Contributor, Author at BusinessWest

Banking and Financial Services

By Claire Morenon, Margaret Christie, and Phil Korman

On July 10, heavy rains led to widespread flooding alongside small rivers and creeks throughout our region. The next day, the Connecticut River overflowed its banks to levels not seen since Hurricane Irene in 2011.

This flooding event was fast in some ways — the fields at Natural Roots Farm in Conway, along the South River, filled with water as farmers and their draft horses worked to save their deluged chickens and equipment. And it was slow in others, as farmers watched and waited more than 24 hours to see how high the Connecticut River would rise.

Heavy rain has continued to fall, making some fields that didn’t flood too wet to access for farmwork and increasing the likelihood of plant diseases that thrive in wet conditions.

Flooding is catastrophic for farms in many ways, and the timing of this flood is especially damaging. Floodwaters sweep away plants, livestock, equipment, and topsoil. Plants that survive generally can’t be harvested and eaten because floodwater is often contaminated with road runoff, sewage overflow, and other contaminants. Any edible part of a plant that contacts flood water or flooded soil can’t be sold or donated.

A flood in early July has huge financial implications for the farms that were flooded: they have devoted immense time and money to growing and maintaining crops which are now unsalable, and they may not be able to plant and harvest new crops before the growing season is over.

Flooding impacted farms of all kinds: small startups, some of them operated by immigrant and refugee farmers; long-standing, diverse vegetable operations that sell directly to consumers through farm stands and CSAs; and large wholesale operations that supply supermarkets and corner stores across the state. Farms of all sizes donate produce, too, so food pantries and food banks are also impacted.

The response to this disaster has been swift. Farmers have donated produce and young plants to flooded farms. Community members have contributed generously, and volunteers have turned out to help clean up mud and debris. State and federal elected leaders came to see the damage and hear directly from farmers. Local legislators, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, UMass Cooperative Extension, and nonprofits that focus on food and farms worked quickly and cooperatively to tally losses, address immediate needs, and plan for a more comprehensive response to this and future climate-related disasters.

Gov. Maura Healey also announced the launch of the Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund (see story on page 64), a public/private initiative that offers a place to donate, a source of grants for impacted farms statewide, and the beginnings of a safety net for future climate-change events. In addition, advocates are hopeful that state legislators will include a farm disaster fund in their supplemental budget.

Farmers are resilient and adaptable. Farming has always been a weather-dependent, narrow-margin occupation. But the weather extremes of our changing climate are bigger and more damaging than the everyday unpredictability of New England weather.

This flood is the third weather event this year to bring widespread losses to local farms: peach buds were killed in February in a weekend cold snap during an otherwise warm winter, and a late frost in May greatly reduced blueberry and apple harvests. These events match climate-change predictions for our region, which include wild temperature fluctuations, increased precipitation, and higher summer temperatures.

Local farmers have already begun to adjust their growing practices to increase resilience in the face of these changes. But to survive, they need more help. This must include more funding for research into climate-adapted farming practices, more financial support for farmers in making those changes, and a more robust emergency-response system.

Climate change will make extreme weather events more frequent. Recent flooding and freezes show the devastation these events can cause — and the response that’s possible. Farms saw an outpouring of community support, and Massachusetts has begun to build the capacity for the larger response that will get us through this disaster and the ones to come.

Right now, funds are desperately needed. Go to buylocalfood.org to donate to the new Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund, individual farm fundraisers, and CISA’s Emergency Farm Fund, which provides no-interest farm loans. And don’t forget that using your grocery dollars to buy local food offers a two-part benefit: investing in local farms while enjoying summer’s bounty.

Claire Morenon is communications manager, Margaret Christie special projects manager, and Philip Korman executive director of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture).

Corporate Transparency Act Generates New Requirements

By Contributor July 21, 2023

Roadmap for Reporting

By Jennifer Sharrow, Esq.

Businesses, get ready. The federal government is implementing new reporting requirements that will bring even the smallest businesses under the purview of the U.S. Department of Treasury. All entities registered with a secretary of state are now required to make mandatory reports which require specific and detailed information, and a failure to file these reports can result in serious penalties.

Jennifer Sharrow

This new reporting system is like nothing that has ever been required for the majority of businesses, either locally or elsewhere in the country, but the passing of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) represents a fundamental change to the information that must be provided to the federal government by small businesses and single-purpose limited liability companies and corporations.

The Corporate Transparency Act was passed in 2021 as part of a suite of efforts from the federal government to crack down on money laundering across various parts of the economy. The CTA specifically targets efforts to hide monies under the guise of complicated corporate entity structuring. Whereas these entities previously enjoyed a significant amount of privacy regarding matters of ownership, under the CTA, these entities will now be required to disclose detailed, personal information about their beneficial ownership.

Every small-business owner, and every business that assists in the formation and annual reporting requirements of the business, needs to know about this new reporting requirement, as non-compliance can result in substantial penalties of $500 a day up to $10,000, and up to two years in jail.

Who Needs to File?

While certain exemptions are available within the statute, in general, any corporation, limited-liability company, or any similar entity formed by a filing with the secretary of state needs to file reports with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This requirement applies to most small businesses, fund-manager entities, and real-estate holding companies.

Additionally, FinCEN is gathering information on what is described in the CTA as the ‘company applicant’ — the person or organization who actually files the paperwork on behalf of the entity. For law firms, where formation documents are generally filed by a paralegal, FinCEN will require information on both the paralegal and their supervising attorney. For other service companies, this will be information on the specific person filing the organizational paperwork.

“This new reporting system is like nothing that has ever been required for the majority of businesses, either locally or elsewhere in the country.”

There are 23 exemptions from the CTA reporting requirements. Most exemptions are for entities that are already subject to considerable federal or state regulation. Examples of exempt entities include publicly traded companies and other entities that file reports with the SEC, tax-exempt entities, banks, credit unions, money-services businesses, insurance companies, securities brokers and dealers, state-licensed insurance producers, public utilities, and accounting firms.

There is also an exemption for what’s called a ‘large operating company,’ which is an entity that employs more than 20 full-time employees in the U.S., has an operating presence at a physical office within the U.S., and has filed a federal income-tax or information return in the U.S. for the previous year with more than $5 million in gross receipts or sales.

What Is Being Reported?

• Entity information. This includes full legal name, ‘doing business as’ name, principal office address, jurisdiction of formation, and IRS employer identification number.

• Beneficial owner information. A ‘beneficial owner’ is anyone who owns more than 25% of the entity and anyone who exercises ‘substantial control’ over the entity’ such as directors, LLC managers, and certain trustees. The entity will need to provide, for each beneficial owner, their full legal name, date of birth, current residential address, governmental identification information from a passport or driver’s license, and a copy of that identification document.

• Company applicant information. For new entities formed after Jan. 1, 2024, the entity will need to provide essentially the same information on the appropriate company applicant individuals as they provide for the beneficial owners.

When Are the Reports Due?

There are two timelines, one for existing businesses formed prior to Jan. 1, 2024, and one for those new businesses formed after the start of the new year. The existing businesses have until Jan. 1, 2025 to submit their initial reports. New businesses will have to file their initial reports to FinCEN within 30 calendar days of their initial formation. Additionally, whenever there is a change in beneficial ownership or a change to the information of a beneficial owner, the entity will have 30 days from that change to file an updated report.

Where Is This Information Being Kept?

The disclosures will be made to a centralized federal database under FinCEN. These reports will not be accessible to the general public, but will solely be used by law-enforcement agencies, government regulators of financial institutions, the Treasury Department, and certain foreign authorities requesting information through federal agencies.

How Should You Prepare Now?

Entities should first consult with an attorney to understand whether they qualify for an exemption or whether the CTA will require them to submit reports to FinCEN. Then, the owners and managers should decide when they want to file their initial disclosure and begin the process of gathering the required reporting information.

Finally, it is highly recommended that they implement a system to keep the reporting information accurate and up to date, so they know when updated reports need to be filed. The reporting companies should communicate with their clients to assist in filing these new reports and to have their own information ready and available to disclose to FinCEN.

Jennifer Sharrow is an associate at Bacon Wilson and a member of the firm’s business and corporate department, specializing in business matters, financing, and commercial real-estate transactions.

A Sea Change for a Longstanding Legal Requirement

Law

Remote Online Notarization

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

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

Law

Employers, Take Notice

By John S. Gannon, Esq.

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?

Law

Parental Pitfalls

By Julie Dick, Esq.

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.

MiraVista Chief Medical Officer Shares Advice for Summer Vacation

Healthcare News

Mental Health Shouldn’t Take a Break

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

Report Assesses Financial Impact from Loss of Fossil-fuel Assets

Special Coverage Wealth Management

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.

Paying Off Your Mortgage Early

By Contributor July 6, 2023

Whether to Do So Depends on Several Factors

By Barbara Trombley, MBA, CPA

Should you pay off your mortgage early? This is a common question that financial planners get, and the answer is not always what you may be thinking.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, historic mortgage rates peaked in 1981 at a 30-year fixed rate of 18.63%. Throughout the 1980s, the 30-year fixed rate steadily declined to a lofty 10%+ in 1990.

According to historical data provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the average price of a house sold in 1980 was $76,400. Using these numbers and an online mortgage calculator, a $60,000 mortgage payment in 1980 would be $935 per month. This would have been an extraordinary burden for the average family. Paying off a mortgage as soon as financially possible would have been an excellent financial move at that time.

Fast-forward to our reality in the last few years. Those who were lucky enough to buy before the Federal Reserve started increasing interest rates after the pandemic were able to lock in historically low mortgage rates. It was not unheard of to get a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage under 3%.

Barbara Trombley

“You may need more money than you think in the future due to healthcare costs, inflation, family needs, etc., and if it is tied up as equity in your house, it may be difficult to access.”

Even if you didn’t purchase your house in the last few years, if your credit was good, you would have been able to refinance to get these terms. The same $60,000 mortgage in 1980, calculated at 3% interest, would result in a monthly payment of $253 versus $935 at 18.63% — a huge financial difference.

Low-rate mortgages should be considered good debt. Why is it called good debt, and what is bad debt? I would consider good debt to be a mortgage, car loan, and some student loans. These types of loans may increase your future net worth or help you achieve your goals. Most people do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank to purchase a house, so a mortgage is a great tool to achieve home ownership. Purchasing a car can be imperative to get to a job for many people. A small loan, when necessary, would be considered good debt.

The same argument would hold for student loans. Of course, we do not want students to be burdened by debt. But for many conscientious students, loans are the only way to achieve their academic dreams and set them up for a financially stable future.

Bad debt can derail your financial goals with high-interest rates. The main source of bad debt that comes to mind would be credit cards, especially when used for discretionary purchases. Credit cards have notoriously high interest rates, and many people are not good at managing the debt. If you are paying off your charges in full each month, then the interest rate does not come in to play. Other sources of bad debt would be many personal loans and payday loans. Payday loans can be extraordinarily damaging, with interest rates as high as 30%. These types of loans prey on economically disadvantaged people who need cash before their actual payday.

Assessing Your Needs

So, should you pay off your mortgage early? My personal point of view is that, if mortgage debt increases your net worth over time, and you are investing your funds elsewhere, it is good debt to have.

Paying off a mortgage early, for many people, would result in becoming ‘asset rich’ and ‘cash poor.’ I like to use the phrase ‘living in a piggy bank’ to describe having your money tied up in a primary home. You may need more money than you think in the future due to healthcare costs, inflation, family needs, etc., and if it is tied up as equity in your house, it may be difficult to access.

Also, many homeowners mistakenly think it is best to leave a debt-free house to their kids. In my experience, most ‘kids’ do not want their parents’ home or cannot afford the upkeep. Upon their parents’ death, they will sell the house quickly and pay off any mortgage on the property and keep the remaining proceeds.

If you have spent the last 30 years diligently paying your monthly mortgage and it is fully paid, that is something to be proud of. If you have purchased a property in the last 15 or 20 years, think carefully and weigh the pros and cons with a financial advisor before making a hasty decision.

Barbara Trombley is a financial planner with Wilbraham-based Trombley Associates Investment and Retirement Planning. Securities offered through LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Trombley Associates, a registered investment advisor and separate entity from LPL Financial. This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking investment advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own, separate from this educational material.

Colleges Can Still Seek Diversity

By Contributor July 5, 2023

Accounting and Tax Planning

By Iván Espinoza-Madrigal

On June 29, while raising the bar on universities’ ability to consider race in admissions, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected calls to overrule its affirmative-action precedents. Most importantly, the court left the door open for admissions offices to consider how race may have shaped an applicant’s life, affirming that “nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”

In finding that Harvard’s and UNC’s admissions processes lacked “sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race,” the court’s ruling will undoubtedly require schools to reconfigure their policies. But the decision cannot be construed as an outright bar on race-conscious admissions. Key elements of the holistic admissions process for higher-education institutions remain in place.

Throughout this challenge to Harvard’s policies, Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) has represented Harvard alumni and students of color as friends of the court (amici), emphasizing how Harvard’s holistic admissions process has led to a diverse campus that benefits all students.

LCR is unequivocally committed to eliminating systemic barriers that harm communities of color. Far too many colleges and universities offer preferential treatment in the admissions process to the family members of alumni (so-called ‘legacies’) and donors, which typically results in an unearned and unfair advantage for white applicants and takes away admissions slots that could otherwise go to highly qualified and deserving students of color.

As institutions assess how the college admissions process will work moving forward, it is important to continue to invest in pipeline projects designed to dramatically expand access to higher education for students of color.

The Supreme Court’s ruling leaves open the door for colleges to use race-neutral alternatives to achieve diversity on campus, including recruiting based on income and socioeconomic background, utilizing criteria such as home and school zip codes, investing heavily in efforts to admit first-generation college students and to make them feel at home on campus, and guaranteeing admission to graduates with the best grade-point averages from each high school within the state where the college or university is located, as schools such as the University of Texas have already successfully implemented.

These programs provide a concrete and lawful path forward.

Iván Espinoza-Madrigal is executive director of Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights.

Massachusetts Central Rail Trail Completion Would Bring Benefits

By Contributor June 23, 2023

Construction

Pathway of Progress

An aerial view of part of the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail.

A study initiated by the Norwottuck Network to assess the benefits of the completion of the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail (MRCT) system predicts that general health and wellness would improve and annual trail usage could quadruple, creating opportunities for overnight visitation, new jobs, increased local small businesses, and an overall economic benefit ranging from $87 to $182 million annually.

The nonprofit Norwottuck Network raised $75,000 to commission the study by Kittelson & Associates Inc. of Boston and Cambridge Econometrics of Northampton to evaluate the potential use and health and economic benefits of completing the 104-mile, multi-use bicycle and pedestrian trail system that runs east-west between Boston and Northampton along the historic Massachusetts Central Railroad corridor.

Findings outlined in “Envisioning a Statewide Connection: Mass Central Rail Trail Benefits Study,” released in mid-May, indicate that completion of the trail would result in increased usage of up to 4 million to 5 million people annually and reduced health costs from $4.1 to $5.8 million per year. On the economic side, a completed trail would create $87 to $182 million per year in new economic activity, including $55 to $114 million in new spending by trail users and up to 1,250 new jobs.

Leaders of the nine-member Norwottuck Network board, founded in 2000, will now ask the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to evaluate construction costs and create a timeline for completion.

Currently, 55 miles of the trail are officially open, with roughly 20 miles in the planning or construction stages. Challenging sections of the trail to be completed include areas where bridges are missing, trail segments that will need to be purchased from private owners, and needed repairs to a 1,000-foot tunnel near the Wachusett Reservoir.

A completed Mass Central trail would eliminate those barriers and open those sections, and also link the rail trail system to 18 additional existing and under-development rail trails, creating a 273-mile trail network within the state of Massachusetts.

“These long walking and biking trails produce a lot of benefits. The question was, is it worth spending public money? This report unequivocally says yes, it will be worth it.”

Craig Della Penna, president of the network board, said the DOT recently conducted a study to evaluate the feasibility of reassembling segments of the Mass Central Rail Trail into a unified trail system and released findings in 2021; no action was taken because the benefits had yet to be assessed.

“This report is the next step,” Della Penna said. “And we are not surprised by these findings. These long walking and biking trails produce a lot of benefits. The question was, is it worth spending public money? This report unequivocally says yes, it will be worth it.

“Consultants never overestimate benefits in an analysis,” he added, noting they are more apt to underestimate. “There are no negatives. Tourism is the third-largest industry in the state. A completed trail would allow people to bike right out of their neighborhood and explore the state in a way they’ve never been able to do before.”

Kittelson & Associates noted that the completed network would be within 10 miles of 64% of all Massachusetts residents and would offer a boost to 19 cities and towns defined by the consultants as gateway communities — those that face social and economic challenges but retain assets such as infrastructure or major institutions.

Among the gateway communities that would benefit are Barre, Billerica, Clinton, Easthampton, Hardwick, Hatfield, Lunenburg, Marlborough, New Braintree, Oakham, Palmer, Saugus, South Hadley, Southampton, Southwick, Ware, Warren, West Boylston, and West Brookfield.

The unequivocal positive impact on these gateway communities was the one surprise for Della Penna in the report. “This is a way to focus on making these communities better,” he said. “The state can’t help you improve your house, but it can help you improve your community. This is an infrastructure project that improves communities, helps to improve health outcomes, and will generate a significant positive economic benefit.”

Evolution of a Trail

Trains running along the Massachusetts Central Railroad traveled between Boston and Northampton, serving residents and industry through the early 1900s, until struggles with maintenance, negotiations over ownership, and damage from the hurricane of 1938 led to the railway’s eventual decline.

The MCRT began to form in 1980 when the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management each purchased unused sections of the railroad corridor from the Boston & Maine Railroad.

The first section of the Mass Central Rail Trail was a segment called the Norwottuck Rail Trail. Completed in 1993, the Norwottuck Rail Trail segment between Northampton and Amherst was instantly popular.

“The state can’t help you improve your house, but it can help you improve your community. This is an infrastructure project that improves communities, helps to improve health outcomes, and will generate a significant positive economic benefit.”

In 1995, community leaders and volunteers in several Central Mass. communities formed Wachusett Greenways, a nonprofit with a goal to develop the Mass Central Rail Trail segment in the Wachusett region, including Sterling, West Boylston, Holden, Rutland, Oakham, and Barre. Their work inspired other communities to build their own sections of the MCRT corridor.

Kittelson & Associates said investments in multi-use trails throughout Massachusetts have provided meaningful economic and health benefits, and long-distance, continuous trails have greater impact. They attract through-cyclists and overnight visitors, which, in turn, results in increased spending on lodging and restaurants.

As part of its study, Kittelson & Associates surveyed current Mass Central Rail Trail users, receiving responses from more than 2,000 participants. These are among the findings:

• If the trail is completed, 26% of current users would use the MCRT for shopping, 16% to commute to work, 5% to commute to school, and 86% to access parks and other features;

• Ninety-three percent of respondents anticipate using the MCRT more frequently and traveling on the trail for longer distances; and

• Almost 50% would take a multi-day trip.

Other findings were based on economic and health results associated with use of the Erie Canalway Trail in New York and the Great Allegheny Passage in Maryland and Pennsylvania. These trails generate $253 million and $121 million per year, respectively, so the planners on the team of consultants estimate the MCRT could generate between $117 and $212 million annually.

“The MCRT shares many characteristics with these two trails, including similar tourism opportunities,” the report notes. “It would connect historic towns and improve access to outdoors destinations, such as rural areas outside of the Quabbin Reservoir area and in the Connecticut River Valley.”

The MCRT has an additional benefit in that it connects numerous rail trails in the Boston metropolitan area as well as Northampton and Amherst, which provide a second population anchor that will encourage travel along the completed route. One of the 18 trails that connects to the MCRT is the longest interstate rail trail in New England, the New Haven & Northampton Canal Greenway.

Broad Impact

Existing trail systems generate 1.3 million annual visits, with 15,000 overnight trips, giving Kittelson & Associates cause to estimate the completed MCRT would bring between 4.1 million and 5.5 million visitors, including 120,000 to 390,000 overnight visits.

Visitors to the existing MCRT currently spend about $19 million annually, and spending is expected to increase to between $74 million and $133 million annually for the completed MCRT.

The completed MCRT could also generate an increase of $87 million to $182 million from the economic activity associated with the existing sections of the MCRT, including up to roughly 1,500 new jobs, for total economic activity estimated at $117 million to $212 million.

Della Penna, a longtime advocate of rail-trail systems said of the study and next steps, “it’s big, and it’s ongoing.”

More than 10,000 volunteers across the state are involved in developing bicycle and pedestrian trails in the state. To read the report detailing the benefits of linking the undeveloped segments of the Mass Central Rail Trail into one unified multi-use trail across Massachusetts, and to learn more about the MCRT, visit masscentralrailtrail.org. To learn more about the Norwottuck Network, visit nnnetwork.net/about-us.

Methodology Changes on Form 5500 Will Impact Your Business

By Contributor June 23, 2023

Calling for a Recount

By Kara Graves, CPA

On Feb. 23, 2023, the Department of Labor, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., in conjunction with the Employee Benefits Security Administration, released requirement changes to Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Large Employee Benefit Plans, and Form 5500-SF, Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plans.

There are many changes to Form 5500 for 2023. One of the more critical changes relates to how the participant count is calculated at the beginning of a plan year. The count is used to determine whether a plan requires an audit by an independent accountant. Typically, a benefit-plan audit is required for all large plans with more than 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year.

Old Rule

Before Jan. 1, 2023, the participant count included both active employees eligible to participate and terminated, vested employees with balances still in the plan. Using this calculation method, plans needed to include all employees currently employed and eligible for the plan, regardless of whether they were participating in the plan.

“Effective Jan. 1, 2023, plan sponsors will only need to consider participants (active and terminated) with account balances when calculating the number of participants at the beginning of the plan year. This means those active employees eligible to participate who have never contributed to the plan and/or received employer contributions will not be counted.”

Kara Graves

Under the old rule, an audit was required for a plan with 100 or more of both active employees eligible to participate and terminated, vested employees with account balances. Even if a plan had fewer than 100 participant accounts with balances, an audit could still be required due to the eligible and not-participating employees.

New Rule

Effective Jan. 1, 2023, plan sponsors will only need to consider participants (active and terminated) with account balances when calculating the number of participants at the beginning of the plan year. This means those active employees eligible to participate who have never contributed to the plan and/or received employer contributions will not be counted. As a result, some plans might be able to file as a small plan.

What’s Next?

Plan sponsors should be aware of these changes and review their plan counts closely with their third-party administrators under this new methodology for the 2023 plan year. Plans with fewer than 100 plan account balances as of Jan. 1, 2023 (for calendar-year-end plans) will not need an audit, even if they previously did under the old rules.

What does this mean for plans that are hovering around the 100 account-balance mark during 2023? If your plan has 100 or more participant account balances on Jan. 1, 2023 (calendar-year-end plans), an audit is still required for 2023, but there are some steps that can be taken to reduce plan participants for Jan. 1, 2024 (the next plan audit measurement date for calendar-year-end plans).

Plan sponsors should be reviewing terminated employees with participant account balances of $5,000 or less. The plan sponsor should review with their third-party administrator the existing plan provision that allows the plan to force out terminated participants with balances of $5,000 or less. This plan provision could be utilized to reduce the participants with balances, which could potentially remove the audit requirement in the future.

Kara Graves, CPA is a senior manager and the Employee Benefit Plan Audit Niche leader at the Holyoke-based accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.

Three Ways Financial-wellness Programs Boost the Bottom Line

By Contributor June 23, 2023

Insurance

Sound Investment

By Hub International

Financial wellness is no longer just being a nice thing for employees or a way to help recruiting and retention — it’s an important tool for improving profits.

The demand from the workforce is clear. A recent survey indicated only 42% of employees feel compensation has kept up with higher living expenses, compared with 52% a year earlier. The same survey indicates that 19% of employees are looking for a new job primarily to improve their compensation.

With numbers like these, a strong financial-wellness program can have a significant impact on your bottom line.

Here are three ways financial wellness can improve the bottom line:

1. It drives down the cost of turnover. Losing employees is an expensive proposition. While estimates vary, it can cost more than $4,000 to replace an employee in terms of upfront ‘hard’ costs, while in terms of other costs, the price can be in multiples of salary. In addition, organizations lose the institutional knowledge of an experienced worker, which drives turnover costs higher through training and loss of productivity.

At the same time, 65% of workers have felt stressed regarding their finances due to the COVID pandemic, leading to increased turnover and lower productivity. Among employees who feel financial worries have hurt their productivity, two-thirds are struggling to meet their household expenses. One-quarter have saved less than $1,000 for retirement; more than half plan to postpone their retirement.

Given the high cost of employee turnover, it’s in employers’ best interest to improve employee financial well-being. Student-loan debt-management plans and financial coaching can lessen young employees’ stress of paying the bills, while improved education on retirement planning will lessen workers’ fears of the future.

2. Financial wellness lowers stress and boosts morale. Financial wellness does far more than lower turnover: almost half of financially stressed employees say money worries have had a negative impact on their mental health.

Given the connection between financial wellness and mental health, employers can consider offering financial coaching alongside mental-health resources. Employees are likely to respond to one-on-one financial coaching via phone or video chat because of the personal and confidential nature of their financial issues.

3. It boosts productivity. Even when financial issues don’t take a toll on employees’ mental health, the stress still reduces productivity. About 40% of workers say they’d be more productive if they didn’t have to worry about their personal finances while on the job, and employees spend around one-quarter of their time at work coping with financial issues.

Employers who promote financial-wellness programs (HUB’s FinPath is but one example) can reap tangible gains in employee focus and productivity. Mandated education on budgeting, debt management, and building emergency savings shouldn’t be considered an expense or loss of productive time, but an investment in worker well-being that will have a long-term impact on the bottom line.

Stormwater Solutions for Parking Lots

By Contributor June 21, 2023

This Google Earth image of the Eastfield Mall shows how, with the closing of its main anchors, its vast parking lots are almost empty.

Home Improvement Special Coverage

By Joseph Kietner and Randal Brown

Through stormwater-management improvements to large parking areas, business owners can improve drainage, enhance the appeal and look of properties, and help to reduce contaminated storm flows to local rivers, streams, and lakes in the Pioneer Valley.

We, along with our colleagues in the Connecticut River Stormwater Committee, a regional coalition of 19 municipalities and UMass Amherst that is staffed by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, recommend that business and commercial property owners with large parking areas consider making improvements and retrofits to improve how storm flows are collected and treated.

There are two primary options for consideration when thinking about parking-lot stormwater improvements:

1. Retrofit or replace existing catch basins with deep sump hooded catch basins. In most parking lots, a curb and gutter system directs rainfall into catch basins, which are essentially boxes below ground that connect to the storm sewer system. Deep sump hooded catch basins are designed to capture sand and other sediment, litter, and floatables, including oil and grease. The four- to six-foot-deep sump provides an area for sediments to settle.

By capturing sediment and other pollutants, deep sump hooded catch basins can improve stormwater quality compared to older catch basins that do not have sumps or hoods. A study conducted in New York City demonstrated that deep sump hooded catch basins increased the capture of floatables (trash and oil and grease) by 70% to 80% over regular catch basins without hoods, and greatly extended the cleaning interval without a decrease in performance.

2. Retrofit the parking lot with vegetated areas where soil and plants can soak up rainfall. Vegetated areas in parking lots can be designed to receive and soak up flows. Any overflow from these areas can then be directed to existing parking-lot catch basins. Not only do such retrofits improve water quality, but trees and other plants along with soils can help reduce the superheating effects of large paved areas during summer months. Such facilities also make properties more visually attractive.

If your property is located in a municipality with a stormwater enterprise fund or stormwater utility fee, improvements may also be eligible for stormwater fee credits. Check with your local public works department.

To make stormwater improvements easier, the Connecticut River Stormwater Committee, along with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and Waterstone Engineering, have developed a library of green infrastructure stormwater-control design templates that can be sized to specific drainage areas. This library of design templates serves as an important tool. In addition to maintenance guidance, it includes key information on sizing, estimated cost, and pollutant loading reduction for each type of facility. See www.thinkblueconnecticutriver.org for more information.

Joseph Kietner is chair of the Connecticut River Stormwater Committee and Stormwater coordinator for the city of Westfield, and Randal Brown is vice chair of the Connecticut River Stormwater Committee and Public Works director for the town of Southwick.

Homeowners Increasingly Seek Energy-efficient Technologies

By Contributor June 8, 2023

Sustainable Solutions

By Mark Morris

Brian Rudd compares a traditional vinyl panel with an insulated one.

In the past year, energy prices have taken a bigger chunk out of everyone’s budget. Increases at the gas pump get the most attention, but rising costs for heating and cooling homes have also taken their toll on bank accounts.

That’s why, as homeowners look to renovate and update their spaces, energy efficiency is often top of mind.

As local contractors told BusinessWest, when homeowners build or invest in new projects, long-term energy savings have become a key consideration. The good news is that many home-improvement products today use technologies that deliver that energy savings better than ever before.

Brian Rudd, owner of Vista Home Improvement in West Springfield, explained that, when people consider vinyl siding, it’s an opportunity to make their house look good and create an insulation barrier that saves energy.

“The foam insulation that is behind the siding is amazing in the way it encapsulates the home,” he said. “The siding panel that faces out looks great and is designed to reflect the sun and slow down the transfer of energy, which keeps the house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.”

Rudd believes it’s important to stay on top of advances in materials and sees siding as more than a house covering; in fact, he considers siding installed 20 or 30 years ago “old technology.” Indeed, one industry statistic suggests that a proper siding job can increase energy efficiency on an average home up to 15%.

“There are advances happening in materials all the time, and we believe in staying on top of the latest technologies,” he added.

Another project that adds to aesthetics and energy efficiency is replacement windows. The Environmental Protection Agency notes that new windows can save energy and increase comfort. Like new siding, windows can also add to a home’s resale value.

“There’s nothing worse than having an attic that overheats in the summer and loses heat in the winter. Proper ventilation allows for better air flow, which contributes to a longer life for the roof and helps to better control a family’s energy costs.”

While Rudd said updating windows is always a good choice, he pointed out that it’s easy to forget about doors. “Most people with older doors have air leaks because, over time, doors shift out of place due to foundations moving from hot and cold temperatures over many years.

New doors are designed using newer technology and provide better insulation, he noted. “Some doors have self-leveling frames so they can adjust with changes in the seasons.”

Roofing technology also continues to advance as shingles are engineered with more reflective components. As important as the installation and materials, Rudd said the most effective energy savings with a new roof starts inside.

Patrick Rondeau says the rise in utility costs has driven demand for solar installations.

“We make sure there is proper ventilation in the attic space,” he said. “There’s nothing worse than having an attic that overheats in the summer and loses heat in the winter. Proper ventilation allows for better air flow, which contributes to a longer life for the roof and helps to better control a family’s energy costs.”

Here Comes the Sun

Due to international events and domestic refining issues, energy prices spiked across the board in 2022. While gasoline was a dollar higher at this time last year, it had a ripple effect on electric utility prices later in the year. At the two largest utilities in Massachusetts, National Grid raised its winter rates by 60%, and Eversource increased its rate by 30% in January.

Such increases have kept Patrick Rondeau busy. As general manager and co-owner of Valley Solar in Easthampton, he said the significant rise in utility rates has increased homeowner demand for solar-energy installations.

The cost to generate a kilowatt hour by solar averages between 7 and 14 cents over the life of the system. By contrast, winter utility rates were as high as 45 to 50 cents per kilowatt hour, he explained. “In an ideal scenario, a solar installation can produce 100% of the energy a person needs for their home.”

In many cases, in fact, solar installations can produce more than a homeowner currently needs. Rondeau encourages customers to build a system that will consider their future needs.

“In an ideal scenario, a solar installation can produce 100% of the energy a person needs for their home.”

“If someone is planning to buy an electric car, for example, their energy use will increase,” he said. “When people only look at today’s usage, they often come back two years later to see if they can add panels.”

Even if they don’t buy an electric car, Rondeau pointed out that energy use tends to increase after a solar installation because customers stop worrying about energy consumption. “It becomes a quality-of-life and comfort issue. The preoccupation with the thermostat setting goes away. I see it all the time.”

In Massachusetts, another advantage to generating more energy is net metering. When a homeowner’s solar panels generate more energy than needed, the excess energy can be sold back to the grid. As an example of how it works, Rondeau said a solar installation might produce 10,000 kilowatt hours each year, and 7,000 of those kilowatt hours might be produced during the five months of the year with the most sunshine.

“The homeowner will net meter a certain percentage of what they produce, which generates a credit on their electric bill,” he explained. “Then, in the winter months, when there are shorter, darker days, they use that credit. It’s essentially a wash.”

He further explained net metering with a familiar New England analogy. “It’s like squirrels socking away food for the winter. Instead of acorns, people are storing up credits on their electric bill.”

Some homes have limited roof or yard space to accommodate solar panels, so their systems might not generate 100% of the home’s energy needs. But Rondeau said going solar is still a worthwhile investment.

Josh Smith shows off an outdoor unit that powers a mini-split heat-pump system.

“Some people are concerned about only producing enough energy for half of their needs,” he noted. “If you could lock in even half of your energy consumption at 14 cents, why wouldn’t you do that?”

Pump It Up

People with solar units can save even more energy and money when they install a heat pump. Recent advances in electric-powered heat pumps are helping homeowners to save energy without sacrificing comfort. These units have the ability to heat and cool a home and work best as a supplement to whatever heating system is already in the home.

“For years, heat pumps were found primarily in the south and warmer regions,” said Josh Smith, service manager for Berkshire Heating & Air Conditioning in West Springfield. “In the last 10 years, the technology has improved their efficiency so much that they are now a good choice for places like New England.”

In the simplest terms, a heat pump works like a furnace in the winter to warm the home and like an air conditioner in the summer to cool the house two to three times more efficiently than a traditional furnace or air conditioner.

For homes with a natural-gas furnace and ductwork, the heat-pump unit resembles a traditional central air-conditioner compressor. For houses without ductwork, a differently designed heat-pump compressor connects to a series of units inside the house. These air-handling units are known as mini-splits and provide cooling and heating for each room. One heat-pump compressor can feed up to six mini-splits, each one managed by remote control.

“For example, if three people are in the house and they all have different comfort levels, they can keep each room at a different temperature,” Smith said. “People really like this because they can have true zone-control for their heating and cooling using one main source.”

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that homeowners can save, on average, $1,000 per year by switching to a heat pump. Savings vary depending on the type of heating system in the home. For example, when a heat pump replaces an electric baseboard system, the savings can exceed $1,200.

By contrast, savings compared to a natural-gas furnace are a few hundred dollars. Making the switch from a natural-gas system is still encouraged because Massachusetts and other New England states have plans in place to significantly reduce the use of natural gas and other fossil fuels used for heating by the end of this decade.

“The states want more people to use electricity as their energy source,” Smith said, “and heat pumps are the most efficient form of electric heat.”

While heat pumps provide plenty of benefits as the main heating and cooling source, he went on, it’s smart to keep traditional heating systems in place as a supplement.

“I like having a backup source because we live in New England where every few years we get a long cold snap,” he said. “Heat pumps have a hard time keeping up when it’s really cold, so it’s good to have that backup source when you need it.”

Even as a supplemental source, today’s traditional heating systems are more efficient than units from 10 years ago.

“Everything in the heating and cooling universe is becoming more efficient,” Smith said. “Even new oil burners use less oil than in the past.”

What’s in Store?

The next big development in solar involves energy storage, an area Rondeau called an increasingly large part of his business. At the most basic level, storage means batteries to keep the excess energy generated from a solar installation.

New battery-storage units are available that can send energy back to the grid as well as store it for the homeowner. The state program Connected Solutions allows utilities to pull energy out of home-based batteries during the highest-demand times and then compensate the homeowner when there is less demand. It’s up to the individual how much energy they want to make available to the grid and how much they want to store.

“People who want to be off grid as much as possible can set up their storage so they can be self-sufficient to an extent without risking too much battery drain,” Rondeau said.

Because the cost of these sophisticated storage devices can be expensive, the state offers 0% loans from Mass Save.

The biggest benefit of energy storage is evident during power outages. With the batteries storing power, a home’s electric system can continue to work uninterrupted. Rondeau noted that stored energy can be more effective and less fussy than owning a backup generator.

“Generators need to be tested every month. When you need to use them, they are noisy, and you have to buy fuel for them,” he explained. “Also, there are no 0% loans available for generators.”

As technology allows home solar systems to perform more complex tasks, the user interface is becoming simpler.

“It’s like your smartphone,” he said. “What it’s doing in the background is complex, but what you are doing with your thumb is simple.”

Because new materials are coming to market all the time, it’s important for homeowners considering any of these projects to speak with a professional. The businesses we spoke with all offer free consultations to help people get a realistic idea of what will work for them.

“I suggest people do their research,” Rudd said, “and spend the extra time to make sure they are getting exactly what they want for their home.”

A Reimbursement Mystery

By Contributor June 7, 2023

By Dawn Forbes DiStefano

The Bermuda Triangle. Yawning. Dark matter. Pyramid alignment. These are just a few of the many unexplained mysteries that have perplexed experts for centuries.

Here in Western Mass., early-education and care providers have our very own unsolved mystery: how is it that our region, which is among the poorest in the Commonwealth, receives a fraction of what our peers in other parts of the state receive to provide programs and services to our highest-need populations, even when the costs are relatively the same?

According to the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), Hampden County has the highest SVI rate in the entire Commonwealth. Oddly enough, we have sustained the lowest subsidy rate for decades.

For example, providers who care for income-eligible toddlers in Boston are reimbursed at a rate of $85.90 per day. That same level of care in Springfield receives a reimbursement of $61.16.

At the root of the mystery is the system upon which the rates are set. For years, we have relied on a flawed market-rate study that does not account for regional nuances that impact the actual cost of care in our region, causing huge disparities from one region to another.

But that is not where the mystery lies. The real enigma is, how have we allowed this to go on for so long, even after realizing the indisputable flaws in our system? This is the question we have been asking for years.

Let me say, I truly believe we are heading in the direction of adjusting our reimbursement system in a way that will better reflect the needs of all children and families. Our current administration is aware and ready to implement change. Last fall, we witnessed for the first time the collection and dissemination of regional data on the true cost of providing care. For some regions, this exposed a staggering difference between today’s rate and a more accurate account of expenses.

However, there remains a great deal of work to do, even though our most recent rate increases reflected an approximate 10% increase. While I’m grateful for the additional funding, it is not enough, and it’s far from equitable. Some regions would stand to earn a rate that exceeds the current estimated cost of providing care and early learning, while Square One and providers throughout Western Mass. fall short, yet again.

Our most recent rate changes maintain the same inequitable rate structure, with our region still receiving the lowest rate in the Commonwealth and only 88% of true cost. Other regions would exceed the estimated cost of care by more than 130%. How can we continue to ignore the cries for help in the most vulnerable area of our state?

The solution is not complicated. We need a rate increase that allows for higher investment in our state’s most vulnerable areas. Standard percentage increases without sufficient additional investment in your most vulnerable regions is the definition of inequitable. The regions with children with the highest needs for food, early learning, and high-quality mental health supports should receive a rate that, at minimum, meets the estimated cost of care.

Mystery solved.

Dawn Forbes DiStefano is president and CEO of Square One.

Roadwork Challenges Hadley’s Main Artery

By Contributor May 26, 2023

Community Spotlight

By Mark Morris

Molly Keegan co-founded the Hadley Business Council to address the needs of local companies.

Each spring, the town of Hadley attracts attention for its asparagus crops, as well as its crowded hotels and restaurants due to college graduations in surrounding towns.

This year’s asparagus crop is strong, and the Asparagus Festival is back and bigger than ever (more on that later). Graduations are all on schedule, too. Getting to all those events — well, that can be a challenge.

Route 9 — Russell Street in Hadley — is undergoing a reconstruction of two and a quarter miles of roadway, which involves replacing infrastructure below the road as well as upgrading and widening at the surface.

In most towns with just over 5,300 residents, a road project would present only a minor inconvenience. But Hadley’s geography places it in a unique situation because Route 9 serves as the main artery connecting it to Northampton, Amherst, and several other towns. Between the universities and businesses in the area, traffic through Hadley — a largely rural community both north and south of Russell Street — can easily top 100,000 vehicles a day.

To keep things moving, communication becomes essential. With college graduations scheduled for the latter part of May, followed immediately by Memorial Day, Carolyn Brennan, Hadley’s town administrator, said mid- to late May is among the most challenging times.

“Once we get through the next few weeks, that will be huge,” Brennan said, noting that traffic becomes more manageable once the colleges empty out for the summer.

The week of May 7 proved particularly disruptive, as town projects were scheduled on several side roads — the same side roads drivers were using to avoid the Route 9 construction.

“We felt like there are issues unique to Hadley; the widening of Route 9 is a perfect example.”

“We called it the perfect nightmare,” Brennan said, adding that police got involved to encourage residents to sign up for daily notices about where construction was taking place. “I’m so proud of the Hadley Police Department for taking a proactive approach to send out alerts every morning to residents so they know what streets will be impacted.”

While it’s helpful when the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT) issues weekly updates on Route 9 construction, Molly Keegan, Hadley Select Board member and co-owner of Curran and Keegan Financial, felt businesses in town needed more.

As an active member of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, Keegan felt Route 9 construction created several issues for Hadley businesses that did not affect chamber members in other towns. So she and Kishore Parmar, whose Pioneer Valley Hotel Group owns two hotels in Hadley, formed the Hadley Business Council.

“We felt like there are issues unique to Hadley; the widening of Route 9 is a perfect example,” Keegan said. “Not everyone on the Amherst Area Chamber is keenly affected by the construction in the way that Hadley businesses are.”

Kelly Tornow says cannabis companies like HadLeaf need to use every means to get the word out, as advertising is strictly regulated.

After reaching out to the DOT and Baltazar Contractors, the Ludlow-based construction company doing the roadwork, Keegan and Parmar met with town department heads. The purpose of all these meetings was to make everyone aware of the business council and to encourage better communication in all directions.

“We are trying to find ways to leverage the business council so we are all talking, rather than having it be a complaint department,” Keegan said. “Anyone can complain; we’re looking to leverage these relationships.”

Now that the entity has been established, there are already conversations about how it may address future opportunities for Hadley businesses. Claudia Pazmany, executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber, has suggested the Hadley Business Council could look at designing a map that would promote agricultural tourism. Stops along the way would be ice cream at Flayvors of Cook Farm, petting a cow at Mapleline Farm, and more. Keegan noted that farmers in Hadley are looking for ideas like this to promote agri-tourism.

Green Days

Located on Route 9, HadLeaf Cannabis is one business accustomed to working through challenges. The group that started HadLeaf signed its community host agreement in February 2020, allowing it to start building the dispensary. Weeks later, COVID-19 shut everything down and caused huge delays. A planned opening for early 2021 was pushed back by delays until HadLeaf was finally able to open in October 2022.

“We had quite a few hiccups to get where we are, just to open,” said Matt McTeague, regional manager for HadLeaf. “Everyone we’ve dealt with from the town has been welcoming and helpful as we worked throughout the process.”

Kelly Tornow, general manager of HadLeaf, has worked in retail for most of her career. Since joining the operation in February 2022, she was part of the effort to get the dispensary up and running.

“We had quite a few hiccups to get where we are, just to open. Everyone we’ve dealt with from the town has been welcoming and helpful as we worked throughout the process.”

“This is the first time I’ve been involved with launching a retail operation from the ground up,” Tornow said. “The biggest challenge was learning all the laws and regulations that come with cannabis.”

To overcome situations like road construction, most retail businesses simply increase their advertising, but advertising cannabis is strictly regulated.

“We’re trying all the avenues that are open to us to get our name out there,” Tornow said, noting that membership in the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce is one avenue that has been successful. “Because we’re members of the chamber, we have a presence at their golf tournaments and other community events.”

Because podcasts are allowed under the advertising regulations, an informational podcast wil launch soon at hadleafuniversity.com. “We will produce it in the store with different speakers and vendors,” Tornow explained. “The idea is to educate consumers about different aspects of cannabis.”

The HadLeaf name has been a positive marketing tool as well. McTeague said many people compliment him on the creativity of the name. “We wanted something that would be relevant to cannabis and identify with the town of Hadley. We tried a couple combinations, but HadLeaf really stuck.”

But the term ‘Hadley grass’ has nothing to do with cannabis; that’s another name for the crop that has made Hadley the asparagus capital of the world.

For decades, Hadley asparagus has had the reputation of being served in fine restaurants across the globe. According to mediterraneanliving.com, for many years Queen Elizabeth II served Hadley asparagus at her annual Spring Fest.

More than 8,000 people came out to last year’s Asparagus Festival, set for June 3 this year.
Photo by Erin O’Neill

New England Public Media (NEPM) sponsors the annual Asparagus Festival, scheduled this year for Saturday, June 3 on the Hadley Town Common. While the event is in its ninth year, the festival was not held for two years during COVID-19. Before the pandemic, the event drew between 6,000 and 7,000 attendees. Last year, an estimated 8,000 people came out on a sunny Saturday to enjoy the return of the festival. Vanessa Cerillo, NEPM’s senior director of Marketing, Communication, and Events, expects the same kind of crowd this year.

“The Asparagus Festival is about celebrating the wonderful agricultural heritage of Hadley,” Cerillo said. “We’re excited to produce the event and partner with the town of Hadley for the year-long planning that goes into the event.”

More than 100 local food, crafts, cultural, and agricultural vendors will be represented at the festival’s Farmers and Makers Market. Local breweries will set up in the Beers and Spears tent, while food trucks will be on hand with traditional fare as well as fried asparagus and even asparagus ice cream.

For the first time this year, the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition (MassBike) will take part in the festival, offering free bicycle valet service.

“Everyone who rides their bikes to the festival can leave it with a valet, where it will remain secure while they enjoy the festival,” Cerillo said. “The festival gets so packed with cars that we are encouraging people to ride their bikes to it, if they can.”

Festival attendance is free with a suggested $5 per person (or $20 per family) donation to support public media in Western Mass.

Worth the Wait

In addition to approving a new budget at the Hadley town meeting held in early May, the community unanimously approved expansion of ambulance service. Action EMS provides primary ambulance coverage for Hadley. A second ambulance run by the town will shortly be added due to the call volume, which is affected by those 100,000 drivers who use Route 9 every day.

“We certainly benefit from the entire commercial district along Route 9,” Keegan said. “Because of the high traffic volume, we need to provide services like we are a small city and not a rural hamlet.”

To staff the ambulance, the town will hire two additional firefighters trained as EMTs. Brennan said the ambulance is scheduled to be ready by July 1.

“There’s quite a lot involved when you put an ambulance into service,” she explained. “We spent all of last year outfitting the ambulance, training the staff, getting state approvals, and more.”

Hadley at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1661
Population: 5,325
Area: 24.6 square miles
County: Hampshire
Residential Tax Rate: $11.54
Commercial Tax Rate: $11.54
Median Household Income: $51,851
Median Family Income: $61,897
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting, Board of Selectmen
Largest Employers: Super Stop & Shop; Evaluation Systems Group Pearson; Elaine Center at Hadley; Home Depot; Lowe’s Home Improvement
* Latest information available

One long-term project Brennan discussed involves increased maintenance on the West Street levee along the Connecticut River that plays a vital role in flood control for the town.

“The levee is doing its job, but we are continuing to work with engineers to make sure it provides protection well into the future,” she said, adding that the ultimate goal is to achieve FEMA certification, which is a multi-year process.

More immediate town business involves compensation and succession planning. In order to make sure Hadley is paying its employees comparable wages, the town has hired a consulting firm to study compensation. The firm has also been charged with developing a succession plan.

“We have people in key departments who will be looking to retire soon,” Brennan said. “Like many small towns, we have several one-person departments, so we’re getting ready for the number of retirements that are likely to happen in the next few years.”

Another long-term project involves what Keegan called “a big conversation” about housing.

“We are taking a more focused look at our master plan, working with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and with UMass,” she said. “If we are going to expand our housing, we need to figure out where should it go and what should it look like.”

The old Russell School, located across the street from Town Hall, will undergo a feasibility study to figure out the best options for possible reuse. Like many Western Mass. towns with older buildings, the cost of rehabilitation to bring it in line with today’s public building codes can exceed millions of dollars.

“The Russell School is a beloved building with a good number of people who want to preserve it and others who don’t want to spend the money to keep it,” Brennan said, noting that the study will look at options for the town to keep the school, pursue a public/private partnership, or sell it outright to a private entity.

Meanwhile, Route 9 construction continues, with the work moving along on schedule — even if vehicle traffic slows, at times, to a crawl. The project is expected to be completed by 2026.

Despite the current headaches, the investment is necessary, Brennan said, with a wider road and new infrastructure transforming Route 9 in ways that will benefit the town for years to come.

Keegan agreed. “I keep telling people, it will be worth the wait.”

Sawmill River Arts Gallery Crafts an Effective Business Framework

By Contributor May 26, 2023

Creative Economy

Collective Soul

By Mark Morris

Hannah Staiger displays her jewelry at the Sawmill River Arts Gallery.

The artists at Sawmill River Arts Gallery in Montague have taken a creative approach — not just to their art, but to how they run their business.

Organized as an artist collective 12 years ago, Sawmill River Arts consists of 15 member artists who run the business and 22 guest artists who display their work on consignment. The distinction between the two is significant. While guest artists share 40% to 50% of their sales with the gallery, member artists make a deeper commitment and receive a larger return.

Each member artist contributes to the rent and agrees to staff the gallery at least three times a month. Members also agree to serve on committees such as finance, marketing, and others that contribute to running the business. In return for their investment in time and expertise, each member artist enjoys a permanent space in the gallery and receives 100% of the sales when someone buys their work.

“All the tasks that one business owner might do, we have 15 people able to do these things,” said Hannah Staiger, a member artist and owner of La Boa Brava jewelry studio. “The gallery is our space that we own and operate together. We all have keys to the front door.”

“We’ve been here for 12 years, and we’ve been successful and growing. Now we’re in a position where we are a full-fledged business, and we have to treat it as such.”

As part of the creative process, artists tend to work alone for long periods of time. Staiger said being a member artist is a welcome opportunity to occasionally get out of her home basement studio and experience life not covered in dust and dirt from making jewelry.

“I get to put on nice clothes and come here to talk with customers and my co-workers,” she said, adding that having member artists also serve as the staff gives the gallery a unique positioning. “When you walk through our door, you interact with the artists who made the work that’s in the gallery. Staffing this way allows us to collectively maintain the store and provide a vital resource for all the members, as well as the 22 other local artists who sell their work here.”

To keep things running, the cooperative holds monthly meetings, but for the daily concerns that come up, email is the main communication tool.

Lori Lynn Hoffer specializes in oil paintings of landscapes and botanical scenes.

“It can be a challenge to get consensus from 15 people via email to make a change to the gallery or vote a new member into the group,” said Lori Lynn Hoffer, member artist and owner of Waterlily Design, specializing in oil paintings of landscapes and botanical scenes. “While email is time-consuming, we do it to make sure all 15 of us are on the same page.”

As a customer of Sawmill River Arts for many years, Hoffer applied for membership in the collective last year after seeing it go through a positive transformation and deciding that she wanted to be part of that effort.

“I was willing to do the work of staffing the gallery and taking part on the committees because it’s so worth it,” she said. “It’s extremely unusual to be able to get 100% of the selling price for your artwork. When you exhibit at a commercial gallery, they take half of your sales.”

On the day BusinessWest visited Sawmill River Arts, it was Roy Mansur’s day to staff the store. In between helping customers, he was removing storm windows to prepare the gallery for spring and summer traffic.

A nature photographer for three decades, Mansur — a member artist at Sawmill River Arts for the past 10 years — explained why he joined the collective after years of displaying his work in different galleries, stores, and fairs. “The chance to have a wall of my own where I can choose what I want to exhibit was the first big pull to joining the gallery for me.”

Focus on Growth

In early 2020, Staiger applied to become a member artist just before the pandemic lockdown closed thousands of businesses, including the gallery. She wanted to become active with a local gallery when it became apparent that the types of fairs and markets where she usually sold her jewelry weren’t going to open for quite a while.

“I contacted the collective and suggested they reach out to the public during the lockdown,” she said. “I offered to help with online and social-media outreach, which was something they needed.”

Roy Mansur was drawn to the collective by the opportunity to display his photographic works in whatever way he chooses.

According to Hoffer, having 15 member artists seems to be the right number to keep the gallery growing. Two new members were recently added after one passed away and another retired. A new-member search committee takes on the job of finding people to apply to be part of the group.

“There’s a whole process involving interviews, deciding who is a good fit based on their art, and what strengths they bring to operating the gallery,” Hoffer said, noting the online experience Staiger brought to the group when she joined. “Hannah is far savvier about social media and online marketing than most of us in the group. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been looking to bring in younger members.”

As an example of new types of art featured at the gallery, Staiger called attention to a rack of printed T-shirts.

“The patterns are from hand-carved wooden blocks that are printed on to the T-shirts,” she explained. “We haven’t had something like this before. This type of art speaks to a younger crowd, and we’re excited to have this artist join us.”

Thanks to a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the gallery will look to upgrade its logo and branding. Staiger described it as a bit of a facelift to reintroduce the gallery to the community.

“We’ve been here for 12 years, and we’ve been successful and growing,” she said. “Now we’re in a position where we are a full-fledged business, and we have to treat it as such.”

The group is working with the Homegrown Studio, a local marketing agency known for its work with local farms and small businesses. Homegrown will create a new logo and a new look for the gallery. “Our vision is to create a modern local art gallery,” Staiger said.

Hoffer added that part of the branding effort will involve reaching out to locals as well as out-of-towners to make it easier to find Sawmill River Arts.

“From the universities to the prep schools, it’s not unusual to see students and parents who are not from the area,” she said. “We have an extraordinary destination, and we love it when they visit.”

The art gallery is one of several businesses located in the Montague Bookmill complex. In addition to the art gallery and the bookstore, there are two restaurants — the Watershed (sit-down dining) and the Lady Killigrew Café (pub atmosphere) — as well as a music shop, Turn it Up! The entire complex faces the Sawmill River, which can be heard rushing by in the background.

“We have art, music, books, and the river,” Hoffer said. “With lots of outdoor seating, it’s a real draw for people who want to get out of the house and see other people who also care about all these things.”

Picture This

Staiger said the mill complex is an iconic New England location makes people feel like they’ve stumbled upon it.

“Many people who come here for the first time feel like they’ve discovered this oasis in the middle of Western Mass.,” she said.

If all goes to plan, many more people will be discovering Sawmill River Arts, and the entire mill complex, for themselves … and maybe bringing home a unique piece of local art, too.

Anchor Collaborative Benefits Businesses

By Contributor May 24, 2023

By Rick Sullivan

The Western Massachusetts Anchor Collaborative (WMAC), founded by the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council (EDC) in partnership with Baystate Health, provides comprehensive, systemic, and locally led solutions to regional women- and minority- owned businesses and workforce challenges. The WMAC was initiated to propel hiring and career pathways for BIPOC and marginalized populations.

The WMAC has successfully established multi-year targets to increase local procurement opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses, and are developing an ‘Anchor-ready accelerator’ that will cultivate a resilient local supplier pipeline for targeted goods and services. The accelerator will provide wrap-around services and resources to prepare and scale vendors for contracts with Anchor institutions.

WMAC institutions seek to address inequities that have resulted from historic patterns of disinvestment and bias related to neighborhood, race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status in Western Mass. These institutions have more than 18,000 employees, with nearly 3,000 residing in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Western Mass.

Collectively, Anchor Collaborative institutions currently spend more than $2 billion in goods and services and have committed to annually increasing the percentage of spending toward local and diverse businesses. Bridging the gap between Anchor institutions and the local community is a key ingredient to successful and positive economic impact.

The Anchor Collaborative aims to foster equitable communities and strong local economies, pilot career-pathway programs, align support for entry-level and low-wage employees from disadvantaged neighborhoods, cultivate jobs and promote healthier employees and residents, and leverage each institution’s purchasing and hiring power

The WMAC chooses smaller businesses that have historically not had the opportunity to enter supply chains, or get capitalized, underwritten, etc. It coordinates workforce-development strategies with Springfield WORKS, an EDC community initiative, to create training opportunities for career pathways to living-wage jobs. WMAC institutions provide a mentorship role to smaller businesses to allow them to scale up and help them grow. Big Y has been an influential leader in this initiative, supporting local greenhouses and farmers. It even offers a reusable food-wrap product, Z-Wrap, on its shelves.

Data will be regularly collected and analyzed to set effective targets and monitor progress. The goal is to design an internal process that allows for accessible professional development and growth, leading to promotions and careers within each institution. We aim to enhance our impact and drive regional economic equity and financial vitality for our communities.

Rick Sullivan is president and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council;
www.westernmassedc.com

Southwick Is Building Momentum — Literally

Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

By Mark Morris

Doug Moglin and Heather Kies stand at the construction site for Whalley Computer Associates’ 85,000-square-foot addition.

When Whalley Computer Associates in Southwick recently broke ground for a new 85,000-square-foot warehouse and office addition, Doug Moglin said the company was making a statement about its commitment to the town.

“We’ve been operating in Southwick for 44 years, and the new facility represents our investment in the next 25 to 30 years,” said Moglin, vice president for Whalley’s OEM business.

While many of its customers are based in New England, Whalley sells all over the U.S. and internationally. Warehousing is essential because a big part of the business involves acquiring various types of computer equipment from manufacturers, customizing it to clients’ specific needs, and then shipping out the final product. All of that requires space, which can present a challenge. Moglin gave an example of a national retail chain that needed new servers, a case that explains the need for the expansion.

“One day, 8,000 servers showed up to our near-capacity warehouse,” he explained. “And because only eight servers fit on each pallet, it quickly became a math problem.”

The company currently uses warehouse space in Westfield to handle the overflow, but the need keeps growing. For several years, senior managers had discussed building more warehouse capacity on the parcels that surround Whalley’s main facility in Southwick. Supply-chain issues during the pandemic accelerated those discussions.

“Supply-chain reliability is a concern for our customers, so having components on hand is a huge benefit,” Moglin explained. “Having the capacity to hold more inventory brings additional customers to us because, instead of buying direct from manufacturers or companies like ours out of the area, they have a local resource that provides better service and better support.”

Heather Kies, marketing manager for Whalley, called its evolution “a great story of a company that’s growing but still staying in its hometown.”

The Southwick Select Board and the Massachusetts Office of Business Development worked with Whalley to secure a tax-increment financing (TIF) agreement.

Russell Fox, chair of the Select Board and a selectman for most of the past 40 years, said the TIF was well worth the effort to keep the project in Southwick. Under the agreement, Whalley has agreed to add to the 200 workers it currently employs. “The Whalley project is all positive news for Southwick,” Fox said.

“The reconfiguration addresses the concerns of people who don’t want a huge operation. I think it’s a good way to use this industrially zoned parcel.”

In another part of town, the Planning Board is now considering a reconfiguration of the site where a Carvana facility was once proposed but then shot down by residents over concerns of increased traffic along College Highway. Now the same area has been redrawn as five separate lots, with some facing the road and smaller lots positioned in the back of the parcel. Fox sees the new plan as a great compromise.

“The reconfiguration addresses the concerns of people who don’t want a huge operation. I think it’s a good way to use this industrially zoned parcel,” Fox said, adding that, when new businesses occupy that parcel, it will help the town make its case to add a traffic light at the Tannery Road intersection.

Moving forward, the town’s goal is to continue decades of work to create an attractive balance. Fox noted that, while Southwick is known as a recreational community — it is home to the Congamond Lakes, a successful motocross track, and two golf courses — it is also a town that wants and needs to continually grow its business community.

Overall, it strives to be a community where people can play, work, and live, with new housing developments under construction and others set to come off the drawing board, as we’ll see later.

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Southwick and how this community on the Connecticut border is building momentum — in all kinds of ways.

Getting Down to Business

A key agenda item at the upcoming Southwick town meeting in May involves bringing fiber optics into town to handle its cable-TV and internet services.

The process involves forming a municipal light plant, which voters approved at a special town meeting last fall. A second vote for the plant will be taken at the May meeting. Fox pointed out that the municipal light plant is an entity in name only. If the second vote is successful, Southwick will begin interviewing firms to install and maintain the fiber-optic network. Whip City Fiber in Westfield will be among the companies under consideration.

“We’re telling all bidders that they must cover the entire town and not just the densely populated neighborhoods; that’s a non-negotiable point,” he said. “We are a community, so everyone must have access.”

The fiber-optic network is considered an important step forward for the community, one that will bring faster, more reliable service to existing residential and business customers, and provide one more selling point as town leaders continue their work to attract more employers, across a wide range of sectors.

Diane DeMarco has a special trade-show display room to help clients pick the right materials for their needs.

The town already boasts a large and growing business community, one that is served by the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce, which has increased its membership among Southwick businesses, a sign of growth both in Southwick and in the chamber.

Indeed, last year, the chamber reported 13 members from Southwick, while this year, that number has grown to 20.

Diane DeMarco, owner of Spotlight Graphics in Southwick, is a long-time chamber member. For 10 years, the company has provided area businesses with logo signage, trade-show materials, and graphic vehicle wrapping, among many other services offered.

When COVID hit, Spotlight lost a few clients when it was forced to shut down. Since then, DeMarco reports she has gained back many more clients than she lost. “Business has been very good for us. We have new clients coming on board, and word of mouth about us is spreading.”

She credits customer loyalty through the years thanks to the relationships she and her staff have built. “Our customers aren’t buying their graphics from a company; they are working with Allie, David, or Diane,” she said, listing long-time employees at the business.

In addition to offering full-service, quality work, Spotlight Graphics is a nationally certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and certified by the state as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE). DeMarco explained the state designation has led to work from clients who are required to do business with DBE firms as part of their state contract. She described it as a win-win.

“The client is fulfilling their contractual requirement for the state by working with a woman-owned business, and they are getting a quality product at a fair price,” she said.

While DeMarco competes with online graphic firms that offer cheaper prices, she’s not worried because they often can’t match Spotlight’s quality.

Southwick at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1770
Population: 9,232
Area: 31.7 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $16.11
Commercial Tax Rate: $16.11
Median Household Income: $52,296
Family Household Income: $64,456
Type of Government: Open Town Meeting; Select Board
Largest Employers: Big Y; Whalley Computer Associates; Southwick Regional School District
*Latest information available

“Sometimes a client will buy an inexpensive retractable banner stand or go for the cheap price on a poster,” she said. “Then, when the stand breaks or the poster is the wrong color, they come to us to get it done right.”

In fact, Spotlight clients can see and touch the quality of banner stands and other graphic materials at its trade-show display room. DeMarco said online and print catalogs provide only an approximate idea of the size and quality of trade-show materials.

“People who are new to trade shows or have to revamp their current displays like to stop by because they can see the actual items they would use and get answers to their questions from our staff.”

No Place Like Home

While its business community continues to grow, Southwick is experiencing residential growth as well.

Indeed, the Greens of Southwick, a housing development located on both sides of College Highway on the former Southwick Country Club property, is nearing completion. With 25 lots on the west side and 38 on the east side, only a handful of parcels remain for this custom-built home development.

Fox appreciated the quality of the homes that added to the number of new residences in Southwick. “The developers did a tremendous job with the houses there,” he said. “The whole project is a real asset to our town.”

Next up for new housing, a 100-unit condominium complex has been approved at Depot and Powder Mill roads. While construction has not yet started, the town has already secured a grant to install sidewalks around the perimeter of the eventual construction. Fox said the sidewalks make sense because the location of the condos is an active area.

“The sidewalk will connect to Whalley Park, the rail trail, the Southwick Recreation Center, and to the schools at the other end of Powder Ridge,” he explained.

In Southwick, much of today’s activity is as much about the future as it is about the present.

As Moglin noted about Whalley Computer’s building addition, “this is not a 2024 investment; this is a 2044 investment, and beyond.”

The same can be said of the fiber-optic network soon to be built, the plans to divide and then develop the site eyed by Carvana, and the many housing projects in various stages of development.

In short, this is a community with expanding horizons, both literally and figuratively.

Despite Deposit, Rate Challenges, Banks Remain on Solid Footing

Banking and Financial Services

Checks and Balances

By Mark Morris

About a year into the pandemic, banks found themselves in a strange position.

When the federal government pumped stimulus and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) money into the economy to help consumers and businesses regain their footing, it created an unprecedented glut of deposits.

In normal times, banks would have celebrated the excess in the form of making more loans — and generating more revenue — but these were different times. Consumers and businesses kept their money in banks to take advantage of FDIC protection while they figured out their next moves.

Despite record-low interest rates, uncertainty from the pandemic also resulted in reduced loan activity. When deposits sit idle, banks don’t generate revenue — or profits. As one executive noted at the time, all these deposits became a burden, a concept that went against everything they were taught about banking.

Another executive said simply, “back then, cash was a four-letter word.”

“There’s a rate battle these days because, with higher interest rates, we have to offer more generous rates on CDs to keep deposits here and attract new funds.”

Mary McGovern

Things began to change by the third and fourth quarter of last year as excess deposits began flowing out. Some people withdrew money to pay for increases in daily living expenses, while other depositors sought to move their money into financial products that pay higher rates than banks.

As a result, what was once a problem of too much liquidity became a matter of banks competing for deposits.

“There’s a rate battle these days because, with higher interest rates, we have to offer more generous rates on CDs to keep deposits here and attract new funds,” said Mary McGovern, executive vice president and chief financial and operating officer for Country Bank.

Jeff Sullivan, president and CEO of New Valley Bank, added that, with excess liquidity a thing of the past, his staff is working harder to bring in deposits because demand for loans remains strong for his four-year-old institution.

“If we can raise new deposits, we can keep generating new loans and keep growing our franchise,” he noted.

These forces have been compounded by recent events in the banking world, which was rocked in March when Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) failed and was shut down by the state of California. News like that can create panic in bank customers everywhere. The bankers BusinessWest spoke with all said they communicated with their respective customers early and often to allay any fears.

“When I saw the news about Silicon Valley Bank, I sent emails and text blasts to our members to let them know everything was safe, secure, and that we are well-capitalized,” said Michael Ostrowski, president and CEO of Arrha Credit Union. He also credited the Massachusetts Division of Banks for calling every institution to make sure there were no problems.

Sullivan agreed the industry did a good job preventing a bigger problem.

“We certainly made phone calls with our customers and communicated as much as we could,” he said. “As a result, we did not see any outflows caused by people worried about the system.”

Dan Moriarty, president and CEO of Monson Savings Bank, said the deposit spend-down, along with higher interest rates for loans, particularly mortgages, have caused a paradigm shift.

“If we can raise new deposits, we can keep generating new loans and keep growing our franchise.”

Jeff Sullivan

“Most banks have seen a drop in their residential mortgage business due to higher interest rates, low inventory of available houses, and the high cost of houses,” he explained. “So we are seeing a couple different forces at play, and that’s a dramatic change compared even to last year.”

For this issue and its focus on banking and financial services, BusinessWest looks at these colliding forces and how they are impacting local banks — or not, as the case may be.

Points of Interest

The foundation of the banking system has long been the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures accounts up to $250,000, an amount that provides sufficient protection for most people. McGovern noted that, in today’s banking world, people with higher assets don’t usually keep their money in one place.

There are situations, however, when FDIC coverage isn’t enough for an account. For example, a small business that keeps its payroll in a savings bank or a consumer who has sold a house or other large transaction can exceed the FDIC limit.

To address those needs, Country Bank and Monson Savings Bank are two of 78 savings banks in Massachusetts that take part in the Depositors Insurance Fund. The DIF is supplemental insurance to protect deposited amounts that exceed $250,000. McGovern and Moriarty said having the extra protection of the DIF gives everyone peace of mind.

“We made sure to educate our customers that all the deposits in Country Bank, even the ones over $250,000, are safe and insured,” McGovern said.

“Because Monson Savings has both FDIC and DIF, it calmed a lot of nerves during the weekend when Silicon Valley Bank failed,” Moriarty added. “We had conversations with some of our customers, but their concerns quickly subsided.”

Having conversations with clients and explaining acronyms like FDIC and DIF has become a somewhat unexpected addition to the workload for area banks, which have been placed in a situation of explaining what has happened at SVB and other institutions, and why the fallout has not extended to the smaller community banks populating this market.

Indeed, those we spoke with pointed out that Silicon Valley Bank’s troubles stemmed from mismanagement and went against the norms of good banking practices. “By contrast, the bankers in our area do things the right way, and the regulators do a good job, too,” Ostrowski said.

Silicon Valley Bank also had a handful of customers with billions of dollars in deposits. Money movements by these few contributed to destabilizing the bank. When Silicon Valley failed, it provided an opportunity for McGovern to reassure Country Bank customers.

“We explained that we have $1.3 billion in deposits, and we are in sound financial condition,” she said. “We have a diversified depository clientele, so there was no risk of large outflows of the kind Silicon Valley experienced.”

“We are seeing a couple different forces at play, and that’s a dramatic change compared even to last year.”

Dan Moriarty

While local bankers remain mostly unscathed by these highly publicized events, they are keeping their focus on raising deposits and managing the fallout from increases in interest rates.

Ostrowski noted that first-time homebuyers face perhaps the sternest challenge because housing prices are at an all-time high and interest rates are higher than they’ve been in recent years.

“Young people buying their first home have never experienced anything but very low interest rates,” he said, adding that today’s mortgage rates of 6% to 7% aren’t exceedingly high, but when combined with high housing prices, they can keep buyers on the sidelines.

Still, while loan volume might be down, mortgage activity continues.

“People are still moving and buying houses,” McGovern said. “Many are taking out adjustable mortgages thinking that rates may adjust down.”

In recent years, many homeowners refinanced their mortgages to take advantage of the low interest rates. Sullivan pointed out there’s no incentive for people to pursue refinancing today. “The folks who refinanced at 3% a few years ago are obviously not looking to do it again at today’s rates.”

By All Accounts

Even with the challenges they face, the bankers we spoke with remain optimistic. Interest rates have begun to stabilize and, in some cases, go down.

“We may find that the crisis at Silicon Valley and the other banks may have caused a credit pullback and stabilized the market without the federal government having to raise interest rates,” McGovern said.

Sullivan predicted there may be smaller bumps in the road, but nothing of the magnitude of SVB in the near future.

While the remainder of the year looks slow and steady on the retail side at Monson Savings, Moriarty believes there may be better news on the commercial side of his business.

“We’ve been hearing that some areas of manufacturing are still robust,” he said. “There could be opportunities for us if a manufacturer decides to expand or purchase some new machinery.”

Despite all the challenges local bankers have seen, they are moving forward in a strong position.

“The system is working correctly, just as it was designed,” Ostrowski said. “That’s important to hear because people need to have trust in our financial system. The good news is, it’s not going anywhere.”

Is a Recession Inevitable?

Banking and Financial Services

And If There Is One, How Will It Affect You?

By Barbara Trombley, CPA

It seems as if we have been waiting for a recession for quite a while now. Economists initially thought 2022 would bring a recession. Certainly, it seemed as if a recession was inevitable as the stock market (S&P 500) dropped more than 19% in 2022.

But, by definition, a recession never occurred. Many people think that two consecutive quarters of negative GDP define a recession. Technically, this is not true. The National Bureau of Economic Research considers a wide range of economic indicators when declaring a recession rather than only negative GDP. It defines a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts for more than a few months.”

Warning signals often precede a recession. The U.S. economy has slowed from January through March of this year to just a 1.1% annual pace. Business inventories have reduced; companies usually slash inventories when they anticipate a downturn. Employment also declines before a recession. I would argue that we have started to see this decline with the large layoffs in the tech industry by companies such as Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Higher interest rates have slowed housing sales, and rents are stabilizing. Compounding these economic signs is the debt-ceiling debate; House Republicans say they will raise the debt limit in exchange for sharp reductions in spending.

“The Fed is walking a tightrope of slowing inflation and trying to prevent further damage to our economy.”

Barbara Trombley

These signs, which we all can see, may just be the tip of the iceberg.

The actions of the Fed in the coming months may dictate the strength of the potential recession that we are facing. As we all now know, the U.S. has been experiencing critical inflation mainly because of the easy money that was distributed during the pandemic and the pent-up demand for consumer goods and travel after COVID.

The only way for the Fed to combat inflation has been to raise interest rates, making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow money, thereby slowing the economy and lowering inflation. Unfortunately, inflation has been stubborn and has not decreased as quickly as the Fed would like. The quick rise in interest rates contributed to the bank failures that we have seen recently. The Fed is walking a tightrope of slowing inflation and trying to prevent further damage to our economy.

The main questions that people need to ask is how a recession may impact them and how to prepare. Unfortunately, many people lose jobs during recessions.

‘Recession-proof industries’ typically are unharmed. The medical field, education, and government jobs may be unaffected by a recession. If you do worry about the future of your job, have you saved emergency money to live on for a while? Can you network in your industry to see what other positions may be available if the worst-case scenario occurs and you lose your job?

How about your bank? Is it possible that it collapses as others have? Most people are aware that the FDIC insures deposits according to the ownership category in which the funds are insured and how the accounts are titled. The standard deposit-insurance coverage limit is $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, per ownership category. If you are still nervous, utilize the services of two or more banks.

“Credit is also reduced during recessions. Banks may be choosier about whom they loan to as unemployment rises. If you need a loan, be prepared to be scrutinized and pay a higher interest rate.”

Credit is also reduced during recessions. Banks may be choosier about whom they loan to as unemployment rises. If you need a loan, be prepared to be scrutinized and pay a higher interest rate. Tight lending leads to consumers putting off larger purchases, compounding the depth of the recession, as spending slows.

Many retirees worry about a recession and the impact of the stock market on their portfolios. A deep recession could mean a drastic drawdown in stock prices. Making knee-jerk reactions to economic situations never bodes well for the long term. It is impossible to time the market. Most retirees know that they need to stay invested to grow their assets to mitigate inflation. Having a conversation with your advisor to make sure that you are properly allocated to your risk tolerance is a good way to start. If you find yourself overly concerned, perhaps a portfolio adjustment is due. A proper allocation to bonds or ‘like’ investments is always a good idea in volatile times.

From political turmoil to world events, it is easy for investors and consumers to feel concerned. Stress and recession go hand in hand. Know that you can only control your own personal situation. Reassess your budget, evaluate your employment, and review your investments.

Historically, there have been many terrible things the world has endured. People still have money and plan for the future. The markets still function. Recessions are an unavoidable part of life, but are a precursor to an eventual healthy economy.

Massachusetts Awards $14 Million to Address Digital Equity

Cybersecurity

Bridging the Divide

Leaders from the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Economic Development and the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) at MassTech recently announced $14 million in new grants from the state’s Digital Equity Partnership Program to address statewide digital-equity gaps during an event at Tech Foundry in Springfield.

The three grants were announced by Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao, who highlighted selected projects from Tech Goes Home, which will receive $4.5 million; Vinfen, on behalf of the Human Services Alliance for Digital Equity, which will receive $4.3 million; and Baystate Health, on behalf of the Western Massachusetts Alliance for Digital Equity, which will receive $5.1 million.

“Massachusetts has a real opportunity to close the digital divide and ensure all people in our state can participate in the digital economy,” Hao said. “These grants will help residents build their digital skills and get online affordably, thereby expanding their connections to job and training opportunities, healthcare resources, social connections, and so much more. We are grateful to the Massachusetts Broadband Institute for its work to make affordable high-speed internet available to residents across the state.”

The secretary was joined at the event by business and nonprofit leaders from across the state, highlighting the critical need for increased digital connectivity for residents statewide, an issue that grew in importance during the COVID-19 public-health crisis. Following the secretary’s remarks, MassMutual Chairman, President, and CEO Roger Crandall spoke about the issue, appearing in his role as a board member of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, which published a report last year titled “Connecting Communities through Digital Equity,” highlighting the importance of addressing digital equity statewide.

“Internet access is a crucial driver of economic and social advancement, from fostering innovation and creating new jobs to utilizing government and community services,” Crandall said. “Yet, far too many households in Massachusetts lack broadband service, creating a significant barrier to many career and educational opportunities. The business community has a collective responsibility to help address this inequity by continuing to invest in and expand access to digital infrastructure, literacy programs, and affordable digital tools for all residents throughout the Commonwealth.”

The event included a roundtable discussion with executives from the three grant-recipient organizations, which pointed to the digital-equity challenges Massachusetts citizens face each day and how the awarded projects aim to increase connectivity and access. The grants will support two years of critical digital-equity project development and implementation across the state.

“The genesis of the Alliance for Digital Equity in June 2020 was a direct response to digital disparity — not new — and our societal dependence on the internet to address to meeting basic material needs as the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced,” said Dr. Frank Robinson, vice president of Public Health at Baystate Health. “It was embarrassingly obvious that digital marginalization for already-marginalized people would exacerbate negative health outcomes, economic oppression, and racial injustice. Digital equity and inclusion is truly a super-social determinant of health, critical to our meaningful progress toward health equity and satisfying basic human rights in this connected society, linking people to vital resources, such as jobs, education, healthcare, food, and information.”

The Digital Equity Partnerships Program was launched in September 2022 with the goal of designating qualified organizations to implement projects that meet the goals outlined in the Commonwealth’s ARPA COVID recovery legislation, which created a $50 million fund to bridge the digital divide in the state.

“I am thrilled to see that Baystate Health, in partnership with the Western Massachusetts Alliance for Digital Equity, have been recognized by the Commonwealth’s Digital Equity Partnership Program and received a grant of $5.1 million to continue addressing the digital divide,” state Sen. Jo Comerford said.

State Sen. Adam Gomez added that “the funds created by the ARPA COVID recovery legislation of 2021 represented a momentous step toward bridging the digital-equity divide for Western Massachusetts. There are far too many unserved communities in this region of the Commonwealth who do not have simple access to WiFi. Communities in this region will now have substantially increased access to not only WiFi, but also support for key programming areas such as digital literacy, public-space internet modernization, and connectivity initiatives for economic hardship. Eliminating the digital-equity divide in Western Mass. is absolutely crucial to supporting a thriving economy.”

While the state has made trides to improve broadband and WiFi access, state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa noted, many communities have been left behind, much public housing remains unwired, and towns that don’t know how to fund projects that would level the playing field for all residents. “The Digital Equity Partnership Program will assist these communities, providing important funding and assistance in learning how to incorporate this technology into their daily lives.”

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said the Digital Equity Partnership Program will help eliminate or mitigate the barriers faced in accessing digital equity and help close the digital divide. “Access to affordable and reliable internet is essential for our residents, and achieving this goal will not only enhance the quality of life for many, but will also help advance vital economic-development projects and educational initiatives, not only here in Springfield, but across the Commonwealth.”

The state’s digital-equity programs build on initiatives launched in response to the COVID-19 public-health crisis, which included public WiFi hotspots in unserved towns in Western and Central Mass., as well as the Mass Internet Connect program, which worked with MassHire to provide financial support and digital-literacy tools to help get unemployed residents back to work.

The MBI has also launched a Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program to support Massachusetts communities with planning activities that will help build a broad understanding of how a lack of internet access is impacting residents in their community, as well as a Broadband and Digital Equity Working Group comprised of stakeholders from across the state that will inform the makeup and focus of state programs, providing key technical expertise and representation of target populations.

“Our partner organizations are leaders in the digital-equity field and have cultivated an incredible network of local stakeholders who will ensure these funds have maximum benefit to the communities they are designed to serve,” said Michael Baldino, MBI director. “Today’s grants, coupled with our municipal planning program and the engagement of our dedicated working-group members, will ensure that the dollars invested lead to the desired impact — more residents will not only gain access to devices, digital skills, and more affordable internet, they will have access to a wider range of social, educational, and healthcare resources.”

State’s Workforce Has Become More Female, Older, More Diverse

Women in Businesss

Changing Tides

The Massachusetts labor force has transformed in recent decades, with some of the biggest changes being the advancement of women, workers getting older and more diverse, and a divergence in labor-force participation rates based on levels of educational achievement.

Those are among the findings in “At a Glance: The Massachusetts Labor Force,” a policy brief written by Aidan Enright and published by Pioneer Institute, with data drawn from the institute’s new laboranalytics.org website.

“Decreasing labor-force participation rates among prime-aged (25-54) men and college-educated individuals may portend future labor shortages,” Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios said.

Nationally, the labor-force participation rate among 25- to 54-year-old men has fallen from 96.2% in 1948 to 88.8% last year.

Massachusetts had nearly 300,000 unfilled jobs in 2021. Inadequate daycare capacity, a mismatch between the skills needed for these jobs and the skills possessed by potential workers, immigration restrictions, and a spike in retirements during the pandemic are among the reasons economists cite for the shortage.

The number of individuals 65 and older in the Massachusetts workforce rose dramatically in recent years, then plateaued and decreased from 2019-21, possibly due to retirements during the pandemic. Overall, the number of older workers more than doubled between 2007 and 2021, from 131,000 to 271,000.

The increase in older workers was particularly notable among women aged 55-64. Between 2007 and 2021, an additional 105,000 women in that age group entered the workforce, compared to 79,000 men.

According to the report, women are likely the reason why New England has a high labor-participation rate compared to other census regions, as women there have a higher rate than in all but one other region. New England men, on the other hand, had the fourth-highest rate out of nine total census regions in 2021.

The pandemic also affected women the most — their employment rate dropped 7.7% compared to 6% for men — even though their recovery from it has been quicker than for men. Women in Massachusetts also had a labor participation rate 4.5% higher in 2021 than women nationally. While men in that age range accounted for 79,000 additional workers to the workforce, women added 105,000.

Among other findings in the report:

• As a higher rate of older individuals remained in the workforce, the number of 16- to 19-year-old workers fell by 40,000 between 2019 and 2021.

• The labor-participation rate among non-whites has been higher than among white workers in every year since 2018. Minorities accounted for 18% of the Massachusetts labor force in 2007, rising to 30% in 2021. The Massachusetts workforce is still less diverse than many other states, but it’s by far the most diverse in New England.

• In New England, Massachusetts ranked second behind New Hampshire with 62.1% of its total population employed in 2021. Previously, the Commonwealth also often ranked behind Connecticut and Vermont.

• Massachusetts saw a notable increase in the size of its workforce between 2016 and 2018 before shrinking during the pandemic. In 2018, the labor-force participation rate reached its highest level since 2007, and the workforce was still larger in 2021 than it had been in 2016.

Without policy intervention, serious structural challenges will remain for the Massachusetts labor force, the report notes. Like the rest of New England, Massachusetts has an older population and will struggle to maintain and grow its labor force as Baby Boomers continue to retire and less-populous younger generations attempt to fill the void they create. This, if left unattended, will create an employment desert. Employers finding it increasingly difficult to hire skilled candidates to fill positions will limit the state’s economic growth potential.

To address these issues, the report continues, the Healey administration and Beacon Hill lawmakers should consider three primary areas that are ripe for reforms and advocacy: expanding daycare capacity and affordability, expanding vocational-technical school programs, and advocating for less-strict high-skill immigration caps.

One of many issues that keep healthy, prime-aged adults sidelined from the labor force is concerns over childcare. Several studies have indicated that affordable childcare increases the number of hours worked by mothers and frees up parents to re-enter the labor force. Nationally, Massachusetts ranks below average in terms of available childcare. One study found that, in 2019, the state was likely more than 30% below demand in terms of available seats. This lack of supply has severely inflated prices; the average parent pays as much as $20,000 a year for an infant and $15,000 for a 4-year-old, ranking Massachusetts near the bottom of all states in affordability.

Separately, many workers remain sidelined as a result of a skills mismatch between them and employers. While there are nearly 300,000 job openings in the state, there remain 140,000 unemployed workers, a ratio of more than two open jobs for every unemployed person. This ratio has largely remained the same since 2021, despite millions of dollars spent on workforce training.

Lastly, and likely most consequentially, the state has suffered from diminished immigration levels due to overly restrictive federal immigration policies. Massachusetts relies heavily on immigrants, as the state would likely have seen significant net outmigration without inflows from immigrants over the last decade. Only recently has the state lost net residents — more than 110,000 since 2019 — due to pandemic-era restrictions on immigration and other compounding factors like remote work and an increased cost of living.

Obligations Don’t Vanish Because Employees Are Working at Home

Law

Managing Hybrid or Remote Workers

By John S. Gannon, Esq.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, working remotely and other flexible work models like hybrid schedules were fairly uncommon. Now, allowing employees to work remotely at least a few days a week has become the norm for jobs that can be done from home.

One research summary suggested that 74% of U.S. companies are using, or plan to implement, a permanent hybrid work model in 2023, and 55% of employees want to work remotely at least three days a week. With remote work becoming more and more common, businesses need to be aware of employment-related legal issues that can bubble up when employees are working from home (and probably in their pajamas).

Wage and Hour Issues

One of the biggest challenges for businesses with teleworkers is compliance with wage and hour laws, which are laws that govern issues like payment of wages and meal breaks. Federal and state laws can differ considerably on these topics.

For example, federal law, and many state-law equivalents, do not require that an employer provide employees with meal breaks. Here in Massachusetts; however, state law requires employers to provide a 30-minute unpaid meal break to those who work more than six hours in a work day. In New Hampshire, workers are required to get a meal break after working five hours, unless it’s feasible to eat while working. Massachusetts does not have this ‘feasibility’ exception to its meal-break statute.

“With remote work becoming more and more common, businesses need to be aware of employment-related legal issues that can bubble up when employees are working from home.”

Similarly, some states (including Massachusetts) require the payout of accrued, unused vacation time upon separation from employment. Most states do not have this requirement. Other states require employers to reimburse employees for home-related business expenses, such as a laptop, upgrading home internet, or phone service.

Although this is type of reimbursement is technically not required in Massachusetts, the state attorney general’s office has suggested that employers should reimburse expenses that are “unavoidable and necessary” (whatever that means). Bottom line, businesses need to be familiar with the wage and hour laws of each state where employees live if remote work is allowed.

One wage and hour issue that does not vary from state to state is the requirement to pay non-exempt workers for all hours worked. This can be a problem with remote workers, regardless of where they live. Consider an hourly employee who answers a few emails from home during non-core working hours. This is working time, even if the employee has signed out for the day.

Employers need to have policies and practice in place to make sure all working time at home is recorded and paid for. Otherwise, they might be looking at a costly failure-to-pay-wages lawsuit.

Family and Medical Leave Laws

Similar to wage and hour laws, employee family and medical leave entitlements can vary considerably from state to state. As readers are likely aware, in Massachusetts, employees are allowed to take up to 20 weeks of paid leave per year to care for their own medical condition. Full-time employees also earn an additional 40 hours of sick time to use during the year. Employees working from home who live outside of Massachusetts may not be entitled to this leave. However, if they live in Connecticut or New York, they would be entitled to paid medical leave and sick time required by their home state’s laws. Because this issue can be confusing for employees, leave entitlements absolutely need to be addressed in your company handbook and/or policy and procedure manual.

Poster and Notice Requirements

Numerous labor and employment laws, including wage and hour laws and family and medical leave laws, require employers to put a poster up in the workplace and provide informational notices to employees in places like a handbook. This obligation does not vanish when employees are working from home. If employees rarely visit the office, the required postings need to be distributed via email or posted on an employee-accessible intranet.

Health and Safety Requirements

Even for remote employees, businesses must ensure a safe and secure working environment. This means identifying risks and hazards associated with working in the home and requiring employees to report any work-related injuries or incidents. Even employees working from home are entitled to workers’ compensation for job-related injuries.

Consider an Employment-practices Audit

An employment-practices audit is a complete risk-and-liability assessment of your human-resources and compliance operations. Audits are a cost-effective way for employers to confirm that they are meeting their legal requirements under federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Employers with a hybrid or remote workforce should consider engaging labor and employment counsel to conduct an employment-practices audit to detect and fix any of the problems identified in this article (and more).

Decision Restricts on Non-Disparagement, Confidentiality Clauses

Law

Case in Point

By Mary Jo Kennedy and Briana Dawkins

A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), McLaren Macomb, has employers in both union and non-union settings reviewing non-disparagement and confidentiality provisions used in their employee-separation agreements for possible legal challenges.

Mary Jo Kennedy

Brianna Dawkins

In February of this year, the NLRB held that the severance agreements at issue in McLaren Macomb violated the National Labor Relations Act. The employer, a hospital, offered severance agreements to union employees being furloughed that required them to waive certain rights under the act. The agreements included provisions that prohibited furloughed union employees from making statements that could disparage or harm the image of the hospital and prohibited employees from disclosing the terms of the agreement.

The NLRB found that those provisions were overly broad, unlawfully restrictive, and coercive on the employees’ ability to exercise their rights under Section 7 of the act. Section 7 protects the ability of employees and former employees to discuss terms and conditions of employment with co-workers. More broadly, Section 7 affords employees a wide range of protection, including communications with third parties “where the communication is related to an ongoing labor dispute and when the communication is not so disloyal, reckless, or maliciously untrue.”

The NLRB’s decision in McLaren Macomb makes clear that a severance agreement that has a reasonable tendency to interfere, restrain, or coerce the exercise of Section 7 rights by employees is unlawful. An employer that proffers a severance agreement with provisions that would restrict employees’ exercise of their rights under the act may be found in violation of the act. The decision states that it is immaterial whether an employee accepts the agreement. It remains uncertain whether any courts will uphold McLaren Macomb.

“The NLRB’s decision in McLaren Macomb makes clear that a severance agreement that has a reasonable tendency to interfere, restrain, or coerce the exercise of Section 7 rights by employees is unlawful.”

One month after issuance of the McLaren Macomb decision, the NLRB’s general counsel issued a guidance in response to inquiries about the McLaren Macomb decision, which responded to some inquiries regarding the decision’s impact. While not binding or controlling, some key points referenced in this guidance are:

• The McLaren Macomb decision applies to existing separation agreements. The general counsel suggests employers should proactively consider contacting those subject to severance agreements with overly board provisions in order to advise them that the provisions are null and void and that the employer will not seek to enforce the agreements or pursue any penalties;

• Because of the inequality of bargaining power between employees and their employers, it is the role of the NLRB to act “in a public capacity to protect public rights to effectuate the public policy of the act.” Even if the employees agree to broad confidentiality or non-disparagement provisions, the rights of the public may not be waived in a way that precludes the future exercise of Section 7 rights;

• Provisions in any employer communication to employees that tend to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees’ rights under Section 7, if not narrowly tailored, may also be prohibited under Section 7 of the act;

• Confidentiality provisions that are narrowly tailored to restrict the disclosure of proprietary or trade-secret information, and include a time frame on such a restriction, may be considered lawful; and

• Non-disparagement clauses that are narrowly tailored and limited to employee statements about the employer that meet the definition of defamation, as set forth in McLaren Macomb, may be lawful.

With regard to supervisors who are generally not protected under the act, the guidance notes that they would be covered in situations in which an employer retaliates against a supervisor for refusing to act on the employer’s behalf in committing an unfair labor practice under the act. Supervisors, as defined by the act, are individuals who have authority requiring independent judgment to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees in the interest of the employer, or to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action.

Accordingly, to ensure enforceability of its severance agreements, it is important for employers to classify its employees appropriately with respect to their responsibilities and not solely based on their job titles. Nonetheless, employers may continue to negotiate broader non-disparagement and confidentiality agreements in communications with supervisory employees, which remains unaffected by the McLaren Macomb decision.

Although McLaren Macomb involves union employees, the risk of non-compliance following this decision extends to all employers subject to the act, including non-union employers. Small businesses with non-union employees, while least likely at risk of a claim of unfair labor practices, are also subject to this decision. While employers may choose not to follow the proactive advice of the NLRB general counsel, employers should consider reviewing their current severance agreements and consider revising the non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses to avoid possible non-compliance.

Employers with questions regarding the enforceability of their non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses may wish to seek advice from their legal counsel.

Mary Jo Kennedy is a partner, and Briana Dawkins is an associate, with the law firm Bulkley Richardson, which has offices locally in Springfield and Hadley.

Memory Screening Can Be an Important Early Step in Dementia

Healthcare News

Don’t Ignore the Signs

Like with any disease, Cheryl Moran said, early detection of Alzheimer’s can make a big difference.

That’s why the Atrium at Cardinal Drive in Agawam and Orchard Valley at Wilbraham, both Benchmark mind and memory-care communities, have been hosting a series of memory screenings at area senior centers.

“Over the past 25-plus years, we’ve seen that people and families affected by dementia often delay planning, which makes for a much more challenging situation later,” said Moran, executive director of the Atrium. “By offering this to the community, we want to help ease the burden.”

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia affects nearly 350,000 people in Massachusetts, and the numbers continue to grow.

Cheryl Moran

“Over the past 25-plus years, we’ve seen that people and families affected by dementia often delay planning, which makes for a much more challenging situation later.”

Memory screenings, Moran noted, are appropriate for anyone concerned about memory loss or experiencing symptoms of dementia or who believes they are at risk due to family history. Screenings like the ones being offered at area senior center provide a safe, simple, face-to-face way to check a person’s memory, language, intellectual functions, and other thinking skills using a series of questions and tasks.

Screenings have already taken place at Wilbraham Senior Center and West Springfield Senior Center in April, and the next two are slated for Wednesday, May 17 from 10 a.m. to noon at Agawam Senior Center, 954 Main St.; and Wednesday, May 31 from noon to 2 p.m. at Palmer Senior Center, 1029 Central St. Attendees can register for either event by calling (413) 821-0605 for Agawam or (413) 283-2670 for Palmer.

A screening can indicate whether someone should consult with a medical provider in order to identify what is causing memory loss. If dementia is the cause, early diagnosis can help both individuals and their family members learn about the disease, set realistic expectations, and plan for their future together.

“If they are able to obtain a diagnosis for the cause of their dementia, it can help to better understand what the individual is struggling with and what to expect as the dementia progresses over time,” said Julie Waniewski, executive director of Armbrook Village in Westfield, which has a memory-care neighborhood called Compass. “There are also clinical drug trials that they can partake in to aid in research and hopefully find a cure one day.”

What to Look For

According to the Alzheimer’s Assoc., memory loss that disrupts daily life may be a symptom of Alzheimer’s or other dementia. The organization lists 10 signs in particular to keep an eye on:

1. Forgetting recently learned information. Similar signs include forgetting important dates or events, asking the same questions over and over, and increasingly needing to rely on memory aids (such as reminder notes or electronic devices) or family members for things they used to handle on their own.

Julie Waniewski

“If they are able to obtain a diagnosis for the cause of their dementia, it can help to better understand what the individual is struggling with and what to expect as the dementia progresses over time.”

2. Challenges in planning or solving problems. Some people living with dementia may experience changes in their ability to develop and follow a plan or work with numbers. They may have trouble following a familiar recipe or keeping track of monthly bills. They may have difficulty concentrating and take much longer to do things than they did before.

3. Difficulty completing familiar tasks. People with Alzheimer’s often find it hard to complete daily tasks. Sometimes they may have trouble driving to a familiar location, organizing a grocery list, or remembering the rules of a favorite game.

4. Confusion with time or place. People living with Alzheimer’s can lose track of dates, seasons, and the passage of time. They may have trouble understanding something if it is not happening immediately. Sometimes they may forget where they are or how they got there.

5. Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships. For some people, having vision problems is a sign of Alzheimer’s. This may lead to difficulty with balance or trouble reading. They may also have problems judging distance and determining color or contrast, causing issues with driving.

6. New problems with words in speaking or writing. People living with Alzheimer’s may have trouble following or joining a conversation. They may stop in the middle of a conversation and have no idea how to continue, or they may repeat themselves. They may also struggle with vocabulary, have trouble naming a familiar object, or use the wrong name.

7. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps. A person living with Alzheimer’s disease may put things in unusual places. They may lose things and be unable to go back over their steps to find them again. He or she may accuse others of stealing, especially as the disease progresses.

8. Decreased or poor judgment. Individuals may experience changes in judgment or decision making. For example, they may use poor judgment when dealing with money or pay less attention to grooming or keeping themselves clean.

9. Withdrawal from work or social activities. A person living with Alzheimer’s disease may experience changes in the ability to hold or follow a conversation. As a result, he or she may withdraw from hobbies, social activities, or other engagements. They may have trouble keeping up with a favorite team or activity.

10. Changes in mood and personality. Individuals living with Alzheimer’s may experience mood and personality changes. They can become confused, suspicious, depressed, fearful, or anxious. They may be easily upset at home, with friends, or when out of their comfort zone.

“There are many warning signs of memory issues or early-stage dementia,” Waniewski said. “Sometimes a person is struggling to prepare meals, which leads to improper nutrition, or they are not taking their medications correctly, the house is unkept, appliances may not be working, or their personal hygiene is not what it used to be. They may also ask the same question repeatedly, which is a sign of short-term memory loss. They may lack interest in previously enjoyed activities or group gatherings, which is usually because they are afraid that others will start to notice that they are struggling cognitively.”

Other warning signs may include piles of unopened mail or shutoff notices, indicating that their executive functioning is declining and finances are becoming difficult to handle on their own, Waniewski added. “Also, their car may have new signs of damage, or they may have gotten lost driving, and the yard may be overgrown and not tended to.”

Next Steps

While not every symptom is a sign of dementia, the Alzheimer’s Assoc. stresses the importance of getting screened, as early detection matters.

“If you notice one or more signs in yourself or another person, it can be difficult to know what to do,” the organization notes. “It’s natural to feel uncertain or nervous about discussing these changes with others. Voicing worries about your own health might make them seem more ‘real.’ Or you may fear upsetting someone by sharing observations about changes in his or her abilities or behavior. However, these are significant health concerns that should be evaluated by a doctor, and it’s important to take action to figure out what’s going on.”

Early detection may also open doors to treatments that may provide some relief of symptoms and help maintain independence longer, as well as increase one’s chances of participating in clinical drug trials that help advance research. Waniewski noted that Armbrook Village and its parent company, Senior Living Residences, are affiliated with Boston University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, which offers clinical trials in which people can participate.

New Alzheimer’s Drug Awaits Approval, Spurs Hope

Healthcare News

Making Progress

In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb) via the Accelerated Approval pathway for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Leqembi is the second of a new category of medications approved for Alzheimer’s disease that target the fundamental pathophysiology of the disease. According to the FDA, these medications represent an important advancement in the ongoing fight to effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease.

“Alzheimer’s disease immeasurably incapacitates the lives of those who suffer from it and has devastating effects on their loved ones,” said Dr. Billy Dunn, director of the Office of Neuroscience in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “This treatment option is the latest therapy to target and affect the underlying disease process of Alzheimer’s, instead of only treating the symptoms of the disease.”

Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder affecting more than 6.5 million Americans that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out simple tasks. While the specific causes of Alzheimer’s are not fully known, it is characterized by changes in the brain — including amyloid beta plaques and neurofibrillary, or tau, tangles — that result in loss of neurons and their connections. These changes affect a person’s ability to remember and think.

Leqembi was approved using the Accelerated Approval pathway, under which the FDA may approve drugs for serious conditions where there is an unmet medical need and a drug is shown to have an effect on a surrogate endpoint that is reasonably likely to predict a clinical benefit to patients.

Researchers evaluated Leqembi’s efficacy in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 856 patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Treatment was initiated in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia and confirmed presence of amyloid beta pathology. Patients receiving the treatment had significant dose- and time-dependent reduction of amyloid beta plaque, with patients receiving the approved dose of lecanemab every two weeks having a statistically significant reduction in brain amyloid plaque from baseline to week 79 compared to the placebo arm, which had no reduction of amyloid beta plaque.

These results support the accelerated approval of Leqembi, which is based on the observed reduction of amyloid beta plaque, a marker of Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid beta plaque was quantified using positron emission tomography imaging to estimate the brain levels of amyloid beta plaque in a composite of brain regions expected to be widely affected by Alzheimer’s disease pathology compared to a brain region expected to be spared of such pathology.

According to McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, neurologists in the U.S. have a strong interest in prescribing the Leqembi, with the majority of 73 specialists surveyed saying they would prescribe the treatment if the government fully approves it.

The March 2023 survey, from Spherix Global Insights, found that a healthy proportion of neurologists had already begun prescribing Leqembi within a month of commercial availability, while most have chosen to wait for the FDA’s decision when it reviews the request by Eisai, the drug’s manufacturer, for traditional approval on July 6. If traditional FDA approval is granted, nearly all of the surveyed specialists said they planned to prescribe the treatment, mostly within the year following the greenlight, Spherix reported.

The prescribing information for Leqembi includes a warning for amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), which are known to occur with antibodies of this class. ARIA usually does not have symptoms, although serious and life-threatening events rarely may occur. ARIA most commonly presents as temporary swelling in areas of the brain that usually resolves over time and may be accompanied by small spots of bleeding in or on the surface of the brain, though some people may have symptoms such as headache, confusion, dizziness, vision changes, nausea, and seizure.

Another warning for Leqembi is for a risk of infusion-related reactions, with symptoms such as flu-like symptoms, nausea, vomiting, and changes in blood pressure. The most common side effects of Leqembi were infusion-related reactions, headache, and ARIA.

According to Fierce Pharma, while there is another new drug on the market for Alzheimer’s — Aduhelm, which Eisai helped create with Biogen — that drug is commercially non-viable at the moment.

Specifically, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services refused to cover payments of Aduhelm, which was also damaged by the controversial way the FDA approved the drug in 2021. The drug passed the regulatory hurdle despite serious safety and efficacy questions, including from the FDA’s own drug-review experts, who denied its approval at the drug’s advisory committee and were overruled by the FDA itself several months later.

Suit Shows That Employers Must Engage in Interactive Dialogue

Law Special Coverage

Return-to-office Mandates and Related Woes

By Trevor Brice

As pressure increases on companies to have an in-person presence post-pandemic, many companies have issued return-to-office mandates. Some of these, if they are not heeded by employees currently working remotely, can result in severe penalties, including loss of compensation, bonuses, even termination.

While these companies can impose these penalties on their wayward employees, it is now the time to remember one of the reasons why employees request to work from home: as a disability- or age-related accommodation.

On March 28, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced suit against an employer who disciplined an employee in relation to one of these policies. This serves as a reminder of what employers’ responsibilities are to employees with age- or disability-related accommodation requests, despite being able to pressure employees to come back to the office.

COVID-19 Policies and Protected Class

In general, employers can impose any sort of discipline or policy on their employees. However, there are exceptions to this general rule, specifically that employers cannot discipline or impose policy that is either directly or indirectly based on the employee’s protected class (e.g., race, color, disability, age, sex, or ancestry).

“When an employee requests a reasonable accommodation, the employer has a duty to engage in an interactive dialogue with the employee and attempt to come up with a reasonable accommodation that does not impose an undue hardship on the employer.”

As we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, most employers are setting up policies mandating that employees come back to the office, some of them with penalties attached if employees do not comply. For example, Apple recently threatened disciplinary action for employees that are not coming into the office at least three days per week. Policies like these are facially neutral and non-discriminatory in their purpose. Every employer has a legitimate business interest in enforcing attendance, and policies like these have become more commonplace.

However, these policies run the risk of disability or even age discrimination. Some employers might ask why this is the case if they are enforcing a neutral policy. The usual issue will be that a policy like this will be imposed on an employee who is older or has disabilities that make them more at risk of contracting COVID-19. As such, when a policy like this is imposed, the employee will ask, due to their disability or age, to continue to work from home as a reasonable accommodation. If and when this happens, employers have a duty to engage in an interactive dialogue with the requesting employee and try to fashion an accommodation that will allow the worker to continue their work without undue hardship to the employer.

As long as this conversation, the interactive dialogue, is had with the requesting employee, it will be difficult for the employee to say that they have been subject to discrimination or that the employer failed to provide a reasonable accommodation. However, the problem arises when the employer does not initiate this conversation.

The EEOC Lawsuit

On March 28, the EEOC sued a company for allegedly denying repeated requests by an employee for remote work as a reasonable accommodation due to the increased risk of COVID-19 and further was alleged to violate the law by retaliating against the employee for taking medical leave to avoid exposure.

The facts in the case, EEOC v. Total Systems Services Inc., involve a customer-service representative who repeatedly requested to work remotely as a reasonable accommodation starting at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 to decrease the risk of her exposure to COVID-19. The employer, in response, without engaging in an interactive dialogue with the disabled employee, repeatedly denied the requests despite granting remote-work requests to other employees.

While there has not been a ruling in this case yet, it is clear why the EEOC sued the company in question. As a reminder, when an employee requests a reasonable accommodation, the employer has a duty to engage in an interactive dialogue with the employee and attempt to come up with a reasonable accommodation that does not impose an undue hardship on the employer. Here, the employer did not attempt to engage in an interactive dialogue, denying the request (in this case, repeatedly) outright.

Further, even if the company had attempted to engage in an interactive dialogue with the disabled employee (which it did not), the employer would still potentially be liable because it would be more than likely that the employer could not show that the accommodation request was an undue hardship.

As the EEOC’s lawsuit notes, most of the employee’s department was allowed to work remotely, despite denying the employee’s request to also work remotely. The company could have possibly shown that the employee’s request was an undue hardship if other employees in the employee’s department were not allowed to work remotely or if a compelling reason was given why the employee and other employees in her department needed to be on site. However, this was not the case here.

Conclusion

As it becomes more and more commonplace for employers to require their employees to come into the office post-pandemic, there will increasingly be more litigation from employees who suffer from disabilities or are older, who ask to be given accommodation to work from home in order to avoid COVID-19 exposure.

As shown above, employers, once a reasonable accommodation has been made, must engage in an interactive dialogue with the employee to see if there is a reasonable accommodation that can be granted without undue hardship. It is possible to show that the employee’s request is an undue hardship, but there needs to be an interactive dialogue with the employee first.

If your company is imposing these return-to-work policies and it is questionable whether there is an undue hardship with an employee’s request for a reasonable-accommodation request, it is prudent to seek out representation from employment counsel.

Trevor Brice is an attorney who specializes in labor and employment-law matters at the Royal Law Firm LLP, a woman-owned, women-managed corporate law firm that is certified as a women’s business enterprise with the Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office, the National Assoc. of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

Renewed Energy Makes Amherst Busy Again

Community Spotlight Special Coverage

Community Spotlight

By Mark Morris

David Bourgeois says Amherst Burger focuses on fun food sourced locally.

By all indications, from bustling sidewalks to traffic congestion, Amherst is most definitely back.

As the home of UMass Amherst, Hampshire College, and Amherst College, the town had always benefited from the presence of all those students, faculty, staff, and visitors, both economically and with the energy they brought. When the pandemic hit, all those constituencies at all three campuses left town while people everywhere dealt with COVID-19.

Slowly but surely, the students returned as everyone learned how to work their way through the pandemic. Now, after persevering through a few very difficult years, there’s new energy and excitement in and about Amherst.

“When the colleges came back and started to re-engage with the community, it really set the tone for everyone else,” said Claudia Pazmany, executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce. “The outpouring of students returning to downtown was huge.”

Currently, downtown Amherst enjoys a 4% vacancy rate for its commercial properties. Gabrielle Gould, executive director of the Amherst Business Improvement District (BID), said seven new restaurants have either recently opened or will do so by the end of the year, including a new White Lion brewery.

“At the Drake, the average age of our audience is in the 40s, and 70% of them live outside Amherst. It’s making our downtown destination-worthy, and as a result, we’re bringing in bigger bands and touring groups.”

“A staple of a successful downtown center is a brewery,” Gould said. “It’s something we’ve been trying to get for several years.”

Gould and the BID played an important role in establishing the Drake, an arts and entertainment venue downtown. Averaging 200 guests a night with four shows a week, the Drake is achieving the BID’s goal of bringing people, vibrancy, and a tricke-down effect to downtown.

While the return of the students is worth celebrating, older adults have also become essential in Amherst’s comeback.

“At the Drake, the average age of our audience is in the 40s, and 70% of them live outside Amherst,” Gould said, adding that audience polling shows they are eating at Amherst restaurants and going out for drinks after attending performances at the club. “It’s making our downtown destination-worthy, and as a result, we’re bringing in bigger bands and touring groups.”

Gould also credits Amherst’s revival to building owners downtown and in the Mill District who have helped entrepreneurs enter the restaurant or retail business, or open ventures themselves, rather than let their properties sit idle.

Where the wheelbarrow of scrap wood sits is where the main counter of Alysia Bryant’s Carefree Cakery will be located when she opens in June.

“Landlords understand that opening a new business is hard, so they want to help people get started,” she said. “It’s an exciting shift that’s been happening.”

Barry Roberts owns several properties in Amherst and decided to create a burger restaurant when his previous tenant, Shanghai Gourmet, closed.

“We have lots of wonderful places to eat in Amherst,” said Roberts, who is also president of the BID. “But I thought there was a need for a moderately priced place where you can get burgers, beer, and ice cream.”

After brightening up the wall colors and repurposing booths, the Amherst Burger Company was launched. At press time, the restaurant was scheduled to open its doors by late April.

To manage the new restaurant, Roberts hired David Bourgeois, who has experience running other Amherst restaurants. The emphasis at Amherst Burger is on fun food sourced locally.

“We get our beef from Echodale Farm in Easthampton, our ice cream from Cook Farm in Hadley, and our milk from Mapleline Farm in Hadley,” Bourgeois said. “We are looking to build relationships with additional local farms as their crops come into season.”

Schools of Thought

While downtown has become home to many new businesses, the Mill District in North Amherst is emerging as another hotspot.

When BusinessWest visited Alysia Bryant, owner of Carefree Cakery, the walls in her store were still two-by-four studs. Slated for a June opening, the venture will feature fair-trade ingredients in all its baked goods.

Amherst Burger Company is just one of many new additions to the downtown landscape.

Bryant started college with the intent of becoming a doctor, but soon realized she didn’t have the passion for it and shifted gears to a business curriculum. At that time, she also began making brownies for friends in her dorm room. When her friends became bored with plain brownies, Bryant added different ingredients, such as peanut-butter swirl and cheesecake swirl, and discovered how much she enjoyed the process of modifying recipes to create new treats.

“I realized that I had a passion for helping people and that my skill was baking,” she said. “So I asked, ‘how on earth could I do both at the same time?’”

While the idea for her own place incubated, Bryant spent five years managing the Sherwin-Williams paint store in Hadley, where she refined her skills before running her own business. Additionally, she researched how to source fair-trade ingredients such as vanilla extract, chocolate, and other essential baking items.

“I knew fair-trade products would be more expensive,” she said. “And my biggest concern was, would people be willing to pay for them?”

To get the answer, Bryant teamed up with the Holyoke chapter of EforAll, a national nonprofit entrepreneurial organization, to conduct surveys on pricing and flavors. She was surprised at the positive feedback. “After the survey results, I felt less trepidation and more excitement about Carefree Cakery.”

The owners of Futura Café, located next door, are planning their opening in June at the same time Bryant opens her doors. They will join nearly a dozen other businesses featuring, among other things, vintage clothing, a general store, and an art gallery.

Amherst at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1759
Population: 39,263
Area: 27.7 square miles
County: Hampshire
Residential Tax Rate: $20.10
Commercial Tax Rate: $20.10
Median Household Income: $48,059
Median Family Income: $96,005
Type of Government: Town Council, Town Manager
Largest Employers: UMass Amherst; Amherst College; Hampshire College
* Latest information available

“I enjoy being in the Mill District because there’s real collaboration among the businesses,” Bryant said. “They’ve put an emphasis on building community here.”

Pazmany concurred, noting that the Mill District has created many new community events, including a recent Easter egg hunt that sold out. “It’s a family-friendly place that keeps growing as more people experience the shops there.”

And family-friendly locations are needed because the Amherst area is, well, attracting more families.

Indeed, over the past few years, Massachusetts has seen a slight decline in its population — less than 1%. But in that same time, Hampshire County has seen an increase in its population of roughly 11%, with Amherst on the leading edge of that growth.

“Private development of housing is a major economic driver at this time,” Town Manager Paul Bockelman said. “There’s a demand for housing because so many people want to live in Amherst.”

Realtors are noting trends of growing numbers of families looking to move back to their hometowns, and Amherst is no exception.

“I’ve talked with people who were unleashed from their offices and could live anywhere, and they chose to live in Amherst because of the schools, open space, and cultural attractions downtown,” Bockelman said. “Our town has become a real magnet for people who work remote most of the time.”

Signs of Progress

A key municipal project in the works is the renovation of the North Common, a project Bockelman said will transform the center of Amherst. The area is technically a green space, though most of it is currently covered in wood chips. He said the new design will be a great space for everyone.

“During the pandemic, we learned that people like to get takeout food but then want to linger downtown, and, of course, we want people to linger downtown,” he said. “With the new design, they will be able to get takeout from one of our restaurants and sit at a picnic table or park bench in the middle of a bucolic lawn.”

As the project goes out to bid, several contractors have already told Bockelman they hope to win the contract because the North Common will be such a high-profile job. Construction is scheduled to start in late fall, with completion slated for spring 2024.

“It will be a great civic space where we will have flag raisings, celebrations of different cultures, and, because it’s Amherst, we’ve even created a special space to stage protests,” he said.

Gould said more evidence that Amherst is back can be seen in the restaurants that are busier today than they were before the pandemic. “Restaurant owners are telling me that they’ve never had numbers like this. Many are looking at opening second restaurants.”

Meanwhile, the student population continues to increase as Hampshire College plans to add 200 additional students in the fall.

And downtown will get another boost, with Amherst Cinema being chosen as one of only 12 film houses in the U.S. to show entries into the Sundance Film Festival when it takes place next year. The popular cinema will be the only place in the Northeast to view the Sundance entries.

“That means, during the festival, people will be coming here from Manhattan and Boston because Amherst Cinemas is the closest place in this region to see those films,” Gould said.

Even longtime attractions like the Emily Dickinson Museum are benefiting from the new energy in Amherst. After closing for renovations for part of last year, the museum is busier than ever and draws visitors from all over the world. Many new visitors are young people who discovered the Belle of Amherst through the Apple TV+ series Dickinson.

In the office Pazmany and Gould share, the phone has been ringing much more of late with people complaining they can’t find a hotel room in the area. As much as Pazmany wants to accommodate all visitors to the area, she also recognizes one of those proverbial ‘good problems to have.’

There are actually several of them, she said, noting that people are also complaining about traffic and a need for more places to park.

“Well, the complaint desk is active again, and that’s certainly a sign that we’re busy again,” she said, adding that, after the COVID years, such complaints are more than welcome.

Tiffany Allecia

Executive Director, Springfield Creative City Collective: Age 29

Tiffany Allecia “When preparedness meets opportunity, amazing things can happen.”

That’s how Tiffany Allecia described the events that led to the Springfield Creative City Collective.

To address chronic poverty in the Black and Brown community, Allecia and five others who shared her concerns determined that promoting a cultural and creative economy would be an effective way to help people now and build toward long-term success.

As one colleague put it, Allecia is an “amazing grant writer,” who applied for and won a $530,000 MassDevelopment grant to establish the collective last July. While that was an important start, Allecia recognized that launching a creative economy in Springfield required access to resources and key stakeholders.

“Through my work with two arts and culture organizations, I saw millions of dollars pour in to large, predominantly white, established businesses that didn’t reflect our community,” she said. “The small businesses in my community didn’t know how to get access to these resources.”

Allecia sees her role, and that of the collective, as a connector to support the development and growth of minority-owned businesses in Springfield. Early successes include a partnership with Berkshire Bank on a financial-literacy academy. The six-week course covered personal finances as well as small-business management.

“We’re working to connect mainstream organizations with our community members who have been overlooked for years,” she said. “The idea is to raise the game of Black and Brown businesses so they can succeed and grow.”

Coming soon are a creative entrepreneurship conference and a hiring fair.

“I believe there are plenty of resources out there, but we often operate in silos,” Allecia said. “The different individuals who could benefit from collaborating aren’t in the same room together. It’s my goal to bring them together.”

Part of that goal involves what she calls a “reimagining” of how resources are allocated in the community by first investing in what currently exists.

“It’s like a grandparent saying, ‘take care of what you have before you can get some more,’” she explained. “That’s where we are in the city right now, and it’s a beautiful and dynamic place.”

A lover of knowledge, Allecia stays grounded with the Socrates quote: “I know that I know nothing.”

“That phrase inspires me because it helps me remain humble,” she said. “I’ve learned a great deal, but I refuse to stop growing, and I refuse to stop learning.”

—Mark Morris

Jennifer Bell

Senior Clinician, Behavioral Health, Commonwealth Care Alliance: Age 38

By her own admission, Jennifer Bell was born to be a helper.

“While I picked social work as a career, I think it also picked me,” she said. “Even in my personal life, I always want to help people.”

From her high-school days, visiting her Noni, who was receiving care, Bell found herself also interacting with the other patients in the facility. These days, she leads a team at Commonwealth Care Alliance (CCA) on an innovative approach to provide medical and mental healthcare to people with non-traditional needs.

“Many of our patients haven’t always had the best experience with the health system in the past,” she said. “We’re here to show that we’re different.”

Using a wrap-around model of care, Bell and her team bring together a patient’s primary-care doctor and therapist to prevent any gaps in treatment. The CCA team is also involved in helping with a patient’s housing and food needs, as well as assisting with tasks such as filling out paperwork.

“My role is to help with the behavioral-health piece, breaking down the barriers that might prevent a person from connecting to mental-health and substance-use-disorder programs,” she said, adding that CCA’s professionals often make house calls for patients who can’t get out.

Trust is an essential part of caring for non-traditional patients, she added, and building that trust starts with showing up. “Sometimes, just having someone consistently show up makes a difference. So, I show up.”

Bell is proud that so many people are comfortable saying, “oh, I can call Jenn,” whether it’s on the job or in her voluntary work.

From serving as a mentor in the Sibling Connections program which reunites siblings placed apart in the foster-care system, to volunteering with her dog, Leila, in a program to help children build their reading skills and confidence by reading aloud to certified therapy dogs, Bell finds helping others to be rewarding work, even outside her day job.

“I have an ability to engage people who have a history of not wanting to be engaged. I feel it’s my main strength,” she said. “I bring a level of energy to the work because I enjoy meeting people from all different walks of life who are on many different paths. I let them know that I’m here for them.”

That’s why so many people know they can call Jenn.

—Mark Morris

Aimee Dalenta

Program Chair, Early Childhood Education, Springfield Technical Community College: Age 39

Aimee Dalenta

Aimee Dalenta has dedicated her life’s work to enriching people through education.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Springfield College and a master’s from Western New England University, Dalenta taught fifth grade in Longmeadow. After marriage and having her first two children close together, she left the workforce for a short time. Her first re-entry was running a small childcare center in East Longmeadow. Shortly after that, Springfield College offered Dalenta an instructor’s position in its Education Department.

“So I went from working with little kids to big kids,” she said.

In her current role at Springfield Technical Community College, Dalenta’s students range from those just out of high school to older adults seeking a career change. “Students in the course can be in their 50s and 60s, and they will collaborate with a 21-year old,” she noted. “They learn from each other, and I’m learning from them. It’s a cool environment.”

Dalenta ranks her proudest professional moments as earning her doctorate and how well she has navigated through the starts and stops along the way.

“I will never regret leaving the workforce to become a mom, but it was one of the scariest decisions I’ve ever made,” she said. “Then, re-entering and navigating my way after not working for five years was terrifying.”

While she enjoyed her time at Springfield College as an instructor, she knew she would need a doctorate to remain in higher education. She enrolled at American International College for its doctoral program even though her youngest child was a toddler.

“It was four grueling years to earn the doctorate, but it was a labor of love,” she said, adding that she is grateful for all the support her family gave her.

She also found inspiration from Pat Summit, the late, legendary women’s basketball coach for the University of Tennessee, who coached her players: “left foot, right foot, breathe, repeat.”

“It’s a simple mantra that helped me get through my doctoral work,” Dalenta said. “I only need to do the thing in front of me. I still use it to center myself when things get difficult.”

While proud of her role as program chair and professor, Dalenta still considers herself a teacher. “I’m inspired by my students as they persevere through life’s challenges. Teaching has always been there to ground me and help me to grow as a professional and as a person.”

—Mark Morris

Lucas Giusto

Co-owner, the Naples Group: Age 29

When you ask Lucas Giusto about the secret to success for the Naples Group, he responds, “we always answer the phone.”

As a college student living off campus, Giusto understood that if he owned property and rented it out to friends, he could live for free.

After receiving a business administration degree from Westfield State University, he acted on his initial idea and began buying college rentals in different parts of Western New England.

After gaining more experience by working with several area realty groups, in 2019, he and a business partner founded Naples Group, which consists of three real-estate-related businesses.

Naples Realty Group is a real-estate brokerage with more than 50 agents. Naples Home Buyers specializes in purchasing distressed properties and improving them for resell. Naples Waste Removal, which opened last year, offers property cleanouts and dumpster rentals. In addition to all that, the group has a rental portfolio with 50 available multi-family units and a goal to grow that to 100 by the end of this year.

Giusto takes particular pride in the home-buyers group because it helps people get out of tough situations. “If someone is being foreclosed on or they have property blight they can’t fix, we can offer them a quick sale. If the house is in good shape, we will list it with the realty group so they can get top dollar.”

With homes in short supply, renovating distressed properties can be a real opportunity for someone looking for a home.

“If our realty group has a potential buyer, we can help them get into a newly renovated home, sometimes even before it goes on the market,” he explained. “A renovated property is a win for the buyer and the agent.”

Giusto emphasizes mentoring and learning as part of the culture at the Naples Group. “We help our people to hit their goals by teaching them how to flip a house, how to buy a rental property, and even when not to buy a property.”

In the community, he has formed a relationship with Bob “the Bike Man” Charland.

“Bob will often go through a property before we renovate it and find items to donate,” Giusto said. “We enjoy supporting his foundation, Pedal Thru Youth, which provides bicycles for kids in need.” Giusto also supports several other local efforts, including Empty Arms Bereavement in Northampton.

By renovating distressed and unwanted properties, Giusto gives them new life for new families — and makes Western Mass a better place to live.

—Mark Morris

Daniel Griffin

Owner and Clinic Director, Resilience Physical Therapy and Wellness: Age 28

Amid all the physical-therapy practices in the region, Daniel Griffin had a vision for a different approach.

“I wanted to bring a more innovative style to rehabilitation,” he said. “It’s important to look at a patient’s total health — how they eat, sleep, and how the rest of body moves — then tailor their rehab plan so they can return to the social activities they enjoy.”

He opened Resilience Physical Therapy and Wellness in 2019 after completing his doctoral work in physical therapy at Springfield College and immediately began using evidence-based approaches to physical therapy.

“Our youngest patient is age 6, and our oldest is in their mid-90s,” he said. “Having such a diverse age range is rewarding for us as clinicians.”

Part of his business includes providing physical-therapy services to first responders in several area communities. “Whether it’s police, firefighters, or military personnel, we understand what they do from a work standpoint, and we’re just glad to help when they get injured on the job,” he said.

Notably, Griffin and his staff run Resilience’s education program for healthcare students, encompassing students from high school through graduate level who are pursuing health careers. The program is designed to take students through the internship process and show them the day-to-day responsibilities of a physical therapist.

“It’s extremely rewarding to see our high-school students advance to physical therapy or pre-med programs and our undergrad students move into graduate-level training,” he said. “We hire many of our former students. In fact, most of our staff interned with us.”

Griffin said the program can really benefit high-school students by giving them exposure to a health-career pathway, as well as offering interactions for college and graduate students to better understand their experiences.

“We’ve invested a lot of time and energy to create this program,” he added. “We’re happy to see all our slots booked for the summer, and we look forward to a new group of students in the next school year.”

From the first Resilience location in Agawam, Griffin has expanded to Wilbraham and will open a third practice this summer in Suffield. He’s grateful to all those who have helped him along this successful path.

“In the beginning, I had great mentors who helped me get started,” he said. “We continue to grow because I’ve got a great team that works with me.”

—Mark Morris

Terrell Joyner

Financial Planner, Charter Oak Financial: Age 37

Terrell Joyner describes his life as an ever-expanding journey.

After graduating from Springfield College and earning an MBA at Western New England University, Joyner had planned to open a restaurant.

But before a restaurant could be reality, he had to earn some money. So he began a career in finance with Equitable Life, where he became a retirement specialist for public school systems, and his career possibilities began to diverge from the original menu.

“As I spoke with people, I realized they needed more financial advice than just retirement,” he said. “Clients need a comprehensive plan to know if they are on track with their goals and what changes they may need to make along the way.”

Joyner then moved to Charter Oak and obtained the securities and insurance licenses he would need to better serve his clients. He said he takes an education-based approach to working with them.

“Instead of telling a client what to do, I educate them on the reasons why certain things we recommend are beneficial for their situation,” he explained. “The best compliments I get are ‘you speak to me in laymen’s terms, but you don’t speak to me like I’m stupid.’”

Joyner enjoys the ‘a-ha’ moments when clients realize that following a smart plan made their finances more secure.

He also enjoys volunteering. At Putnam Vocational Technical Academy, he took part in a program to help students act professionally in areas such as job interviews, the way they send email, and community involvement. When the class graduated, one student asked Joyner if he would be his mentor.

“He is the first one in his family to attend a four-year college, so I could not say no to that,” he said. With the student maintaining a 4.0 GPA, Joyner is now helping him apply to Ivy League schools for a graduate program.

“I hope to be a role model for young Black and Brown children who don’t have those role models,” he said. “I want to bring financial education and literacy to the African-American and LGBTQ+ communities. I’m part of both communities, and both are underserved.”

When the journey gets rough, he take it one step at a time, and credits his husband, Dustin, for being his traveling partner. “We have been together for 16 years, and he has been instrumental in my success by continuing to be my cheerleader during tough times and making sure I don’t settle when things are going well. I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without him.”

—Mark Morris

Rob Madrid

President, Digiarks: Age 39

Rob Madrid considers himself a marketer who has always used digital marketing as a primary tool.

Armed with an MBA from Western New England University and a bachelor’s degree from Springfield College, Madrid held positions with Weed Man Lawn Care, the American Hockey League, and the Basketball Hall of Fame. Before founding his own business, he was head of client strategy for MassLive.

“I bounced around, not because I was getting fired,” he said. “It was the budding entrepreneur in me getting impatient. Once I developed digital expertise, I felt I could be successful on my own.”

Madrid and a partner started Digiarks, a digital marketing and design firm, in 2021 with the founding principle “honest, smart, experienced digital marketing — no BS.”

“Our slogan is what we’re all about,” he said. “We’re about honesty and transparency on top of knowing what we’re doing.”

Last fall, after buying out his partner, Madrid asked his wife, Sara, to join the firm, bringing skills in content creation and account management. Digiarks also added a remote graphic designer.

“We really have two companies that work hand-in-hand,” he said. “Our graphic designer is the creative arm that compliments the traditional digital marketing company, which executes ad campaigns and other things.”

Madrid has become a popular speaker on digital-marketing topics. His advice for budding entrepreneurs? “Make sure you have a diverse skill set, because you’ll need to wear every hat.”

Another piece of advice is to “segment your time between administrative duties and prospecting, while making quality work the core of what you do. Quality work will turn into more business; that’s certainly been our experience.”

Inspired by the business book Good to Great, Madrid is committed to following the concept of striving to be the best in the world at what he can become the best in the world at, and avoid areas where he won’t be the best.

“We develop wonderful websites, high-quality ad campaigns, SEO marketing, and consulting,” he said. “By emphasizing these core competencies, we can focus on what we do best and make our clients successful.”

To Madrid, nothing is more important than Sara and their three children. While he hopes to see Digiarks succeed and grow, he will not let success compromise his ethics.

“Every day I ask myself, ‘will my kids be proud of me?’ That’s how I want to live and do business. That’s what guides me.”

—Mark Morris

Stephanie O’Leary