By Denise Richardson, Staff Writer, The Daily Star

Otsego Now, a brand initiative that includes the Otsego County IDA, launched its new website and reviewed projects and other business during an annual meeting in Oneonta on Thursday, officials said.

The website, www.otsegonow.com, is the culmination of a branding project that began in September last year, according to a media release. The site is expected to enhance the IDA’s refurbished image and message and be accessible for entrepreneurs, business owners and representatives and other visitors, officials said.

“We are thrilled to have a professional website as a dynamic communication tool,” Elizabeth Horvath, chief operating officer, said.

Paperkite Creative of Cooperstown designed and built the website. Horvath said Otsego Now is an umbrella brand that includes the IDA, the Otsego County Capital Resource Corp., the workforce training center and other entities to be developed.

The Otsego County Industrial Development Agency became a financially self-sustaining organization in 2014, having previously operated under Otsego County, Robert Hanft, chairman of the board, said in a message in the 2014 annual report, titled “Planting Seeds for Growth.”

The IDA’s primary objective is to provide assistance to existing businesses, expansions and business start-ups with the goal of creating jobs and economic development in Otsego County.

Last year, a foundation was laid for economic growth through work toward making sites shovel-ready, providing business support, creating a workforce training center and promoting projects at various levels, Hanft said.

“We’re a stronger organization with a broader reach and an even more actively engaged and hard-working board,” Hanft said in the report. “In 2015, the IDA will continue to focus on projects within targeted industries to bring wealth creation to our community and better resources to our residents.”

The IDA is a nonprofit public benefit agency. Officials said the transition and projects won’t happen overnight but are progressing.

Guests at the annual meeting at Stella Luna Ristorante included Duncan Davie from state Sen. James Seward’s office and Kenneth Tompkins, Empire State Development Mohawk Valley Regional Director, who each spoke about the progress the IDA has made, Horvath said.

Hanft, and Alexander “Sandy” Mathes, IDA chief executive officer, also spoke, she said.

Horvath said fiscal management achievements included receiving a clean audit and filing state-required documents on time.

The IDA’s budget for 2015, as approved in October, was $489,925, with a projected deficient of $89,124, according to the annual report, and the 2014 budget was $1.2 million with a $214,815 deficit.

Horvath said IDA budgets in general are fiscally a “good guess” because of the unpredictable nature of projects.

The Otsego IDA is self-sustaining, with operating funds derived from fees paid by applicants seeking assistance, administrative fees, rental income and return on agency investments, said the report, and no taxpayer dollars support the agency.

The agency has two employees and is searching for an administrative assistant, Horvath said. Mathes continues working for the agency under a three-year contract.

Mathes and Horvath were hired in January 2014. The offices moved to 189 Main St. in Oneonta in May that year.

In 2014, the agency worked on projects with Northern Eagle Beverages Inc., Brooks’ Realty LLC and the Otsego County Health Facilities Corp., as well as on economic development sites and in connection with initiatives of the city of Oneonta and the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council. The agency is working with Cooperstown on a revitalization plan.

An economic development site at the Pony Farm Industrial Park in the town of Oneonta is close to being shovel-ready for business, Horvath said, and other projects are progressing.

“It’s a lot of steady work,” she said, “that takes a while to bear fruit.”

published 6/26/2015 by The Daily Star