Day: July 7, 2023

Lee Bank Foundation Distributes $50,000 in Second Grant Funding Round of 2023

By
Daily News

LEE — Lee Bank Foundation awarded $50,000 to 12 Berkshire area organizations for its second round of 2023 community funding. Recipients were awarded grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 to support their local programming.

The following organizations received funding from Lee Bank Foundation: Becket Athenaeum, Berkshire Bounty, Berkshire Center for Justice, Berkshire Children’s Chorus, Berkshire Community Diaper Project, Berkshire County Arc, Berkshire South Regional Community Center, Community Access to the Arts, Elizabeth Freeman Center, Greenagers, Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley, and Roots Rising.

The deadline to apply for the next round of 2023 foundation funding is Sept. 1. Click here for the application and more information.

To be considered for grant awards, applicants must be a (501)(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The foundation is focused on funding programs that work to bridge income and opportunity gaps in the region. Funding requests should reflect one or more of Lee Bank Foundation’s primary focus areas: education and literacy; food security and nutrition; economic growth and development; health and human services; or mentorship, internship, and school-to-work initiatives. Applicants are eligible to receive funding only once in a 12-month period.

Blue Sox to Recognize Holyoke’s 150th as Part of Weekend Promotions

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — The Valley Blue Sox announced upcoming promotions for the team’s home games on Saturday and Sunday, July 8-9.

On July 8, the team will host a doubleheader versus the Upper Valley Nighthawks. The opening game will be at MacKenzie Stadium at 3 p.m., followed by the second game at 6:35 p.m. Admission will cover both seven-inning games in the doubleheader.

The team will give away baseball caps to the first 300 fans to enter the bValley Blue SoxValley Blue SoxValley Blue Soxallpark, sponsored by Westfield Bank. Additionally, the Blue Sox will host a Seven Innings of Winnings event in the second game on Saturday. The team will raffle off a different gift card to fans each half-inning.

On July 9 at 1 p.m. versus the Mystic Schooners, the Blue Sox will host a 150th-anniversary celebration for the city of Holyoke. Residents of Holyoke will receive reduced-price admission of $3. The team will also give away Holyoke Millers shirts to the first 150 fans to enter. The Millers were a minor-league team that played at MacKenzie Stadium from 1977 to 1982.

Freedom Credit Union Holding Summer Food Drive Through End of August

By
Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Throughout the months of July and August, Freedom Credit Union is holding its annual summer food drive for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts to help support essential services for people in need throughout the region.

“This cause will remain near and dear to our hearts as long as there are people in our community who suffer from food insecurity,” Freedom Credit Union President Glenn Welch said. “We are collecting non-perishable food items and cash donations at all our branch locations and invite our members, staff, and community to contribute.”

Last year, Freedom raised more than $4,100 for the Food Bank and collected an additional 930 pounds of food for the Gray House in Springfield.

Suggested donations of non-perishable food and personal care items include hot and cold cereals; packaged rice and grains; pasta and noodles; canned beans and vegetables; canned and dried fruit; peanut butter and nuts; granola bars and crackers; powdered or evaporated milk; instant potatoes; canned chicken, fish, and meat; cooking oils and spices; canned soups, stews, and chili; powdered or canned baby formula; diapers, wipes, and toilet paper; shampoo and body wash; and toothpaste and toothbrushes.

“Please give to the extent you are able and help us take a bite out of food insecurity,” Welch said. “Invite your friends and family to help or create a company-wide initiative at your business. Every donation makes a difference.”

Since 1982, the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts has helped provide much-needed food to residents in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties. It sources its products from donations, which it distributes to participating pantries, meal sites, and shelters throughout the region.

Spots Remain Open for HCC Summer Youth Sports Programs

By
Daily News

HOLYOKE — Spots remain open for summer youth sports programs at Holyoke Community College (HCC). Starting Monday, July 17, HCC will run three weeks of sports programs for youth ages 8-17.

“This summer marks the post-pandemic return of HCC’s summer youth programs in soccer, baseball, and basketball, and we’re excited once again to be able to offer a diverse and robust collection of youth activities,” said Arvard Lingham, coordinator of Non-Credit Programming and Kittredge Center Operations.

All sports programs cost $179 and run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the main HCC campus, 303 Homestead Ave.

The week of July 17-21 features a Youth Baseball Clinic (ages 8-17), a fun-filled, challenging program that emphasizes fundamental skills and baseball knowledge while building self-confidence and developing every player’s ability to play more competitively. The instructor is Ryan Magni.

On July 24-28 is a Youth Basketball Clinic (ages 8-17), which emphasizes fundamental skills and basketball knowledge while building self-confidence and developing every player’s ability to be more competitive. The clinic director is Chris Montemayor.

Finally, running from July 31 to Aug. 4 is a Youth Soccer Clinic (ages 6-16), taught by Rob Galazka, head coach of the HCC women’s soccer team, with assistance from top college soccer players. The comprehensive clinic stresses basic and advanced skills with plenty of one-on-one instruction.

To register for these and other HCC summer youth programs, visit hcc.edu/summer-youth.

Westfield Celebrates a Lightning Strike

By
Chris Willenborg stands in front of one of the private jets
Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight

Chris Willenborg stands in front of one of the private jets

Chris Willenborg stands in front of one of the private jets based at Barnes Westfield Regional Airport, one of the many assets contributing to economic-development efforts in the city.

The F-35 stealth fighter is nicknamed ‘Lightning,’ and it is certainly expected to provide a powerful surge in Westfield.

The Pentagon announced in April that 18 F-35A fighters will be based at Westfield Barnes Regional Airport with the Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing, replacing the F-15s that have been flying over the city — and on missions around the world — since 2007.

Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council — but also a former mayor of this city for a dozen years and currently a city councilor — said the F-35s will become an obvious point of pride for the community and the region, but there is an economic-development component to this decision as well.

Indeed, the move will stabilize and secure the long-term future of the 104th, which brings more than 1,000 jobs and millions of dollars in direct support to the local economy each year.

“The F-35s are obviously hugely important, not only to the operation of Westfield Barnes Regional Airport, but to the 104th, which is a significant employer in the region, and a significant business,” Sullivan explained. “Aside from being an absolute point of pride for the city and the region, it’s an important economic development as well.”

Chris Willenborg, manager of the airport, agreed.

“The F-35s mean a lot to the future of the 104th’s presence at the airport,” he told BusinessWest. “This decision really solidifies the 104th Fighter Wing having a mission at Barnes Regional Airport for the next 50 or 60 years; having a new fighter based here will be a significant asset for the airport moving forward.”

Meanwhile, the F-35s provide a powerful, up-close representation of an important part of the city’s economy: its precision-manufacturing shops, large and small, many of which provide parts to the defense and aerospace industries and planes like the F-35A.

Indeed, Sullivan, in talking about the presence of the precision-manufacturing sector and its importance to the region, has often noted that, when military or commercial planes fly over the region, residents can point to them and note that components of those aircraft are made in the 413.

And especially in Westfield, which boasts companies such as Advance Manufacturing, Boulevard Machine and Gear, and Peerless Precision, all of which have a number of customers in the aviation, defense, and aerospace sectors.

Tom Flaherty

Tom Flaherty says Whip City Fiber has become a $30-million-a-year business.

Kristin Carlson, president of Peerless, told BusinessWest that, after a lull toward the middle of the pandemic, business is picking up for Peerless and other precision manufacturers, who say their biggest challenge remains finding enough talented workers, especially as members of the Baby Boom generation retire in ever-larger numbers and the numbers of young people looking to get into this field remains … well, underwhelming.

“It’s still very much an employees’ market,” she said, adding that firms in this city and neighboring communities are competing tooth and nail for a very limited supply of qualified help, which is driving wages and benefits skyward and making it harder for smaller shops to compete against the larger national and international players.

While precision manufacturing remains a large and stable employer, the city’s economy is strong and diverse, said Mayor Michael McCabe, the former police captain who sought and won the corner office in 2021 and will seek a second two-year term this fall.

He noted the strong presence of manufacturing and distribution facilities, many of them located at or near the airport, as a well as strong retail (Walmart, Home Depot, and many others have locations in the city) and hospitality sectors, and major employers including Baystate Noble Hospital and Westfield State University.

It could also become home to a sprawling, $2.7 billion hyperscale data center complex planned for the city’s north side. That project and an accompanying tax-incentive financing plan have been approved by city officials, and the developers are awaiting word from the state on economic incentives it will provide to support the massive undertaking.

McCabe also cited a changing, rebounding downtown, one that will never again be the retail hub that is was decades ago, but is evolving into a collection of diverse shops and intriguing new developments, such as the housing complex taking shape in the former Lambson’s furniture store building on Elm Street.

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest turns its focus on Westfield, where things are looking up — and so are people, especially when the F-35s are flying overhead, as they did at the recent airshow at Barnes and will do for perhaps the next 30 or 40 years.

 

Ready for Takeoff

McCabe said Westfield is a city that has long boasted a number of enviable assets when it comes to business and economic development. And it has taken full advantage of those assets.

That impressive list includes developable land, a commodity lacking in many area communities, especially in its North Side, which, as noted, has become home to a number of manufacturing and distribution facilities, the latter drawn by not only land but a turnpike exit, easy access to other highways, and rail service.

The list of assets also includes the university, the airport, and a municipal utility, Westfield Gas & Electric, which, through its comparatively low electric rates and expanding fiber-optic network, has become a key contributor to economic development in the city (more on that later).

As for the airport, it has long been a somewhat hidden gem, but it continues to emerge as a force in the local economy as home to not only the 104th, but also companies like Gulfstream Aerospace, where private jets are serviced, and also as a home base for a handful of jets and dozens of other planes.

“Westfield is at the crossroads of the interstates, I-90 and I-91, there’s rail access … and coupled with that is an industry-welcoming community.”

This will go down as a big year for the airport, which has thrust itself into the limelight in a number of ways.

For starters, it is celebrating its 100th birthday, Willenborg said, adding that this comes on top of the announcement of the F-35s, which brought press coverage locally, regionally, and nationally. There was also the recent Westfield International Air Show, which featured a wide range of aircraft, including the F-35A, and brought more than 100,000 people to Barnes. And just a few weeks ago, the Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit group based in Texas, brought several vintage World War II aircraft — and thousands of spectators — to the airport.

On top of all that, Barnes is enjoying what could be called a building boom, he said, noting that there are four new hangars in various stages of construction, investments totaling between $8 million and $10 million, as well as two taxiway projects on the docket, one to start this month and the other set for next year.

Overall, the airport, which sees 50,000 takeoffs and landings each year, contributes roughly $1.2 million of direct revenue to the city, and its overall economic impact, according to a 2019 statewide study, is roughly 2,100 direct and indirect jobs and economic output of $236 million, numbers that take into account the 104th.

“The airport is definitely a major economic engine and employer here in Western Massachusetts,” Willenborg said, adding that the arrival of the F-35s is only expected to increase that impact.

 

The Jet Set

Also making a considerable impact is the city’s utility. General Manager Tom Flaherty said Westfield G&E’s rates are considerably lower than investor-owned utilities such as Eversource and National Grid, a competitive advantage that, when coupled with those assets listed above, gives the city a leg up when it comes to landing large manufacturing and distribution facilities, as well as the planned data-center campus.

One of the latest examples of the saleability of this package of assets is the arrival of James Hardie Building Products, which plans to open a construction siding factory in the former Old Colony Envelope plant in the city’s north side.

When it opens, the James Hardie plant will become the G&E’s largest natural-gas customer and one of its 10 largest electric customers, said Flaherty, adding that utility rates certainly played a role in the company’s decision to come to Westfield.

“It was a solid a mix of things — Westfield is at the crossroads of the interstates, I-90 and I-91, there’s rail access … and coupled with that is an industry-welcoming community,” he explained. “And when it narrows down to utility cost, and people are looking at cost and system reliability and the capability to meet that gas demand, Westfield has all that.”

Elaborating, he said Westfield has its own natural-gas spur that comes off the Tennessee Gas pipeline, which the G&E wholly owns, giving it — and the city — a huge advantage over communities such as Holyoke and utilities currently enforcing moratoriums on additional natural-gas service.

Another advantage — again, for both the city and its utility — is the G&E’s expanding fiber-optic business, Whip City Fiber. Launched in 2013 to provide fiber-optic service to residents and businesses in Westfield, the endeavor has become a $30 million-a-year business whereby the G&E has built out and now manages fiber-optic networks in 20 area communities — from Blandford to Goshen to Colrain — with more in the pipeline.

These include West Springfield and Southwick, said Flaherty, adding that more cities and towns in this region and beyond will be joining that list in the years to come.

“In the beginning, the broad goal was to bring an additional service to the residents and business of Westfield and, hopefully, break even,” he told BusinessWest, adding that, today, through its continued expansion in the city and to other communities, Whip City Fiber generates roughly $3.5 million in net income for the utility, money that is currently poured into expansion of the fiber-optic network to different parts of the Westfield.

Westfield at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1669
Population: 40.834
Area: 47.4 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $16.98
Commercial Tax Rate: $33.52
Median Household Income: $45,240
Median Family Income: $55,327
Type of Government: Mayor, City Council
Largest Employers: Westfield State University, Baystate Noble Hospital, Mestek Inc., Savage Arms Inc., Advance Manufacturing Co.
* Latest information available

When the entirety of Westfield is covered by the service, that revenue can be put toward other initiatives, such as the utility board’s recent vote to make additional payments in lieu of taxes to the city with the intention that they be used to upgrade athletic fields in the city.

“We’re looking to partner with the city to turf up to six fields and pay the bond for that, up to $1 million a year,” he said, adding that many of the city’s athletic fields are in need of upgrading or expansion. “That’s a project where we can give back to the community as we continue to bring in revenue from communities outside of Westfield.”

 

Soar Subject

While the F-35s are expected to provide a boost in civic pride and some stability for the 104th and the local economy, the precision manufacturers in the area are hoping they do something else — generate some interest in the field.

Such forms of inspiration are still very much needed, said Carlson, adding that, despite attractive pay rates, good benefits, and even growing flexibility in the workplace, it remains a struggle to find and retain talent, a challenge that is testing many of the shops in the city, including hers.

Hiring was an issue before COVID, noted Carlson, who was honored by BusinessWest with its Difference Makers award in 2021, primarily for her tireless work to educate young people about this sector and hopefully draw more of them into it, adding that the pandemic and its many side effects, including generous unemployment benefits, only exacerbated the problem.

“Whoever thought it could get harder for manufacturers to find good people?” she asked with a laugh. “It’s always been a struggle for our industry, and post-pandemic, it’s been even worse; somehow, I was able to fill open positions inside of a month this year, and I’m not really sure how that happened.

“There are a lot of us in Westfield who constantly have job openings, and we’re trying to fill them, as is the case with every manufacturer in the state and the country, for that matter,” she went on. “The problem is the same that it’s always been — we have a limited skilled labor force that we can pull from, and we’re all competing for the same ones.”

Elaborating, she said Westfield Technical Academy graduates 16 to 18 students a year from its manufacturing department, and there are roughly 30 shops in Westfield alone competing for those students, many of whom are brought into shops as part of a co-op program while they’re seniors, with the goal of seeing them stay with the firm in question.

Meanwhile, the pandemic had the additional effect of pushing many Baby Boomers over the retirement cliff, Carlson said, adding that this drain of experienced talent further tested shops large and small, including Peerless, which saw two long-time employees retire over the past year.

Still, despite these challenges, most shops, including Peerless, are thriving, she said.

“We had a slump last year, but we’re coming out of it, and we’re at almost 90-degree climb now, so it’s good,” she said, using an aviation-industry term to get her point across. “We’re seeing a lot of large customers who had really slowed down during the pandemic coming back in full force, and we’re seeing customers come back that we hadn’t done business with in three years because of the pandemic.”

 

Uplifting Thoughts

Speaking of 90-degree climbs … the F-35s are not expected to arrive until 2026. But already, expectations, and the overall outlook for the city, are sky high.

After years of effort and lobbying on the part of city, state, and national officials, the latest-generation F-35s will be coming to Barnes, providing — as Sullivan, McCabe, Willenborg, and others told BusinessWest — both a point of pride and an economic boost for the city and region.

It’s a lightning strike, to be sure, and one with a powerful jolt.

A Sea Change for a Longstanding Legal Requirement

By Contributor
Law

Remote Online Notarization

By Sarah Federation, Esq. and Jeffrey Fialky, Esq.

 

Sarah Federation

Sarah Federation

Jeffrey Fialky

Most individuals have, at some point, had special documents executed in the presence of a notary public — perhaps in connection with estate planning, banking, or the purchase or sale of real estate. Massachusetts, like many other states throughout the country, has a very specific and particular set of statutory requirements for notaries’ public compliance. In fact, to become a notary, individuals must complete an application and obtain signatures of known and respected members of their community, and then swear an oath to abide by Massachusetts law.

Further, the process of a document being certified by a notary likewise follows a strict set of statutory disciplines — most notably, that the notary and the individual executing the document be physically located together, ‘in person.’ This in-person requirement has been part of the statutory regime since the inception of the notary statutes.

However, not unlike the countless other challenges that arose during the COVID shutdown, it became difficult for parties to meet in person for notary purposes. As a result, on April 27, 2020, then-Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law an act providing for virtual notarization to address challenges related to COVID. The act permitted notaries in the Commonwealth to notarize documents remotely with the assistance of electronic videoconferencing technology, but has since ended and been repealed.

As a result of the temporary change, parties throughout the Commonwealth undoubtedly became accustomed to the convenience and practicality of remote notary, with protections put in place to ensure the integrity of the process. Recognizing the benefits that came about, the Legislature has enacted a new law that will make virtual/remote notary a permanent feature of the Commonwealth.

“While Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023 revises relevant sections of the act to continue to allow notarization via electronic means, there are notable distinctions in the revisions.”

Indeed, the Massachusetts Legislature has enacted, and Gov. Maura Healey has signed into law, Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023, which specifically make extensive changes to notarial law in Massachusetts to become effective on Jan. 1, 2024. The substantive provisions of this law are distinctive from those in the now-repealed acts, and while the specifics of the law are currently being composed by the state regulatory lawmakers, the new law will have certain features.

Under Section 28 of Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023, a notary public physically located in the Commonwealth may perform a notarial act using communication technology, like Zoom, for a remotely located individual if:

• the notary public has personal knowledge of the identity of the remotely located individual; has identified the remotely located individual by means of an oath or affirmation of a credible witness unaffected by the document or transaction who is personally known to the notary public and who personally knows the remotely located individual; or can reasonably identify the remotely located individual by not less than two different types of identity-proofing processes or services;

• the notary public is able to execute the notarial act in a single, real-time session;

• the notary public is reasonably able to confirm that a record before the notary public is the same record on which the remotely located individual made a statement or on which the remotely located individual executed signature; and

• the notary public, or a person acting on their behalf, creates an audio-visual recording of the performance of the notarial act.

 

Notable Distinctions in the Act

While Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023 revises relevant sections of the act to continue to allow notarization via electronic means, there are notable distinctions in the revisions.

The Acts of 2023 allow for electronic notarial seals. The notary public can attach the notary’s electronic signature and electronic seal to an electronic record using a digital certificate in a manner that is capable of independent verification and renders any subsequent modification to the electronic document evident.

The Acts of 2023 allow for remote notarizations with technology approved by the secretary of the Commonwealth. A notary public may select one or more tamper-evident technologies to perform notarial acts with respect to electronic records. Any technology approved by the state secretary and selected by the notary require the notary’s electronic signature and electronic seal to be:

• unique to the notary public;

• capable of independent verification;

• retained under the sole control of the notary public; and

• attached to or logically associated with the electronic record in a tamper-evident manner.

The Acts of 2023 create a registry for individuals seeking to notarize documents electronically. Before a notary public performs the initial notarization using communication technology, the notary public must register as a remote notary with the state secretary, inform the state that they intend to perform remote notarization, and identify the technology that will be used. The state secretary will create and maintain a registry of service providers who meet the established standards.

The Acts of 2023 require that notaries be located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A notary public physically located in the Commonwealth may perform a notarial act using communication technology for a remotely located individual if the notary public meets the above-referenced criteria.

The Acts of 2023 require attorney-managed closings for one to four residential homes. However, this does not extend to commercial transactions. With respect to any document executed in the course of a closing, only a notary public who is an attorney licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth, or a non-attorney under the direct supervision of the attorney managing the closing, will be able to perform an acknowledgment, affirmation, or other notarial act utilizing communication technology. Many of the activities that are necessarily included in conducting a real-estate closing constitute the ‘practice of law,’ and, as a result, the person performing them must be an attorney.

Finally, pursuant to the Acts of 2023, notaries must retain electronic records for a period of 10 years.

 

Future Implications

Naturally, one may consider what else is to come moving forward due to these revisions. The remote online notarization bill will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

Pursuant to the Acts of 2023, the state secretary may require the completion of a course to address the duties, obligations, and technology requirements for conducting remote notarizations offered by the state secretary or vendors approved by the state secretary. However, if such a course is required, its duration will not exceed three hours.

In the event that this course is required, it must be successfully completed prior to notarizing any documents electronically. Most notably, certification of completion of the course would be a requirement in addition to registration with the state secretary.

The Commonwealth is no doubt following a growing trend in permanently solidifying the virtual notary revisions made in response to COVID. In doing so, it will allow both permitted attorneys and paralegals alike increased flexibility in the notarial act required when executing documents. Overall, this legislation will allow a streamlined process for attorneys and their clients in addition to the cost benefit.

While the Acts of 2023 are sure to continue evolving, it is imperative to stay informed regarding further changes, and it is our continued attention to this legislation that will allow us to provide the insight you may need ahead of the curve.

 

Sarah Federation is an associate, and Jeffrey Fialky a shareholder, at Bacon Wilson.

Former Employees Win More Than $20 Million in Two Cases

By Contributor
Law

Employers, Take Notice

By John S. Gannon, Esq.

 

John Gannon

John Gannon

A few weeks ago, Starbucks was in all the employment-law headlines, but not for good reasons. Given the publicity, you may have heard about the case of former Starbucks employee Shannon Phillips, who worked in the Philadelphia area. Phillips was a white Starbucks employee who claimed she was fired because of her race. The jury agreed and ordered the coffee giant to pay her $25.6 million in damages.

What you may not have heard about was a more local case in which a Massachusetts employee was awarded more than $24 million by a jury who found she was discriminated against because of her mental health. Here are some details about those two cases, followed by some commentary on what these employers could have done to possibly avoid the massive judgments.

 

Phillips v. Starbucks Corp.

Shannon Phillips, who is a Caucasian female, began her employment with Starbucks in 2005. She started at the company as a district manager and was promoted in 2011 to regional director of Operations for ‘Area 71,’ which included all stores in Philadelphia and several suburbs near the city. On April 12, 2018, a Starbucks location in Philadelphia made national news when two African-American patrons who were having a business meeting there were arrested for trespassing. The event sparked protests throughout the Philadelphia area.

“Employers cold to the idea of reducing legal risk by paying severance ought to be mindful of cautionary tales about the penny-wise but pound-foolish.”

Starbucks later reached a settlement with the two men and issued a public statement that “Starbucks will continue to take actions that stem from this incident to repair and reaffirm our values and vision for the kind of company that we want to be.” Because she was the regional director of Operations for the Philadelphia area, Phillips was called upon by Starbucks leadership to support and implement their post-incident efforts. According to Starbucks, however, she displayed poor leadership and “failed to perform the essential functions of her role as regional director” after the April 2018 incident. As a result, she was fired.

Phillips sued Starbucks for race discrimination, saying her Caucasian race played a role in the decision to terminate her employment. In her complaint, Phillips said she “worked tirelessly” to help Starbucks repair its image after the event in Philadelphia, but that the chain’s attempts to repair community relations resulted in discrimination against white employees. The jury agreed and awarded her $25.6 million, which was mostly comprised of punitive damages (damages assessed in order to punish a defendant when the behavior is found to be especially harmful or malicious).

 

Menninger v. PPD Dev., LP

Dr. Lisa Menninger worked as the executive director of a global laboratory-services company. Her job included operational leadership, business development, research and development, and quality-assurance functions for optimal performance within the labs.

In December 2017, Menninger met with her supervisor to discuss her performance. During this meeting, her supervisor suggested that her role would become more visible, involving increased client visits, social interactions, and presentations. This change did not sit well with Menninger. The prospect of making her more visible, with increased client visits and social interactions, caused great distress resulting in “increased anxiety with somatic symptoms.”

About a month after meeting with her supervisor, Menninger disclosed (for the first time) that she suffered from generalized anxiety disorder that includes social anxiety disorder and panic attacks. She then submitted medical documentation noting that changes to her role would increase her anxiety and make it “substantially more difficult, if not impossible” to perform her job.

In response, the business did exactly what it was supposed to do. The company communicated with Menninger’s medical provider and asked the doctor to specifically address how and to what extent Menninger could perform each task. Her doctor responded, saying Menninger could perform most job duties with some accommodations. For example, for internal and external sales presentations, she could develop the slides and other materials, but required someone else to present to the audience. Similarly, for client meetings, she could be responsible for problem solving and idea generation, but she could not attend the meetings herself. The company ultimately determined this arrangement would not work. Menninger subsequently went out on an eight-month leave of absence, which culminated in termination of her employment.

She sued her former employer for disability discrimination, claiming (among other things) that the company broke the law when it refused to provide the reasonable accommodations she requested. The jury sided with Menninger and awarded her a whopping $24 million, consisting of approximately $1.5 million in lost wages, $5.5 million in front pay (an estimate of future lost wages had she remained employed by the company), $5 million for past emotional distress, $2 million for future emotional distress, and $10 million in punitive damages.

 

Bottom Line

Massive judgments like these can leave employers scratching their heads (or, more likely, pounding their fists). One way to potentially avoid these runaway jury verdicts is to use employment agreements that require employees (and employers) to go to private mediation and arbitration to resolve employment-related disputes, rather than going to trial.

Another option is an agreement between employee and employer that, if any dispute goes to court, the case will be heard by a judge, rather than a jury. These agreements are commonly referred to as jury-trial waivers. They are lawful, but businesses should use experienced labor and employment counsel to help put the agreements in place.

Another way to avoid costly litigation is to work out a mutually agreeable separation agreement with departing employees. Yes, this will involve paying severance to folks who may not be the best performers, but in exchange, you get a release of claims from the employee and an agreement not to sue the company. Employers cold to the idea of reducing legal risk by paying severance ought to be mindful of cautionary tales about the penny-wise but pound-foolish.

Finally, it goes without saying that, any time a business is facing a risky firing, outside counsel should be engaged to discuss the situation and the best way to move forward.

 

John Gannon is a partner with the Springfield-based law firm Skoler, Abbott & Presser, specializing in employment law and regularly counseling employers on compliance with state and federal laws, including family and medical leave laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act; (413) 737-4753; [email protected]

 

Love May Make a Family, But Is the Law Protecting Yours?

By Contributor
Law

Parental Pitfalls

By Julie Dick, Esq.

 

Julie Dick

Julie Dick

Laws that govern familial rights and responsibilities are not always intuitively related to the continual social evolution of what it means to be a family. Many do not consider the legal realities of their family structure until a moment of crisis, and a lack of planning can cause difficult legal situations down the line.

When laws governing parentage were written, they contemplated families in which there was a biological mother and a biological father, and marriage was heavily incentivized. Since then, family structures and paths to existence have diversified. The law and society have both recognized a significant growth of LGBTQ+ visibility and rights, assisted reproductive technology has become increasingly accessible, and more children are being born to unmarried parents.

During the fight for marriage equality in the U.S., the importance of marriage to family building and parentage was one of the central talking points of the movement, and it is no wonder why. Marriage is often a social, religious, and cultural event, but it is also a legal contract that confers many protections, benefits, and obligations unavailable to unmarried people. From the right to access a spouse’s health insurance to the availability of some forms of family leave to financially significant tax and estate-planning benefits — the legal and financial impacts of marriage are broad. Until recently, those benefits, and the benefits associated with parentage, were categorically unavailable to LGBTQ+ families.

In Massachusetts, the automatic rights and responsibilities accorded to individuals within a family are still largely dependent on whether the birth parent is married. If a married person gives birth to a child, the second party to that marriage is automatically presumed to be the second parent. That parentage comes with obligations, but also rights, including a presumption of shared legal and physical custody (i.e., the right to make decisions on behalf of the minor child and to have that child live with them).

“During the fight for marriage equality in the U.S., the importance of marriage to family building and parentage was one of the central talking points of the movement, and it is no wonder why.”

Massachusetts was the very first U.S. state to allow marriage equality. A 2004 case, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, interpreted civil marriage to mean “the voluntary union of two persons as spouses, to the exclusion of all others,” recognizing that doing so would advance the state’s interests in “providing a stable setting for childrearing.”

The decision directs the reader of Massachusetts marriage laws to interpret terms like ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ in a gender-neutral way. In 2015, marriage equality became available nationwide with a landmark case, Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Supreme Court’s majority opinion boldly stated that “no union is more profound than marriage,” recognizing that it is so essential, in part, because it “safeguards children and families.” By accessing marriage, LGBTQ+ families can now access those automatic presumptions of parentage available to married people.

 

Sticky Situations

What if a child is born to an unmarried parent? In Massachusetts, the law views this family very differently. When the birth parent is unmarried, they have automatic sole legal and physical custody of the child. A second parent can establish their legal parentage by signing an acknowledgment of parentage or by asking a court to determine they are a parent. It was not until a 2016 case, Partanen v. Gallagher, that parents who were not the birth parent and not biologically related to the child (often the case for LGBTQ+ parents) could establish parentage under this law.

However, establishing parentage here in Massachusetts through either of these avenues is not the same as safeguarding parentage across jurisdictions, or across time in a changing legal landscape. Laws governing marriage and parentage are not necessarily entitled to comity — mutual respect and enforcement — between states or countries. A marriage or birth certificate that is recognized as valid in Massachusetts may not be recognized as valid in another jurisdiction. Parentage is only legally meaningful so long as the jurisdiction considering it agrees to give it meaning.

Future disputes with a co-parent and international travel pose two common points of risk when it comes to parentage.

Imagine you are in a committed relationship but haven’t gotten married. You and your partner decide to have a child together, and with the help of assisted reproductive technology, your partner carries a child. You present that child to the world and your family as your own and live together as a family raising the child. Eventually, your relationship breaks down, and your former partner now claims you are not a parent of your child and should not be awarded custody or parenting time. That was the scenario in Partanen v. Gallagher, where the ensuing argument involved years of contested litigation.

Occasionally, birth parents (married or not) have tried to take advantage of another state’s less LGBTQ+-friendly laws. By filing for divorce or custody in a state where the laws are not as inclusive, a birth parent may seek to interrupt the other’s legal parentage or gain an upper hand in custody or parenting time determinations.

In one infamous case, a birth parent residing in Vermont was dissatisfied with the state’s orders recognizing her former partner’s parentage of their child and filed a new case in a Virginia court, which denied the lesbian second parent’s legal parentage altogether. The resulting multi-state legal proceedings lasted years and involved multiple appeals. Ultimately, the birth parent kidnapped the child to Nicaragua and successfully remained in hiding until the child was 18.

The risks the accompany international travel can be even more surprising. Picture this: you’re on vacation with your family, and your child — born to your spouse during your marriage using reproductive technology — falls ill. Will the hospital allow you in the room? Give you information? Let you make vital medical decisions? Let you take your child home? “It depends” is hardly a comforting answer.

 

Adoption as an Answer

For those wishing to decrease that uncertainty, adoption may be the answer. A 1993 case, Adoption of Tammy, confirmed that an existing legal parent and their co-parent can together adopt their own child to secure their parentage in Massachusetts and across jurisdictions.

Sometimes called a confirmatory adoption, marital adoption, or second-parent adoption, this was one of the first tools available for LGBTQ+ families to establish parentage of their children and remains the most secure. Unlike a marriage or a birth certificate, an adoption is entitled to comity across jurisdictions. In Massachusetts, it is a widely available legal proceeding which can stand alone or in addition to an acknowledgement of parentage or marriage to secure a non-birthing parent’s parentage.

In an internationally varied and ever-evolving legal landscape, consider utilizing the law to protect your family so you know what to expect when the unexpected happens.

 

Julie Dick is an attorney at Bulkley Richardson, where she leads the firm’s family-law practice.

Recovery Ready Workplaces Face Addiction Challenges Head-on

By
State Sen. John Velis and Ramona Rivera-Reno
Healthcare News

‘It’s the Right Thing to Do’

State Sen. John Velis and Ramona Rivera-Reno

State Sen. John Velis and Ramona Rivera-Reno say being a Recovery Ready Workplace is good for employees — and the bottom line.

 

State Sen. John Velis knows something about addiction and recovery, having experienced both in his life. And as chair of the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, and Recovery who also serves on a national mental-health task force, he’s keenly aware of the intertwined challenges of recovery and employment.

That’s why he firmly believes the Recovery Ready Workplace initiative offers businesses a roadmap to not only help employees with the biggest challenges of their lives, but to help their business succeed at the same time.

“If you don’t have a healthy workforce, if you don’t have a workforce that is there, in the here and now, to do their job, you’re going to see that in your productivity — more specifically, loss of productivity,” he said.

So helping employees struggling with mental-health issues, addiction, and other challenges is certainly a bottom-line issue, he went on. But, more importantly, it’s a human issue. “It’s important to do it for many reasons, but most importantly, it’s the right thing to do.”

Velis shared these thoughts at a recent employer-appreciation breakfast presented by MassHire Holyoke’s Pillars of the Community Workforce (PCW) initiative, during which several local businesses were honored for their pledge to become a Recovery Ready Workplace — a national program he believes is more crucial than ever.

“What I know with absolute certainty is that the pain that’s being felt out there right now, the number of people dying, the number of people struggling with their mental health, is unprecedented,” he said, adding that this issue “absolutely transcends age, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, everything. There is pain out there.”

A Recovery Ready Workplace supports its community by recognizing recovery from substance-use disorder as a strength, according to MassHire. Companies that take the pledge actively work to maintain and support the employment of people in recovery and their loved ones, and creates a healthy and safe environment where employers and employees can work together to eliminate barriers for those impacted by addiction, reduce stigma and judgment of people in recovery, and start to shift attitudes and perceptions around these issues.

“What’s our mission? To create a culture of support for employers and employees that have been impacted by substance use and addiction,” said Ramona Rivera-Reno, executive director of MassHire Holyoke’s Re-entry & Recovery program. “And when I say create a culture, I’m talking about breaking down the stigma that goes with substance-use disorder.”

“What I know with absolute certainty is that the pain that’s being felt out there right now, the number of people dying, the number of people struggling with their mental health, is unprecedented.”

Reducing or eliminating that stigma is a critical step, she emphasized.

“We’re all in recovery from something, whether it’s recovering from surgery, recovering from the pandemic, recovering economically. There’s a lot of pressure on all of us. And we need to have the coping skills and the communication skills to overcome that as a community together. And that’s what the Recovery Ready Workplace is all about — educating employers, helping them educate their staff, adding it as a wellness benefit to their benefits. The more people you educate, the more communication you get out there, the more we’ll break down that barrier.”

MassHire Holyoke recently recognized

MassHire Holyoke recently recognized about a dozen local businesses for taking the Recovery Ready Workplace pledge.

MassHire notes that being a Recovery Ready Workplace does not mean accepting or enabling intoxication, substance use, or any unsafe conditions in the workplace. What it does mean is that the business:

• Acknowledges that addiction is an issue for many people by openly addressing the topic of drug and alcohol misuse, communicating about these issues in a non-judgmental and honest way to reduce stigma, and encouraging employees to discuss substance-use concerns and recovery successes in a non-punitive setting;

• Educates employees and customers about the disease of addiction and treatment resources and options;

• Offers policies and accommodations that support employees while rethinking hiring standards around gaps in employment, addiction-related justice history, and other considerations;

• Prioritizes safety by preventing employee exposure to unsafe conditions that could cause injury or illness that contribute to the development or recurrence of substance-use disorders, ensuring the workplace is an emotionally and socially safe and healthy environment for staff, and improving access to recovery supports; and

• Improves access to recovery supports by lowering barriers to seeking and receiving care for addiction, and maintaining recovery.

 

Making a Difference

Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia said the city itself is taking a pledge to be a Recovery Ready Workplace. He recognized why some companies would be hesitant to sign on, but agreed with Velis that it’s the right thing to do.

“Obviously, as a company, you have to make sure you have your systems in place to help navigate potential liability and harm to your company because that’s the bottom line,” Garcia noted. “But these are the folks that are helping you build that. So, whatever little bit you can do to help build people up, you’re going to see a return from those individuals that really appreciate the level of interest you’ve taken on them, and the risk you’ve taken on them.”

Rivera-Reno said companies and organizations that take the pledge agree to acknowledge and openly address the employees’ experience with drug and alcohol misuse in the process of recovery.

“A lot of people suffer from different things, whether it’s substance-use disorder, alcoholism, mental-health issues, and they don’t ask for help because the stigma attached to it. It’s a sign of weakness for a lot of people.”

“You’re free to educate your employees about the disease of addiction and treatment options in recovery support, and offer support. And there’s so many ways you can offer support.”

It can be as simple as offering a dollop of schedule flexibility. She cited one client who used to go to lunchtime recovery meetings, but could no longer do that at a new job. “So we had someone talk to the employer, and the employer decided, ‘well, you can come in early, and you can have a longer lunch and just stay later.’

“That makes a big difference to someone,” she went on. “Something simple like a flex schedule made all the difference. And that person’s still working today, and he wouldn’t have had the courage, I think, to do this if we didn’t have a recovery coach talking with him along the way, and if the employer wasn’t aware of our services and aware of what a recovery-friendly place is.”

Rivera-Reno called stigma a more deadly killer than cigarettes, heroin, or whatever substance because it keeps people in the shadows and keeps them from asking for help. Companies that pledge to help break that stigma, she said, are changing lives.

“A lot of people suffer from different things, whether it’s substance-use disorder, alcoholism, mental-health issues, and they don’t ask for help because the stigma attached to it. It’s a sign of weakness for a lot of people. It’s a sign of, like, maybe you’re not ready to work here. So by getting us into the different employers’ offices, talking about recovery as a community, we really make a difference in their lives.”

Garcia emphasized that, with the cost of turnover and difficulty retaining talent these days, it makes business sense for employers to support their employees who are struggling with some of these issues, rather than letting them fall through the cracks.

“Sometimes it’s not even the individual that’s suffering from personal addiction; it’s a son or a daughter or a significant other that impacts them and their performance in the workplace,” the mayor said. “So we’re taking a much more proactive approach when dealing with our employees to help them navigate these problems so that we keep our employees and don’t lose them.”

Indeed, MassHire emphasizes the bottom-line benefits of cultivating a Recovery Ready Workplace, including increased retention and fewer absences, a healthier and safer work environment, greater productivity and loyalty among staff, lower healthcare costs, and an enhanced reputation as a supportive, yet accountable organization.

And with 22 million Americans identifying themselves as people in recovery, it’s not something businesses can afford to ignore.

“You already have countless employees who are struggling with something, whether it be a substance-use disorder or something else,” Velis told those attending the breakfast. “You have that without knowing it.”

 

Breaking the Cycle

Velis ended his address on a personal note, and an encouragement to practice self-care. He said he was late to the event because he was bringing his son to daycare.

“Probably two or three years ago, I would have said to my better half, ‘I gotta go. I gotta be at work. I’m speaking at this event.’ And I don’t do that now because being a dad is the most important thing in my life, but also because I firmly believe when I go to bed at night that self-care is the most important thing every human being does — whether it’s going for a run, doing yoga, meditating, going to a 12-step meeting, or hanging out with my son.”

And that’s what Recovery Ready Workplaces do, proponents say, noting that recovery isn’t just stopping substance use, but taking a journey of growth, improvement, and perseverance. And that’s exactly the kind of employee companies taking the pledge value.

“If you were to look out at your employees and say, ‘raise your hand if you’ve ever struggled with a mental-health issue or a substance-use issue,’ you wouldn’t do that, but trust me when I tell you, many people in that room are struggling with it right now,” Velis said. “And when you welcome that, when you talk about it, when you let it be known that it’s OK, you’re doing a really beautiful thing.”

That’s because the stigma still exists, he added. “The three hardest words for any human being to say are also the most courageous words: ‘I need help.’ Behavioral health today is about meeting people where they are.”

MiraVista Chief Medical Officer Shares Advice for Summer Vacation

By Contributor
Healthcare News

Mental Health Shouldn’t Take a Break

 

 

Dr. Negar Beheshti

Dr. Negar Beheshti

How do students stay emotionally healthy during a long stretch of school vacation?

Dr. Negar Beheshti, a board-certified adult, child, and adolescent psychiatrist and chief medical officer for Holyoke-based MiraVista Behavioral Health Center and its sister hospital, TaraVista Behavioral Health Center in Devens, recommends a balance of structured fun and learning. She recommends as well that primary-care givers, be they parents or other guardians, do their due diligence to keep everyone safe and engaged in behavior that supports mental health.

With that in mind, BusinessWest asked Beheshti to talk about ways to make school breaks beneficial for students of all ages.

 

BusinessWest: What expectations around behavior are good to set during this time away from school?

Beheshti: This is a conversation geared to the child’s age. For example, children in elementary school may be doing a lot of summer-camp activities, and this is an opportunity to talk about appropriate behavior with other peers at the camp.

Should there be other informal activities for this age group more regulated by parents and guardians, it is good for primary caregivers to get to know them, advise their children to stay away from people they don’t know, and know that all activities are in a safe space, contained and chaperoned by an adult.

When you get to the tweens, they may not want the regular, structured routine of summer camp. However, it is still good to do some type of structured program, as it gives middle-schoolers the opportunity to continue social development and promotes new learning opportunities. Some school districts offer enriched learning programming at least part of the day that holds the potential to explore something new in a fun way.

The state Executive Office of Education has a web resource page (www.mass.gov/info-details/summer-learning) on summer programs for youth that are a mix of academic and the recreational.

 

BusinessWest: What about older teens? How can parents and guardians balance their desire for freedom with safety and wellness?

Beheshti: Young people old enough to hang out with their friends without an adult chaperone should have some type of device that allows their primary caregiver to reach them. There are all types of devices today, from smartphones to smartwatches, by which you can regulate whom your child can contact and track their whereabouts.

Again, you want to do your due diligence as a primary caregiver, get to know any parents or other guardians involved, know your young person is in a safe place, and, if they are going out, where they are headed and when they will return.

Parents and guardians should prepare as well for some age-appropriate talks on the expectations and pressures of friendships and relationships and that discourage experimentation with substance use. Drug-overdose deaths of teens have spiked in recent years; underage drinking remains a serious health problem in this country, and studies on the impact of the legalization of adult cannabis show an increase in use among teens.

High school brings a little more autonomy for teenagers and the need for more candid discussions on dating and substance use, including that the minimum legal age for buying, transporting, or drinking alcoholic beverages is 21.

“Parents and guardians should prepare as well for some age-appropriate talks on the expectations and pressures of friendships and relationships and that discourage experimentation with substance use.”

There is value for a teen who is old enough to look for a job. It gives the ability to have more autonomy and more cash to spend and save, and is a good use of their free time.

Parents and guardians should continue their due diligence in knowing who their child is hanging out with in high school, where they are going, and when they will return.

College students can be bit of a conundrum because they are adults. Maybe it is time to say they are coming back home as adults, and you will hold them to that standard in terms of their personal habits around the house.

They are old enough to get a job. This, again, allows them more bandwidth in what they might want to purchase for themselves, help with cost-of-living expenses when they are home, and helps structure their time.

Having structure is key in helping young folks during the summer not get distracted and into risky situations, as is knowing their friends. Have their friends (new and old) over the house and meet them during the summer. There is no harm in meeting your children’s friends of any age.

 

BusinessWest: How can parents and guardians best initiate a talk around accountability and acceptability during vacation?

Beheshti: The best approach is often from an angle of curiosity. This makes it conversational rather than who, what, when, and where. For example, adults often share about each other’s friends just out of an interest, and this tact will likely have more traction with teenagers and young adults versus grilling them.

There is also value in saying to your young person, “I remember my summers when I was a teen, and how my parents (your grandparents) were, and I understand today their concerns for me back then.” The more transparent and sharing (within reason) parents and guardians are, the better chance for more open discussion.

 

BusinessWest: How important is adhering to routines like bedtime during summer?

Beheshti: There can be some leeway. For example, if you have a 9- or 10-year-old, the average bedtime should be between 8 and 9 p.m. If you want to push it to 10 p.m. during the summer and have them sleep a bit later, you need — about two weeks before the start of school — to get that back closer to their school-year sleep pattern so they don’t wake up super tired and have a hard time adjusting the first week of school.

You also want to make sure they are eating healthy, balanced meals during the day with plenty of exercise.

 

BusinessWest: Is it important to spend more family time together during vacation?

Beheshti: There is value in trying to schedule at least one week, maybe two if you have the luxury, for some vacation — even if it is a staycation — with your kids, even when they are high-schoolers. They may roll their eyes, asking why the family is doing something, but being together as a family is something you may not get to do a lot during the school year.

 

BusinessWest: What mental-health issues come up during summer for school kids?

Beheshti: Historically speaking, and the pandemic years aside, the inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric bed census drops during the summer for several reasons. There is less demand on young people during the summer. This means, if they have been managing a diagnosis of depression or anxiety, for example, their symptoms tend to be less severe with less pressure.

However, one cohort of children that particularly benefits from structure and routine are those with developmental delays, including those with related neurobehavioral disorders such as autism spectrum disorder. We see the same amount of prevalence of children with a neurodevelopmental disorder needing hospitalization during summer because their preferred school routines have gone away.

 

BusinessWest: Why symptoms might indicate to a primary caregiver that a child is struggling emotionally?

Beheshti: If you see a noticeable change from what’s typical in their daily activities, meaning their sleeping, eating, or day-to-day mood, pay attention especially if it continues for more than two weeks. This is true even in someone who does not have a previous mental-health diagnosis. Consider making a call to your child’s pediatrician or primary-care provider, especially if they are not established with a psychiatrist.

Parents and guardians — again, coming from an angle of curiosity — could gently ask a child about a noticed change. If they are eating less, for example, you might ask if there is something wrong with their stomach, or is there something else going on in their life? A conversational approach, starting young, can make communication easier as a child ages.

 

BusinessWest: What support is important during the summer for a young person who may be questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity?

Beheshti: You hope that young people who are going through these transitions have had support during the school year. However, some kids may not get this, and there is the potential as well for peer abuse or bullying. A peer counselor would be a good source of support, along with finding a therapist who is experienced in delivering culturally competent care to individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+.

The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health has a web resource page, Young Adult Resource Guide LGBTQIA+ Resources, at www.mass.gov/info-details/dmh-young-adult-resource-guide-lgbtq-resources.

 

For more information on MiraVista’s inpatient behavioral-health treatment for adolescents, as well as adults, call (413) 701-2600 or visit www.miravistabhc.care

Electric-vehicle Charging Stations Proliferating Across the Country

By
charging stations
Autos

Power Play

charging stations

Gary Rome plans to more than double the charging stations at his Hyundai dealership from the current six.

 

 

Gary Rome understands the appeal of electric vehicles.

Start with the long-term fuel savings. At a time when gas still costs around $3.50 per gallon, he said an electric charge might cost around $1.25 for the same number of miles.

“It’s a good deal for someone who drives a lot,” said Rome, owner of Gary Rome Auto Group, which has a Hyundai dealership in Holyoke and a Kia dealership in Enfield, Conn. “As gas prices continue to be as huge as they are, the interest in electric vehicles is not going to wane.”

In addition, “the technology on the car is advanced. The performance is spectacular, and the response, the acceleration, is far superior on some of these electric vehicles as compared to ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicles.”

So, what — besides an initial sticker price higher than the average gas-powered vehicle — might make consumers hesitant to go electric? In many cases, it’s uncertainty about where they’ll power up.

“The infrastructure is still very immature; it needs to be developed,” Rome said. “There’s a lot of money out there from the federal government to support this, but it’s not happening at a rate we would like.”

The issue, for most electric-vehicle (EV) owners, isn’t charging at home; even level-1 chargers running overnight in the garage, at about four miles of range per hour, will give most drivers what they need to get around the next day, and Rome said local utilities are offering financial incentives to install level-2 chargers, which offer more than 30 miles of range per charge hour.

No, the big question, for many, is where to charge when away from home. And that landscape is improving, if not quite at the pace Rome and others would like.

“The infrastructure is still very immature; it needs to be developed. There’s a lot of money out there from the federal government to support this, but it’s not happening at a rate we would like.”

On the federal level, the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year invests $7.5 billion in electric-vehicle charging, $10 billion in clean transportation, and more than $7 billion in EV battery components, critical minerals, and materials.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has committed to building out a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030.  In support of this goal, the Department of Transportation announced the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, a $5 billion initiative to create a coast-to-coast network of EV chargers focused on major highways that support the majority of long-distance trips.

The idea behind this national network is to give drivers confidence they can always find a place to charge, as well as jump-starting private investment in charging infrastructure and electric vehicles and supporting the administration’s goal of having at least 50% of vehicle sales to be electric by 2030.

 

Confidence Game

The confidence factor is important; a AAA survey last year revealed that 25% of Americans say they are likely to buy an electric vehicle for their next auto purchase, with Millennials leading the way at 30%. Of those, 77% cite savings on fuel costs as the top reason.

However, consumer hesitation surrounding range and accessibility to charging points continues to hold many people back. The top objections to buying electric in the AAA survey included the high initial purchase price (cited by 60%), but also concern there are not enough places to charge (60%), concern about running out of charge when driving (58%), worries about the vehicle being unsuitable for long-distance travel (55%), high cost of battery repair or replacement (55%), and inability to install a charging station where they live (31%).

Clearly, some version of worry about not being able to charge the vehicle is a top concern.

Even as the range of EVs improve, “the deeper issue with range anxiety is that it’s going to take more than just improving how far an electric vehicle can go to convince people to make the switch,” said Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of Automotive Engineering and Industry Relations.

And even at home, not everyone can charge. While most electric vehicles come with a 120-volt, level-1 AC charger that plugs into a standard household electrical outlet, people living in dense cities or multi-family housing often find that public charging stations are the only option. So building the charging infrastructure not only along highways, but within cities is key to boosting consumer interest in electric vehicles.

Locally, auto dealers are answering the call. JM Electrical, which has installed thousands of EV charging stations across New England, announced it will install two level-3 charging stations, spare capacity for an additional one in the near future, and three level-2 charging stations at Marcotte Ford in Holyoke. In total, the charging bank, expected to be completed this fall, will have the ability to power up to 10 cars.

Level-3 chargers can bring a battery to 80% charge in under a half-hour. Marcotte is one of the first Ford dealerships in Western Mass. to officially roll out these new EV chargers in efforts to continually scale EV volumes in the region.

Mike Filomeno, Marcotte’s general manager, said Ford is committed to an electric future and understands the need for charging access. “There is demand, but we need the infrastructure to support it. You can’t sell vehicles that don’t have that. And what makes people comfortable is knowing they can get their vehicles charged everywhere.”

 

Station by Station

On a national level, the Biden administration says investments are paying off, with EV sales tripling and the number of publicly available charging ports growing by at least 40% since the start of 2021. There are now more than 3 million EVs on the road and more than 130,000 public chargers across the country.

Further accelerating the buildout of a reliable charging network, companies including Tesla, General Motors, EVgo, Pilot, Hertz, and BP, among others, are announcing commitments to expand their networks by thousands of public charging ports in the next two years, using private funds to complement federal dollars and putting the nation’s EV charging goals even closer within reach.

Rome’s Holyoke dealership now boasts six charging stations, of both the level-2 and level-3 variety, and he wants to install about eight more. He noted that Hyundai is fully committed to the EV movement, breaking ground six months ago in Georgia on a $5.8 billion production facility for electric cars and batteries.

“They see this as a very important part of our sales,” he said, “and they’re putting their money where their mouth is.”

Dora D. Robinson Remembered for Her Leadership, Passion

By
Women in Businesss

A Legacy of Caring, Getting Involved

 

Dora D. Robinson

Dora D. Robinson

It’s been more than 30 years since the incident just outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Springfield, but Nate Johnson says he won’t ever forget what happened that Halloween afternoon.

Or the woman who committed what he described not as an act of kindness, but rather as “heroism.”

A group of teenagers had gathered outside the MLK Center, he recalled, and a fight broke out among them — a “real fight.”

He was in the middle of it, he said, adding that, from seemingly out of nowhere, Dora D. Robinson, the director at the center, grabbed him and pulled him out of the fracas.

To this day, he doesn’t know why she picked him from among all the others. He’s just grateful she did, because that was simply the beginning of her influence on his life.

“She’s my superhero that came to rescue me,” he said, making a point to use the present tense, adding that Robinson, who passed away last month at age 71, essentially “adopted” him at that point and became a mother figure, mentor, inspiration, and someone who helped open doors and compel him to walk through them.

Opening doors and guiding people through them … that might be a concise yet effective way to at least start to sum up a remarkable life and career in public service that included a lengthy stint at the MLK Center, a tenure as president and CEO of the United Way of Pioneer Valley (UWPV), and many other leadership roles.

But her passion for serving the community, creating opportunities for others, and battling social injustice continued long after she formally retired, said those who knew and worked with her.

Indeed, Helen Caulton-Harris, commissioner of the Division of Health and Human Services in Springfield, who worked with Robinson on a number of initiatives and was her close friend, remembers that, just a few days before she fell ill, Robinson was working on a maternal health program in Indian Orchard and had called her asking if she would write a support letter so Robinson could secure funding for the initiative.

“Dora started her life in Elmira, New York, but Springfield was her heart and soul,” Caulton-Harris said. “She put everything she had into this community. Her leadership was critical. Even after she retired from her formal job, she still felt her passion to be a leader and to make sure she was creating opportunities and leaving a legacy of supporting nonprofits.”

Donna Haghighat, CEO of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, agreed. She said Robinson chaired one of the committees setting up the agency’s Young Women’s Initiative, one of many endeavors she was passionate about.

“She felt strongly about empowering young women of color,” Haghighat noted, adding that she eventually convinced Robinson to join her board. “What was compelling to her was that this initiative was mentoring young women of color, teaching them about philanthropy, which was very close to her heart. They learned about nonprofits that were doing work in the areas that they identified as barriers to their own prosperity in Springfield. So it was a wonderful way to learn that philanthropy can be a tool of social justice.”

Robinson learned that lesson early on in her career, and one of her many passions, said those we spoke with, was to impart that lesson on others.

For this issue and its focus on women in business, we reflect on the life and career of Dora D. Robinson, who certainly was an influential woman in business, with her business being the community she lived and worked in and her tireless efforts to bring about equity and opportunities for everyone.

 

Passion Play

Born in Elmira, Robinson made a lifetime commitment to social and racial justice starting with her participation in the Poor People’s March on Washington as a teenager in 1968.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, completed graduate studies at Smith College, and earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Connecticut.

She put those degrees to use in a number of leadership roles with area nonprofits and on countless boards. She served as vice president of Education at the Urban League of Springfield and corporate director and vice president of Child and Family Services at the Center for Human Development.

“She understood her responsibility to mentor and nurture and create pathways for future leaders. She understood the need to give young Black individuals, as well as seasoned individuals, an opportunity for growth. She knew she held a unique responsibility to make sure there were others in our community who followed us.”

Starting in 1991, she served as the inaugural leader of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and as a member of the MLK Community Presbyterian Church, and actively supported the Project Mustard Seed campaign to raise funds to build a community center to serve as a place for youth and family in the Mason Square neighborhood to thrive. Nearly two decades later, she had established MLK Jr. Family Services, a multi-service agency with a $3 million operating budget, 75 full- and part-time employees, and more than 100 volunteers with services delivered at three program sites located across Greater Springfield.

Robinson took the helm at the UWPV in 2009 as the first woman to serve as its CEO. Under her leadership, the agency launched several new strategies to diversify revenues contributing to education, homelessness initiatives, basic needs, and financial-security programs. She also led the founding of the UWPV Women’s Leadership Council (now renamed the Dora D. Robinson Women’s Leadership Council in her honor) to engage local women leaders in supporting financial literacy and health initiatives for women and girls.

She retired from the United Way in 2017 but continued to work on passion projects, including the Indian Orchard Citizen’s Council, the Black Behavioral Health Network, and many others.

Over the years, she served in a number of regional, state, and national leadership roles with groups including the Springfield Regional Chamber, the Springfield Library Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston community advisory board, Springfield Technical Community College, and as a founding member of the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley.

Beyond all these lines on a résumé, Robinson is remembered for her boundless passion for the region and especially its underserved, her sense of humor, as well as her willingness to donate her time, money, and leadership to innumerable causes and organizations in this region and well beyond. She is remembered as a dynamic, forward-thinking administrator who led by example and was able to inspire others.

“As an administrator, Dora Robinson was strategic, and to me, that was one of her greatest strengths,” Caulton-Harris said. “She looked at the lanes of her administration, of her leadership, and she was very strategic about who she interacted with and how she interacted.”

Elaborating, she said Robinson understood the role she played as a Black woman in leadership roles and embraced all that came with it.

“She understood her responsibility to mentor and nurture and create pathways for future leaders. She understood the need to give young Black individuals, as well as seasoned individuals, an opportunity for growth. She knew she held a unique responsibility to make sure there were others in our community who followed us.

“Dora had a spirit that could not be harnessed. She was an explosive force of love everywhere she went; everyone she interacted with felt that generosity of spirit,” Caulton-Harris continued. “I think her legacy is one of warmth, almost like the warmth of the sun — her rays sort of permeated everything she interacted with.”

Johnson concurred, and said that, to him, Robinson was a more than leader in the boardroom. She was a leader on the streets of Springfield — in his case, quite literally.

“I’m thankful and grateful for her,” he said. “She treated me like I was her son. She stayed with me for the past 30 years, and I stayed with her. And she’s still with me.”

Caulton-Harris agreed, and then spoke for everyone who knew Robinson when she said, “frankly, I’m not sure how I move forward without her. I’ll miss her.”

 

Lasting Legacy

As he talked about Robinson, her legacy, and her influence on him, Nate Johnson said use of the past tense simply won’t cut it.

She remains a large and powerful force in his life and how he lives it, and always will be, he said, adding that the lessons she imparted, the example she set, and her directive to keep reaching higher and find new ways to make the most of his life, while also making a difference in the lives of others, will not only stay with him, but guide him for the rest of his life.

And there are countless people across the region who can, and do, say the same thing.

That’s the kind of impact reserved for superheroes.

Report Assesses Financial Impact from Loss of Fossil-fuel Assets

By Contributor
Wealth Management

Who Bears the Brunt?

 

One common rationale against climate action is that the resulting fossil-fuel investment losses could affect the retirement or long-term savings of a vast number of people. However, research co-authored by an economist at the UMass Amherst Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) finds that the loss of fossil-fuel assets would have a minimal impact on the general populace.

In high-income countries, most losses would be borne by the most affluent individuals, for whom the loss makes up a small percentage of their total wealth. In contrast, the financial loss of lower-income individuals would be small in dollar terms and feasible for governments to compensate.

The paper, published in the journal Joule and co-authored by Gregor Semieniuk, research assistant professor at UMass Amherst; Lucas Chancel, associate professor of economics at Sciences Po in Paris; and four other co-authors, builds on Semieniuk’s earlier research, which estimated the total amount of assets that would be lost, or ‘stranded,’ if ambitious climate policies caused fossil-fuel production to quickly decline.

Semieniuk and Chancel find that, in the U.S., two-thirds of the financial losses from fossil-fuel assets would affect the top 10% of wealth holders, with half of that affecting the top 1%. Because the top 1% tend to have a diverse portfolio of investments, any losses from fossil-fuel assets would make up less than 1% of this group’s net wealth. When the researchers repeated this analysis for the U.K. and continental European countries, they found similar results.

In contrast, 3.5% of financial losses would affect the poorest half of Americans. Asset losses make up a larger proportion of wealth for this group. However, because their overall net wealth (assets minus liabilities) is significantly lower, researchers estimate that the entirety of these losses could be compensated for as little as $9 billion in Europe and $12 billion in the U.S.

“There’s this idea that it’s the general populace that should be opposed to climate policy that creates stranded assets because their pensions are at risk or their retirement savings or just their savings,” Semieniuk said. “It’s not untrue that some wealth is at risk, but in affluent countries, it’s not a reason for government inaction because it would be so cheap for governments to compensate that.”

Semieniuk and Chancel detail three different potential ways governments could raise this amount of money. For example, policymakers could impose a very modest carbon-emissions tax. In addition, they could renegotiate their current liabilities to energy companies and use the amount that they save. A modest tax on the wealthiest individuals could also raise enough money to compensate for the least affluent groups’ losses.

“Even though our results are simple, they were not present in research or public debates before,” Chancel said. “This work is one step forward in understanding the winners and losers from the point of view of the assets that might be at risk in this transition.”

The research was supported by the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council, the United Nations Development Programme, an EU Horizon grant, the Leverhulme Research Centre, and the Leverhulme Trust.

News

Contact

Advertise

Events