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County readies for potentially seismic shift in employment

Dan Hust - Staff Writer
Posted 7/29/16

SULLIVAN COUNTY — Employment in Sullivan County is about to get a major boost thanks to the Montreign Resort Casino and related development, but what about those who won't be working there?

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County readies for potentially seismic shift in employment

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SULLIVAN COUNTY — Employment in Sullivan County is about to get a major boost thanks to the Montreign Resort Casino and related development, but what about those who won't be working there?

County officials have spent more than a year planning for both Montreign's arrival and the myriad associated impacts, lining up government agencies and educational institutions to offer everything needed not only for job-seekers but employers across the county.

“We were both thinking along the same lines,” Center for Workforce Development Director Laura Quigley says of herself and Partnership for Economic Development President/CEO Marc Baez.

That's because they were both talking to their counterparts in other areas of the state where a major industry had quickly moved in.

The need for a cohesive, comprehensive workforce strategy was evident, and so in 2015 they began partnering with the county Industrial Development Agency (IDA), Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Association, BOCES, Monticello Central School District, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Legislature and SUNY Sullivan.

Legislator Ira Steingart, who chairs the IDA and the Legislature's Community & Economic Development Committee, urged Quigley and Baez to do more than just join agencies but meld an entire county together.

“We are now in a position,” affirms Quigley, “where we will ultimately create a hospitality skills alliance that will oversee the Catskill Hospitality Institute.”

Working with SUNY Sullivan, the goal is to attract an international student body looking for top-notch vocational training they can use in every corner of the globe.

That will also involve every local, hospitality-oriented business interested in participating, she adds, with the aim of setting training and service standards - made that much more crucial by the fact that Montreign will be a five-star resort.

“The five-star level is a shift in your mindset as an employee,” Quigley explains. “It's not a matter of saying, ‘Thank you - please come again!' It is creating a high-quality experience for your guests from the minute they book their room. It is not about you - it is all about them.”

Through Cornell Cooperative Extension, Baez is looking to tap into Cornell University's legendary hospitality programs, while SUNY Sullivan and BOCES are already ramping up their offerings to prepare potential employees for the professional demands of a five-star resort.

Most new courses and certificate programs will be available come spring (some as early as this fall), timed to precede Montreign's expected hiring blitz later in 2017.

But they're looking beyond Montreign's opening day in 2018.

A laborshed study is just about complete, focused in and around Sullivan County.

“We needed to get a handle on the laborshed,” says Quigley. “Who is out there? What are their needs? What does the impact of this industry do to us?”

That includes paying attention to the businesses that may lose employees to the casino and related industries. Willing local companies were thus interviewed and will be incorporated into the survey's results.

Quigley and Baez are already working on strategies to help those companies stay competitive.

“We're taking it head-on,” affirms Baez. “‘Can't' is not an option.”

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