Business

At a time when most companies in the U.S. seem to be just holding on, Prime Materials in Batavia is primed for growth, according to company President Russell  K. Western.

On Friday, Prime Materials held a job fair to help fill at least a half dozen openings and build a pool of applicants for a number of anticipated new jobs in the coming year.

According to Western, 44 people showed up and 13 will be invited back for a second interview and several more will be considered in the next round of hiring.

“We’re regularly frustrated in our ability to find appropriately skilled people,” Western said, who described the classic conundrum of employers finding people looking for work who are over qualified, or people who are underskilled with spotty work histories.

“We were greatly excited to have 44 people to pick from,” Western said.

The firm, located at 6 Treadeasy Ave., is poised for expansion, Western said, because there is a growing domestic market for its closed-cell cross-linked foam, which is used as packing material for shipping of a wide range of products. While the company faces stiff global competition from Asia, the cost of shipping a higher quality, highly dense material into the U.S. gives Prime Materials an advantage.

The entire manufacturing process, from mixing to pressing, is handled in the Batavia plant.

It also manufactures foam for its parent company, Batavia-based P.W. Minor, which makes stylish shoes for people with diabetes or arthritis or who simply want a comfortable shoe.

The relationship with P.W. Minor may be heading in a new direction in the coming months, according to Western. Prime Materials is all grown up and the firm may have the opportunity to mature into an independently owned company in its own right. Western is in talks with investors now and if that goes through, Prime Materials’ ability to create many more good paying jobs will be greatly increased.

And finding good people, Western said, will be a key part of Prime Materials' success.  He thinks Genesee County, with its own skilled workforce and Batavia's location between Rochester and Buffalo, will help the company find good people. He said his goal is to build a company with a solid reputation in the community, which will help bring in and retain career-minded workers.

Roughly 15 people lost good-paying jobs this week at Batavia-based Graham Corp.. The across-the-board cuts were a necessary belt-tightening measure in the midst of a lackluster economy.

That's according to Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Glajch, who confirmed the rumored layoffs this afternoon.

"I feel sorry for the workers," he said. "But we needed to adjust to the marketplace in this sluggish economy. Things aren't getting worse, but they aren't getting better either."

It's the second round of job cuts this year. Slightly more than 10 percent of the engineering and manufacturing company's workforce was eliminated in January. 

That amounted to about 30 jobs at a time when the company was facing a 40-percent loss in revenue, the CFO said. Nonetheless, in May it received Empire Zone tax incentives.

It is the rare, if not the only, publicly traded company in Batavia, with offices and a production plant at 20 Florence Ave.. It has been in business since World War II.

It engineers and makes vacuum and heat-transfer equipment that has broad applications, from making synthetic fibers, petroleum products, electric power and fertilizer, to processing food, pharmaceuticals, paper and steel. Half its good are sold abroad.

Things were going great guns for Graham by mid-2008, when it made Business Week's list of the fastest-growing small companies.

China and other foreign markets' thirst for oil in 2007-08 created a robust demand for Graham's goods. Orders placed then continued to have a postive impact on the company's finances over the first three fiscal quarters of 2008-09 (the company's fiscal year runs April 1 through March 31).

At its peak, it had more than 300 employees and its stock was trading at a high of $50.98 a share. Its stock closed today at $14.68 a share.

As with other industries, the orders tapered off and the forecast today is a question mark. Looking ahead, the CFO said he hopes there won't be pink slips come December, but "I can't promise anything, we have to wait and see."

Press release:

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand urged the House-Senate Conference Committee to include $350 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help New York farmers struggling during the dairy crisis in the final Agriculture Appropriations Bill.  Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont authored the provision that was included in the Senate version of the legislation. 
 
“Our dairy farmers are hurting.  A large step was taken when we convinced Secretary Vilsack to increase prices paid to farmers, and this is an important second step.  We need more to ensure that our dairy farmers survive this crisis and we will continue working to make sure that they do,” Senator Schumer said.

 
“During these tough economic times, this increase will bring some much needed relief for our farmers,” said Senator Gillibrand, the first New York Senator in 40 years to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee. “While this is great for New York's dairy farmers, this is only a temporary solution to the fundamental problems with the dairy pricing system.  I will continue to work for a long term fix for our farmers.”
 
New York farmers are facing a dairy pricing crisis. According to the USDA it costs a New York dairy farmer $18.82 to produce a hundredweight of milk. Yet in July the average New York farmer received only $11.60 per hundredweight, though a number of farmers reported receiving even less.  The Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC), which was designed to be a safety net when there is a large price discrepancy, has not been able to adequately protect New York’s dairy farmers. As a result, New York farmers have been forced to either take on massive debt to cover their costs or go out of business.
 
In their letter, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand joined with 27 of their Senate Colleagues, writing, “America needs a strong, diverse dairy industry to feed our nation and keep rural communities thriving.  If retained in the final Agriculture Appropriations Conference Report, the funds provided by this amendment can be utilized by Secretary Vilsack to provide relief to America’s dairy industry.  These funds are crucial to helping hasten the recovery of farm milk prices this fall.”
 
The Agriculture Appropriations Bill is now being reconciled by the House-Senate Conference Committee, before final passage in both chambers, and sent to the President to become law.

What helps rural communities grow: entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs -- people who start and run their own businesses -- create jobs, restore and fill vacant buildings, contribute to the community with their time, resources and money, and support their fellow small business owners through mentoring and patronage.

Daily Yonder took a look at communities in rural Oklahoma and found the communities doing the best economically had strong entrepreneurship. They also emphasized their downtowns, diversified their business base and focused on community strengths.

As I wrote the other day, Batavia has a lot going for it and there is an impressive number of entrepreneurs starting and expanding businesses locally.

But we can always use more. And the area has resources to help, from the BID, to the city's revolving loan program to the Chamber of Commerce and BEST Center (which offers small business help) at GCC, and, of course GCEDC.

Maybe it's time for you to start a business. All it takes is a good idea and a willingness to work hard. If you're successful, the rewards are much more satisfying than working for somebody else. Trust me.

So you hear there are no jobs in Batavia, and companies don't want to do business here, etcetera. The carping sometimes seems ceaseless.

Me, I'm a glass-is-half-full kind of guy.

And I think most of the entrepreneurs who have invested in Batavia and Genesee County are the same sort of people, which is why this job ad posted today caught my eye:

Career Opportunities - Growing Company in Batavia is searching for hard working, reliable employees for all aspects of manufacturing.

We are conducting open interviews Friday 10/2/09 from 9:00am-12:00pm.

Imagine, a local company doing so well in Batavia that they have to conduct their own job fair. The ad makes it sound like there are at least six openings, and from the job titles, I'm betting a few if not all of them pay "a living wage" (to use the oft-cited term for what makes a good job).

The company is Prime Materials Corporation, 6 Treadeasy Ave., in the City of Batavia.

The last time somebody left a comment asserting that nobody wants to do business here and all the businesses are leaving, I pointed out some counter examples, which I'll note again: Kravings Kafe and Great Kutz both just opened in Valu Plaza; Ken Mistler is readying two new businesses and planning a third; There's one newish business on Ellicott Street and another store coming; A Canadian company is opening a new location downtown; Mancuso Corp. is investing a substantial amount of its own money (not just the RestoreNY funds) into the Masse Gateway Project; Clor's Meat Market greatly expanded its operations by moving to a new location; people complain about the open store fronts on Main Street, but all of them have ongoing interest from potential businesses for those locations. And I'm sure I'm leaving out other new businesses and expansions.

Not to mention that there are several hundred businesses thriving in the city and several hundred more throughout the county.

For me and Billie, we consider Batavia a great place to base our own business. If we didn't, we wouldn't be here. That's a lot of things I could do or places I could be if I didn't see Batavia and Genesee County as a great opportunity.

The bottom line: the pessimism about Batavia and Genesee County as a place to do business is unwarranted and it's contradicted by the actual business activity in town.

Byron and Chris Ariyaratnam were all smiles this evening when I stopped by the location of their new business, Great Kutz, in Valu Plaza on West Main Street. Byron was busy training the new staff, who will be ready to start cutting hair in the morning.

Chris and Byron are partners in The Mane Attraction, and Byron is a partner in Mr. Wine and Liquor. They're the kind of local entrepreneurs Batavia needs. And they are proof that there are plenty of business people who believe in Batavia and are willing to invest both their money and their effort in building a sustainable Batavia business community.

There's something out of whack with the market for dairy products -- the price of production continues to go up, while the price dairy farmers get for their milk remains at historic lows, but for the rest of us -- us consumers -- we're paying just as much as ever for milk and cheese.

Somebody's making a lot of money off the hard work of Genesee County's dairies, but it's not the farmers nor their workers.

In fact, some of them are facing the devastating loss of their businesses.

"The price of milk since January has been very low, to the point that we’re going to lose about $300,000," said Le Roy dairy farmer Dale Stein during a dairy rally at his farm called by Assemblyman Steve Hawley. "We anticipated through September that it would be low, but the price has still not come back up in September and now they’re looking at March, so we’re borrowing another large set of money to get through until March. The problem is now, there are many farmers who can’t get any more credit due to the large size of their loss. We’re able to borrow money, but we’re here today because of so many farmers who can’t."

Hawley and Assemblyman Cliff Crouch (R,I-Guilford) are calling on Gov. David Paterson to release more than $150 million in state funds (half this year and half next) to assist the state's family-owned dairy farmers. They're also calling on Washington lawmakers to change the price-setting mechanism and supports for dairy products.

Crouch believes the money should come either from unspent funds from around the state or from federal stimulus money, but state officials are saying the federal government won't allow ARRA money to be used to help dairy farmers.

"I think where there's a will there's a way," Crouch said. "We've seen different incidents where stimulus money has gone out and we've really raised our eyebrows and can't understand why it got spent in that direction. And here's an industry that's here and it's going to be closing down if we don't do something to help it. For every dollar that's spent on a New York dairy farm, between $3 and $7 goes back into the local economy. If that isn't economic stimulus, than I don't know what is."

Recently, ARRA money went to a Catholic charity in Buffalo, and Gov. Paterson also authorized a $200 payment per child for needy families to help with school supplies, using ARRA funds.

Crouch said that it's time for Gov. Paterson to step up and offer assistance to the state's dairy farmers -- even if it's not the $75 million they seek this year, Paterson should at least be in Washington lobbying for his state's dairy farmers.

Photos: Top, Dale Stein speaks during the rally. Bottom, Lori Hawkins, an unemployed milker, showed up at the rally to let it be known she is looking for dairy work.

Every two years, the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce releases a map of the area that helps promote local businesses.

This year, The Batavian will handle the ad sales, which helps support the Chamber and pays for a valuable resource for travelers and residents alike.

As always, the up-to-date color map will be produced by Rochester-based Map Works, Inc.

More than 12,000 copies will be distributed throughout Genesee County in 2010 and 2011.

Local businesses interested in this promotional opportunity should contact Howard Owens at 585-260-6970.

NYS is now putting yet ANOTHER tax on business.....

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/792670.html

Once again, LOWERING TAXES GROWS BUSINESS....RAISING TAXES (or disguising taxes as "fees") CHASES BUSINESS (jobs) AWAY!!

They need to quit spending ALL our $$.  They are just NOT going to stop taking it all until we are totally broke!

The New York Senate will be in session tomorrow and Majority Leader Pedro Espada is apparently looking to score points with New York City labor unions -- he's calling for passage of what upstate legislators call "the farm death bill."

The bill, the Farmworkers Omnibus Labor Standards Bill, AB 1867, has already passed the Assembly.

If it becomes law, the bill will require farmers to pay time-and-a-half for over time, allow farm workers to join labor unions and require a day off during harvest season. It will also require farmers to pay into the unemployment system, among other provisions.

The bill is sponsored by Catherine Nolan, who represents Queens. Assemblyman Steve Hawley once pinned her down during a floor debate into admitting that in her district contains "less than one farm."

Sen. Mike Ranzenhofer plans to vote Nay if the bill does come to a vote. He said even upstate farm workers he's spoken with are concerned that passage of the bill will cost them their livelihoods.

"They are alarmed about the bill," Ranzenhofer said. "They're concerned about losing their jobs because farms will be going out of business."

Area farmers and farm workers alike tell both Hawley and Ranzenhofer that many of the issues the bill is trying to address is already taken care of by farmers. Most farmers do supply workers with adequate housing and health care. Workers are paid for all the hours they work, but not necessarily time-and-a-half. Because farm work is seasonal, the legislators note that a great deal of work must be packed into a short amount of time.

But by mandating such services, allowing labor unions to get involved and increasing government oversight, the bill will drive up costs on farmers tremendously.

The supporters of the bill just don't understand farming and that without farms, there is no food, both Hawley and Ranzenhofer say.

"The sponsors are from New York City," Ranzenhofer said. "They don't understand that the relationship between farmers and workers is mutually beneficial. This is a New York City union issue and really has nothing to do with farming in Upstate New York."

It's unclear just how the Senate will vote on the measure. It could go either way.

John Pontillo says he has tried doing everything he can to save Pontillo's on East Main Street in Batavia.

So far, all of his offers to buy the building and the business have been rejected. He doesn't know why.

"I offered a solution that gave the family business a chance to reopen and keep it in the family," John Pontillo said this afternoon. "It could be open right now. I made an offer that would have allowed us to take care of all our creditors. Bankers looked at it and real estate people looked at it and business people looked at it and all said, 'John, this is a good offer.'

"It's very frustrating. I don't know why it was rejected."

The landmark Pontillo's, which Sam Pontillo founded in 1947, shut down in November, with a sign appearing in the parking lot saying it was closed for remodeling. It turned out, however, that the business owed more than $112,000 in back taxes.

The brothers were soon in court trying to settle estate and debt issues and who would run the business.

And the fate of Pontillo's has been tied up in court since.

"We all grew up in this business," John said. "I would like to keep it in the family."

A for-sale sign appeared on Pontillo's yesterday about 4 p.m., but John is skeptical that the business and building can be sold before creditors foreclose on the property. He fears if his offer isn't accepted before foreclosure, there will be no more Pontillo's in Batavia -- not the family business his parents nutured into a regionally renowned destination for pizza and pasta.

As local restaurateur Sean Valdes noted in a comment yesterday, "This will be a hard building to sell as a restaurant. The overhead will be a challenge."

We have a call into Sam Pontillo seeking his comment on the situation.

This is a reader-submitted photo of a for-sale sign on the Pontillo's building on E. Main Street in Batavia. A caller informs us the sign was placed on the building at 4 p.m. We're working on getting more information.

Paul Pontillo, of Pontillo's Pizza in Batavia, is accused of writing bad checks from a business account.

The alleged bad checks were written in 2008.

The 53-year-old Pontillo was arraigned in City of Batavia Court yesterday and released on his own recognizance.

Previously:

• State says: Pontillo's Pizza in Batavia owes more than $112k in back taxes
• Pontillo brother wants his name cleared of blame for tax problem
• Pontillo's brothers may head to court
• Batavia Daily News Friday: Pontillo's reopening soon doesn't look good
• Pontillo's: Open for Delivery

The city's application for a $2.5 million grant to help spark redevelopment of Masse Gateway (part of the Harvester Center complex) has been reduced to $1.5 million in the final award.

The city received word today that the funds will be released to the City, according to The Batavian's news partner WBTA.

City Manager Jason Molino told WBTA that the RestoreNY funds were intended to begin demolition and reconstruction of Masse Place.

"It's our hope that this will be the beginning of opportunities to develop that former industrial site into some more commercial and light industrial locations for businesses and hopefully increase jobs in the area," Molino said.

UPDATE: City Council President Charlie Mallow issued this statement this afternoon:

After decades of political inaction and stonewalling, our city has finally taken the first step forward to rebuild its decaying center. This could not have been possible without our City Manager and his staff. Their hard work and determination has brought millions of dollars in grants, as well as financial stability to our community over the last two years. I also want to thank Mr. Mancuso for believing in and investing in our city. Batavia can only prosper when business people like Mr. Mancuso are willing to take a chance and invest their own hard earned money into our community. I would like to give a special thanks to Governor Patterson and his staff for taking the time to understand the needs of our city and ensuring that Batavia receives its share of federal and state dollars to help stimulate our local economy.

Previous Masse Gateway Project coverage.