A loan request from Monroe and More that was approved by the JLDC during their last meeting has moved forward to the city council. Screenshot courtesy of the City of Jamestown’s website

Following approval during the latest meeting of the Jamestown Local Development Corporation, a loan request from Monroe and More for some additional offerings to be done by their company will move to a vote on Monday.

The loan total is $350,000 and because it is over $100,000 the loan is needed to be approved by the city council after the JLDC. The company is looking for machine purchases to help expand business services, including for spray foam insulation, a gutter machine and a dump truck to enter into the demolition business.

“During our discussion with the JLDC, we found two areas of our current service list that kind of bottlenecks in our services currently, about 60% of the services requested that we don’t provide, which is gutter repair and installation and spray foam insulation,” Dylan Monroe with Monroe and More said during the work session on Monday. “Three out of four major projects that we’ve had recently have been delayed more than two weeks due to spray foam insulation contractors, whether it be outsourced to Rochester or just lack of professionalism.”

Monroe said the company’s goal is to bring all of the services within so they can control the complete construction process and provide customers with a fair margin.

On the demolition side of things, they have bid on three projects recently through the Chautauqua County Land Bank, and lost all three. On the first two, Monroe said the company was in the middle of the pack and on the third they were way above. The only way for them to bring their profits down that 30% that they are over is for Monroe and More to control the dumping process, he added.

“So, right now we subcontract out all of our dumpsters,” Monroe said. “We’re paying a lease fee on the dumpsters and a dump fee at the dump. So if we can eliminate that dump fee, hopefully we can mark our margins and hopefully win these bids.”

City council members noted that the city would probably be a good customer for Monroe and More, demolition wise. Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large, said that one of the problems the city has seen when it comes to demolition companies is that the current companies they have doing demolitions in the city have a main focus of other things, and they are only available at certain times of the year. He asked if Monroe and More would be able to be available all year round with this loan to allow them to purchase extra equipment.

“I don’t want to speak down on the current contractors because I don’t know their operation, but I do know they’re doing other things outside of what the demolition contract is,” Monroe said. “So are we, we’re builders. We don’t utilize our equipment for anything other than demolition or foundation, which is hand-in-hand.”

Monroe gave an example of if they had won the bid that they had just lost, they would have been mobilized and begun working within two weeks, and the purchase of the dump truck would allow that time to be even faster. The size of the dump truck was then discussed, including looking at a specific size so the company does not need to hire a certified CDL driver.

Council President Tony Dolce noted that the loan was approved by the JDLC the week before, and because the loan is for over $100,000 it will need to be approved by the council at next week’s voting session.