Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz was joined today by Erie County Legislators John Gilmour (9^th District) and Frank Todaro (8^th District), Director of the Erie County Veterans’ Service Agency Felice Krycia and Agency personnel, President and CEO of the Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park Paul Marzello, Sr., and area veterans as he signed the Service-Disabled Veterans Utilization Act into law. The new local law is intended to promote the continued economic development of service-disabled veteran-owned businesses by encouraging greater participation for them in county contracts.

While at the Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park Poloncarz, Gilmour and Todaro also presented Marzello with four new flags ahead of the upcoming Independence Day holiday.

“Today we are honoring our veterans, particularly service-disabled veterans, with this new local law. We thank these men and women for their service to our country and our community, and with the signing of this law we are making it easier for their businesses to secure county contracts,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz.  “Independence Day is a good opportunity to not only say ‘thank you’ to our veterans but to also reflect on and celebrate the history of our democracy. We join with the Naval and Military Park for that celebration and today we are honored to present the Park with four new flags to be raised on the Park’s flagpoles this year.”  

Two new U.S. flags along with one P.O.W./M.I.A. flag and one South Korean flag were also donated to the Park, a donation the county makes each year to replace worn, tattered flags.

“We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the veterans who’ve served our country and creating avenues to boost their businesses is just one way that we can show that gratitude and support. I am honored to join County Executive Poloncarz as this new local law becomes official and I encourage all service-disabled veteran business owners to find out how they can benefit from it,” said Erie County Legislator John Gilmour (9^th District).

New York State has a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business program that identifies procurement and contracting opportunities for companies owned by disabled veterans. Through the new local law Erie County will promote the continued economic development of these businesses by aiming for at least a six per cent participation rate of state-certified businesses on county contracts.

Director of the Erie County Veterans’ Service Agency Felice Krycia added, “This will be helpful to promote the local businesses owned by service-connected disabled veterans who persevered through their disabilities to create a viable business.”

For more information:

On the Erie County Veterans’ Service agency, visit https://www3.erie.gov/veterans/ 

On the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park, visit https://buffalonavalpark.org/  

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