Oswego County Business, #186: June - July 2023 by Oswego County Business Magazine

June/July 2023

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OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

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SAY HELLO TO HEALTHY! Say hello to a more convenient way to stay healthy in Oswego County. ConnextCare offers a comprehensive set of services; family and internal medicine, pediatrics, dentistry, psychiatry, and social work under one medical group. Patients within our network can visit any of our seven locations at any time. ConnextCare also offers medical and mental health services at eight school-based health centers in five Oswego County school districts.

OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

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CONTENTS

JUNE-JULY 2023

ISSUE 186

PORT OF OSWEGO The Port of Oswego has benefited from millions of dollars in investments and is handling a record amount of cargo.

Features

Where have the accountants gone? • Business succession • How to get a loan • Inflation & retirement

The multifaceted Faye Beckwith • Gender pay gap • Oswego County embraces women-owned businesses

Micron is making an impact already • Canfield Machine expands • Manager at EJ USA: 45 years on the job

BANKING & FINANCE

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

10 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

MANUFACTURING

More Contents 44

Monopoly

My Turn

Fairs & Festivals

Guest Columnist

Tim’s Notes

Economic Trends

FOCUS turns 25

Sample Group now owns all general interest newspapers in Oswego County Newspapers’ political endorsement? Forget it By Bruce Frassinelli Big economic boost New employment laws By Steven E. Abraham Playgrounds can make neighborhoods shine By Tim Nekritz Highlighting women entrepreneurs By Austin Wheelock

Nonprofit has worked to improve quality of life in Central New York

Departments 14 16

Publisher’s Note On the Job

How I Got Started

How does your organization use social media? Joe Murabito owns, co-owns or manages eight senior facilities in Upstate

Profile

Dan Harrington in charge of Harborfest now

Dining Out

30 92

Biz Update / Newsmakers Success Story

Last Page

J & T’s Flippin Chicken, Fulton

lAll genera ers p s w e ap interest n o County g e in Osw ne wned by o are now o as not like It w company. few years a t s ju that go P.44

Oswego o. owner ti n Pri ng C st sold r ju e h c Brian Ko to Megan s s e in s u his b f Port , owner o LaManna r. te n e C City Copy 6 3 . P

Felix Schoeller North America reiventing itself, investing $100 million Oswego County Fair going back to basics

Where is Sandra Scott?

Well, she retired! JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

ADVERTISING INDEX Allanson-Glanville-Tappan Funeral Home..........................51 ALPS Professional Services.........47 Ameriprise Financial (Randy Zeigler)........................43 Associated Dental Arts.................43 BarclayDamon..............................37 Bond, Schoeneck & King Attorneys at Law......................15 Brennan Beach.............................22 Bristol Racing ATV.......................22 Builder’s FirstSource....................33 Burke’s Home Center...................33 C & S Companies.........................88 Canale’s Insurance ......................17 Cayuga Community College.........81 Century 21 - Galloway Realty.......34 Clark Rigging & Rental Corp........57 CNY Community Foundation........39 Colonial Financial Group..............17 Community Bank............................7 Compass Credit Union.................62 ConnextCare..................................8 Constelation..................................15 Crouse Hospital..............................2

E J USA..........................................4 Elemental Management Group ....13 Felix Schoeller North America........3 Finger Lakes Garage Doors.........31 Fitzgibbons Agency......................47 Foster Funeral Home....................39 Friends of Mexico Point................22 Fulton Community Dev. Agency...80 Fulton Library................................24 Fulton Oswego Motor Express.....79 Fulton Savings Bank.....................67 Fulton Taxi....................................67 Fulton Tool Co..............................79 Gartner Equipment.......................88 Good Guys Barbershoop..............22 Greater Oswego Fulton Chamber of Commerce...........22 Green Planet Grocery...................24 Harbor Eye Associates.................49 Harborfest.....................................12 Hematology-Oncology Associates of CNY...................99 Howard Hanna Real Estate..........41 International Monetary System.....41 J P Jewelers.................................24

Johnston Gas...............................32 JTS Remodeling...........................34 Kathy’s Cake & Specialty Treats..24 Lamb’s Handyman Service...........33 Laser Transit.................................57 LDI Logistics Dynamics................31 Local 43 (NECA EBEW)...............85 Longley Brothers..........................45 LW Emporium Co-Op...................22 MACNY.........................................91 Majestic Tool & Mold....................79 Menter Ambulance.......................39 Mimi’s Drive Inn............................29 Mitchell Speedway Printing..........32 NET Die Inc..................................91 Nicole Reed, Esq..........................51 North Country Storage Barns.........9 Novelis..........................................84 Nucor Steel Auburn........................6 Onondaga Community College......5 Operation Oswego County...........99 Oswego Community Development Office............ ¬¬28 Oswego County Workforce New York — Career Center.....79

OSWEGO HARBORFEST IS BACK! JULY 27–30, 2023 30+ music performances and attractions 130+ Vendors Rides, games, food and more along a Midway Spectacular Fireworks Show by the Grucci’s Children’s Parade & Entertainment

12 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

Oswego County Federal Credit Union............................45 Oswego County Mutual Insurance.................. 21¬ Pathfinder Bank............................43 Patterson Warehousing................79 Plumley Engineering.....................91 Polish Festival..............................22 Port of Oswego Authority............100 RiverHouse Restaurant................29 Riverside Artisans.........................24 Safe Haven Museum....................22 Scriba Electric...............................33 Sweet-Woods Memorial...............32 TDO..............................................37 The Rental Warehouse.................31 Tri County Heating Solution..........34 United Wire Technology...............85 Valti Graphics...............................31 Vashaw’s Collision........................65 WD Malone...................................32 Whelan & Curry Construction.......85 White’s Lumber & Building Supply......................................34 WRVO..........................................96

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

HELLO SUMMER! FR

ur 29th annual “Summer Guide — The Best of Upstate New York” is just out. We’re absolutely thrilled with the new edition. It’s our largest ever. We’ve spent countless hours selling advertising space, writing feature stories, doing research for the event’s calendar and designing the 108-page publication. It’s nice to finally see the project come to fruition and in the hands of readers. We’re now in the process of distributing more than 40,000 copies all over Central New York and beyond. The publication is available through all Wegmans, many Tops Friendly Markets and Price Chopper stores. In addition, we place the guide in local hotels, motels, campgrounds, RV sites, restaurants, diners and many other high-traffic locations. All advertisers — from Buffalo to the Adirondacks to Cortland — get boxes of the guide and make it available to their patrons. We’re also at three major visitor’s centers along I-81: Two in the Thousand Islands area and one in Preble, just south of Syracuse. Those places get a tremendous volume of visitors — people who stop at those locations looking for information about the area. All paid subscribers to Oswego County Business Magazine have received a copy in the mail. Distribution of the guide is a job in itself. It’s a lot of work. In total, we have about 20 people working on the publication — from writers, ad salespeople, designers, drivers, editors. It’s our biggest project of the year. I’m a bit biased but the publication looks pretty good: it’s visually attractive, has great content, a great calendar of events and many offers from unique advertisers. It is fun and easy to read. As they say in the industry, it’s very reader-friendly. Turn the pages and you’ll find all sorts of stories and advertisements highlighting fun stuff to do and see. Our calendar of events spotlights the best of Upstate New York — we list hundreds of events from June

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Wagner Dotto editor@cnybusinessmag.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Stefan Yablonski syablonski@twcny.rr.com WRITERS Deborah Jeanne Sergeant Christopher Malone, Ken Sturtz Stefan Yablonski, Mary Beth Roach COLUMNISTS Austin Wheelock Bruce Frassinelli, Tim Nekritz Steven E. Abraham

FIND THE LARGEST YARD SALES IN UPSTATE NY P.14

STAY IN A TREEHOUSE THIS SUMMER P.18

WINE & FOOD ALONG LAKE ONTARIO P.22

COUNTY FAIR, ANYONE? NYS HAS 45 OF THEM P.32

ADVERTISING Peggy Kain

p3ggyk@gmail.com

through October. We thank more than 200 advertisers who chose to advertise with us. They provide us the funds to produce and distribute the publication. In exchange, they get unparalleled exposure. We estimate the glossy publication reaches over 250,000 readers in the region — visitors and residents alike. Our website — www.cnysummer.com — gets about 10,000-15,000 hits a month. Our hope is that many of those readers will patronize those who advertise. PS: Get a free copy of the 2023 Summer Guide in the mail by subscribing to Oswego County Business. It’s only $21.50 a year and in addition to the guide, we will send every issue of the magazine (six issues a year), plus the 2024 Business Guide and, later on, the CNY Winter Guide. See our coupon on page 39.

14 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

WAGNER DOTTO is the editor and publisher of Oswego County Business Magazine.

Kim Micca kimlocalnews@gmail.com SECRETARY Alisson Lockwood localnewsoffice@gmail.com LAYOUT & DESIGN Angel Campos Toro COVER PHOTO Provided by the Port of Oswego

OSWEGOCOUNTYBUSINESS.COM OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS MAGAZINE is published six times a year by Local News, Inc., publisher of the Business Guide, Upstate Summer, Fall, & Winter guides, College Life Newspaper, In Good Health—The Healthcare Newspaper (across four regions) and 55 Plus Magazine for Active Adults in Rochester and Central New York. Subscription rate is $21.50 a year; $35 for two years. Single-copy price is $4.50. PRSRT STD US Postage PAID, Buffalo, NY, Permit No. 4725. © 2023 Oswego County Business. All rights reserved. No material from this publication may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of the publisher. HOW TO REACH US: P.O. Box 276, Oswego, NY 13126. Phone: 315-342-8020 Fax: 315-342-7776; editor@OswegoCountyBusiness.com

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ON THE JOB

How Does Your Organization Use Social Media?

Interviews by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

“At C&S, we understand the importance of staying connected with our employees, clients and the broader world. We use social media in a variety of ways to do just that. We share interesting, informative, and fun content with employees and clients on our social pages. We also use these platforms to spotlight important projects we’re working on, as well as highlight the individuals that are making a difference in the industry and creating the incredible culture and reputation C&S is known for.” John T. Camp President and COO, C&S Companies, Syracuse

“We have Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages for the company. We post at least weekly to each and do paid ads at times. We also do email campaigns via Mailchimp.” JOHN HENRY, Owner Mitchell’s Speedway Press, Oswego

“We use social media quite a bit. We’re always posting things and communicating with clients through private messages. Our content is handled by our different suppliers, which is really helpful. It posts to our Facebook page automatically about tours, cruises and other travel-related items. We’re so busy we don’t even have time to do that. We’re quite happy with the way it’s going for us. Business is very, very busy here. It’s picked up since COVID 110% because people have wanted to get back to traveling and now they are.” Lynn Kistner Travel consultant, Canalview Travel Service, Inc., Fulton

“We use social media as a business. We have a couple of employees who handle it. One does Facebook posts. We also do a video at least once a month including one of our owners, Tom Handley. He does it, featuring any of our special items we want to highlight in the store or in the lumberyard. We don’t use much more than Facebook as far as social media.” Charles Handley Owner, Burke’s Home Centers, Oswego “The real estate industry has gone through so many changes in the last few years. We have gone from advertising with print ads — newspaper — to mainly marketing on social media. The office markets all the property and agents and the agents market their properties and accomplishments as well. It is a powerful tool and much more productive for the real estate industry.” William R. Galloway Broker and owner, Century 21 Galloway Realty, Oswego

16 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

“For this business, it directs people to the website to book long-term stays or office space.” Julie Avery General manager, Beacon Office Space and Executive Suites, Oswego “We use it to let the public know about breaking news and other important information from Oswego County Today.” Fred Reed President, Dot Publishing, Inc., Oswego County “We help keep people updated on what’s new with our business — the latest and newest. We have a Facebook page.” Susan Caldwell Secretary, Advanced Business Systems, Watertown and Cicero “We do utilize social media in that our office has a website as well as a Facebook page where we post pictures and certain events, such as an office outing, an anniversary, birthday, one of the at-

torneys being given an award, et cetera. It’s important to let our clients know that we are a team and enjoy spending time together outside of work and that we are active in our community.” Joanne L. Scruton Office manager, Amdursky, Pelky, Fennell & Wallen, P.C., Oswego “Our presence and the need to provide fresh content frequently about Steve Chirello Advertising is extremely important for my business. Typically, we are putting up two to three posts a week on business Facebook and Instagram accounts, and at least once a week on LinkedIn and Twitter. We not only use social media to promote ourselves, but we also represent clients to help them with content generation and advertising on these platforms. It is an extremely effective way to offer immediate information and measure interaction with the public.” Steve Chirello Owner Steve Chirello Advertising, Fulton

“CiTi uses social media to share the success stories of students and celebrate their accomplishments.” NAOMI HIMES, Public information coordinator CiTi BOCES, Mexico

“We utilize social media to display the range of our capabilities in the specialized contracting field. Trimble Services is in a high-risk industry and clients will do their due diligence before considering vendors. The social media platforms are a convenient way for our clients to research us because we can efficiently display our range of skills and accomplishments.” Dustin Trimble Vice president, Trimble Services LLC, Fulton “Catholic Charities of Oswego County utilizes Facebook and Instagram to share information about our variety of programs, free community and family events and any fundraising activities.” Mary-Margaret Pekow Executive director, Catholic Charities of Oswego County, Fulton

“We’ve been using social media for about 10 years, with both paid and free posts. Facebook and Instagram are mainstays for us. We post sales and new products and also highlight unusual services we offer. Humor is a big part of our most effective posts. Any business that doesn’t use social media is missing out.” Joe Cortini, Jr. Owner, Cortini Shoe Store, Fulton “You can find Oswego County Tourism on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Our government Facebook page, @oswegocounty, is where you’ll find news releases and current events, such as rabies clinics and HAZMAT collections. We also post employment opportunities from the county human resources office on this page. If you’re a fishing enthusiast, be sure to follow @ oswegocountyfishing for the latest updates on recent catches, weekly fishing reports, and fishing regulations. Fishing has a significant impact on our county’s economy, and we’re proud to share all the incredible fishing opportunities Oswego County has to offer. For all things tourism, follow @visitoswegocounty on Facebook. This page is the perfect resource for discovering the wonders of our county. We share events happening throughout the county and promote assets like racetracks, golf courses, and campgrounds. Follow us on Instagram at @oswegocountyny for stunning visuals from around our county and check out our Twitter page at twitter.com/ OswegoCountyNY for news stories highlighting everything happening in Oswego County.” Jennifer Longley Tourism and public information specialist, Oswego County Tourism, Oswego “I use social media to share news about the shop and new products. I can also see when people recommend my business in posts when people ask where they can print their projects. From there, I can see who else is recommended — usually online printers. I check their pricing for similar products I offer and this allows me to keep my prices competitive. The customer wins because they’re getting the best price and I win because I earn their business.” Megan LaManna President Port City Copy Center Inc., Oswego

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HOW I GOT STARTED By Stefan Yablonski

JOE MURABITO Owner of Elemental Management Group in Oswego owns, co-owns or operates eight nursing homes in Upstate New York with over 600 residents; says connection to the senior population and ardor for healthcare started at a young age

Q: How did you come to be interested in this type of work? A: I have always had a pretty strong

connection with the senior community, whether it be extended family or through church growing up. I feel like I had a perspective that maybe some people didn’t. Q: Is there any special training involved? A: As far as the training, I went through

my undergrad in health administration at Ithaca College and then graduated from Cornell with my master’s in the same program. I had done multiple internships in the VA hospital in Syracuse, St. John’s Hospital in Los Angeles. There were some projects that were very specific to the senior population. I found myself playing the piano up at the VA for two summers. I have a really great video of that. I have that news clip still from 30 years ago, and I watch it. There has always been some connection there with seniors. I listened to ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s music growing up, probably more than most people. I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

Q: How long have you been in business? A: That video of me on Channel 5 News

was from 1996. I really haven’t done anything else since 1996. I finished up school, did internships through school and have been doing this call it 30 years.

Q: What did you do before this? A: I really didn’t do anything before

this (laughs).

Q: Why do you still do this? A: There is a passion word and then there

is a consistency and commitment word. It’s a challenging profession. It’s a fairly thankless profession — you don’t read a lot of great news articles about nursing homes. It seems like we are always doing something wrong or something not quite right. People are not working in health care by accident. You’re doing it for a reason. You’re getting something out of it more so than if you were doing something a little less service-oriented. Q: What did you want to be when you were growing up? A: My grandfather [the late Joe Castaldo]

was a contractor. I worked outside a lot, working on a farm; my brother and I did growing up. We had 15 head of beef cattle. Fished and hunted, mostly with my grandfather. He was retired by that time; he took several smaller jobs. At one point, I had the idea of architecture; but

18 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

to be honest with you, I watched my grandfather who had every tool known to man — I spent a lot of time being frustrated with all those tools. I don’t get a lot of satisfaction with hands-on fixing stuff. I was always interested in mechanical things. I remember taking my BB gun apart; I couldn’t put it back together. That really didn’t bother me much. I never got a lot of satisfaction out of fixing things. I did find myself though through school and in college — I was always in these leadership positions that I didn’t ask for. I was first trumpet in the wind ensemble, captain of the football team, treasurer of my college class. I was the older of two brothers. My dad was handicapped growing up — so there was something about health care —he had MS. He was either with a cane or eventually with a wheelchair. He just passed away in 2021. So, there was something about that that maybe clicked in my brain. Q: How did it all start for you? A: I came back to Oswego at the request

of my grandfather to a facility that he built here — formerly Harr-Wood Nursing Home and then Sunrise. It was never his plan to own a nursing home; he was just supposed to build it. And then he ended up owning it because the developers had walked and in 1995 he ended up being the receiver. He found himself in all this stuff he didn’t want to do, either. I had left the area when I got married. The work atmosphere wasn’t great, healthy. I ended up working for a company in Boston for a decade. Then, right around 2007 or 2008, I got a phone call … was I interested in trying to work out a deal with a place in Oswego because it was going to close? So I really took a big risk. I had two kids. It took me about two years to strike a deal on the operations with my grandfather. By 2012 we had a deal. My grandfather was a good businessman, he wasn’t gifting anything. In 2014 I was able to refinance the building with HUD — roughly a $9 – $10 million loan — the biggest thing I ever did. And we started from there. Started the Gardens then there was the Waterville facility which was another financing with Pathfinder [Bank]. If it wasn’t for Pathfinder I really wouldn’t be as far along as I am. They’re very supportive. I think they’re very supportive of most businesses that they have confidence in. They have been a great partner.

As far as ongoing investment — we’re working on a deal with a large facility down in Horseheads and that’s a $35 million deal. Over time you start feeling comfortable with those numbers. It feels normal after a while. Q: Are you going to expand further? A: I feel like I’ve gotten to the point where

if I expand any further or much further, I feel like I would lose the context of what I think health care is about. There are larger health care providers out there with two or three times more property than me or more. But I don’t think healthcare is a commodity — it’s a personal business it’s a people business. You can’t survive as a single standalone facility anymore. You need some scale. I felt the tug-of-war of that scale because as you scale up you get further and further from the individual people. I don’t want to contribute to the same sorts of problems that I feel like our profession is known for.

Q: So, you’re saying enough is enough? A: When is enough is enough? There

is a point when enough is enough — especially in health care. You have to maintain a certain amount of contact with the right people. How do you balance the business end of it with the people end of it? I’ve had this conversation with some friends that own more property than me and I’ve never really got a great answer. There probably won’t be more facilities in an expansion. Probably everybody who reads this will laugh — but the goal is to find when it’s enough. I’m in the process of making some decisions with partners — what is the three-year plan, the five-year plan, where do you want to be ultimately and who is going to be behind me to pick up the baton and do what I do. Q: Who helped you get going? A: My grandfather was a huge motivator

for me across the board. I watched him work my whole life. So he gets certainly the lion’s share of that credit. The perspective that I learned from my dad, who was much less functional and active because he was so dependant on everybody, I think my passion for healthcare was defined there for sure. There are all sort of people I’ve have had the support of. The VA — so many guys that I worked with through my internships who were very supportive of me. I’ve had great bosses, I have had some that aren’t so great. The great bosses were very supportive,

paid attention to me and listened and coached me. I take a lot of that with me. There’s a whole village of people that I feel like that contributed, that’s just on the professional side of things. My wife, Ana Maria, she moved here from Colombia and has been bouncing around with me for 30 years or so. That’s a huge part of the picture, too. Q: Was it tough for your business during the pandemic? A: It was probably the two most

difficult years out of the 30 I’ve been in healthcare. A lot of the leadership suffered general fatigue. I feel like the staff did a really great job handling things — this sort of unknown — all the way around the table. Q: What is your business philosophy? A: Life balance and promoting the

success of other people. An old-school term a common ending to correspondence between people in the 14, 15 1600s 1700s even the Revolutionary times, it’s basically ‘the reservation clause.’ It’s an acknowledgement that you can have the best plans in the world but sometimes things don’t work out. It’s not like you live to work — it’s the other way. You need to have some balance. Q: If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing? A: During COVID, we opened a vineyard

[Strigo] in Baldwinsville. Growing up we were always cooking. Somebody was always fermenting something. I just want to be on the land making wine, having a place for people to come. At Strigo, people walk into your place of work and they are really happy to be there. Strigo gives me a lot of things — I grew up on a farm — I was outside all the time, hunting and fishing. We make our own wine with our grapes. We have a nice little restaurant.

Q: Do you have any hobbies? A: Have a lot of interests — that’s why

I have the winery. Over the course of COVID, I got a black belt. I fish a lot all over the world. Balance is important — don’t get caught up in your own brain, which is a struggle sometimes. I’m mindful of physical and mental health, which at 50 I’m really spending a lot more time focusing on how do I get more active? I work out five or six times a week, still go to karate twice a week, do mixed martial arts. I do some fairly intense stuff because if you don’t move it you lose it.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

PROFILE By Stefan Yablonski

DAN HARRINGTON

Longtime volunteer now in charge of Harborfest, one of CNY’s largest festivals, which takes place July 27-30

an Harrington has seen Harborfest grow from a small local event in 1988 to a major admission-free regional festival attracting an average audience estimated at 75,000 annually. In 2023 the festiva will continue the tradition of showcasing more than 30 music performances and attractions, a wide variety of vendors, a midway — and a spectacular fireworks display — with Harrington as the new executive director. “I was born and raised in Oswego, attended Riley School, Fitzhugh Park

School, Oswego High School and SUNY Morrisville,” he said. “I lived on East Second Street in Oswego with my mom [who died in August 2021] and my step-father, Murphy Brancato.” Going through grade schools, he played in the school bands — playing clarinet and alto saxophone. “I also played a little ice hockey,” he added. Almost every weekend through his younger years were spent at his grandparents’ house on Mitchell Street in Oswego.

20 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

“My grandfather loved all the grandchildren and we made many trips to county fairs, riding the horses he owned, riding go-karts on a small track in his back yard, and etc.,” he said. Harrington met the love of his life, Patty Kubis, in Oswego High School in 1970. They both attended SUNY Morrisville after graduating from Oswego High School in 1972. He graduated from SUNY Morrisville in 1974 with an Associate of Applied Science degree in electrical technology and AC/DC motors. After college, he worked briefly for IBM in Endicott. “I really didn’t like a shirt-and-tie job,” he explained. So, he returned to Oswego. “I was lucky enough to get hired by Alcan [now Novelis] and retired from there in August 2021 after 47 years of service as lead electrical engineer and RSO [radiation safety officer],” he said. He still works there on a part-time basis, he added. “I’ve been doing it for 47 years — it’s part of my life. I’d feel lost if I don’t go there,” he said with a smile. “Patty and I got married in August of 1974 and lived on West Third Street in Oswego. Later on, we built a house on South West Eighth Street in Oswego, not too far from our home on West Third Street,” he continued. “Presently, we’re still living there.” Growing up, he always wanted to work with electricity — “especially after working many jobs with Patty’s father, Stan Kubis,” he said. “I took electrical technology and AC/DC motor theory at Morrisville and went on to be an electrical engineer at Alcan-Novelis.” His wife got started in Harborfest back in 1990 by volunteering on the trolleys. Harborfest was always the same weekend as a race in Sandusky, Ohio. So he would be there crewing with Joe Gosek on the 00 supermodified and missed Harborfest “except for some of the Sunday activities.” “One year, I decided to stay home and attend Harborfest. I helped on the trolleys with my wife. I really liked it and continued to volunteer. I started around 2001,” he said. “Over the years, I could see help was needed in the setup of Harborfest, which starts two weeks prior to the actual festival.” So he joined the logistics team helping with setup under the direction of Bruce Turner. After a few years working logistics, he was asked to be on the board of directors for Harborfest

and he did so. “At the December board of directors meeting, I was asked by the president of the board, Chuck Handley, if I would like to be the director as [former director] Pete Myles had left. I said I would try as I was showing interest in doing more for Harborfest prior to being asked to be the director,” he said. He was appointed by the board in January 2023. “We’ve always liked Harborfest. My wife actually started before I did,” he said. “She wanted to know if I was crazy,” he said of her initial reaction to his new position. “I said, ‘no, I’ll give it a try.’ It’s quite involved, setting up a couple weeks ahead of time. It’s a lot of work.” He cited the cadre of volunteers for ensuring things run smoothly. He has been finding out quickly, the duties of the director and time involved, he said, adding “Luckily Harborfest has a good business manager, Barb Manwaring, who has been helping me out tremendously.” It’s been a pleasure working with Harrington, Manwaring said. Handley said Harrington was on the board for the last three years and works on the logistics committee as well. “Peter Myles was our executive director for the last four or five years. He did a tremendous job,” he said. However, Myles got hired in another job and the Harborfest position was too much; so he resigned. “We were sitting at a board meeting and I said, ‘OK, we are going to start a search for a new executive director.’ Dan said he’d throw his name in the hat. And we were like, OK, we’re not doing a search anymore. He knows the festival, knows what has to be done. And obviously we have Barb Manwaring there for the last 20 years. She said, ‘Perfect — Dan and I will run the show.’ He’s done a great job! He loves Oswego. It’s a perfect fit,” Handley said. Besides being the director of Harborfest, Harrington is still working a couple days a week at Novelis, “which is a great place to work,” he added. He is an avid racing fan, is heavily involved with the Oswego Speedway. “I am helping out at Oswego Speedway with miscellaneous upkeep and improvement projects. Also, a few nights a week, I spend working on the 00 supermodified of Joe Gosek,” he said. He works at Harborfest during the day and on the race car after that. “We do it for a couple hours at

night. As long as he doesn’t wreck it, we’re good,” he quipped. Outside of Harborfest, he and his wife enjoy camping with their travel trailer during the warm months, he said. “Me and Patty, we like to travel. We try to visit my son’s family in Pennsylvania whenever we can. During the winter months, we enjoy attending the SUNY Oswego men’s ice hockey games. We also enjoy kayaking in the good weather when we can,” he added.

Favorite acts “I’m a big rock and roll fan,” he said. “Some of the acts that I would like to have at Harborfest include: Herman’s Hermits, a good Beatles tribute group and, I would still like to get Frankie Valli.” There are plenty of other groups that he would like to have — “but costs are a concern,” he said. “Some of my past favorites that I can remember off the top of my head are: Santana, Danny and the Juniors and the Turtles.” In addition to his volunteering with Harborfest, Harrington has also dedicated many hours volunteering for a number of other charitable organizations within the community including United Way of Oswego County, Habitat for Humanity, Arise, St. Stephen’s church and many others.

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Birth date: June 20, 1954 Birthplace: Oswego Residence: South West Eighth Street, Oswego Education: AAS Degree from SUNY Morrisville Affiliations: Oswego Speedway, Gosek Racing and Novelis Personal: Wife of 49 years, Patty; son, Dan Jr. and his wife, Amy; two grandchildren, Colin 19 and Maxim 16; and daughter, Kathy, who lives in Oswego and her boyfriend, Eddie Witkum. Hobbies: Racing, kayaking, and supporting the Oswego Lakers Men’s Ice Hockey and camping with our travel trailer.

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DINING OUT RESTAURANT GUIDE By Christopher Malone

SOMETHING TO SQUAWK ABOUT Fulton BBQ joint slathers on a first impression

handful of years ago, deducting from the information on its social media accounts because finding an article is a bit of a challenge, J & T’s Flippin’ Chicken in Fulton began its seasoning process — around the same time I began writing about restaurants for this publication. If I’m wrong about the dates, I apologize to the J & T’s. I’m also surprised I have not come across this place sooner. The naturally brightly lit — I went in the afternoon — wood-forward restaurant is spacious and clean. It boasts a blend of neighborhood bar and polished restaurant chain. It’s not a diss, but the first impression told me the owners seemed to know what they wanted leading up to opening or renovating through the years. As far as the neighborhood vibe, this is said in part because my server rhetorically asked me, “You haven’t been here before,” before going into

details about the menu. She called it and I enjoy a good ribbing. Speaking of ribs and food… The Kansas City pork shank wings (three for $15) seemed too good to pass up. Meaty bone-in pork shanks come dressed in the sauce of your choice. The yellow garlic parm sauce and the white shreds of parmesan cheese not only brighten the presentation but the visual intensity equals the flavor. The pork boasted a lightly seasoned and slightly crispy exterior, which easily gave way to the fall-off-the-bone meat. There’s enough of the saucy puddle to slather the shanks and give that extra oomph of flavor and save some for later. Hearing or reading something called the “Belly Buster” wrap ($12) is hard to ignore despite how easy it is to imagine. All wrapped up in a flour tortilla are macaroni and cheese and pulled pork. After the ingredients are tucked in, the tortilla is grilled — one of the

26 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

few efficient ways to keep the majority of a wrap intact and its contents inside. The cheesy macaroni with the shredded pork even without the tortilla is a winning duo for a cookout or just a meal in general. The mac wasn’t mushy and the shredded pork wasn’t dry or flavorless. The smokiness of the pork adds a pleasant, flavorful addition. For people who don’t like their food to touch or feel the need to eat one item at a time, it may not be for them. However, it’s a perfect option to make an exception. The Bourbon Street burger ($15) is a two-hands-needed stacked American staple. Along with the lettuce, tomato and onion, the beef is topped with thick strips of bacon, barbecue sauce and Swiss cheese. The burger, thanks to quality meat and not just solely relying on the other ingredients, is tasty and does what it does best — fill and satisfy. It was cooked

L to R: The Kansas City pork shank wings with yellow garlic parm sauce and white shreds of parmesan cheese; Belly Buster wrap: All wrapped up in a flour tortilla are macaroni and cheese and pulled pork, The grilled cheese is build-your-own; BOTTOM: Churro-style taco shell cradling cheesecake and maraschino cherries.

a proper medium rare as ordered. The burger, along with the wrap and the soon-to-mention grilled cheese, come with fries. The fries are standard and satisfying. But are they crispy? Oh, yes, they are. The grilled cheese (because there was clearly not enough cheese ordered during this visit) is build-your-own, if you so choose ($7 standard as is, $10 with brisket). I spoiled the surprise but, yes, brisket was added to this standard, ageless sandwich staple. Pulling the trian-

gle halves apart presents those lovely cheesy wires not wanting to let go. Opting for dessert is very much a review-by-review basis. I’m a proponent of enjoying the savory food over the sweet. Yet, the dessert of the week had me at the words “churro,” “taco,” and “cheesecake.” Sign me up. What came out: A churro-style taco shell cradling cheesecake and maraschino cherries ($5). The churro taco shell sides were flapped over, like wings, so tackling the dessert be-

gan with a couple angle adjustments. Similar to the thickness and chewiness of a churro, the shell’s sturdiness was promising. The cheesecake and cherries, along with the cinnamon and sugar case, added up one flavorful bite after the next. Before tip, the total bill came to just more than $64. As previously mentioned, aside from social media accounts and travel/ crowd source social pages, there aren’t too many articles written about J & T’s. I’m glad to contribute to the print and internet ether. It’s worth checking out — err, flocking to.

J & T’s Flippin Chicken 324 W. Broadway Fulton, NY 13069 315-887-1278 facebook.com/jtsflippinchicken instagram.com/jtflippinchicken Sunday: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday: Closed Tuesday: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

O RG

M Welcome to Oswego, New York

Century 21 Galloway Realty Receives Awards

Century 21 Galloway Realty in Oswego recently received the 2022 Century 21 President’s Award. The annual award is bestowed upon those independent 21 offices that earn the Century N Where FamilyTIO Century 21 Centurion award and the Century 21 Meets Community. Y RA TQuality O Service Pinnacle award in the L Wher P U e WATERFRONT EX G BEA same calendar year. The Century Award is presented Meets BREATHTAKIN to Century 21 offices that achieve or surpass sales production of $2,830,000 or 490 closed transaction sides within a calendar year. The Century 21 Quality Service Pinnacle Award is presented to those independent offices that receive satisfaction surveys for at least 80% of their consumers surveyed from Jan. 1 though Dec. 31, with a survey score of 95% or better for two consecutive years. Century 21 Galloway Realty is owned by broker William Galloway. “The power of the Century 21 brand rests on the shoulders of the relentless sales professionals at Century 21 Galloway Realty who always Be in the heart of it all with views of the water — Oswego strive to deliver 121% for each and River and Lake Ontario — shopping, dining, outdoor recreation including riverwalk trails at your front door. every client they serve,” said Michael Young professionals, empty nesters, families — hundreds Miedler, president and CEO, Century make their home right in Downtown Oswego. 21 Real Estate LLC. “We are thrilled The downtown living offers a variety of options to suit to recognize them for their amazing everyone's specific needs. And the living spaces themselves, work and commitment to delivering from modern apartments and condos to spacious lofts in the extraordinary experience that homehistoric buildings, are beautifully distinctive. buyers, sellers and property investors deserve in their real estate journey.” The following Century 21 agents in The Oswego area Bolsters a wide vareity of events yearOswego County have been recognized round from: Festivals, World-Class Fishing, Movie Theater & by Century 21 Real Estate LLC: A Drive in Theater, Several Music & Performing Arts Groups, Races & Derbies, Museums & Historical Sites, Bustling night • Ed Fayette, sales associate with life and Accommodations available in walking distance to Century 21 Galloway Realty, located attractions. There is something for every individual and in Oswego. family to choose from. • Brooke Wills, sales associate with Century 21 Galloway Realty, located in Oswego. They received the 2022 Century Our community here in Oswego is always expanding. 21 President’s Producer Award. The Creating new activities for you and your family. Places for business to grow and thrive. Elected officals that push for annual award is bestowed upon those clean streets, and better quality of life for its citizens and Century 21 system sales affiliates that OSWEGONY.ORG visitors. earn the Century 21 Centurion award and the Century 21 Quality Service A Year-Round Destination of Fun! Pinnacle Producer award in the same calendar year. • Jeffrey Tonkin — NYS licensed real estate, associate broker: 2022 Agent of the Year Centurion & Quality Service Oswego, New York is a waterfront community located on the Southeastern Producer shore of Lake Ontario and along the Oswego River. The city is embarking on a • Ryan Galloway — NYS licensed real transformation to build upon its strengths to embrace our rich history, natural estate salesperson: Masters Ruby Award assets, and promotes the development and restoration of healthy, vibrant • Susan Henry — NYS licensed real OSWEGONY.ORG neighborhoods surrounding Oswego’s downtown. estate salesperson: Quality Service

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Pinnacle • Sarah Hoefer — NYS licensed real estate, associate broker: Masters Emerald Award, Quality Service Pinnacle • Kim Mcpherson — NYS licensed real estate salesperson: Quality Service Pinnacle • Constance Ryan — NYS licensed real estate salesperson: Masters Emerald Award Quality Service Pinnacle • Jamie Hawksby — NYS licensed real estate salesperson: Quality Service Producer.

Shineman Awards $272,732 to Nonprofits Eleven Oswego County nonprofit organizations were awarded grants from the Richard S. Shineman Foundation in its first grant round of 2023 at its April board meeting. The funded projects will benefit Oswego County on several fronts. The most significant award, $74,600, was given to Fulton Family YMCA to support its Camp and Outdoor Recreation for Youth — designed as an outdoor recreation space — that provides summer and after-school programming to local youth. The second largest grant was awarded to On Point for College at $60,000 to support college-bound students with comprehensive support that includes the college application process, college visits and needed resources to ensure their success. The CNY Community Arts Center was awarded a grant to revamp its website and develop a user-friendly online registration system. The Ontario Center for the Performing Arts, which operates the Oswego Music Hall, received a grant award to conduct targeted marketing with the goal of increasing its membership and audience. Symphoria was awarded a multi-year grant to expand its Music for Oswego programming. Central New York Lyme and Disease Alliance were awarded a Disease Prevention Education Outreach grant for Oswego County services and programming. David’s Refuge was provided a grant to support Respite, Wellness, and Community Programming for Oswego County residents. The H. Lee White Museum was awarded a matching grant to support its Educational Tall Ship Project. Three mini-grants were awarded to Oswego Industries, The State Street Methodist Church and Peaceful Remedies.

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

NEWSMAKERS NEWS BRIEFS ON LOCAL BUSINESSES & BUSINESS PEOPLE

Tom Roman Joins FSB as Chief Lending Officer Thomas W. Roman has been named senior vice president and chief lending officer of Fulton Savings Bank. He started at the bank May 15. R o man’s banking career spans nearly 30 years Roman throughout New York state, primarily serving the Central New York region. Most recently, he served as vice president and senior commercial banking relationship manager with NBT Bank and previously served as vice president in the commercial banking divisions of Citizens Bank and KeyBank. “We feel very fortunate to have a bank professional with Tom’s skill set and deep connections to the business community join our senior leadership team and know he will only strengthen and move our overall lending efforts forward,” said Pamela Caraccioli, president and CEO. “Tom will set the strategic direction of the bank’s lending areas and provide day to day oversight for the management and development of all commercial and residential real estate, and consumer lending areas.” Roman holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in finance from Syracuse University. “Tom’s civic and community service is also extensive, and we value those additional connections,” Caraccioli said. He serves as president and board member for the Oswego Minor Hockey Association, is the founder and coordinator of the Mary Gosek Girl Power

Hockey Tournament, is a Parish council member and trustee for Christ The Good Shepherd in Oswego. He is also a board member for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Syracuse. He formerly served as an advisory committee member for First Tee of Syracuse, and past president and board member of the Oswego Country Club. Roman and his wife Lisa, along with their three children are lifelong residents of the city of Oswego. Fulton Savings Bank is the city’s oldest, locally owned, longest-standing business, according to The Friends of History in Fulton, Inc., celebrating its 152nd anniversary in 2023. The Bank has offices in Fulton, Baldwinsville, Phoenix, Central Square, Brewerton, and Constantia, with assets totaling more than $461 million and deposits totaling more than $312 million.

Compass FCU Board Members Elected to New Terms Compass Federal Credit Union’s 57th annual meeting took place May 4 at the lodge at the Fallbrook Recreation Center, with three board members elected. Incumbents Michael Pisa and Lisa Distin-Hoefer were each re-elected to new three-year terms, while Sarah Hoefer was elected to her first term. Pisa has completed his fifth year as president of the Compass board of directors, after serving the previous year as vice president. Pisa previously served on the board of directors at Oswego Heritage FCU for seven years prior to the merger between Compass and Heritage in August 2016. Currently he is employed at SUNY Oswego as the associate director of infrastructure and security. Distin-Hoefer, a private duty nurse for more than 20 years, is in her fifth term on the board of directors. First-term board member Hoefer is a NYS licensed associate broker for Century 21 Galloway Realty.

30 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

Following the state of the credit union, long-time board member Joyce Pritchard acknowledged the work of Don Piazza, Gary Brown and Nancy Powers as they stepped down from their credit union roles following a combined 52 years of service. Piazza served 25 years on the board while Brown and Powers served 15 and 12 years, respectively, on the supervisory committee. Compass Federal Credit Union, established in 1966, services more than 7,700 members in the Oswego County community.

Traci Geisler Appointed Director of Blackstone LaunchPad Syracuse University Libraries recently appointed Traci L. Geisler as director of the Blacks t o n e LaunchPad (LaunchPad). She succeeds Linda Dickerson Hartsock, founder and forGeisler mer executive director of the LaunchPad, who has transitioned to the role of strategic initiatives adviser at Syracuse University Libraries. Prior to joining the LaunchPad, Geisler served in an investment, program and contract management role at The Tech Garden since 2016. She began her career in communications and sports and entertainment after graduating with a dual degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and The College of Arts and Sciences. She obtained her master’s in business administration from the City University of New York and her Juris Doctorate from New York Law School.

In her role as director of the LaunchPad, Geisler will be responsible for creating programs and services that support Syracuse University students, faculty, staff and alumni across all disciplines. This includes entrepreneurship resources for those who want to build and create, as well as intrapreneurship resources for those who want to strengthen leaderships skills. The LaunchPad is dedicated to inspiring, coaching and empowering the world’s future innovators through connections with subject matter experts, coworking space, individualized coaching, alumni and peer mentoring, workshops, professional networking events, demo days and talent fairs, competitions for seed funding, toolkit resources, technology platforms, access to accelerators and innovation grant funding.

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Community Foundation Announces Promotions The Central New York Community Foundation has promoted recently announced the following promotions: • Gerianne Corradino was promoted to human resources and operations officer. Corradino has worked for the Community Foundation since 2015 where she previously served as finance manager and senior manager of business operations. Corradino is now responsible for providing operational, IT and human resources support to staff and overseeing the Central New York Philanthropy Center (CNYPC) building. She is a graduate of Leadership Greater Syracuse (LGS) class of 2021 and recently received her SHRM-CP certification. Currently she serves as a board member for FOCUS Greater Syracuse. Corradino holds a dual Bachelor of Arts in French literature and language and international trade from SUNY Oswego. • Dana Fiel was promoted to the position of finance manager after serving in her previous role as senior finance associate for one and a half years. Dana is responsible for managing the grants and accounts payable process, as well as preparing reports and reconciliations. Fiel graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and art history. • Elisia Gonzalez was promoted to grants manager after serving in her previous role as program associate for two years. Gonzalez manages the responsive grantmaking process, and

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NEWSMAKERS provides support for initiatives and programs. Gonzalez was born and raised in Syracuse and graduated from Corcoran High School. She also attended Syracuse University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a degree in geography. • Jenny Green was promoted to senior information systems officer. Green joined the Community Foundation in 2016 and her previous title was philanthropic services officer which she held for two years. She will oversee the information systems for the foundation and provide guidance regarding its management, integration and security. She holds a Master of Science degree in information technology from Marist College and has extensive experience with data management, procedures and strategy. • Elizabeth Hartman was promoted to senior director of finance. Hartman is responsible for the financial reporting and manages the day-to-day accounting activities of the Community Foundation. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in fashion design and a Master of Business Administration in Accounting from Syracuse University. Hartman joined the Community Foundation in 2014 as the controller. • Juliet Maloff was promoted to senior communications officer after serving in her previous role as communications officer for three years. During her nine years at the Community Foundation, Maloff has championed and guided the Community Foundation’s brand management to internal and external audiences. In her new role, she will oversee and implement strategies to ensure impactful and consistent communications messaging across all platforms. Maloff is a recent graduate of FOCUS Greater Syracuse’s 2022 Cit-

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MACNY’s New Specialist to Work on Diversity

MACNY, The Manufacturers Association, recently welcomed Yawa Zewou as its n e w e s t workforce development specialist to support ‘Become A Real-Life Rosie’ pilot program, Zewou “Diversifying Advanced Manufacturing: Women in the Workforce.” Through the support of the Empire State Development’s Office of Strategic Workforce Development, MACNY is partnering with Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC), Working Solutions, and other community-based organizations to attract and connect women to apprenticeships and occu-

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pations as well as support services like mentorship, childcare subsidies, and transportation vouchers. Orientations and trainings will also be held for employers on the specific needs of female employees. According to MACNY, Zewou will play a pivotal role in advancing this program through all phases of its rollout in the next couple years. One of the critical offerings she will be executing is a 12-week pre-apprenticeship program that will include on-the-job training through virtual and in-person classes at MVCC. Zewou holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations and francophone studies from SUNY New Paltz and a Master of Public Administration from Cornell University. Her previous supervisory experience working in Cornell’s Office of Academic and Diversity Initiatives will play a key role in her success leading MACNY’s newest initiative. Additionally, Zewou speaks four languages and spent two years volunteering for the Peace Corps as an English teacher in Indonesia.

Pat Fiorenza Promoted to Director of Research Analytics

Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS) announced that Pat Fiorenza has b e e n p ro moted to director of research analytics. Since joining RMS in early 2022, Fiorenza has established a Fiorenza comprehensive analytics department to address the company’s market research analytics needs and developed an extensive team of resources through both internal staff and contracted professionals. Fiorenza will continue to assist in providing valuable input regarding new business development opportunities, along with finding additional ways to streamline and maximize the value that is delivered to RMS clients. Fiorenza holds a Master in Public Administration degree from S U, and is pursuing his doctorate in curriculum, instruction, and science of learning from

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NEWSMAKERS

Pam Caraccioli Receives Donor of the Year Award from OCO

Oswego County Opportunities (OCO) Executive Director Diane Cooper-Currier (left) and Fund Development Coordinator Bridget Dolbear (right) present Pam Caraccioli with the agency’s Donor of the Year award. Caraccioli was recognized for her exceptional dedication to OCO and furthering its mission through publicly promoting OCO’s services that help lift people out of poverty and providing OCO with an Annual Planned Gift of support. “Pam is a consistent example of service to our community and commitment to improving the quality of life. I am honored to recognize Pam as our Donor of the Year,” said Cooper-Currier.

Steve Chirello, owner, Steve Chirello Advertising, center, receives a Sales & Marketing Excellence Award from Central NY Sales & Marketing Executives (CNYSME). Bernard Bregman, of BBB Marketing, a CNYSME founder, and Devin Negrete-Harvey, event cochair, presented Chirello with the award. Photo by Excel Video/Photo, Syracuse.

Chirello Receives Sales & Marketing Excellence Award

Steve Chirello, owner, Steve Chirello Advertising, received a Sales & Marketing Excellence (SME) Award from Central NY Sales & Marketing Executives (CNYSME), at its 46th Annual Crystal Ball event, May 18, at Marriott Syracuse Downtown. “Many thanks to Wagner Dotto, editor and publisher, Oswego County

Business Magazine, who nominated me for this award,” Chirello said. “I love collaborating with my clients on successful projects, and it’s an incredible honor to be recognized by my colleagues in sales and marketing here in central New York.” Chirello was one of 19 local professionals who received an SME award at the event, which also honored Stephanie Crockett, president & CEO, Mower, with its highest award, the 2023 Crystal Ball. Bernard Bregman, of BBB Marketing, a CNYSME founder, and Devin Negrete-Harvey, event co-chair, presented

Chirello with the award. The SME awards were created in 1977 by CNYSME to recognize “the best and brightest” for excellence in sales and marketing. Awards are based on accomplishments in understanding the customer, understanding the market, conveying a positive company image, attaining objectives, and community and civic involvement. CNYSME was founded in 1935 and is the area’s recognized voice of the sales and marketing profession, the only organization focused exclusively on the needs of the sales and marketing professionals. Chirello Advertising celebrates its 27th anniversary this year. “We’ve been privileged to help a number of small businesses get started and grow, and we’ve helped develop their logos and brands along the way,” Chirello said. “Within the last two decades, marketing tools have significantly changed, as well as the variety of ways clients use professional marketing and public relations consultants.” Over the years, Chirello has worked with more than 30 student interns, most from SUNY Oswego’s communication studies programs. “It has been a great pleasure to be able to provide students with hands-on experience within the realm of public relations, marketing and advertising,” Chirello said. He has worked on projects for a wide variety of clients during his career, including celebrities Al Roker, Alec Baldwin and Leonardo DeCaprio.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

BUSINESS UPDATE

PORT CITY COPY CENTER ACQUIRES OSWEGO PRINTING Printers see synergy in merger; deal closes after lengthy negotiation process. Price was not shared but new owner says it’s a six figures’ deal By Stefan Yablonski

wo Port City printing businesses are merging. Port City Copy Center has completed acquisition of longtime print shop Oswego Printing Co. “I’m purchasing Oswego Printing Co. and the deal is supposed to be finalized this month [May]. The paperwork is nearly complete,” said Megan LaManna, owner of Port City Copy Center, 115 W. Third St. “Eventually I would like to merge both businesses into one and keep the current Oswego Printing Co. location [412 W. First St.]. Both businesses already use some of the same equipment, so it makes the most sense to merge to keep costs down. And the fact that we share clientele, it would make things easier for our customers to keep one location.” “I’ve been in business for 10 years,” she said. “Oswego Printing has been in business for 101 years, I believe.” All current employees will remain, LaManna said. Brian Kocher, owner of Oswego Printing, said he has worked with LaManna for a few years on a variety of print jobs.

“I know her as a smart and resilient business person,” he said. “I see her as being able to successfully merge Oswego Printing’s type of work into Port City’s.” The two are similar in the basic nature of their businesses, “but have customers with different types of needs,” he added.

Megan LaManna, owner of Port City Copy Center, recently bought Oswego Printing Co., owned by Brian Kocher.

36 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

Oswego Printing’s main business is commercial printing for industries and institutions like SUNY Oswego, Oswego Health, Oswego city and county governments, OCO, Novelis etc. “I know that Port City Copy Center also gets work from these businesses, but the difference is often volume. Port City Copy also caters to the individual, a more personalized approach, filling a niche that Oswego is fortunate to have,” he said. “I run a quick copy business that specializes in small volumes with a fast turnaround and large format, like technical drawings, renderings, posters and photo prints,” LaManna said. “Brian and I have had a working relationship for about five years now. He would like to take m o re p e r s o n a l time and I just had a baby — so it makes sense for us to team together,” she added. “We already share some customers, so it will be an easy transition.” He will still very much be part of the business and will continue working with his current clients,

she added. She is working “very closely” with him to ensure all pricing stays the same. “I plan to work for Megan after the sale is complete. Having decades of experience in printing, I will be there to help with transitioning and merging the two types of businesses,” Kocher said. “Megan and I share the same tenet, that great customer service, with quality printing, is key to operating a fulfilling and successful business.” “We are both owner operators, so we both devote a lot of time to our business and rely on the help of another person in our shops.” she said. It is only Jim Coniski and Kocher at Oswego Printing. At Port City Copy it is Joshua Gavin-Hall and LaManna. Port City Copy is a certified woman-owned business enterprise.

Lengthy process The proposed deal has been simmering for a long while — “there is a lot to selling a corporation to another corporation. We had our attorneys go over all of the nitty gritty of our businesses, mainly my business,” Kocher said. “That took a while. I also had to grapple with turning over the business to someone new. I’ve been with Oswego Printing for over 50 years, starting while I was in high school, continuing through my four years at Oswego State and thence forth into the now. My degree is in biology.” So why now? “This is when we finally got the “nitty gritty” taken care of,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for the attorneys to do their magic. There was some going back and forth for a little while,” she added. “Actually, she is buying the stock of the corporation, which is the essence of Oswego Printng,” he said. “Yes, we are doing a stock sale as opposed to an asset sale. With a stock sale, I am purchasing the whole corporation ‘as is’ vs. an asset sale [which is bits and pieces of the business. ex, a few pieces of equipment and a customer list],” she said. “The price is fair value based on his sales of the past few years and is six figures.” “Being in the printing business allowed me to make a great career, have a family and enjoy this most perfect of locations, Central New York,” he said. “The sale price...am I going to buy an island in the sun and schlep off into isolation? Not even a remote possibility for many reasons,” he quipped.

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

BUSINESS UPDATE

Innovator of the Year

Brent Zerkle at the shop at Cryomech in North Syracuse.

Cryomech’s Brent Zerkle Cited for ‘Groundbreaking’ Invention

ryomech director of prototyping Brent Zerkle was recently named Innovator of the Year by the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY) for the development of the world’s largest pulse tube cryocooler. The MACNY award was created eight years ago, and “the criteria that we look for when selecting the Innovator of the Year Award is an individual that consistently demonstrates forward-thinking ideas in the areas of technology, innovation and advancement of products and production,” according to Marissa Beck, MACNY’s marketing and communications manager. Cryomech is a cryocooler technology and manufacturing company in North Syracuse, specializing in creating cryorefrigeration equipment to a global market.

Zerkle, a 41-year-employee of the North Syracuse company, is quick to credit his collaborator, Xihuan Hao, cryogenic research and development engineer, in the creation of this piece of equipment. The cryocooler can cool equipment to objects quickly and has many industrial applications, especially in research. Zerkle was nominated for the award by his colleagues at Cryomech. “I just really appreciate them and their showing their appreciation for me,” he said during a recent interview. The pulse tube cryocooler was about one year in the making, Zerkle said, and was borne out of the need of one of their customers, but once it was announced at this year’s annual American Physics Society conference, the interest and demand grew. This kind of interaction with their

38 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

consumers and the company’s marketing people allows them to learn of the needs and develop ways to meet those challenges, Zerkle said. As director of prototyping, Zerkle explained that he’s at the forefront, facilitating these new innovations and products. Zerkle first joined Cryomech as a machinist in 1982, after he was laid off by his former employer, Smith-Corona, the one-time typewriter company in Cortland. He said he was fascinated by the groundbreaking work that Cryomech was doing. “Early on, everything was groundbreaking and we’re still groundbreaking today,” he said. When Zerkle first started, there were about five or six employees in the company, which had been founded in 1963. Today, it boasts more than 170 employees. Recently, the Cryomech was acquired by the Finland-based company Bluefors, Cryomech’s largest customer. However, Zerkle said that the purchase will not hamper its continued expansion in both its building space on Moore Road in North Syracuse or in its number of workers. A name change is expected over the next few months.

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

BUSINESS UPDATE

MAIN: Oswego County Administrator Philip Church, TD Bank Vice President Jennifer McKay, Oswego County Chairman James Weatherup, Winner of 2023 WomanOwned Small Business of the Year Alex Hawthorn, and US Small Business Administration Upstate New York District Director Bernard J. Paprocki. INSET: New York Small Business Development Center Director Sonya Smith, Onondaga County Executive J. Ryan McMahon, Winner of 2023 Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year Michael Bower, Onondaga Small Business Development Center Adviser Mark Pitonzo, and US Small Business Administration Upstate New York District Director Bernard J. Paprocki.

Meet the Veteran- and Woman-Owned Small Businesses of the Year The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Upstate New York District has awarded its 2023 Veteran-Owned Business of the Year Award to Michael Bower, owner of Eagle Metalcraft in East Syracuse and its 2023 Woman-Owned Business of the Year Award to Alex Hawthorn, owner of Highland Animal Hospital in Central Square.

SBA Upstate New York District Director Bernard J. Paprocki presented the awards at their businesses as part of National Small Business Week. They were joined by Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon in East Syracuse and by Oswego County Administrator Phil Church and Oswego County Chairman Jim Weatherup in Central Square.

40 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

These businesses were selected from nominees across the district’s 34 counties as part of National Small Business Week, April 30 through May 6.

Michael Bower According to District Director Paprocki, the SBA Upstate New York District selected Bower as Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year for acquiring Eagle Metalcraft, a precision sheet metal fabrication business, after leading strong business growth as general manager during the pandemic, doubling sales and number of staff. Bower also gives back as a SCORE mentor and works with the Syracuse City School District P-TECH students, transitioning servicemembers and the Manufacturing Association of Central New York’s

apprenticeship program. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Bower learned the value of hard work growing up on a farm in Arkansas and serving in the United States Marine Corps. With a strong belief in the region’s entrepreneurial spirit, he sought support from the Onondaga Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in 2020 to purchase and run a business in Central New York. Bower began working as general manager for Eagle Metalcraft in the worst sales month of the pandemic and began making improvements immediately while working on the business acquisition. SBDC business adviser Mark Pitanzo guided Michael through the business valuation process, helped him write a business plan, and connected him with Citizen’s Bank in Syracuse. Bower received an SBA 7(a) loan from Citizen’s Bank in 2021 to purchase Eagle Metalcraft, which like SBA had its 70th anniversary this year.

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Alex Hawthorn An Oswego native, veterinarian Hawthorn received an SBA 7(a) loan from TD Bank in 2022 to construct a new 7,200-sq.-ft. facility on a property abutting existing operations, which is currently 3,000 square feet. She designed the building with the needs of her patients and staff at the forefront, preparing to double her staff and fill a critical urgent care gap for Central New York’s pets this summer. “Helping and healing animals is tremendously rewarding. We are excited to expand our services to our surrounding community,” said Hawthorn. “It has been such a pleasure working in the Central New York area over the last four years. We are fortunate to have the most wonderful patients and clients, and we can’t wait to continue these relationships for many years to come!” In the few years since Hawthorn has taken over the practice, Highland Animal Hospital has already increased its client load 50%, doubled sales revenue, added five new staff members, rebranded and modernized equipment. “Dr. Hawthorn has shown how SBA services and lenders can support entrepreneurs like her who save lives every day. It’s clear that Dr. Hawthorn’s dedication to animals extends to her staff and her community, and we can’t wait to see what she does next,” said Paprocki.

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BUSINESS UPDATE

James Dowd, Pathfinder Bank president and CEO, presents a check representing the bank’s support of Harborfest’s annual fireworks display to Dan Harrington, Harborfest executive director. Photo courtesy of Sandy Swiech.

Pathfinder Bank to Sponsor Harborfest Fireworks

athfinder Bank stepped up this year and is the sole sponsor of the Grucci Family fireworks. The cost of the Harborfest show this year was $103,000, according to Harborfest officials. “Back in 2016, Entergy was bought out by Exelon, at least that’s the story I know. When Exelon took over the nuke plants they wanted to phase out the fireworks spending and at that time it was $80,000 to $90,000,” said Harborfest Executive Director Dan Harrington. During the same timeframe Pathfinder Bank decided to help co-sponsor the event. Over a five-year period, Exelon was going to slowly back out and Pathfinder

was going to increase its spending, so by 2023, Pathfinder would be the sole sponsor, he explained. But now, Constellation has taken over the nukes and they are looking at sponsoring the Novelis Breitbeck Park Lakeview Stage, he added. Crucial financial and in-kind support for the show is also being provided by the city of Oswego and the Port of Oswego Authority. The fireworks simulcast will be played on Dinosaur Radio (103.9 FM). “Our fireworks display is easily the most expensive part of Harborfest and support from Pathfinder, the city of Oswego and the Port of Oswego Authority is crucial to preserving this

42 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

great tradition loved by everyone,” he said. “We are grateful for Pathfinder Bank’s continued commitment to the growth and vitality of our community.” In a news release, James Dowd, Pathfinder Bank’s CEO, said: “The opportunity for Pathfinder Bank to serve as sole sponsor of the Harborfest fireworks display is one we couldn’t pass up. We have a significant legacy of investing in the communities we serve through support of arts and culture. We’ve been supporting Harborfest for many years now and have seen first-hand the positive economic impact this festival has had on the city of Oswego, its residents and small businesses.”

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

SPECIAL REPORT

Print Media Monopoly in Oswego County All Oswego County-based newspapers are now owned by one publishing company By Stefan Yablonski

istorically, newspapers have been a critical part of America’s news landscape. Over the past several years, however, they have been in a sharp decline — readership and financially. More and more people are getting their news digitally. The industry’s financial fortunes and subscriber base have been in decline since the mid-2000s, but their website audience traffic has again begun to grow. Years ago, Oswego County had five major players — The Oswego County Weeklies, owned by the Backus family; The Palladium-Times, owned by Thomson Corporation (and others); The Valley News, owned by the late Vince Caravan; The Fulton Patriot, owned by Leroy Hodge; and the Post-Standard, which had a daily section dedicated to news from Oswego County. Earlier this spring, The Sample News Group, parent company of Os-

wego County Media Group, purchased four publications from Johnson Newspaper Corporation, based in Watertown. The deal includes The Batavia Daily News and its sister publication the Livingston County News, the Oswego County News and the Oswego Shopper. The company which publishes The Palladium-Times (circulation estimate: 5,500), The Valley News, The Oswego County Advertiser and online at OswegoCountyNewsNow.com now has a monopoly in Oswego County.

‘Part of democracy’ “Newspapers — in their paper format and now in their digital avatar — are an integral part of democracy as we know,” said Arvind Diddi, professor, department of communication studies, journalism unit coordinator at SUNY Oswego. A multitude of voices and perspec-

44 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

tives are the essence of this democracy, which risks getting subdued in the process of media conglomeration, he said. According to Diddi, the media conglomeration is more than a century-old phenomenon, which in its early days was aggressively pursued by E.W. Scripps. Media conglomeration at different levels is mostly driven by economic reasons. “Since early 2000, the U.S. has lost more than 2,000 newspapers, witnessed more than 50,000 job cuts in local newsrooms and seen about $40 billion in lost revenue,” he said. Thus, in this context, what is now being witnessed in Oswego County is a sign of the times. “Besides, the coronavirus pandemic has hastened the economic downturn of local newspapers,” he added. Due to such a depleting ecosystem of local news, a phenomenon of news deserts and ghost newspapers is growing fast in communities all across the U.S., which in turn, is undermining our democracy due to increasing misinformation, disinformation and polarization, he said. A monopoly is not sustainable in the long-run both economically and democratically, according to Diddi. “Monopoly and democracy are inversely related, i.e., when one goes up the other comes down. On the surface, in the short-run, a monopoly might

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Arvind Diddi, professor, department of communication studies, journalism unit coordinator at SUNY Oswego.

appear lucrative and invincible; however, the principles of free market and marketplace of ideas don’t operate that way,” he pointed out. “Past and present times are rife with such examples. For instance, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World ruled the roost at one time — but vanished by the early 1930s.”

Digital With increasing cost of printing and distributing newspapers — growth in digital dissemination and venues — printed newspapers are rapidly changing to innovative strategies. Some such strategies are already noticed in several local newspapers, limiting themselves to printing only on certain days of the week; and adding additional value to the printed editions. Digital circulation is difficult to gauge. Using only The Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) data, digital circulation in 2020 was projected to have risen sharply, with weekday up 27% and Sunday up 26%, according to the Pew Research Center. “The future of local newspapers, beside their owners, depends a great deal on the local communities’ wants and needs,” Diddi said. “If there continues to be a sustainable demand for print, then the publishers will be encouraged to fulfill that demand. In short, print will not completely fade away in the next few years, especially in vibrant communities. But they will certainly adapt to innovative ways — some we’re already experiencing, while a few are yet to unfold. What is enabled now is the future.”

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

Bruce Frassinelli bfrassinelli@ptd.net

‘Newspapers, including The New York Times, have a long tradition of endorsing candidates, but in recent years, some have reconsidered, saying that it has limited value and tends to anger readers instead of providing a public service of information.’

BRUCE FRASSINELLI is the former publisher of The Palladium-Times. He served as a governor of the Rotary Club District 7150 (Central NY) from July 2001 to June 2002.

Newspapers’ Political Endorsements Becoming Vestige of Past

nce not very long jor upset, defeating ago, politicians incumbent Democrat wanted their local Mario Cuomo, who was newspaper to endorse their candidacies. It seeking a fourth four-year term.) was important, often got them votes, and in To show the disconnect in political a close election was sometimes the difference views between the state’s major cities and between winning and losing. its rural areas, 50 counties gave Zeldin more That’s rarely the case anymore. votes, in some cases overwhelmingly so. We had a major gubernatorial race in While Democrat Hochul won just 12 of the 2022 in which incumbent Democrat Kathy state’s 62 counties, most in major metroHochul, 64, of Erie County and a graduate politan areas including Onondaga (home of Syracuse University, defeated Republican to Syracuse), Monroe (home to Rochester), challenger, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, 43, of East Erie (home to Buffalo) and Albany (home Meadow (Suffolk County), with Hochul to the state capital), Zeldin was outpacing getting 52.9% of the vote to Zeldin’s 47.1%. her in rural and many suburban areas. It was the closest gubernatorial election The margins of victory by Hochul since 1994 and the closest Democratic victory included: Onondaga, 7%, Monroe, 8%, since 1982. Hochul’s victory was historic Erie, 6% and Albany, 18%. in the sense that it was the first time that a Zeldin prevailed in these local counties woman has been elected governor. She was by the indicated percentages: Oswego, completing the unexpired term of former 35%, Cayuga, 25%, Cortland, 16%, HerGov. Andrew Cuomo, who was in the midst kimer, 49%, Jefferson, 43%, Lewis, 65%, of a third four-year term when he resigned in Madison, 23%, Oneida, 33% and Wayne, August 2021 after facing sexual harassment 38%. charges from several women. While the state’s major newspapers, (The ’94 election was the one in which including The New York Times, continue to Republican George Pataki pulled a ma-

46 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

My Turn

endorse candidates, many of the smaller publications discontinued the practice years ago. Several major newspaper companies — including hedge fund Alden Global Capital, publisher of the New York Daily News — announced that starting with the 2022 mid-terms, their papers would no longer endorse candidates for president, congress or governor. Alden announced the decision in an editorial. “Unfortunately, as the public discourse has become increasingly acrimonious, common ground has become a no man’s land between the clashing forces of the culture wars,’’ the newspaper company said. “At the same time, with misinformation and disinformation on the rise, readers are often confused, especially online, about the differences between news stories, opinion pieces and editorials.’’ Alden Global Capital owns about 200 newspapers in the United States, including The Daily News and The Daily Freeman in Kingston, New York. Three Alden newspapers — The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune and The Denver Post — were allowed to continue with their endorsements during the mid-terms because of how far along in the process they were, but all three announced after the election that 2022 was the last year of political endorsements. In recent months, two of the other largest newspaper groups — Gannett and Lee Enterprises — announced that they will no longer endorse national and statewide candidates. In 2022, as many as 70 of the top 100 papers did not endorse a candidate for congress, governor or statewide races. Newspapers including The New York Times, have a long tradition of endorsing candidates, but in recent years, some have reconsidered, saying that it has limited value and tends to anger readers instead of providing a

‘Once not very long ago, politicians wanted their local newspaper to endorse their candidacies. It was important, often got them votes, and in a close election was sometimes the difference between winning and losing. That’s rarely the case anymore.’ public service of information. The Times endorsed Hochul, but political observers said that even a newspaper of the Times’ stature did not carry anywhere near the weight and impact that it once did as evidenced by the better Republican showing statewide in 2022. With declining circulation throughout the newspaper industry, the last thing local publishers want to do is alienate any reader. They almost all agree that a sure way to foster this alienation is to endorse a candidate whom the reader does not support. As a result, most newspapers attempt to provide a balanced news report in an effort to let prospective voters make

their own choices. Most newspaper publishers agree that political endorsements have outlived their usefulness, especially during this bitter political atmosphere that has gripped the country in the 21st century. Even the candidates themselves do not see the newspaper’s endorsement as a necessarily positive step forward in a campaign. This polarization and skepticism that has crept into readers’ views of the entire news industry is also part of the issue. You need look only at the 2016 presidential election when 57 of the nation’s largest newspapers endorsed Chappaqua resident, Democrat Hillary Clinton, while just two chose Donald Trump. In what is now considered one of the country’s most shocking upsets in U.S. political history, Trump defeated Clinton by amassing 304 electoral votes to Clinton’s 227, although Clinton had 65.8 million popular votes to Trump’s 62.9 million. By 2020, endorsements among major newspapers were still fairly common. Among those endorsing President Joe Biden were The New York Times, The Daily News (New York City), Newsday (Long Island), Buffalo News, The Post Standard (Syracuse) and Times Union (Albany). Endorsing Trump was the New York Post (New York City). Among major New York state dailies which did not endorse in 2020 was the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester). Biden won the 2020 election with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. Biden had 81.3 million popular votes to Trump’s 74.2 million.

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

SPECIAL REPORT

On average more than 1 million people attend the New York State Fair in Syracuse.

Fairs and Festivals: A Boon to Local Economies

More than just fun family outings, fairs and festivals also bring an income bump to local businesses By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

rom Harborfest in Oswego to The Great New York State Fair, and numerous other festivals, the season’s events make summertime even more special. More than just fun family outings, fairs and festivals also bring an income bump to local businesses. “Festivals stimulate people to get out of their houses and go someplace

and have fun where other people are having fun,” said Dave Bullard, certified festivals and event executive by the International Festivals and Event Association. “The bigger the festival, the more likely they are to create economic impact by drawing people from outside the area.” Bullard served as public relations director of the Great New York State Fair

48 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

and currently works as a consultant for Harborfest and H. Lee White Maritime Museum, both in Oswego. Bullard also volunteers for the International Taste Festival in Syracuse. Attracting more people to the area represents only one positive influence of events. As visitors come to the area, they may fill up their tank, buy a meal at a restaurant off-site, or shop at a store that they don’t have back home. “The longer you’re traveling, the more likely it is to build other things into your trip,” Bullard said. “We’d see this at the fair where they might stay a couple days with friends or at a hotel. That affects tourism. They’d also visit other attractions or go shopping. I do the same. We’re going on a trip and now I’m looking for other things to do in Memphis while we’re there. We’re also going to look for some shops, places to eat and museums to visit.” While attending a street fair, even locals may discover a shop they’d never noticed before because they had no previous reason to visit that part of town. The host itself also spends money

David Bullard, consultant for Harborfest and former official with NYS Fair: “Festivals turn money around,” he says.

Tim Ridgeway, senior vice president of the Oswego Agricultural Society, which manages the Oswego County Fair.

to prepare for its event. Bullard said that the fair budgets about $10 million to $15 million for things like supplies, signs, payroll and other things. “But even the smallest festival has spending that goes out back into the community,” he added. “Festivals turn money around.” The nonmonetary effects can also boost morale in a community, which can eventually turn into more income for area businesses as people discover more reasons to live, shop and recreate in their towns. “The vitality is there and people feel much more likely to want to be a

part and invest in their community,” Bullard said. “Festivals show it’s a fun place to live. Without them, it is hard to justify investment. People look at what else is going on in a town they might want to move to. That feeling of community strength you can’t buy. It’s created through the investments people make.” It doesn’t have to be an event as big as the Great New York State Fair, which draws over a million visitors annually. The businesses near the Oswego County Fair in Sandy Creek also benefit. “There’ll be people camping here at the local campsite and going to the

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Tops grocery store and gas station and other stores here in town,” said Tim Ridgeway, senior vice president of the Oswego Agricultural Society, which manages the event. “There are restaurants and grocery stores that vendors and exhibitors may use.” The three-day fair raises money for the local fire department and offers 4-H exhibitors a local show before heading out to the state fair. As an example of a local festival, the Syracuse Polish Festival has operated since 1954, promoting Polish heritage. The event offers several $1,000 scholarships annually to deserving college students. “We’re using local industries,” said Donald H. Dutkowsky secretary to the Polish Scholarship Fund and professor emeritus of economics at SU. “We pay for things like tent rental, security within the festival, overnight security, and rental of Porta Johns. We’re benefiting local companies and local bands.” In addition, fairs and festivals typically offer space for local companies within vendor areas. Dutkowsky said these opportunities can help them expand their revenue through additional exposure and sales. He added that especially since the pandemic, it’s important for businesses to have more visibility. It’s also good for the city. “Events like Syracuse Juneteenth (June 16-19) and Festa Italiana (Sept. 15-17) give us a reputation as a city that has these safe, family-friendly events,” Dutkowsky said. “We’re part of what Syracuse has to offer. If you come to CNY, this is a place you can stop on a nice weekend and incorporate an event in your stay.”

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Steven E. Abraham

New Employment Law to Affect NYS Businesses

‘The federal and New York state governments have passed changes in the employment laws that significantly expand protections for employees. Employers need to be aware of these changes to avoid the risks.’

Steven E. Abraham is a professor in the school of business at SUNY Oswego. He also has practiced labor and employment law in New York City.

Be aware of recent changes in the law — including pay transparency, which starts in September — to avoid being liable for damages or penalties

usiness owners in New York need to keep abreast of legal changes, in particular, changes in the area of employment law. Failure to do so could result in being liable for damages or penalties. Recently, both the federal and New York state governments have passed changes in the laws that significantly expand protections for employees. Employers need to be aware of these changes to avoid the risks.

already made it illegal for businesses to discriminate against employees based on pregnancy, the PWFA goes further, because it provides that employers have an affirmative duty to accommodate pregnancy. • PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act The PUMP Act, which took effect in December 2022, expands existing employer obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act and requires them to provide employees with reasonable break time to express breast milk for the employee’s nursing child for one year after the child’s birth. Employers must provide a place for employees to express milk shielded from view and intrusion from coworkers and the public (other than a bathroom). The law covers all employees, not just nonexempt workers under the FLSA. In other words, even executives, managers and supervisors, are protected. The break time may be unpaid, however. Employers should ensure that non-exempt nursing employees are paid if they express breast milk during an otherwise paid break period or if they are not completely relieved of duty for the entire break period. Exempt employees should be paid their full weekly salary as required by federal, state and local law, regardless of whether they take breaks to express breast milk. The law requires employees to provide notice of an alleged violation to the employer and must give the employer a 10-day window to cure the violation period before filing a lawsuit. Employers with fewer than 50 employees can still rely on the small employer exemption, if compliance with the law would cause undue hardship because of significant difficulty or expense.

Guest Collumnist

Federal Law Congress has passed two new laws that will impact all businesses in the near future. • Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) The PWFA applies to employers with at least 15 employees and becomes effective on June 27. The PWFA includes the obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant employees, as long as those accommodations do not impose an undue hardship. Under the PWFA, employers will be required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with known temporary limitations on their ability to perform the essential functions of their jobs based on a physical or mental condition related to pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions. The law provides that employees or their representative can make the employer aware of the employees’ limitations. It also provides that an employer cannot require an employee to take a paid or unpaid leave of absence if another reasonable accommodation can be provided. While both federal and state law

50 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

New York Laws • Pay Transparency in New York New York state has passed a pay transparency law that goes into effect in September. The new law will require employers to disclose a good-faith salary range for any position that will be performed in New York. Further, if the employer has a job description for the role, that job description must also be included with the posting under the state law. For commission-based positions, the New York state law requires “a general statement that compensation shall be based on commission” on the job posting. Finally, the New York state law includes a requirement for employers to maintain “necessary records” of the history of compensation ranges for each position and job descriptions, to the extent they exist. • Amendments to the New York state Human Rights Law The New York state human rights law has additional employee protections based upon 2022 amendments. First, in March 2022, New York added a specific category of unlawful “retaliation” for the disclosure of an employee’s personnel file. Second, in July 2022, New York announced a confidential hotline for people experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace to connect with pro bono attorneys on sexual harassment issues or to submit a complaint. Finally, on Dec. 23, 2022, the New York state human rights law was amended to cover citizenship and immigration status. It also should be noted that the New York state department of labor and the New York state division of human rights jointly issued a revised sexual harassment prevention model policy on April 18, 2023. The new policy places a strong emphasis on gender identity. There is a new section on bystander intervention. The release of this new policy included new trading that you use designed to meet the state’s annual training requirement. • Electronic Versions of Workplace Postings New York state now requires employers to make all notices, posters and documents that are required to be posted in the workplace available to employees electronically. The law also states that employers provide notice to employees that these documents are available electronically as well as in print. • New Leave Protections The New York Paid Family Leave

Law was amended effective Jan. 1, 2023, to specify that a sibling is a family member for which an employee can take protected family leave. • Additional Lactation Accommodation Requirements Similar to the PUMP Act discussed above, starting on June 7, 2023, employers throughout New York state will need to ensure that they provide a designated lactation space that has a chair, table, access to nearby running water, electricity and that is (1) in close proximity to the work area; (2) well lit; (3) shielded from view; (4) free from intrusion from other persons in the workplace or the public. • Protected Absences Employers with absence control policies who discipline employees for taking protected leave under any federal, state or local law will be subject to penalties. This new law targets employer policies that attempt to control employee absences by assessing points or “demerits” or docking time from a leave bank when an employee is absent, regardless of whether or not the absence is permissible under applicable law. The amendment prohibits employers in New York from taking these actions when employees take a legally protected absence. Though the law does not prohibit attendance policies that include a penalty point system, legally protected absences cannot be used to deduct from these point systems. Employers are prohibited from retaliating or discriminating against any employee that makes a complaint that the employer violated the law and violations can come with sizable penalties. In addition to enforcement by the New York state department of labor, NYLL Section 215 provides a private cause of action for current and former employees to recover monetary damages from employers who have violated Section 215. Monetary damages include back pay, liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees in addition to civil penalties that can be issued by NYSDOL of up to $10,000 for the first violation and $20,000 for repeat violations. In sum, employee rights and employee protections have been expanded or will be extended significantly shortly. It is important for employers to be aware of these changes to protect themselves from liability or penalties. It would be wise, however, for businesses to consult with an attorney in order to protect themselves to the greatest extent.

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

52 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

COVER

Port of Oswego

RECORD BREAKING

OPERATION By Ken Sturtz

arly one morning in December 2017, members of the Port of Oswego Authority’s board of directors called Bill Scriber into the conference room at the port’s offices on the water in the city of Oswego for a hastily called meeting. The port’s executive director had resigned suddenly and the board wanted Scriber, who was manager of logistics and administrative services at the time, to serve as acting director. “I had no choice,” he said. “They basically said you’re taking it over.” Five years after taking over during a moment of turmoil, the Port of Oswego is thriving under Scriber’s leadership. The port handled a record 581 million tons of cargo last year, a 300% increase from the previous year. It has received the prestigious

Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway Pacesetter Award, which recognizes ports for major increases in cargo shipping, three of the last four years. And millions of dollars in projects in Oswego Harbor have expanded and enhanced the port’s infrastructure. Scriber believes in the port’s ability to be an economic engine for the region and has been a driving force behind much of its recent growth. He’s pushed the port to develop a strategic vision and to expand and diversify its revenue streams. “This is my passion,” Scriber, 65, said. “I’m a local person who truly believes in the value of the Port of Oswego as both a job creator and an economic catalyst and a commercial entity that has almost unlimited ability to grow business in the area.” Scriber grew up in Parish and

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Bill Scriber has been the executive director of the Port of Oswego Authority for five years. Photo provided

54 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

was the first in his family to go to college when he enrolled at SUNY Oswego in 1976, studying political science with a focus on public policy and administration. He became the youngest town supervisor in the state when he was elected supervisor in Parish. He later joined the Army. He graduated from the Army’s logistics school and was responsible for moving everything from guns and ammunition to tanks (he can still tell you where you need to place your pallets on a military transport aircraft). He served in the Special Operations Command during Desert Storm. He left the Army after eight years and went to work for a logistics company in Syracuse, rising to become an operations manager. He later served as elections commissioner at the Oswego County Board of Elections for 13 years. In 2009, a management position at the port opened up. Logistics had always been his passion and he decided to try for it, sitting through six hours of civil service exams. He spent the next eight years as manager of logistics and administrative services for the port. Scriber said that when he became acting director in 2017, the port was in turmoil. It had churned through three executive directors during his time there and lacked a clear sense of direction. The port hadn’t won a Pacesetter Award, it was hemorrhaging customers and its revenue wasn’t where it should have been, he said. “It was disheartening at times to see what I was left with,” he said. “I knew I had an impossible mission, I knew it was going to be more difficult than anything I had ever done, but I felt I had to do it because everyone I worked for needed someone to take charge of it and try to turn it around.” Scriber’s first priority was to calm things down and refocus the port on its business. He began working to attract new customers and renegotiate leases more favorable to the port. For most of the year he was acting director, he was still doing his old job and the commitment quickly gobbled up his free hours. “My wife would tell you there were

days I came home that it was hard for me not only to leave the port behind in my mind but to leave the port,” Scriber said. For all the challenges he faced, Scriber said he had realized over the tenure of the three previous directors that the port had a solid core group of people working there. “What they needed was a focused direction of where we were going to go and a leader who really believed not only in them but in the value of the port,” he said. “And I truly believe the value of the port has been underestimated in the community and New York for years.”

‘We’re a business entity’ The intersection of the Oswego River and Lake Ontario has been an important location for commerce for hundreds of years, dating to the fur trade. The Oswego branch of the Erie Canal, the super highway of its day,

“

“But it’s more than a port; we’re a business entity that really contributes to the community in various ways.” Ports work like giant post offices for businesses that need to buy materials or sell their products. Many companies move goods by truck, but for certain businesses moving cargo by rail or ship is cheaper and easier. That’s where the port comes in. Businesses in Central New York rely on it to ship everything from salt, fertilizer and petroleum, to potash, aluminum, steel and cement and nuclear power plant components. Two-thirds of the tonnage last year at the port came from 77 ships, but it also moved cargo on 11,000 trucks and 600 railcars and has a warehousing operation. The port spends more than $2.8 million annually on wages and benefits; it has 30-35 people during peak operations. It supports more than 200 jobs in the area and more than $26 million in economic activity, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. “Every single city on the Great Lakes that has a port is vibrant and expanding and has good paying jobs,” Scriber said, citing cities such as Cleveland, Toledo and Duluth. “And because the port is there it creates so much additional asset value to the community.” For all of the economic benefits of the port, Scriber said that even before he became executive director in 2018, he realized it needed a plan. He worked with the board to develop the port’s first comprehensive plan to ensure the organization had a vision. Part of that vision meant expanding the types of cargo it handled. “In the past, the port was not diversified,” he said. “We put too many eggs in one basket.” The port relied heavily for revenue from shipping bulk aluminum for Novelis, but the amount of aluminum shipped varied from year to year. Scriber decided the port needed to expand its grain business to balance out years when aluminum was down. Grain shipments were a major source of revenue in the past but had declined. The port’s grain facilities were outmoded and inefficient, so the port

The Port of Oswego has benefited from millions of dollars in investments and is handling a record amount of cargo. Its leader says that’s good news for Central New York. connected Canadian markets with New York City. At one time so many sailing ships choked the mouth of the Oswego River that it was possible to walk across the harbor without setting foot on the water. Construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s allowed oceangoing ships to traverse all of the Great Lakes, moving cargo to and from the interior of the United States. In the late 1950s, New York state created the Port of Oswego Authority to take advantage. As a state authority, the port doesn’t receive funding through the state budget; it survives on the revenue it generates. It’s also the last stevedoring port on the Great Lakes, meaning the port owns the docks and equipment and runs the operation rather than contracting a company to do it. “People say the port,” Scriber said.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

The port relies heavily for revenue from shipping bulk aluminum for Novelis (photo). Grain shipments are also a major source of revenue.

undertook a $15 million expansion and upgrade, putting up a modern storage silo and creating testing labs to monitor grain quality. More than 100 farmers ship grain through the port. When it comes in by truck and rail, it’s graded and tested for moisture. The port can unload a truck in under a minute and its storage system now has automated air control and temperature sensors to maintain quality. The port has also focused on being more competitive by marketing its capabilities to businesses and competing for larger projects. For example, last year it bid on and received contracts for the challenging task of unloading and transporting hundreds of giant windmill components destined for the Southern Tier. It was the port’s first large windmill project in a decade, Scriber said. “It’s been taking our assets and making them more efficient and stronger,” he said. Other changes have been less noticeable. Dock upgrades last year allowed asphalt to be transported in bulk

by ships. Previously, it was trucked into the area. And Oswego Marina, which the port owns, has received upgrades, including the addition of a 15-site RV park nearby for charter fishing customers. The port is also constructing a $2.1 million deep-water marina near the end of West First Street in Oswego that will include modern docks, bathrooms and a pavilion. “Our revenue stream is stronger and more diversified than we’ve ever had in the past,” Scriber said. Having diversified revenue streams helped the port survive the COVID-19 pandemic without resorting to layoffs, which was one of his biggest accomplishments, he said. And it helped the port rebound coming out of the pandemic. Last year the port signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers on a project to deepen Oswego Harbor, which will make it accessible to larger container ships. The federal government also allocated nearly $18 million for critical repairs to the entire harbor breakwater and the foundation

56 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

of the West Pierhead Lighthouse. While many of the most dramatic improvements at the port have occurred during Scriber’s tenure, he’s quick to point out that he hasn’t done it alone. He said he now has an excellent team that can run the port even when he’s not there. Scriber said he tries to set the example for the port’s management team with a relentless work ethic. He typically spends a couple of hours working from home and then a full eight-hour day at the office. Much of his day is consumed by phone calls, email and courting potential customers in an effort to bring in new business. And he’s often working on grant applications (the port doesn’t have a dedicated grant writer) that have helped pay for millions of dollars in improvements. His one bit of down time is usually when he eats lunch, packed by his wife, at his desk. He doesn’t consider himself a micromanager but he likes to be handson, getting away from his desk when possible. That means getting out in the

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field to see how things are working or not working. Scriber will still be on site when a ship or barge comes in to be unloaded. “I learned a valuable lesson in my military career and business,” he said. “You never lead from the back, you lead from the front.” And he still has plans for the port’s future. The new marina on West First Street is finishing up and the break-water repairs and harbor-deepening are scheduled to begin soon. Scriber is finishing a grant application that would allow the port to expand its rail operations and he said the port is in the planning stages for building a new heated warehouse that’s solar-powered. The port is also preparing for an increase in business shipping construction materials when Micron Technology begins building its semiconductor plant nearby in Onondaga County. “It all goes back to my passion for the port, I have a driving passion for what I do,” he said. “I saw a port that could be greater than it was at the time.”

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Tim Nekritz nekritz@gmail.com

Playgrounds: The Gems that Can Make Neighborhoods Shine ‘While playgrounds are ubiquitous in many communities, they didn’t become common until the 20th century. And the modern playgrounds we know are fairly recent in their development.’

TIM NEKRITZ is director of news and media for SUNY Oswego, where he spearheads telling the stories of the campus community.

t’s easy to look at what makes a quality neighborhood in a purely statistical basis — average assessment, home sale prices, population density and so on. But one thing you can’t easily put a price on is the quality of life, and a hidden gem here is the community playground. Oswego is blessed with many playgrounds bringing a sense of live and livability to so many neighborhoods. I’m within easy walking distance of two of them — Shapiro Park and Kingsford Elementary — and looking at a map, I’m not alone in this benefit. Moreover, during Mayor Billy Barlow’s administration, the city has invested heartily in these healthy features — and, even more admirably, in creating accessible spaces for people of all abilities.

Tim’s Notes

Evolution of playgrounds While playgrounds are ubiquitous in many communities, they didn’t become common until the 20th century. And the modern playgrounds we know are fairly recent in their development. According to an article by Kaitlin O’Shea on the National Trust for Historic Preservation website, titled “How We Came to Play: The History of Playgrounds,” the idea of communal play spaces didn’t appear until the advent of “sand gardens” (large sandboxes) in Germany in the late 19th century. The first American playground traces to Boston in 1886, but they were far from common. But the rapid urbanization that came with industrialization ramping up as the 20th century turned brought more attention to the need for “the concern for public welfare,” O’Shea notes. “Humanitarians saw playgrounds as the solution to cramped quarters, poor air quality and social isolation. This new concept could keep children off the dangerous streets and help them develop their physical

58 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

health, good habits, socialization skills and the pleasure of being

a child.” A big step forward came with the 1906 development of the Playground Association of America, which promoted playgrounds as a concept for a healthy neighborhood and city, even if their vision was more regimented than the freeform ideal that exists today. With the post-war economic and baby boom of the 1950s, playgrounds started becoming more recognizable to the modern visitor. If you remember playing on a rocket ship structure (reflecting the interest in the space race), whimsical animals or imaginative shapes, these came into popularity from around the 1950s to the 1970s, O’Shea explained. She adds that the 1970s and 1980s saw more standardized playgrounds — due to greater safety concerns — and the time since has seen continued evolution in design, safer and softer surfaces and more recently, accessibility.

Port City playgrounds I used the extremely unscientific method of asking friends on Facebook about their favorite playgrounds in Oswego and their responses speak to both the variety and varied strengths of the play places. Justin Dickerson of Oswego praised his neighborhood playground, Shapiro Park, as “quiet and in a nice neighborhood … it’s nice and simple, something for everyone.” Chrissa Butler of Dewitt, who enjoyed playgrounds with her children in Oswego many years, said the city had “an exceptional system,” as “we used them all the time before I moved.” Butler said a favorite was Franklin Square–West Park, with “something for a variety of ages.” Friends from the east side liked Hamilton Park and Oak Hill Park, which are a few blocks from each other and recently renovated. For Michele Smith of Oswego,

The author’s son, Arius, playing at the renovated Breitbeck Park on the west side of Oswego.

those and other parks all offered something special. “We frequent Oak Hill and Hamilton most often because we can walk there,” Smith said. “Hamilton is especially nice for younger kiddos because it has a smaller playground. Brietbeck’s new playground has so many new cool features. Kingsford is cool because it’s pirate-themed. Fitzhugh’s new playground is great, too.” Kate Davis, now in Mexico but who has spent time in Oswego, also liked Shapiro Park, “especially when mine were little,” she said. “Quiet, there’s some tree shade for parents, you can see the whole thing at once.” The wooden playground in West Park is more of a current favorite for Davis’ kids, but the new splash pad in Breitbeck is also appealing. That water-themed splash park — featuring 17 spraying and playing features including a large water bucket — opened in June 2021 next to Breitbeck Park. The $400,000 project, partially funded by a state grant, also includes a nine-hole putt-putt course and a snack bar (one of my kid’s favorite parts). The first summer found it packed with families, especially on hotter days.

Building accessibility Right across the street, the ren-

ovated Breitbeck Park playground reopened last September and in its first weeks was mobbed with kids trying out its two large spinning apparatuses, ziplines, features representing local nautical landmarks and more traditional playground features. The $550,000 playground, mostly funded by a state grant, replaced an aging playplace, and one zipline and a merry-go-round-like spinner are among the features that accommodate those in wheelchairs and others with disabilities. This development followed the 2019 opening of Hamilton Park, the first playground where accessibility was a prominent feature. “We’ve worked these last three years to make Oswego a more inclusive community and I believe we need to continue these efforts, making Oswego a better place for all,” Mayor Barlow said at the time. “Representing and advocating for those with disabilities in our community is a cause I am personally passionate about and I intend to combine this passion with our efforts to improve our parks, making Oswego more unique than other nearby communities and being sure to consider all Oswego residents when making important decisions.” With the rise of more modern plastic playgrounds, the colossal wooden playground in West Park–Franklin

Square continues to attract a large crowd on nice days. The large almost castle-like structure includes tunnels, slides, climbing bars and more. A decade ago, a cooperative effort of the Oswego Renaissance Association, the city’s Department of Public Works, SUNY Oswego students and local residents took part in a “Playground Restoration” that included repairs, restaining, weeding and more. It might not be new and shiny, but it’s a hub for kids to come together for imaginative play. You can also find playgrounds at the city’s three elementary schools — Kingsford, Fitzhugh and Leighton — and at Fort Ontario. All sport different themes and features, but also draw in kids from the neighborhood and beyond. “Playgrounds are places that speak to everyone,” O’Shea wrote. “The value of a playground lies in place. Beginning as healthy respites for urban dwellers and expanding to be safe places for children to gather with adults, playgrounds have continued to host community events, sporting games, and outings for all ages. Children enjoy carefree days, and adults remember those carefree days.” And in Oswego, you can almost pick a different playground every day of the week, and the children will find a way to make every outing enjoyable.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

BANKING & FINANCE

Where Have All Accountants Gone

The industry is scrambling to fill roles as professionals retire and the interest in entering the profession remains low By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

he Bureau of Labor Statistic’s occupational outlook handbook predicts between 2021 and 2031 approximately 136,400 openings for the category of accountants and auditors annually. “The continued globalization of business may lead to increased demand for accounting expertise and services related to international trade and international mergers and acquisitions,” the BLS states on its website. Technology may lighten the load and boost efficiency, but “this change is not expected to reduce overall demand,” the BLS states. This translates to a big problem for accounting firms. “This is an industry-wide issue,” said Todd J. Klaben, CPA and partner at The Bonadio Group in Syracuse, which operates nine offices in New York, Texas and Vermont. “It’s been affecting not

only Central New York but across our entire profession.” Retiring baby boomers, early retirees and a lack of interest in entering the profession are among the reasons the industry is scrambling to fill roles. Klaben pointed out that the work–life balance may not seem reasonable to young people looking for a career, with its long hours and busy tax seasons. There’s also the five-year program required before taking the CPA exam. “A lot of students look at that and the cost benefit,” Klaben said. “If I have to go to school another year, I’m losing out on another year of being in a career and paying more to get it. Is it worth it?” The pandemic spurred employers to offer remote work and continue to offer it once restrictions were lifted. Klaben said that has led to an exodus from Central New York firms for ones in larger cities. The accountants still

60 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

live in the area; they’re just working for big-city firms that can pay a salary out of reach for local firms. “We can use more accountants. It’s not just affecting the practice area, but also higher education,” said Heather J. Holcomb, assistant professor of accounting and women in business adviser at SUNY Oswego. “If you look statewide and nationwide, the enrollment in accounting programs has dropped.” With fewer students enrolling in accounting programs, fewer accountants are available to replace the retiring baby boomers in accounting. For those who do want to pursue accounting, fewer spots are available. Holcomb said that for years, fewer instructors have been available for teaching accounting classes, creating a pipeline issue. Holcomb said that an industry organization, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, looked at the issue with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, a forum for the nation’s 55 state boards of accountancy, which administer the CPA examination. Their work resulted in a new CPA exam, effective in January 2024. “It revamps the exam in terms of content, which will focus more on analytics and technology and changes it from four core parts to three core parts and three different discipline tracks which they’ll choose: business analysis

and reporting; tax emphasis such as personal financial and tax planning; and IT,” Holcomb said. Industry leaders hope that this will help the CPA license relevant with what businesses need and draw a more diverse group of CPA candidates. Holcomb also sees the need to “rebrand” the profession as one that more young people will find attractive — not stodgy number cruncher banging on a 10-key and memorizing ever-changing tax code, but a career that could include entrepreneurship, nonprofits, banking or government roles. She also wants more CPA firms to creatively recruit, such as tapping students while still in middle school and school to consider the CPA career path and reaching out to community college students to encourage students to continue their education. Dannible & McKee, LLP operates offices in Syracuse, Auburn, Binghamton and Schenectady and employs 70 CPAs. Chris Didio CPA, managing partner and CFE, also said that the severe shortage has been challenging. The firm recruits at SUNY Oswego, Syracuse University, Lemoyne and other schools. Didio thinks that students appear more interested in majors related to IT, investment and general business. However, “what they’re missing is that there’s such a good opportunity to obtain a regional job at CPA firm,” he said. “So many have hiring needs. These students are almost guaranteed a job to learn about the industry. It opens the doors to so many fields. They don’t have to spend their entire career in CPA work. Some of our CPAs have gone to work for the FBI, private business and elsewhere.” The firm has responded to the problem by expanding its intern program to 20 students last year, which is about three times as many as in previous years. Once students have completed two years of their CPA program, they can come onboard as an intern. Last year, 10 of the firm’s interns completed their degrees and had job offers before graduation. Didio hopes that increasing the firm’s work–life balance will help draw more candidates, as many people like working remotely at least some of the time. But the long-term solution appears to lie in evangelizing students about CPA work. “We have to get our interns we’ve hired back on campus to educate the business students as to what a successful career they could have,” Didio said.

Retirement & Family Business Succession

5 THINGS TO ASK By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

ou’ve built and grown a family business: an enduring legacy that will help your family financially for decades to come. Ensuring it continues relies upon answering a few questions.

1 — Does your adult child want the business? This question surprises a lot of family business owners, according to Robert Griffin, regional director of the Onondaga Small Business Development Center at Onondaga Community College. “Invariably, the biggest mistake business owners make is assuming the children want the business at all,” said Griffin, who is also a certified exit planning adviser (CEPA). “Sometimes, this may even need the help of a family counselor to help them literally talk through this. As uncomfortable as that may be, children will often be hesitant to disappoint their parents if they are really not committed to the business.” It’s possible the children help out because of their respect for you and a sense of obligation. Or perhaps they’ve felt little interest in any other occupation because of a lack of exposure.

2 — Do you have a team in place? To begin a generational business transition, Griffin recommends using teams, which include an attorney, accountant, insurer and wealth adviser for each party. “It’s not about trust; it’s about a proper transaction where everyone understands the framework and everyone is properly protected legally,” Griffin said. “Done properly and in a spirit of cooperation, this does not need to create friction, but to alleviate conflict during the process or in the future.” Each party can ensure a fair transaction.

3 — Are your heirs ready? Many adult children of business owners have performed the daily tasks of the business since they were tots. However, they’ve never seen the ledger. They have no idea if their parents’ business is in the red or black or that the business teeters on bankruptcy. Griffin wants business owners to offer complete financial disclosure to their heirs. No one wants to inherit a financial disaster.

Both you and your heir should agree on the value, but it should be determined by a third party who is neutral. What is your business structure and sale method? Rolfe said that a DBA may not be the most tax-efficient business structure to transfer. Paying over a long period time may be easier for the buyer, but most people want money upfront. Some choose a percent of revenue over time, which can be easier for the buyer, but risks the business failing. “You have to insure it for life and disability as either party could pass away prematurely or become disabled,” Rolfe said.

5— Do you know what roles your heirs will take? Robert A. Rolfe is a financial adviser with Harmony Financial Services in Oswego.

Kathryn Canzonier is the Farm Credit East regional financial services leader.

And heirs should also understand the ebb and flow of the business. Often, the children have never hired an employee or served as a manager. Working only as an equal to the majority of the workforce will not prepare them well for a leadership role. If they don’t have relationships with the vendors, buyers or other key players that make the business successful, they won’t know how to interact with them. Although not every heir is great at each administrative role; parents and their team need to help them “identify gaps in terms of operational management,” Griffin said. “This is particularly true in the case of larger family-operated enterprises, where perhaps the next generation is better at finance, but not great at the technical aspects of the

business or vice-versa.”

4 — Do you know the value of your business? Simply handing over the keys and ledger is not a great idea, according to Robert A. Rolfe, financial adviser with Harmony Financial Services in Oswego. Much of your financial security for retirement may be tied up in the business, he said. “You have to have a vision for what you want your retirement plan to look like and when you want to retire,” he said. “You have to look at the valuation of your business. There’s a lack of understanding as to what a business is worth. Find an accountant who specializes in this.”

As alluded to above, not all heirs are equally as good at each aspect of the business. Some may surprise their parents with skills they’ve cultivated elsewhere; others may need more coaching. “The leadership and management transition that typically proves to be the most difficult and is often the greatest indicator for the success of transitioning the business across generations,” said Kathryn Canzonier, Farm Credit East regional financial services leader. “It requires a multi-faceted approach accompanied with open and honest communication because there are often interpersonal issues that come up in the process. Our consultants have to be part business advisers, but also adept at understanding the human side of the situation to navigate the family dynamics.” Farm Credit East works with farm businesses on generation transfers, among its numerous financial services.

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62 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

BANKING & FINANCE

TOP: Jonathan Spilka, business banking business development manager for NBT Bank.

Want to Get a Bank Loan? Follow 3 Steps

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

btaining a business loan to help your company get going, grow or stay afloat during a tough time? Your chances of success rely on completing three steps.

1. Communication Business owners should know what they need to present to the bank to apply for a loan. “Small business owners can schedule time with their bank to discuss their needs for a loan and what documents are needed to secure one,” said Jim Shea, vice president and area manager with Chase Business Banking. Some banks, such as Chase, have digital applications, which can both show what is needed to apply and hasten the turnaround time. Developing a professional relationship with a banker can also help a business owner long-term. “The submission of small business applications reached five million in 2022, just behind the 5.4 million applications filed in 2021 — the most popular year on record according to the U.S. Census Bureau,” said Kristyn M. Squires, head of small business banking and senior vice president at KeyBank. “Yet, cash flow is the main reason a small business fails, coupled with staff shortages, increased expenses

and shrinking revenue streams.” She said that a banker can help a business owner “uncover the solutions needed to grow and scale their business, whether related to material needs like financing or more topical issues, such as strategies for building a brand to create customer loyalty or improving employee experience to foster talent acquisition and retention in a tough labor market.”

2. Documentation “Business owners will need to provide two years of their most recent financial or tax returns, interim financials, accounts receivable and credit application with all relevant information,” said Ron G. Tascarella, first vice president and chief lending officer with Pathfinder Bank in Oswego. “A small business owner should prepare details around the request and how it will impact the financial results.” This can be different for a new business. Jeff Lord, Community Bank senior vice president and commercial banking sales manager, said that these should “prepare a reasonable and thoughtful business plan, working in conjunction with a local Small Business Development Council for guidance and assistance, that includes a two-year projected income statement and a projected

BOTTOM: Jim Shea, vice president and area manager with Chase Business Banking.

balance sheet for the business after the loan closes.” Their supporting documents should include a copy of the purchase contract for real estate transactions and invoices for equipment to be purchased, he added. He also said that the business plan should show how the loan would affect the business and any assumptions made as a result of obtaining the loan. Like existing businesses, they should also present tax returns and financial statements. Since the business is new, those will refer to their personal finances.

3. Adjustment If the bank denies the loan, it’s important to understand why. Lord said that business owners should discuss with the banker any changes or efforts that could help the business qualify. “While the customer should receive some written form of communication outlining the reason, a conversation with their business banker becomes incredibly important,” said Jonathan Spilka, business banking business development manager for NBT Bank. “There often can be various reasons for receiving a declination and often your banker can provide valuable perspective and guidance to help you work through those in time. Your banker can also act as a great ongoing resource in this area and I suggest keeping that dialogue going as you progress and seek reapplication.” Following each of the recommendations can raise the chances of a successful loan application.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

BANKING & FINANCE

Inflation: Should You Adjust Your Retirement Plans? We have been hammered by high inflation — should your retirement plans change?

ou don’t need to read a news story to realize that it costs more to shop for groceries and fill your gas tank than it did a few years ago. Although the current inflation rate of 4.9% (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) represents a decrease since 2022, it is still comparable to 2021’s average. And, it is higher than the averages of 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016 (see chart with this story). With the exception of 2022, the current rate is the highest the inflation rate has been since 1990 (6.1%). The trend indicates that inflation is not going back to pre-pandemic levels. Does that mean you should adjust your retirement plan accordingly? Randy Ziegler, certified financial

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant planner and private wealth adviser in Oswego with Ameriprise, says no. “We’re always factoring inflation into our calculations,” he said. He bases retirement plans on a 4% inflation rate, even though the Federal Reserve targets between 2.5% and 3%. A long-term plan based on that much wiggle room should suffice over the long term, even when years like 2022 pop up. “We’ve seen a little easing in a few of the price increase areas,” Ziegler said. “I don’t think people should change their basic risk tolerance because of inflation. Historically, the market makes those adjustments. If you have a balanced approach, you still have a decent amount of equity. A higher inflation rate

64 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

drives a higher return. Our real returns have been pretty similar over the past 10-12 years.” He counsels clients to remain patient and not shift their retirement money to higher risk investments because “the current inflation is likely temporary because the Federal Reserve is slowing down the economy to squeeze out that inflation pressure.” It’s also likely that those in the later stages of their retirement will see expenses for things like travel and entertainment plateau. Mary Tone Rodgers, chartered financial analyst who holds a doctorate of professional studies and teaches at SUNY Oswego, said that retirees should plan for 2% inflation annually.

Chart: U.S. Annual Inflation Rates

Source: www.usinflationcalculator.com

She pairs two strategies for planning for cost increases. “Set yourself up so your retirement income can increase and plan ahead for managing your expenses,” Rodgers said. “The traditional, most conservative way to plan for increase in income is a ladder of CDs that are FDIC insured.” When each CD matures, it rolls over to a higher interest CD. She’s also a fan of dividend growth mutual funds. Not FDIC insured, the principal value can increase or decrease, so they’re not for the risk adverse. Although these tend to increase by 6% on average annually, it’s not guaranteed. “Last year, with a 10% increase, that was much better than average,” Rodgers said. The past few years have been rough for those who have already retired, as last year’s tanking stock market and

high inflation “had a double effect,” said Cynthia Scott, financial adviser and owner of OMC Financial in Syracuse. “Their spending power is down and their retirement savings is down. They’re in a terrible situation.” She said that becoming more aggressive with quality stocks may help, as well as not relying as much on low-interest vehicles like CDs and savings accounts. “Inflation eats into that interest rate,” Scott said. “That’s why they have to relook at how much they put into savings, which may not be the best place for them to put their money. We always encourage people to take a lump sum for their pension if they can. Those who get a monthly income, it’s fixed and hurt by inflation as well. If you get the lump sum, you can invest it and counter inflation as you have

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control of your investments.” Those who have not yet retired may need to reconsider when and how they retire. Retiring later offers the highest Social Security payout and gives them more years of earnings. Their post-retirement lifestyle may not be as high-end as they would like. When Scott first started financial management, she advised that people invest in treasury and municipal bonds. They have enjoyed good returns years later with 16% returns. “Bonds lock that money in place,” Scott said. Eric Kingson, professor in the school of social work at Syracuse University, has served on the staff of two presidential commissions examining Social Security. “The one asset you have that’s protected against inflation is Social Security,” Kingson said. “The automatic cost of living adjustment is a very important feature of the program, assuring what money you get in the monthly benefit when you start will maintain the roughly same purchasing power as long as you live. I don’t view it as a benefit increase, but an adjustment that enables people to maintain the purchasing power of their Social Security.” Retirees receive a more than $1,800 on average in benefits per month. Kingson also promotes waiting until age 70 to retire to receive 124% of the full benefit. The eligibility age of 67 garners retirees 100% of the benefits. Retiring before this can dock the benefits significantly. “It’s not unusual today for people to delay when they retire,” Kingson said. “A lot of people accept benefits but aren’t retired. If people have health and a job and they’re worried about continuing their standard of living, to the extent that they can and want to, they can expand work until things get better.”

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BANKING & FINANCE

How to Reduce Bank Fees By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

obody enjoys paying unnecessary banking fees. Local bank representatives shared tips on how to bank more effectively, understand banking relationships better and avoid these monetary penalties.

1. Know what you need. “Small business owners should first meet with their local banker to understand what products and services are available to meet their unique needs. Chase offers a variety of products that can help reduce or eliminate fees, for example by maintaining a minimum daily balance or making a certain number of deposits.” Jim Shea, Vice president and area manager with Chase Business Banking

2. Adjust as your needs change. “One of the biggest mistakes businesses can make is choosing an account that doesn’t fit their needs. While a free business account may seem like a good option, without conducting proper research, it may not be suitable. Some financial institutions may charge excess transaction fees, or fees for cash deposits. As businesses grow, monthly

transactions change, which can put business owners at risk of incurring these fees. It is important that business owners have frequent conversations with their financial representatives, who can help them determine if their current account is right for them.” Robert Butkowski First vice president, branch administration and operations for Pathfinder Bank

3. Get advice as needed. “Small business owners and entrepreneurs understand the challenges of keeping their doors open at any stage of the economic cycle all too well. In today’s turbulent landscape, inflation, revenue, supply chain issues, rising interest rates, and access to capital are just some of the concerns facing small business owners, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In times of uncertainty, trusted advice from a qualified professional can be a lifeline for business owners, but many are unaware of the advice and solutions their banks can provide to help them become more financially resilient. “May is National Small Business Month, marking an opportunity for business owners and their bankers to reconnect, align on challenges and

66 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

solutions, and ultimately recenter their focus on banking relationships. Banks are much more than just checking accounts; they offer strategic advice to help owners operate their businesses and continuously evolve their tools and technology around the needs of clients.” Kristyn M. Squires Head of small business banking and senior vice president at KeyBank

4. Talk with your banker. “The expectation from both the customer and the bank should be that both are communicating purposefully and diligently right from the start to prevent any issues that could arise from unexpected fees. That means the banker should be reviewing the breakdown of any associated costs or fees with the customer, if applicable, early in the process of a request. And the customer should be asking questions of their business banker or lender about what fees are associated with the products they are considering. There should really be no surprises when opening a deposit account, taking out a new loan or utilizing any bank product or services being offered.” Jonathan Spilka Business banking business development manager for NBT Bank

Fulton’s River Marina to Be Reborn with $2.7 M Investment

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ulton’s Canal Landing Marina will be “reborn and transform this location into a beautiful gathering location where the city and others can host events, while ramping up its appeal as an attraction to boaters, visitors and residents,” said Fulton Mayor Deana Michaels. The total cost of the project is estimated at $2.7 million. “This is one of the places that rose to the top of our DRI project list,” Michaels said. “These improvements will create a magnet for tourism, visitors and be a source of community pride. Once completed, it will enhance the experience for existing events like the Fulton Jazz Festival and the Fulton Lions Duck Derby, while lending itself to whole new activities.” The myriad of improvements will run along the Pathfinder Canal Towpath Trail starting from the Oneida Street bridge, through the canal park, and to the end of the existing marina, said Nate Emmons, executive director, Fulton Community Development Agency. “Among the improvements will be new floating docks outside the retaining wall for larger boats that will make it more inviting for them to stay longer and visit us,” Emmons said. “But that’s just the beginning. The plan calls for the existing lawn seating area to also be converted to a portable ice rink, similar to the one in Syracuse’s Clinton Square. Right next to it would be a covered performance stage with office support space. So, we’d have seating for concerts in what would be an artificial turf grassy area in the summer, and a portable ice rink in that space in the winter months. “The hillside just above the marina will have terraced amphitheater style seating in the grass area next to the gazebo, there will be an accessible kayak launch and kayak rentals, a new floating interconnected dock system, more handicapped accessibility, modern LED lighting, and new signage and facades.” Emmons said that improvements along the trail would start first, then move into the marina. Work should begin this fall, with estimated completion by fall, 2024.

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Multifaceted Faye Beckwith Vows to Keep Going and Going A long-time real estate broker, she has a myriad other endeavors By Stefan Yablonski

eal estate mogul. Entertainer. Christmas tree entrepreneur. Fitness instructor. Mix it all together and you get Faye Beckwith. She is a Zumba instructor, a Christmas tree grower, a performer who often appears with her husband, Jack, in different venues in CNY and elsewhere. And she finds time to sell real estate. A full-time broker, she has been doing real estate for 39 years now, she said. “Jack and I have a lot of fun performing. We even perform in Florida as well; there are a lot of seniors down there,” she said. “People like to dance to

our music. By golly, we’ve done polkas — but that’s not our forte.” He had a band back in the day that was really successful. It was five or six people. “Years ago, he said ‘we really have to do music again.’ I said, ‘are you crazy? Who is going to go out and listen to old people?’ And by golly, they do! People enjoy the music that we do,” she said. Besides performing music, the two of them are still running the Christmas tree farm in Hannibal — “Jack mostly. I do the wreath business,” she said. He planted the whole month of

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April and they have had serious deer problems on the farm. “So we are trying to rectify that situation; had to cull out hundreds of trees — that’s the nature of agriculture. Farming is always subject to those kinds of things. The tree farm is a big investment, nine months of mostly Jack’s time,” she said. Of her myriad vocations, can she pick a favorite? “A favorite, humm. I’ve been really passionate about the real estate business [ she owns Freedom Real Estate] for a long time. It’s quite rewarding to help

Faye Beckwith and her husband Jack. They often present shows in Central New York and even in Florida.

people improve their living conditions. It doesn’t matter if they are downsizing or maybe going to assisted living or buying their first home — it’s a nice experience to be able to help them. “The music — that’s therapeutic. With the music it’s very therapeutic and as we get older we have to keep active and keep our minds sharp — performing the music, learning the chords, even doing a little writing. Very therapeutic. “The tree farm, really it is wonderful to see those families come out — a family tradition; taking the time out of their very busy schedule to come and choose a real tree. No matter what the weather, they come in the rain and mud and snow and sunshine.” “I can’t choose a favorite,” she said. “They are all just part of a well-rounded life, you know. Physically, mentally and emotionally.” Zumba is something that keeps her physical. “We tend to sit down and fall asleep — so we don’t do that (laughs). I try not to do that,” she said. “I like to keep active.” Their grandson is the manager of

the northeast branch of Wood Mizer. “He’s very successful at that. We have a son who is with the sheriff’s department and a son who is a contractor,” she said. “And Noelle, our daughter, she does the hard work in real estate. She really does a lot of work. When we go to Florida — we’re still open for business. She’s just a great agent. Noelle carries the brunt of work for Freedom Real Estate. Her excellent customer service skills are a benefit to me as well as to our clients and customers. The real estate and the tree farm, all the kids participate.” “Noelle teaches Zumba. We both teach Zumba. So, when I go to Florida, she takes over my class,” she added. It’s more than just “jumping around to music.” “A lot of people think that’s all it is. If you look online, you can see a lot of little skinny people jumping up and down,” she said. “For us, I think it’s more as it was intended to be — something for all-age people to move to the music, with some basic dance steps. You can be a dancer or an athlete with Zumba, or not — either way whatever

works for you. Her class doesn’t do the jumping around. Her classes are low-impact. “You get tired after a day of wreath– making or real estate or whatever and you go and take your Zumba class and it’s very uplifting. I love it; I love helping people,” she said. “Some people see all these skinny little people jumping up and down and they think they can’t do it. But they can. Actually, there is chair Zumba just like there is chair yoga. I tried it a couple of times at Seneca Hill Manor. Oh my, men and women together came out — some with their walkers. Oh the smiles on their faces — you could just feel the energy. It was heart-warming. I enjoyed that. I don’t do that on a regular basis; that was a couple years ago.” You know, you slow down whether you want to or not, she mused. Faye and Jack do enjoy wintering for a few weeks in Florida, she said. “I don’t really know what we’d do if we totally retired. We’re not keen on just sitting around,” she said. “I have slowed down — but will not stop doing the things I love until I have to!”

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

Austin Wheelock ooc@oswegocounty.org

Highlighting Women Entrepreneurs

I ‘Oswego County is an excellent location for women entrepreneurs to create, relocate or expand their small businesses and succeed.’

t’s no surprise that Oswego County is an excellent location for women entrepreneurs to create, relocate or expand their small businesses and succeed. There are significant opportunities for business growth in healthcare, child care, retail, hospitality, specialty services, agribusiness and manufacturing sectors all across Oswego County and woman-owned companies have stepped up to help fill those needs. Oswego County also has many programs and initiatives to provide assistance to women entrepreneurs and small business owners including direct financing, tax incentives, business plan assistance, micro enterprise training, incubation space, and entrepreneurship competitions. Operation Oswego County and the County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency have had the privilege of working with many successful women-owned small businesses from various industries across the County and are proud to highlight 12 of them below that we have assisted in the past few years. • All Source Fire Supply, owned by Holly House, is a certified woman-owned

manufacturer of prefabricated and partially assembled components for fire suppression systems. In 2020, they constructed a new 3,100-sq.-ft. facility in the town of Hastings to meet the growing business’s needs. Financial assistance was provided by the COIDA to support the new construction and equipment. • Country Store & More, owned by Juanita Yerdon-Miller, is a motel and market business located in the town of Redfield. The real estate was purchased by Yerdon-Miller and renovations were made in 2022 to develop the hospitality business which serves the local residents as well as the seasonal tourism industry. Financial assistance was provided by the COIDA. • Eir Healing and Wellness, owned by Amanda MacDowell, is a full-service spa that began operations in 2021. The business is located in the town of Sandy Creek and the project involved the acquisition of the 4,000-sq.-ft. building in which they were occupying more than half of the space. The additional room allowed them to add new employees as well as host group classes such as yoga. The owner is a graduate of the micro enterprise training program. The business was financed by the COIDA to

Economic Trends

AUSTIN M. WHEELOCK, Certified economic developer (CEcD), is the executive director of Operation Oswego County, Inc. For more information, call 315-343-1545 or visit www. oswegocounty.org. Interior of Eir Healing and Wellness in Sandy Creek, a full-service spa that began operations in 2021. It’s owned by Amanda MacDowell, a graduate of the micro enterprise training program. 70 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

Staff at Highland Animal Hospital in Central Square. This woman-owned veterinary practice is currently expanding through the construction of 7,200 additional square feet and adding veterinary urgent-care to their services.

assist in the acquisition of the real estate. • Great Bear Childcare, owned by Amy Boyzuck, is a full-service childcare business serving children from as young as 6 weeks to 12 years of age that began in the owner’s home. The owner is a graduate of the micro enterprise program which helped her develop a business plan and obtain financing through the COIDA. As the business grew, she made the decision to relocate and expand in 2019 to the village of Phoenix with financial assistance from OOC through a SBA 504 loan. The business currently has 10 employees. • Greene Point Marina, owned by Cathy Goodnough and Cheryl Yerdon in the town of Sandy Creek, serves the recreational and commercial boating market on Sandy Pond and Lake Ontario. The business had substantial damages from lakeshore flooding back in 2019, but was able to completely rebuild in phases between 2020 and 2022 with financial assistance provided by OOC and the COIDA. • Highland Animal Hospital, owned by veterinarian Alex Hawthorne in the village of Central Square, is a woman-owned veterinary practice. She is currently expanding the practice through the construction of 7,200 additional square feet and adding veterinary urgent-care to their services. The expansion is slated to be completed in summer 2023 will create an additional 14 jobs, nearly double what they have now. During National Small Business Week in May, Highland Animal Hospital was awarded the 2023 Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year for the 34-County Upstate Region by the US Small Business Administration. • Kathy’s Cakes & The Big Dipper

Ice Cream, owned by Kathy Hotaling, relocated and expanded her bakery business in 2019 by acquiring the former “Big Dipper” In the town of Volney. The acquisition allowed Kathy to add the ice cream business to her bakery operations and added four jobs. In 2021, they significantly renovated the facility with financial assistance provided by the COIDA. • Looking Glass Salon, owned by Danielle Osborne and Brianna Horton, began operations in 2020 in the village of Phoenix. It has recently expanded and more than doubled their space to now occupy 5,800 square feet in downtown Phoenix. Both owners are graduates of the Micro Enterprise Training Program. Financial assistance was provided by the COIDA in 2021 to expand, renovate and acquire new equipment. • Man in the Moon Candies, owned by Amy Lear, acquired and renovated a 6,000-sq.-ft. building in the city of Oswego to expand her chocolate candy business that started in 2005. Financial assistance was provided by Pathfinder Bank and an SBA 504 loan through OOC. During National Small Business Week, Man in the Moon Candies was awarded the 2023 Oswego County Small Business of the Year by the Onondaga Community College Small Business Development Center. • Mother Earth Baby and Curious Kids, owned by Lisa Emmons, relocated to a larger location in the city of Oswego in 2021, to expand the cloth diaper service. The expansion added three new jobs. Financial assistance was provided by the COIDA for equipment and renovation costs. • 6 Acres Farm Brewery, started by Jenna Behling and Denyel Busch, was

established in 2019, named after the six acres of land that the Behling Orchards farm originated on. The brewing company located in the town of Mexico, which produces fruit-infused beer with locally grown fruit and other New York state sourced ingredients. They are currently working on completing their tasting room which is slated to open in summer 2023 and at full production the business will create 25 jobs. Financial assistance was provided by OOC through the 2021 Next Great Idea Oswego County Business Plan Competition. • Wunderland Wellness, owned by Juniper Dunlap, is a woman-owned start-up yoga and massage studio in the town of Scriba. The owner, experienced in the fields of yoga and therapeutic massage, is a veteran of the U. S. Air Force and a graduate of the Micro Enterprise Training Program. Financial assistance was provided by the COIDA in 2021 to support the business. These represent 12 examples of the remarkable women business owners in varied industries we have worked with across Oswego County. These women are tenacious in their business endeavors and OOC and the COIDA are proud to be able to assist them as they grow their businesses, create job opportunities and make Oswego County a better place to live. In addition to the women who are the owners of successful small businesses, there are countless others who hold leadership positions throughout many of Oswego County’s largest companies and organizations. Operation Oswego County acknowledges their contributions and is proud to support women in business.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Gender Pay Gap. It’s 2023 and Women Still Make Less Women earn about 20 cents less than men nationally —the gap is slightly less in New York

By Stefan Yablonski

n the last 20 years, the difference between the earnings of men and women — the gender pay gap — has barely closed at all. As recently as 2022, women, on average, earned 81.5 cents for every dollar that men earned — about the same as 2002 (80 cents). Two decades prior, in 1982, women earned just 65 cents to each dollar earned by men. Women in New York earned 88.2 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2021, a significantly smaller gap than the national average of 81.5 cents, according

to a NYS Department of Labor report. So, why has progress toward narrowing the gap stalled? There is no single explanation, said Elizabeth Dunne Schmitt, Ph.D., professor of economics and chairwoman of faculty assembly at SUNY Oswego. “A lot of the gap falls on balancing home and work life,” she said. “The gap almost disappears when you compare women who have no children compared to men. There are constraints placed on women that aren’t on men. It affects the kind of occupations that

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women choose.” “We’re the only high-income country without much of a paternity leave policy — there isn’t really child care subsidiaries — other countries are more generous with those types of policies,” she continued. “Child rearing is a penalty on the person most responsible — the primary care giver.” Women are faced with a choice, child rearing, household management and a career, she said. Today, men are taking more household responsibilities — but if you go back a couple generations — things were very different. “Generational attitude changes from generation to generation,” she said. “But things change slowly.” Mothers with children at home tend to be less engaged with the workplace, while fathers are more active, the Pew Research Center noted.

Narrowing the gap in NY The gender pay gap in New York narrowed between 2019 and 2021 — despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. People analytics firm Visier re-

leased data on pay equity for Equal Pay Day, drawing on workforce data for more than 1 million U.S. employees across 86 organizations through 2021. Equal Pay Day commemorates the persistent and egregious fact that, because women’s wages are on average lower than men’s, women must work significantly into the new year to earn the same as what men were paid the previous year. This year Equal Pay Day fell on March 14. Visier’s “The State of Gender Pay Equity in 2022” report showed a slightly smaller overall pay gap between men and women. Despite initial concern that pandemic-induced job losses would slow pay equity efforts, the gender pay gap continued to close in 2021, with average pay for women overall increasing by 2 cents to 85 cents for every $1 paid to men. In the workforce overall, female managers in 2021 were paid 90 cents for every $1 paid to male managers, an increase of 4 cents over 2021, when female managers were paid 86 cents for every $1 paid to men in management. If the gender pay gap continues to close at this rate, pay equity would be achieved by 2029. “The positive news is that the increase in pay equity in 2021 actually countered the predictions, which were calling for a potential reduction in pay equity and a widening of the pay gap in 2021 due to pandemic-related job losses and uncertainty around remote work and shifting societal norms,” said Andrea Derler, Visier’s head of research. The pandemic had big consequences for women’s labor force participation and this has long-run implications for the gender gap since this impacts experience and earnings, Schmitt said. It had a negative impact on mothers more than fathers. Daycares closing and schools going to online — parents with small children really had to make decisions. It affected women’s labor force participation, she said. During the pandemic, women were over-represented in jobs deemed essential and in jobs needing to be done in person — thus denying those women the ability to perform their work remotely, she pointed out. It also exposed them to a greater likelihood of job loss since many of the face-to-face jobs were also those most prone to layoffs, Schmitt added. In April 2020, 45% of mothers of school-age children were not working nationally.

Elizabeth Dunne Schmitt

Mothers aged 25 to 44 are less likely to be in the labor force than women of the same age who do not have children at home and they tend to work fewer hours each week when employed. This can reduce the earnings of some mothers, although evidence suggests the effect is either modest overall or short-lived for many, according to the Pew Research Center. Fathers are more likely to be in the labor force — and to work more hours each week — than men without children at home, they added.

Pandemic’s impact on women The pandemic-induced economic recession had a major impact on women in the labor force. From 2019 to 2021, the unemployment rate for women nearly doubled from 4.2% to 8.2%, according to the Pew Research Center. In 2021, more than 405,000 women were unemployed, a significant increase from 207,000 in 2019. During The Great Recession, industrial and manufacturing were particularly hard hit; so men took a real unemployment hit and women really not that much, according to Schmitt. “What happened in the pandemic is that women were more represented in a lot of service industries that were actually shut down. Women took a harder hit in the leisure, hospitality kind of industries and so their unemployment rates were higher,” she said. “Women left the labor force — they have been trickling back in. But, with the overall labor shortage, child care has taken a big hit and hasn’t recovered. So women

are really facing constraints. They’re looking for care for their children and they are trying to be in the labor force.” Women generally begin their careers closer to wage parity with men, Schmitt pointed out. The pay gap persists even though women today are more likely than men to have graduated from college, a Pew study revealed. In fact, the pay gap between college-educated women and men is not any narrower than the one between women and men who do not have a college degree. Women lose ground as they age and progress through their work lives —a pattern that has remained consistent over time. Notably, the gender wage gap has closed more among workers without a four-year college degree than among those who do have a bachelor’s degree or more education. For example, the wage gap for women without a high school diploma narrowed from 62% in 1982 to 83% in 2022 relative to men at the same education level. But it closed only from 69% to 79% among bachelor’s degree holders over the same period. This is because only men with at least a bachelor’s degree experienced positive wage growth from 1982 to 2022; all other men saw their real wages decrease. Meanwhile, the real earnings of women increased regardless of their level of education. Schmitt offered one way to help close the gap. “We are critically short in the trades. There is learning trades plumbing electrician elevator repair (we have 47 elevators on this campus — I just learned that an elevator repair person earns about a quarter of a million dollars a year) — women are really under-represented in the trades,” she said. If you want to close the gap, there is a real opportunity to reach out to women under represented in trades, she added. “There is a growing need for more women in industries such as construction and apprenticeable trades occupations, especially with all of the building and road construction planned for the Central New York region,” agreed Karen Knapik-Scalzo, associate economist, NYS Department of Labor, Syracuse. More sustained progress in closing the pay gap may depend on deeper changes in societal and cultural norms and in workplace flexibility that affect how men and women balance their careers and family lives, the Pew Research Center reported.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

MANUFACTURING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SPECIAL • Central New York: The Nation’s Newest Manufacturing Hub • Colleges Gearing Up to Help Shape Workforce for Micron • Manufacturing: Help Wanted • Canfield Machine & Tool: Major Expansion Project • E J USA Plant Manager: 45 Years On the Job • FOCUS Marks 25 Years • Fulton Has New Community Development Director •Felix Schoeller North America: $100 Million Investment

74 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

MANUFACTURING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Central New York: The Nation’s Newest Manufacturing Hub

ith Micron Technology planning to invest up to $100 billion in the CNY economy over the next 20 years, it appears that the region may become America’s newest manufacturing hub as the semiconductor company builds and launches its largest facility. But other organizations represent a part of the shift back to manufacturing. The Boise, Idaho-based memory media company plans to generate up to 50,000 indirect jobs in Clay, including approximately 9,000 high-paying Micron jobs. “We work closely with CenterState CEO to support efforts that attract business to the region,” said Kelly Vann, spokesperson for Lockheed Martin Corporation in Syracuse. She does not anticipate difficulty in staffing growth at Lockheed Martin, which employs more than 2,500 in its Syracuse location. Micron’s presence may generate more interest in newly minted graduates sticking around, since they have more options and that may mean a bigger applicant pool for all area manufacturers. “We are looking to grow even more this year,” Vann said. “We anticipate that prospective employees will continue to be attracted to Lockheed Martin because of our strong culture, growth opportunities, and commitment to innovation and 21st-century security missions.” Micron will doubtlessly make it

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant easier for area businesses to attract complementary companies because of all the attention Micron has drawn to the area. Randy Wolken, president & CEO of the Manufacturers Association of Central New York, anticipates numerous suppliers and construction firms doing business in the area. “There will be other industries who will want to be here as they’ll use semiconductors,” he added. “Our region and all of upstate will see growth as semiconductors are in just about everything. These kinds of investments are a 40- to 50-year investment. As they build more factories, it cements us for the next half-century as a place to be for manufacturing. “I’m also hoping given for the need for energy some more interest in nuclear. That would be a big boost to Oswego. To make semiconductors, you need people, water and energy, plus other forms of infrastructure: housing, classroom space in schools. This community may grow by 150,000 to 200,000 by people coming here from all over the globe.” Booming business stimulates more business. Patrick Christopher Penfield, professor in the management department at Syracuse University, calls this a “multiplier” effect. “Suppliers to Micron will cluster around their facility to service and re-

spond to their manufacturing needs,” Penfield explained. “Sometimes you may even see competitors set up in the region due to the skillsets that start to become established in the area. This is truly a fantastic opportunity for Central New York.” He also views the presence of SU and other schools in the area as key parts of why companies are coming to CNY, as the graduates provide a ready workforce. Although the full “Micron effect” will take at least two decades to be realized, Karen Knapik-Scalzo, associate economist with New York State Department of Labor Division of Research & Statistics in Syracuse, said that even in the past year few years, the computer and electronic product manufacturing industry has been growing. One reason is its remuneration. “It is a very high-paying sector with average annual pay of $100,509,” she said. She listed as typical occupations in this sector to include electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers; industrial engineers; electrical engineers; electrical and electronic engineering technicians; software developers; sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical; inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers and weighers; and semiconductor processors.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

MANUFACTURING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Colleges Gearing Up to Help Shape Workforce for Micron By Stefan Yablonski

icron Technology’s facility in Clay won’t be operational for a couple years. But leaders in academia and industry have already begun to address the specific workforce needs of Central New York’s newest business. There is opportunity for everyone — cities, colleges and Micron, according to April Arnzen, senior vice president and chief people officer, Micron and president of the Micron Foundation. She participated in a town hall event on April 27 — hosted by SUNY Oswego. Site preparation is set to begin next year, with construction starting in 2024 and production in volume beginning after 2025, Arnzen said. Micron’s investment will create up to 50,000 new jobs, including 9,000 high-paying jobs directly with Micron, Arnzen said. The plant will create fabs (chips made of silicon wafers) with integrated circuits that will power things like computers, phones and other electronic devices. A project this size knows no county lines, Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow pointed out. Oswego County and all its partners must be ready. “Oswego residents and certainly

people living here and going to school here will be affected and impacted by this project,” he said at the recent town hall meeting. Local community colleges as well as Syracuse University and SUNY Oswego are offering programs which match up with job openings created by Micron. “SUNY Oswego is dedicated to working with our local, state and federal partners, legislative members, regional and state economic development partners, SUNY leadership, as well as with other higher education institutions to help prepare our region for Micron’s historic investment in Central New York,” said Mary C. Toale, officer in charge. “Micron’s investment will impact all facets of our communities and now is the time to work together intentionally to secure the future of generations.” “SUNY Oswego’s community of learning prepares students and readies them for the workforce. Our mission is to contribute to the common good — SUNY Oswego contributes to the common good by lighting the path to wisdom and empowering every person in the university community to pursue a meaningful life as a productive, respon-

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sible member of society,” Toale added. As part of Micron Technology’s $100 billion plan to transform the Central New York community into the nation’s leading producer of semiconductor fabrications, Syracuse University has been tapped to play a key role in building and training the workforce of the future that will power Micron’s Clay facility. Together with the Central New York business community, trade unions, community colleges and other four-year institutions in New York state and beyond, Micron and Syracuse University will implement a multi-dimensional and inclusive approach to workforce development, upskilling and professional retention, Syracuse University News reported in October 2022. Future Professors Fellowship Program will focus on the quantum and chips cluster at Syracuse University, which is designed to enhance capacity for cutting-edge research in these domains, they added. The college is also creating a Micron internship program which will prepare students for full-time positions as engineers, scientists and other critical roles

in the semiconductor industry. Engineering programs are going to be in high demand. But Micron will also need people with majors in technology, physics, chemistry and other related fields, Arnzen emphasized. There is much Micron-related excitement at Onondaga Community College, according to Roger Mirabito, executive director of communications. OCC’s programs already offer training needed to fill multiple positions at Micron down the road, he noted. Plus, the college plans to create a cleanroom — an enclosed space used in manufacturing to keep particulars and other contaminants away. “We will be building a cleanroom simulation lab in existing space in our current bookstore in the Whitney Applied Technology Center on campus. Construction on that will begin this summer and should be completed by the fourth quarter of 2024,” he said. The space will be a vital tool for OCC to prepare their students for a job at Micron’s Clay campus which will be home to the nation’s largest cleanroom at approximately 2.4 million square feet, the length of nearly 40 football fields. Professors will be able to tailor their curriculum to micron-specific needs, he added. “The New York State Education Department just approved two new Micron-related programs which we will begin offering students in the fall,” Mirabito said.

Electromechanical Technology Associate in Applied Science It is a two-year degree program focusing on the troubleshooting of electrical and mechanical systems. Students will gain a fundamental understanding of technology used in advanced manufacturing and apply that knowledge to address faults and processing problems. They will learn how electrical signals are used to communicate and control automated devices in the manufacturing environment, how to interact and program common industrial systems and how to apply mechanical and hydraulic systems to provide motion and function. The students learn problem solving techniques for breaking down complex problems and analyzing them to effectively identify appropriate solutions, Mirabito continued. Instructional areas include industrial automation, robotics, hydraulic

April Arnzen is a senior vice president and chief people officer for Micron and president of the Micron Foundation.

and pneumatic systems, mechanisms, industrial electricity, programming and motors, controllers and motion.

Electromechanical Technology certificate program This is a one-year certificate program which touches on the foundational skills and knowledge in the two-year degree program and prepares students for entry-level work. Credits earned can be put toward the two-year electromechanical technology Associate of Applied Science degree. The students who complete the degree program will be able to work in many places, including Micron as a “technician.” Each of Micron’s four chip fabs will require 1,000 technicians. “SUNY Oswego’s curriculum has strong connections with preparing students for careers at Micron and beyond. Our electrical and computer engineering and computer science programs, where students are already participating in significant hands-on opportunities that are directly tied to industry need, is integral to Micron’s workforce needs,” said Scott Furlong, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Students in our technology education and technology management programs, which are unique within the state, are also well prepared for careers.” SUNY Oswego’s faculty and programs outside of these disciplines—

including K-12, STEAM, business and more—“are developing students with skills in critical thinking, teamwork, and problem solving for the opportunities beyond Micron that the region will need,” Furlong added. “All SUNY Oswego students are prepared to continue their learning, further develop their career readiness, and evolve as new opportunities arise.” As Oswego County’s public comprehensive university and an economic engine for the region, SUNY Oswego embraces its vital role of working handin-hand with elected officials from all levels of state government and with other leaders and key external partners from across Oswego County to contribute to an action plan that describes goals and outcomes for county constituencies to achieve over the next five years in preparation for Micron’s opening and subsequent decades-long impact upon Central New York, according to Kristi Eck, chief of staff and executive director of strategic initiatives, external partnerships and legislative affairs. “Over the next few months, the Oswego County Micron strategy steering committee and work groups will be gathering information from business and community members to help form Oswego County’s action plan,” Eck said. “Together, the steering committee and related work groups are preparing for the launch of Micron and its early years in Central New York — with an eye toward how Oswego County will be transformed over the next two decades.” “SUNY Oswego is proud to be an economic driver in the greater Oswego community and serve as the lead convener of the Oswego County Micron strategy steering committee, which includes Oswego County’s elected officials at all levels: NYS Assembly, Senate, county and city, and a diverse group of leaders and stakeholders across Oswego County who are committed to serving as a comprehensive, unified and visionary strategy-creating and implementing body. This committee was created to bring partners together to formally discuss, position and plan for Oswego County’s role as vital partners in Micron’s investment in our region,” Toale said. “We are fortunate to work in a community that is looking forward and preparing to take action together to illuminate, utilize, and strengthen Oswego County’s assets and position our community today and well into the future.”

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

MANUFACTURING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Worker at EJ USA in the L. Mike Treadwell Industrial Park in Schroeppel.

Manufacturing: Help Wanted By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

he manufacturing boom in CNY needs workers for a variety of roles — and not just to fill future openings at Micron Technology. Kelly Vann, spokesperson for Lockheed Martin Corporation in Syracuse, said that their biggest need focuses on engineering roles. “It reflects the incredible work we were awarded from customers recently, including new contracts for our groundbased radar called TPY-4 for the country of Norway, as well as a few Army contracts for our short-range radars,” Vann said. “We are also growing our cyber, electronic warfare and underseas work in Syracuse.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an engineer in the Syracuse area makes an annual mean wage of $100,160. Karen Knapik-Scalzo, associate

economist with New York State Department of Labor Division of Research & Statistics in Syracuse, said that in Oswego County, “the fabricated metal product manufacturing sector has been showing over-the-year job growth and its average annual pay is $61,701.” She listed typical job titles in this sector to include: machinists; assemblers and fabricators; welders, cutters, solderers and brazers; sheet metal workers; and computer numerically controlled tool operators. The reason that so many of these positions remain open lies in the past emphasis on other skills and degree paths. Patrick Christopher Penfield, professor in the management department at Syracuse University, said that the skilled manufacturing sector has been overlooked.

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“We are now starting to see colleges and universities offering training and degrees in these areas which will help manufacturers like Micron in the future,” Penfield said. Randy Wolken, president and CEO of the Manufacturers Association of Central New York, said that the trend affects many of his organization’s members. Most have a 10% open rate in positions like welder, CNC operator, and other technician-level roles. “State apprenticeship program can help ‘up-skill’ people,” he said. “That’s how we’ll provide the people as people continue to invest in apprenticeships and earning skills on the job. Since we started our registered apprenticeship, we’ve started 30 new pathways. They can head right out of high school to an apprenticeship. About half or more jobs coming to the area will be technical.”

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The apprenticeships include both classroom time and on-the-job training and take about 18 months to complete. Best of all, the apprenticeship is free and participants receive pay with pay increases while they learn. Wolken views the apprenticeship program as the only way that the region will be ready for the flood of jobs headed this way with Micron Technology’s coming and with the increasing needs of present manufacturers. “We run a statewide program with hundreds of apprentices,” Wolken said. “We have hundreds of jobs open right now.” His organization also presents at middle schools and high schools to help students better understand the good-paying, engaging job opportunities available to them in manufacturing. Students can also begin their career with no student loan debt — a big advantage for many. Apprenticeships aren’t just for kids. The “earn-as-you-learn” model is particularly appealing for mid-career job seekers who cannot drop out of the workforce to complete schooling. “People can switch from a current career,” Wolken said. “Any adult learning interested can get paid while learning with increases in pay. They can be a mentor to apprentices once they graduate. The average job at Micron pays six figures. The entire wage and salary for certain skills will continue to go up.”

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www.fultontool.com JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

Nathan Emmons is the new executive director of Fulton’s Community Development Agency. He is shown at his office in Fulton.

New CDA Director Aims to Bring Fulton ‘Out of the Shadows of Nestle’

he new executive director of Fulton’s Community Development Agency wants to move the city out of “the shadows of Nestle.” Nathan Emmons was appointed earlier this year. He had served for about one year as deputy director of the CDA. He succeeds Sarah Farley, who resigned and is now a consultant to the Fulton CDA. “I bring four years of direct experience being the former director of economic development and former director of rental assistance programs for the city of Oswego,” Emmons said.

He also has eight years of elected experience. He was a city council representative in the Port City and serves as an Oswego County legislator. He has also been the assistant dean of students at SUNY Oswego, the director of student life and leadership at Hobart and William Smith colleges, and was the associate director of the student centers and programming services at Syracuse University. “I also served as a consultant in 2021, as the deputy director of the Fulton Community Development Agency from September 2021 to April 2023,”

he added. He said his priorities will include the implementation of the DRI on behalf of the city of Fulton, retooling the housing programs, seeking out development opportunities for the city and working on positioning Fulton to take advantage of the Micron project. Emmons and his wife, Lisa, reside in Oswego. He sees living in Oswego as an advantage, not a conflict. “Not in the slightest. In fact, I believe it’s an advantage as I can have a fresh look on how Fulton is positioned and provide some differing perspectives on how to move forward,” he said. Fulton has seen a drastic decline in the number of manufacturing firms the past few years. He is looking to revert that. “My role is to look at what is happening regionally and help Fulton to position itself to take advantage of the progress being made,” he explained. “I believe Micron will have a huge impact on southern Oswego County which includes Fulton. The city needs to be ready to pivot in order to respond to the new demands, proposed projects and developer interests. The city’s comprehensive plan will help guide many of our conversations moving forward.” The DRI projects in Fulton are moving forward. “Much of the work was delayed related to the COVID-19 pandemic — but it is moving forward now. Fulton has a wonderful opportunity to reinvent itself and get out of the shadows of Nestle,” he said. “Fulton needs to be forward thinking, analyze information, and invest.”

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Row material; Sarah Canfield checks quality of an item; Small part created by the company

Canfield Machine & Tool Embarking on a Major Expansion Project By Stefan Yablonski

anfield Machine & Tool in Fulton is getting bigger, while its work remains small — minute even. Chris Canfield, co-owner, said he is expanding and investing in the company. He recently spent about $300,000 on new equipment that will make the company more efficient and quicker to respond to orders it receives. Canfield also said the company is considering a large parcel of land next to its current shop for future expansion. The deal is not closed yet, but he said they’re analyzing the purchase. He co-owns the business with his brother, John. Canfield Machine was started by their late father, Doug, in 1967 — in his garage. Canfield Machine & Tool LLC, located at 121 Howard Road, manufactures precision milled, turned and

electrical discharge machining parts for the inspection, medical lighting, measurement and control, microwave filter and fiber optic industries. Many of the parts they work on are hard to see with just the naked eye. Sarah Canfield, John’s daughter, explained how she checks the quality of products by using a machine that magnifies the image and displays its findings. She lines it up in the proper spot on the viewer, the lens comes down and the results are shown on another computer screen. A green OK means it is OK. A yellow OK means it’s not perfect, but still OK. If something is wrong, a message in red appears. “It’s very time consuming on some of these parts. You can’t be aggressive with the tools — you’ll fail,” Chris Canfield said. Back about 20 years ago, one of their

82 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

customers said they wanted Canfield to learn how to do a specific part. “They were having a hard time trying to find anyone who did it,” he said. “So we worked and worked trying to get the process down to be able to do it. Most people don’t want to do it because it’s like nasty. But when you learn how to do it … anything is easy when you know how to do it. You keep doing it — figure it out better and better.” The business employs about 40 workers. “We are looking to acquire 3.5 acres behind our current site. It won’t be this year — we are investing in some new equipment,” Canfield added. They don’t want to proceed too quickly, he explained, but hope to get the land this year so they have things in place. Down the road it would be added onto their existing facility, he said.

“The land right now is just brush. It’s owned by Operation Oswego County. We’re in negotiations with them; they already agreed on the sale. We’re going through the process now,” Canfield said. “Operation Oswego County has been great to work with; they have been very supportive.” When they expand, add new equipment, they can “easily add a dozen people,” he said. They’ll do over time — because the equipment is extremely expensive. “We know what can happen if you have too much debt and there’s a slowdown. So we’re being really conservative,” Canfield said. “In 1975 we built the building here. We’ve had three major additions. It’s about 25,000 square feet now, but we’re kind of full,” said Chris’ brother, John Canfield. “We had a building permit to put on a 3,000 square foot addition. But we decided that probably wouldn’t get us very far; so that’s why we are looking at the 3.5 acres,” Chris said. “We held off on the addition and we put the funds we had for that toward upgrading our facility and getting more efficient. That’s really what we’ve been doing for the last quite a number of years. We’re trying to stay as efficient as possible so we can keep good prices for our customers.”

In the beginning “In 1967, it was in my parents’ ga-

TOP: Headquarter of Canfield Machine & Tool in Fulton. BOTTOM: Brothers Chris and John Canfield are the owners of Canfield Machine & Tool in Fulton. “The whole economy can flip on a dime. So we are making sure we have work that’s going to justify the expense [of the land purchase],” says Chris Canfield.

rage — from ‘67 to ’84,” John said. “All the small stuff could not be made back then [1967]. It was all manual machines. He did not do nearly as complicated parts. He had to do everything by hand. He worked for General Electric for 15 years.” In 1967, GE in Liverpool finished a big government contract and they were laying off a lot of people — Doug Canfield was one of them. “They offered him a job down in

Huntsville, Alabama. They flew him down there to look at the area. But he didn’t really feel like he wanted to move,” John said. “He had already started to get a little bit of equipment in his garage. So he contacted people … looked in the newspapers to see who was advertising for machinists and he contacted them. He said ‘I have some equipment — can I bid on some jobs?’ That’s how it all started.”

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

EJ USA plant manager Tim McKernan at the local headquarters of the company in Schroeppel.

86 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

MANUFACTURING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

PLANT MANAGER ISN’T SLOWING DOWN ANY TIME SOON Tim McKernan of EJ USA has been with the company for 45 years By Stefan Yablonski

im McKernan, facility manager at EJ USA in Schroeppel, has had an inventive and award-winning career. The 2022 Transformational Leadership Award recipient was nominated by more than one of his teammates — with each nomination citing his humility, empathy and passion for servant leadership. “I truly am humbled and honored to receive this award,” McKernan said. “Yes — I was surprised and had no idea that they had done it.” ‘They’ were “My engineering manager John Murray and Erika Metott our procurement agent,” he added. McKernan grew up on Leonard Street in Buffalo and attended St. Aloysius grade school, Bishop Neumann High School and Erie Community College for electrical technology. “My first job was putting taps on dance shoes. Yes, it’s a real job —and I was glad to get it. Pretty sure I was 16 at the time,” he recalled with a smile. His favorite job was being a lifeguard, he added. “I moved to Syracuse in 1993,” he said. “After moving here, I attended Le Moyne College for human resource management and obtained my Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University in 2003.” He started with Syracuse Castings (now EJ) in 1971, working while he attended college. Syracuse Castings was incorporated in 1971. “Syracuse Castings was the original company up until February of 2012 when we were acquired by EJ,” he explained. “I joined the company in 1978, when Syracuse Castings opened a fabrication shop in Buffalo.” “I worked as an ironworker, welder–fabricator and quickly was promoted to shop supervisor,” he said. “I then moved into inside sales and new product development. Many of the current

products we make were developed during this time.” He then moved to outside sales while remaining active in the design and build of additional new products. “In June 1999, I invented a product called SAFE HATCH and was awarded US patents 6,640,495 and 6,718,692 plus Canadian Patent 2 97 523,” he said. This product combines covering a floor opening, fall-through protection and controlled confined space entry. “We are proud of this invention because it has transformed the floor access door industry and has forced other manufacturers to copy it,” he said. He has also received US Patent 10,851,515 in December 2020 for a product called Hatch Skirt. “EJ is the global leader for infrastructure access solutions and these innovations align with our strategic goals,” he pointed out.

On the move again “I worked in Buffalo until the plant grew to a point where we needed a larger facility. The decision was made to build it in Cicero,” he said. They closed the Buffalo operation and he moved to Cicero to run that

plant in 1993. “In 1993 I moved from our fab plant in Buffalo to staff and equip the new facility located in Cicero,” he said. That facility grew and went through two expansion additions to the original site. In 2012 EJ acquired Syracuse Castings and through this acquisition it grew to the point where they needed another new facility. “EJ chose our current site in Phoenix, where in 2019 we built the new state-of-the-art fabrication plant. This year EJ is celebrating our 145th anniversary,” he said. McKernan is an avid fisherman. “I love to fish,” he said. “I have a saying: ‘Fish ‘til it hurts and fish some more!’” Will he be fishing in retirement any time soon? “I do think of retiring,” he admitted. “But I have a couple more years to go. Don’t know exactly what I’ll do. I do know I will remain active. My wife and I are very active in church and will most likely dedicate more time to helping others.” This June, he will have been married for 41 years. “My wife’s name is Carmen McKernan. She is stay at-home mother and grandmother. I have two daughters and two granddaughters,” he said. “My oldest daughter is Sarah Fergerson. She is in charge of the operating engineers apprenticeship program. Her title is: training fund coordinator — IUOE Local 158 Training Fund. My youngest daughter, Elizabeth Kellogg, is the office manager at Liverpool Village Animal Wellness.” What’s the best advice he has ever received? Never give up. “The tough things we face in life make us into the person we are,” he said.

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MANUFACTURING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

FOCUS also sponsors a Citizens’ Academy program with the Syracuse University office of community engagement. Photo shows the graduation of Class of 2023.

FOCUS Marks 25 Years Nonprofit has worked to improve quality of life in Central New York

nonprofit organization is celebrating 25 years of helping citizens join forces with government, community and business leaders to improve the quality of life in Central New York. FOCUS Greater Syracuse offers several programs that bring a diverse group of people together to discuss the most pressing issues in the community and how to solve them. “We’re big on collaboration, with government agencies, nonprofits, school and others,” said Don Radke, immediate past board president. “People come to our organization to get involved, ask questions and get answers. But we’re not a political organization.” One of its biggest accomplishments is “the fact that we’re still here after 25 years, given the political environment that exists nationwide,” Radke said. “We’ve always been promoting citizen engagement, and we’re stronger than ever.” The organization was started by Charlotte “Chuckie” Holstein, a civic leader who organized countless numbers of groups and events that focused

By Norah Machia

on improving the lives of Central New Yorkers. She was the first executive director of FOCUS and just retired from the board four years ago. “We would not be here without her,” said Radke, who noted Holstein recently turned 98. FOCUS stands for “Forging Our Community’s United Strength” and its mission is to “educate, celebrate, facilitate and communicate,” Radke said. Citizen engagement plays an important role in finding answers to issues that arise in the community, he added. How do they do it? The organization hosts free public forums each month that bring citizens and community leaders together to discuss a variety of topics, including the economy, health and public services, housing, education, culture and the arts and recreation. The monthly topics are decided at the beginning of the year, during the organization’s annual forum held each January, said Rita Reicher, president and interim executive director. “We ask the community what they would

like to hear about, and then use that information to develop the monthly sessions for the year.” This approach helps FOCUS conduct citizen-centered research and combine it with community planning, making their findings available to local leaders and the public. Their reports are created to help find solutions for pressing issues by making positive changes, said Reicher. FOCUS has made reports and recommendations for improving the quality of Onondaga Lake, developing “age friendly” communities and preparing for a flu pandemic. That report was issued several years prior to COVID-19 pandemic. City of Syracuse and Onondaga County officials, along with other individuals, organizations and businesses, often use the FOCUS reports for planning and implementing changes. “The community leaders know us well,” said Reicher. For years, the forums were held in person, but the format was changed to a virtual one during the COVID-19

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

Reports Look at Key Community Aspects Reports issued by FOCUS Greater Syracuse: One of the most popular reports issued by FOCUS was “Shaping an Age-Friendly CNY: A Study on How to Retain and Engage Boomers in Our Community.” This reported on the findings of a county-wide study including nearly 2,000 surveys, interviews, and focus groups, which included participant views on which factors were important in deciding where to live as they grow older and how Central New York ranked relative to these factors. Some of the most desirable factors identified included cost of living, safety, opportunities for physical activity and housing. The report made recommendations for change across 10 domains: housing and neighborhoods; transportation; community and health services; recreation, culture, and education; taxes; work opportunities; civic engagement; philanthropy; family and social networks; and safety. Other reports issued by FOCUS include: • Arts & Cultural Downtown, a report which helped lead to the development of a designated downtown cultural district in Syracuse. • FOCUS on Our Lake Studies (Water & Waterways) was used by Honeywell, which finished implementing New York state’s cleanup plan for Onondaga Lake. A citizen survey was also done on the use of the lake and its shores, and FOCUS on Onondaga Lake provided a roadmap to facilitate reconnecting the lake with the community. • Link CNY Innovation Expos reported on annual events showcasing regional assets, new ideas and opportunities in technology, manufacturing, energy, environment, social entrepreneurship and sustainability. • CNY Pathways/Connecting Healthy Communities focused on accessible multipurpose trails and bike paths. This report contributed to the county’s master plan for trails, Walk Bike CNY and the city’s addition of bike lanes. • CDC Citizen Engagement Sessions. FOCUS selected to engage citizens on these Centers for Disease Control initiatives: Community Control Measures for Pandemic Flu Epidemic (what citizens would/would not do in an epidemic), US Vaccine Plan (for citizen input in development of National 10-Year Vaccine Plan.

Don Radke, FOCUS’ immediate past board president; Rita Reicher, president and interim executive director; and Jessica Lisi, director of marketing and communications. They are pictured at the FOCUS Greater Syracuse Wisdom Keeper Garden.

pandemic. There are plans to schedule “hybrid” forums this year, which would allow for both in-person attendance and virtual participation. Each year, FOCUS also sponsors a Citizens’ Academy program with the Syracuse University office of community engagement. “This is our flagship program” said Radke. “It’s a beautiful dialogue between citizens and government leaders.” Those interested must apply for the 10-week program and FOCUS makes it a priority to have representation from a diverse group by selecting applicants from different zip codes. The cost is $50 for the entire program. While some time is spent in conference rooms, participants often travel to different sites “where professionals in the field are doing very good work in the community,” said Reicher. “These are people who are very approachable and passionate about their work.” Visits have been made to the Metropolitan Syracuse Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Syracuse Common Council Chambers and the Onondaga County Justice Center. The program is in its 18th year and has more than 600 graduates, said Jessica Lisi, director of marketing and communications. “We draw people from all walks of life, and we really prioritize diversity,” she said. “People leave this program with a passion to create and build from their experiences.” When FOCUS was started as a

90 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

community-wide visioning project in 1998, participating citizens established 87 goals for the Greater Syracuse region they wanted to see achieved in the next 25 years. It’s been a major priority for FOCUS and today, more than half of the goals that resulted from meetings with thousands of citizens have been achieved. A major fundraiser for the organization is the Wisdom Keeper Celebration, which honors one or more people who live or work in Onondaga County and “are a driving force for making this community a better place to live,” said Reicher. “We celebrate the work people have done for the community, both on and off the job.” The names of the Wisdom Keepers award recipients are inscribed on plaques attached to rocks that make up the Wisdom Keeper Garden, located near the FOCUS office at 201 E. Washington St. in downtown Syracuse. Past recipients have been from Onondaga, Oswego, Madison and Cayuga counties, said Lisi. “They have a vision for tomorrow and they leave the community better than they found it.” Last year’s Wisdom Keepers award recipients were Calvin L. Corriders, regional president for the Syracuse Market for Pathfinder Bank and Pamela M. Brunet, executive director of Leadership Greater Syracuse. For more information: www.focussyracuse.org

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

SUCCESS STORY By Steve Yablonski

Pulaski-area Paper Company, Always Reinventing Itself, Is Now Investing Over $100 Million in New Equipment, Products

FELIX SCHOELLER NORTH AMERICA

Pulaski-area Paper Company, Always Reinventing Itself, Is Now Investing Over $100 Million in New Equipment, Products By Stefan Yablonski

elix Schoeller North America’s vision for 2030 is: “We are a family business today and will be for future generations.” That sort of forward thinking has served the company well for more than a century.

Family-owned Founded in 1895 as a paper mill in Osnabrück, Germany, Felix Schoeller today supplies more than 1,947 customers in 65 countries. The company has been family-owned since its start. Five generations have made the transition from a former photo base paper producer to a global manufacturer of specialty papers.

The company, headquartered in Germany, has operations in Germany, Russia, Canada and the United States. It employs around 2,500 people and generates sales of about $1 billion. Felix Schoeller is the global market leader in the manufacture of high-quality imaging papers for photographic and digital printing applications. Photo papers from Felix Schoeller are all equipped with a special microporous color receiver layer. This allows not only carefree printing, but also fastest drying times and pin-sharp details. They are therefore suitable for a wide range of different applications — in both small and large formats. With 150 employees and annual sales of more than $80 million, Felix

92 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

Schoeller North America is among the largest private companies in Oswego County. Photograph paper was in demand in the 1980s and 1990s. Things changed with the advent of digital photography. “Felix Schoeller North America has always shown an amazing ability to reinvent itself,” according to Michael Szidat, president & CEO, who is based in the North America headquarters in the Pulaski area. “As the core business of manufacturing photographic papers started to decline in the early 2000s the company focused its activities on becoming the largest North American converter and distributor of digital printing papers,” he said. “And as the use of digital

printing at home and in offices began to go down in the last 10 years or so, we developed our new release papers business for the adhesive coating industry.” The total investment for the production of high-quality decor papers (decor papers are specialty papers used to create quality finishes on wooden materials) and release liners in the North American sites is expected to exceed $100 million by 2025, according to Szidat. Starting this year, capacities at the company’s sites in America and Canada will be significantly expanded in three steps. 1 — Currently, a new silicone coater is being installed at the Pulaski area site. It will enable the Felix Schoeller Group to supply the North American market with domestically produced siliconized papers and films. In doing so, the company is relying not only on solvent-free silicone technology, but adding solvent-based silicone technology to its portfolio — while utilizing particularly energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technological solutions.

The new machine is nearly as long as a football field. “Internally, we call the machine CO07,” said Andy Clements, vice president of operations. “The specific name is just the silicone coating line.” It takes a five-man crew to run the new machine. It will operate in two shifts. They can print out huge signs and logos that are used on the sides of many tractor-trailers these days. It uses a high-performance adhesive — “It has to stay there in the winter and summer,” Szidat said. 2 — The second step is the expansion of the paper machine capacity in Drummondville, Canada, from currently 32,000 tons to more than 40,000 tons per year, according to Matthew Serrao, production manager in the coating department in the Pulaski area. This increase is scheduled to be completed in fourth quarter of 2023, he added. 3 — And the third part — the specialty paper manufacturer plans to invest in the construction of a second paper machine for the North American

market. The plan is to add up to 50,000 tons of capacity for the decor and release liner markets. During project planning, the location and details of the technical equipment will be determined. The operation in Richland converts, packs and distributes inkjet papers and specialty products for the North American market. It is also home to the North American sales and marketing staff. “With the project for a new paper machine, we are opening a new chapter for Felix Schoeller in North America. In the future, we will be able to offer reliable supply with local service not only to our customers for high-quality decor papers, but in addition to our key market for release liners,” Szidat explained. “What we are doing here right now is just one part. The project is also going on up in our plant in Canada. We are currently ramping up and hope to start production by the end of the year,” he added. “And then a few years down the road we are planning to build a new paper mill.” Over the last couple of years, visual

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

“With the project for a new paper machine, we are opening a new chapter for Felix Schoeller in North America. In the future, we will be able to offer reliable supply with local service not only to our customers for high-quality decor papers, but in addition to our key market for release liners.”” Michael Szidat, president & CEO, Felix Schoeller North America

printing has seen a decline. “Commercial professional applications are stable. Home printing — very few — we’ve seen a decline in the home printing market,” he said. “For us that has meant a shift in business focus to a certain extent.”

The early days The company was founded by Felix Herrmann Maria Schoeller — the son of a papermaker. He was fascinated by the emerging field of photography at the end of the 19th century. Recognizing the rapidly growing demand for silver-salt photographic paper, he developed a business idea. In 1895, he took over a paper mill east of Osnabrück and founded Papierfabrik Felix Schoeller. Even then, the company focused on diversifying its product range. In addition to photographic base papers it also produced document papers, drawing and packaging papers. This laid the foundation for the success of the family business. At the beginning of the 20th century, the photographic paper business was flourishing and Felix Schoeller was one of the key innovators.

Second generation When the founder died in 1907, his sons, Felix Heribert, Lothar and Gerhardt Schoeller took over the management of the company. The new management further developed the vision of the company founder and recognized the enormous market potential for photo papers. Expansion followed accordingly, initially within Europe. In 1912, the company ventured across the ocean and founded the Felix Schoeller Paper Company in America. It settled in New York and in 1932 launched its first attempt to produce coated paper. In 1949, the third generation, Klaus, Felix Richard and Gert Schoeller, joined the company management. As early as 1964, the company built the first extruder for coating photo base papers, thus providing the basis for the decision in 1980 to concentrate on photo base papers in the product range. This was followed in 1986 by the PM 1, at that time the world’s most efficient paper machine for photo base paper. The advent of digital photography was the trigger for reexamination. The company management rec-

94 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS JUNE / JULY 2023

ognized the possible consequences of digital photography early on and reacted with a new corporate strategy. It broadened its product range considerably and entered into the production of high-quality special papers for inkjet printing systems and decor papers. In 1993, the decor business of Technocell AG was taken over and Technocell Dekor was founded. The Weißenborn mill expanded in 1998. This made the plant the world’s only integrated site for photo imaging papers. Expansion continued in the 2000s with sites in Canada, Russia, Japan, Malaysia and Australia. In 2001, for example, Felix Schoeller acquired a majority stake in the Kunz Group’s decor paper mill in Drummondville, Canada. The portfolio was also steadily expanded.

Group CEO spent time in local plant Today, the Felix Schoeller Group has 11 production sites and representative offices worldwide. It is one of the leading paper manufacturers producing both base paper and coated paper (Coated paper is paper that has

Andy Clements, vice president of operations.

Main warehouse at the Pulaski-area facility.

been coated with a mix of materials or a polymer to give the paper certain qualities. For example, a glossy or satin finish), combining extensive paper and coating know-how with state-of-the-art machines and technologies. Skills such as paper printability have been transferred to the packaging segment. In the spirit of sustainability, the experts support their customers in replacing conventional materials — such as plastic or aluminum — step by step with more environmentally friendly solutions, without losing sight of the functionality and product protection of the packaging. The product portfolio includes, among others, the sustainable paper base PrimePaper and the paper composite series FlexPaper. In 2020, the 125th anniversary was celebrated. One product stands out from the comprehensive portfolio — FlexPaper pure. It is an expression of Felix Schoeller’s innovative strength and with a high paper content of 95% makes an important contribution to effective recycling management and brings sustainability to the entire life cycle of

Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp, group CEO, based in Germany.

Michael Szidat, president & CEO of North American operations.

packaging. FlexPaper pure is manufactured using a thin-layer extrusion process. It is based on renewable FSC-certified pulp from sustainable forestry. In addition to the ecological aspects, the special paper convinces customers with very good printing results in flexo and gravure printing in order to position the respective product attractively in the trade. FlexPaper pure is suitable for disposal in waste paper. In 2021, the world market leader for photographic and decorative papers produced around 545,000 tons of speciality papers for around 1,800 customers in more than 65 countries with more than 3,700 employees worldwide. “Since 2018, Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp, our group CEO, has been the fifth generation to head the family-owned company,” Szidat said. “He is obviously based in Germany — but he did spend a few years in Pulaski as the paper machine superintendent, back in 1999-2002. Therefore this site still has a special place in his heart and he loves coming back to Pulaski and see our progress.” The secret of the family business’

success? It has grown steadily and always sustainably, according to CEO Szidat. Long-term success was more important to all generations than shortterm profit, he said. The second major success factor was being open to new things; the constant willingness to recognize trends and to draw the consequences for one’s own company and to see this not as a danger but as an opportunity. Attributes for success, Szidat said are: • Strong market and customer orientation • Sound and clear strategic vision and direction and always a long-term view. When we have chosen a direction, we stick with it and think in three- to five-year timeframes. Not changing course every time, a “share price” goes down, like some publicly traded companies. • Great people that fill the vision and strategies with life and make things happen. They bring the creativity, the drive and the resilience to reinvent ourselves every time these big challenges get thrown at us.

JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

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Bellinger Auto Sales & Service — Third generation business. Used cars, towing, general auto repair & accessories, truck repair. Oil, lube & filter service. 2746 County Route 57 Fulton. Call 315-593-1332.

Senior Solutions ME. Specializing in serving seniors with health insurance in Oswego and Onondaga counties. Reach out to us today for a free quote. Call 315416-9111 or email caustin@drsolutions.biz. Visit our website www.seniorsolutionsme.com.

Trust the experts! Let us repair your in-ground pool cover. Free estimates. Everybody says “Call this guy”. Cortini Shoe Zipper canvas repair to tarps, boat covers, and awnings. 125 Cayuga Street, Fulton, NY 315-5938914.

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Lakeshore Hardwoods. We stock kiln-dried cherry, walnut, maple, butternut, ash, oak, basswood, mahogany, cedar figured woods, and exotics. Also, hardwood flooring, moldings, stair parts & woodworking supplies. 266 Manwaring Rd. Pulaski. 298-6407 or visit www. lakeshorehardwoods.com.

RanMar Tractor Supply, sales and service of new and used tractors and farm equipment. 5219 US Rte 11 Pulaski. 315-298-5109.

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE Port City Car Care, 315-207-0500 www.portcitycarcare.com Oil, lube, NYSI, alignments, tires, brakes, electrical, air conditioning, suspension, tune-ups & timing belts, complete car care. We do it all! Over 28 years’ experience, 20 Ohio St., Oswego.

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTING Scriba Electric. Offering residential-commercial-and industrial services. 3 Creamery Road, Oswego, NY 13126, www.scribaelectric.com, 315-342-7681.

ELECTRONIC REPAIR PC Masters Tech Repair is locally owned and operated. Specializing in cell phone, tablet, computer, and game console repairs. Serving Oswego, Watertown, and Syracuse areas. Call 315-326-1980 or visit 42 W. 9th St. Oswego, NY 13126 today!

EXCAVATING Gilbert Excavating. Septic systems. Gravel & topsoil. Septic tank pumping. 685 County Route 3, Fulton, 13069. Call 593-2472.

FULTON PUBLIC LIBRARY Fulton Public Library. Borrow books, movies, wifi hotspots and more! All of out services are free just sign up for a library card. For more information see our website at fultonpubliclibrary.org

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Emergent, LLC. Leadership development and executive coaching, 126 N. Salina St., suite 402, Syracuse, NY 13202. 315-635-6300 support@getemergent.comwww.getemergent.com.

LEGAL SERVICES Reed Law. Dedicated to helping families with their individualized Estate Planning, Medicaid Planning, Probate and Real Estate. Clear Legal Solutions, Impartial Compassionate Assistance & a strong helping hand when you need it most! 218 Syracuse Avenue, Oswego. 315274-2040. NReed@ReedLawNY.com

PICTURE FRAMING Picture Connection offers custom matting & framing for photos, posters, prints, oils and more. Shadow boxes, object framing, art print source. 169 W. 1st St., Oswego. 315-343-2908.

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JUNE / JULY 2023 OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS

LAST PAGE By Stefan Yablonski

Oswego County government recently present officials at Oswego County Fair with a check for $110,376. From left, legislators Ed Gillson, Mike Yerdon and Herb Yerdon present a check for $110,376 to ; senior vice president Tim Ridgeway; fair secretary and media coordinator Teresa Stowell Hollis; and junior vice Austin Miller.

County Fair Going Back to Basics Organizers say they will also hold a fall festival as well

he Oswego County Fair is going “back to the basics” this year. It will be held June 30 – July 2, at the fairgrounds in Sandy Creek. The event has been held for 164 years. “We plan events with family in mind. We plan events that are exciting, educational and entertaining for individuals of all ages,” according to Timothy Ridgeway, chairman of Oswego Agricultural Society, which sponsors the Oswego County Fair. He is also the senior vice president of the fair’s board and town supervisor for Sandy Creek. “We self-govern; we try to get sponsorships and the county helps out,” added secretary of the board of directors Teresa Stowell Hollis.“We’re a nonprofit organization,” she explained. “We keep the doors open and we pay the bills. If there’s some funds left over, we put it right into the fair.”

Free, fun and educational events for families are planned. “We’re going back to the basics this year — a lot of people, especially the locals, look forward to it — a small town county fair,” Ridgeway said. “Things have changed over the years; it’s a whole different ball game. But the primary focus of the fair will always be agriculture. We have to keep that alive.” They will have animal shows throughout the fair. A horse show under the lights is planned for Friday night. There’ll be truck pulls Saturday, and the fair will bring back tractor pulls (including some antique tractors) on Sunday. This year’s fair will also offer a circus style attraction; Circle Incredible, it’s like an aerial act, he said. Other events include a corn hole tournament slated for Saturday, talent show Sunday, children’s events, youth

activities, line dancing, horse barrel racing, super-modified trucks, live music, food, and alcohol. “We have four really awesome bands that are going to be performing,” Hollis said, adding that Ontario Amusements will again be providing the rides and that there will be food provided by the Lacona Fire Department and other food vendors. They are taking things and spreading them out throughout the year, Hollis explained. For this reason, organizers are planning a fall festival. The Oswego County Fair’s Family Fall Festival will be held at the end of September, beginning of October. Hours for the fall festival will be Sept. 29 (5-9 p.m.), Sept. 30 (10 a.m.-9 p.m.) and Oct. 1 (10 a.m. – 3 p.m.).

By Stefan Yablonski

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