Cerrone Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning has been providing services to our community for over 25 years, and they are currently looking to expand their team by hiring plumbers. This family owned business is offering: Competitive experience based pay and bonuses, a range of benefits including health and dental insurance, and 401(k) options.
Cerrone prides themselves on their personalized approach for their clients; as they often say, “There is no project too big, or too small!” Cerrone’s dedication inspires team members to work hard – for the team as well as the client. To help keep their experience top-notch, Cerrone is looking for individuals with experience installing and servicing residential and commercial plumbing.
There is a high demand for plumbers in the workforce these days: both SUNY Adirondack and Hudson Valley Community College offer courses in the foundations of plumbing. These programs are self paced, completely online-based, and provide students with the necessary qualifications to gain an entry level plumbing position.
If you are a hardworking and dedicated plumber, Cerrone Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning is looking for you! If you would like more information, please call (518) 798-6560, or email cerroneplumbing@yahoo.com.
Essential duties include, but are not limited to:
Installation of the following: Pex Tubing, PVC, Drain Venting Piping, Plumbing Fixtures
Ability to drive and operate a van
Work at heights and depths of 30 ft
Must be able to work under ground, above ceilings, and in confined spaces, and be able to maneuver and carry equipment to those spaces
Ability to bend, crouch and kneel and reach overhead
Usually in and out of heated and protected areas, but occasional exposure to heat, cold rain and snow may occur
To perform this job successfully, an individual must meet the following criteria:
2 or more years of experience with plumbing
High school diploma or equivalent
Ability to multitask while coordinating a high volume of work
Park & Elm – the new lunch spot and market – held a successful open house on Saturday, November 19th. This new Glens Falls hotspot features grocery items and a delicatessen. Customers wandered the aisles, appreciating both the offerings and the decor. During the opening, Park & Elm offered a casual look around, the opportunity to order from the deli, and purchase grocery items. There were also samples offered by The Argyle Cheese Farmer! Glens Falls mayor Bill Collins, fifth ward supervisor Ben Driscoll, and Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner were among those in attendance for the opening.
Opening crowd at Park & Elm
This was only the beginning for the location, as a full restaurant will also share the space: Doc’s Restaurant – which closed its doors on that same evening – will be rebranding and filling the restaurant space. Doc’s originally operated across the street out of the Park Theater, but was in need of more space due to rising demand. Park & Elm will be focusing on farm to table ingredients provided by local producers. The market is located at 19 Park Street, and will be open Tuesday through Sunday, from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
The restaurant space was also on display during the opening. The exposed brick walls, dark wooden tables and electric blue accent walls promise to create a perfect dining atmosphere.
Bar Park & Elm
The restaurant’s mailing list is focusing on building that excitement in days to come. It will be used to keep customers up to date on when the opening will be taking place, as well as offer opportunities to be among the first to make reservations. The Park & Elm restaurant is expected to open in December. For more information, visit Park-Elm.com.
On Wednesday, November 16th, Texas-based Lehigh Hanson announced that Lehigh Cement Company of Glens Falls will be closing in 2023, citing changes in cost effectiveness of the aging plant as the primary reason. The plant currently employs 85 full-time workers, who will reportedly be offered job search and financial assistance.
This plant has been in operation at 313 Warren Street for almost 130 years. It opened in 1893, and is located on over 20 acres on the banks of the Hudson River; the company itself owns about 66 acres around that area, according to city records. Lehigh Cement produced Type 1, 11, and 111 Masonry, according to their website. Lehigh Henson is planning a phased shutdown for the plant, concluding in 2023.
“The decision to halt production at a plant is always difficult. We are thankful for the dedication and efforts of our Glens Falls workforce over the years, and we will work to minimize the impacts to our employees and the community as much as possible” said Alex Car, president of Lehigh Hanson’s Northeast Region, in a prepared statement. Lehigh Henson plans on moving operations to a new state-of-the-art and energy-efficient cement plant in Mitchell, Indiana. Cement coming to this region will now come from that plant.
The move follows more than thirteen years of sustained growth for the wealth advisory firm and will bring new insights to client portfolios.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — Minich MacGregor Wealth Management, an SEC-registered investment advisor with offices in Saratoga Springs, NY, and St. Augustine, FL, is pleased to announce the addition of Andrew Pallas to the firm’s wealth management team.
Andrew has been working in the financial industry for more than 8 years and was working as a financial planner for a local credit union’s wealth management division. With a focus on working with families and business owners, he brings a holistic approach to wealth management that addresses his client’s planning needs. Andrew is actively working towards his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ designation.
“It’s a privilege to join the team at Minich MacGregor, and I look forward to continuing the work that Jason and Jim started thirteen years ago. From the first meeting, it felt like the right fit, and it was clear that the Minich MacGregor team cares deeply about their clients’ best interests. I’m excited to bring my skills and abilities to the firm and help our clients simplify the complexities of their financial success,” Andrew Pallas said about the move.
“We’ve grown a lot here at Minich MacGregor, and we have done that by focusing on our client’s long-term financial challenges and goals. With Andrew joining our team, we will be able to help more and more families in the Saratoga Springs area,” said Jason MacGregor, who co-founded Minich MacGregor Wealth Management with Jim Minich in 2009.
Contact Minich MacGregor Building: 4 Congress Park Centre 21 Congress Street, Suite 203 | Saratoga Springs, NY | 12866 Direct: 518.499.4565 | Toll-free: 866.998.7331 | Fax: 518.430.0090 Email: yourteam@mmwealth.com Website: mmwealth.com
The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce has a new leader, and she hopes to continue to be a voice for local businesses in the community.
Tricia Rogers took over as President and CEO of the ARCC in August, and recently discussed her first month on the job with Mike Nelson of Glens Falls Today’s ‘Five Minutes With…’ program.
“First of all, I can’t believe it’s been 30 days already,” Rogers said. “The time is completely flying by. … I feel so lucky to lead the organization in a community that I love and am so passionate about.”
Rogers has worked in a membership role for five years at ARCC, and said that in addition to her new duties, she will continue to fill the role while the hiring process continues.
“I’m still in the membership role as of today, since we are actively hiring for my old job,” said Rogers. “It’s been a duality here, because obviously bringing members in is what keeps us going, and now learning the role of President and CEO.”
The ARCC’s new CEO said that for the remainder of 2022, the focus will be on “what we’re strategically going to plan for 2023.”
“I think through the end of this year, we want to continue to get in front of elected officials, continue to work with our members on advocacy or what their needs are,” Rogers said. “Our mission is to serve our membership, so as things pop up, we want to make sure that we’re available.”
On the topic of membership, Rogers also stressed the goal of reaching out to all ARCC members and remaining approachable and accessible.
“I want to reach out to our membership individually,” Rogers said. “That’s a goal of mine which will take a lot of time, but I think it’s important that they understand who we are, what we represent, what we’re doing, how accessible we are, and that as this great community, we are here to help.”
The CEO stressed that the ARCC is 100% member-funded, and that their goal is to “serve this business community.”
“If you were to reach out to myself or any of my team, we will get back to you,” said Rogers. “We invite people in to see us. Come up to us at events. … There’s something special about this organization, and we are here. I promise you, we’re the four most passionate people you’ll ever meet. We will make sure that your questions are answered, and that we’re really excited to be here and make the connections, and lead this community.”
And as the year begins to reach its final months, Rogers said the ARCC “is in a great place, currently.”
“We have a solid membership, we have a great group of leadership circle members, we have great events that we are putting on annually,” Rogers said. “We’re coming off a challenging time with COVID, and we, as an organization, couldn’t be in a better place. So that’s exciting.”
The ARCC has sprung off numerous councils and committees, with Rogers naming the Veterans Business Network, the Women’s Business Council, the Workplace Health and Wellness Council, and the Adirondack Nonprofit Business Council.
Rogers noted that “this is all in addition to our monthly mixers and our lunch and learns,” saying the organization wants to “continue on that path,” in addition to representing the small business community.
“We want to make sure that we are a voice for our small business community,” said Rogers. “So if there’s any issues out there that we need to be aware of, we always encourage our members to reach out to us, and we certainly guide and help the best that we can.”
The ARCC will look to bring in new events during 2023, Rogers mentioned, in addition to numerous plans for the remainder of this year.
“We have a solid September-October,” Rogers said. “We have a solid two months of great events coming up. I encourage everyone to check our website, check out the events. If you have any questions, give us a call. We’re happy to talk you through it.”
QUEENSBURY — Warren County celebrated hospitality and retail workers at the Six Flags Great Escape on Monday, September 12, offering prizes, food, and rides.
Over 200 local workers attended the event, according to a press release from the County. The Warren County Employment and Training Administration held the event in collaboration with the Great Escape to “reward the often unsung heroes of our tourism and retail industries,” states the release.
“It was our pleasure to host the inaugural seasonal employee appreciation event last night,” said Great Escape Resort President Rebecca Wood in the release. “It was amazing to see the business participation and to support our collective workforce. We look forward to making this an annual celebration. Our teams deserve the best.”
Gift cards to restaurants and stores, as well as free tickets to “local attractions” were given out to employees during the event. Attendees were informed of winter employment opportunities at Gore Mountain and Ice Castles, and offerings from the Warren County Employment and Training Administration.
“While the workforce shortage continues across all sectors, it is important that we celebrate and retain our workforce to keep our economy going,” said Liza Ochsendorf, Warren County Director of Employment and Training in the release. “This event was a team effort that included the enthusiastic partnership of Six Flags Great Escape, the generous donations of prizes from many local businesses and the time the hospitality businesses took to nominate their employees for the various awards categories. Warren County is now a 365-day tourism economy and we have plenty of work for everyone year-round.”
Proceeds from ticket sales went to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Southern Adirondacks, the release states, with guests of employees costing $5. Workers were admitted for free.
“We have seen a multitude of benefits when our returning seasonal workers work elsewhere in the winter,” said Patrick Welton, Resort Manager of Lake George Escape Campground, in the release. “They have additional skills, experience, and they can cross-promote our area’s offerings. I intend on giving two additional paid days off to my returning seasonal workers who obtained a winter job somewhere else.”
Staff from Glens Falls Hospital also sold raffle tickets, with the winner receiving a Toyota Rav4 Hybrid from Romeo Toyota. The drawing will take place in February 2023, according to the release.
“The goal is that this event will become a fixture on the Monday evening following Adirondack Nationals Car Show, so hospitality businesses can mark their calendars in advance and come celebrate together,” says the release.
Glens Falls Hospital has a new President and CEO, Paul Scimeca. Scimeca, 59, has spent 33 years working for the hospital and has held the interim role of President and CEO since January 1st. He began his career with Glens Falls Hospital in the communications department in 1989. In 1989, gas prices were 97 cents a gallon and George H. W. Bush was sworn in as president.
Scimeca has taken over the leadership position from Dianne Shugrue who held the position for 14 years. She held this top position during challenging times. During her tenure the hospital faced a fiscal crisis brought on by erroneous billing and the CoronaVirus Pandemic. It was also during her tenure that Glens Falls hospital became affiliated with Albany Med. Shugrue was praised by her colleague Dr. Chris Mason, the President of Glens Falls Medical staff, in an article posted on the hospital website, “It is said that smooth seas do not make skilled sailors. Diane Shugrue is a skilled sailor.” Shugrue retired December 31, 2021.
Scimeca, who has a calming and friendly demeanor, explains why he spent his career at the hospital. “The culture here is incredible. It is a reflection of the community’s deep concern for doing the best for the patients.” He said, during an interview on September first. Scimeca has found the work to be fulfilling and career opportunities were available. “It has been a tremendous place to make my career. It’s an organization that is evolving and developing.”
Scimeca balances the weight of the responsibility of his office. “Regardless of the job that you have at the hospital, at the end of everything there is a patient. It is a privilege to take care of that patient and take care of the community.”
He remains conscious of the needs of the community. “The industry is evolving and significant changes are happening every day.” Two and a half years into the pandemic, Scimeca sees the need for some fine tuning. “The Emergency Department is our front door. We need to provide the right environment for both caregivers and patients. Mental health is a big part of that for both the staff and the patients.” He said. The 43 bed Emergency Department takes care of more than 46,000 patients annually.
Scimeca was an unanimous choice of the Glens Falls Hospital Board of Governors.
Many SMBs (small & mid-sized businesses), and local employers, are looking to the big multi-national corporations to answer the question – “is hybrid work the new normal?”
We regularly see articles pointing toward the evolving decisions Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Google or Tesla are taking. Perhaps they are calling their employees back to the office, maybe they have gone fully remote, or perhaps they have seemingly split things down the middle with a hybrid approach. Either way, it may be misguided to take your SMB/local business direction from the popular tech giants.
Let’s consider the decision instead from the perspective of your team/employees and the scope, costs and risks of all three approaches.
Your Team (Employees)
In 2019 the lion’s share of local businesses believed their teams needed to be in the office and most of their teammates/employees likely agreed. However, after the last two years of trial, error, observation and learning, many employees, most notably knowledge workers, have come to a new decision. Love it or hate it, many knowledge workers now require the flexibility of working from home.
As we look at both retention of great talent, and the attraction of new talent, one thing is crystal clear – a flexible work environment is nearly a requirement to attract and retain top talent.
This newly felt requirement is driven by a number of “at home” considerations such as individual productivity, rising gas prices associated with the ‘ol commute, and child care or home school concerns. These concerns seem to have been highlighted by every business magazine for the past nearly two years.
A driving factor often not spoken about is the big multi-national organizations are now more virtual than ever and attracting small town, local business, top talent. They are allowing your, now former, top employee to work from the comfort of home while commanding a salary and benefits historically only available in big city, big corporations, all while the pool of available employees in most sectors has shrunk creating a classic supply v. demand problem to boot (another article, for another day).
It’s now 100% critical for the regional SMB to consider the risk of not embracing a flexible work environment and the cost to replace employees lost to new, virtual, “big business” opportunity if slow to respond!
Your Business Structure & Systems
No sooner do we acknowledge the employee risk, and make the decision to pivot our regional SMB to a more flexible virtual environment, we are quickly faced with a very contemporary second order problem.
Business structure and systems, and I don’t mean IT structure & systems, that’s an entirely different article as well. I’m referring to the people structure and systems that allow both the virtual, and on-site teams, to have an undeniably clear view of “what success looks like” and access to the tools required to succeed? Following is a partial list of both.
What success looks like in a hybrid environment:
Ability to build competence in role(s) virtually and in-house
Clear Functional Accountabilities for each role in the business
Clear Behavioral Accountabilities for each role in the business
Key Process Indicators (KPIs) or an alternative accountability system
A system to maintain, and further, company culture
Non-virtual team members incentivized to ensure success of the hybrid environment
Tools required to succeed in a hybrid environment:
A conscious Organization (people) Design
Electronic onboarding of virtual workforce
Boundaries of virtual workforce & work environment clearly identified and managed
Budget allocation for virtual workforce needs (technical & social)
Complaint decision-making, consistency and documentation of virtual role go/no go
Leadership & business system(s)
Leadership coaching/mentoring and/or training
Your Challenges (risks)
Pivoting to a virtual or hybrid work environment comes with a host of challenges or problems, the first of which is usually the emotional decision to make the switch. The second is most often the IT considerations to make it thrive. The third is most commonly, and I’m not advocating it should be, changes in policy to combat new employee “problems” popping up.
But the fourth challenge takes a little time to manifest! For those entering their 18-24 month timeline in a new hybrid or virtual environment, you are likely beginning to see weaknesses in both people & process leadership! A pivot to virtual is one of the fastest ways to shine a light on historically mediocre leadership, and culture, hidden by a co-located team. One more pro-tip: mediocre leadership equals lower then optimal productivity, which in turn equals higher operating expense and lower margins.
This 4th challenge may become visible in a number of ways not limited to: a frustrated employee base, frustrated leaders, a change in how it feels to be at work, resignations/turnover, increased errors, late delivery, increasingly dissatisfied internal and external customers and even the feeling of “always being stuck in a meeting.”
Your Success
Your success navigating this new playing field is largely based on your businesses systems and methods to lead successfully through reasonably complex change! If your business has not been faced with this level of “complex” change prior now might be the time to ask for help.
If your business has been faced with complex change prior and has not navigated it well, this is most commonly due to your leaderships strength being based in operating, not changing, your business. This may also be a good time to ask for help while keeping your leaders focused on the day-to-day “normal” challenges of winning in your marketplace.
For the last nearly 10-years HR Resolved, Inc. has been helping lead business just like yours through complex change with its remarkable ability to tailor decades of past startup and Fortune 200 successes into happier, more aligned employees, performing where and how they are needed, driving profit into your business! Visit www.HRresolved.com.
