Regional council does North Country “proud”

Our own Ellen Rocco was in Albany yesterday with the group representing the North Country  at the regional economic development competition being run by the governor’s office.

It pits eight regions of the state against each other for economic development aid from the state. The four winning regions each get $40 million, the others split $40 million. Big stakes.

Ellen was there with two other people involved in one of the projects selected for presentation to the panel of judges: North Country Pastured, which hopes to get a mobile poultry processing facility going in the St. Lawrence Valley.

Others on the travel team:   Kevin Elkin of Elkin Tree Service in Indian lake ( a passionate broadband proponent) and representatives of a company based in Syracuse and Ogdensburg that’s working on advanced LED lighting technology. Leading were co-chairs Garry Douglas of the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh, Clarkson University President Tony Collins, and Kate Fish, a North Country Council member representing the Adirondack North Country Association.

Here’s a link to the website with all the regions’ full videos. (Don’t worry…you should be able to fast forward to various bits.)

The co-chairs did the presentation, and each of the judges had questions, with interjections from time to time.

The big takeaway – “We think we did the North Country proud,” says Ellen. She says all the panelists said the North Country presentation stood out, partly because this region’s council was the only team to bring actual people who could talk about their own projects. And the visuals were smart and looked good…not your typical “death by Power Point” presentation.

We’ll see, soon. A decision is expected Dec. 14.

Tags: Cuomo, economy, ncredc, north country economic development council, politics