The City of Batavia's financial health is looking a lot better, according to Moody's Investor Services.

The bond-rating agency recently upgraded the city to A1, which not only makes it cheaper for the city to borrow money, if needed, but it's also a vote of confidence and affirmation that the city's financial outlook is improving, City Manager Jason Molino said.

"Moody's bond-rating agency downgraded the city in 2005 and the upgrade says we're on the right path," Molino said.

From the upgrade memo:

Moody's expects the city's financial position to improve as of the close of fiscal 2012 given the city's practice of conservative budgeting of both revenues and expenditures. In previous years, the city had failed to maintain a balanced budget and accumulated a General Fund balance deficit, topping $1 million at the close of fiscal 2007, necessitating several years of issuing revenue anticipation notes. A new management team came in and generated four consecutive years of operating surpluses through conservative budgeting, increasing revenues and controlling expenditures.

Last fall, Moody's issued a "positive outlook" report for the city, but did not upgrade the bond rating.

Moody's said the city's strengths are management's ability to restore fiscal health and Batavia's proximity to employment centers.

The city's weakness is "Limited tax base with below-average wealth levels."

In order for the city's rating to go up even further, the city must improve reserves and liquidity and increase the city's socio-economic profile.

The rating could be hurt if the fund balance declines and the city's socio-economic profile declines.

Batavia's median family income is 74.4 percent that of the rest of New York, a ranking Moody's believes needs to improve.

While the city currently carries $7.5 million in debt, Moody's found this amount modest compared to property value of $535.8 million and overall annual revenue.

Moody's anticipates the city's average direct debt burden of 2.0 percent of full valuation to remain stable given the absence of major borrowing plans. Debt service is modest, accounting for 5.1 percent of fiscal 2011 expenditures. No borrowing is expected over the next two years.

"This lays the foundation for us to earn some of the trust back from the public," Molino said. "What's happened over the past several years, because of the finances, that's been lost a little bit. This builds on what it's going to take to stabilize our local economy over the long term."

Press release:

The Genesee County Bar Association, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation formed for the benefit of the legal community, announced this afternoon the launching of its first-ever Web site.

GCBA President Durin Rogers, Esq., said he thinks this type of Web site is the first of its kind in the GLOW region.

The association tinkered with the idea of developing a Web site for several years, but recently pursued the endeavor due to increased member interest. According to Rogers, the newly developed site offers its members a robust platform to access legal information including GCBA directories, associated legal Web sites, and a Members Only section.

Rogers is extremely proud of the site and noted that it also provides the community with information as well, including information about the bar association, its members, and where to go for legal help.

While the GCBA does not make direct referral to clients, the new member directory will give the community a starting point when searching for competent legal counsel.  

The site was developed by Rockhopper Technologies, Inc., a full-service technology firm headquartered in Livonia. Professional photographer Amanda Earl spent many volunteer hours taking and producing the Web site photography.

For more information on the GCBA, please contact Rogers via email at:

durin.rogers@dfa.state.ny.us

Or visit the association Web site at http://www.gcbany.com

Batavia may have experienced yesterday what is known as a 100-year-flood event.

The data is still being evaluated, it appears that within a two-hour period 3 inches of rain fell on Batavia and parts of Le Roy and Darien.

The city's infrastructure held up pretty well under the circumstances, said City Manager Jason Molino.

"That's a small time frame for that amount of volume," Molino said. "You've got to understand that sanitary and sewer systems are not designed to handle that kind of volume."

He said everything worked as it should.

"There were no failures in the system," Molino said. "There were no collapses and no malfunctions. The water pretty much dissipated within 30 minutes (of the rain stopping)."

A couple of dozen property owners, at least, reported flooded basements or flood-related damage.

Residents who witnessed water cascading into their basements may not feel like the system worked as it should, and Molino sympathized and said when your's is the place being flooded "it's tough to understand" that a combination of location (in a flood plain) and heavy localized rain is something no municipal drainage system is designed to handle.

Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator for Genesee County, said that such relatively few reports of damage in Batavia may mean that the county can't qualify for an emergency designation that would free up funding for financial help for property owners. But perhaps if the storm damage is grouped in with damage to Elmira and other parts of the Southern Tier last week, an emergency designation might be possible, he said.

If you suffered property damage, Molino said, you should contact your insurance company, but you can also contact the city manager's office to ensure the damage is counted in any reports sent to the state or federal government.

Yaeger cautioned against "false hope" of an emergency designation because "it's a very high threshold to meet."

The map shows rain total estimates for the hours of 4 to 6 p.m. Pink is 2+ inches and blue is 3 inches.

Paul Konieczny wanted to get his home at 144 Harvester Ave., Batavia, insured again, so yesterday morning he bought the material to re-roof the 130-year-old house. Then the rains came.

The water came so fast that it overwhelmed the foundation on the south side of the residence and the stone wall collapsed into the basement. Konieczny said he heard it come down with a big thud.

Without insurance, he isn't sure how he will repair the structure.

"I need a blessing, is what I need," he said.

A few minutes later, he did get some small bit of good news from code inspector Doug Randell. The house is temporarily condemned, but if he can install temporary bracing in the basement today, he can move back in.

Pending repairs, the gas is shut off, but he can continue electrical service.

A friend was there to help Konieczny and they are looking for any kind of assistance, government, charitable or private, they might be able to find to make permanent repairs.

Konieczny's family has owned the home continuously since it was built in the 1870s, he said. In fact, the man who built it, he said, was Anthony Horch, the city's first fire chief.

He said he has a copy of the original deed in a cabinet in his house.

"I don't care what the house looks like, I'm not leaving," Konieczny said. "There are too many memories. Too many memories."

Inset photo, Konieczny with Director of Public Works Sally Kuzon.

A landowner contacted the Sheriff's Office and tipped them that there was a pot crop growing on another property. The caller was told this morning that law enforcement had a helicopter fly over the property to search for the marijuana and none was found.

The insistant tipster called back a few minutes ago, apparently to double-check on the status of the matter. An officer contacted the one who spoke with the caller earlier today and asked what to tell this guy.

The officer, sounding slightly annoyed, said "Like I told him this morning, we had a helicopter fly over the property and saw the plants and they weren't marijuana."

In other words, "There's NO POT growing on your neighbor's land."

Maybe they really are just weeds.

Buffalo News: Too young to drink isn't easy to enforce

With things winding down from the storm this evening, I drove down Harvester Avenue and spotted this long puddle next to the railroad tracks and thought "that might be pretty interesting come sunset time." So at dusk, I drove back and made this photo.

Patches of flooding were reported throughout Batavia this afternoon after a heavy thunderstorm passed through the area starting at about 3 p.m., with the heaviest rains falling between 5 and 6 p.m.

Cars got stuck in underpasses, basements were flooded, and children found the biggest puddles of their lives to splash around in.

No injuries were reported as a result of the strong storm.

Floodwaters receded quickly once the rain slowed to a drizzle.

Top photo, a car stuck under the train bridge on Cedar Street.

Liberty Street between Ellicott and Main.

Tree limb down on power lines on Harvester Avenue, early in the storm.

Close up of the vehicle on Cedar Street.

Vehicle under the train bridge on Ellicott Street.

Some children on Vine Street had a great time with the flooding. Their parents said earlier Vine was heavily flooded, as the waters receded the children stood next to what was left of the puddle and waited for cars to come past and splash water on them.

A resident on Tracy Avenue invited me to see their flooded backyard.

A vehicle on Tracy Avenue.

More photos after the jump (click on the headline):

The photo above and the next several of children playing on Hutchins Street.

The backyard of the Finn residence on Hutchins Street.

The basement of the Finn residence. The water streamed in from the street to the side of the house.

On Watson Street, the basement of this house was flooded and firefighters set up barriers to keep cars off the street because every vehicle that passed pushed more water into the basement.

The flooded basement on Watson.

After the floodwaters on Hutchins Street receded, firefighters were able to pump out the basement of the Finn residence.

Almost as soon as the first reports of flooding came in I started getting texts and emails from readers of pictures they were taking. Of course, by this time, I was out taking my own photos, which I'll post later.

We also requested photos in our breaking news post on the storm.

Here are the photos we received so far. If you have any, email them to howard at the batavian dot com (of course, turn that into a properly formatted email address). If you have video, upload it to YouTube and email me the URL of the published video and we can post that, too. Get your photos in soon because we won't keep adding them indefinitely.

Above, photo of the Lehigh Avenue underpass from Greg Emerson.

Route 5 underpass, Le Roy, from Mary Margaret Ripley.

From Matt Hendershott, vehicle stuck under the bridge on Cedar Street.

From Tina Heartgrove, Spencer Court.

From Frank Bellucci, vehicle stuck under train bridge on Ellicott Street.

From Kyle Couchman, Swan Street.

Video from Jamie.

More photos after the jump (click on the headline):

From a reader on Vine Street.

From Janet, Liberty Street

From Robyn Silliman, backyard off Ellicott Street.

From Rita Towner, backyard canoeing.

From Kim Williams, canoeing on Ganson Avenue.

From Jennifer, Vine Street.

Lori Brickwood-Coles, Liberty Street. She included this note, "My sons Alex and Owen had fun in the flood, my Great Aunt told us the story of when Liberty flooded before in the '70s and people had actual boats on the streets because the water was so high."

Photo from County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens of the maintenance yard on Cedar Street.

There's a report of basement flooding at 16 Watson St., Batavia.

City fire has Engine 12 and Ladder 15 responding to a fire alarm at 1 Elizabeth St., Batavia, and a crew is taking Engine 16 to check on Watson.

The city had a brief power outage about 10 minutes ago.

There are no power outages reported in the county at the moment.

Le Roy fire just cleared from a power meter that was arcing.

Bergen fire is on scene of some sort of fire/electrical problem at the Verizon station on Transit Road.

Town of Batavia fire is responding to a fire alarm at the Clarion Hotel on Park Road.

City fire just received a fire alarm at 56 Harvester Ave.

The current storm should pass within the hour.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood advisory in effect until 7:45 p.m. The storm could bring as much as two inches of rain.

UPDATE 5:09 p.m.: Tree and wires down at 56 Harvester. Flooding on Thorpe and Watson. Water leak on the top floor of the Clarion.

UPDATE 5:16 p.m. (from this update forward - Billie): Le Roy Fire Police are called to shut down traffic at 100 W. Main Street at the underpass because of flooding, which is creating hazardous driving conditions. The underpass is flooded between both bridges.

UPDATE 5:22 p.m.: Flooding "up to the floorboards of most vehicles" is reported in the City of Batavia at Main and Liberty streets. Wires are also reported down at 100 Harvester Ave. The power company has been notified about the situation on Harvester and DPW is called to remove the tree. The basement at UMMC is flooded and city fire is responding.

UPDATE 5:32 p.m.: Traffic is going to be shut down on Cedar and Ellicott streets due to flooding. Drivers are advised to park curbside and remain in their vehicles with their four-way lights on until the heavy storm passes. Numerous residences have flooded basements and emergency responders will assist them in the order their calls were placed. A person is reportedly trapped inside a vehicle at a flooded area at 18 Lehigh Ave. in the city. UMMC's basement flooding has "been mitigated."

UPDATE 5:40 p.m.: Fire police are called to shut down Le Roy -- East Bethany Road at Route 5.

UPDATE 5:46 p.m.: The smell of an electrical fire is reported at offices at 12 Center St. in the city. The workers evacuated the space and city firefighters are responding. A bolt of lightening struck an electrical box at Bank Street Road and Saille Drive and it's now on fire. Town of Batavia Fire Department is responding. There is flooding reported at Richmond and Park roads.

UPDATE 5:51 p.m.: A utility pole was struck by lightening at Terry Hills Golf Course on Clinton Street Road in the Town of Batavia and it's on fire. Town firefighters are responding. They cleared the scene at Bank Street Road and Saille Drive. The transformer box was struck by lightening but is no longer on fire. This will be added to the rapidly swelling to-do list for National Grid. The traffic light at the fork in the road at Main and Ellicott is out.

UPDATE 5:56 p.m.: It's all-hands-on-deck time for the Town of Batavia. All available manpower is called to man the stations while crews handle emergency calls.

UPDATE 6 p.m.: The worst of the storm appears to be over and another one isn't on the horizon for about six hours. However, the National Weather Service has issued this warning:

Flash flooding is occurring or is imminent in your area. Immediately go to higher ground if quickly rising water is about to impact your location. If you are in a vehicle, drive away from flooded areas. If on foot, do not attempt to walk through flood waters. Please check back for official updates.

UPDATE 6:04 p.m.: City fire has cleared Center Street.

UPDATE 6:06 p.m.: There's about 18 inches of water at East Avenue and Trumbull Parkway and it "may be a losing battle" to try and clear says a responder. Bethany is back in service. 

UPDATE 7:56 p.m. (by Howard): There are about seven power outages in the county effecting about 200 customers. The largest is just north of Clinton Street Road going into South Byron (92 customers, no ETA for restoration) and along Bank Street Road south of Route 262 (79 customers, with an 8:30 ETA for restoration). The Route 5 underpass in Le Roy is reopened. Firefighters are continuing to work through lists of flooded basements and the occasional attic is added to the list. We've received several photos from readers and will start posting them soon. If you have photos, email them to howard at the batavian dot com. I'll also be posting my own photos this evening.

UPDATE 8:22 p.m. (by Billie): Route 63 is reopened.

UPDATE 8:33 p.m.: Cedar Street is reopened.

UPDATE 9:24 p.m.: Le Roy fire has completed all of its assignments and is back in service.

For the third straight year, City of Batavia firefighters are wearing special T-shirts for two weeks to promote breast cancer awareness.

Starting Friday, residents will be able to stop by the fire hall on Evans Street and purchase special T-shirts (not quite like the firefighters are wearing in the photo above, and with the logo in the inset photo) for $10 each. Proceeds benefit Genesee County Cancer Assistance.

Jeff Whitcombe, who is organizing the effort said he's had a sister-in-law who had breast cancer a year ago (and is cancer free now) and the annual event began two years ago when the wife of a firefighter developed breast cancer.

"It can strike anybody," Whitcombe said. "The guys here have mothers, wives or significant others, and it hits home when that happens."

Pictured are, from left, Jeff Whitcombe, Lt. Mark Mikolajczyk, Bob Fix, president of the Batavia Firefighters Association, which is the sponsor of the event, Chief Jim Maxwell, Chuck Harmmon, Ryan Hendershott, Mike Dorgan and Dave Green.

Stephen A. Lewis, 32, of 130 W. Main St., Apt. A, Batavia, is charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and harassment, 2nd. Lewis was arrested following a report at 3:45 p.m., Friday, of two men arguing, with one of them possibly carrying a baseball bat, at East Main and Summit streets. According to Batavia PD, when a patrol officer attempted to interview Lewis, Lewis became irate and yelled obscenities. He continued, according to police, even after being warned to stop yelling and clean up his language. Lewis was placed under arrest and charged with disorderly conduct. Lewis struggled with officers. Once taken into custody by officers Eric Hill and Kevin DeFelice, Lewis was arraigned at city court and jailed on $1,000 bail. On the way to jail, Lewis allegedly threatened to kill Batavia PD officers, leading to the harassment, 2nd, charge. (Initial Report)

George M. Hodges, 22, of 9 Pringle Ave., lower, Batavia, is charged with disorderly conduct. Batavia PD officers responded to 9 Pringle Ave. at 11:46 p.m., Saturday, to investigate the report of a property dispute. While Officer Frank Klimjack was on scene, Hodges was allegedly irate and yelled obscenities. Klimjack reportedly warned Hodges to calm down, but Hodges allegedly continued yelling obscenities.

Brodes J. Gibson, 51, of 13 Thorpe St., Batavia, is charged with two counts of petit larceny. Gibson is accused of entering the Kwik Fill at 99 Jackson St. on two occasions and stealing two 18 packs of beer.

Joel S. Shelhorse, 24, of 23 West Ave., Elba, is charged with DWI, consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle, operating in violation of a restricted use license, aggravated unlicensed operation and opening a vehicle door interfering with traffic. Shelhorse was taken into custody following a report at 8:46 a.m., Sunday, of a male and female arguing on South Main Street.

David A. Kendall, 40, of 215 Bank St., Batavia, is charged with trespass. Kendall is accused of entering a neighbor's property at 4:45 p.m., July 21, without permission.

David M. Smith, 26, of Pavilion, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon, 4th. Smith was arrested by State Police following an incident reported at 10:20 p.m., Sunday, in Darien. No further details released.

It took nearly an hour for Batavia PD to bring order back to State Street last night after a fight was reported at 11:55 p.m. involving 20 to 30 people near Lewis Place.

Five people were taken into custody.

After the initial call at 11:55 p.m., at least two other fights broke out while law enforcement was on scene.

Arrested were:

• Jerry T. Saddler Jr., 36, of 112 State St., Batavia, charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
• Latoya D. Jackson, 26, of 112 State St., Batavia, charged with obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.
• Willie F. Irvin II, 30, of 17 Elm St., Batavia, charged with disorderly conduct.
• Samantha G. Reed, 25, of 6 Lewis Place, Batavia, charged with disorderly conduct.
• J.W. Hardy III, 25, of 265 E. State St., Apt. B, Albion, charged with disorderly conduct.

Bail for Saddler was set at $2,500 and Jackson was jailed on $1,000 bail. The other suspects were released on appearance tickets.

Officers responding from Batavia PD were Lt. Greg Steele, Sgt. Dan Coffey and officers Frank Klimjack and Eric Bolles. Deputies and troopers assisted at the scene.

The River Street Bridge is closed today as part of an ongoing repair process. The bridge surface was already milled and today workers will do more work to prepare the bridge for resurfacing. Resurfacing will be completed next week, which will wrap up the repair work.

A motor-vehicle accident with injuries is reported at Alexander and Rose roads. Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding. One person has a head injury, unknown severity. They are checking on the availability of Mercy Flight.

UPDATE 12:25 p.m.: Mercy Flight is not needed.

UPDATE 12:58 p.m.: Two vehicles were involved in this accident. I'm not sure about the status of patient(s), but I think one person was transported to Strong Memorial Hospital.

UPDATE 1:06 p.m.: Town of Batavia is back in service.

On Sunday afternoon, seven local churches and two local ministries came together in Austin Park to have a worship service, music and fellowship.

The idea came from several local pastors who think that churches in Batavia need to unite together. There was quite the crowd on hand.

Care-A-Van Ministries served 740 folks delicious hot dogs, and the churches provided free popcorn, snowcones, cotton candy and bottled water. The kids attending enjoyed the games and the bounce house.

Music was provided by Elmwood Drive, Care-A-Van Band and choirs of the local churches. The churches are hoping to make it an annual event with even more churches participating next year.

A suspect in a series of burglaries in Le Roy, Batavia and other parts of the county was taken into custody this morning after he allegedly broke into a home on Summit Street while being monitored by detectives.

Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster said the suspect was identified thanks to alert citizens in the City of Batavia and detectives began to monitor the man's activities.

The name of the suspect, who is being questioned at Batavia PD headquarters, has not been released, but Brewster said he is on parole and had allegedly been out of contact with his parole officer.

After a couple of burglaries in Le Roy where a person entered homes during the day and stole jewelry and other small items such as coins, there were a couple of similar burglaries elsewhere in the county, and then similar burglaries in the City of Batavia.

"This is a suspect in those crimes and I’m fairly confident that we have him," Brewster said. "I think you’re going to see a sudden end to those (types of) crimes being reported."

Detectives from Le Roy, Batavia and the Sheriff's Office cooperated in the investigation.

"This would not have been possible without the cooperation of all agencies," Brewster said.

The suspect's truck was impounded and will be searched once a search warrant is secured.

His name and the charges against him will be released following his arraignment in the proper court or courts of jurisdiction.

A bicyclist has has been involved in an accident at Le Roy Street and Clinton Street in the Village of Bergen.

The rider apparently suffered a collarbone injury.

The rider is believed to have struck something and fallen over the bike handles.

Bergen Fire Department and an ambulance are responding.

UPDATE 8:25 p.m.: Bergen medics have the patient ready for transport. Mercy EMS is in route.

An oven fire is reported at 2683 County Line Road in Darien. The residents used a fire extinguisher on the blaze but it's unknown if that was effective. They were advised to leave the residence. Darien fire, with mutual aid from Corfu, is responding.

UPDATE 4:41 p.m.: A responder on scene reports nothing is showing (outside). The address is just north of Sumner Road. The residents are in the back yard. The house "is charged with fire (inside)" and the fireman says it looks "like a cake boiled over." The other unit responding is proceeding in non-emergency mode. They're going to check things out with a thermal-imaging camera.

UPDATE 4:53 p.m.: It was burnt food. All units back in service.