BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

MASSENA — Despite market volatility and severe fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin, North Country Collocation Services has continued to add staff.

CEO Dave Fogel said the Massena facility is now staffed by well over 100 workers, with more openings currently posted on their website.

“We have hired a number of new staff members, including more operators, electricians, another HR person and a production manager,” Fogel said.

Fogel said the need arose to hire another production manager due to the facility operating with three shifts like other manufacturing type businesses.

“We really needed a third production manager because we can’t ask our other managers to work the sort of hours needed to oversee three full shifts. On top of that, we needed a third HR person because our staff has grown so large,” he said.

Another sign of good things to come is the fact that new operations continue to enquire with NCCS to host their servers. According to Fogel, that isn’t quite possible right now.

“We’re at full capacity, we literally don’t have more room to accommodate them. And we’ve had new and old customers alike ask for more space too but we just can’t do it right now,” he said.

Plans to expand are in the works but infrastructure development is needed well in advance to accomplish that goal.

“We continue to add more staff and we really need even more operators right now. They’re the ones that install all of the equipment, maintain it, clean it. So those roles are very important for us and we’re hoping to add more very soon,” Fogel said.

One consideration moving forward is the need to negotiate with the New York Power Authority and Town of Massena for an expansion to occur, though Fogel said the company is confident those details will be worked out when the time comes.

According to Fogel, the company remains in a strong financial position despite the fluctuations of the market.

“Obviously we’d like to see the price of Bitcoin higher because that means more revenue sharing for us with our customers but we’re still in a good position moving forward,” he said.

Fogel also said employee benefits moving forward are a huge priority for the company and a new 401k program has been implemented recently.

For all employees, no contribution is needed to the plan, however NCCS will offer a 5% contribution.

Another huge benefit is an affordable health insurance plan. According to Fogel, a single employee enrolled in the plan does not pay a cent for insurance.

Dental insurance is also a norm for employees as well, he previously said.

Moving forward, NCCS plans to continue to add operators, electricians, production managers and various other personnel to meet the growing demand seen from the numerous customers supported.

“We continue to field those calls everyday and we will add more in the future. Right now our primary goal is to get our staffing levels to a point we can ensure that we adequately service our existing customers,” Fogel said.

Fogel also briefly touched on the numerous community outreach programs NCCS has sponsored, including Rock the River in Massena.

“We’ve done a lot recently and have big plans for the future,” he said.