Oct 24, 2013 4 min read

MEADOW LANDS – Bill Sarris had some advice Thursday for small business owners who find themselves facing a fire, a flood or other disasters: Have a plan for recovery.

Sarris, president of Sarris Candies, was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Washington County Council on Economic Development. He told an audience of about 100 at the Meadow Lands Doubletree hotel that when he learned at 6 a.m. Feb. 12, 2012, that smoke was rolling out of his Canonsburg chocolate production plant, he gathered family members and let them know he would be the point man for talking with the media.

At the time of the fire, later determined to be caused by a spark when an employee plugged in a piece of equipment to clean a floor, Sarris said the company was considering buying property to consolidate all of its operations for candy production for Sarris Candies and its Gardners Candies subsidiary.

In the aftermath, Sarris said he was lucky the consolidation plans never materialized, because having a separate warehouse for inventory in Canonsburg meant the company’s products could continue to reach markets while its production was shut down.

While smoke and water damage put a halt to production, Sarris said, the company continued to practice “damage control” while a disaster restoration company worked to take apart and clean production equipment that could be salvaged.

“We used Facebook, we tweeted and blogged” about the progress the company was making toward a reopening, he said.

Despite several million dollars in damages, the company, which employs 450 people, returned to normal operations, something Sarris said was never in doubt.

“Was there ever a chance we were going to say, ‘We’re not going to do this anymore? No,'” Sarris said.

“The plan is everything” to making a comeback possible after a major setback, he said.

Sarris’ discussion of a business rebound set the tone Thursday for several upbeat reports from WCCED, an organization formed in 1986 to assist the area in recovering from the loss of the steel and glass industries.

Board member Ray Vargo noted that the council is now the No. 1 micro-loan provider for the U.S. Small Business Administration in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, helping people launch a small business or assisting existing businesses in taking the next step in expanding.

According to Vargo, the council had the biggest year of loan production in its existence, approving 42 loan applications, closing on 28 of them for a total of $1.2 million, with another 14 in the process of closing that will mean another $1 million to entrepreneurs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The council is also building the 1,200-acre Starpointe industrial park near Burgettstown. WCCED Executive Director Dan Reitz said German door manufacturer Hörmann Flexon LLC has begun production in the recently completed 68,000-square-foot plant in Starpointe’s Phase 1-B.

“They’re about 40 percent ahead of production over last year,” Reitz said, adding that the company is planning for an expansion on the 10.5-acre site it purchased.

WCCED is also planning for a third “flex building,” in the park, and is negotiating with a company Reitz said it expects will take about half of the 100,000-square-foot structure.

The park, which finished installation of sewerage about a year ago, has also completed 1,000 feet of road and infrastructure improvements for the 90-acre phase, and has advertised for bids on the next 2,000 feet, which should be completed in the spring.

During Thursday’s meeting, board members Vargo, Ray Popeck, Tori Haring-Smith and Bob Griffin were reappointed to new terms that will run through 2017.

Also reappointed to terms running through 2014 were Chairman Richard White; Vice Chairman J. Lynn DeHaven; Secretary Anthony Lombardi; and Treasurer Cindy Kotowski.