WILTON — Visualize the scene: One group of people engage their machinery and their tools, then tend to a task that takes them up to the boundary line of their domain. Once completed, they pack up their machinery and their tools and go home. At some later point, a second group of people engage their machinery and their tools, then tend to a task that takes them up to the boundary line of their domain. Once completed, they pack up their machinery and their tools and they go home.

The prospect of border municipalities engaging in the practice of Shared Services suggests there may be a better way. 

“We’re working for our residents, working together, saving the taxpayers money and getting the job done,” says Mike Monroe, deputy highway superintendent for the town of Wilton, while involved in a street-paving collaboration with the town of Greenfield, resulting in both town Highway Departments working together. 

The New York State Office of the State Comptroller published its 37-page guide, “Shared Services in Local Government,” shortly after the financial crisis of 2008. 

Shared services help municipalities increase effectiveness and efficiency in their operation, reduce or avoid costs, and improve service delivery or help to maintain services, according to the report, which encourages “municipal corporations” and “districts” to cooperate with each other in carrying out their respective responsibilities. 

How to get started? Local governments should perform a “needs assessment” to determine if an existing function can be provided more cost effectively or more efficiently through a cooperation agreement. The guiding principle is that each municipality should achieve some benefit through the cooperative agreement.

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The towns of Wilton and Greenfield border one another and each borders the city of Saratoga Springs. 

The town of Greenfield Highway Department, located in Porter Corners, provides residents with road repairs and improvements; winter snow and ice removal; and roadway safety features, drainage repairs and improvements, and bridge maintenance.

The town of Wilton Highway Department is responsible for maintaining approximately 100 center-line miles of town roads, from snow removal and ice control to paving and maintenance of roads, signage, roadway markings, drainage, tree and brush cutting. County roads are maintained by Saratoga County. 

A street-paving job was scheduled to take place on Hillside avenue and on Hudson avenue. Both feed off State Route 9, near Loughberry Lake.

“Part is in the town of Greenfield, part is in the town of Wilton,” Monroe says. “We decided to get it all done in one shot.” 

The town of Wilton used their new paver, the town of Greenfield helped with traffic control, conducted handwork and provided some trucks. 

“The town of Greenfield called me and said they were going to overlay their part of the road in Greenfield and to see if we could do something on our end. I talked to our board and got the funds and decided we were going to do our half too,” says Monroe, a Wilton native who has been with the town highway department for the past 20 years.   

Kirkland Woodcock, who celebrated his 80th birthday in March, announced his retirement this year after serving as Wilton’s Highway Superintendent since the 1980s.  The position is an elected one and Monroe hopes to take on that role. He will be running for election to the two-year term in November. 

“This is the first time we paved with another town. Usually, a town will pave a road up to where their town line is and then it’s up to the next town to get the job finished -but on this project we worked together to get it done,” Monroe says. 

“It’s beneficial for the taxpayers because we’re working together. Instead of me having my whole crew here, I can have some guys out mowing guardrails and doing cemetery work, because working with another town I don’t have to have all my guys here,” he says. “I think we would do it again if it makes sense, and in certain cases it does make sense to work together with another town to get a project done.”        

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Dr. Santosh Vaghela has joined Saratoga Hospital Medical Group – Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine. He is fellowship trained in pulmonary disease, sleep medicine and critical care medicine.

Saratoga Hospital Medical Group – Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine specializes in treating breathing-related conditions and sleep disorders. The team also provides critical care for inpatients at Saratoga Hospital.

Demand for pulmonologists, or lung doctors—already high because of the growing senior population—has increased during the pandemic. Despite the competitive environment, Saratoga Hospital Medical Group has been able to recruit two pulmonologists in the past year.

Vaghela earnied his undergraduate degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. He then went on to earn a medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine and to complete an internship in the Yale-Waterbury internal medicine residency program in Connecticut. He completed a fellowship in critical care medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital and fellowships in pulmonary disease and sleep medicine at Norwalk Hospital/Nuvance Health.

Vaghela is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, and critical care medicine, and board eligible in sleep medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Society of Critical Care Medicine, American College of Chest Physicians, and the American Thoracic Society.

Vaghela sees patients at 19 West Ave., Saratoga Springs and at Saratoga Medical Park at Malta. For an appointment, call 518-693-4635. To learn more, go to www.SaratogaHospital.org.

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Equitas Realty announced their new agent: Licensed Real Estate Salesperson and Realtor, Jonathan Van Dyk.

Jonathan has spent the past 25 years investing in multi-family properties throughout the Greater Capital Region. Prior to investing in multi-family real estate, Jonathan was an LPN at a nursing home owned by his family. He thoroughly enjoys working with seniors and is particularly sensitive to their needs. 

To learn more about Equitas Realty please go to www.equitasny.com or call 518-584-9990 or visit their office located in the Wilton Mall between Healthy Living Market and HomeGoods.

CLIFTON PARK — Denise Romeo, Executive Vice President of The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, has been elected the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Mechanicville Area Community Services Center (MACSC). 

Romeo, Executive Vice President of the Saratoga County Chamber for 9 years, has had a long time focus on helping Saratoga County active military and veterans through the Chamber’s Veterans Business Council. 

“Mechanicville is in the heart of Saratoga County and MACSC is the heart of Mechanicville,” said Romeo, in a statement. “It is a privilege to work with MACSC’s dedicated board members as well as MACSC dynamic Executive Director, Megan Quillinan. I know our work at the center makes such an impact on community members from the very youngest, to the many seniors who regularly rely on MACSC services. I look forward to making a positive difference for even more people living in and around the wonderful City of Mechanicville.”

The Mechanicville Area Community Services Center mission is to improve the lives of area residents through family support, empowerment, recreation and education with a goal to promote healthy relationships between families and the community at large. For more information visit mechanicvilleacsc.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — For its 80th birthday, Saratoga County Airport may be getting a facelift. 

Initially developed in 1942 and designated as necessary for national defense, the county airport was built as a Civil Aeronautics Administration project. Fed by a small two-lane road, the airport consists of two 4,000-foot runways with parallel and connecting taxiways and houses a main metal hanger that was built about 60 years ago. 

Two recent unrelated events – the announcement of available funding in a new Upstate Airport Economic Development and Revitalization Initiative, and land adjacent to the airport potentially becoming obtainable for purchase – may literally alter the landscape of the airport in the near future. 

What it does not mean, officials quickly point out, is a physical expansion of airport runways.   

In late May, Gov. Cuomo announced $250 million would be made available as a new upstate airport economic development and revitalization initiative, with $230 million targeting projects that promote and accelerate improvements at upstate commercial passenger service airports, and $20 million to be allocated to support safety, infrastructure, and economic development projects at smaller airports. 

The planning, design and construction of terminal expansion or rehabilitation is listed as one example of activities eligible for funding. 

“There have been some major renovations down at LaGuardia, and at JFK, so the governor is saying to upstate airports: hey we don’t want to leave you out and we’re happy to fund some improvements,” said Matthew Veitch, city Supervisor, and chairman of county Buildings and Grounds Committee which counts the airport as among its responsibilities. 

“We feel one of the things our airport lacks is a good terminal building. The idea would be to enhance the airport with some sort of better terminal for both – the experience of people arriving in Saratoga County and also for the people who are waiting there for people to arrive,” Veitch said. 

Saratoga County Airport is one of 24 public-use airports eligible for the competition, which also includes the Adirondack Regional Airport, the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport, the Schenectady County Airport and the Albany International Airport Authority. Funding applications are due by Sept. 15. Candidate projects will be evaluated on their ability to meet eligibility criteria and also be ranked in a scoring process.

“The minimum award is $5 million, and we would be looking at something north of that,” said Chad Cooke, the county’s commissioner of public works. “We’re at that (discussion) stage right now, where we’re refining ideas moving forward.” The county’s DPW has operated the airport since the Airport was turned over to the county in 1969. 

The revitalization initiative could potentially fund improvements to the airport’s warehouse-looking terminal building, as well as site a café and business center. 

Runway Protection Zones

A second aspect of discussion related to the airport are runway protection zones. 

“The immediate thing we’re looking at is related to safety at the airport,” Veitch said. “There are a couple of properties located within what is called the runway protection zone. The FAA requires us to look at those areas and evaluate them for safety purposes.  At the end of the runway is a trapezoidal shaped area we try to keep clear of any obstructions if there would be an issue of a plane having to land outside of the runway area. This could be houses, trees, anything higher than a certain point. We’re asked to evaluate those areas, and if possible, acquire property to keep those areas clear of obstruction.” 

Cook says the zones – which are basically flat land buffers around the airport – have always existed, but two of the specific have become available for acquisition. “When this happens the FAA always encourages airport owners to seek acquisition of those properties, essentially so you can maintain vegetation growth so planes can safely descend and climb when approaching or leaving the runway.” 

One property is on Rowland Street and has a home on it. Were the county to purchase it, the land would be cleared and the existing structure potentially taken down. “Would we try to forcibly acquire that? We wouldn’t do that. We would only do it if it was available for purchase,” Veitch said.    

The other property, a roughly 20-acre undeveloped parcel, is located on the northwest side of the airport, adjacent to Stone Church Road. Only a portion of the entire parcel is located in the runway protection zone, and were the county to purchase it, Veitch said that the property could possibly be left as open space and used for public use such as trails. 

“We are in discussions with the FAA right now about seeking reimbursement through grant funds for those (potential) purchases. These types of arrangements are something supported by the FAA typically, but the county would need to pay for them first and seek reimbursement,” Cooke said. 

“We would know going into this if the FAA was going to support that and it’s typically about making an aeronautical justification for purchasing the property., so anything that’s inside the Runway Protection Zone is a pretty easy case to make for purchasing that. If you’re purchasing a property that’s partially in the Runway Protection Zone, the FAA may make that a bit more difficult in terms of justifying purchasing the entire piece versus the piece that’s just in the Runway Protection Zone. So that’s where we are right now, in discussions with them about that,” Cooke said. 

During the county’s Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting in June, Turner Bradford, senior engineer at McFarland-Johnson, explained to the committee that the purchase of both parcels would potentially be 95% reimbursed – 90% by the FAA and 5% by DOT. While the county would be required to initially pay for the purchase, under this formula, it would essentially be paying 5% in costs after reimbursement.   

Milton Town Supervisor Benny Zlotnick expressed concern about the county potentially expanding the airport if it acquires the properties. Veitch said the current airport master plan does not include expanding the runways or making them longer in any way.

“One of the things we’re not doing at the airport – and we should make this clear – we’re not expanding our runway area or making it longer. So that limits the type of plane that can come to Saratoga County – smaller jets and smaller propellor planes, those kinds of things. We’re not looking at commercial service or any kind of airline coming here. It’s really the same kind of operation, with a better experience.” 

The county Buildings and Grounds Committee meets Tuesday, July 6 at 4:30 p.m.  To listen in, call 1-978-990-5145, Access Code: 1840389. A full county board meeting next takes place in Ballston Spa on July 15. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Hospital has named Toni Bishop-McWain as vice president and chief nursing officer. She has 25 years of nursing administration experience, most recently as vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, a large, integrated health system in Bloomington, Illinois. 

The Glens Falls native and former Wilton resident also has held nursing leadership roles in critical care, cardiopulmonary services and cardiovascular services. Earlier in her career, Bishop-McWain worked in the intensive care unit of Glens Falls Hospital. 

Bishop-McWain was born at Glens Falls Hospital and has extended family in the region. During her 10 years at Glens Falls Hospital, she, her husband and their son and daughter lived in Wilton. The children attended school in Saratoga Springs.

Bishop-McWain began her nursing education at Adirondack Community College, went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, and has a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from OSF Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing. She also holds Nurse Executive Advanced Certification from the ANCC, certification in critical-care nursing from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, and Certified Neuroscience Registered Nurse certification from the American Association of
Neuroscience Nurses.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Fingerpaint, a full-service health and wellness marketing firm with a global team of more than 580 people, has acquired Splice, a healthcare communications business based in Emeryville, California. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. 

Fingerpaint, which was founded by Ed Mitzen, opened in Saratoga Springs in 2008 and four years later moved its offices to Broadway, occupying a free-standing building that previously housed Borders Books. 

Fingerpaint provides analytics-enabled, integrated marketing solutions to a growing roster of healthcare clients, specifically in the pharmaceutical, rare disease, and gene therapy sectors. The acquisition and full integration of Splice into the Fingerpaint brand will bolster the company, which was just named Agency of the Year, Category I, by Med Ad News, give it a footprint on the West Coast, and support its continued commitment to being a best-in-class commercialization services provider for biopharma.

“Splice has built a great company filled with top healthcare communications talent who we are looking forward to welcoming into the Fingerpaint family,” said Bill McEllen, a Fingerpaint Partner who also leads the firm’s advertising group, in a statement. “As Fingerpaint continues to partner with biopharma earlier in the commercialization process, this move will help us grow in a geographical area where biopharma companies are booming.”

As part of the transaction, Splice Co-Founder Paul Hagopian will continue to lead the group’s day-to-day operations, reporting directly to McEllen. 

In March, Fingerpaint announced a strategic investment in Leaderboard Branding, a leading global naming and branding business based in Charlotte, North Carolina. It joined other Fingerpaint companies: 1798, a market access and commercialization firm that specializes in healthcare consulting services, including patient and provider access services, financial impact analysis and analytics, competitive intelligence, and pull-through solutions; and Photo 51, a consultancy focused solely on advanced therapeutics, such as gene and cell therapies.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Marking the 100-year anniversary of ice cream production by the Dake Family a “Century of Ice Cream!” exhibit celebrating the centennial will be featured at the Saratoga County History Center/Brookside Museum on 6 Charlton St. in Ballston Spa.  Summer hours start June 26 and will be 1 to 6 p.m. Thursdays, and 1 to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. 

In 1921, dairy farmers Percy and Charles Dake were busy making milk and butter, but the changing economy created an opportunity for ice cream production. They sold 4,000 gallons of ice cream in the first year, marking the beginning of “Dake’s Delicious Ice Cream.”

Purchasing a bright red Model-T delivery truck, they made deliveries of bulk ice cream to Saratoga, Troy, Schenectady, and Albany for $5 per 5-gallon can.

With the help of Robert McMullen, the ice cream plant was relocated to a new state-of-the-art building on Route 9N at a cost of $150,000. In the same year, McMullen built the biggest, most modern cow barn in the country. Despite all of its fine features, there was never a cow in the barn due to McMullen going broke with the stock market crash. That building eventually became the Stewart’s Shops ice cream plant in 1950.

The Dakes meanwhile became retailers, in 1945, purchasing a small dairy and ice cream business from Don Stewart’s, which became the very first Stewart’s Shop on Church Avenue in Ballston Spa. A Stewart’s Shop exists today in that very location. Today, there are 348 Stewart’s Shops in 31 counties across New York and southern Vermont.

BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa Business & Professional Association (BSBPA) is requesting nominations for its 2021 Property Beautification Awards in Ballston Spa. The awards are given in recognition of the restoration, renovation, new build, and beautification efforts by homeowners and businesses, which have enhanced the Ballston Spa area within the past 2 years. 

Criteria for residential nominations can include exterior renovations and restorations; new builds; outdoor space; or landscaping improvements. Criteria for commercial nominations can include complete renovations; new exterior attractive signage and/or window displays; or new interior improvements.  We also welcome nominations for any other community beautification projects.  All projects should be complete at the time of nomination. 

A nomination form is available to be filled out online at www.ballston.org. Forms may also be printed and either emailed to info@ballston.org or mailed to: 2021 Beautification Awards, c/o BSBPA, PO Box 386, Ballston Spa, NY 12020.  All nominations should be made by September 6, 2021.  Award winners will be honored and recognized this fall.  For more information, please contact Michelle Burlingame at michelle@ballston.org or Ellen Mottola at info@ballston.org or 518 885-2772.

The Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association, established in 1983, is a non-profit organization committed to making the Village of Ballston Spa a great place to live, work and visit. To learn more, visit www.ballston.org.

ALBANY — Shelby Schneider, who last week announced she is departing from her position as President & CEO of Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership announced this week she will join the New York State Economic Development Council (NYSEDC) as deputy director. 

In her new role, Schneider will help the NYSEDC oversee and implement new initiatives, lead policy development, and identify new strategic partnerships to help the NYSEDC achieve and expand its mission.

 In the past four years, NYSEDC has grown its membership to over 900 members, increased event attendance by more than 30 percent, launched a new website and digital communications plan, assisted with developing economic development policies, relocated its office space, and grown its staff. This newly created position will help NYSEDC further advance the four pillars of our strategic plan: Advocacy, Education, Policy Development, and Membership Growth.

Prior to joining NYSEDC, Schneider worked on several transformational projects such as the development of the Luther Forest Technology Campus, and the attraction of AMD, which later became GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab 8. She also served as Empire Zone Coordinator, administering incentive programs on behalf of Saratoga County. Schneider has over 20 years of economic development experience creating workforce development programs, spearheading national public relations campaigns, and relationship building with key industry decision makers and
site selectors.

The purpose of NYSEDC is to promote the economic development of the state and its communities, to encourage sound practices in the conduct of regional and statewide development programs, and to develop education programs that enhance the professional development skills of its members.