Month: January 2016

This bell is part of the historic Universal Preservation Hall building being renovated into a
performance venue. The facility is getting a state grant to hire a director to oversee the restoration.

The Capital Region economic sector, which
includes Saratoga County, was not selected in December
as one of the three winners of the Upstate
Revitalization Initiative, a $1.5 billion, five-year
economic development competition that would
have brought $500 million in state funds to the
region for various projects.

But the Capital Region received $98.1 million
in aid for projects this year, of which about $2.1
million is specifically earmarked for projects in
Saratoga County.

The winning regions in the competition were
the Finger Lakes, the Southern Tier and Central
New York.

However on Dec. 10, Gov. Andrew Cuomo
announced the awarding of $2.25 billion in
economic and community development funding
through Round V of the Regional Economic
Development Council initiative and the Upstate
Revitalization Initiative.

Matt Jones, chairman of the Saratoga County
Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

Matt Jones, of the Jones Firm, is the 2016 chairman
of the board of directors of the Saratoga County
Chamber of Commerce.

Jones, founder of the Saratoga Springs law firm,
will assume the new volunteer leadership position
Jan. 1.

Valerie Muratori, executive director of Saratoga
Bridges, was chairwoman of the board in 2015 and
will continue to serve on the Executive Board as the
immediate past chair.

The 2016 board of directors will be recognized at
the Chamber’s 98th annual dinner, on Thursday, Jan.
28 at the Saratoga Springs City Center, 522 Broadway.
The event will kickoff with a cocktail hour 6-7 p.m.,
followed by dinner and the program 7-8:30 p.m.,
then a dessert reception ending at about 9:30 p.m.

This is the logo of the relatively new Saratoga Prosperity Partnership, formed by the Saratoga
County Board of Supervisors to deal with economic development issues in the county.

BY R.J. DELUKE

A two-year plan for promoting economic growth,
devised by Saratoga Prosperity Partnership and
presented last month, is something the economic
development organization says will “propel Saratoga
County forward” in its quest to attract more business
while at the same time retaining jobs at existing
businesses.

Martin Vanags, president of the group created in
2014 by the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors,
said that while the program was formally unveiled
in December, its implementation started earlier in
the year and is ongoing.

It was developed with assistance from the consulting
firm TIPS Strategies out of Austin, Texas,
Vanags said. The plan involves brainstorming with
business and government leaders to best focus on
the targeted goals.

“We are about this plan,” he said about the Partnership,
“putting our nose to the grindstone and
moving forward.”

Jeannine Dubiac, in the foreground, poses with staff at the company’s new offices at 3 Hemphill
Place in the Parade Ground Village complex in Malta.

BY JILL NAGY

Priority One Payroll, an eight-year-old payroll
service company, has moved to new, larger officers
in Malta but things have been too busy for
them to show off the new space to the public.

“We love our new space,” company head Jeannine
Dubiac said, and she hopes to have an open
house and ribbon-cutting in the spring.

The company moved its offices from the Village
of Ballston Spa to 3 Hemphill Place in the
Parade Ground Village complex on Route 9 near
Northway Exit 12.

The move from a 700-square-foot office to
1,700 square feet of space was prompted by the
company’s growth. It allowed the business to add
new employees and to install camera security
and other security systems to protect clients’
confidential information.