Again, it was with great pleasure that I accepted the task of moderating a panel of local business men and women participating in the annual Absolutely Business Forum to discuss how their businesses fared in 2009 and what the outlook is for 2010. Arriving early at the Riveredge Resort I had the opportunity to observe the serene surrounding of the St. Lawrence River and Boldt Castle. It was amazing to me that, although many of the participants had never met, they crossed paths in many ways in the course of doing business.

At my table were Dr. John Scott Foster, executive director of the New York State Zoo, Watertown; Jane Aikins, director of membership development, The Greater Watertown North Country Chamber of Commerce; Nic Darling, local sales manager North Region, Time Warner Cable; Phil Randazzo, owner, Coyote Moon Vineyards; Michael Colello, president/CEO, Frontenac Crystal Springs; and Ronald Colon, quality control manager, Upstate Construction Services, Inc.

After introductions we went to the first question: Tell us a little about your organization and your businesscareer. Foster began the conversation explaining that there has been a zoo in Watertown since 1920. It started off much like a large number of zoos in the United States―with a park and a belief that the community should have a zoo in the park. The Watertown Zoo, located at Thompson Park, went through the same process as most zoos built in that time period. Zoos were built so that people could see the animals and there was no little or no concern about the health and welfare of those animals.

As society’s interest, perception, and understanding of the natural world shifted, the direction of zoos shifted as well. In the 70’s and 80’s, many zoos in the United States were working hard, not only to place animals in more natural environments, but also finding the resources to get it done. Fast forward to the 1990’s and the New York State Zoo had changed. Unlike many zoos in New York and throughout the United States, at the Watertown Zoo you will only find animals native

to the area―specifically those that were living in the environment when Christopher Columbus landed in 1492 and those that are living here today. “We use the animals in the New York State Zoo to tell stories―stories about the environment, conservation and the wonders of the animal world,” Foster said “We want people to be able to connect with nature, have a positive relationship with the region, and lead more sustainable lives. That helps educate people about how they can help the animals survive in this region. It also gives the zoo a business niche. Focusing on native animals separates the New York State Zoo from the other zoos.”

Financially, it also makes sense. Most of the collection is not impacted by the North Country winters. Zoos housing exotic animals must provide special habitats which significantly increases operating costs. If the New York State Zoo had an exotic collection of animals, Foster explained, it would cost roughly three times as much to run the zoo as it does now.

Foster said that approximately 45,000 people go through the doors each year and another 40,000 people see the animals through their outreach programs. A zoo-mobile takes animals to schools and to many festivals around the region. Foster had always loved working with animals, but decided to shift his educational emphasis from zoology to education with an emphasis on museum studies. After working for several zoos around the country, he applied for the position at the New York State Zoo and became its executive director.

Aikin was next to talk about her work. The Greater Watertown Chamber of Commerce has been around since 1903. The Chamber was very instrumental in getting Camp Drum to the North Country when it was known as Pine Camp. It worked with the Thousand Island Bridge Authority to help tourism in the Thousand Island and the International crossing. They also brought Disney on board to help educate some of our leaders in the area on service.

Aikins stressed that the greatest assets that the Chamber has is its members and the service that the staff and its board can provide to those members. In the last four and a half years, the chamber has grown by 25 percent and presently has 1.000 members. Aikins believes that the Chamber is “in the optimal time to grow membership: Ft. Drum is growing, the region is strong, and we have the river that brings tourism in to our area”. The Chamber has been able to take advantage of those forces and move forward.

Explaining some of the benefits offered to Chamber members, Aikins said, “We are the largest business organization in the North country, we offer lots of networking opportunities, we have provided insurance for years to small businesses. In fact, we have expanded on that and we now have a licensed broker on staff.”

The Chamber offers professional educational opportunities in conjunction with the Jefferson Leadership Institute and they are having a series of quarterly workshops that bring in speakers to talk about pertinent issues facing the North Country. Aikins ran her own business for years. In 1992 she moved to the North Country to be near family, then decided to change careers. She took a position working in tourism and fell in love with it. She had an opportunity to join the chamber and grabbed it. Aikins will mark her fifth year with the chamber in May.

Darling took his turn, explaining that Time Warner Cable has several sectors in its operations. He works in the advertising end and is responsible for media sales from Watertown to Rouses Point and Lake Placid. His region, the Central New York Division, serves 650,000 households. Darling said he got into the business 27 years ago “when it was all about selling short 30-second commercials.”

Today Time Warner is a technology company. Darling explained, “As technology has changed, we have changed. We are internet-driven and we have interactive television. We have banners running on the bottom of commercials and you can actually download a video of a Ford F-150.” Darling started 27 years ago at Channel 7 WWNY-TV as an account executive and rose through the organization to become its director of sales. He left Channel 7 to rebuild Channel 50, WWTI. There he was a partner and vice president/general manager. He joined Time Warner in 2001 as regional sales manager for the North Region.

Darling is a Watertown native, and after living in other areas of the country, returned here in the mid-70s. Next, Randozza shared his story, saying he began thinking about growing grapes several years ago. Trips to Sicily instilled the idea. He had purchased a farm in Clayton and decided that they should plant new cold-hardy plants, called Frontenac grapes, which led to the winery business. He said, “The winery industry in Jefferson County really gave me something to sink my teeth into”.

Interested in community development, Randazzo began thinking the winery business might be something that could extend the region’s tourism season especially with the advent of new types of grapes that could stand northern winters. The new varieties Randazzo said, “make absolutely Coyote Moon, Randazzo’s winery, is the fourth winery to open in the North Country. Two others will probably open next year with more in the planning stages. The region has now developed a Wine Trail and people are coming to the area to sample and purchase the wines from as far away as Pennsylvania.

In 1986 a study was conducted associated with the wine trails. At the time of the survey 360,000 people went through the New York State wine trails. The same study was conducted again in 2006 and found that 4.7 million people went through the wine trails that year. Randazzo said, “Currently the wine business is a $3.7 billion industry. Forty-six of the 62 counties in New York now have wineries. We are at the beginning of a growth cycle business and it’s very exciting.” Randazzo, now president of the Northern New York Grape Growers Association, is working to double the size of that organization over the next two years. He is also a member of a new committee, USDA-Scri/NERA Cold-Climate Viticulture Research Project with members from 13 Northern states and Cornell University, University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Grape Growers Association.

Randazzo concluded, saying, “This is becoming a family business with my daughter moving here last year and my son moving here full time in April.” Colello took center stage to tell us about Frontenac Crystal Springs. The organization goes to the early 1900’s, at a resort called, of course, Crystal Springs Resort, which featured a natural spring. A man named Mr. Tips started a barroom at the Frontenac Hotel on Round Island. He began making his own root beer and soda, using water from the spring. He also cooled his beer with the cold running water. Eventually he got into the water bottling business, and, in the late 70s, a group of businessmen from Clayton got involved.

Colello’s father bought the business with a partner 30 years ago, purchased more trucks and started bottling water. Mike got involved about 20 years ago. As everyone knows, the business of bottled water took off. Colello said, “The bad economy has taken a toll. The business was good for a long, long time, but, when things are not quite as good, bottled water is one of the things that people give up.”. Frontenac Springs sells to homes, offices, to construction sites and to Ft. Drum, to name just a

outlets. They distribute their product in Massena, Malone, Syracuse, and to other water bottlers in Syracuse and Rochester, etc.. Colon was the last to answer our first question, and began by explaining that Upstate Constrution Services is a prime and sub-contractor business. Colon is involved in the quality control end of the business, with the safety aspect for the employees and with monitoring construction safety as the project develops and come to fruition. His background includes design development, long range planning and construction management.

Upstate Construction is involved with several projects with the Corp of Engineers at Ft. Drum and elsewhere around the state. Colon said, “I am looking forward, as Upstate grows, to using all my background and experience, whether it is to help implement design construction management or bring the construction phase to fruition”.

We moved to the second question―how did your business/industry fare in 2009 locally, regionally, and internationally? Foster began, saying, “Working backwards, the zoo industry is very weather dependent. If you have great weather, everybody goes and if it rains, everybody stays home. This year has been a little different. Although the weather was bad in many areas of the country, zoo attendance was up because people were not traveling as much due to the economy.” In fact, he said, zoos across the nation, and the region, are reporting record attendance.

He addresses another issue, saying that, in early 2009, zoos that were heavily dependent on municipal funds were hurting because of the cut backs and began cutting staff. Zoos that were not heavily dependent on that funding, such as the New York State Zoo, fared much better. Nationwide, while zoos are seeing more people coming, they are not spending as much. According to Foster, The New York State Zoo did not have to cut staff, but they did do some reorganizing. Attendance went up and the per capita went up. Part of it was because of the new events, new exhibits (such as the otter exhibit), and other new programs. It was a good year for the New York State Zoo.

Aikins commented that 2009 was a year of change for the chamber. Chamber membership had been increasing, but Aikins said there was a growing fear factor about how the recession was going to affect the North Country. She said, “People began to pull in, tighten up, look at their budgets, look at the bottom line and really make critical decisions based on what that budget

forecast was. So we didn’t see an increase in new members.” That challenged the Chamber and Aikins, as the membership development director, to come up with more value for that Chamber membership. Businesses also took another look at the Chamber’s Energy Alliance where they can save up to nine percent of their energy costs, which resulted in a significant rise in the use of that program. The Chamber also started reviewing their programs to see what their members need help with. Aikins believes there are several areas that members are looking closely at, including the use of new technology.

Darling jumped right in saying, “Nationally the advertising industry took a really big hit, led by the automotive declines and the financial decline. Locally, the political arena saved the year for advertising. A lot of money was pumped into the system for elections by politicians, interest groups, and political action committees. This helped the broadcast industry and advertising. Darling said the worst year he had seen previously since he got into the business was 1991. This year, 2009, nationally, was as bad as 1991 if not worse because of the decline in the automotive industry. Darling believes that, locally, “2009 was an OK year. It wasn’t a real bad year and it was not a real good year.”

Randazzo offered a positive comment, saying, “With regard to the home building industry locally, it was just fine,” but he added that the company went to more moderate forms of construction to keep prices down. And, he said, “Nationally, they got clobbered.” Randazzo sounded a cautionary note, saying, “We have to be realistic about it. We are going to have double digit unemployment rate before this thing is all over and we need to prepare ourselves for another downturn. It probably will not be as severe as the last one, but it will be the kind that will put the fear in the consumer for quite some time.”

While he believes that Ft. Drum offers the area some insulation from the pain felt in other areas, Randazzo said, “We need to plan as business people for that eventuality, and I am conducting my business that way”. Colello said, “Nationally and regionally the water industry took a pretty good hit in the last year.” He continued, “We are in a tough time and everybody understands we are in a bad economy. In the past people did not see the reason for cutting back and undergoing layoffs. Now that everyone sees it and accepts it, they have a real fear of it.”

Colello noted that Frontenac has not had to lay anyone off, but did have to adjust their health insurance policy. “We never had our employees pay for health insurance until this year,” he said, but added, “We were able to improve their insurance and are employees are happy to have health insurance because they know what it costs.” Colon said, “In the construction field, prices have spiked and now they are starting to come down.” That’s good news, but the question remains, he continued, “Will it sustain itself to the point where bigger jobs start opening up?” Upstate has had small jobs that keeps people active and have been able to keep insurance for all employees.

The discussion then centered on the third question―what are the most important issues facing the North Country business community? According to Foster, one of the biggest issues is how to foster and nurture the smaller organizations that may have grown from a larger company shedding employees.

Aikins said, “It is the Chamber’s job to face issues and to come up with solutions to them. People are very concerned right now about the cost of health care and the ability to afford health care. The other issue is taxes. It appears that the middle class and the middle-sized businesses are the ones that are the most heavily taxed.”

Aikins is also concerned about how to attract new business to the area, but wanted to say that she believes our natural resources and the fact that we live in a safe and beautiful area help with that. Darling believes the local challenges go deeper than than just the economy. “Many of our young people go away to school and then they want to move to a sunnier climate,” he said. “If we do not keep technology in the forefront, if we do not provide a reason for the children to come back here after they get out of school, we will loss more than we ever have before.”

He continued, “There is this thing called co-petitiveness, not competitiveness but co-petitiveness, where you work with your competitors to achieve an end result. Look at Sackets Harbor. They market each other for the greater good. The Wine Trail is co-petitivness. We need to do things like this to off-set the losses we are facing.”

Randazzo piggy-backed on Darling’s comments, saying, “Along with the Pride of New York campaign which means ‘buy local,’ we need to take it to the local level. Anything we can do as chambers or business organizations to create ad programs and marketing programs to get people

to buy local and support ourselves and not let that money leave the community could be just enough to keep the marginal businesses in play.” Randazzo thinks this business forum could be brought back and used to exchange ideas. “You learn something every time you sit down with other businessowners,” he said. “Businesses have to find a way to dovetail with each other to benefit all.”

Colello noted, “The North Country is a bargain to come to and visit. Unfortunately, because of the weather, the ideal time period for that is limited. We have to find a way to get our products out of the area!” Colon commented that things run in a cycle and everything seems to happen within this cycle. He states that; “Right now,” he said, “we are not being impacted locally just by the federal budget reorganization and modification, but we are also being impacted similarly by the State. As a result, many companies are going to have to think about fiscal reorganization, adaptability and responsiveness to Ft. Drum based on the degree of return and or deployment of the soldiers.”

Finally, we took a look at the last question―what is your view of the future for your organization and for business in general in the North Country? Foster feels positive about where the zoo is headed, but warns against laziness. “You have to be very, very strategic in every decision you make and you have to be able to support every decision you make,” Foster said.. Aikins said the Chamber must be vigilant to the needs of its members and should also be the stage from which its members’ voices may be heard. She said, “if we are addressing those needs, if we are becoming that stage for local voices to be heard in Albany and in Washington DC and if we really address some of the critical issues, I predict success for the Chamber.” Darling predicted that 2010 will be a watch-and-wait year. “Businesses will be cautious with spending and they will wait to see what happens,” Darling said. ”I think it is going to be, in general, a tough year. As far as my business is concerned, however, it is going to be phenomenal because it is a major political year.” Randazzo thinks his organization will see substantial growth because it is new and unique in the North Country. Then he added, “We need to keep our eye on Ft. Drum for the health of the North Country. The war will continue to play a role and how our leaders react to the global threat will really affect our economy in the North country.”

Colello commented, “I think, for our organization, it will be single digit growth.” Over the past twelve months. Frontenac has been able to cut enough costs successfully, but does not yet see adding employees. Instead, Colello said, “We have shifted people around and reorganized. Hopefully they can move product out of the area to generate sales.”

Colon brought our discussion to an end, summarizing that everyone at the table was pretty much on the same wave length. “We have to remember what the government, state or federal, has given, they can take away very quickly,” he said. “Budget reductions will impact everybody in the area.” But, he continued, “As (Colello) just said, there is growth here and I think we will be able to sustain these next three years. However, everyone has got to find a way to keep their company’s key personnel.”

Article written by Tom Williams.