2017 - Page 21 of 43 - BusinessWest

Real Estate Transactions

By BusinessWest Staff July 11, 2017

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

ASHFIELD

69-B Pfersick Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $261,000
Buyer: Luke Meyer
Seller: Elice D. Pieropan INT
Date: 06/05/17

846 West Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $342,000
Buyer: Robert J. Barba
Seller: John Ratte
Date: 06/09/17

CHARLEMONT

56 Vincent Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $158,000
Buyer: Robert W. Sullivan
Seller: Equity T Co.
Date: 06/01/17

COLRAIN

434 Main Road
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $298,000
Buyer: Laurie J. Francis
Seller: Noah Grunberg
Date: 06/08/17

DEERFIELD

14 Conway St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $386,900
Buyer: Budlia LLC
Seller: Malcolm J. Cichy
Date: 05/31/17

46 Old Main St.
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $1,500,000
Buyer: Fenwick LLP
Seller: Andres Galperin
Date: 06/09/17

199 Stillwater Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Timothy F. Viles
Seller: William E. Lewis TR
Date: 06/08/17

ERVING

90 Mountain Road
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Jessica A. St.Amand
Seller: Kahn, Sandra, (Estate)
Date: 06/02/17

39 Swamp Road
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Jason A. Burnett
Seller: Carl G. Svendsen
Date: 06/01/17

GILL

8 Myrtle St.
Gill, MA 01354
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Mauria Sirum
Seller: James T. Deery
Date: 05/30/17

GREENFIELD

890 Bernardston Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Rhiannon M. Thackeray
Seller: Michael Swan
Date: 06/01/17

94 Columbus Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Christopher Guyre
Seller: Richard T. Pelott
Date: 06/02/17

96 Country Club Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Michael B. Hassay
Seller: Stephen J. Simon
Date: 05/31/17

239 Green River Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $179,000
Buyer: Mark A. Maloni
Seller: Alexander R. Lattanzio
Date: 06/01/17

38-46 Greenfield St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $2,019,277
Buyer: Store Master Funding 9
Seller: Store Master Funding 7
Date: 06/07/17

90 Highland Ave.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Bensen
Seller: Dean J. Fusto
Date: 05/31/17

8 Laurel St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $146,300
Buyer: Wilmington Savings
Seller: Michael W. Clarke
Date: 06/08/17

25 Madison Circle
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Annie Clarke
Seller: Amy S. Clarke
Date: 06/02/17

HEATH

101 Route 8A
Heath, MA 01346
Amount: $217,000
Buyer: Maria B. Topitzer
Seller: Janice M. Boudreau
Date: 05/31/17

17 West Main St.
Heath, MA 01346
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Richard Udale
Seller: Lisa D. Rose-Andrews
Date: 05/31/17

LEVERETT

83 Long Plain Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Richard Kassirer
Seller: Shirley J. Nopper
Date: 06/01/17

LEYDEN

376 East Hill Road
Leyden, MA 01337
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Miles P. McCloy
Seller: Mark J. Natale
Date: 06/09/17

MONTAGUE

132 L St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $699,665
Buyer: Pioneer Valley Redevelopment LLC
Seller: Obear Construction Co Inc.
Date: 06/01/17

6 Taylor Heights
Montague, MA 01351
Amount: $313,100
Buyer: Robert I. Shulman
Seller: Philip A. Dumas
Date: 06/05/17

46 Randall Wood Dr.
Montague, MA 01351
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Zaharia Nichita
Seller: Tina L. Palso
Date: 06/02/17

NEW SALEM

10 Jenne Horr Road
New Salem, MA 01355
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Marcia L. Gary
Seller: Pamela Bailey
Date: 05/31/17

NORTHFIELD

79 Caldwell Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $125,968
Buyer: Deutsche Bank
Seller: Silvia Terounzo
Date: 05/30/17

46 Maple St.
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Richard M. St.Clair
Seller: Peter W. Pullen
Date: 06/09/17

148 Wanamaker Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Tyler L. Leroux
Seller: Linda M. Smith
Date: 06/07/17

ORANGE

399 East River St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $162,880
Buyer: Wells Fargo Bank
Seller: Shaun J. Crawford
Date: 05/30/17

188 Holtshire Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $243,000
Buyer: Paul D. Gervais
Seller: Raymond C. Harris
Date: 06/02/17

10 Old South Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Joshua J. Joseph
Seller: Resilient Investments LLC
Date: 06/02/17

313 South Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Michael J. Sabourin
Seller: John Griffiths
Date: 06/09/17

11 Shingle Brook Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: David R. Ciaschini
Seller: O’Donnell, Arline M., (Estate)
Date: 06/08/17

302 Wheeler Ave.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $249,900
Buyer: Kurt Berry
Seller: Brian J. Fournier
Date: 06/09/17

ROWE

32 Shippee Road
Rowe, MA 01367
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: John Rose-Fish
Seller: Jeffrey E. Parent
Date: 05/31/17

SHUTESBURY

74 Pelham Hill Road #O
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: Keren A. Rhodes
Seller: Gregory Briggs
Date: 06/02/17

712 Pratt Corner Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Sharon Weizenbaum
Seller: Michael Lavine
Date: 06/06/17

Pratt Corner Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Sharon Weizenbaum
Seller: John Rowan-Stern
Date: 06/06/17

SUNDERLAND

Russell St.
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Monterey Rose LLC
Seller: Franklin Land Trust Inc.
Date: 06/07/17

WARWICK

12 Chase Hill Road
Warwick, MA 01378
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Brent W. Alderman-Sterste
Seller: Agnes H. Piscopo FT
Date: 06/07/17

WHATELY

345 Haydenville Road
Whately, MA 01093
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Stephen S. Kloc
Seller: Joanne O’Shea
Date: 06/06/17

148 North St.
Whately, MA 01093
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Desharone RET
Seller: John E. Dubois
Date: 05/31/17

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

29 Central St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $199,900
Buyer: Nicolas Vassel
Seller: Noah J. Foint
Date: 06/01/17

250 Colemore St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $217,000
Buyer: Kimberly A. Poulin
Seller: Lucille B. Forgues
Date: 06/09/17

46 Cooper St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Jason A. Kirk
Seller: Maryellen F. Chiariello
Date: 06/09/17

300 Cooper St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $217,500
Buyer: William D. Fairlie
Seller: Elizabeth A. Smith
Date: 05/31/17

70 Forest Hill Road
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Keith Q. Sullivan
Seller: Gary J. Lambert
Date: 05/31/17

44 Greenock St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Alexandr I. Zgerya
Seller: Norman W. Colburn
Date: 06/05/17

33 Halladay Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $248,000
Buyer: Ivan Chebanov
Seller: Frank Grimaldi
Date: 06/09/17

24 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Route 75 Main Street AGA
Seller: Kozah, Hanna, (Estate)
Date: 06/08/17

73 North St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $146,000
Buyer: Vladimir Melnichuk
Seller: Raymond E. Pellerin
Date: 06/06/17

52 Ridgeview Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $306,000
Buyer: Andrea R. Stevenson
Seller: Peter J. Polito
Date: 06/09/17

143 River Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Timothy Murphy
Seller: Patriot Living LLC
Date: 06/09/17

232 Rowley St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $164,000
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Raymond L. Germano
Date: 06/07/17

489 Shoemaker Lane
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Christopher B. Souza
Seller: Lisa Clark
Date: 06/01/17

420 Springfield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $159,900
Buyer: Edna Olowo
Seller: Falcor Homes Inc.
Date: 06/09/17

68 Willow Brook Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $329,500
Buyer: Tanner Bathel
Seller: Marlene A. Christy
Date: 05/30/17

BLANDFORD

170 Otis Stage Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Deborah G. McPhee
Seller: Raymond J. Thibault
Date: 05/31/17

CHICOPEE

107 Beauchamp Terrace
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $174,500
Buyer: Michael Finch
Seller: Jason M. Dufresne
Date: 05/31/17

223 Broadway St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $192,000
Buyer: Andrew S. Lawton
Seller: Coakley Corp.
Date: 05/31/17

521 Broadway St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $244,000
Buyer: Andrew M. Gatzounas
Seller: R2R LLC
Date: 06/09/17

12 Daniel Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $205,250
Buyer: Andrew J. Moore
Seller: Mark J. Hammon
Date: 06/09/17

1036 Granby Road
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Vladimiro Marques
Seller: Lance C. Dolgas
Date: 06/07/17

100 Haven Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Jose T. Aponte
Seller: David C. White
Date: 05/31/17

177 Holyoke Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Christine Humel
Seller: Shawn G. Kelley
Date: 06/02/17

93 Kirby St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Corey Tomlinson
Seller: Alexander M. Los
Date: 06/09/17

105 Lachine St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Krystyna M. Gazda
Seller: Corey R. Tomlinson
Date: 06/09/17

135 Paderewski Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Axel D. Berrios
Seller: Bayview Loan Servicing
Date: 06/08/17

808 Pendleton Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Marissa J. Rogers
Seller: Mark Rogers
Date: 05/30/17

31 Roy St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $189,500
Buyer: John M. Clark
Seller: Mary E. Paradysz
Date: 06/09/17

73 Saint James Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $129,000
Buyer: Maribel Rosario
Seller: Furman, Rose Helen, (Estate)
Date: 06/09/17

24 Saint Anthony St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $227,900
Buyer: Lindsy M. Canuel
Seller: Warren C. Marriott
Date: 05/31/17

14 Sitnik Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $177,000
Buyer: Mariano Rodriguez
Seller: Nunesbertha, (Estate)
Date: 06/02/17

64 Terimar St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Mark C. White
Seller: Judy Dumont
Date: 06/02/17

59 Wayfield Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Diane M. Bessette
Date: 06/07/17

EAST LONGMEADOW

12 Brook St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: James H. Dunnigan
Seller: Richard T. Brown
Date: 05/31/17

250 Chestnut St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Aubrey Neil
Seller: Winston E. Moore
Date: 06/09/17

443 Dwight Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01108
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Brendan J. O’Leary
Seller: Linda A. O’Leary
Date: 06/01/17

154 Elm St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Jack M. Casey
Seller: Zuccala, Rose M., (Estate)
Date: 06/09/17

78 Fernwood Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: David W. Suchcicki
Seller: Olive B. Thompson
Date: 06/05/17

40 Harkness Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Harkness Avenue LLC
Seller: Pham-Nguyen LLC
Date: 06/05/17

213 Mountainview Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $268,900
Buyer: William J. Driscoll
Seller: Derrick D. Driscoll
Date: 06/01/17

164 Parker St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Darryl Taylor
Seller: Lawrence J. Levine
Date: 06/02/17

14 Pine St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Michael P. McManus
Seller: Denise M. Boutin
Date: 06/01/17

592 Prospect St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $423,000
Buyer: Lazaros Yiannos
Seller: Monica M. Bleasius
Date: 06/05/17

357 Somers Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $162,000
Buyer: Brian M. Carey
Seller: Sandra P. Lobik
Date: 06/02/17

58 Speight Arden
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $217,900
Buyer: Douglas E. Girouard
Seller: Gallagher Agency LLC
Date: 06/02/17

6 Townview Circle
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Yi Q. Zhu
Seller: Stephen F. Buzzelle
Date: 06/09/17

HAMPDEN

27 Bennett Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $178,200
Buyer: Michael J. Marion
Seller: Doris D. Kuzminski
Date: 06/06/17

86 Thresher Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Michele L. Strum
Seller: Gregory J. Clewes
Date: 06/05/17

HOLLAND

117 Butterworth Ext.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Alexey Lyashenko
Seller: George Markopoulos
Date: 05/31/17

83 May Brook Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $272,000
Buyer: Paul J. Novinsky
Seller: Tamera A. Reinhart
Date: 05/31/17

30 Pine Tree Dr.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Amanda Rutherford
Seller: Joseph D. Peters
Date: 05/31/17

26 Shore Dr.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Salvatore Carrillo
Seller: Richard W. Schif
Date: 06/09/17

HOLYOKE

78 Bemis Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $278,000
Buyer: Idoia Martinez-DelMozo
Seller: Clifford W. Kelly
Date: 06/08/17

23 Brenan St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Laura E. Carmody
Seller: Michael D. Griffin
Date: 06/08/17

18 Claren Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $299,500
Buyer: Alexandr Brooke-Peterson
Seller: Alison S. Mcalear
Date: 06/08/17

530 County Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Michael D. Griffin
Seller: Troy M. Copeland
Date: 06/08/17

4 Deer Run
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $451,000
Buyer: Christopher P. Roy
Seller: Darlene M. Kubas
Date: 05/31/17

322 Elm St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Lydia E. Vazquez
Seller: Virgen M. Irizarry
Date: 06/01/17

19 Greenwood Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Sara Jones
Seller: Flippin Good Home Buyers
Date: 06/02/17

2 Hawthorne Lane
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $275,400
Buyer: Don H. Oyer
Seller: Frank J. Stearns
Date: 05/30/17

152 Homestead Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $176,000
Buyer: Sarah E. Forfa
Seller: Robert A. Hoeppner
Date: 05/31/17

7 Longfellow Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $384,000
Buyer: Timothy Noonan
Seller: Stanley R. Zakrocki
Date: 06/02/17

116 Morgan St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Frank T. Bayliss
Seller: Margaret M. Kelly
Date: 06/06/17

135 Mountain View Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $395,000
Buyer: Debra A. Turgeon
Seller: Rolf Gasser
Date: 05/31/17

18 Myrtle Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $158,500
Buyer: Matthew Godin
Seller: Catherine M. Livingston
Date: 06/09/17

1145-1147 Northampton St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $407,500
Buyer: Aviva J. Galaski
Seller: Mary R. O’Connell
Date: 06/09/17

23 Vermont St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $186,000
Buyer: Caitlin Clarke
Seller: Alyssa F. Carrus
Date: 06/09/17

454 Westfield Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $166,000
Buyer: Kara L. Canata
Seller: Rosalind Morales
Date: 05/31/17

45 Yale St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Karen A. McCarthy
Seller: Bank Of America
Date: 05/30/17

LONGMEADOW

9 Althea Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Ivonne I. Rivera
Seller: Agustin Rivera-Cruz
Date: 06/01/17

120 Ashford Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $1,037,500
Buyer: Dennis S. Oh
Seller: Lynn M. Papale
Date: 05/30/17

152 Burbank Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Joseph M. Lataille
Seller: Stephens, Carlene D., (Estate)
Date: 05/31/17

292 Captain Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: William T. McCarry
Seller: Robert G. Derby
Date: 05/30/17

201 Converse St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Jeffrey M. Barry
Seller: Catherine C. Lafountain
Date: 06/08/17

100 Dover Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Jeffrey A. Lomma
Seller: John J. Deluca
Date: 05/31/17

38 Fernleaf Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Zachary L. Schepart
Seller: Lauren L. Lafond
Date: 06/09/17

26 Homestead Blvd.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Patriot Living LLC
Seller: Robbie Cox
Date: 06/01/17

25 Lincoln Park
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Cedar Investment Group
Seller: FNMA
Date: 06/02/17

223 Redfern Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $284,900
Buyer: Raju K. Panta
Seller: Fulvia DeMaio
Date: 06/09/17

19 Quinnehtuk Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: Amrita Roy
Seller: Noah E. Rosen
Date: 06/01/17

54 Stirling St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $292,000
Buyer: Erik M. Wheelock
Seller: Courtney A. Langieri
Date: 05/30/17

57 Warwick St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $284,000
Buyer: Corey G. Condardo
Seller: Dorothy C. Basdekis TR
Date: 06/09/17

32 Wendover Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: Stephen M. Langieri
Seller: Timm T. Tobin
Date: 06/09/17

121 Willow Brook Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $610,000
Buyer: Nico W. Vehse
Seller: Thomas J. Doney
Date: 06/01/17

LUDLOW

24 Charles St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $254,900
Buyer: Jared D. Fluet
Seller: John C. Hicks
Date: 06/09/17

Cislak Dr. #4
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: James J. Baillie
Seller: Baystate Developers Inc.
Date: 05/31/17

Daisy Lane
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $127,500
Buyer: Daviau Construction LLC
Seller: Manganaro Home Builders
Date: 06/07/17

361 Miller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $267,500
Buyer: Edivania M. Dasilva
Seller: Theodore V. Bernier
Date: 06/01/17

36 Overlook Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $217,500
Buyer: Zachary D. Smola
Seller: Diogo M. Ribeiro
Date: 05/31/17

43 Russell St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $159,900
Buyer: Miguel A. Cordero
Seller: PNC Bank
Date: 05/30/17

12 Sunset Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Quinn M. Hogan
Seller: Richard G. Belisle
Date: 05/31/17

69 West St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $155,900
Buyer: Baron Coates
Seller: Joseph A. Clemente
Date: 05/31/17

MONSON

19 Betty Jean Dr.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Edward Meissner
Seller: Gary A. McCauley
Date: 06/01/17

12 Brimfield Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $164,000
Buyer: Adam R. Kane
Seller: Sarah L. Becker
Date: 06/02/17

10 Sand Hill Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $399,900
Buyer: Lynn A. Chase
Seller: Paul Woloshchuk
Date: 06/02/17

118 Wales Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $248,200
Buyer: Karen Ladd
Seller: Michele L. Strum
Date: 06/05/17

MONTGOMERY

4 Jourdan Road
Montgomery, MA 01085
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Henry F. Crochier
Seller: Erik M. Wheelock
Date: 05/30/17

PALMER

28 Arnold St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $191,900
Buyer: Frank Caruso
Seller: David E. Fisher
Date: 05/31/17

1428-1434 Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $495,000
Buyer: Ke Q. Chen
Seller: Garabedian Properties LLC
Date: 06/01/17

55 Olney Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $178,994
Buyer: MA Home Buyers LLC
Seller: Wells Fargo Bank
Date: 06/01/17

215 Ware St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Kelly A. Doyle
Seller: Richard Dunderdale
Date: 06/01/17

RUSSELL

417 Huntington Road
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Heart & Home Realty LLC
Seller: Debra Kreider
Date: 06/08/17

SOUTHWICK

32 Bungalow St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $159,900
Buyer: Sharon Dellagiustina
Seller: Stephen P. Royer
Date: 06/06/17

151 Granville Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $133,341
Buyer: Brian Banta
Seller: USA VA
Date: 05/30/17

238 Sheep Pasture Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $258,000
Buyer: Louis M. Derise
Seller: Paul A. Laquerre
Date: 06/05/17

24 Woodland Ridge
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $349,900
Buyer: Bradley W. Langston
Seller: Erin T. Terpos
Date: 05/31/17

SPRINGFIELD

31 Aberdeen Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $119,000
Buyer: Isac A. Medina
Seller: Robert Baranoski
Date: 06/09/17

1187 Allen St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $141,996
Buyer: FHLM
Seller: Reha Bostancioglu
Date: 05/31/17

1349 Allen St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Chunri Zhao
Seller: W. Paul Lemieux
Date: 06/02/17

33 Amos Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Song D. Au
Seller: Carl H. Quist
Date: 05/30/17

33 Arden St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $132,900
Buyer: Kisra F. Campbell
Seller: Justin J. Orwat
Date: 06/09/17

51 Avon Place
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $118,000
Buyer: Javier Vargas
Seller: Adam P. Brunet
Date: 05/31/17

515 Bay St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $147,500
Buyer: Jamie Snell
Seller: Felix Cruz
Date: 06/01/17

23 Beaumont Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $154,000
Buyer: Samuel Taveras-Guzman
Seller: Leon Hutt
Date: 06/09/17

57 Brewster St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: William A. Womeldorf
Seller: Marilyn J. Mathieson
Date: 06/05/17

73 Brickett St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $137,000
Buyer: Yeliann I. Ayala
Seller: Luis A. Gonzalez
Date: 05/31/17

67 Brunswick St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $169,900
Buyer: Edmel Irizarry-Santiago
Seller: Nasser Zebian
Date: 06/09/17

70 Brunswick St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $143,000
Buyer: Joshua T. McLain
Seller: Christopher J. Roberts
Date: 06/01/17

40 Burnside Terrace
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $234,000
Buyer: Henry Arias
Seller: Vadnais Builders Springfield
Date: 06/06/17

1668 Carew St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $123,000
Buyer: Ramona Cintron
Seller: Kimberly Brodeur
Date: 06/09/17

61 Clantoy St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Ricardo Nieves
Seller: London Realty LLC
Date: 05/31/17

213 Cooper St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $164,900
Buyer: Susan P. Lawson RET
Seller: Lindsay A. Linnehan
Date: 06/02/17

34 Crystal Brook Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $224,000
Buyer: Kristina E. Tenggren
Seller: Lisa Santaniello
Date: 06/02/17

129 Dartmouth Terrace
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $299,000
Buyer: Barry D. Merrill-Baker
Seller: Shirley L. VanKainen
Date: 06/02/17

84 Derryfield Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Adhip Darji
Seller: David Suchcicki
Date: 06/05/17

15-17 Dorne St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Norberto A. Reynoso
Seller: Timothy J. Luce
Date: 05/31/17

141 Druid Hill Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $187,250
Buyer: Daniel R. Gibson
Seller: Elizabeth Vanderscoff
Date: 05/30/17

143-145 Euclid Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $154,639
Buyer: J. Santiago-Hernandez
Seller: Homer J. Foucher
Date: 06/07/17

391 Gillette Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Matthew C. McRobbie
Seller: Robert Y. O’Sullivan
Date: 05/31/17

15 Gourley Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Garfield James
Seller: Joan A. Fontaine
Date: 06/05/17

70 Grenada Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $965,000
Buyer: Grenada LLC
Seller: Yellowbrick Property LLC
Date: 06/08/17

33 Groton St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $129,897
Buyer: Ricardo Cabrera
Seller: Scott M. Madore
Date: 06/09/17

185-187 Hampden St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $157,000
Buyer: Wells Fargo Bank
Seller: Marco A. Amaya
Date: 06/08/17

276 Harkness Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Stacy M. Arsenault
Seller: FNMA
Date: 06/07/17

8 Harper St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Glen D. Martell
Seller: Nicolle A. West-Paley
Date: 06/09/17

70 Harrow Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Juan R. Rodriguez
Seller: FNMA
Date: 06/01/17

79 Hartwick St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $174,500
Buyer: David J. Torre
Seller: Marjorie C. Marcotte
Date: 06/01/17

33 Inglewood Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Marilia Silva
Seller: Joseph S. Malmborg
Date: 06/09/17

3 Intervale Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $178,000
Buyer: Jamison O. Atkins
Seller: Angelina Santiago
Date: 05/31/17

210 Jamaica St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $171,500
Buyer: Danielle M. Jakubasz
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 06/06/17

33-35 Jenness St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $124,000
Buyer: Seamus Warwick
Seller: Fu J. Chen
Date: 06/08/17

152 Lake Dr.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $117,500
Buyer: Meghan K. Lightbown
Seller: Kevin D. Pescetta
Date: 06/09/17

90 Leavitt St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Beatriz Santana-Rosario
Seller: Flora Tung
Date: 06/09/17

35 Long Terrace
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Noah D. Borders
Seller: Jane A. Colston
Date: 06/01/17

43 Maplewood Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Frank Grimaldi
Seller: Blue Mountain Homes Inc.
Date: 06/09/17

102 Marsden St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $149,200
Buyer: Staci A. Guerrero
Seller: Christian B. Wiernasz
Date: 06/07/17

18 Mayflower Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Dorothy V. McGovern
Date: 05/30/17

9 Meadowbrook Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $228,000
Buyer: Rey Ocampo
Seller: Christopher J. Noyes
Date: 05/31/17

23 Merrimac Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Julio C. Goncalves
Date: 05/31/17

80 Merrimac Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Patricia Merced
Seller: Sophia C. King
Date: 06/06/17

427 Orange St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Rasmas Properties LLC
Seller: Cinzias Property LLC
Date: 06/02/17

40 Peekskill Ave.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $214,000
Buyer: Susan E. Dise
Seller: Norman A. Drapeau
Date: 06/08/17

45 Peekskill Ave.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $125,375
Buyer: MHFA
Seller: Michael J. Thonus
Date: 06/01/17

114 Pennsylvania Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $207,000
Buyer: Tammy J. Burm
Seller: Kathleen F. Potter
Date: 05/30/17

151 Pine Acre Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $139,900
Buyer: Robert W. Cyr
Seller: Geoffrey, Raymond J., (Estate)
Date: 06/02/17

77 Prospect St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $148,000
Buyer: Katherine A. Lopez
Seller: Pablo Diaz
Date: 05/30/17

157 Prouty St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Tomasa I. Martinez
Seller: Brian J. Garrity
Date: 05/31/17

178 Redlands St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $127,500
Buyer: Yenitza Harrison
Seller: Louis R. Bortolussi
Date: 06/09/17

70 Sherman St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $138,000
Buyer: Orange Park Management
Seller: Orange Park Management
Date: 05/30/17

25 Sierra Vista Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $146,900
Buyer: Robin Bixby
Seller: Matthew R. Papia
Date: 06/08/17

Signal Hill Circle #1
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Grahams Construction Inc.
Seller: Michael Carabetta
Date: 05/30/17

81 Slater Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $130,400
Buyer: Abimael Santana
Seller: Charles H. Richard
Date: 05/30/17

55 South Tallyho Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $233,000
Buyer: Adam Robbins
Seller: Dennis Volz-Benoit
Date: 06/06/17

61 Spencer St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: Vita C. Filippone
Seller: April C. Pollock
Date: 06/02/17

99 Sunridge Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Tara N. Adhikari
Seller: Adam E. Connors
Date: 05/31/17

37 Suzanne St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Hipolito Resto
Seller: German Garcia
Date: 06/01/17

59 Terrace Lane
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $142,000
Buyer: Shavone L. Gauthier
Seller: Simone M. Roy
Date: 06/09/17

176 West Allen Ridge Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $176,000
Buyer: Lucas J. Nickerson
Seller: Jennifer L. Janisieski
Date: 06/02/17

53-55 Wilmont St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Delilah Singleton
Seller: Adeleke Thomas
Date: 06/02/17

38-40 Windsor St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Candida Santos
Seller: Derrick J. Hatwood
Date: 06/05/17

1396 Worcester St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $118,750
Buyer: Shawn A. Jacobs
Seller: Kevin S. McNamara
Date: 06/02/17

29 Wrentham Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $139,000
Buyer: Hilda Saloritos
Seller: Joseph Queiroga
Date: 06/09/17

35 Wrenwood St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $168,000
Buyer: Debra A. Searles
Seller: Michael Alexik
Date: 06/08/17

WEST SPRINGFIELD

13 2nd St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: William Gonzalez
Seller: Frederick D. Richter
Date: 05/31/17

639 Birnie Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $259,900
Buyer: Samuel Rodriguez
Seller: Graham, Thomas J., (Estate)
Date: 06/09/17

124 Boulevard Place
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $117,000
Buyer: Robert J. McNamara
Seller: Thomas J. McNamara
Date: 05/31/17

128 Boulevard Place
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Tel Properties LLC
Seller: David C. Centracchio
Date: 06/01/17

28 Brookside Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $209,000
Buyer: W. Michael Picco
Seller: Bernard J. Amrich
Date: 05/30/17

267 City View Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Gary J. Lambert
Seller: Larry Sheridan
Date: 05/31/17

71 Galaska Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $368,900
Buyer: Justin D. Greenia
Seller: Jeanette M. Nemoda
Date: 06/01/17

37 Hillside Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Max La
Seller: Karl F. Schwarzkopf
Date: 06/05/17

41 Plymouth Terrace
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: V&A Realty LLC
Seller: Jeffrey R. Joseph
Date: 06/05/17

62 Overlook Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $174,401
Buyer: Caitlin R. Menard
Seller: Susan M. Brosnan
Date: 06/02/17

32 Worthen St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: A&R Cerrato LLC
Seller: HSBC Bank
Date: 06/06/17

WESTFIELD

118 Bates Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Cory Bruno
Seller: Nicole M. Massai
Date: 05/31/17

57 Bristol St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $137,000
Buyer: Kevin J. Irujo
Seller: Henry M. Bisbee
Date: 06/05/17

39 Butternut Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Mark T. Pawlowski
Seller: Helen V. Pawlowski
Date: 05/31/17

14 Clark St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $127,920
Buyer: Pennymac Loan Services LLC
Seller: Linda L. Bonney
Date: 06/01/17

13 Cleveland Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Kayla R. Neveu
Seller: Erik D. Loiko
Date: 06/07/17

365 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $243,900
Buyer: Thomas Champine
Seller: William G. Mundell
Date: 06/09/17

1039 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $209,900
Buyer: Jose V. Contreras-Parra
Seller: Trisha L. Leary
Date: 06/01/17

117 Franklin St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Eric Adams
Seller: Kayla R. Neveu
Date: 06/06/17

9 Furrow St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Jessica L. Boistelle
Seller: Robin Sheldon
Date: 06/02/17

28 Heritage Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $324,000
Buyer: John Niedzielski
Seller: Aaron J. Florek
Date: 05/30/17

69 Hillcrest Circle
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Norman W. Colburn
Seller: Michael S. Patten
Date: 06/02/17

35 Montgomery St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Justin P. Dekarz
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 06/05/17

25 Pearl St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $213,000
Buyer: Laurie Webster
Seller: Jimmy N. Cook
Date: 05/30/17

93 Sackett Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $161,000
Buyer: Yuriy A. Kripakov
Seller: Smith, Alma N., (Estate)
Date: 05/31/17

52 Union St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Robert G. Gordon
Seller: Wells Fargo Bank
Date: 06/01/17

WILBRAHAM

4 Blacksmith Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $269,900
Buyer: Shannon T. Caney
Seller: Adnan H. Jaafar
Date: 05/31/17

2523 Boston Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: JD2 Enterprises LLC
Seller: 2523 Boston Road Corp.
Date: 06/01/17

6 Brooklawn Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Andrew Michaels
Seller: Wells Fargo Bank
Date: 05/30/17

2 Conifer Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $319,000
Buyer: Timothy Martin
Seller: Joseph M. Lataille
Date: 05/31/17

9 Ely Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $167,000
Buyer: Della Ripa Real Estate
Seller: Kimberly J. Lewis
Date: 06/06/17

106 Faculty St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $353,000
Buyer: Guy E. Larkins
Seller: Kari E. Belcastro
Date: 06/07/17

5 Fernwood Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Randy P. Pascale
Seller: Patricia F. Ricci
Date: 05/31/17

6 Old Farm Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $446,357
Buyer: Peter Houser
Seller: Lisa R. Hagopian
Date: 06/02/17

13 Rochford Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $361,900
Buyer: Jeffrey K. O’Connor
Seller: Phyllis B. Brand
Date: 06/01/17

159 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $194,000
Buyer: Wendy Solomon
Seller: USA HUD
Date: 06/09/17

1183 Tinkham Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Patriot Living LLC
Seller: HSBC Bank
Date: 06/05/17

43 West Colonial Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Sheryl Pace-Webb
Seller: Susan S. Staples
Date: 05/31/17

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

67 Aubinwood Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Heather E. Sheldon
Seller: Joan M. Holmes 2016 TR
Date: 06/07/17

544 Bay Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $289,900
Buyer: Anna-Clare K. Lipsmeyer
Seller: Falguni A. Sheth
Date: 06/07/17

46 Chesterfield Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Dylan R. Tunnell
Seller: Carmen Z. Almandos
Date: 05/31/17

Concord Way #10
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Bercume Construction LLC
Seller: Tofino Associates LLC
Date: 06/01/17

84-86 East Leverett Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Jeffrey Stevenson-Dykes
Seller: Darryl E. Clark
Date: 06/02/17

171 Lincoln Ave.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Lincoln Avenue Partners
Seller: Hsu-Tung Ku
Date: 06/01/17

Lindenridge Road #25
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Bercume Construction LLC
Seller: Tofino Associates LLC
Date: 06/01/17

623-625 Main St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Lincoln Avenue Partners
Seller: Yih-Ming Hsiao
Date: 06/01/17

8 Moss Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Peter M. Hanley
Seller: Duncan J. Irschick
Date: 06/01/17

23 Sheerman Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $417,900
Buyer: Yubing Sun
Seller: David M. Ford
Date: 06/07/17

21 Woodlot Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $462,500
Buyer: Yucai Wang
Seller: Mallika Desu
Date: 06/01/17

36 Woodlot Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $515,000
Buyer: Philip J. Doherty
Seller: Conrad A. Marvin
Date: 05/31/17

BELCHERTOWN

180 Barton Ave.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $282,000
Buyer: Angela Leung
Seller: Dianne L. Chamberlain
Date: 05/31/17

281 Boardman St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $294,000
Buyer: Erika A. Medina
Seller: Dana R. Vigneault
Date: 06/09/17

14 Brandywine Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $287,000
Buyer: Jonathan P. Young
Seller: Kristopher E. Galenski
Date: 06/05/17

35 Dressel Ave.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $267,800
Buyer: Robert M. Sweet
Seller: Gary E. Arnhold
Date: 06/09/17

33 Maplecrest Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Nicole M. Carlson
Seller: Dennis H. Jurkowski
Date: 05/30/17

5 Old Farm Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Susan D. Loring
Seller: Joshua E. Laplante
Date: 06/02/17

179 Orchard St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Kunga Gyaltsen
Seller: Jeffrey R. Waskiewicz
Date: 06/01/17

270 South Liberty St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $148,600
Buyer: Daniel Martinez
Seller: Deutsche Bank
Date: 06/08/17

6 Trillium Way
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Cole D. Fitzpatrick
Seller: Mark G. Jackson
Date: 06/09/17

CHESTERFIELD

182 East St.
Chesterfield, MA 01012
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Shawn B. Robbins
Seller: UMassfive College FCU
Date: 05/31/17

EASTHAMPTON

26 Beyer Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $238,000
Buyer: Shoshanna D. Brady
Seller: Henry F. Crochier
Date: 05/30/17

24 Lawler Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $306,000
Buyer: Andrew J. Crystal
Seller: Mehdi N. Sattari
Date: 05/31/17

9 Lawler Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $248,000
Buyer: Christopher M. Schultz
Seller: Jeremy Jones
Date: 06/01/17

76 Loudville Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Tyler F. Lebeau
Seller: Christopher J. Denis
Date: 05/31/17

116 Lovefield St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $226,000
Buyer: Susan Parker-Burns
Seller: Isler, David C., (Estate)
Date: 06/05/17

26 Oliver St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Goshen Mortgage REO LLC
Seller: Vandy Som
Date: 06/01/17

9 River Valley Way
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $363,000
Buyer: Robert J. Hobbs
Seller: Carey Morgan
Date: 06/09/17

GOSHEN

69 Lake Dr.
Goshen, MA 01096
Amount: $430,000
Buyer: Christopher H. Perry
Seller: Tara Bennett-Goleman
Date: 06/06/17

GRANBY

6 Grandview Ave.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Jason Dufresne
Seller: Michael S. Hyer
Date: 05/31/17

24 School St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $309,000
Buyer: Alexander Los
Seller: John J. Grabowski
Date: 06/09/17

HADLEY

8 Highland Circle
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: David P. Dilorenzo
Seller: Theresa B. Quartulli
Date: 06/09/17

424 Russell St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $1,567,883
Buyer: National Retail Properties LP
Seller: Mecu Hadley LLC
Date: 05/31/17

HATFIELD

8 Circle Dr.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $426,000
Buyer: Elizabeth N. Clarke
Seller: Todd O’Brien-Dostal
Date: 06/07/17

3 Pine Edge Way
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $480,000
Buyer: Russell Pitre
Seller: Dorothy J. Yagodzinski
Date: 06/01/17

7 Prospect Court
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Eliza A. Lacroix
Seller: Russell P. Pitre
Date: 06/01/17

NORTHAMPTON

20 Charles St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $454,000
Buyer: Katherine A. Mason
Seller: Black Sheep Development
Date: 05/31/17

40 Crestview Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $239,900
Buyer: Robert W. Holley
Seller: Ryan J. Attwood
Date: 06/05/17

69 Drewsen Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Patricia A. Wilcox
Seller: Joseph R. Broden
Date: 05/31/17

27 Fox Farms Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Stephen E. Krause
Seller: James M. Burke
Date: 06/07/17

48 High St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Miles Q. Ott
Seller: Thomas P. Hartley
Date: 05/31/17

29 Landy Ave.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $276,000
Buyer: Celeste R. Palladino
Seller: Samuel L. Brody
Date: 06/09/17

50 Liberty St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Andrea J. Bertini
Seller: Richard Iacovelli
Date: 05/30/17

27 Norfolk Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $1,257,000
Buyer: Katryna Nields
Seller: Julia S. Rose
Date: 06/02/17

17 Northern Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $344,900
Buyer: Marissa Rose-Weiss
Seller: Michelle M. Goldshlag
Date: 06/01/17

15 Pioneer Knolls
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $269,500
Buyer: Donald R. Warburton LT
Seller: Norwich Properties LLC
Date: 06/06/17

27 Reservoir Road
Northampton, MA 01053
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Adam P. Maroney
Seller: Maryann E. Rogers
Date: 05/31/17

39 Ridgewood Terrace
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $303,800
Buyer: Alison Novack
Seller: Daniel P. Guidera
Date: 05/31/17

906 Ryan Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $213,000
Buyer: Angela E. Perry
Seller: Thomas E. Dawson-Greene
Date: 06/05/17

42 Warner St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $312,000
Buyer: Jessica S. Bond
Seller: Terrence Erdt
Date: 06/07/17

892 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $221,000
Buyer: Jeremy Jones
Seller: Maeve E. Hughes TR
Date: 06/01/17

PELHAM

30 Boyden Road
Pelham, MA 01002
Amount: $266,000
Buyer: Christopher S. Sutherland
Seller: Fidan A. Kurtulus
Date: 06/01/17

31 Harkness Road
Pelham, MA 01002
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Joseph Cox
Seller: John Edwards
Date: 06/07/17

PLAINFIELD

287 West St.
Plainfield, MA 01070
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Levi G. Gershkowitz
Seller: Gordon E. Massman
Date: 05/30/17

SOUTH HADLEY

54 Amherst Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $159,750
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Brian R. Mannix
Date: 05/30/17

554 Amherst Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $132,499
Buyer: Ken Wood
Seller: US Bank
Date: 06/01/17

4 Benger Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: David A. Dean
Seller: Olvaldo A. Molina
Date: 05/31/17

11 Bunker Hill
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: Bradley F. Podliska
Seller: Emily J. Cole
Date: 06/06/17

14 Camden St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: Jonathan S. Mazur
Seller: Linda G. Lavigne
Date: 06/08/17

161 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $299,900
Buyer: Linda G. Lavigne
Seller: Home Improvement Assocs.
Date: 06/08/17

84 Hadley St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $159,000
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: James P. Pellerin
Date: 05/30/17

16 Lois Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $211,000
Buyer: Ryan L. Mackechnie
Seller: Mark J. Gubala
Date: 05/31/17

120 Lyman St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Pamela J. Linscott
Seller: John D. Kuc
Date: 06/09/17

135 Lyman St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Maureen F. Sweeney
Seller: Brendan Kavey
Date: 05/31/17

2073 Memorial Dr.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $164,000
Buyer: Joel Martinez
Seller: Michael E. Regish
Date: 06/02/17

79 Pittroff Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $287,000
Buyer: Brandy A. Sullivan
Seller: Raymond Turgeon
Date: 05/31/17

9 Rivercrest Way
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $339,000
Buyer: Lisha Xu
Seller: Rivercrest Condominiums
Date: 06/09/17

34 Searle Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $183,000
Buyer: MTGLQ Investors LP
Seller: Jennifer Dexter
Date: 06/05/17

6 Spring Meadows
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Shorrie R. Hunter
Seller: John K. Sullivan
Date: 05/31/17

SOUTHAMPTON

13 Belanger Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: John C. Workman
Seller: Richard L. Talbot
Date: 06/02/17

4 Cheryl Lane
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $423,750
Buyer: Barbara A. Schmidt RET
Seller: Katherine E. Lipman
Date: 06/09/17

14 Gilbert Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Rebecca A. McKenzie
Seller: Pamela M. Dumais TR
Date: 06/09/17

13 Glendale Woods Dr.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $380,000
Buyer: Trisha L. Leary
Seller: Edward H. Moszynski
Date: 06/01/17

45 Pomeroy Meadow Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $371,900
Buyer: Thomas S. Livingston
Seller: Paul A. Talbot
Date: 06/05/17

42 Wolcott Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Frank N. Fournier
Seller: Mary Koch-Rodriguez
Date: 05/31/17

WARE

33 Eddy St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $118,500
Buyer: Joyce J. Lheureux
Seller: Toby A. Miller
Date: 05/31/17

150 Greenwich Plains Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Eric M. Volz-Benoit
Seller: Michaelen Murphy-Tapanes
Date: 06/06/17

42 Greenwich Plains Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Nancy Ackerman
Seller: Ann F. Podsiadlo
Date: 06/09/17

214 Old Belchertown Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Adam Cornelius
Seller: Kathleen P. Boucher
Date: 05/30/17

287 Osborne Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $142,500
Buyer: Patricia L. Tooker
Seller: Donna Young
Date: 06/02/17

97 West Main St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Michael S. Goss
Seller: Joel Pentlarge
Date: 06/07/17

WESTHAMPTON

299 Northwest Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Christopher Sugrue
Seller: Anita M. Sever
Date: 06/06/17

WILLIAMSBURG

37 Village Hill Road
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $248,000
Buyer: Judith A. Salosky
Seller: Cathy A. Longinotti
Date: 05/31/17

WORTHINGTON

64 Harvey Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Amy Mottor
Seller: Andrew V. Iglesias
Date: 06/09/17

328 Ridge Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $306,000
Buyer: Christopher J. Chase
Seller: USA VA
Date: 06/02/17

110 Williamsburg Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $115,101
Buyer: Gabriel K. Shippee
Seller: FNMA
Date: 06/06/17

Building Permits

By BusinessWest Staff July 11, 2017

Building Permits Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of June 2017.

AGAWAM

Behavioral Health Network Inc.
30 Southwick St.
$7,000 — Infill three openings, frame two new door locations, replace cabinets and counter, trim and drywall

Dragon Paradise, LLC
27 Main St.
$14,000 — Add one loading dock and one garage door

John Kudlic
491-505 Springfield St.
$21,000 — Install illuminated box sign

CHICOPEE

Amir Paracha
1057 Montgomery St.
$32,800 — Remodel interior, coolers, HVAC, handicap bathroom

Johnson Road Properties Inc.
20 Johnson Road
$12,000 — Extend retaining wall and finish with brick veneer, connect two classroom by removing partition wall

Johnson Road Properties Inc.
20 Johnson Road
$17,000 — Replace siding, paint decks, repair windows, repair pavement and concrete

Stag Chicopee, LLC
2189 Westover Road
$66,000 — Replace 26 skylight domes and fall-protection screens

DEERFIELD

Deerfield Academy
68 Greenfield Road
$484,800 — New wood-frame building

Steve Schecterle
53C South Main St.
$10,000 — Remove and replace doors and windows

EASTHAMPTON

7-Eleven Inc.
97 Union St.
$350,000 — Complete fuel line, underground storage tank, canopy, and dispenser replacement

1776 Brewing Co., LLC
30 Fort Hill Road
$242,00 — Construct addition to brewery for a tasting room/assembly use

Autumn Properties, LLC
184 Northampton St.
$400,000 — Construct new, mixed-use, two-story building

Eastworks, LLP
116 Pleasant St.
$142,000 — Interior build-out for Easthampton Media Center

Williston Northampton School
40-50 Park St.
$61,000 — Remove and replace gymnasium roof

EAST LONGMEADOW

L.E. Belcher Inc.
227 Shaker Road
$5,000 — Fire/smoke alarm

Reflections by Claudia
87 Shaker Road
$35,000 — Commercial alterations

GREENFIELD

Peter Bagley, Elaine Bagley
207 Silver St.
$29,400 — Roofing

GCC Foundation Inc.
270 Main St.
$9,896 — Modify walls and remove wall

Girls Club of Greenfield
35 Pierce St.
$32,900 — Roofing

Greenfield Church of Christ
341 Conway St.
$800 — Remove exterior door, close opening, and install siding

Jebco Realty Associates, LLC
289 Main St.
$30,500 — Renovate third floor for mercantile use, small kitchenette, and office space

Nouria Energy Group
63 Main St.
$19,875 — Roofing

HADLEY

T-Mobile
367 Russell St.
$62,320 — Remodel store, including new wall, paint, and flooring

W/S Hadley Properties II, LLC
353 Russell St.
$4,200 — Signs

LUDLOW

Baystate Blasting
36 Carmelinas Circle
$90,000 — Commercial alterations

Durolast Roofing
84 Westover St.
$16,800 — Commercial alterations

Head to Toe Day Spa
36 East St.
$900 — Illuminated sign

NORTHAMPTON

Bible Baptist Church
722 Florence Road
$350 — Remove and replace sheetrock and insulation

Coolidge Northampton, LLC
249 King St.
$5,600 — Install non-bearing load partition

Coolidge Northampton, LLC
249 King St.
$14,650 — Remove non-load-bearing walls and build non-load-bearing walls

Cumberland Farms
53 Main St.
$3,000 — Illuminated wall sign

King Street, LLC
242 King St.
$2,000 — Reface illuminated pole sign

King Street, LLC
242 King St.
$2,200 — Reface illuminated wall sign

Smith College
102 College Lane
$10,990 — Install interior doors, remove and patch existing door, install shelves, and paint

PALMER

BC Palmer Green, LLC
1 Beacon Dr.
$20,000 — Remove old salt shed and replace with new wood-frame structure

SPRINGFIELD

Baystate Health
3350 Main St.
$305,000 — Equipment replacement and room renovations

Chestnut Springfield Inc.
146 Chestnut St.
$7,500 — Remove partition walls, create new partition walls, new unisex bathroom

CRRC MA
655 Page Blvd.
$300,000 — Construct entrance to CRRC MA office building

Frank DiMarinis
339 State St.
$30,000 — Remove boiler building and interior finishes

Orionis, LLC
428 Belmont Ave.
$10,000 — Remove six antennas and install six antennas and hybrid cable to existing T-Mobile facility

Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield
153 Eddywood St.
$275,140 — Window and door replacement at St. Michael’s Academy

Springfield Redevelopment Authority
55 Frank B. Murray St.
$261,000 — New management office on mezzanine level of existing terminal building

Springfield Redevelopment Authority
55 Frank B. Murray St.
$97,000 — Renovate tenant space to create a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant

Western New England University
1215 Wilbraham Road
$407,000 — Interior renovations to Blake Law Center

WARE

Kids Stop
70 Pleasant St.
$23,000 — Install demising wall to divide a room, rework door opening

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Bertera Family Realty
539 Riverdale St.
$11,000 — Install flagpole at Bertera Chrysler Jeep

Ralph Colby
140 Baldwin St.
$492,000 — Build addition to commercial structure

West Springfield Investment Group, LLC
242 Interstate Dr.
$320,000 — Build steel building for medical-marijuana dispensary

Eleven Years of Excellence

By BusinessWest Staff July 10, 2017

40 Under 40 The Class of 2017

Scenes from the Class of 2017 June Event

The Log Cabin in Holyoke was once again bursting with energy and excitement as more than 700 people packed the house to celebrate the 40 Under Forty class of 2017 — the 11th class of successful young professionals so honored by BusinessWest since the program’s inception in 2007.

Photos by Leah Martin Photography

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Presenting Sponsors

STCC Announces Instant Accept Days

By BusinessWest Staff July 10, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Planning on applying to Springfield Technical Community College for the fall semester? The college will instantly accept prospective students who bring their official high-school transcripts, GED, or HiSET certification to the Admissions Office in Garvey Hall, Room 121. No appointment is necessary.

“We find many recent high-school graduates are still unsure of their fall plans. We see students looking to STCC as the smart and economical choice at this time of the year,” said Dean of Admissions Louisa Davis-Freeman. “Our Instant Accept initiative makes the first step in the college registration process easy so prospective students leave the office knowing they’ll be attending college in September.

“We have extended hours until 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, and in addition to recent high-school graduates, we welcome returning adult students looking to expand their skills or change careers,” she went on. “Our students range in age from 16 to 80, and our diversity is what makes us so vibrant and welcoming.”

The Admissions Office hours are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (413) 755-3333 or visit www.stcc.edu.

South Hadley & Granby Chamber Rolls Out New Logo, Website

By BusinessWest Staff July 10, 2017

Daily News

SOUTH HADLEY — The South Hadley & Granby Chamber of Commerce announced it now has a new logo representing both Granby and South Hadley, courtesy of graphic designer Paul J. Pereira, who won the chamber’s logo contest held in May and June, which invited the public to submit entries for consideration.

Pereira was presented with a $150 Village Commons gift certificate on June 28 at the chamber’s BBQ Bash at Brunelle’s Marina for current and potential new members. The Village Commons and Brunelle’s Marina are chamber members.

The chamber also publicly presented at the BBQ Bash its new website (www.shgchamber.com) developed by Thomas Moore of Tigerweb, which is designed to provide members and the public with timely and helpful information on chamber business members and community resources, to allow members to network and collaborate with each other, and to highlight social-media platforms for the chamber such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

“The chamber board and I are delighted with the website,” said Mariann Millard, executive director. “We feel it will represent Granby and South Hadley well and will significantly enhance our core mission, which is to help promote and grow the businesses of our members.”

E. Denis Walsh to Be Honored at Memorial Dedication Today

By BusinessWest Staff July 10, 2017

Daily News

HOLYOKE — A memorial service for E. Denis Walsh, formerly president of Weld Management, is scheduled for today at 11 a.m. at Veterans Park in Holyoke. Walsh passed away on Dec. 26, 2016.

Walsh was instrumental in renovating Holyoke’s historic architecture into the grand condition of days past. His most notable projects included the Caledonian Building at 189 High St., the current home of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce at 177 High St., and most recently the renovation of the neglected former Holyoke Catholic High School and the convent.

He graduated from Boston College with a degree in economics. After graduating from Boston College, he traveled to the Middle East, where he taught English at Baghdad College in Iraq. When he returned, he earned his MBA from Boston College and joined the Army Reserve. Later, he began his real-estate career and in 1976 founded his own real-estate-development company, Weld Management, where he worked with his son Lucas.

Walsh will be honored at a dedication ceremony for his vision and investment in improving downtown Holyoke. Mayor Alex Morse and Chamber of Commerce President Kathleen Anderson will preside. Also in attendance will be Mountain View Landscapes and Lawncare President Stephen Corrigan, who prepared the dedication parcel directly across from the Chestnut Park Apartments, as well as friends and family of Walsh.

The public is invited to attend. Anyone interested in attending the memorial service may contact the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce at [email protected] or (413) 534-3376.

Today Is the Last Day to Nominate a Healthcare Hero

By BusinessWest Staff July 10, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — This afternoon, July 10, at 5 p.m., nominations close for Healthcare Heroes, an exciting recognition program involving the Western Mass. healthcare sector, launched this spring by HCN and BusinessWest.

Sponsored by American International College, Bay Path University, Elms College, and Renew.Calm, with additional sponsorships available, the program was created to shed a bright light on the outstanding work being done across the broad spectrum of health and wellness services, and the institutions and individuals providing that care.

Individuals, groups, and institutions may be nominated in the following categories: Patient/Resident/Client Care Provider; Innovation in Health/Wellness; Community Health; Emerging Leader; Collaboration in Health/Wellness; Health/Wellness Administration/Administrator; and Lifetime Achievement. The nominations will be scored by a panel of judges to be announced in the coming weeks. The winners will be chosen later this month and profiled in the September issue of HCN.

Nomination guidelines are available at healthcarenews.com and businesswest.com/healthcare-heroes.

Harry Dumay Takes Helm as 11th President of Elms College

By BusinessWest Staff July 7, 2017

Daily News

CHICOPEE — Harry Dumay, who boasts a long and distinguished career in higher education, officially took the helm of Elms College as its 11th president on July 1.

“I am excited to start my presidency at Elms College,” Dumay said. “The board of trustees has put together a fantastic transition team, which has been working diligently during the past few months to make it possible for me to hit the ground running. I am eager to partner with the faculty, the staff, and the student body as we advance the work of making an excellent Catholic higher education accessible to a diversity of groups in a diversity of formats.”

Dumay was chosen after a nationwide search and has served in higher education finance and administration at senior and executive levels for 19 years. He holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Boston College, an MBA from Boston University, and a master’s degree in public administration from Framingham State University.

“Dr. Dumay is a multi-faceted leader who understands Elms College and the importance of a liberal-arts education based in the Catholic intellectual tradition,” said Cynthia Lyons, chair of the board of trustees. “He has a collaborative style and a demonstrated record of strengthening organizational and academic effectiveness, and he is enthusiastic about the future of Elms College.”

Dumay, who hails from Ouanaminthe, Haiti, most recently resided with his family in Framingham and worked as the senior vice president and chief financial officer at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Before that, he served as chief financial officer and associate dean at Harvard University’s Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, associate dean at Boston College’s Graduate School of Social Work, and director of finance for Boston University’s School of Engineering. Dumay also served as an adjunct faculty member at Boston College for nine years.

“Dr. Dumay strongly believes education is the best tool to lift people out of poverty, to encourage positive discourse, and to create pathways to successful employment, while also supporting opportunities for strengthening ethical and spiritual development. This vision fits perfectly with the mission of Elms College,” Lyons said.

Elms College’s most important goal is the success of its students, she added. “The value of a liberal-arts education, combined with career skills and a strong sense of the Elms’ values of faith, justice, community, and mission, is a defining strategy for our students now and in the future.”

Sr. Maxyne Schneider, president of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph and a member of the presidential search committee and board of trustees, noted that, “since its founding by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1928, the College of Our Lady of the Elms has served those for whom Catholic higher education would be essential to a life rich in faith, learning, and economic opportunity. Dr. Dumay brings the professional and lived personal experience to continue this mission. We sense in him a spirit truly compatible with the charisma of our sisters, and will support him in his leadership with our prayer and good will.”

Dumay’s inauguration will be held in the fall. The trustees are planning additional autumn events that will allow everyone to meet the new president. He succeeds Mary Reap, who retired June 30 after serving as Elms president for the past eight years.

“Elms College is a special community, in which the Sisters of St. Joseph’s spirit of Catholic solidarity pervades the campus,” Dumay said. “I am honored and excited to lead Elms College as, together, we write the next chapter in the institution’s history.”

Employer Confidence Rises in June

By BusinessWest Staff July 7, 2017

Daily News

BOSTON — Massachusetts employer confidence rose for the ninth time in 10 months during June amid optimism about an economy that is finally attracting more people into the workforce.

The Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM) Business Confidence Index rose one point to 61.8 last month, leaving it 5.7 points higher than a year ago. The Index has gained ground in each of the past two months after slipping in April.

The results come a month after state officials reported a long-awaited expansion of the Massachusetts labor market; the labor-force participation rate rose to 66.7% in May, its highest mark since before the Great Recession.

“Employer confidence in both the state and national economies remains well above the level we saw a year ago, especially among manufacturers,” said Raymond Torto, chair of AIM’s Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) and lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Design. “Key Massachusetts indicators such as total jobs, wages, and gross state product far exceed pre-recession levels, and that is outweighing concerns about long-term growth.”

The AIM Index, based on a survey of Massachusetts employers, has appeared monthly since July 1991. It is calculated on a 100-point scale, with 50 as neutral; a reading above 50 is positive, while below 50 is negative. The Index reached its historic high of 68.5 on two occasions in 1997-98, and its all-time low of 33.3 in February 2009. The index has remained above 50 since October 2013.

The constituent indicators that make up the overall Business Confidence Index were mostly positive during June. The Massachusetts Index, assessing business conditions within the Commonwealth, gained 2.1 points to 64.2, leaving it 5.7 points higher than in June 2016.

The U.S. Index of national business conditions rose 2.8 points to 57.4 despite lingering uncertainty about federal economic policy. June marked the 87th consecutive month in which employers have been more optimistic about the Massachusetts economy than the national economy.

The Current Index, which assesses overall business conditions at the time of the survey, rose 1.5 points to 61.9, while the Future Index, measuring expectations for six months out, increased 0.4 points to 61.7. The Future Index was 5.1 points higher than a year ago.

The Company Index, reflecting overall business conditions, was unchanged for the month at 62.4 and up 4.7 points during the 12-month period. The Employment Index fell 0.4 points to 58.1, while the Sales index rose 0.6 points to 62.6.

The AIM survey found that 39% of respondents reported adding staff during the past six months while 18% reduced employment. Expectations for the next six months are stable, with 38% expecting to hire and only 10% downsizing.

Alan Clayton-Matthews, a professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, said the supply of workers remains one of the most important factors in the ability of Massachusetts to maintain long-term economic growth.

“There is little slack left in the labor market,” he said. “Unemployment rates are back to pre-recession levels, and employment rates are very close to pre-recession levels. The slack that does remain is largely among young workers, those with less than a high-school education, and part-time workers who have been unable to find full-time work, suggesting that many workers lack the skills that employers are seeking.”

Overall participation in the labor force nationally has hovered below 63% during the recovery, compared with more than 66% before the recession.

Eastern Mass. companies were more confident in June than those in the western portion of the Commonwealth, posting a 61.8 confidence reading in June versus 60.8 for Western Mass. employers.

AIM President and CEO Richard Lord, also a BEA member, said employers are increasingly concerned about a passel of potentially expensive and disruptive Beacon Hill proposals, including a surtax on incomes more than $1 million, paid family leave, and an employer assessment to close a budget gap in the MassHealth program.

“Massachusetts employers have led what is now one of the longest and most consistent economic recoveries of the past 100 years. Much of that growth reflects the fact that policymakers have refrained from unnecessarily raising business costs and imposing inefficient regulation,” Lord said. “We look forward to working with the Legislature and the Baker administration to ensure that those policies continue.”

Real-estate Sales Licensing Course Starts Sept. 6

By BusinessWest Staff July 7, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Beginning Sept. 6, the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley will sponsor a 40 hour, 14-class, sales-licensing course to help individuals prepare for the Massachusetts real-estate salesperson license exam. The course will be completed on Oct. 12. Tuition is $359 and includes the book and materials.

The course curriculum includes property rights, ownership, condos, land use, contracts, deeds, financing, mortgages, real estate brokerage, appraisal, fair housing, consumer protection, and Massachusetts license law, and more.

Classes meet Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. at the association office, 221 Industry Ave., Springfield. For an application, contact Joanne Leblond at (413) 785-1328 or [email protected], or visit www.rapv.com.

Graduation for Home Health Aides Set for Today at STCC

By BusinessWest Staff July 7, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — A graduation ceremony is scheduled for 18 home health aides (HHAs) and personal-care attendants (PCAs) who underwent training through the Training & Workforce Options (TWO) program, a collaboration between Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) and Holyoke Community College.

The 18 graduates will join a large gathering of family, friends, instructors, and dignitaries today, July 7, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Scibelli Hall (Building 2), seventh floor, at STCC.

The workforce training was supported by a 2016 grant from the state Department of Higher Education’s Training Resources and Internship Networks (TRAIN) Program. The July 2017 class represents the fourth and final cohort of TRAIN home-health-aide graduates.

The training prepared participants for internships and job placements as HHAs and PCAs. All participants received OSHA-10 certifications, National Career Readiness Certificate preparation and testing, and first aid and CPR certification. They also received career-pathway advising about the healthcare industry, especially how an entry-level position such as HHA/PCA can lead to job and wage advancement.

TWO has graduated 32 participants (representing 84% of those enrolled) and has placed 26 in jobs (81% of graduates) from its first three cohorts.

Holyoke Medical Center Opens New Emergency Department

By BusinessWest Staff July 6, 2017

Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center began providing care in its new Emergency Department today, July 6, at 7 a.m.

The new facility is located next to the main entrance of the hospital at 575 Beech St. The Emergency Department will be accessible via Hospital Drive or Corser Street. Community members driving for emergency care are asked to follow the signs to the new location. As always, if there is a true emergency, call 911 for assistance.

“We would like to extend our appreciation to everyone who has assisted Holyoke Medical Center in creating the emergency department our community deserves,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems. “We have received overwhelming support from federal, state, and local officials, in addition to the tireless efforts of our staff.”

The new Emergency Department is a 21,460-square-foot facility featuring a new Crisis Center for Behavioral Health Services, 40 treatment areas, multi-patient trauma rooms, advanced life-saving equipment, and a patient-navigation service. HMC will now be able to treat patients in a more efficient and private way.

Beginning in August, the 16,295-square-foot second floor of the building will be the new offices of Gastroenterology, General Surgery, and the Weight Management program.

In support of the new Emergency Department, the Holyoke Medical Center capital campaign has reached $2.1 million of its $3 million goal. Anyone interested in helping with the campaign is invited to call the hospital’s Development Department at (413) 534-2579.

Scramble Golf Tournament to Benefit I Found Light Against All Odds

By BusinessWest Staff July 6, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — I Found Light Against All Odds will present its first annual Scramble Golf Tournament scholarship fund-raiser on Saturday Aug. 12. The festivities will include golf, food, raffles, and more.

The tournament will take place at Veterans Memorial Golf Course, with tee times starting at 11 am. Tournament admission fee is $100 per player, with the top three teams awarded first-, second-, and third-place prizes. Players can register by clicking here.

All money raised from this tournament will go toward awarding scholarships for the 2017-18 school year. The recipients will be formerly at-risk high-school seniors from local high schools, who have overcome the darkness in their lives, now finding the light in education and headed to college.

Sajar Plastics Acquired by Universal Plastics

By BusinessWest Staff July 6, 2017

Daily News

HOLYOKE — Universal Plastics, a heavy-gauge thermoformer based in Holyoke, has acquired Sajar Plastics, a gas-assist injection molder based in Middlefield, Ohio. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Universal Plastics currently services customers who start out with custom thermoforming and graduate to injection molding. Sajar’s low-volume gas-assist injection-molding expertise provides Universal with the opportunity to support its customers further along the product life cycle. The expanded breadth of capabilities will allow a customer to stay with a Universal family company throughout the life of the product, from lower volumes at inception to higher volumes as the product grows and matures. Further, the combined company can provide unbiased guidance on which process is better suited for a particular application. Sajar Plastics will continue to maintain its facilities, employees, and procedures.

“Customer success is our top priority and guiding focus,” said Kumar, president of Universal Plastics. “Sajar’s synergies with our existing thermoforming businesses, Universal and Mayfield, are plenty — a strong management team, sound business processes, and a commitment to top-quality products are what we are going to build upon. Above all, we value our relationships with our customers and are committed to maintaining and growing the value that we provide to them.”

Added Larry Nowak, CEO of Sajar Plastics, “Sajar is delighted to be a part of the Universal Plastics family of companies. We are excited by the prospect of bringing a unique combination of capabilities to both the customers of each company and to the broader market for large, complex, and aesthetically demanding parts.”

Molding Business Services, based in Florence, served as the advisor to Sajar Plastics on the transaction.

Keith Rhone Joins Friends of the Homeless Leadership Team

By BusinessWest Staff July 6, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Friends of the Homeless, a program of Clinical & Support Options (CSO), recently welcomed Keith Rhone as the new director of Operations, overseeing day-to-day management of the Worthington Street facility.

Most recently, Rhone served as assistant director of Safety and Crisis Management with ROCA Inc. of Springfield and established strong connections to community law enforcement and local program providers. He has also served as fiscal director with the Black Chamber of Commerce.

“The shelter and housing business has some uniqueness to it. We are very excited to have Keith join us and strengthen our team overall,” said Bill Miller, CSO’s vice president of Housing and Homeless Services.

Born and raised in Springfield, Rhone earned an associate degree in accounting from Springfield Technical Community College, and both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from American International College.

Kelley and Malmborg Investment Consulting Group Marks One Year

By BusinessWest Staff July 5, 2017

Daily News

NORTHAMPTON — Kelley and Malmborg Investment Consulting Group recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Motivated by their desire to offer a more client-centered and consultative approach, advisors Jean Kelley and Joe Malmborg transitioned from Florence Bank’s FSB Financial Group late last spring.

With a combined 65-plus years of financial and wealth-management experience, and through their consultative approach, creating personalized solutions, and a fee-based investment process, the pair’s goal is to provide comfort and confidence regarding the decisions their individual and business clients make.

Malmborg has held positions at Fleet Financial Group, MassMutual, Bancnorth Investment Planning, United Wealth Management, and FSB Financial Group. He is an investment advisor representative with Commonwealth Financial Network, an independent broker/dealer. He holds Series 7 (general securities representative) and 65 (uniform investment advisor) securities registrations, as well as licenses in life insurance and long-term care.

Kelley earned the CFM (certified financial manager) certification from Merrill Lynch in 2001. She holds FINRA 6, 7, 24, and 66 securities registrations as an investment adviser representative of Commonwealth Financial Network. She also holds life- and health-insurance licenses with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and several other states.

Kelley & Malmborg is located in the heart of downtown Northampton at 140 Main St., Suite 400, (413) 584-1805. The firm works with clients within Hampshire County, the Pioneer Valley, and throughout the country. Securities and advisory services are offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, member FINRA/SIPC, a registered investment adviser. Fixed insurance products and services are offered through CES Insurance Agency.

Springfield Museums to Host Indian Motocycle Day Event on July 23

By BusinessWest Staff July 5, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Museums will host its annual Indian Motocycle Day celebration on Sunday, July 23 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Indian Motocycle fans, riders, and collectors from throughout the region are expected to bring their cycles to the city where it all began. Last year’s attendance topped 1,000 visitors.

Originally held at the former Indian Motocycle Museum on Hendee Street, Indian Day has become a highlight event at the Springfield Museums since 2010, following the opening of the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History the previous year. The Wood Museum now houses the Esta Manthos Indian Motocycle Collection, which chronicles the history of Indian Motocycle since the company’s founding in 1901. Visitors to the Springfield History Museum can also view the exhibit “Crossing the Country to Cross Barriers: the Van Buren Sisters Ride into History,” an account of the cross-country trip Augusta and Adeline Van Buren undertook in 1916 to prove women could handle motorcycles.

Trophies will be awarded to pre-1953 Indians in several categories. Individuals interested in exhibiting their pre-1953 Indian or reserving vendor spots can pre-register and receive free museum admission by calling the Springfield Museums at (413) 263-6800, ext. 304, or visiting springfieldmuseums.org/indian-day. This event is sponsored by Sampson Family Chapels in memory of Esta Manthos.

Single-family Home Sales in Pioneer Valley Down in May

By BusinessWest Staff July 5, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Single-family home sales were down 6.9% in the Pioneer Valley in May compared to the same time last year, while the median price rose 1.2% to $204,500, according to the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley.

In Franklin County, sales were down 1.7%, while the median price rose 8.2% from a year earlier. In Hampden County, sales were down 7.4%, while the median price was up 1.9%. And in Hampshire County, sales fell 4.2% from May 2016, while the median price was up 2.5%.

Business Champions for Children Event Slated for July 10

By BusinessWest Staff July 5, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Basketball Hall of Fame will host a Business Champions for Children event on Monday, July 10. A continental breakfast is scheduled for 8 a.m., followed by a program at 8:30 a.m. featuring keynote speaker David Lawrence Jr., founder of the Florida Children’s Movement.

Attendees will hear about the business imperative of investments in early education. Lawrence retired in 1999 as publisher of the Miami Herald to focus on early-childhood development and school readiness. Three years later, he was front and center in the campaign that led to the 2002 constitutional amendment establishing a voluntary pre-kindergarten program for all 4-year-olds in Florida.

Other presentations will include J.D. Chesloff, executive director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, addressing House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s “The Business Imperative for Early Education,” and a report on the state Senate’s Kids First initiative.

To attend, RSVP to Christine Warren at the Davis Foundation at [email protected].

Gaming Commission Approves Workforce-development Grants

By BusinessWest Staff July 3, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) approved close to $600,000 in grants — including two for the city of Springfield — for a workforce-development pilot program designed to fund gaming career pathways for local residents. The Workforce Program is a component of the 2017 Community Mitigation Fund, which was established by the state’s gaming law to help entities offset costs related to the construction and operations of gaming establishments.

The Workforce Program was developed to provide interested residents in gaming regions the ability to attain academic and occupational credentials needed to work in the most in-demand occupations related to the gaming industry. Additionally, it was established to assist the unemployed or underemployed to either get their GED or Adult Basic Education, which would position them to get future jobs in the casino industry or training in advance by the backfilling of jobs.

The two initiatives in Springfield include:

• $171,833 for a program the Springfield Public Schools is working to establish called Ahead of the Game, which will target low-skill, low-income adults interested in pursuing long-term careers with MGM Springfield; and

• $200,000 for Hampden Prep, an initiative involving Springfield Technical Community College in collaboration with Holyoke Community College to develop and implement an innovative high-school-equivalency and workforce-readiness program.

“Workforce-development programs are a critical component of job creation, economic opportunity, and the Commonwealth’s ability to meet gaming’s burgeoning hiring demand,” said MGC Chairman Steve Crosby. “MGC looks forward to further collaborations as we continue to work together to ensure that we are able to deliver on our legislative mandate to establish a highly skilled and diverse Massachusetts workforce for the state’s new casino industry.”

Webster Names John Driscoll Jr. to Head Private Bank Offices

By BusinessWest Staff July 3, 2017

Daily News

WATERBURY, Conn. — Webster Bank announced that John Driscoll Jr. has been appointed regional market executive for Webster Private Bank’s Hartford and New Haven offices.

Driscoll, senior vice president and senior relationship manager for Webster Private Bank, joined Webster in 2007. In his new role, he expands his responsibilities as the senior representative in the Hartford and New Haven markets for Webster Private Bank’s line of business and leading the Private Bank’s sales team. He will report to Peter Gabriel, senior vice president, head of Private Banking.

Driscoll has more than 31 years of experience in investment, financial, estate, and tax planning, and charitable giving. He is a tax attorney who is a certified  financial planner, a chartered life underwriter, and a chartered financial consultant. A member of the Connecticut and American Bar Associations, he serves on the executive committees of the Estate and Probate section and of the Sports and Entertainment Law section of the Connecticut Bar Assoc. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Connecticut, a law degree from Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, and a master of laws degree from Boston University School of Law.

Holyoke Medical Center to Open New Emergency Department July 6

By BusinessWest Staff July 3, 2017

Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Medical Center will open its new, $25.4 million Emergency Department on Thursday, July 6, beginning at 7 a.m.

The new facility is located at 575 Beech St. and will be accessible by the main campus entrance at the intersections of Beech Street and Hospital Drive, as well as Northampton and Corser streets. The Emergency Department will no longer be accessible from Portland Street and Winchester Avenue.

Signage will be in place to direct the community to the new location. The hospital has also been working closely with local police, fire, and ambulatory officials to ensure a smooth and safe transition of service locations.

“We would like to extend our appreciation to everyone who has assisted Holyoke Medical Center in creating the Emergency Department our community deserves. We have received overwhelming support from federal, state, and local officials, in addition to the tireless efforts of our staff,” said Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems.

The new Emergency Department is a 21,460-square-foot facility featuring a new Crisis Center for Behavioral Health Services, 40 treatment areas, multi-patient trauma rooms, advanced life-saving equipment, and a patient-navigation service. HMC will now be able to treat patients in a more efficient and private way.

Beginning in August, the 16,295-square-foot second floor of the building will be the new offices of Gastroenterology, General Surgery, and the Weight Management program.

In support of the new Emergency Department, the Holyoke Medical Center capital campaign has reached $2.1 million of its $3 million goal. Anyone interested in helping with the campaign is invited to call the hospital’s Development Department at (413) 534-2579.

Springfield College Hosts Athletic Trainer Student Workshop

By BusinessWest Staff July 3, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College recently hosted its 24th annual Athletic Trainer Student Workshop intended for high-school students interested in careers in athletic training and sports medicine.

High-school students from throughout the country attend the workshop and focus on anatomy, injury prevention, and care of common lower-extremity athletic injuries. Lectures, demonstrations, and practice sessions about athletic-injury prevention and maintenance take place during the workshop. Students also have the opportunity to attend presentations on career options as part of the curriculum. A successful addition to the workshop is a hands-on exploration of cadaver anatomy.

The workshop is co-directed by Springfield College Athletic Trainer and Assistant Professor of Physical Education Wayne Rodrigues and Springfield College graduate Bob Kuzmeski.

Athletic training is an allied-health profession, recognized by the American Medical Assoc., that provides healthcare services for physically active individuals. The athletic training major at Springfield College is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education, and is one of the most competitive programs of its kind in the country. Program graduates are found across the country working at sports-medicine clinics, high schools, colleges and universities, and with professional sports teams.

‘Western Mass’; We’re Back Where We Started

By BusinessWest Staff June 30, 2017

Daily News

Opinion

If it seems like this region is back where it started when it comes to the Economic Development Council’s latest attempt at branding (or rebranding) the region …. well, it is.

Indeed, months after this dubious exercise began, the EDC and the Greater Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau announced this week, sort of, that the new (new?) marketing slogan for Western Mass. will be ‘Western Mass’ — without the period and in colors approaching orange and green.

The cynics are right to ask why this region’s business community spent $80,000 (not an insignificant sum by any stretch) to hire a nationally recognized public relations firm that specializes in this kind of work to come up with a new brand (‘West Mass,’ which no one liked), and then essentially let the public decide that the brand would be something that everyone was already calling this part of the Commonwealth.

Now, it seems, the region will try to take that name that we’ve all used for decades and make it known nationally, thus giving this area some sort of identity.

Maybe things will work out, but from our view, this exercise has been an expensive comedy of errors and mis-steps — a well-intentioned comedy of errors to be sure.

From the beginning, and again now, we’ll say that economic development leaders in this region should be far less focused on coming up with a brand (and retiring ‘Pioneer Valley’) and more focused on simply telling the region’s story.

And it’s a good story that’s getting even better, with MGM Springfield opening in 15 months, the city’s downtown in the midst of a renaissance, and people recognizing that this is a great place to live, work, and start a business.

This region could have done a lot of good story telling with $80,000, but instead we spent the better part of a year learning that we already had a good brand and didn’t need another one.

Campaign Launched for Chicopee Center Project

By BusinessWest Staff June 30, 2017

Daily News

CHICOPEE — MassDevelopment and the City of Chicopee have announced a new campaign through the civic crowdfunding platform Patronicity and the Commonwealth Places initiative. The Chicopee Center Gateway Project campaign will fund downtown beautification efforts in Chicopee, including signature banners, flower planters and other landscaping, and a signature public art bus shelter.

This project will build off the momentum of other redevelopment efforts in the city to make Chicopee a more attractive place for residents, businesses, and visitors.

“The Gateway project will help downtown Chicopee catalyze local business development and enhance the city’s sense of community by beautifying its streetscape,” said MassDevelopment Vice President of Real Estate Services Amanda Maher. “The Commonwealth Places initiative allows communities to provide gathering places for residents and inspires individuals to invest in their surroundings, and we look forward to the same success in Chicopee as we have seen with our past projects.”

If the campaign reaches its crowdfunding goal of $17,000 by August 11 at midnight, it will win a matching grant with funds from MassDevelopment’s Commonwealth Places program. To learn more and donate visit (http://www.Patronicity.com/Chicopee).

“We’re looking forward to having a location downtown that is going to be warm and inviting not only for existing residents, but also hopefully to encourage new ones to come,” said Chicopee Mayor Richard J. Kos.

“Beautifying these areas will send a message to our community that revitalization is happening and that there are exciting things taking place in downtown Chicopee,” said Jessica Roncarati-Howe, President of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce.

Commonwealth Places is a collaborative effort from MassDevelopment and Patronicity that leverages public support for placemaking projects through crowdfunding and a matching grant from MassDevelopment. The program engages residents in the development of strategic projects in their towns and cities. The program has supported successful campaigns across the Commonwealth, from Northampton to Hyannis. For more information, visit (http://www.massdevelopment.com/commonwealthplaces).

Thunderbirds Honored with Champion of Youth Award

By BusinessWest Staff June 30, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Thunderbirds were honored on Wednesday night with the Champion of Youth Award by the Springfield Boys & Girls Club.

The award was presented to the Thunderbirds in recognition of their outstanding commitment to the youth, community and Boys & Girls Clubs.

“We were thrilled with the way the (Springfield Thunderbirds) players and coaches embraced the youth at the club,” said Vincent Borello, the executive director of the Springfield Boys & Girls Club. “But it was the follow up that truly impressed me. From coming to the club to teach kids about hockey, to the players handing out teddy bears to more than 400 kids at Christmas and ‘Boomer’ attending several events giving kids hugs and happiness, the Thunderbirds are more than a hometown team. They are an extended family and true Champions of Youth.”

The Thunderbirds additionally were involved with the Boys and Girls Club in the winter months as defenseman Ian McCoshen joined the children for floor hockey, crafts, and other activities. For his involvement, McCoshen was awarded the 2016-17 Thunderbirds’ Man of the Year honor.

“We’re honored to be selected as the recipients of the Champion of Youth award; our team made it a priority to be a pillar of the Springfield community in our first season, and we could not be more pleased with the opportunities granted to us by the Springfield Boys and Girls Club,” said Thunderbirds Executive Vice President Nathan Costa. “We would like to thank Vinny Borello, the staff and children at the club for opening their doors to us, and we hope that this is just the beginning of a longstanding relationship in the years to come.”

Combining their efforts with the Boys and Girls Club and a wide variety of other community outreach ventures, the Springfield Thunderbirds raised more than $50,000 in charitable donations in their first year.

DiGrigoli Salon Attends Premiere Orlando Hair Show

By BusinessWest Staff June 30, 2017

Daily News

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The DiGrigoli Salon artistic team had the opportunity early this month to soak up the sun and the educational training at the Premiere Orlando Hair Show.

With more than 57,000 attendees yearly, 800 exhibitors, and a wide variety of guest educators, Premiere is one of the largest hair shows in the country.

The team of stylists learned the latest hair color and hair cutting techniques for summer/fall 2017 from some of the top names in the cosmetology industry. Notable educators included Nick Arrojo (of TLC’s What Not to Wear,) Eden Sassoon (of Vidal Sassoon,) and Sam Villa (of Redken.) The show ran from June 3-5.

MassDOT Issues Holiday Weekend Travel Advisory

By BusinessWest Staff June 29, 2017

Daily News

BOSTON — The Mass. Department of Transportation (MassDOT) advises holiday travelers to plan ahead, utilize MassDOT’s many “real time” travel tools and use public transportation if possible to reach their destinations between now and the end of the July 4 holiday weekend.

“This holiday is a great opportunity for the public to use technology tools including www.mass511.com or the GoTime mobile app in order to make informed decisions on routes to take to destinations and the timing of travel,” said Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack. “If people check real-time travel time information before leaving home then they can make smart decisions about whether to drive or take transit and whether to leave earlier or later.”

Acting Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said heavy traffic volumes are expected on the state’s highways during this upcoming holiday period. “With many people driving to destinations we encourage people to leave extra time to reach their destinations, exercise safe driving behaviors, be patient on the roadways, and consider taking public transit if possible.”

MassDOT is taking steps to facilitate the flow of traffic during the holiday and will be postponing scheduled roadway construction effective at noon June 30, with scheduled construction activities resuming with the start of normal business hours on July 5.

Free coffee will be served at the 18 MassDOT service plazas from 10 p.m. July 4, through 5 a.m. July 5. The plazas serving free coffee include 11 service plazas along I-90 plus plazas along Route 3 in Plymouth, Route 128 in Beverly, Route 128/I-95 in Newton and Lexington, Route 6 in Barnstable, and the Route 24 northbound and southbound plazas.

For traffic and road conditions, drivers may use the following options to make decisions:

Download MassDOT’s GoTime mobile app and view real-time traffic conditions;
Dial 511 and select a route to hear real-time conditions on I-90 and other roads;
Visit www.mass511.com, which provides real-time traffic and incident advisory information, and allows users to subscribe to text and email alerts for traffic conditions;
Download Waze, the real-time traffic navigation app; and
Follow MassDOT on Twitter @MassDOT because motor vehicle incidents which impact traffic flow are generally mentioned in tweets if they occur on the state’s major highways.

Cocchi Announces Opioid Grant Funding

By BusinessWest Staff June 29, 2017

Daily News

Sheriff Nick Cocchi announced recently that the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department received $188,837 from the state for diversion of individuals suffering from substance use to keep them out of jail and into treatment.

This grant is part of the Baker administration awarding $2.3 million in a second round of competitive federal grants designed to help sheriffs, and other criminal justice agencies strengthen and enhance efforts to combat heroin and opioid abuse in Massachusetts, including prevention, intervention, diversion, enforcement and treatment.

“I am pleased to receive this much-needed funding which we will use to increase recovery bed space in the community as well as provide case management for these afflicted individuals,” said Cocchi.

“We all know the toll on citizens in our cities and towns,” he went on. “We are now losing five people every day due to this opioid crisis. This funding will prevent many individuals suffering from substance use from coming to jail, by diverting them into intensive treatment thus avoiding costly jail time. This will save lives and allow these individuals to get on track to being successful, productive members of our communities.”

The number of confirmed cases of all opioid-related overdose deaths for 2016 was 1,933. This figure represents a 17% increase over confirmed cases in 2015 of1651 and a 42% increase over 2014.

MMWEC, Consumer Advocates Oppose Plan

By BusinessWest Staff June 29, 2017

Daily News

LUDLOW — The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC), representing 20 municipal utilities, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, and other consumer advocates are opposing an electric transmission owners’ plan they say seeks to extract hundreds of millions of dollars from consumers in a case in which federal regulators actually ordered a reduction in transmission rates.

The filing opposing the plan was submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on June 26.

The transmission owners are seeking to have the FERC reinstate an 11.14% base rate of return on equity (ROE) for their nearly $12 billion investment in transmission facilities. This move is in response to a federal appeals court decision to vacate a 2014 FERC order that reduced the base rate to 10.57%. The court sent the case back to the FERC for further review. The transmission owners’ position is that because the decision establishing the 10.57% rate has been vacated, the rate should revert to the higher rate of 11.14%.

The joint filing by MMWEC and others explains that the court’s decision was not intended to result in restoration of the higher rate, which was found by the FERC to be unjust and unreasonable. Instead, the court decision directs the FERC on remand to justify why they deviated from their typical rate-setting practice, which would have resulted in a rate lower than 10.57%. In fact, the MMWEC filing argues that a new base rate should be set well below 10.57%.

“If the New England transmission owners are successful in reinstating the higher rate, it will be a gross miscarriage of justice and an insult to consumers,” said MMWEC CEO Ronald C. DeCurzio. “They are seeking returns of more than 13% on their investments in transmission facilities, which is totally unjustified in today’s interest rate environment,” he said.

MMWEC’s filing with FERC protests the transmission owners’ plan and sets out the legal argument detailing why the base rate should not revert to 11.14%. It states that the order accepting the existing 10.57% ROE cannot be reversed without an action by the FERC, and the FERC should not take any action on interim rates and refunds to consumers until it decides which ROE should be in place.

The MMWEC filing asserts that the transmission owners’ submission to revert to the higher rates constitutes an unauthorized filing. The FERC should reject the transmission owners’ submission “in order to prevent the unlawful collection” of unjust rates,” MMWEC states in the filing.

Based on 2014 estimates provided by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, reduction of the transmission ROE from 11.14% to 10.57% is saving $62 million per year in transmission costs for all New England consumers, including customers of investor-owned and municipal utilities. The Massachusetts municipal utilities’ share is approximately $4 million per year. The transmission owners are attempting to recoup these savings from consumers and collect the higher rate going forward.

Economic Development Strategy Report Available from PVPC

By BusinessWest Staff June 29, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission recently completed the 2017 Annual Update of the Plan for Progress, the region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS).

The document presents regional performance indicators of progress in the region and provides a detailed listing of major committed projects of regional significance – from infrastructure and transportation to redevelopment and new construction. The 2017 CEDS is available online (http://www.pvpc.org/plans/comprehensive-economic-development-strategy-ceds), or hard copies can be provided upon request.

The report also identifies eligible projects seeking federal grant assistance from the EDA during the upcoming 12-18 months.

The document is required by the U.S. Economic Development Administration to report the status of ongoing economic development initiatives.

2017 Compensation Survey Finds Increased Pay, Talent Wars

By BusinessWest Staff June 28, 2017

Daily News

AGAWAM — The Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast (EANE) released its summary findings from its 2017 Southern New England Compensation survey. Highlights of the 2017 findings include increased average pay in many sectors and, at the same time, increased pressure of losing top talent to competitors.

Representing more than 300 benchmark positions spanning a number of job-family categories, the survey include breakouts by industry, geographic region, company size, and more. More than 200 companies throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island participated in this year’s survey, with the largest participation from employers with 100 or less employees. The full, comprehensive report is available to participating members at no charge.

“We see that employers have needed to be strategic in allocating their budgetary dollars, especially when it comes to directing those dollars towards more vulnerable jobs. These jobs may have been subjected to past wage freezes or impacted by wage compression due to rising minimum wage rates throughout the region,” said Mark Adams, director of HR Solutions at EANE.

Average pay in non-exempt level positions has risen from 2016 levels, particularly in such job families as education, engineering, facilities, finance/banking, production, and hospitality. While the rise in pay outpaced the general growth in the consumer price index (CPI) from its 2016 levels, the pay growth is still being outpaced by skyrocketing benefit costs that have taxed employer operating budgets and have thus limited what they can provide. (The CPI increased by 2.3% on average when compared to the 2016 levels during the reporting period.)

Despite these rising operational costs, employers also face the countervailing pressure and risk of losing skilled workers to competitors who are challenged by talent shortages amidst a backdrop of very low unemployment. (Unemployment rates declined from 2016 throughout the Southern New England region in the range of 1.2 to 2.0%, depending upon the specific metropolitan area.)

LUSO’s Paulo Marques Ranks Among Top Loan Originators

By BusinessWest Staff June 28, 2017

Daily News

LUDLOW — LUSO Federal Credit Union announced that Paulo Marques, senior loan originator, ranked fourth among top loan originators by volume for credit unions in Western Mass., with loan volume of $23.4 million. He also ranked fourth for top loan originators by number of loans for credit unions in Western Mass., with 156 loans. These results were reported by the Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

UMass Study Examines Vegetable Protein and Early Menopause

By BusinessWest Staff June 28, 2017

Daily News

AMHERST — Results of a new study from epidemiologists at UMass Amherst and Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health suggest that long-term, high intake of vegetable protein from such foods as whole grains, soy, and tofu may protect women from early menopause and could prolong reproductive function.

Consuming enriched pasta, dark bread, and cold cereal were especially associated with lower risk, while they observed no similar relation to eating animal sources of protein.

“A better understanding of how dietary vegetable protein intake is associated with ovarian aging may identify ways for women to modify their risk of early-onset menopause and associated health conditions,” wrote first author and then-graduate student Maegan Boutot and her advisor, Professor Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson. Details appear in the current early online edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Early menopause, the cessation of ovarian function before age 45, affects about 10% of women and is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and early cognitive decline, the authors note. Few studies have evaluated how protein intake is associated with menopause timing, they add, and to their knowledge this is the first to look specifically at early menopause.

Boutot, Bertone-Johnson, and colleagues in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at UMass Amherst, with others, evaluated the relationship between diet and risk of early menopause among members of the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS2), an ongoing prospective study of 116,000 women aged 25-42 when they entered it in 1989.

Participants were asked to report how often they ate a single serving of 131 foods, beverages, and supplements over the previous year, from never or less than once a month to six or more times per day. They observed that women consuming approximately 6.5% of their daily calories as vegetable protein had a 16% lower risk of early menopause compared to women whose intake was approximately 4% of calories.

For a woman with a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet, the authors explain, this is equal to three to four servings of such foods as enriched pasta, breakfast cereal, tofu, and nuts, or about 32.5 grams a day. They adjusted for age, smoking, body-mass index, and other possible confounding factors.

Others on the study team were from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The study was supported by a grant from NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

For the NHS2, follow-up questionnaires have assessed nurses’ lifestyle behaviors and medical conditions every two years. Nearly 90% have continued to participate in follow-up. Diet was assessed five times over the 20-year study, allowing the researchers to capture within-person variation in changes in food and nutrient intake over times, Boutot explained. Participants in the study contributed more than 1 million person-years of follow-up, during which 2,041 women experienced early menopause.

Boutot and Bertone-Johnson suggested that more prospective studies of their findings are warranted, including studies that compare soy-based and non-soy vegetable proteins.

Healthcare Heroes Nomination Deadline Extended to July 10

By BusinessWest Staff June 28, 2017

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Healthcare Heroes, an exciting recognition program involving the Western Mass. healthcare sector, was launched this spring by HCN and BusinessWest. Sponsored by American International College, Bay Path University, Elms College, and Renew.Calm, with additional sponsorships available, the program was created to shed a bright light on the outstanding work being done across the broad spectrum of health and wellness services, and the institutions and individuals providing that care.

The deadline has been extended until July 10 to nominate individuals, groups, and institutions in the following categories: Patient/Resident/Client Care Provider; Innovation in Health/Wellness; Community Health; Emerging Leader; Collaboration in Health/Wellness; Health/Wellness Administration/Administrator; and Lifetime Achievement. The nominations will be scored by a panel of judges to be announced in the coming weeks. The winners will be chosen in July and profiled in the September issue of HCN.

Nomination guidelines are available at healthcarenews.com and businesswest.com/healthcare-heroes.

Examining the Right to Provide Gender-exclusive Services

By BusinessWest Staff June 27, 2017

Employment Sections

Women Only

By Daniel C. Carr, Esq.

Daniel C. Carr, Esq.

In recent weeks, a Texas movie theatre sparked controversy by holding several women-only screenings of the new Wonder Woman movie, including a promise that only female employees would be scheduled to work during these screenings. The theatre was the target of a great deal of criticism, and many alleged that the theatre was discriminating against men.

Much of the rage came from the usual suspects — men’s rights activists, misogynists, and other groups prone to Internet trolling. Also among the aggrieved was a less-expected party: University of Albany Law Professor Stephen Clark. According to his statement, Clark wasn’t offended that a screening was held specifically for women, but, rather, that the theatre advertised “No Guys Allowed.”

Particularly maddening was the fact that the theatre actively barred male patrons and promised that only female staff would be allowed to work during the screening. “It’s the principle of the thing,” Clark said. “I’m a gay man, and I’ve studied and taught gay rights for years. Our gay bars have long said that you do not exclude people because they’re gay or straight or transgender — you just can’t do that for any reason … It’s discrimination.”

For many, the special screening made sense. Wonder Woman is not only the first female-led superhero film since 2005’s critically-panned Elektra, but also the first female-led superhero film directed by a female. This, combined with its strong critical and financial performance in the wake of its underwhelming male-led predecessors, has given advocates of equitable representation of women in the film industry cause for celebration. The women-only screenings sold out quickly.

This conflict illustrates an important point: the law still permits single-gender organizations and services in certain contexts, but when do gender-exclusive organizations or services cross the line into actual, illegal discrimination?

The law still permits single-gender organizations and services in certain contexts, but when do gender-exclusive organizations or services cross the line into actual, illegal discrimination?”

The law generally weighs an individual’s First Amendment right to expressive association against the state’s compelling interest in eliminating discrimination. In genuinely private settings, the individual’s First Amendment rights will almost always prevail. Alamo Drafthouse’s women-only screenings would not have been a big deal if the theater had been rented out by a private entity. In fact, in response to one Facebook question concerning whether there would be men-only screenings, Alamo Drafthouse responded with a link to its ‘private events’ booking page.

However, in public-accommodation cases like the one above, Massachusetts and federal law generally find that the state’s interest in eliminating discrimination outweighs an individual’s First Amendment right to expressive association. Massachusetts state law specifically prohibits making any distinction, discrimination, or restriction in admission to or treatment in a place of public accommodation, based on race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or ancestry. No distinction is made between historically dominant groups and historically disadvantaged ones. Discrimination is discrimination.

But what is a place of public accommodation? According to the law, a place of public accommodation is an entity which is open to and accepts or solicits the patronage of the general public. Common examples include theaters, hotels, restaurants, stores, banks, hospitals, transportation services, parks, childcare centers, and the like. This is not a complete list. There are no complete lists because there are simply too many unique contexts to draw a clear line.

In contrast to places of public accommodation, genuinely private entities’ right to expressive association is considered to outweigh the public interest in eliminating discrimination, and, therefore, private entities are not bound by the same anti-discrimination laws. An organization’s status as a private entity, and therefore the legality of maintaining a gender-exclusive policy, depends primarily on whether the organization exercises “genuine selectivity” with respect to applicants or members.

For example, in 1997 the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) ruled that a female divorce attorney was liable for gender discrimination for refusing to represent male clients in divorce proceedings. In determining that her law practice qualified as a place of public accommodation, the MCAD noted that she advertised her services to the public, did not have any particular criteria for selecting her clients, and admitted that she refused to represent the complainant solely because of his gender. In short, there was a lack of “genuine selectivity.”

By way of comparison, in 2014, the MCAD applied the same standard to reach a different result in a case brought by a male victim of domestic violence against a nonprofit organization for female victims of domestic violence. The MCAD ruled that the charity had not violated anti-discrimination law by refusing to provide male victims of domestic violence the low-cost facial reconstructive surgery offered to female victims of domestic violence. The MCAD ruled that the charity had adhered to a policy of “genuine selectivity” because it was not open to the public and it applied an array of eligibility criteria, including economic status, type of injury, anticipated period of recovery, and residency restrictions.

Additionally, under Massachusetts law, certain entities may be places of public accommodations at certain times and not others. For example, in 2002, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that a publicly owned building, when booked for an event sponsored by a religious group for the purpose of religious meetings, does not qualify as place of public accommodation during that time; therefore, the group was allowed to ban women from attending the meeting.

Conversely, Massachusetts has recently announced that the reciprocal is true: religious institutions, such as churches, temples, or mosques, are considered places of public accommodations when being used for secular purposes, such as a spaghetti dinner open to the public.

If your business or organization intends to maintain a gender-exclusive policy, it is important that you analyze these factors to ensure the policy’s legality. The law can be tricky, and lawsuits are costly. u

Daniel C. Carr, Esq. specializes exclusively in management-side labor and employment law at Royal P.C., a woman-owned, NAMWOLF-certified, boutique, management-side labor and employment law firm; (413) 586-2288; [email protected]

Accounting Firm’s Embrace of Six Sigma is Generating Results

By BusinessWest Staff June 27, 2017

Accounting and Tax Planning Sections

A Different Kind of Number Crunching

Since its introduction more than 30 years ago, the data-driven process-improvement methodology known as Six Sigma has been most closely associated with the manufacturing sector. But, as recent initiatives undertaken by the accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka clearly show, this ‘lean’ concept can be utilized by companies in any business sector to improve efficiency and buy employees time — literally.

Melyssa Brown joked that when she earned her green belt in Six Sigma last year, she was disappointed when all that arrived in the mail confirming that accomplishment was a piece of paper, a certificate.

“I was thinking, hoping that maybe there would actually be a green belt — I could use an accessory like that,” she told BusinessWest, tongue firmly planted in cheek, adding quickly that just about everything else about Meyers Brothers Kalicka’s deep dive into this data-driven process-improvement methodology has been about what she and others at the Holyoke-based accounting firm expected.

And then some.

Our interaction with the client is better, and our delivery of services to the client is better. And internally, it has put everyone on the same page; it’s put everyone together behind a commitment to move forward and not stand still, because you can’t grow that way.”

Indeed, they were expecting that incorporation of this lean, quality-control program, developed by Motorola in 1986 and popular within the manufacturing sector, would be intense, time-consuming, and somewhat difficult because it constituted a significant change in how things were done.

They were right.

But they also expected it would achieve real results and provide powerful evidence that Six Sigma can work in the service sector as well as it does in the realm of manufacturing. And they were right again.

“Our interaction with the client is better, and our delivery of services to the client is better,” Brown, a senior manager in the auditing department at MBK, said of the net gains from the firm’s investments in Six Sigma. “And internally, it has put everyone on the same page; it’s put everyone together behind a commitment to move forward and not stand still, because you can’t grow that way.”

Elaborating, Brown said that, through Six Sigma, the company has been able to chart how the all-important time of partners, associates, and others at the firm is spent, with a critical eye toward making processes more efficient, thus essentially providing personnel with more time with which to better serve clients and serve more of them, critical elements in any company’s efforts to increase profits and improve market share.

Getting more specific, Brown said MBK has undertaken a few Six Sigma projects, both involving client interaction, the time spent accumulating needed information for tax and audit work, and efforts to bring more efficiency to those efforts.

Melyssa Brown says MBK’s Six Sigma projects have effectively given employees at the firm more of that most precious commodity — time.

“To do audit and tax work, you clearly need to get information from the client — we need some numbers to work with,” she explained. “It comes down to, when you have that interaction, how it’s done, and how it’s followed up.”

In short, there were inefficiencies with all those steps in the process, she went on, and, therefore, some diligent work was undertaken to mitigate them.

“From these processes, we’ve put structures in place to help us monitor and conduct better interactions with the client, because that’s what’s important to them — and us,” she went on, adding that the goal was and is to make these interactions easier for the client and more productive for the firm.

Fast-forwarding a little, Brown said the firm has created an online portal, or drop box, if you will, for client information that can be accessed by all those servicing that particular client. This innovation has significantly reduced the time, trouble, and anxiety involved with collecting and accessing that data, as will be explained in more detail later.

As noted, the company’s experience shows how Six Sigma can be applied to businesses not traditionally associated with this methodology, said Brown, who was a member of a panel that delivered that very message to assembled members of the Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast several weeks ago.

“Everyone has a back office,” Brown explained. “And while people think of Six Sigma in terms of manufacturing processes, those back-office functions can be made more efficient as well.”

For this issue and its focus on accounting and tax planning, BusinessWest departs from more traditional discussions about taxes, audits, legislation, and compliance, and takes a hard look at a different form of number crunching.

Time Is of the Essence

Brown told BusinessWest she became the company’s point person on Six Sigma … well, because each senior manager at the firm has a ‘niche,’ as she called it, and at that moment in time, she didn’t have one.

So Six Sigma became her niche.

Backing up a little, Brown said she and others at the firm were in attendance for a presentation on Six Sigma presented by a consultant and hosted by CPA America, a trade organization the firm has belonged to for some time. That seminar came about just as the firm was aggressively exploring methods for achieving process improvement, thus bolstering the bottom line.

“We had tried several other ways to become better at improving efficiency,” she explained. “But we needed that outside person’s view of what the best course of action might be.”

Brown underwent green-belt training, which introduces an overview of the key concepts, in Ohio, and took on a project involving one of her clients to earn that aforementioned certificate in 2016.

Summing up what’s been happening at the firm since, Brown said MBK has essentially embraced ‘lean,’ a concept that, as noted earlier, is usually associated with manufacturing, but can be applied to virtually any business sector.

SEE: List of Accounting Firms

Lean is a transferable and systematic approach for discovering, analyzing, prioritizing, and correcting time-wasting activities that exist in business processes, Brown told BusinessWest — and her audience at the EANE roundtable in May.

Elaborating, she said ‘lean’ is a mindset, or a culture, to reduce waste, something that exists in every operation and can be reduced — but only, in most all cases, through careful analysis of data and development of new ways to do business.

And, as Brown noted, this approach can generate positive results not only on the factory floor, but also in back-room operations such as billing and accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, monthly reconciliations, and financial reporting.

With that, she returned to the projects undertaken by MBK, and specifically that online portal she discussed. It came about through the Six Sigma process of analyzing a specific process or method of doing business, taking it apart, and putting it back together again — without the wasted steps, energy, time, and profit.

To get her points across, she undertook an exercise in ‘before and after.’

“Before, we would send a list of needed information via e-mail, in Word or Excel, and the client would either send us documents via e-mail, save it to a jump drive, or find some other way to get it to us,” she explained. “But it was never really clear if we had a certain piece; we would say, ‘do we have an accounts-receivable list?’ and they would say, ‘yes, you have it,’ and someone here would say, ‘I don’t think I do.’”

Now, with the online portal, such exchanges are a thing of the past, she went on, and so is the time lost looking for information or trying to verify whether the firm has it or not.

The bottom line, as they say in this business, is that the firm can now serve clients better and more efficiently, and use the time saved to serve other clients or solicit new ones.

And all of these things can be measured.

“In the end, our goal in this is to issue financial statements to clients earlier or get tax returns done and out to the client sooner than we used to, and we can measure this,” she explained.

Meanwhile, the system improvements are enabling individual service providers to make better use of their time, she went on, adding that, in many cases, it is now possible to do some audit-preparation work in October or November, thus creating more time during the extremely hectic months and weeks prior to April 15.

“You’re getting a head start on the client,” she noted, “which frees us up during tax season, when we’re all a little stressed.”

The end result, she said, is the creation of more time.

“Before, we may have thought that we needed to hire more people to get the work done,” she noted. “Now, we can get the same amount of work done with fewer hours and the same amount of people — or more work, because you’re taking on new projects with the time that you’ve saved.”

Looking forward, Brown said the firm is looking at other ways to put Six Sigma to use.

Indeed, after projects involving the tax and audit functions, the company is looking at possible initiatives involving billing and administration and making them more efficient.

“There are lots of opportunities — you just have to crack open the shell,” said Brown, who told BusinessWest that this is her general advice to all those who own or manage service businesses.

She noted that too many businesses in this sector are not embracing Six Sigma, in part because they don’t fully understand how it can be applied to their sector. But once educated to the contrary, many are put off by what amounts to a considerable commitment to this culture in terms of time, expense (usually, a consultant must be hired and new technology acquired), and needed buy-in from everyone at the company.

Those willing to make such a commitment, she said, should take the dive.

“This can’t be the flavor of the month,” she explained. “The tone at the top has be, ‘we’re going to make this work — this is our new way of doing business and operating.’”

It All Adds Up

As noted, Brown doesn’t have an actual green belt, like the ones awarded to those engaged in the martial arts.

But through the firm’s implementation of Six Sigma principles, she and others at MBK have something far more meaningful — additional time, the most precious commodity that exists in business today.

It came about through hard work and a deep dive into processes and ways of doing business, with an eye toward continuous improvement.

Historically, such words, phrases, actions, and, yes, results have generally been restricted to the world of manufacturing. But as Brown noted and MBK has shown, any service business can generate the same types of positive outcomes.

They just have to crack open the shell.

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

Employers Grapple with Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

By BusinessWest Staff June 27, 2017

Employment Sections

Accommodating Attitude

Massachusetts lawmakers are attempting a novel approach to pregnant workers, by requiring employers to offer them accommodations similar to those given to disabled workers. The bill is a popular one and seems assured of becoming law, but some questions about implementation — and what companies will have to do to comply — remain.

Pregnancy is not a disability, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act doesn’t classify it as one.

But if the bill, passed unanimously by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in March and expected to sail through the Senate, becomes law — Gov. Charlie Baker has said he will sign it — employers will be required to offer the same types of accommodations disabled workers are promised under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“While this bill doesn’t technically classify pregnancy as a disability, per se, it does create the requirement that employers treat pregnancy the same way they treat employees with a disability, providing reasonable accommodation and undertaking a dialogue about what those accommodations should be,” said Daniel Carr, an attorney with Royal P.C. in Northampton.

If the bill becomes law, an employer would not be able to fire, demote, or deny a job to a worker due to pregnancy. The employer could not force the worker to accept certain conditions or take a leave from the workplace as long as she were able to perform the essential functions of her job.

While charges of discrimination based on pregnancy or maternity are currently considered an aspect of gender discrimination, the new bill changes the playing field in potentially significant ways, Carr noted.

Daniel Carr says the bill currently leaves several questions unanswered, which he hopes will be addressed by the state Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.

Specifically, employers will be required to engage in an interactive process with pregnant employees to provide reasonable accommodations, such as more frequent and/or longer breaks, modified equipment or seating, job and responsibility restructuring, modified schedules, and private, non-bathroom space to express breast milk — accommodations that, in the abstract, seem like a logical recognition of the need to provide equitable conditions for pregnant women in the workplace.

While this bill doesn’t technically classify pregnancy as a disability, per se, it does create the requirement that employers treat pregnancy the same way they treat employees with a disability, providing reasonable accommodation and undertaking a dialogue about what those accommodations should be.”

“Generally speaking, everyone is in agreement,” Carr said, “but for this bill to become law, there are some issues that need to be ironed out, hopefully before it gets to the governor for his signature.”

Meghan Sullivan, managing partner at Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn, LLC in Springfield, noted that the ADA provides no basis for equating a normal pregnancy with a disability, but Massachusetts lawmakers have, for several years, been discussing the idea that some of the same accommodations available to disabled workers, particularly related to changes in their duties and working conditions, could also benefit pregnant workers.

One of the reasons the bill has found little legislative resistance so far is that it was crafted with significant input from both women’s rights groups and the employer lobby, notably Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM).

“I sit on the steering committee for AIM, and they took the position that this was not a bill they were going to oppose on behalf of employers,” Sullivan said. “But how do we approach the idea of reasonable accommodation while avoiding issues that are typically problematic for employers?”

Working out many of those issues was key to moving the bill forward, but, as Carr noted, plenty of unanswered questions remain.

Taking Aim

AIM opposed early versions of the bill during the 2015-16 legislative session because employers worried it gave employees unlimited power to reject multiple and reasonable offers of accommodation by an employer. The compromise bill addresses that concern and others, the organization noted. Specifically, it accomplishes the following:

• Provides clarity regarding definitions and terms related to current employees in need of accommodations related to pregnancy;

• Aligns state and federal laws regarding reasonable accommodation as it relates to the essential functions of the job;

• Provides flexibility rather than mandating specific types of accommodations for employers and employees;

• Provides a reasonable mechanism for employees and the employer to achieve a reasonable accommodation by engaging in a defined process, eliminating a concern by businesses that an employee could reject multiple reasonable offers of accommodation;

• Adds language allowing the employer to evaluate undue hardship of an accommodation and the ability of employee to perform the essential functions of the job as it relates to an employer’s program, enterprise or business;

• Provides opportunity for an employer to request documentation for certain cases to ensure that accommodations are reasonable for both employees and employers;

• Limits provisions to current employees instead of employees and job applicants;

• Reduces unnecessary burdens and allows for electronic or other means other than a “poster” for notifying employees; and

• Allows for certain accommodations to be either paid or unpaid.

Employers worry, Sullivan told BusinessWest, about any new legal protections for workers that are different, and sometimes conflicting, with existing laws — conflicts that are typically hashed out through litigation, which companies certainly want to avoid.

Meghan Sullivan says the bill was crafted after much negotiation and compromise between women’s rights advocates and employer organizations.

“There was an incredibly cooperative approach to drafting the bill passed by the House, an effort to use very similar language and concepts related to the disability laws as we know them,” she noted.

She recalled a summer job she had during her college years, as a bank teller. She was required to stand at her workstation for eight hours, but under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, an employee would have a strong argument that allowing her to sit while serving customers would not hinder her from getting her work done.

Pretty straightforward, right? Not so fast, Carr said.

“The problem with any legislation is that sometimes the most popular laws are the worst-drafted,” he noted. “I think every reasonable person agrees with the principles of this law, that pregnant employees shouldn’t be discriminated against. No legislator wants to be seen as against it, so no one’s really changing it — but there are issues with this law that come into play.”

Take the coffee shop across the street from Carr’s office, which employs a handful of workers in one open space, with a bathroom. Where, exactly, can that business designate a private, non-restroom space for expressing breast milk? If an employee brought litigation, he argued, the shop would have a strong argument that such a private space doesn’t exist, and it would be an undue hardship to somehow construct one.

“Another issue is job restructuring. If an employee walks into my business and says, ‘we have to restructure my job because the law says so,’ how can I prove that’s an undue burden or financial hardship to do so?” he said. “That’s my concern. It’s not the wisdom of the law in general; it’s the drafting and details that have to be addressed.”

In a recent blog post, Carr went so far as to say the bill, if passed as is, will cause chaos for employers, for a couple of reasons. One is that it has no specified effective date, and would therefore, by default, become law only 90 days after Baker signs it.

Another question is the duration of accommodations. “The lactation provisions imply that the accommodations can continue after an employee has given birth,” he noted. “However, the bill does not address for how long after giving birth an employee is entitled to reasonable accommodations. As drafted, employers have no way of knowing if they must provide modified schedules and/or job restructuring to new mothers for four weeks, four months, or four years. It would be in every employer’s best interest to undertake a self-assessment of their readiness to implement these policies sooner rather than later.”

Working It Out

Carr also noted that the Affordable Care Act — which, despite GOP attempts to kill it, is still the law — already provides for private, non-bathroom space to breastfeed in certain situations, and other protections exist for breastfeeding employees. However, the new bill will apply to more employers in the state, and may be interpreted more broadly.

SEE: List of Employment Agencies

“The term ‘job restructuring’ worries me the most,” he said. “So if the breastfeeding provisions of this law are interpreted to be consistent with the breastfeeding protections of the ACA, does that mean that job restructuring would continue for a full year? Or, if [the new bill] is interpreted to provide greater duration, how long would that last?”

Sullivan agreed that the vague concept of accommodation could become more significant than employers expect, especially if the worker experiences complications with the pregnancy.

“It’s potentially a new lawsuit, and it’s something employers will have to take note of, but the two sides, as well as legislative officials, worked very cooperatively and diligently to make sure it would be a manageable and workable process,” she noted. “A lot of employers are concerned about any new law being introduced: ‘how do we manage another accommodation on top of all the other ones that already exist, and how do these new legal provisions interact with all of the existing laws?’ Without a doubt, it’s another instance where HR and managers and supervisors are going to need education and training so there isn’t an inadvertent violation.”

If employers will have only a few months to get up to speed with compliance, as appears to be the case, Sullivan said, every employer will have to examine the company’s workplace rules, break-time rules, and other details so they can anticipate what policies might need to be modified if an employee becomes pregnant.

She stressed, however, that employer groups understand the bill’s appeal.

“It is easy to confuse opposition to a draft of a bill with opposition to the issue itself,” AIM President Richard Lord said just before the House passed the bill. “AIM is always willing to work with those seeking honest and effective compromise. That is exactly what happened with this legislation.”

That doesn’t mean it’s easy to add another layer of employee protections, of course.

“A common concern is that Massachusetts will not be competitive enough with other states that aren’t as accommodating to employees,” Sullivan told BusinessWest. “At what point will Massachusetts create an incentive for businesses to leave? That’s always a concern among employers, the cost of doing business.”

Still, she said, “despite the rhetoric of ‘us vs. them’ that’s so common in the political landscape, so many employers are motivated to do the right thing and do it in the right way.”

Even if they’re still hazy on the details.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

East-West Rail Would Benefit the Entire State

By BusinessWest Staff June 27, 2017

Opinion

By Eric Lesser

It’s no secret that Boston is booming. On my drive to the Statehouse every week, I see new buildings, new apartments, new restaurants. I can’t throw a baseball there without hitting a construction crane.

The city’s reputation for leading advances in biomedicine and investing in tech startups has made it the envy of the world.

But outside Boston’s 617 area code, the story of our state is much different.

Long before I reach my exit for downtown, I pass the long-abandoned factories of Westinghouse, American Bosch and Chapman Valve. While Boston’s unemployment rate is about 2%, Springfield’s is nearly 7%.

Our Commonwealth’s lopsided growth is leaving Western Mass. behind — and it’s hurting the entire state.

As new companies draw more and more young professionals to Boston, the high cost of housing squeezes their finances and they struggle to pay back student loans.

East-west rail would give employees in Western Mass access to higher-paying jobs in Eastern Mass. And it would give those who are struggling to afford housing in Eastern Mass. more affordable options in Central and Western Mass.”

Meanwhile, those young people leave behind gaping holes in the communities they move away from: Fewer families, an aging population, a growing housing glut, and a declining tax base.

Reliable, high-speed commuter rail service between Springfield and Boston would help solve this two-sided problem by creating an exchange between regions.

East-west rail would give employees in Western Mass access to higher-paying jobs in Eastern Mass. And it would give those who are struggling to afford housing in Eastern Mass. more affordable options in Central and Western Mass.

The current economy of Massachusetts is not properly using our different regions’ comparative advantages to their full potential.

Western Mass. is a beautiful place to live and raise a family, with plenty of open land to accommodate even more residents.

Eastern Mass. has the opposite problem, but offers more job opportunities and more paths to career advancement.

East-west rail is not just a Springfield project or a Western Mass project. This is a project that would benefit the entire Commonwealth — and business leaders are starting to take note.

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce has endorsed east-west rail as a way to open up expansion opportunities and consumer markets to businesses in Boston.

Realtors and housing advocates have told me that east-west rail would not only ease Boston’s critical housing shortage, but would also be a boon to housing markets outside the city.

But the most important voices in this discussion are those of the workers and families themselves.

On June 19, I took a whistle-stop tour across the state to raise awareness of my proposal to study the feasibility of a high-speed rail line between Springfield and Boston. When I stopped in Palmer, I met an older woman who told me about the many times she had been laid off because a company had closed or downsized or moved to a different region.

Each time, she said, she would have to go back to school or retrain for a new skill. And each time, when she looked for a new job, the openings were farther and farther away from Palmer — from her hometown, her friends and her family.

When Western Mass gets left behind, this is what it looks like: A laid-off worker with very few options.

It is unacceptable that a woman in Western Mass. who has worked her whole life should have to worry about finding another job not because she is untrained for it, but because there are no jobs available within an hour’s drive.

This is the story being told outside of Boston’s 617 area code. And it would have a happier ending with an east-west rail link that would bring this woman — and other workers like her — to job opportunities closer to home.

Senator Eric P. Lesser is chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development & Emerging Technologies, vice chair of the Joint Committee on Financial Services, and leads ‘Millennial Outreach’ for the State Senate. He represents the First Hampden & Hampshire District in Western Mass.

Nov. 2 Business Show Will Put the Spotlight on Innovation

By BusinessWest Staff June 27, 2017

Business & Innovation Expo of Western Mass. Events

Countdown to the Expo

It’s a subtle name change, but a rather large adjustment in tone for what has become a fall tradition within the region’s business community.

Indeed, the annual show at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield is now known as the Business & Innovation Expo of Western Mass., and this change — the addition of that word ‘innovation’ on the marquee — speaks volumes about the business-to-business show’s new and expanded mission, said Kate Campiti, associate publisher of BusinessWest, which has managed the show since 2011.

“For more than 200 years now, this region has had an incredibly strong tradition of innovation in business,” said Campiti. “And that tradition has taken many forms, from new products to new processes to new ways of thinking about to how to meet the needs of a constantly changing society. That tradition continues today, and the Expo will make this abundantly clear.”

Elaborating, she said the Nov. 2 show, still very much in the planning stages, will be, in effect, a showcase of innovation and the many forms it takes in a changing, highly competitive business climate.

“Innovation isn’t just a theme for this event,” said Campiti. “It will be a compelling thread that runs through the programming, the educational seminars, the special presentations, and more. This will be a celebration of innovation in some ways, but, more importantly, it will be a powerful statement about how that tradition of innovation continues today.”

Once again presented by Comcast Business, the Expo has become a fall tradition in Western Mass., attracting more than 2,000 visitors and more than 150 exhibitors to the MassMutual Center.

As always, there will be a strong business-to-business component to the show, said Campiti, adding that the event provides opportunities for businesses to showcase their products and services, and for these businesses and attendees to make important connections.

But there will be an educational component as well, she said, and much of the focus will be on innovation and the many forms it takes.

“People tend to think of innovation as new-product development, and that’s a big part of it,” she noted. “But there is information in all aspects of business — from process improvement to how companies attract and retain talent; from the use of technology to make a business more productive and efficient to development of systems to not only generate ideas but cultivate them into advances; from how an emergency room handles peak traffic flows to how a bank safeguards its customers from fraud.

“Innovation is vital to the success of every sector of our economy, from education to healthcare to manufacturing,” she went on. “And the Expo will show innovation isn’t simply a watchword, but a philosophy, or attitude.”

In addition to Comcast Business as presenting sponsor, Inspired Marketing is the show partner, MGM Springfield is participating as corporate sponsor, the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst is the education sponsor, and the Better Business Bureau is a contributing sponsor. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available.

Details of the show will be presented in upcoming issues of BusinessWest and online HERE.

For more information on the show, to register, or to request information on becoming a sponsor, visit the website or call (413) 781-8600.

Scenes from the Class of 2017 June Event

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SEE: List of Accounting Firms

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SEE: List of Employment Agencies

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