NORWICH – A request for seed money from the county’s infrastructure, promotion and business development fund was granted Tuesday, but not before tempers flared.
The Chenango County Planning & Economic Development Committee agreed by a vote of 3 to 1 to fund the Agricultural Development Council with $12,500 for the first phase of research regarding a potential mobile farmer’s market in the City of Norwich and, if deemed successful, $15,940 for the second phase. The council requested $56,760 for the project, called “Chenango Bounty At Your Door.”
Supervisor David J. Messineo, D-Otselic, objected, calling any support of it “hypocritical” and accusing his committee and the ag council of “playing games with semantics.”
“I thought we kicked this around the last time they were here for money,” Messineo said. “This is market research for a profit-making company. I was told we couldn’t use this fund to help for-profits.”
Members of the ADC, a county -authorized agency, first presented their plan to committee on May 8. The project would enable the Chenango County farmers to sell and distribute locally produced goods at wholesale prices to local customers. The research portion is planned for this summer, with a pilot project scheduled for fall. The business is intended to be up and running in Norwich, but could be duplicated elsewhere in the county.
Representatives from the Center for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship (CADE) in Oneonta and Norwich Meadows Farms would partner in the endeavor. The group originally asked for $52,500.
In making his original presentation, CADE representative Steve Holtzbaur said many of the products purchased in stores have comparable products that are grown or produced by local farmers and processors, but farmers and middle and lower income people can’t afford to buy them.
“Facilitating the movement from local farm to local table benefits our economy by keeping our dollars local. This makes local farms more profitable and increases their ability to hire more employees and increases their spending power,” a report to the committee stated.
The committee advised the ag council last month to contact Commerce Chenango and other potential funding sources, and return at a later date with more information about the project. Chairperson Linda E. Natoli, R-City of Norwich, and other members of the committee said the set-aside pool of funds for economic development was always given to not-for-profit entities.
Supervisor Ross Iannello also said he didn’t know about “helping someone that would be making a profit.”
At yesterday’s meeting, Council Chairperson J. Rebecca Hargrave said Norwich Meadows would be providing planning assistance, distribution space and refrigerated trucks for the project, and could become the eventual owners.
“Norwich Meadows or anybody who steps forward and are interested could own it. Right now, we are still determining the proper ownership structure as part of the feasibility study,” she said.
Natoli said Tuesday that the market research is being conducted by a not-for-profit, county appointed agency and would be eligible for funding by the committee. “They would be running it for us, and for the agriculture industry of Chenango County,” she said. “The ADC would not be making any money. Economic development starts out with non-profit funding.”
Iannello said he always considered one of the goals of the committee was to award seed money to potential businesses. “One of the jobs of the ADC is to award seed money for agricultural purposes. As long as you are upfront with it.”
Hargrave said the committee’s commitment would be used to leverage for New York Farm Viability Institute grants, Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grants and others.
Town of Plymouth Supervisor Jerry Kreiner said, “If local producers have been asking for this, if it’s that important to them, I would like to see them step up with some of the money for this.”
Holtzbaur said the biggest problem he has to witness in his work within the agricultural industry is that farmers cannot afford to buy their own product. “They don’t have any money to invest.”
Messineo repeated his objection, but was interrupted by one of a handful of visitors in the room supporting the ADC’s presentation.
“Everything we do is to help someone in agriculture to make a profit,” ADC member Bob Huot said.
Messineo requested that the committee’s chairperson reprimand the agency personnel for being out of order at the meeting. “You have no right to interrupt me at my meeting. I’m a member of the committee.”
Messineo said he had made a similar request for a start-up company in Otselic, partly for market research, and was told by the county’s legal counsel that the committee’s economic development money wouldn’t apply.
“I wasn’t told that I could run it through an agency to get it. We are playing a game here. Last month the tone was different. Is this acceptable for farmers or acceptable for feasibility research. This is special treatment for farmers,” he said.
Committee members Iannello and Jack T. Cook, R-Greene, said they would be in support of the request. “If ADC if funding a part of the project, and overseeing it, then it would be a start in the right direction.” Iannello said, “The key thing is to see a new business.”