The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Malta announced a new website to feature “all the great things” about the town.
The new web presence is targeted toward promoting the good things happening in Malta, officials said, while also serving as an economic development conduit for businesses considering investing in the town.
The new site, www.MaltaWorks.org, is an outgrowth of the work of the town’s Economic Development Committee. The committee last year launched the Malta Works promotional campaign to promote existing businesses and encourage investment from new businesses. Officials said the website is the next step in that project, providing a one-stop portal for anyone considering doing business in Malta.
The site will be administered and maintained by Chamber staff at no cost to the town.
“This new website is a great next step for our Malta Works campaign to show the world that Malta is a great place to do business,” said Malta Supervisor Darren O’Connor. “Our entire town government has worked tirelessly for several years to improve the business climate, while keeping our small town charm. This website is a great window into that effort and I hope businesses and investors find that for whatever their need, Malta Works.”
Building within the framework of the Chamber’s existing site, the Malta Works presence will benefit from the hundreds of thousands of unique views the Chamber website enjoys annually, boosting awareness of all the Town has to offer, he said.

Andrea Harwood Palmer
Brian Rollo, a leadership coach and cultural business strategist, has published a new book, “The 10 Habits of Influential Leaders”.
“I wrote this as an actionable handbook for someone who is a people-manager struggling to get results,” said Rollo, who operates his consulting company out of Queensbury. “I highlight the top 10 things that help people-managers get better. Things people can do to get results from their team, and to make leading a team a little less miserable.”
“I tell the story of how I first became a manager, and really struggled in the beginning,” he said. “And I did a lot of research, reading over 50 white papers. I tried to be the channel to distill everything I learned throughout my career, and through extensive research.”
Rollo said the predominant struggle is that some people struggle to step into an authority role. “They may have the title, but they’re afraid to do anything because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings,.”
Others grasp authority too hard. “They need everyone to know they’re the boss,” he said.
“Both approaches are a road to trouble,” said Rollo. “I address this in the book. It usually plays out in how people deal with conflict.”
“It’s easy to be the boss when everyone just says, ‘I agree, I’ll do whatever you say’. But most of the time it is not like that. In real life, there is frequently conflict. When you’re a team member, you can try to stay in your own world. When you’re a leader, you cannot just ignore it when your team is in conflict. You must be the one to step up and deal with it. If you’re uncomfortable with that, the conflict grows,” said Rollo.
Some managers are in their role through merit, some develop management skills through training, and some land in their position by default of being the only person available when the previous director leaves, he noted.

by Andrea Harwood Palmer
“We do a lot of work for nonprofits,” said Bob English, who owns and operates Luzerne Productions, a video production company he opened in 2002.
“It’s such a necessary part of service. For nonprofits, especially right now with the COVID-19 problem, fundraising is a challenge. Everyone needs to raise money.”
He believes his company can help in that regard.
Luzerne Productions is responsible for many videos shown at area nonprofit fundraisers every year. Most recently they produced a fundraising video for Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
“What usually happens with annual fundraisers is: You get everybody in a room with some cocktails and food, you tell them about your service,” said English. “Then you show them a nice video and people say, ‘Wow, I wanna help’ because the people there are altruistic anyway or they wouldn’t be there to begin with. A video at a fundraiser is great because you have a captive audience. You show a video for 2-3 minutes, and if they’re wiping away a tear when you turn the lights back on, then I’ve done my job. That’s how I know I’ve been successful.”
With COVID-19, people can’t congregate in person.

By Christine Graf
Construction on Mohawk Chevrolet’s 65,000-square-foot facility in Malta is projected to be completed in June, according to company officials.
BBL Construction of Albany was hired to build the new dealership, which will replace Mohawk Chevrolet’s Clifton Park location.
Mohawk Auto, the owner of Mohawk Honda in Glenville as well as the local Mohawk Chevrolet, purchased the Clifton Park dealership from Northstar Chevrolet in November 2019.
The new Mohawk Chevrolet will be located on Route 67, just off of Northway Exit 12. The property was purchased several years ago by Mohawk Auto president and third generation owner Jeff Haraden. It was originally slated to become home to the 80,000-square-foot Adirondack Aquatic Center. Ultimately, Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady was selected as the location for the $35 million aquatic center.
Mohawk Auto general manager Andrew Guelcher described the aquatic center’s decision to move to Schenectady as serendipitous. When Mohawk purchased Northstar Chevrolet, it was with the intention of relocating it to Malta.

The Center for Economic Growth (CEG) announced that Katie Newcombe was named its new chief economic development officer.
She comes to CEG with more than a decade of experience in economic development, spanning multiple states and public, private and nonprofit sectors. Since 2014, Newcombe has led economic development for National Grid in the Capital Region.
“Katie’s depth and breadth of economic development experience makes her an ideal fit for this newly created position. She will lead CEG’s business attraction and expansions activities, direct and implement strategies for innovation, entrepreneurship, business growth, workforce and talent,” said Mark Eagan, CEG president and CEO. “Katie has a strong history of collaborating with stakeholders to move high-impact projects forward and we are excited to welcome her to our organization.”