Ready To Rebound
Potter County officials making plans to offset job loss

Politicians, community organizations and government agencies are scrambling to light rays of hope as Coudersport comes to grips with the harsh reality of a severe economic blow that appears imminent.

Upwards of 600 jobs with Time Warner Cable and what’s left of Adelphia will vanish soon after the new year dawns. How can a community of roughly 3,000 men, women and children possibly recover?

“The answer comes down to one word -- jobs,” according to John Wright, who as executive director of the Potter County Redevelopment Authority is seen by some leaders as a logical point person for what’s certain to be a protracted and challenging mission.

The Potter County Board of Commissioners is among several organizations also involved. The commissioners released figures showing that those who will lose their jobs when Time Warner shuts down two major operations in Coudersport include roughly 260 from Potter County, 110 from McKean, 30 from Cameron, and more than 180 from New York.

No figures have been compiled for another employee group, consisting of more than 100 people, still clinging to jobs at the Operations Center on South Main Street with the “Adelphia Estate.” As the bankruptcy, reorganization and dissolution of that fallen company wends its way through regulatory and legal hurdles, those jobs will also vanish.

Employers: ‘Locate Here!’

Given the sensitivities of real estate negotiations and high-stakes politics, only a limited amount of information has emerged since Time Warner dropped its bombshell. One plan under discussion calls for the Redevelopment Authority to lease the Advanced Products Customer Center -- formerly known as the “tennis center” -- from Time Warner and recruit other employers to move in.

This effort could include tax breaks or other incentives. Elected officials at the federal and state levels have already been asked to help.

Last week, less than 24 hours after Time Warner announced its plans, a West Virginia firm inquired about the feasibility of establishing a call center in Coudersport.

A separate, but potentially related, effort to market the Coudersport area to potential employers has been in the works for several months. Thousands of letters and brochures extolling the area’s virtues have been sent by county officials to people who own property in Potter County, but live elsewhere.

Some of these absentee property owners are involved in business. They’re being told that local “economic partners will work with you to find the right site, funding assistance if needed, and employees to fulfill your goal.”

Among the Coudersport area’s assets are: a skilled employee base with a proven work ethic; tax breaks and other incentives for established or start-up businesses; a hightech infrastructure; reasonably priced real estate, and a pleasurable quality of life.

Time Warner’s official statement confirmed that the company will keep about 75 employees in i n f o r m a t i o n technology and engineering roles at the multi-milliondollar Data Center in west Coudersport. Fate of the other T W C - o w n e d buildings, including the former elementary school on North Main Street, remains uncertain.

TWC and Comcast purchased the assets of Adelphia, which came under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002, for about $17 billion in cash and stock. Coudersport properties were among those acquired by Time Warner. About 150 Adelphia employees in Coudersport were terminated when Time Warner took over in August.

System serving Coudy, Emporium, Port Allegany, Austin and Roulette was not affected by the sale. That system is owned and operated by Zito Media, a company owned by the Rigas family, founders and former majority stockholders of Adelphia.