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Asept-Pak
Inc. has received state funding, which along with other funding
sources will allow the company to enter into phase two of its
development.
The $8
million venture, spearheaded by ophthalmologist Dr. Gary Hanley,
was awarded a state Office of Small Cities Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) in the amount of $750,000 on Wednesday.
The
money will be received by Asept-Pak as a loan through Franklin
County and the Franklin County Local Development Corporation.
Brad
Jackson, executive director of the Franklin County Industrial
Development Agency (IDA), said the county will be in a position
to release the funds within a month, which will be loaned out to
the company in a series of allotments between June and
September.
“I want
to thank the legislators and the IDA and everybody who helped
this go forward and helped with the project,” Hanley said
Thursday. “I want to move the project forward, make sure the
jobs we’re looking at come forth, and everything works out
well.”
As part
of phase one, around 20 jobs will be filled at Asept-Pak,
location in the old Lamberton School on West Street in the
village of Malone. The company produces plastic pharmaceutical
containers, ranging from eye-dropper size to one-liter bottles.
Hanley
said the company has drafted job descriptions and filed them
with One Work Source, which is now taking resumes and conducting
preliminary screenings and forwarding the results to the
company. The positions now open are for both well-trained
professionals and general technical employees who would undergo
training, he said.
These 20
jobs will be filled over a period of time and assuming
everything goes as planned, he said the new workers should be on
the job by June.
The
$750,000, along with other funding streams, will finance the
phase two expansion of Asept-Pak’s development – medical device
packaging. It will specifically be used as start-up capital
needed to purchase raw materials and hire staff, paying for 65
full-time jobs, 54 of which will be made available to persons of
low to moderate income.
Phase
two will cost $2.4 million, and $1.4 million in private funding
has already been secured. The company is working with the North
Country Alliance, a consortium of economic development
organizations, to provide $225,000. Another $100,000 in equity
is coming from Hanley, and the Franklin County Local Development
Corporation could potentially provide an additional $250,000.
With the
current demand, and while the company is still in phase one,
Hanley said he can start shipping out product by the end of the
month.
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