Eastwood residents to unveil street piano in Saturday event

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Eastwood residents are planning to unveil the first street piano in Syracuse. A street piano is a piano placed in a public

TCAD to use federal grant to support project extending broadband fiber cable from Ithaca to Lansing

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Nonprofits, Regional News, Technology

ITHACA, N.Y. — Tompkins County Area Development (TCAD) announced it will use grant funding of more than $404,000 to support the “Cayuga Data Juice–Broadband Connectivity”

OCRRA institutes residential recycling fee, citing “skyrocketing” costs

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Nonprofits

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA) has instituted a new residential recycling tip fee of $34 per ton. The fee

CNY TWEETS — OCTOBER 19, 2020

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

Here are some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering small business, technology, HR, and leadership tips. NFIB @NFIB@NFIBResearch’s latest #COVID19 loan program survey notes that 1-in-5 #smallbusinesses anticipate having to lay off employees in the next 6 months and about half of small businesses anticipate needing additional financial support. More from

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Here are some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering small business, technology, HR, and leadership tips.

NFIB @NFIB
@NFIBResearch’s latest #COVID19 loan program survey notes that 1-in-5 #smallbusinesses anticipate having to lay off employees in the next 6 months and about half of small businesses anticipate needing additional financial support. More from the survey here: https://www.nfib.com/content/press-release/economy/one-in-five-small-businesses-anticipate-having-to-lay-off-employees-in-next-six-months/

Patrick Sullivan @sullivan_pat13
If your #smallbiz is looking for new business strategies, consider expanding digital solutions like contactless payment. @TechRepublic: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/visa-contactless-payment-and-online-stores-key-to-small-business-survival/

SBA @SBAgov
Stay alert! Our new blog post has tips to help you #BeCyberSmart and:

Understand the most common types of cyberattacks
Assess your cybersecurity vulnerabilities
Implement best practices

Learn more: https://sba.gov/blog/keep-your-business-safe-cybersecurity-threats

SCORE Mentors @SCOREMentors
#BizTip: Give your #customerservice team a philosophy instead of a script. They’ll be more efficient and personable when interacting with customers.

Bond, Schoeneck & King @BondLawFirm
Just posted: Added Reason to Be Aware of the New York State Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Regulations. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3lEUiBX.

Small Business Expo @SmallBizExpo
5 Ways to Power Your Life and Business Through Consciousness Leadership http://twib.in/l/nqLgaE7oKX95

Cox Business @coxbusiness
5 keys to managing remote #technology teams https://bit.ly/3lBzMCc

Engagedly @engagedlyInc
#EmployeeEngagement Practices During COVID19 https://hubs.ly/H0xMtkk0 #HR

Marli Rusen @MarliRusen
In many investigations I conduct, those affected by gossip become very emotional. They repeatedly ask why those involved did not speak to them directly. http://ow.ly/GsrR50BMt1B #Blog #HR #Leadership

Lolly Daskal @LollyDaskal
How to Manage Those Who Are Struggling to Perform Remotely — @LollyDaskal https://bit.ly/2UO1fp4

Mark C. Crowley @MarkCCrowley
When I hear a leader say, “I don’t know,” or “I don’t have the answer to that,” you know what it makes me think? That leader has #humility. They’re a realist. They know their people often have more knowledge on a subject than they do.

Center for Creative Leadership @CCLdotORG
In order to be successful, leaders need to cultivate #trust on their team: https://bit.ly/37jT33j #leadership #management #HR

Cicero Chick-fil-A operator to open 2nd restaurant in Clay next spring

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

CLAY, N.Y. — The operator of the Cicero Chick-fil-A franchised restaurant plans to open a second eatery in Clay next spring. Jimmer Szatkowski says the new restaurant will go into the former space of the Uno Pizzeria & Grill at 3974 State Route 31 and should open sometime between March and May. Construction crews recently

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CLAY, N.Y. — The operator of the Cicero Chick-fil-A franchised restaurant plans to open a second eatery in Clay next spring.

Jimmer Szatkowski says the new restaurant will go into the former space of the Uno Pizzeria & Grill at 3974 State Route 31 and should open sometime between March and May.

Construction crews recently started tearing down the former Uno building, which has been vacant since the restaurant closed at the Clay site in November 2018.

Szatkowski says the hope is to get construction of a new structure enclosed before the winter weather and finish it up inside over the winter, to be ready for the spring opening.

In terms of a specific timetable for opening, Szatkowski says it will depend on how construction goes but adds, “Certainly, I can’t envision a scenario where it’s later than May.”

Szatkowski opened his first Chick-fil-A restaurant at 7916 Brewerton Road in Cicero on Feb. 22, 2018. At the time, it was the chain’s first eatery in upstate New York, and today, it remains the only Chick-fil-A in Central New York. The next-closest restaurants are in the Rochester area.

Szatkowski says he was selected by Chick-fil-A corporate to operate a second restaurant. “If you’ve been an operator for a certain period of time and you’ve been performing at a certain level, you can apply to be considered for a second location,” he says. “It’s still pretty rare to get a second location in the Chick-fil-A world. We were blessed to be selected for that second [eatery] earlier this year.”

Under the Chick-fil-A franchise model, the company chooses the location, buys the property, builds the restaurant, and purchases the equipment.

“They handle all the capital outlay and essentially my LLC owns the right to operate the restaurant. It’s a unique franchise model,” Szatkowski says.

His company is called Made in Medina LLC. It’s named for Medina, a village in Orleans County in Western New York, where he grew up. This is his only active business venture.

Szatkowski says the Cicero restaurant’s revenue has exceeded his and Chick-fil-A’s expectations. He couldn’t provide numbers, but he did say that the restaurant has continued to generate total revenue growth this year despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our catering business has taken a real hit because people aren’t gathering in large gatherings, but in terms of the overall business we’re seeing growth, which is amazing,” Szatkowski says. “We’ve continued to hire throughout the year.”

The handful of people that were working on catering have shifted into other parts of the business. “Our workforce has been largely unchanged throughout the year. We typically have about 100 to 110 people on staff here,” he says.

Szatkowski adds that 40 percent of his staff works full-time and 60 percent works part-time.

The Clay Chick-fil-A restaurant will be about 5,000 square feet, similar to the Cicero eatery, but with a different layout, says Szatkowski. It will be a more rectangular shape, compared to the square shape in Cicero.

Szatkowski expects to hire about 130 employees for the Clay location at the start as it gets up to speed, but says with time, it should settle in at the same number of employees as the Cicero restaurant through natural attrition.

He says the Cicero Chick-fil-A attracts customers from as far away as Utica, Binghamton, Watertown, and Fort Drum because it’s the chain’s only location in the Central New York area between the Pennsylvania border and Canadian border and between Rochester and Albany. “We [also] get people from all over Syracuse, that’s for sure,” he says.

The new Clay eatery will help alleviate some of the “strain” on the Cicero restaurant on its busiest days, says Szatkowski. “Even though our drive-thru is super-fast, people see that line and say ‘Ah, I’ll go some other time,’” he quips.

Before becoming a Chick-fil-A operator, Szatkowski worked as an executive at IBM for 20 years. He worked in supply chain management. He started in the Poughkeepsie area, before spending four years in China, and then the last 10 years in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.

“This business venture was an opportunity for me to return home,” Szatkowski says.

Szatkowski has a degree in math from SUNY Potsdam and an MBA from Clarkson University.

Headquartered in the Atlanta, Georgia area, Chick-fil-A is a family-owned, quick-service restaurant company with more than 2,400 restaurants in 47 states and the District of Columbia. The company reported systemwide sales, from both franchised and company-owned restaurants, of more than $12 billion in 2019, up from $10 billion in 2018.

SBA honors St. Lawrence County contractor, Utica marketing agency with small-business awards

Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has recognized companies in St. Lawrence and Oneida Counties with small-business awards. The SBA honored Josh Gilson, owner of Tradesman Contracting in Rensselaer Falls as the Upstate New York 2020 Small Business Person of the Year. The agency also honored Francesca Orsomarso, founder and president of FMN Creative of Utica

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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has recognized companies in St. Lawrence and Oneida Counties with small-business awards.

The SBA honored Josh Gilson, owner of Tradesman Contracting in Rensselaer Falls as the Upstate New York 2020 Small Business Person of the Year.

The agency also honored Francesca Orsomarso, founder and president of FMN Creative of Utica as upstate New York’s Entrepreneur of the Year. FMN Creative is a boutique digital public-relations firm.

The agency recognized Gilson and Orsomarso during the SBA’s recent observance of National Small Business Week.

Tradesman Contracting

The SBA presented the award at Tradesman Contracting’s offices in Rensselaer Falls in St. Lawrence County. Those participating included Bernard J. Paprocki, director of the SBA’s Upstate New York district office; Dan Rickman, deputy district director; and Michelle Collins, Gilson’s advisor at the SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

Collins had not only nominated Gilson for the award, but also worked one-on-one with him providing free business counseling and assistance through her job at the SBA resource partner. It allowed Gilson to expand his business.

“Throughout Upstate New York, there’s no better example of small-business resiliency and strength this year than Josh Gilson and Tradesman Contracting. Not only has Josh’s leadership, community contributions, and continued success in the face of adversity grown, but he earned this award through hard work, and both growth in sales and employees,” Paprocki said.

Tradesman Contracting was founded in 2014 after Gilson, who had worked in the utility construction field for five years, recognized a need for more contractors to meet the growing demands of cable, communications, and utility companies. His business began with one pickup truck and a crew of two people. Since then, Gilson has grown Tradesman Contracting to employ more than 20 people who provide service throughout Northern and Central New York.

In 2016, Gilson applied for an SBA 7(a) working capital loan and went on to complete an asset buyout of another small utility construction-company two years later. He has also opened a second location in the Jefferson County community of Philadelphia with a crew of four employees serving that area.

The SBA presented local awards to businesses in the Upstate New York district, which covers 34 counties in the Empire State. The territory includes the Hudson Valley, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, and Capital Region. The agency acknowledged small-business owners and entrepreneurs throughout the district’s service area for their “innovation and resilience” this year.

For more than 50 years, the U.S. Small Business Administration has celebrated National Small Business Week (NSBW), recognizing the contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small-business owners. The 2020 NSBW celebrations, held between Sept. 20 and Sept. 26, included a virtual three-day conference and awards ceremony that honored national award winners from across New York and the nation for their accomplishments.

FMN Creative

The agency presented the award during a virtual meeting held during the SBA’s National Small Business Week, between Sept. 20 and 26. The annual event recognizes the nation’s top small businesses, entrepreneurs, and small-business advocates from across the country.

“While this year’s celebrations are unlike those that have come before, I believe it is more important than ever to recognize our small business community for its innovation and tenacity. The SBA Upstate New York District Office is excited to recognize Francesca Orsomarso, a dedicated entrepreneur who prides herself as a creative problem solver who can harness social media,” Paprocki said. “It’s truly inspiring to see young people like Francesca turn their passion into a successful business — and grow it — right here in Upstate New York.”

Two officials with the Mohawk Valley Small Business Development Center (SBDC) — Roxanne Mutchler, center director, and Paul Arvantides, a business advisor — nominated Orsomarso for the award, Paprocki said. Orsomarso is an SBDC client.

Their nomination “spoke to” Orsomarso leveraging the SBDC’s advice and counseling to successfully expand her business; increase sales and employment opportunities; harnessing innovation; and “achieving entrepreneurial potential,” Paprocki added.

FMN Creative is a social-media marketing agency that Orsomarso founded in 2016 when she decided to combine her “passion” for marketing and music, per the SBA news release. Since starting, her business has become an SBA-certified, women-owned small business and a New York State-certified women’s business enterprise and economically disadvantaged women-owned small business. These certifications allow FMN Creative to participate in government contracting, which has “opened doors to more opportunities” for Orsomarso’s business to grow and expand.

Orsomarso is a graduate of Mohawk Valley Community College’s ThINCubator, having operated from both her home and the co-working space since 2016. This month, Orsomarso plans to open a new office location in South Utica. This second office space will allow for additional meetings with clients, both digitally and in-person. The second office is considered “especially important” as Orsomarso recently launched an online “Social Shop” and newly expanded social-media training service referred to as FMN Creative’s Social Strategy Academy, the SBA said.

SUNY offers grants to students, faculty working on PPE, virus-related projects

Health Care, Subscriber Only

MARCY, N.Y. — SUNY has announced a competitive grant program for its students and faculty who are working on projects that produce personal protective equipment (PPE) and other COVID-19-related products. The funding will come from the SUNY Prepare Innovation and Internship Program, SUNY announced Oct. 12. The program will provide up to $10,000 to support

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The funding will come from the SUNY Prepare Innovation and Internship Program, SUNY announced Oct. 12.

The program will provide up to $10,000 to support at least 10 projects involving students and faculty working with technology to “improve the design and accelerate” the production of PPE.

The initiative is designed to provide “real life, hands-on applied learning experiences” for students, which involves them in the creation of pandemic-related products.

SUNY teams of faculty and staff may submit proposals. Submissions are due to SUNY’s provost office by Nov. 15 through an online form, https://www.suny.edu/prepare/. SUNY will award the first grants on Dec. 15.

SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras initially announced the program in late August with $100,000 in seed funding. On Oct. 12, he launched the effort during a visit to SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Marcy with the school’s interim president Grace Wang, SUNY said.

“SUNY students and faculty have been among New York’s leaders in the production of lifesaving PPE and other technologies — keeping essential frontline workers protected through this pandemic,” Malatras said. “Now that we are in the fall and seeing what is happening across the nation and in certain hot spots across New York with a higher number of COVID cases, PPE and other innovations to combat COVID-19 continue to be in high demand. These innovations will help not only with combating COVID, but other future infectious diseases. We are proud to open up applications today for the SUNY Prepare Innovation and Internship Program, which provides a financial boost to students and faculty who are teaming up to use cutting-edge technology to improve and produce PPE and other technologies. These innovations will help save lives.”

The resulting projects will focus on exploring and creating products, including but not limited to: novel and alternative PPE; creative devices, technologies, or designs to reduce the use of high-touch areas; environmentally sustainable sanitization; and arts, messages, and technologies for effective implementation of social distancing, mask wearing, and hand sanitizing.

SUNY also encourages non-technological products for behavioral interventions and deployable strategies for raising awareness of public-health protective measures.

Chemung Financial elects new board member

Banks & Credit Unions, Regional News, Subscriber Only

ELMIRA, N.Y. — Chemung Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CHMG) recently announced that its board of directors has elected Richard E. Forrestel, Jr., a business executive from Western New York, to its board of directors. Forrestel, who hails from Clarence in Erie County, currently serves as treasurer of Cold Spring Construction Company, based in Akron, which is

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Lockheed Martin boosts dividend by 20 cents in Q4

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) recently announced that its board of directors has authorized a fourth-quarter 2020 dividend of $2.60 per share, up 20 cents from last quarter. The dividend is payable on Dec. 24, to holders of record as of the close of business on Dec. 1. At Lockheed’s current stock price, the dividend yields

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Upstate, statewide consumer sentiment rise in 3rd quarter

Subscriber Only

Consumer sentiment in upstate New York was measured at 73.8 in the third quarter of 2020, up 5.8 points from the last reading of 68 in this year’s second quarter. That’s according to the latest quarterly survey of Upstate and statewide consumer sentiment that the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) released Oct. 7. Upstate’s overall sentiment of

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Consumer sentiment in upstate New York was measured at 73.8 in the third quarter of 2020, up 5.8 points from the last reading of 68 in this year’s second quarter.

That’s according to the latest quarterly survey of Upstate and statewide consumer sentiment that the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) released Oct. 7.

Upstate’s overall sentiment of 73.8 was 0.6 points below the statewide consumer-sentiment level of 74.4, which rose 3.4 points from the second quarter.

The statewide figure was 6 points lower than the third-quarter figure of 80.4 for the entire nation, which was up 2.3 points from the second-quarter measurement, as measured by the University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index.

All three indexes for New York state improved this quarter and are approaching — or in the case of the future index, has exceeded — their breakeven points at which optimism and pessimism balance, SRI said. The national indexes all rose and each remains above the breakeven point.

“While still down nearly 20 points from pre-pandemic levels, the [statewide] index of consumer sentiment improved this quarter, and now stands just below the balancing point of optimism and pessimism,” Doug Lonnstrom, professor of statistics and finance at Siena College and SRI founding director, said. “The [statewide] future index [of 76.6], a measure of confidence both personal and collective, is up over 5 points overall and between 8 and 10 points among Republicans, Upstaters, and young people. Driven by New York City residents, plans to purchase a new home hit an all-time high at nearly 13 percent overall and almost 17 percent among [New York City consumers].”

In the third quarter of 2020, buying plans were up 0.2 percentage points since the second quarter to 19.5 for cars and trucks; increased 4.5 points to 46.6 percent for consumer electronics; edged up 2.3 points to 27.6 percent for furniture; rose 3.9 points to 12.6 percent for homes; and up 3.5 points to 26.5 percent for major home improvements.

Gas and food prices

In SRI’s quarterly analysis of gas and food prices, 31 percent of upstate New York respondents said the price of gas was having a serious impact on their monthly budgets, which is up from 19 percent in the second quarter and from 26 percent in the first quarter.

In addition, 30 percent of statewide respondents said the price of gas was having a serious impact on their monthly spending plans, up from 25 percent in the second quarter, 27 percent in the first quarter, and down from 41 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

When asked about food prices, 57 percent of upstate respondents indicated the price of groceries was having a serious impact on their finances, up from 54 percent in the second quarter and 49 percent in the first quarter.

At the same time, 59 percent of statewide respondents indicated the price of food was having a serious impact on their monthly finances, up from 58 percent in the second quarter and 55 percent in the first quarter.

SRI conducted its survey of consumer sentiment between Aug. 20 and Sept. 29 by random telephone calls to 402 New York adults via landline and cell phone. It has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points, according to SRI.

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