Operation Oswego County annual meeting reviews 2023 projects, honors Onondaga SBDC

OSWEGO, N.Y. — Operation Oswego County (OOC) and the County of Oswego IDA (COIDA) in 2023 assisted on projects that resulted in the creation or retention of 630 jobs with more than $130 million in capital investment. The projects were associated with 33 new, expanded, or retained facilities in the targeted industry clusters of manufacturing, health care, tourism and hospitality, agribusiness and energy, OOC said in its Thursday, June 13 announcement. Austin Wheelock, executive director of OOC, reported the data during the annual meeting of OOC, noting that the projects were spread over 16 municipalities around Oswego County. Operation Oswego County held its 72nd annual meeting on Thursday at the Lake Ontario Event and Conference Center in Oswego. Ellen Holst, president of the OOC board of directors, welcomed 170 representatives of businesses, government, education, labor, and other community organizations to the meeting. The OOC also announced that its board of directors elected Pete Cullinan, who is retired from Exelon, to succeed Holst as the board president, although Holst was also reelected to serve as a board member. In his remarks, Wheelock also reported on marketing highlights and collaborative initiatives with key stakeholders such as National Grid, Oswego County Tourism, SUNY Oswego, the Port of Oswego Authority, Oswego County Workforce New York, and the Greater Oswego Fulton Chamber of Commerce. Joseph Pacher, senior VP of operations at Constellation Energy, was the annual meeting’s keynote speaker. In his remarks, Pacher discussed Constellation’s economic impact on Oswego County, how its plants help New York state to meet its clean-energy goals, and the firm’s plans to continue to invest in and relicense Nine Mile I, Nine Mile II, and the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plants. The annual meeting also included the announcement of several awards, including the Ally Award for 2024, which was presented to the Onondaga Small Business Development Center (SBDC) “in recognition and appreciation of the vision, commitment and leadership exhibited by the Onondaga [SBDC] to provide critical entrepreneurial training and technical assistance to the small businesses and entrepreneurs of Oswego County; and for being a vital and essential partner in economic development in Oswego County,” per the announcement.