Casino license is coming; Local contractors wanted

Posted 9/30/09

Charles Degliomini, Executive Vice President of Empire Resorts, is hearing a lot of comments these days from people who are skeptical that the state will ever grant the company a license for the …

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Casino license is coming; Local contractors wanted

Posted

Charles Degliomini, Executive Vice President of Empire Resorts, is hearing a lot of comments these days from people who are skeptical that the state will ever grant the company a license for the Montreign Casino at the Adelaar Resort.

But his message to the Sullivan County Legislature, which he addressed at the government center on June 4, is that infrastructure work is already underway, and “you can see the transformation taking place.”

Once the gaming license is awarded a ceremony will take place, although the exact timing of that is not known. He said “Look, I’m not the gaming commission, we’re a public company, I kind of know what I know, and I can’t tell you everything that I know…. All I can tell everybody is that it’s a sooner than later process."

He added, “The state gaming commission is working at light speed compared to what we’re familiar with in other jurisdictions.”

As to hiring local contractors for some of the work involved in the project, Degliomini said there were several “overlays” that impact the project.

The first is that it is a union project and there is a project labor agreement (PLA) in place with the Hudson Valley Building Trades Council. But one element of the PLA allows local nonunion suppliers or contractors to bid on a project, and as long as they are willing to sign the PLA and pay union scale wages for that specific project, and adhere to the other terms of the PLA, the local nonunion businesses may bid and work on the project.

Degliomini said another overlay is that state officials said they wanted to ensure there were opportunities for minorities, women and veterans business enterprises (MWVBE) in the project, and the state set a mandate that 30% of the project go to WMVBE businesses. He said, “If you’re a woman-owned or veteran-owned or minority-owned business, you need to come see us, and talk to us.”

He said Empire asked for an accelerated process for state certification for MWVBE businesses from this area and the state agreed to that.

Keith Kabeary, who was recently hired by Empire, talked about the bidding process and said that if a job is bid, and a local contractor doesn’t come in with one of the three lowest bids, Empire will still work with the company to see if the bid can be made more competitive.

Degliomini added, however, that if a local company submits a bid that is significantly higher than those of out-of-area companies–for instance 20% higher–“that’s not going to work.”

Once the state issues the license, Empire and the other companies involved in the project have two years to get the casino up and running, and if they miss that deadline they face a $50 million penalty.

Legislator Gene Benson noted that the project is already providing local jobs, with local workers now involved in working on water and sewer for the facility.

Degliomini said that a local company was hired to do the tree clearing at the project site.

Legislator Ira Steingart said his son’s ski instructor, a Monticello native, “who was working for a contracting company in Pennsylvania, he came back here because of this project. It’s great to see.”

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