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DeWITT, N.Y. — The Onondaga County Health Department says it is investigating a confirmed case of COVID-19 involving an employee of America’s Best Contacts &
Slocum-Dickson plans to expand in Utica Business Park
UTICA — Slocum-Dickson Medical Group PLLC plans to expand its operations into the Utica Business Park at 117 Business Park Drive in the city of Utica, according to a March 12 joint announcement from Utica mayor Robert Palmieri and councilwoman Celeste Friend. The medical group will lease about 80,000 square feet “to enhance existing services
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UTICA — Slocum-Dickson Medical Group PLLC plans to expand its operations into the Utica Business Park at 117 Business Park Drive in the city of Utica, according to a March 12 joint announcement from Utica mayor Robert Palmieri and councilwoman Celeste Friend.
The medical group will lease about 80,000 square feet “to enhance existing services and potentially add new services that are not currently being provided in the area.”
The expansion was initiated due to a lack of available space at Slocum-Dickson’s current location on Burrstone Road in New Hartford to accommodate an anticipated increase of physicians and ancillary services.
Slocum-Dickson’s new building is a former United Healthcare call center, which has been vacant for over a decade.
At the time of the announcement, the Utica Urban Renewal Agency had already approved the proposed change in use for the site and the city’s Planning Board was expected to approve it.
The total investment for the project is estimated to be “$15 million to $20 million,” per the announcement.
Slocum-Dickson Medical Group currently has locations in New Hartford and Ilion. The group employs more than 70 physicians and 500 staff members, according to its website.
Tancredi joins ICS as director of Syracuse region
SYRACUSE — ICS, an information-technology services company, has announced the recent addition of Ethan Tancredi as director of the firm’s Syracuse region. “As ICS has experienced rapid growth in the Syracuse, Binghamton, and Ithaca regions, Tancredi, a sales and finance expert, was brought on board to focus on growing the ICS team in the Syracuse
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SYRACUSE — ICS, an information-technology services company, has announced the recent addition of Ethan Tancredi as director of the firm’s Syracuse region.
“As ICS has experienced rapid growth in the Syracuse, Binghamton, and Ithaca regions, Tancredi, a sales and finance expert, was brought on board to focus on growing the ICS team in the Syracuse region while showing value to existing customers to position the company for further growth and success,” ICS said in a news release.
Before joining ICS, Tancredi served as president of MySherpa, a Wilmington, Delaware–based managed-service provider (MSP), according to his LinkedIn profile. The ICS release stated that Tancredi has 20 years of experience in the MSP field.
“I am excited and proud to join the management team at ICS, leading the Syracuse region, and I look forward to tackling the challenge and embracing the opportunity of helping to sustain and build the team in the Syracuse region for continued growth and success,” Tancredi said.
Endicott–based ICS, which has offices in the Ithaca and Syracuse areas, has 85 employees, according to information the company provided CNYBJ in October 2019. With 63 technology consultants on staff, ICS was recently ranked by CNYBJ Research as the second-largest computer/IT consulting firm in Central New York. Its Syracuse regional office is at 6007 Fair Lakes Road in DeWitt.
Some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering various small business, HR, and COVID-19 tips. SBA @SBAgov#ICYMI: SBA is offering designated states and territories low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to small businesses suffering economic injury as a result of #COVID19. Details: http://ow.ly/dcy650yKpYs More guidance and resources: https://sba.gov/coronavirus Cara Waters @carawatersMany
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Some recent tweets that came across the @cnybj Twitter feed, offering various small business, HR, and COVID-19 tips.
SBA @SBAgov
#ICYMI: SBA is offering designated states and territories low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to small businesses suffering economic injury as a result of #COVID19. Details: http://ow.ly/dcy650yKpYs More guidance and resources: https://sba.gov/coronavirus
Cara Waters @carawaters
Many small businesses are going to be in danger of going under as a result of coronavirus – if you can shop locally and small in the next few weeks, do it #SmallBiz #shopsmall
SBA @SBAgov
COMING Soon: On May 5 – 6, join SBA and @SCOREMentors for the National #SmallBusinessWeek virtual conference! Chat with industry experts, learn new business strategies, and more. Register here: http://ow.ly/nhGd50yLrA1
Mike Schiemer @MikeSchiemer
12 Top Small Business Sales Strategies https://myfrugalbusiness.com/2020/03/small-business-sales-strategies-selling-tips.html /
Strategic Watch @Strategic_Watch
How To Make Your Early-Stage Startup Valuable To Acquirers: http://dlvr.it/RRTjd1
Tick HR Solutions @TickHr
Dissecting the employer disconnect in HR tech: https://hrexecutive.com/dissecting-the-employer-disconnect-in-hr-tech/
Michael D Johnson @mkjy2k
Look beyond the problem; see the bigger picture; allow success to unfold. #leadership #quote #HR
HR Management App @HRManagementApp
“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly” — Jim Rohn
Strategic Watch @Strategic_Watch
5 Ways to Hire the Best People for the Long Term http://dlvr.it/RRwqJl
Mark C. Crowley @MarkCCrowley
If you’re suddenly managing people remotely, temporarily increasing the number of team meetings is smart. Increasing #communication (via video conferencing & personal phone calls) won’t just ensure #work is coordinated, it will allow people to connect & share coping strategies.
Jordi R. Puxench @JordiRPuxench
Tx to all #healthcare professionals that are fighting the #Covid_19 and looking after us all. But tx too to the invisible heroes in the #IT & #HR depts of all companies. W/o you none of us could #StayAtHome and still serve our customers and protect our economy.
East Side Staffing @EastSideStaff
Not many people know the depth of work that #HR pros are faced with in times of health crisis like… educating employees, partnering with IT to get everyone remote access, handling frequent communication, finding ways to alleviate stress/fear. YOU AMAZE ME!
Hannah Morgan @careersherpa
Advice to help you make adjustments in today’s workplace. https://buff.ly/2TSH6OA
MACNY @MACNY_MfgAssoc
COVID-19 Resources / NAM https://www.nam.org/coronavirus/
Clean All offers kits for businesses, consumers to make their own hand sanitizer
SYRACUSE — Businesses and consumers are scrambling to obtain hand sanitizer anywhere they can amid the coronavirus pandemic. Supply chains aren’t able to meet the overwhelming demand. Clean All, a 95-year-old Syracuse company that produces swimming pool sanitizing chemicals and janitorial cleaning products like bleach, says it can help by offering make-your-own liquid sanitizer kits.
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SYRACUSE — Businesses and consumers are scrambling to obtain hand sanitizer anywhere they can amid the coronavirus pandemic. Supply chains aren’t able to meet the overwhelming demand.
Clean All, a 95-year-old Syracuse company that produces swimming pool sanitizing chemicals and janitorial cleaning products like bleach, says it can help by offering make-your-own liquid sanitizer kits.
Sev Gonnella, division manager at Clean All, a unit of Salina–based Solvents and Petroleum Service, Inc., says a number of area businesses and organizations that deal with the public have been calling, asking about hand sanitizer. He declined to name them but said they included companies in the hospitality and health-care fields.
The problem is consumer-hygiene products, like hand sanitizers, are regulated by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The chemicals Clean All produces are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “We don’t have an existing relationship with the FDA,” says Gonnella.
He says it would take at least a few weeks of paperwork to obtain FDA approval in order to package and sell a finished hand-sanitizer product to consumers.
The company came up with another solution that could help immediately. Since Clean All already works with all the chemical ingredients needed to make hand sanitizer, it decided bundle them up into kits with instructions that allow buyers to make their own.
Gonnella says his firm did not have to get regulatory approval for this product. “We’re just providing the pieces for the consumer to put it together. They’re making their own,” he notes.
The one-gallon and three-gallon kits include the raw materials, in the correct strengths and proportions, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) formula. That includes isopropyl alcohol (99.8 percent), hydrogen peroxide, glycerin, directions for mixing and WHO references, labels for the finished product, and an 8-oz refillable spray bottle (three in a case).
Clean All is charging $32 for a one-gallon kit (equivalent to $2 for an 8-oz bottle) and $84 for a three-gallon kit (which equals $1.75 for an 8 oz bottle).
The company is selling the kits through its store at 838 Erie Blvd. West on Syracuse’s near westside and taking bulk orders over the phone.
In the production facility in the back of the building, Gonnella says he has a crew of seven employees working two shifts a day. He expected them to produce roughly 150 three-gallon kits and 50 one-gallon kits per day.
Clean All has 15 employees, while Solvents & Petroleum Services (SPS) has nearly 100 employees total, including the Clean All workforce.
Clean All was founded in 1925 by Severino Gonnella and his mother, Amelia, in 1925. It manufactures sanitizing products for use in a variety of applications such as commercial kitchens, hotels, schools, and swimming pools. In 2014, Clean All was acquired by SPS.
SRC opens office in Alabama, serving the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal
CICERO, N.Y. — SRC, Inc., has just opened an office in Huntsville, Alabama to expand its presence at the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal, a post near that city. The office opened March 16, Lisa Mondello, who handles corporate communications at SRC, tells CNYBJ. The office has advanced teleconferencing capabilities, customer meeting space, employee workspace, and a
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CICERO, N.Y. — SRC, Inc., has just opened an office in Huntsville, Alabama to expand its presence at the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal, a post near that city.
The office opened March 16, Lisa Mondello, who handles corporate communications at SRC, tells CNYBJ.
The office has advanced teleconferencing capabilities, customer meeting space, employee workspace, and a laboratory area for electronics testing, the firm said.
Matthew Tedesco, director of business development at SRC and a 28-year Army veteran, will serve as the primary contact for the Huntsville location. The office also has a systems engineer, and the company anticipates adding more employees to work in that office in the future, according to Mondello.
SRC is a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Cicero that focuses on areas that include defense, environment, and intelligence.
“SRC is excited to establish a presence in the Huntsville area, where we’ll be working in close proximity to our customers,” Kevin Hair, president and CEO of SRC, said in a statement. “This new location will allow us to continue to create and deliver life-saving products that are redefining possible for the Army. Our investments in the development of small, yet powerful, lightweight and low-power systems are ideal for integration on larger platforms to enhance capabilities in the new fight.”
SRC has been supporting the Redstone Arsenal community “for years,” focusing on areas that include missile defense; surveillance; target acquisition and weapon location counterfire radars; novel counter unmanned aircraft system technologies; and intelligence and homeland defense activities, the company says.
Your Home CNY Realty opens in Baldwinsville
BALDWINSVILLE — A new residential real-estate agency, called Your Home CNY Realty, recently opened at 7 Salina St. in the village of Baldwinsville. Owner and real-estate broker Erin VanBuren says she started the independent agency in January after a 14-year career as a licensed real-estate agent, working for other firms. For the last four years,
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BALDWINSVILLE — A new residential real-estate agency, called Your Home CNY Realty, recently opened at 7 Salina St. in the village of Baldwinsville.
Owner and real-estate broker Erin VanBuren says she started the independent agency in January after a 14-year career as a licensed real-estate agent, working for other firms. For the last four years, she had served as brokerage office manager at TJMG Properties, a property management company based in the village of Liverpool. Before that, she spent 10 years at Coldwell Banker Prime Properties.
“I needed a little more creative freedom to develop my own brand,” VanBuren tells CNYBJ, when asked why she decided to strike out on her own.
Your Home CNY Realty currently has seven agents including VanBuren.
She says 98 percent of the firm’s business is residential. “We do have a rare, random commercial transaction” here and there, she adds.
VanBuren says she leases about two-thirds of the one-story, 2,400-square-foot building in which her firm is located. The building owner/landlord is Brian Kalfass of 7-9 Salina St., LLC. Another business is getting ready to lease the other portion of the building, says VanBuren, but she referred questions about that to Kalfass.
The 7 Salina St. building had been vacant for a while. It was previously home to a Rescue Mission Alliance of Syracuse bottle and can redemption center. Before that, a Byrne Dairy store was situated there. Kalfass purchased the 0.64-acre property in April, 2018 for $155,000 from Sonbyrne Sales Inc., the convenience store division of Byrne Dairy.
When asked how business is going so far for her new agency, VanBuren says, “We’ve been well-received. We’re coming on really strong, as long as this virus situation doesn’t get really crazy.” She spoke with CNYBJ on March 17.
So far, she and her agents are still out showing properties to buyers on individual appointments. “I haven’t had a seller yet not want to show their property,” VanBuren says. “But I certainly wouldn’t recommend a seller hold an open house right now, and have masses of people traipsing through their home.”
Your Home CNY Realty sells homes all over Onondaga County, Oswego County, and parts of Madison County, she says. The company website lists Camillus, Cato, Cicero, Clay, DeWitt, Elbridge, Fabius, Fulton, Geddes, Ira, Lysander, Salina, Schroeppel, Syracuse, and Van Buren as featured communities.
New York manufacturing index posts largest drop ever in March to lowest level since 2009
The findings of a new monthly survey appear to indicate the first signs that New York manufacturing activity is getting hit hard by the impact of the global concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index fell 34 points to -21.5 in March, “its largest point drop on record” and “its
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The findings of a new monthly survey appear to indicate the first signs that New York manufacturing activity is getting hit hard by the impact of the global concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index fell 34 points to -21.5 in March, “its largest point drop on record” and “its lowest level since 2009,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its March 16 survey report.
Economists had expected a reading of 4.8, MarketWatch reported, citing a survey by Econoday.
The Empire State general business-conditions index had climbed 8 points to 12.9 in February, its highest level in nine months. That was before the coronavirus crisis fully erupted.
The March negative reading, based on firms responding to the survey, indicates business activity fell in New York. A negative index number indicates a decline in the sector, while a positive reading shows expansion or growth in manufacturing activity.
The survey found 20 percent of respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while 42 percent said that conditions had worsened, the New York Fed said.
Survey details
The new-orders index turned negative, falling 31 points to -9.3, indicating that orders fell. The shipments index moved down to -1.7, indicating that shipments were little changed. Delivery times were slightly longer and inventories were somewhat higher.
The index for number of employees slipped 8 points to -1.5, indicating that employment levels were little changed over the month.
The average workweek fell to -10.6, a sign that the average workweek “was shorter,” the New York Fed said. The prices-paid index held steady at 24.5, suggesting that input prices increased at the same pace as last month. The prices-received index slipped 7 points to 10.1, pointing to a “deceleration in selling price increases.”
Firms no longer expect general business conditions to be better over the next six months.
The index for future business conditions declined 22 points to 1.2, its lowest level since 2009. The indexes for future new orders and future shipments fell, but “remained firmly positive,” suggesting that firms expect orders and shipments to be higher compared with this month’s levels.
The capital-expenditures index dipped 3 points to 18.7, and the technology-spending index fell 7 points to 14.4.
The New York Fed distributes the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. On average, about 100 executives return responses.
Drive-thru coronavirus testing arrives in CNY
SYRACUSE — When Onondaga County announced its first confirmed case of the coronavirus, Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta was asked about the testing process during a March 16 news conference. “When we get notification from the New York State Department of Health lab, electronic surveillance lab, we go through the information and contact
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SYRACUSE — When Onondaga County announced its first confirmed case of the coronavirus, Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta was asked about the testing process during a March 16 news conference.
“When we get notification from the New York State Department of Health lab, electronic surveillance lab, we go through the information and contact the doctor … where this test was done. We have to back track the path of this individual,” Gupta told reporters.
During the interview, health-care workers pursue details such as where the patients have been; any travel history and what their social interactions were; if they saw any other doctors or any other friends; and what kind of social gathering in which they may have participated.
“We have to back track and collect all that information by interviewing. [Health-care workers also] make sure to advise them to self-quarantine, depending on what kind of interactions they had,” said Gupta.
Syracuse test site
The Syracuse Community Health Center (SCHC) at 819 S. Salina St. opened a drive-thru test site on March 16 where people can get gets swabs taken through their car window to be tested for the coronavirus, or what’s also known as COVID-19.
Chicago, Illinois–based Hill-Rom and the Allyn Foundation donated the necessary equipment so the site would be prepared for operations.
The Syracuse Community Health Center, [emergency rescue service] AMR, and the City of Syracuse developed the plans to operationalize the site. AMR, short for American Medical Response, is a Colorado–based ambulance service with Syracuse operations.
People who are having coronavirus symptoms need to call their doctor, who will coordinate any necessary testing. For people who don’t have a primary-care physician, they can call Upstate Medical University at (315) 464-3979.
Elsewhere in Central New York, Rome Memorial Hospital has opened a temporary COVID-19 test-collection station at Chestnut Commons, 109 E. Chestnut St., Rome (see photo, page 1). The site will be open by appointment only. To obtain an appointment, people need to call their doctor. Physician offices will contact the Oneida County Health Department with referrals for patients who meet the CDC’s guidance for testing. The county will contact the hospital to schedule patients for testing.
Mohawk Valley Health System also has a testing site up and running.
CNY unemployment rates were mixed to begin 2020
Syracuse gained but most regions lost jobs in past year Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, and Ithaca regions fell in January compared to a year ago. At the same time, the jobless rates in the Watertown–Fort Drum and Elmira areas rose compared to January 2019. The rate in the Binghamton region remained
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Syracuse gained but most regions lost jobs in past year
Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, and Ithaca regions fell in January compared to a year ago.
At the same time, the jobless rates in the Watertown–Fort Drum and Elmira areas rose compared to January 2019. The rate in the Binghamton region remained unchanged. The figures are part of the latest New York State Department of Labor data released March 17.
On the job-growth front, the Syracuse area gained jobs between January 2019 and this past January.
At the same time, the Utica–Rome, Binghamton, Watertown–Fort Drum, Ithaca, and Elmira regions lost jobs in the same period. That’s according to the latest monthly employment report that the New York State Department of Labor issued March 12.
Both the unemployment rate and job-growth numbers reflect conditions before the coronavirus pandemic slammed the New York and nationwide economies.
Regional unemployment rates
The jobless rate in the Syracuse area was 4.9 percent in January, down from 5 percent in January 2019.
The Utica–Rome region’s rate fell to 5.2 percent, from 5.4 percent; the Watertown–Fort Drum area’s number increased to 7.5 percent from 7.1 percent; the Binghamton region was unchanged at 5.6 percent unemployment; the Ithaca area’s jobless rate fell to 3.8 percent from 4 percent; and the Elmira region’s rate increased to 5 percent from 4.7 percent in the same month a year ago.
The local unemployment data isn’t seasonally adjusted, meaning the figures don’t reflect seasonal influences such as holiday hires.
The unemployment rates were calculated following procedures prescribed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state Labor Department said.
State unemployment rate
New York state’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in January, “a new record monthly low,” the department said, down from 3.9 percent in December and 4 percent in January 2019.
The federal government calculates New York’s jobless rate partly based upon the results of a monthly telephone survey of 3,100 state households that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts.
January jobs data
The Syracuse region gained 1,900 jobs from January 2019 to January 2020, a 0.6 percent rise.
The Utica–Rome metro area lost 1,300 jobs, a decrease of 0.1 percent; the Watertown–Fort Drum area shed 100 jobs, a 0.3 percent dip; the Binghamton region lost 400 jobs, a decrease of 0.4 percent; the Ithaca area lost 200 jobs, a decrease of 0.3 percent; and the Elmira region shed 500 jobs, a decline of 1.4 percent, per state Labor Department data.
New York state as a whole gained nearly 85,000 jobs, an increase of 0.9 percent, in that 12-month period. The state economy gained nearly 34,000 jobs, a 0.3 percent rise, from December 2019 to January 2020, the labor department said.
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