NFIB

Mike Kovach Engineers His Own Success Story
09/23/2002

Mike Kovach is an electrical engineer. "It's pretty much what he's done his whole life," says his wife, Joanie. Together, they run City Machine Technologies of Youngstown, Ohio.

A graduate of nearby Youngstown State, Kovach attended night school for eight years to attain his degree. "That includes summers," he is quick to add. While he attended college, he managed other people's companies -- small businesses and Fortune-500 corporations. "I saw the best of both and the worst of both," he says, "and I eventually decided to get out on my own. I haven't regretted it since."

The result of that move -- City Machine Technologies -- is basically a one-stop shop for industrial and mechanical services, working with a variety of industries in the Northeast. The client roster includes steel companies, automotive plants, power plants (both fossil fuel and nuclear), the food industry, air-conditioning providers and elevator companies. City Machinery's current size and scope belies its rather humble beginnings, says Kovach.

"When we bought the company it was a two-man machine shop -- one of those men was my father -- here in the Youngstown," say Kovach. "At the time the company operated out of a single building and around 8,000 square feet of space. We've now got 100,000 square feet and work out of three buildings."

Given the nature of his work, Kovach doesn't have to interact with the general public very often. But that hasn't stopped him from staying involved locally. "We try to be a good corporate citizen," he explains, "and align ourselves with good organizations -- chambers and better-business groups, etc."

That desire to get involved also led Kovach and City Machine to NFIB. "We started the business when we had children," he says. "You get so consumed trying to raise the kids and get the business going, and eventually your kids reach a certain age and the business is doing well enough, and you suddenly look up and see all of these things happening around you. And you can't help but want to get involved, to say your peace. You're not always able to affect change, but the opportunity to vent, to share with other people who are in a similar situation and have similar opinions, that really helps."

Quick Facts:
Name: Mike Kovach
Business: City Machine Technologies, Inc., www.cmtcompanies.com
Location: Youngstown, Ohio
Founded: 1985
Number of employees: 65

Describe your involvement with NFIB.
We got involved through another company in Youngstown that was a member. And it's been good. We're not crusaders or anything of that nature. We find NFIB to be a nice avenue to focus what our views and opinions are and what we'd like to see happen in this country. It's been a nice alignment of philosophies over the years, and they strive to be fair to the employee but also fair to the guy paying the bills. I think NFIB does much more for us than other organizations we're a part of.

Which legislative issues are you currently watching?
Workers' comp at the state level, tort reform at the national level. And taxes are always a big issue. Here in town, we've got an income tax on the ballot for our employees, plus a countywide sales tax. Where does it stop?

Health care is another issues that's coming back to haunt us again, and liability insurance, particularly after 9-11. We spoke on behalf of NFIB in front of a state panel on insurance and uninsured motorists in particular. Legislation was enacted that extends coverage to all employees of a company, even if they're driving on their own time. In our instance, an individual was riding his motorcycle on a weekend and was unfortunately killed in the incident. It was a really sad event. He was fairly careless and wasn't wearing a helmet. About a year and a half after that incident, I received a document from a personal injury attorney informing us they were making a claim against our insurance company. Ironically, this person had a poor driving record and wasn't allowed to drive our company vehicles. And yet they were legally able to make that claim against our insurance plan.