FALCONER — The village has agreed to submit an application with the state Office of Community Renewal on behalf of a longtime Falconer business looking to undertake much-needed facility repairs and equipment upgrades.

The company, Jamestown Container, and the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corp. asked the village to apply for the funding that would finance a portion of the machinery and equipment and working capital costs. The project, according a resolution the Falconer Village Board passed recently, is estimated at about $1.6 million.

The application seeks up to $750,000 in state grant funding to assist with the costs. Jamestown Container is located on Deming Drive in the village and manufactures packaging materials.

“The project will result in substantial benefit to the village in the form of an estimated 90 retained labor positions and an estimated 10 new full-time equivalent employment positions,” a resolution by the village board states.

Richard Weimer, Jamestown Container vice president of finance, said the company is looking to replace an aging piece of equipment that costs as much as $600,000. “That machine is really old, it’s massive,” Weimer told The Post-Journal. “It’s our big box equipment machine … we need to replace.”

Weimer said the project — to be funded by the grant and company — also includes taking care of an environmental issue caused by a business that had been in operation next door but is now gone; further, the company is looking to repair a ceiling in the basement and part of the building itself from damage caused over time by the nearby Chadakoin River.

The Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corp. is assisting Jamestown Containers with obtaining funding for the project.

The village held a public hearing on the application process in June and later approved the resolution. The state Office of Community Renewal provides funding to local governments and not-for-profits to support public infrastructure projects, job creation and small business development, and to create and preserve affordable housing.

Weimer noted that without the upgrades and repairs, it would be difficult for Jamestown Container to continue operations at its current location. “If we want to continue business we would need to make that kind of investment,” he said.

Not only that, the company is currently in need of workers, a shortage Weimer believes may be caused by the pandemic.