Broome County cancels Small Community Grant Program to use funds for PPE supplies

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BINGHAMTON — Broome County Executive Jason Garnar on April 10 announced the cancellation of the Small Community Grant Program for 2020, in order to use the money to aid the county’s health-care response to the coronavirus crisis. Cancelling the grant program will free up to $150,000 to be used to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) […]

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Software firm, Controltec leases nearly 2,600 square feet in DeWitt

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only, Technology

DeWITT — Controltec, Inc. — a firm that develops software for state and local governments, social-services agencies, educational organizations, and childcare providers — recently leased 2,560 square feet at 17 Technology Place in DeWitt. William Evertz, of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company, brokered this lease transaction on behalf of the landlord, Technology Enterprises, LLC. Controltec

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American Tort Reform Association recommends legislation to limit COVID-19 liability for essential workers

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The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) has issued a new white paper asserting that legislative action is needed to protect essential workers and employers from liability related to the coronavirus pandemic. While some state governors, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have issued executive orders offering limited liability protections to certain frontline workers in industries

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While some state governors, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have issued executive orders offering limited liability protections to certain frontline workers in industries like manufacturing and health care, ATRA contends that such orders don’t provide sufficient protection.

“Executive orders will likely meet court challenges, as gubernatorial authority to grant liability protection is uncertain,” ATRA President Tiger Joyce said in a news release. “Legislation will provide the long-term relief necessary and is best equipped to survive potential future judicial challenges.”

The white paper argues that lawsuits concerning COVID-19 liability will take months or even years to settle and during that time, “The urgency and necessity we face today will be forgotten.”

“Health care workers, hospitals and manufacturers have quickly shifted resources to fight an unknown virus, but will face liability in the future as new information is discovered that simply is not available today,” the release stated.

ATRA’s policy prescriptions are directed at Congress and state legislatures and include limiting the liability of businesses that provide protective equipment, medical devices, drugs, or other products for used to provide health care; allowing health-care providers greater discretion to make decisions about medical care without the fear of liability; and prohibiting lawyers from suing employers on behalf of individuals who did not develop COVID-19, were asymptomatic, or experienced common flu-like symptoms.

The full white paper, “Responding to the Coming Lawsuit Surge: Policy Prescriptions for Addressing COVID-19 Tort Litigation,” can be viewed at ATRA.org.

The ATRA, started in 1986, says it is nationwide network of state-based liability-reform coalitions backed by 135,000 grassroots supporters.

St. Joseph’s Health furloughs 500 employees amid COVID-19 revenue decline

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — St. Joseph’s Health has furloughed about 500 employees as the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly reduced the hospital’s revenue streams from non-essential surgeries and patient visits. The staff who have been furloughed are those “who do not have work that is directly related to our most critical needs during this pandemic,” according to a

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U.S. retail sales tumbled 8.7 percent in March, the largest monthly drop ever

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U.S. retail sales plunged 8.7 percent in March compared to February, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on April 15. It was the largest monthly decline ever as widespread, mandated business closures amid the coronavirus pandemic severely damaged consumer spending. Economists had forecast an 8 percent month-over-month decline in retail sales, according to Reuters. National retail sales fell

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New York manufacturing index plummets to lowest level in history

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

New York manufacturers are feeling the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic with a “sharp decline” in both orders and shipments. That’s according to the April Empire State Manufacturing Survey released April 15. The general business-conditions index “plunged” 57 points to -78.2, “its lowest level in the history of the survey.” The index fell 34

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New York manufacturers are feeling the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic with a “sharp decline” in both orders and shipments.

That’s according to the April Empire State Manufacturing Survey released April 15. The general business-conditions index “plunged” 57 points to -78.2, “its lowest level in the history of the survey.”

The index fell 34 points to -21.5 in March, which, at the time, was “its largest point drop on record” and “its lowest level since 2009.” The index had climbed 8 points to 12.9 in February and after edging up to 4.8 in January.

The April reading, based on firms responding to the survey, indicates “business activity declined dramatically in early April,” the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its April 15 report.

By way of comparison, the lowest level this indicator had reached prior to this month was -34.3 during the Great Recession, the New York Fed said.

A negative reading on the index indicates a decline in the sector, while a positive number points to expansion or growth in manufacturing activity.

The survey found 7 percent of respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while 85 percent indicated that conditions had worsened, the New York Fed said.

Though current conditions were “extremely weak,” firms expected conditions to be “slightly better” six months from now, according to the New York Fed.

Survey details

The new-orders index fell 57 points to -66.3, and the shipments index dropped 66 points to -68.1, indicating a “sharp decline” in both orders and shipments. Delivery times were longer and inventories were “modestly lower.”

Labor-market indicators were “extremely weak.”

The index for number of employees fell 54 points to -55.3, with nearly 60 percent of respondents indicating lower employment levels. The average workweek index fell to -61.6, with 65 percent reporting shorter workweeks.

The prices-paid index fell 19 points to 5.8, indicating a “slowing” in input-price increases, while the prices-received index fell to -8.4, pointing to a decline in selling prices for the first time since 2016.

Firms anticipate only a small improvement in business conditions over the next six months.

The index for future business conditions edged up 6 points to 7.0. The indexes for future new orders and future shipments declined, but remained positive, suggesting that firms expect orders and shipments to be “modestly higher” in six months compared with this month’s levels.

The capital-expenditures and technology-spending indexes both fell to -11.0, a sign that firms “planned to reduce both kinds of spending.”

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.

Ithaca company designs medical face shield for hospital in COVID-19 fight

Health Care, Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

ITHACA — Incodema Inc., an Ithaca–based sheet-metal provider, announced it has designed a new face shield that can be sanitized and reused in health-care facilities during the coronavirus pandemic. The company says it responded to “the call to action” of the Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) in Ithaca to find a solution to the face-shield shortage.

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Upstate, statewide consumer sentiment plummet in Q1 over coronavirus concerns

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Consumer sentiment in upstate New York and across the state plunged in the first quarter as the shutdown of much of business and daily life took a toll. The latest quarterly survey of upstate and statewide consumer sentiment that the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) released April 8 measured sentiment at 68.9 in the first

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Consumer sentiment in upstate New York and across the state plunged in the first quarter as the shutdown of much of business and daily life took a toll.

The latest quarterly survey of upstate and statewide consumer sentiment that the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) released April 8 measured sentiment at 68.9 in the first quarter, down 23.5 points from the last measurement of 92.4 in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Upstate’s overall sentiment of 68.9 was 2.5 points above the statewide consumer-sentiment level of 66.4, which fell 26.6 points from the fourth quarter.

The statewide figure was 22.7 points lower than the first-quarter reading of 89.1 for the entire nation, which was down 10.2 points from the fourth-quarter number, as measured by the University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index.

All three indexes for New York are below their breakeven points at which optimism and pessimism balance for the first time since December 2011. The national indexes dropped but remain above the breakeven point.

“As the coronavirus took hold of New York, consumer sentiment fell precipitously, signaled a sudden collective feeling of pessimism and reached a low not seen since 2011. A large plurality of consumers now think that the state’s business conditions this year as well as economic times over the coming five years are in trouble. Right now, 58 percent say that it is NOT a good time to buy major consumer items and plans to buy cars, electronics, furniture, homes and home improvements are down between 13 and 27 percent. In 20 years of tracking consumer sentiment in New York, we’ve seen more pessimism but never a drop this severe in this short of a time,” Doug Lonnstrom, professor of statistics and finance at Siena College and SRI founding director, said in the report.

In the first quarter of 2020, buying plans were down 2.8 percentage points since the fourth quarter of 2019 measurement to 18.8 percent for cars/trucks; fell 13.8 points to 38.6 percent for consumer electronics; slid 6.8 points to 24.2 percent for furniture; declined 3 percentage points to 8.1 percent for homes; and fell 6.2 percent to 19 percent for major home improvements.

In SRI’s quarterly analysis of gas and food prices, 26 percent of upstate respondents said the price of gas was having a serious impact on their monthly budgets, which is down from 42 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 41 percent in the third quarter.

In addition, 27 percent of statewide respondents said the price of gas was having a serious impact on their monthly spending plans, which is down from 41 percent in the fourth quarter and 40 percent in the third quarter. Prices at the gas pump have fallen precipitously since the coronavirus crisis started, one of the few economic bright spots.

When asked about food prices, 49 percent of upstate respondents indicated the price of groceries was having a serious impact on their finances, down from 56 percent in the fourth quarter and 56 percent in the third quarter.

At the same time, 55 percent of statewide respondents indicated the price of food was having a serious impact on their monthly finances, down from 58 percent in the fourth quarter and from 60 percent in the third quarter.

SRI conducted its survey of consumer sentiment between March 30 and April 2 by telephone calls to 402 New York adults via landline and cell phone. It has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, according to SRI.

Thank you for choosing the Central New York Business Journal

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The Central New York Business Journal has been publishing for 34 years. During that time, the business community in our region has never faced a challenge like the COVID-19 pandemic. While business activity over this past month of social distancing has slowed to a crawl, the need for business news is more urgent than ever.

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The Central New York Business Journal has been publishing for 34 years. During that time, the business community in our region has never faced a challenge like the COVID-19 pandemic.

While business activity over this past month of social distancing has slowed to a crawl, the need for business news is more urgent than ever. The demand for information to help businesses navigate this crisis is growing. We can say that with confidence because we see it in our recent audience analytics.

• At the beginning of the statewide lockdown, we temporarily transitioned to exclusively digital delivery. Since then, we have been emailing the Digital Edition of the Central New York Business Journal (the publication you are reading right now) to an average of just under 17,900 recipients each week. That represents an increase of more than 2,100 recipients per week over the period prior to mid-March.

• Not only have we been sending out more emails, but a growing percentage of them are being opened. Since March 15, the open rate for weekly Digital Edition emails has jumped from 12 percent to 17 percent.

• Our daily Coffee Break and Daily News Alert emails have also shown gains. The open rates for both, which were already well above Constant Contact’s industry averages, increased over two percentage points since mid-March. Those two email publications combined are now opened by recipients over 15,500 times every week.

• The average number of unique users visiting our website (cnybj.com) every day has increased 14 percent since March 15. Daily advertising impressions — the average number of times an ad on our web pages is viewed each day — have climbed 55 percent during the same period.

The entire staff at the Central New York Business Journal is grateful that you have turned to us as your business-news source in these uncertain times. Thank you.

If the content we provide is valuable to you, there are ways you can access more of it and help us to continue making it available.

The best way to stay connected to news and information about the Central New York business community is a subscription that provides a full year of unlimited access to our website and archives and a free copy of the annual Book of Lists, along with the weekly edition. You can subscribe on our website at https://www.cnybj.com/newsstand/

We also offer a number of email publications free of charge. Coffee Break is a news roundup from New York state, the nation, and the world every morning. Daily News Alerts provides local breaking news from our CNYBJ staff every afternoon. BizEventz News & Updates are news and updates on our business events happening in Central New York. Healthcare Provider E-Newsletter is written for and sent directly to health-care providers in the region every other month. You can sign up for any of these free email alerts at: https://www.cnybj.com/news-email-alerts/

Our goal before the pandemic was to serve the Central New York business community through news, advertising opportunities, events, and data delivered across a variety of platforms. We continue to do so now and will keep doing it long after the current crisis has passed. In good times and in bad, we appreciate you being a member of our growing audience and we are proud to be here for you.

ICS acquires Ithaca computer IT firm, Brightworks

Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

ITHACA — ICS — an information-technology (IT) support firm with offices in Endicott, DeWitt, and Ithaca — announced it has acquired Brightworks Computer Consulting of Ithaca. ICS didn’t disclose the acquisition cost or any financial terms of the its acquisition agreement. As an IT implementation, support, and hosting-services company, the services that Brightworks offers will

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ITHACA — ICS — an information-technology (IT) support firm with offices in Endicott, DeWitt, and Ithaca — announced it has acquired Brightworks Computer Consulting of Ithaca.

ICS didn’t disclose the acquisition cost or any financial terms of the its acquisition agreement.

As an IT implementation, support, and hosting-services company, the services that Brightworks offers will “complement” ICS’s existing capabilities, the firm contends.

ICS offers all the services that Brightworks provides, says Kevin Blake president and CEO of ICS.

“[The firm] has a lot of great customers in Tompkins County, and we can bolster some of [its] offerings by cross-selling some of things we do, like digital security, physical security, phone systems, printing, those types of things,” says Blake, who describes Brightworks as a competitor.

Blake, who is the majority owner of ICS, spoke with CNYBJ on April 10. Travis Hayes is the firm’s minority owner, according to Blake.

The acquisition closed on March 9. Blake met the Brightworks staff the following day, started integrating, and learned about the state’s working-from-home order later that week, he recalls. “It’s been a very interesting time,” Blake adds.

Part of ICS growth strategy

The transaction is part of Blake’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) growth strategy for ICS, which he has pursued for the past three years. The company’s acquisition of J.B. Kane in Syracuse in June 2018 was part of that plan.

Blake says he’s in negotiations with other managed-service providers (or MSPs as they’re known in the industry) as part of his M&A growth plan.

“We believe our industry is consolidating fast … because of cloud and security and what it takes to be an MSP these days. Smaller MSPs just can’t afford to make the investments that it takes to support clients that have some sort of compliance needs. We’ve made all those investments, and we’re actively pursuing other MSPs to join the ICS family,” says Blake.

He met Brightworks founder and sole owner John Guttridge at an MSP industry event in Orlando, Florida more than a year ago, and that when they started talking.

“We got serious about the [acquisition] conversation in November 2019,” he adds.

Adding employees, customers

With the addition of the 16 Brightworks employees, ICS has about 20 people working in Ithaca. The employees include Guttridge, who is now a senior account manager at ICS.

“Due to the ever-changing information-technology landscape and the growing cybersecurity needs, we wanted to find a partner that could support our customers with a higher level of maturity and serviceability than we could achieve in the near future,” Guttridge said in an ICS news release.

The company’s overall employee count is now at just under 100 workers, according to Blake. With the addition of about 100 Brightworks clients, ICS now services between 700 and 800 customers between New York and Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Brightworks office in Ithaca, located at 123 W. State St., is a 2,300-square-foot space. ICS currently operates a 1,000-square-foot space located at 840 Hanshaw Road in the village of Cayuga Heights, near Ithaca.

Blake says the firm’s plan is to eventually move out of the Hanshaw Road location to the Brightworks building. He says Guttridge still owns the building and ICS is leasing it from him.

Blake declines to disclose the firm’s annual revenue, but notes that about 12 percent of its annual sales are generated from its clients in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

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