Madison County warns of possible public exposure to virus at Oneida Walmart

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ONEIDA, N.Y. — The Madison County Health Department announced Tuesday it has learned of a possible public exposure to COVID-19 at the Walmart in Oneida

MVHS medical staffs to merge

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Nonprofits, Regional News

UTICA, N.Y. — The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) announced that the medical staffs of Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare (FSLH) and St. Elizabeth Medical Center

State pension fund posted slight negative return in fiscal year ending March 31, amid pandemic

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Insurance & Financial Services, Law, Accounting & Taxes, New York News, Nonprofits

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New York State Common Retirement Fund generated a -2.68 percent return on investments in the state fiscal year ending March 31,

Oneida County daily coronavirus cases slow to low single digits

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Health Care, Nonprofits, Regional News

UTICA, N.Y. — Oneida County on Monday announced just two new coronavirus cases in the last day, continuing the recent trend of single-digit daily infections.

Prime Time Marketing leases 3,100-square-foot space in Salina

Small Business, Subscriber Only

SALINA — Prime Time Marketing (PTM) recently leased a 3,146-square-foot office at 890 Seventh North St. in Salina from FRW Properties, LLC. PTM specializes in developing sales organizations for Fortune 500 companies across the U.S. It focuses on direct sales to consumers in the clean-power area. PTM, which opened in 2015, says its mission is

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American Heart Association names six new advisory board members

Nonprofits, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The American Heart Association (AHA) announced that the following six local leaders joined its Syracuse advisory board at the beginning of July. Mara Charlamb — VP and owner of United Radio, Inc. Charlamb has served on the boards of several community organizations, as well as volunteered for the AHA’s Go Red for Women

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SYRACUSE — The American Heart Association (AHA) announced that the following six local leaders joined its Syracuse advisory board at the beginning of July.

Mara Charlamb — VP and owner of United Radio, Inc. Charlamb has served on the boards of several community organizations, as well as volunteered for the AHA’s Go Red for Women movement in Syracuse for the past six years. Charlamb spent two years as the chairwoman of the Go Red for Women Circle of Red.

Dr. Joshua Harrison — cardiologist with Crouse Medical Practice Cardiology. Harrison is a Central New York native who received his medical degree and completed his residency at Upstate Medical University. He completed his fellowship in cardiology at University of Connecticut, Hartford Hospital.

Jerry Jean-Louis — Microbiological Control Laboratory supervisor at Bristol-Myers Squibb in DeWitt. Jean-Louis also serves as the Syracuse Chapter resource group lead of the Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLD). Through this role, he has built strong relationships with nonprofit organizations throughout the Syracuse area.

Lynne Shopiro — chief nursing officer at Crouse Health. Shopiro oversees all nursing activities, including recruitment, retention, expanding shared governance, and advancement of evidence-based nursing practices. She has been with Crouse Health for 36 years and also has been instrumental in Crouse Health’s achievement of consistent recognition in the American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines program.

Deborah Welch — VP for mission integration at St. Joseph’s Health. Welch provides leadership in the design, development, and implementation of programs and activities related to mission, core values, leadership formation, ethics, and spiritual care. She has also played a pivotal role in the Growing Health Hearts program, a collaboration between the American Heart Association, St. Joseph’s Health, the Syracuse City School District, and other organizations.

Larry Williams — CEO of Syracuse Community Connections (Southwest Community Center). Williams and his staff have worked with the AHA on several programs, including a week of health and wellness education for the 2019 summer camp, and the “Check. Change. Control” program focused on managing high blood pressure.

Tompkins Financial posts profit increase in Q2, but year-to-date net income is down

Banks & Credit Unions, Regional News, Subscriber Only

ITHACA — Tompkins Financial Corp. (NYSE: TMP) recently reported net income of $21.4 million, or $1.44 per share, in the second quarter, up from $19.4 million, or $1.27 a share, in the same period in 2019. Tompkins Financial’s year-to-date net income was $29.4 million, down from $40.4 million in the year-prior period. “Economic stress” resulting

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Tompkins Financial’s year-to-date net income was $29.4 million, down from $40.4 million in the year-prior period.

“Economic stress” resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic “negatively impacted” the results for the 2020 year-to-date period. Those conditions also contributed to the $16.3 million provision for credit losses recognized during the first quarter of 2020, Tompkins Financial said in its earnings report.

Still, the banking company’s leader expressed optimism about the future.

“Although the longer term impact of the pandemic and related economic conditions are still unknown, there have been several recent positive trends noted with certain national economic indicators, such as reduced levels of unemployment, improving retail sales and improving consumer confidence,” Stephen Romaine, president and CEO of Tompkins Financial, said in the report. “At Tompkins, we have seen several positive trends as well, with very strong mortgage application volumes in the second quarter, higher levels of debit card spending, and favorable credit quality measures when compared to last quarter. We are encouraged by some of these recent favorable trends, though the recent rise in COVID-19 cases nationally makes it clear that much uncertainty remains. We will remain vigilant in monitoring risk trends as we navigate these challenging times.”

Tompkins Financial’s stock price is down more than 25 percent year to date, but has shown signs of rebounding lately. Many other community and regional banks have also seen their share prices fall this year amid the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Selected highlights for Tompkins Financial’s second quarter included the following:

• The banking company’s total loans of $5.4 billion were up 11.7 percent over the year-ago period. The increase included $465.6 million of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans funded during the second quarter of 2020. As a result of its participation in PPP, Tompkins Financial recorded net deferred loan fees of $2.3 million in the second quarter, which are included in its interest income.

• The banking company’s total deposits of $6.4 billion increased by 28 percent over June 30, 2019 levels.

• Net interest margin was 3.45 percent for the second quarter of 2020, up from 3.44 percent for the first quarter, and 3.43 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019.

• The ratio of total capital to risk-weighted assets improved to 13.95 percent, from 13.62 percent as of March 31, 2020, and 13.53 percent as of Dec. 31, 2019.

Tompkins Financial is a financial-services company serving the Central, Western, and Hudson Valley regions of New York and the Southeastern region of Pennsylvania.

Headquartered in Ithaca, Tompkins Financial is parent to Tompkins Trust Company, Tompkins Bank of Castile, Tompkins Mahopac Bank, Tompkins VIST Bank, Tompkins Insurance Agencies, Inc., and offers wealth-management services through Tompkins Financial Advisors.

New SRCTec GM begins duties after Hartnett retires

Subscriber Only

CICERO — Anthony Stewart is settling into his new role as general manager of SRCTec in Cicero. He started as GM on July 23, replacing Mary Pat Harnett, who retired the day before after serving as SRCTec president since her promotion to the position in 2016, according to Lisa Mondello, who handles corporate communications for

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CICERO — Anthony Stewart is settling into his new role as general manager of SRCTec in Cicero.

He started as GM on July 23, replacing Mary Pat Harnett, who retired the day before after serving as SRCTec president since her promotion to the position in 2016, according to Lisa Mondello, who handles corporate communications for the firm.

As for the difference in titles, Mondello tells CNYBJ that when the company crafted the job requisition, it did some “benchmarking” in the defense industry and general manager is a “more common” title than president with a corporate structure like the one involving SRC and SRCTec, a manufacturing subsidiary within the enterprise.

SRCTec, located in Cicero, describes itself as a manufacturing and life-cycle management company specializing in the production of advanced military electro-mechanical products. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of SRC, which is a nonprofit research and development company headquartered in Cicero.

Before his promotion to SRCTec general manager, Stewart had been serving as VP of quality at SRC.

As GM, Stewart will be responsible for the overall leadership of SRCTec, including the development and implementation of strategic plans and initiatives, working to continue the growth of the company’s manufacturing and logistics services.

Stewart has more than 30 years of experience working with quality assurance, manufacturing, engineering, and process-improvement practices within the technology sector.

“Tony has been integral in leading SRC’s efforts to focus on quality since he joined SRC three years ago. His expertise in business process re-engineering, manufacturing best practices, and understanding of customer relationship management will be great assets as he oversees expected growth at SRCTec,” Kevin Hair, president and CEO of SRC and chairperson of the SRC Ventures board of directors, said in a statement.

Under Hartnett’s leadership, SRCTec generated “significant” growth in revenue and number of employees resulting in a facility expansion that doubled the manufacturing footprint of the company’s Cicero facility.

HealthWear Rental works on expansion

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Health Care, Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

ENDICOTT — HealthWear Rental, Inc. — which supplies and launders medical and massage linens, patient gowns, medical uniforms, lab coats, and more — is preparing to relocate and double the size of its production facility. The new facility is located at 8 North Cleveland Place in the village of Endicott, about a block from the

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The new facility is located at 8 North Cleveland Place in the village of Endicott, about a block from the company’s current home at 703 North St., which HealthWear Rental has been located since 2005.

The new leased building is about 9,500 square feet, with a big lot for potential future expansion, Mark Berghorn, president of HealthWear Rental, says in an email interview. The company’s current location is 4,800 square feet, following a couple expansions over the years to boost its square footage from the original 2,000 square feet.

HealthWear Rental is looking at a likely September move-in but has flexibility because the lease at its current facility runs through the end of the year, he says.

The business looked at moving out of the area, including over the Pennsylvania border, but ultimately decided to stay in Endicott.

In explaining why, Berghorn says, “Ultimately it was our people. We have a lot of staff that live in close proximity to our facility. They play a big part in our growth and our relationships we’ve developed with our customers through the years. With businesses struggling to find workers, we didn’t want to face the potential issue of having to replace a valuable part of our workforce.”

HealthWear Rental needed to expand because with its growth, it has become a challenge to keep up with processing. “We are limited by the number of washers, dryers, and finishing equipment we currently have. We’ve had to set our workflow around our current facility, and it isn’t as efficient as it should be,” the company president says.

By enabling the addition of more equipment, the new facility will allow HealthWear Rental to decrease the amount of time its production facility needs to be open. It will also enable a better workflow, boosting efficiency, says Berghorn.

HealthWear Rental currently employs 30 people. The firm says additional jobs have already been created in anticipation of the move. Once the new facility opens, an additional five to 10 jobs are expected.

HealthWear Rental serves the Southern Tier of New York, Central New York, and Northern Tier of Pennsylvania. It does not service linen for hospitals and nursing homes. The company’s customers include surgical centers, primary-care providers, urgent-care centers, dental offices, oral-surgery centers, and physical therapy and licensed massage-therapy providers. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these customers have added more protective patient gowns and other garments to their orders, says Berghorn.

At the beginning of March, HealthWear Rental’s sales were up 17 percent year to date, compared to 2019 levels, he says. In the period following mid-March, the firm had segments of its customer base close, either by forced shutdown or lack of patients, he explains. Its urgent care, primary care, and testing and treatment customers also saw few patients through this time. As of July 2020, HealthWear Rental customers have reopened to levels prior to March, but some have closed permanently, while others are operating at reduced levels.

Currently the company’s sales are 10 percent off early March levels, but still 5 percent above 2019 year-to-date levels, per Berghorn.

MAKKS Realty, LLC purchased the 8 North Cleveland Place building and will lease it to HealthWear Rental. Berghorn is the sole owner of both companies.

New York state, CNY home sales decline year-over-year in June

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

Other housing indicators start to improve ALBANY — New York realtors closed on the sale of 8,107 previously owned homes in June, down 34 percent from 12,276 homes sold in June 2019, as the pipeline of sales was constricted by coronavirus social-distancing measures in place before June and by a lack of inventory. That’s according

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Other housing indicators start to improve

ALBANY — New York realtors closed on the sale of 8,107 previously owned homes in June, down 34 percent from 12,276 homes sold in June 2019, as the pipeline of sales was constricted by coronavirus social-distancing measures in place before June and by a lack of inventory.

That’s according to the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR)’s June housing-market report issued July 22.

However, other measures of the housing market started to improve, especially compared to the April and May housing reports.

Realtors started to show homes to buyers in-person, resulting in a 4.6 percent increase in new listings in June to 22,253 homes from 21,272 a year ago. However, year-to-date, new listings “are still depressed 28.3 percent from 2019,” NYSAR said.

Pending sales in June totaled 13,668, down just 1.2 percent from 13,834 a year ago, but 25.1 percent lower year-to-date compared to 2019.

Sales data

The association said inventory continues to be a big problem for realtors trying to make sales as the number of homes for sale fell 19.6 percent from 72,432 units in June 2019 to 58,215 homes this June.

The months’ supply of homes for sale fell from 6.3 months of supply a year prior to 5.7 months this June. A 6 month to 6.5-month supply is considered to be a balanced market, per NYSAR.

The June 2020 statewide median sales price was $300,000, up nearly 2 percent from the June 2019 median sales price, according to the NYSAR data.

Central New York data

Realtors in Onondaga County sold 300 previously owned homes in June, down about 42 percent compared to the 516 sold in the same month in 2019. The median sales price rose about 1 percent to $165,000 from $163,000 a year ago, according to the NYSAR report.

NYSAR also reports that realtors sold 116 homes in Oneida County in June, down about 28 percent from the 161 sold in June 2019. The median sales price increased 10 percent to nearly $143,000 from $130,000 a year ago.

Realtors in Broome County sold 85 existing homes in June, down about 49 percent from 167 a year ago, according to the NYSAR report. The median sales price fell about 4 percent to more than $111,000 from nearly $116,000 a year ago.

In Jefferson County, realtors closed on 95 homes in June, down about 12 percent from 108 a year ago, and the median sales price of $168,000 is up 12 percent from $150,000 a year ago, according to the NYSAR data.

All home-sales data is compiled from multiple-listing services in New York state and it includes townhomes and condominiums in addition to existing single-family homes, according to NYSAR.

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