Kristin Chlopecki was named the new executive director of the Tri-County United Way, succeeding Brian Bearor, who resigned in April.

She has served the organization for eight years as a business manager and director of resource development before accepting her new position with the board of directors.

Zack Moore, chairman of the Tri-County United Way board of directors, said he is happy to have someone who is already a part of the organization take the job.

“We are so fortunate to have a local person who is already on our United Way team and is as experienced a leader as Kristin and is prepared to accept these broader responsibilities,” Moore said in a news release. “Kristin was the unanimous and enthusiastic choice of our search committee.”

Chlopecki is a Glens Falls High School graduate. Before joining United Way, she worked in fashion publishing in New York City after earning degrees from Ohio University and New York FIT. She said she is looking forward to bringing leadership of the United Way team the “financial and creative skills that made her successful in business.”

By Christine Graf

Capital Region Environmental Lab, a full-service water testing lab, recently opened a satellite office at Suite 231 of 7 Hemphill Place (Parade Ground Village) in Malta. 

The Rensselaer-based company is owned by Brian Collins and Erika LaPorta. 

A state and EPA approved environmental laboratory, the company tests drinking water and non-potable water.

 “We specialize in drinking water. We do bacteriological testing, we do minerals and metals analyses, we do organic chemical testing and so forth,” said Collins. 

The company’s clients include local and state health departments, municipalities, and local business and restaurant owners. Private homeowners also make up a large portion of their customer base.

The Malta satellite office is for sample drop offs only and was opened due to customer demand.  

“We have some very good clients in that area, and they asked if we could open another facility to make it more convenient to drop off samples,” said Collins. “Right now, we do not do any testing there. If we decide to do that, we need to apply to the state for certification and approval.”

Work continues this month on the next phase of the Saratoga Springs’ FiberCity project, a $32 million endeavor that will see fiber infrastructure available to every household, business, and institution citywide, officials said.

One month after SiFi Networks completed construction on the first phase, the city’s Department of Public Works confirmed that the construction methodologies used in the greenspace public right-of-way met the department’s stringent standards.  

DPW Commissioner Jason Golub said that so far, the city has been pleased with the network’s greenspace construction methodologies. 

“Installing in the greenspace with other utilities is a less invasive construction methodology. SiFi has assured us that they will be working with residents to communicate any issues during construction,” he said. “Throughout the recently completed phase, SiFi’s public interaction was great and the installation was a success. Only a few weeks have passed and you would hardly notice there was construction.”

The first homes on the network are slated to go-live this winter.  

In green space construction, a narrow incision is dug either behind the curb or sidewalk to lay conduit that houses fiber cables. Underground radar and water jets are used in the process to avoid harming tree roots during construction. Residents along Myrtle, Marvin, and Van Rensselaer Streets who experienced firsthand what green space construction entails, told officials that they were pleased, according to the company.

By Paul Post

Kevin Hedley left the security of an established accounting firm to start his own one-man practice.

Thirty years later, his Clifton Park-based Hedley & Co. has nearly a dozen employees including two other CPAs, Kristen E. Bus and Joanna Piscitella, serving commercial and individual clients across the U.S.

“We’re very fortunate that our clients think enough of the work we do, and how we do it for them, that they’re willing to share it with their friends and colleagues,” he said. “It’s strictly word of mouth. We don’t do any marketing outside of Saratoga County. The fact that I’ve got clients from 30 years ago, including some from Florida, is a testament to what we’re doing.”

Rule number one, a guiding principle for the firm’s success is “being honest with yourself, your employees and customers,” Hedley said. “They’ve got to have confidence in what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and feel as though you’re doing it in their best interest.”

By Andrea Harwood

Haley Gerarde has opened up a new business, Jenny Jo’s Smoothie Bar. The Lake George native operates the mobile smoothie truck in the greater Saratoga and Glens Falls region.

Gerarde purchased the business in early 2021. The smoothie truck was previously known as The Smoothie Shoppe. Gerarde renamed the business and the truck to Jenny Jo’s Smoothie Bar upon acquisition. She operated the business briefly as The Smoothie Shoppe as she waited for her signage to be completed.

Gerarde has two daughters, Genevieve (Jenny) and Josephine (Jo), the namesakes of her business.

Years ago when the business was owned by previous operators and known as The Smoothie Shoppe, Gerarde would take her daughter Jo down to the Spa City Farmer’s Market to get smoothies. She began following The Smoothie Shoppe on social media, and eventually connected with the owners.

Around a year ago, one of the previous owners showed interest in selling the business. Gerarde already had interest in starting a business, perhaps a brick-and-mortar breakfast place. When she heard the smoothie shop business was for sale, she inquired right away.

By Paul Post

A Queensbury firm and its Singapore-based partner are helping companies worldwide with a new high-tech hiring service that purports to finds key employees quickly and efficiently while saving valuable time and money.

“Our first customer in New York City went from an average of two to three months per hire to just three days using our tool,” said Tim Montgomery, owner and president of TIMIT Solutions LLC. “Our primary target is businesses that hire a lot of people. We’ve initially engaged with some very large IT (information technology) companies in India.”

ConvInt.ai (Conversational Intelligence), founded and owned by Virender Aggarwal, of Singapore, uses artificial intelligence to locate top candidates not only for IT companies, but those in other industries such as insurance, healthcare and the rapidly expanding field of cannabis production.

“Many human resources people aren’t technically savvy and don’t know much about who you need to hire for the cannabis industry, the types of people and skills they need,” Montgomery said. “This tool makes them an expert in all of those areas because we’re asking expert questions on their behalf.”

A portion of the state highway system in Saratoga Springs was dedicated in August to Marylou Whitney, an iconic figure in the community and the horse racing industry at Saratoga Race Course.

Gov. Kathy Hochul designated a portion of Union Avenue as Marylou Whitney Way. It covers Route 9-P, between the Northway and East Avenue in Saratoga Springs that leads to, and is adjacent to, the historic race course.

A ceremony was held at the race track that included the governor, local and state dignitaries, racing industry officials and John Hendrickson, Whitney’s husband.

“Marylou Whitney’s years of dedication to Saratoga will live on forever, reflected in the work she did throughout her life,” Hochul said. “She was larger than life, a trailblazer of her time, and her memory will be a lasting legacy here and today I am honored to dedicate to her a piece of the city she so loved. I thank the Whitney family for their continued work here and I am grateful to be able to remember Marylou as the legend and friend she is to so many.”

By Jill Nagy

Roohan Realty recently purchased the Diamond Brady Plaza on Putnam Street in Saratoga Springs from real estate developer Bruce Levinsky and his company 63 Putnam Street LLC. 

The purchase price for the 31,500-square-foot plaza was $3.95 million, said Tom Roohan, president and owner of Roohan Realty. 

Adirondack Trust financed the purchase. The deal closed in July.

A big attraction in obtaining the building was the fact that Roohan and his family own nearby property on Broadway and Phila streets, he said.  

The plaza has tenants including the Wasabi Saratoga, a restaurant and bar; DZ Restaurants, Putnam Place bar and music venue, and KBC Design Studio, a kitchen designer. 

“They are all nice people and I hope they will stay,” Roohan said. 

One of them, Wasabi, recently expanded its patio and added a roof. But there are vacancies the new owners hope to fill, according to Roohan.