JACK DROPS IN.(BUSINESS)

Union and employee sources say General Electric Chairman and CEO Jack Welch was in Schenectady Monday for meetings with high-level executives here.

Most employees didn't see Welch, but they suspected he was coming because the plant gets spruced up prior to a Welch visit.

GE won't comment on executives' travel plans, but employee sources say Welch often makes the global rounds soon after the company's annual meeting to go over plans and projections at the many GE businesses. Typically, he arrives by helicopter. Planes, trains and automobiles

Rocky Ferraro has gone over to the private sector.

Ferraro was well-known as director of planning services for the Capital District Regional Planning Commission, sponsored by the four counties of Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer and Saratoga. But in March, he went to work as principal planner in the Saratoga Springs office of national engineering and consulting firm Edwards and Kelcey, based in New Jersey.

He reports that the local office is working on several prominent projects in the transportation arena: a master plan for the Saratoga County airport, a truck-bypass plan for Saratoga Springs, and a proposed train and intermodal facility in Schenectady County, called the Western Gateway Transportation Project. No exit

Rumors of businessman Joseph O'Hara leaving the Capital Region are not true. But rumors of O'Hara being disgruntled with Saratoga Springs are.

While the president of the Institutes for Health and Human Services put both his home and his Spa City office on the market recently, he's not planning to leave the area. His office, in fact, sold in just 10 days, to Red Spring Communications Inc.

``I'm done,'' he said of a failed battle to expand the building's parking lot. ``I've had enough fun. If we couldn't get three parking spaces approved, I figure we couldn't get anything approved.''

In February, the Spa Planning Board shot down his attempt to add to his 17-space lot at 102 Circular St. As a result, he decided to send five jobs to a company office in Montgomery, Ala., and scratch plans to bring another five workers to Saratoga Springs.

End result: He'll have five people working in Saratoga Springs instead of 15. The company will rent some of Red Spring's former space in another city building.

Macy's Caribbean

Macy's East has announced that when it opens its first store in Puerto Rico later this year, Mark O'Connor, manager of the Colonie location, will be heading the ship.

O'Connor, who moved up through Macy's ranks from sales manager to his current position, was an obvious candidate. He also graduated with a degree in Spanish from the SUNY Binghamton in 1989.

Macy's has not yet announced who will replace O'Connor at the Colonie store. The Buzz is compiled by the business news staff.