Press Release:

The fourth annual “Music at St. Mark’s” concert series begins on Thursday, February 20, at 7 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1 East Main St. in Le Roy. All concerts are free to attend, as the project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program administered by GO ART! (Genesee Orleans Regional Arts Council).

On Thursday, February 20, the series opens with The Rochester Bagpiper. Jake Kwiatkowski is a professional piper who will present an evening of performance, education, interaction - and some humor - that explains just how unique bagpipes are in the world of music. He'll cover things like how bagpipes work, the origins of the instrument, stories about the tunes being played, and a wide variety of modern and traditional bagpipe music.

On Thursday, March 20, Laura Dubin and Antonio Guerrero present an evening of jazz. Laura Dubin, a virtuoso pianist as well as a composer and arranger, and her husband and percussionist Antonio Guerrero, will play a repetoire of Dubin’s creative pieces that combine works of classical greats and popular contemporary pieces with elements of jazz.  The duo play an astonishing number of concerts each year and have produced 11 albums of their music, including the latest recorded in Vienna, Austria in 2024.

On Thursday, April 24, the Genesee Valley Recorder Ensemble performs music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods along with some contemporary compositions.  Their instruments include recorders of all sizes, from the small sopranino to the very large Great Bass. The group also includes harpsichord, gamba (an early bowed string instrument), and various percussion instruments.  The eight members of the group are from the northern Genesee Valley region, and all have had formal music training and enjoy playing music on period instruments. Several of the members also play with the Rochester chapter of the American Recorder Society.

On Thursday, May 15, the Batavia Swing Band is back by popular demand.  This is a full 17-piece band that has been playing music in Genesee County and the surrounding areas for over 40 years. Members range from music educators, professional musicians, and advanced amateurs who love to play; a few high schoolers join the group occasionally.  They play standard jazz/swing classics like “In The Mood” and “Moonlight Serenade” to more modern songs from Frankie Valli, Disney, and Michael Bublé. Membership may have changed over the years, but the one thing that keeps the band going, is that they all love to play and make music together.

For more information, call the church office at 768-7200 or visit stmarksleroy.org/upcoming-events.

Submitted photos.

Press Release:

Leadership Genesee welcomed 30 individuals from all walks of life representing our community’s public and private organizations, on January 22 and 23 for the 2-day Opening Retreat.

Leadership Genesee Director Peggy Marone said, “We believe it takes people from all walks of life and opinions to lead our county. Our future generations deserve a community with people who care about it, are knowledgeable, able to listen to each other and respect the difference of opinions about all sides of an issue.” 

She continues, “There is a lot going on in our world, we must have leaders who embrace inclusion, listen generously and understand we all have opinions and that’s what makes a community great. This kind of respect is missing in many conversations, it’s up to each of us to bring that respect back to our relationships.”

First time organizations include Gateway Home, Oak Orchard Community Health Center, Council Rock Wealth Advisory Group-Ameriprise, Crossroads House, Coordinated Care Services Inc./Wyoming County Mental Health and SMG-Batavia, LLC (The Daily News, Livingston County News). The class represents a broad cross-section of the community, including education, finance, manufacturing, healthcare, service industry, not for profits and the public sector.

The retreat was sponsored by Leadership Genesee Alumni, hosted by Grace Baptist Church and was facilitated by Skip Helfrich of Human Energies. Leadership Genesee is a program of CCE Genesee County, an employer and educator recognized for valuing AA/EEO, Protected Veterans, and individuals with Disabilities and provides equal program and employment opportunities.

For more information, visit LG’s website at http://genesee.cce.cornell.edu/leadership-genesee; “like” LG on Facebook at www.facebook.com/leadershipgenesee; or contact Director Peggy Marone at 585-343-3040, ext. 118 or mem77@cornell.edu. Up next for the Class of 2025: Our Business, Our Economics on February 26.

Press Release:

The NYS LTAP Center - Cornell Local Roads Program (NYSLTAP-CLRP) congratulates the Genesee County Department of Public Works as one of the winners in the 2024-25 Work Zone Equipment Package Grant - funded by a grant from the New York State Governor's Traffic Safety Committee. We know that many agencies with small budgets have difficulty getting new work zone
equipment, especially when it’s stolen or damaged due to circumstances beyond their control. 

The equipment includes cones, safety vests, work zone signs, and stop-slow paddles for setting up a proper work zone. These materials help keep our highway and DPW crews safe when working out on the road. 

“We know that many agencies have difficulty getting work zone equipment, especially when it’s stolen or damaged due to circumstances beyond their control. Good work zone signs protect the workers, improve communication with the public, and make the work more efficient by allowing it to be done faster.” said NYS LTAP Center - Cornell Local Roads Program Director, David Orr, PE.

The NYSLTAP-CLRP Work Zone Equipment Package Grant is for NYS highway and public works departments that have lost, damaged, or are in need of work zone equipment. This year’s grant, from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, allows the NYSLTAP–CLRP to purchase 30 work zone packages, each work zone package comes to just over $1,900.

The NYS LTAP Center - Cornell Local Roads Program provides technical assistance and training to highway and public works departments across New York State. Additional information can be found www.nysltap.org by contacting NYSLTAP-CLRP at 607-255-8033 or clrp@cornell.edu. 

Byron-Bergen beat Lyndonville in Boys Basketball on Wednesday 64-40.

For the Bees, Cody Carlson scored 25 points, Adam Cardenas, 15, Joe Brumsted and Noah Clare, eight each, and Cole Diquattro, 6.

Photos by Jennifer DiQuattro. 

Alexander beat Elba in Boys Basketball on Wednesday, 68-49.

For Alexander:

• Dylan Pohl, 18 points
• Damien Hale, 15 points (5 three-pointers) 
• Mason Snyder, 10 points 

Photos by Melissa Brooks.

Click here for more information on our pet services.

Oakfield-Alabama beat Holley in Girls Basketball on Wednesday 58-27.

Scoring:

• Alea Groff, 12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals
• Alexa Clark, 12 points, 14 rebounds
• Piper Hyde, 15 points
• AllieWilliams, 7 points, 11 rebounds
• Jess Sosnowki, 5 points, 7 rebounds
• Rylee Denny, 3 points
• Raine Denny, 2 points
• Allison Harkeness, 2 points

The "Musical Fireworks" will be flying Sunday at Genesee Community College when the Genesee Symphony Orchestra plays its February concert at 4 p.m.

Featured works conducted by Music Director S. Shade Zajac:

• Symphony no. 9, Shostakovich
• Overture to William Tell, Rossini
• Three-Cornered Hat, Suite no. 2, Manuel de Falla
• Russian Sailors Dance, Gliere

Tickets are $17 for adults, $12 for seniors, and students with an ID can attend for free.

Audience members who arrive at 3 p.m. can meet the orchestra.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Notre Dame improved to 11-4 on Monday on Tuesday with a 53-37 win over Pembroke in Girls Basketball.

Sofia Falleti led the way for the Irish with a game-high 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Lucia Fiorentino also contributed 10 points and 7 rebounds.

“This was a big Genesee Region match-up for us tonight," said Coach VInny Falleti. "We knew Pembroke was a good team and could shoot well. Our team did a great job defensively and was able to have the majority of our team contribute offensively as well.”

Photos by Jaden Radam (Notre Dame student)

Press Release:

Batavia Lion's Club inducted new members at their monthly meeting, Dr. Ross Fanara led the induction.

Western Regional Off-Track Betting was informed on Monday that the office of NYS Comptroller Thomas Dinapoli is conducting a financial audit of the corporation, according to a statement issued to The Batavian on Wednesday.

Jennifer Freeman, communication director for the comptroller's office said that the audit will start in February.

"It will take several months to complete," Freeman said. "During an audit, we do not comment on specifics or what we are finding."

Michael DeGeorge told The Batavian on Wednesday that the OTB was told that the audit could include a review of the past three to five years of financial operations, including internal controls.

"The president and CEO (Byron Brown) made it clear that the new management team will fully cooperate with the comptroller's office throughout the process and that we welcome outside review," DeGeorge said.

There has been recent controversy regarding executive buyouts, other perks, and executive-level expenditures as a result of the transition from the leadership of Henry Wojtaszek to Brown.

Previously: 

• Erie County's WROTB board member walks the line on agency's spending
• OTB approves consultants’ plan for executive reorganization, approves jobs for two former Brown staffers
• OTB chair vows to keep politics out of new CEO search, defends legality of severance pay for executives
• OTB board votes to buy out contracts of top three executives
• Wojtaszek confirms he's leaving OTB by mutual agreement
• WROTB board seeks accountability when it comes to sporting, entertainment events in Buffalo, Rochester
• For additional coverage of OTB, click here.

Coupled with a discussion about the astronomical rise in healthcare costs Monday evening, City Manager Rachael Tabelski and City Council members also kicked around the idea of paying a larger portion of gym memberships for city employees and council members.

The proposal was to pay from $100 to $500 toward a membership to one of three city facilities, with the $500 going to the brand-new Healthy Living YMCA. Employees already receive the $100 perk for gym memberships, and the $500 and adding council members is new. 

The money would come from a slush fund of sorts, Tabelski said. 

“So as the city continues to incentivize health and wellness of our employees through various programs, such as our premium reduction for their health screenings, physical fitness incentives for firefighters and police officers and the $100 gym reimbursement, I believe the city should partner with the new Genesee County YMCA and offer a discounted membership for all city employees, including council members," Tabelski said during the conference meeting at City Hall. "I've had many employees come to me, council members come to me, saying, wouldn't it be great if we could provide some kind of membership or incentive towards using the new facility. 

"So I went and looked at this year's budget. We have interest in earnings right now at about $24,000 that might pop out around $50,000, so we could cover the majority of employees and council members if they were to sign up for this incentive," she said. "So I leave it to you to discuss and determine if this is something you'd like to move forward with.”

Meanwhile, the remaining budget talks included increasing the tax cap with an override that will require a future public hearing to deal with about $1 million more in expenses for healthcare and retirement this coming year.

The only council member who vocally seemed to have an issue with the proposal was Bob Bialkowski, who apparently was one of the people who asked Tabelski about such a perk.

Paying $100 to the other gyms and $500 to the YMCA, and all are “paying property tax, local tax,” seems “discriminatory,” he said.

“We could get rid of the $100 and force them to join the Y. It’s just an offering,” Tabelski said. “You're actually the council member that asked me about joining, right?”

To clarify, YMCA is a nonprofit and is exempt from paying county, city and school taxes. 

Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. and Kathy Briggs were in favor of the gym proposal.

“It’s a perk for employees, I like it,” Briggs said.

Jankowski said that a YMCA membership is from about $600 for a single to $1,000 for a family membership per year, so the person would still have “some out-of-pocket costs.”

“I think it's a great idea. I think you could get rid of the $100 if you'd like, and just do the $500 to the Y. I don't know that we'd want to incentivize $500 to any gym across America, you know what I mean, because it'd be way too hard for us to track,” Jankowski said. “I like the idea. I like where we're going with it, because in the long run, when you stay healthy, it saves us money.”

No one brought up the inclusion of council members in the package. If they are covered and all of them choose YMCA, that would mean an additional $4,500 in the budget, plus their annual salaries of $5,000 per council member and $7,000 for council president.

Council took a vote to move the topic to the next business meeting on Feb. 10, and approved it by 6-1. Members Briggs, Jankowski, Al McGinnis, Rich Richmond, David Twichell and Derek Geib voted yes and Bialkowski voted no. Paul Viele and Tammy Schmidt were absent.

With all of the availability of artificial intelligence — AI for short — and the myriad apps available to help with research, to answer questions, and figure out how to do most anything, comes a new dilemma for educators wanting to ensure their students aren’t misusing the technology, State University of New York Chancellor John King says.

“We actually just added artificial intelligence to our general education requirements around information literacy, because we think our students will need to understand how AI works, how to use it ethically,” King said during a recent visit to Batavia. “And so we’re now building that into the general education requirements for all undergraduates across SUNY, and we’re doing a lot of professional development with faculty thinking about both, how do you teach students about using AI, but also, how do we think about the role that AI plays in the classroom?”

That might change how teachers dole out homework, he said, moving them from at-home assignments to asking students to complete them during class time.

“Because you want to make sure that students are engaging with the material themselves and not just relying on AI. You know, some of the work is actually helping students understand how best to use AI, you know, the prompt development, for example, the kind of question you ask matters a lot with what you'll get back from AI, and so helping students think about, how do you design the right question?” he said. “Also helping students be skeptical readers of what they find, whether it's on the internet or from AI, they have to ask, is this right? How do I know? Let me go check these sources.”

There are so many interesting things that college faculty members are working on with AI, he said, including simulated conversations in foreign languages.

“It’s such an incredible tool if used well,” he said. 

The State University of New York — of which Genesee Community and Empire State colleges are included — will require undergraduate students to take courses in AI and civic discourse as part of their general education curriculum beginning in fall 2026. 

The courses will be part of the university’s effort to prepare students to engage with emerging technologies and evaluate information, as King said, ethically. 

According to SUNY's website, students will be learning how to use AI tools to locate information, evaluate that information from different sources, understand the ethical implications of using AI, how to weigh information for bias, truthfulness and other factors and how to navigate and assess the impact of AI in society. 

The second annual Pembroke Teacher's Federation (PTF) Pizza Night was held at Homeslice 33 Pizzeria in Corfu on Jan. 22. 

The PTF was excited to team up with Homeslice 33 to raise funds and awareness for mental health resources in Genesee County, members said. Ten teachers volunteered to help make pizza, wings, and fried goodies.

Aaron Brown, a sixth grade teacher at Pembroke, said "Teaming up with Tom and his amazing staff is awesome. Seeing the community support not only mental health but also their teachers is what makes Pembroke a special place!"

During the four-hour event, the PTF raised $450 for mental health. 

Photos by Kara Richenberg.

• Due to the current weather and road conditions, Batavia City School District will be closed for classes today, Tuesday, January 28. A decision on evening events (games, practices, etc) will made by 2 p.m.
• Due to the poor visibility and hazardous conditions, Elba Central will be closed today, Tuesday 1/28.
• The Richmond Memorial Library will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28. 
• Oakfield-Alabama Central School District, closed
• Genesee Valley BOCES, closed
• Byron-Bergen Central School District, closed
• Alexander Central School, closed 
• Le Roy Central School District, Delayed one hour

Please submit cancellations and closures to: news@thebatavian.com.

With $1 million more in expenses, an expected flat sales tax per the state comptroller and unstable revenue sources such as video lottery terminal money, the city should consider a tax cap override this year, Manager Rachael Tabelski says.

She talked Monday evening about the juxtaposition of raising the tax cap due to increased property assessments, even though the tax rate itself is to decrease by 50 cents per $1,000 assessed value.

“I believe the city has been extremely fiscally responsible in restraining tax hikes for our citizens, but keeping up with the inflationary demands of our expenses continues to remain challenging. This year, we face a million dollars of additional expenses for health care and retirement alone, as well as a nearly flat sales tax projection, so we need to rely on more revenue from other sources, including, in this case, property tax,” Tabelski said during City Council’s conference meeting at City Hall. "Obviously, the city needs to be careful and conservative in projecting our revenue, especially the sales tax, and find a balanced approach to raise enough money to support current services with our property tax while also using reserves, unassigned fund balance and other revenue sources to keep a healthy financial position. 

“Recently, the state comptroller's office was very vocal in advising municipalities to stay flat on your sales tax numbers because we didn't know what the economy was going to do with the new administration,” she said. “And it's only a few days in, and we're still finding out how quickly the economy will change and move.”

That tax cap is not absolute, she said and can be overridden by a vote of 60% of the local governing body. Because the tax cap “seldom actually equals 2%,”  it's extremely hard for governments to use this formula and remain under 2% while expenses for employees, wages, health care and retirement continue to grow, she said. 

“The only way that the tax cap is fair is if the tax cap actually equals the inflation rate, so therefore, it can keep up with the additional spending just to provide the same core services we do today,” she said. “Right now, inflation is three, three and a half percent. As you see, our general fund budget, as proposed at this time, increased by 2.6%, which is $600,000 over last year. Even with the override consideration, property tax owners will see a 50-cent decrease per $1,000 in their taxes this year. 

“At this time, I recommend the City Council move forward to schedule the tax cap override legislation to be considered at the February business meeting, and the legislation does call for a public hearing.”

A public hearing is to be set at the next business meeting on Feb. 10. On that date, the council is also expected to set hearings for the 2025 budget and both the proposed water and sewer rate increases.

Council also had its first budget session, at which Tabelski reviewed city data numbers for the $38.8 million total proposed 2025 financial plan and the municipality. These are the numbers that tell a story of decreased population from a high of 18,210 in 1960 to 15,596, according to the latest census, with males tipping over at 52% and females at nearly 48%.

The median age in the city is 40, and healthcare and social services jobs weigh in at a hefty 4,240, with manufacturing in second at 3,488 jobs, retail at 2,080, and public administration at 1,778. Healthcare was at its peak in 2022, with more than 6,000 jobs here, which fell to 4,186 a year later. 

The 64% white-collar and 35% blue-collar workers total 9,476 employees in Batavia, and more than half of the businesses — 54.96% — employ one to four people, followed by nearly 21% employing five to nine people, and the lowest of 2.36% having 100 or more employees under their roof. 

At least 34% of the population has obtained a high school degree, with more than 39% going on for an associate’s degree or higher.

Demographics aside, property owners are to pay a projected $8.46 per $1,000 assessed value, or $846 for a home assessed at $100,000, and a $50 decrease from last year if assessed property values remain the same. The current rate is $8.96 per $1,000.

Tabelski arrived at that decrease by pulling revenue from several other areas, including $526,000 from the unassigned fund balance, $310,000 from retirement reserves, a $300,000 water fund transfer and $250,000 departmental income. 

“You're basically saying that you're using a bunch of variety of funding sources to balance the budget so that we're not taking too much out of savings, and we're balancing it between the decrease and the reserves. So we're trying to get a little bit from everything to kind of balance it all out,” Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. said. “Hopefully, we'll see more information in the next year, and we'll have a better prediction of how inflation is going to either level up or increase. We don't know yet, so right now, we're being cautious about funding. Correct?”

That’s right, Tabelski said, and if city officials could have raised sales tax, “we wouldn't have needed to have done the override.”

“Particularly if we could have had a flat year in health care and retirement, same thing, but those costs are essentially out of our control,” she said. 

It’s about trying to “rough it out,” Jankowski said. These calculations help.

“It’s not a huge savings, but it is a big savings, “ Jankowski said. “And I think that's where we should continue to work on is trying to keep that tax rate as low as possible, and even lower, if we can do that extra with good sales tax and possible, the governor increasing the AIM aid on a permanent basis instead of throwing a little out here and there. 

"I just think it’s amazing this is the lowest tax rate we’ve had in 17 years,” he said. “It’s nice to see that even though inflation is going up.”

Water rates are to increase by 1% or 6 cents to $6.52 per 1,000 gallons and sewer by 3% or 9 cents to $3.23 per 1,000 gallons. An average family of four can expect to pay about $850 to $900 a year, including meter and capital improvement fees, Tabelski said. That does depend on consumption at the property and a home with no leaks, she said.

Police and fire expenses make up 47% of the budget, Tabelski said, and with healthcare, it's more than 55%. Property taxes go toward services, including police and fire response to emergencies 24 hours a day and for similar responses from the public works department, she said. Taxes also go for repair and replacement of infrastructure, including streets, sidewalks, parks, water and sewer plant and lines, storm sewer and parking lots, and investing in economic, business, job, housing and community development, plus maintenance of street lights. 

Given the close proximity that homes were built to one another at one time, Jankowski is grateful to have a paid fire department nearby, he said. 

“It's important to have a fire department that can respond very quickly, or else, my house goes up when my neighbor’s house goes up and the next neighbor, but you end up in a chain reaction kind of thing. So that good response time, I think you said you're approximately three to four minutes … when I had the experience of my neighbor's house was on fire, and it was a dramatic one years ago, it's nice to have the fire department there very quickly to bring it under control and contain it,” he said. “I mean, we're an old-style city, so everything nowadays, they spread things out. But that's important. Same thing with police and fire police as well. I think a lot of people I talk to when they live in the city, kind of expect a paid fire department, a paid police department, DPW, actively involved, because it's just the nature of the business of having that many people in a small area. 

“So I think it's important that that's why Council focuses on public safety, police, fire, DPW, those are our core funding. So for our tax base, that's what people want. They want their infrastructure, want their police, they want their fire,” he said. “So that's the feedback I'm getting. So that's where we've kept our focus, and we're not looking for pet projects here and there that maybe would cost a lot of money to try to stay focused on.”

The next budget session will include a review of the fire department, general government and administrative expenses. It’s set for 5 p.m. Feb. 4 at City Hall. 

Febrewary is returning to Downtown Batavia, however, there’s a new time slot, organizers say.

The annual event will run from 2 to 6 p.m. Feb. 22 throughout the Business Improvement District area, which will this year feature 23 participating businesses, including four new ones, for a brisk and fun beer walk. 

BID invites you for an afternoon and early evening of tastings of great beers and ciders, and entertainment while you meet new people and see old friends, create memories, shop and support small, local businesses.

Tickets are $35 each and available at Yngodess Shop, Tonawanda Valley Federal Credit Union, Adam Miller Toys and Bicycles, and online at Eventbrite, BID’s Facebook page or bataviabid.com, or email director@downtownbataviany.com.

Registration is at TVFCU, in the west end parking lot behind Batavia City Centre, from 1:45 to 3:30 p.m. Tickets are expected to sell out, so get yours soon. 

Participants must be 21 years old, and are reminded that this is an adult-only event. Please don't bring children. 

Monday night's heavy winds snapped a utility pole in the area of 434 East Main St., Batavia, just before 9 p.m. causing a power outage in the area.

National Grid was on scene quickly to begin repairs.

Eastbound lanes of East Main Street were closed during repairs.

A high-wind warning is in place until 6 a.m. with winds of 30 to 40 mph and gusts up to 60 mph.

Currently, the largest power outage in Genesee County is centered in Elba, stretching south into the Town of Batavia, affecting 327 National Grid customers.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Nichole Dykstra is missing her "sweet boy" Max, a 90-pound German shepherd, who was last seen on Naramore Drive in the city of Batavia. If anyone spots him, please call her at 585-250-3891.