batavia

Dave Wellenzohn has a championship ring and had a great experience while meeting "great people in Batavia".

But he was let go as general manager of the Batavia Muckdogs after this season by the Rochester Red Wings, who are owned by the Rochester Red Wings Management, LLC.

Things happen fast in minor league baseball, and Wellenzohn found his new job quickly after searching since the end of the season.

Just yesterday, Wellenzohn was hired by the Savannah Sand gnats as  Director of Tickets and Sales.

"I was the one left holding the short end of the stick (after the season)," Wellenzohn said. "I'm thrilled to be leaving Batavia. I'm happy to be going to Georgia because I've lived there before. I'm looking forward to setting up residence and hopefully being there for a while."

Wellenzohn being happy about leaving Batavia has nothing to do with the people or his experience during the season. In his interview he used the words "bitter sweet" very often. 

Batavia won its first New York-Pennsylvania League title in 45 years on September 14 and he was let go on the 15th. 

"I would not trade my experience in Batavia for anything, but I wouldn't do it again either," Wellenzohn said. "It was bitter sweet and I was the only one that lost. But it was nice. We won a championship and I met a lot of nice people."

Wellenzohn literally was ready to move back to his home town of Buffalo. He had the moving truck booked, found an apartment and had an appointment to have his satellite TV set up.

After having no luck finding a job, he was just going to head home.

But he was hired by the Sand gnats yesterday and is now looking for a place to live there, while canceling his plans to move to Buffalo.

"One of my former employees at Jamestown is there and is the public relations director for NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray, and she's helping me to find some housing. I need to find a place that allows dogs because I still have my trusty companion, my german shepard."

The Sand gnats are a full-season Class A team that is an affiliate of the New York Mets that plays in the South Atlantic League. The team has one of the oldest stadiums in the country, but there is talk of a new one being built in the near future.

He will be wearing his first championship ring when he starts his job on February 2.

"Baseball continues to move on and the calendar moves on," Wellenzohn said. "I'll be with a new team and a new affiliate, but I'll have my first championship ring on my finger. We won 50 games and that is neat. It's something I'll never forget."

A question to our city leaders ............ All those huge piles of snow recently deposited in the parking lot of Dwyer Stadium......  When it melts and it will, where will the water go? Let's guess together, shall we.  Water will seek the lowest level which at this time is the Visiting Clubhouse , the area around the deck and then right field. This water will be both above ground and below. Right Field is always the wettest spot due to the low spot that is and has been there for years. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the parking lot is part and parcel  a part of the stadium, which means it is covered by the existing lease with Rochester. I'll also guess that Rochester wasn't asked about using the stadium as a snow and ice dumping ground. 

I'm about to become a "former citizen" of Batavia in 2 weeks. It was a great and eventful , some might say CHAMPIONSHIP year. It's Jan. 14th, city of Batavia. GCC baseball starts in about 2 months.  Look at the mountains that continue to be built and ask :  "Did we think this thru?"  

 GOODBYE BATAVIA, IT'S BEEN AN ADVENTURE !           Dave Wellenzohn GM    NYPL 2008 Champions Batavia Muckdogs

Dan Fischer reports on WBTA this morning that Batavia manufacturer Graham Corp. let go 14 full-time employees yesterday. Most of those who received the pink slips were in the engineering department, Fischer says. A brief statement that was issued to the radio station did not give any reason for the layoffs, which were figured at about 5 percent of the total workforce.

We left a message at Graham Corp. to find out more. We will be sure to post any more information as it becomes available.

 The Batavia boys basketball team couldn't hit a shot in the first half, then the pressure defense led to offense in the second half as the Blue Devils wound up thumping visiting Greece Odyssey 56-38.

The defense was there, but there was a lid on the basket for Batavia in the first half. Andrew Hoy had some good looks, that didn't fall. And most of the supporting cast didn't have much to add offensively.

Dakota Irvin managed eight of his 10 points and Josh Budlong had an inspired six points, all in the first half as the score wound up being tied at 24.

But coach Buddy Brasky must have had one of his famous halftime speeches because the Blue Devils dominated the third quarter.

Irvin started things off with a basket and Marcus Hoy had five of his points. He also had six assists and four rebounds.

Andrew Hoy also hit a 3-pointer as Batavia scored 12 straight points before Ray Diaz drained a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds left. It was 36-27 after three periods of play.

Batavia continued to own the fourth quarter, owning a 20-11 advantage.

Andrew Hoy scored six of his points with seven steals for the game in the final frame. The other big thing to take from the fourth quarter was the minutes and play of Donovan Rolle, who scored two points but looked like he can provide another rebounder for the Blue Devils.

Tim Aledsio led Odyssey with 13 points.

Batavia improves to 9-1 and is at Mendon on Friday before next week's showdown with Pittsford Sutherland.

Earlier today, we picked up a story from Buffalo's Channel 4 news station about some potential route changes and shifting around of delivery times in store for Batavia and some areas in the region. We contacted the local Post Office this morning to see if we could find out some of the details.

Karen Mizurkiewicz, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service, told us that yes, in fact, they would be adjusting some routes in the region.

"We normally do route adjustments because things change in mail volume," she said. "Also, because we have offered some early retirements for employees including carriers. Instead of hiring new carriers, we're redistributing routes among existing carriers. We need to try to direct our postal stamp dollar as far as it will go. We don't receive any tax dollars. So when you're selling less stamps and delivering less mail, you need to stretch your resources."

Mizurkiewicz didn't have any details on which routes would be affected. She said that right now, the postal service is "examing the data for Batavia," and that changes will be more clear nearer to the end of February.

We'll be sure to pass along those details to our readers when they become available.

Well folks, it turns out not even the postal service is immune to an economy that's feeling the hurt. A story on Buffalo's WIVB Channel 4 informs us that postal delivery route changes are in store for several districts in the area, including Batavia.

From a companion story on the Channel 4 Web site:

When the nation's businesses experience a downturn, it directly affects the volume of mail. Economic decline leads to a decline in mail volume. The current year is particularly challenging since mail volume has declined significantly

In order to remain economically viable, the Postal Service must make changes to its operations, staffing, and facilities to match current mail volume and to maintain the service performance the American public has come to expect.

We will contact the local branch later this morning to see if there are more details on when and where in particular these changes will take effect.

Batavia High School has been one of the smallest schools in the Monroe County League for a long time.

It has hindered the chances some programs have had to win.

But those things are about to change as realignment has given Batavia a chance to remain part of a league, yet be competitive in sports it normally struggled to compete in.

"With our school and our size, Monroe County recognized that our school and Greece Odyssey were a little different," Batavia athletic director Mike Bromley said. "You have to give them credit for that because they give us a league affiliation and will allow us to be competitive."

The Blue Devils will be playing in Monroe County League Division III, but will be essentially playing a half-league schedule.

Geography is a big consideration for Monroe County as teams were realigned. Division I and II teams are matched up as much by travel distance as school size. Division III is mostly about size.

Batavia will play each team in Division III once in both boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball and volleyball. That means the Blue Devils will get to play seven league games, which is also happening with Odyssey.

While Batavia will no longer be eligible for league championships, it will give teams chances to schedule non-league games with teams that they can compete with.

A prime example is the boys soccer team, which experimented with the schedule least year. Batavia went 7-10, going 7-1 outside of Monroe County and 0-8 in the league.

"We gave up the opportunity to win a league championship because we don't play everybody twice," Bromley said. "But to be able to go out and get schools that are closer to our size and be more competitive makes more sense than trying to win league titles."

Kids will still have  a chance to be recognized as all-county and there will be no changes for track & field or cross country. 

This sets up some potential great local rivalries, especially as Batavia drops down to Class B. Imagine home and home series' with Attica or Albion. Those could be great local rivalries for Batavia.

Once you get past not being able to compete for a league championship, there are still goals for Batavia teams. 

There will also be changes in the modified programs at Batavia, as the drop in numbers will no longer support a seventh and eighth grade team. The two grades will be combined for modified and will play a schedule based on geography.

Here is the new alignment for the Monroe County League:

Division I: Canandaigua, Irondequoit, Fairport, Penfield, Rush-Henrietta, Webster Schroeder, Webster Thomas.

Division II: Brockport, Churchville-Chili, Gates Chili, Greece Arcadia, Greece Athena, Greece Olympia, Hilton, Spencerport.

Division III: Batavia, Brighton, Greece Odyssey, East Irondequoit Eastridge, Honeoye Falls-Lima, Pittsford Mendon, Pittsford Sutherland, Victor.

Earlier today, we contacted Charlie Mallow, Batavia's City Council president, and Greg Post, the town supervisor, to get their thoughts on some specifics about the upcoming consolidation plan. Mallow sent us his responses via e-mail this past hour. We include them below.

When we called Post, he told us that he wouldn't be available to answer the questions until later this evening. We will try to get in touch with him then and get his answers up once we have them. They were given the same questions.

Note: CGR is an abbreviation for the Center for Governmental Research, the group that put together the report in preparation for an upcoming study on consolidating the city and town of Batavia. You can download the complete report here. Our questions (verbatim) are in italics. Mallow's responses (verbatim) are in bold.

CGR's memorandum calls for a Consolidation Plan to be complete by May in order for community discussion to take place between then and November, in advance of the tentative November 3 vote. Does that sound like a tenable timeline?

The time tables are tight; there is no question about it. It will be a challenge to get the information out to the voters. It is doable and needs to be a priority.

What do you see as your role moving forward in this process? Do you plan to be a passive contributor—for example, you will sit for interviews and meetings when asked, but that's the extent of it? Or do you plan to actively promote consolidation efforts? If the latter, how do you plan to do so?

The experience I have gathered during the cities financial difficulties has made it very clear to me that individual municipalities cannot continue on the way we are. The tribalism that we have in NY is driving away business and making it impossible to compete. We need to eliminate layers of government as soon as humanly possible. I have every intention doing what I can to drive this consolidation issue. To do nothing when you know the future financial outcome resulting from doing nothing would be pure incompetence on my part.

CGR's memorandum states that a public vote is not required for a consolidation. Would you support efforts at consolidation if the residents were not allowed to make the final decision? If the residents do get to vote and they decide they do not want to go ahead with consolidation, but the state Legislature calls for it anyway, would you still support it?

The state should mandate consolidation but, it’s too incompetent and slow to react to make positive changes in our state. The special interests control Albany and most of what comes from state government is a stage show for political purposes. The state government is corrupted to such an extent that nothing good could ever come from Albany. That’s why I’m confident the state will do nothing to solve a major problem like the over abundance of small municipal taxing entities in our state.

CGR states that "current boundaries and the resulting turf protection issues have made it very difficult to develop cost effective regional solutions to deliver ambulance, police and fire services." Do you agree with that? Is consolidation the only answer to these problems? Do you feel these problems would remain if consolidation did not go through?

You’re talking about three distinct issues. Consolidation between the City/Town would be a first step. None of the issues you mentioned would be solved by a vote for consolidation in November. We have asked for a plan that would NOT increase or decrease services or change the tax structures in the city/town. Consolidation would decrease some of the costs and put our community in a position to deal with those other issues in the future.

Fire services are handled by fire districts; these districts cross municipal lines and require another round of consolidation prompted by the state to move forward. I believe county departments have trouble attracting volunteers and getting good response times during the day. The amount of districts also has cost millions in redundant equipment purchases. There are far more fire trucks in this county than are needed. Consolidation of fire districts would be a long and painful task, which is not part of this effort.

Police protection is something that would remain a city service unless there was a petition by residents in the old town who desired the service. Again we are not talking about increasing the level of service anywhere in the town with consolidation. Just sharing the things we currently all need. 

From my point of view ambulance service is something that should come from the county. This service was started by people in the city who had very little knowledge of the long term problems inherent with taking on that service. The city is currently in a position of collecting fees from municipalities it has no taxing jurisdiction over to keep the service afloat. The long term cost of continuing the service the same way would be devastating to our cities finances. This problem is a separate issue that council will be tackling in the upcoming year.

CGR presents population research that shows that the city of Batavia decreased in population by .7 percent between 2001-2006, while the town of Batavia increased 26.2 percent. Do you feel these trends will continue? How could such trends benefit or hinder consolidation efforts?

The town has shovel ready land and a lot of it. The town also has the benefit of 16,000 city residents who shop in their business district. There is no choice but, for new developments to grow outside the city, there simply is very little land to develop inside the city.

Last night, the Batavia City Council voted to waive the residency requirement for 14 city employees. That was all the news that was reported about the 6-to-1 vote. Nobody has yet been able to tell us why exactly the city has such a requirement if it's willing to waive it for such a large number of employees. In the meantime, we would like to get your thoughts. Do you feel it's imperative for a person to live in the city of Batavia if they are employed here? Can someone in Oakfield do the job? Does it matter? If it doesn't matter, why does the city require residency here? If it does matter, why would the city waive that requirement? Well, what do you think?

Batavia's City Council last night waived the residency requirement for 14 city employees, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. Councilman Bob Bialkowski was the sole dissenter in the 6-to-1 vote. Assistant City Manager Sally Kuzon and recently appointed Code Enforcement Officer Ronald Panek were among those relieved of the requirement.

No one has yet explained exactly what such a decision means for the city. If the residency requirement was in place: How did the city hire 14 people in violation of the requirement? We put the question to Council President Charlie Mallow this morning, and we're waiting for his response. We'll be sure to get it up when he responds, if he doesn't just beat us to the punch and post a comment before then.

Update: Mallow has responded to our inquiry from earlier this morning.

"The City has a residency requirement for all employees to live within the boundaries of the County," he said. "These employees were identified as living outside the County, some who have worked for the City for over 10 years, and it has been determined that it is in the best interest of the City to waive this requirement  for these people."

Thanks to Lindsay Warner for submitting the following info on the Genesee Region League Cheerleading Tournament. We would love to have some color to go with this recap, so if you've got photos or video of this event, please post it to the site or contact me by e-mail so we can get it posted.

This weekend the JV and varsity cheerleading squads of the Genesee Region League gathered for their annual tournament. The competition travels to a different host school every few years and this year was the first for Elba High School and Michelle Merrill, their head coach.

The competition is run much like Winter Cheerleading Sectionals in that each team performs twice on the mat- once in a cheer only round and than again using the tradition cheer/dance routine. Grand Champion is determined by the squad who carries the highest total score. Since the inception of this competition that score belonged to the Holley Hawks- that is until this weekend.

Notre Dame has competed in this tournament for years and since Coach Lindsay (Rapone) Warner began coaching, grand champion was set as the ultimate goal. Holley High School, who is class B2 with nearly twice as many squad members, doesn’t make for much of a fair fight. This year Notre Dame has 14 members, 6 of which are new additions to the varsity team from last year. Nevertheless, Notre Dame was able to top Holley’s squad of 27 by 6 points in Round One which was very exciting for the squad as a last second decision was made to throw out the original cheer and learn a completely new one less than a week before the day’s performance. Overall the Irish stole grand champion by 4 points.

“My team was aware that the odds were against us in our goal to get grand champ. Holley is a great competitor and is well known for their themed routines, which this year, was Legally Blonde,” coach Lindsay Warner. The squad worked very hard to prepare for this competition, including two full practices before each of their games this week. The girls wanted it and their efforts certainly paid off. Assistant coach, Sheri Girvin, who is an alumni of Holley High School and former recipient of Grand Champion as a Hawk joined the Irish last year and was thrilled to receive Grand Champion again, now as a Notre Dame coach.

Squad captains are Stacy Squire, Kristen Francis, and Lauren DiFante, two of which are seniors and are very hopeful that this is just the start of a very successful final season for them at Notre Dame.

JV CHEER DI- Holley 177, Attica 173, Alexander 170; DII- Kendall 137
JV CHEER/DANCE DI- Holley 179,Attica 169, Alexander 156; DII Kendall 150
Varsity CHEER DI-Holley 184, Attica 179, Alexander 174, Oakfield 109; DII Notre Dame 190, Elba 173, Kendall 157, Lyndonville 150
Varsity CHEER/DANCE DII- Notre Dame 185, Kendall 166, Elba 164, Lyndonville 146