January 5, 2015
Year in Review — Byrne Dairy unveils new facility
Despite some confrontation between Pall Trinity and its union employees, business in Cortland County was relatively good in 2014.
The Byrne Dairy company opened its new facility in Cortlandville and a number of small businesses popped up in Cortland and Homer’s downtown districts throughout 2014.
Byrne Dairy opens
In June, production began at Byrne Dairy’s 40,000-square-foot plant on Route 13 inCortlandville.
While the facility is manufacturing Greek yogurt, this year the company plans to begin work on a specialty cheese plant and a 10,000-square-foot visitor center. Tours of the facility will be offered as well, though those projects are not expected to be completed until 2016.
Marietta filtration system
A new three-stage filtration system for wastewater went online at the Marietta Corp.’s Central Avenue facility in April.
Designed to pretreat wastewater from the sanitary and hygienic products it produces, the $650,000 project has added 12 new jobs and is expected to save the Marietta Corp. $55,000 to $100,000 in costs and generate $40,000 in revenue for the city as the company leases the equipment.
The new technology has also allowed Marietta to enter into an agreement with San Antonio-based Kimberly-Clark Corp. to manufacture institutional hand sanitizers, cleansers, lotions and soaps.
Unemployment rate falls
In September, statistics released by the state Department of Labor showed unemployment in Cortland County at5.5 percent — the lowest it had been since May 2008.
Figures showed the total number of people in the work force went from around 22,700 in August to 23,300 in September as the number of employed people in the county increased by 700 while the number ofunemployed people droppedby 100.
The amount of non-farm jobs in the county increased by6.6 percent.
However, the latest figures from the Labor Department show the county unemployment rate had crept back up to 6.1 percent in November.
National conference held
In September, Cortland was chosen as one of five cities nationally to host the “Made in Rural America” forum, a federal effort to get business owners in Cortland and Central New York together to learn about exporting products around the world.
The initiative was launched earlier this year by the Obama administration as SUNY Cortland hosted White House officials and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand who cited Cortland County as the heart of the state’s rural economy.
Forkey moves to C’ville
Forkey Construction and Fabrication Inc. completed its move from Lapeer to Cortlandville in November, moving into the vacant BorgWarner Morse TEC building on Luker Road.
The company spent most of last year working on securing a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with the Cortland County Industrial Development Agency and working out a deal with the building owners in a $2.2 million move to acquire the property.
BorgWarner moved its powdered metal operations out of the building in 2012.
Vice President Charlie Forkey III said he and his father, Charlie Forkey Jr, had contemplated moving out of the state, but were proud to be able to stay in Cortland County and consider Cortlandville their new home.
A year for small businesses
Both Homer and Cortland saw a handful of new businesses move into their downtown districts.
This year, local developer Tom Niederhofer completed the Homer Exchange Building on the former site of Homer Laundry & Cleaners at 19-23 N. Main St which now houses the Bridal Barn, Empire 41, Mama Goose, Liv’s Trading Co. and Prima Studio salon and spa.
In Cortland, the Local Food Market, Long Island Bagel, the Cortland Diner and the Geral Lynn Stitcher’s Dream quilt shop opened.
City loses stable businesses
While some businesses moved in, downtown Cortland lost some of its long-standing businesses.
After more than 100 years, the Sarvay Shoe Co. closed in March and the Spirit & Life Christian bookstore followed in May after 32 years inbusiness.
The Blue Frog Coffeehouse, Jodi’s Hallmark, the Hot Tamale restaurant and Macho Burger also closed.
BDC invests
in local businesses
The Cortland County Business Development Corp. gave almost $69,000 in loans for two local manufacturers to help grow their businesses.
In September, the BDC gave $25,000 to Custom Machining Technology in the Cortland Commerce Center on Route 13 in Cortlandville to buy equipment and to cover operation costs.
The BDC also increased the amount of a current loan to Cortland Foundations on75 E. Court St. in Cortland to $43,990.
The BDC also set aside $25,000 for applicants looking to cover the cost of getting their businesses off the ground. The grants totaled $5,000 each and helped four businesses cover the costs of things like rent and signs.
Pall Trinity settles contract
Pall Trinity and its employees’ union reached an agreement on a contract after months of negotiations.
Talks had been ongoing since the last contract expired April 20 but the situation escalated in November after company representatives canceled further talks and announced employees would be working under the terms of what Pall said was its best, last and final offer onNov. 20.
Security guards were hired on site, which some employees called an act of intimidation and the company directed those not willing to work under the new terms to a hotline where they could arrange to pick up their belongings.
But the union announced on its website the contract was ratified on Dec. 19, though the terms of the new contract are unclear.
“We’ll just get it done,” she said.
To read this article and more, pick up today's Cortland Standard
Click here to subscribe