WATKINS GLEN (WENY) -- A local brewery is calling "time-out" after the Schuyler County Industrial Development Agency (SCIDA) decided to pick another brewery to operate at a waterfront location on Seneca Lake. Some people are calling for greater transparency in the process.

"Them (the IDA) being more transparent on the entire process, and then also giving it a fair shake too, I would say you look at after they made the decision, they shared the proposals, and you look at the one they did select, and financially and everything the rent dollars were lower so that really makes you wonder," said Horseheads Brewing Operations Manager, Tim Pagano.

Horseheads Brewing Seneca Lake was the tenant at the Seneca Harbor Marina Restaurant location for the last two years. The brewery had a two-year lease agreement with the IDA, ending on October 31st. In September, the IDA put out a request for proposals for prospective new tenants, with requests for proposals (RFPs) due by October 18th. Five business proposals were submitted, including one from Horseheads Brewing to continue operating the location. But at an October 25th meeting, the IDA voted to go in a different direction with another local brewery.

"Questions were asked of those remaining two [proposals], and then the committee came back together with their new scores, and a discussion was had and the scores were tallied," said IDA CFO/CEO and the Executive Director of SCOPED, Judy McKinney Cherry.

During the October 25th meeting, IDA members discussed scoring the received proposals on a Rubric to help make a decision. Out of five proposals, a committee had narrowed it down to two. The completed Rubrics and scores were not made available. After an executive session, members approved a motion to accept the proposal from Lucky Hare Brewing.

"The reasons for [this] are that Lucky Hare Brewing has put a proposal through for year-round service. They provided a significant degree of detail in their proposal. Their programming is year round and it's not just on weekends," IDA Board Member, Laury Ward.

According to the Horseheads Brewing RFP, they had programming scheduled for almost every weekend from March through December.  While still seasonal, they would have operated from March 14th through December 22nd.

"I would say frustrating is an understatement. Like I said, you know we had two years there and we put a significant investment into the building, as well as time, you know?" said Pagano.

Pagano said the company spent over $150,000 on renovations, equipment, and necessary items to open in 2021. Now that the lease has ended, most of it has been removed, but about $40,000 worth of property remains. The brewery still has questions about the process.

"Just you know, how they kind of came to the decision and why they went the way they did, with the money not lining up," said Pagano.

The IDA's next meeting is on November 8th at 5 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Schuyler County Shared Services Building at 910 S. Decatur St. in Watkins Glen.

 It's important to mention out of transparency, Horseheads Brewing is owned by the same people who own Lilly Broadcasting, WENY's parent company. Earlier today (Nov. 7th) we contacted the Schuyler County IDA and were directed to the posted videos. We also reached out to Lucky Hare Brewing about the decision but did not hear back.