batavia

Following an impassioned discussion about a confidential personnel document that was leaked to the local media, apparently by a fellow member of the Batavia City Council, Council President Charlie Mallow said whomever leaked the document violated the trust of citizens and fellow council members and should resign immediately.

There is no way, Mallow said, that the council members can hold another executive session with any degree of confidence that what is discussed in closed session will remain confidential.

Mallow doesn't plan to call any further closed sessions on any matter during the remainder of his term as council president, which is about two months.

"If you cannot protect one of your citizens, protect your staff and follow your word, you don’t belong here," Mallow said. "I would expect them to resign. Absolutely. I don’t know how the citizens of the city wouldn’t expect someone to resign. If you have no integrity and you are not out there to protect the interests of our citizens, what are you doing here? You don’t belong here."

He then added, "That’s how the majority of the council feels. This is a betrayal. It’s a dirty betrayal."

And on the specific issue, Mallow said, the council is now stymied on dealing with it because nobody wants to go into executive session and risk having their statements leaked to the media.

"If there’s potential for further litigation on that matter, I can’t discuss it," Mallow said, "and that's a shame, because it needs to be discussed. It’s important. There’s an important matter there that needs to be discussed."

Mallow said one of his great disappointments is that a citizen who brought forward a complaint to the city with the intention that it be kept confidential was betrayed.

"They wanted the problem solved, not to make a spectacle of things," Mallow said. "They wanted a problem solved and they went to their government to do that and we didn’t. We failed them."

It was Councilman Frank Ferrando who brought the issue of the leak up at the close of Monday night's conference meeting. Ferrando called the leak a betrayal.

"There’s no reason to go behind closed doors if in fact everything can be shared," Ferrando said. "Let’s do it here, because I don’t want someone else telling someone what I said. I’ll say it myself. ...

"I will not go into executive session unless it’s stated clearly in council rules that what happens in executive session stays in executive session."

At one point, Ferrando turned to Daily News reporter Joanne Beck and said, “I want to say to Joanne Beck right now, if I’m the person who disclosed that letter, put it in the paper, I want people to know, because I know it wasn’t me."

Councilwoman Kathy Briggs also released Beck from any confidentiality agreement saying, "I know it wasn't me."

Beck reported the leak, and Mallow's criticism of it, Sept. 25. She disclosed that the Daily News received a copy of a letter accusing City Manager Jason Molino of "unprofessional and unethical behavior." The newspaper did not reveal the name of the letter's author, which Mallow praised as an example of good ethics. Beck did not disclose any other details of the letter or what prompted the complaint. Mallow characterized the accusations leak as a "witch hunt" but would not comment further at that time (regarding correction in this graph, see Charlie's comment below).

Mallow's commentary: Piecing things together, it appears that a member of the City Council called the author of the letter following the closed session and disclosed in some detail what was discussed in the session. That letter writer then contacted at least four council members and discussed the substance of what that person was told. It does not appear that Council member disclosed to Beck any of the closed session conversation. The Council member who called the letter writer may or may not be the same Council member who leaked the letter to the Daily News. I think they are two different people. At least, that's my best speculation as to the sequence of events based on available information.

Audio:

• Frank Ferrando
• Charlie Mallow 1
• Charlie Mallow 2
• City Attorney George Van Nest

NOTE: The two files above were recorded with my computer. The sound quality is just good enough so you can hear what Frank, and George are saying. Charlie was recorded with my iPhone and there is a bit of background noise on the first clip, though Charlie is quite audible. I include Van Nest even though I don't quote him above because his comments are interesting, especially since he notes that council has, as I've said before, discretion on whether to enter executive session on many topics. The council is rarely required by law to go into closed session. It's merely an option.

Town of Batavia FD is on scene at College Village building G (Spruce Hall) for a fire alarm. Response appears to be Rescue, Heavy Rescue, and at least one Chief. The cause of the alarm is not known to me at this time. More info when available.

Update (9:50 PM): This may end up being a non-story as they've already left. Response was Rescue 20, Rescue 24 and appeared to also include two chiefs. The dual-Rescue response has been fairly unusual in the past and that combined with everything arriving in a group led me to believe there might be something confirmed active, but appears to have simply been for the lighting abilities of those rigs. I don't have access to a scanner, so until I hear details from someone all I know is that the FD has been called.

Home Owners of the Year, Bradley & Kelly Trzecieski with Councilwoman Kathy Briggs.

Download: Statement by Briggs (PDF)

Business of the Year: Parise's Auto & Towing.  Accepting the award from Councilman Tim Buckley is owner Mark Dickinson.

Download: Statement by Buckley (PDF)

Don Carroll receives Volunteer of the Year award from Councilman Sam Barone.

Download: Statement by Barone (PDF)

If you’ve ever driven down Center Street, I’m sure you’ve noticed the garage next to the Smoke House painted as a “Fire Headquarters.” This garage has just recently become the newest spot for local bands to perform.

Hosted by Glass Roots next door to it, the venue's third show took place Friday night. It's open to artists of all types and Friday’s show featured three very different genres of music. 

First to perform was Greengage, a local jam band with a reggae influence. Then, the duo known as Davey O. played a set of acoustic folk rock. Lastly, Steve Ditzel, a Batavia resident, took the stage with his turntables and got the crowd moving to his electronic beats. 

The show started around 7:30, drawing a large crowd of highly diverse people and ran up until last call for drinks. There was a 50/50 raffle, too. While there's no firm schedule for future events, Glass Roots shop owner Jeremy Almeter says that there will be more shows and to stop by for more details.

Joseph Kyle Loveland, 26, of 665 Niagara Falls Blvd., Amherst, is charged with harassment. Loveland allegedly punched another person in the face while at Chestnut Ridge Country Club in Darien at about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. The victim was reportedly treated at the scene and declined transportation to a hospital. Loveland was issued an appearance ticket. The incident was investigated by Sgt. Greg Walker.

Pamela A. Loughridge, 41, of 5630 Buffalo Road, Apt. 5, Churchville, is charged with DWI, aggravated DWI with a BAC of .08 or greater, aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle and moving from the lane unsafely. Loughridge was stopped at 6:04 p.m. yesterday by Deputy Chad Minuto on Route 237 in Byron.

Justin J. Jaszko, 30, of 8087 Kelsey Road, Batavia, is charged with criminal trespass. Jaszko allegedly entered the residence of his child's mother in Oakfield and refused to leave. The alleged incident occurred Friday morning at 8:45. Deputy Christopher Parker handled the call.

Ann M. Burgler, 49, of 6592 Royal Parkway, Lockport, is charged with DWI, DWI with a BAC of .08 or greater and failure to keep right. Burgler was stopped by Deputy Kevin McCarthy on Route 5 in Pembroke at 2:54 p.m. on Saturday.

Adam M. Gaylord, 29, of Byron, is charged with DWI, operating a vehicle with a BAC of .08 or greater and criminal possession of a weapon. Gaylord was stopped by State Police on Chapel Road in Elba at 10:50 p.m. on Friday.

Stephen L. Nichols, 33, of New York City, is charged with DWI and DWI with a BAC of .08 or greater. Nichols was stopped by State Police in Pavilion at Route 63 and Route 20 at 2:50 a.m. on Saturday.

On Friday night, the Assembly of God church in Batavia hosted a back-to-school rally for local youth.

This was a community-outreach event intended "to start a fire in the hearts of the youth," said Pastor Lou Krutz.

It started with a demo by the Solid Rock Skate Team out of Rochester. After that, kids were given the option to play dodgeball or hang out in the building and play games. Then there was a concert by the local band Elmwood Drive.

A message was also given by Pastor Krutz entitled "Are you a chicken or a pig?". It compared what a chicken sacrifices and what a pig sacrifices and how it relates to a commitment to God. The night ended with a game of intense dodgeball.

I thought the event was an overall success.

Below is a quick video of the event.

Meet Cuddles. Cuddles was out in the midsts of the hub of activity this past Saturday morning for Care-A-Van grocery distribution.

We heard of many dog gone it moments- dog gone it I lost my job, dog gone it I was beaten by my husband, dog gone I need to find an affordable apartment for my family, dog gone it I lost my home to a fire a few months back and the dog gone moments kept rolling for the 2 hours Care-A-Van Ministries was on State street for grocery distribution.

It was a very  busy morning as there were 51 families with 148 family members that arrived for groceries, clothing and prayer.

There were many new families that arrived for help. The stories of the events that are happening in their lives makes one heart ache.

There are moments when out in the midst of it all, and the line keeps growing and the needs are shared, one's spirit can get weak. However,  there is hope and there is peace. The peace and hope comes from knowing that the Lord will continue to provide.

A special thanks to all of you for your encouragement, your support and for your willingness to go forth and make a difference in those "dog gone" moments for those living right here in Batavia.

I would like to respond to the story “Mallow criticizes leak of info from executive session” in the September 25^th addition of the Daily News.

I am embarrassed and ashamed that a Council person would use a confidential letter sent by a city resident in an improper way. Our citizens should feel confident that problems they have with city staff will be handled in a professional manner and not for political purposes. The city takes all accusations seriously and attempts to work through these problems in a confidential way. We must be respectful and discreet to those who file a complaint, as well as the person it was filed against. Releasing personnel information and matters related to potential litigation that have been discussed in an executive session is an unethical abuse of power. Our city residents are financially liable for any indiscretion of this type.

I know for certain that this citizen assumed that the letter would be held in strict confidence and would like to thank the Daily News for not releasing the name of the complainant. It is also clear that a member of Council abused their elected position and divulged privileged information on two separate occasions in the last month. I want you to know that we will do everything in our power to determine who abused their position.

Notre Dame moved to 4-0 tonight, but anybody who came into the Friday night showdown with Oakfield-Alabama thinking the Hornets (who entered the game with a disappointing 1-2 record) would be pushovers, they learned something about how a proud football program can rise to the challenge of a tough opponent.

The Hornets never trailed in the game until the end, with ND only pulling even twice, once at 7-7 midway through the second quarter and then at 17-17 in the final seconds of regulation time on a Matt Thompson field goal.

After getting the ball first in overtime, but failing to convert the opportunity into a score, OA saw the Fighting Irish preserve its undefeated season on a six-yard TD rush by Beau Ritcher.

The Hornets had every opportunity to even its record, but OA's defense was eventually worn down by a relentless Notre Dame running attack.

The Hornets scored first on a first-quarter drive keyed by a Jason Stanley 60-yard run, but ND pulled even midway through the second quarter when Mike Pratt capped a grinding Notre Dame drive with a three-yard TD rush.

As the first half drew to a close, there was a real sense that Notre Dame could lose the game. At a time when the Fighting Irish should have controlled the ball, at least well enough to preserve a tie going into half-time, ND went three-and-out with enough time on the clock for OA to push the ball into the red zone. With seconds left in the half, Jon Fisher put three points on the board allowing the Hornets to head into the locker room with a 10-7 lead.

In the third quarter, it really seemed as if OA was in charge of the game, taking the ball down on a scoring drive that was capped by a 15-yard TD pass from Tyler Tamblin to Brent Crawford.

In the fourth quarter, Notre Dame's ground game began to take a toll on OA's defense. Pratt and Ricther eat up a lot of yards, and eventually Pratt plows into the end zone on a 10-yard run to put the score at 17-14.

After an exchange of downs in the fourth quarter, ND again moves the ball into striking range, and this time Thompson puts through his field goal to tie the game at 17-17.

OA got the ball first in OT, but only managed a first down before coming up short. The OA defense fought hard, putting ND in a third-and-long situation before Pratt bulled his way to a third down. With the ball inside the 10, Notre Dame fought for yardage and managed to get the ball to the one-yard line before a penalty forced the offense back five yards. On the next play, however, Ritcher burst through the line of scrimmage and into the end zone to keep the Irish undefeated.

There are more pictures after the jump below.

The City of Batavia is out of the red on its operational ledger.

For fiscal year 2009, Batavia has a fund balance of $32,950, City Manager Jason Molino told reporters today. 

Even though the city has been spending less than it takes in starting in 2007, this marks the first time in years that the city is not carrying a deficit on its balance sheet.

"We're not borrowing to pay for operations," Molino said. "We don't have cash flow problems."

In 2006, the deficit on the fund balance was a deep dark red -- $2.2 million.

"Most municipalities in this situation have gone to the state legislature to bond out their debt and that's a lengthy process," Molino said. "What you had happen here is you had a council committed to trying to right the ship and make the right decisions."

Among the right decisions, Molino said, was committing to conservative revenue budgets. The city has ensured expected revenue aligns realistically to numbers based on historical trends.

"The problem in prior years, and I'm talking three years back, was aggressive revenue budgeting," said Molino. "As a result, actual revenues did not meet budgeted revenues. As you can see from '05 and '06, your actual revenue was below your budgeted revenue."

The fund balance is for operational expenses and excluding debt for buildings and similar expenses.

For 2009, city revenue was $14.7 million and expenditures were $13 million. That $1.7 million swing helped the city generate a fund balance (meaning money in the bank rather than paying debt on operational expenses) for the first time since at least 2005.

On the expense side, Molino said the city has been able to hold the line on spending because department heads have done better at cutting things such as utility costs. At the wastewater treatment plant, for example, electricity usage has gone down by several hundred-thousand dollars. He also mentioned consolidated dispatch as a cost savings.

"It's identifying issues where expenses can be cut and that's really been a focus of the change in operations," Molino said.

The city isn't completely free of financial worries. It has not yet built up sufficient reserves to deal with unexpected expenses or any dip in revenue.

"To be financially healthy, you want your undesignated fund balance to be about 10 percent of your operations budget," Molino said.

He said the city's fund balance should be $1.3 million to $1.4 million, which is a pretty big number compared to the $32,000 the city just achieved.

Even so, Molino acknowledges that getting city finances to this point, is a satisfying accomplishment, but he credits both the Batavia City Council and city staff:

"It's interesting because when we dealt with it three years ago, it's one of those things that's out a ways and it takes time to get there and to look at the progress from year one to year two to year three. It's kind of interesting to know that when the council...adopted the idea that we don't want to go to the state to bond out our debt, we want to make the right changes that maintain levels of services, (we had to figure out) 'how do we get there?' We set that plan out. It's really a tribute the council making the difficult decisions at the time and a tribute to the staff that they made the tough changes."

The next hard task is mapping out the future.

"The damage control part of it is over now and now it's the planning part," Molino said. "Planning today for tomorrow is really the city's top priority."

Looking ahead, he said the city will need to focus on economic development, future union negotiations, upcoming retirement costs, reserve funding and post-employment health care costs for retirees (which could top $9 million).

Jason Molino discusses city finances with press:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

City of Batavia Management Report, March 31, 2009 (PDF)

There is a non-injury accident on State Street near Batavia High School.

A reader reports that traffic is backing up on State Street.

UPDATE 2:53 p.m.: This is now reported as a three-vehicle accident.

Meanwhile there is an injury accident in Oakfield in front of the Yellow Goose store.  No further information available right now.

Oakfield-Alabama, already off to a slow start in 2009, will have its hands full tonight when it meets undefeated Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish (3-0) has averaged 20 first-quarter points so far this season, while the Hornets are averaging only 3. Overall, Notre Dame's per-game scoring average is 26 points compared to 12.3 for the Hornets.

OA comes into the game with a 1-2 record.

"We're confident in where we're going and what we're doing right now," said OA head coach Brian Palone. "We're continuing to make progress each week. We lost a lot of experience from last year. We had only one returning player on defense. We really worked on defense this week, because the defense really struggled last week."

Alexander beat OA last week 42-17.

Notre Dame's head coach, Rick Mancuso, isn't taking the Hornets lightly, though.

"From our standpoint going into this game, Oakfield is always one of the perennial powerhouses in our league," Mancuso said. "Regardless of what their record is, like every team in our league, they work week in and week out to improve, and Oakfield is no different."

Mancuso praised the OA coaching staff and said he knows Palone will have his crew ready to play.

The Fighting Irish need to rebound, he said, from a sloppy effort last week.

"We made a lot of mental errors," Mancuso said. "Defensively, we did not play tight. We didn't play really disciplined. We need to be a more disciplined team going forward."

Norte Dame beat Barker last week 43-18. The 18 points represented the first scores against ND this season, after the team beat Pembroke 21-0 and Attica 14-0.

We'll have coverage posted by the morning. This weekend, The Batavian will also cover Alexander at Holley. Alexander comes into the game 2-1, but Holley is one of the surprises, if not THE surprise of the Genesee League so far this season. Holley is 3-0, opening a season undefeated for the first time in program history.

Attorney Thomas Burns won't get a change of venue for his client Matthew Wells, at least not yet, according to a ruling handed down by the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department.

Wells is one of three men accused of robbing the M&T Bank branch in Elba on June 18 and then leading local law enforcement on a six-hour manhunt through the fields and woods between Batavia and Oakfield.

Burns argued that Wells could not get a fair and impartial jury in Genesee County because many residents -- as evidenced primarily by comments left on The Batavian -- took offense to the perception that three city slickers could get away easily with a bank robbery in a rural county. Burns, in his motion, picked up on the phrase of one comment on The Batavian about dishing out "rural justice."

Burns also suggested that the only a fraction of Genesee County residents are black, so that it would be hard to seat a jury of peers for his African-American client.

The appellate judges ruled that Burns did meet the burden of proof that there is "reasonable cause to believe that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had." But the single-page ruling left open the ability for Burns to appeal again during the jury selection phase of a trial.

It's rare -- if not unheard of -- for attorneys to be granted a change of venue before jury selection begins, but if Burns had not filed the motion now, he could not file a motion -- under rules of the court -- for a change of venue later.

Wells is the only one of the three defendants to not plead guilty. Both Damone Dillon and Dennis Abrams have admitted to their roles in the June 18 robbery. Abrams, who planned the heist, is facing a lengthy prison term. Wells is accused of entering the bank with Abrams and actually participating in the stick up, while Dillon held the door and claims to have been a reluctant participant.

Neither defendant has been sentenced yet.

For previous coverage, click here.

Geoff Clough, a talented entertainer from Geneseo performed a Tribute To Bob Hope at 400 Towers Thursday night.

He began with a brief biography of Mr. Hope which included:

Leslie Townes Hope was born in London in 1903, the fifth of seven sons. His father, a stonemason, moved them to Cleveland, Ohio in 1907. Hope performed locally for several years and was discovered by comedian Fatty Arbuckle in 1925. A year later, he met George Burns and they traveled the vaudeville circuit with a pair of tap-dancing conjoined twins. He performed on several musicals and by the mid-1930s had begun doing films. It was around this time Leslie Townes Hope changed his name to Bob Hope, in response to a persistent nickname following him around: “Hopelessly.” Most of Hope’s fame came from his long tenure with radio and television (his relationship with NBC lasted over 60 years). Though never an Oscar winner, Hope is remembered as one of the great hosts of the Academy Awards, hosting or co-hosting 18 in all.

Quotable: “Welcome to the Academy Awards or, as it’s known at my house, Passover.”

Songs and stories filled the evening as we remembered Bob Hope in films, radio and TV.

"Do you know how many Presidents sat in office during Bob Hope's lifetime?"

The answer, 18. 

Residents enjoyed the sing-a-long, remembering songs that Bob Hope made famous.

The evening ended with Irving Berlin's "God Bless America".

A woman has been arrested for allegedly telling the Department of Social Services that a relative moved into her house, qualifying her for temporary government assistance.

Between Dec. 5 and Feb. 16, Stacey Ziminski, 36, of 119 South Swan St., is accused of collecting public assistance checks totalling $710.93.

The family member Ziminiski allegedly said was living with her, was actually living elsewhere, according to DSS investigators.

Ziminski was charged with two felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and one count of misdemeanor petit larceny.

She was arrested by Genesee County Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Butler, and arraigned before Stafford Town Justice Ben Mancuso, who ordered her held on $250 bail.