to excel in the beef industry. With little use for bull calves, it’s common for farmers to sell them off at a young age. And with a local USDAcertified meat processing plant, farmers have more reason to raise the male cows for

July 2015 | NNY Business

| 19

AGR I B U SI NES S

WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES

Douglas W. Shelmidine, owner of Sheland Farms, Ellisburg, stands on his County Route 79 farm during the summer of 2006. Mr. Shelmidine recently purchaced the neighboring 298-acre farm for a record per-acre price of about $6,500, or $2.3 million total.

A growth investment 298-acre Ellisburg farm purchased for $2.3 million

By Ted Booker

D NNY Business

airyman Douglas W. Shelmidine, owner of Sheland Farms on County Route 79, Ellisburg, recently bought a neighboring dairy farm for $2.3 million.

Sheland Farms bought the 298-acre Clover Crest Farm from owners John

20 | NNY Business | July 2015

D. and Elizabeth G. Lassen, according to Jefferson County property records recorded May 28.

Mr. Shelmidine, whose 800-cow farm is manned by 14 employees, said last month that the purchase also included facilities on the property: a dairy barn, milking parlor, manure lagoon and duplex house.

He said the Lassens, who bought the Ellisburg property in 1990, sold it after de-

ciding to retire. Cows were not included in the sale, he said, because the Lassens sold their operation’s roughly 150 head of cattle earlier in the year.

Mr. Shelmidine said the property — less than 800 feet from the southern boundary of Sheland Farms — was in extremely high demand among farmers from the north country and outside of the region.

He estimated that the tillable farmland

A GR IB U S INES S was bought for about $6,500 an acre, after accounting for the facilities included in the purchase.

“If you’d have told me a year or six months ago that we were going to pay that kind of money for the land, I would have thought you were a little crazy,” he said.

But Mr. Shelmidine said he was willing to “step up and compete” with other people who made purchase offers on the property because it was needed for the farm to expand. He said a spring on the purchased property previously was shared with the

“

If you’d have told me a year or six months ago that we were going to pay that kind of money for the land, I would have thought you were a little crazy.

— Douglas W. Shelmidine, owner, Sheland Farms, Ellisburg

Lassens to supply water to both farms.

“We had lifetime use of the spring, but that didn’t necessarily include developing it further,” Mr. Shelmidine said. “That will be critical for the future of our operation, as far as our water supply goes. And the purchase will allow us to increase our land base and eventually increase our herd.”

Mr. Shelmidine said the farm plans to add 100 to 150 cows to its herd over the next two years. As a result of the purchase, he said, the farm now has about 1,750 acres of tillable farmland.

It remains to be seen, Mr. Shelmidine said, whether tillable farmland in southern Jefferson County will continue to be sold at prices above $5,000 an acre. Relatively high milk prices during the past three years have enabled farms to make profits and save money that could be used to buy land, he said.

“There are people that have the ability to pay more for it at the moment, but it’s hard to say whether that trend will continue,” Mr. Shelmidine said. n TED BOOKER is a Johnson Newspapers staff writer. Contact him at tbooker@wdt.net or 661-2371.

July 2015 | NNY Business

| 21

milestones

BOB BECKSTEAD | NNY BUSINESS

June 30 was the last day of operation for WYBG radio, which began beaming its signal 57 years ago. Dorothy M. ‘Dottie’ and Curran E. Wade have owned the Massena station for the past 27 years. The couple attempted to sell the station but couldn’t close a deal before signing off.

End of an era WYBG radio signs off after 57 years on the air

By Ted Booker

L

NNY Business

isteners tuning their radio dials to 1050 AM will hear the sounds of silence.

WYBG radio is no more.

June 30 was the last day of operation for the local AM station that began beaming its signal 57 years ago under the call sign WSTS out of the former Slavin’s building. For the past 27 years, it has been under the local ownership and operation of Wade Communications Inc., with its studio at 24 Andrews St. “I told Nathan (C. Jaquith, control room

22 | NNY Business | July 2015

operator), ‘You have the dubious distinction of playing the national anthem for the last time,’” owner and general manager Curran E. Wade said.

Mr. Wade, who has been in the broadcasting business for 61 years, including 50 in New York state — 27 or which have been with WYBG — said he and his wife, Dorothy M. “Dottie,” have attempted to sell the station. But, he said, there were no buyers, leading to the decision to leave the airwaves. There is, however, a 30-day window with the Federal Communications Commission for a new owner to bring the station back on the air.

“We’ve been toying with it for several months,” Mr. Wade said.

He said he has talked to potential buyers, but hasn’t had any bites.

“Last Monday we were talking to people. It would be good to have someone locally. I’ve told them, if you bought it today, I’d stay here and help transfer the files,” he said.

Mr. Wade said a number of factors figured into the decision to close the radio station. As the only live and locally owned and operated radio station, he was handling 99 percent of the sales, was traveling about 700 miles a week and will turn 79

milestones years old in two months.

A transmitter problem in 2013 kept the station off the air for two months, from October to the beginning of December, and Mr. Wade said it never recovered from that.

“It’s hard on small businesses,” Mrs. Wade said.

“Fortunately, all of our clients came back. We’ve made some good friends,” Mr. Wade said.

Today, faithful advertisers from over the years were still purchasing air time on the station, he said.

“All these things were happening, but we won’t be here,” Mr. Wade said.

Wade Communications purchased what previously had been a music station in 1988 and kept the music format for a while before deciding to make a switch to the talk format. Over the years, listeners found talk shows hosted by Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Roger Hedgecock and others, as well as national, regional and local news coverage.

The walls of the studio are filled with pictures of many of its talk show hosts, including Mr. Medved, Mother Angelica and Kim Kommando, who penned “We love Massena” on her photograph.

Mr. Wade said he tried to create more locally produced shows that dealt with various topics such as pets.

“I was going to have a local vet guy,” he said.

He’ll also remember with fondness those with whom he has worked at the station, including Mr. Jaquith, Johnathan L. Ralston, Stephen Grigg, Joel Grigg, Don McPherson and the late Bob Kampf, who had served as the news announcer before his death in November.

“We had some great people work here,” Mr. Wade said.

Now it’s time to move on to a new chapter in their lives, he said; a time to enjoy life.

“I like to carve. I probably have about 25 to 30 things I’ve done. I have four daughters and they’ve got pieces and I’ve got a bunch of pieces,” he said.

But he’ll take along many good memories as he leaves the radio station behind.

“It’s almost hard to list all of the good things,” Mr. Wade said. n bob beckstead is a Johnson Newspapers staff writer based in Massena. Contact him at bbeckstead@ogd.com. or 769-2451.

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RE AL E STAT E RO U ND U P

Realtors honored for years service

O

n June 3, the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors held a recognition lunch to honor its Realtor members for their years of membership. Each received a Realtor pin with the number of years of continuous membership rounded down to the nearest five year increment.

In future years, we plan to honor members when they reach a five-year milestone.

Below is a list of all members who have been a Realtor for five or more years. I have noted their actual number of years as of Dec. 31, 2014.

The longest serving are Warren Bonney (54), Joseph Rizzo, Sr. (43), Nancy D. Storino (35), and with 31 years, Charlene Johnston, Patricia Bristol, and Christina Thornton.

28 years — Michael Astafan, Lois Ann Aubin, Doris Olin.

27 years — Walter Christensen, Beth Hopkins, Ann Hunter 26 years — Roger Abbey, Mary Bisig, Libby Churchill, Trude Fitelson.

25 years — George Bowes, Miriam Bowes, Lori Jo Gervera, Nancy Rome.

24 years — Matthew Garlock, Jennifer Hebert, Joseph Rizzo, Jr. 23 years — Marlene Cook, Roger Farney, Sylvia Firlik, Janet Handschuh, Lisa L’Huillier, Barb McKeever, Eric Sunderhaft.

22 years — Gail Christensen, Deborah Schaefer, James Wiley.

21 years — John Carroll, Joan GerniLaLone, Sandra Grimmer, Anthony Netto, Ted Weisberg.

20 years — Tom Humes, Robert Moyer, Deborah Peebles.

19 years — Brenda Rathbun.

18 years — Scott Gerni, Edward Prevost, Elna Vickery.

17 years — Patricia Calhoun, William

“Bill” Elliott.

16 years — Vicki Bulger, Kenneth Catlin, Pamela Hoskins, Guy Javarone, Donna Loucks, Vickie Staie.

15 years — Lory Cobb, Kenneth Erb, Carolyn Gaebel, Lance Evans Michel Gravelle, Jacqueline Ladue, Lisa Worden.

14 years — Curtis Byington, Cathy Fiacco-Garlock, Linda Fields, June O’Brien, Karen Peebles, Marcia Slocum, Lori Turgeon.

13 years — Nancy Benoit, Kent Burto, Betty Henderson, Marcie Travers, Linda Waring, Nancy Williams, Martha Wise.

12 years — Melanie Curley, Les Henry, Julie Hughes, Cynthia Moyer, Byron Rome, Charles Ruggiero, Tammie Lee Towles, Ruth Varley.

11 years — Britton Abbey, Martha Ciulla, Judy Condino, Lisa Eddy, Amanda Miller, Torre Parker-Lane, Terry Petrie, Anthony Pisarski.

10 years — Mary Adair, Christine Bedard, Betty Bork, James Conlin, Stacey Garrett, Diane Hannon Radley, Gaetono Javarone, Stephen Kubinski, Barry Kukowski, Arnold Loucks, Erin Meyers, Lori Porter, Penny Price, Thomas Puccia, Randy Raso, Suzanne Raso, Kathryn Rowell, John Stopper, Lora Stopper.

9 years — Margaret Aubertine, Ron Berie, Chuck Burlingame, Kathy Cook, Jennifer Dindl-Neff, Linda Donaldson, Joanne Galavitz, Diana Hadlock, Patrick Henry, Lucas Hopkins, William Leepy,

Barbara Loomis, Sandra Macy, Brenda Malone, Tara Marzano, Jocelyn Merritt, Christopher Palmer, Ronald Papke, Jill Rosette, Sandra Rowland, John Stevens.

8 years — Chris Andioro, Teri Benitez, Larry Boliver, Brooks Bragdon, Kim Call, Stephanie Converse, Kathryn Holloway, Sarah House, Angela Hunter, Nicole Lajoie, Gwyn Monnat, Suzette Pierce, Kenneth Scott, Patricia Scott, Jennifer Waite.

7 years — Jill Ahlgrim, Clifford Bennett III, Tina Burr, Katherine Couch, Bonnie Damon, Julian de Castro, Carole Dunbar, Hardy Hoppenworth, Karen Jorden, David Knowlton, Linda Landers, Keith Lawrence, Daniel Lort, Milagros Millet-Velez, Lori Nettles, Jillian Netto, Deborah Polniak, Gail Richardson, Sarah Riddoch, Jennifer Simpson, Brenda Sipher, Melissa Widrick, Cheryl Zeldin.

6 years — Lorriane Bobela, Judy Boulton, Mary Grace Britt, Phyllis Chase, Elizabeth Clair, Michael Clark, Erica Davis, Sylvia DeVita, Bobbi Frederick, Francine Graham, Kelly Harrienger, Jodi Jellie, Douglas Miller, Elizabeth Miller, Gail Miller, Dawn Newhouse, Todd O’Donnell, Claire O’Rourke, Tammy Queior, Mark Ralston, Rebecca Stone, Judy Tubolino, Lisa Watson, Todd Wines, Kathy Woolf.

5 years — Ronald Benoit, Laura Cupernall, Sandra DeLong, Elaine Gibeau, Tina Goodwin, Kenneth Hanners, Christine Hogarth, Carol Lehman, April Marvin, Shawn McManaman, Robert Meekins, Anthony Netto, Terence O’Brien, Michael Siptrott, Benjamin Sterling, Marcia Sunderhaft, Janet Towle, Janette Vander Baan. n LANCE M. EVANS is the executive officer of the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors and the St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors. Contact him at levans@nnymls.com. His column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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RE AL E STAT E / top transactions Top 10 property sales by price recorded in the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office in May 2015: $2,930,000: May 19, Town of Watertown: 5.10 acres, 20768 County Route 200, EGM Northstar LLC, Miami, Fla., sold to Aviagen North America Inc., Huntsville, Ala. $2,737,000: May 14, City of Watertown: No acreage, Ives Street at Harris Drive, Maple Court Apartments II L.P., Detroit, Mich., sold to Maple Housing Development Fund, Scarborough, Maine. $2,300,000: May 28, Town of Ellisburg: Seven parcels, 298 acres more or less, highway from Belleville to Sackets Harbor, John D. Lassen and Elizabeth G. Lassen, Adams, sold to Shel Land Properties 2 LLC, Adams.

acre more or less, bounded by Franklin Road, Matthew B. and Stephanie L. Rose, Waddington, sold to Matthew D. and Kerri E. O’Brien, Waddington. $220,000: May 28, Town of Gouverneur: 19.95 acres more or less, bounded by Little Bow Road, Jerry A. and Michelle S. Pearson (trustee), Pearson Family Trust, Gouverneur, sold to Richard R. and Nancy M. Welch, Gouverneur. $210,000: May 15, Village of Louisville: Unknown acres, Lot 113, Joseph D. and Krasimira K. Yannello, Cheektowaga, sold to James M. Millhausen, Laredo, Texas. $210,000: May 28, Town of Pierrepont: 5 acres more or less, bounded by Anderson Road, Law-

rence and Debra Costa, Potsdam, sold to William N. and Rondalyn V. Whitney, Potsdam. $205,000: May 19, Town of Massena: Unknown acres, bounded by North Grass River Road, Karen Thompson, Thorofare, N.J., sold to Brandee and Jonathan Monacelli, Massena. $202,000: May 1, Town of Russell: 10 acres more or less, in Great Tract 3, bounded by County Route 25, Ethan L. and Amanda L. Reynolds, Canton, sold to James R. and Melanie L. Horrocks, Potsdam. $197,000: May 15, Town of Oswegatchie: 2.79 acres more or less, bounded by County Route 6, Becky A. Green, Ogdensburg, sold to Jason P. Mills, Harlingen, Texas.

$650,000: May 15, Town of Adams: 4 parcels, 227.77 total acres, portions of Marsh Farm, Sorenson Farm, Home Farm-Harrington and Edmonds Farm, Frank M. Graves and Sharon M. Graves, Adams Center, sold to Hillcrest Farms LLC, Woodville. $450,000: May 27, Town of LeRay: 1.38 acres, no address given, Mercer’s Quik Stop Food Stores Inc., now known as Stewart’s Shops Corp., Ballston Spa, sold to CST Development LLC, Watertown. $420,000: May 21, Town of Alexandria: 0.46 acres, Point Vivian Road, Peter J. Schwan and Susan M. Schwan, Alexandria Bay, sold to Severin Gonnella, Cicero, and Carol Murphy, Jamesville. $415,000: May 29, Town of LeRay: 0.559 acres, River Bend Drive, M. Kathryn Buchanan, Crownsville, Md., sold to Hiram Garcia-Rivera, Watertown. $401,000: May 19, Town of Watertown: No acreage given, Deer Run Path at Cagwin Road, Thomas P. O’Connor, Watertown, sold to Kenya K. Cain and Jacklyn F. Cain, Watertown. $391,000: May 21, Town of Brownville: 1.63 acres, South Shore Road, Michael R. Davis and Tammy A. Davis, APO AE, sold to Jie He and Chen Jiang, Staten Island. $377,000: May 13, City of Watertown: 0.722 acres, Ten Eyck Street, Derek D. Brown and Gretchen F. Brown, Watertown, sold to Malcolm H. Wilkerson, Charlottesville, Va. Top 10 property sales by price recorded in the St. Lawrence County Clerk’s Office in May 2015: $500,000: May 21, Town of Potsdam: 2 parcels, 1) 24.37 acres more or less, 2) unknown acres, Section 46, bounded by Potsdam-Canton State Road, Scott E. and Mary Jane Smalling (Smalling Associates), Hannawa Falls, sold to Om Ganesh LLC, Potsdam. $242,000: May 22, Town of Canton: 5.3 acres more or less, bounded by Country Farm Road, Steven J. and Amy W. Jo, Jamison, Pa., sold to Andrew D. and Melissa F. Richards, Blacksburg, Va. $225,000: May 19, Village of Massena: 2 parcels, unknown acres, bounded by East Hatfield Street, Roger B. Clough II and Robin L. Clough, Walton, sold to Stacey J. Holcomb, Massena. $225,000: May 29, Village of Waddington: Parcel 1) 0.229 of an acre more or less, Parcel 2) 0.04 of an

July 2015 | NNY Business

| 25

20 q u estions

AMANDA MORRISON | NNY BUSINESS

Farming for the future

R

onald C. Robbins knew he wanted to be in the agriculture business by the time he was 7. Today, he runs a farm that’s home to more than 1,000 cows, about 17,000 acres of farmland, a visitor’s education center that’s open to the public and more. This month, he talked with NNY Business about what it’s like to work on a family farm, technological advancements that have allowed the industry to bolster efficiencies and the future of agriculture in the north country.

1

NNYB: What it’s like to work with a number of family members on a day-to-day basis?

ROBBINS: It’s a challenge. Family operations, living together and working together, it’s probably one of the more challenging sides of the business. Farming is a difficult business, but being directly involved with a family operation is working on communication issues constantly and making sure we’re all talking the way we should be.

2

NNYB: So what do you see as the future of the family farm in NNY? ROBBINS: Agriculture has really been a dynamic industry here in the north country forever, and it continues to be a real dynamic industry.

The family farm here is here to stay. I do think it’s going to change. They say about every 25 or 30 years, businesses evolve and are reinvented. We’re at a point where agriculture is on the verge of some transformation here. There will always be a role for small family-run operations.

But then I think that class in the middle is the one that’s probably going to disappear, and then you’ll see operations like ours continue to grow and take on a little different dynamic, bringing in outside people as managers.

NNYB: Your farm is well diversified. You have crops, dairy and agri-tourism. What did it

26 | NNY Business | July 2015

technology, keys to success at North Harbor Dairy n Diversification,

3

5

4

6

look like when you came out of college in ’77 compared to now?

ROBBINS: Coming out of college, we were just getting started. And then we hit the ’80s.

And some will say that if you survived the ’80s in farming, you survived the toughest time in the history of our country, even worse than the Depression. Farming community during the Depression really had a level of self-existence.

But the ’80s was high interest rates. It was a really tough time. That’s when we made the decision to diversify as a way to manage our risk. That’s when we started the trucking to add some additional income, and that’s continued to grow over the years. And then it was 1986 when Nancy was working in town as a clerk at a department store, and came home one day and said, “I’m going to quit my job. We have three little kids.” And we started an agri-tourism business and ag-education business.

NNYB: How many people over that time do you estimate have come through?

ROBBINS: In the past 10 [years], it’s really evolved into a destination. Between school groups and the public, probably about 50,000 visitors annually now. That’s what we estimate. This year’s actually up from last year. I think some of that has to do with trends in the economy. We’re hearing that consumer sales are down, and people are paying off credit debt. They’re going out to eat and they’re doing things with their family, rather than buying clothes and furniture. They’re doing things that they enjoy doing. We offer an opportunity for people to come into the north country, and have an opportunity not only to spend time with their kids and be outdoors, but to learn about modern agriculture.

NNYB: You use technology to monitor data on your farm. What kind of information do you collect?

ROBBINS: In the field, we’re collecting planting, weather and harvest data. So yields, and then analyze yield verses all kinds of factors: planting date, rainfall, temperature. Then profitability per acre. So every half acre you’re pulling a soil sample, and then you’re layering yield data, soil data, weather data, rainfall data. You’re layering that and you’re beginning to analyze what actually is transpiring on each one of those half-acre grids within a bigger field. And then it’s deciding based on the information that’s in the computer, what to apply on that half acre grid. And then with the cows, we’re able to identify, “Are these cows comfortable? Is there something that we need to do for them that we’re not doing for them?” all based on their activity and their performance. And then we make genetics decisions based on that going forward.

NNYB: Break down the makeup of the farm for us. How many livestock and acres of crops?

ROBBINS: We’re currently milking about 920 cows and have about 1,800 head here on the farm because we raise our own replacements.

Our cropping operation consists of about 17,000 acres. Crops are corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa, grass, hay. Then our trucking business, grain handling business; that involves about four employees currently. We haul our own milk. We haul grain. We do a lot of work for some of the major companies.

7

NNYB: What’s been the single most significant innovation in ag that you’ve seen?

ROBBINS: Genetically modified seeds

2 0 q u estions has really transformed the industry of agriculture here in places like the north country. I never dreamed of growing corn that would yield 200 bushel per acre even 10 years ago. And now if we don’t have fields that average 200 bushel per acre, we get disappointed. We start looking for what we’re doing wrong.

8

NNYB: So what’s the biggest myth that you could dispel?

ROBBINS: That GMOs — genetically modified seeds — are harmful to human health and bad for the environment. Number one, there’s absolutely zero science that can point to any adverse effects to human health. And from an environmental standpoint, we use less chemicals today, a lot less chemicals on a lot more acres. And we’re a lot more productive. So to me, that lowers the carbon footprint. We’re producing now a third more per acre than we ever were. Our cows are more productive because of enhancements in seeds that are free of disease.

9

NNYB: Where do you think may of these myths come from?

ROBBINS: It’s all about the Internet and social media. That kind of information is in their faces 24/7, where information to counter that is not in their faces 24/7. We’re always defending our position. We’re never out there in front. And I think that has to change. There’s been a lot of discussions about the fact that maybe as an industry, we need to be investing more money in making sure information is out there. We need to transform.

10

NNYB: So in an industry that’s always played defense, how do you go from playing defense to playing some good offense?

ROBBINS: That’s the real challenge. That’s what we’re struggling with. How do you transition this industry that’s made up largely of an aging population that really doesn’t understand new means of communication? And it’s a huge challenge, one that I think if we don’t figure it out pretty quick, the train’s going to leave the station. And none of us will be on it.

11

NNYB: Agriculture is a demanding business.

What do we need in terms of leadership to inspire young people to take up careers in farming and agriculture?

ROBBINS: I think we’ve made progress there.

Technology in agriculture has helped that tremendously. We’re seeing young people — my daughter for instance — transition back to wanting to be involved in the farm. So I think we’ve made great strides there just in the last five years. So you have this whole sector that wants to do away with technology on the farm, but you also have another whole sector of young people that are embracing it. It’s an interesting dynamic.

12

NNYB: Other than family, how many people does the farm employ?

ROBBINS: We have a total of 35 year-round employees, and then about 25 seasonal employees.

We have two Cornell grads here currently, and another two young ladies managing the tourism business who graduated from Cornell a year ago

AMANDA MORRISON | NNY BUSINESS

Ronald C. “Ron” Robbins talks about the future of the agriculture industry in Northern New York. in December. We have another young individual here, who graduated a year ago in June from Cornell. He’s here for two years, then he’s going back to his home farm. And we have one starting next week that just graduated from Cornell.

13

NNYB: Talk about the rising price of local farmland in the past few years.

ROBBINS: I would say we’re probably averaging $6,000 an acre here, which puts us in line now with most of New York State.

The unfortunate thing is that they don’t make any more land and we continue to lay concrete and blacktop on a lot of good, farmable land around the country. I look at the growth coming out on the fringes of a place like Watertown.

It’s everywhere. And then ultimately it drives land prices because of that growth. Our downtown residential areas are suffering, so they build houses out in the countryside. So in that whole social movement, you’re impacting farming as development happens outside. And then that drives up land prices and traffic issues and more need for infrastructure improvements out into the countryside. And where does it stop?

My point is that it’s a way bigger issue that just the price of land. It’s a whole social evolution that’s taking place. And I just don’t think it’s good for the area and I don’t think it’s good for farming to have that.

14

NNYB: What should be done in that vein to protect the future of the ag industry?

ROBBINS: I really wish that community leaders and politicians would really take a long, hard look. They’re not allowed to be strategic, let’s put it that way. They’re dealing with the problems of the day. The county’s farmland protection plan is being unveiled here shortly.

It was a process that I was a little involved in, and it began to look at some of that strategically. But how do we bring it back to the elected

The Ronald C. Robbins file AGE: 58 FAMILY: Wife, Nancy; sons, Brian, 36, and Jeff, 34; daughter, Julia, 33; five grandchildren CAREER: Fourth generation operator at North Harbor Dairy Farm HOMETOWN: Sackets Harbor EDUCATION: Associate degree in business administration, Jefferson Community College BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ AND WOULD RECOMMEND: “From Good to Great” by Jim Collins officials and the county board of legislators, our community leaders? How do we bring everything together to realize that we’ve got to think about what the impact of this is going to be in another 20 years if we continue down this path? How many people can we continue to move out, build townhouses and houses and take up agricultural land? When do we come back and start making investments internally to hold some of that back?

15

NNYB: What should our priorities be for the agriculture industry in Northern New York?

ROBBINS: Certainly protecting our farmland should be a high priority, and I think that’s going back to the county’s ag and farmland protection plan. This round really is taking a different approach than it did when it was done 15 years ago for the first time. We need to foster additional value-added businesses here in the area. And I certainly hope that the community will embrace those kinds of things because they really provide opportunity to keep dollars here rather than have it leave the area. That’s what it’s all about when we talk about creating July 2015 | NNY Business

| 27

20 q u estions jobs and keeping our communities healthy.

16

NNYB: Last year was a banner year for the milk industry, this year not so much. What should farmers be doing in years like this of the milk industry?

ROBBINS: I did some research this winter looking at price cycles going back to 1996.

There very clearly is three-year price cycles in the dairy industry. The thing that stands out is the volatility in those three-year price cycles.

The gyrations up and down are tremendous.

Our business model here is to manage risk and know our cost of production. And we do a lot of forward contracting. We both feed and milk. So

basically, we’re managing a margin. We’re not worrying about the highs and the lows.

17

NNYB: Much of what the north country produces for agriculture are raw materials that contribute to the manufacture of food products.

What should be done to bolster marketing efforts to raise awareness of all the ag products New York farmers produce?

ROBBINS: We need to think about marketing local a little differently than we are now.

We need to look at agriculture as a whole in a region. If you get up in the morning and you’re involved in agriculture and your goal is to be profitable, you’re part of the agricultural

industry. How you do it — whether you’re small or big or organic or grazing or you grow vegetables, you do beef, you do grain — that’s management-style. We should work harder to be unified. And if we did that, then we could come back around. This beef processing plant, that’s the vision behind it. It doesn’t matter if I’ve got 15 animals on my 25 acres or whether I’ve got a feed lot with 500 in it, or whether I’m selling cull dairy cows off a 100 cow farm or a 1,000 cow farm. We’re all going to work together to make that successful.

18

NNYB: What is needed to fix the current farm labor situation?

ROBBINS: We really need a dairy farm piece to guest worker legislation. We need to put some common sense into that discussion, and stop clouding it with issues of citizenship and everything else. We need to be honest with ourselves about what it takes to run these operations, what it takes to run a farm in general. And we do need to solve the labor issue. That’s a cloud that really hangs over us on a daily basis and it’s unfortunate that agriculture’s caught in that squeeze. And I think getting into our high school’s too and getting some young kids. We have two young high school kids working for us now. And they’re such a breath of fresh air.

They’re appreciative. They work hard. They’re dedicated. They’re meticulous. And I think there’s more kids like this in our school systems.

And unfortunately, that gets into another whole discussion about common core and everything else. How do we identify these kids in school that don’t want to go to school and get a liberal arts degree? They want to contribute.

19

NNYB: What does it take to run and maintain an operation this large?

ROBBINS: This farm has about a $12 million budget — $2.5 million in payroll. So that’s a sizeable amount of money. We’re pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished here. And it hasn’t come without its struggles and its challenges, and those continue on a daily basis. Our vision for this farm is to be the showplace of Jefferson County agriculture. And that doesn’t mean we have the nicest looking farm. That’s important.

But more so in saying that we want people to identify driving by this farm what agriculture’s about in our area, and to think, “Wow. That’s just one, and there’s many.”

20

NNYB: What do you do for fun? Any fun side projects you’re involved with off the clock?

ROBBINS: We have five grandchildren, and spending time with them is way better than I ever dreamed it would be. And then I’ve always been a basketball junky, and I really enjoy watching [my son] Jeff coach more than I enjoyed watching him play. And over the years, that’s just been a real pastime. It’s been a lot of fun. They were state champs in 2012, which is one of the most exciting things I’ve ever experienced. I just hope now with my grandkids we can experience some of the same excitement there.

— Interview by Ken Eysaman. Edited for length and clarity to fit this space.

28 | NNY Business | July 2015

nonprofit edge

Philanthropy’s reward beyond money “Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You only need a heart full of grace.

A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.

M

any of us have our first experience of giving as young children. For me, it was the act of putting two quarters in a Sunday School envelope and placing it in the offering plate. The experience of giving is a tradition that often becomes an integral part of life. It can be much like enjoying a good book, listening to favorite music, working in the garden or taking a walk. While we must be responsible and practical in our giving, it also is a journey, an evolving part of who we are and one way we define our lives.

We are all bombarded with requests for our financial support. Eventually, one appeal looks like all the others. As disheartening as this may seem, this often can help ground us more firmly in the act of giving itself.

It goes without saying that gifts should be directed to organizations whose missions are most closely aligned with our values and priorities and which are best equipped to effectively carry out those missions and support them in an enduring way. However, it is my belief that the best giving can and should be a “spiritual experience.” Not necessarily in the religious sense, but defined simply as an experience that awakens something within us that “feels” the gift with the realization that we are committing to something outward, beyond ourselves. I think most who give feel an intense gratitude for the blessings they have, and giving becomes one way to express that thankfulness. In so doing, we also acknowledge that there are others who rely on that generosity to cling to some sense of life that may seem commonplace to us. At the same

time, we receive a return on our investment that cannot always be quantified.

Some are fortunate during the course of their lives to be placed in settings where they witness the power of a gift.

Rande Richardson Or, perhaps they have benefited from such generosity, either through a scholarship or because a project or initiative has made a profound difference in their lives or has affected their quality of life. Some of these individuals eventually are able to cheerfully return the favor. Some realize that their lives were shaped by the community in which they lived, worked and played, and make a decision to provide a gift that can provide more broad-based, enduring support of a region’s quality of life. Beginning in 1929, the Community Foundation was built by that type of foresight and leadership.

I’m fortunate to be in a position to see both the joy encountered through the giving experience, as well as the ways lives are changed and shaped by the sacrificial gift.

Several years ago, I was able to be part of the campaign to raise funds for the restoration of the Gov. Roswell P. Flower Monument.

When funds were originally raised in 1903 to make the monument possible, gifts ranged from pennies to thousands of dollars. When the restoration was accomplished in 2003, it was done in much the same way. The premise was that there is great value in ownership.

By making the campaign accessible to all, it created great pride and ownership in the

final product. It has always given me great satisfaction to know that the student who collected pennies for the project and the major donor who gave thousands of dollars each could look at the result and say with equal joy and civic pride, “I made that happen!”

Community Foundations were created on the premise that the experience of giving back should not belong solely to the very wealthy, but to individuals and families of modest means. When the Community Foundation movement began in 1914, philanthropy in this country was largely influenced and controlled by names like Rockefeller and Carnegie. This is not to minimize the great things that were accomplished by their largesse; it is just to say that the philanthropic experience is a human one, accessible to all with such a desire.

As I continue my own giving journey, it now saddens me when I realize that for some, even though they have the ability to give, they will never know the true joy that comes from giving. Knowing a gift made today can have both immediate impact and also can help shape a community for generations to come is really just the “icing on the cake.” It is the inner satisfaction and life-changing effect philanthropy can have for the donor. Having your life intersect with that type of giving is powerful!

Most of you are able to live the true benefit of philanthropy beyond the gift.

This great part of the human experience is available regardless of the extent of your resources, and includes gifts of oneself. Ultimately, it really is not about the money at all. n Rande Richardson is executive director of the Northern New York Community Foundation. He is a lifelong Northern New York resident and former funeral director. Contact him at rande@nnycf.org. His column appears every other month in NNY Business.

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July 2015 | NNY Business

| 29

S T R AT E GI C PLANNING

Easy should be the last thing you do

I

just listed a house for sale, something we have done many times over the course of my career before we finally “arrived” back in the north country; so this is not a new experience. And yet, despite that fact, I find that we tend to forget what we should have learned to do long ago.

Our Realtor, a trusted advisor, offered a few suggestions: repair this, replace that, address some clutter: things that we have seen day-in and day-out until we did not even realize they were there. In this instance, we took her advice. Better that than take a risk and miss an offer.

Funny thing: once the suggestions were addressed, we are enjoying the house a little bit more. And we hope the house will be even more attractive to potential buyers. There were times that we did more — a lot more — to a property on the eve of being transferred, like landscaping or painting the house. We called it “fixing it up for the next guy.” And we seldom got to enjoy the improvements since we were definitely moving.

The human condition being what it is, these lessons can apply to so many other facets of life. As a business owner, you likely experience certain things so often that you don’t even realize they exist.

And have you ever had a trusted advisor suggest some changes that you know are right on target and not act on them? Why is that? Sadly, in the course of operating a business day-to-day, it is all too easy to focus on what is familiar, easy and for today than it is to embrace what is unfamiliar and hard but important for tomorrow.

It’s the focus on tomorrow that will build value, make your life more rewarding and take risks out of your business.

Some examples:

Easy: Make Paul Luck all the important, and maybe not so important, decisions yourself.

HARD: Build a strong, capable management team that can operate smoothly without you. Maybe you could actually take a few days off without the place imploding. If the plan is for your business to die with you, then maybe this isn’t important. If you want your business to survive you, or you plan to sell it, this must be a priority.

Easy: Base your relationship with your partner on a handshake. You’ve known her for a long time. What could go wrong? HARD: Develop a formal, written buy-sell agreement describing the terms to buy the other out in the event of a departure, death, disability, disagreement, divorce, etc. Fund it with insurance. Otherwise, get ready for your next, maybe unknown, partner.

Easy: Focus your sales to just a few customers and on a few good products.

Oh, and just sell within a 50-mile radius.

HARD: Cultivate many customers, offer a full line of products over a broad area with no reliance on any single one.

Easy: Check the cash account every day to see how much is there, whether you can make payroll and then choose which bills to pay. HARD: Know how much cash you have and forecast what will be needed and when.

Easy: Live with unknowns. If you ignore them, they will go away. HARD: Have confidence that you know all the risks in your business.

Easy: Hope the business survives as long as you need it to. And that you can sell it for enough to retire like you want.

HARD: Have a current calculation of value for the business and know how much more valuable your business could be if risks were managed.

Easy: Look in the mirror for all the answers. After all, you’re a handsome lad; who else could know better? HARD: Assemble a team of trusted advisors who can provide a fresh assessment of your business.

And the list goes on …

If you do just one of these, I guarantee you will sleep better. The more you do, the better your business will perform.

You’ll enjoy it more and the hard will become easy.

Risks exist in every business. Risks impair value. Knowing and managing risks increase profits and business value, for you and the next guy who buys it.

As for the house, we’re just selling, not moving. So the next time you’re in Clayton, give me a call. That’s not so hard. n Paul Luck is a principal partner in The Succession Partners, Clayton. Contact him at (315) 7785257 or PaulLuck@thesuccessionpartners.com.

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nonprofit toolkit

Commit to making a real difference

W

hich businesses relentlessly provide financial support to area nonprofits and other local causes?

I can immediately think of more than a dozen: Whites Lumber, St. Lawrence Gas, Purcell Construction, Countryside Veterinary Clinic, Westelcom, WWNY, the Watertown Daily Times, Tops, all of our banks and credit unions. I’m sure you can name another dozen as well.

That’s why the most important word for nonprofits is “profits.” All nonprofits will be in peril if businesses don’t generate the revenue that fuels the two key funding sources for nonprofits: government grants and private donations.

The greatest threat today for our business community — and thus our local nonprofits — is how “business” is being marketed to millennials, the next generation of community leaders and potential donors. Today’s consumers are constantly bombarded with ads to: Buy everything online from Amazon.

Buy a product from a company that promises a fraction of its payment will be used to save a South American rain forest or free a dog locked in a wire cage somewhere in America.

The first threat to our business community is easy to see. The more products we buy elsewhere, the less money businesses here have to meet payroll, pay bills and taxes, etc. With fewer dollars in their pockets, business owners have little choice but to cut their charitable contributions to local nonprofits.

The second threat is more insidious. It gives a buyer the illusion of making a charitable donation, even though the “consumer-donor” makes no sacrifice of time, energy or even a tax-deductible contribution, the trinity of volunteerism upon which all nonprofits are built.

Most community leaders I know are concerned that while future generations are growing up more connected to the world, they

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are increasingly disconnected from their community.

A 2012 study reported in USA Today concluded that millennials are “more civically and politically disengaged, more focused on materialistic Bob Gorman values, and less concerned about helping the larger community than were gen-X (1962-1981) and baby boomers (1946-1961) at the same ages. The trend is more of an emphasis on extrinsic values such as money, fame and image, and less emphasis on intrinsic values such as selfacceptance, group affiliation and community.”

Yet millennials are also seen as openminded and willing to try new things. So while it is easy to dismiss younger adults as self-absorbed and selfish, last year’s Ice Bucket Challenge revealed the changing character of giving in this country; we will gladly support a worthy cause, in this case the fight against ALS, as long as we can post a praise-seeking video of ourselves supporting the worthy cause.

For aging baby boomers whose WW II parents told them to give anonymously and make sacrifices today to enjoy benefits tomorrow, accepting the growing need for constant praise and instant gratification is an acquired taste.

Today, many of our institutions — civic, cultural, educational and religious — are atrophying due to a lack of participation by the next generation. Some have likened the issue to a track meet: marathoners commit to the long haul with success a distant hope; sprinters make exciting things happen right now, and expect to be able to turn around at

any given moment to see their progress.

Institutions can survive for a time, and be pretty dull, without sprinters, but they won’t survive at all without marathoners.

The more things change, the more they stay the same: Making a real difference requires making a real commitment and not just a selfie.

And all politics, business and nonprofits are local. Saving the world is useless if we ignore our own community. n n n New York is backing away from its proposal to close work sites such as Production Unlimited in Watertown and Progress Industries in Lowville, which allow people with developmental disabilities to work and get paid.

“Mainstreaming” everyone into the general work population may look good on paper, but anyone who has seen our local work sites knows that most of these disabled people are simply unemployable in a free market, dogeat-dog economy.

If Albany had had its way, you would have had this three-step scenario: New York companies would no longer be able to buy binders from Production Unlimited, where disabled people work in a climatecontrolled building under state-sanctioned supervision and federal safety standards.

New York companies would then buy binders assembled by child labor in China.

State government people would give themselves an award for progressive thinking.

“Keeping the status quo” sounds unprogressive, but in this case the status quo was created decades ago by good and decent people who made the right decision to benefit all citizens of our community. The state should follow our example. n BOB GORMAN is president and CEO of the United Way of Northern New York. Contact him at bgorman@unitedway-nny.org or 788-5631.

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July 2015 | NNY Business

| 31

commerce corner

Health care summit set for August

A

ccording to the New York State of Health, as of Jan. 31, 2014, slightly fewer than 1.9 million individuals have completed the application process compared with what was reported by the New York State of Health on April 16, 2014, when more than 1.3 million individuals had completed the application process and there 960,762 were enrolled in the Health Care Exchange. In 2015, so far there have been more than 250,000 enrollees. Access to health insurance is becoming easier for individuals. So is this a sign that the state’s exchange is working?

As reported on the New York State of Health website, the official health plan marketplace: “Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, you and your family will have many new health insurance options available through the Individual Marketplace. You can quickly compare health plan options and apply for assistance that could lower the cost of health coverage. Individuals and families may also qualify for free or low-cost coverage from Medicaid or Child Health Plus through the Marketplace. Anyone who needs health coverage can apply.”

The New York City-based Community Service Society is an organization that describes itself as an informed, independent and unwavering voice for positive action on behalf of more than three million New Yorkers. Community Service Society’s success is due in part to its innovative service models and willingness to work with partners in the public and private sectors across the political spectrum, such

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The Greater WatertownNorth Country Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Community Service Society for the past three years and Lynn Pietroski will continue to do so for years to come, providing services to help individuals and businesses understand the complexity brought by the Health Care Marketplace or Exchange, terms that are often used interchangeably.

The Community Service Society secured $3 million in state monies for the year that began July 1. It is a $500,000 increase over last year. The additional money is designated for use in educating more regions and populations where they were not previously able to. One of those populations includes small business owners. The Community Health Advocates program has been providing free, confidential individual counseling and educational community presentations to consumers, advocates and providers for more than 10 years on various health insurance options. People can seek help regardless of whether they are privately insured, publicly insured or uninsured.

The Community Service Society of New York recently awarded the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce $60,000 for the second year to support a Community Health Advocate

Program. The year-long program will provide post-enrollment navigational services to individuals and small businesses and support consumers in becoming their own advocate and accessing health coverage on their own.

Under the grant, the chamber is able to provide free services to individuals and businesses in Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence and Oswego Counties.

In addition, the chamber will host to the north country’s first health care summit.

This goal of the summit is to educate and review the upcoming year, which includes changes in the health care enrollment process for 2015-16. In addition, it will allow attendees and presenters an opportunity to coordinate and engage with local service providers as well as representatives from the New York State Department of Health.

Another goal the health summit is to encourage all health advocacy groups, navigators, various community groups, health care facilities, health plan administrators, unions and small business representatives to attend. Vendors will be on hand for a full day of presentations that includes a panel of local experts who will answer some of our more challenging questions.

This summit I set for Aug. 5. Visit watertownny.com or contact Katrina Kapustay at 788-4400 to learn more.

Katrina Kapustay, community health advocate coordinator for the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce contributed to this column.

n Lynn Pietroski is past president and CEO of the Greater Watertown North Country Chamber of Commerce. On July 6, she began work as chief operating officer for JRC, Watertown.

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agri - b u siness

Meat plant builds local ag capacity

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t is exciting to possibly have a USDA-certified meat-processing facility coming to Jefferson County. Since the 2002 Jefferson County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan was completed, several of the agencies serving the agricultural industry in Jefferson County have investigated the potential for a plant and proposals from developers.

The 2002 indicated that the lack of USDA-processing facilities was a barrier to growth for our livestock industry. The lack of processing facilities in the area also meant revenue was leaving our area when farms had to ship animals out of the area and, most times, out of the state. Until 2014, nothing ever began to make sense for the north country. With announcement last month of the New York Meat Co. plant, 13 years of work finally began to gain momentum toward building capacity for more growth in agriculture.

The New York Meat Co. plant, if all goes well, will be sited in the Jefferson County Industrial Park, next to the Federal Express building and across from the Aviagen Chicken Hatchery. The plant will be designed to process 100 head per day of large livestock such as dairy cows and another 200 day of small livestock such as hogs, goats and sheep. The plant will cost $20.6 million to build and employ 60 people full time when it begins operation.

It is exciting news for those involved in agriculture to have a plant to send their animals to locally, versus plants in other states. Overwhelmingly, the response to the announcement has been positive. Even the general public has given many supportive comments on various online forums.

However, understandably, there are people who have concerns about a meat-process-

ing plant. Let’s address a few of those concerns.

We’ll begin with appearance.

The plant is carefully designed to eliminate any appearance other than a normal manufacturing operation.

Jay Matteson When livestock arrive, they are delivered in trailers inside the building.

The trailer will be backed into the facility, overhead doors closed and the cattle will walk off the trailer into large indoor holding pens. Other than the sounds of normal everyday tractor trailers, neighbors will not see or hear anything unusual. The grounds will be landscaped and match the surrounding facilities in appearance.

I read a couple comments about odor.

Modern meat-processing facilities are extremely clean and well kept. Because the facility is designed to have everything happen inside, any odor issues are practically eliminated. Livestock at the plant will be harvested generally within a day of arrival. At the end of every day, the facility is scrubbed from top to bottom to meet the USDA regulations.

Nearly every part of the animal is used or sold; very little goes to waste. Companies are contracted with to handle all the animal materials. Trailers trucks will be kept inside the plant in refrigerated areas to receive any materials. Once the truck is full, it will leave the plant to transport the products to companies that handle the materials. Because the plant is USDA inspected, it has to be kept

clean and sanitary at all times.

The last concern to address, I haven’t heard from the public. But it is the priority of the people designing the project. The New York Meat Co. will practice the most humane methods possible in caring for and harvesting the livestock at the plant.

Plant designs incorporate guidance given

by Dr. Temple Grandin, one of the foremost experts on how to care for livestock as humanely as possible with meat-processing facilities. You are encouraged to watch Dr. Grandin’s videos on YouTube to understand her background — which is so unique that a major award-winning movie about her life was produced — and to learn what she recommends.

Animals at New York Meat Co. will walk into a clean, quiet and spacious holding area. Herds will be kept in separate enclosures. Human disturbance is minimized by using high walls to reduce people around the animals. Clean, fresh water is always available. The walls are curved instead of square, again following Dr. Grandin’s recommendations. USDA inspectors are present to supervise the entire process and ensure food safety and humane animal treatment are always the top priority.

Every effort is being made to bring a USDA plant to our community that will build more capacity in our agricultural industry, and be a plant the community will either be proud of, or not know it even exists. If that is accomplished, New York Meat Co. will be doing well. n Jay M. Matteson is agricultural coordinator for the Jefferson County Local Development Corp. He is a lifelong Northern New York resident who lives in Lorraine. Contact him at coordinator@comefarmwithus.com. His column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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July 2015 | NNY Business

| 33

b u siness tech bytes

Apple vs. Android battle heats up

A

re you an Android or an Apple? I am personally a Google girl and pretty excited about the new redesigned Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones that were recently released.

They are pretty slick and have generated a lot of interest, with “Samsung placing orders for an additional million units to over 8 million,” according to a March report in the Electronic Times newspaper of Korea.

The new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge went on sale April 10 in 20 countries, including in the United States. There are numerous improvements in the new Samsung S6 over the Galaxy S5. To start, it now sports an aircraft-grade aluminum chassis with a higher-resolution 5.1-inch, quad HD Super AMOLED, or active-matrix organic LED, display. It also boasts the latest eight-core 64-bit Exynos 7 processors, and new LPDDR4 flash RAM, available in three different capacities, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. Besides more power, they also sport an improved camera and a better feel in your hand making this launch very important for Samsung. The S6 Edge smartphone is now the first with a unique screen that has a curved edge on each side of the display. Samsung hopes to gain market share it has lost to cheap smartphones from China and the new and improved Apple iPhone 6, which beat them to market with its launch last year.

The Chicago-based Consumer Intelligence Research Partners analyst firm’s report shows that “Apple captured about 50 percent of the fourth-quarter 2014 smartphone sales in the United States, a 2-to-1 margin over Samsung. Samsung captured 26 percent market share, with LG following at 11 percent, 4 percent for Motorola

and 2 percent for HTC and Nokia. Amazon only captured 1 percent.”

Last year also saw Samsung’s revenue drop 10.6 percent to $188 billion from $208 billion in 2013 with Jill Van Hoesen a net profit of $21.28 billion, down 30 percent from $27.7 billion. Apple has fared much better and is announcing record-breaking 2015 first-quarter earnings results of $74.6 billion in gross sales for an $18 billion net profit. That’s a 30 percent year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue with net profits up from $13.1 billion in 2014.

This news is not discouraging Google though as they have recently released Android for Work. This latest venture is going to make the Android operating system more secure for businesses like yours by providing data separation and security. This new program was announced at Google I/O 2014 in response to the ever-growing bring-your-own-device movement. BYOD is affecting your business and you should be aware that many of your employees have work phones that contain personal data and personal phones that are used for work.

Android for Work is the latest in enterprise mobility management or EMM platform that allows businesses like yours to provide a secure mobile experience to your employees. Android for Work will use administrative policies and hardware-

based encryption to separate your business’s data from your employee’s personal information. Android for Work will provide support for both company owned and employee-owned devices allowing your employees to safely use a single Android device for business and personal use. It will provide a uniform experience which will let users intuitively and effortlessly switch between work and personal apps. In the launcher both business and personal apps will appear but the business app icons will have distinctive badges that clearly identify them. Android for Work will allow you to configure user device profiles which can be remotely managed and controlled for all work-related policies, applications and data. It also allows remote wipe of a device without disrupting your employee’s personal data.

With the release of Lollipop, also known as Android L, Google is introducing new APIs so businesses can now deploy internal apps to end users. Presently this is supported natively Android L, but Google is promising to produce an update for any Android device running Ice Cream Sandwich or an earlier mobile operating system.

The decision Android or Apple is largely a matter of your personal, highly subjective preference. There’s a lot to love and hate about both. Apple is a tightly woven operating environment while Android has an array of devices and tons of third-party apps. It is difficult to indisputably decide which platform is superior, but I’m still a Google Girl not a bad Apple. 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 in NNY Business.

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small b u siness s u ccess

Continually assess your risk levels

O

ne of the questions that usually appears in one of those “Are You an Entrepreneur?” quizzes is, “Are you comfortable with taking risks?” I think it’s a fairly common perception that risk is inherent in starting up or expanding your own business.

But, as with many other issues surrounding the topic, the level of risk depends. It may depend on the type of business you want to start. It may depend on whether you are selling a new product or service to a whole new customer base or introducing that new something to your existing, loyal clientele. Are you planning to quit your job and rely on your savings and retirement fund in a venture, or are you doing your homework and developing a solid business plan with deep data on your prospective customer base and then going after a loan? Have you done a good self-assessment to ensure that you are confident enough to put yourself out there as a salesperson or a consultant, or do you feel more comfortable with a business model where the customer comes to you?

In a December 2014 article on Forbes. com, several entrepreneurial experts were asked to answer the question: “Are Entrepreneurs born or made?” While their opinion on the percentage of nature versus nurture varied from person to person, the more popular response was that entrepreneurs are mostly made.

Doug Richards, founder of School for Start-ups and former investor on the TV

show, Dragon’s Den, said “I wholly reject the idea that entrepreneurs are born … It would be one of the most limiting ideas and it would be a real shame if it was true.” He conSarah O’Connell tinued, “People have an enormous capacity for change…As they grow and undertake new tasks, they become more confident. There is also a significant

tor. As you’re getting ready to actually take that step, it’s also a great idea to surround yourself with a group of trusted advisors. We call them your “BAIL” team. A BAIL team includes your banker, accountant, insurance agent, and lawyer.

Use them and tap into their knowledge and experience.

It reminds me of the story of the hare and the tortoise. The tortoise’s slow steady plod doesn’t make for a very exciting entrepreneurial story, but probably 8 times out of 10, it makes for a more successful ending. As we urge our clients, don’t be the hare.

In other words, please don’t lease the space and then go after the loan you absolutely must have for inventory in order to open your shop. Don’t sign up for expensive advertising across a huge range of media outlets before you are able to identify your exact target customer profile.

Don’t print business cards before you have a website to put on them. Don’t put your website up when it still says “Under Construction.” Don’t hire all your friends and family members before you figure out if you can afford the payroll. Do take the time to study your idea, develop your plan, and run it past the pros.

Your business advisor can also be part of your team that helps you assess risk.

A ‘BAIL’ team includes your banker, accountant, insurance agent, and lawyer. Use them and tap into their knowledge and experience. amount of information that can be learned through lessons. And as that knowledge expands, other intangibles such as ability to calculate risk, perseverance, resilience and desire also grows.”

There are many other factors that affect the level of risk you are assuming when you take that step toward self-employment or business expansion. But as Mr. Richards noted, the best route is to gain as much knowledge and experience as you can before you leap. One way is to seek employment in your chosen business field and learn it from the inside out before striking out on your own.

You can also seek out an expert in that specific field and make them your men-

n SARAH O’CONNELL is a certified business advisor with the New York State Small Business Development Center at Jefferson Community College. She is a former small business owner and lifelong Northern New York resident. Contact her at soconnell@sunyjefferson.edu. Her column appears bi-monthly in NNY Business.

July 2015 | NNY Business

| 35

entreprene u r ’ s edge

The good, the bad and the ugly

I

have a very low tolerance for people who say, “I can’t.” Or, “He won’t let me.” Or, “I’m too old.”

This attitude is likely going to get me stabbed in the eye or pushed off a rocky cliff and I get that. But let’s face it, if I don’t say it out loud then you won’t.

And if you’re an entrepreneur, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

I should introduce myself before I go deeper into this tolerance issue: My name is Joleene and I’m one of those people who quit my 9-to-5 job to work for myself and design my own life.

I used to be a television reporter. I likely spent time with you at your dinner table or in your living room at the dawn of the new millennium. In 2004, I abandoned Northern New York for the big city of Syracuse to invade dens and dinner tables there. I eventually ended up on a regional news station where I reported and anchored the news in Albany, Syracuse and Rochester. All in all, I spent 10 years chasing criminals and begging for hollow interviews to please my news directors and artificially fill the passion within me to write. I woke up to this reality in 2009 after my mother died. I wasn’t happy. I was living a lie. Instead of living for me I was living for “them.” And that, my friends, is intolerable.

I left news in 2010 to start my own speaking and consulting business, and here we are now. In a nutshell, I teach creative entrepreneurs, entertainers, writers and artists how to use speaking and teaching to design their own prosperous

36 | NNY Business | July 2015

and amazing life. It’s given me incredible freedom and abundance.

But it hasn’t come without a price. I’ve had days where my checking account boasted Joleene Moody a healthy six figures and other days where I was lucky if I could find two dimes on the floor of my car.

I’ve been rejected by prospects and organizations more times than I can count.

I’ve been criticized, ostracized and penalized. I’ve also been celebrated, accepted and revered. I’ve cried, pulled my hair, drowned myself in ice cream and threatened to fold my business and get a job as a check out girl at Aldi’s. On the flip side, I’ve laughed, eaten whole-grain bread and quinoa, expressed gratitude for all that I have experienced and praised God on my knees for the amazing life he’s given me.

It’s all relative. Every single experience, the good, the bad and the ugly, has been a tremendous gift. Every. Single. One. You are going to feel pain. You are going to be criticized. You are going to have people around you that will want to stab you in the eye. But you are going to experience that because you are doing something so incredibly brave. Choosing your own life and profiting from your passion makes some people uncomfortable. Why?

Because if they can’t have a life by design, neither can you. Your courage scares them. But that’s okay. They need to have that experience in that moment. So continue to show up. Lead in love and lead by example. I’m not kidding. Lead in love and lead by example. That is your gift to them. There isn’t a single person on this earth that can’t have what they’ve always dreamed of. It all comes down to choices.

But we can talk about choices next time.

So back to the low tolerance factor, and to paraphrase Henry Ford: If you say you can’t, you’re right. If you say you can, you’re also right. I know that every single one of us has it in us to do whatever we desire. We can accomplish those scary, little dreams. We can make them real and not so scary. We can share our talents and wisdoms with the world by writing books and starting businesses and speaking to the masses. But none of it will happen if you continue to tell the Universe, “I can’t.” Or, “He won’t let me.” Or, “I’m too old.”

I won’t tolerate it and neither should you. Show up in courage. Be brave. Take your voice back and do good things. It’s time. And for the love of eye-stabbers and cliff-pushers everywhere, say you CAN. Make your own choices. Do something that fills you. And be a beacon of hope for creative souls everywhere. n Joleene moody is a creative coach, author and comedic speaker based in Oswego County. Contact her at www.joleenemoody.com.

Her column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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COMMUNITY / BUSINESS CALENDARS

Adams Center Saturday, Aug. 15 n Eighth annual “Ta Ta” Run, 9 a.m., FX Caprara Harley-Davidson, 17890 Goodnough St. Hosted by Watertown Chrome Divas. Registration slated for 9 a.m. at FX Caprara; kickstands up, 11:00 a.m. Ride ends at Adams VFW, 3 VFW Drive. Includes raffles, food, auction and music. Cost: rider, $20; passenger, $15; includes dinner.

Information: chromedivas.com.

Cape Vincent Friday, Aug. 14 & Saturday, Aug. 15 n American Bass Anglers Weekend Series, Waterfront East End Park, E. Broadway St. Orientation scheduled for 4 to 6:30 p.m. Friday at CV Recreation Park, 602 S. James St.; weigh in, Saturday at Waterfront East End Park. Information: Shelley Higgins, 654-2481.

Saturday, Aug. 16 n Wine-ding Down Summer Food & Craft Fair, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., The Cape Winery, 2066 Deerlick Road.

Includes local food vendors, crafts and winetasting. Free entry. Information: winery, 654-3218; 777-1495.

Carthage Ongoing Wednesdays n Cruise In Classic Auto Show, 6 to 8 p.m., Turning Point Park. Includes food, prizes, music and raffle. Proceeds to benefit Carthage American Legion Scholarship Fund. Slated to run through Aug. 26. Information: Richard Simmons, 493-2787.

Wednesday, Aug. 19 n Business After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Braman’s Block construction site, off Alexandria Street. Hosted by Thousand Islands Area Habitat for Humanity, Farney’s Home and Building Center and Champion Materials. Includes light refresments, door prizes and raffle. Cost: $5; preregistered, $4.

Information: Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce, 493-3590 or carthagechamber@centralny.twcbc.com.

Chaumont

Saturday, July 25 n Fifth annual Lyme Community Days 38 | NNY Business | July 2015

craft fair and farmers market, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lyme Community Foundation, 12030 State Route 12E. Includes craft fair, farmers market, music, face painting, wine tasting and more. Free Zumba class scheduled for 9 a.m.

Information: Chaumont-Three Mile Bay Chamber Of Commerce, 649-3404.

Wednesday, July 29 n iCloud workshop, 3 to 5 p.m., Lyme Free Library, 12165 state Route 12E. Aims to educate students on iCloud info sharing and management. Bring Apple devices. Cost: $35. Information: continuing education, 786-2438.

Clayton Ongoing second and fourth Mondays monthly n Lion’s Club meeting, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Thousand Islands Emergency Rescue Service, 100 Union St. Information: Lion’s Club, 686-5268 or claytonlions@gmail.com.

Saturday, July 25 n Run for the River 5K/10K, 9 a.m., Frink Park, downtown. Registration at 7:30 a.m. Register online, by mail or in person. Awards for top male and female in each age category.

Cost: 5K, by Tuesday, June 30, $25 (includes race shirt); 5K after June 30, $30; 10K, by Tuesday, June 30, $30 (includes race shirt); 10K after June 30, $35; members receive $5 discount. Information: Save the River, savetheriver.org, 686-2010 or info@ savetheriver.org.

Friday, July 31 through Sunday Aug. 2 n Fifty-first annual antique boat show and auction, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Sunday, Antique Boat Museum, 750 Mary St. North America’s longestrunning antique boat show. Includes hundreds of boats on display, marketplace flea market and activities.

Cost: adult Friday or Saturday, $15; adult Sunday, $14; youth (ages 7 to 17) Friday or Saturday, $10; youth Sunday, $8; ages 6 and younger or active/retired military, free; adult three-day pass, $30; youth three-day pass, $20; adult Saturday/Sunday pass, $25; youth Saturday/Sunday pass, $15. Information: Michael Folsom, michaelfolsom@abm.org; museum, 686-4104 or abm.org.

Tuesday, Aug. 4 n St. Mary’s Church Summer Gala and Raffle, 5:30 to 10 p.m., Cerow Recreation Park, 600 E. Line Road.

Includes dinner, drinks, dessert and music. Cost: $100. Tickets available at St. Mary’s parish office, Christensen Reality USA and Reinman’s Deptartment Store. Information/tickets: office, 686-3398.

Saturday, Aug. 8 & Sunday, Aug. 9 n Thousand Islands Arts Center 51st Annual Antique Show & Sale, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Cerow Recreation Park, 600 E. Line Road. Information: arts center, 686-4123.

Friday, Aug. 14 n Thousand Island Land Trust’s volunteer recognition day, 5 to 7 p.m., Zenda Farms Preserve, 38973 Zenda Farm Road. Casual reception to thank volunteers includes drinks, dinner and “volunteer of the year” award. Reservations required. Information/register: TILT, 686-5345 or events@tilandtrust.org.

Thursday, Aug. 20 n Book release event, 4 to 5 p.m., Hawn Memorial Library, 220 John St. Celebrating the release of “Stone Houses of Jefferson County.” Information: Clayton Chamber of Commerce, 686-3771 or info@1000islands-clayton.com.

Friday, Aug. 21 n Jefferson Community College Foundation Clambake, 5:30 p.m., Antique Boat Museum, 750 Mary St. Includes buffet dinner by Scotty’s BBQ House and Catering Company, drinks

by Bella’s Bistro, live music, auction and more. Cocktails scheduled for 5:30 p.m.; dinner and auction, 6:30 p.m. To benefit JCC Foundation.

Cost: $100. Information/reservations: JCC Foundation, sunyjefferson. edu/clambake or 786-2458.

Saturday, Aug. 22 & Sunday, Aug. 23 n Thirty-third annual arts and crafts show and sale, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Thousand Islands Arts Center, 314 John St. Information: arts center, 686-4123.

Old Forge

Watertown

Friday, July 31 n Geocaching with Your Family, 9 a.m. to noon, Fort Drum Army Community Services, Building P-4330 Conway Road. Workshop aims to build teamwork and directional skills.

Open to military families. Information: Sue Pappas, sue.e.pappas.ctr @mail.mil or 772-2279.

Saturday, July 25 & Sunday, July 26 n Forty-first annual Old Forge antiques & vintage show & sale, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Hiltebrant Recreation Center, 225 North St. Over 60 dealers. Cost: $6, good for both days.

Information: Antique Show Chairman Helene McAleese, 800-365-5217 or mcaleeseh@aol.com.

First, third and fifth Monday each month n Watertown Toastmasters Club, 7 p.m., Jefferson County BOCESCharles H. Bohlen Technical Center Administration Building, Conference Room A, 20104 State Route 3.

Meetings open to anyone interested in improving community and leadership skills. Information: watertown. toastmastersclubs.org.

Monday, Aug. 3 & Tuesday, Aug. 4 n Boots 2 Business, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, Clark Hall, Mount Belvedere Blvd. Course for soldiers transitioning out of service includes market research, licensing, funding and operating a business. DOL ACAP briefing required. Information: ACAP, 772-3434.

Thursday, Aug. 13 n Build Your Own Business, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., ACS Building. Course includes market research, licensing, funding and operating. Information: ACS, 772-9611.

Henderson Saturday, Aug. 8 n Heritage Day & Juried Craft Show, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Henderson Historical Society, 12581 County Road 72. Includes crafters, food, music, re-enactors, building tours and silent auction. Information: facebook.com/ HendersonHeritageDay or hendersongenealogy@yahoo.com. n Hospice Walk-a-thon, 8:30 a.m., Henderson Recreation Center, 12601 county Route 72. Registration slated for 8:30 a.m.; walk, 9:30 a.m. Threemile walk. Proceeds to Hospice of Jefferson County. Information/pledge sheets: Penny McCrea, 938-5069; Hospice, 788-7323.

Syracuse First Wednesday OF each month n Business Innovation Days meeting, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., The Technology Garden, 235 Harrison St. Opportunity for small businesses and entrepreneurs to meet one-on-one with SBDC counselor.

Appointment required. Information/ register: Onondaga Community College SBDC, 498-6070 or SBDC@ sunyocc.edu.

First Friday each month n Toolkit Day with SCORE, by appointment, The Technology Garden, 235 Harrison St. Counselors provide mentoring to business owners. Information/register: Lynn Hughes, 5792862 or Lynn@TheTechGarden.com.

Thursday, Aug. 6 n CenterState CEO Clambake, 4 to 8 p.m., Hinerwadel’s Grove, 5300 W. Taft Road, North Syracuse.

Includes food, music and fun. Cost: members, $69 to $79; nonmembers, $79 to $89; discount group rates available. Information/register: Karen DeJoseph 470-1997 or kdejoseph@centerstateceo.com.

Ogdensburg

Friday, Aug. 7 n Mr. Habitat, 6 to 10 p.m., Landmark Theatre, 362 S. Salina St. Includes raffles, giveaways, music and food. Benefits Syracuse Habitat for Humanity. Cost: $10. Information: Habitat for Humanity, 422-2230 or syracusehabitat.org.

Saturday, Aug. 8 & Sunday, Aug. 9 n Wine, Beer & Food Festival, daylong, Lockwood Arena, 141 W. River St. Featured local wine, beer and food, cooking demos, artisans and music. Information: Ogdensburg Chamber of Commerce, 393-3620 or info@ogdensburgny.com.

Thursday, Aug. 20 n Business After Hours & Member Showcase, 5 to 7 p.m., Time Warner Cable Business Class, 3179 Erie Blvd.

E., Suite 230. Network with fellow businesspeople. Cost: members, $15; nonmembers, $25. Information/register: Beth Savicki, bsavicki@centerstateceo.com or 470-1833.

Tuesdays, ongoing n Watertown Evening Rotary meeting, 5:30 p.m., Paddock Club, 1 Public Square. Information: 786-6633 or watertowneveningrotary.org. n BNI-NNY Partners for Success meeting, 7:30 p.m., Comfort Inn, 110 Commerce Park Drive. Networking group. Information: President Jessica Page, 786-5032; bniupstateny.com.

Wednesday, Aug. 5 n Health Care Summit, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Bruce M. Wright Memorial Conference Center, 1291 Faichney Drive. Region’s first health care summer aims to review upcoming year. Includes vendors, presentation, panel and more. Cost: admission, $5; vendor booth, $75 to $85. Information: Katrina Kapustay, kkapustay@ watertownny.com.

Wednesday, Aug. 12 n Second Annual Jefferson Leadership Institute Alumni Reunion, 5 to 8 p.m., Maggie’s on the River, 500 Newell St. Includes heavy hors d’oeuvres, prizes and cash bar. RSVP by Wednesday, Aug. 5. Cost: alumni, $20; guests, $25. Information: GWNC Chamber of Commerce, 788-4400.

COMMUNITY / BUSINESS CALENDAR

Fort Drum

Thursday, Aug. 20 n Business After Hours, 5 to 7 p.m., Ramada Watertown, 6300 Arsenal St. Cost: registered member, $10; nonmember, $15. Information: Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce, 788-4400 or events@watertownny.com.  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.nny bizmag.com for events calendar updates.

July 2015 | NNY Business

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b u siness scene GWNC Chamber Jefferson Leadership Institute graduation at Ramada Inn

From left, Jennifer Cross-Hodge, Volunteer Transportation Center, Watertown, JLI class of 2015, and mother, Cassandra Cross.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Sara Carpenter, Bernier, Carr & Associates, Watertown, Kelly Bragger, North Country Prenatal-Perinatal Council, Watertown, and Meredith Fiorentino, Watertown Savgings Bank, all JLI class of 2015. The Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce held its 2015 Jefferson Leadership Institute graduation June 12 at the Ramada Inn, Watertown.

Our baggers are packed with brash style and American engineering.

They have the looks to make a grand entrance, and the performance to make a fast exit.

From left, Jill Parker, Victims Assistance Center, Watertown and Toni Miller, Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce.

From left, Nathan Nichols, Johnson Newspaper Corp., Watertown, Matthew Siver, Development Authority of the North Country, Watertown, Eileen Snyder, Crowley & Halloran, CPA’s, PC, Watertown, and Susan Beiswenger, Jefferson Rehabilitation Center, Watertown, all JLI class of 2015.

18014 GOODNOUGH ST., ADAMS CENTER, NY 315-583-5680

MON.-WED. 8-5, THURS. & FRI. 8-6, SAT. 8-2 40 | NNY Business | July 2015

b u siness scene GWNC Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at Bonnie Castle Resort

From left, Sasha Spinks, Washington Street Properties, Watertown, and Michael Doe, NNY Photo Booth, Watertown.

From left, Matthew Delaney, C-Clear Window Cleaning, Clayton, and Allison Carlos, Washington Street Properties, Watertown.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS

From left, Gretchen G. Eysaman, Adams, Cathy Garlock, co-owner, Bonnie Castle Resort and Garlock Realty, Alexandria Bay, Keri Jobson, Alexandria Bay Chamber of Commerce, and husband, Matthew, Mission Ready IT Solutions, Alexandria Bay. Bonnie Castle Resort hosted the June Greater WatertownNorth Country Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours on June 18.

From left, Karen Murray, Lisa Wash, Ashley Wysocarski, Melissa Brown and Sarah Gist, all of The United Group of Companies, Watertown and Rochester.

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Let's Go Places

Tax, doc. & DMV fee not included.

July 2015 | NNY Business

| 41

b u siness scene Carthage Area Hospital 50th Anniversary Garden Party

Lorraine and Ervin C. Davis, Carthage.

Lori and Darren Ashcroft, Carthage.

JEREMIAH PAPINEAU PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Shelley Stevens and Kim Stiles, Little Sisters Inn At Herrings, which catered the Carthage Area Hospital Garden Party in celebration of the hospital’s 50th anniversary, on June 19.

42 | NNY Business | July 2015

JEREMIAH PAPINEAU PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Donna and Ray Hansen

b u siness scene CAH 50th Anniversary Garden Party

Carthage Area Chamber Business After Hours

From left, Nusrat Hafeez and Yolanda Skvorak, Carthage.

From left, Cara Mercer-Venable, Robert Hayes and Ashley Sensibaugh all of Northern Credit Union.

JEREMIAH PAPINEAU PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Joe Millard, Carthage, and Natalie Burnham, Carthage Area Hospital Foundation.

ELAINE AVALLONE PHOTOS

Joseph C. and Roxanne J., owners, Roxie’s Road Ice Cream Café and Eagle Graphics Digital Printing Center, which, hosted the Carthage Area Chamber of Commerce June Business After Hours on June 25.

July 2015 | NNY Business

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b u siness history

Region takes to skies Aviation opens doors for business, community

By LENKA WALLDROFF

I

NNY Business

t may surprise some visitors to learn that the north country boasts a number of international airports. Here in Watertown, the “International” in “Watertown International Airport” has raised a few eyebrows, but small as it may be, our humble airport gets the job done, ferrying passengers to and from Northern New York to destinations around the world. Eyebrows and square footage aside, north country airports are but a whisper in the region’s long-standing relationship with aviation.

Following the Wright brothers’ first successful flight in December 1903, like the rest of the world, north country residents were of mixed mind regarding air travel, the latest technological marvel to come from the Industrial Revolution.

While some people were in awe of this new discovery, others remained staunch skeptics, believing that flight was merely a lucky accident or a haphazard stunt.

The numerous, and often comical, abortive attempts or downright failures at flight that occurred in the north country during the opening years of the 20th century did little to win over those critics.

One of the early successful attempts at flight, or at least in elevating a person off the ground in a controlled manner, was presented to north country crowds courtesy of Capt. John J. Frisbie of Oswego. Mr. Frisbie would go on to become an aviation pioneer before his untimely death at an air show in 1911. At the 1909 Jefferson County Fair, though lacking an actual airplane, he astounded his audience by rising some distance off the ground after affixing himself to an arrangement of kites.

The first incident approaching motor-

44 | NNY Business | July 2015

courtesy earlyaviators.com

Capt. Frank Burnside, far right, was the first to successfully pilot an airplane in Northern New York. His flights occurred at the Jefferson County Fair in September 1913. A crowd of more than 3,000 witnessed as Capt. Burnside and his Thomas airplane took off from the exhibition field, soared to a cruising altitude of 2,000 feet, and reached an astounding 50 mph, before safely landing on the makeshift airstrip.

ized aviation to occur in the area was in September 1910 when an airship, essentially a cigar-shaped balloon fitted with a two-cylinder engine, rose 100 feet above the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. While also technically not an airplane, the craft’s pilot, who kept the balloon housed in a tent at the fairgrounds, was widely considered to be both a maverick and a daredevil who in the course of his airborne adventures courted certain death.

The previous month, in August 1910, a man named Philip W. Wilcox traveled from Long Island to Pine Camp, now Fort Drum, with his airplane in tow.

Mr. Wilcox’s expressed purpose was to demonstrate for Pine Camp’s top brass the usefulness of the new technology for

military maneuvers. The craft, a Farman biplane with an eight-cylinder, 60 horsepower motor, was considered one of the largest airplanes in the United States, boasting a seating capacity of two. Citing the roughness of the ground at Pine Camp, however, Capt. Wilcox resolutely refused, on a number of occasions, to actually fly the craft, and, much to the disappointment of the assembled crowds of military personnel and local residents.

Within a few days of his arrival, he decisively dismantled his plane and sent it back to Long Island.

The following year, in the months leading up to the 1911 Jefferson County Fair, it was widely advertised that yet another attempt at flight would be made at the fairgrounds in August. This time, a pilot

b u siness history from the Rex Smith Aviation Company would make daily flights during fair week. Playing into the already heightened public interest, fair organizers sought a volunteer from the local business community to serve as a passenger.

Alas, the stage was set for the first north country airplane flight: the crowds were assembled, passenger volunteers found, and the pilot paid his requested fee of $500 — equivalent to about $12,500 in today’s currency. The first day, the pilot refused to fly on account of a strong wind. The second day he refused to fly on account of the wind blowing in the wrong direction. By the third day, and another excuse from the pilot, fair officials were visibly nervous as the pilot’s fee had already been paid and the fair was nearing its end.

As the old saying goes “the more things change the more they stay the same.” In the end, the matter was handed over to attorneys to sort out. In short order, it was decided that the pilot ought to either fly or return the money; the pilot chose the latter.

Air Travel Skeptics: 3, Believers: 0.

It was not until 1913 that Jefferson County would see a successful flight, not in a kite contraption, or a motorized balloon, but in an actual airplane. The event occurred at the Jefferson County Fair in September of that year. An assembled crowd of more than 3,000 stood in nervous anticipation as Capt. Frank Burnside and his Thomas airplane took off from the exhibition field, soared to a cruising altitude of 2,000 feet, and reached an astounding speed of 50 mph, before safely landing on the makeshift airstrip. Mr. Burnside repeated this exhibition, which lasted about 10 minutes, each day of the fair.

And alas, the skeptics were silenced. n Lenka P. Walldroff is former curator of collections for the Jefferson County Historical Museum. She is a former museum specialist and conservator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She lives in Jefferson County with her husband and two children. Business history is a monthly feature from the archives of the Watertown Daily Times. Visit watertown dailytimes.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.

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July 2015 | NNY Business

| 45

BRIEFCASE, from page 12 Small Business Excellence Award. In 2002, Dedra Morgia opened A New Attitude Salon and Spa, Watertown. She opened A New Attitude Boutique in Sackets Harbor in 2012. She expanded again with a second boutique in Clayton in spring 2014, and a third boutique in Watertown later that year.

Canton’s Small Business Development Center honored Elliott’s Farm and Home Supply, Winthrop, with a 2015 Small Business Excellence Award. Harold L. Elliott and Asa Moulton founded the business in 1935 as Moulton & Elliott’s GLF Store. In 2011, Mr. Elliott’s granddaughter, Cindy Elliott-Nile, and husband, John, purchased the business and refocused and rebranded it to be an old-fashioned country store.

Waite opens new motorcycle dealership

Waite Indian Motorcycle recently opened in Adams Center.

The dealership carries bikes from Indian Motorcycle, including the Indian Chief lineup, Indian Roadmaster, Indian Scout and 2016 Indian Chief Dark Horse.

Waite Indian Motorcycle offers sales, service, parts and accessories for the entire lineup of Indian motorcycles.

I

N E X T M ON T H

n August, our annual health care issue, we examine the relationship that Northern New York’s health care institutions have with providers in Syracuse as the region moves to greater levels of collaboration and care.

Also coming next month: n SMALL BIZ STARTUP: A feature story about a recently opened north country small business in St. Lawrence County. n 20 QUESTIONS: An in-depth interview with a north countyry business leader. n PLUS: NNY Snapshot, Economically Speaking, Commerce Corner, Nonprofits Today, 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.

46 | NNY Business | July 2015

July 2015 | NNY Business

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