Month: October 2014

Restaurants, Banquet Facilities Anticipate Busy Holiday Season

Ruby Meng says many companies pulled back on holiday parties during the recession, but they’re coming back now.

It was clear to Erin Corriveau that the corporate holiday party was back when a past client called to book a December get-together — in April.

“The days fly off — there are only so many Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights” between Thanksgiving and the New Year, considered prime holiday-party season, said Corriveau, catering and events manager at Lattitude in West Springfield. “We had a few people book very early — but you can never actually book a date too early. They do run out quickly.”

In fact, Corriveau said, Lattitude’s new banquet room — which opened last November and allowed the restaurant to handle much larger parties than before — was completely booked two months ago for every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening in December.

“A lot of companies have been with us for many years — well over 10 years — and they tend to book year after year,” added Ruby Meng, director of sales at the Hotel Northampton, which has also experienced robust holiday-season reservations this year.

“We’re booked pretty solid on weekends, and weekdays are starting to get close. People are looking to do gatherings and holiday parties, and they’ve also inquired about holiday brunches, a little earlier in the daytime. It’s a creative way to capture more of their employees, who may be busy in the evening or on weekends.

“We’re doing pretty well,” she added, noting that many businesses pulled back on entertainment budgets during the Great Recession, but most are returning. “Companies are bouncing back. A few years back was tough, but we are seeing more companies opening up and being more generous, doing giveaways, raffles, things like that for their employees.”

Robin Ann Brown, director of sales at the Lord Jeffery Inn in Amherst, said holiday gatherings are popular, but not always under that moniker. “A lot of companies are calling them ‘annual events’ or ‘awards banquets,’ versus an actual holiday party.”

She said the industry hasn’t completely recovered from the drop in sales during the recession, simply because many companies that cut parties from the budget haven’t put them back in, even though times are better.

Still, according to Jennifer Marion, assistant director of events for the Willits-Hallowell Center at Mount Holyoke College, business has picked up this year, and companies are starting to spend more money.

“One party with a menu already confirmed for December is doing clams on the half shell, baked stuffed lobster … they’re definitely choosing more elaborate menus that, in the past, their budgets wouldn’t have allowed them to do.”

What’s also changing is what style of party companies are seeking out. For this issue’s focus on holiday party planning, BusinessWest looks into the current trends, and why this season has so many restaurants and banquet facilities feeling merry indeed.

Stand or Sit?

Most area facilities are reporting a definite shift away from sit-down dinners in favor of cocktail parties, food stations, and passed hors d’ouevres, which encourage people to mingle and interact.

“One of the trends we’ve been seeing is stations instead of a true-sit down — chef carvings, high-end hors d’ouevres, passed wine, passed hot cocoa with peppermint Schnapps,” Brown said. “And a lot of people are doing more chamber music or jazz bands than dancing music.”

“We’re getting both,” Meng said. “More people are starting to inquire about station packages, moving toward a cocktail style. People are getting a little more creative, too, maybe bringing in a comedian or activities to keep people entertained. And, of course, bands and dancing, those are a given.”

Added Marion, “we can do either a long cocktail party with a lot of hand-passed hors d’ouevres or stations, or do a bigger, full sit-down meal. Buffets are most popular right now; they give people more choices. But, if it’s a more formal group, they tend to go more with a served meal.”

Corriveau said it’s important to be flexible because of all the different party preferences in the business world — and at Lattitude, that flexibility extends to the site of the party.

“A lot of business parties are held on site, but we also do off-site deliveries and catering,” she noted, adding that the day and location of business parties often depends on the size of the company. “Monday through Wednesday, the crowd tends to be smaller businesses, versus the larger companies that tend to take up the weekend dates. Or, if businesses want a typical potluck lunch but don’t feel like getting dressed up and going somewhere, we can bring a holiday party to them on company premises.”

Like others we spoke with, Corriveau has seen a shift away from formal, seated dinners. “We used to do more sit-down affairs, and businesses can certainly do that, but more companies that are booking parties want their employees to enjoy themselves, to mix and mingle and socialize. We do a lot more of the social, passed-appetizer type of party. When you’re home having a Christmas party, everyone is moving around, and that’s the feel they’re going for. We’re still doing sit-down parties, but people seem to be moving away from that.”

Companies are also increasingly moving away from Saturday nights and asking for Thursday and Friday reservations, Brown said. “Family time is limited, so a lot of companies choose not to do it on weekend nights, so people can spend time with their families at home.”

Creating Traditions

With many of these trends consistent across the industry, how do the area’s many banquet facilities set themselves apart among fierce competition? In the Lord Jeff’s case, it’s emphasizing the facility’s embrace of the holiday season and its traditions.

“People gravitate toward the Lord Jeffery Inn because we’re an historic inn, and holidays have that historic tradition about it. The Lord Jeff speaks tradition,” Brown said, citing, as examples, a Sunday brunch with Santa, high tea on Saturdays, and carolers on Friday nights.

“Those are the traditions the inn has put in place since we renovated, and people have been very receptive. During the holidays, we’re extremely busy.”

The inn can accommodate both large and small gatherings, she added. “A lot of companies don’t have large holiday parties, so for parties of, say, six to 12, we’ll do smaller events in our beautiful greenhouse room, where you can see it snowing right on the roof, and fireplaces all around. When companies don’t want to spend money on large events, the greenhouse room holds up to 18.”

She said the nostalgic holiday appeal of the facility is reflected even in its twinkling seasonal lights, which are visible from the Commons in downtown Amherst, making the Lord Jeffery Inn an attractive option for parties of all sizes.

“Even if companies are not going to do a full dinner, they might take out the board of directors or top employees for a dinner for 20,” she explained. “They like the carolers on Friday, and the high tea. People drive over an hour to come to high tea; again, it’s a holiday tradition.”

Lattitude believes its new banquet facility is fast becoming a regional tradition.

“Prior to the banquet room, we had a smaller room, and we’d certainly get smaller holiday-party requests,” Corriveau said. “But since adding the banquet room last year, we’ve had our share of larger parties. We were full every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in December two months ago. People were calling early. We even had somebody book a holiday party this past April.”

The new space boasts a private bar, sandblasted brick walls, and steel beams, and is “very much a reflection of the restaurant,” she said, adding that it holds about 120 seated and up top 150 standing.

“A lot of people are just learning about it. It’s literally where Memo’s used to be in this building,” Corriveau said. “Unless they’re walking in it, they don’t realize it’s there. All of a sudden, they walk in and ask, ‘what is this?’ We do a lot of business parties, weddings, bridal showers, rehearsal dinners, bereavements, a lot of events. It’s warm and inviting. That’s the number-one thing people say when they walk into that room.”

Easy Pickings

Jen Marion says the Willits-Hallowell Center can provide any type of party setup, but buffets are most popular right now.

Inviting is certainly a trait banquet facilities are aiming for, but so is convenience.

“We’ve done parties for a church group, insurance companies … parties ranging in size from 30 people to as many as 100,” Marion said of her facility on the scenic Mount Holyoke campus. “We have holiday packages, including hors d’ouevres, dinner, dessert, and coffee, and we’re happy to customize that for people with select menus and décor. You pick a menu and let the guests know, and we do the rest. It makes it easy in terms of planning. Usually one consultation appointment with me, and it’s over.”

Well, except for the actual party, that is. The season for celebrating is only beginning.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Capturing the ‘Paragus Vibe’

New Headquarters Facility Promotes Fun, Professionalism

Paragus Strategic IT founder Delcie Bean in ‘Beantown.’

Sherwin Williams calls it “outrageous green.”

That’s the exceedingly bright, neon-like shade that has come to define the company now known as Paragus Strategic IT since it changed its name from Valley ComputerWorks and embarked on an aggressive branding initiative several years ago.

And there’s a lot of it at this technology-solutions company’s new headquarters facility on Route 9 in Hadley, which was unveiled at an elaborate launch last week. There’s also a somewhat softer, muted version seen on some interior walls, carpeting, and other places, as well as a host of other exotic colors, including shades of orange, blue, and purple.

But the colors only begin to explain why this 8,200-square-foot facility is now among the most unique — and destined to be emulated — workspaces in the region.

There are also the small meeting rooms (there are no private offices at Paragus, so employees need spaces in which to gather and talk privately), including one with an image of founder Delcie Bean called Beantown, another called the Bat Cave (yes, there are images of bats on the wall), and still another called the Bullpen, with a Fenway Park backdrop.

Then there’s the game room, now outfitted with a ping-pong table, with a pinball machine on the way; a huge kitchen (called the Hatch) complete with a pub with several beers and wines on tap; an outdoor patio equipped with grills; a locker room complete with a shower for those who want to work out during the day; a large classroom for training dubbed Paragus University, and inspirational quotes from noted entrepreneurs and business consultants — such as Peter Drucker’s “the way to predict the future is to invent it” — hanging on the walls.

And don’t forget the weathervane on the roof. It’s a large representation of the company’s logo — an infant lifting a barbell, complete with a stainless-steel diaper — and it’s equipped with a large spotlight so it can be seen day or night.

Paragus University, like all areas in the new headquarters facility, reflects the company’s vibe — and prominently features the color green.

All these components and many more reflect what Bean, one of the region’s most celebrated entrepreneurs, called the “Paragus vibe,” which he described as a mix of fun and professionalism.

“That’s what our brand has become — these externally facing, very professional individuals who behind the scenes are a ton of fun and very relaxed,” he explained. “So we tried to create a space in a building that emulated that vibe.”

And he put very strong emphasis on that word ‘we.’ Indeed, this new workspace came about through a team effort, one involving a number of players, including employees at all levels.

Usually, things don’t go well when they are handled by committee, especially one with a number of subcommittees, but in this case, they did, said Bean, who told BusinessWest that several small groups of employees were given assignments ranging from the furniture to the pub to the décor in the conference room, or the war room, as it’s called. An interior designer was also hired, and there were many design contributions (including the weathervane) from the marketing firm Darby O’Brien Advertising, which orchestrated the Paragus branding efforts.

Roughly two years after they started, and with ideas inspired by companies ranging from Microsoft to the online shoe retailer Zappos, the new Paragus workspace is ready for prime time, and Bean believes it will succeed in its primary missions — to create a workplace that’s comfortable, inspires innovation, and helps the company with the critical assignment of attracting and retaining talent.

“Having a really cool space helps us recruit the really best employees, and that’s something that’s very important to us,” he said. “And it will help us retain them once we’ve got them.”

Gainer O’Brien, creative director at Darby O’Brien Advertising, also used that word ‘vibe,’ mixing it in with ‘culture,’ ‘brand,’ and ‘mentality’ to describe what the new facility was designed to capture — and amplify.

“We were trying to customize every inch of the place with the company culture and brand,” he said. “And we’ve done that, right down to the weathervane.”

For this issue and its focus on commercial real estate, BusinessWest toured the new Paragus space and talked with some of those who shaped it to gain some perspective on the many ways it reflects what this company has become — and where it might go.

Space Exploration

On a shelf in the front lobby of Paragus’s new facility sits the many plaques the company has earned by making Inc. magazine’s recent lists of the country’s fastest-growing companies.

They effectively, and succinctly explain why this expansion was necessary, but Bean offered some details. He told BusinessWest that the company, which he started as a one-person operation when he was 13, eventually settled in an old Colonial on Route 9 in Hadley. As it grew, it expanded into the Colonial next door, he explained, adding that his venture soon outgrew that combined space as well.

An employee hangs license plates identifying cubicle occupants by their first names — one of several design features borrowed from Zappos.

As the search for a site on which to create a larger facility commenced, the company moved into temporary quarters in Harrison Place in downtown Springfield, making the black-and-green-painted Paragus Mini Coopers common sites on the streets of the City of Homes.

Bean said the company considered a number of locations in and around Hadley for its new headquarters, and nearly closed on a site in Northampton before eventually opting for a site behind the county courthouse on Route 9. The existing structure there, which most recently had served as a school, was in poor condition and needed to be razed, he noted.

While that search was taking place, Bean and company employees began to visit other workplaces to gain perspective, insight, and ideas. Among the facilities toured were Microsoft’s NERD (New England Research and Development) Center in Cambridge; the Harvard Innovation Lab, or iLab, as it’s called; the Cambridge Innovation Center; and Zappos’ headquarters in what was once City Hall in Las Vegas.

From those visits, and especially the Zappos tour, participants absorbed ideas such as the inspirational quotes on the walls and the use of license plates to identify the occupants of cubicles (the registration sticker in the corner indicates what year he or she started with the company), said Bean.

But the broad goal was to create something unique, he added, something that “said Paragus” and reflected the company’s culture.

“We wanted something of our own that’s kind of a combination of what we saw at other companies,” he explained. “We definitely love our brand and our culture and the vibe that we’ve created, and we’ve never had a building that emulated that vibe because we’ve always been fitting into something that already existed. We had the opportunity to build it the way we wanted from scratch.”

From the beginning, there has been plenty of input from employees, because that is a big part of the company’s culture, said its founder.

“I’m a huge believer in getting staff buy-in at every level, so we formed what we called the New Building Committee and picked out the different assignments and created subcommitees,” he explained. “Every other week, we’d get together, and the subcommittees would report. It sounds very bureaucratic, but it was quite effective because the subcommittees were very focused on specific topics, and it was things that were going to affect them and things they were very interested in.”

Building Excitement

What all those subcommittees and others involved in this undertaking produced is space that, as Bean suggested, effectively mixes fun with professionalism, form with function.

Indeed, just around the corner from the game room is a wall that will soon host a huge screen that will enable the staff to monitor the servers at its dozens of clients and instantly spot trouble.

“If any glitch happens, immediately you’ll see the whole screen change and highlight what network is down,” he explained. “And we can drill down and see exactly what the problem is; we monitor about 126 clients and about 270 servers, and this will let us monitor them on one big screen.”

The weathervane with the company’s logo was perhaps the only opportunity for Paragus to fully express itself with the building’s exterior.

As for that game room/kitchen complex, O’Brien said it will soon be outfitted with a sign that reads, “once you enter this space, you can’t even think about work,” or words to that effect, a message that, like all other components in the facility, reflects the company’s culture, or the “Paragus mentality.”

Matt Dubard, art director for Darby O’Brien Advertising, agreed, and said the facility’s design captures and perpetuates a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship.

“This company has a startup feel,” he said. “It’s not a startup — it’s been around in various forms since Delcie was 13, and a lot of the people have been working with each other for a long time. But it definitely feels like a startup; it has that excitement about it, and we wanted to capture all that in how it was designed.”

O’Brien used the word “youthful” to describe the company, its culture, and what needed to be conveyed in the various elements of the new facility.

“There’s a lot of youth, a lot of energy,” he explained. “And that energy definitely comes across in the design.”

As for the weathervane, well, it was perhaps the best, and only, chance for the company to express itself through the property’s exterior, said O’Brien, noting that it lies in an historic-overlay district that is heavily regulated when it comes to design. But there are no regulations that anyone knows about regarding weathervanes.

“There might be some soon after people see that one,” he said with a laugh. “I’d be curious to see what the town of Hadley feels about it. It’s not a weathervane; it’s a piece of art.”

The same might be said of the new facility as a whole, and Bean acknowledged that the company will likely be fielding some requests for visits to see the space. And while he expects to be leading some tours himself, he will let others at the company share that responsibility — and privilege.

“I’ll certainly do a fair share of them myself, but I believe there’s huge value in having the staff leading those tours,” he said. “This really is their building, built for them and, in many cases, by them.”

Workplace in Progress

One framed picture not up on the wall when BusinessWest visited Paragus (Bean’s not sure what he’ll do with it) depicts the downtown Springfield skyline maybe seven to 10 years from now, when the company is expected to have outgrown the new space on Route 9.

It shows a gleaming steel skyscraper, perhaps 40 stories high, with the Paragus name on the side — in huge ‘outrageous green’ lettering, of course.

This imagery was a gift from the O’Brien agency to indicate one possible future for Paragus and other small businesses that may be started by some of its employees in the years to come, said Bean, who’s not sure whether it represents anything approaching what might be reality.

What he does know is that the current home represents a big step forward for his venture — and a true reflection of its vibe.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Royal Treatment

Holiday Party Planner Sections

‘The Castle’ Focuses on Details That Make a Difference

David Sarrasin says he aims to meet the dietary needs of vegans, vegetarians, gluten-free diners, and guests with food allergies.

People who aren’t familiar with Chicopee might be surprised to learn the city, and specifically Memorial Drive, is home to a large castle, complete with two towers and parapets that line the edge of its roof.

Large lanterns on the building cast light into a parking lot with enough space for 400 vehicles, and massive doors open into a 10,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom illuminated by sparkling chandeliers and an enormous stone fireplace that burns brightly throughout every season of the year.

This building, owned by the Fairview Knights of Columbus Council No. 4044, has an interesting history, said the group’s treasurer, Ronald Belair. He noted that what is now known as the Castle of Knights Meeting & Banquet House, which hosts hundreds of functions each year, was once a strip mall that was home to a number of small, but well-known businesses.

But over the past three decades, it has been completely transformed, and today events staged there include chamber of commerce functions, banquets, weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, 16th-birthday parties, quinceañeras, anniversaries, and church functions.

Businesses also use it for meetings that run from a few hours to three or four days. “Our facility has wi-fi connectivity and state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment,” said Belair. “The entire building is on one level and is handicapped-accessible.”

It has become a tradition for many groups to hold their holiday parties there, and they are often booked a year in advance by companies and social-service agencies alike.

“People come back year after year, and we also have five companies that wait until January to hold their Christmas parties,” said Sales Manager Sandi LaFleche, citing a growing trend. She added that Chicopee Savings, the Arbors, Shriners Hospital for Children, and Hulmes Transportation number among the firms that choose the Castle for their annual holiday gatherings.

The Fairview Knights of Columbus established the Castle as a separate corporation 25 years ago, said Belair, and went about creating something that would be unique.

“When it was formed, we wanted it to stand out, so we changed the entire façade of the building — we put turrets at each end of the banquet hall to give it the look of a real castle, and had the roof designed to look like a moat,” he said. “It is a very unique, elegant facility that is lavishly decorated, and we do our best to treat our guests like kings and queens.”

In addition to this unusual setting, he stressed that the castle emphasizes attention to detail and a willingness to go the extra mile to meet client requests.

For example, it’s not unusual for Executive Chef David Sarrasin to prepare gluten-free meals, along with dishes for vegans, vegetarians, and people with celiac disease at a function in which the other guests are all eating the same food.

“Over the past five years, a growing number of people have been diagnosed with food allergies or put on strict diets,” he said. “We are very conscious of taking care of the needs of our guests, and we want people to be able to come to the Castle, enjoy a meal, and not worry about getting sick, so our menu has evolved considerably over the years.”

Moat Point

What visitors to the Castle see today is the result of a long and slow process of evolution, said Belair.

It began when the Fairview K of C purchased the strip mall at 1599 Memorial Dr. 35 years ago. At that time, a large storefront, which had housed a Big Y, was vacant, but the mall contained many other tenants who had leases that had to be honored. They included Giovanni’s Pizza, Dress Barn, Ray’s Hardware, Lewis & Clark Drugstore, Ray’s Barber Shop, and Rip’s Lounge, which was a popular watering hole frequented by those stationed at nearby Westover Air Force Base.

“The K of C purchased the mall to be its home — we moved from a very small facility on Montcalm Street into the space that had been occupied by Big Y, and over time we slowly renovated it to accommodate our own functions,” Belair said, noting that it was the organization’s third move, and after the former supermarket was gutted, two halls and a large kitchen were created in the space.

As the leases expired for neighboring tenants, the K of C slowly took over the empty storefronts, and Lewis & Clark and Rip’s Lounge were converted into a members’ lounge and meeting facility. As more space continued to open, again due to expired leases, the K of C allowed charitable organizations, ranging from its own youth association to Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, to use it free of charge.

“But as time went on, a growing number of organizations began to contact us because they wanted to host functions in our hall,” he went on. “So the K of C formed a for-profit corporation that we called the Castle. It allowed us to provide services to the general public.”

At that point, the K of C hall was typical of what people would expect to find at a similar organization. “It had been used for our functions, and featured a wagon-wheel chandelier and red carpeting, which were popular at the time. Although it was attractive, we needed to bring it to another level,” said Belair, adding that the Knights wanted to provide an atmosphere that could compete with other banquet facilities.

Ronald Belair, with Sandi LaFleche, says the building’s castle design was intended to make it stand out.

So, in addition to changing the façade of the building, an elegant interior with a more formal ambience was designed, which included large, crystal-style chandeliers. Space was also designated and used for offices, bathrooms, and storage and stock areas.

Eight years ago, a second major renovation was completed, which included new carpeting, dance floors, soundproof walls, drapes, and tastefully decorated restrooms that can accommodate up to a dozen people.

The Castle, which leases the space from the K of C, can accommodate groups of 40 to 700 people, and two functions can be held at the same time, thanks to soundproof room dividers.

“We have some of the largest dance floors in Western Mass., and each hall has its own bridal suite, which can also be rented separately for small, corporate meetings,” Belair told BusinessWest. “The rooms are large enough to accommodate live bands, and each hall also has its own stage for entertainers. We also have three large, full-service bars, and groups can choose a cash bar or from a variety of open-bar options.”

Belair said the Castle also boasts its own in-house florist, Flowers by Rebecca. “She is always available to create special items or honor special requests for weddings or wedding parties,” he said. “But our hall is decorated for every season, and we have floral displays on the walls as well as the mantel of the fireplace, which allows clients to save money if they don’t want something custom-tailored for their event.

“We also have a vast array of linen colors and chair covers,” he continued, adding that a full-time sales team, banquet manager, executive chef, and four additional cooks, as well as kitchen staff, make it possible to please every guest.

Focus on Food

Sarrasin is known for his artistic creations, which include ice sculptures of swans, enormous baskets, and even a Waterford crystal egg. They take hours to complete, but an equal amount of time is spent preparing unusual international cheese platters and fruit and vegetable crudités, as well as antipastos that are up to 4 ½ feet long.

“We also create rustic displays with different types of bread, cheese, and antipastos in baskets and on platters,” he said. “The presentation of food is very important to us, and people often tell us they have never seen anything like our food displays anywhere except on cruise ships. It’s what I wanted to do — create something to set us apart from everyone else. I wanted to create a ‘wow’ factor because it’s needed in this industry.”

The menu features a vast array of choices, although the main fare is French nouveau cuisine. “We offer buffets with carving and pasta stations as well as sit-down dinners and luncheons, with entrees that range from chicken dishes to beef Wellington, prime rib, and filet mignon, as well as our popular Castle cordon bleu and scrod,” Sarrasin said.

There is also a vegetarian menu, and it is not unusual for the kitchen staff to accommodate special requests, whether it is an ethnic food or a dish normally not on the menu. Ethnic dishes that have been requested and prepared include paella, kapasta, pierogies, and galumpkis.

Generations of people have worked at the Castle, and many started in the kitchen in their teens. Sarrasin said he creates a learning environment that allows his entire staff to work in any aspect of food preparation. “I try to share everything I know, and many employees have taken their experience and the knowledge they have gained here and gone on to become chefs or managers at other facilities.”

Events held there range from joyous to somber, but it is a popular setting for weddings, and LaFleche said about half of the brides who hold their wedding receptions there get married on the premises. “They often set up arches with flowers and have their guests seated in aisles or at tables,” she noted. Other affairs include beer and wine tastings as well as a variety of fund-raisers.

“The South Hadley Police Assoc. holds an annual comedy night here, and the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce and Holyoke Catholic High School host a lot of functions at the Castle,” said Belair. “The FBI recently held an awards banquet here, and J. Polep Distribution stages frequent seminars in the meeting hall.

“Because we’re not owned by an individual, we can offer the community a lot at a reasonable cost,” he went on. “We keep our prices modest while providing a superior product, and all of our profits are channeled back into the facility.”

Successful Venture

Although the Castle offers many amenities, one thing that makes it different from many other area banquet facilities is that it is governed by a board of directors who are all members of Fairview Knights of Columbus Council #4044.

They generously donate their time to serve on committees connected with the Castle, and the K of C uses it to host its own events, such a Valentine’s Day party and New Year’s Eve celebration, which are open to the public, along with monthly spaghetti suppers. The facility also hosts a free, annual Thanksgiving dinner that provides meals to more than 3,800 needy or lonely people, which earned it the International Family Service Award from the Supreme K of C in San Antonio, Texas last year.

Overall, the venture created more than two decades ago has been heralded as a success, earning recognition and praise from businesses, social groups, and families who return time and time again.

“The combination of a diversity of options, our location, and the consistent, high quality of our food are keys to the Castle,” Belair said.

Court Dockets

Court Dockets Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

CHICOPEE DISTRICT COURT
Atlantic Charter Insurance Co. v. Eagle Transit, LLC
Allegation: Non-payment of workers’ compensation premiums: $5,143
Filed: 9/19/24

Northeast IT Systems Inc. v. D & D Masonry & Chimney
Allegation: Non-payment of equipment and services: $1,300+
Filed: 9/18/14

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Mark T. Laramee v. Lisa Mackechnie and Vesuvio, LLC d/b/a Carpaccio
Allegation: Default on agreement: $295,457.23
Filed: 8/14/14

Mary Ellen Morisette v. Westfield Meadows Corp. and John J. Shannon
Allegation: Failure to pay wages: $500,000+
Filed: 8/22/14

Victor Shibley, Kathleen Sweeney, and Canterbury Construction Inc. v. United Bank
Allegation: Violation of consumer protection, negligence, wrongful debit, and breach of contract: $815,000+
Filed: 8/13/14

HAMPSHIRE SUPERIOR COURT
Michael P. Kamenides, as personal representative of the estate of Mark P. Kamenides v. Ryder Funeral Home Inc. and William W. Ryder
Allegation: Breach of contract, interference with a corpse, negligence, and severe emotional distress: $29,305
Filed: 7/18/14

Safety Insurance Co., as subrogee of Thomas and Cynthia Downey v. Rowenta Inc. a/k/a Groupe SEB, USA
Allegation: Product liability causing fire: $585,522.62
Filed: 7/22/14

Saloomey Construction Inc. v. Jet Properties
Allegation: Non-payment of labor and materials: $39,940.60
Filed: 9/3/14

Todd McLeague v. One World Technologies Inc. and Ryobi Technologies Inc.
Allegation: Negligence in the design and manufacture of a circular saw causing injury: $64,900
Filed: 9/19/14

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT
Easthampton Savings Bank v. David A. Weise d/b/a Weise Design and Construction
Allegation: Breach of contract: $21,000
Filed: 8/11/14

Florence Savings Bank v. Zbignew Kosior d/b/a Kings Hill Construction
Allegation: Monies owed for overdraft and bounced-check fees: $3,016.21
Filed: 8/7/14

Paul Duga v. Bernard F. Shea d/b/a Shea Tree Service
Allegation: Failure to pay rent: $38,000
Filed: 8/5/14

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. v. NMR Associates Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of workers’ compensation insurance: $9,261.69
Filed: 8/6/14

The Hartford Courant Co. v. Excellence Auto Exchange Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of advertising services rendered: $3,365.00
Filed: 8/19/14

US Foods Inc. v. MGB Inc. d/b/a Electric Café and Margaret Boxold
Allegation: Non-payment of goods sold and delivered: $9,137.30
Filed: 8/1/14

Vanguard Mold Remediation Inc. v. DLP Hospitality, LLC and Shailesh D. Patel
Allegation: Non-payment of balance for mold remediation: $17,450
Filed: 8/27/14

Community Spotlight: Hampden

Community Spotlight Features

Hampden Strives to Increase Revenue, Cut Costs

John Flynn says Hampden is a town rich in community spirit, where many municipal officials are following in the footsteps of family members who served before them.

John Flynn says many people want to make improvements to their homes but are curtailed by their budgets and increases in the cost of living. “Municipalities are no different, and it’s always a balancing act between what we want to do and what we can afford,” said the chair of the Select Board in Hampden, adding that budgetary decisions are determined by residents at town meetings.

He noted that one way to raise additional revenue is to attract new businesses, but Hampden’s ability to do so is limited by its lack of town water and sewer facilities. However, town officials and employees are working diligently to find ways to increase services and make infrastructure improvements without burdening the taxpayers.

Flynn said this is important because Hampden is a small town with a number of significant financial obligations, which include payments on a $2 million bond taken out to improve its roads over a five-year period, and approximately $8 million owed as the town’s share of the new $67.4 million Minnechaug Regional High School that opened two years ago and serves students from Hampden and Wilbraham.

“The payments for the school will be spread out over 30 years, but it’s a pretty big bill to pay,” Flynn said. “However, we are continually looking to reduce costs through grants and programs, including those offered by the state and federal government and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. As a result, we are able to continue to improve the town while lightening the burden of the cost to the taxpayers, who are our friends and neighbors.”

Jane Budynkiewicz agrees. “The school department has a grant writer, but the town does not, so we take time out from our normal schedules to fit this in,” said the Board of Health coordinator. “I try my hardest to get anything that will help the people in this town. They put their faith in me, so I constantly work to find something, bigger, better, and more helpful.”

Over the past year, proactive measures by the Select Board have led to a number of initiatives, which include two solar-energy projects on town-owed property that have the potential to generate income while reducing Hampden’s electric bill.

Flynn said the selectmen and the energy company Soltage are currently in negotiations, with the shared goal of building solar-collection systems on the town’s capped landfill and the roof of Thornton Burgess Middle School.

Seeds for the projects were sown last year when several companies expressed interest in building solar facilities in Hampden. The proposals led the selectmen to schedule meetings with officials from other communities that have small-scale solar-electricity systems on publicly owned land, and it soon became clear that there were economic benefits with few drawbacks.

Flynn said Hampden’s landfill is an ideal location for a solar-collecting station, which fits in perfectly with the vision selectmen had for the property years ago when it was capped. “It was repurposed to allow the land to generate income; a piece of the property is being leased for a cell-phone tower, but we wanted to find a way to use the large, grassy area on the site to bring in revenue while keeping our overhead to a minimum and limiting the impact on our residents,” he noted, adding that, in addition to generating income, the Select Board hopes the cost of running the town’s streetlights might be mitigated because the line item constitutes Hampden’s largest electric expense.

In addition to these public projects, requests to install solar stations on private property are on the rise. Several weeks ago, construction began on a 3.2-megawatt, photovoltaic electricity-generating facility at the privately owned Kibbe Farm gravel pit on 229 Somers Road. The property is being leased by Minnechaug Solar, LLC (formerly known as Soltas Holdings, LLC).

And earlier this month, a special permit was granted to Stephen Andwood that will allow him to use a portion of a lot he owns for a solar-energy facility that will be built by solar-solutions provider Heliovaas.

“A proposal for a fifth solar project, which would also be built on private property, was presented to the board at our Oct. 6 meeting,” Flynn said. “The number of solar projects taking place in Hampden over the past year has exploded.”

An increase in tax revenue is also expected when a major renovation of Hampden Country Club is complete. The club was sold at auction in 2012 for $1.4 million, and since that time, the golf course and pro shop have been redesigned, and a $9 million banquet facility is under construction that will hold more than 200 people.

Flynn cited yet another project that will add to the tax coffers. “Last year, National Grid started work on a new substation off of Allen Street which is almost finished. We anticipate that all of these projects will increase our tax revenue by $300,000, which is a significant amount for Hampden.”

Exemplary Dedication

Flynn said community spirit is a cornerstone of life in Hampden. He told BusinessWest that it can be seen and felt in places such as Village Food Mart, where friends and neighbors inadvertently meet and enjoy conversations while they tend to the daily tasks of living.

“People who live here fall in love with the town,” he said as he extolled Hampden’s attributes and noted that some families have made it their home for more than a century.

“Many of the people who serve in our town government have family members who held similar positions, and saw how rewarding these roles can be,” Flynn noted, adding that his father and great-grandfather were long-term selectmen, and the Town Hall, which is getting a facelift thanks to Community Preservation Act funds, was donated to the town by a Hampden family.

Senior Center Director Becky Moriarty agrees that community spirit flourishes in all segments of the population. “Hampden is an amazing town, and I have been very fortunate to work here for 12 years. The Senior Center community is like one big family, and our building is like a home away from home,” she said.

However, she concurs that efforts to procure funding for services and amenities to improve the lives of residents has to be aggressive and ongoing in order for the town to continue to offer the lifestyle residents enjoy today.

“The budget we receive from the town is not always enough, so supplementing it with grant funds is how we fill in the financial gaps,” Moriarty explained, as she listed grants the senior center received within the past year.

They include an annual Formula Grant from the Executive Office of Elder Affairs that pays for a part-time activities coordinator; Title IIIB grant funding from Greater Springfield Senior Services, which pays for a portion of the outreach coordinator’s salary; a grant from the Hampden Cultural Council that was used to provide entertainment at a celebratory event; and a grant from the Mass. Assoc. of Councils on Aging that allowed the center to offer an Aging Mastery Program, which is a health and wellness initiative.

Budynkiewicz cited other examples of how the town benefits from grants and outside funding.

“Two years ago, the Hampden Health Coalition purchased a trailer for the Board of Health that costs $5,234, and we were able to fill it with emergency-preparedness equipment, which includes cots, blankets, pillows, medical supplies, and personal-care kits, with state funding,” she noted. “As a result, if we have a major power outage, I can call the fire or police department and have them tow the trailer to a designated site and have a shelter equipped in less than an hour.”

She also just received news that an application for a $1,400 grant for the transfer station was approved by the Mass. Dept. of Environmental Protection. “We want to use it to put up new signage and look into recycling bins,” she said.

Cost-saving measures are also adopted by every town department whenever there is opportunity to do so. “We take advantage of discount pricing for natural gas and gasoline by participating in a county-wide contract,” Flynn said, while the Select Board belongs to a regional group that includes representatives from Wilbraham, East Longmeadow, Longmeadow, and Ludlow, who share ideas to promote growth, increase revenue, and reduce the price tag associated with running their towns.

Graybar Electric recently contacted town officials and offered to help obtain energy-efficient lightbulbs through a Department of Energy Resources grant program. “We were approved for 565 free, energy-efficient lamps for the Town Hall and anticipate they will save us $525 a year,” said Select Board Administrative Assistant Pamela Courtney.

She agrees that town employees are very dedicated, and cited a few examples of their laudatory commitment.

“Eva Wiseman, who is the town clerk and tax collector, is always looking for ways to reduce costs in her office, which she achieves by doing much of the work herself, rather than contracting it out. And the Board of Health coordinator [Budynkiewicz] employs every tactic she can to get the best prices on anything that needs to be purchased for the town and continually goes above and beyond to work for the 5,000-plus bosses who employ all of us on a daily basis,” Courtney said, referring to the residents.

“In fact, the employees of the town of Hampden always do more than is expected from them, particularly when it comes to providing good service and saving money,” she went on. “We live in the town, so it behooves us to work hard to manage our budgets well.”

Gaining Ground

Flynn said residential growth is beginning again after being stalled by the economy for years, and two homes in a 20-lot subdivision were sold last year. A new church is also planned, and the wide range of benefits the community offers is expected to continue.

“We don’t just give lip service to the idea of doing more,” he said. “We believe we have the best roads in the area and great schools, which all adds up to a source of tremendous community pride.”

Hampden at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1878
Population: 5,139 (2010) 
Area: 19.7 square miles 
County: Hampden 
Residential Tax Rate: $18 .00
Commercial Tax Rate: $18.00
Median Household Income: $65,662
Family Household Income: $75,407
Type of government: Select Board
Largest Employers: Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District, Rediker Software Inc., Hampden Police Department

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Comeback Stories

Features

Hadley Fire Victims Maintain an Entrepreneurial Spirit

Chuong Son, left, and Jorge Sosa and his wife, Dora Saravia, are among those who have overcome myriad challenges and gotten back in business.

A year later, Chuong Son remembers each of the many emotions he experienced that fateful night when he learned that the Norwottuck Shoppes, the Hadley strip mall that housed his Vietnamese restaurant, was ablaze — and also those that characterized the weeks and months to follow.

The first was an intense fear that he might have been the one responsible for this conflagration that lit up the night sky and displaced a dozen small businesses.

“I remember it like it was yesterday. A friend of mine called me … he was driving down the road and said, ‘there’s smoke coming from where your store is at the back of the building; did you leave something on?’” said Son, who emigrated to this country in 1989 from Vietnam. “We got scared and nervous and made the drive right down there.”

Later, he would learn, from one of the firefighters who responded to the blaze, that the prevailing theory was that it started in the laundromat located within the mall, news that brought a sense of relief, to be replaced later by a feeling of relative calm rooted in the belief that his business was insured for $1 million.

This was followed by disappointment and anxiety, however, when he was informed that his insurance involved two fewer zeros. And over the next 10 months, there would be gratitude, frustration, resolve, and finally pride and controlled euphoria as he reopened Banh Mi Saigon, a Vietnamese sandwich shop he operates with his wife, Mung Pham, on Main Street in Northampton.

The emotions Son felt during his long climb back were common among the other business owners victimized by the blaze — especially the frustration and resolve.

The fast-moving fire quickly raced through the strip mall, displacing 12 small-business owners.

The former resulted from fights with insurance companies over coverage and, especially, large amounts of confusion and misinformation that characterized attempts to secure support and loans from agencies such as the Small Business Administration. And the latter defined the efforts to overcome all that and get back in business.

Not all of them have made a full recovery, but as the anniversary of the Oct. 27 blaze approaches, one of the many themes of this multi-tiered story has been the ability of several business owners to overcome various forms of adversity and continue to demonstrate a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

Consider the case of Jorge Sosa and his wife, Dora Saravia, owners of Mi Tierra, a popular Mexican restaurant leveled by the blaze. After struggling through a period when simply paying his mortgage and the loan on a box truck he had recently purchased for his business became a stern challenge, Sosa secured a loan from the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program, in conjunction with Common Capital. He used that money to acquire a $54,000 tortilla-making machine and become a partner in a Springfield-based venture called Estelita’s Taqueria, which supplies tortillas to a number of local clients.

Meanwhile, thanks in large part to the cash flow created by that venture, he is ready to reopen Mi Tierra on the site of a former Japanese restaurant further west on Route 9. As he talked with BusinessWest about the past 12 months — as well as what lies ahead — he was putting some finishing touches on the new eatery with the goal of making a statement by opening one year after the tragedy.

“It’s been a long nightmare,” he said, using that word for the first of many times. “It’s been very difficult for many of us to make it back. But here we are.”

Three other businesses destroyed in the fire — a bakery, a dry cleaner, and a karate studio — have reopened almost across the street in the former Registry of Motor Vehicles plaza, while for others, the recovery is still a work in progress.

Overall, it’s been a trying ordeal and a learning experience, not only for the business owners, but for the agencies that have provided various forms of assistance.

Len Gendron, chairman of the Western Mass. chapter of SCORE (the Service Corps of Retired Executives), said that agency, which eventually provided assistance to several of the displaced business owners, will likely be more proactive the next time such a crisis occurs.

“Ordinarily, we don’t go straight to the victims in such cases — we do solicit, but we don’t go out and touch them,” he explained, adding that things changed when a news accounts indicated that, nine months after the fire, many business owners were having problems getting any real assistance.

“We reacted to that, approached the victims, and said, ‘how can we help?’” he went on, adding that SCORE set up meetings with the SBA and local banks and later assigned mentors to those who attended the meeting. “This was a good experience, and it opened our eyes to what these disaster victims go through, and we’ve decided, as a chapter, that, should we get another business disaster like this, we’re going to step up very early and offer our assistance.”

From the Ground Up

Like Son, Sosa is able to recall many moments, and emotions, both during that fateful night and then over the next several months.

He remembers being at work that evening when one of the bartenders on duty alerted him to “some kind of fire on the roof.”

He recalls going outside to investigate and seeing nothing emanating from his kitchen. He went back inside, saw growing amounts of smoke, and directed patrons to leave. He stayed, with the goal of finding out what had happened — but for too long.

“I started to get scared — the smoke was starting to get really, really thick,” he noted. “I was trying to see where the fire was coming from and if there was any way to stop it; the police started screaming, ‘get out,’ and that’s when I realized I couldn’t breathe anymore and just got out.”

He also recalled a question from his 8-year-old daughter a few days later. “She said, ‘are we going to lose our house because we don’t have a job?’” he told BusinessWest, adding that while he gave a resounding ‘no,’ deep down, he wasn’t entirely sure.

Such sentiments help explain that, while the fire was a fast-moving conflagration that started near the middle of the strip mall and worked its way to both ends, devouring everything in its path, this was in many ways a slow-moving ordeal that tested the patience, and the will, of those involved.

Son remembers help coming from many directions — from monetary donations collected and distributed by the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce soon after the fire, to assistance from representatives of U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern’s office, to direct support from Common Capital and SCORE more recently. And he was grateful for all of it.

“We come from a place where people are very reserved; culturally and traditionally, people keep to themselves and don’t open up in terms of receiving help from the public,” he explained. “Going through this situation, we found out that there were people who didn’t even know us but took the time to send encouraging e-mails and donate their hard-earned money to help us rebuild.

“People came out of nowhere and said, ‘how can we help you?’” he went on. “Coming from where we’re from, it’s difficult to open up to receive that help, so just the initiative from all these people saying ‘we can help you’ helped us in terms of being more open. We did all that we could to reopen just because of strangers who helped us out.”

But while there was support from the community and many agencies, there were also large amounts of confusion, miscommunication, and, as it would turn out, misinformation, that would frustrate and delay comeback efforts.

Gendron told BusinessWest that many problems were related to SBA loans, who was eligible for them, and what they could be used for.

“The real problem wasn’t a lack of information, because there was a lot of it being provided, but it was conflicting information,” he explained. “These folks were reaching out to everybody, and everybody told them something different.”

Elaborating, he said the governor had declared the area an economic disaster, but his administration didn’t fully explain that this designation, and the support it creates in the form of loans, is not related to rebuilding, as most fire victims assumed, but for paying bills that were due at the time of the disaster and for carrying forward.

“The victims started calling around and even reached an SBA representative down south, who basically told them they weren’t qualified, which was true — they weren’t qualified for rebuild loans. They started reaching out to absolutely everybody, and everybody had a different answer. It got totally confused, and they didn’t get the information they needed.”

Len Gendron says the fire and its aftermath have provided a learning experience on many levels — for the victims, but also for the agencies that worked to help them.

Meanwhile, victims faced another challenge. While the Norwottuck Shoppes sat on heavily traveled Route 9, considered a prime location for commercial real estate, business owners there were generally charged rents far below what others in that area were paying — and far below what they were being quoted for possible new sites they could call home.

“They had more affordable rents for a prime location like that than you would find in downtown Northampton or downtown Amherst,” said Dan Crowley, who covers Hadley and some other towns for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “To recreate that tenant/property-owner relationship from scratch somewhere else was going to be difficult — it was going to be more expensive for them.

“And a lot of them really liked being where they were, in the center of Hadley,” he went on. “In listening to them, I got the impression that this was working for them and appealing to them. And some of them had been there a long time — they had established clienteles and relationships with customers that develop over 10, 15, or 20 years.”

It was one of Crowley’s stories recounting the challenges and frustrations of the victims that caught the attention of those at SCORE, which later scheduled meetings, assigned mentors, and helped link victims with needed support from banks and agencies such as Common Capital.

Recovery Mission

Sosa told BusinessWest that the fire occurred at a time when things were really coming together for Mi Tierra.

The couple had recently purchased tortilla-making equipment and was supplying them to a steadily growing list of clients. Meanwhile, the restaurant and its recently opened bar were drawing a steam of regular and new customers.

Things all changed in a matter of those few chaotic minutes when he realized the building was on fire.

And if there was chaos that night, there would be more in the months to come, as the couple would wrangle with insurance providers and struggle to get their various business operations back up and running.

“It’s been a long, very difficult year,” said Sosa, adding that the financial support from Common Capital and the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program have been instrumental in creating needed cash flow, momentum, and resolve to reopen Mi Tierra.

He acknowledged that there is a good amount of risk with this new venture — the footprint is much larger and the rent considerably higher than what they were paying — but he believes it is worth taking on.

“People have supported us over the years, and we believe they will continue to support us here,” he said. “We can offer a lot to our clients. It’s going to be difficult, but we can make this work.”

Son used similar language to describe his comeback. He told BusinessWest that, while the fight to get back on his feet has been long and difficult, he drew needed inspiration from the many forms of support he has received, and has been driven by his desire to be in business for himself.

He arrived in Amherst after a long, twisting journey that took him from Vietnam to Thailand and then Camden, N.J. He worked for many years in the food-services operation at UMass Amherst, but long desired to start his own venture. Realizing that there were no Vietnamese restaurants in the region at the time, and sensing there was a need for one, he opened Banh Mi Saigon, complete with just 20 seats, in the Norwottuck shops in 2012.

It took some time to build a clientele, primarily because few were familiar with Vietnamese food and the company had little, if any, money for advertising. Slowly but surely, however, the venture established a firm footing.

As he watched the fire quickly consume the wood-framed strip mall, Son knew he would soon have to start over. But little did he know how difficult that would be.

“We thought we were covered for $1 million, so we went to sleep saying to ourselves, ‘I think we’ll be all right; we can rebuild easily with $1 million,’” he told BusinessWest. “But then we called the insurance company and found out we were only covered for $10,000, and it took all our savings, $100,000, to build the place.

“We didn’t know what to do or who to ask for help, and we didn’t think we could do it again because we didn’t have the capital,” he went on, adding that, through the help of SCORE and his mentor, Dan Healy, he was able to secure a $50,000 loan from Common Capital, the Holyoke-based nonprofit loan fund, to relaunch Banh Mi Saigon.

After the fire, Son originally desired to stay in Hadley, but he eventually set his sights on the Northampton location — the former home, ironically enough, to a failed Vietnamese restaurant — because he thought that made more sense and offered more potential to help him grow the venture.

He said business was slow at the start (he ropened in late August), but it has picked up via word of mouth and repeat business. (He is closed Mondays, the day BusinessWest visited, but several people came to the door in the belief that he might be open).

He is optimistic, but also realistic, and understands that he must drive more volume to his venture if he is going to pay rent that is roughly five times higher than what it was in the Norwottuck Shoppes.

The Bottom Line

Summing things up for his family — and no doubt all the others impacted by the fire — Sosa again reached for the word ‘nightmare,’ but quickly added that it’s been one with countless instances of people, often perfect strangers, reaching out to help the victims of this tragedy realize new dreams.

“We’ve gone through every emotion,” he said. “Many times we cried because of our situation, and many times we cried out of happiness for what friends had done for us.”

And a full year later, with their business once again open, they will likely cry again.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Editorial

Opinion

Yes on Casinos, No on Question 3

Voters will head to the ballot box early next month to decide, among other things, whether to allow casinos in the Bay State.

Putting aside the issue of our state’s highest court hijacking the legislative process by allowing this question to see the light of day, the ballot initiative attempts to circumvent a years-long process by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its elected officials, not to mention the casino operators who thought they were playing on a level field, having invested tens of millions of dollars in an open and competitive process to obtain the necessary permits and licenses to operate.

It also attempts to undo the will of the people by invalidating elections held in several Bay State cities and towns, including Springfield, where voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of allowing a casino to be built.

While we believe voters will see the light and vote down this initiative, we are concerned that many people may think they are voting in favor of allowing casinos when their vote may accomplish just the opposite. Question 3 is poorly written and confusing on many fronts, and voters need to understand what ‘yes’ and ‘no’ really mean. In this case, ‘no’ means you actually support the state’s plans to allow casinos by voting not to undo what has rightfully been approved by the state Legislature and cities like Springfield. A ‘yes’ vote means just the opposite — throwing away nearly three years of diligent, hard work by government and business, with government, for once, being a productive partner in a process that was open, competitive, and, we think, fair (or as fair as it can get on Beacon Hill).

Casinos have gotten a lot of bad press this summer and fall — and not just in the Bay State. The headlines out of Atlantic City have been downbeat to say the least, with several casinos, some with price tags well north of $1 billion, going out of business, leaving thousands out of work, and the future of that city in question. Some of these properties have new owners who have made promises to reopen, but the picture on the boardwalk remains bleak. Meanwhile, closer to home, business at Connecticut’s two casinos has slowed, and there is no shortage of analysts saying the Northeast is already oversaturated with casinos, even without the Bay State’s planned facilities — up to three resort casinos and a slots parlor.

But we believe MGM’s plan to build a resort casino in Springfield’s South End is strong and multi-faceted and does not rely mainly on gaming revenues, like its struggling counterparts in New Jersey, to stay profitable.

BusinessWest joins the chorus of voices, including area business and economic-development agencies (and, yes, unions) saying that voters in the Commonwealth should support the already-approved plan to allow casinos in Massachusetts.

Why? Primarily because of what it means for Springfield. MGM’s plan represents a unique opportunity — an opportunity for thousands of new jobs, an opportunity to perhaps spark a long-overdue revitalization of Springfield’s downtown and riverfront, an opportunity for this proud city to be relevant again and noteworthy for more than its high poverty rate and fiscal woes. Allowing a casino in Springfield builds on the region’s growing tourism industry, adding yet another successful venue to the many that already exist, like Six Flags, the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Eastern States Exposition.

We understand the risks. Those who say the Northeast is oversaturated with casinos may be right. But we fully believe this is a risk worth accepting. Before MGM entered the picture, no one had ever come forward with a plan to invest $800 million in Springfield, and it’s highly unlikely we will see a proposal involving that many zeroes again.

We don’t fully know what’s going to happen over the next several years if the pro-casino forces prevail on Nov. 4 — no one does. But we have a pretty good sense of what will happen if they don’t. A decade from now, Springfield’s South End will look much like it does now — is there any incentive for anyone to invest there? — and the downtown will continue to struggle. And the all-important fight for new jobs, well … that will suffer a devastating setback, because, as we’ve said many times, there is simply no plan B for this city.

Considering what’s at stake, we believe it’s clear that the logical step for the state’s residents is to say ‘yes’ to casinos — or, more to the point, vote ‘no’ on Question 3.

Springfield’s future rests in the balance.

Opinion

Opinion

Health Officials Vigilant Against Ebola

By CHERYL BARTLETT

To date, in Massachusetts, we are fortunate there have been no cases of Ebola virus, and the risk remains very low.

Ebola was first identified in the 1970s, and since that time there have been sporadic and limited outbreaks. This year, 2014, the Ebola outbreak has reached epidemic proportions in West Africa. The U.S. has treated several citizens evacuated from West Africa after contracting Ebola while caring for patients. One person exposed in Africa traveled to Texas and became symptomatic four days after arrival, was eventually treated, and then, sadly, died.

Since that time, two healthcare workers have been confirmed with Ebola. We are taking this very seriously, and I want to thank the many organizations and public officials that are working to stem this epidemic, including many healthcare providers, scientists, and public-safety professionals.

While Ebola is a very serious disease, it is one that health experts — and our medical community here in Massachusetts — understand and are prepared for. Ebola is less communicable than some other infectious diseases, as it can only be spread through close, direct contact with an infected, symptomatic person’s bodily fluids. As such, Ebola can be contained and prevented with careful, stringent application of core public-health measures. With our clinical partners, we intend to combat and treat Ebola very aggressively and provide all necessary supportive care in the highly unlikely chance a case is identified.

As such, we have taken the following proactive steps to ensure that our public-health and healthcare system partners are prepared:

• The DPH has established a dedicated Ebola webpage (www.mass.gov/dph/ebola) to provide a single reference point for clinical advisories, guidance, and links to information provided by the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO).

• The department has issued a series of guidance documents, developed by DPH and/or the CDC, to address questions related to management of suspect cases, screening of returning travelers, laboratory guidance for the handling of suspected specimens, as well as preparedness checklists.

• Our Bureau of Infectious Disease and the state Public Health Laboratory (SPHL) are in regular contact with their counterparts at the CDC, and that contact has increased as the department has intensified Ebola preparations. Additionally, the department remains in close contact with other local and state agencies and professional associations.

• DPH has held a series of statewide conference calls with partners that include hospitals, community health centers, emergency medical services, ambulatory-care organizations, colleges and universities, local boards of health, and public safety.

• The BID Epidemiology Program routinely performs outbreak investigation, contact tracing, coordination with local health authorities and SPHL, and, when necessary, coordinates isolation and quarantine procedures.

• The Massachusetts State Public Health Laboratory one of only a handful of state laboratories which the CDC has approved to perform preliminary testing for Ebola, with confirmatory testing performed by the CDC.

• To prepare for the possibility of receiving a suspect or confirmed case of Ebola, we have advised hospitals to review their infection-control protocols and provide preparedness trainings. DPH plans to send staff out into the field to partner with hospitals and their frontline staff to support implementation of these critically important protocols and trainings. The CDC is also stepping up its training and outreach to health care providers.

We should not let our guard down; preparation must continue to be a top priority. While the chance of Ebola transmission occurring in Massachusetts remains low, we continue to be proactive and comprehensive in our preparedness efforts.

Cheryl Bartlett is commissioner of the state Department of Public Health (DPH). These comments were condensed from her testimony last Thursday before the Joint Committee on Public Health Ebola Preparedness.

Soar Subject

Sections Sports & Leisure

Hot-air Balloon Pilot Rises to the Occasion

Pioneer Valley Balloons owner and chief pilot Lisa Fusco gets ‘Teddy Bear’ ready for takeoff.

As Lisa Fusco’s pickup truck approaches an elevated, wide-open space in Hadley called Sylvia Heights, this writer has the music from that scene near the end of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ — the one where the wizard and Dorothy are getting ready to take off in a hot-air balloon — playing in his head. And he can’t get it out. This is regrettable, but there is simply nothing else to regret on this Sunday afternoon during Columbus Day weekend. It is sunny and warm, and the winds are calm, almost negligible. Fusco, owner and chief pilot of Northampton-based Pioneer Valley Balloons, would spend the next few hours wearing out the phrase ‘perfect conditions for a ride,’ as she not only talked with BusinessWest about her venture, but showed what it’s all about.

Lisa Fusco is colorful, witty, and direct. She doesn’t mince words.

“People who do this … they don’t give up their day jobs,” she said of what would have to be called the hot-air-balloon business. And with that quick assessment, she spoke volumes about her 16-year-old entrepreneurial venture, for which things are looking up — literally, but certainly not figuratively.

Indeed, these are not the best of times for this industry, if one could call it that. The economy is still somewhat sluggish, and riding in a hot-air balloon (Fusco usually charges $250 per person for an hour-long ride) is an activity that epitomizes the phrase ‘discretionary spending.’ Also, there have been a few high-profile accidents in recent months, including a mishap in Virginia that cost three people their lives.

But even when times are better, this business is extremely fickle. Balloons can only take off in certain conditions, and this is New England, where the weather isn’t great to begin with can change in a matter of minutes, easily wiping out a day’s or weekend’s worth of revenue. And, in general, this is an activity most people do only once.

But Fusco, who also owns a bar in Easthampton called Casey’s Big Dog Saloon as well as some rental properties, and was at one time part-owner of Northampton Airport, isn’t in this for the money — not just the money, anyway.
“I absolutely love being part of so many people’s memories,” she said when asked what she likes about this business and why she got into it.

Lisa Fusco says balloon rides provide memories for those in the air and on the ground.

And she provides such memories to a wide range of individuals — from people who have had this activity on their bucket list since long before that movie came out, to couples who get engaged 1,000 feet in the air; from young people (and many who are not so young) on the ground who look up in wonder at the 75-foot-high balloon and follow it until it lands, to the property owner who looks out the window to see that balloon in his back yard — and gets a bottle of champagne as a gesture of thanks.

She even provides rides to people who know they are nearing the end of their lives and covet a chance to do something they’ve always dreamed of doing.

“We’ll get people who are going in for surgery, and it might be pretty serious, so they’ll say, ‘well, I at least want to do this before the unknown happens,’” she said. “We also get people who just survived cancer and people who are terminally ill; we had one woman who was given a month to live, and this was one of the things she wanted to do before she died. She was absolutely delighted and had a fantastic time.”

Soon after arriving at Sylvia Heights, Fusco and several assistants begin getting things ready for takeoff. The blue and black balloon, once sponsored by Teddy Bear Pools & Spas and named, appropriately enough, Teddy Bear, is unpacked and stretched out on the ground. Fusco then directs cold air through a large gas-powered fan into the open end, and the balloon very quickly takes shape as it is attached to the 450-pound wicker basket. With a long blast of heated propane, the balloon reaches its full dimensions and the air temperature needed to lift off, and, along with the basket, it is eased into an upright position. As Fusco yells instructions, the three ‘passengers’ jump in and prepare to leave terra firma behind.

While transporting her balloon, basket, passengers, and support staff to the liftoff spot in Hadley, Fusco revealed that she has a fairly serious fear of heights.

“I would never climb onto a second-story roof,” she told BusinessWest, adding quickly that she is completely at peace piloting a balloon several hundred feet in the air. “You get used to what they call the sight picture up there; you get used to being off the ground and what it looks like.”

How Fusco attained this comfort level, and grew a business while doing so, is an interesting story.

It begins with an episode when she was an Environmental Police officer. She was investigating a report of someone doing some shooting near Northampton Airport in 1996 when she met the facility’s owner, Dick Giusto. As they talked, eventually the subject of ballooning came up (Giusto was and still is a balloon pilot), and Fusco, an entrepreneurial sort looking to start some kind of business, became intrigued.

Despite that fear of heights and the fact that she’d never been in a balloon, she aggressively pursued what she saw as a real opportunity.

“It took about a year of really not doing anything else,” she explained. “When he [Giusto] was flying, I was either ground crew or I was getting a lesson. One time, we waited six weeks to get a flyable day.”

She eventually attained her balloon pilot’s license — one has to have a certain number of hours in the air and meet several other requirements to get one — and started Pioneer Valley Balloons in 1998.

When the economy was better, Fusco could book close to 100 flights a year; this year, she’s logged a fraction of that number.

She flies year-round, but early fall, when the foliage is at its peak, is the most popular time. Conditions are actually at their best in October and November, she went on, because the air is clear, there is less humidity, and it takes less fuel to gain altitude (balloons rise when the air inside them is warmer than the air around them).

“Balloons like cold weather,” said Fusco, adding quickly that passengers generally do not, so she books few flights during the winter. But there will be some, most involving couples getting engaged or celebrating an anniversary.

The UMass Amherst campus — and the balloon’s shadow — provide some of the many forms of scenery for passengers on this ride.

While they like cold weather, balloons don’t like many other forms of weather, including high humidity, rain, or winds gusting about at more than 8 knots (roughly 12 mph), said Fusco, meaning that there are many days when she can’t go up.

It’s not unusual to have a flight rescheduled several times because of uncooperative weather, she said. “And that’s when you have to build a rapport with passengers, because you want them to hang in there and not give up on this.”

Few do give up, because a hot air balloon trip is a common wish-list item, and the Pioneer Valley, especially the pocket in and around the Amherst-Hadley area, is one of the best places for a ride because of the scenery and an abundance of wide-open spaces that are ideal for taking off and landing.

As the balloon begins to lift, one gets the sensation of being in a glass elevator. It rises quickly, and if one looks to the side, he or she could see its large shadow on the field below. Once airborne, the balloon is completely controlled by the wind. Only, on this day, there isn’t much — if any. A full 15 minutes after lifting off, the balloon has moved only a few dozen yards to the west. It almost feels stationary 500 feet in the air, providing breathtaking views of the UMass campus to one side, the Holyoke Range to another, and Mount Sugarloaf to yet another. Four other balloons can be seen to the south. Recognizable to Fusco by their colors and patterns (Giusto is piloting one of them), they are nearly stationary as well. Fusco tries to find some wind by taking the balloon higher and then lower by alternately heating and cooling it via the amount of propane burned (longer and more frequent blasts take the balloon higher; shorter, less frequent bursts take it lower; and a steady amount will keep it level). In between the very loud and extremely hot blasts of propane, she talks some more about the business of making memories for her customers.

Fusco said there’s been one wedding in her balloon. It was a cozy ceremony, obviously, for which she used a larger basket that can hold six people.

“The justice of the peace was a riot — we had a really good time,” she recalled, adding that engagements are far more common and equally memorable. She said she generally knows when someone is going to pop the question, and will give a signal when the conditions are just right. She can’t recall anyone ever saying ‘no,’ which is good when the parties are 500 feet in the air.

Also common are flights to mark round-number wedding anniversaries, said Fusco, adding that she’s handled many 30th and 40th celebrations, and even a few 50th anniversaries. She’s had a 93-year-old woman up for a ride, and gets a number of people in their 70s and 80s who have waited years, or decades, to draw a line through this item on their to-do list, but eventually got around to it.

“This and skydiving — those are still big ones for a lot of people,” she said, adding that, in addition to the flight, there is usually a get-together for passengers and crew after the balloon lands, complete with champagne and appetizers.

But the memories are not reserved only for those in the basket, she went on, adding that they’re created for those on the ground who are seeing a balloon up close for the first time, and especially for the individual whose property becomes a landing spot.

Tradition holds that the balloonist awards that person with a bottle of champagne, said Fusco, and most of the time, the property owner is well aware of this.

“Sometimes people will come running out of the house saying, ‘where’s my bottle of champagne?’ she noted, adding that she’s put down in a backyard on numerous occasions and has never had anything approaching a problem. “Usually it’s a big thrill for them to have a balloon come down in their yard; they take pictures and come out and talk with us, and they learn something about ballooning.”

Overall, landowner relations are very important, said Fusco, adding that, if the balloon has to put down in a field and crops in that field are damaged, every effort is made to find the landowner and make appropriate compensation. Doing so is only common courtesy, but it’s also good for business.

“It doesn’t happen often, but when it happens, word will get out,” she said. “And you don’t want to be that person who never had the consideration to go talk to the landowner, because if we don’t have cooperation from them, we don’t have anything.”

The relative calm in the basket is interrupted as Fusco yells (even though she doesn’t have to in such close quarters), “look … a hawk!” And there, just to the northeast, roughly halfway between the balloon and ground, is a large red-tailed hawk circling and looking for dinner. Humans don’t get to see birds fly from above like this (except on NOVA), and it is quite an experience. So, too, is watching the people below. Hot-air balloons are a common sight in this picturesque part of the state, but Fusco says they never fail to draw a crowd. As the balloon hovers above, families come out of their homes, stand in their yards, and wave. And cars pull over to the side of the road, and their passengers jump out to catch a look.

As she talked about the science of flying a balloon, Fusco reiterated that pilots can only take them higher or lower; the wind determines where they go, how quickly they travel, and, in many respects, where they will land. “Sometimes, you can travel eight miles; other times, just a few hundred yards,” she explained.

But there is a high degree of skill involved with the many nuances of this activity, from takeoff and landing to avoiding power lines to providing an enjoyable experience for passengers.

BusinessWest Editor George O’Brien is back on the ground safely with chief pilot Lisa Fusco and some of her support team.

“I’ve seen the weather change quickly over the course of an hour, and I’ve had some tricky landings when the wind has picked up,” she said. “Safety is always your first priority.”

She noted that a fellow balloonist recently set down in the breakdown lane of I-91 in Whately due to some type of malfunction. There were no injuries and minimal inconvenience to motorists, she noted, but the incident still resulted in some bad press that is certainly not needed at this time.

Indeed, there’s been plenty of that over the past year or so. A balloon drifted into power lines at a Virginia festival in May, resulting in a fire that killed three people. And in February 2013, 19 people were killed when a balloon crashed near Luxor, Egypt, in the deadliest ballooning disaster in history.

Fusco said she doesn’t know the cause of either mishap, but speculated that in one or both, the culprit may have been complacency, something she doesn’t allow to happen when she’s flying.

“You can’t say, ‘I’ve done this a million times before’ — you have to be methodical,” she explained. “You have to follow that mental checklist and go over everything and double-check it. I never taken any flight for granted and say, ‘we’ve taken off from here before, we’ll probably land over here, we’ve landed there before.’ You can’t take that attitude; you have to accept that every flight is going to be different and has its own set of challenges.”

With about an hour of daylight left, Fusco decides it’s time to land. After making sure she is well past some power lines, she sets the balloon down in a field maybe 100 yards behind a home on Mount Warner Street. Soon, several people who have been watching the balloon come over to greet its occupants. A couple from Texas, in town to visit their daughter at Hampshire College, say they’ve been carefully following the balloon in their car for the past half-hour. A mother and her young daughter arrive, and Fusco invites them to get a look in the basket and then help pack up the balloon. Fusco makes her way over to meet the home’s owner and ask if she can drive her pickup onto his field.

Walter Sadlowski has had a few balloons land on his property — enough to know that there’s a bottle of champagne coming his way.

After accepting it and listening to advice from Fusco to serve it very cold, he had a few words for BusinessWest.

“This is just a great thing — they can land here anytime,” he said. “It’s fun to see the look in people’s eyes and hear the excitement in their voices. To have a balloon come down in your backyard … that’s something pretty special.”

Such sentiments help explain why Fusco got into this business, and why she’s stayed in it despite its many challenges and the vagaries of the economy and weather.

While she can’t count on either one, she can rely on her balloons to provide views that people have never experienced — and moments they’ll never forget.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

No Business Like Snow Business

Sections Sports & Leisure

Ski Resorts Aim for New Heights, No Matter the Weather

Matt Sawyer not only works for Ski Butternut, he also enjoys gliding down the slopes there.

Tyler Fairbank has long understood the relationship between weather and a ski resort’s success, but last winter hammered home the message.

“The thing we learned — well, we’ve known it for years, but it was exacerbated last year — is that people hate to ski in rain or super, super cold,” said Fairbank, president of Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock. “So we had an OK season — not a bad season, but OK.”

That’s because last winter, in case you’ve forgotten, was super, super cold, at least until a comparatively temperate March.

“March helped make up a little for what might have been a subpar season, and it turned out to be an OK season overall — again, not bad, but not great from a business standpoint,” he said. “We were really consistent with the rest of the country in that we dealt with some extreme cold for sure. And the timing of some early-season rain events didn’t help much. Followed by a midseason of really super-cold events, that had us behind the eight-ball.”

Fairbank explained further what he meant by timing. “Obviously, this is a weather-dependent industry, but when people talk about a cold winter or a rainy winter, that’s the macro picture. The micro picture is the timing of events. A rain event on Friday or Saturday can work against you, but if it rains on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, we have an opportunity to recover later in the week. We can have a good season if the micro events cooperate.”

At Ski Butternut in Great Barrington, about 45 minutes south of Jiminy Peak, the weather, though bitterly cold, cooperated a little better, said Matthew Sawyer, director of marketing and sales, and the resort was able to maintain a consistent trail quality throughout the season.

“But that was due mostly to the fact that we have enhanced snow-making systems and can guarantee good-quality snow, despite what Mother Nature throws at us, good or bad,” he explained.

“Last year was actually a very good year for keeping snow on the mountain,” Sawyer continued. “We didn’t get a lot of new snow — 67 inches, when it’s usually 110 to 120 inches — but it was cold, so the snow we did get stayed around; it didn’t go through a lot of freeze-and-thaw cycles.”

In a typical season, he explained, a mountain deals with about five freeze-thaw events, which can wreak havoc on trail quality in the short term. But with so many days last winter topping out in the low 20s, or even the teens — perfect snow-making conditions — it didn’t matter that it didn’t snow very much, because the snow that did fall, or was shot through Ski Butternut’s state-of-the-art snow-making system, tended to stick around.

“Last year, by the second week of December, we were able to open every single trail,” Sawyer said. “Very few mountains on the East Coast did that, and we did it by snow-making alone. There was no natural snow during that time, but also no freeze-thaw cycle. When you get a rain or warm event, 55 degrees and sunshine, that obviously changes the conditions.

“People were raving last year about our good snow, despite not getting as much natural snow as we usually see,” he went on. “We put a lot of money into the snow-making guns and, more importantly, the pumphouse.”

He explained that temperatures below 26 degrees are ideal for making snow, because the water that emerges from the nozzles in tiny droplets are almost instantly supercooled to create the best-quality snow. “It used to be, everyone wanted to ski after a natural snowstorm, and you can still do that. It is the best snow going; Mother Nature has a lock on that market. But we can make some pretty good snow with just cold weather.”

Recognizing the importance of snow making, Jiminy Peak has also made significant enhancements to its equipment, Fairbank said.

“Here in Southern New England, you have to have a super-powerful snow-making plant, and we are constantly tweaking it year after year,” he told BusinessWest. “We’re a pretty major player in the region, and we’ve grown our market share, and we’re anticipating a very, very busy season. But we have to continue to invest in the resort.

“It’s a capital-intensive business,” he continued. “Twenty-five years ago, there were twice as many resorts. But people didn’t do the capital investments that are needed, and now they’re gone. It’s an important part of our approach — we invest about $1 million each year into all this stuff, and we hope it continues to add up to success.”

For this issue’s focus on sports and recreation, we check out the conditions at two Berkshires ski resorts — and the industry in general, one that faces some challenges in keeping people returning over and over for their downhill rush.

Growth Pattern

“As a general rule, skiing is growing,” Sawyer told BusinessWest. “We’re not seeing the growth we saw back in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, but every sport is challenged right now; there are so many options, and kids are involved in so many sports.”

One thing keeping people coming back is an industry-wide emphasis on reducing prices. “It’s much more affordable. A season pass here is $300 for an adult. Sixteen years ago, it was $499. A midweek lift ticket is only $25.”

Sawyer said Ski Butternut has been at the forefront when it comes to making skiing more affordable, which has encouraged more families to give the activity a try. “Before, you had to ski 17 [weekend] days to justify a pass. We brought it down to five. We realize so many things are competing for people’s time, and this has made the commitment easier. We’re trying to reinvigorate people through a quality product and affordable pricing.”

Fairbank agreed. “I’m on the board of the National Ski Areas Assoc., and I spend a lot of time on this topic,” he said. “When you look at national trends and regional trends, from a long-term perspective, when you adjust for weather, we’re seeing slow and steady growth, if not enormous growth.

Skiers and snowboarders take in the view as they glide down a hill at Jiminy Peak.

“That being said, however, there are some other dynamics happening within the industry,” he went on. “The number of people trying it for the first time, over the last few years, is starting to drop — not big numbers, but big enough to say, ‘hmmm … that’s not something we want to see.’”

The question that raises, of course, is where the growth is coming from if the number of first-time skiers is declining. The answer lies with the regulars.

“The core of people who love to ski, they really love to ski,” Fairbank said, and that includes the retirement-age crowd. But the older Baby Boomers are leaving the activity in large numbers — “there’s not enough Advil left on the planet to make some of those people want to ski anymore” — and the younger Boomers won’t be far behind.

The key, then, is to replace those who leave the sport with new blood — and both Gen-Xers and Millennials are skiing at healthy rates, Fairbank said. The worry, he said, is what’s known as the conversion rate, or the percentage of first-timers who embrace the slopes and return for more. That figure, nationally, currently stands at around 15%, and the industry needs to find ways to boost it, he said, to truly ensure its long-term growth.

“The conversion of first-time skiers to lifelong skiers is a big challenge for the industry, and that 15% conversion rate is a somewhat alarming statistic,” he went on, adding that Jiminy Peak and its sister resorts, Cranwell Resort in Lenox and Bromley Mountain Resort in Vermont, have set a goal of doubling that rate — with some very specific strategies.

It starts, he said, with creating realistic expectations for first-timers, which includes everything from maintaining a strong FAQ page on the website to moving newcomers through the lines efficiently and answering all their questions. “We want to educate people before they even get here, so their expectations are well-developed.”

The second step is to create educational programming that will encourage first-timers, not make the experience of putting on skis or a board for the first time a stressful one. To that end, Jiminy Peak uses an innovative training method called ‘terrain-based learning’ that uses shaped snow to teach elements of skiing before the rookie ever hits a hill.

“They’re able to relax and feel the sensations while learning, but do it in a controlled environment where they’re not fearful,” Fairbank said. “This seems to have really taken hold. People love it, and we’re seeing them get better quickly. That’s a big part of it. Skiing is not easy, and our emphasis on making it easier eliminates the barrier of frustration and replaces it with fun. In fact, ‘make it easy, make it fun’ is our whole approach to the business, and terrain-based learning is a big piece of it.”

Getting Board?

One trend that has caught the ski industry by surprise is a sudden decline in the popularity of snowboarding, according to a report published in the National Ski Areas Association Journal.

In its ﬁrst decade of popularity, snowboarding grew from a 7.7% share of the skier market in 1991 to 32.6% in 2000, a surge that coincided with a slight decline in the popularity of skiing.

“Snowboarding lost some of its mojo around 2005 and 2006, and we’ve been running on fumes since then,” Nate Fristoe director of operations for RRC Associates, which tracks industry trends, wrote in the journal recently. “It’s like any kind of trend — full of all sorts of energy until it isn’t.”

On the other hand, Ski Butternut’s tubing park has grown in popularity every year, Sawyer said, noting that the area expanded from seven lanes to eight last year.

“What’s nice about tubing is, it’s usually a different clientele than skiers. Sure, we’re kid-friendly here, and often mom, dad, and a kid still have energy after a day of skiing, so to burn off more energy before dinner, they walk over to the tubing area,” he said. “But we have different customers there, too, who want to enjoy an outdoor, mountain experience but don’t want to learn to ski. Tubing takes no skill, and families can enjoy it all together. It’s not a competition; it’s a chance to have some fun and giggles. It’s a great social activity.”

Fairbank, whose resort also features an aerial park, mountain biking, and other activities during the warmer months, certainly understands that.

“As an industry, we don’t pay as much attention to the fun factor as we should,” he said. “What can we do to make it easier and more fun? It sounds so basic and so simple, but this is an industry that’s done it a certain way for a long time, and we need to take it to the next level.”

And hope the weather cooperates.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

GZA GeoEnvironmental Promotes Paul Davis to Principal

SPRINGFIELD — GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc., a leading environmental and geotechnical consulting firm, announced that Paul Davis has been promoted to principal.

Davis is a professional wetlands scientist, certified soils scientist, and aquatic biologist with 28 years of industry experience. In addition to his consulting work for GZA, he is the corporate technical practice lead for natural resources and permitting, and core lead for the ecological-services marketing sector.

Davis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in zoology from UMass Amherst. He received master’s degrees in zoology and marine affairs, and his doctorate in biological sciences, from the University of Rhode Island. He is on the board of trustees and a visiting professor for Environmental Studies with the American University of the Caribbean, and also serves on the board of Mustard Seed Mission Inc., a nonprofit organization he and his wife founded to support their volunteer efforts in Haiti.

Paragus Among ICIC and Fortune’s Inner City 100 Winners

SPRINGFIELD — The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Fortune announced that Paragus Strategic IT was selected for the 2014 Inner City 100, a list of the fastest-growing inner-city businesses in the U.S.

This year, for the first time in the list’s 16-year history, the Inner City 100 consists of 10 fast-growing businesses from 10 industry categories: construction, manufacturing, professional services, food and beverage, retail, media and communications, software and information technology, transportation and logistics, healthcare and biotechnology, and arts, entertainment, and recreation. Applicants ranked according to revenue growth against their industry peers, as well as overall. Paragus Strategic IT ranked sixth in the software and information-technology category, and 35th overall on the list of 100.

The Inner City 100 program recognizes successful inner-city businesses and their CEOs as role models for entrepreneurship, innovative business practices, and job creation in America’s urban communities. Paragus Strategic IT, an outsourced IT-solutions business and a nonprofit that trains high-school students in IT, reported 2013 revenues of $3.54 million and a gross growth rate of 328% from 2009 to 2013. The full list of winners can be viewed at fortune.com.

The rankings for each company were announced at the Inner City 100 Awards on Oct. 16 in Boston. Preceding the awards celebration, winners attended a two-day small-business symposium designed exclusively for urban firms featuring business-management case studies presented by Harvard Business School professors, and peer-to-peer learning sessions led by CEOs of fast-growing firms.

The 2014 Inner City 100 winners represent a wide span of geography, hailing from 53 cities and 23 states. The winners grew at an average compound annual growth rate of 39% and an average gross growth rate of 336% between 2009 and 2013. Collectively, the top 100 inner-city businesses employ 8,276 people and created 5,119 new jobs between 2009 and 2013. Not only are the winners powerful job creators in their communities, they also help develop their employees — 73% provide business-skills training, and 69% provide professional-development training to all full-time employees.

“It’s important to recognize businesses like Paragus Strategic IT that are truly driving economic growth and job creation in America’s urban cores,” said Matt Camp, president of ICIC. “We believe that inner cities hold unique competitive advantages for business, and the success of these firms underscores that market opportunity.”

Main Attraction

Eclectic Community of Businesses Populates Monkey Wrench Building

The Monkey Wrench Building was famously the longtime home of toolmaker Bemis & Call, then fine-funiture retailer Bottaro & Skolnick.

No one knows for sure how the monkey wrench got its name. Some say its original name was actually ‘Moncky wrench,’ after Charles Moncky, whom some believe invented the tool. Another legend says a worker was fooling around with a wrench when a supervisor told him to “stop monkeying with that wrench!”

What all accounts agree on, however, is where that wrench was invented — at what is now 143 Main St. in Springfield.

“I’m the proud second owner of this building,” said David Rothenberg, who bought the sprawling property — now called the Monkey Wrench Building — in the late 1990s. “It has an interesting history.”

That it does. In its early days, Rothenberg explained, a mile-long corridor along the Mill River was dotted with factories, including 143 Main, which were powered by water, which flowed beneath the building and activated a turbine. “You see that in Holyoke, but in Springfield, the Mill River was the source of the power. And this building was reportedly the first industrial site in Springfield.”

From the late 19th century, it was the home of Bemis & Call, a toolmaking plant that traced its origins to 1844. “It was one of Massachusetts’ 50 oldest companies until it went out of business in the ’90s. They owned this part of Main Street,” said Rothenberg, who discovered the building while working for his father-in-law, Si Skolnick, at Bottaro & Skolnick, a fine-furniture store.

“They were housed in this building for years and years. Eventually, Bemis & Call died out, and we took over the whole building,” said Rothenberg, who purchased the property from its original owner about 15 years ago.

But time was running out for Bottaro & Skolnick, as the public’s taste for $6,500 sofas dried up when cheaper, Chinese-made furniture started to dominate the market. So the business, which had been around since 1939, made it a few years past the turn of the 21st century before Si Skolnick called it a day.

“The market crashed, and the [pricing] disparity became too great,” Rothenberg said, adding that, decades ago, “your home reflected your grace and good taste. Nowadays, people say, ‘meet you at Applebee’s,’ or Chili’s or wherever. Back then, people visited each other’s houses.”

As a result, he said, “values have changed. You can say to young people, ‘see this piece of furniture? You can have it forever; your kids will have it forever.’ And it’s true; our furniture was heirloom quality. But people don’t want heirloom quality anymore; they want disposable furniture for their disposable lifestyle. We had to make a tough decision, and we killed Bottaro & Skolnick.”

The furniture store lives on, sort of, in an interior-design business that Rothenberg runs out of the first floor of the Monkey Wrench Building. But what to do with the rest of the architecturally striking, three-story edifice at the southern tip of Main Street?

“We decided to subdivide it,” Rothenberg said, adding that South Hadley-based marketing professional Darby O’Brien came up with the idea of naming the building after its signature invention. “I kind of kicked that around for three or four years. I wanted to develop the building, and I wanted it to be multi-tenant — but not just mixed-tenant; I wanted a clientele that reflects the urban setting. And some cool stuff has happened since then.”

Indeed, Rothenberg now manages an assortment of 37 tenants, and is busy fixing up and marketing the little space that remains vacant. He recently led BusinessWest on a tour of the building, which gives off the distinctly eclectic vibe of many disparate small-business owners coming together to form a sort of community.

“My goal was to fill the building, not with fancy-schmancy people, but the regular people of Springfield. It’s not a high-end clientele by any means; it’s an urban clientele,” he said. “But it’s been a frickin’ blast. I was in the furniture business all those years, but now I get to interact with all these different personalities. It’s so cool.”

More Than a Landlord

Those personalities run the gamut — artists, a music producer, a dance studio, training centers for boxing and wrestling, a screen-printing outfit, an upholstery company, a high-end antique store, a lawyer … the list goes on.

David Rothenberg’s display of old wrenches tells part of the story of the 143 Main St. building.

“We’re just about full now. It’s a really eclectic mix of people, and they’re very nice,” he said, noting that he signed his first tenant only six years ago, making the Monkey Wrench Building a notable real-estate success story in Springfield. But he has also formed a personal bond with most of these businesses, many of them sole proprietors.

“I’m a mensch … a good guy. I don’t want to hurt anybody; I want to give people an opportunity for success,” he said. “A lot of these people don’t have any business experience. So I offer my services to them, mentor them. I’ve been a businessman my whole life, and I’ve seen it all.

“Incubator isn’t the right term for what we want to do,” Rothenberg added, while stressing that he truly wants his tenant businesses to grow, so if he can offer advice on, say, crafting a business plan, he will.

“I don’t just want their money; I want to see what they’re going to do,” he went on. “I hate the term ‘landlord’ — the status thing. I’m David, I happen to own this building, and I don’t have any other building; I’m not necessarily in it for the profit motive. If someone doesn’t have their rent, I’ll work with them. I’ve never evicted anybody. I want to see people succeed, and I want to facilitate that. I want to help.”

Fred Steinman, president of the Western Mass. franchise of Valpak Media Solutions — you might recognize the name from the blue envelope of coupons that regularly arrives in the mail — has found solid value from setting up shop at 143 Main about five years ago.

“We started out in the Scibelli Enterprise Center, in the incubator,” said Steinman, who had carved out a more than 30-year career in broadcasting, then radio sales and management, before buying one of 200 national Valpak franchises about eight years ago. But the Enterprise Center was never meant to be a permanent home. “It’s meant to help businesses start out, and then kind of grow out of it into the world, get a bigger place. That’s what we did.”

With a business that covers Hampden and Hampshire counties, Steinman said, the building’s location just off I-91 is convenient — a factor also cited by Lois Warren, who works for cheaptees.org, an Internet-based screen-printing company.

Steinman also takes pride in the fact that his office is reportedly the very room where the monkey wrench was invented. “Every time I bring somebody up here, they can’t get over the architecture and woodwork. We have mahogany wood, a fireplace in the office … it’s a very impressive building.

“Most people who come here are unfamiliar with the inside of the building, and they’re awed by it,” he went on. “When I was given a tour of the available space, this office was perfect — I loved it. And David has been very supportive — a great landlord. If there are any issues, he responds to them right away.”

Big Picture

Whether or not Springfield eventually gets a casino a half-mile from Rothenberg’s front door — an issue about which he has mixed feelings, because he’s not a casino fan, yet he thinks the development would generate some needed energy — he’s a firm believer in the city’s economic-development potential, and proud to play a small role.

“I was born here — 150 yards from here, in a four-story walk-up. I came back here as a kid to play,” he said, pointing out a window at the wooded rear of the building. “The city has been good to me, and I’m not going to abandon it.”

However, he added, “the perceptions of people can be horrible, and it can be self-perpetuating. Yes, of course the city has problems, but I’m happy to be here. I consider myself an anchor down here, and I want to keep the building beautiful.”

His son is a believer, too, investing in a storage facility across the street from the Monkey Wrench Building. He, too, has run into the same question his father has heard for many years — “why downtown Springfield?”

“Time will tell whether it comes back,” Rothenberg told BusinessWest. “But everything is a matter of perception. I perceived this building was an opportunity for me, and I stuck with it. I never thought I’d be a property guy — I was a furniture guy. But opportunities arose, and now I’m having a blast. I love the people. I even like dealing with their troubles. It’s all good.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Mass Appeal

Vodka Maker Has a New Home in an Old Hadley Church

Paul Kozub, the proud new owner of the former St. John’s Church in Hadley, wants to be in this location for the next 50 years.

Paul Kozub says he can draw a number of parallels between his experiences with creating his own brand of vodka and his recent work to pull up the tens of thousands of nails from the oak floor of the former St. John’s Church in Hadley, his new “world headquarters.”

“It’s a lot of hard work, and there are no shortcuts,” he said in reference to both vodka making and the small, stubborn nails, left behind when carpeting and laminate flooring were removed. “I asked a contractor whether there was some kind of machine or if you could sand over them, and he said, ‘Paul, you just have to put your head down and pull them out one nail at a time.’ And that’s how I’ve grown the brand — convincing one person at a time.”

He then proceeded to dive into a toolbox to the side of what used to be the altar, pull out a large pair of pliers — the only one of many tools he’s tried to handle for this project that has proven effective — and demonstrate.

As he did so, one could see that, as with his vodka label, V-One, rehabbing St. John’s into the new home for his venture is a labor of love — on many levels.

Indeed, for this devout Catholic, setting up shop in a former place of worship is something special, a privilege he explained using both humor and candor.

“My 39 years of going to church every Sunday finally paid off,” he said with a laugh, adding that he had to clear a number of hurdles for this dream to become reality and at times thought there might be too many to overcome. “I really feel blessed to be in here.

“As a practicing Catholic, I wanted to see this building in the hands of someone who would appreciate it,” he went on. “I’ve been here for a month and a half, and every time I come in, I remember that it was a holy place where there were Masses and baptisms and funerals.”

St. John’s, opened in 1902 and known to many in the community as the “Irish church,” was closed by the Diocese of Springfield more than 20 years ago after the town’s other Catholic Church (the “Polish church”) was closed, razed, and replaced with a larger structure, known as Most Holy Redeemer. It had served the diocese as what’s known as patronage space, said Kozub, and for years was crammed with statues, stained-glass windows, and other items from across the diocese that needed to be stored somewhere.

He said the church had been on his radar screen for years as a potential home for his business, now almost a decade old and expanding well beyond its Western Mass. roots, and that there were talks with the diocese off and on for most of this decade, after it became clear that a small office in his home was no longer suitable.

“I guess they got tired of me pestering them,” said Kozub, adding that he was finally able to negotiate a sale for $75,000. He then cleared some of those aforementioned hurdles, including everything from zoning (which needed to be changed) to parking, which was required for that zoning. (A survey revealed that there were seven spaces at the back of the property.)

Since moving into the church in August, Kozub has made steady progress with what he called phase one of his plans for the property. This includes a broad cleanup of the structure, fixing the front steps, painting several areas, repairing damage to the ceiling, and converting a small room off the altar, where the priest would prepare for Mass, into his office.

Paul Kozub says the church, which has been closed since the early ’90s, has long been on his radar screen.

That space also had a hardwood floor, which has been restored to its former luster in a manner similar to that planned for the nave, or the central portion of the church, after all those nails are pulled out.

Phase two involves converting the 2,000-square-foot, 20-foot-high nave into a space for private meetings and seminars. Kozub said this facility would be ideal for meetings with area retailers who sell V-One and the bartenders who serve it, and also for introducing new products, such as his growing roster of flavored vodkas, the ongoing wave within the industry.

Over the past 18 months, Kozub has introduced vanilla-flavored vodka, then lime, and, just a few months ago, triple berry. And there are two more nearly ready for the marketplace, although those flavors remain top secret.

Meanwhile, the property, located on Route 9 in the center of Hadley, provides some great visibility for the company, he went on. “That was one of the biggest pluses for me,” he said. “Now I have exposure to about 45,000 cars a day that drive by here.”

Kozub said the church would inevitably be the site of Valley Vodka’s 10-year anniversary celebration coming up sometime in 2015. That milestone will provide an opportunity to assess where this company is and where it wants and needs to go, he noted, adding that he is mulling opportunities to take his vodka products, now sold only in Massachusetts and Connecticut, into other markets.

“Right now, we’re focused on growing the brand locally, and by the 10-year mark, I really want to start thinking about how we can duplicate the success we’ve had here in this area.”

Phase three of this project may eventually involve creating some type of vodka-making museum in the old church, said Kozub, adding quickly that such plans are in their infancy, and there will be many more hurdles to clear if they are to advance.

In the meantime, he’s focused on the next stage in the progression of his company and making the old church into a comfortable home — even though he’s already very comfortable there.

He plans to keep many of the features of the church, from the confessionals (although he has no idea what he’ll do with them) to the sink in his office used by the priest preparing for Mass, to the sign at the front entrance posting the times for the services.

They are part of the church’s glorious past, and Kozub wants to make sure they’re also part of its future — and his.

“I really would like to be here for 50 years,” he told BusinessWest. “There’s room for me to grow Valley Vodka, and this space will enable me to do that.”

For Sale, for Lease

A listing of available commercial properties

Click here to download the PDF chart

Building Permits

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of October 2014.

CHICOPEE

A-1 Snow Machine Products
717 Fuller Road
$29,000 — Reroof

City of Chicopee
277 Front St.
$318,000 — Remodel bleachers and add a handicap ramp

Griffith Road, LLP
218 Griffith Road
$80,000 — Renovate second-floor office

WE 77 Champion, LLC
77 Champion St.
$796,000 — Interior renovations and exterior concrete pad

LUDLOW

Yogurt City
221 East St.
$25,000 — Alterations

NORTHAMPTON

D.A. Sullivan and Sons Inc.
82 North St.
$60,000 — Interior tenant fit out

Matthew Pitoniak
193 Main St.
$59,000 — Build out for Subway

Northampton City Hall
210 Main St.
$6,000 — Install new granite landing and step in the front of City Hall

Pulaski Park Academy of Music
274 Main St.
$183,000 — Repair fire escape

Veteran’s Administration Hospital
425 North Main St.
$5,700,000 — Construction of four buildings for residential units

Windhorse Associates
211 North St.
$68,000 — Office renovation

Wright Builders
74 Village Hill Road
$1,492,000 — Construct two-story townhouse condominiums

SOUTH HADLEY

Loomis Village
246 North Main St.
$35,000 — Repairs

L.P.M. Partnership
314 Newton St.
$10,000 — Roof work

Mount Holyoke College
50 College St.
$32,000 — Build stairs

Mount Holyoke College
50 College St.
$16,500 — Renovations at Clapp Hall

SPRINGFIELD

Sprint
400 Taylor St.
$1,400,000 — Renovate generator room and replace generators

WESTFIELD

City of Westfield
45 Noble St.
$1,324,625 — Construction of a new senior center

Reed Hall Holding, LLC
29 School St.
$4,000 — Renovation for storage area

WEST SPRINGFIELD

380 Union Street, LLC
380 Union St.
$56,000 — New roof system

Bob’s Court Apartments
2073 Riverdale Road
$18,000 — Strip and re-roof

Medallion Motel
18 River St.
$4,000 — Rebuild stairs on the front of building

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies Departments

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

Antonellis, Joseph C.
Antonellis, Laura A.
8 Old Quarry Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/12/14

Arslanian, Brian
24 Clifton Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/10/14

Asselin, Richard
Asselin, Vivian
35 Pheasant Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/15/14

Babbie, April Ann
314 Goodwin St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/11/14

Bartlett, Susan L.
17 Mason St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/14

Black Leg Tavern, LLC
Gilman, James A.
7 Lowell Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/14

Brennan, Linda A.
46 Castle Ave.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/14

Craig, Bradford S.
1070B West Road
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/11/14

DeCelles, Daniel R.
49 Summer St., Apt A
Adams, MA 01220
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/14

Desgroseilliers, Denise Michele
50 Petersham Road
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/14

Ferraro, Joseph James
Ferraro, Christin Jean
a/k/a Lewis, Christin J.
930 Amostown Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/14

Griffin, Elizabeth J.
16 Arvesta St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/14

Lacroix, Timothy R.
Lacroix, Donna L.
403 Dipping Hole Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/11/14

Lanty, John Thomas
Lanty, Doris Marie
6 Laurel Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/15/14

Mendez, Angel D.
Gonzalez, Yaritza
987 Hampden St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/14

Mentiply, Harold
93 Grochmal Ave., Lot 101
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/14

Miss J’s Cafe
Betts, Kevin Kieth
60 Ingersoll Grove
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/14

Penna, Michael Nicholas
191 Phoenix Terrace
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/14

Pleppo, Nicholas
26 Georgetown St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/14

Tenanes, William A.
18 Harlow Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/14

Von Flatern, Neil F.
Von Flatern, Gina M.
31 Marshall St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/14

Doing Business as Certificates

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of October 2014.

AGAWAM

2 Moms with a Mop
71 Oak Lane
Nancy Gentile

Best Choice Self Defense
80 Ramah Circle
Antonne B. Mathes

FreshRide, LLC
75 Anvil St.
Nicholas Noto

Majestic Transportation
1 South End Bridge Circle
James McKoy

Marshfellows
562 Springfield St.
Autumn Silva

CHICOPEE

Cabral Concrete by Design
208 Granby Road
Kevin Cabral

Crosstown Courier Service Inc.
165 Front St.
Christopher Noyes

Hannah’s Closet
477 Britton St.
Lindsay Haesqert

KJR Landscaping
15 East St.
Kevin Belder

The Hair Team
19 White Birch Plaza
Maxime Partyka

HOLYOKE

ABC Mini Store
621 South Canal St.
Robert J. Cell

ADK Improvements
120 Front St.
Edward Owen
Cecy’s Café
330 Whitey Ave.
Cecilia G. Perry

Finish Line
50 Holyoke St.
Edward Wilhelm

Jag D
14 Greenwood Ave.
James P. Watson

Lady Boutique
254 Maple St.
Iris Sanchez

Toys R’ Us Express
50 Holyoke St.
Gary W. Hunt

LUDLOW

Butler Carpet Cleaning
23 Cady St.
Carl Mesheau

Royal Paving Construction
196 Rood St.
Peter Fernandes

Wow Bela
255 East St.
Suzette Batista

NORTHAMPTON

Holy Cow Online Marketing
71 Oleander Dr.
Lawrence Daniele

Rayton Logging
331 Burts Pitt Road
Peter Rayton

Ryan’s Jewelers
14 Strong Ave.
John Malikowski

The Sierra Grille
41 Strong Ave.
O’Brian Tomalin

Vendant Multicultural Media
63 Rick Dr.
Natalia Munoz

Woodles Restaurant
257 Main St.
Saowanee Pechanupong

SPRINGFIELD

1 Stop Cuts
494 Central St.
Joselito Sanchez

7th Heaven Pest Control
64 Champlain St.
Wilfredo Gonzalez

AMB Production
73 Denver St.
Jordan Alexander

Angel’s Auto Detailing
15 Girard Ave.
Angel M. Rivera

Architectural Home Improvement
68 Euclid Ave.
Dwight Ware

Attain Therapy Fitness
1739 Allen St.
Performance Rehab

B & R Marketing
27 Terrace Lane
Alycia Brown

Bay State Gas Company
2025 Roosevelt Ave.
Robert E. Smith

Bay State Commercial Cleaning
21 Victoria St.
Jacob Kiniry

Booth Usher, LLC
76 Palo Alto Road
Brandon J. Behnk

Buen Provecho Restaurant
30 Fort Pleasant Ave.
Julio DeJesus

Busy B’s Cleaning Service
24 Harmon Ave.
Patricia E. Blomquist

CM Marketing
122 Johnson St.
Craig McRobbie

Caring Pharmacy
377 Belmont Ave.
Vietaz, Inc.

Ciro’s Restaurant
26 Fremont St.
Rose Marconi

Cottage Street Liquors
276 Cottage St.
Virajsinh R. Mahida

Dollar Tree
1101 Boston Road
Dollar Tree, Inc.

Foundation for TJO Animal Hospital
66 Industry Ave.
Thomas J. O’Connor

Fufu’s Beauty Supply
942 State St.
Dine F. Amadou

Furches Performance
406 Oak St.
Brandon J. Furches

Golden Nails Spa
1198 Parker St.
Thi Tai

Heavenly Grooming
1648 Carew St.
Norberto Crespo

J & L Property Improvement
287 El Paso St.
Luz Y. Reyes

Jemm Productions
25 Luden St.
Juan E. Maldonado

WEST SPRINGFIELD

AMZ Transportation
43 Russell St.
Laylo Niyazova

Andy Home Improvement
268 Elm St.
Anibal Montes

A Taste of Lebanon, LLC
553 Main St.
Maher Awkal

Bart Truck Equipment, LLC
358 River St.
James DiClementi

Brock Investigations
51 Park Ave.
John Brock

Carpet & Floor Store
1497 Riverdale St.
Joseph Spano

G.G. Westside Remodeling
13 North Blvd.
Gheorghe Grigoras

JB Wington & Associates
35 Shady Brook Lane
John Smith

Landmark at Monastery Heights
110 Monastery Ave.
Lisa Burke

M.D.S. Complete Cleanout
22 Bascom St.
Matthew D. Sawyer

Natural Nails
244 Memorial Ave.
Minh K. Dang

Normandeau Memorials
1635 Riverdale St.
John Johnson

O’Connell’s Convenience Plus
2044 Riverdale St.
James J. Zoltek

Omniglow, LLC
865 Memorial Ave.
George Stanbury

Shatlot Thai Cuisine
1435 Riverdale St.
Jirawat Ninsri

Shtarker Moving & Storage
203 Circuit Ave.
Robert Kughner

Sprint
1102 Riverdale St.
Sprint Spectrum

Briefcase

Briefcase Departments

Massachusetts Community Colleges Consortia Awarded $20 Million
BOSTON — A consortia proposal submitted collectively by the 15 community colleges in Massachusetts, led by Massasoit Community College, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for the fourth and final round of federal funding from the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant (TAACCCT). The community colleges are advancing a comprehensive approach to addressing the training and educational needs of workers and employers statewide with a focus on articulated pathways to careers in high-growth STEM sectors (science, technology, engineering, and math, as well as advanced manufacturing and healthcare). The $20 million grant is the highest-funded of the 66 awarded in the country by the DOL. The project, titled Guided Pathways to Success in STEM (GPSTEM), will use the national Complete College America Guided Pathways to Success model to assist eligible students in obtaining degrees and certificates in STEM fields. The model focuses on reducing the time to completion of certificates and degree programs, resulting in more students entering employment in the Commonwealth and/or transferring into baccalaureate programs to add to their credentials. During the three-year grant period, 24 STEM degree options and 58 certificate programs will be newly created or significantly enhanced in partnership with business and industry, the Commonwealth’s workforce system, the state universities, and the University of Massachusetts. The project will also build capacity on the highly successful Career & College Navigator model the Massachusetts community colleges designed and implemented during the round-one TAACCCT grant award in 2011. An important part of the round-four initiative will focus on creating collaborative pipelines for students to seamlessly transfer to baccalaureate programs to meet industry demand in certain STEM industry areas. “Creating key pipeline collaborations in the STEM fields in conjunction with the state universities and UMass will serve as a new model for creating comprehensive higher education and industry partnerships in the Commonwealth,” said Bill Hart, executive officer of the Mass. Community Colleges Council of Presidents. The focus is primarily on helping TAA-eligible, unemployed and underemployed workers and veterans enter STEM programs and obtain high-skill, high-wage jobs. However, the funding to implement Complete College America’s GPS model will assist community colleges in infusing additional comprehensive student supports throughout the 15 campuses that will benefit all student populations. “This grant will help our college better prepare students in high-growth areas such as IT, engineering technology, and science,” said Springfield Technical Community College President Ira Rubenzahl. “Working together to secure this significant federal funding is an incredible accomplishment. It’s a wonderful example of how the collaboration and partnerships between the 15 community colleges can benefit our students and the region.”

Construction Employers Add 16,000 Jobs in September
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Construction employers added 16,000 jobs last month, and the sector’s unemployment rate fell to 7%, the lowest rate for September in years, according to an analysis released by Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said the construction-employment gains come as more firms report having a hard time finding enough qualified workers to fill available positions, citing the lack of local vocational training programs, especially at the secondary level. “While we are eager to see even more construction-employment gains, there is no denying the fact that the industry has been in recovery mode for much of the past three years,” said Stephen Sandherr, the association’s CEO. “But the industry won’t be able to keep filling positions if there aren’t enough qualified workers available to fill them.” Construction employment totaled 6,079,000 in September, the highest total since May 2009, with a 12-month gain of 230,000 jobs, or 3.9%, Sandherr noted. Residential building and specialty-trade contractors added a combined 11,800 employees since August and 129,400 (5.9%) over 12 months. Non-residential building and specialty-trade contractors hired a net of 3,700 workers for the month and 100,300 (2.7%) since September 2013. However, heavy and civil-engineering contractors, which perform the majority of public-sector construction, increased their headcount by only 500 in September and 29,000 (3.3%) over the year amid tight government budget conditions. The number of workers who said they looked for work in the past month and had last worked in construction fell to 604,000 in September. The last time the number of unemployed construction workers dropped that low was August 2007, a time when the construction industry was struggling with widespread construction-worker shortages that prompted project delays and increased costs, Sandherr noted.

United Way Announces Resource Development Council Members
SPRINGFIELD — The United Way of Pioneer Valley (UWPV) has announced the slate of volunteers who will serve on its 2014-15 Resource Development Council (RDC), the organization’s volunteer fund-raising arm. It is comprised of a group of volunteer community and business leaders who are committed to the mission of the UWPV. “This is a very exciting time for the United Way. Today’s United Way is immersed in 21st-century fund-raising, 24-hour community impact, seven days a week,” said Steve Lowell, president of Monson Savings Bank and RDC Chair. “Contributions to the United Way have enabled them to impact our community in ways we can only imagine: a student, otherwise unable, graduated from high school; 1,500 children who were homeless started school ready to learn because they received a backpack loaded with school supplies; a family ate nourishing dinners replete with fresh fruits and vegetables; teen pregnancy was reduced; and, after years of living on the financial edge, a woman improved her credit and opened her first bank account.” In addition to Lowell, the United Way of Pioneer Valley Resource Development Council includes Ann Burke, vice president of the Western Mass. Economic Development Council; Shaun Dwyer, first vice president of PeoplesBank; Lisa McMahon of the Westfield State University Foundation; Jeffrey Fialky, attorney with Bacon Wilson, P.C.; Bennet Markens, president of the Markens Group; Denis Gagnon Jr., vice president of Excel Dryer; Susan Mielnikowski, attorney with Cooley Shrair, P.C.; Mathew Geffin, vice president of Webber & Grinnell Insurance Agency; Barbara Moffat, vice president of Marketing/External Affairs for WNEU; Sam Hamner, CFO and principal of Field Eddy; Arlene Putnam, consultant at Putnam Associates; attorney Cynthia Tucker; Carol Katz; and Jeffrey Sullivan.

Springfield Boys & Girls Club Tops Donor Goal
SPRINGFIELD — Peter A. and Melissa Picknelly set a lofty goal for the Springfield Boys & Girls Club recently. If the club could bring in 150 new donors in the month of September, they would donate $15,000 to the cause. Recently, the club announced that it had secured 184 new donors, who contributed a combined total of $9,102. With the Picknellys’ $15,000 donation, the total raised for the month tops $24,000. The couple decided to offer this challenge grant in honor of Peter’s late father, Peter L. Picknelly, former president of Peter Ban Bus Lines, who credited much of his personal and professional success to the lessons he learned at the Springfield Boys & Girls Club as a child. “The club was a big part of my father’s life, from the years he spent there as a child to his time as an active member of its board of directors,” said Peter A. Picknelly, who has been a member of the club’s board of directors for 10 years. “Melissa and I are so pleased to see how the community rallied around the club and helped us reach this goal. My father would be very proud.” Added Sarah Tsitso, executive director of the Springfield Boys & Girls Club, “we are so grateful to all 184 donors who joined us on this journey. It was exciting to have the opportunity to expose a whole new set of people to the important work going on inside the club every day. We can’t thank Peter and Melissa enough for their leadership and generosity. It is truly humbling.” The Springfield Boys & Girls Club has been a mainstay of youth development in the city for more than 123 years. Its afterschool and summer programs focus on the core areas of academic achievement, health and wellness, and good citizenship. The club serves approximately 1,500 at-risk youth, ages 5 to 18, each year.

DevelopSpringfield Announces Grant for Façade Improvements
SPRINGFIELD — DevelopSpringfield announced that it has awarded a $40,000 grant for façade improvements to 1525 Main St., the new downtown location for New England Public Radio (NEPR). The grant is made possible under DevelopSpringfield’s Corridor Storefront Improvement Program, which provides grants of up to $10,000 per storefront for exterior improvements to first-floor businesses located on State and Main streets in Springfield. Improvements to this space included renovations to multiple storefronts to accommodate fit-out of the new headquarters and studios in Springfield. The recently awarded funds were used to revitalize and repair the existing façade and included new windows, doors, and frames, along with reconstruction of some existing window fixtures. NEPR celebrated its grand opening in September. “DevelopSpringfield is proud to partner with NEPR by supporting façade improvements to their new facility on this important Main Street corridor,” said Jay Minkarah, president and CEO of DevelopSpringfield. “The improvements have made a tremendous visual impact and highlight the vibrancy of our downtown.” DevelopSpringfield’s Corridor Storefront Improvement Program was established in 2009 to enhance the visual appeal of State and Main streets while providing assistance to businesses making investments in these two key corridors within the city. For more information on the Corridor Storefront Improvement Program, visit www.developspringfield.com and click on ‘programs,’ or contact Minkarah at (413) 209-8808 or [email protected].

State Officials Promote Workforce Development
SPRINGFIELD — State officials joined U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan this week at Springfield Technical Community College to recognize the Commonwealth’s leadership in developing a robust workforce pipeline to meet the needs of employers across Massachusetts. Perez and Duncan highlighted two rounds of grants, totaling $40 million, awarded to Massachusetts community colleges by the U.S. Department of Labor to further the efforts of Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration to align educational programs at community colleges with the needs of local employers. “Working together, we have strengthened the connections between our campuses, our employers, and our workforce so that each and every one of our students has the opportunity to thrive,” Patrick said. “Community colleges are a critical asset in our strategy to develop a middle-skills workforce for jobs in demand. I’m proud Secretary Perez and Secretary Duncan have recognized our successful model.” The consortium of Massachusetts community colleges awarded in these two grant rounds has drawn national attention for building systems between community colleges, adult-basic-education programs, and workforce-development partners and industry leaders to offer students more training and education programs that better reflect the needs of local industry. To date, 151 degree and certificate programs have been developed or redesigned for accelerated learning, and credentials for 40 programs have been made stackable for more comprehensive certification of skills. Among students who have gone through these programs, 70% attained employment, while 85% completed online credit hours. The latest round of federal funding received by the Massachusetts consortium will focus on reducing the time it takes students to complete certificate and degree programs that lead to careers in high-growth STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) sectors, as well as advanced manufacturing and healthcare. “This type of collaborative effort between our community colleges and our local businesses bridges career and education, allowing the Commonwealth to lead the nation in career development,” said Secretary of Education Matthew Malone. “This vital combination of skills will give our students the competitive edge they will need to succeed in the global workforce.”

Employment Picture Improves Slightly in Massachusetts
BOSTON — The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported that the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates for August were down in most labor-market areas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The preliminary statewide unadjusted unemployment rate estimate for August was 6.0%, down 0.1% from July. Over the year, the statewide unadjusted rate was down 1.0% from the August 2013 rate of 70%. During August, the Worcester area recorded a gain in jobs, while the remaining 11 areas for which job estimates are published reported losses. The largest losses occurred in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, and Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury areas. Since August 2013, nine of the 12 areas added jobs, with the largest percentage gains in the Worcester, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Framingham, and Springfield areas. The Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, and Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury areas lost jobs. Job losses were impacted by temporary employment disruptions in the retail-trade sector. The seasonally adjusted statewide August unemployment rate was 5.8%, up 0.2% over the month and down 1.4% over the year. The rate was 0.3% below the 6.1% national unemployment rate.

Florence Bank Awards Team Jessica $5,000
BELCHERTOWN — Team Jessica Inc. has been awarded a $5,000 grant from Florence Bank, and will use the funds to support the building of Jessica’s Boundless Playground (JBP), an effort that has been ongoing for the past four years. Once completed, JBP will be the only 100% all-inclusive playground in New England. It has been carefully designed to be a multi-generational activity structure that engages people of all ages and abilities. Every area of the playground caters to those with mobility concerns, while at the same time being fun and engaging for able-bodied people. JBP will also allow wounded veterans in long-term rehab to experience the healing power and simple joy of playing with their own children. The playground will cost more than $475,000 to build. Team Jessica has hosted more than 15 fund-raising events over the past fouryears, and the efforts have raised more than $385,000, including three Community Preservation Act grants totaling $140,000 from the town of Belchertown. This total also includes several independent fund-raisers thatlocal businesses conducted for the project, as well as many large gifts from area organizations. Last month, more than 200 volunteers came together for a weekend build event that culminated in the construction of the majority of the playground structure. “We’re preparing for the final stages of construction — building the ramps, timing the poured-in-place rubber surface — while at the same time still conducting the last round of fund-raising,” said Patti Thornton, Team Jessica’s grant writer. “This grant comes at a perfect time, and we’re so thankful to the community-minded people at Florence Bank.” Florence Bank’s history in community commitment is 140 years deep. No stranger to corporate social responsibility, the bank distributed $1 million to local nonprofits in the past three years alone. For the past 12 years, the bank has been allowing its customers a voice in where donations will be allotted through its Customer’s Choice Community Grants Program. This year, Team Jessica is listed on the online ballot under the category ‘Community Support,’ which can be found at www.florencesavings.com/vote. Paper ballots are located at any Florence Bank. Voting concludes Dec. 31, 2014. “We are excited to be part of this extraordinary effort to bring an all-inclusive playground to Belchertown,” said Florence Bank President and CEO John Heaps Jr. “The enthusiasm and support for this project is overwhelming. We are happy to be part of it.”

Massachusetts Employment Up 9,400 in September
BOSTON — The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported that preliminary estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show Massachusetts added 9,400 jobs in September, for a total preliminary estimate of 3,425,000. The September total unemployment rate was 6.0%, up 0.2% over the August rate. Since September 2013, Massachusetts hasadded a net of 64,100 jobs, with 62,000 jobs added in the private sector. The total unemployment rate for the year is down 1.2% from the September 2013 rate of 7.2%. BLS also revised its August job estimates to a 4,900-job loss from the 5,300-loss previously reported for the month.

Company Notebook

Company Notebook Departments

Hub International Limited Acquires Assets of FieldEddy Insurance
CHICAGO — Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage, announced that it has acquired the assets of FieldEddy Insurance and Your Choice Insurance Agency, servicing the Central and Western Mass. region. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. FieldEddy’s operations will become part of Hub International New England, strategically broadening its current network of offices located primarily in the Eastern Mass./Boston region. FieldEddy is a full-service property and casualty, personal-lines, and employee-benefits brokerage, with four locations in and around Springfield. The firm’s strengths in the education, healthcare, and energy industries, including oil and gas, complement Hub New England’s expertise. Additionally, Hub New England will broaden FieldEddy’s capabilities with expertise in real estate and non-for-profits, as well as offering a robust risk-services solution and access to an expanded carrier network. With the FieldEddy acquisition, Hub New England now has 22 offices and almost 500 employees throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. FieldEddy CEO Samuel Hanmer and President Timm Marini will both join Hub New England’s executive leadership team. Within the region, Hanmer will focus on identifying potential M&A candidates and strategic growth initiatives, while Marini will coordinate sales strategies. They will both report to Charles Brophy, president and CEO of Hub New England. “FieldEddy is a talented group of producers with a great local-market reputation that gives Hub New England a strong foothold in Central and Western Mass.,” Brophy said. “We see a real opportunity to bring Hub’s carrier relationships and customized, industry-specific risk-services capabilities as value adds to clients for an expanded service offering.”

Bay Path Receives $3.5M Grant for Online Programming
LONGMEADOW — Bay Path University has been awarded a U.S. Department of Education First in the World grant for the support of innovative online programming for women. The $3.5 million grant will be awarded over four years, beginning Oct. 1. Out of nearly 500 applicants, the U.S. Department of Education awarded 24 grants nationally. Bay Path University is one of six minority-serving institutions, one of three women’s institutions, and one of two institutions in Massachusetts to receive the coveted grant. The First in the World grant, which provides grants to institutions of higher education to spur the development of innovations that improve educational outcomes, will support Bay Path University’s all-women, all-online degree program known as the American Women’s College, the first of its kind in the nation, which was launched earlier this year. Specifically, the grant will fund the development of the Social Online Universal Learning (SOUL) platform. “We are honored to receive an award that allows us to continue to advance adult women on a trajectory for academic success and degree completion that will have a significant impact on women, their families, communities, and workplaces” said Dr. Carol Leary, president of Bay Path University. “Bay Path’s innovative approach to learning is poised to reach the 76 million women in America who currently do not have a bachelor’s degree. With this grant, we will be able to help adult women achieve accelerated success in online education.” SOUL accelerates the degree-attainment process for students by creating an adaptive, customized learning environment that integrates robust learning analytics for instruction, providing immediate feedback on individual academic performance and wrap-around support needed to excel, such as coaching, proactive counseling, virtual learning communities, and social networking. “After receiving nearly 500 applications from around the country, we’re excited to announce that Bay Path University will receive a First in the World grant, funded for the first time this year,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “Each grantee demonstrated a high-quality, creative, and sound approach to expand college access and improve student outcomes. We are confident these projects will have a positive impact on increasing access on completion and help us reach President Obama’s 2020 goal to once again have the highest share of college graduates in the world.”

UMass Named One of 100 Best Universities in World
BOSTON — The University of Massachusetts has been named one of the world’s top 100 universities by Times Higher Education in the magazine’s annual global survey. UMass was ranked 91st in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, jumping 41 places in a single year and moving into the top 20 of U.S. public universities. The rankings use 13 separate performance indicators to examine a university’s strengths against all its core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook. About 700 universities are pre-selected for inclusion in the survey using public research-excellence data before further data is collected and analyzed. UMass was ranked 19th among all public universities in the U.S., and first in New England. Among private and public universities, UMass placed seventh in the six-state New England region. The California Institute of Technology was rated the highest of all universities, followed by Harvard and Oxford. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology came in sixth. UMass President Robert Caret said he was pleased with the global recognition of the university’s commitment to excellence. “This world ranking reflects the hard work of staff, faculty, and students; the high-quality teaching on all five UMass campuses; and the university’s leading-edge research,” he said. Full results of the annual rankings are available at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings.

A Plus HVAC Feted for Energy-efficient Practices
WESTFIELD — A Plus HVAC of Westfield is a 2014 COOL SMART award recipient, honored during the New England Air Conditioning Contractors of America golf tournament recently. Sponsored by the Massachusetts/Rhode Island COOL SMART program, the annual awards recognize contractors for energy-efficiency practices, leadership, and quality installation of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems. Held in Stowe, Mass., the tournament attracts approximately 150 participants throughout the region. Springfield resident and A Plus HVAC President Nathan LeMay was on hand to accept the award on behalf of his company. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, COOL SMART is a high-efficiency central-air-conditioning and heat-pump program for residential customers of National Grid, NSTAR Electric, Unitil, Western Massachusetts Electric Co., and Cape Light Compact. This initiative promotes the purchase and verified quality installation of ENERGY STAR-qualified central-air-conditioning and heat-pump systems. Said Western Massachusetts Electric Co. Residential Program Manager Kevin Parse, who participated in the tournament, “we are proud to be affiliated with such a successful program that promotes technical excellence and green practices. It benefits our customers and the greater good through energy efficiency.” Conservation Services Group, a Westborough-based residential energy-services firm, implements the COOL SMART program.

Greenfield Community College Wins National Green Genome Award
GREENFIELD — As part of an expanding national effort to support environmentally sustainable practices, programs, and job training at the nation’s almost 1,200 community colleges, Greenfield Community College is one of five exemplary community colleges to be presented with an American Assoc. of Community Colleges (AACC) Green Genome Award. The Green Genome Awards, created by AACC’s Sustainability Education and Economic Development Center (SEED), are evaluated in four key areas critical to holistic green college transformation: community engagement, governance, program design and delivery, and strategic partnerships. Greenfield Community College is recognized as the overall winner, demonstrating excellence in all four key areas. That excellence can be seen in GCC’s academic programs in Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency and Farm and Food Systems, on-campus photovoltaic solar panels and permaculture garden, campus-wide composting and recycling, collaborations with many community partners, and campus leadership that considers sustainability in its decision making. Greenfield Community College will be awarded $7,500, plus a set of state-of-the-art Bahco-brand Snap-on tools and horticulture equipment. The awards are sponsored by Snap-on. “As the primary organizing body of community colleges of the United States, AACC knows and understands community colleges across the country. We therefore are most honored and lifted by this recognition,” said GCC President Bob Pura. “I am so very proud of all of the people in the college and the community who made it possible for AACC to recognize GCC with this award. It is great to get acknowledged for demonstrating best practices by an organization that is so well-informed. What this award also does is encourage us to work harder and aspire to even higher standards.”

Homewatch CareGivers Receives Best of Home Care Award
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Homewatch CareGivers announced that it has received the Best of Home Care Award from Home Care Pulse. This award is given only to the top-ranking home-care providers in the country. “The Best of Home Care Award shows that Homewatch CareGivers has a proven record of excellence in home care,” said Erik Madsen, COO of Home Care Pulse. “This gives families peace of mind when looking for quality home care.” Added Homewatch owners Peter and Judy Yaffe, “we are very pleased and proud to have received this designation.” Home Care Pulse, a company that measures client and employee satisfaction, created the award to recognize home-care providers who appreciate their clients’ feedback and are dedicated to providing the highest level of quality, professionalism, and expertise in home care. Home Care Pulse believes that honoring such companies can both educate and assist families to make better care decisions for their aging loved ones. “The recipients of the Best of Home Care Award have proven their dedication to providing quality home-care services,” said Madsen. “We applaud their achievements and congratulate them on receiving this award.” To find out more about the Best of Home Care award or Home Care Pulse, visit www.bestofhomecare.com.

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

Chamber Corners Departments

ACCGS
www.myonlinechamber.com
(413) 787-1555

• Oct. 29: ACCGS Western Mass. Business Expo Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., MassMutual Center, Springfield. Keynote Speaker: Gov. Deval Patrick. Cost: $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Reservations may be made online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

AMHERST AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.amherstarea.com
413-253-0700

• Oct. 24: Legislative Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., hosted by the Lord Jeffery Inn, 30 Boltwood Ave., Amherst. Sponsored by Western Massachusetts Electric Co. Your chance to rub elbows with Amherst-area elected officials. Cost: $15 for chamber members, $20 for non-members. To RSVP, call Tammy-Lynn at (413) 253-0700 or e-mail [email protected].

GREATER CHICOPEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101

• Oct. 23: Auction/Beer & Wine Tasting, 6-9 p.m., Delaney House, 3 Country Club Road, Holyoke. Cost: $35 pre-registered, $40 at the door. The public is welcome to attend and enjoy tastings from Kappy’s Liquors and Williams Distributing Corp., delicious gourmet food from the Delaney House, take some photos in the complimentary photo booth, and bid on many auction items, including gift baskets and gift certificates to area restaurants.
• Oct. 30: Taking Care of Business, Workshop 4, 9-11 a.m., Hampton Inn, 600 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. “How to Retain Your Top Talent.” Topics include recruitment and turnover costs, production loss, and retraining. Presenter: James Percy, Willard Financial Group, LLC. Cost: $20 for members, $30 for non-members.
• Nov. 7: CheckPoint 2014 Legislative Symposium, 11:30 a.m., hosted by the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, Holyoke. The Greater Westfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, and South Hadley/Granby chambers of commerce will bring legislative leaders from Washington, D.C. and Boston to Western Mass. State House Speaker Bob DeLeo, state Senate President-elect Stan Rosenberg, and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal have agreed to participate, along with the entire House and Senate delegations from the chambers’ cities and towns. Cost: $50 for members, $60 for non-members. Registration and networking begin at 11:30 a.m., with lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m. From 1:30 to 3 p.m., a panel discussion will ensue with the state delegation, with questions from the audience, followed by a cocktail reception, which area mayors and town administrators will also attend. To register, call (413) 568-1618.

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.easthamptonchamber.org
(413) 527-9414

• Oct. 23: Workforce Training Speaker Breakfast, 7 a.m., hosted by Southampton Country Club, 329 College Highway, Southampton. Sponsored by Franklin/Hampshire Career Center and Batchelder Associates. Part of the Chamber’s Speaker Series 2014. Come and learn about available state funding for employee training and technical assistance for any size business. Breakfast includes coffee, tea, and juice station; scrambled eggs; French toast; sausage; home fries; assorted breakfast pastries. Cost: $15 for chamber members, $20 for non-members. Call the chamber to sign up. Seating is limited.
• Nov. 1: 14th Annual Sock Hop Bowl-A-Thon, 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., hosted by Canal Bowling Lanes, 74 College Highway, Southampton. Sponsored by TurningLeaf Design and Easthampton Savings Bank to benefit the Chamber’s downtown holiday-lighting fund. Free pizza for bowlers, raffles, contests, and lots of fun. Music by DJ Fred. Donations accepted for raffle at each session. Cost: $100 per five-member team. Lane sponsorships: $50. For more information or to enter, call the chamber.
• Nov. 4: GRIST (Get Real Individual Support Today) meeting, 9-10 a.m. at the chamber office. Speaker: Ruth Griggs of RC Communications, on “Marketing Planning 101.” Cost: free, but attendees are asked to RSVP.

GREATER HOLYOKE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.holycham.com
(413) 534-3376

• Nov. 7: CheckPoint 2014 Legislative Symposium, 11:30 a.m., hosted by the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, Holyoke. The Greater Westfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, and South Hadley/Granby chambers of commerce will bring legislative leaders from Washington, D.C. and Boston to Western Mass. State House Speaker Bob DeLeo, state Senate President-elect Stan Rosenberg, and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal have agreed to participate, along with the entire House and Senate delegations from the chambers’ cities and towns. Cost: $50 for members, $60 for non-members. Registration and networking begin at 11:30 a.m., with lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m. From 1:30 to 3 p.m., a panel discussion will ensue with the state delegation, with questions from the audience, followed by a cocktail reception, which area mayors and town administrators will also attend. To register, call (413) 568-1618.

GREATER NORTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.explorenorthampton.com
(413) 584-1900

• Nov. 5: November Arrive @ 5, 5-7 p.m., hosted by the Food Bank of Western Mass., 97 North Hatfield St., Hatfield. Sponsor: Homeward Vets. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members.
• Nov. 12: “Creating an Online Marketing System,” 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., hosted by Greenfield Savings Bank, Community Room, 325 King St., Northampton. Sponsor: Tina Stevens 470. Speaker: Tina Stevens. Topics will include maximizing your online messages, effectively using calls to action, understanding the flow of search, setting goals and expectations, understanding the return on investment of online marketing, and developing a plan. Cost: $20 for members, $25 for non-members.
• Nov. 14: “Tips, Tricks, & Shortcuts,” 9-11 a.m., hosted by the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, 99 Pleasant St., Northampton. Sponsored by Pioneer Training. Speaker: Don Lesser. This workshop will present our favorite tips, tricks, and shortcuts that we have collected and developed over 15 years of teaching and using Microsoft Excel. Cost: $20 for members, $25 for non-members.
• Dec. 10: Joint Chamber Mixer for Greater Northampton and Amherst Area chamber members, 5-7 p.m., hosted by the Lord Jeffrey Inn, 30 Boltwood Walk, Amherst. Sponsored by Florence Savings Bank. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members.
• Dec. 15: New Member Orientation, 3-4 p.m., hosted by the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce, 99 Pleasant St., Northampton. This is the chance to tell us more about your business and how the chamber can best serve you. Cost: free.

GREATER WESTFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.westfieldbiz.org
(413) 568-1618

• Nov. 3: Mayor’s Coffee Hour, 8-9 a.m., hosted by Holiday Inn Express, 39 Southampton Road, Westfield. Additional information will be posted as the event draws near. For more information, Call Pam at the Chamber office, (413) 568-1618.
• Nov. 12: After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Riverbend Medical Group, 395 Southampton Road, Westfield. Additional information to be posted as the event draws closer.

PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S CHAMBER
www.professionalwomenschamber.com
(413) 755-1310

• Oct. 29: Western Mass. Business Expo Luncheon, 11:30-1 p.m., MassMutual Center, Springfield. Featuring Patricia Diaz Dennis, former senior vice president and assistant general counsel of AT&T and former White House presidential appointee. Tickets: $40. Make reservations online at www.myonlinechamber.com. This Luncheon is included in the PWC Luncheon Season Pass, but reservations are required.

SOUTH HADLEY/GRANBY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.shchamber.com
(413) 532-6451

• Nov. 7: CheckPoint 2014 Legislative Symposium, 11:30 a.m., hosted by the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, Holyoke. The Greater Westfield, Chicopee, Holyoke, and South Hadley/Granby chambers of commerce will bring legislative leaders from Washington, D.C. and Boston to Western Mass. State House Speaker Bob DeLeo, state Senate President-elect Stan Rosenberg, and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal have agreed to participate, along with the entire House and Senate delegations from the chambers’ cities and towns. Cost: $50 for members, $60 for non-members. Registration and networking begin at 11:30 a.m., with lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m. From 1:30 to 3 p.m., a panel discussion will ensue with the state delegation, with questions from the audience, followed by a cocktail reception, which area mayors and town administrators will also attend. To register, call (413) 568-1618.

Picture This

Departments Picture This

Send photos with a caption and contact information to: ‘Picture This’ c/o BusinessWest Magazine, 1441 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103 or to [email protected]

Gearing Up
Dave’s Truck Repair recently celebrated the grand opening of its second facility at 649 Cottage St. in Springfield. Seen here, from left, are Hank Downey, senior vice president of Chicopee Savings Bank; Carol Brennan, director of Business Development for CDC New England; Ron Proulx, general manager of Dave’s Truck Repair; Dave Proulx, president of Dave’s Truck Repair; and Bill Wagner, president of Chicopee Savings Bank.

Welcome Back
Family, friends, members of judiciary, and city officials gathered on Sept. 17 to celebrate Mary Hurley’s retirement from her position as first justice of the Chicopee District Court, and her return to the Springfield-based law firm Cooley Shrair. Hurley is seen here with Peter Shrair, Esq., left, and David Shrair, Esq.

2014 Resource Guide Addendum

Sections Supplements

In September, BusinessWest presented its 2014-15 Resource Guide. What follows are needed additions and corrections to the charts that appeared in that issue:

• Changes to Accounting Firms:
Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.
Services: Management-advisory services; audit and accounting services; multi-state and international taxation; tax planning and return preparation; employee benefit-plan audits; family and independent business services; business valuations; financial planning and wealth management; cost-segregation studies; certified fraud examiners; construction; healthcare; education; not-for-profit; real estate; manufacturing, wholesale, and distribution
Bova, Harrington & Associates, P.C.
Number of CPAs: 7
Number of Partners: 2

• Addition to Audio-Visual/Multi-Media Companies:
Kirby Productions
1 Doane Ave., Agawam, MA 01001
(413) 388-5714; www.kirbyproductions.com
Employees: 1
Services: Full-service HD video production company specializing in writing, videography, and motion design; TV commercials; promotional videos; viral videos; event videos; video blogs; production studio with green screen available
Contact: Al Liptak

• Changes to Auto Dealers:
Balise Chevrolet Buick GMC
General Manager: John Perez
Balise Ford of Wilbraham
General Manager: Charles Dansby

• Addition to Banks in Western Mass.:
Farmington Bank
www.farmingtonbankct.com
Assets: $2,110,028,000
Deposits: $1,513,501,000
Net Income: $3,704,000
Total Equity Capital: $232,209,000
Total Loans and Leases: $1,822,487,000
Commercial Loan Volume: $253,406,000
Secured by Real Estate: $546,350,000
(Figures are year-end 2013. Farmington Bank, based in Connecticut, entered the Massachusetts market in 2014.)

• Change to Colleges with MBA Programs:
Elms College
Contact: Donna Graziano

• Addition to Computer Network/IT Services:
Network Advantage Associates
2098 Roaring Brook Road, Conway, MA 01341
(413) 223-9007; www.net-vantage.com
Contact: Roy Cohen
Service Area: Pioneer Valley
Services: Integrates advanced strategic technologies in small businesses, professional practices, and nonprofits; business continuity/disaster recovery; on- and off-site backup and recovery; information-technology management; systems and network administration; virtualization solutions; custom VoIP solutions; server upgrades and migrations; Enterprise wireless; Google/Oracle solutions

• Addition to Day Spas:
Elements Hot Tub Spa
373 Main St., Amherst, MA 01002
(413) 256-8827; www.elementshottubspa.com
Owners: Jeff and Diana Krauth
Services: State-of-the-art private hot tubs; infrared saunas; aromatherapy steam room; individual and couples massage; advanced therapeutic bodywork modalities; natural facials; spa services
Preferred Product Line: France Laure Natural Care

• Change to Dental Services:
Florence Dental Care
Head of Practice: Benjamin Falk, DDS
Specialties: General and cosmetic dentistry for all ages including tooth-colored fillings, porcelain veneers, and crowns; smile makeovers and ZOOM whitening; preventive care including all phases of gum (periodontal) treatment; comprehensive dental care including root-canal therapy, oral surgery and extractions, dental implants, and bone grafting; digital X-rays and photographs; emergency care

• Addition to Financial Services/Brokerage Firms:
Gage-Wiley & Co. Inc.
120 King St., Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 584-9121; www.gagewiley.com
Licensed Brokers in Western Mass.: 8
Total Licensed Brokers Nationally: 9
Branch Manager: Christopher Milne
Services: Comprehensive wealth management; independent brokerage and investment-advisory services; retirement, estate, and financial planning; life and long-term-care insurance.

• Additions to Home Care Options:
Porchlight VNA/Home Care
32 Park St., Lee, MA 01238
2024 Westover Road, Chicopee, MA 01022
(413) 243-1212; www.porchlighthomecare.org
Director: Holly Chaffee
RN/LPN Care: Yes
Services: Skilled nursing; wound care; infusion therapy; telemonitoring; physical, occupational, and speech therapies; mother/baby care; nutritional counseling; mental-health services; psychiatric nursing; home health aide services; CHF disease management; community health programs
Porchlight Home Care
21 High St., Lee, MA 01238
2024 Westover Road, Chicopee, MA 01022
(413) 243-1122; www.porchlighthomecare.org
Director: Dawn Dewkett
RN/LPN Care: Yes
Services: Care management; personal care attendants; home health aides; certified nursing assistants; homemakers; companionship; live-in services; transportation/door-to-door program; medication reminders; 24-hour care; complimentary assessments; long-term-care planning; 24-hour nurse oversight; home visiting nurse practitioner

• Addition to Insurance Agencies:
John M. Glover Agency
4 Open Square Way, Suite 213, Holyoke, MA 01040
(413) 534-1500; www.johnmglover.com
Full-time Agents: 2
Full-time Employees: 2
Local Offices: 1
Type of Insurance: Property/casualty, auto, home, business, life, health, workers’ comp
Top Local Officials: Kyle Sullivan, John Sullivan

• Change to Insurance Agencies:
The Dowd Insurance Agencies
Type of Insurance: Commercial, personal, life, employee benefits, surety

• Change to Law Firms:
Gove Law Office
Second address: 358 Sewall St., Ludlow, MA 01056
(413) 583-5196; www.govelawoffice.com
Lawyers: 2
Areas of Practice: Business representation; commercial and banking matters; residential and commercial real estate; estate planning and probate administration; landlord/tenant; bankruptcy; personal injury

• Addition to Physical Therapy Outpatient Facilities:
Active Physical Therapy & Wellness, LLC
2301 Boston Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095
(413) 596-5362; www.activeptw.com
Administrator: Patricia O’Brien
Services: Outpatient clinic offering individualized manual therapy treatment for neck and back pain, sports injuries, post-surgery, arthritis, shoulder and knee problems; private treatment rooms; fitness center

• Change to Physical Therapy Outpatient Facilities:
HealthSouth Hospital of Western Massachusetts
Administrator: Victoria Healy

• Addition to Skilled Nursing/PT Facilities:
Life Care Center of Wilbraham
2399 Boston Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095
(413) 596-3111; www.lcca.com/182
Administrator: Dennis Lopata
Services: Subacute and rehabilitation programs provide a bridge between hospital and home; physical, occupational, and speech therapy; orthopedic recovery program; VitalStim therapy for swallowing or dysphagia difficulty; CPI wound care; aquatic-therapy program; long-term and respite care

• Addition to Telecom/Voice/Data Providers:
Network Advantage Associates
2098 Roaring Brook Road, Conway, MA 01341
(413) 223-9007; www.net-vantage.com
Contact: Roy Cohen
Service Area: Pioneer Valley
Services: Integrates advanced strategic technologies in small businesses, professional practices, and nonprofits; business continuity/disaster recovery; on- and off-site backup and recovery; information-technology management; systems and network administration; virtualization solutions; custom VoIP solutions; server upgrades and migrations; Enterprise wireless; Google/Oracle solutions

• Change to Web Development Companies:
Last Call Media
136 West St., Suite 01, Northampton, MA 01060

• Addition to Western Mass. Area Computer Retailers:
Northeast IT Systems Inc.
777B Riverdale St., West Springfield, MA 01089
(413) 527-8090; www.northeastit.net
Employees: 8
Owner/Manager: Joel Mollison
Products/Services: Computer and network equipment sales and service; hardware and software; computer network and IT consulting services for small to midsized businesses and municipalities; firewalls; network security; remote access/VPN; servers; virtualization; VoIP phone systems; backup and disaster recovery; spam filtering

State Senate Debate Slated for Oct. 23 in Holyoke

HOLYOKE — The Holyoke Taxpayers Assoc. and the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce are hosting a debate on Oct. 23 between State Sen. Donald Humason (R-Westfield) and Democrat Patrick Leahy of Holyoke in anticipation of the Nov. 4 election. The debate will be held at the Holyoke Senior Center at 291 Pine St. (intersection of Beech and Sargeant). Doors open at 6 p.m., and opening remarks begin at 6:30 p.m.

The candidates are running to represent the 2nd Hampden and Hampshire district, which serves Holyoke, Westfield, Agawam, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Tolland, Easthampton, Southampton, and Chicopee’s Ward 7, Ward 8A, and Ward 9A. Questions for the debate have been gathered from members of the community. Deborah Buckley, president of Goss & McClain Insurance Agency Inc., will act as moderator. The debate will be televised and shown at a later date on the city’s cable-access channel.

Meghan Sullivan Named to New England Super Lawyers

SPRINGFIELD — Meghan Sullivan, managing partner with Springfield-based Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn, has been selected for inclusion in the 2014 New England Super Lawyers magazine.

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Super Lawyers selections are made annually using a patented, multi-phase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates, and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive, and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. Only 5% of lawyers in each state are selected to the Super Lawyers list annually. These lawyers will be featured in the November issue of Boston magazine and the 2014 issue of New England Super Lawyers.

Sullivan has extensive knowledge in the areas of employment law, discrimination law, labor relations, affirmative action, OSHA compliance, personnel policy, and training. She has represented employers in numerous judicial proceedings, administrative hearings, and arbitrations in both the public and private sectors; before the National Labor Relations Board; and before state anti-discrimination agencies, the U.S. Department of Labor, in state courts, and in federal District Court. She has also conducted numerous seminars, supervisory training sessions, and management-development programs, and is a sought-after speaker for numerous organizations and entities on topics ranging from discrimination to wage-and-hour laws.

Gov. Patrick to Unveil $1.5B MBTA Project Coming to Springfield

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Deval Patrick will be in Springfield today to make an announcement regarding a $1.5 billion MBTA project coming to the city.

The outgoing governor will be at 655 Page Blvd., the site of the former Westinghouse plant, the property where Chinese manufacturer CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles has proposed building a plant to assemble new subway cars for the MBTA. Hyundai Rotem of South Korea has proposed building a similar plant on Progress Boulevard in Springfield, but only one company will be chosen for the project, and today’s press-conference location has fueled speculation that Changchun will be selected.

The MBTA plans to buy at least 226 cars — 152 Orange Line cars, replacing the current, 31-year-old fleet of 120, and 74 Red Line cars, with an option to build as many as 132, replacing the current 43-year-old cars. Changchun, the largest maker of rail cars in the world, plans to hire between 150 and 300 workers and use Springfield as a base to bid on other transit projects nationally.

Agenda

Agenda Departments

Memory and Brain Health
Oct. 21: Glenmeadow Retirement will offer a presentation by Smith College Professor Mary Harrington on memory and brain health from 10 a.m. to noon at the Agawam Public Library, 750 Cooper St. Harrington will draw on her expertise as a neuroscientist and share her findings on how to keep the brain healthy and active. Harrington’s discussion, “The Memory Muscle: Understanding the Brain and Keeping It Fit,” will include tips on improving memory through focus, practice, and social interaction. The free program will also feature accessible lessons on neuroscience. Harrington has worked as an undergraduate professor at Smith College, specializing in the brain regulation of circadian rhythms and sleep, since 1987. Her research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Established in 1884, Glenmeadow is a nonprofit, accredited, continuing-care retirement community, providing independent and assisted living at its campus at 24 Tabor Crossing in Longmeadow and expanded Glenmeadow at Home services throughout Greater Springfield. “As a nonprofit, our mission is to serve seniors and their families. One of the ways we do that is by providing free educational offerings in convenient locations throughout the area,” said Tim Cotz, president and CEO. Seating for the Oct. 21 event is limited, and registration is required. To register, call (413) 567-7800 or e-mail [email protected]. Visit glenmeadow.org/learning for more information.

Estate Planning for Divorced, Blended Families
Oct. 21: Monson Savings Bank will present a complimentary workshop titled “Estate Planning for Divorced and Blended Families: It Can Be Done!” featuring attorneys Hyman Darling and Todd Ratner from Bacon Wilson, P.C. The event will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Teresa’s Restaurant, 315 Palmer Road, Ware. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. The workshop is designed to help divorced, remarried, or partnered people sort through the complexities of designating who will have financial and medical-care authority if they become disabled, and ensuring that inheritance is seamlessly passed along to the intended heirs. Darling and Ratner will provide important information, tools, and guidance to assist people with creating an estate plan that achieves their goals and addresses multiple parties and priorities. “Understanding and creating estate plans can be complicated and overwhelming — even moreso for divorced individuals or blended families,” said Steve Lowell, president and CEO of Monson Savings Bank. “This workshop will help people to make sound decisions when it comes to inheritance and designating a responsible party for financial and healthcare authority.” RSVP by contacting Anna Driscoll at (413) 267-1221 or [email protected]. Seating is limited.

Human Services Forum Employment-law Event
Oct. 23: Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C., an employment-law firm serving the Greater Springfield area, announced that partner Susan Fentin will host a presentation regarding recent developments in the area of labor and employment law as part of the Human Services Forum (HSF) training series. The half-day presentation will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Crowne Plaza in Pittsfield. The presentation, titled “Something Old, Something New,” will cover a number of recent developments in the area of labor and employment law, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s new enforcement guidance on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which was issued in July. “The EEOC’s guidance contains a summary of the existing law, which is not actually new information but is an important reminder of employers’ obligations under this statute,” said Fentin. “Additionally, the guidance also includes some surprising interpretations of the law that may alleviate potential issues for employers with pregnant workers.” Fentin will also cover recent Massachusetts legislation affecting employers, including the Bay State’s new domestic violence leave law, changes to the state’s minimum wage, and new rights for domestic workers. The program will allot a substantial amount of time for attendees to ask questions. The event is $55 for HSF members and $65 for non-members; the fee includes continental breakfast. Registration for the event can be completed online at humanservicesforum.org. Fentin has been a partner at the firm since 2004. Her practice concentrates on labor and employment counseling, advising large and small employers on their responsibilities and obligations under state and federal employment laws, and representing employers before state and federal agencies and in court. She speaks frequently to employer groups, conducts training on avoiding problems in employment law, and teaches master classes on both the FMLA and ADA. She is routinely named as a Super Lawyer and, since 2010, has been ranked as one of the top labor and employment attorneys in Massachusetts by the prestigious Chambers USA rating firm. The Human Service Forum was founded in 1986 as an association of nonprofit and public agencies as well as individuals providing human services in the Pioneer Valley. The forum was envisioned by its founders to be a vehicle for communicating the important contributions of human services to quality of life in Pioneer Valley communities, and for members to network, address problems of mutual concern, and discuss major trends and changes impacting human services.

Weste
rn Mass.Business Expo
Oct. 29: The fourth annual Western Mass. Business Expo, presented by BusinessWest at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, is a business-to-business show featuring more than 150 booths, seminars, and Show Floor Theater presentations, as well as a day-capping Expo Social. In addition, Gov. Deval Patrick will be the speaker at the ACCGS Breakfast at 7:15 a.m. The Professional Women’s Chamber Luncheon, at 11:30 a.m., will feature Patricia Diaz Dennis, senior vice president at AT&T, member of the MassMutual board of directors, and a past presidential appointee to the Federal Communications Commission. See the special section of this issue for details about other events, programs, and featured speakers. Comcast Business will again be Presenting Sponsor, while the social will be sponsored by Northwestern Mutual and MGM Springfield. Silver Sponsors are Health New England, DIF Design, Johnson & Hill Staffing, and MassMutual Financial Group. Education sponsor is the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. For more information, call (413) 781-8600 or visit www.wmbexpo.com.

50th Noble Ball
Nov. 1: Noble Hospital’s 50th anniversary Noble Ball will be held at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. More than 800 guests are expected to attend the black-tie event, which will feature live entertainment, silent and live auctions, food, dancing, and more. Since the first ball, Noble Hospital has used this signature event to raise money for hospital operating funds, building improvements, equipment purchases, and more. The 2013 ball raised $250,000 for the Oncology Unit in order to provide a more comfortable environment for cancer patients and their families. This year’s ball proceeds will be used to enhance Noble’s entrance and reception area to provide updated ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) access. “Our goal is to make Noble easily accessible for all,” said Allison Gearing-Kalill, vice president of Community Development. For more information or to purchase tickets to the Noble Ball, visit www.noblehospital.org/ball or email [email protected].

Legislative Symposium
Nov. 7: The Greater Chicopee, Holyoke, Westfield, and South Hadley & Granby Chambers of Commerce have joined forces in successfully attracting the top leaders of the Massachusetts House and Senate, and every member of the Massachusetts House and Senate who specifically represent the collective Chamber’s municipalities, to an afternoon-long exchange of ideas and information. The event will take place at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke. Registration and networking begin at 11:30 a.m., with lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m. A panel discussion with the state delegation will take place between 1:30 and 3:30, with questions from the audience. It will be followed by a cocktail reception, which area mayors and town administrators will also attend. Reservations are required, and tickets cost $50 per person for chamber members and $60 for non-members. U.S. Rep. Richard Neal will participate as a keynote speaker, adding his perspective and expertise from Washington, and state House Speaker Bob DeLeo will also be a keynote speaker, sharing insights on gateway cities, among other topics. “We are ecstatic by the response to this effort to bring the top decision-makers in government here to Western Mass.,” said Eileen Drumm, president of the Greater Chicopee Chamber. “The elected officials who have confirmed their attendance and the membership of our respective chambers who have already responded to our pre-announcement outreach are stunning. Our members, the business people and entrepreneurs that make our economy run, the people who create and provide jobs here, want access to these leaders and want to engage in a real dialogue that helps them to help us. It was important to us to achieve this for them and that we make the cost of attendance as reasonable as possible.” In addition to DeLeo and Neal, state Sens. Stanley Rosenberg, Gale Candaras, Donald Humason Jr. and James Welch will attend, joined by state Reps. John Scibak, Aaron Vega, John Velis, and Joseph Wagner, House chairman of Economic Affairs and Emerging Technologies. Sponsorship opportunities for the event are still available. For $750, sponsors receive their name and logo on the invitations, their name included on all broadcast e-mails of all the chambers, name and recognition in the event program and all future press releases, as well as four VIP seating tickets. Current sponsors include Spherion Staffing, Mercy Medical Center, Holyoke Medical Center, Mestek Inc., Holyoke Gas & Electric, Health New England, Dave’s Truck Repair, the Republican/El Pueblo Latino, Marcotte Ford, PeoplesBank, the Center for School Crisis Intervention and Assessment, United Personnel, Comcast, and Chicopee Savings Bank. For more information, visit the Chicopee, Holyoke, Westfield or South Hadley chamber website.

Markens Group Brings Association-management Services to Springfield

SPRINGFIELD — The Markens Group Inc. (TMG) recently became accredited under the AMC Institute’s standard, a strict set of best practices for outstanding association-management companies (AMCs). Among the 500-plus AMCs worldwide, only 79 have achieved AMC Institute accreditation. Founded in 1988, TMG is a business-consulting firm that specializes in managing industry trade associations.

In 2008, TMG President Ben Markens accepted an offer to manage the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC), a trade association for folding-carton companies and TMG’s first association client. TMG’s first initiative was to move PPC headquarters from the Washington, D.C. area to downtown Springfield. “We have very deep roots in Springfield, so relocating PPC headquarters was a no-brainer,” said Markens. “We wanted to do all we could to bring some revenue into the city.”

In the decades prior to hiring TMG and relocating to Springfield, PPC had suffered serious financial losses and shrinking membership. Yet, in less than a year after TMG came on board, PPC enjoyed an annual surplus and has continued to do so for six consecutive years. Membership has grown more than 50%, and participation in meetings and other programs has increased by almost 100%.

“Our singular goal is to provide our clients with the high-quality services they need to grow and achieve their strategic initiatives,” said Markens. “Becoming accredited will concrete our dedication to excellence in the eyes of present and future clients.”

Demonstrating its dedication to local business, TMG’s newest association client, the New England Paper Cluster, promotes the paper industry in New England and represents member companies such as paper mills, paper recyclers, printing companies, and other paper-related firms.

For more information, call (413) 686-9199 or visit www.markensamc.com.

Two Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn Attorneys Named ‘Rising Stars’

SPRINGFIELD — Attorneys Layla Taylor and Alice Pizzi, both with Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn, have been selected to the 2014 Massachusetts Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5% of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor.

Taylor, a partner at Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn, LLC, joined the firm in 2004. She is experienced in assisting clients with human-resource management and policy development, as well as advising both private- and public-sector clients on legal compliance and best practices in the workplace. She routinely assists employers in workplace immigration matters and in negotiating employment contracts and separation agreements.

Pizzi, a graduate of Western New England College School of Law, joined Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn, LLC in 2009 and has focused on the defense of discrimination and wrongful-employment cases filed against employers, employment litigation, employment benefits, and public-sector labor relations. Pizzi is listed on the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) panel of sexual-harassment and prohibited-discrimination trainers who have successfully completed the MCAD’s certified program for workplace trainers.

The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. The magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit superlawyers.com.

Holyoke Medical Center Fully Accredited for Oncology Services

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center’s Oncology Department Cancer Program recently received a full three-year accreditation with special commendations by the American College of Surgeons. HMC has been accredited by the American College of Surgeons for more than 30 years. The commendations were awarded in the areas of clinical performance and compliance with standards for ACOS.

“This is the highest rating the hospital has ever achieved in its history of affiliation with the American College of Surgeons, and we are very proud of this accomplishment,” said Director of Oncology and Community Benefits Helen Arnold.

This accreditation is in addition to a full three-year reaccreditation for HMC’s breast-cancer program by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) in 2013, which confirms that Holyoke Medical Center provides multi-disciplinary, high-quality, patient-centered care for its breast-cancer patients. HMC was the first NAPBC-accredited breast-cancer center in Western Mass. The maintenance of these accreditations requires a rigorous examination at the time of survey and in the months leading up to the survey of all policies, procedures, programs, and data of the HMC cancer program and its staff, said Arnold.

Baystate Partners with VertitechIT on IT Infrastructure Project

SPRINGFIELD — Looking to maintain its role as one of the largest and most technically advanced health systems in New England, Baystate Health has launched a new IT infrastructure-redevelopment effort to be managed by Holyoke-based VertitechIT. Baystate Vice President and Chief Information Officer Joel Vengco announced the initiative, which includes updates to critical IT technologies and migration to a new, advanced data center.

“Our doctors, nurses, and clinicians need access to critical records at all times, in all of our facilities, and on multiple platforms,” said Vengco. “This initiative, including our data-center move to a new facility in downtown Springfield, will allow our more than 10,000 employees to better serve more than a million patients every year and fully utilize the technology that has made us a keystone of the Western Mass. community.” Vengco has called on VertitechIT, one of the fastest growing healthcare-technology consultancies in the country, to manage the project.

“Baystate is among the most respected institutions of its kind in the nation,” added VertitechIT CEO and founder Michael Feld. “It’s our job to make sure they have the infrastructure to continue to provide seamless care between the academic medical center, two community hospitals, and numerous outpatient and primary-care facilities. And from a purely selfish standpoint, it’s nice to have such a prestigious client in our own backyard.” VertitechIT formally opened its new national headquarters at Open Square on Oct. 17.

Greater Chicopee Chamber Urges Rejection of Paid Sick Leave

CHICOPEE — After deliberation by its government affairs committee, executive committee, and board of directors, the Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce has taken the position of ‘no’ on Question 4 — mandatory paid sick leave — which will appear on the November statewide ballot.

Question 4 would make Massachusetts one of the first states to require small and taxpayer-funded businesses to provide up to a week of mandatory paid sick time and family leave to all employees, including part-timers, and allow them to take it in increments as little as one hour at a time.

“This mandate, in our opinion, strips employers of their ability and flexibility in structuring employee benefits how they see fit to best suit the business and their employees’ needs,” the chamber said in a prepared statement. “Furthermore, to pay for the added benefit of paid sick days and still remain on budget, employers will be forced to reduce current labor spending through reduced wages and hours, layoffs, and reduction of other, more desirable benefits. Adoption of this mandate will increase the cost for employers and directly lead to lower wages for employees. This proposal is too costly and will disrupt the existing relationships between employers and employees.”

Proposals Sought to Assist Hospital Coalition

SPRINGFIELD — The Coalition of Western Massachusetts Hospitals has issued a request for proposals to select an organization to assist the coalition in its implementation of a regional strategy to address mental-health and substance-abuse disorders.

Specifically, the selected organization will serve as the fiscal agent, provide administrative staff support, and facilitate project development and implementation. The coalition will serve as the decision-making body.

Formed in 2012 to share resources and work in partnership to identify priority community health needs through regional health-needs assessments, the coalition is a partnership between eight hospitals — Baystate Medical Center, Baystate Franklin Medical Center, Baystate Mary Lane Hospital, Baystate Wing Hospital, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Holyoke Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center, and Shriners Hospital for Children — and Health New England, a local health insurer whose service area covers the four counties of Western Mass.

Following feedback from key community stakeholders during the community health-needs assessment process, the coalition has taken its unique collaboration to the next level by identifying a shared health priority to address in partnership across the region.

For a copy of the request for proposal, interested parties may contact Annamarie Golden at [email protected]. The Coalition is accepting proposals and qualification statements from interested vendors until 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31. All proposals should be electronically submitted to Golden, who is receiving on behalf of the coalition.

GCC Receives Grant to Support Sustainable-agriculture Education

GREENFIELD — Thanks to almost $50,000 of funding from a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, Greenfield Community College will develop new courses and professional-development workshops in sustainable agriculture.

The ENGAGE (Educational Networks for Growing an Agricultural Economy) project will help area high-school and GCC students develop sustainable agriculture and leadership skills and pursue further education and employment in agriculture. The grant also provides free professional-development workshops for high-school teachers so they can bring enhanced sustainable-agriculture skills and curriculum components to their classrooms. For the project, GCC is partnering with six area high schools: Smith Vocational School, Franklin County Technical School, Turners Falls High School, Mohawk Trail Regional High School, Greenfield High School, and Four Rivers Charter School.

Kyle Bostrom, owner of Bostrom Farm in Greenfield, will teach the new, three-credit “Introduction to Sustainable Farming Skills” course in the summer of 2015 to high-school students and those enrolled in GCC’s Farm and Food Systems (FFS) program. Also next summer, Deb Habib, executive director of the Seeds of Solidarity Education Center in Orange, will develop and deliver a 15-hour professional-development points (PDPs) workshop on sustainable food production for high-school teachers. The workshop will be held at GCC’s campus, utilizing the permaculture garden, organic vegetable garden, and near-zero-net-energy greenhouse.

In the summer of 2016, the “Intro to Sustainable Farming Skills” course will be offered again, and a course on sustainable farming leadership will be offered to FFS students who have completed the skills course. The introductory-skills course will be free for targeted students.

Along with providing development and delivery of the two new courses and the workshop, the grant supports GCC’s internship coordinator, Christine Copeland; funds a part-time Farm and Food Systems program assistant position; provides stipends for teachers who take the professional-development workshop; and supports curriculum development and delivery and internships.

“GCC is aware of the growing concern about the decline in the number of the next generation of farmers,” said GCC President Bob Pura. “We are also committed to ongoing collaborations with our public high-school neighbors. This grant will help build a stronger educational pathway for young people in our community who would seriously consider farming as a way of life while increasing the collaborations with those public schools. The more collaboration GCC has with the public schools in our community, the stronger the probability of success for all of our students.”

For information about the new courses and professional-development workshop, contact Abrah Dresdale at (413) 775-1107 or [email protected].

Executech Sold to Dan Serrenho and Partners

AGAWAM — Executech, one of the area’s leading providers of office supplies and equipment, recently announced the sale of its business to Vice President of Sales Dan Serrenho.

Serrenho and employees Hilary Leclair, William Walsh, and Greg Nivison jumped at the chance to acquire the business from owner David Centracchio when Centracchio decided to sell. According to Serrenho, “our goal is to let the community know that we are here to continue providing excellent service to our customers. The transition will be transparent in terms of service.”

Added Kathleen Anderson, president of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, “we congratulate Mr. Serrenho and all the Executech employee owners on their new roles as small-business owners. Small businesses are the backbone of the community’s economy, and the Holyoke chamber is fully committed to supporting our local businesses.”

Executech, located at 53 Ramah Circle South in Agawam, offers a full range of sales, leasing, and service of office supplies and business machines and equipment. “We’ve learned that local ownership is key to meeting the needs of the business of our community,” said Serrenho. Businesses interested in exploring products and services offered by Executech are welcome to call its customer-service center at (413) 821-8977.

Tickets Selling Fast for Habitat for Humanity Fall Feastival on Nov. 6

WEST SPRINGFIELD — A limited number of tickets are available for the 14th annual Fall Feastival benefiting Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity. The event takes place Thursday, Nov. 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Springfield Country Club, 1375 Elm St., West Springfield. Courtesy valet parking is available.

The evening features a lavish menu provided by 12 of the area’s most popular restaurants, including Chez Josef, the Country Club of Wilbraham, Elegant Affairs, Heartfelt Fine Gifts, Lattitude, theLog Cabin/Delaney House, Nadim’s Mediterranean Restaurant and Grill, Pintu’s Indian Palace, Springfield Country Club, Tekoa Country Club, the Latin Gourmet, and the Magic Spoon.

Guests will have an opportunity to bid on silent and live auction items, including a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame dinner for six prepared by Steve Jackson, former chef for the Chicago Bulls; a one-week Florida escape with four Disney one-day park-hopper passes; Red Sox/Yankees tickets in the Jim Beam Suite at Yankee Stadium; four VIP tickets and backstage passes to the Dropkick Murphys’ St. Patrick’s weekend concert at the House of Blues in Boston; a Napa getaway for two with luxury timeshare condo accommodations; and a backyard barbeque package catered by Log Rolling (Log Cabin/Delaney House) with musical entertainment provided by Pridefalls.

The event’s Gold Sponsor is Babson Capital Management, LLC, while the Silver Sponsor is PeoplesBank. Bronze Sponsors include Consigli Construction; Freedom Credit Union; the Home Builders and Remodelers Assoc. of Western Mass.; Hastings; Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.; Nicholas LaPier CPA, P.C.; TD Bank; and TNG General Contracting. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Jeff LaValley at (413) 739-5503, or [email protected].

Tickets cost $75 per person and are available by registering securely online using a credit card at www.habitatspringfield.org, or by calling (413) 739-5503.

In recognition of the 14th annual Fall Feastival, and of 27 years serving the community and aiding 58 families through home ownership and home-preservation opportunities, Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno has proclaimed Nov. 6 Greater Springfield for Humanity Day.

Licensing Course for Real-estate Sales Starts Nov. 3

SPRINGFIELD — Beginning Monday, Nov. 3, the REALTOR Assoc. of Pioneer Valley will sponsor a 40-hour, 14-class sales-licensing course to help individuals prepare for the Massachusetts real-estate-salesperson license exam. The course will be completed on Dec. 8.

Tuition is $359 and includes the book and materials. The course curriculum includes property rights, ownership, condos, land use, contracts, deeds, financing, mortgages, real-estate brokerage, appraisal, fair housing, consumer protection, the Massachusetts License Law, and more.

Classes meet Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. at the association office, 221 Industry Ave., Springfield. The course is taught by practicing area real-estate attorneys Gerald Berg, Mary Eaton, Tracie Kester, and Todd Ratner. For an application, contact Joanne Leblond at (413) 785-1328 or [email protected].

First Connecticut Bancorp Announces Plans to Enter Massachusetts

By BusinessWest Staff October 16, 2014

FARMINGTON, Conn. — First Connecticut Bancorp Inc., the publicly owned holding company of Farmington Bank, announced plans to enter Massachusetts with the establishment of a commercial-lending office and two de novo hub branches, subject to regulatory approval, located in West Springfield and East Longmeadow.

“Farmington Bank’s expansion into Massachusetts reinforces our ongoing strategy to grow the franchise organically in contiguous markets,” said John Patrick Jr., chairman, president, and CEO of First Connecticut Bancorp and Farmington Bank. “This move complements Farmington Bank’s commercial loan growth in Connecticut and provides us the opportunity to expand our role as a vital and active participant in New England’s Knowledge Corridor running from Springfield through Hartford to New Haven — an economic region that constitutes the 20th-largest metro market in the country. We look forward to bringing our 163-year history as a community bank to our neighbors in Massachusetts.”

Farmington Bank’s commercial-lending office will initially be staffed with four experienced Western Mass. commercial lenders, led by Michael Moriarty, who will assume the position of senior vice president and regional executive for the market. Moriarty, a West Springfield resident, has an extensive commercial-banking background and was most recently an executive vice president with United Bank. In addition to Moriarty, the commercial-lending team will include three other seasoned lenders: Joseph Kulig, vice president; Joseph Young, vice president; and Candace Pereira, assistant vice president, all formerly with United Bank.

With this expansion, Farmington Bank services will now be available from Hampden County to New Haven, Conn., spanning New England’s Knowledge Corridor, an interstate partnership of regional economic-development, planning, business, tourism, and educational institutions that work together to advance the region’s economic progress.

Farmington Bank is a full-service community bank with 22 branch locations throughout Central Conn., offering commercial and residential lending as well as wealth-management services in Connecticut and Western Mass. Established in 1851, Farmington Bank is a diversified consumer and commercial bank with with assets of more than $2.3 billion.

Paragus IT Hosts Grand-opening Party at New Hadley Headquarters

By BusinessWest Staff October 16, 2014