Participants in the 13th Leadership Saratoga class held its opening retreat in September at Minnowbrook Conference Center in Blue Mountain Lake.

Courtesy Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce

Leadership Saratoga, a program of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, announces its 13th class of participants.

The group held its opening retreat on Sept. 18-19 at Minnowbrook Conference Center in Blue Mountain Lake. The program selects up to 24 people each year to participate in an intensive nine-month training program designed to teach skills for stronger leadership, group dynamics and issues facing Saratoga County and area nonprofit organizations.

After completion of the program participants are expected to volunteer as leaders in their communities within Saratoga County.

This is the Pet Lodge facility in Saratoga County, located in Clifton Park. The company is making plans for a new building in Saratoga Springs, which would be its sixth overall.

Courtesy Pet Lodge

By Liz Witbeck

Pet Lodge, a dog day care and boarding company, is seeking to establish a sixth location, this time in Saratoga Springs.

The owners have proposed a plan to construct a new facility at the southern end of the city.

The company started in 2012. Currently there are locations in Clifton Park, Latham, Glenville, Plattsburgh and Williston, Vt.

“We love Saratoga. We think it is a perfect place to open a business,” said Matt Sames, managing partner of Pet Lodge. “People have been asking us for years if we would open a location in Saratoga.”

Sames and his business partner, Dr. Tom Brown, are proposing the construction of a new building on Route 9, South Broadway, next to the Hibachi Sushi Bar restaurant. The building would be approximately 3,000 square feet.

Pet Lodge is in the process of meeting with Saratoga Springs officials to get approval for construction. Sames said if approved, construction could start in early 2017. He plans on having the facility constructed by the middle of next year.

He said each Pet Lodge location offers state-of-the art, luxury kennels that have monitoring systems so owners can see their dogs while they are away. There is a large yard at each location for dogs to get exercise. Those will also be features of the proposed Saratoga Springs location.

Sames said there are a lot of benefits to placing a dog in a day care or boarding facility.

State officials and GEICO representatives, along with its well-known mascot, gather at an event to announce the Text Stops program that encourages people to pull of the highway if they are gong to text.

Courtesy GEICO

State Department of Transportation Commissioner Matthew J. Driscoll announced in September that GEICO is sponsoring a Text Stops program along state highways operated by the department that it hopes will discourage texting while driving.

Officials said it could also provide nearly $1.3 million in revenue to New York state over the next five years.

“This innovative partnership with GEICO supports New York’s broad efforts to curb distracted driving and the traffic safety hazards it creates,” Driscoll said. “This sponsorship agreement provides one more way to encourage motorists to focus on driving and pull off the road to text or use mobile devices.”

The program was started in September 2013, expanding upon efforts to reduce distracted driving by highlighting places for motorists to pull off the highway, park and use their mobile devices. Park-and-ride facilities, rest stops and parking areas along state highways and the state Thruway serve a dual function as texting zones.

This rendering shows what the new Saratoga-Schenectady Endoscopy Center building off of Route 50 in Burnt Hills will look like when complete some time next year.

Courtesy SSEC

By Susan E. Campbell

Saratoga-Schenectady Endoscopy Center LLC has broken ground on a 35,000-square-foot structure that will more than double the existing capacity to perform endoscopy procedures, according to Deborah Hunt, RN, and administrator for the center.

The buildings at 846 and 848 Route 50 in Burnt Hills currently are used as offices for a number of independent gastroenterologists and their practices. One-half of the space also houses four operating rooms. Even though the physicians do procedures at Saratoga Hospital and Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, as well as the Endoscopy Center, the demand for these types of procedures has been mounting.

“We never thought we would outgrow the four-room facility,” said Hunt.

Endoscopy is a nonsurgical procedure used to examine a person’s digestive tract. Using an endoscope, a flexible tube with a light and camera attached to it, a doctor can view pictures of a patient’s digestive tract on a monitor.

“More important, we do a good job at performing high-quality, low-cost procedures,” said Hunt. “The insurance companies like us and so does the community.”

“There are many other facilities like ours,” Hunt said. “But our patients are coming from Albany and Fulton counties as well as Saratoga and Schenectady.”

Phinney Design Group in Saratoga Springs, recently won the People’s Choice award for this Bio Building, part of the Wild Center/Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks in Tupper Lake.

Courtesy Phinney Design Group

Phinney Design Group in Saratoga Springs, recently won the People’s Choice award for 2016 from American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York State.

The People’s Choice award winner was selected by popular vote online, open to the public.

The company was recognized for its design efforts on the Bio Building, part of the Wild Center/Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks in Tupper Lake. The mission of the museum is to “ignite an enduring passion for the Adirondacks where people and nature can thrive together and set an example for the world.”

Michael Phinney, principal architect, accepted the award on behalf of Phinney Design Group at the AIA New York State Design Awards event in Saratoga Springs on Sept. 30.

Earlier in the year, Phinney Design was awarded an Excelsior Award from AIA New York State for the Bio Building. The winners of the Excelsior Awards are chosen for providing a model of excellence for state-funded design, professional practice and advocacy.