chamber of commerce

Steve Hyde was the keynote speaker today at the annual meeting of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

Besides getting an update on the chamber's progress over the past year from President Lynn Freeman (bottom photo), and electing new board members, chamber members heard from Hyde about how economic development helps grow local economies.

He used Alpina and Quaker-Muller as an example of how direct jobs, indirect jobs and what he called "induced jobs" spur economic growth.

In phase one, the two yogurt factories are expected to hire 236 people.

The supply chain for the two plants -- packaging, shipping, warehouses, suppliers -- will need to create an estimated 300 jobs.

Combined, direct and indirect jobs will mean mean $13 million in wages and benefits for people working -- and presumably living -- locally.

"So you have this growing regional ecosystem and this growing element of wealth and wages that are spent by the employees and the supply chain employees and the construction workers," Hyde said. "What do they do? They go to restaurants, dry cleaning, retail, the grocery store, fuel -- 174 jobs and another $7 million."

Hyde challenged the local business owners to work with the chamber and other local agencies to prepare for growth, to be in a position to work either directly or indirectly with Alpina and Quaker-Muller, or to meet the needs of the new employees and their families.

"That’s all still to be realized," Hyde said, "but my question to you as small businesses in our community: are you positioned to participate in that? Do you have the resources, the marketing, the position to scale and support growth like this?"

Press release:

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards Committee has announced the 2012 Annual Award Dinner will be held on Saturday, April 13 at the Clarion Hotel, Park Road, Batavia. This is the county’s premier event that honors businesses and individuals for their achievements in business, community service and volunteerism.

The chamber has streamlined its nomination forms to make submissions less cumbersome and time consuming. Please note that a brief write-up will qualify your nominee for consideration. Nominations are now being accepted for: Business of the Year; Entrepreneurial Business of the Year; Agricultural Business of the Year; Innovative Enterprise of the Year; Special Service Recognition; and Geneseean of the Year. Business nominees must be a chamber member (If unsure of your nominee, call the chamber to verify). 

Nomination forms are available at the chamber of commerce office, 210 E. Main St., Batavia. and can also be downloaded from the chamber Web site at www.geneseeny.com.

If you would like more information, feel free to call Kelly J. Bermingham, director of Membership & Special Events, at the chamber office, 343-7440, ext. 26.

Press release:

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce has just launched its newly redesigned Web site at www.GeneseeNY.com. Web site visitors will notice easier navigation in finding relevant community information, such as census data, major employers, employment information, as well as an easier to search chamber member database.  

Key upgrades were made to the Community Calendar section and adding interactive functionality. The new site also allows users to easily print the data they find on the site. 

The chamber is currently seeking updates to the popular Clubs & Organizations directory for Genesee County.  Please visit the Community section of the new site to see if your club or organization's data is listed. If it is not listed, we need your updated contact information.

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce is currently updating is Clubs & Organizations Directory and needs your help. All information is posted on the Web site www.geneseeny.com and the chamber receives numerous phone calls from people looking for this information, however, most of it is outdated.

If you are the main contact of an organization, and need to update your information, contact Melissa A. George at 343-7440, ext. 27, or email chamber@geneseeny.com

For the 40th straight year, business and community leaders gathered to honor a group of hard working and visionary people who help enrich life in Genesee County.

The chamber of commerce awards ceremony was held at the Clarion Hotel again this year and more than 300 people attended.

Stories about the 2011 winners:

• Geneseean of the Year thrives on helping people become all they can be
• Baskin Livestock blossomed from a good idea, labor and luck
• Adept Equipment Services -- the 'go-to-guys' for all things mechanical
• Graham Corp. puts high premium on small community and its workers
• Arctic Refrigeration Co. of Batavia heating things up
• Palm Island Indoor Water Park making a big splash

If you're unable to view the slide show, click here. 

To purchase prints of these photos, click here.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of a series prepared on behalf of the tourism agency of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce. The new tourism guide was recently published and is available at the chamber's office and will soon be available at other tourism locations. The guide is also available for download from the official tourism site for Genesee County, VisitGeneseeNY.com.

Of all the art and artifacts in Tony Kutter's home in Corfu, one he's quick to show off is a German beer stein presented to his father, Leo, after he completed his training in making handcrafted cheese.

The hand-painted stein depicts craftsmen making cheese.

“In Germany, if you went to school for a vocation, you would get an occupational stein to keep," Tony said.

Leo Kutter started his cheese-making career after World War I. Kutter had served in the German infantry as a teenager, was wounded, captured by Allied troops, escaped, and by the time the war ended decided he wanted to learn to make cheese.

One day, a boss suggested "you're a young man without a wife or child -- you ought to move to America and seek out better opportunities.”

Kutter set his sights on the then-boomtown of Buffalo and arrived at Ellis Island with only $16 in his pocket.

There were plenty of jobs available for immigrants in Buffalo in the 1920s.

"When he came to America, Buffalo was the largest manufacturing metropolis in the world," Tony Kutter said.

Leo Kutter took a job in a cheese factory and dreamed of owning his own business.

Kutter's Cheese opened in Corfu in 1947 when Tony was 14.

"I admired my father because he was steadfast and he worked hard," said Tony. "I learned from him to appreciate good work habits. I remember as a teenager, I wanted to play football and do all that stuff and he said, 'ah, that's just a waste of time.' I would come home after school, change my clothes and wash milk cans and get things ready for the next day."

There was time for fun, but Tony and his friends, who were all sons of dairy farmers, would complain about their chores and work life.

"Of course, we all thought we were being abused," Tony said with a chuckle.

Tony and his brother Richard learned the cheese business, but Leo Kutter didn't live long enough to see Kutter's grow into a nationally known brand of speciality cheeses.

Leo died when Tony and Richard were in their 20s and the brothers took over the business, with Tony running the factory and and Richard keeping the books.

"My father prepared me for my life and taught me how to set some goals and work hard," Tony said. "He prepared me for being successful in business. I think you can take the easy route, but my father wanted to start a business so much that when he died, I felt obligated to carry it on."

The business paid for Tony's three children to go to college and start careers of their own. The factory is now owned and operated by Yancey's Fancy, and the outlet store in Corfu is owned by Brian and Heather Bailey and Christine Adamczak.

It also opened a door for Tony to go to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and help Russian entrepreneurs get started in the cheese business.

Kutter speaks Russian and owns bits of Russian history, such as sculptures, antique toy trains and a Soviet propaganda flag, all collected over the course of 31 trips to Siberia over a 12-year span.

He helped set up a cheese factory in Omsk that would serve as the central employer of 300 Mennonites.

Mennonites, being of German heritage, would have been granted permission to flee Siberia and return to Germany as refugees, but at the time Germany was suffering from high unemployment, and an influx of refugees would’ve only added to the problem. Instead, the German government offered to pay shipping costs to Omsk for all the necessary equipment for a cheese factory there.

"It was so interesting and rewarding to be able to help those people,” Kutter said.

The Mennonites learned to make cheese the Kutter way, which is to go well beyond a mere sharp cheddar -- the primary cheese being made in New York when Tony and Richard took over Kutter's -- and add flavors to create different specialty cheeses.

"I developed different varieties, such as horseradish cheese," said Kutter. "Everybody is copying me now. I was the first guy to make that stuff and they're making it in California now."

Even so, Tony is proud of the success he's had and warns others who might go into business for themselves: it's hard work.

"My father always told me if you‘re going to do something, be as good at it as you can be and make sure you really like it."

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of a series prepared on behalf of the tourism agency of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce. The new tourism guide was recently published and is available at the chamber's office and will soon be available at other tourism locations. The guide is also available for download from the official tourism site for Genesee County, VisitGeneseeNY.com.

At a time when institutions across New York are cutting back on arts program, Genesee Community College built a new, modern art gallery.

The Rosalie "Roz" Steiner Art Gallery is one of several forward-looking initiatives taken by GCC over the years that attracted Shirley Tokash Verrico to a job at the college.

Verrico teaches art history and is director of the gallery.

"It speaks a lot to the commitment of the college to education and the arts,"  Verrico said. "The college has had the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Genesee County Symphony in the arts center. They've done a wonderful job of balancing a commitment to both regional and community arts."

The Steiner gallery opened in the Spring of 2011. The 1,700-square-foot gallery is located inside the Center for the Arts on the Batavia campus of GCC. The gallery is named in honor of a tireless and strong supporter of the arts -- the late wife of longtime college President Stuart Steiner, now retired.

The combination of its soft white walls and lighting, ample natural light, gleaming wooden floors and uncluttered displays, makes for a space that is peaceful, roomy and well-designed, a formula that can only enhance the visitor's experience.

"The gallery space works really well for both multimedia and traditional art forms," Verrico said. "Those white walls can accommodate big paintings, but it's also a good space for sculpture."

The gallery is open to the public and admission is free, but Verrico said she is really trying to bring in shows that also provide teaching opportunities for students across disciplines.

With more than 15 years experience as an artist, cultural critic and educator in Western New York, Verrico is an expert in the regional arts scene. She holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, master's degree in Arts and Humanities and is a NYS certified art teacher.

Artists selected for showings at the gallery come from throughout the region, from Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo as well as Genesee County and the neighboring rural counties.

The media of the shows are as wide ranging as the artists selected, from  ceramics, glassworks, metal sculptures, abstract modern art, portraiture, watercolors and traditional oil paintings, and a wide array of pen-and-ink and charcoal drawings, along with interactive and multimedia displays.

Shows change every five weeks.

"Our gallery offers an excellent opportunity to see professional work in a state-of-the-art facility," Verrico said.

The spring showings feature the works of GCC students.

The grand opening, for example, featured large-scale sculpture and traditional paintings on canvas. Both worked very well in the gallery space.

When Verrico is in the gallery, she's generally available, and enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge about the work on display.

Currently, the gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Hours may vary during college breaks, including the summer sessions. Groups interested in visiting the gallery on weekends should contact Verrico in advance to make special arrangements.

The campus is at 1 College Road in the Town of Batavia. Once you arrive, park in the main lot, walk toward the main entrance, and on your left you'll see the "Stuart Steiner Theatre." Enter it, turn right, and the gallery is straight ahead.

Check out the website or contact the gallery to see what's on exhibit and the line-up of special events. Plus, you might get a chance to meet the artists, experience live music, or take in a performance at the Center for the Arts. Maybe you'll find a unique piece of art for sale that you simply must have!

Here's contact information:

http://www.genesee.edu/campuslife/arts/gallery/

(585) 343-0055, ext. 6490

stverrico@genesee.edu

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of a series prepared on behalf of the tourism agency of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce. The new tourism guide was recently published and is available at the chamber's office and will soon be available at other tourism locations. The official tourism site for Genesee County is VisitGeneseeNY.com.

Some people leave their mark on the land by building highways and shopping centers.

Paul Osborn is leaving his mark by making Genesee County's parks more accessible and inviting to visitors.

Osborn started his parks career 12 years ago after getting a degree in landscape architecture, but he thinks he made the right choice when he decided to apply to the county for a parks job.

"It was an opportunity to be part of creating something that will be there forever," Osborn said. "It my chance to create a legacy, to leave my stamp on things."

When Osborn took over as parks supervisor, the Genesee County Park in Bethany was in pretty bad shape, he said, and Dewitt Recreational Area was less than two years old and needed a lot of improvements.

"It was an opportunity to show what I could do for the community," said Osborn, a native of Oakfield who still lives in Genesee County with his wife of 12 years, Melinda, and their two children.

The vast Genesee County Park, covering 430 acres, was beset by disrepair when Osborn started. The bridges were getting old, the pavilions needed fixing, the playgrounds weren't up to standards and the facilities management structure was just a hut with a dirt floor.

Slowly, Osborn was able to rehabilitate the park infrastructure, and improve access for people with disabilities.

Today, the park is one of the gems to attract people to Genesee County.

With more than 150,000 trees, which were planted between 1885 and 1935, the park was the first county forest established in New York’s history.

Its four acres of wetlands provide habitat for waterfowl. There are also five ponds, a few of which are good fishing spots.

Visitors can enjoy five picnic areas and four playgrounds. There are pavilions equipped with grills and restrooms at each area. Hikers, walkers, runners and long-distance skiers can enjoy more than 10 miles of marked and mapped trails.

There's also a baseball and football field, horseshoe pits, volleyball courts, and a sledding hill.

Dewitt Recreational Area, on Cedar Street in Batavia, is where Osborn has been able to exercise some of his creative energy.

While there was a master plan in place for Dewitt when he took over, it doesn't specify every detail of development. This allowed Osborne to choose the design of pavilions, select picnic tables and playground equipment and decide the best placement for them all.

And the park is still a work in progress.

Currently, it offers a state-of-the-art playground in easy view of either of its pavilions, plus a quarter-mile track, all on the edge of a large pond. The water is stocked each spring with brown trout, providing a lure to young anglers right in the city.

Since Osborn took over the parks, the Nature Center at Genesee County Park has also undergone its own kind of upgrades (the center is off Bethany Center Road, the last left before crossing the county line).

With the help of Judy Spring, environmental education specialist, programs have been added, displays made more interactive and marketing has been improved so local residents can stay apprised of what's going on at the center.

The 3,000-square-foot center was built in 1998. It offers a laboratory, a classroom, several display areas and a conference room. From the back porch, visitors are often able to view wildlife hanging out in their natural setting. The center is open year-round Thursday through Sunday, with hours varying according to the season. 

"The nice thing about our parks is that there’s something for everyone when they come,” Osborn said.

While Osborn is no naturalist -- he considers himself a facilitator for the parks, and finds the right experts to help with forestry and wetlands management -- he does think the parks play an important role in a healthy community.

He frets about childhood obesity and that too many children today do not get enough opportunities to play in the dirt.

"Last year we had a small girl from Batavia who had never been outside in the woods," Osborn said. "She needed a leader to hold her hand because she had never been in the woods before.

"Here we are living in a rural community and there is a little girl who has never been in the woods. That's just shameful for society. We need the chance for natural experiences."

Photos by Howard Owens

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce today announced the 2011 honorees who will be feted at the 40th Annual Awards Ceremony on April 14 at the Clarion Hotel in Batavia. However, the Geneseean of the Year has not yet been named.

Here are the award recipients:

Business of the Year: Arctic Refrigeration Company of Batavia, Inc.  

Agricultural Business of the Year: Baskin Livestock, Inc.

Industry of the Year: Graham Corporation

Entrepreneurial Business of the Year: Adept Equipment Services

Innovative Enterprise of the Year: Palm Island Indoor Waterpark at the Clarion Hotel

Geneseean of the Year:  To Be Announced

This is the county’s premier event that honors businesses and individuals for their achievements in business, community service and volunteerism. If you would like to attend, tickets are $50 per person or a table of 10 for $450.

The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres. There will be entrée tables and a cash bar (No formal sit-down dinner will be served). The award program starts at 7 and dessert and coffee will be served at that time.

Call Kelly J. Bermingham, at 343-7440, ext. 26, to make your reservations or with any questions you may have.

Reminder...

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce's Annual Awards Committee has announced the 2011 Annual Awards Dinner will be held on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the Clarion Hotel, Park Road, Batavia. This is the county’s premier event that honors businesses and individuals for their achievements in business, community service and volunteerism.

The chamber has streamlined its nomination forms to make submissions less cumbersome and time consuming. Please note that a brief write-up will qualify your nominee for consideration.

Nominations are now being accepted for Business of the Year, Entrepreneurial Business of the Year, Agricultural Business of the Year, Innovative Enterprise of the Year, Special Service Recognition and Geneseean of the Year. Business Nominees must be a chamber member (If unsure of your nominee, call the chamber to verify).

Nomination forms are available at the Chamber of Commerce office, 210 E. Main St., Batavia and can also be downloaded from the chamber website at www.geneseeny.com.

If you would like more information, feel free to call Kelly J. Bermingham, director of Membership & Special Events at the chamber office, 343-7440, ext. 26.

Deadline for nominations is Jan. 6

• Business of the Year Award

The nominee must have demonstrated significant business stability, commitment to the business community, community service and leadership.

• Entreprenuerial Business of the Year

Leading the way in the development of business through opportunities that created uniqueness of business ideas and initiation of the owner.

• Agricultural Business of the Year

Nominee must be considered an agri-business and have demonstrated steady or increased growth in this industry.

• Innovative Enterprise of the Year

A business that is successfully generating and implementing new or novel ideas and methods.

• Special Service Recognition

Does not have to be a business. Can be an organization, club, government agency, educational institute or health care facility that is recognizing a major event or activity/activities. Must have had lasting benefit to the community at large for that organization.

• Geneseean of the Year

A person who has made an outstanding contribution to the community, contributed or volunteered beyond the call of duty, a true unsung hero of today. Person must be a resident of Genesee County.

(Members of the chamber of commerce board of directors are not eligible for awards.)

Members of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce gathered at Terry Hills this afternoon for the chamber's annual meeting and installation of officers.

Chamber President Lynn Freeman gave an update on chamber activities and spoke about the chamber's decision to partner with Tompkins Insurance to provide a new health insurance plan to members (key reasons -- the ability to offer monthly payments for members and eliminating a fee the chamber had to charge with the former plan).

JoAnne McInerney from Tompkins also spoke about the state of the health insurance industry and the trend away from co-pay plans to higher deductible plans.

Press release:

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce has for some time been concerned with rising medical insurance premium costs and the impact they have on the small business community. In order to better serve members that provide employee benefits, the chamber is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Tompkins Insurance Agencies to provide health insurance programs for its members.

Tompkins Insurance will now be the health insurance provider for the chamber, a move that will immediately reduce health insurance costs for most members by eliminating service fees. This partnership also adds flexibility in making premium payments, as well as offering a wider variety of policies from which to choose.

“Tompkins Insurance is honored to have been chosen by the chamber to help it provide its valued members with quality, cost-effective benefits for their employees, especially in these unsettled economic times,” said David Boyce, president and CEO of Tompkins Insurance.

The licensed professionals at Tompkins Insurance will work with the chamber to identify different options in health insurance and other employee benefit programs. The goal will be to customize programs to meet the varied needs of members’ businesses in the most economical way.

“This arrangement is being put in place to address the issue of continually rising health insurance premiums in challenging economic times. The chamber is confident this partnership will help control costs and offer savings opportunities, flexibility and more options to our members,” said chamber President Lynn Freeman.

Jeff Boshart, board chair of the chamber said, “We feel this alliance with Tompkins Insurance is especially significant in that it not only provides our members with top-notch insurance programs and services, but that they will be provided to chamber members, by a chamber member.”

This information was provided by Genesee Community College.

Jerry Kozlowski has been appointed to the "Higher Education Work Group" of Governor Cuomo's Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council.

Kozlowski will assist the council with the development of a comprehensive, five-year strategic plan to galvanize regional and local economic development for the Finger Lakes area. The workgroup has been defined as the "heart of the Council's work" by the Governor.

New York's 10 Regional Economic Development Council's are tasked to assemble detailed strategies to capitalize on principal regional economic drivers and other opportunities, and to address critical issues that have impeded appropriate economic growth.

The timetable is ambitious and work needs to be completed by mid-November. A final decision from Albany in December will outline how almost $1 billion dollars in new state funding will be allocated to the 10 regions.

"I am honored to be a part of this important work" Kozlowski said. "Millions of dollars are at stake for the GLOW region and I look forward to helping our team identify and develop transformative projects that achieve our region's many needs."

Kozlowski currently serves as the associate vice president for Workforce Development at Genesee Community College and is the incoming chairman of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.