Saratoga Business Journal - January 2021 by Saratoga & Glens Falls Business Journal

SBJ P.O. Box 766 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL

VOL. 25 NO. 11

HH The Business Newspaper of Saratoga County HH

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Franklin Community Center Buys MASIE Sen. Tedisco Concerned About Exodus Of Center Building To Meet Expansion Needs Population From NYS, Especially Upstate

Franklin Community Center has purchased the former MASIE Center property at 95 Washington St. in Saratoga Springs. The building is needed by the organization as its programs expand. BY SUSAN ELISE CAMPBELL Franklin Community Center has purchased the former MASIE Center property at 95 Washington St. in Saratoga Springs. The building will soon be known as The Michael & Stacie Arpey Family Community Center in tribute to the Saratoga Springs philanthropists who donated $1 million to help make the purchase a reality in 2020. “We had raised the first million dollars when COVID struck,” said center Executive Director Kari Cushing.

Over the past five years the growth in demand for the types of services and outreach Franklin Community Center provides made it clear that more square footage was needed, she said. “This reality led the board of directors to commit to more space.” The building will be the fourth facility Franklin Community Center manages in order to bring basic necessities and services to the public. Administrative offices, a community room and a food pantry are housed at 10 Franklin Continued On Page 19

BY SEN. JIM TEDISCO Do you have a loved one or know someone who has moved out of New York state? Many people do and the numbers show this is happening all too frequently as children graduate from school and then move elsewhere, or as long-time residents retire and pull up stakes from their communities for another state. The high cost of living, taxes, and public safety concerns are just some of the reasons people cite for leaving New York state, particularly Upstate. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the exodus from our state. However, there has not been any real coordinated effort by state government to closely look at why so many people are leaving New York, and to adjust its agenda, as it is hitting Upstate communities especially hard. As we begin a new year and new legislative session, our top priority should be addressing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic so we can stop the spread of the virus, save lives and safely improve and reopen our economy. In order to reset New York state by safely restarting our economy, we need to address the elephant in the room that the leaders in our state government have not been talking about: the fact that for the third year in a row, New York leads the nation in out-migration of residents with 126,000 people leaving last year and over one million in the past decade. New York state followed up its net loss of 1.7 million residents from 2000 to 2009 with a loss of 1.4 million residents this past decade. This loss leads the nation in largest

State Sen. Jim Tedisco represents the 49th District, including part of Saratoga County. Courtesy Sen. Jim Tedisco

overall population decline, according to Census data. New York is also facing a skills gap where 42 percent (5.65 million) of New Yorkers have a high school diploma or less and are being left out of the technology and clean energy jobs that the state suggests it has made a push to attract. Despite what some have said, it’s not just “the weather” why people are leaving New York as 16 percent of those who left the Empire State went to “sunny and balmy” New Jersey, according to the Empire Center. It’s expected this population loss will result in New York losing possibly two Outlook 2021 Continued On Page 10

Despite COVID-19, SPAC Finished 2020 Skip Carlson Of Saratoga Casino Hotel Is Without Shortfall; Set To Face New Challenges Chairman Of Chamber Of Commerce Board Despite severe challenges caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) closed the year without a budget shortfall, officials said at the organization’s board of directors meeting in December. Also, given the uncertainties of what 2021 may bring with regard to the pandemic, SPAC is planning for a number of potential scenarios to present a season that will be ready to meet whatever the prevailing conditions are this spring and summer. “What we know is this,” said Sobol. “One way or another, there will be a SPAC season. And one way or the other, we are committed to ensuring a Saratoga presence by our beloved resident companies.” Like so many cultural institutions, SPAC’s 2020 was markedly different than what President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol imagined when programming for season was first announced in January of 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “Just over seven months ago, SPAC took the unprecedented measure of cancelling its whole summer season in the face of the worsening coronavirus pandemic,” said Sobol. “Taking that step felt literally like walking off a cliff.” As a result of the cancellation of SPAC’s classical season, which was to include performances by resident companies New York City Ballet, Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, SPAC’s earned income dropped by $6 million, or 60 percent of its budget. SPAC had projected a potential shortfall of over $1 million, “a breathtaking gap that brought our

SPAC avoided a budget shortfall at the end of 2020 despite cancelation of its concerts. Courtesy SPAC

very survival into question,” said Sobol. But at the close of 2020, Sobol said that, thanks to the extraordinary generosity from the community, the potential deficit was eliminated and SPAC will end the year in the black. “Thanks to our incredible community, we were able to do what SPAC does best,” said Sobol. “Provide, even in the midst of a global pandemic, communal gathering around art, artists and community.” Following the shutdown, SPAC began work Continued On Page 16

Skip Carlson, Vice President Of External Affairs of the Saratoga Casino Hotel, is the 2021 chair of the board of directors of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. He assumed this volunteer leadership role, on Jan. 1, as Kevin Hedley of Hedley & Co. PLLC completed his one-year term as board chair. Hedley now becomes the immediate past chair. “In what was truly an unprecedented time in our Chamber’s history, Kevin Hedley as chair of the chamber’s board did an amazing job leading our organization,” said Carlson. “He worked closely with the Chamber’s professional staff to ensure that we did everything we could to collaborate with our community partners in the private, public and nonprofit sectors to reopen our economy and to save our local businesses. “As we enter 2021, the Chamber continues to lead the way as a visible and vocal advocate for local vaccination sites and support for local small businesses. Kevin’s leadership put us in a position to take on these important challenges. We cannot thank him enough for this commitment to our Chamber and our local community.” Other board officers for the year include Tara Anne Pleat of Wilcenski & Pleat PLLC, chair elect; Amy Smith of Saratoga Arms Hotel, vice chair; and Chad Kiesow of Stewart’s Shops, treasurer and secretary. New members elected by the membership to three-year terms on the board include Vincent Laurenzo of Quick Response

Skip Carlson is vice president of external affairs of the Saratoga Casino Hotel. Courtesy Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce

Restoration, Dennis Kiingati of Hamlet & Ghost, David Rosenberg of Brix Wine & Liquor, and Andrew Wise of Saratoga National Bank & Trust Co. Three members appointed to serve oneyear terms were Heath Ames of Cantina, Susan Commanda of Hudson River Community Credit Union, and Rod Sutton of Amsure. Members who will continue to serve on the board include Shelly Amato of The Continued On Page 17

2 • SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021

Moby Rick’s Seafood, Long A Staple On Lake Free Form Fibers In Grande Industrial Park Ave., Moves Into Saratoga’s Congress Plaza Raises $2.5 Million For Future Development

Moby Rick’s Seafood has moved its Saratoga Springs business to 26 Congress St., in Congress Plaza. It was formerly the R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery taproom and a laundromat before that. BY JILL NAGY Moby Rick’s Seafood has moved its Saratoga Springs business to 26 Congress St., in Congress Plaza. The new shop opened just after Christmas. The old location, a blue and white clapboard building at 173 Lake Ave. in Saratoga Springs, was demolished. It is owned by Richard Lofstad. The business had been at the Lake Avenue location for eight years, the last of a series of tenants dating back to 1891. Moby Rick’s sells fresh fish and seafood sourced on Long Island and in Boston, along with prepared entrees available for takeout.

Earlier in 2020, Lofstad opened a location at 22 Clifton Country Road in Clifton Park. Originally, he announced plans to move to a spot on South Broadway. But he ended up choosing the Congress Plaza location instead when that became available. It is located where the R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewey taproom was previously. It was a laundromat prior to that. Lofstad also sells product at the Troy and Saratoga Springs farmers’ markets under the f lag of Pura Vida Fisheries. The telephone number for the Saratoga Springs location is 518 584-8584. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The telephone number for the Clifton Park store is 518 280-1573.

BY CHRISTINE GRAF Free Form Fibers, a Saratoga Spring hightech company in the Grande Industrial Park, completed raising a $2.5 million in November that will be used to further its development. Free Form Fibers utilizes advanced technology to create high-performance ceramic fibers that are used to make durable parts for the aviation and nuclear industries. The fibers are approximately 1/4 the diameter of a human hair. The majority of the $2.5 million that was raised will be used to build the three production tools necessary to produce ceramic fibers. The tools should be up and running by the end of March. Without them, the company can only provide lab-sized samples to potential customers for evaluation. The company anticipates that their fibers will be used in the LEAP commercial aircraft engine, an engine developed through a partnership between GE Aviation and Safran Aircraft Engines. LEAP engines operate with a 15 percent improvement in fuel consumption and CO2 when compared to other engines. “The LEAP engine has about 5 or 6 percent by weight of ceramic matrix composite (CMC). CMCs allow engines to run at higher temp and thus at higher efficiency. They are also lighter weight than the metals they are replacing,” said CEO Dr. Shay Harrison, who joined the company in 2012. “CMCs require fibers as part of the product. What we are offering as commercial products are materials that go into these types of composites that will replace metals in very high temperature applications or very chemically aggressive applications.” The company was founded in 2006 by three material scientists, Dr. Joe Pegna, Dr. Kirk Williams, and Dr. Ramkiran Goduguchinta. It has grown to 10 employees and recently hired a controller and a director of sales and business development. They hope to hire a manufacturing technician in 2021. “We call ourselves the grandfather of startups,” said Harrison. “What we have been doing is a lot of R&D development over the past 10-plus years. We’re now in the transition phase of moving to commercialization. We’re building some production tools, and we’ve added some staff members to move to generating revenue with customer sales.” “By the end of first quarter 2021, I’m hoping we will have our three production tools up and running and be able to provide pounds and kilograms of material for sale as opposed to grams of material for evaluation,” said Harrison. “Our target is to have our first purchase orders in the second half of 2021.” Because Free Form Fibers relies heavily on

the aviation industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has had major implications for the company. As a result, they have had to recalibrate their sales plan. “The unknown in next 12 to 18 months is that we are very dialed into jet engine market,” said Harrison. “GE, Rolls Royce and Pratt & Whitney have laid off tens of thousands of workers due to COVID. There are other areas we are working on it terms of our products and markets, but we spent 10 years getting to know everyone in the aircraft engine community. COVID has forced us not only look at other markets but adjust our time scale for that.” Before fundraising campaign, 60 to 65 percent of the company’s funding was obtained through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs. These offer funding to small businesses that engage in federal research and development with the potential for commercialization “The materials we work on are of high interest of the federal government in particular the Department of Defense for jet engine applications and other areas including nuclear power generation,” said Harrison. “We’ve received money from the NSF (National Science Foundation), NASA, the Department of Energy, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), and some Department of Defense sources. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to leverage grant funding programs. “That’s allowed us to survive for as long as we have because it is of serious interest to some very important high-tech programs. We have been at this for over a decade. We’re trying to go as fast as we can. The opportunities are there.”

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 3

Company Salon And Spa In Saratoga T&J Electrical Associates Moves To New Offers Long List Of Hair Care Services 15,000-Square-Foot Facility In Clifton Park BY JENNIFER FARNSWORTH The Company Salon and Spa at 170 South Broadway in Saratoga Springs is open for business, offering a long list of hair care services. Stylist and owner Brandon Scott said they opened as the coronavirus was hitting the Capital Region, but he has managed to stay open. “It was a strange opening during COVID. It initially took the wind out of our sails, but we have been able to stay open thanks to our loyal customers who keep us going. I’m looking forward to the future and hope to continue growing. I grew up here in Saratoga Springs and I’m very happy to own a salon here,” said Scott. Scott co-owns the business with Mary Martin. Scott has been a hairstylist for over 20 years, trained in New York City. He works with three other stylists who he said are on top of the latest style and product trends. “We do men’s and women’s hair of all different types and textures. We specialize in many different things including coloring techniques such as balayage, foliage, teasy lights and shadow roots just to name a few. I’m also certified by Deva cut, which is a technique for cutting curly hair. We use Wella brand hair color and products. Wella is the number one professional hair color brand on the market,” said Scott. He decided to open a salon after building up a clientele at a booth he was renting. He felt he had enough support to take the challenge on. “Opening a business of your own can be overwhelming, but I was fortunate to have an experienced mentor in my friend and business partner Mary. Her experience, guidance, and support helped me realize my vision,” said Scott.

Location was key for the Saratoga native, Saratoga is where he calls home. “I feel like I really know the people and the clientele here and I’m proud to own a business here in Saratoga. The location is working out great,” said Scott. There is contact information for all the stylists on the website but they all encourage walk-ins. The process, he said, is to come in, put your name on a waiting list, and then safely wait in your vehicle until they are ready for you. The Company Salon and Spa offers services including perms, full highlights, partial highlights, full color, root touchup, and haircuts. Find out more visit thecompanysalonandspa. com.

Stewart’s Holiday Match Program Raises Nearly $1.9 Million To Help Charities The Stewart’s Holiday Match collection season ended in December, raising $1.88 million to help area children’s charities. Company officials said that more than $941,207 was donated by customers and the rest matched by the company. The total was $43,000 higher than last year. Donations were collected at all Stewart’s Shops from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day. Holiday Match has zero administrative fees. The program only accepts cash donations which eliminates credit card processing fees and 100 percent of the donations are allocated for children’s charity groups. Applications for Holiday Match opened on Thanksgiving day. Nonprofit organizations benefiting children are able to apply for funds through Jan. 31. Applications are reviewed, and

allocations are made in March. Applications can be found online. A listing of all the charities that received Holiday Match funding last year is available at stewartsshops.com. “So many people have relied on Stewart’s through the pandemic as a quick and safe in and out, and we are truly humbled at their generosity to the Holiday Match Program. This money will offer aid to so many organizations in need,” Amy Potter, Stewart’s Shops director of corporate contributions, said in a statement. Last season, 1,754 children’s organizations received funding from the Holiday Match campaign. According to Stewart’s, there are no administrative costs — 100 percent of the funds benefit local, non-profit children’s organizations.

BY CHRISTINE GRAF Commercial electrical contractor T&J Electrical Associates has moved to a newlyconstructed, 15,000-square-foot headquarters in Clifton Park. The $2.2 million building is located at 419 Route 146. T&J Electrical was started by brothers Tony and Joe Sestito, out of Tony’s home, in 1977. During the early years of the business, T&J Electrical performed residential and smallscale commercial work. Over time, the company focus shifted toward large commercial jobs. The company has grown to 80 employees and no longer performs residential work. Tony retired from the business several years ago. “The scale of jobs they were taking on became larger and larger and they became a union contractor,” said Nick Sestito, son of Joe Sestito, who joined the family business in 2009. He worked his way up to partner and now manages the company along with his father, who is semi-retired. “They performed a lot of retail work for companies like CVS, Price Chopper, and Shop Rite. Forty years later, we still have a lot of those customers,” he said. Sestito has spent the last several years growing the company’s electrical lighting and maintenance division which represents approximately 25 percent of its revenue. The remaining 75 percent is generated by the new construction and remodeling division. “When I came into the office in 2015 with the intent to grow that, we had one service van on the road,” he said. “We now have a fleet of over 20 and we cover the entire northeast. We repair anything electrical or lighting related.” It was the growth of the service fleet that prompted the need for a new building. The leased space in Clifton Park that T&J occupied , on Ushers Road, was not large enough. “We got out of the lease four years early because we took up all the space,” said Sestito. T&J Electric covers a large service area that extends throughout New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey,

Vermont and New Hampshire. The majority of the company’s employees are in the Capital Region, but a small number of technicians live throughout the extensive service area. T&J Electric does not use subcontractors. “We are a little bit of a niche contractor,” said Sestito. “We have a large coverage area, and we perform all of the work inhouse with our employees. That saves the customer a lot of time and money. A lot of other companies may cover a region or even the nation, but they don’ self-perform the work. They sub a lot of the work out, and that adds another layer of cost and time to get things done.” Although business declined at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has rebounded. “In the beginning, when the initial panic came about, it pretty much halted us. Luckily, we do so much for essential businesses. We do a lot of supermarket work for pretty much every chain around here—Price Chopper, Aldi, Shop Rite, Walmart, Target. They still had their doors open, so we were able to complete a lot of projects,” he said.

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The Chamber of Southern Saratoga County P.O. Box 766 • Saratoga Springs, New York 12866 (518) 581-0600 • Fax: (518) 430-3020 • www.saratogabusinessjournal.com Editorial: RJDeLuke@saratogabusinessjournal.com Advertising: HarryW@saratogabusinessjournal.com Publisher & Editor Harry Weinhagen Associate Editor R.J. DeLuke Editor Emeritus Rod Bacon Sales and Customer Service Harry Weinhagen Production Manager Graphic Precision Photographer Stock Studios Photography Contributing Writers Susan Campbell Jill Nagy Jennifer Farnsworth Christine Graf Andrea Palmer Lisa Balschunat Saratoga Business Journal is published monthly, the second week of each month, by Weinhagen Associates, LLC and mailed to business and professional people in Saratoga county. Saratoga Business Journal is independently owned and is a registered tradename of Weinhagen Associates, LLC, P.O. Box 766, Saratoga Springs, New York 12866 (518) 581-0600. Saratoga Business Journal is a registered tradename in New York. Saratoga Business Journal has been founded to promote business in Saratoga county and to provide a forum that will increase the awareness of issues and activities that are of interest to the business community. Subscription price is $25.00 per year. Third class postage paid at Glens Falls, New York. Rights to editorial content and layouts of advertising placed with Saratoga Business Journal which are the creative effort of its contractors, and printing materials supplied by Saratoga Business Journal are the property of Saratoga Business Journal and may not be reproduced by photographic or similar methods, or otherwise, without the specific authorization of Saratoga Business Journal.

Two Friends Involved In Pharmacy Getting Closer To Opening Active Ingredient Brewery BY JENNIFER FARNSWORTH Nathan Rogers and Brian Fox are on the brink of becoming both pharmacists and brewery owners, an unlikely combination that they say is nothing short of a dream come true. The two are anticipating a spring opening of Active Ingredient Brewing Co. in Malta. Rogers and Fox will soon be scaling down to part time in their pharmacist positions at Walmart in order to make their dream a reality. “We will be incorporating our science background into the chemistry of making our craft product and you will notice a science theme’ throughout the decor as well as in the names of our products. We have been working hard on planning this brewery for over three years now and it feels good to finally see the finish line in sight,” said Rogers. When choosing 2443 Route 9, Malta, as a location, Rogers said they looked at the potential of the village and all it has to offer. “We felt Malta was a town that is bound for tremendous growth and saw an opportunity to open up here as it continues to expand. In a community where the residential population far outnumbers commercial establishments to support them, we’d like to offer a place to have fun and drink beer in a relaxed and fun atmosphere,” said Rogers. The business partners had originally hoped to open last year, but the pandemic postponed the date several times. Rogers said Franco Construction Services of Schenectady is the company renovating the old WIRED coffee space, including a build-out on land directly adjacent to it. “They will probably be in the building for another two months or so. During that time, they will be finishing construction including adding a bathroom, bar and back bar construction, a half wall overlooking the brewhouse, the lab lounge area, and a merchandise wall, as well as other items,” said Rogers. Dave Weitz from Advance Energy Technologies of Clifton Park will be constructing a large walk-in cooler. Rogers said a brewhouse and fermenters will be delivered in February and assembled on site by Fronhofer Design Co. out of Glens Falls. Rogers and Fox will be looking at hiring staff, configuring and testing brew equipment, establishing a patio and bar area and ordering

This is part of the renovation of a building that will become Active Ingredient Brewing Co. Courtesy Active Ingredient Brewery

glassware and merchandise, all before May. “The pandemic has definitely affected our progress. Initially, we were slated to open August of 2020. We had to make the very difficult decision to postpone the opening to May of 2021. This required a decent amount of jostling with both our suppliers and with Key Bank. Luckily, both parties were very cooperative with us and we didn’t lose or waste any unnecessary funds,” said Rogers. Rogers said they will adapt their seating and floor plan to meet safety guidelines. “Luckily we are opening during a time with great weather and will have a large outdoor patio to accommodate many guests,” said Rogers. Active Ingredient Brewing Co. will feature an assortment of craft beer. “We will also offer fruited syrups to be infused into the sour beer as its German origins intended it. Also, we will be making our own hard apple cider using a local orchard,” said Rogers. They will feature a limited menu with cheeseburgers, Belgian pretzels, quesadillas, paninis, sandwiches, soups and salads, all to be paired with beer selections by the chefs. The brew company will also host small bands and trivia nights on a rotating basis. The business website is www. activeingredientbrewing.com.

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 5

Noble Gas Solutions Opens A Facility In South Popular Chowderfest In Saratoga Replaced Glens Falls, Adding Warehouse Space, Offices By Weeklong Event With Safety Guidelines BY CHRISTINE GRAF Albany-based Noble Gas Solutions is planning to open a third location at 15 Third St. in South Glens Falls. The wholesale distributor of gasses and welding supplies also has a location in Kingston. Noble Gas was founded in 1940 as Albany Welding Supply Co. and owner J. David Mahoney worked there for 10 years before purchasing the business in 1986. Approximately 60 percent of the company’s sales are generated from the gas arm of the business, he said. Noble Gas sells medical, specialty, industrial, and consumer gasses as well as gas and cryogenic packaging. Their packaging product line includes cylinders, tanks, manifolds, and liquid cryogenic dewars. “We started by getting into selling specialty gasses for universities and for laboratories, and it just evolved. We sell so many different gasses. We sell helium to florists, gasses to veterinary clinics and pharmaceuticals. It’s very diverse,” said Mahoney. Noble Gas also carries a full line of welding, metalworking, soldering, brazing, and fume elimination supplies. The company sells, rents and repairs welding machines. “We supply manufacturing companies. People like Miller Mechanical, Doty Machine Works, Stonebridge Iron. We also deal with a lot of construction companies,” he said. The company also manufactures and sells dry ice. The quality of dry ice diminishes with time, so purchasing it directly from a manufacturer ensures maximum freshness, according to the company. “Dry ice is a niche, so you want to have enough of a business opportunity to make the investment in the equipment,” said Mahoney. He expects dry ice sales to increase as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine must be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius and is shipped in dry ice. “We have had many conversations with the Empire State Development and State of New York about our production capabilities,” he said. Mahoney’s decision to open a store in South Glens Falls occurred after Taylor Welding Supply sold its 22 Lower Warren St.

Noble Gas Solutions manufactures and sells dry ice, among other business services. Courtesy Noble Gas Solutions

business to Airgas in June. Airgas is a leading distributor of gasses and had more than 900 locations. “Air Gas is the 9,000-pound gorilla,” said Mahoney. “When Taylor sold to them, we felt it left a void and opportunity in the Glens Falls market for us to enter. It eliminated an independent in that market, and we’re really excited about being part of that market.” After a search of nearby properties, Noble Gas settled on the Third Street property. It is owned by Elizabeth Miller, owner of Miller Mechanical and Doty Machine Works. “It’s right off of Route 9 and we thought it was a great spot,” said Mahoney. “We are in the process of renovating the building. It’s going to be really nice when we are done. We have the whole 6,000-square-foot building. We will have a store which will be about 1,700 square feet with offices, a break room and a bathroom and a 3,000-square-foot warehouse.” The store will be staffed by three employees who were previous employees of Taylor Welding Supply and two people from the company’s existing sales reps staff. The company will have a total of 40 employees at its three locations and expects to open locally by February.

Chowderfest is not going away, it is just going to look a little different this year, organizers announced. For the safety of everyone, Discover Saratoga has altered the highly anticipated annual event for 2021, introducing Saratoga Chowder Tour. The group has developed a week-long event, running from Saturday, Jan. 30, through Saturday, Feb. 6, where patrons can get a cup or bowl of chowder at participating Saratoga County restaurants and vote for their favorite online. Participants businesses will also have pints and quarts of chowder to-go. “Due to COVID-19, we had to reimagine Chowderfest this year,” said Discover Saratoga President Darryl Leggieri. “To ensure the safety of everyone, Saratoga Chowder Tour will be a social distancefriendly event spanning over a week. There will be no crowds, no vendors serving samples outside, no shuttle service this year, and no blocked off streets, but there will still be lots of delicious chowder to enjoy inside our local restaurants or to-go.” Saratoga Chowder Tour will allow customers to sample chowder at multiple restaurants throughout the week, avoiding overcrowding of restricted space. They can safely vote online in the comfort of their homes. Reservations are strongly recommended due to limited capacity and spacing requirements inside local restaurants. “It was very important to us to keep Chowderfest going to support our local restaurants and retailers,” said Leggieri. “There will be a lot of new features this year, including chowder to-go and an online store.” Discover Saratoga has partnered with T-Shirt Graphics of Ballston Spa to create an online store to sell official Saratoga Chowder Tour gear. Customers can choose

from several different shirts and hats and have them shipped directly to their house. The online store will close on Feb. 7 at 11:59 p.m. All voting will take place online at discoversaratoga.org/chowderfest/vote and end promptly on Feb. 6 at 5 p.m. Winners will be announced on social media later that evening. This event is presented by DeCrescente Distributing Co. and Saranac, and sponsored by B 95.5, iHeartMedia, 107.7 GNA, Q 105.7 Classic Rock, Saratoga.com, Star Radio 93.3, Saratoga Today, The Daily Gazette, Stewart’s Shops, Saratoga RV Park, Playbill Travel, T-Shit Graphics, The Saratogian and The Post Star. For more information, including a list of participating chowder vendors and discounted hotel rates, please visit discoversaratoga.org/chowderfest or call (518) 584-1531.

Belinda S. Cross Financial Advisor HK Wealth Management Group Reads

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL

6 • SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021

REGIONAL STOCKWATCH Stock Name

Closing Price 12/11/2020

Closing Price Closing Price 12/18/2020 12/24/2020

Closing Price 12/31/2020

Closing Price 01/08/2021

Albany Int’l

71.39

73.80

73.09

73.13

76.19

Arrow

30.96

31.09

30.23

29.91

30.95

AT & T

31.01

29.40

28.19

28.76

29.02

Ball

92.58

92.19

92.34

93.18

90.63

Ballston Spa National Bank

43.50

44.00

45.00

47.00

Bank of America

28.57

28.67

29.96

30.31

32.53

Best Buy

100.05

101.95

102.55

99.79

107.57

Citizens Bank

35.37

34.21

35.12

35.76

39.57

Espey

21.00

20.49

19.68

19.01

19.82

General Electric

11.16

10.81

10.65

10.80

11.35

Hilton

104.74

104.61

106.89

111.26

114.19

Home Depot

264.55

270.45

270.92

265.62

269.08

Int’l Paper

48.63

49.98

49.76

49.72

51.49

Key Corp

15.84

15.42

16.19

16.41

18.23

Lowe’s

157.82

163.20

162.77

160.51

165.01

Martin Marietta

267.20

276.35

275.05

283.97

310.48

M&T Bank

125.84

123.73

124.96

127.30

144.16

McDonald’s

207.76

215.08

211.39

214.58

215.85

National Grid

57.84

58.21

57.89

59.03

59.77

NBT Bancorp Inc.

32.06

32.25

31.87

32.10

31.19

Plug Power

26.77

31.62

35.58

33.91

53.78

Quad Graphics

3.43

3.80

3.52

3.82

4.09

Starbucks

103.00

103.28

102.01

106.98

105.67

Sysco

75.88

72.28

71.99

74.26

77.59

Target

171.71

170.42

175.19

176.53

193.54

Courtesy Gross Electric

comfortable with the COVID crisis.” Gross Electric’s record sales in 2020 were driven by the economic growth that the country experienced in 2018 and 2019. During those years, many companies made decisions to invest in new facilities. It was in 2020 that construction of many of these facilities began. “We were running on the high of 2018 and 2019 being such great years,” said Gross. “Had anybody had a crystal ball and known about the pandemic, they probably would have either delayed projects or tried to get them done sooner.” Gross predicts sales in 2021 to be “average” and estimates they will total approximately $50 million. He is concerned about the impact the pandemic will have on sales in 2022. It has put a halt to many company’s plans for future expansion. “I see a dip in the economy in the latter part of ’21,” he said. “We are going to survive through ’21, but my concern is latter part of ‘21 going into ‘22 because of the unknown. The larger firms aren’t going to be making large capital investments until we all know where the economy is going. There isn’t a lot of planning right now—engineering firms are not planning. It’s like a whip effect. When they aren’t planning, there’s nothing for us to bid on.” As a result, Gross is focused on making his operation as efficient as possible. “We’re constantly trying to reinvent ourselves and find ways to make ourselves more competitive and more efficient. We are committed to giving the best end product we can to all of our clients.” In recent years, Gross has purchased real estate throughout the region. Among his holdings are more than 30 acres of vacant land adjoining the Carey Industrial Park on Carey Road in Queensbury. He is considering plans for a potential industrial park near Northway Exit 18.

Washington County New Business Registrations DECEMBER

58.33

14.63

20.48

Erica Woodward Photography 30 Deerfield Lane Fort Ann, NY 12827

City Man Press 391 Herrington Hill Rd. Greenwich, NY 12834

6.60

6.67

7.03

58.22

58.75

57.81

Anchor and Anvil Metalworks 175 Hadlock Pond Rd. Fort Ann, NY 12827

Mother Earth Pest Solutions 162 Main St Hudson Falls, NY 12839

Veteran Don Michaelsen Cancer Fund 12 Broadview Terrace Granville, NY 12832

Shamrock Studios 1548 Farley Rd. Hudson Falls, NY 12839

Woodys Snacks 7381 State Route 22 Granville, NY 12832

Bill Sullivans Diner 25 Main St. Hudson Falls, NY 12839

55.53

55.49

55.82

Kaspien Holdings

14.42

14.20

13.75

Trustco Bank

6.34

6.62

Verizon

60.35

60.46 145.95

Joseph Gross founded Gross Electric, based in Queensbury, in 1994.

Allprintz 371 County Route 21 Granville, NY 12832

55.74

147.00

BY CHRISTINE GRAF Queensbury-based electrical contractor Gross Electric reported record breaking sales of $65 million in 2020. The company was founded in 1994 by Joseph Gross. He started the business out of his garage and had 40 employees by the end of his first year. Today, Gross Electric has 300 employees and satellite offices in Virginia and Florida. The company performs work along the entire East Coast and as far north as the Canadian border. “I cut my teeth in the paper industry,” said Gross, noting that Finch Pruyn was his first major customer. “The paper industry was very good to us, but unfortunately, that industry has faded.” Gross Electric was able to find new opportunities in the cement industry and has performed work at Glens Falls Cement and Lafarge Ravena Cement Plant. The company also works in the food processing industry, and customers have included Beech-Nut Nutrition Company in Amsterdam. Their biggest break came about five years ago when they were hired to do the electrical work for the Global Foundries administrative offices in Malta. “After that, we earned their trust and picked up quite a lot of work at Global Foundries,” said Gross. “With them giving us the opportunity, that opened up other opportunities in the industry.” As a result, Gross Electric was able to secure work at some of the largest chip manufacturing projects on the East Coast. Crews are currently working at the $3 billion Micron Technology plant that is under construction in Manassas, Va. Gross’s son Kyle is overseeing work there. His son Kevin manages prefabrication, purchasing, and logistics at the company’s 60,000-square-foot facility in Queensbury. “I’m proud to say the company is moving into a second generation,” said Gross. Gross Electric also has crews working at the new Regeneron Pharmaceutical plant in East Greenbush and the Cree Inc. semiconductor plant that is under construction near Utica. “We’re working on quite a few large projects which were bid on pre-COVID. COVID has been challenging to say the least. It’s been challenging to maintain social distancing and keep everyone safe. And because of contact tracing, we had to send 35 guys home from one job,” said Gross. “We had a record sales year, but I would say our margins were less due to COVID. It’s been a successful year. It’s just that it had potential to be more successful if we weren’t in a pandemic.” Gross furloughed 75 employees at the height of COVID. For many, it was their choice to be furloughed. The electrical workers at the company are part of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Worker (IBEW) union. “We use the IBEW labor pool and have been fortunate to be able to man all projects appropriately,” said Gross. “It’s not easy, and it’s a constant rotation because of people not feeling

Homestead Farm 90 S Union St. Cambridge, NY 12816

The TorontoDominion Bank

Walmart

Area Electrical Contractor Serving Northeast And Beyond Reports Record Sales In 2020

143.50

144.15

146.66

This list of quotations is provided through the courtesy of Robert M. Schermerhorn, CFP®, Saratoga Financial Services, Securities offered through LPL Financial /Member FINRA & SIPC, located in Saratoga Springs, NY. www.SaratogaRetire.com

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 7

SUNY System Launches Online Program To Owner Of Cleaning Business Opens New Give All New Yorkers A ‘Gateway’ To College Boutique In Burnt Hills For Gift Shoppers The State University of New York has launched a free Online Training Center to give more New Yorkers a gateway to college, no matter where they live across the state. The center, announced by SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras, features high school equivalency, college prep, and employment certification programs. As phase one of Malatras’ new SUNY For All campaign to expand access to higher education, the center will prepare eligible students for college and post-COVID careers with training and success coaches to guide them. Eligible students must be a New York state resident from a low- or moderate-income household, without a post-secondary degree, who may be unemployed or recently laid off. Those interested can contact SUNY about the spring semester, which is scheduled to start on Feb. 1. The Online Training Center is designed to give more New Yorkers in every region of the state -from rural communities to urban centers - another opportunity to go to college. Students who complete any one of the training certificates with a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential will be automatically accepted to any of SUNY’s 30 community colleges or SUNY Empire State College. The application fee is also waived. Officials said that even before the pandemic, it was projected that 65 percent of jobs in the U.S. would require post-secondary education through 2020, and recent projections show that increasing to 70 percent by 2027. Currently, more than 2.2 million New Yorkers between the ages of 25 and 44 have no degree, and 2.6 million between the ages of 45 and 64 are without one as well. “As New York State rebounds after the coronavirus pandemic, SUNY is providing opportunities to help more New Yorkers prepare for jobs across our state that will continue to require some post-secondary education — and we know far too many need a college degree to succeed,” Malatras said in a press release. “SUNY is designing a path to higher education that is free and accessible through remote learning and virtual support that make the first step to higher education easy, whether you are a recent high school graduate, a working parent, a veteran, or a mid-career professional looking

for a new career. SUNY’s free Online Training Center includes the following programs: high school equivalency, college preparation, English as a second language, professional medical coder & biller, pharmacy technician, emergency medical technician, electronic health records, physical therapy aide, certified nurse assistant (excluding clinical hours), home health aid, emergency telecommunications, advanced manufacturing, office administration professional, customer service, teacher assistant, security guard, OSHA 30 & 40, entreskills, business advisement and webinar business trainings. SUNY’s free Online Training Center includes programs offered by the University Center for Academic and Workforce Development (UCAWD), Advanced Technology Training and Information Networking (ATTAIN) labs and Educational Opportunity Centers (EOCs). These online programs, coupled with success coaches, are aimed to help more New Yorkers earn a higher education degree. Additionally, small business owners can start or grow their enterprises with EntreSkills, the free online entrepreneurial education course developed by the New York Small Business Development Center. SUNY’s Educational Opportunity Centers have traditionally served as a launching pad to community colleges, and SUNY campuses have partnerships with many EOCs to give enrollment and orientation programs, officials said. The statewide network of 10 EOCs and two Outreach and Counseling Centers include 600 faculty and staff. While SUNY’s EOCs are located in large urban areas across New York, SUNY’s Online Training Center is accessible across the state. Heather C. Briccetti, Esq. President and CEO of The Business Council of New York State, Inc. said, “As the country and state emerge from the pandemic with business and some industries changed forever, we will need workforce training and education that is flexible and accessible for all New Yorkers. SUNY’s new online training center will be an important pathway for many working New Yorkers to pivot their career path for the better. “This will provide many New Yorkers a great opportunity that they may not have previously seen as possible.”

BY SUSAN ELISE CAMPBELL Nicole Wilson has two messages for shoppers at her new Burnt Hills boutique: She helps make people’s lives simple and it is safe to shop there. “After all, I do own a cleaning company,” said Wilson, who started Life Maid Spotless and Simple about 15 years ago. “Cleaning prevents COVID.” The retail shop— called Life Made Simple Boutique—recently opened in Suite 5 at 772 Saratoga Road, the Dollar Tree Plaza. It had been a dream of Wilson’s for many years, partly because she has “a fire and a passion for shopping,” she said. “I live on a farm and sell eggs and crafts,” said Wilson. But opportunity knocked for a boutique with home décor and gifts as she planned moving her cleaning business to Route 50. “For the last five years I ran Spotless out of my home and with the pandemic, I thought we would be safer,” she said. “But I needed more room for the washer and dryer and to store supplies.” At any time Wilson employs 12 to 18 cleaning staff. She wasn’t expecting to start a second business during a pandemic, but the space presented itself first and the boutique followed. “I had thought the plaza location was probably too expensive but made a gamble and called,” she said. “I was shocked to find that the cost of the space was comparable to an office and the additional area for retail was a bonus.” On Nov. 1, she relocated Spotless and began setting up the boutique in her “rustic and industrial yet homey farmhouse style,” she said. Wilson sells women’s clothing, personal care products and hand-crafted items for the home. The shop features a self-healing station. “I want people to be healthy and to give them help dealing with the stresses of today,” she said. Wilson is bringing other local womenowned businesses, such as soap makers and artisans, “to give back to the small business

community,” she said. Wilson is pursuing certification through the SBA’s Women Owned Small Business Program for her cleaning company. “Shopping for items for the boutique has been difficult, but I have found some wholesale sites where you don’t have to pay for 60 to 90 days,” she said. “Shipping and getting things on time has been tough also, but I have had a very positive experience in the community overall.” “People are helping small businesses more than ever now,” she said. “It took a pandemic to open people’s eyes to the need to support each other.” Life Made Simple Boutique is open Wednesday through Saturday starting at 10 a.m. and by appointment on Sundays “for people who may be nervous about going out during the pandemic,” she said. “COVID may be a problem for a while but it’s a safe environment here,” she said. “We are small, but we have a little of everything.”

8 • SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL

SPECIAL SECTION

Corporate Tax / Business Planning Gearing Up For Tax Season, CPAs Handle Challenges And Changes On The Horizon BY SUSAN ELISE CAMPBELL The fourth quarter of any fiscal year is a busy time for CPAs. But this year, advising clients is posing more than the usual challenges. “It is difficult enough for CPAs to get out of 2020, much less plan for 2021, when passing laws pertaining to deductions, depreciation and taxes is delayed,” said Laurie A. Stillwell, a CPA in Saratoga Springs. “My biggest fear professionally is that it is difficult to advise clients on how to move forward from a business and personal tax perspective,” she said. “I have never been busier, but I want to be proactive and that is nearly impossible.” “It has been the busiest year-end in 10 years because of uncertainty with taxes and the economy,” said Paul A. Curtis, CPA, a founding partner of CMJ, LLP in Queensbury. “Our firm was in a rush to close business sales because the new administration is thinking of eliminating the maximum 20 percent capital gains rate and raising personal income tax rates.” “A company that has grown to a million dollar business pays $200,000 under the current tax code but may have a $400,000 tax bill if they wait to cash in next year,” he said, which is why CMJ closed six major transactions in December. Uncertainty scares businesses to death.” One issue that was clarified when the CARES Act and supplemental appropriations were signed on Dec. 27 is what would happen if small businesses were unable to repay their loans under the Payroll Protection Program. Many businesses in Stillwell’s practice have taken out PPP loans since they became available under the stimulus and relief package enacted last March, she said. The loans had to be used to pay salaries, insurance, overhead and other specific expenses to help qualifying businesses retain staff and stay afloat. “The Treasury Department said in the original legislation carried forward that if the borrower defaults and meets criteria for the

Laurie A. Stillwell is a CPA with offices in Saratoga Springs.

Paul A. Curtis, CPA, founding partner of CMJ, LLP in Queensbury.

PPP loan to be forgiven, the small business does not have to pay tax on the cancelled debt,” she said. Stillwell cited some of the PPP guidelines. The goal of the loan is to retain workforce and keep the business viable. If staff drops too much, the Small Business Administration, which is “the rulemaker on this program,” may not forgive the entire balance due. “There are a fair number of exceptions, exclusions, client protections and safe harbors built into the regulations,” she said. “These try to provide targeted relief for companies, although sometimes it is just not feasible to keep a business open.” As an even bigger concession for struggling businesses, the new law makes actual expenses paid with PPP loan proceeds deductible. “There has never been anything like a 100 percent tax-free loan,” said Curtis. “This has a major impact on all businesses, no matter what size.” On a loan of $100,000, for example, the savings to a business could be $10,000 or more, Stillwell said. There is an extensive list of tax credits and deductions businesses rely on that the CARES Act carried into 2021. “These are habitually extended a year at a time, which is a band-aid approach,” said Stillwell. “One extension we were looking for is the provision in the original CARES Act that allows employers to defer some of this year’s payroll tax, which is their portion of Social Security and Medicare, into 2022,” she said. “Depending on how the company files taxes, this can help provide cash flow for the business.” The Qualified Business Income Deduction was also extended. “This is a deduction put in place in the last minutes of 2017 and effective for 2018,” said Curtis. “When the tax on C Corporations was reduced from 39 percent to a flat tax of 21 percent, it was not fair to S Corporations and partnerships, which are subject to ordinary personal income tax rates.” The QBID is a 20 percent reduction in taxable profit, Curtis said, “which somewhat reduces taxes for individuals with small businesses.” The fourth quarter is typically busy for CPAs

because it is the time when they may be advising clients on re-establishing their business as a Subchapter S Corporation from a C Corporation in order to eliminate double taxation. “C Corporations pay a flat tax and then dividends to the owners are taxed up to 24 percent,” said Curtis. “Whether to make the transition has much to do with the owner’s exit strategy.” Curtis said it is “almost impossible to sell corporate stock.” That is because a new owner inherits all of the known, and unknown, assets and liabilities of the company, such as a lawsuit that does not emerge until after the purchase, he said. “Risk is reduced with an S Corporation because you can pick and choose which assets and liabilities you want,” said Curtis. To enact the sale of a C Corporation’s assets, the owners have to liquidate and pay a dividend, when double taxation enters the picture. Both the company and its share owners are subject to tax, whereas partners of an S Corporation are subject to only one level of income tax, and personal income tax rates were trimmed greatly by the last administration, Curtis said. “Changing the filing status to an S Corporation can result in a 19 percent net tax reduction to business owners,” Curtis said. “A C Corporation still makes sense for smaller, high-growth companies but mature companies, with their higher cash flow for payouts, should consider changing how they file.” Now is the time CPA firms are gearing up for tax season and Curtis said moving last year’s personal income tax filing deadline from April to July greatly helped firms get through their backlogs last season. “We did a straight-out crunch, with half the staff working three days and the other half another three days, and we were busy with extensions through the fall,” he said. “I suspect the federal government will extend the due date again and hope to hear soon.” While the upcoming administration has hinted that personal income tax rates may be going back up and the maximum capital gains tax rate may be done away with, the future is cloudy. “My crystal ball broke back in April,” said Stillwell.

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 9

Technological Innovations Will Continue To Revolutionize Functions In Every Day Life BY STEPHEN KYNE, CFP There is an old curse that reads, “May you live in interesting times.” I think we can all agree that we are certainly in interesting times. From the pandemic and the economy, to the political climate, 2020 (and so far, 2021) will long be remembered as a consequential year. The question now: Where do we go from here? 2020 was a tale of two economies. Small businesses experienced a very different reality last year than large businesses. We all know local business owners who are struggling, or who have gone out of business, altogether. We know service sector workers whose financial lives are in complete collapse. Yet, on the other side, many large national businesses are booming. It’s a travesty, and our hearts go out to those suffering. Things will get better. For investors who stayed invested during 2020, it turned out to be a surprisingly positive year, especially in the technology sector. This pandemic would have been untenable without recent technological innovations. Not only has technology allowed us to stay connected to loved ones during shutdowns, it has also allowed more people to work productively from home than ever before. As a result, non-tech companies, their employees and customers, have been direct beneficiaries since these companies have not had to shut down, could retain their employees, and consumers could still gain access to products and services which are essential to modern life. Imagine how much worse things would be if this had struck in the ‘90s. What do we see for 2021? For all of the relative insanity we’ve experienced so far this year, there are some reasons to be optimistic about the next 12 months. Technological innovations will continue to revolutionize the way we function in our everyday lives, and will do so at an ever-increasing pace. This is because we have all now been conditioned to accept new technologies when we otherwise might have been hesitant. We expect technology, as a sector, to continue to do well. Fact: The Moderna vaccine had already been designed by Jan. 13, 2020, just two days after the COVID gene sequence had been made public! It will end up saving millions of lives—possibly yours—and we have technology to thank for it. As more become vaccinated, and shutdowns end, we expect the greater economy to begin to normalize. It may take well into the second quarter, but it is an eventuality. This, of course, bodes well for the private sector, but will also help the public sector as states and municipalities regain their financial footing. Some are worried about what a single-partycontrolled federal government means, so let’s address that. Markets typically like gridlock, because it is easier for businesses to plan if they know the rules are not going to change. Normally a sweep by either party would be cause for concern, but

•

Stephen Kyne, CFP, partner at Sterling Manor Financial LLC in Saratoga Springs. Courtesy Sterling Manor Financial LLC

this year, markets are reacting positively. This is largely because there is only a technical majority in the Senate, with the vice president acting as the tie-breaker. This will force compromise, which is ultimately beneficial. One thing that will almost certainly pass in the next few weeks is additional stimulus and relief for the American public, which markets are applauding as well. Expect another round of direct payments (checks), as well as a delay in initiatives to raise taxes on anyone, rich or poor. In fact, we expect a repeal of the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions, which would actually, disproportionately, benefit the wealthy. It is also very conceivable that Congress extends provisions of the CARES act in 2021, including an elimination of early withdrawal penalties for hardship withdrawals, and another break on required minimum distributions. To that end, if you do not need your required minimum distributions in order to maintain your cash flow, you may want to wait to take them in case Congress eliminates them for 2021, as it did in 2020. Here’s an interesting idea for any high school seniors graduating this year. Freshman applications and admissions are down more than 20 percent at some schools, leaving schools in a position to have to compete aggressively for students to fill their rolls. Couple that with the fact that most students don’t have SAT/ ACT scores to report, and you may find that the dream school you thought was scholastically unattainable is suddenly an option! In summary, as the pandemic comes under control and our lives are allowed to regain some semblance of normalcy, we expect the economy to continue to improve. With that, we expect the broader US stock indices to grow by 10-15 percent in 2021. We also believe that technology will again continue to be a driver of growth.

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Robert Schermerhorn, CFP® | (518) 584-2555 | www.SaratogaRetire.com | 18 Division Street, Saratoga Springs

Business Report Strategies For Strengthening Your Business

BY DAVID CUMMING As a small business owner, you are playing a big role in driving our nation’s economy. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses create two out of every three net new jobs in the private sector. Currently, there are over 30.7 million small businesses in the U.S., accounting for 47.3 percent of all U.S. employees. If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you wear many hats, including overseeing the finances of your business. Each day, you face critical decisions that may have an enormous impact on the future success of your company. Questions about day-to-day cash flow, attracting and retaining talented employees and balancing finances at work and at home are just some of the challenges you must consider as you grow your business. Every business is unique, but the five critical strategies for strengthening a business for long-term growth are the same. 1. Managing cash flow Having an effective cash flow strategy can assist you in keeping your finger on the pulse of how quickly and effectively cash is moving in and out of your business, while also working to enhance the yield on your short-term assets. You’ll also need skills and resources to address a broad range of credit structures. 2. Protecting your assets Unforeseen events can jeopardize the value of your business. What if something happens to you, or another person who is critical to the success of the business? Or what if you get sued? Knowing what risks you face and how to avoid the loss they can cause can give you the freedom to run your business successfully. Some protection strategies include business insurance, as well as a comprehensive asset protection plan. 3. Attracting and retaining talented employees The most valuable asset of any growing business is its employees. Rewarding and motivating key people with benefits such as a retirement plan is critical to the ongoing success of your business. In addition to helping to attract and keep good employees, there are potential tax benefits to offering a solid retirement plan. But what type of plan is the right fit for your business? Each plan has its advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to understand all options to determine

•

David Cumming, financial advisor in Saratoga Springs at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Courtesy Morgan Stanley

which plan is most appropriate. 4. Optimizing investment decisions Whether in business or on the personal front, you may be reluctant to shoulder the responsibilities associated with managing an investment portfolio. Discretionary accounts are ideal for busy business owners who don’t have the time to connect with their financial advisor on every decision. The timeliness of transactions can make a significant difference not only by enabling portfolio trading when you are not contactable, but also when price sensitive announcements demand immediate portfolio action. This differs from non-discretionary accounts where clients must authorize trades for every decision. 5. Integrating your business plan with your personal plan With so many responsibilities to juggle, you may not have the time—or the inclination—to tackle these five critical strategies on your own. Consider establishing a wealth advisory team that includes a financial advisor, corporate attorney, estate attorney, accountant and investment banker or business valuation specialist to help you make informed decisions about your business and personal finances. Your wealth advisory team can help you integrate your business plan with your overall wealth plan, freeing you to stay focused on what you do best— growing your business.

10 • SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL

SPECIAL SECTION

Outlook 2021

State Senator Jim Tedisco Continued From Page 1

congressional seats in the 2022 redistricting, further reducing the state’s clout on the federal level. When enough people who can afford to leave New York State are gone, who will be left to pay for the infrastructure, health care, schools and other important issue areas? That’s why I’m working across the aisle with my colleagues to shine the light on this problem and to find out why the Empire State may be fast becoming the “Empty State” so we can change the agenda to keep them here. While our state government is controlled by one voice from one party affiliation from one region of the state, I believe that I, and my Senate conference colleagues, have an obligation to use the bully pulpit, speak truth to power and advocate for what we believe is sound and good policy for all New Yorkers. I began working on this issue last year before COVID-19 hit. I’m hopeful in the New Year as we safely emerge from COVID’s shadow, my Senate colleagues and I will be addressing these issues and put forth policies to turn things around. These include restarting our local economies, rethinking how New York state operates, and renewing a commitment to New York state’s residents to ensure strong, robust economic growth in our communities. Specifically, we must:

Restart our local economies by: • Safely reopening our small businesses to help them get back on their feet and offer gainful employment for residents. • Helping our schools and colleges stay open. • Investing in our infrastructure to rebuild our state’s competitiveness. • Expand reliable broadband for all our communities to help grow small businesses. • Rethink how New York state operates by: • Ending New York state’s unaffordability problems, which has been made worse by the pandemic. • Taking on state government’s culture of overspending and restoring fiscal responsibility. • Reasserting the Legislature’s constitutional authority as an equal branch of government. Renew our commitment to residents by: • Fostering the growth of vibrant local communities. • Developing a robust economy with diverse opportunities. • Creating safer neighborhoods with common sense public safety measures. “I love New York” is the state slogan. Unfortunately, in New York state and in our Upstate communities, too many people are saying “I’m leaving New York.” It’s no too late to stop the population loss and turn our economy around.

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BY DENNIS BROBSTON Here we are again at the start of a new year, but nothing was like last year, right? 2020 is over and while it was a strange and upsetting year, it did present many businesses with opportunities. We were thrust into unknowns and our businesses proved responsive with resilience to quickly regroup and rebound beyond their own expectations of abilities. Many SEDC members provided vital supplies to other industries to keep their workforce and worksites safe. For Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), it was the busiest year since the days of 2009. Why 2009? That was when GlobalFoundries broke ground and our attraction efforts were immersed in the semiconductor industry! And since 2009, in addition to GlobalFoundries and the industry awakening in our region, an additional 15,000 jobs of all types were created in Saratoga County. Saratoga County has to experience continued business and job growth in order to raise the finances to support the services our residents have come to rely upon and deserve. The successful past efforts of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, our cities, towns and villages have paid dividends in keeping our county the lowest taxed in New York state. Our continued partnership with the Saratoga County, Clifton Park and Mechanicville-Stillwater IDAs provides the local support to entice retention and the creation of jobs. In our 43 year existence, SEDC helped over 300 companies grow here in Saratoga County. SEDC’s efforts in 2020 produced more investment for Saratoga County than the previous four years combined! $121.3 million of investment retained 447 jobs and enabled the creation of 698 new jobs. The new payroll added to Saratoga County will amount to over $26.7 million per year (since 2009 Saratoga County’s total industry wages grew from $2.9 billion to $4.8 billion EOY 2019). The new year brings new opportunities and challenges as we continue to experience shutdowns and slowdowns due to COVID-19. Whether we like it or not, we have to embrace the changes this pandemic has created. All of us also have to aggressively make adjustments or fix problems that are exacerbated by this pandemic. We use this time to engage with our members, community leaders, elected officials and beyond to be best informed, share vital information, connect companies for supplies, workforce, programs, etc. Simultaneously, we will stay in constant contact with site selectors, corporation leaders, realtors etc. to showcase various properties available, including SEDC’s SEE Saratoga site listings. Advanced technologies and materials continue to look to the Northeast United States for locations to grow. Our marketing efforts and demographics always get us into the attraction game. A highly educated workforce, adequately zoned sites and local incentives are reasons we receive many inquiries and site visits.

Dennis Brobston, president, Economic Development Corp.

Saratoga

Courtesy Saratoga Economic Development Corp.

Our energy infrastructure continues to be troublesome in Saratoga County. Supply of natural gas and limits on electric capacity hinders our efforts, not only in attraction but also expansion and retention of existing companies. COVID-19 has slowed the process dramatically but we don’t give up easily. In lieu of over 30 companies coming to Saratoga in July 2020, we held a three-day virtual conference, comprised of regional and statewide partners, to showcase Saratoga County and New York state. This proved as effective as having the delegation here, as we had over 100 business leaders from across Ireland and New York City learn how easy it is to locate here and how welcoming and capable our stakeholders are to assist. Currently, we have over 10 businesses interested in visiting our area as soon as the travel restrictions are lifted. Furthermore, we are currently working with over 16 Ireland based businesses, in various stages of expansion/product launches. The U.S. and Irish embassies, along with proven organizations mentioned above, are partners in progressing this program. In 2021, these efforts will continue, albeit via phone or zoom meetings, to secure Saratoga County as a final consideration for Ireland investments in life sciences, equine, advanced materials and food and beverage processing expansions coming to the U.S. We will virtually be showcasing sites, connecting to professional partners and connecting many of the management services for market launches. Our clients are getting smarter as they look to grow. The internet, with all its videos, digitized brochures, audio files and plethora of information educates them. They want answers fast and get impatient when answers to their inquiries take too long. The world is automating faster than we can understand. SEDC works very hard to be a part of this fast-moving, knowledge-based world to perform our mission: to create jobs and diversify the tax base while improving the quality of life for the residents of Saratoga County.

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 11 BY MARK SHAW Over the past few years, we have discussed several different yearly topics on what to watch. In 2018 we discussed everything as a service. Servers, email, everything heading to the cloud. This was a long discussion on how to change your current hardware and software spend from a capital expense to a monthly service model. In 2019 we talked about security. Why it’s so important and why doing the basics is the most critical thing you can do for your business. Employees are firm’s biggest asset and weakest link. Starting with a plan that allows you to help educate and train your team is the first step in Cyber Security 101. And finally, last year in 2020, we discussed how your cyber security company should NOT be your internal or external IT resources. They hold different functions, require different skills, and much like in accounting - one person should not have all the keys to the financial kingdom. This is not dissimilar from your technology. Now in 2021, everything is coming together. All the technology changes that we have been preaching since 2018 are culminating into this great “work-from-home” event called COVID-19. The slow pace of migrating your environment to the cloud and educating on security separating business functions in technology, have been thrust into the spotlight of the current pandemic environment. If your business has not been following the technology path as quickly as you would have liked and you are stuck with the pain of servers in an office, an office you might not need anymore, then now is the time to consider the move to the cloud. This guidance in 2018 is still a path that is viable today. Imagine having a workplace that doesn’t need an office space, whose entire set of business applications are accessible from anywhere at any time. Imagine allowing your employees to take home their cloud-based physical phones or use their mobile devices securely as their work phones. Imagine that you have well-trained and cyber BY SHELBY SCHNEIDER Who knew this time last year that a pandemic would upend our lives and economies? Essentially, no one. We cannot say with any certainty how 2021 will turn out— but we do know more than we did last spring and, that there is hope and opportunity on the horizon. Among the reasons for optimism is the prospect of widespread vaccination, and federal stimulus relief for our small businesses and state and local governments. For every problem created by COVID-19, there is an opportunity in disguise. With the new year upon us, there are potential new opportunities to take advantage of and ways to adapt to challenges that our businesses and municipalities will face. There is an opportunity for 2021 to be the year of a remarkable bounce-back. In Saratoga County our hospitality and tourism sector and arts and cultural venues, which generate over a billion dollars in revenue each year, experienced the worst of the impact. The good news is if enough Americans are vaccinated, it is plausible to expect a comeback in those sectors later this year. If our public and private sector businesses work together to help coordinate the delivery of the vaccine to our workforce and the public, we will mitigate impacts to our economy and get to a new normal in the most efficient way. In 2021, business retention and expansion will remain our highest priority. Like 2020, the Saratoga Partnership will be on the front lines, helping our small businesses gain access to the next round of PPP and EIDL funds, and help them get access to state and local relief programs like the personal protection equipment grants offered through our Industrial development agencies. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, small business owners have been resilient, pivoting, and adapting their business models to navigate continually changing conditions. We will continue to help save our locals by helping small businesses take advantage of new market opportunities in e-commerce and consumer spending, help businesses recast their business plans to create a seamless experience for customers. Throughout the pandemic, Saratoga County had an abundance of essential employers in our manufacturing sector like Globalfoundries, Momentive Performance Materials, QUAD/ Graphics, Essity, Cascades Tissue Group, Stewart’s Corporation, and others which

Mark Shaw, president and CEO of Stored Technology Solutions Inc. (StoredTech). Courtesy StoredTech

security educated staff who are safely protecting you and your company from wherever they are working from. Imagine that you have a cyber security firm that is watching your IT and working together with your technology provider. You don’t need to imagine any of that; this is the world so many are already living in. Technology has been there, and it’s been a topicfor-discussion in this very paper since 2018. In today’s world a rapid upheaval increased the pace in which all of this happened for most of us. In 2021 the culmination, either forced through business necessity or planned and implemented for years, is here. Businesses deserve to reap the benefits from the WFH (Work-from-Home) model, and you should be protecting yourself and your business from cyber security threats. The technology and know-how are there, and many great firms can provide you the guidance you need in these times of turmoil. 2021 is when it all comes together. Your business technology is a puzzle. Make sure all your pieces fit so that you can come out of this period stronger than ever.

Shelby Schneider is the president/CEO of the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership. Courtesy Saratoga Prosperity Partnership

helped to stabilize our economy. New market opportunities in e-commerce, last mile delivery, and the reshoring of manufacturing have also created opportunities for business expansion into Saratoga County. It is critical that businesses that grow in Saratoga County have a skilled workforce that can both work and afford to live in our great communities. In 2021, we anticipate additional opportunities for high quality workforce housing throughout Saratoga County, like the $60M Victory Mills workforce housing project approved in 2019 and anticipated to begin construction this year. In 2021, we anticipate that remote work will persist and this creates an opportunity to capitalize on our world class quality of life by attracting talent back to our communities. We have been actively working with communities throughout Saratoga County, including our Northern Towns in the Adirondack Park, to develop talent and investment attraction strategies while also tackling obstacles like broadband access to rural areas. On the flipside, as remote work persists, childcare will continue to be a challenge for working families. The transition to online schooling and stay-at-home orders during the pandemic required at least one adult in the home to focus on the children — helping them with schoolwork and supervising them all day. Prior to the pandemic, Saratoga County faced a workforce shortage, record low unemployment, and a 60 percent reduction in the availability of childcare options in the Continued On Page 12

BY KENNETH J. ENTENMANN This past year was an interesting one, to say the least. Though some may prefer to use other adjectives to describe 2020. COVID-19 provided a vast disruption of economic activity, with U.S. GDP declining 31.7 percent in the second quarter. However, the U.S. economy demonstrated remarkable resiliency and rebounded 32.7 percent in the third quarter. While the economy continued to grow in the fourth quarter, activity did slow, particularly in the labor markets. It is estimated that the full year 2020 U.S. GDP will decline around 3-5 percent. As we flip the calendar to 2021, great uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 remains. Nonetheless, our 2021 economic outlook remains optimistic. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 economic disruption has endured longer than most anticipated. The hope of a short duration event prompted by the quick “flattening of the curve” in the spring soon dissipated as COVID spiked in the summer and again during the holiday season. Portions of the country remain in lockdown with severe economic consequences. However, the vaccines are slowly making an impact and it is widely expected that the vaccination process will accelerate. This provides hope that a return to economic normalcy is coming although the timing is still uncertain. COVID will negatively impact the economy at least through the first quarter, probably into the second. However, the economy is poised for a very strong second half of the year. Despite the COVID uncertainty, the economy held its own in the fourth quarter and there are significant areas of economic momentum that should sustain growth until the vaccine is widely administered. Capital goods investment and consumer spending remain very strong. The purchasing managers’ indices for both the manufacturing and service sectors continue to expand. The auto and housing markets are booming. And global equity markets are trading at or near record high levels. It has been difficult to watch the dysfunction of Washington D.C. The federal government’s response to COVID back in March deserves accolades. While not perfect, it was swift, massive and highly effective. Large companies have managed rather well throughout the crisis. Unfortunately, many of the programs targeted at individuals and small businesses “expired” in the fourth quarter of 2020 and election-driven political wrangling prevented further response. The disappointing failure to replenish these programs are the main reason for the slower rate of growth in the fourth quarter. However, with the election behind us, further stimulus will be forthcoming. A new $900 billion program has passed. This

Kenneth J. Entenmann, senior VP, chief investment officer, NBT Wealth Management. Courtesy NBT Wealth Management

“skinny” program (I guess $900 billion qualifies as “skinny”) is targeted at the right places like the long-term unemployed and small business. President-elect Biden called the $900 billion program a “down payment.” Further fiscal stimulus is highly likely. This additional fiscal support will aid the economy through what is hopefully the last stand of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Reserve Bank will supplement the fiscal stimulus with continued easy monetary policy. Fed Chairmen Jay Powell has stated the Fed will provide monetary support “for as long as it takes.” Inflation remains muted with major inflation indicators (PCE, CPI) hovering around 1.5 percent, far below the Fed’s 2 percent target. This green lights easy monetary policy. In short, the interest rates are likely to remain very low and the economy will remain awash in liquidity. Again, this will aid the economy as we await wide-spread vaccination. Lastly, personal savings rates have grown at record levels and it is estimated that there is over $1 trillion in savings. That is a huge stockpile of money just waiting to be unleashed into the economy. There is much discussion over the long-term impacts of COVID. It remains to be seen if business travel returns to pre-COVID levels. But we doubt individuals have lost their desire to travel and vacation. When it is safe to go out, we believe people will, with $1 trillion burning a hole in their pockets. This has the potential for explosive economic activity. Our economic outlook remains positive while acknowledging that the timing of economic recovery is dependent on achieving some degree of control of the coronavirus. It is our sincere hope that the vaccination programs will diminish the virus risk early in 2021 and economic activity can begin the normalization process.

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Outlook 2021 Continued From Page 11 BY TODD SHIMKUS I first heard the phrase “building a plane while flying it” on April 2, a teleconference was organized for local banking leaders to discuss the roll out of the PPP program. The next day, local banks and their employees would begin helping thousands of local businesses to get these loans. These loans, if used correctly, would be forgiven. But as this teleconference began, the SBA had not given the banks a set of rules to follow or an application to use. To describe the situation, Steve Bulger, regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Atlantic Region, said, “Look everyone. We’re trying to build a plane while flying it.” He noted that this meant we all needed to do the best we could with the information we had. Everyone on the call wanted to get this money into the hands of local businesses. We all agreed this was vital. They’d have an application. They’d have rules. If they needed to be changed, the SBA would change them as we went forward. Over time, in fact, they did. The next round of PPP loans will have different rules than this first round. It’s been improved over time. In 2020, you could have used this quote for virtually everything. Every employer, nonprofit, and public agency had to build their own plane while flying it. I think every family and every individual was doing the same. Our way of life changed. Our way of conducting business changed. We’re using telemedicine more than ever before. Our children are being educated differently. We’re doing take-out more than ever before. We celebrated birthdays and holidays different this year. We’re wearing masks and social distancing. What we can do or should do is changing all the time. Now in 2021, we’re still flying the plane while building it as vaccines are distributed. If we are to get back to some semblance of normal, we need to get a substantial percentage of our population to get vaccinated.

Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. Courtesy Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce

We’re seeing supply chain issues already. We’re seeing the rules and guidance change every day. The virus is adapting too. So we have to focus on what we can control. When you can get vaccinated please do so. If you can volunteer to help with mass vaccination events when they begin, please volunteer now. When you get the call, get the shot. Don’t delay. We’re all counting on each other to stop the spread of this virus by getting vaccinated whenever and wherever that is. Kudos to everyone who helped to save our local businesses over the holiday season. From what we’ve heard, our community responded positively. The way many of you purchased goods and services shifted as you sought to help. The local businesses you love, however, still need your help. We need to continue to shop local, to dine out or take out from local restaurants, to hire local vendors and contractors, and to donate to local nonprofits. Every discretionary penny you spend. Please invest it in our local community. Local. Local. Local. Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated. Wear a mask. Wear a mask. Wear a mask. The plane is still flying. We’re still building it. These three simple actions can make a huge difference. We need everyone to help. Because if we’ve learned one thing from 2020 it is that we are Stronger Together.

BY DOUG FORD As I prepare to write this article regarding the construction outlook for 2021, I can’t help but think about all that has transpired since I wrote last year’s column. At that time, no one could have predicted what lay ahead just a few short weeks after the story went to print. As we move into this much anticipated new year, many of the challenges I outlined for 2020 still exist and have only become more complicated due to COVID-19. Despite all the obstacles the construction industry endured, they stilled fared better than most. In the Northeast, and even closer to home, construction has been strong throughout the pandemic, in part driven by new home construction and remodeling. Unfortunately, we cannot look forward without at least looking back briefly. It all started in March when the COVID-19 infection rates escalated and Gov. Cuomo shutdown construction for the entire state, lumping Upstate New York in with New York City. Most industry affiliated organizations and legislators understand that upstate and the city are very different so much debate ensued to handle them differently. As a result of being shut down, most of the skilled laborers were laid off and joined many others in the unemployment pool. There were several weeks of uncertainty as builders and remodelers tried to make sense of what was unfolding in front of them. Once construction was again deemed “essential” and business resumed, many of the skilled trades were slow to rejoin the workforce out of fear, and assistance from enhanced unemployment benefits also contributed. This only compounded the struggle builders were having with labor shortages prior to the pandemic and for the past few years. As noted in last year’s 2020 forecast, the number one issue facing the construction industry was the lack of skilled labor and this has not changed despite the efforts gone into promoting the trades. Most contractors are confident 2021 will be a good year; going into it with a back log of work and actively bidding on new work, yet there is still an undertone of uncertainty. The political and economic climate along with an upsurge in infection rates have many worried at least for the short term. So, what’s different this year? What’s preventing more homes from being built and renovations from happening? Both great questions. The list of answers is long so I will just touch

Shelby Schneider Continued From Page 11

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Capital Region compared to 2008. In order to help get our economy back on track and working parents back to work, the Saratoga Partnership has teamed up with the Saratoga and Warren County employment and training centers, Bright Side Up and the Adirondack childcare council to identify solutions, and use workforce training resources to increase the availability of homebased childcare centers throughout Saratoga and Warren Counties. In 2021 the Saratoga Partnership will double down on our Next Wave Communities

Doug Ford is vice president of Curtis Lumber Company. Courtesy Curtis Lumber

on a few. First and foremost is the lack of labor. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Saratoga Builders Association, Curtis Lumber, and many others who have diligently worked over the past years to bring awareness to the trades and the opportunities they present. The single-family home building and renovation surge created a heightened demand for building materials which was not anticipated, especially after the devastating start to the year. This increased demand came at a time when the work environment in manufacturing facilities had been drastically altered due to COVID-19. Social distancing requirements were put in place, labor shortages due to illness and/or childcare situations, additional safety measures were enforced, and adherence to CDC and OSHA mandates all of which impacted the ability for plants to function normally and manufacture products. The high demand, production inefficiencies, product shortages and workforce challenges have all contributed to significant price increases and delayed shipments. The supply chain is currently a big unknown in our ability to forecast for 2021. Suppliers like Curtis Lumber struggle to project accurate lead times and extended pricing to its professional customers. At a time when we should be excited about the increased volume, we are more concerned about our ability to meet our customers’ expectations. We are utilizing technology and increased communication to partner with our customers and work together to initiative, in which we work with municipalities in Saratoga County including Ballston Spa, Malta, Galway, Halfmoon, to create customized economic development plans. These plans help communities to understand their vision, recognize their assets and resources, and develop a plan to achieve their aspirations. As an operationally transparent local development corporation, with bonding authority, and 501(C)3 nonprofit status, the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership is positioned to not only assist communities with preparing grants on their behalf, we are actively engaged in writing and receiving grants that support our community economic development goals and attract resources to help grow our economy.

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 13

Outlook 2021 Continued From Page 12 get the job done. It’s been 10 months since COVID-19 hit us like a giant wrecking ball. We’re learning to manage through it, but the effects will be long lasting. Normal as we once knew it is gone and will be replaced with something very different. I am optimistic that post pandemic, our industry will continue to be a leader in the economic recovery as it has in many other catastrophic events throughout history. We learn to use the resources we have to their fullest extent. Good companies never let a crisis go to waste. BY PETE BARDUNIAS When the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County (CSSC) affiliated with the Capital Region Chamber amid much fanfare at the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus was a mere footnote on a few overseas news reports. Yet just weeks after our expanded team working in Clifton Park began settling in together, the health crisis hit, changing perhaps forever the dynamic of how people in our industry support the local and regional business community. One thing is for certain: the integration of the chambers couldn’t have possibly come at a more meaningful time. The Capital Region Chamber provided strength and stability, offering CSSC members and the southern Saratoga County business community a lot of services that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Because of the large, combined staff, members were able to receive direct personal support via one-on-one consultation, along with getting assistance in locating PPE and advice in the PPP and EIDL loan processes. Some 775 individuals participated in 25 free webinars we hosted on topics specifically related to helping businesses and their employees through the pandemic. Additionally, our Chamber is administering the new $8 million loan fund to assist affected businesses. Like all nonprofits, the Capital Region Chamber and its affiliates were impacted by the economic effects of the pandemic, but has the resources to ride the storm far better than the preaffiliation CSSC ever could hope to achieve, which is very positive for area businesses. It gives me great pride to be able to state with certainty that there are businesses still operating in Saratoga County today because of the work we did specifically to assist them this past year. In 2021, your regional and local Chamber has an aggressive legislative agenda to support and advocate for businesses, covering many topics with a special concentration on recovery and equity. It is vital that we face these challenges united with one voice, one mission for one region. Recovering from the public health and economic crisis will take a lot of effort at all levels. While the federal stimulus has helped many, the stability of many for-profit and not-for-profit businesses and local governments remains in peril. We will push hard for additional COVID-19 related financial assistance, permanent and broad based income tax reduction for business owners, infrastructure investment, a five-year moratorium on the Scaffold Law, policies and increased funding for childcare, workforce and training programs. We’ll advocate for community based nonprofits, the hospitality and restaurant industry, performing arts and the local municipalities themselves, which all saw massive revenue

Pete Bardunias, Senior VP, Community Advancement, Capital Region Chamber. Courtesy Capital Region Chamber

challenges due to the COVID economy. Also, we will advocate for inclusive workforce development opportunities, improvements to MWBE certification, greater access to capital for minority owned businesses, equitable school funding and access to advanced courses, and equitable broadband access, plus much more as outlined in our 2021 Advocacy Agenda. Our Chamber of Southern Saratoga County affiliate remains the official chamber of commerce of Clifton Park and Halfmoon, and this will also be the eighth straight year we have partnered with the Saratoga County Economic Development Committee of Supervisors to administer the Saratoga County Community Development Program. The program persevered in 2020 local fixtures such as Historic Lock 19, the Vischer Ferry picnic area, the Mechanicville gazebo and dockside bulletin board, the Clifton Park Visitor Center at the Exit 9 rest area and others were maintained and serviced by dedicated volunteers. The Southern Saratoga County Chamber Angels assisted 456 needy children at the holiday season, and local Malta Business Community Alliance committee volunteers designed and built the MaltaNYBusiness.com website to display information about living, playing and working in that wonderful community. We have strong leadership in our volunteer boards led by Key Bank’s Ruth Mahoney as chair of the Capital Region Chamber, and Chris Dowd of Ballston Spa National Bank will continue as chair of the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County. Our president and CEO, Mark Eagan, has demonstrated his skill and commitment to the Capital Region over the past twelve years. New for 2021 is the affiliation of the Center for Economic Growth (CEG) with the regional Chamber. It means we also have the talents of Katie Newcombe and her staff for a regional economic development approach from top to bottom. This unprecedented alignment of complementary organizations means very good things for business in Saratoga County and beyond. I personally have never been associated with a team as capable and professional as the one fielded by your regional Chamber, and encourage people to visit www.capitalregionchamber.com for more information. Our staff, board members and many volunteers stepped forward to help throughout the year. My heart grieves for all who were stricken by or lost loved ones to this insidious disease, yet I am cautiously optimistic that this year will see a vast improvement in personal safety and economic security in Saratoga County and throughout the region.By Darryl Leggieri

BY DARRYL LEGGIERI I think it is safe to say that 2020 has been a year like any other for our community, as well as the meetings, events, and hospitality industry. The silver lining has been the numerous collaborative opportunities that were forged due to the pandemic. These collaborations among economic development agencies, various businesses, and elected officials have served to highlight the value of working together. Instead of working in our own silos, we united to help our community. While most meetings, conferences, sporting events, and social events were canceled or postponed, we focused on helping our local businesses survive. They are the fabric of our community; they are what makes Saratoga Springs and Saratoga County so special. Without them, we would lose our identity, our brand. I continue to be amazed at the creativity of our small business owners. They really did the heavy lifting when it came to understanding their viability as a business and how to make their offerings safe for their employees and their customers. Our lodging partners were also resilient. Faced with withering occupancy, they quickly adapted to the new safety protocols and found a way to create safe meetings and events for up to 50 people. When the warmer days came around, we did have relatively strong demand during the summer, which were mostly leisure travelers from inside a three-hour drive market. Many were visiting our wide-open spaces for the first time. They were looking to escape, and they fell in love with our destination. This was a great help, but without the powerhouse demand generators like the Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Live Nation, and of course all the conferences and events that we normally attract, we could not make up the difference. Through November, Saratoga County saw major declines in 2020. Overall hotel demand was down 38.2 percent. Occupancy was down 34.4 percent, and rate was down 23.5 percent. Total revenue was down 52.7 percent. These are staggering numbers. Looking ahead. As the vaccination process is being worked out, we are hopeful, there is some light coming our way. Confidence to travel again is just around the corner. That is when our industry will start to build momentum. There will be more travel, more meetings, and social events. The mission of the Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau, operating under the “Discover Saratoga” brand, is to deliver a positive impact on the local economy by promoting and marketing Saratoga Springs and Saratoga County as a worldclass destination for meetings, conventions, and groups. We serve as a hub that connects visitors with local venues, and the many establishments managed by our 500-plus members. As a key

Darryl Leggieri is the president of Discover Saratoga. Courtesy Discover Saratoga

economic development engine for our community, we drive millions of tourism and event dollars into our local economy. Group business is like a coiled spring, once we can release that energy, we can begin to get back to some sense of normalcy. The meetings and events industry really came to a stand-still with many of these events switching dates three and even four times in hopes that the restrictions would allow their organizations, associations, and families to meet face to face safely. Our sales team has been working tirelessly with our lodging partners and our colleagues at the Saratoga Springs City Center to stay engaged with our clients and work with them during this difficult time. They are stressed, seeking guidance, and waiting. It looks as though most of the first quarter of 2021 will be a wash in terms of group business. However, we see that there are some groups looking at the second quarter, and the booking window shows signs of strength for the second half of the year. Clients are now thinking about longer term meeting plans and they will pull the trigger when they feel safe. The drive market will continue to play a role in where groups want to meet. There will be less international travel, as well as domestic flying. Driving will still be the most popular mode of transportation because people feel the safest in their own car. This bodes well for our destination as we are three hours from several first-tier cities. We are implementing our sales strategies around this now. We recognized opportunity when presented with adversity and we garnered deeper respect for one another. Our advocacy will focus on driving recovery to best position all members, businesses, and our region to recover and ultimately thrive post-pandemic. While we know that our work is not over, we must continue to collaborate and face the challenges of tomorrow, and we will.

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14 • SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL

SPECIAL SECTION

Health & Fitness

New Center In Clifton Park Provides Special With The Sudden Arise Of Pandemic, Use Treatments For Neurological Aches, Pains Of Telemedicine Equipment Sees Huge Rise Capital Region Calmare & Massage, a state-certified Women Business Enterprise (WBE) that is a licensed provider of innovative electrical stimulation (eSTIM) calmare treatment for neurologic pain, plans to open a new location at 800 Route 146, Suite 492, in Clifton Park. The office will be officially opened at ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 21. Calmare is a safe alternative treatment for those suffering from pain caused by a nerve. Approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration, used by the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Medicine, it is said by providers to be effective in four of five cases. Calmare uses an eSTIM machine to relieve the pain caused by fibromyalgia, migraines, sciatica, neuropathy, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and other nerve-related ailments, while also helping patients avoid invasive surgical procedures and prescription medications, including opioids. “I am thrilled to offer the benefits of Calmare treatment to patients throughout the Capital Region,” said Laura Brown, PT, LMT, and owner of Capital Region Calmare & Massage. “I’ve seen firsthand the extraordinary pain relief it’s provided to individuals who have tried traditional

treatments, sometimes for years, without success. There is no better feeling than giving someone his or her life back by reintroducing them to a world without pain, and to do so without any side effects, drugs or surgical procedures is a huge benefit.” During Calmare treatment, electrodes are attached to the area(s) of a patient’s body that require attention. Those electrodes send vibrations—artificial neurons—to the affected areas, where they interact with and affect the C-fiber of the nerve, in essence “resetting the pain signal.” In 80 percent of cases, said Brown, patients experience pain relief during the initial session, with follow-up treatments conducted until pain has been fully alleviated. Since opioids are typically prescribed for pain relief, Calmare can have a significant impact on reducing the use of opioids, which has become an epidemic both locally and nationally. In addition, as pharmaceutical interventions for pain have been shown to increase the chances of contracting COVID-19, Calmare provides an effective method for treating pain without incurring additional risk, according to the treatment center. For more information and to schedule a consultation or appointment, visit Capital Region Calmare & Massage’s website or Facebook page, or call (518) 867-2262.

Dr. Dan Eldridge at Saratoga Hospital communicates with a patient who is off site. Use of telemedicine was a future trend, but skyrocketed because of the pandemic. Courtesy Saratoga Hospital

BY CHRISTINE GRAF According to national data, doctors in the United States logged more than 1 billion virtual telemedicine appointments during 2020. Its usage peaked in April at which time 69 percent of all patient visits were virtual. Saratoga Hospital Medical Group, a group of more than 250 providers practicing out of 20-plus locations, implemented a telemedicine platform in the spring of 2019. “We had the capability, but found we weren’t using it,” said Julie Demaree, Saratoga Hospital director of informatics and data integrity. “We didn’t have much interest from our providers and patients.” The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 put the issue in a different light. In mid-March, all providers in the group were trained on how to use the platform. In the two weeks that followed, 3,500 virtual visits were conducted. “It was a learning curve for both patients and providers,” said Demaree. “I really give so much credit to our providers because they had to pivot very quickly. Delivering medicine through a camera is very different than doing it in person. They also had to take on a new role of being tech support for patients.” At Glens Falls Hospital, no telemedicine system was in place when the pandemic began. As a result, administrators had to scramble to get a system in place.

“This was all new to all of us,” said Patti Hammond, vice president for physician practice management. “One of the reasons was that the insurance companies including Medicare were not paying for virtual visits as though it was an in-person visit. Because of COVID, there were some emergency approvals, and the insurance companies said they would pay for that visit just as though the patient was in your office setting.” In a matter of 48 hours, Glens Falls Hospital had a telemedicine system up and running. The hospital uses the Doxy.me platform and pays a monthly fee for each provider who uses the tool. “Because we are a health care organization, we had to have a system that was HIPPA compliant. You can’t just do a Zoom call,” said Hammond. Each virtual visit begins with a phone call, during which time patients are registered and screened by a nurse. Patients are then sent a link via text or email that takes them into a virtual waiting room. After meeting with doctors, follow up appointments are scheduled as necessary. “You want to mirror the in-office workflow as best you can because that is what the providers and patients have become accustomed to,” said Ann Marie Hatch, senior director of physician practice at Glens Falls Hospital. At Saratoga Hospital Medical Group, each provider has customized their telehealth procedures. Some incorporate the use of phone calls while others rely on video only. Like Continued On Page 16

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 15

Saratoga Hospital Expands Sterile Processing Unit To Aid In Complex Surgical Procedures •

This is the central sterile processing department at the Saratoga Surgery Center in Wilton. It helps accommodate growth in complex surgical procedures. Courtesy Saratoga Hospital

Saratoga Hospital recently completed a $5 million expansion of its central sterile processing department to accommodate significant growth in complex surgical procedures at the hospital and its Saratoga Surgery Center in Wilton. The renovations increased the central sterile processing space by about 80 percent and added the latest disinfection and sterilization equipment, officials said. The number of surgeries performed at Saratoga Hospital and Saratoga Surgery Center continues to increase each year. Much of the growth is in minimally invasive procedures that involve smaller, more sophisticated instruments that can be more challenging to clean and decontaminate, according to the hospital. “Each instrument has to be cleaned differently, and each is sterilized and disinfected to meet the highest standards,” said Clay Landry, certified central processing director at Saratoga Hospital. The department runs 24/7 to clean and decontaminate hundreds of surgical instruments used each day in the hospital’s surgical pavilion and Saratoga Surgery Center, as well as in the endoscopy suites at both locations. “Decontamination is a lengthy, meticulous process,” Landry said. “The expansion and new, more advanced equipment have increased our capacity, ensuring that we have the necessary surgical tools on hand at all times. That level of confidence is important to our surgeons and our patients.” In a separate development, Saratoga Hospital recently received $35,000 in grants from Mohawk Valley Medical Associates and MVP Healthcare to support innovative efforts to manage opioid use and help patients transition from hospital to home. The grants were among the first awarded under MVMA’s new Program Excellence & Innovation initiative. Launched in 2020, the

initiative recognizes programs that go above and beyond to address the needs of a specific population. The awards included: $25,000 for Saratoga Hospital’s Interdisciplinary Opioid Management Program, which integrates pain management clinical pharmacists and a substance abuse counselor in primary care practices to help monitor, manage and reduce the use of opioids for chronic pain relief. $10,000 for the hospital’s Inpatient Transition Program, which seeks to improve outcomes and reduce readmissions by helping patients with chronic or high-risk conditions arrange timely follow-up services after a hospital stay. “These programs focus on patients who, with a little extra support, could see significant improvement in their health and day-to-day lives,” said Dr. Richard Falivena, vice president and chief medical and physician integration officer at Saratoga Hospital. Although the programs are fairly new, early results are promising. During the first year of the Interdisciplinary Opioid Management Program, more than half the patients involved were gradually tapered off opioids entirely. Others were able to reduce the medication required to stabilize their pain, officials said. According to the hospital, patients who received follow-up services through the Saratoga Hospital Inpatient Transition Program reported feeling less stress after an Emergency Department visit or hospital stay. In addition, they were less likely to be readmitted to the hospital than patients not in the program. “The grants will enable us to extend both programs at a time when they are needed more than ever,” Falivena said. “We are extremely grateful for MVMA and MVP Healthcare’s leadership in encouraging innovation and supplying this extra support to healthcare providers and our patients.”

Business Report

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Develop A Mindset For Health Wellness Success

BY MARIA SAVINO Tis’ the season for health and wellness resolutions. While there is no shortage of diet plans and exercise regimes to follow in a New Year, I believe the most important aspect to achieve any health goal is the mindset you have going into it. Many wellness resolutions are created from a place of lack and restriction. For example: “I am going to cut out processed foods,” “I’m going to give up soda” or “I am going to stop sitting all day.” Although these goals have positive intentions, the mindset behind them is not setting anyone up for success. As a health coach, I instruct clients to set wellness goals from the mindset of positivity and addition, rather than restriction and subtraction. This mindset shift is a key component of their long term success for two reasons. The first reason pertains to how we are naturally wired. As human beings, it never feels good when things are taken away or restricted, especially if those things have given you a sense of comfort or happiness in the past. For example, overeating can be a form of comfort, binge watching hours of television can provide stress relief, or grabbing that afternoon chocolate bar can promote a sense of joy during an otherwise dull or stressful day. Understanding that your not-so-healthy habits do in fact have positive intentions, and that restriction doesn’t come naturally, makes it clear that goals like those above are not the most effective. Secondly, setting goals from a place of positivity and addition allows my clients to feel inspired rather than punished by their goals. During this time of year we are bombarded with messages about how to “fix” ourselves, or “pay penance” for our health and wellness sins from the previous year. These types of messages may be an excellent marketing tool, but the truth is that improving your health is an opportunity, not a punishment! Starting a health and wellness

Maria Savino of Simple Steps Health Coaching. Courtesy Maria Savino

journey should feel fun and inspiring, not dreaded and terrible. If your new year’s resolution sounds like the examples above, I want to challenge you to shift your mindset. Ask yourself, “What positive things can I add to my life that will help me reach my goals?” as opposed to “what do I need to take away in order to fix myself?” If we re-think the examples above using this positive mindset, they turn into goals that are much more fun and attainable. For example: “I am going to cut out junk food” becomes “I will start eating more whole foods.” “I’m going to give up soda” becomes “I am going to drink 2 full bottles of water every day.” “I am going stop sitting all day” becomes “I will add more activity into my day by going for an afternoon walk.” At the end of the day, improving your health is all about improving your life and your overall happiness. Restriction, deprivation and punishment don’t make us happy—or get us the results we want—but inspiration, self love, and positive additions to our lives absolutely do.

Card Catalog

16 • SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021

‘At Sanctuary’ Offers Holistic Healing, Tarot Air Pro Solutions Sells, Installs, Services Air Readings; Operates Virtually During COVID Filters To Businesses Throughout The Region BY ANDREA HARWOOD PALMER A new holistic healing and educational organization called At Sanctuary has opened in Saratoga Springs. Gabrielle Maryland is a shamanic practitioner. She runs the organization with Sera Rose, a shaman and friend. The organization opened for business in October and is completely virtual during the coronavirus pandemic. “We had a really great reception at our launch,” said Maryland. Maryland and Rose met in the summer of 2018 at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York. “[Rose] was a wellness practitioner and I was milling around the bookstore, going about my business. She gave me a read, and it was an amazing experience. It changed my life. From that point on, we were best friends,” said Maryland. A read is performed after an ethics speech detailing how a practitioner works with both the client and spirit to receive messages and communicate them to the client. Upcoming workshops available are Past Life & Soul Agreement, Crystal Energy Healing and Being a Spiritual Translator Level 1. The organization also hosts numerous pop up virtual events. “Sometimes when people think about holistic healing or shamanic services, they

think of snake oil salesmen. But that’s not who we are and that’s not what we do. We treat this work with respect, our clients with respect, and Spirit with respect,” said Maryland. “The way we learn from our clients and from Spirit really informs everything we do.” Maryland says taking the organization virtual has not impacted effectiveness. “Sera has been doing distance healing for some time,” said Maryland. “There’s always an intention. You work with that individual to learn what they need. You have a conversation beforehand and find out what they want out of the session, and why. Then you work with the client to best help them based on their energy system and what they say they need.” Maryland sites loneliness as a prevalent struggle many of her clients are going through. “There’s grief and loneliness. For a lot of people, there’s so much uncertainty. Whether it’s political, societal or just within our own lives—there’s so much uncertainty and upheaval that happens all the time. There’s also a lot of fear. It’s palpable,” said Maryland. “There’s something having to distance, and the impact COVID has had on the world,” said Maryland. “It’s this great leveler. We’re all going through this. How we adjust and navigate the fear, anxiety and uncertainty.” At Sanctuary can be reached via email at healersatsanctuary@gmail.com or via telephone at 518-350-4278.

Telemedicine Continued From Page 14 Glens Falls Hospital, phone appointments are conducted for patients without access to video. “One of the challenges we have up here in the North Country is connectivity,” said Hammond, referring to access to broadband service which is difficult in some rural areas. At Glens Falls Hospital, 50 percent of patient visits were conducted virtually during the peak of COVID. When cases began to rise in December, the hospital’s primary care practices returned to conducting the majority of patient visits virtually. “The primary goal of our practices is protect our most vulnerable patients and to keep our staff from becoming exposed” said Hatch. “We hold that value, and that’s how we make our decisions.” Saratoga Hospital Medical Group’s telemedicine visits peaked in April at which time 65 percent of patient visits were virtual. That number has dropped to 15 percent but is climbing due to the second wave of COVID, officials said. In June, the medical group began using telemedicine in their urgent cares. It has been especially useful for patients who need COVID testing. “We had hundreds of people coming every day and waiting in line at our urgent care centers just to ask for a COVID test. They are able to do a telemedicine visit and we can send an order for them to go be tested. We’re able to see a lot of patients through telehealth. It’s really good for our patients and it helps us see the people who are sicker and really need to be in the office,” said Demaree. She said the utilization of telemedicine also minimizes risk to health care providers and allows a provider who is in quarantine to see

patients. Additionally, it leads to a decrease in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) which remains in short supply. “Telehealth creates some barrier,” said Demaree. “It requires understanding of technology, access to a device, a need for connectivity at home. But we found that it also removed some barriers that exist when you are accessing traditional health care. Things like transportation, child care, getting out of work, having the motivation to drive somewhere. We found that we actually had decreased no shows rates and increased compliance in some of our departments which was really fascinating.” Telemedicine is expected to remain popular even after the pandemic is over. In order for this to happen, insurance company reimbursement must continue. “Effective the first of the year, Medicare is going to make that a permanent change. And I think the other insurance companies will follow,” said Hammond. “I think there’s going to be a niche for telehealth in the future.” Despite the success of telemedicine, it is not appropriate for all patients. In both Glens Falls and Saratoga, providers stress that it is safe to come into the hospital or doctor’s office. Medical staff members are screened for symptoms each day, and strict disinfecting and social distancing procedures are in place. “The most important thing to me is that people continue to get the health care that they need,” said Demaree. “I worry mostly about people delaying care when they need it. I don’t want to see delays in diagnoses or people dying at home from things we could have treated because they are afraid to go to the doctor.”

Patrick Schmidt is vice president of sales at Air Pro Solutions, a new business selling, installing and servicing air filtration systems. They have clients in Saratoga, Glens Falls and beyond. ©2021 SaratogaPhotographer.com

BY JILL NAGY “We’re breathing in a lot of stuff in the air that we cannot see,” said Patrick Schmidt, vice president of sales at Air Pro Solutions, a new business selling, installing and servicing air filtration systems. When he and other member of his sales staff visit a potential customer, they bring along an air quality meter that can measure that “stuff in the air” and then show it disappearing as one of the company’s Air Box filters goes to work. Air Pro, located at 229 Washington St. in Saratoga Springs, services an area including Saratoga and Albany counties, the Glens Falls area and the North Country. They are independent dealers for Air Box units manufactured in the Carolinas. Currently, the company employs three sales people and two service people. When businesses and other institutions prepare to reopen, they usually begin by stocking masks, plastic shields, hand sanitizers, antiseptic wipes and similar equipment. “The air piece of it,” he said, “is the last one usually” and arguably the most important. Air Pro sells portable, stand-alone units about the size of a dehumidifier. There is also a model in a cabinet that fits into the wall. They filter in three stages: an activated carbon filter removes odors; an anti-microbial

filter removes the larger particles; the final filter, a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter, can remove particles as small as viruses, including COVID viruses. The first two filters have to be replaced every six months. The HEPA filter is good for three years. He said the units are available in two sizes with a third, larger, one on the way. The smaller unit, powerful enough for a classroom, sells for about $2,500. The larger one, enough for a gymnasium or auditorium, runs about $4,500. Air Pro also rents the units on six-month leases and can provide financing. The manufacturer began by manufacturing air filtration systems for clean rooms, including some at GlobalFoundries and Regeneron. More recently, they branched out into a line of smaller external systems. Schmidt got involved in the business about nine months ago, after an earlier career in the health care field, he said. Air Pro Solutions has been busy. Customers include restaurants, schools, and medical facilities. Schmidt is confident that, once they get used to clean air, people will continue to invest in it. “I don’t see that going away,” he said, noting that many Asian countries “have been doing it for a long time—because their air is so bad.” Schmidt’s phone number is 518281-0994. The business can also be reached at 1-888-556-0230.

SPAC In Black Continued From Page 1 on SPAC Reimagined, an initiative to bring arts and culture to the community at a time when the community was unable to come to SPAC. That recalibration led to over 50 hours of online programming including: • Freihofer’s Jazz Fest Stay Home Sessions in partnership with Caffè Lena. • The SPAC Reimagined series of locallyshot dance videos that paid tribute to the 2020 classical season featuring New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. • The world premiere of “Testament,” a radio play about Beethoven written by Damian Lanigan and co-produced with Saratoga Shakespeare Co. • Exclusive performances by Joshua Bell and Time for Three, filmed in Saratoga and at SPAC • Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK, a GPS-enabled work of public art in the Saratoga Spa State Park that used music to illuminate the natural environment. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, SPAC was unable to celebrate the completion and opening of its transformational new construction project, The Pines @ SPAC. Nonetheless, The Pines and its various indoor/outdoor spaces allowed SPAC to open its gates for over 200 events. Over 8,000 attendees came from July to December, just 50 people at a time, abiding by COVID-19 protocols. Fall of 2020 brought the launch of CulinaryArts@SPAC showcasing innovative chefs and restaurants in the region with safe, intimate dining events. It is a programming initiative

offering park-based dining experiences as well as education about food, drink, and sustainability for members of the community. Throughout the summer and fall, audiences also attended wellness, art, dance and drumming classes; screenings of classic films, chamber music, orchestral music and dance; meetings and gatherings that could not have happened safely in their usual indoor locations. All proceeds from the culinary, wellness, dance, drumming and art classes went back to chefs, farmers, teachers and practitioners. In May, as schools were shuttered, SPAC also reimagined its signature education programming by providing free original arts educational content to more than 15,000 students, families and educators via the SPAC Learning Library. The Learning Library features lessons and activities from more than 25 professional musicians and dancers as well as former Broadway performers, composers and local storytellers. SPAC also launched the Adirondack Trust Co. Festival of Young Artists’ online gallery in July. The website created a platform for more than 400 students to showcase their creative accomplishments. SPAC’s Education team, led by Dennis Moench, devised a COVID-safe, in-school residency being piloted at Charlton Heights Elementary. A total of 104 students learned Broadway-style choreography to “Too Darn Hot” from the musical “Kiss Me, Kate” for a virtual performance planned for release Feb. 1.

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 17

Personnel Briefs •

Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP announced that Donald T. Kinsella has joined the firm as senior counsel and Robert J. McLaughlin has joined as of counsel. Kinsella joins Whiteman Osterman & Hanna with more than four decades of experience in complex criminal and civil litigation. He prosecuted and defended several significant high profile federal and state criminal cases in New York. He is a former chief of the Criminal Division of the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York. McLaughlin will continue to focus his practice on gaming and lottery law, financial transactions and government compliance. McLaughlin counsels gaming vendors, online gaming providers, state lotteries, and other entities in matters involving compliance with the complex federal and state regulation governing the gaming industry. As bond counsel, he has represented the state Dormitory Authority, the state Environmental Facilities Corp., where he was the former general counsel, and the state Energy Resource and Development Authority/New York Green Bank. He has also represented numerous industrial development agencies and municipalities in the state. * * * The Arrow Family of Companies recently announced the appointments of senior vice president Christine Snow to director of customer experience and senior vice president Marc Yrsha to director of relationship banking for Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Co. and Saratoga National Bank and Trust Co. In her new role, Snow will oversee the customer experience unit, which includes the call center, and deposit, loan and branch operations. Together these teams care for our customers and ensure a positive and unified customer experience across many different business lines. Snow joined the company in 2016 and most recently served as senior vice president of branch administration, overseeing all branch and call center functions. In his new role, Yrsha will oversee the retail banking unit which includes frontline sales teams for retail, consumer, business and municipal banking, as well as small business and home equity lending. Together these teams will continue to focus on the customer and growing relationships in all our communities. Yrsha joined the company in 2015 and most recently served as senior vice president of corporate development, which includes business development, small business and home equity lending, municipal banking, and business services. * * * Saratoga WarHorse, the nonprofit organization that uses retired thoroughbred racehorses to work with service members and veterans who are experiencing trauma while in the military, announced the appointment Tina Mott to

Skip Carlson Continued From Page 1 Wesley Community, Tom Bellhouse of West Point Thoroughbreds, John Bove of J.A. Bove Fuels, Rajat Ghoshal of Polyset, Alexandra Gutelius of Clifton Park Halfmoon Public Library, Kimberly Ireland of National Grid, Melissa Johnson of Target Distribution,

GlobalFoundries-Malta Foundation Awards Grants •

its board of directors. A longtime supporter and volunteer with Saratoga WarHorse, Mott will work with the organization to further its mission of promoting the physical, mental and emotional health of veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress by providing a healing, equine assisted experience exclusively using retired thoroughbreds. Mott has more than 35 years of experience in the thoroughbred industry and is the wife of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott of Mott Thoroughbred Stables. As a volunteer, she provides meals for the veteran participants and records their experience connecting with equine counterparts at Saratoga WarHorse’s location in East Greenbush, which is also home to the renowned thoroughbred rescue program ReRun Thoroughbred Adoption. * * *

Dr. Zachary Criswell, a fellowshiptrained foot and ankle surgeon, has joined Saratoga Hospital Medical Group – Surgical Podiatry. Criswell comes to Saratoga Hospital from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, where he was a clinical instructor in the Department of Medicine. He also was an attending physician at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, a Rutgers clinical affiliate in Paramus, N.J. He earned his Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree from Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine in Pennsylvania and completed an internship and residency at University Hospital in New Jersey. He went on to complete a surgical fellowship, with an emphasis on lower extremity sports medicine and arthroscopy, at Palo Alto Medical Foundation in California. Criswell is board certified by the American Board of Podiatric Medicine. * * * Wellspring, the domestic violence and sexual assault services resource for Saratoga County residents, announced the addition of Cerri Banks and Margaret Smith Cassier to its board of directors. Banks is the dean of students and vice president for student affairs at Skidmore College. She received her Ph.D. in cultural foundations of education and a certificate of advanced women’s studies from Syracuse University. She specializes in sociology of education, cultural studies, multicultural education and qualitative research. She has an extensive background in higher education and has won an array of honors, awards and scholarships over the course of her career. Her book, Black Women Undergraduates Cultural Capital and College Success, documents the academic and social success of black women undergraduates. Smith Cassier is the president and owner of Airosmith Development Inc., a certified woman-owned-business founded in 2004 that specializes in site acquisition and engineering for commercial wireless providers, broadband companies, utility and government entities. In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, Airosmith Development was awarded the designation as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies in the United States.

Laurie Kelly, of GlobalFoundries, Paul Loomis of Gilbane Construction, Martin Mbugua of Skidmore College, Randy Metevier of Applied Materials, John Rogan of Saratoga Eagle, Theresa Skaine of Skaine & Associates, Christianne Smith of Designsmith Studio, Melissa Ward of NewWard Development and Charles Wait Jr. of Adirondack Trust Co.

The GlobalFoundries-Town of Malta Foundation has awarded $142,964 in grants to community organizations that serve Malta residents and the school districts in the town. The largest single grant was $16,500 to the Malta-Stillwater Emergency Medical Service for purchase of a ventilator to be available in ambulances. Both the Ballston Spa and Shenendehowa school districts each received multiple grants to support STEM learning, robotics and general education programs. The grants are in addition to a $50,000 grant provided in March to help the town of Malta to provide local individuals and families with grocery store gift cards, as the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic first began to emerge. The foundation was established in 2011 with $3 million donated by GlobalFoundries as part of the host community package negotiated in return for town approval of the computer chip manufacturing plant in Luther Forest that employs about 3,000 people. The foundation is managed by a board made up of town and GlobalFoundries representatives. Since 2011, it has donated more than $1.4 million to organizations that serve Malta. Among the other large grants this year were $11,852 to Saratoga Bridges for a roof replacement project at its Malta Avenue group home; $10,000 to Rebuilding Together Saratoga County, to aid the nonprofit with providing critical home repairs for low income homeowners; and $10,000 for interactive whiteboards to be used in on-site and remote learning at the Chango Elementary School. There was also $7,500 awarded to the Roundabout Runners Club for trail making upgrades and providing maintenance in the 100Acre Wood, the town-owned park in the middle of the Luther Forest Technology Campus. A $5,000 grant was awarded to the Pitney Meadows Community Farm in Saratoga Springs for a farmers’ market in Malta.

18 • SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021

‘Once Upon A Child’ In Clifton Park Plaza Has Clothing Selection For Children, Babies

Once Upon A Child in Clifton Park Town Plaza, off Route 9, buys and sells ‘gently used’ kids’ clothing, shoes, toys and baby gear and offers cash on the spot for qualified items. ©2021 SaratogaPhotographer.com

BY JENNIFER FARNSWORTH The Winmark Corp., parent company of Style Encore and Plato’s Closet “gently used clothing stores”, has opened a babies and children version of the businesses in Clifton Park. Once Upon A Child in Clifton Park Town Plaza, off Route 9, buys and sells used kids’ clothing, shoes, toys and baby gear and offers cash on the spot for qualified items. Franchise store owner Rhonda McMasterAllendorph has owned of both Style Encore and Plato’s Closet stores. She said opening Once Upon A Child seemed like the next step. McMaster-Allendorph said like all other new business owners, opening the store during the COVID-19 pandemic came with hesitation. She said that business has been slow to start since the official opening in November, but she remains optimistic that things will pick up. “It’s been tough with the pandemic, but I think we are going to do okay. We are

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working on spreading the word. The people that have come in have been pleased with the selection of what they see,” she said. The process is something McMasterAllendorph is especially mindful of. She said that she is very picky about what she accepts. She wants customers to be able to purchase something that is of the utmost quality. “We have a system where we inspect things, especially anything that involves safety. We check for recalls, check for quality and then we put all the information into the computer system that generates a price,” said McMaster-Allendorph. McMaster-Allendorph has been able to run all three stores with the help of her daughter, Mehgan McMaster. She has also been able to employ about 20 part-time workers in the 5,000-square-foot location. Its Facebook page regularly updates the arrival of popular items. To learn more about the buying and selling process as well as store hours and directions to the Clifton Park location, visit onceuponachild.com.

Business Briefs

The Adirondack Trust Co. has again secured a 5-Star rating from BauerFinancial, a bank rating firm. A five-star rating indicates that the bank excels in areas of capital adequacy, profitability, asset quality and much more. Earning and maintaining this top rating for 58 consecutive quarters puts Adirondack Trust in a prestigious bracket as an exceptional performance bank. BauerFinancial, Inc., based in Coral Gables, Fla., has been reporting on and analyzing the performance of U.S. banks and credit unions since 1983. No institution can pay for or opt-out of a BauerFinancial rating. * * * Eighteen members of the Sterling Homes Real Estate team recently graduated from a New Homes Sales Specialist training program. The education consisted of a five-week intensive course with the top new home sales trainer in the country. Sterling Homes, Inc. is a top real estate brokerage in the Capital Region, specializing in new construction, resale, condos, investment properties, land development and more. The company has over 20 years of experience as the local real estate experts. * * * Saratoga Hospital has expanded its inpatient menu, offering plant-based options for every meal. The hospital added 28 plant-based dishes to its menu earlier this year. All are 100 percent free of animal products, including honey.

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Although the change was made in anticipation of a state requirement to provide plant-based alternatives, the new menu items also reflect the hospital’s commitment to customer service. Stephanie Seymour, director of Food and Nutrition Services at the hospital, worked with other certified dietitian nutritionists to develop plant-based dishes that meet the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics calorie and nutrient requirements, and parallel non-plant-based or other hospital menu items. Other plant-based menu dishes include chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad, pizza, chili, chicken parmesan and pasta primavera. * * * DeAngelus Goralczyk PLLC (DG Law) has expanded beyond New York’s Capital Region with an office in Bonita Springs, Fla., where he practices estate planning and administration, as well as residential and commercial real estate. Michael Schafer will practice from the Bonita Springs location. Schafer is admitted to practice in New York and Florida. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from SUNY Albany in 1985 and a Juris Doctorate from Albany Law School in 1989. He actively practices in both New York and Florida in the areas of residential and commercial real estate, title insurance, loan settlements, creation of business entities, estate planning and administration. He is also a member of the Florida Bar Association and the Saratoga County Bar Association. The firm also has offices in Clifton Park, Schenectady and Saratoga Springs.

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021 • 19

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St. The distribution center is across the corner at 101 Washington St. There is also a 19-unit rental building at 95 Congress St. “We had thought our only option was to put an addition onto 10 Franklin St.,” Cushing said. “But there was still a problem of where to put more freezers, refrigerators, and storage of food and materials as well as extended programs. Then the “for sale” sign went up in front of the MASIE Center.” Cathie and Elliot Masie, who Cushing said are big supporters of Franklin Community Center, were unaware their neighbors may be in a position to buy property to facilitate the expansion. “Our goal was $3 million, including any construction, moving and additional operating expenses, and we were approaching the private phase of reaching out to our larger donors before our public campaign began,” said Cushing. There were $2 million in funds to go when the Arpey family made their donation and the Masie family made “a significant reduction in the purchase price,” she said. The 8,000-square-foot former educational center would be purchased for $2.1 million, further aided by a small loan from Adirondack Trust Co. “We had to act quickly,” Cushing said. “This was literally the only building that would work for our needs.” The Masies sold the building fully furnished.

Available Commercial & Residential Properties

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Everything inside is on wheels, Cushing said, including tables, chairs and partitions. Few of the interior walls are load bearing and partitions can be moved to make smaller meeting areas “that will allow for the confidentiality people deserve when they visit the center for assistance.” “We can quickly reconfigure the awesome huge room for education and programs,” she said. “We can also let other non-profits do training there or generate some revenue by renting out space to businesses for their own meetings.” “Now instead of stacking back-to-school supplies, food for the pantry or donated items for the free store, everything is on a table and accessible, making it easier to fill orders,” she said. “No more turning away donations. We felt the best way for us to use the space was the way it had been” with a focus on flexibility and training. But the biggest challenge is feeding people in need and Franklin Community Center, like many nonprofits, are experiencing an unprecedented rise in the number of families whom they are supporting. “There has been a whole different population of people we are saving since the pandemic started,” said Cushing. “We fed 2,241 families since March, for a total of 7,031 individuals.” She said 588 of those families were new to a food pantry. “Franklin Community Center has acted like a middleman between wonderfully generous people and people in need,” said Cushing. Cushing and staff are “taking their time planning the move and determining the best use of the new space,” both for themselves and the community they serve.

MASIE Building Bought

2271 New York State Route 50 $369,900 Charming, historic, farmhouse within the city limits of Saratoga Springs. This 4 bedroom, 2 bath home has history that dates back to the 1800’s. Some original features include, hand hewn beams, original wainscot, wide plank floors, a nice front porch and screened-in porch. Situated on 5.54 acres with walking trails & barn/workshop space and a shed. W/approvals build a new home in the woods and walk to your office! Many uses and possibilities for a home and business. Zoned OMB-1. Soon to be part of the anticipated new zoning of Gateway Commercial Residential. 1 mile south of Saratoga Spa State Park, SPAC, golf, hiking & biking trails. Just a few minutes to everything downtown Saratoga Springs has to offer. Veteran exemption

Listing Agent: Palma Pedrick | 518.669.5199 Anny O’Neill | 518.369.4188

20 • SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2021

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