Oct. 27, 2006: “Spotlight on Our Economy” Monthly Column for The Palladium-Times
By L. Michael Treadwell, CEcD, Executive Director of Operation Oswego County

Operation Oswego County Website Promotes Area to Prospective Business Owners

Operation Oswego County’s website, www.oswegocounty.org, has won numerous awards including the New York State Economic Development Council’s (NYSEDC) “best in class” award in 2004, and a “certificate of excellence” in 2005, and most recently, the Northeastern Economic Developers Association’s award of “superior” in 2006.

We are proud that our website has exceeded the standards of our economic development colleagues and we feel that this recognition underscores the effectiveness of our website to help bring attention to the resources and assets of our county that offer value to potential business customers.

Our website is not only a resource for information such as available commercial property and demographic information about Oswego County; it is also one of our strongest and most effective marketing tools. More and more site selection consultants, business decision makers, and individuals rely on the internet to help them decide where they should consider investing. We designed our website to succinctly convey critical and up-to-date information about Oswego County to this captive audience.

In addition to a contemporary, easy-to-navigate format, our site offers visitors a comprehensive listing of OOC services, publications, current news and contact information as well as community links, a printable map and a directory of Oswego County’s economic development resources and assets.

OOC’s website usage currently averages close to 5,000 visits per month.

As the usage of the internet as an initial site selection tool intensifies, our website has become critical to draw in corporate real estate decision makers in order to recruit new businesses and add new and better job opportunities in Oswego County.

In other economic development news:

• K & E Realty will acquire and renovate The Reservoir Inn and Reservoir Gas & Mart, a convenience store, deli and restaurant along with an eight-room motel in the town of Redfield. The 5,676 square foot facility will be operated as year-round and will create nine jobs. Funding assistance is being provided by the County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency (IDA), a Small Business Administration 504 loan through OOC and Community Bank;

• New Image Health and Fitness of Fulton will open an additional 4,000 square foot fitness facility in the Three Rivers Plaza Mall in the town of Schroeppel. The new facility, to be named Fitness Whenever, will be open 24-hours-a-day and will create six jobs. Funding assistance is being provided by the IDA;

• Checkered House Corners Inc. will renovate a vacant 1,600-square foot convenience store and gas station in the town of Williamstown. The project will create six jobs and will receive funding assistance from the IDA, a Small Business Administration 504 loan through OOC and Pathfinder Bank; and

• Felix Schoeller Technical Papers (FSTP) recently announced plans to make a multi-million dollar investment in new equipment, building renovations and other facility modernizations for an expansion of production capabilities and capacities at its plant in the town of Richland. FSTP expects to add 125 new full-time jobs, adding to the 80 full-time jobs here currently. Funding assistance is being provided through a New York State Senate grant secured by Sen. James Wright, a grant by Empire State Development, and a low-interest loan through the IDA. OOC assisted in coordinating structuring financial assistance. Additional business assistance will be provided by National Grid, Assemblyman Will Barclay and the sponsoring of the project as a "regionally significant project" by the Fulton Empire Zone Administrative Board.

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