Earlier this week, the Genesee County Economic Development Center issued a press release on the promotion of Batavia resident Mark Masse from senior vice president of operations to president and chief executive officer.
Masse, 51, (in file photo at right) is a lifelong Genesee County resident, growing up in Stafford, graduating from Le Roy Central School and spending some of his spare time at Adam Miller Toys & Bicycle on Center Street in Batavia – a business started by his grandfather and later owned by his mother, Joyce, and uncle, Gary Miller.
An avid golfer and bowler, Masse joined the Polish Falcons leagues in both sports in 1995 and has been participating ever since. The start of his 30th year in the bowling league will be delayed a bit, however, due to a scheduled hip replacement in October.
He has a daughter, Grace, and 6-month-old granddaughter, Kennedy, and a son, Jack.
Masse is a certified public account who worked for Freed, Maxick & Battaglia for 15 years before being hired by the GCEDC.
On Thursday afternoon, Masse sat down with The Batavian to talk about his expanded role with the agency, which will be official on Aug. 1. He succeeds Steve Hyde, who guided the organization as president and CEO for the past 21 years.
Q. You’re succeeding Steve Hyde in the lead role with the agency. Is that something that you had been discussing with Steve after he announced his retirement last month?
A. I think it was just a natural progression, to be honest. When I started here, the position was created to help Steve with the number of projects that we had ongoing and STAMP (Western New York Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park in the Town of Alabama) was just getting off the ground at the time. Over the years, it’s something that I’ve enjoyed doing and I learned a lot from Steve. When it came time for him to retire, I was here with the right kind of experience and knowledge to be able to hopefully step in and continue on what he had started.
Q. Your title was senior vice president of operations. Have there been any other changes now in (employees’) titles. Has anyone moved into the VP/Operations position?
A. No other changes at this point in time but that’s not to say there couldn’t be some in the future. But for now, no.
Q. Steve Hyde has left a big imprint on this corporation with everything that he has done over the years, not just with the STAMP site but throughout the county. You have big shoes to fill. What are your thoughts about trying to fill those shoes and do you have specific things that you’re looking to do?
A. Obviously, we want to continue the momentum we've had in the past … such as our corporate business parks that are almost full. We’ll be starting to look at some other future parks. But we do face some significant challenges, especially the water capacities in the county and it’s no secret. That’s a large issue that the county is diligently working on, but it could be a few years before we get those capacities. I think the electric grid is seeing significant challenges as well --with the shutdown of fossil fuels -- and alternative energy generation projects coming on. We’re running into a lot of issues with capacities on the utility lines. We want to develop a few more corporate business parks but until some of those capacity issues get addressed, it's going to be difficult. But fortunately, we have STAMP that we can continue to work on and can continue to attract tenants to and build out.
Q. Now that you brought up STAMP, you’ve had some legal issues there with trying to push wastewater to Oak Orchard Creek (in Orleans County). Where does that stand now and do you feel that you will be resolving that issue?
A. So, one of the lawsuits was resolved, the one with Orleans County on the article 78, that was ruled in our favor. The eminent domain one was heard on April 16. And we're waiting to hear back on that. I think there are opportunities to come back together and discuss things and try and work things out. Ultimately, we are also looking at other options; we have to look at other alternatives that might be available to us. I'm confident one way or another, we'll figure out a solution. One of the things that we've always done is we've been able to figure out a way to get things done. And I think that's emphatic of what Genesee County is, right? We're resilient. We're determined, and to some extent, we're all a little stubborn.
Q. How is the agency’s relationship with Orleans County? Has it been hampered or hurt because of this Oak Orchard Creek issue? Do other alternatives include working with the Town of Oakfield?
A. We are looking at a short-term solution, potentially for sanitary sewer to go the Oakfield treatment plant. I don't want to say that, you know, Orleans County relations are hurt. I mean, people, neighbors fight all the time, siblings fight all the time. And I think that after some time, after we've had a chance to kind of settle down, I think there's an opportunity to get back together and see if we can work it out.
Q. One of the criticisms you hear on social media, from the so-called experts, is that the GCEDC just hands out money. Those who cover the GCEDC know that there’s a formula involved (for determining tax abatements), but how to you fight and overcome that perception?
A. One thing that we always try to do is meet with our stakeholders as much as we can and we try and explain the process. I present to the Leadership Genesee class every year about who we are, what we do, and my three top slides that are we don't give out money. So, it's an abatement and I don't think people truly understand how that works. They feel like we're subsidizing a company. But if you look at the way tax rates are and the municipal services that corporations draw versus municipal services that residents draw, corporations are generally around 70 cents or so let's say out of $1 for services while residences are like $1.20. So, even if a corporation comes in -- number one, the fire district fees are never abated, those are always paid 100 percent. So those corporations are helping to offset those costs of services that municipalities offer that the residents use. It's not too often that those corporations draw down those services. The PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) revenue that's being generated is usually significantly more than what the vacant land or the previous land was generating for those municipalities as well. Not to mention that you're creating jobs locally that those people are going to spend their money here; you've got a company that's going to buy from local companies or bring in other revenue from outside the community.
Q. Do you have a one-year, five-year, and 10-year strategic plans? What are some of the strategies going forward?
A. That’s a process that the board (of directors) is going to undertake and we (staff) will undertake with them. Shortly, we'll examine what's out there and see what land is available, where it would make sense to potentially look at another corporate business park and what other sectors we want to try and get involved in. I think one of the areas we've seen where there's a bit of a shortfall is in workforce training and workforce development. I think there's an untapped market for us to be able to assist our local ag farmers in trying to find some skill sets and trainings for some of their employees. A lot of what their employees do are the skilled trade work on a regular basis that we've seen a significant decline in over the years, and we're trying to get kids excited about and get back into.
Q. The GCEDC has been pretty active in the Pembroke area. Are there other areas in the county that are untapped, so to speak?
A. A lot of that is going to be driven by the location and the size and the capacities and the infrastructure that's there. Unfortunately, the majority of large scale water, large scale sewer and electric is generally around where the Thruway exits are. However, there is a significant need for single-family housing market rate apartments in our communities. And we've reached out to a few of the outlying communities about what opportunities might be there, if they've got areas identified for housing because that seems to be what they are interested in -- is trying to attract people. In the most recent census, I think Genesee County's lost like 1,500 people over the last couple of years. So, we aren't growing and we need to figure out a way to do that. And one of the keys is to have housing here for people.
(The GCEDC’s corporate park sites include Apple Tree Acres in Bergen; Buffalo East Tech Park in Pembroke; Gateway I & II, Genesee Valley Agribusiness Park and Upstate Medtech Park in the Town of Batavia; and Le Roy Food & Tech Park).
Q. Are you connected with the apartment complex that is going on next to you (on College Road)?
A. Yes, that’s a market rate apartment complex that a gentleman will be renting those units out. It’s called Medtech Landing. We did sell the land, obviously, that was part of our Medtech Park. We did incentivize that with a PILOT and sales tax and mortgage tax abatement on there as well. And then part of those funds are going to be used to fund our Batavia Home Fund, which will help with some programs within the City of Batavia for housing. We just recently had our first draw on that for a gentleman who replaced the roof on his house and got a grant from the Batavia Home Fund to cover 50 percent or 60 percent of the cost of replacing his roof.
Q. Speaking of the City of Batavia, there's a something sitting there called Ellicott Station, which has not been completed and could be considered as an embarrassment to the city. What is GCEDC’s role in getting tenants in there?
A. The GCEDC board terminated all of its benefits that were awarded to that -- the PILOT, the sales tax and mortgage tax. I think our board's position is that unless it's going to be market rate., we don’t have a desire to participate in that project. Now, where it stands, I don't know. That's up to (Buffalo developer) Sam Savarino. People have said there's been work on going out there. I don't really know what's going on. We haven't been contacted by anybody who's been interested in trying to acquire it and using our any of our incentives that we have.
Q. What do you feel your strengths are – things that you have already brought to the company – and what are some of the things you need to work on?
A. I definitely think I have an extensive background from accounting with a wide variety of businesses and learning how to interpret financial statements and how to work with a company and how to work with people. I do think that my people skills are good. You know, I think that people know that I care and know that I work hard. And I truly believe in what I'm doing here. And everybody here believes in what we're doing here and trying to move our county forward and make it a better place. Working with Steve, he's brought me along. So, I have a lot of those key relationships with stakeholders as well. We do need to work on things like public perception. I think there’s some messaging we can get out there. Not everybody's going to believe it. But I think there's opportunities out there to try … and engage people and provide that information.
Q. Getting back to STAMP, there was a big presentation by Senator Schumer a couple years ago about Plug Power coming there. Right now, the company’s stock has bottomed out and they just received a $1.66 billion conditional loan from the Department of Energy. Is Plug Power going to make it?
A. They’ve told us they have full intentions of finishing their project at the STAMP site. They have put it on pause temporarily. Beyond that, I think any other questions would be for them directly. I don't ever like to speak for a private company and what they've got going on. They've received incentives no different than most other companies. And we do have triggers in there similar to like with Savarino that if things were to go bad, that there are opportunities for us to not only cancel those, but potentially claw them back. But there's been nothing done to date that would lead us to go down that path.
Q. Is there a company operational now at STAMP?
A. No, Edwards Vacuum has just broken ground and they're under construction. They’re in the semiconductor supply chain. They make dry vacuum pumps, which means there's no oil lubrication in the pumps at all. So they're used in the semiconductor industry in the sub floor to help regulate gases and clean the air within clean rooms. Basically, they're the premier pump manufacturer for most semiconductor manufacturers. These particular pumps were only made overseas. So, by building in the U.S., they're significant cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by locating closer to their potential customers and their current customers and to be able to truck those pumps to them. They intend to complete construction by June or July of next year. (Edwards Vacuum is owned by Atlas Copco, a worldwide company).
Q. Did you get a raise? It’s public knowledge. What is your salary?
A. (After a hearty laugh), It will be in the contract and I would prefer not to (disclose it now) but if you ask for it later, we’ll have to provide it.
(According to the GCEDC, Masse’s compensation in 2023 was $129,369, while Hyde earned $263,161. Masse said his new salary is less than what Hyde was making).
I’m very, very fortunate not only for the salary but the opportunity and the confidence that the board and our local communities have put in me and the people I work with put in me to be able to continue this going forward.
