Month: March 2015

BOSTON — The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported that the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates for January were up in all 24 labor market areas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), compared to December 2014 rates. However, compared to January 2014, over-the-year unemployment rates were down in all of the labor market areas.

BLS also released job and unemployment estimates for the new geographical boundaries of the labor market areas that were redrawn based on 2010 Census area delineations. These changes allow job estimates to be published for 15 areas, and labor-force and unemployment-rate estimates to be released for 24 areas.

During January 2015, both Massachusetts and the 15 local areas for which job estimates are published experienced seasonal job losses. Since January 2014, all 15 areas added jobs. The Barnstable, Lawrence, Worcester, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Framingham, and Pittsfield areas added more jobs than over the same time period last year.

In order to compare to the local unemployment rates, the statewide unadjusted unemployment rate for January was 5.6%, up 0.7% from the revised December 2014 rate. Over the year, the statewide unadjusted rate was down 1.3% from the January 2014 rate of 6.9%. The seasonally adjusted statewide January unemployment rate, released on March 10, was 5.1%, down 0.2% over the month and down 1.0% over the year. The rate was 0.6% below the national unemployment rate.

The statewide seasonally adjusted jobs estimate showed a 2,600-job gain in January and an over-the-year gain of 68,000 jobs. Once a year, BLS revises and updates area job estimates, which are available back to 1990.

The revised labor-force and unemployment rates go back to 2014. The labor force, unemployment rates and jobs estimates for Massachusetts and every other state are based on several different statistical methodologies specified by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unadjusted unemployment rates, labor force, and job estimates for the labor market areas reflect seasonal fluctuations and, therefore, may show different levels and trends than the statewide seasonally adjusted estimates.

Hampden Bancorp Stockholders Approve Berkshire Hills Merger

By BusinessWest Staff March 13, 2015

SPRINGFIELD — Hampden Bancorp Inc. announced that its stockholders have voted to approve the previously announced merger of Hampden with Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. The companies expect to complete the merger in April 2015, although there can be no assurance that the closing will occur then. Consummation of the merger is subject to approval by state and federal regulatory agencies.

On Nov. 4, Hampden and Berkshire announced that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Berkshire will acquire Hampden and its subsidiary, Hampden Bank, in an all-stock transaction. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each outstanding share of Hampden common stock will be exchanged for 0.81 shares of Berkshire Hills common stock. Berkshire will have a pro forma market cap of approximately $740 million and 100 branches serving customers and communities across New England and New York.

Hampden Bancorp Inc. is the holding company of Hampden Bank. Established in 1852, Hampden Bank is a full-service community bank serving families and businesses in and around Hampden County. The Bank has 10 office locations in Springfield, Agawam, Longmeadow, West Springfield, Wilbraham, and Indian Orchard, as well as Internet services, including online banking and bill payment.

Blue Heron Restaurant to Host Clown Shoes Beer Dinner

By BusinessWest Staff March 13, 2015

SUNDERLAND — Blue Heron Restaurant is teaming up with Clown Shoes Beer of Ipswich to present a Beer Dinner on Thursday, March 19. Doors will open at 6 p.m., and dinner service will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.

Each of the five courses is inspired by one of Clown Shoes’ beers. The menu will begin with house smoked salmon pinwheels paired with Clementine White Ale, followed by housemade fettuccine with shrimp and Serrano ham, paired with Clown Shoes’ cheekily titled Tramp Stamp Belgian IPA. The braised neck of lamb over stewed white beans will be paired with the Hoppy Feet Black IPA, followed by coffee-spiced Kobe beef with Brown Angel Brown Ale. The final course will be a duet of Oaxacan chocolate cake and sombrero stout ice cream, made with Clown Shoes’ Mexican Style Chocolate Stout.

“I was initially drawn to Clown Shoes because my mother loved clowns,” said Executive Chef Deborah Snow, “and to have a locally produced beer by that name seemed like a perfect fit. As it turns out, their beers are beautifully complex, and beautiful to look at, so I really enjoyed the process of pairing them with each menu item.”

Mike Pettengill, sales and events coordinator for Clown Shoes Beer, will be present to talk about the beers and the company, and will be giving away glassware and other Clown Shoes goodies. The price per person is $55, which includes beer pairings but does not include tax or gratuity. The full menu with beer pairings can be viewed at www.blueherondining.com/special-events. To make a reservation, call (413) 665-2102.

Gray House Hosts 24th Annual Spaghetti Supper March 25

SPRINGFIELD — The Gray House will hold its 24th annual Spaghetti Supper on Wednesday, March 25 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Greek Cultural Center, 22 St. George St., Springfield.

This special event is a crucial fund-raiser for the Gray House, typically attracting about 400 attendees. Tickets for the event are $5 for adults and $3 for children, and may be purchased at the door. In addition to the supper, there will be a raffle and a silent auction. This year, first prize at the raffle is a foursome to the Ranch Golf Club in Southwick, valued at $400. The East Longmeadow Knights of Columbus Council #9960 will once again be cooking the meal for the spaghetti supper.

All proceeds will help the Gray House provide food, clothing, and educational services to neighbors in need. This year, the Gray House will honor Bay Path University (BPU) for its overall support.

“We’re excited to honor Bay Path and acknowledge their assistant director of Student Activities, Michelle Mirti, and Dr. Kathryn Wiezbicki-Stevens from the Psychology Department,” said Dena Calvanese, executive director of the Gray House. “These two women have introduced many fantastic Bay Path students to the Gray House, and some of those students have become dedicated, compassionate, and very active volunteers. The Gray House relies on volunteers, and the Bay Path community truly makes a difference for the Gray House and, more importantly, to the people we serve.”

The Gray House is a small, neighborhood agency located in and serving the North End of Springfield, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods and one of the poorest in the state, where than 50% of residents live in poverty and struggle to meet their daily needs. The Gray House assists by providing food, clothing, adult education, and after-school and summer programming for children, and has been providing such support for 30 years and assisted nearly 11,000 people in 2014.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call (413) 734-6696, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.grayhouse.org.

Chicopee Chamber Presents Employment-law Seminar March 18

CHICOPEE — Skoler, Abbott & Presser, P.C., a labor- and employment-law firm serving the Greater Springfield area, announced that attorney John Gannon will address attendees of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce Lunch & Learn on Wednesday, March 18 from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hampton Inn, 600 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Massachusetts-based businesses are working to revise policies based on two new leave laws that will take effect this year.

Registration for the event can be completed online at chicopeechamber.org. Chamber members receive a discounted rate of $15 per person, while non-members can attend for a registration fee of $23.

“The new parental- and sick-leave laws should have employers questioning company policies,” said Gannon. “It’s imperative that policies and procedures are updated — including new language for handbooks — to stay in compliance of the law. I encourage both Chicopee Chamber members and non-members to take advantage of this opportunity to learn about both laws that will impact business this year.”

Specifically, Massachusetts has a new parental-leave law that will go into effect April 7. Under existing state law, new mothers are entitled to take up to eight weeks of unpaid leave to care for the new child if they work for organizations with six or more employees. Under the new law, signed by former Gov. Deval Patrick just before he left office, unpaid leave is now afforded to male employees as well as females.

Additionally, Massachusetts has a new sick-leave law that will go into effect July 1. The law entitles employees to earn up to 40 hours of paid sick time each year if they work for businesses with 11 or more employees; those working for companies with fewer than 11 employees will be entitled to earn up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave.

Attendees will learn what the laws require, how leave is earned, when employees can begin to earn this time and when they can use it, what happens to earned leave at the end of a calendar year, what sick and paternal leave can be used for, whether advanced notice is required for leave, and what employers can require regarding documentation for leave.

Gannon joined Skoler Abbott in 2011, practicing in the firm’s Springfield office. He has defended employers against claims of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and wrongful termination, as well as actions arising under the Family Medical Leave Act and wage and hour law. He also has experience with lawsuits seeking to enforce restrictive covenants and protect trade secrets. He is a regular contributor to business publications and to the Massachusetts Employment Law Letter. He also is a frequent speaker on employment-related legal topics for a wide variety of associations and organizations, including appearances on CBS 3 Springfield and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Surgeon’s Work on Breast-cancer Device Featured at Conference

WESTFIELD — A Noble Hospital breast surgeon’s work with a new device that improves treatment of breast cancers was featured recently at a prestigious international medical conference.

Dr. Steven Schonholz presented a scientific poster at the 32nd annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference in Miami Beach, Fla., from Feb. 26 to March 1. He focused on BioZorb, a novel, three-dimensional, bio-absorbable surgical marker that helps physicians track the tumor site after lumpectomy surgery to remove cancer and deliver more precise radiation treatment.

Schonholz, director of the Center for Comprehensive Breast Health at Noble Hospital, was the first physician in Massachusetts to use BioZorb as part of his medical practice. BioZorb contains several tiny titanium clips positioned in a 3-D pattern inside a bio-absorbable coil. The body eventually resorbs the coil, leaving the titanium clips for long-term visualization of the surgery site.

“This unique device does a better job of helping us protect healthy tissue around the surgical site during radiation therapy,” said Schonholz. “It can also provide our patients with a more satisfying cosmetic result after treatment.”

Schonholz explained at the conference that the BioZorb market is readily placed by the surgeon and can be easily visualized; helps target the radiation therapy to a smaller target area, resulting in less radiation to normal tissues; and provides a stable, 3-D identification of where the tumor was prior to removal, to help with treatment and longer-term follow-up.

The annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference brings together surgical, medical, and radiation oncologists with the aim of fostering awareness of state-of-the-art treatments in each therapeutic area and encouraging cross-team cooperation in the clinic.

AIC Offers Family Nurse Practitioner Program

SPRINGFIELD — The new Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) program at American International College (AIC) is a unique program that expands and compliments other health professions programs within the School of Health Sciences.

With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, a predicted shortage of primary-care providers is on the horizon. The FNP program is designed to help meet that need. Nurse practitioners provide direct patient care and are able to assess patients, order and interpret diagnostic tests, diagnose, and manage treatment plans, including prescribing medications. Coming from a nursing background, family nurse practitioners approach patient care by employing a holistic, collaborative, and patient-centered model with the goal of helping people live the fullest lives possible.

The FNP program at AIC is the only master’s-level nurse-practitioner program in the area. The flexible program provides a blended approach of classroom and online study. Its eight-semester, part-time schedule allows students to continue working while earning their advanced degree.

According to AIC Dean of Health Sciences Cesarina Thompson, “the Family Nurse Practitioner program adds another level of expertise to the college’s other advanced degree programs in Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Nursing within the School of Health Sciences. And, in terms of the workforce, there is an ever-present need to work better together for the safety and quality of healthcare.”

For more information about the Family Nurse Practitioner program, contact Associate Director for Graduate Nursing Programs Ellen Furman at (413) 205-3561 or [email protected]. To learn more about AIC’s graduate and undergraduate programs, visit www.aic.edu.

Seminar on March 31 to Tackle Transitioning Business Ownership

SPRINGFIELD — One of the largest challenges facing business owners today is how to solve the question, “how do I get out of my business?” If you are like 2.7 million American business owners over the age of 55, the answer carries a greater significance. The country is embarking on the largest transition of business ownership in history, yet three out of four owners haven’t taken a single step to prepare for what will be the most competitive sellers’ market ever.

The good news is, it’s not too late to start planning. Kevin and Michael Vann of the Vann Group are providing a primer on what you need to know about the succession/transition planning process on Tuesday, March 31, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the Colony Club in Springfield.

Topics to be discussed include the current transition/succession landscape, establishing transition expectations and objectives, business valuation facts and realities, family and partner dynamics, exit options and structure considerations, preparing the company for transition, and your advisors and the value they create. Breakfast will be served, and each attendee will receive a free, customized Business Exit/Transition Readiness Analysis ($1,000 value).

To register, contact Michael Wright at (413) 543-2776 or [email protected], or register online.

ACCGS April Business@Breakfast to Feature Mayors’ Forum

HOLYOKE — The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) April Business@Breakfast will feature a Mayors’ Forum as the highlight of the event on Wednesday, April 1 from 7:15 to 9 a.m. at the Delaney House, 3 Country Club Road, Holyoke, sponsored by United Personnel Services.

Dave Madsen, managing editor and primary anchor for abc40, will moderate an informal discussion with West Springfield Mayor Edward Sullivan, Westfield Mayor Daniel Knapik, and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The discussion will provide attendees with an inside look at the personal and professional lives of these elected officials.

Sullivan is halfway through his first term as mayor. Knapik has served as mayor of Westfield since 2010 and announced this year that he is seeking out new challenges and will not be running for another term. Sarno has announced his candidacy for a fourth term in office. If elected and he completes the entire term, it would make him the longest-standing mayor in Springfield’s history.

Business@Breakfast is a monthly series that pays tribute to individuals, businesses, and organizations for major contributions to civic and economic growth and for actions that bring honor to the region.

Tickets are $20 for ACCGS members and $30 for general admission. Reservations are suggested and can be made online at www.myonlinechamber.com or by contacting Member Services Director Sarah Mazzaferro at [email protected]. Sponsorship opportunities are also available; contact Mazzaferro at (413) 755-1313 for information.

United Bank Names Moyah Smith Community Outreach Officer

GLASTONBURY, Conn. — William Crawford IV, CEO of United Financial Bancorp Inc. and United Bank of Glastonbury, Conn., announced the hiring of Moyah Smith, who has taken on the primary role of United’s community outreach officer, responsible for covering Western Mass.

In this role, Smith has assumed a number of key responsibilities, including organizing and participating in financial-literacy programs and classes where local residents can learn more about a range of important topics such as money management, the homebuying process, and how to repair and maintain good credit. She will also leverage her mortgage banking experience and strong ties to the Western Mass. region to promote and guide local residents through the entire homebuying process from application to closing.

Her volunteerism and reputation in the Western Mass. community is extensive; she has dedicated her time to several nonprofit organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together Springfield, Relay for Life, the Alzheimer’s Assoc., and Project Clean Up Springfield, among others. She also volunteers weekly as a personality for the local nonprofit community radio station WTCC-FM at Springfield Technical Community College.

In addition to serving as the community outreach officer in Western Mass, Smith will also hold the title of mortgage loan officer for United Bank. She gained considerable mortgage banking experience while working as a MLO for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in West Springfield from 1998 to 2004. Smith was also a Realtor and MLO with Keller Williams Realty in Longmeadow from 2004 to 2009.

Before coming to United, Smith was a regional account executive with Elavon Inc., where she worked with banks and credit unions in delivering business solutions for small to mid-sized banks and providing merchant services to the company’s commercial customer base. Smith is based at United Bank’s offices at 95 Elm St. in West Springfield. She reports to Lisa Kraus, vice president and Western Mass. sales manager.

Unemployment Rate Drops to 5.1% in January

BOSTON — The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) released preliminary January 2015 estimates Tuesday showing the Massachusetts total unemployment rate dropped to 5.1% from the revised December 2014 rate of 5.3%, a 0.2% decrease. This is the lowest unemployment rate since May 2008.

Over the year, the unemployment rate fell a full 1.0% from 6.1% last January. Over the month, jobs were up 2,600, with private-sector gains of 800 in six of the nine sectors. Over the year, the number of jobs grew by 68,000, with 56,600 private-sector job gains.

Annual year-end revisions released Tuesday also indicate unemployment rates were lower in all but three months from April 2012 through December 2014 than previously published. These revisions show that Massachusetts added 60,700 jobs in 2014 with private-sector job gains of 50,800. Education and health services; and professional, scientific, and business services sectors added the most jobs in 2014.

After the Gold Rush

Falling Prices Typically Correspond with an Improving Economy

Tim Suffish says gold prices tend to rise when there’s fear in the market — but fear is typically unhealthy for the economy.

The gold rush, at least for the time being, is over.

“Not to put too strong a spin on it, but in our view, gold in most times is seen as an alternative, something you go to almost by default. For example, gold often does well when there’s a lot of fear in the market,” said Tim Suffish, senior vice president of equity markets for St. Germain Investment Management in Springfield.

“In, quote-unquote, ‘normal’ times, you invest in stocks, invest in bonds. You’re looking for growth, and bonds tend to perform well in that environment. When you’re scared of something — inflation, or the Eurozone is going to blow up, or geopolitical saber rattling — any time there’s fear in the market, gold will tend to perk up as an asset.”

With the economy — and especially the stock market — humming along compared to the dark days after the financial collapse of 2008, that squeezes out gold, a reality reflected in its falling value. At its recent peak, late in 2011, gold was selling for almost $1,900 per ounce, but has hovered around $1,200 in recent weeks, as the economy adds jobs and the Federal Reserve expected to begin increasing short-term interest rates, which could soften the demand for non-interest-bearing assets like gold.

That softening was clear through last year, as gold-coin sales by the U.S. Mint declined by 36% from 2013. Simply put, an improviong economy is bad for gold.

“People are always asking me, ‘is gold a good investment?’ My answer is always the same: ‘it had better not be,’” wrote Louis Woodhill, an economist who writes a column for Forbes.

“Periods in which investors could profit by buying and holding gold have been terrible for workers and for the economy as a whole,” he noted, adding that buying gold is less of an investment than a trade, a zero-sum game where whatever one ‘investor’ gains, another loses. “From the point of view of the real economy, gold is not an investment at all. Real investment makes everyone better off. Trades produce winners and losers.”

As a firm that deals in long-term investments, Suffish told BusinessWest, “gold is something we don’t really invest in. For the most part, it’s something we don’t really believe in.”

That’s not to say it’s inherently bad. “It’s seen as alternative currency. When there’s not a lot of trust in the U.S. dollar or mainstream currencies, gold is seen as the ultimate alternative currency. That’s a good thing; you can’t print more gold, just like they’re not making any more Florida real estate.”

But in a strengthening economy, he added, investors should look elsewhere.

Long-term Loser

Economist Brian Lund, in a column for dailyfinance.com, cites research by economics professor Jeremy Siegel that tracks the long-term performance of various asset classes in terms of purchasing power, adjusted for inflation. Basically, he determines what a $1 investment in 1802 would have been worth in 2006.

Stocks far outpaced the other vehicles, returning $755,163. Bonds and T-bills returned $1,803 and $301, respectively, on the initial dollar investment. Gold didn’t even double in value, coming in at $1.95.

True, this doesn’t reflect the recent peak in 2011, but the underlying point is that gold is a poor long-term investment.

“In addition to its miserable historical performance,” Lund added, “gold also has many other failings as an investment, not least of which are the cumbersome and inefficient options available to own it.”

For example, he said, shipping costs of buying gold in bullion form cuts into profits, and so does storing it. “Keeping it at home exposes it to the risk of theft, fire, or natural disaster. Taking it to the bank requires the rental of a safe deposit box, the cost of which will eat into your profit as well. Firms will store your physical gold on site, but they charge for the service, and the idea of having your yellow treasure held by someone somewhere else, commingled with that of others, is not very appealing.”

Suffish agreed. “If you can invest in a nice, blue-chip U.S. company, like Johnson & Johnson or Procter & Gamble, that pays good dividends, they literally pay you as a shareholder,” he said. “When you invest in gold, you have to pay to own it — to insure it, to store it. Similar to real estate, it has costs associated with it.”

Still, he added, “when there’s strong inflation, gold should do well.” Unfortunately for gold investors, that’s not the case right now.

“The good news is that there is no inflation,” economist and journalist Larry Kudlow noted late last year. “That’s largely because those excess reserves at the Fed have not circulated through the economy.”

But mostly, Suffish said, it’s a lack of fear in the economy — which most would consider a good thing — driving the downward momentum of gold.

“When looking for alternatives in the portfolio, gold sometimes gets a small piece of the pie. But gold has not done well for the past couple of years; it’s down a third from its peak in 2011,” he noted. “At the same time, the measures of fear in the market have come way down, the measures of inflation have come way down, and especially in the past six months, the dollar has done very, very well.

“Our economy, even though it’s not hitting on all cylinders, is better than alternative economies out there right now,” Suffish went on. “We have an environment of low fear, low inflation, and a strong dollar — and the combination of those three is very bad for gold historically.”

Finance journalist Marcie Geffner made a similar observation at bankrate.com.

“Gold’s rise in the past has been driven by fear of the unknown and the unthinkable,” she wrote recently. “The unknown was whether the U.S. dollar would weaken. The unthinkable was whether the world’s major economies would suffer another near-catastrophic financial crisis.”

Hedging Their Bets

Still, the meteoric rise of gold prices in the late 2000s made it attractive as a short-term investment, or at least a hedge, she noted, but not much else. “Gold might be a glittering temptation for investors looking to fatten their investment returns with a relatively safe commodity. But it’s far from foolproof.”

Suffish noted that, before its recent rise, “it was dead money for a long time, but that was really true of all commodities; they were dormant from the ’80s through the early 2000s. Then commodities really perked up.”

That had to do with the rise of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, in the 1990s. “Through ETFs, you could invest in gold, oil, and natural gas, and a lot of commodities had a good run for a period of years during that time,” Suffish said. “In the 2000s, gold went from well under $100 all the way to $1,800. Over that time, it gave you some good returns. But in general, [commodities] have not been great long-term growers in portfolios.”

As for the near future of gold, “there are lots of analysts that are trying to forecast where gold prices will go next,” Woodhill wrote. “This kind of prediction is fundamentally impossible, because future gold-price movements will be caused by events that have not yet happened.”

But if their direction continues to reflect the opposite of the economy in general, falling gold prices might not be such a bad thing.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Invested Interests

A chart of area financial services and brokerage firms

Click HERE to download the PDF chart

By All Accounts

A chart of banks doing business in Western Mass.

Click HERE to download the PDF chart

Opinion

Opinion

Adjust Health Law for Small Businesses

By Jon Hurst

Congressional Republicans and President Obama continue to wrangle over the future of the nation’s healthcare law. But they need to focus on fixing the law rather than repealing it or threatening vetoes on any form of improvement.

It is no surprise to us in Massachusetts that the shortcomings of the basic framework of the Affordable Care Act mean marketplace discrimination for small businesses and their employees. We saw that in our state model of the ACA. Powerful lobbying groups protected certain consumer groups from harm. Big businesses were protected and retained the ability to self-insure, while lower-income individuals qualified for taxpayer-funded premium assistance.

Left unprotected and arguably disadvantaged were those in the middle — owners and employees of small businesses. Several years of double-digit premium increases here resulted in changes to state law to help empower small businesses.

Washington should make changes to the ACA like those made in Massachusetts to make sure health-insurance reform works for everyone. Here are four recommendations:

• Allow existing organizations — associations, professional societies, and chambers of commerce — to form nonprofit, small-business cooperatives to enhance purchasing power, provide more choices, and better educate their members and employees on the importance of wellness programs and the use of provider-transparency tools. This is how small businesses want to buy their insurance. Consider that, since their start in 2012, the Massachusetts cooperatives have served more small businesses than the state’s Health Connector, and they haven’t cost the taxpayer one dime.

• Allow insurers to give discounts to small businesses as they get bigger. It is a fact that, for both actuarial and administrative reasons, the more people a business covers, the lower the cost per person. Yet the Affordable Care Act is phasing out this ability for any employer with fewer than 99 employees, since the law eliminated the size-rating factor from the small-group market.

Those businesses with 100 or more employees are not hurt by this policy, which in turn gives them a huge premium competitive advantage. The phaseout of the size-rating factor means artificially higher premiums for growing small businesses. The logical way to avoid unreasonable premiums is to leave the fully insured small-group market entirely and to self-insure. Already, 55% percent of the Massachusetts market is self-insured. This trend will grow rapidly unless this discriminatory ACA policy is fixed.

• Change the definition of full-time employee from 30 to 35 hours per week. Massachusetts used the 35-hour threshold without disruption, but the same can’t be said of the 30-hour ACA requirement. Most small employers consider employees working 35 hours or more to be full-timers, but few have the same view about 30 hours.

• Allow small businesses to avoid state mandates — just as big businesses do. Self-insured employers operate under federal law and can avoid state mandates. But small, fully insured employers have no escape. Twenty-four new mandates and/or assessments have been passed in Massachusetts since 2006, making the health-insurance marketplace increasingly discriminatory. The ACA needs to address the proliferation of state mandates.

Unfair provisions in the healthcare law are putting small businesses and their employees at a huge disadvantage.

The Affordable Care Act can work for everyone, but not under today’s model. Unfair provisions are putting small businesses and their employees at a huge disadvantage, endangering their futures. Washington needs to fix the problems.

Jon Hurst is president of the Retailers Assoc. of Massachusetts.

No Holds Barred

Cover Story

Roca Is Relentless in Efforts to Give Young People a Fresh Start

Christine Judd, director of Roca’s Springfield facility, with Kadeem Batchelor, one of the “young people” now in phase 1 of the agency’s intense intervention program.

It’s called Roca — that’s Spanish for rock, as in rock solid. And it’s an apt name for an organization, created in 1988, that helps very high-risk individuals — those who have been incarcerated, are in gangs, have substance-abuse issues, and have dropped out of school — somehow get their lives on a much better track. Now four years old, Roca’s Springfield office is enjoying success with this daunting task by being, in a word, relentless.

David Rios says that, in the weeks and months after he entered the Roca program in Springfield last summer, “the street,” as he called it, kept trying to lure him back to a lifestyle that eventually landed him in the Hampden County Correctional Facility in Ludlow, and he was often tempted — very tempted.

And it’s easy to see why.

Indeed, the money he could make selling drugs was almost exponentially higher than what he earned shoveling snow, clearing fire hydrants, mowing lawns, and cleaning alleyways in downtown Holyoke — just some of the many assignments parceled out as part of Roca’s transitional employment efforts.

But what kept him from returning to the streets was something far more important — and powerful — than money.

“I’m the father of six now, and I saw myself either looking at them through glass and explaining to them why I was there, or being out with them,” he told BusinessWest. “I put my mind in a place where I wanted to be home and be able to see my kids and hug my kids.”

Helping all the “young people” — that’s the term this organization uses in reference to those it works with — who come through the doors find such a place is the unofficial mission statement for Roca, which was founded in Chelsea in 1988 and expanded into Springfield in 2010 and later into Boston.

Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe

The official mission is to “disrupt the cycle of incarceration and poverty by helping young people transform their lives,” and it carries out this mission through a four-year program that all those involved, from Christine Judd, director of the Springfield facility, to Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe, to people like Rios, described with the word intense.

“And it needs to be because of the people we’re working with,” said Judd, noting that Roca — which translates into ‘rock’ in Spanish — was designed specifically for individuals (in Springfield, males ages 17-24) who are seriously at risk, meaning they’ve been incarcerated, have no real work history, dropped out of school, and usually needed to be dragged into this program kicking and screaming.

She calls them “Roca kids.”

Ashe, sheriff for more than 40 years now, needed a few more words to describe this constituency. “In every urban area in America today, there is a population of young people who are over a cliff,” he said. “And what we’re trying to do is set up a safety net at the bottom. Roca is that net; no other nonprofit, no other education center has been able to connect with this population and get them to consider changing their ways.”

David Rios says he found it tempting to return to the street, but he’s been steeled by a desire not to view his children through the glass wall of a prison visiting center.

The intensity it takes to make this connection and get people into, and then to stay with, the program is only heightened by the fact that the organization’s efforts are funded through what’s known as a ‘pay for success’ (PFS) model, which, as the name suggests, only pays for Roca’s services if and when better outcomes are achieved and days of incarcerations are avoided, thus reducing the burden to the taxpayers.

A year into the unique PFS initiative, Roca is hitting its numbers and actually exceeding them, said Lili Elkins, the agency’s chief strategy officer, noting that, of the young men retained in Roca’s model 24 months or longer, 92% had no new arrests, 98% had no new technical violations, and 89% retained employment for at least 90 days.

While still in its relative infancy, at least when compared with the facility in Chelsea, Roca Springfield is making major contributions to that success record. Last December, the operation honored its first ‘graduates,’ those who had successfully completed the four-year program and moved on to permanent employment.

Trevor Gayle was one of them.

He’s now a full-time employee of Chase Management, a Springfield-based property-management company for which he handles a variety of duties ranging from painting to maintenance to apartment-turnover work. He has his own place now and has been able to put the street in his rear-view mirror.

When asked if he thought such a fate was possible when he came to Roca, somewhat reluctantly, in the summer of 2011 — after spending six months in jail for sitting in the seat next to a friend who shot and wounded an individual as he approached their vehicle — he paused a minute and shook his head.

“No … I never thought I’d be here,” he said as he sat at what amounts to the conference room at Chase’s office, explaining that he didn’t find Roca — it found him. “Every day, I think about how many times I could have been put away or put in the dirt, just because of me hanging out there. I’m really lucky.”

For this issue, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Roca and how it manages to help people Gayle turn their lives around, stay out of prison, and beat the street.

Coming to Terms

Kadeem Batchelor said that, when he first arrived at Roca six months ago after spending four years at the Ludlow jail for “being young and following,” which translates into drug and gun crimes, he didn’t get the concept, or big picture, as he put it.

Suffice it to say, he gets it now.

“I was used to everything happening overnight,” he said. “Once I realized the concept that things don’t happen overnight, and once I calmed down and started listening, my outlook changed. Before I came here, I was ignorant and didn’t care; I’m much more mature now. Here, they show you how to face reality, stand up to your problems, just be a man about your situation and not try to take the easy way out.”

Such an attitudinal change is what Molly Baldwin had in mind when she founded Roca in 1988. The concept, as summed up in the marketing slogan ‘less jail, more future,’ was simple — use street outreach, data-driven case management, stage-based education, and employment training to reduce individuals’ involvement in crime, keep them out of jail, and help them get jobs.

Carrying out that mission has been anything but simple, but Roca has succeeded through partnerships — with constituencies ranging from law-enforcement officials to private business owners — that essentially involve the entire community in the work to keep young people on a path to success. “We’ve always operated with the attitude that everyone matters in life,” Baldwin told BusinessWest. “Today, many young people are having a lot of difficulties, but they, too, can make the changes to turn their lives around, and it’s a privilege to do this work.”

Roca’s success in Chelsea eventually caught the attention of Ashe, who, over the years, had created or adopted a number of programs to transition individuals from incarceration to the workforce, but needed a program that specifically focused on that ultra-high-risk constituency, which, as he said, was over a cliff, and possessed the requisite intensity to achieve results.

“We really liked the model,” he explained. “There is a relentless pursuit, or unyielding pursuit, of these people, and we knew that it took this kind of intensity, this kind of focus, to get young people away from a pursuit of drugs, violence, and gangs. Roca had the passion, the commitment, and the dedication to connect with this population.”

From the beginning, all those who became involved locally, at Ashe’s behest, understood the agency’s importance, its mission, and the many challenges to carrying it out.

Frank Fitzgerald, principal with Fitzgerald Attorneys at Law and a member of the original advisory board for Roca Springfield, said the City of Homes — like other major urban centers — has changed considerably since he grew up there.

“When I was a kid, we’d hang out on the corner; the cruiser would pull up, and the officer would crook a finger at us and put us in the back seat,” he recalled. “We’d say, ‘I didn’t do anything,’ and they’d say, ‘it’s not what you did, it’s what you’re thinking about doing.’ We’d be driven home to our parents, and the activities for the evening would be substantially curtailed.

“Today, in our core cities, it’s not like that — it’s serious crime,” he went on. “And this [Roca] is what we need; we need people out bringing these guys in, putting them through the program, and putting them to work. The economic benefit of someone who’s productive in society, as opposed to someone in jail, at the taxpayer’s expense, is huge.”

Trevor Gayle, a recent graduate of Roca, is now a full-time employee of Chase Management Service, whose owner, Sheryl Chase, saw an opportunity to help young men in the program.

The challenging demographic with which Roca works, as described by Judd, Ashe, and Fitzgerald, is captured in these statistics, supplied by Elkins: In FY 2014, the Springfield site served 140 young men in its intervention model, 97% of whom were Hispanic/Latino, African-American, or biracial; 97% had a history of arrests; 83% had prior convictions; 86% had dropped out of high school; 83% had a substance-abuse history; 81% were gang-involved; and 49% were young fathers.

Beyond these characteristics, many of the participants didn’t want anything to do with Roca — initially, at least — and that’s the way the agency wants it.

“If you want to be in, we don’t want you,” said Elkins, as she talked about all three Roca operations. “We’re an interesting program because we are truly focused on the highest-risk young men and the ones who are not able to engage in traditional programming. We joke with people and say, ‘if you’re able to show up for programming on your own, without us needing to harass you and drag you in, we’ll send you somewhere else because you’re too high-functioning, and you don’t need our services.’”

Judd agreed. “If you’re high-risk enough, and I’ve had a conversation with you and I deem you a Roca kid, we own you,” she said. “At which point, we’re relentless and we’ll stay on you, whether you want us to or not. Our outreach workers are constantly knocking on doors, and sometimes they’re slammed in their face; it’s a four-year program, and for that first six months, it’s about being relentless and building that relationship of trust.”

The Springfield program began with 50 such individuals and a staff of three. Things got started in a few rooms donated to the cause by Ashe, and the operation later moved into a small building on School Street. Its first day there, a tornado roared through the South End, just a few blocks away.

Since then, Roca has been an equally powerful force.

Work in Progress

Judd said the agency’s four-year program has three phases: the first six months (and there’s actually a phase within that phase); months six through 24, when transitional employment initiatives take place; and then the final two years, when the young people move on to outside placement with a number of area employers, including Beacon Management, Lenox American Saw, F.L. Roberts, Steven A. Roberts Landscape Architecture & Construction, and others.

Actually, work sometimes begins while someone is still incarcerated, so that when they reach Roca’s door, they know what the program is about and can, in some ways, hit the ground running, she explainedJudd added that, through that pay-for-success initiative, referrals come to Roca from probation departments, parole offices, the Department of Corrections, and the Department of Youth Services.

“We’ll go behind the wall in those facilities to meet with those young people and build those relationships before they get out,” she explained. “When they get out, we find their address, and we maintain contact; our whole goal is to get them into our building, and when they’re here, it’s very rare that they walk out without some sense of camaraderie, a sense of belonging, or a sense of family.”

Gayle recalls that he hadn’t been out of jail long after that shooting episode before those at Roca started looking for him. Actually, they went to his younger brother first, hoping he might be an intermediary and convince him to take part. Those plans didn’t go according to the script.

Christian Vasquez, who arrived at Roca last summer, is working toward his GED and driver’s license, and possesses what he called a “new attitude.”

“My brother told me, ‘Trevor, you don’t want to do this — it’s the police after you again; what are they talking about, getting you a job? Don’t do it,’” he recalled, adding that, thankfully, he didn’t heed that advice. “I went down to Roca and decided to give it a shot; I didn’t want to keep getting incarcerated for things I didn’t do and wasn’t involved in, because that’s what it seemed like to me.”

But he admitted that it was difficult in the beginning. Indeed, like Rios, he said the street kept beckoning, and it was hard not to listen. Meanwhile, he didn’t take to the Roca way quickly or easily.

“In the early stages, I was being real belligerent, and they were telling me stuff that I couldn’t do, and I was upset because I couldn’t do it,” he recalled. “I was still in that phase where, if you tell me not to do something, I’m still going to do it anyway.”

Judd said such struggles are commonplace, and, as she talked about phase 1 of the program, she drew a comparison to the TV show The Biggest Loser and the beginning of those contestants’ experiences.

“That’s when you see the biggest behavioral change,” she explained. “The first time a young man walks into our door, his pants are down around his knees, he’s got his colors on, he’s representing his set. And his language and decorum are way off — he doesn’t look you in the eye, there’s no handshake … that’s the first 60 days.”

Transition Game

By the time those two months are over, there is usually recognizable change, she said, adding that the first phase of the program is dedicated to assessing an individual, achieving some measure of buy-in, and building the relationships and trust that will certainly be needed to get through phases 2 and 3.

The former involves transitional employment, she noted, adding that this takes place between months six and 24 and involves work four days a week for a host of employers, including the cities of Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee, as well as a few property-management companies, including Chase. The fifth day, Wednesday, is “development day,” said Judd, during which the young people work on everything from financial literacy to mock interviews to what she called “fatherhood class.”

The move from phase 2 to phase 3 equates to shifting from basic training to advanced programming, said Judd, adding that those who make this transition — and some make it more easily than others — become essentially temporary employees for several area companies, including the property-management businesses, F.L. Roberts, Lenox American Saw, and others.

“They either have a job or they’re still looking for a job, or whatever, but we’re working hard over the next two years to get them placed, get them in housing, or get them in school,” she explained. “This is where we say, ‘it’s time to put your big-boy pants on and do it. You still have our support; however, it’s time to grow up.’”

For phases 2 and 3 to meet their missions, and for participants to move on to graduation and permanent employment, Roca needs partners in the form of area employers willing to step forward and assist this still-high-risk demographic, Judd said.

Sheryl Chase became one willingly because she recognized the need, had some opportunities to help, and saw a responsibility to assist a constituency that many would prefer to ignore or designate as someone else’s problem.

“Roca is a great program, and its work is really important to the community,” said Chase, who now has a diverse portfolio that includes everything from single-family homes to a 50-unit apartment complex and manages 10 full-time employees.

She first became involved with the transitional-employment phase of the Roca program, using participants to help clear properties of the heavy snows last winter, before taking things to a higher level by hiring two men, one of them Gayle, full time.

The other hire didn’t work out, she said, an indication of how difficult it is for some to make the transition from the street to the workforce. “It’s tough going from making $1,000 a week selling drugs to making $12 an hour busting your butt; it’s a whole different mentality, and you have to answer to people in ways you’ve never had to answer to them before.”

Gayle is faring much better with the transition, said Chase, adding that the company is being supportive in any way it can. Indeed, while employees are required to have cars so they can get from site to site easily, that policy has been waived for Gayle, who either works with a partner or stays at one site all day.

“We understand the challenges he’s facing,” said Chase, “and are trying to help him succeed.”

Street Smarts

What Roca has been able to provide for both graduates and those still involved in its various phases is a sense of hope that they can leave the street behind and find something better, if not inherently more lucrative financially. It’s also provided both a desire to set goals and an attitude that they can, indeed, be met.

Gayle, 24, soon to be 25, calls them “power moves,” or big steps toward being successful in life. Getting a job was simply the first, he said, adding that he wants to eventually go back to school, become a great father to his son, own a home, and, most importantly, become a role model for his child.

“I feel like, if I can change everything around now, then when he gets older, when he starts acting up, because every kid goes through it … when he sees that and he sees how his father did it, he can definitely follow suit and do the same thing.”

As for Rios, he has three and half years to go before he graduates, but already he sees significant light at the of the tunnel.

“I see myself doing good; I see a lot of doors opening that I couldn’t imagine opening for me,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot, including stuff I didn’t even know that I could do.”

Christian Vasquez, like Batchelor, Gayle, and most others, was hard-headed when he arrived at Roca last summer after a short stint in prison that was nonetheless long enough to make him pledge never to go back.

But his stance eventually softened during that six-month period of transition Judd described. He’s working toward his GED and his driver’s license, is exploring possible paths to a career as a graphic artist, and has developed what he described as a new attitude.

“I’m carrying myself the right way, and I’m looking forward, not back at everything that happened,” he told BusinessWest. “I’ve changed a lot — I’m not the same person I used to be. I’m more calm, and I’m just striving for my goals like I’m supposed to. I’ve got stuff I’m looking forward to.”

Batchelor, meanwhile, is currently enrolled at Springfield Technical Community College, with designs on majoring in business, while also looking toward getting into comedy — he recently did a one-man show at Roca — or acting.

“Whatever you put your dream to, they’re here to support you,” he said of the staff and volunteers at Roca. “They can help you change your life.”

With that, he spoke for everyone who has somehow made it to and through Roca’s door.

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

Community Spotlight: Chicopee

Community Spotlight Features

Chicopee Officials Take Balanced Path to Growth

From left, Mayor Richard Kos, Carl Dietz, and Lee Pouliet stand near the former Lyman Mill, which a developer plans to turn into 50 market-rate loft apartments.

Mayor Richard Kos is taking a multi-pronged approach to economic development in Chicopee.

Rather than focusing strictly on new initiatives, he and other city officials are taking steps to preserve and repair existing infrastructure, while preparing for the future.

“Balance is important. People like to see things that are different, but we also have to take care of what we have,” said Kos, citing a wide variety of projects that will help revitalize the downtown area, promote pride in home ownership, and pave the way for ambitious undertakings on sites once used for military housing, as well as the former Facemate and Uniroyal properties.

Since Kos took office for the second time 14 months ago, one-third of the senior management staff has changed, and new ideas are being generated. “Some positions were vacant, and some became open through attrition and retirement,” he said. “We brought in some new talent, and the people on board are continuing the work that has been done with fresh eyes, new ideas, and skill sets in a seamless manner.”

The effort includes making full use of City Hall and the auditorium on the third floor, which has been closed for years and is now being renovated. The graceful room contains beautiful stained-glass windows, two balconies, and architectural details difficult to replicate today, and Kos hopes that, when repairs to the crumbling plaster are complete, it can be used to televise all meetings of city officials as well as school events and other city functions. “We want to make sure everything we do is accessible to the public; that type of transparency is really good for the city,” he said, explaining that the telecasts will be also be put on the city’s website so people who do not have cable TV subscriptions can view them.

Through a partnership with Mass IT, Chicopee has also become one of the first cities in the state to offer free wi-fi service downtown. “We’re calling it Chi-Fi; it’s an initiative designed to bring people downtown,” Kos said.

Others include more public parking, and last month the Munich Haus restaurant purchased the former, long-abandoned Ferris parking lot on Center Street with help from the city, which included $150,000 in block-grant funding.

“They will make 15 of the 50 parking spaces public and will also create five new full-time positions,” said Carl Dietz, the city’s building commissioner and director of community development.

The city also purchased and demolished an abandoned, multi-family home on Front Street, and the lot will be used to create dozens of additional parking spaces.

Although Kos said a plan to convert the former Cabotville Mill into new housing units is not likely to happen, a developer is pursuing the purchase of the former Lyman Mill property on lower Front Street. “It’s very exciting, as he plans to turn it into 50 market rate, loft-style apartments.”

Lee Pouliot agreed. “The apartments will be built in a way that will allow people to work and live in them,” said the city’s acting planning director.

In addition, an innovative owner-occupied, multi-family grant program will kick off this month in Chicopee Center, Chicopee Falls, and Willimansett to help make properties in those neighborhoods more marketable.

“The city worked with Polish National Credit Union and Chicopee Savings on the program, and we will provide entitlements of up to $16,000 to help people purchase homes,” Kos said, noting that buyers must live in them and will receive $1,000 each year for up to 16 years if they remain in the homes. “We believe this will improve the quality of life; landlords who live in a property they own are more likely to keep it clean and hold tenants responsible for their behavior than absentee landlords,” Kos said, adding that he believes well-maintained homes and pride in ownership are far more effective in improving neighborhoods than additional police patrols and efforts to enforce compliance codes.

Another new project is about to begin in Aldenville. “Wells Fargo foreclosed on a very small, single-family home on 42 Grace St. and offered the city $10,000 to use toward its redevelopment,” Pouliot said. “We expect to demolish it and have students from Chicopee Comprehensive High School build a new home on the site.”

Restoring Vitality

Memorial Drive has been a busy commercial strip for decades, and it continues to add vibrancy. Ground will be broken this spring for a new PetSmart store at Chicopee Crossing that will create 50 new jobs. But even though the 3.7-mile corridor is flourishing, Kos said it is not being ignored.

“Memorial Drive is our major commercial area, and although it continues to grow, we want to see if there are ways to make it better,” the mayor told BusinessWest.

So, last fall, the city contracted with UMass and a group of students in the Architecture and Regional Planning master’s program who called themselves Hill House Planners, to undertake a study of the roadway. They divided it into three sections and examined traffic flow, the vacancy rate, potential redevelopment strategies, and how much space is available for green infrastructure, along with zoning conflict resolution in areas where commercial property abuts residential property.

The study was completed in December, and suggestions include reducing the speed limit, adding new signage and multiple roundabouts, creating a bicycle path (which would be of particular benefit to residents on the South Hadley end of the corridor), and installing new sidewalks on both sides of the street that would improve access to shopping and commercial properties.

Kos said the results of the study are helpful and under consideration. “It’s one more area where we are looking for new ideas,” he told BusinessWest, explaining that the undertaking is in line with his plan to maintain and improve things that work, while addressing problem properties and issues.

The old library building, which has become an eyesore in the city’s center since it was vacated in 2003 when a new library was built, is one of those problem areas. The City Council allocated funding to remove a significant amount of asbestos and lead paint in the interior, and EDM Achitecture has been chosen to examine possibilities for reuse. “It’s just part of what we are doing to remove impediments to progress through preparation,” Kos said.

Progress is also being made on a plan to convert the former Chapin School, located between Meadow and Chicopee streets, into 40 apartments for homeless veterans through the Soldier On program.

“The school has been vacant and unused for 12 years, and this will be great for the neighborhood, as the veterans in the program have a history of taking great pride in their homes,” Dietz said.

In addition, interest in the former Facemate site and the Chicopee River Business Park, located just off Route 291, has escalated over the past year, officials said.

“In the last six or eight months, new companies have leased space both inside and outside of the park, and we are anticipating an active spring,” said Dietz, adding that, in the next few months, the city will put out a request for proposals to redevelop about five acres of land next to the new, $8.2 million RiverMills Center on West Main Street, which was constructed after former Facemate factory buildings were demolished and hazardous waste was removed from the property.

Westover Air Reserve Base has always played a prominent role in the city, and Kos said a plan created to expand its use through partnerships will help it thrive, which is especially important in light of the budgetary cuts the government has been making at military installations across the country.

“The state has allocated $5 million to UMass to lease and transform a vacant building on the base into a National Aeronautics, Research, Development and Training Center, and private investments around or on Westover will also provide jobs,” Kos said, speculating that, at some point, an aviation training program could be established at Chicopee Comprehensive High School that would contribute to jobs within that industry.

Dietz added that Westover Metropolitan Airport Development Corp. is playing an important role in the joint effort to ensure that Westover remains open. The corporation oversees the airport as well as four industrial parks built on land vacated by the military.

“They are partnering with the base to make things more efficient so they can play a larger role in the aircraft-maintenance business,” he said. “As the private side grows, the military is able to reduce its costs.”

The corporation also hopes to develop an unused, 100-acre site near the airport which could attract new businesses related to the aeronautics industry.

Kos said the state has also given the city $1 million to help demolish antiquated Navy housing off of James Street on a 26-acre plot, which Chicopee acquired at no cost in 2011. The plan is to build a 4-megawatt solar farm on the property, leveraging the state grant with an additional $1 million from city coffers.

“The electricity that will be generated should save Westover $100,000 each year and will also save our residents money,” Kos said. “Plus, Westover will receive $900,000 from the state’s military bond bill to do energy-infrastructure work that will make it more efficient.”

Changes are also being made to other properties throughout the city. “We are completing $250,000 in improvements to Wisnowski Park, and the wading pool is being turned into a splash pool, and the City Council appropriated $185,000 to fix structural problems in the administration building on the former Uniroyal-Facemate property,” Pouliet said.

Future Possibilities

The city will continue to seek ways to redevelop unutilized properties, and Kos said officials from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield told him they will consider building a new regional Catholic high school on the former Uniroyal factory site.

“Our city is strong; we have maintained our savings, our growth, and the services we offer, and a lot of our initiatives have received wholehearted support from the City Council and our legislative delegation,” said the mayor. “Chicopee is fortunate to have four representatives and three senators, led by Rep. Joe Wagner, as they have played a monumental role in our success.”

The mayor and other officials have high hopes for downtown and view it as an ideal location for new restaurants and businesses related to the healthcare industry.

“People come from all over Western Mass. to go to the Herbarium for holistic care, and the Munich Haus and Collegian Court have been real successes,” said Kos. “So, we believe the work that will be done on Interstate 91 for the casino will provide an opportunity for new restaurants in a spot with plenty of free parking that lends itself to future growth.”

During his recent State of the City address, he said the last year has been fruitful, but credited it to a team effort. “When I took office, I promised to work to make the city better. And I’m pleased to report that, together, we are doing that.”

Chicopee at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1848
Population: 55,717 (2013) 
Area: 23.9 square miles 
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $17.54
Commercial Tax Rate: $31.67
Median Household Income: $46,708 (2010)
Family Household Income: $57,760 (2010)
Type of government: Mayor; City Council
Largest Employers: Westover Air Reserve Base; City of Chicopee: ; J. Polep Distribution Services; Turbo Care Inc.
Latest information available

Editorial

Opinion

Boston, Bay State Don’t Need the Olympics

Under most all circumstances, a business magazine like this one would support any effort that would bring people, dollars, and attention to this state and, when possible, this region.

But in the case of 2024 Olympics, we’ll make an exception. Now that Boston has been selected as this country’s entry, or candidate, for those games, speculation has run rampant, expectations are soaring, and political officials, including many from this area code, are seeing dollar signs and a chance to showcase their communities.

We can’t end all that, and we certainly won’t, but maybe we can add a few much-needed doses of reality to this equation, starting with what some might consider a bold pronouncement: Boston and Massachusetts don’t need the Olympics!

That’s right. We don’t. Those who think we do, or are quite sure we do, are focused on three, perhaps four things: money, exposure, prestige, and jobs. And it’s really all about the first item on that list.

The money comes from building the infrastructure and facilities that would be required to host an Olympics, and perhaps from the spectators who would come to watch them and the media who would come to cover it. Revenue is always welcome, but there must be easier ways to amass it and more effective means to spread that wealth.

As for exposure and prestige, first we have to debate whether the Olympics actually supply those things, and if so, what does it amount to? Did Athens gain any real exposure in 2004, and did it gain any prestige? How about Moscow in 1980? Los Angeles in 1984? Atlanta in 1996? Or London in 2012? The answer in each case is ‘no.’

As for Massachusetts, it has always been known around the world for its institutions of higher learning, its hospitals and medical centers, and its noted vacation spots — Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Berkshires (and none of those locales would be hosting any Olympic events). What is there to gain?

How does a few weeks’ worth of 45-second aerial shots of Boston and its suburbs at the start of each Olympics broadcast help put the Bay State on the map? It’s already on the map in every way that it needs to be.

As for jobs, yes, there will be some of those — mostly construction jobs, and those are important to that industry. But the benefit will be concentrated to a few huge firms and for a relatively short period of time. And a city doesn’t host the Olympics to gain a few thousand construction jobs — or, at least, it shouldn’t.

No, a city hosts the Olympics to do what Barcelona did in 1992 and, to a lesser extent, what Beijing did in 2008, and what Rio de Janeiro hopes to do in 2016 — announce its presence and make a statement.

Barcelona was an industrial backwater into the late ’80s, granted one with stunning architecture, great weather, and one of the best harbors in the world. It used the Olympics to showcase itself and make itself into one of the top tourist destinations in Europe, if not the world.

Boston in 2014 (let alone 2024) is not Barcelona in 1983. Cranes fill the skies in the Hub, and there are more than 15 million square feet of new buildings under construction. Boston doesn’t have to tell the world it has arrived any more than London did in 2012.

Overall, we see the Olympics as an unneeded extravagance. Worse, it is a distraction at a time when the state and individual communities need to be focused on other, more pertinent matters, such as creating viable, long-term sources of jobs. Instead, the mayor of Fall River is trying to get the rowing competition on Watuppa Pond, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno is trying to bring the basketball competition to the city where the game was invented (good luck with that one), and Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse is pushing hard to bring Olympic volleyball to his city, where that sport was conceived (where they would host those matches, we don’t know).

As we said, this is a distraction, one this state just doesn’t need for the next nine years.

Regarding Records Retention

Often, ‘What’ May Be More Important Than ‘for How Long?’

By KRISTINA DRZAL-HOUGHTON, CPA MST

Kristina Drzal-Houghton

With the start of a new tax year, taxes become the focus of many businesses. As administrators gather their financial information to provide to their accountants, questions regarding records retention begin to fly. More often than not, administrators ask, “how long do I keep these?” or “when should we destroy our records?”

However, one area of concern that can often be overlooked is determining what records to keep in order to substantiate expenses. In this case, the ‘what’ may be more important than the ‘how long,’ should an IRS audit occur.

Every item of expense taken as a business deduction must be supported by documentary evidence. Documentary evidence consists of receipts, paid bills, or similar evidence sufficient to support an expenditure. Ordinarily, documentary evidence will be considered adequate to support an expenditure if it includes sufficient information to establish the amount, date, place, and essential character of the expenditure. These documents can be retained electronically and need not be the original bills.

Documentary evidence includes electronic charge expense receipts provided by a credit-card company. In many cases, a credit-card statement or charge record is sufficient documentary evidence of an expense. For example, the nature of an expense paid to a car-rental company is ordinarily clear on its face.

If the nature of the expense isn’t clear on the face of the receipt, a credit-card receipt isn’t sufficient unless it contains an itemized breakdown. The requirement of a detailed breakdown would be required for payments to online or retail stores. The IRS will also detail examine phone and other utility bills to confirm the service location. Auditors will often request the backup policy information for insurance payments so they can confirm the business purpose. Additionally, payments to service vendors should indicate where the services were rendered.

Reimbursing employees’ business expenses can often be an area where there are documentation challenges, especially where the employee is also a shareholder. It is important to obtain the proper documentations from all employees. I have seen practices assessed taxes when former shareholders are no longer with the practice and will not supply backup documents. When substantiating expenses, the initial documentation obtained is key.

For any payment to be deductible, there must be a business connection. An arrangement meets the business-connection requirement if it provides reimbursements only for business expenses that are allowable as deductions and that are paid or incurred by the employee in connection with the performance of services as an employee. The reimbursement to the employee may include amounts charged directly or indirectly to the practice through credit-card systems or another direct method.

The documentation requirement is met if the arrangement requires each business expense to be substantiated to the practice within a reasonable period of time. An arrangement that reimburses travel, entertainment, or other deductible business expenses meets this requirement if information sufficient to satisfy the requirement is submitted to the practice.

The IRS will disallow any expense for travel away from home, including meals, lodging, and entertainment, unless the taxpayer substantiates by adequate records for each expenditure.

For example, when substantiating expenses for travel away from home, the IRS requires, in addition to documentary substantiation for each expense, that the time, place. and business purpose of the travel be proven. Furthermore, when substantiating entertainment expenses, you must prove the time, place, and business purpose of the entertainment, and the business relationship of the persons entertained.

Documentary evidence of lodging must show separate amounts for charges such as lodging, meals, and telephone calls. Thus, a hotel receipt will support an expenditure for business travel if it shows the name, location, date, and separate amounts charged for lodging, meals, telephone.

An electronic credit-card receipt meets this documentary evidence requirement if the receipt has an aggregate charge itemizing each expense, such as a final bill from a hotel listing separately the costs for meals, lodging, and telephone calls. But neither an electronic credit-card receipt nor a regular credit-card statement or charge record alone is acceptable evidence of a lodging expense if the statement doesn’t segregate lodging from other expenses that may not be deducted, such as non-deductible meal and entertainment expenses or personal expenses (e.g., spa charges or gift purchases).

Unreimbursed business expenses paid by a shareholder-employee on behalf of a corporation are employee business expenses subject to the 2%-of-AGI floor. However, when a shareholder-employee is a controlling stockholder, the IRS often asserts that the shareholder cannot deduct the expenses at all because they relate to corporate business rather than to duties as an employee. Therefore, practices should consider having a policy requiring the reimbursement of corporate expenses paid by shareholders. The corporation can then deduct the expense when paid, while the shareholder can treat the reimbursement as a repayment of the advanced funds.

Now may be the perfect time to draft or update your accounting policies and procedures document. Many associations can provide model documents, but you should still consult your accountant or tax advisor before finalizing your document.

Kristina Drzal-Houghton, CPA MST is the partner in charge of Taxation at Holyoke-based Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.; (413) 536-8510.

Grounds for Optimism

Manufacturing Sections

Chemex, Maker of Iconic Coffeemaker, Is Expanding Its Horizons

Eliza Jane Grassy shows off the famous Chemex coffeemaker.

The conference room in the Chemex manufacturing and distribution facility in Chicopee isn’t really serving the company in that capacity at this time — well, not only in that capacity, to be more precise.

Instead, while renovations continue at the plant on Veterans Drive, which the company moved into last summer, it is also acting as both storage area and museum of sorts, with all manner of material related to the famous Chemex coffeemaker — assembled on that site — and its inventor, Peter Schlumbohm.

“He was kind of a mad scientist — he had lots of inventions and lots of ideas,” Eliza Jane Grassy, vice president of the company, said of Schlumbohm as she pointed out photos of him, news clippings, and even a sketch of one of his concepts that never became reality — the so-called Chemmobile, an early form of SUV.

But most of the room’s artifacts are devoted to the coffeemaker itself, a work of art and a piece of Americana, both figuratively and quite literally — it is included in the collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. There is also one on display at the Smithsonian and other museums. Meanwhile, in 1958, designers at the Illinois Institute of Technology deemed it “one of the best-designed products of modern times.”

Its 74-year history, not to mention those various accolades and others, are chronicled in various displays scattered about the conference room, including advertisements, signs, early sketches of the product, and several of the actual items, in an array of sizes.

In most respects, the conference room is now a nod to the past. Indeed, most of the items are now decades old. But in one corner sit a few boxes containing the company’s newest product (actually, reintroduction of an old one), an automatic version of the iconic coffeemaker — called the Ottomatic — that is already becoming a hit. Meanwhile, out in the shipping area, the labels on the boxes provide more evidence that this company, while clinging to its proud traditions, is certainly not stuck in the 19th century.

The addresses are for commercial clients and retailers in England, Malaysia, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and other countries, and they are indicative of a strong push over the past few years to make this product an international phenomenon rather than just a domestic one.

Still more evidence can be found with the stamps on Grassy’s passport, and also those carried by her mother, Liz, the company’s president, and brother, Adams, who also serves as vice president. Indeed, Grassy has been to Australia and England in recent months, attending coffee conventions, while Adams has other territory, including Asia, and her mother travels almost everywhere.

“We’re now distributing all over the world, and it’s something we’ve been tackling over the past four or five years,” said Grassy, who traces the origins of this global expansion to aggressive outreach fueled by heightened interest from coffee roasters in virtually every time zone — simply one manifestation of the explosion in business opportunities generated by coffee.

She told BusinessWest that the sharp upward trajectory of sales and profits in recent years is not so much a case of being in the right place (planet Earth) at the right time — although that’s part of it — but rather having an iconic product, creating international demand for it, and then meeting it.

To do that, the company, which had been located in Pittsfield for more than 30 years, was forced to seek out considerably larger quarters, and eventually settled on the site in Chicopee, just down the street from the main gate to Westover Air Reserve Base.

The new facility provides more space for both the limited manufacturing that takes place there — what amounts to final assembly of the coffee makers as well as cutting and packaging of the filters — and the more extensive distribution efforts.

Renowned for its simplistic design, the Chemex coffeemaker is on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and other museums.

Several employees have been added over the past few months, and more additions are likely, said Grassy, noting that new machinery to package the filters has been acquired, and other investments in technology have been made.

Overall, demand keeps growing, and keeping up with it is a considerable challenge, meaning this is an exciting — and critical — time for the company.

For this issue and its focus on manufacturing, BusinessWest takes a look at this iconic product and the current efforts to continue its legacy, but in a contemporary fashion.

Bean Entrepreneurial

Grassy remembers virtually growing up in the Pittsfield plant where her parents took the company after acquiring it and refocusing its efforts solely on making coffeemakers after unsuccessful bids to expand the brand to other household items.

She recalls working a variety of jobs, from tying the strands of rawhide that go around the neck of each carafe to packing boxes in the warehouse. She also remembers the letters that would come with orders for new coffeemakers and especially the filters used in them, an equally potent source of revenue.

“People would write about how they had their coffeemaker for however many years, they love it, and it has become a part of the family,” she told BusinessWest, adding that such longevity isn’t the hindrance it might be if one were selling tires (primarily because the company also sells the filters). Instead, it’s a wonderfully effective selling point and a steady source of sales for the holidays, weddings, and virtually any time of the year.

Soon, the company will likely be getting more of these letters, and perhaps in a few different languages, as it continues its global push.

But before talking about that, Grassy set the stage by going back several decades and using the material in the cluttered conference room to help tell the story.

It begins with Schlumbohm. The German-born chemist-turned-inventor relocated to the U.S. in the 1930s and, within a few years, had filed more than 40 patents, most of them dealing in advances in refrigeration through chemical, mechanical, and engineering processes. But there were others, including one for a filtering device filed in 1939.

It would eventually become, along with the tremendously simple design, the heart and soul of the Chemex coffeemaker, which went into production only a few months after the U.S. entered World War II.

The product’s success is owed to a blend of chemistry and design: the narrow-waist flask, or carafe, uses filters made of chemically bonded paper, perhaps 30% thicker than those used for most drip-method coffeemakers, which removes most of the oils and chemicals, giving the coffee a distinctive taste that has helped Chemex more than withstand the recent onslaught from Keurig and other manufacturers.

“We have an entirely different philosophy, for lack of a better word, when it comes to making coffee,” she explained, adding that nothing has changed in 74 years. “The Chemex was designed as a pour-over method, so that the coffee grounds would be properly extracted. Schlumbohm, as a chemist, knew that pouring water over grounds created a chemical reaction, and his dissatisfaction with coffee at the time led him to develop bonded Chemex filters. When it extracts out all the undesirable oils, sediment, and fats, that just leaves the flavor of the bean and the caffeine.”

Peter Schlumbohm, inventor of the Chemex coffeemaker, is seen is this photo, one of the company’s many artifacts, sketching the Chemmobile.

Upon its introduction, the Chemex immediately drew favorable reviews — it appeared on the cover of the Museum of Modern Art’s “Useful Objects in Wartime” bulletin — and solid sales that remained constant through the next several decades and long after Schlumbohm willed the company to an heir who later sold it to the first of a succession of private owners.

Over the years, the product has enjoyed a prominent place in popular culture. James Bond is seen using one in From Russia with Love, the second movie in the 53-year-old series; Mary Tyler Moore had one prominently displayed in her kitchen in her sitcom from the early ’70s; and the product appeared repeatedly in the Dick Tracy comic strip, for example. As part of its efforts to recreate the late ’50s and early ’60s, the makers of Mad Men placed a Chemex in Don Draper’s kitchen.

But the product has certainly stood the test of time, and has been anything but a museum piece, said Grassy, adding that it’s as popular now as it was in the ’50s, when Schlumbohm gave one as a gift to President Harry Truman.

The company was eventually sold to a concern that tried to broaden the Chemex brand to a host of kitchen appliances, said Grassy, adding that a succession of owners essentially failed to replicate the coffeemaker’s success with other products, and the company went into bankruptcy.

Sip Codes

When her parents bought it, they returned it to its roots, and it continued to “plunk along,” as Grassy put it, into the ’90s and the start of this century, when coffee ceased being a drink and instead became a thriving industry, with huge new chains like Starbucks and smaller coffee roasters setting up shop in cities across the country.

The Chemex coffeemaker has been part of the phenomenon, she said, adding that it is used by many specialty coffee chains, including Blue Bottle, Stumptown, George Howell, and others, who want to showcase their coffees in the best way possible.

“The Chemex truly makes a really, really good cup of coffee,” she noted. “And that’s very important for coffee roasters — they want to showcase their coffee beans and the flavors, and with the Chemex process, they’re really able to do that; there’s no bitterness, and you can make it as strong as you want.”

When the company became more aggressive with regard to generating new business, both domestically and overseas, and orders started, well, pouring in, those involved started expanding their horizons, and in many different ways.

It was as that profound change was happening that Grassy and her brother decided to become part of the leadership team at the company. Indeed, while they both grew up at the Pittsfield plant, neither had intentions of making this a career, she said.

“I had just moved to Cambridge from San Francisco — I had attended an art school out there and had gone for fine art — and had planned to go to Leslie for an art-therapy degree, when I got diverted,” she said. “My mother said, ‘things are busy; I’d love it if you could come help, even on weekends or part-time.’

“So I started commuting back to the Berkshires, and that’s when I noticed something interesting was happening,” she went on. “I noticed it in cafés and online, and I said, ‘something’s going on here, and we just need to get involved,’ and the rest is history.’”

What was going on lay at the heart of the basic laws concerning supply and demand. Changing times and iconic products were creating demand, and now the company had to go about creating a supply.

While the company has always sold its product overseas, Grassy said, volume there was a fraction of what it was domestically. That started to change when she and her mother traveled to London five years ago for a coffee event.

“We started making connections there,” she said, adding that these involved both retailers and the growing legions of coffee roasters, and these connections helped introduce the product to new markets and new constituencies, thus generating sales volume.

The pattern has been repeated in other European countries, including Germany and Austria, and also in Asia, South America, Australia, and other spots around the globe, said Grassy, to the point where international sales are now approaching domestic volume.

And while expanding its market reach, the company is also introducing new products, such as the Ottomatic, a machine (manufactured in Ireland) that brings the same brewing chemistry and philosophy, but with the push of button.

“It’s a revolutionary automatic coffee machine,” she explained. “It actually has as shower head, so, as opposed to a regular coffee machine which has one stream straight down, ours showers down and has a pulsing to mimic the Chemex brewing. It’s been a huge success for us.”

Meanwhile, it has rebranded, changing a logo that had been constant since the ’80s, and also created new packaging, updated the website, and made full use of the wide array of social-media outlets to get its message across.

“It’s been quite an evolution,” said Grassy, adding that a thread through its many elements has been sensitivity to the company’s long, proud history, while also modernizing the brand as necessary. This approach can be seen in some of the new advertisements, which have a ’50s look to them.

“We want to take a company with a rich history and continue that legacy in a contemporary way,” she explained. “Our history is very special, and we don’t want to deviate from it. We want to marry the past with the present and future.”

Off-the-cup Remarks

As she wrapped up a tour of the Chicopee facility, Grassy paused in the spacious, still-vacant front area of the building.

Eventually, it will be reshaped into a display area for many of those artifacts now in the conference room — which represent only a fraction of what the company has stored in its archives — and there will also be a small coffee bar for employees and customers.

It’s an exciting development, one of many taking place at this company that is writing new chapters in a story that is rich in character — and flavor.

In other words, this is a venture on very solid ground — or grounds, as the case may be.

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

Winds of Change

Manufacturing Sections

Excel Dryer Gains Market Share by Touting Green Benefits

Denis (left) and Bill Gagnon show off XLERATOR models branded with company logos, one of the product’s aesthetic selling points.

If there’s one statistic that drives Excel Dryer, it’s this one: 85%.

That’s the percentage of commercial restrooms in the U.S. that eschew hand dryers for paper towels. That represents significant — and attainable — opportunities, said William Gagnon, vice president of marketing for the East Longmeadow-based company started by his father, Denis, in 1999. After all, when Excel launched its signature product, the XLERATOR, in 2001, that number was 90%. And it continues to shrink.

“Excel Dryer works with all commercial facilities because all businesses have restrooms,” he told BusinessWest, listing some segments that purchase the most hand dryers, including schools; the hospitality industry — including restaurants, hotels, resorts, casinos, and amusement parks — assembly areas like stadiums, convention centers, and concert venues; healthcare; government; retail stores; and transportation facilities like airports, DOTs, and public-transit centers. “We are very successful with all facilities that focus on saving time, money, and the environment.”

The challenge is educating people about the benefits of using high-speed, energy-efficient hand dryers, which improve the user experience compared to older dryers, he said, adding that the XLERATOR dries hands three times faster than conventional hand dryers.

But the education efforts are working, and so is word of mouth.

“Since this new category of hand dryers has become available, hand dryers have gained significant traction versus paper towels,” Gagnon said, citing a report from Dodge Data and Analytics that Excel Dryer products are now listed among the specifications in more than half of new commercial construction projects that include hand dryers. “This means that architects and interior designers working in the commercial-restroom field prefer Excel Dryer models to any others on the market.”

Indeed, the XLERATOR’s initial success — it burst onto the market with a 700% increase in sales between 2001 and 2008 — was no fluke; the company continues to record double-digit growth each year, and 2014 was the best year in Excel’s history.

In fact, Gagnon says Excel has done nothing less than revolutionize the hand-dryer industry, changing the environment in commercial restrooms in more ways than one.

Heating Up

Environmental concerns are, in fact, at the top of Excel’s marketing strategy, but Gagnon said it’s fighting a messaging war with paper-towel manufacturers.

Specifically, he noted that paper-industry giants fund studies claiming that recycled paper towels must be better for the environment than electric hand dryers. “That couldn’t be further from the truth,” he added, claiming that Excel’s high-powered dryers actually represent a 70% reduction in carbon footprint compared to recycled paper towels.

“The paper industry also likes to say that paper towels are more sanitary,” he went on, “but independent, third-party studies from leading academic and research organizations debunk this myth time and time again.”

He cited a study from the Mayo Clinic that found no difference between paper towels and hand dryers in removing bacteria from washed hands. However, another study published in the American Journal of Infection Control found 17 species of bacteria on unused, recycled paper towels, and noted that this may have implications in industrial and clinical settings, like hospitals, which house immunocompromised individuals. “When a leading publication about infection control warns against using paper towels in healthcare settings,” Gagnon said, “that’s a pretty strong statement.”

To further emphasize the company’s dual emphases on cleanliness and ecological impact, Excel Dryer recently launched a new product, the XLERATOReco, which uses what Gagnon calls “no-heat technology” to dry hands quickly using only 500 watts.

“It offers all the same features and benefits of the original XLERATOR hand dryer, except for the heating element,” he explained. “This hand dryer significantly reduces energy consumption and is the best choice for facilities looking to reduce costs and energy usage.” He added that it’s also an attractive choice for facilities in warmer climates where the heating element is not as beneficial.

Even the original XLERATOR, because it dries hands so quickly, uses 80% less energy than conventional hand dryers, Gagnon said, and provide a 95% cost savings versus paper towels, once the initial cost of installation is recouped — typically, within one year. Add it up, and the Excel team believes it has a winning formula for continued growth, and not just domestically.

“Approximately 25% to 30% percent of our sales are exported outside of the United States, and we are experiencing tremendous growth in international markets,” he told BusinessWest. “For example, the European adoption rate of energy-efficient technology is significantly higher than here in the U.S. They have much stricter energy restrictions and less room in landfills for waste, so high-speed, energy-efficient hand-dryer technology is much more prevalent there.”

In fact, he added, the ratio of hand dryers to paper towels in commercial restrooms in Europe is three to one, a stark reversal of the U.S. model. “As awareness for energy conservation increases, environmentally friendly, energy-efficient hand-dryer adoption rates will increase on a global scale. The United States is not as far down the path of adopting sustainable solutions, but the demand in European markets is a good indication that energy-efficient technology is the way of the future.”

At the same time, Gagnon said, Excel has managed to keep its manufacturing base in East Longmeadow, using Kaizen Cell procedures to become more efficient instead of cutting costs by moving operations overseas, like others in its industry have done. In doing so, Excel continues to add manufacturing jobs locally.

Giving a Hand

Despite its continued growth, Excel isn’t resting on its success. It has added adjustable speed and sound control for sound-sensitive areas, and a HEPA filtration system and Microban anti-microbial wall guards to support hygienic standards. Excel also recently unveiled a sixth-generation motor for longer lifespan. Now, the control assembly features error codes to make maintenance easier.

On the aesthetic side, the device’s custom digital image covers can feature corporate colors, logos, images, and taglines. “You can see our custom covers here locally at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and all across the globe,” Gagnon noted.

“Big brands like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Coca-Cola, and even the New England Patriots have them in Gillette Stadium,” he added. “It’s great to see companies support sustainable solutions and co-brand the XLERATOR hand-dryer models with their unique style. It says a lot when an organization like the Patriots believes in your brand enough to put their logo on your product.”

The covers can also feature sustainable messaging, including statistics from the EPA, explaining why hand dryers are a better choice for the environment than paper towels, Gagnon said, adding that customers have increasingly come to appreciate the green appeal of the product.

In fact, Excel is the first hand-dryer company to become affiliated with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which hosts the largest green-building trade show, and is the force behind LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for environmentally friendly buildings. “We don’t just talk the talk; we walk the walk,” Gagnon added. “Our latest Excel Dryer corporate office expansion was LEED Gold-certified.”

In addition, the company touts its membership in the Green Building Initiative and the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, and endorsements by the Green Restaurant and Green Hotels Assoc. and a listing on the GreenSpec guide to ecologically conscious building products.

“According to the EPA, one ton of paper towels requires 17 trees, pollutes 7,000 gallons of water, and takes up 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space,” Gagnon noted. “This is just too taxing on our environment. We need to find better, sustainable solutions. Going green is no longer just a movement; it’s becoming the expectation, and we are proud to be a catalyst for positive change.”

In addition, Excel is an original seed sponsor of the Green Apple Day of Service, a program of Green Apple, a cause-marketing initiative of the USGBC Center for Green Schools.

“Three years ago, they launched a national day of service, challenging school officials to improve education facilities and promote a safer, healthier, and more sustainable place to learn,” he explained, adding that Excel has participated each year by donating custom-covered Green Apple XLERATOR hand dryers to schools around the world. The Green Apple dryers are available for any facility to purchase, and a part of the proceeds goes back to support the Green Apple initiative. The next day of service is scheduled for Sept. 25.

“As awareness of green industry has grown, so has our business,” he said, “and we look forward to continue partnering with green-industry thought leaders and organizations to continue building momentum.”

(Rest)room for Growth

To that end, Gagnon anticipates sharing more developments in the coming year, from a hand-dryer model compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act to a new, integrated sink system that features the latest XLERATOR technology.

“We continue to focus on innovative solutions for the industry,” he told BusinessWest. And with so many commercial spaces still dependent on paper, he knows there are plenty of minds left to change.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Thinking Outside the Box

Business of Aging Sections

Innovative Method Helps Caregivers Engage with Clients with Dementia

Christina Vernon shows off just a few of the items she may include in ‘engagement boxes.’

As the over-65 generation is set to dramatically expand, so will the number of Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. For those struggling with the cognitive and memory loss associated with these conditions, it’s beneficial to keep their minds active as much as possible. But how? Research by an intern at Homewatch Caregivers into a concept called ‘engagement boxes’ is setting a local standard for helping people with dementia hang on to memory, identity, and quality of life.

Christina Vernon calls it the “beach box.”

Inside are dozens of items that evoke the seashore — a jar of sand, a toy shovel and rake, a plastic bucket, a miniature beach ball, collections of seashells and sea glass, even a CD of beach-themed music.

To the average person, this array might evoke memories of a pleasant day soaking in the sun and the surf. But to someone suffering from dementia, the beach box may be nothing less than a catalyst for recovered memories and identity.

And it’s only one of dozens of such ‘engagement boxes’ that Vernon, a social-work student at Elms College, has carefully assembled for Homewatch Caregivers in West Springfield, where she works part-time, with the goal of focusing the minds of dementia patients through sensory stimulation and memory retention.

“These boxes hold items that trigger memories based on the five senses and promote conversation with people with dementia. It keeps them connected to conversation and lets them enjoy moments where they remember the past,” said Vernon.

For example, one brightly colored box might contain an old pair of white gloves, a child’s book of nursery rhymes, a small tea set, a beaded purse, and a jar of cold cream. “We might begin the activity by asking the client, ‘did you ever have a tea set?’ It may surprise you what your loved one comes out with.”

Sensory activities, she explained, involve many parts of the brain, including emotional, motor, and cognitive areas. They can allow someone with dementia to reawaken personal memories and help maintain the person’s quality of life, increase engagement with loved ones, and improve mood, behavior, and cognitive functions.

The key is to make sure the activities and conversations between caregiver and client are meaningful and individualized for each family.

“Nobody else is doing this, exactly,” said Judy Yaffe, co-owner of Homewatch Caregivers. “They’re very specialized for every client we’re working with. What happens is, we do a client history, get to know them a little more. We find out what they like and don’t like.”

Hence, the beach box would be ideal for a client who used to enjoy the beach or water activities. Other themed boxes contain baby-care items, art supplies, and vintage jewelry and toys — and Vernon often mixes and matches items to create individualized boxes to bring to clients. Caregivers engage the client with the items during visits, and, afterward, complete assessment sheets detailing what worked and what didn’t.

“The point of developing activities through the use of these boxes is to promote cognitive stimulation as an intervention for people with dementia,” Vernon said, noting that the roots of the philosophy can be traced back to 1950s research into ‘reality orientation,’ which was developed in response to confusion and disorientation in older patients in hospital settings.

Sensory exercises like the boxes Vernon maintains at Homewatch are coming more to the forefront in elder care as demographics are trending dramatically older. In short, Americans are living longer than ever before, with the massive Baby Boom generation heading into its golden years, and the number of patients with dementia — and, therefore, demand for services to assist them — are on the rise.

“Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s and dementia are going to increase,” Yaffe said. “We’re looking at a Baby Boomer tsunami.”

Engaging the Past

Engagement with dementia clients takes a variety of forms, Vernon said, showing off a pack of picture cards she uses during visits. She also shared a video of a session with a client in the early stages of dementia. Holding up a picture of stacks of coins,” she asks the client, “what is this?”

“It’s money.”

“Do you have money?”

“No.”

“Where is your money?”

“The children took it.”

“The children took it? How many children? A boy or a girl?”

“Girls. The girls took it.”

“The girls took it. Hmm,” Vernon says, while switching to a card with a picture of a game of jacks. “Did your girls ever like to play with these?”

And so on — each image, each conversation pathway leading to another cue to engage the client. The boxes Vernon has assembled take the concept a step farther, by providing something to touch, feel, hear, even smell, in addition to viewing.

“She did this as a project for her school, an internship she developed,” Yaffe told BusinessWest.

“I was responsible to do a full research project for the company I was interning for,” Vernon said, referring to Homewatch. “Basically, I found myself working with dementia clients. So I decided to do my research on sensory stimulation boxes and memory.”

Judy Yaffe, with a few of Homewatch Caregivers’ dozens of engagement boxes, says matching boxes with clients is a matter of learning their history, likes, and dislikes.

She bought several boxes worth of items on her own to test the concept. “I visited clients daily with boxes and researched what worked and what didn’t work. At the end of 16 weeks, [Homewatch] offered me a position 10 hours a week to create this program and run with it. It’s been very exciting.”

Since then, Yaffe has purchased most of the items for subsequent boxes. They include a collection of vintage toys, like a yo-yo and an original Slinky; to a “baby box” ideal for clients who love children; and a box of clip-on earrings from the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s, which Vernon brings to a client who loves jewelry. “I made it a game; I ask her to put the pairs together, and then ask if she wants to try them on. It just keeps her active.”

In addition to the boxes, Homewatch has a growing collection of books, DVDs, and CDs of various genres and topics, all aimed at helping clients with dementia keep their minds stimulated.

“The items aren’t always cheap,” Vernon said. “When I go out, I make sure the client has at least three options, and if those don’t work, I go back and find something that does work.”

Sometimes that involves a bit of role playing. “When you’re working with a dementia client, if you’re comfortable entering their world, it really works,” she said.

Yaffe agreed, noting that each client is at a different place in their disease progression and how far back their memories lie. “We’re looking at where they are in their dementia. It could be back to their childhood, could be back to their first job, and that’s where we go. Entering the client’s world, to us, is really important.”

For clients at less-advanced stages, the more hands-on the activity, the better. “One was an avid artist in sculpture, so we bring him books about sculpture,” Vernon said. “We’ve bought sketch pads and watercolor pastels, just things to keep his mind as active as possible.”

It’s all about giving caregivers tools they can work with, Yaffe said. “We’ve developed quite a library here.”

Peace of Mind

While researching the effectiveness of engagement boxes at an assisted-living facility, interviewing five people over a period of weeks, Vernon — who will graduate in May and go on to pursue her master’s degree at Springfield College — came to understand the detrimental effects of an inactive mind.

“When you’re bored, when you’re not doing anything, when a client is sitting idle, their memories are fading faster than when they’re engaged with someone,” she said. “It’s better for the client’s overall well-being to be engaged. It’s great to see people light up, to see people talk about things based on the items we take out. It’s rewarding work.”

Yaffe said eliminating isolation and loneliness are two of the goals of her agency, and the engagement boxes are now a major component of that — not to mention a practice that family members can continue after a professional caregiver has ended a shift.

“Activities bring pleasure to people with Alzheimer’s,” Vernon told BusinessWest. “Keeping people involved in prior hobbies and interests that once gave them pleasure is important. Family members should take a flexible approach that is broad-based. Read the newspaper, look at books, cook, watch family videos — and remember to concentrate on the process of an activity and not the results. Perhaps develop your own engagement box for your loved one. It’s the joy of doing and discovery that can make the difference in their quality of life.”

Many clients don’t have dementia, but do suffer from some memory impairment, and the boxes — which can be checked out and brought back to Homewatch by families — can be effective tools for them as well.

“It’s really great for a family when they see mom or dad remembering something; it really gives the family a sense of purpose, as well as direction,” Vernon said. “We constantly exchange items and find out what’s working, find out what activities are good for a client.

“A lot of it is based on the individual person,” she continued. “I talk to the client and caregiver, spend an hour getting to know them, and after the initial meeting, I have a greater idea of what I can do to enhance their experience.”

Yaffe said Homewatch has long embraced other forms of sensory engagement with clients, especially music, which the Alzheimer’s Assoc. calls one of the main catalysts to recovering memory.

“We do a lot of music with our clients. If they remember something, it’s usually music from their teenage years, and they often remember it word for word,” she said. “It’s all about engaging people in the moment — but that moment can last the rest of the day for some people, and that’s important. It’s an easy activity if you can engage them.”

Added Vernon, “you see people light up when they hear their music. I think that’s an essential thing. That’s why most of our boxes have a CD with it. For the beach box, there’s beach-themed music. For the baby box, it’s lullabyes, softer music.”

Of course, she reiterated, the best boxes are the ones that engage all the senses. “It’s so worth the time and effort to make life better,” she said. “It works. We’ve validated it, and we know that it works.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Company Notebook

Company Notebook Departments

MassMutual Announces 2014 Financial Results
SPRINGFIELD — Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. announced strong consolidated statutory financial results for 2014, including a substantial increase in earnings and net income, record sales in key businesses, and highest-ever levels of assets under management, statutory surplus, and total adjusted capital. The company reported that, for the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, sales of whole-life insurance were $418 million, up 20% from the prior 12 months — representing the ninth consecutive year of record highs — while retirement-plan sales rose 23% to $9.1 billion, also a record. The net gain from operations before policyowner dividends and taxes — the company’s primary earnings measure as a mutual company — was up 27% to $2.2 billion. Further, MassMutual’s highest-ever levels of statutory surplus and total adjusted capital — both key indicators of the company’s overall financial stability — were $14.2 billion and $16.4 billion, respectively, and continued to provide the company with substantial financial resources that help deliver long-term financial confidence and security to policyowners and customers. “I am pleased to report that 2014 was another tremendous year for MassMutual,” said Roger Crandall, MassMutual’s chairman, president, and CEO. “By delivering record results, outpacing growth in our industry, and increasing our financial strength, we performed favorably against the backdrop of a U.S. economy that continued a slow but steady rebound in 2014. Our results further illustrate our powerful momentum and have positioned the company for another great year in 2015.” He added, “through our people, products, and solutions, we continued to take steps to build a better company for our policyowners and customers, and deliver on our purpose to help people secure their future and protect the ones they love.” While dividends are not guaranteed, MassMutual’s board of directors approved an estimated 2015 dividend payout of $1.6 billion, which reflects a dividend interest rate of 7.10% on eligible participating life-insurance policies, highest among its mutual competitors. Also driving MassMutual’s 2014 success was its growing network of financial professionals, who help people gain confidence by bringing clarity and solutions to some of the biggest financial challenges they face. MassMutual expanded that network by 6% over 2013 to more than 5,500 financial professionals at the end of 2014, an all-time high.

The Spa Opens for Business in Westfield
WESTFIELD — New England Dermatology & Laser Center announced the opening of the Spa, a med spa located at 57 Union St. The new med spa at New England Dermatology & Laser Center boasts a peaceful, rejuvenating atmosphere and a complete menu of services designed to relax and revitalize. “The Spa provides restorative and nourishing treatments, including your favorite spa services and products, in addition to a complete line of medically supervised esthetic procedures,” said Dr. Stanley Glazer, a board-certified physician with over 40 years experience in dermatology. “The Spa offers guests an escape from the rigors of the day-to-day by focusing on inner and outer wellness.” Glazer is joined at the Spa by Dr. Michael Loosemore, a board-certified physician with nearly 10 years of experience in dermatology and dermatologic surgery; aesthetic nurse specialist Mary Jo Devlin; aesthetic supervisor Laurie Circosta; and clinical operations manager Shannon Page. The Spa’s full menu of services include customized clinical skin care, massage and body treatments, facials, manicures, pedicures, makeup, and waxing. Also available are laser treatments including hair removal and fine-line treatment, and medical esthetics like microneedling, microdermabrasion, Botox injections, dermal fillers, and laser treatments. The Spa provides restorative and nourishing treatments for both men and women, as well as teens. For more information, visit westfieldspa.com.

CDH Expands Pharmacy as Part of New Cancer Center
NORTHAMPTON — Cooley Dickinson Hospital recently went live with the operation of its expanded pharmacy, which is the first visible and tangible part of the Massachusetts General Cancer Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. “Renovations to the pharmacy are an essential underpinning to the future of cancer care at Cooley Dickinson,” said Dr. Mark Novotny, chief medical officer. An expanded pharmacy with new oncology pharmacy staff allows Cooley Dickinson to offer people living with cancer the same treatment regimens, protocols, and safety for chemotherapy and radiation that Mass General Cancer Center physicians use. “This is about getting Mass General Cancer Center quality at Cooley Dickinson Hospital,” said Dr. Sean Mullally, medical oncologist and medical director of the CDH cancer center. In addition, the oversight of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center means people newly diagnosed or living with cancer no longer need to decide if they should go to Boston for care. “They can come here, and their team will help them decide what care they should receive and where,” Novotny said. The renovated pharmacy includes a new sterile-preparation space with separate rooms for chemotherapy and intravenous compounding. Chemotherapy is drug treatment given in pill, injection, and intravenous forms to kill cancer cells. The sterile-prep area has positive air pressure and hoods that filter air to prevent possible contamination while preparing the drugs. The chemotherapy prep area has negative air pressure to reduce the risk of chemotherapy exposure and specialized chemotherapy hoods that filter air to prevent contamination and preserve negative pressure to protect staff. Improved storage, more automation, and fail-safe technologies reduce the risks of introducing errors when dispensing medications from the pharmacy. Chemotherapy regimens will be reviewed and approved by on-site oncology clinical pharmacists and prepared by chemotherapy pharmacy technicians dedicated to the cancer center. The renovations to the pharmacy were needed to provide the right chemotherapy hoods, space, sterile prep areas, and ventilation for mixing chemotherapy according to best practices. In addition, the renovations and expanded space increase the standard of care for all Cooley Dickinson patients with an increased focus on quality and safety.

Springfield College Program Recognized by National Organization
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield College Strength and Conditioning Graduate Program has again received acceptance into the National Strength and Conditioning Assoc. (NSCA) Education Recognition Program (ERP) for the next three years. “The graduate strength and conditioning program provides challenging academic coursework combined with internship opportunities that in many instances lead to student employment,” said Tracey Matthews, dean of the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. “Dr. Brian Thompson has built a stellar program, and this achievement is evidence of the commitment and passion our faculty place in our graduate programs. We are extremely proud of this recognition. This further affirms the strength of our program.” A new benefit of having ERP acceptance will be the opportunity for Springfield College to host an Exam Prep Live Clinic providing students a comprehensive review of information most relevant to the certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and the national strength and condition association-certified personal trainer (NSCA-CPT) exams. As a NSCA Exam Prep Live Clinic host school, Springfield College students would be able to take advantage of a discounted rate when registering for the exam, as well as discounted rates on all CSCS and NSCA-CPT exams. Additional benefits for the college resulting from the ERP acceptance include a strong presence on the NSCA’s official website, a listing in the NSCA membership newsletter that is distributed to professional and associate members, and the opportunity for the college to receive up to three complimentary career postings on the nsca.com career-resources page for the three-year period. The Springfield College Strength and Conditioning Graduate Program prepares students to work with athletes as strength and conditioning coaches in secondary-school, collegiate, professional, and private settings. Students develop the skills and knowledge needed to design physiologically sound programs that enhance athletic performance, as well as the coaching skills needed to implement the programs.

Country Nissan Wins DealerRater Consumer Satisfaction Award
HADLEY — Country Nissan has been awarded a 2015 DealerRater Consumer Satisfaction Award, a recognition auto dealerships can earn by delivering outstanding customer service as rated by online consumer reviews. DealerRater, the car-dealer review site for consumers, created the Consumer Satisfaction Awards to enable online car shoppers to instantly spot car dealerships that provide high-quality customer service. Country Nissan has achieved consistently high marks on the DealerRater website, placing it among the top dealerships nationwide. Online shoppers visiting Country Nissan’s dealer review page on DealerRater.com will find a “2015 Consumer Satisfaction Award winner” designation.

Renaissance Advisory Services Moves to Ludlow
LUDLOW — Renaissance Advisory Services, LLC announced its expansion and relocation to Ludlow. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held recently with staff members, invited guests, and representatives of the East of the River 5 Town Chamber of Commerce in attendance. State Rep. Thomas Petrolati (D-Ludlow) performed the ceremony. According to managing director Werner Maiwald, Ludlow was selected due to the convenient access to current clients. Renaissance Advisory Services, LLC is a fully independent financial-advisory firm that works with individual and corporate clients. The firm offers portfolio services such as 401(k), IRA, personal retirement, and distribution-planning services. It also offers gas and oil syndication, fixed income accounts, corporate buy/sell, corporate executive insurance, high-income disability planning, long-term care planning, and charitable giving plans. The firm consists of two primary advisors, Werner Maiwald and Michael Hurst, who have a total of 65 years combined experience. The firm is presently seeking a third advisor. Gail Sherman, past president for the Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce, is the executive marketing director; Christine Maiwald serves as corporate administrator; and AnnMarie Gaudette is the receptionist. “We are unique because we are long-term advisors; we are not day traders,” said Maiwald. “We only bring on a limited number of new clients each year, which allows us to fulfill our investment philosophy and maximize our service capabilities. The financial well-being of our clients is our ultimate goal.” For more information, visit www.renadvisorysvcs.com.

Peoples on the Move

Departments People on the Move

Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. announced the following:
• Kayla Helitzer, MSA, has been hired as an Associate. Helitzer began her career at MBK as an intern before acquiring her current position. She holds a master’s degree in accounting from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. In her free time, she participates in the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, volunteers at the Knesset Israel synagogue, and enjoys skiing and snowboarding;
• Joseph Vreedenburgh, MSA, has been hired as an Associate. Vreedenburgh comes to MBK with a background as a corporate accountant and experience with small to medium-sized businesses, as well as government entities. This experience provides him with a unique perspective as an auditor at the firm. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in accounting from UMass Amherst. He is a member of Northampton Area Young Professionals and enjoys hiking and mountain biking; and
• Brandon Mitchell, MSA, CPA, has been hired as an Associate. Mitchell specializes in audits of commercial and not-for-profit entities, reviews and compilations of financial statements for small businesses and individuals, and tax-return preparations. Before joining the firm, he worked as a business manager for a locally owned business. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s degree in accountancy from Westfield State University and devotes much of his spare time to his alma mater’s Mentoring Program.
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Christine Phillips

PeoplesBank announced the appointment of Christine Phillips as vice president, Human Resources. In her new position, Phillips will monitor and administer the bank’s human-resources policies and recruitment plan, oversee employee relations, administer employee benefits, and serve as the bank’s EEO/AAP officer. Phillips brings more than 15 years of human-resources experience including recruiting, performance analysis, and compliance. She not only helped a variety of organizations recruit top talent, she also helped operate a successful human-resources company. A member of the AIM Human Resources Group, Phillips holds a bachelor’s degree from UMass Amherst. She is a member of the South Hadley School Committee, the PTA president of Plains School, and a board member of St. Patrick’s CYO Basketball.
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Elizabeth Hukowicz

Elms College has appointed Elizabeth Hukowicz dean of the newly established School of Graduate and Professional Studies. Hukowicz has been the associate academic dean of the Division of Graduate Studies and Continuing Education since 2005. Under her leadership, the number, scope, and complexity of programs in her department has increased tremendously. In recognition of this growth, the division has been restructured into a school, with Hukowicz appointed as the first dean. “The new school will serve our non-traditional and adult learners, and also highlight the importance of these programs to the strength and vitality of the institution,” said Walter Breau, vice president of academic affairs. Added Hukowicz, “this restructuring will allow the school to offer a broader array of degree options and services for adult learners on and off campus. The adult learner is at the core of what we do, and we will provide increased opportunities to better serve the adult learner in and out of the classroom, wherever and however that may be. We will continue to find new and better ways to make students successful.” Elms College offers graduate-degree programs in accounting, applied theology, autism-spectrum disorders, education, healthcare leadership, management, and nursing. The college also offers certificates of advanced graduate study in autism-spectrum disorders, communication sciences and disorders, and education.
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Mike Harsh

FloDesign Sonics Inc. announced it has added Mike Harsh to its board of directors. Harsh served as vice president and chief technology officer for GE Healthcare until December 2014 and led its Global Science and Technology Organization. “The addition of Mike to our board will have a profound impact on our company,” said founder and CEO Stanley Kowalski III. “Mike has personally been involved with the research and development of acoustic-based products in life sciences. He has the ability to get into the details while envisioning our global strategy. We are delighted to have him join our team.” Added Harsh, “I am really excited to be part of FloDesign Sonics. Their entrepreneurial sprit is contagious, and the convergence of this unique and innovative application of acoustics to filtration will unleash a new tool in healthcare that can also be leveraged into other industries.” Harsh led the global Science and Technology Organization for GE Healthcare, a $18 billion business unit of General Electric focusing its research on the development of innovative diagnostics, healthcare IT, medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient-monitoring systems, biopharmaceutical-manufacturing technologies, and technologies that facilitate new drug discovery. Harsh began his career at GE in 1979 as an electrical design engineer in nuclear imaging, and subsequently held numerous design and engineering management positions with X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, patient monitoring, and information technologies. He was also the global technology leader of the Imaging Technologies Lab at the GE Global Research Center, where he led the research for imaging technologies across the company, as well as the research associated with computer visualization/image analysis and superconducting systems. He was named an officer of General Electric Co. in November 2006. Harsh earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University, and he holds numerous U.S. patents in the field of medical imaging and instrumentation.
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Luis Santamaria

Luis Santamaria has been chosen as Greenfield Community College’s new director of Campus Public Safety. He will oversee GCC’s Campus Public Safety department and serve as GCC’s chief of police. Santamaria leaves his position as associate director of Public Safety for Curry College in Milton. Prior to his work at Curry College, he served as a sergeant for Tufts University for nine years and as a campus police officer at Simmons College and officer in charge at Western New England University. Santamaria graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Western New England University. He served as vice president of his class at the Special State Police Academy. He holds EMT certification and has certification as a MCJTC sexual assault investigator, defensive tactics instructor, and rape aggression defense instructor. He is bilingual in English and Spanish.
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Kate Bechtold

Anthony Scibelli

Following nationwide searches, Cooley Dickinson Hospital President and CEO Joanne Marqusee announced that two healthcare executives, Katherine Bechtold and Anthony Scibelli, have joined the organization’s senior leadership team. Bechtold has been selected as Cooley Dickinson Health Care’s vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer. “I am very excited to have someone with Kate’s depth of experience, clear commitment to quality care and service excellence, collaborative style, and ability to inspire staff at all levels join the senior leadership team,” Marqusee said. Added Bechtold, “I am excited about this wonderful opportunity to lead nursing and patient-care services at Cooley Dickinson. I was impressed with the commitment to patient care that I heard from staff and medical staff alike and look forward to being part of the new leadership team that Joanne Marqusee is building.” Most recently, Bechtold served as the senior vice president and chief nurse executive for MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Wash., where she oversaw system-wide nursing and clinical policies, case management, social work, and quality care for the five-hospital system and its primary-care, urgent-care, and specialty clinics. She also served for eight years as chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care at Centura Health Systems in Englewood, Colo., and Saint Anthony Hospital System. She counts among her accomplishments leading Saint Anthony Central Hospital to one of the highest scores in the nation for nursing quality indicators and significantly reducing nursing-management turnover rates. Scibelli has joined Cooley Dickinson Health Care as vice president, operations and chief administrative officer. He will supervise a number of departments, including Facilities, Housekeeping, Transport, Security, Nutrition, Lab, Imaging, and Human Resources. “I am very excited that a leader with Tony’s range of experience, dedication to service excellence, and ability to lead teams and promote teamwork has accepted this important position. He will add much to the new senior leader team we are building,” Marqusee said. Scibelli has most recently served as senior vice president, Human Resources, Support Services, and Post Acute Operations at Mohawk Valley Health System in Utica, N.Y., which resulted from the affiliation of Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center. He oversaw a range of functions, including Human Resources, Facilities Management, Support Services, Home Care, and Long-term Care. Scibelli joined Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare in 2004 as vice president, Human Resources and was promoted several times there. Scibelli earned a bachelor’s degree at Worcester State College and master’s degrees from Lesley College in Cambridge and SUNY Albany.
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Patrick McCarthy, Sodexo Dining Services general manager for the Loomis Communities, has been selected for the Sodexo National Emerging Leaders program, joining 29 of his peers who have been identified as leaders in their field. The Sodexo Emerging Leaders program consists of an intensive, nine-month leadership-development course focusing on leadership at a strategic level. The course study includes trainings at the Sodexo North American headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., as well as peer project assignments and online interactive trainings. Prior to working for Sodexo and the Loomis Communities, McCarthy attended classes at the Culinary Institute of America and owned restaurants in the Pioneer Valley.

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

Chamber Corners Departments

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

• Thursdays through March 26: ACCGS Leadership Institute 2015, 1-4 p.m., at the TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield, in partnership with Western New England University.

• March 11: ACCGS Speed Networking, 3:30-5 p.m., at Frank Webb’s Bath Center, 145 Performance Blvd., Springfield. Network in a fast-paced round-robin format, then stay for the After 5. This event is open only to members. Reservations are $20 for members, $25 at the door. Includes complimentary ticket to After 5. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

• March 11: ACCGS After 5, 5-7 p.m., at Frank Webb’s Bath Center, 145 Performance Blvd., Springfield. Reservations are $5 for members, $10 for general admission. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

• March 24: ACCGS Pastries, Politics, and Policy, 8-9 a.m., at the TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield. For political and policy junkies. Reservations are $15 for members, $25 for general admission. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

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

• March 26: Margarita Madness 2015, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the Hadley Farms Meeting House, 41 Russell St., Hadley. Taste a variety of margaritas and vote for your favorites. This is a Division One competition between restaurant and business margaritas. Your votes will determine who will take home the coveted trophies. Business margaritas provided by Alden Credit Union, New England Promotional Marketing, Hadley Farms Meeting House, Country Nissan, Lord Jeffery Inn, TD Bank for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, Encharter Insurance, Applewood at Amherst, and many more to come. Restaurant margaritas provided by Bistro 63 at the Monkey Bar, Bread & Butter, Bridgeside Grille, Chandler’s Restaurant, the Pub, Lord Jeffery Inn, Hadley Farms Meeting House, Chez Josef, Johnny’s Tavern, and many more to come. Food provided by Emily’s Gourmet to Go, Something Special Catering, Pallazo Café, Glazed Donut Shop, Pop’s Biscotti, and Johnny’s Tavern. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For more information, contact the chamber at (413) 253-0700.

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

• March 25: 21st Annual Table Top Expo and Business Networking Event, 4:30-7 p.m., at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. Exhibitor cost: $125 for a table. Admission $10 in advance, $15 at the door. To register, contact the chamber at (413) 527-9414.

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

• March 25: 21st Annual Table Top Expo and Business Networking Event, 4:30-7 p.m., at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. Exhibitor cost: $125 for a table. Admission is $10 in advance, $15 at the door. To register, contact the chamber at (413) 527-9414.

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

• March 13: Microsoft Excel: Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts, 9-11 a.m., at the chamber office, 99 Pleasant St., Northampton. Learn tips and tricks no one ever teaches you from the trainers at Pioneer Training. 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. Participants are encouraged to bring laptops and follow along with the instructor, but this is not required. Admission: $20 for members, $30 for non-members.

• March 17: 35th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast, 7:30-9 a.m., in the Hotel Northampton Grand Ballroom. Also, Join us at Fitzwilly’s for the annual after-breakfast toast and for the laying of the wreath at the Daley and Halligan memorial stone on the former state hospital grounds. Tickets: $20 per person. Tables of 10 also available.

• March 25: 21st Annual Table Top Expo and Business Networking Event, 4:30-7 p.m., at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. Exhibitor cost: $125 for a table. Admission $10 in advance, $15 at the door. To register, contact the chamber at (413) 584-1900.

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

• March 13: March Breakfast, 7-9 a.m., at Westfield State University, 577 Western Ave., Westfield. Platinum sponsor: Westfield Bank. Gold sponsor: Westfield Gas & Electric. Silver sponsor: FieldEddy Insurance. For more information or to donate a raffle prize, call the Chamber office at (413) 568-1618.

• March 18: March After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., at Noble Primary Care, 57 Union St., Westfield. Bring your business cards and make connections. Refreshments will be served. Tickets: $10 for members, $15 cash for non-members. To register, call Pam at the Chamber office at (413) 568-1618.

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

• March 18: Professional Women’s Chamber Tabletop Expo/Luncheon,
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., at Storrowton Tavern, Carriage House, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. Featuring Tracy Noonan of Wicked Good Cupcakes and contestant on ABC’s Shark Tank. Reservations are $25 for PWC members, $35 for general admission. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com.

YOUNG PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY OF GREATER SPRINGFIERLD
www.springfieldyps.com

• March 14: 2015 YP Cup Dodgeball Tournament, at Springfield College, 263 Alden St., Springfield. To register a team (up to eight players, two must be of the opposite sex ) or an individual, visit springfieldyps.com/2015-dodgeball-individual-registration-form. E-mail questions to [email protected]. Reception to follow at Nathan Bill’s Bar & Grill, 110 Pond Road, Springfield.

• March 19: March Third Thursday, 5-8 p.m., at the Storrowtown Meeting House and Carriage House, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. This event is open to everyone. Invite your friends. Food and cash bar. Admission: free for YPS members, $10 for non-members.

Agenda

Agenda Departments

Speed-networking Event
March 11: Back by popular demand, the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) will hold an afternoon of speed networking on March 11 at Frank Webb’s Bath Center, 145 Performance Blvd., Springfield, followed by an evening of informal networking at its After 5. The combination of events will provide attendees the opportunity to meet new contacts in a formal manner, then continue conversations in an informal and casual setting. The core concept to speed networking is the ‘elevator speech,’ a short summary of an individual, business, organization, product, or service that a person could deliver in the time span of a short elevator ride. Attendees will be divided into groups A and B. Members of each group will be seated across from each other. Each member of Group A will have 60 seconds to give his or her elevator speech to a member of Group B. A bell will ring, signaling the 60-second time is up, and each member of Group B will then get a chance to speak. The facilitator will signal when the 60 seconds are up again, and members of Group A will then move one seat to the right and begin the process again with a new partner. The round-robin format of networking will continue until the event is over. The event begins at 3:30 p.m. with registration and instructions. To accommodate the event, no admittance will be allowed after 3:55 p.m. The event ends at 5 p.m., and the After 5 runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Reservations are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and only members of the ACCGS, Springfield Chamber of Commerce, or East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce are eligible to participate. Reservations include a complimentary ticket to the After 5. Reservations for the After 5 only are $5 for members, $10 for general admission. The After 5 is open to the general public. Reservations may be made online and in advance at www.myonlinechamber.com or by contacting Sarah Mazzaferro at [email protected].

New Lecture Series
March 12: BusinessWest and the Healthcare News are pleased to announce a new lecture series presented by Comcast Business. This series of lectures, panel discussions, and presentations will address timely and important business information, and is an ideal opportunity to meet industry leaders and network with area business professionals. The first event in the series, called “Technology Has the Power to Change Healthcare,” will be hosted by La Quinta Inn & Suites, 100 Congress St., Springfield. Panelists include Neil Kudler, vice president and chief medical information officer for Baystate Health; Michael Feld, CEO of VertitechIT and acting chief technology officer of Baystate Health and Lancaster General Hospital; and Delcie Bean IV, CEO, of Paragus Strategic IT. Registration begins at 7:15 a.m., followed by breakfast and networking at 7:30 a.m. and the panel discussion from 8 to 9 a.m. Admission is free, provided by Comcast Business, but RSVP is required by Thursday, March 5. Sign up online at businesswest.com/lecture-series, or call (413) 781-8600, ext. 10, for more information.

Celebrate Springfield Dinner
March 12: DevelopSpringfield will host its fourth annual dinner event in celebration of Springfield and the many accomplishments the community has achieved over the past year, along with exciting new initiatives underway. The event will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. Festivities will include a reception with live music by the Eric Bascom Trio, auction activities, a cash bar, and hors d’oeuvres, followed by dinner, a brief program, and presentations. Platinum sponsors this year are MassMutual Financial Group, Baystate Health, and Health New England. Many other local businesses and organizations are also supporting the organization’s work as sponsors and participants at the event. DevelopSpringfield will once again present its Partner in Progress Award to recognize the outstanding contributions of three individuals toward revitalization in Springfield. Honorees are selected for their leadership and ability to motivate and inspire others. This year’s honorees are Jerald Griffin, co-founder of Harambee and the Stone Soul Festival; Kevin Kennedy, chief development officer for the city of Springfield; and Evan Plotkin, president and owner of NAI Plotkin. In addition to the program and award presentations, greetings will be provided by Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and Jay Ash, newly appointed secretary of the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. All event proceeds will support DevelopSpringfield’s redevelopment initiatives, projects, and programs. More than 450 attendees — including federal, state, and city officials; leaders from the business and nonprofit communities; and local residents — are expected to come together in support of ongoing efforts to advance development and redevelopment projects, stimulate and support economic growth, and expedite the revitalization process within the city. Registration and sponsorship information is available at www.developspringfield.com or by contacting Paige Thayer at (413) 209-8808 or [email protected]. Tickets cost $75 per person, and RSVP is required by Monday, Feb. 23.

PWC Luncheon
March 18: Tracy Noonan, co-owner of Wicked Good Cupcakes, will keynote the Headline Luncheon of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield’s affiliate, the Professional Women’s Chamber (PWC), from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Carriage House at Storrowton Tavern, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield. Noonan and her daughter, Danielle Vilagie, took their Cohasset-based cupcake baking company national after appearing on the ABC hit show Shark Tank. Wicked Good Cupcakes began when the mother-daughter team took cake-decorating classes as a way to spend quality time together. After posting their work online for friends and family, they found themselves being asked to create cupcakes for various events. The demand for their product became so high that they opened their first retail location in Cohasset in October 2011. As the reputation of their product grew, they found themselves getting hundreds of requests to ship their product across the country. However, they could not find a way to effectively ship cupcakes and have them arrive intact and fresh. That’s when they came up for the idea of a cupcake in a jar. Filling jars with freshly baked layers of cake, frosting, and filling, they were able to create a product that would stay fresh up to 10 days without refrigeration and could be easily shipped. The company’s popularity quickly grew, and, in 2013, Noonan and Vilagie appeared on Shark Tank, striking a deal with Boston-based shark Kevin O’Leary of O’Leary Ventures, and expanding their business by more than 600%, including a new retail location in Faneuil Hall in Boston and expanded facilities to handle online orders. In addition to cupcakes, the company’s product line now also includes gluten-free options, as well as pies, cheesecakes, and brownies in a jar, as well as French macaroons. Advance reservations for the luncheon are suggested and cost $25 for PWC members and $35 for general admission. Register online at www.myonlinechamber.com or by e-mailing [email protected]. PWC members who are season-pass holders must pre-register for the event by emailing [email protected].

‘Acting Skills for Real Life’
March 19 to April 16: The Division of Graduate and Continuing Education at Westfield State University will offer a class called “Acting Skills for Real Life: How to Connect and Communicate” on Thursday nights, March 19 through April 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. Students will learn about basic acting skills and theories, and how they can be applied to everyday situations such as job interviews and social settings, in addition to performances and public speaking. Course content includes vocal, movement, and imagination warmups and theatre games; improvisations around a specific set of circumstances, including real-life situations and role reversal; developing stage presence; and, if the class chooses, rehearsal and class performance of a brief scene or monologue as a rehearsed reading or ‘off book.’ The course will be taught by Nadia Creamer, who has a long career as a performer and a teacher of performing arts. Creamer was co-artistic director of Impulse Theatre and Dance for 28 years in New York, where she received more than 60 grants for her work. She was also a faculty member at New York University, Russell Sage, College of St. Rose, and Columbia-Greene Community College. The cost of this course is $80. Registration will be accepted until the first night of class. For more information and to register, contact Brandon Fredette at (413) 572-8033 or [email protected].

Mini-Medical School
March 19 to May 7: Baystate Medical Center’s Mini-Medical School, which begins its spring session on March 19, will give area residents a reason to come out of hibernation from the long, cold, snowy winter and join others interested in the expanding field of medicine. Mini-Medical School program is an eight-week health education series featuring a different aspect of medicine each week. Classes this spring will include sessions on various medical topics, such as surgery, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, pathology, and several others. Many of the ‘students,’ who often range in age from 20 to 70, participate due to a general interest in medicine and later find that many of the things they learned over the semester are relevant to their own lives. The goal of the program, offered in the hospital’s Chestnut Conference Center, is to help members of the public make more informed decisions about their healthcare while receiving insight on what it is like to be a medical student — minus the tests, interviews, and admission formalities. Each course is taught by medical-center faculty who explain the science of medicine without resorting to complex terms. Baystate Medical Center is the Western Campus of Tufts University School of Medicine and is the region’s only teaching hospital. All classes are held Thursday nights starting at 6 p.m. and run until 8 or 9 p.m., depending on the night’s topic. No basic science knowledge is needed to participate. Each participant is required to attend a minimum of six out of eight classes in order to receive a certificate of completion. Tuition is $95 per person and $80 for Senior Class and Spirit of Women members. Register for the spring semester of Mini-Medical School by calling (800) 377-4325. For more information, visit www.baystatehealth.org/minimed.

Difference Makers
March 19: The sixth annual Difference Makers award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Difference Makers is a program, launched in 2009, that recognizes groups and individuals that are, as the name suggests, making a difference in this region. The class of 2015 — Katelynn’s Ride, MassMutual Financial Services, Judy Matt, Valley Venture Mentors, and the new ownership group of the Student Prince and the Fort — was profiled in the Feb. 9 issue. Tickets cost $60 per person, and reserved tables of 10 are available. To order tickets, call (413) 781-8600, ext. 100, or e-mail [email protected].

Stronger Businesses Program
March 20: The Stronger Businesses Program will take place at the Business Growth Center at Springfield Technology Park. Designed for business owners who are focused on growth and want to take a fresh look at their markets, revenues, and operations, this workshop meets for five mornings over a seven-week period and includes two private technical-assistance sessions, one price for up to three people per company, and peer-mentoring sessions over breakfast. “It is specifically designed not to be Business 101,” said Karen Utgoff, co-founder and facilitator of the program. “The series emphasizes active learning and immediate application of specific tools and techniques to gain fresh perspective and identify opportunities and challenges, with the goal of turning those insights into actionable steps.” Added Laurie Breitner, the program’s other co-founder and facilitator, “we were gratified to learn from participants in earlier sessions that they found the program very useful, and all reported that they had improved their businesses and made well-defined plans for future growth.” The Business Growth Center has again received a grant from the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp. to support the Stronger Businesses Program. Business owners from underserved communities are particularly encouraged to attend. Additional information about this and other programs is available at www.businessgrowthcenter.org/seminars-workshops or by contacting Mary Marquez, assistant program manager, at [email protected] or (413) 355-5680.

High-speed Rail Discussion
March 24: The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield (ACCGS) will present a Pastries, Politics, and Policy program called “Riding the Rails: High-speed Rail Service from Springfield to Boston,” from 8 to 9 a.m. at the TD Bank Conference Center, 1441 Main St., Springfield. State Sen. Eric Lesser and Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), will discuss Lesser’s recently filed feasibility bill requiring the Mass. Department of Transportation to conduct a study on the viability of high-speed rail access between Springfield and Boston. They will also address the need for this service and how it can positively impact Western Mass. economies. While running for Senate, high-speed rail was the top priority in Lesser’s campaign platform, and, since being elected, has worked extensively on this issue. Brennan is an advocate for the high-speed east-west rail and, with the PVPC, is involved heavily in preparation for its possible implementation. The program cost is $15 for chamber members, $25 for general admission. For more information, contact Sarah Mazzaferro at [email protected] or (413) 755-1313.

Not Just Business as Usual
April 30: The Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) Foundation’s Not Just Business as Usual (NJBAU) event is one of the premiere networking events for business leaders in Western Mass. This annual celebration, in its sixth year, is a celebration of innovative thinking which gives participants the opportunity to learn from business experts while raising significant funding for the STCC WORKS scholarship program. The event will be held at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. A cocktail and networking reception will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m., with dinner and the keynote speaker, Google Engineering Director Steve Vinter, to follow from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Vinter has overseen the growth of Google’s Cambridge site from 15 software engineers in 2007 to more than 900 today. He is responsible for developing digital-publishing products such as Google eBooks, Google Play Newsstand, and Play for Education, and has over 20 years of industry experience working in the Boston area, focusing on building products and services for hundreds of millions of users of mobile and cloud computing. He also is the co-founder of MassCAN, a partnership of organizations which collaborate to inspire and educate students in Massachusetts to learn computing and prepare them to lead and innovate the future economy, which will be driven by computer technology. This year, NJBAU will feature interactive workstations featuring the STCC Mobile SIM and Engineering program. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are now available. Tickets are $100 each, and sponsorships begin at $1,500. For additional information or to become a sponsor, contact Christina Tuohey, STCC director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations, at (413) 755-4475 or [email protected]. To purchase tickets online, visit www.stcc.edu/njbau.

40 Under Forty
June 18: The ninth annual 40 Under Forty award program, staged by BusinessWest, will be held at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House. Details on the event, which honors the region’s most accomplished and civic-minded professionals under age 40, will be published in upcoming issues. The class of 2015 will be revealed and profiled in the April 20 issue.

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
Brenda Cruz v. Carrington Property Services and Frank and Priscilla Schissel
Allegation: Negligent property maintenance causing slip and fall: $4,478
Filed: 1/23/15

FRANKLIN SUPERIOR COURT
Melissa C. Hubert v. Starbucks Corp. d/b/a Starbucks Coffee Co.
Allegation: Plaintiff ingested broken pieces of a thermometer which had been blended into her drink, causing significant personal injury: $4,728.30
Filed: 12/17/14

GREENFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Federated Mutual Insurance Co. v. Green River Circle Sales Inc., f/k/a Green River Holding Co. Inc.
Allegation: Money due for insurance services: $8,250
Filed: 12/10/14

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Direct Energy Business Marketing, LLC assignee of Hess Corp. v. DLP Hospitality, LLC d/b/a Clarion Hotel and Conference Center
Allegation: Unpaid bills for delivery of natural gas: $28,071.64
Filed: 1/23/15

Unifirst Corp. v. Avax Technologies Inc.
Allegation: Non-payment of goods and services and breach of contract: $56,200.68
Filed: 1/30/15

PALMER DISTRICT COURT
American Express Bank, FSB v. Fresh Cuts by Toni Inc. and Toni Marcus
Allegation: Failure to pay money due: $5,145.77
Filed: 1/15/15

Adelino Francisco v. Oak Tree Inn Inc.
Allegation: Negligent maintenance of property, causing trip and fall: $35,000+
Filed: 12/31/14

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
Jany Lopez, as parent and guardian of minor, Hansel Lopez v. Walmart Stores East, L.P
Allegation: Minor was in a Walmart store when a ball rack fell, striking the minor on the forehead, causing injury: $7,500
Filed: 1/5/2015

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]

Fresh Outlook

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker was the keynote speaker at the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield’s annual Outlook luncheon on Feb. 27 at the MassMutual Center. He hit on many points during his address to the more than 800 business and civic leaders gathered, including a need to close the skills gap impacting the state’s employers and the appointment of a task force to address the state’s opioid-addition crisis.

Springfield Symphony Orchestra Announces Interim Leadership

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) announced that Peter Salerno will return to the post of executive director for an interim period as the board of trustees begins a nationwide search for permanent leadership.

Salerno, a local business leader and long-time member of the orchestra’s board of trustees, served in this capacity prior to the hiring of outgoing Executive Director Audrey Szychulski. In January of this year, Szychulski announced her acceptance of a new position with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, leaving the Springfield Symphony Orchestra with enhanced sponsorship and a strengthened business plan.

Salerno expressed his enthusiasm in providing support to Maestro Kevin Rhodes and SSO staff. As a returning executive director and long-time resident of the Pioneer Valley, he brings a deep knowledge of the regional market and the caliber of programming the orchestra’s audience expects.

“Our mission is to make sure that our sponsors, donors, and single-ticket attendees all have the same high expectations as we do when they walk into Symphony Hall,” said Salerno. “And the Springfield Symphony Orchestra has the musical talent and excellent support staff to fulfill that mission.”

SSO President John Chandler also voiced his support for Salerno’s appointment during this interim period. “We are very pleased to have Peter join us again in this capacity. He is already fully up to speed as we look forward to announcing our fabulous 72nd-season program.”

Rhodes echoed Chandler’s enthusiasm. “I am delighted beyond words that Peter Salerno will once again guide the administrative and business side of the orchestra’s operations. He brings decades of leadership experience and business savvy to all that he does — as well as a good humor. The upcoming ’15-’16 season promises to be a knockout year … and we’ve had a great stroke of luck to have Peter once again joining us.”

In addition to serving on the orchestra’s board of trustees, Salerno teaches at Bay Path University and Clark University, serves as Finance chair of the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee, and is lead consultant for Management Solutions, LLC. He looks forward to bringing his decades of business experience to his position with the symphony.

In the upcoming months, the SSO board of trustees will oversee a nationwide search for a permanent executive director, with the goal of having that individual in place by early fall 2015, as the symphony enters the beginning of its 72nd season.

Holyoke Chamber’s St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast Set for March 18

HOLYOKE — The St. Patrick’s Business Breakfast of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce will be held Wednesday, March 18 at 7:30 a.m. at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House.

Event sponsors are PeoplesBank and Holyoke Mall at Ingleside. A full Irish breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m. Attorney John Driscoll of Resnic, Beauregard, Waite and Driscoll will serve as the greeter. Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse will kick off the program with a special St. Patrick’s Day welcome. The Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade, to be held on March 22, will once again be in the spotlight, along with the Grand Colleen, the Parade Committee, and all award winners.

Also recognized will be the chamber’s new members presented by the Lucky Charm sponsor, Easthampton Savings Bank: Baystate Restoration Group; the Gardens of Wilbraham; Holyoke Hummus Co.; Mont Marie Rehabilitation & Health Care; Deana Prest, PHR; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampden County; D&P Business Services Inc.; and Mel’s Restaurant. Guests will have an opportunity to purchase Luck of the Irish Raffle tickets, St. Patrick’s Day Road Race ornaments, and Holyoke shamrock hats.

The public may purchase tickets at an early-bird special at $30 each until March 13 and $40 thereafter for non-members. Tickets may be obtained in advance by contacting the chamber office at (413) 534-3376 or by ordering online at holyokechamber.com. Reservations are required.

MassMutual Recognized for Ethical Business Practices

SPRINGFIELD — Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. announced that it has again been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company, the second consecutive year MassMutual has received the honor.

In 2014, MassMutual was the first mutual company in the life-insurance-industry category to be honored with this distinction. This year, the company remains the only mutual named World’s Most Ethical in the life-insurance-industry category.

“Being named a World’s Most Ethical Company again this year is an honor that reflects our culture of ethics and integrity that is core to who we are as a company,” said Roger Crandall, chairman, president, and CEO of MassMutual. “For generations, our policyowners and customers have placed their trust in us, and we are proud of our employees and financial professionals who demonstrate these values through helping people secure their future and protect the ones they love.”

The World’s Most Ethical Company designation recognizes those organizations that have had a material impact on the way business is conducted by fostering a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the company. “At MassMutual, this distinction validates the high value we place in our organization on ethical business standards, practices, and governance,” said Crandall.

The World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient (EQ) framework, developed over years of research to provide a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent, and standardized way. To determine its World’s Most Ethical Company list, Ethisphere scores companies in five different categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%), and leadership, innovation, and reputation (10%).

“The World’s Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance. These companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership and understand that creating an ethical culture and earning the World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition involves more than just an outward-facing message or a handful of senior executives saying the right thing,” said Ethisphere CEO Timothy Erblich. “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global workforce from the top down. We congratulate everyone at MassMutual for this extraordinary achievement.”

The full list of the 2015 World’s Most Ethical Companies can be found at ethisphere.com/worlds-most-ethical/wme-honorees.

Doing Business as Certificates

DBA Certificates Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of February 2015.

AGAWAM

Auto Paint Motors
1039 Springfield St.
Moe M. Borhot

Feeding Hills Public Market
634 Springfield St.
Hemal Batteriwala

Mitteneague Enterprises
18 Valentine Terrace
Steven Atkinson

PDK Associates
37 White Oaks
Paul Koetsch

The Pet Agree
1 South End Bridge Circle
Dominic Scavotto

The Vape Spot
525 Springfield St.
Richard Johnson

CHICOPEE

AMF Chicopee Lanes
291 Burnett Road
Timothy Joly

Continental Beauty Salon
290 East St.
Hanna Dzierzgowski

D & D Sales and Auctioneering
815 McKinstry Ave.
Donald Perusse

Digital Vision 1
54 Truro St.
Adam Warzybok

L.E. Bolcher Inc.
95 West St.
Edward Housh

Mr. Cone
1048 Granby Road
Joseph Coelho

Serenity Salon & Spa
472 Burnett Road
Laurie Kareta

Spring Real Estate
97 Woodcrest Circle
Sheila Spring

Universal Products of Poland
234 Exchange St.
Maria Stafinski

Walz Home Improvement
33 Grattan St.
Timothy Walz

Western Mass Rebels
73 Narragansett Blvd.
Luis DeJesus

Willamansett Center West
546 Chicopee St.
David Ianacone

GREENFIELD

Alber Hearing Services
489 Bernardston Road
Lisa Alber

Citizens Investment Services
89 French King Highway
Richard McClendon

Fit Nation
298 Federal St.
Megan T. Earle

Franklin St. Barbers
34 Bank Row
Steve Prondecki

HOLYOKE

Aunty’s Market
539 Pleasant St.
Mohinder Grelval

Baystate Comfort Heating & Cooling
134 Sky View Terrace
James Lapointe

Providence Ministries for the Needy
51 Hamilton St.
William Labroad

Stop & Go
399 Hillside Ave.
Rajendera Modi

PALMER

Griswold Glass & Aluminum
1184 Park St.
Jeffrey Griswold

Walnut Street Café Inc.
8 Walnut St.
Doris Theodore

SPRINGFIELD

Fabulous Cuts Barber Shop
363 Boston Road
Joe C. Long

Grace Fellowship Sanctuary
33 Peer St.
Kelly Jones

IPC Healthcare of Massachusetts
819 Worcester St.
Adam Singer

J.A.V. Home Improvement
302 Bay St.
Juan A. Velez

Jorge Movie Production
1145 Liberty St.
Jorge Rafael

K. Duran Enterprises
19 St. James Ave.
Kelvinson Duran

Kuhn Services and Landscape
181 Garland St.
William J. Kuhn

M.R.L.R. Property Maintenance
112 State St.
Mark R. Larose

MassMutual Insurance
603 Wilbraham Road
Haq Zahoor

Mike Shepard Remodeling
191 Navajo Road
Michael G. Shepard

Miss Latina Western Massachusetts
46 Redland St.
Jennifer Rodriguez

Mr. Gordon’s Landscaping
119 Quincy St.
Eric Gordon

Nature’s Way
301 Longhill St.
Daniel Atkins

Page Blvd Bottle and Can
233 Page Blvd.
Duc Truong

Palazzo Café
1350 Main St.
Luisa Cardaropoli

The Landlocked Dog
11 Cooper St.
Ulrike D. Colonna

Tony Famous Barber Shop
1153 Main St.
Dino Isotti

WESTFIELD

Creative Critters and Crafts
24 Northwest Road
Cheryl Cote Albert

Grouse Gunner Guides
17 Leaview Dr.
Sean Searles

Plantcycled
19 Lockhouse Road
Ashley Stebbins

Quality Ink and Toner
154 Wild Flower Circle
Jeffrey Lavoine

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Avis Budget
2161 Riverdale St.
Matt Rettura

Bath Crafters
176 Labelle St.
James E. Belle-Isle

DA Services
207 Morgan Road
Brynn M. Demas

Galeria Barbershop
715 Main St.
Enrique Hernandez

IVS Transportation
1506 Westfield St.
Ivan Shabayer

M & M Jewels
52 Irving St.
Mildred Ronghi

Mario’s Shoe Service
211 Elm St.
Mario Cardinale

Santana’s Kung-Fu Studio
452 Main St.
Maria E. Santana

Total Women’s Health Care
46 Daggett Dr.
Aleli L. Villanueva

Incorporations

Departments Incorporations

Incorporations were not available at press time. They will be printed in the next edition of BusinessWest.

Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin Lawyers to Speak at REBA Seminar

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield-based law firm Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. announced that attorneys James Sheils and Steven Weiss were invited to speak to the Real Estate Bar Assoc. (REBA) of Massachusetts today, March 10, regarding a complex area of the law, intercreditor agreements.

REBA members include lenders, buyers, sellers, owners, landlords, and tenants — all of whom have a vested interest in understanding the financial responsibilities and rights of the commercial real-estate market. Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin was recognized as a leader of business, finance, and real-estate law within the Commonwealth and invited to share expertise at the seminar in Boston.

“It’s not unusual for a borrower to have loan relationships from several lenders,” said Sheils, who concentrates his practice in commercial finance law, creditors’ rights, and banking law. For example, the senior lender could be a bank that is supplemented by a junior lender, such as a government agency, that provides advanced funding for a particular project. “Frequently, both loans are secured by the same property [or collateral] of the borrower. When that occurs, an intercreditor agreement is often required by the senior lender.”

Intercreditor agreements confirm the rights and liabilities of each creditor, or lender, and their impact on the other creditors. Drafted properly, they prevent confusing and often inefficient processes of exercising lenders’ rights should a borrower’s financial condition deteriorate.

“Intercreditor agreements often include rights for the junior lender to buy out the senior lender’s claims and liens if the borrower declares bankruptcy, but there is uncertainty in the extent to which intercreditor agreements are enforceable in bankruptcy cases,” said Weiss, who concentrates his practice in commercial and consumer bankruptcy, reorganization, and litigation.

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies Departments

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

Amsden, Sherry Jean
81 Sessions Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Andras, John
Andras, Kathleen B.
82 Birchland Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/05/15

Barton, Jordan Lee
27 Monument Valley Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/12/15

Bates, Christopher D.
Bates, Colleen M.
69 Hillcrest St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/09/15

Brazier, Alaine R
47 Whittlesey Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/06/15

Chiavacci, Lynn
a/k/a Reese, Lynn C.
27 Monument Valley Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/12/15

Dougherty, Tamera L.
a/k/a Neil, Tamera
a/k/a Seddon, Tamera
6 Stephanie Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Ferrero, Donald J.
66 Partridge Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/12/15

Flecher, Rosemary
30 Green St.
Monson, MA 01057
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/06/15

Fournier, Jamie E.
a/k/a Tylunas, Jamie E.
8 Old Stage Road
West Hatfield, MA 01088
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/06/15

Franchere, Niki L.
24 Lemuel Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/13/15

Gallant, Brenda J.
225 College St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/06/15

Gomes, Aurora F.
26 Wilno Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Gregori, Molly E.
P.O. Box 60352
Longmeadow, MA 01116
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/11/15

Hall, Danielle S.
P.O. Box 128
Russell, MA 01071
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/30/15

Hebert, Scott A.
Hebert, Deborah L.
a/k/a Antonuzzo, Deborah
P.O. Box 418
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Hollister, Gary M.
Hollister, Linda A.
191 Gilbert Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/10/15

Johnson, Oscar L.
8 Grout Circle
Millers Falls, MA 01349
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Lafleche, Nicole Marie
a/k/a Rumrill, Nicole M.
398 Acrebrook Dr.
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/12/15

Langevin, Marc W.
Marion-Langevin, Rebecca G.
914 McKinstry Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Malaquias, Caroline R.
22 Savoy Place
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/07/15

Manning, Michael J.
Manning, Carolyn M.
27 Shoemaker Lane
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/13/15

Montes, Daisy
49 Palmer Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/13/15

Mulligan, Tracy
99 Alfred Circle
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/11/15

Nuhn, John Matthew
36 Lyman Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/06/15

O’Neil, Joan L.
12 Randall St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/02/15

O’Shaughnessy, Michael D.
O’Shaughnessy, Wendy A.
Box 481
Brimfield, MA 01010
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/09/15

Padgett, Travis W.
Padgett, Holly A.
139 Eagle St.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/06/15

Perez, Robert
10 Bruce St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/08/15

Pidgin, Richard J.
53 Chickering St.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/11/15

Rivet, Amy Eileen
775 Springfield St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/06/15

Rodriguez, Roberto
7 Worthy St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 02/02/15

Rose, Vanessa R.
a/k/a Greco, Vanessa Renee
661 Mill St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/12/15

Sabin, Greg C.
520 Cold Spring Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/11/15

Smelstor, Dawn M.
21 Fernwood Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/06/15

Smith, O’Neil Barrington
51 Whittier St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/13/15

Snow, Norman E.
6 Ed Holcomb Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/13/15

Stacy, Lori G.
16 Ridgecrest Circle
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/04/15

Stone, Denise M.
157 Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/12/15

The Stone Works
Tile Times
Tom Boynton Handyman
Tom Boynton Carpenter
Boynton, Thomas E.
65 Schoolhouse Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/10/15

Tinker, Patricia M.
a/k/a Tinker, Trisha
233 Upper Church St.
Gilbertville, MA 01031
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Valli, Carolyn E.
4 Caratina Dr.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/03/15

Vaughn, Viki
33 Mercedes St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 01/31/15

Zuccalo, Rhonda J.
a/k/a Wainwright, Rhonda J.
a/k/a Massey, Rhonda
40 Mapleshade Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 02/08/15

Real Estate Transactions

Departments Real Estate

The following real estate transactions (latest available) were compiled by Banker & Tradesman and are published as they were received. Only transactions exceeding $115,000 are listed. Buyer and seller fields contain only the first name listed on the deed.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

BUCKLAND

48 Prospect St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Grinnell Real Estate LLC
Seller: Barry L. Nye
Date: 02/04/15

DEERFIELD

32 Sawmill Plain Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Thaddeus W. Jarowski
Seller: David A. Degon
Date: 02/05/15

GREENFIELD

182 Chapman St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Sherlene N. Taylor
Seller: Paula D. Drown
Date: 02/04/15

280 Deerfield St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Patrick S. Fields
Seller: Keith D. Ranney
Date: 01/29/15

48 Elm St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Gavin R. Lofland
Seller: Shawn A. Coates
Date: 01/30/15

20 Pine St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Douglas T. Patterson
Seller: Joan Ward
Date: 01/30/15

22 Rockland Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Shawn A. Coates
Seller: Cromack, Clayton D., (Estate)
Date: 01/30/15

161 School St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Scott M. Lehman
Seller: Jean P. Migeon
Date: 01/30/15

119 Shelburne Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $213,000
Buyer: Faith Kaemmerlen
Seller: Matthew D. Parody
Date: 01/29/15

123 Shelburne Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $213,000
Buyer: Faith Kaemmerlen
Seller: Matthew D. Parody
Date: 01/29/15

HAWLEY

49 East Road
Hawley, MA 01339
Amount: $380,000
Buyer: James R. Schaefer
Seller: Edwin J. Berliner
Date: 01/26/15

LEYDEN

92 Simon Keets Road
Leyden, MA 01337
Amount: $220,500
Buyer: Erica L. Jensen
Seller: Peter S. Apostoles
Date: 01/30/15

MONTAGUE

58 Central St.
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Allen Fowler
Seller: John W. Doran
Date: 02/03/15

10 Federal St.
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Kimberly R. Niedzwiedz
Seller: Corrine E. Sysun
Date: 01/30/15

7-9 Franklin St.
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $135,500
Buyer: Angela Smith-Laclaire
Seller: Toby A. Holmes
Date: 01/28/15

59 Hillside Road
Montague, MA 01351
Amount: $153,000
Buyer: American General Home Equity
Seller: Scott B. Walsh
Date: 01/26/15

54 Turnpike Road
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Jean Walden
Seller: Patrick McCoy
Date: 01/28/15

NORTHFIELD

37 Pine St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Suzan J. Smith
Seller: William Labombard
Date: 01/30/15

ORANGE

24 Johnson Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $138,000
Buyer: John D. Carey
Seller: Hometown Bank
Date: 02/05/15

47 Shelter St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Joseph A. Easton
Seller: Workers Credit Union
Date: 02/03/15

SHELBURNE

Smead Hill Road
Shelburne, MA 01370
Amount: $162,000
Buyer: Rae Properties LLC
Seller: Susie L. Gribbell
Date: 02/06/15

SHUTESBURY

109 Pratt Corner Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Adam G. Black
Seller: Anjali B. Dziadzio
Date: 01/26/15

SUNDERLAND

85 Old Amherst Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $239,700
Buyer: Joseph J. Delaney
Seller: Walter G. Bielunis
Date: 01/30/15

201 Plumtree Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $362,000
Buyer: Edward H. Kaplan
Seller: William W. Wells
Date: 01/30/15

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

26 Hearthstone Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $298,000
Buyer: David Bolio
Seller: Barry J. Lafoe
Date: 02/03/15

62 Ramah Circle North
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Joseph F. Dempsey
Seller: Andra L. Fountain
Date: 01/30/15

38-40 River St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Eugeniu E. Corja
Seller: Raymond J. Nardi
Date: 01/30/15

632-634 Springfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Hemal K. Batteriwala
Seller: Pravin J. Patel
Date: 02/04/15

709 Suffield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Rouhana C. Boulos
Seller: Michael A. Torcia
Date: 02/06/15

10 Woodside Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Carole J. Calabrese
Seller: Charles A. Calabrese
Date: 01/30/15

CHICOPEE

261 Arcade St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $181,000
Buyer: Allan P. Cote
Seller: Ryan T. Matlasz
Date: 02/05/15

27 Baltic Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Bradley T. Boulanger
Seller: Patricia A. Boulanger
Date: 02/04/15

179 Carew St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $212,000
Buyer: Paul G. Beauchemin
Seller: Robert J. Axner
Date: 01/29/15

16 Chateaugay St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Wieslaw Macko
Seller: Marlin Investments LLC
Date: 01/30/15

16 Davenport St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Aimee Perreault
Seller: Barbara A. Claffey
Date: 02/06/15

4 Dobek Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $219,020
Buyer: Household Finance Corp. 2
Seller: Eugene J. Gay
Date: 02/04/15

21 Dorrance St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Robert Laquerre
Seller: Jamison Quist
Date: 02/03/15

10 Harvey St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $242,300
Buyer: Robert Baron
Seller: Gary S. Toth
Date: 01/29/15

15 Henry St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $122,000
Buyer: Justin A. Bergeron
Seller: Tara M. Abramowicz
Date: 01/30/15

21 Lyman Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Robert F. Majkowski
Seller: Michael W. Dziekan
Date: 02/06/15

68 Marion St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $175,000
Seller: Dorothy B. Swidrak
Date: 01/30/15

48 Mary St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $176,900
Buyer: Carlton F. Crudup
Seller: Martyn Green
Date: 01/30/15

81 Mount Royal St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Yvette Owusu
Seller: Darrel H. Seal
Date: 02/06/15

35 Parkwood Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Jason M. Saletnik
Seller: Gregory S. Schlagel
Date: 01/30/15

91 Sherman Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $182,000
Buyer: Elian A. Marquez
Seller: Yazmin Diaz
Date: 02/04/15

Willimansett Terrace
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Taras Levchyk
Seller: Marilyn Crevier
Date: 02/06/15

EAST LONGMEADOW

56 Avery St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $284,500
Buyer: John W. Foster
Seller: Nu Way Homes Inc.
Date: 01/30/15

80 Braeburn Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Danielle Geoffrion
Seller: Heather J. Champagne
Date: 01/30/15

9 Capri Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $318,006
Buyer: Dino A. Isotti
Seller: Kent Pecoy & Sons Construction
Date: 02/05/15

11 Donamor Lane
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $219,500
Buyer: Gabrielle D. Ploss
Seller: Michael D. Smith
Date: 01/28/15

28 Edmund St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Nu Way Homes Inc.
Seller: Joyce A. Sibley
Date: 02/05/15

60 Highlandview Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $292,500
Buyer: Sean E. Roseburg
Seller: Michael Torcia
Date: 02/06/15

655 North Main St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Ambrose I. Mwea
Seller: Christensen, Ruth E., (Estate)
Date: 02/06/15

499 Somers Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Michael J. Germain
Seller: Shirley J. Hahn
Date: 01/28/15

GRANVILLE

241 North Lane
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Adrian R. Bosley
Seller: Holly N. Doran
Date: 01/30/15

HAMPDEN

12 Andrew Circle
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $377,000
Buyer: Gary C. Roy
Seller: Stanley Czaplicki
Date: 01/29/15

HOLLAND

3 Lakeridge Dr.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Robert L. Jones
Seller: Daniel G. Lanza
Date: 02/06/15

HOLYOKE

42 Berkshire St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $117,000
Buyer: Josue Arroyo
Seller: Rafael Arroyo
Date: 01/30/15

73 Brookline Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $125,500
Buyer: Lindsey G. Brynjolfsson
Seller: Lee A. Bourdon
Date: 01/30/15

3-9 Brown Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: Makkah LLC
Seller: BDMG LLC
Date: 01/30/15

379 Linden St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Debra Stosz
Seller: Michael M. Powell
Date: 02/06/15

45 Sterling Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Thomas Drohan
Seller: Robert T. Clayton
Date: 01/30/15

32 Valley Hts.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $142,800
Buyer: Melissa S. Stearns
Seller: Thomas J. Ginley
Date: 01/30/15

LONGMEADOW

113 Albemarle Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: David M. Morneau
Seller: Allen Sommer
Date: 01/30/15

9 Caravelle Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Charlotte Zeller
Seller: Shuo Xu
Date: 02/04/15

38 Chiswick St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $182,500
Buyer: Scott Humble
Seller: Howes, Arlene H., (Estate)
Date: 02/03/15

45 Exeter Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $470,000
Buyer: Jonathan R. Shayne
Seller: Wilson C. Mertens
Date: 01/30/15

45 Harwich Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $405,000
Buyer: Matthew B. Woodfield
Seller: Daniel L. Landry
Date: 01/29/15

61 Pinewood Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Sotiris Stamou
Seller: Anne S. Robinson
Date: 02/05/15

249 Redfern Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Buyer: Karl Schuhlen
Seller: Brian M. Axler
Date: 01/29/15

40 Sunset Lane
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Clifford L. Lagassie
Date: 01/28/15

36 Warwick St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $288,000
Buyer: John M. Beattie
Seller: Katherine T. Lavallee
Date: 02/05/15

LUDLOW

19 Barre Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Stephane L. Cloutier
Seller: Vestal, Concepcion, (Estate)
Date: 01/30/15

1623 Center St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $273,000
Buyer: Edwin Torres
Seller: Stephen E. Alspach
Date: 02/05/15

483 Chapin St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Eric R. Pollander
Seller: AMP Real Estate Group LLC
Date: 02/06/15

211 Holyoke St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $178,000
Buyer: Laura J. Howland
Seller: Lori A. Braga
Date: 01/29/15

88 Kirkland Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $176,700
Buyer: Karen Szlosek-Welch
Seller: Kirkland RT
Date: 01/30/15

48 Lehigh St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Victoria C. Baines
Seller: Manuel C. Vitorino
Date: 02/06/15

250 Miller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Nicole V. Libiszewski
Seller: Bruschi, Karen M., (Estate)
Date: 01/28/15

126 Reynolds St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $218,000
Buyer: Matthew D. Wrisley
Seller: Christopher C. Gregoire
Date: 02/04/15

133 Shawinigan Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Windsor Locks FCU
Seller: Laura M. Castoe
Date: 02/03/15

153 Whitney St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Kristie L. Learned
Seller: Paula L. Moretti
Date: 01/28/15

MONSON

23-1/2 Mechanic St.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Deborah F. McGorry
Seller: Keith L. Sisco
Date: 01/30/15

51 Wales Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Andrew P. Beaulieu
Seller: Darryl R. Smart
Date: 01/28/15

MONTGOMERY

1 Jason Road
Montgomery, MA 01085
Amount: $284,000
Buyer: Matthew W. Freniere
Seller: Jeremy Horning
Date: 01/30/15

PALMER

2141 Baptist Hill Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Richard D. Carey
Seller: John B. Foley
Date: 01/30/15

12 Peterson Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $286,000
Buyer: Erik T. Kaiser
Seller: Stone Bear LLC
Date: 01/30/15

RUSSELL

51 Highland Ave.
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $206,000
Buyer: Lee M. Kozikowski
Seller: Duane P. Desilets
Date: 01/30/15

SPRINGFIELD

350 Abbott St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $171,500
Buyer: Octavia D. Peterson
Seller: Ryan L. Mayhew
Date: 01/28/15

1237-1239 Berkshire Ave.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Yellowbrick Property LLC
Seller: Yellowbrick Property LLC
Date: 02/03/15

130 Berkshire St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Northeast Center For Youth
Seller: Roger A. Gallagher
Date: 02/04/15

123 Bronson Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Rana Morton
Seller: Janet A. Crosier
Date: 01/30/15

113 Canton St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Beverly R. Mulvaney
Seller: David Cross
Date: 02/04/15

851 Carew St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Gary W. Keefe
Seller: Greenleaf Holdings Inc.
Date: 01/26/15

336 Central St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Karla Iborty
Seller: Viva Development LLC
Date: 01/30/15

84-86 Chapin Terrace
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Caraballo Realty LLC
Seller: Jose E. Llorens
Date: 02/04/15

40 Delmore St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $126,000
Buyer: John A. Lawton
Seller: Andre Houle
Date: 01/29/15

18 Denver St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Brandie L. Seymour
Seller: Tyrome M. Witherspoon
Date: 01/30/15

1157-1169 East Columbus Ave.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $267,000
Buyer: 180 Redevelopment LLC
Seller: Theresa Dangelantonio
Date: 02/03/15

961 East Columbus Ave.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Robert D. Ober
Seller: Sandon Realty LLC
Date: 02/05/15

43-45 Eagle St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $144,000
Buyer: Steven Al-Husseini
Seller: Little Eagle LLC
Date: 02/06/15

8 Fenway Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $144,900
Buyer: Kenneth Fontanez
Seller: Taylor McDonald
Date: 02/02/15

28 Freeman Terrace
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $118,466
Buyer: Bayview Loan Servicing
Seller: Herminio Perez
Date: 01/26/15

33 Homestead Ave.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Daniel Delaney
Seller: Tatyana N. Bocharnikova
Date: 01/30/15

49 Lexington St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $175,403
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Jose A. Rodriguez
Date: 02/02/15

79 Linnell St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $152,400
Buyer: David J. Abbott
Seller: Tammy E. Robinson
Date: 02/05/15

164 Lumae St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $153,900
Buyer: Steven F. Desantis
Seller: Theodore H. Knee
Date: 01/30/15

816-828 Main St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $228,000
Buyer: 816 Main Street RT
Seller: James F. Fenton
Date: 02/05/15

45 Malden St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $121,035
Buyer: AHAP LLC
Seller: JJS Capital Investment
Date: 01/26/15

90-92 Marlborough St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $124,900
Buyer: A To Z Property Mgmt. & Renovation
Seller: Hallerin Realty LLP
Date: 01/30/15

117 Middle St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Jovany Pinto
Seller: John H. Westcott
Date: 01/30/15

67-69 Norfolk St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Tessa T. Innis
Seller: CTL Realty LLC
Date: 01/28/15

15 Oakhurst St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Angel M. Bermudez
Seller: Milton B. Curry
Date: 01/30/15

33 Redden St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Ruth Roldan
Seller: Anne K. Ambrose
Date: 01/28/15

17 Spruceland Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Michael J. Fleming
Seller: Terrence O’Connell
Date: 02/03/15

51 Stratford Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Luis D. Burgos
Seller: William Raleigh
Date: 01/29/15

795 Sumner Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $157,000
Buyer: Veronica R. Garcia
Seller: William A. Dowell
Date: 01/30/15

50 Warehouse St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $800,000
Buyer: Electro Term Inc.
Seller: Center For Human Development Inc.
Date: 02/03/15

49 Washington Road
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $193,250
Buyer: Rosa M. Lopez
Seller: Stephen G. Smith
Date: 01/30/15

18 Wesson St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $118,000
Buyer: David Assarian
Seller: William P. Shamleffer
Date: 01/30/15

65 Westbrook Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $143,000
Buyer: Brenda I. Morales
Seller: Raco, Shirley E., (Estate)
Date: 02/04/15

77 Wilcox St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $133,000
Buyer: 180 Redevelopment LLC
Seller: Theresa Dangelantonio
Date: 02/03/15

138-140 Yale St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Tamara A. Williams
Seller: SAW Construction LLC
Date: 02/02/15

SOUTHWICK

168 College Hwy.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $148,000
Buyer: Keith J. Hebig
Seller: Giuseppe Scuderi
Date: 02/04/15

22 Ferrin Dr.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $324,200
Buyer: Charles J. Allessio
Seller: Kenneth Haar
Date: 01/29/15

69 Lakeview St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Ana Banari
Seller: US Bank
Date: 01/26/15

51 Mort Vining Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $459,000
Buyer: Brian M. Iserman
Seller: Urban J. Janssen
Date: 02/06/15

WALES

163 Monson Road
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $226,706
Seller: Joseph W. Keifer
Date: 01/26/15

WEST SPRINGFIELD

181 Doty Circle
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $307,500
Buyer: Gill Brothers LLC
Seller: Sergei Starosielski
Date: 02/03/15

28 Lombra Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $168,000
Buyer: Livingstone LLC
Seller: Cella, Yvonne F., (Estate)

72 Lower Mass Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $217,000
Buyer: Laura Scutt-Drohan
Seller: Ronald Raffenetti
Date: 01/30/15

346 Morgan Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $149,000
Buyer: Mykola Mevshyy
Seller: Lesli McCellan
Date: 02/02/15

535 Piper Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Sergey F. Gavel
Seller: Kozak, Robert C., (Estate)
Date: 02/03/15

WESTFIELD

23 Bush St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: George Alvarez
Seller: Jason D. Desclos
Date: 01/28/15

48 Court St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Liquori Realty LLC
Seller: Douglas Clinic Inc.
Date: 01/28/15

95 Court St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: T&S Holdings LLC
Seller: Cynthia E. Doel
Date: 01/30/15

560 East Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $2,300,000
Buyer: Westfield Bank
Seller: WBGLA Of Westfield MA LLC
Date: 02/06/15

587 East Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $2,300,000
Buyer: Westfield Bank
Seller: WBGLA Of Westfield MA LLC
Date: 02/06/15

31 Floral Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $129,000
Buyer: Tyler E. Hildack
Seller: FNMA
Date: 01/30/15

172 Holyoke Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Adam E. Abramowicz
Seller: Michelle Meyer
Date: 01/30/15

31 Kellogg St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $132,500
Buyer: Maria Malancea
Seller: Craig Filiault
Date: 01/30/15

78 Laura Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: James A. Drost
Seller: James K. Mayne
Date: 01/30/15

26 Montgomery St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $132,300
Buyer: Ralph A. Mastello
Seller: Foucher, Elaine V., (Estate)
Date: 01/30/15

14 Southgate Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $218,000
Buyer: Lorraine M. Almeida
Seller: Home Run Properties LLC
Date: 02/03/15

20 Tekoa Terrace
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Timothy K. Derrig
Seller: Deirdre Johnson
Date: 01/30/15

43 Willow Brook Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $323,000
Buyer: Duane P. Desilets
Seller: Lee M. Kozikowski
Date: 01/30/15

WILBRAHAM

41 Brainard Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $227,650
Buyer: Sara M. Bronner
Seller: Justin Kochanowski
Date: 02/06/15

75 Cherry Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $340,240
Buyer: Neil W. Bennett
Seller: 2301 Boston Road LLC
Date: 01/30/15

2 Cliffside Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Kaitlin S. Romaniak
Seller: O’Neil, Agnes T., (Estate)
Date: 01/29/15

2 Leemond St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Michael S. Larson
Seller: Robert F. Pabis
Date: 01/26/15

444 Soule Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $179,000
Buyer: Carianne E. Haluch
Seller: Tamsey, Dorothy M., (Estate)
Date: 01/30/15

553 Springfield St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Scott J. Beeman
Seller: Leslie P. Lohnes
Date: 01/30/15

4 Webster Lane
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $615,000
Buyer: Daniel Chalifour
Seller: Michael J. Thompson
Date: 01/30/15

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

1260 Bay Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $152,500
Buyer: Renata Smith
Seller: Bank Of America
Date: 02/04/15

245 East Hadley Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Edwin E. Cruz
Seller: Mary E. Dizek
Date: 01/30/15

East Leverett Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: MKM Investments LLC
Seller: Barry L. Roberts
Date: 01/30/15

27 Greenleaves Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $214,200
Buyer: Sarah J. Emans
Seller: Amhad Development Corp.
Date: 01/26/15

BELCHERTOWN

248 Amherst Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $129,000
Buyer: Jason Gagnon
Seller: FNMA
Date: 01/30/15

240 Barton Ave.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $377,500
Buyer: Oscar A. Martinez
Seller: Christopher M. Buell
Date: 02/06/15

16 Emily Lane
Belchertown, MA 01002
Amount: $421,509
Buyer: Renee E. Drysdale
Seller: JP Builders Inc.
Date: 01/28/15

North Liberty St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Pioneer Valley Custom Homes
Seller: Dudek, Sebastian E., (Estate)
Date: 02/06/15

369 State St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $210,810
Buyer: Bradley M. Marszalkowski
Seller: Scott A. Anderson
Date: 02/02/15

CUMMINGTON

Berkshire Trail
Cummington, MA 01026
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: T&J Stone Properties LLC
Seller: MJW Properties LLC
Date: 01/28/15

EASTHAMPTON

18-20 Arlington St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $194,400
Buyer: FHLM
Seller: Edwin J. Jeliciano
Date: 02/02/15

22 Hannum Brook Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $258,000
Buyer: Stephanie E. Flaherty
Seller: Richard S. Lyman
Date: 02/03/15

55 Holyoke St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $167,547
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Rebecca L. Skubiszewski
Date: 01/30/15

295 Main St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Martha L. Smith
Seller: Lewis, Barbara B., (Estate)
Date: 02/04/15

28 Paul St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $335,500
Buyer: Margaret Kennedy-Nelson
Seller: David Garstka Builders
Date: 01/30/15

75 West St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $149,500
Buyer: Kyle R. Kazunas
Seller: Eleanor J. Lussier
Date: 01/29/15

17 Westview Terrace
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Sigmond A. Wernik LT
Seller: Craig, Jeffrey D., (Estate)
Date: 01/29/15

HADLEY

121 Rocky Hill Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $329,000
Buyer: Pamela A. Mandler
Seller: Jeanne E. Ammon
Date: 01/26/15

NORTHAMPTON

406 Acrebrook Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Jeffrey D. Maciborski
Seller: James F. Natale
Date: 01/28/15

39 Fair St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Stella Pang
Seller: Zewski, Stanley V., (Estate)
Date: 01/30/15

5 Garfield Ave.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $116,660
Buyer: Christopher A. Wolcott
Seller: Pioneer Valley Habitat
Date: 01/29/15

591 Kennedy Road
Northampton, MA 01053
Amount: $386,000
Buyer: Jacqueline M. Urbanovic
Seller: Maureen F. Dwyer
Date: 01/30/15

103 Moser St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $404,815
Buyer: Johanna F. Silva
Seller: Kent Pecoy & Sons Construction
Date: 02/06/15

202 North Main St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Joslad & Associates PC
Seller: Robert G. Cromley
Date: 02/06/15

1163 Westhampton Road
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Michael Baffaro
Seller: Hamelin, Kathryn J., (Estate)
Date: 01/30/15

33 Wilson Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $610,000
Buyer: Kathryn M. Reagan-Talbot
Seller: Aquadro FT
Date: 01/30/15

SOUTH HADLEY

18 Central Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $152,250
Buyer: Blaney Y. Sabbs
Seller: Karen L. Szlosek-Welch
Date: 01/30/15

55 Chestnut Hill Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Timothy J. Parsons
Seller: Richard D. Tufo
Date: 01/30/15

4 Pershing Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $233,000
Buyer: Kerry L. Hussey
Seller: Sheri L. Parsons
Date: 01/30/15

15 Richview Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: Stephen A. Foster
Seller: Jonathan L. Burdick
Date: 01/30/15

14 Riverlodge Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $351,300
Buyer: Daniel J. Pawlowski
Seller: Patrick J. Spring
Date: 02/03/15

SOUTHAMPTON

4 Belanger Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $155,500
Buyer: Joseph Gebo
Seller: Kennedy, James F., (Estate)
Date: 01/29/15

46 Coleman Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Berkshire Omega Corp.
Seller: John J. Marcyoniak
Date: 02/05/15

362 College Hwy.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Matthew R. Boulanger
Seller: Daniel Canning
Date: 01/30/15

7 Nicholas Lane
Southampton, MA 01085
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Anne M. Polatol
Seller: Czelusniak Custom Homes
Date: 02/03/15

Nicholas Lane #6
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $610,436
Buyer: Stanislav Adzigirey
Seller: James F. Boyle
Date: 02/06/15

104 Pomeroy Meadow Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Stacy L. Moran
Seller: Patricia R. Hagelstein

WARE

31 West Main St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $135,900
Buyer: Sarah M. Desroches
Seller: Christiansen FT
Date: 01/29/15

WESTHAMPTON

212 Northwest Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Garth Stevenson
Seller: Jane A. Lattes
Date: 01/26/15

WORTHINGTON

50 River Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $513,000
Buyer: Lisa A. Ouellet
Seller: Mary A. Raynor
Date: 01/26/15

Building Permits

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of March 2015.

AMHERST

308 College Street, LLC
308 College St.
$3,000 — Interior renovations

Shankara Shakti
460 West St.
$3,000 — Interior renovations

CHICOPEE

Asholt Patel
1508 Memorial Dr.
$6,500 — Repairs to building

River Valley Counseling
249 Exchange St.
$10,000 — Interior renovations

GREENFIELD

Baystate Franklin Medical Center
164 High St.
$83,000 — Renovation of radiology room

Donna Pfeffer
220-228 Main St.
$3,500 — New siding

First Church of Christ
110 Federal St.
$12,000 — New roof

Four Rivers Educational Foundation
248 Colrain Road
$10,000 — Interior repairs for water damage

Green River Cemetery Association
56 Wisdom Way
$88,000 — Interior renovations and mechanical improvements

Montague City Road Terminals
34 Montague City Road
$5,000 – Roof work

Somerset Long Term Care, LLC
359 High St.
$10,000 — Interior renovations

Troy Renaud
8 North Circle
$115,000 — Installation of solar panels

LUDLOW

Citizens Bank
33 Center St.
$40,000 — Alterations

SPRINGFIELD

Friendly’s
1809 Boston Road
$13,000 — Kitchen remodel

Mass Mutual
1500 Main St.
$295,000 — 17th floor renovation to 5,900 square feet of office space

Springfield Post Road Corporation
1380 Boston Road
$845,000 — 9,800-square-foot addition to retail plaza

Home After Home

Business of Aging Sections

A chart of the region’s senior living options

Click HERE to download the PDF chart

At a Crossroads