St. Johnsonville, NY Needs a Grant

The village of St. Johnsville, in conjunction with the Montgomery County Business Development Center, will apply for a $450,000 Community Development Block Grant to assist M.H. Stallman Company in moving its operations to New York state.

If the application is approved by the state Office of Community Renewal, the company will use the funds to purchase equipment and machinery as part of a planned renovation project, according to Crystal Ricciuti, an economic development specialist with the county Business Development Center.

“This is welcome news for the village of St. Johnsville, as a new company is moving its operations here and is bringing new jobs with it,” said Mayor James Kierzinski.

In all, Ricciuti said M.H. Stallman Co.’s project to renovate office, warehouse and manufacturing space in a portion of Cellect’s building on New Street carries a $5.5 million price tag.

“Cellect is M.H. Stallman’s top supplier of raw materials, so this move will allow the company to reduce its freight costs, which made reallocation to St. Johnsville attractive,” Ricciuti said.

While the terms of the loan require the company to create jobs for 50 new employees, Ricciuti said new developments, including plans to manufacture foam to assist in the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in Louisiana, the number of jobs created will likely be 80. Thirty of those jobs, under separate terms of the CDBG program, are to be created within 24 months, if the application is successful.

At the time of the announcement of the loan, M.H. Stallman officials said the company’s plan was to hire at least six administrative officials, 40 manufacturing employees and upper-level management.

M.H. Stallman Co. will lease its manufacturing and office space from Cellect. “This will be a separate company, with separate management and separate employees,” said Ricciuti. “They will be in the same building, but they will not be one company.”

Two public hearings will be held on the grant application, on June 15 and June 16. The hearings will begin at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Community House at 16 Washington St.