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The workload for the County's IT department continues to increase and the need for reliable cybersecurity continues to grow, so Information Technology Director Steve Zimmer told county legislators on Wednesday that he needs more help.

He needs a deputy director immediately and another security analyst to work in the Sheriff's Office in 2019.

It appears he's getting both of his wishes. The committee approved a recommendation that a current vacant position be upgraded to deputy director at an additional cost of $20,000 for the remainder of the year (anticipated salary for the position is more than $70,000 annually).  

Committee members also encouraged Zimmer to start his search to hire a new security specialist in July so the new hire can start on the first day of the next budget yet, Jan. 1.

Zimmer pointed to major cyber attacks and ransomware infiltrations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Lincoln County, Ohio, and at ECMC, which cost the hospital $10 million in remediation.

“We’re spending a considerable amount of time looking at our logs, looking at our firewalls, our anti-virus appliances, trying to make sure we’re doing our due-diligence," Zimmer said. "I’m losing time every day to this stuff."

He said public safety needs at least two full-time people and right now he has one full-time person there and one person who has been taken away from other duties to help.

That means, he says, other IT tasks are being delayed.

Another major headache, Zimmer said, is the situation over at the Department of Social Services, which has long been part of the state DSS network but now the state is pushing much of the infrastructure off on the county.

There are three IT employees there who are not part of Zimmer's department holding together an outdated computer network.

"It is one of two DSS agencies in the state that doesn’t digitize anything," he said. "It’s all paper."

The state delivered 100 "zero-client" computers (meaning all software is on a server, not on the desktop) to DSS but they can't be deloyed because the network won't support them unless it's upgraded to 100 megabits. Currently, it's five megabits.

"(The upgrade is ) never going to happen, so this stuff is going to sit on a pallet shrink wrapped until the cows come home or we get together with state IT and figure out how to upgrade that network or we can get them on our network," Zimmer said. 

Problems like these, he said, he doesn't have time to deal with because of so much time of his time is spent monitoring security threats.

A statement from Joan Elizabeth Seamans:

There is always a lot of talk about changing Albany in election years. Yet, the only way to truly change Albany is to stop sending the same old politicians back.

We have a diverse district, with people from many walks of life. This district has multimillion dollar homes, a rural community, and families living in poverty. Taxes are high and the needs of our communities are great.

Our great state can meet the needs of New Yorkers and at the same time be fiscally responsible. The question will always remain, “Who or what is benefiting from our tax dollars?”

Wealthy developers downstate continue to fund my opponent's campaign while receiving tax breaks in the hundreds of millions. Corporate welfare takes money from our communities here in WNY. My opponent is the protector of the LLC loophole and this is just one of the reasons he needs to be replaced.

We need to invest in our people. Invest in stellar education for our children. Invest in workforce training and trade schools. If we invest in people, our economy will grow. We need to replace worry with hope. We need to put people before politics. We need to change Albany and I am ready to do it.

Press release:

Darien Lake showed off its newest roller coaster, Tantrum, on a hard hat tour just prior to the park’s opening day, Saturday, May 5. The nearly $5 million addition will be Darien Lake’s seventh coaster that will take riders on a signature beyond-vertical drop that hasn’t previously been offered to park guests.                                                                               

Tantrum, the first coaster of its kind in New York State and Ontario, Canada, is scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend. When complete, the coaster will embark riders on a 98-foot vertical lift at a 90-degree angle – straight up the coaster’s first hill. In a matter of seconds, upon reaching its apex, the train plummets into a 97-degree drop and pretzel inversion. Reaching speeds of 52 mph, the coaster snakes through the structure over a bunny hop, keeps riders wondering which way is up or down during an Immelmann turn, and finishes with a tilted loop.

“There is more time to ride the new Tantrum roller coaster and establish new family traditions with an extended operating season from May 5 to October 28,” said Darien Lake General Manager Chris Thorpe. “Season Pass holders visiting the park during opening weekend will even receive a bonus free friend ticket!”

Some of the other events in Darien Lake’s vibrant 2018 event line-up include:

·         Season Pass Holder Appreciation Weekend – May 5-6

To open our 2018 season, we are inviting all season pass holders to be the first in line to process their passes and kick off the summer with a free souvenir mug, three free friend tickets, free parking and a bonus free good any-day friend ticket.

·         Father’s Day Car Show and Beer Festival – June 16-17

Classic cruisers and specialty cold brews combine for an unforgettable weekend at our annual car show.

·         Kingdom Bound – July 29-Aug. 1

The 32nd annual Christian music festival will return with performances by multiple artists and speakers plus, family-friendly activities. Mandisa, for King & Country and Danny Gokey are just a few of the musical acts slated to perform.

·         Harvest Fest – Sept. 8-9, 15-16, 22-23

Food trucks, microbrews, live music and fall activities including crafts, pumpkin painting and beer slides will lead us into the extended Halloween season.

·         Jack-o-Lantern Jamboree – Sept. 29-30, Oct. 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28

The five weekends of pumpkin-themed entertainment will include specialty foods, costume contests, a trick-or-treat trail, a pie-eating contest and a brand-new laser light show. In addition, park guests will have the unique opportunity to bring a carved jack-o-lantern to help Darien Lake break the Guinness World Record for most carved pumpkins in a line. For guests 12 and under, bringing a carved pumpkin will earn them free park admission.

For more information on any of Darien Lake’s events or to purchase park admission, accommodations or a season pass, visit DarienLake.com.

Rather than borrow $4 million with a 20-year payback to finance several energy-saving projects at county buildings, which was meeting some stiff opposition from some members of the County Legislature, a new plan for the county to loan itself the money for the contract with Johnson Controls went over well Wednesday at the Ways and Means Committee meeting.

County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens presented the proposal yesterday and was told to return at the next Ways and Means meeting with a resolution the committee can vote on.

The plan would: use $1.1 million that the county needs to spend anyway on some need capital improvement projects; use $1 million from the building equipment reserve; and borrow $1.8 million from the infrastructure fund.

The county would pay its money saved from the lower energy costs to pay back its infrastructure fund at 2-percent interest. Over the 10-life of the loan, the county would pay itself more than $200,000 in interest that would flow back into the infrastructure fund.

That's a lower interest rate than proposed for the original $4 million loan, which is 3.5 percent, and lower than the 5-percent interest County Treasurer Scott German estimated a municipal bound would cost.

Over the 20-year life of the contract with Johnson Controls, by paying off the entire cost of the contract in the first 10 years, the county will realize the benefit of an additional $800,000 in energy savings in that second 10 years. That money would have been paid toward the loan if the whole $4 million was financed by Bank of America.

Hens also discussed another proposal floated by some members of the legislature two weeks ago, that the county put down $1 million on the loan. That would also save the county money, but not as much as the self-financing option.

"I think it is a good deal for the county under all three scenarios," Hens said. "The self-funding option is by far the most beneficial to the county in terms of savings to the county and return on the investment."

Most of the opposition to the original proposal came from legislators Gary Maha and Andrew Young. Young could not attend Wednesday's meeting and Maha didn't express any objections -- nor strong support -- for the revised plan.

Marianne Clattenburg, Shelly Stein, Bob Bausch and Gordon Dibble all seemed to react favorably. Greg Torrey didn't express an opinion either way.

Legislator John Hilchey was particularly enthusiastic.

"There are very few times that a government can spend money and have it pay for itself," Hilchey said. "You can put a new road in; you can put a new bridge in; you can build a new jail. They don’t pay for themselves. This is an opportunity to make an expenditure that will pay itself back. To me it makes sense."

The Genesee County Legislature approved such a position in the 2018 position and yesterday, the county's new compliance officer, Kimberly Mills, was introduced to the Legislature at the Ways and Means Committee meeting held at Genesee Community College's new Student Success Center.

As soon they met her, the committee also agreed to a proposal from County Manager Jay Gsell to increase her new duties. She will also be the county's privacy officer.

Mills is a graduate of Oakfield-Alabama High School, started her college education at GCC, earned her bachelor's degree in Accounting at Roberts Wesleyan University, and her master's in Accounting from the University at Buffalo School of Management.

She's originally from Alabama and now lives in Oakfield.

One reason the job interested her, she said, is she has a passion for Genesee County.

"It’s a new position," Mills said. "I knew it would be a lot of work but I’m always one for new projects and working on new things."

Prior to becoming the compliance officer she was an accountant with Freed Maxick CPAs.

A new, spacious headquarters for Mercy Flight/Mercy EMS will serve as a much-needed home away from home once the ribbon is cut on the new facility off Route 98 in Batavia on May 21.

"I’m looking forward to the crews being able to move into a home," said Bill Schutt, business development manager for Mercy EMS. "That was the whole gist of this thing --  give them a home while they were at work.

"They spend a lot of time here. They spend a lot of shifts here. They spend a lot of time together, probably more so than families. Holiday time when we’re home enjoying our family, they're here still working."

The 12,000-square-foot facility has bays for ambulances in half the space and the other half contains offices, storage, showers, a workout area, a day room, a quiet room, a kitchen suitable for crews to enjoy meals with their families, and a large conference room.

"The space is large enough to house the ambulances, keep them out of the weather and to provide everything the crews need throughout their 12- or 24-hour shifts," said Scott Wooton, VP of finance for Mercy Flight. "If they’re here for a 24-hour shift, they need to be able to prepare food. They need to be able to wash their uniform if they come back from a call where their uniform is soiled.

"They need to be able to rest. They need to be able to sit down and chart stuff. This has been a need right from the start. It’s only that it’s taken nine years for us to put all the pieces together and make it happen."

The $2.5 million facility was largely financed through assistance from M&T Bank and the Genesee County Economic Development Center, which was able to provide tax-exempt financing.

That assistance was critical to making the new building possible, Wooton said.

"We certainly don’t have that much cash on hand so we couldn’t do it without the financing and being able to do it in a tax-exempt way keeps that interest rate more manageable for us and spread it out in a way that the monthly payments are more manageable," Wooton said.

David Ciurzynski, business development manager with Manning Squires Hennig, said one of the key features of the new building is its energy efficiency. The large garage doors that are all glass will allow a lot of natural light into the ambulance bays and all lighting throughout the building is LED. The energy efficiency will help Mercy EMS reduce its operating costs.

The pre-engineered building also helped reduce costs and accelerate construction time.

"We were able to keep the construction period tight so they can get in and get it in use as quickly as possible," Ciurzynski said. A pre-engineered building allows you a lot of flexibility on time because components come quickly but it also gives you a very handsome building they can use for years to come and it’s exapandable."

Press release:

As he began the process of putting together this spring’s concert program, all Genesee Chorale Director Ric Jones could sense was turmoil in the world.  He felt that there was a large divide in the world, a divide that seemed to grow larger every day. He wanted  to counteract that divide and encourage people to embrace unity and peace.

Thus was born “The Call of Humanity,” a mix of contemporary, Gospel, choral and classical music, including the debut of one piece written specifically for the Genesee Chorale.

“I tried to do a variety of mini-themes within the program,” says Jones. “Prayer,” in the words of Mother Teresa, is about helping the needy.  Other selections, such as “We Shall Overcome,” “Harriet Tubman” and “MLK,” address civil rights and some  of the mega figures who have had an impact on that movement. The lyrics of “Across the Bridge of Hope” come from a poem written by a group of young friends in Ireland; one of the boys was killed in the fighting shortly after their poem was written.

Two pieces form the foundation of the concert program, “Song of the Universal” by Ola Gjeilo from a Walt Whitman poem, and “The Waking,”  written for the Genesee Chorale by Composer-in-Residence Daniel Baldwin from a Theodore Roethke poem.

“Song of the Universal” was the first piece to “grab” Jones as he went through the selection process. “The text is beautiful,” he said, “and I love the composer. I kept going back to it. I decided I’d make it the centerpiece.” 

“The Waking” stems from Jones’ desire to find “something different that inspires the Chorale and brings the community into Chorale.”

Luckily, GO ART! grant money was available, so, with the blessing of the Chorale’s Board, Jones began the fun and frustrating process of choosing text and composer for an original piece. He and his wife, Karen, pored over “a ton of different poems,” but kept coming back to Theodore Roethke’s famous poem. “I liked the rhythm in the text,” says Jones, “and I like the overall message.”

The text was also an inspiration for Baldwin, the composer chosen by Jones.

“The majority of text chosen for me to set is older and in the public domain,” Baldwin said in an e-mail interview. “The poem (Jones) sent was contemporary and very well done, but also spoke to me in a way I was not expecting. When writing vocal or choral music, text is the most important element and must flow naturally (speech, even conversational speech, has its own rhythms, etc.).”

For Baldwin, the text is the beginning.

“I always write out the poem by hand and apply rhythms to the text based on what feels natural when reading the poem aloud,” he said. “Then, based on the message and perceived mood of the poem, I assign themes to these rhythms, harmonize, etc. It’s a process!”

Baldwin hopes that people “read through the wonderful text in advance of hearing the piece. A vocal or choir performance is the musical equivalent to a dramatic reading. I set the poem how I heard it and how the text affected me. I hope the audience enjoys my interpretation.”

Jones has published some of Baldwin’s other works as part of his Imagine Music business.

“I love his music,” he said, “and I’ve watched him evolve. His music feels cinematic to me usually – that epic sound with grandiose chords.  I wanted to see what he’d do with this text.”

What Baldwin did was surprise Jones.

“This was more on the contemporary side,” Jones said. “It is different than I expected, and the first time I heard it, I went ‘hmmm,’ but as I listened, there was something haunting about that motif.” It is, he notes, a challenging piece and Chorale members have had to work hard to prepare it for the concert.

Concerts are at 7 p.m. May 4  at St. James Church and at 4 p.m. May 6 at Pavilion Junior-Senior High School Auditorium, 7014 Big Tree Road., Pavilion. Presale tickets cost $8 and are available from Chorale members or online at GeneseeChorale.com. Tickets at the door cost $10.

Photos by Howard Owens.

A former resident of Maple Street has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting a person in the area of Thorpe and Maple streets in the city in September.

Tyshawn K. King, 25, who was apprehended shortly after the shooting, was originally charged with attempted murder. He entered a guilty plea to criminal possession of a weapon, 2nd, on Feb. 27.

He was sentenced in Genesee County Court by Judge Charles Zambito.

Police responded to Thorpe and Maple on Sep. 20 after receiving a report of a fight in progress. While in route, there was a report of a gunshot.

Upon arrival, they located a victim with gunshot wounds to his hand and abdomen.

An accident is reported at Bank and Main streets, Batavia.

No injuries reported. Traffic is blocked.

City fire and Mercy EMS on scene.

UPDATE 10:40 a.m.: City Fire back in service.

From our news partner, 13WHAM.

A report of a brush fire in Corfu, off Angling Road, behind Eddy Arnold Scrap, turns out to be black dirt blowing in the wind.

A deputy report said the black dust is blowing all the way to Route 5 and looks like smoke from a fire but it is not.

A passerby reports a large brush fire in the area of 9779 South Street Road, near Black Street Road, Pavilion.

The fire is reportedly heading toward a barn.

Pavilion fire dispatched.

The air quality index for today is expected to exceed 100 for ozone so the DEC has issued a health advisory from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Press release:

The air quality index...or AQI...was created as an easy way to correlate levels of different pollutants to one scale. The higher the AQI value, the greater the health concern.

When pollution levels are elevated the New York State Department of Health recommends that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects.

People who may be especially sensitive to the effects of elevated levels of pollutants include the very young and those with pre-existing respiratory problems such as asthma or heart disease.

Those with symptoms should consider consulting their personal physician.

Press release:

Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer has recognized Cornell Cooperative Extension Executive Director Beverly L. Mancuso, as a Woman of Distinction at the 21st annual ceremony, for her outstanding contributions in enriching the quality of life for the community and beyond.

“Beverly has been widely recognized as an effective leader and a connector for community-based organizations to other partners and volunteers. This is a well-deserved honor to recognize Beverly’s efforts in our community, as well as her positive impact in the lives of so many residents. I wish her all the best in retirement,” Ranzenhofer said.

Mancuso has served at the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Genesee County for 16 years, 13 years as executive director. She is responsible for the overall leadership of the organization, including programming for Leadership Genesee, 4-H Youth Development, Master Gardener Program and Agriculture. 

Mancuso started her career working in finance and physician practice management at two hospitals, then furthered her education at the Rochester Institute of Technology. For five years, Mancuso worked to enhance the experience of patients at the Genesee County Health Department.

Mancuso is expected to retire from the Cornell Cooperative Extension in June.

“I am honored to be recognized by Senator Ranzenhofer. I learned the importance of listening at an early age, and this skill has helped me during my career in both the public and not-for-profit sectors,” Mancuso said. “I am looking forward to the next great adventure.” 

Mancuso was a member of the inaugural class of Leadership Genesee in 2001, and she was recognized as an Outstanding Alumna years later.

She is currently a proud member of the Muriel H. Marshall Fund Planning Team. Mancuso has been actively involved in the community for years, including Kiwanis, Boy Scouts, Genesee Country Village, Parish Councils, and Office for the Aging Advisory Committee.

Press release:

Last week, Chris Collins took the long-overdue step of resigning from the board of Innate Immunotherapeutics, a medical biotechnology company in which he holds significant interests. It is too little, too late.

As a House member, he has repeatedly voted for legislation that would benefit the company, drafting or sponsoring no less than four bills over the last five years that would add to the company's bottom line. As an elected official, his job is to represent the interests of his constituents, not the interests of corporate shareholders.

However, there is evidence that his resignation does not come from a change of heart but from corporate restructuring. Despite the Office of Congressional Ethics stating last October that there was "substantial reason to believe" that Rep. Collins violated Federal laws on insider trading, corporate documents imply that Collins is resigning due to the company's sale to Amplia Therapeutics.

"We have to spread public awareness. Holding our elected officials accountable is the cornerstone of democracy," Nate McMurray said.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, among others, has called for Collins to recuse himself from any legislation affecting pharmaceutical companies. This is the only correct course of action.

My opponent's many entanglements mean that he cannot have the interests of his constituents at heart while working to boost company profits. Nobody can serve two masters.

The people of Western New York deserve better. We are dealing with a healthcare crisis on multiple fronts, from the opioid epidemic to funding rural hospitals. Rep. Collins has shown, time and time again, that he is willing to vote for his bank account not for the people he serves.

"If the public better understood what Chris Collins has done, there wouldn't even be a race," McMurray said. "The problem is when you have so much money, you think you're untouchable. You think you can put a sign in every yard and call it a day."

Madison LaGrou, Oakfield-Alabama Hornets, tossed a no-hitter yesterday in softball on her way to striking out her 400th hitter during her high school career.

The Hornets beat the Pembroke Dragons, 5-0.

Submitted photo.