Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
IDA chief resigns post
Metroplex seat also vacated
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

   Arthur Brassard, chairman of Rotterdam’s Industrial Development Agency and the town’s representative to the Metroplex Development Authority, announced his resignation from both posts, citing his work as county Republican elections commissioner.
   Besides the regular primary in September and general election in November, New York will also conduct elections for the presidential primary in February 2008. This summer there will also be a special election for the 105th state Assembly District. Facing the potential of four elections in less than eight months, Brassard said he simply doesn’t have the time to devote to either of his other jobs.
   “It’s bittersweet,” he said Thursday. “But it’s always good to go out on a good note.”
   Brassard served as the IDA’s chairman since his appointment in June 2003 and leaves the position with just less than a year left on his term.
   Town Board members unanimously approved the appointment of Angelo Santabarbara, a project engineer with Chazen Companies, as the new chairman Wednesday; the post pays an annual salary of $5,000.
   Brassard will also vacate his seat on the Metroplex board. Former Rotterdam Supervisor John Paolino appointed him to serve a four-year term on the board in 2003.
   The town experienced highprofile projects at the Rotterdam Industrial Park during his time on both agencies. Both Price Chopper’s $15 million, 152,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse and the FedEx Freight’s $6 million regional hub were completed while he served as the agency’s chairman.
   Brassard also helped negotiate the establishment of the $18 million Railex distribution center in the park. Completed in November 2006, the Railex project brought roughly 150 jobs to the town.
   “It has been a pretty great two years,” Brassard said. “The ultimate winners besides the new business is the town. There are real jobs connected with these businesses.”
   Prior to being appointed, Brassard served on the town’s Planning Commission and also worked as a project manager for the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal. He was picked by the county Republicans to replace former elections commissioner Armando Tebano in November, after Tebano admitted in court to having physical contact with an underage girl.
   In addition to serving out Brassard’s remaining year as IDA chairman, Santabarbara is also making his first bid for political office, running on the Republican ticket for the county Legislature in District 4. In addition to his work at Chazen, he serves also the vice president of the National Society of Professional Engineers in the Capital District.
   Santabarbara said he intends to build upon the successes the agency had under Brassard’s leadership. He intends to tap his experience with municipal and land development projects to bring new projects to Rotterdam.
   “We’re going to hit the ground running with some new programs,” he said following his appointment Wednesday.
   Supervisor Steve Tommasone said he will also recommend Santabarbara as the town’s new appointment to Metroplex. He said the new chairman would bring continuity to both agencies during a time when several large projects are on the horizon in Rotterdam.
   “Angelo has the skills, temperament and personality to bring people together on these projects,” he said.  

Quoted Text

Supervisor Steve Tommasone said he will also recommend Santabarbara as the town’s new appointment to Metroplex. He said the new chairman would bring continuity to both agencies during a time when several large projects are on the horizon in Rotterdam.

Quoted Text

Prior to being appointed, Brassard served on the town’s Planning Commission and also worked as a project manager for the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal.

Quoted Text

Supervisor Steve Tommasone said he will also recommend Santabarbara as the town’s new appointment to Metroplex.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM: IDA gets new chair

Posted on: 07/03/07
Written by: Jessica Harding, Schenectady County Reporter
email: hardingj@spotlightnews.com

The Rotterdam Town Board appointed Angelo Santabarbara as chairman of the Rotterdam Industrial Development Agency at its meeting Wednesday, June 27, after accepting the resignation of Arthur Brassard Jr.

Brassard, who is the Republican commissioner for the County Board of Elections, said he is retiring from the IDA because he has too much on his plate.

Former town Supervisor John Paolino appointed Brassard as chairman of the IDA in 2003. Santabarbara will serve out the remainder of Brassard’s term, which ends June 13, 2008.

Santabarbara is a project engineer for Chazen Companies and has worked on many projects in the Capital District, including General Electric’s Global Research facility in Niskayuna and the redevelopment of commercial sites like Starbucks and Cumberland Farms.

Board member John Mertz thanked Santabarbara for accepting the position.

“As the chairman of the economic development committee, I am glad we have someone with a handle on the community and the smart growth that we want in this town,” he said.

Supervisor Steven Tommasone said several new initiatives would be coming from the IDA in the future, which he said would be positive for the town, small businesses and job creation. He said the board is very focused on growing the town’s tax base and creating more jobs, and he said he hopes the IDA will play a more active role within the town.

“Within the industrial park and with the different studies, you can see that Rotterdam is in a growth period,” Tommasone said. “We need capable and outstanding individuals like Angelo to become more involved in town government.”

Mertz said Santabarbara would be invaluable to the town during these negotiations.  

“I’m sure he will be able to cultivate a positive atmosphere for small businesses in the town. Small businesses are more valuable per square foot than larger corporations, and I’m excited to see how he can work with those businesses,” Mertz said.

Santabarbara has also been endorsed by the Republican Party as a candidate for the County Legislature in District 4, which covers Rotterdam, Princetown and Duanesburg.

Board member Robert Godlewski asked if Santabarbara would be able to fulfill his duties as chairman of the IDA if he were successful in his bid for the Legislature.

Mertz said it wouldn’t be a legal problem because one of the positions is appointed and one is elected. Santabarbara wouldn’t be able to hold two elected positions at the same time.

Board members said Brassard was very valuable to the town as chairman of the IDA and cited his work on millions of dollars in economic development projects in the industrial park, such as the Railex distribution center, Price Chopper’s large freezer warehouse and FedEx Freight’s regional hub.

“He always did, and always will, put the town’s best interest at heart,” Godlewski said.
You can contact hardingj@spotlightnews.com with any questions.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Board post goes to lawyer
Saccocio picked for Metroplex
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

   Rotterdam officials appointed town attorney Patrick Saccocio to the Metroplex Development Authority to replace former representative Arthur Brassard.
   Once confirmed by the county Legislature, Saccocio will finish Brassard’s term, which expires in January 2011.
   Brassard, the former chairman of Rotterdam’s Industrial Development Agency, announced his resignation from both posts in June, citing his work as county Republican election commissioner.
   “Mr. Saccocio will do an outstanding job for not only the town, but the county as a whole,” said Supervisor Steven Tommasone during the Rotterdam Town Board regular meeting Wednesday.
   Saccocio is a partner in the law firm of Parisi & Saccocio, which was hired to represent Rotterdam in 2005. Saccocio represents the Town Board, while Gerard Parisi represents the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.
   The attorney also represented groups owning a $1.5 million stake in the commercial office project called Broadway Commerce Park, a development lauded as one of the largest single investments in downtown Schenectady. Saccocio’s law firm helped construct a 22,500-square-foot building in the complex.
   Saccocio said he looks forward to representing both the town and county interests on the Metroplex board. “I am aware of their [Metroplex] mission and in accord with their ideas,” he said.
   Saccocio was approved by the Town Board with member Robert Godlewski offering the only dissent. Goldlewski said the position has traditionally gone to a member of the town Planning Commission.
   Godlewski also questioned whether Saccocio’s work as both a town and private attorney would pose a conflict of interest while serving as Rotterdam’s representative to Metroplex.
   “He is the town attorney and I feel this could become a conflict of interest in what he’s doing for Metroplex and what he’s doing for the town,” he said. “I can see him having to recuse himself on issues.”
   Board member John Mertz disagreed. He said Saccocio’s experience as an attorney and with the authority projects would be an asset.
   “Mr. Saccocio has an intimate knowledge of the innerworkings of Metroplex,” he said. “An attorney appointed to Metroplex I think is an asset for the town.”
   Tommasone said he discussed the position with Angelo Santabarbara, Brassard’s replacement as IDA chairman, who wasn’t interested in assuming both positions. He said Santabarbara instead wants to concentrate on IDA initiatives.
“We have a lot going on with IDA right now,” he said,

OFFICER RESIGNS
   Board members also accepted the resignation of police officer Joseph Signore Jr., the son of board member Joseph Signore, who was hired about a year earlier by the town. Signore recently accepted a position with the state police.
   “It’s unfortunate for us in many ways,” Tommasone commented. “He did a great job.”
   Board members unanimously approved the hiring of Michael Alderdice and Benjamin Paniccia as officers, at salaries of $38,653. Both officers are graduates of the Mohonasen Central School District and residents of the town.
   Alderdice is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, served as a volunteer firefighter in Rotterdam and was working as a dispatcher for the police before his hiring. Paniccia is a recent graduate of The College of Saint Rose.

Quoted Text

Saccocio was approved by the Town Board with member Robert Godlewski offering the only dissent. Goldlewski said the position has traditionally gone to a member of the town Planning Commission.
   Godlewski also questioned whether Saccocio’s work as both a town and private attorney would pose a conflict of interest while serving as Rotterdam’s representative to Metroplex.
   “He is the town attorney and I feel this could become a conflict of interest in what he’s doing for Metroplex and what he’s doing for the town,” he said. “I can see him having to recuse himself on issues.”

Quoted Text

“I can see him having to recuse himself on issues.”

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
IDA to aid small business
Grants to help pay for improvements
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

   Rotterdam’s Industrial Development Agency, an organization known for landing big ticket projects, is now aiming its sights on something small.
   The agency is developing a program to award 10 matching grants to small businesses interested in tidying up their appearance. The $2,500 grants will require an equal match from the business owner and will be dedicated to projects such as facade improvements, building sidewalks, adding landscaping and bettering handicap accessibility.
   Chairman Angelo Santabarbara said funding for the grants was approved by IDA in July and will likely be available for small businesses within the coming months. He said the agency is still hashing out the exact qualifications for the grants, but suspects the basic criterion will be based on the income level of the businesses.
   “We want to help these guys,” he said Thursday. “They’ve been asking for help, and we’re trying to do that.”
   If successful, Santabarbara said an additional 10 grants are likely to be given out again next year. He said the grants are a sort of fl agship program through the IDA that will eventually lead to more in the future.
   “If it’s successful and it goes well and there’s interest, we’ll definitely continue it,” he said.
   Previously, Rotterdam’s IDA has helped land projects such as Price Chopper’s $15 million refrigerated warehouse and FedEx Freight’s $6 million regional hub. The IDA also took part in negotiations with Railex, a company that established an $18 million distribution center in the Rotterdam Industrial Park.
   Supervisor Steve Tommasone said the small grants will help further town efforts to improve the aesthetic quality of Rotterdam’s business corridors, which is something that has been a recent focus of town officials. Last month, the town and Capital District Transportation Committee unveiled zoning and design ideas to serve as blueprint for development along Curry Road and Hamburg Street near Thruway Exit 25.
   Tommasone said the small grants could serve to augment this planning by presenting existing businesses with incentives to improve their appearance. Often times, he said small businesses fall short of having the capital for sprucing up their exteriors, whether it be improving handicap ramps or redoing an entrance.
   “With a lot of these small businesses, they’re close every month,” he said, “They’re looking for the government to help them out, and we want to help them out.”
   Tommasone said the grant program is part of a first step in rekindling cooperative efforts between IDA, the town and local businesses. He also envisions IDA taking a more prominent role in town studies, such as the recent sidewalk inventory and condition assessment or even the much larger corridor studies,
   “This is just the beginning of it,” he said. “The IDA is going to become much more active.”

Quoted Text

EDITORIALS
Rotterdam right to help small business

   While large economic development projects get the big subsidies, it is small businesses that create most of the jobs in this country. They also deserve help, especially when it will encourage actions that will benefit not only them but their neighbors and the entire community. A new Rotterdam Industrial Development Agency program, which will offer matching grants to small-business owners who want to improve the appearance of their property, will provide that help and is a good idea.
   In the past, when it came to development, the town didn’t much care about where it would go or how it would look. That’s how it got into trouble with housing projects like Masullo Estates, whose poor drainage made it the wrong place to build. Allowing another housing project in the area without at least a thorough study of the hydrological conditions there, as is now apparently going to happen, would be compounding the mistake. On a more positive note, the town last year opposed a new Wal-Mart on Burdeck Street and, though the courts ruled in Wal-Mart’s favor, the company eventually dropped the plan.
   Just as encouraging, the town recently decided it wants to make its existing commercial corridors look better — something that won’t be hard, given the fact that Altamont Avenue, Curry Road and Hamburg Street are mostly auto-dependent strips with nondescript, suburban-style buildings, devoid of landscaping or amenities. That is why in an editorial last month we applauded a draft plan, developed with the help of the Capital District Transportation Committee, that would use zoning changes and design guidelines to turn the Curry Road/Hamburg Street corridor near Exit 25 of the Thruway into a walkable community, with sidewalks, trees and street furniture.
   And it is why we also applaud this next step, taken by the IDA at the urging of Supervisor Steve Tommasone (who wants the IDA to play a more prominent role in planning and economic development in general). The IDA will provide 10 small businesses with matching grants of $2,500 to fix up their facades, add sidewalks, improve wheelchair ramps, etc. The projects will have to meet town codes, as well as design guidelines that will be developed.
   This, on a much smaller scale, is what Metroplex has been doing with its facade programs, which provide businesses in downtown Schenectady with matching grants up to $60,000 and those on Upper Union Street with grants up to $30,000. In recent years these programs have induced scores of merchants to fix up their facades, and to make millions of dollars in additional private investments as well. Small businesses often would like to improve their appearance, or expand, but are squeezed for cash. A little help like this can make the difference in whether they do it or not, and provide a lot of bang for the buck.