One person was transported to an area hospital for evaluation after a two-car accident on Lewiston Road in Batavia at about 5 p.m. today.

The preliminary investigation, according to Sgt. Andrew Hale, indicates a man driving a pickup southbound on Lewiston Road pulled to the side of the road and then attempted a U-turn. A car following the pickup truck hit the truck broadside.

The driver of the truck was transported by Mercy EMS for evaluation. The driver of the passenger vehicle was not injured.

A written accident report has not yet been released by the Sheriff's Office.

A driver leaving the Country Max store on Veterans Memorial Drive late this afternoon was looking one way while a bicyclist was coming from the opposite direction and then the driver pressed the gas peddle.

The car struck the bicycle. 

According to Sgt. Andrew Hale, the driver stopped the car, got out, and checked on the condition of the bicycle rider, as he's required to do by law. The rider was fine. The driver pulled a wad of cash from his wallet, Hale said, and handed the rider $200 and said, "this is for your bicycle." He then got into his car and drove off.

A caller reported a hit-and-run pedestrian accident and Town of Batavia fire was dispatched and a Mercy ambulance called but the rider was uninjured and everybody went quickly back into service.

Press release:

• Genesee County received two new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • The new positive cases reside in Batavia.
  • One of the positive individuals is in their 50s and one of the positive individuals is in their 80s.
  • Both of the individuals were on mandatory quarantine prior to testing positive.
  • Zero of the previous positive individuals have recovered and have been released from mandatory isolation.
  • Fifteen new individuals are on precautionary quarantine due to travel from restricted states.
  • Two of the positive individuals are hospitalized.
     
• Orleans County received zero new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • Eight new individuals are on precautionary quarantine due to travel from restricted states.

If the Batavia City Council has a plan to fill the vacancy caused by the departure of former City Manager Martin Moore, it isn’t revealing it – at least not yet.

Acting on the advice of the city attorney, Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. today sent an email to The Batavian, stating “it’s still very early in the process. (The) Novak (Consulting Firm) is available and is one of the options City Council is exploring.”

Jankowski said the board is “continuing the search process” but would not elaborate due to it being a personnel matter.

While Jankowski believes it is early in the process to find a permanent replacement for Moore, who left Batavia on June 22, another city resident said Council should have disclosed its plan by now.

John Roach, speaking during the public comments segment of Monday night’s City Council meeting, said council members knew that Moore was on his way out.

“You still haven’t decided what you are going to do about replacing him, and that seems kind of silly,” he said. “Once he said he was leaving, you should have had a meeting and said, ‘OK, let’s get a plan.’ You talk about having a plan and you talk about looking at a plan.”

Roach said he is in favor of hiring of Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski, who was brought on last August as the assistant city manager.

“Obviously, the person has been around awhile … you think you’re going to find somebody better?” he asked. “Save a little money -- save a little time -- make a decision. It’s kind of embarrassing that it has been months (actually nearly two months), and you haven’t even decided what the plan is.”

Sammy DiSalvo, a Democratic Party candidate for a City Council at-large seat in 2020, followed Roach to the podium but had a different viewpoint.

“I support holding a full search for a new city manager,” DiSalvo said. “Nepotism is not a way to run a city.”

The Batavian has asked Jankowski on separate occasions if a full search will be conducted, and if so, will Council be contracting with the Novak group out of Cincinnati, Ohio, again to conduct the search.

Novak coordinated the search that brought Moore from Eunice, N.M., to Batavia in August of 2018, and reportedly gave the city a guarantee that the next search would be at no charge if Moore left before completing two full years as city manager.

In a related development, the Valencia County News-Bulletin, a weekly newspaper in New Mexico, reported that Moore is one of 13 candidates for the city manager job in Belen, a city of about 7,400 people about 35 miles south of Albuquerque.

Submitted image and press release:

As part of National Health Center Week (Aug. 9 – 15), Tuesday highlights the importance of agricultural workers in our community and our commitment to providing them with the best of health care. 

“Agricultural workers in the U.S. have been called the ‘invisible population’ as they are socially and geographically isolated from the rest of society," said Mary Ann Pettibon, CEO, Oak Orchard Heath. "We want to recognize this population with gift bags of useful supplies and a cool drink to ease their otherwise extremely busy day.” 

Agricultural workers are also dealing with COVID-19 and we want to remind them of our commitment to help them with the Tuesday distribution of hygiene kits – a gesture of support.

Each kit contains hand sanitizer, toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, soap, masks, digital thermometers, and a water bottle.

Originally founded in 1966, Oak Orchard has grown from a migrant health project into an integrated health center with multiple locations providing health care services for everyone located in the communities we serve.

Oak Orchard Health

Oak Orchard Health is currently serving approximately 23,000 patients at 10 locations. Oak Orchard Health is a recognized patient-centered medical home and 501(c) nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located in the towns of Albion, Alexander, Batavia, Brockport, Corfu, Lyndonville, Hornell and Warsaw.                                                                

Press release:

Rochester Regional Health is proud to announce five-star ratings for vaginal delivery at Newark-Wayne Community Hospital, United Memorial Medical Center and Unity Hospital a five-star rating for C-sections at Newark-Wayne Community Hospital and United Memorial Medical Center as recognized by Healthgrades, the leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems.

UMMC has received a five-star rating for vaginal delivery for the last six years and Newark-Wayne and Unity have received it for two consecutive years.

The five-star rating indicates the hospitals’ clinical outcomes for vaginal delivery and C-sections are statistically significantly better than expected.

“The five-star ratings reflect our teams’ commitment to providing the highest quality of care to all patients during some of the most profound moments in their lives,” said Meghan Aldrich, VP of Operations for Women’s Health. “We appreciate the trust our community puts in us to take care of their families, and we are proud to relentlessly pursue ever more extraordinary care for our patients.”

“Hospital quality should be top of mind for consumers when they evaluate and compare hospital performance,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “Women who select a hospital with a five-star rating can feel confident in their choice knowing that these organizations are committed to providing exceptional women’s care to their patients.”

Healthgrades analyzed all-payer state data for 16 states for years 2016 through 2018. Healthgrades found that there is a significant variation in hospital quality between those that have received five-stars and those that have not. For example, from 2016 through 2018, women having a vaginal delivery in hospitals rated five-stars have, on average, a 43.6-percent lower risk of experiencing a complication while in the hospital than if they were treated by hospitals rated one-star.

View Healthgrades hospital quality awards and methodologies.

Learn more about how hospitals partner with Healthgrades.

Press release:

The United States Postal Service, even before the current strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has endured years of attacks by President Trump. These attacks have ramped up as more states expand access to vote-by-mail in response to the still-raging pandemic.

Democratic candidate for Congress Nate McMurray is calling for NY-27 to be a national bellwether, for absentee and vote-by-mail systems to be quickly safeguarded, and for Trump’s attacks on America’s favorite Federal agency to be rebuked.

In his attacks on the Postal Service, Trump has continued to baselessly claim "fraud" regarding mail-in votes, but in addition to this smear campaign has fractured its inner foundations: withholding funding; appointing unqualified Republican donor Louis DeJoy to be postmaster general; and slowing delivery times, delaying delivery of medications, Social Security checks, and soon millions of votes in the November elections.

“The Postal Service is a vital, publicly held resource," said McMurray, who has twice been endorsed by the National Association of Letter Carriers. "The connection it provides, especially in rural areas, is more important than ever because of the pandemic.

"Mail-in votes, which have been around since the Civil War, are necessary to keep our nation safe as we prepare for this November election. The USPS is an institution that binds our country together, rain or shine, one stamp at a time. It predates the nation’s independence and is recognized by the Constitution.” 

In the NY-27 June Special Election, nearly half of all votes cast were cast by mail. After an unprecedented resurgence in the absentee count — capturing nearly 70 percent of all mail-in ballots — McMurray closed his election night gap to just 5.2 percent.

This result was nationally recognized as a harbinger for November, when the results of many elections, including the Presidential Election, are unlikely to be known on election night.

After a landmark ruling handed down last week in New York State to protect votes previously removed from official counts in the NY-12 primary, the McMurray campaign estimates that several hundred additional ballots will be counted in NY-27.

The ruling, in this case, argued by Arthur Schwartz, counsel to the McMurray campaign, ordered the NYS Board of Elections to direct all local boards to count all ballots received by June 24th, regardless of postmark, and all ballots received by June 25th with a timely postmark. 

“I applaud this ruling and continue this campaign’s fight to count every single vote. Even as Jacobs votes to gut healthcare protections for pre-existing conditions and continues to stand by Trump in Washington, more votes against him by the people of NY-27 continue to be counted,” McMurray added.

McMurray has previously called for New York State to take direct action to bolster the absentee voting process in November, including a simplified application, clearer ballot instructions, for ballots to be sent sooner, and for the realities of rural postal service to be recognized in setting postmark deadlines.

McMurray is now joining leaders across the country in calling for the Inspector General to investigate the recent actions of the Trump administration and Postmaster DeJoy, full funding of the USPS, and a legislative review of Bush-era law that has detrimentally constrained Post Service finances, growth, and innovation. 

McMurray concluded: “We know that the President himself votes by mail. We know that his attacks on mail-in voting are a sham, just partisan lies while he attempts to destabilize the electoral process and put party over country. Does Chris Jacobs stand with Trump on this as he does with the President on every other issue?

Extreme Republicans like Jacobs and Trump know that if every American has the chance to vote, they will lose. I will continue to defend our democracy, demand that every vote be counted now and in November, and defy any politician that calls for anything less.”

In what amounted to a protracted exercise in damage control, a few members of Batavia City Council and the acting city manager on Monday night accepted some responsibility for miscommunication with the Deer Management Plan Committee that has spent the past nine months working on ways to reduce the deer population in the city.

Council as whole, however, stopped short of approving the plan, instead opting to table it for further discussion and a possible vote at its Sept. 14 Business meeting at City Hall Council Chambers.

Council Member Robert Bialkowski’s question, “We’re there some changes made that didn’t include the committee?” triggered a 20-minute discussion – mostly a back-and-forth between Council Member and committee liaison John Canale and Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr., with some input from Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski.

Bialkowski’s query stemmed from a story on The Batavian last Friday indicating that the five-member committee believed that changes to the plan they had largely crafted were made without its knowledge or involvement.

Speaking for the committee in that story, Russ Nephew said they had been left out of the loop, and accused management of going behind closed doors to modify wording in the 21-page document. Other committee members are Samuel DiSalvo, Fred Gundell, Gus Galliford and Kent Klotzbach.

Phone Call to Committee Member not Returned

For his part, Canale said that he didn’t return a phone call from Nephew to provide an update, action that could have prevented hard feelings.

“To Bob’s point, this (the process of city management and attorney review and insertion of legal wording) was all going on and I had not gotten back to one of the committee members (Nephew) who has taken on one of the lead roles of the committee,” Canale said. “Because of that, and I had all intentions of calling him on the weekend, but what came up is I got a call from The Batavian, asking for comment on this because one of the committee members, Russ Nephew, had called and felt that they were being left out of the process.”

Reportedly, the committee took exception to not being informed of the following changes that were outlined in an Aug. 4 memo from Tabelski:

• Nobody other than city employees who qualify for the program will be allowed to hunt in areas 4 and 5, which are predominantly city-owned parcels located near the wastewater treatment plant and yard waste station.
• While supporting approval of the plan, “all activities related to (its) implementation” will be prohibited “until schools in Batavia are fully reopened.”

School Situation Changes Things

Canale addressed the school situation, stating that he brought the Batavia City School District’s hybrid schedule – some days in school and some days learning remotely at home – to Tabelski’s attention, putting safety first, and recommended holding off on any culling activities.

The plan stipulates that hunting in any of the five identified zones could take place only when school is in session.

“The wording as it stands now will not allow us to do the hunt,” Jankowski noted.

As far as the communication issues, Canale said he takes full blame “because I did not have the opportunity to get back to the committee and let them know what was going on.”

“It was also part of Rachael and I trying to work this thing out so we could get this thing approved and get it in motion,” he added.

Bialkowski said he wasn’t looking to blame anyone, but felt that the deer committee should have the opportunity to discuss the revisions.

Jankowski said he spoke to DiSalvo and Nephew earlier Monday.

Different Takeaways from Conversation

“He (Nephew) said he got a little overzealous and he got angry and went to the paper (The Batavian) instead of calling one of us and finding out what was going on,” Jankowski reported. “So, he was sorry about that, and said that he made a poor choice there. But he didn’t want that to cloud the issue of all the important work they have done.”

Contacted this morning, Nephew disputed Jankowski’s interpretation of their conversation.

“I did not say that I was sorry, I did not say that I made a poor choice in calling The Batavian and I never got emotional,” Nephew said. “Jankowski said, 'Gee Russ, I wish you would have called me first,' and I said "If you remember right, I did call you about John Canale not calling me back and you did nothing. And that’s why I went to the paper and I would do it again.' ”

During last night’s meeting Jankowski put forth two options – voting for the plan and amending it later, or tabling it.

“They (the committee) have a meeting scheduled for Thursday of this week (9 a.m. at City Hall),” Jankowski advised. “That was going to be more of an implementation meeting, but now it could be a ‘clean up that wording’ meeting, and all the miscommunication can be aired out at that meeting. Then we can bring it back to Council and have the final product then .. or we can vote on it now and amend that wording so that it works.”

Jankowski said that hunting will not be allowed until school “goes into a full-blown normal mode” (all students in the school buildings),” adding that no one knows how long the hybrid schedule will be in force.

Bialkowski: Stick with Our Committees

Bialkowski said his priority was to make sure committees comprised of city residents were treated with respect.

“My bigger concern is that when we appoint citizen committees we stay interactive with the committees and follow the committees through,” he said, citing past instances where committees worked hard and made progress before suddenly being disbanded by management.

As he did in the previous story on The Batavian, Canale explained that the committee did its job, and now the time had come for Tabelski and City Attorney George Van Nest to do theirs “for legal purposes and operational purposes.”

“(Former City Manager) Martin Moore would have had to do that same thing at some point and time … and that is what Rachael did in conjunction with George, the attorney. I explained that to Russ,” Canale said. “Unfortunately, it was Rachael Tabelski, a new player in the picture … and the appearance was she was making changes to the plan without notifying them.”

Canale said the committee will continue to be a “key player” in the city’s effort to thin the deer herd – charged with reporting back to Council with the plan’s progress – but Jankowski interjected that would be the case “at least in the beginning.”

“Eventually, we will need to take it over,” he said. “This can’t go on indefinitely.”

Nephew, responding today, said that the deer committee is designed to be a perpetual group, unlike other city committees.

“I told Jankowski that this is a committee that continually serves, year after year,” he said.

Areas 4 and 5 for City Employees Only

Tabelski said that she had set up the Thursday meeting with the committee to start implementation work.

“We are in a quiet period between legislative matters between one meeting to another – it’s a quiet period, nothing happens, and I think the committee, and maybe I didn’t communicate that well enough, but nothing happens right now,” she said. “This plan, Council looked at it in Conference, it’s coming to Business, we’ll move that forward and then will work on implementation.”

She said that there is only one change from the draft plan – the part about deer management areas 4 and 5, which are largely city property.

“… this plan would allow for city employees who qualify for the program to access the city-owned property only. So that is the only change, to be clear, in the actual plan document,” she said. “Originally, there was no intent of having anyone hunt on city property, so this is actually expanding the ability to hunt on that property.”

Jankowski said he communicated that to committee members on separate occasions.

“I talked to them tonight about it and they were OK with it. Like you said, it was a misunderstanding. I know they were warned in May or June about that but somehow ‘in one ear, out the other,’” he said. “They didn’t click on that and when it came down to the implementation and they read it, they said, 'Where did this come from?' ”

He said he hoped that things will get ironed out on Thursday at the meeting, which he plans to attend.

An Oversight or an Afterthought?

None of the deer committee members were at last night’s meeting, but all are expected to take part in Thursday’s meeting. But even that became a bone of contention as Nephew believes his group was invited as an afterthought.

“I found that there was going to be a meeting on August 13^th at 9 in the morning, so I called John Canale and also wanted to ask him if he heard that and if the attorney and Rachael were going to allow just city employees to hunt on areas 4 and 5,” Nephew said. “He said he didn’t know about that.”

Nephew said that Canale shared the email that he had received about the meeting on Thursday.

“He sent it to us and we weren’t included on the email; it was only Canale, Van Nest and Lisa Casey, their secretary. I emailed Lisa and she said your names were not on there. We will be sending an email to invite you,” he said.

“When somebody sends an email and it’s only two people, you would also say, "Let me know if you can make it.' I would think that you would send it to everyone and ask if they can make it. That’s the normal thing to do.”

Previous story: City proposes changes to deer management plan

By a 7-2 vote Monday night, the Batavia City Council granted $750 monthly stipends to three City Hall employees who have been taking on additional responsibilities during the absence of an assistant city manager.

Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski requested that Human Resource Specialist Dawn Fairbanks, Director of Finance Lisa Neary and Confidential Secretary Lisa Casey be compensated beyond their normal pay at that monthly rate until City Council fills the city manager and assistant city manager positions.

In a July 30 memo, Tabelski reported that all three have incurred an increased workload because they have been performing tasks originally assigned to the assistant city manager. Tabelski moved up from the assistant position to acting city manager following the June 20 departure of former City Manager Martin Moore.

Council members John Canale, Jeremy Karas, Paul Viele, Kathleen Briggs, Al McGinnis, Patti Pacino and Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. voted in favor of the stipend, which would take effect retroactively to July 1, while Rose Mary Christian and Robert Bialkowski voted against it.

Canale summed up the majority’s feeling by saying that Council has been asking them to do part of the work of another office (assistant manager).

“That’s quite a job that Rachael stepped into,” he said. “I know as much as we want to keep an eye on how we spend taxpayer dollars, we also have to keep an eye on are we paying these employees the proper amount for the job they are doing?”

Jankowski agreed, noting that the trio has been doing two to three times the amount of work beyond their job descriptions. He also said that if they were union employees, they would be in a position to receive more pay.

“We’re trying to reward them for taking on additional responsibilities. It’s not like we’re using up the whole salary (of the vacant position),” he said. “It’s a small token for additional responsibility. I think it’s a valuable thing and a worthwhile thing … and it keeps us moving forward.”

Tabelski said they have been working long hours, including Saturdays, as they tackle key projects such as: the management and implementation of a $750,000 new Enterprise Resource Program solution for all software applications; a $390,000 information technology hardware project and Windows 10 upgrade; a fiber project to connect all city facilities to a fiber network; flood zone issues; and other internal and committee tasks.

Christian said she objected to the proposal due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has put the city in a projected “almost half a million dollars” shortfall, and that Fairbanks and Neary are salaried employees. Casey is an hourly employee.

She said she calls City Hall after 4:30 and gets an answering machine – to which Tabelski responded that the recording comes on at that time, but the employees are still on the job – and also brought up that they recently received a raise – Tabelski said it was 2.75 percent – in the new budget.

“I just can’t do this,” Christian said.

Bialkowski mentioned that Casey could put in for overtime and that Fairbanks and Neary are two of many salaried city employees.

“We have other employees who are salaried department heads and, boy, they work a lot more than 40 hours, and they don't come in and ask for extra money...,” he said. "When you sign onto a salaried job, it's whatever needs to be done."

Citing major unemployment, he said, “I just don’t support this.”

In other developments, Council:

• Approved a one-year contract extension with Client First at a cost not to exceed $87,856 for external project management services and a contract with Systems East Inc., for a tax collection software package at a cost of $42,921 and for annual training at a cost of $6,240 in connection with the Enterprise Resource Planning software project.
• Moved to its September Business meeting resolutions to accept four grants that will benefit the city fire department.

The grants are: a Federal Emergency Management Agency award for $68,880.95 for enhanced monitored fire and carbon monoxide alarm system at fire headquarters; sprinkler system and specialized water rescue training (with a 5-percent city match); a NYS Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee grant for $800 to purchase bicycle helmets; a similar grant for $3,200 to purchase child passenger safety seats; and a donation of $1,638 from FM Global Insurance Co. to purchase a new fire investigation camera and accessories.

• Moved to the September Business meeting a resolution to solicit the lowest bid for lead services construction work on Swan and Hutchins streets – work that will require engineering expertise prior to the construction. The city previously received a grant for $554,112 to cover the replacement of lead services.

Public Works Director Matt Worth said bids will go out next week, with mid-November as the flexible cutoff for completion.

• Approved a $189,462.75 contract with Sunshine Concrete Co. of North Tonawanda for the replacement of 3,150 linear feet of sidewalks, including handicap accessible ramps, on portions of Franklin and North Spruce streets and Roosevelt Avenue.
• Forwarded to the September Business meeting a resolution to borrow up to $420,000 to buy a combination jet/vacuum truck for use in the city’s sanitary sewer system, water system, storm sewer system and highway maintenance operations.

Purchase of the 2019 demo unit with approximately 4,900 miles on it would replace a truck that has been in use since 1994 and has undergone multiple repairs, Tabelski said.

• Authorized Jankowski to sign a contract with the Batavia City School District for a school resource officer for 2020-21.

If you’re going to form a committee to build a plan that addresses community policing issues and encourages trust between residents and law enforcement, it has to include people of color – those who are speaking out for equality and racial justice.

That is the position stated by Batavia City Council members tonight as they approved the formation of the Batavia Police Collaboration Advisory Stakeholder Group as mandated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order No. 203.

“I think it’s very important to have diversity in the committee because that is the people, and some of the people just like everyone else in the community, who are being affected,” City Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. said following the board’s Conference and Business meetings. “So, every stakeholder from every diverse demographic that we can come up with, I’d like to see on that committee – so that everyone has a say, to a point.”

Jankowski said filling the committee with people of the same perspective is not the answer.

“If we end up one-siding it or lopsiding it, we’re not really going to solve the problem,” he said. “We need to have legitimate conversations from all the stakeholders – all the people that might or might not be involved – so we can get as much input as we can.”

As previously reported on The Batavian, the advisory group, per a memo from Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski, was set up to consist of 15 members – including the city manager, three police department representatives, three attorneys, one Council member, a faith-based leader, Batavia Housing Authority director, not-for-profit representative, Batavia City School District superintendent, business leader and two citizen representatives.

Prior to a vote, Council member Robert Bialkowski made a motion to amend the list to include four citizen representatives to ensure minority input. The amendment was accepted and the measure passed unanimously.

The advisory group came up at the outset of tonight’s proceedings when Batavia resident Sammy DiSalvo used the public comments segment to say he opposed the makeup of it.

After reading off the list of proposed committee members, DiSalvo said, “And finally you’re rounding out this 15-person committee with two citizens, which is atrocious.”

“I hope everybody remembers why this entire executive order was proposed by Cuomo in the first place. And if you’re only going to put two out of 15 positions as citizens to help discuss how police can better police citizens, then this is a moronic proposal put forward,” he said. “This was started because of police brutality nationwide against people of color. And there is also nothing in this resolution about including those disadvantaged groups in this conversation.”

DiSalvo suggested having just one police officer and one attorney – not three of each – and called for half of the group to be “citizens,” with at least two people of color.

“Make sure your citizens are represented and right now they are not,” he said.

Council member Rose Mary Christian said she disagreed “with most of the things that DiSalvo said, and I will not sit here and think that our police department has abused anyone. I will not defend, I will not defund, our police and, as a matter of fact, I stand behind them.”

She said she has a flag at her home with a blue line for the police and a red line for the fire department.

“Safety is number one to me, and I’ll be damned if somebody is going to tell me anything different,” she added.

Fellow Council member Robert Bialkowski offered that the City doesn’t have a lot of the problems that occur in larger cities, punctuating that with “it’s simple – don’t break the law.”

Wording in the governor's executive order does not specifically stipulate the actual members, but mentions that stakeholders should include “but not (be) limited to membership and leadership of the local police force, members of the community with emphasis in areas with high numbers of police and community interactions, interested non-profit and faith-based community groups, local office of the district attorney, local public defender and local elected officials.”

Tabelski said that she and Police Chief Shawn Heubusch used the information in the previous paragraph to analyze “the members listed to make up the group, and then applied it to local conditions here in Batavia to form the parameters of our local group.”

“Our intent was to have good representation from all sides and to comply with the executive order,” she said.

During a presentation to Council, City Attorney George Van Nest outlined eight recently enacted pieces of legislation, including an anti-chokehold act and providing medical attention to persons in custody act.

Heubusch, meanwhile, reported that his agency has achieved all but a couple of the dozen or so standards spelled out in the governor’s executive order, and cited statistics showing a downward trend in crime in the city over the past five years.

Tabelski said that persons seeking to serve on the committee should send a “letter of interest” via email to her at rtabelski@batavianewyork.com or call 585-345-6300 by Sept. 1.

Regular meetings will be scheduled starting in September, followed by a draft presentation to Council in January, public comments in February, final version of the plan in March and submission to the state by April 1.

Previous story: City Council agenda includes resolution to create Batavia Police Collaboration Advisory Stakeholder Group

A woman called the Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center wanting to speak to a Batavia Police officer regarding her marital prospect, her promised one -- "her fiancé" -- and his "pickpocketing situation." The dispatcher relayed the message.

Update: 6:40 p.m.

Batavia Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr., at tonight's Board of Education meeting, has reported that school will start for students on Sept. 14, following four days of teacher training days -- Sept. 8-11.

He also said that some days scheduled as off days will now be school days, ensuring that there will be 180 days of learning for students.

Soler said that virtual public meetings are being planned for each of the district's schools prior to Aug. 21, as required by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

--------------

Reading, writing, arithmetic, respiratory hygiene.

Teachers will need to be versed in much more than academics during the 2020-21 school year, which gets underway in less than a month.

“We have days at the beginning of the school year that are teacher-only when we’re going to receive some training on COVID procedures along with some professional development on teaching the hybrid model and the virtual model,” said Mark Warren, president of the Batavia Teachers’ Association.

He said the exact training days prior to the date when students return are expected to be determined at the Batavia City School District’s Board of Education meeting at 6:30 tonight. It can be viewed on the district’s YouTube page.

Warren said teachers and other staff will be trained how “to instruct students in proper hand washing, how to cough and sneeze appropriately, and recognizing the symptoms of COVID.”

“I’m not sure if it will be district-led or coordinated by the health department or by another outside person coming in to the school,” he said.

According to the Batavia City School District’s 97-page reopening plan, the district “will ensure all students are taught or trained how to follow new COVID-19 protocols safely and correctly, including but not limited to hand hygiene, proper face covering wearing, social distancing, and respiratory hygiene.”

The plan was developed by the Reopen Batavia Strong Task Force, which included input from the teachers’ union, Warren said.

It spells out that additional training will be provided in:

• Prevention of disease spreads by staying home when they are sick.
• Proper respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes.
• Avoiding the use of communal objects. If communal objects must be used, provide information on proper disinfection procedures between use. Examples of communal objects include, but are not limited to, other workers’ phones, desks, offices, computers or other devices, other work tools and equipment.
• Providing employees and students with up-to-date education and training on COVID-19.
• Risk factors and protective behaviors (i.e., cough etiquette and care of Personal Protective Equipment).

The plan also advises that the district will designate those familiar with the Center for Disease Control and Occupational Safety and Health Administration protocols, and Department of Health guidelines in each building as trained screeners. Screeners will be required to wear Personal Protective Equipment provided by the district.

Warren said students have to wear masks on the bus and when they’re transitioning, but said he believes they are allowed to take them off when they are seated and are six feet apart.

He acknowledged that it could be difficult for the younger children.

“I have a second- and fourth-grader and we’ve been working on it at home,” he said.

On the scholastic side, Warren said some teachers will preside over exclusively online courses and others will have a mix of in-school and virtual.

“My preliminary schedule, for example, has one of the courses as an online-only course, and the rest of the courses are hybrid courses where I’ll see the kids some days and they’ll be remote some days,” he advised.

Warren teaches 11^th- and 12^th-grade math – calculus and a third-year elective called Math for Trades.

First, there was a pickup truck accident with a car fire and just as Stafford fire had things under control at the first location on Clinton Street Road, an MVA with serious injuries was reported a quarter-mile away on Route 33 at the intersection with Horseshoe Lake Road.

It turned out there were no serious injuries in either accident.

But it was a hot, humid day for the volunteer firefighters, deputies, and medical personnel who responded to both incidents.

Previously: 

• Pickup truck in flames on Clinton Street Road, Stafford
• Crash reported at Clinton Street and Horseshoe Lake roads, Stafford

Press release:

Congressman Chris Jacobs (NY-27) is announcing a $1,000,000 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services has been awarded to the Genesee Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (GCASA).

“I am pleased to announce that this great local organization is receiving a grant to further combat alcohol and drug addiction, and the opioid crisis in our community," Jacobs said. "While our nation has focused on fighting another public health battle, substance abuse has continued to hurt our communities.

"That is why the work the Genesee Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse is critical to our region. I am proud to see this funding go to an organization working to make our communities safer for all members, and I am committed to continuing our efforts to end the substance abuse and opioid epidemic."

“This grant will allow GCASA to continue a multi-fold aim of removing barriers to recovery and improved quality of life for people suffering from alcohol and other drug problems," said GCASA Executive Director John Bennett. “Far too long, we have treated addiction only as an acute disease when, in fact, it is a chronic long-term health condition.

While treatment is a guiding force to assist individuals in establishing abstinence and getting them on the path to recovery, it does not address how to sustain individuals and families in recovery over long periods. Grants like this will help build the recovery supports and address the social determinants of health to overcome the long-term effects of addiction.

"It is designed to break down the barriers to long term recovery so people can manage their own conditions over time and build on the resources needed for sustained recovery.”

The grant was awarded through a $101 million grant program through the Department of Health and Human Services to combat substance abuse disorders (SUD) and opioid use disorders (OUD). This grant program supports 116 organizations in more than 42 states – the grant is intended to expand and enhance service delivery for SUD and OUD in rural communities.

Two other organizations in New York State received this $1 million grant -- The Reach Project Inc., Ithaca, and Rochester Institute of Technology Inc.

Press release:

• Genesee County received zero new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • Three of the previous positive individuals have recovered and have been released from mandatory isolation.
  • Forty new individuals are on precautionary quarantine due to travel from restricted states.
  • One of the positive individuals is hospitalized.
     
• Orleans County received two new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • The new positive cases reside in Carlton and Ridgeway.
  • One of the positive individuals is in their 40s and one of the positive individuals is in their 50s.
  • Four of the previous positive individuals have recovered and have been released from mandatory isolation.

More than 1,500 flags received by the local veterans' groups were piled several feet high at the Northwoods Sportsman's Club on Sunday afternoon and given a dignified retirement as prescribed by the U.S. Flag Code.

Title IV, Section 8(k) states, “The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”

The event was organized by the Botts Fiorito American Legion Post #576 in Le Roy and Commander Dave Rumsey thanked Bill Joyce, Genesee County Veterans Service Officer, and the Legion posts in Bergen and Caledonia and the VFW post in Caledonia, each of which provided their communities with a flag deposit box. 

Photos by Philip Casper.

Two people who were located with a disabled vehicle on Clinton Street Road, Stafford, at 6 p.m., Friday, are facing multiple charges including drug dealing and assault.

During an interaction with the subjects, deputies determined that Shonje Kaliq Jefferson, 22, of Norton Street, Rochester, might be in possession of drugs. A subsequent search revealed he allegedly had a quantity of crack cocaine on his person.

Due to the amount of crack cocaine deputies believe they located, Jefferson was arrested on a count of criminal possession of a narcotic drug with an intent to sell.

Deputy Erik Andre and Investigator Chris Parker arrested Jefferson on charges of criminal use of drug paraphernalia, aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd, unlicensed operator, and pedestrian failed to walk facing traffic.

A passenger in the vehicle, Chaniah Lache Wellington-Martino, 19, of Danforth Street, Rochester, was interviewed by Parker and Sgt. Andrew Hale. She allegedly threw her purse over a guardrail and an attempt to destroy evidence in the purse while fighting with the officers. She is also accused of attempting several times to bite the officers.

She is charged with attempted assault, 2nd, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, tampering with physical evidence, and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Jefferson was arraigned in Genesee County Court and ordered held on $2,000 cash bail or $5,000 bond. The release status of Wellington-Martino was not included in the press release.

A deputy is responding to Kiwanis Park on West Main Street in Batavia to meet with a caller who claims he fell in "quicksand."

Press release:

Today, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer enthusiastically renewed his support for Nate McMurray in the Nov. 3rd election for Congress in NY-27. 

“I am eager to see Nate McMurray win this election so we can get to work on a shared agenda to expand access to affordable healthcare, strengthen the middle class, protect union rights, and preserve our farms," Senator Schumer said. "Nate is a fighter who will take on the damaging and dangerous Trump agenda and always champion the interests of the people of Western New York.” 

McMurray added: “I am proud to have Senator Schumer’s endorsement going into the most important election of our lifetimes. He and I are committed to defeating the Trump agenda and its supporters, like Chris Jacobs, in November. Not only has Chris Jacobs aligned himself with a failed President, but he has condemned Black Lives Matter, voted against a pay raise for our armed forces, and voted to kill the Affordable Care Act at the height of a pandemic that has killed 150,000 Americans.  

“Senator Schumer and I share many core values, like a Washington that delivers for working-class Americans, expanding healthcare, and protecting Social Security. I’m eager to get to work with him on behalf of NY-27 and all of Western New York.”