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DHCR Commissioner Visits New Companies in TDC's Industrial Parks
June 2009 Issue
The Commissioner for the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), Deborah VanAmerongen and some of her staff members visited Plattsburgh on May 19th and toured SpencerARL and B3CG’s facilities located in TDC’s Air Industrial Park on the same day she visited projects in downtown Plattsburgh that have benefited from another of her Agency’s programs. Clinton County was recently awarded over $600,000 in Small Cities Grant funds from the Office of Community Renewal (OCR) for the training of the employees of SpencerARL and B3CG Interconnect. These two Canadian based companies are suppliers for the new Nova Bus assembly plant located in TDC’s Banker Road Industrial Park.
The OCR Small Cities Grants, which will be administered by The Development Corporation on behalf of the County, will be used to fund on- the-job training and equipment to prepare employees for their new jobs with the two companies. SpencerARL will receive $405,000 and B3CG Interconnect will receive $206,000 in grant funding for the training of eligible employees. The first of three recent OCR Small Cities Grants was awarded to Nova Bus in December 2008.
SpencerARL is responsible for 150 sub-assembly operations including engines, transmissions, seats, axles, wheels and tires which they will deliver to Nova Bus on a just-in-time basis. They also serve as third-party logistics for Nova Bus and handle all materials coming in for the company. SpencerARL is almost at full capacity with over 30 new employees, due partly to the OCR Small Cities grant funding and the company’s own investments.
B3CG Interconnect assembles complex wiring harnesses and control panels for Nova Bus. Thanks in part to the OCR Small Cities grant funding along with an estimated $1.4 million in private investment, the company is expected to hire nearly 70 employees, all with employer sponsored health-care benefits.
“With dwindling economic development resources at the state level it has become more difficult to access funding support for new or expanding businesses. The Small Cities Grant program, through the Office of Community Renewal, provided the opportunity for SpencerARL and B3CG to off-set training costs and enabled the companies to invest in other areas as they expanded into Clinton County. At The Development Corporation, we are excited about assisting these companies in making a long-term investment in the area’s workforce,” said Christine Eagan, Comptroller for The Development Corporation.
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