Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Sumitomo Rubber Plant Closure Task Force held its first meeting Monday afternoon at the Town of Tonawanda Wastewater Treatment Facility.
The task force is comprised of 11 members that represent local entities:
- Mark Poloncarz, Erie County Executive
- Zaque Evans, Chief Economic Development Officer (CE’s office)
- Tom Kucharski, President/CEO (Invest Buffalo Niagara)
- Tino Cimato, Superintendent Ken-Ton Schools (non-member)
- Supervisor Joe Emminger, Town of Tonawanda
- Ken Kujawa, Regional Director (National Grid)
- Grant Loomis, COO (Buffalo Niagara Partnership)
- Denise Abbott, President (Buffalo Central Labor Council)
- Jim Briggs, Sub-District Director (United Steelworkers)
- Dr. Jacqueline Hall, Executive Director (Workforce Buffalo)
- Karen Utz, Regional Director (Empire State Development)
- John Cappellino, President/CEO (ECIDA/ILDC)
Polonarz says the first meeting focused on key issues, including support for displaced workers and plans for the property's future.
"This is something that we initiated very quickly. I Have spoken to Governor Hochul, Senator Schumer, Congressman Kennedy and others with regards to this issue, they're all very interested in the long term impact of not only what we do to help the employees that lost their job. But as was discussed today, what happens with the site going forward for the usage of the site, the raw water control that the site has. And I'm very pleased that we have a great team of individuals on the task force from the business, governmental community and otherwise, who have been working on this issue, literally since the announcement was made in November," stated Poloncarz.
Tonawanda Town Supervisor, Joe Emminger, says since Sumitomo shut down, the entire process has been moving at lightning speed.
"In my opinion, right from day one, everybody joined together, a lot of collaboration between the county, state, local officials, union officials. It's been, it's been hectic from the job fairs you know that we've conducted to meeting with Sumitomo officials to try and coordinate plant site visits. It's been two and a half months roughly since the announcement, and we've come a long way, but we still have a lot of work that we got to do," stated Emminger.
Sub District Director for United SteelWorkers Jim Briggs is apart of the task force and he says although this is not the worst company he has dealt with, their actions still caused a major disruption in the community.
"I've dealt with the company a long time, and I'm not going to sit here and say they're the worst company I ever dealt with. They're not. I would hope that they realize I know I've heard references to Bethlehem Steel versus this in today's world, because the average size of a manufacturing facility today is a lot different than the Bethlehem days. This is our Bethlehem. You know, I told Sumitomo at the table, we don't deal with hurricanes and tornadoes, but you brought a hurricane. This was a hurricane to this community," stated Briggs.
There isn't a date for the next meeting, but the task force is hoping to do it monthly.