genesee county

At this point, all signs are go for the City of Batavia’s revised charter proposal to be on the voting ballot in November. And that means a vote on the consolidation of the city and town will have to wait.

The nine-member Charter Review Commission met last night at City Hall. The focus of the meeting was to vote on whether to put the charter proposal up for a popular vote in November. The commission did not officially move to do so; they’ll wait until Aug. 24 to decide. But Commission Chairman John Roach says they’ve already got a majority within the commission who want to move forward with the charter.

Besides, says Roach: “The consolidation people should have been aware that we have a charter commission that legally has precedence.”

One of the new additions to the charter is the ability of city council to appoint committees to work on issues outside of council meetings. Currently, every issue before the council must be debated in regular meetings. Roach says an approach-by-committee would streamline city operations.

“Most bigger governing bodies have sub-committees,” said Roach. “It makes things a little more efficient. Instead of nine people arguing over every little detail, you have a committee of three or four who work it out.”

Roach said he doesn’t believe a committee approach would stifle the public comments that have become a staple of regular city council meetings. He says citizens would simply have to attend more meetings, like the committee appointees, if they wanted to voice their opinions.

Some back pay is due Batavia Police Officers who have been working without a contract for the past four years.

The state Public Employees Relations Board has issued an arbitration finding that gives city police a retroactive pay raise of 1 percent for the period April 2005 to March of 2006. A raise of 2-percent has been directed for the period April of 06 to March of 07.

City Manager Jason Molino declined to comment on the award pending receipt of the final report.

www.perb.state.ny.us/pdf/ia2009-10/ia2007-003.pdf

The Genesee County Legislature on Wednesday unanimously reappointed Eileen Kirkpatrick to a second five-year term as Commissioner of Social Services. Her salary was established at $84,487 per year.

As commissioner, Kirkpatrick manages the most expensive department of county government that includes the supervision of welfare and Medicaid benefits.

Legislature Chair Mary Pat Hancock created an ad-hoc committee to study the length of terms for county legislators as well as the total number of legislative districts. Hancock instructed each legislator to name one representative from each legislative district to serve on the panel. She said the committee would also investigate whether or not the legislator’s terms should be staggered, as to avoid all positions coming up for re-election in the same year.

Hancock left open the possibility that two or three additional members would be named to the study committee in order to insure “a cross section representation” of the county. She said she would expect the committee to issue recommendations by October or November of this year. No recommendation could take effect until after the general election this year.

There are currently nine members on the county legislature, each serving a two-year term. All the terms expire in the same year.

Prior to the start of the meeting, County Election Commissioners Richard Seibert and Dawn Cassidy announced that their office had received an American Flag flown on board a C-17A aircraft on missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. The flag was sent on the recommendation of Sgt. Paul R. Dillion of LeRoy who wanted to recognize the Department of Elections for insuring the receipt of his absentee ballots while he is on duty with the Air Force in Iraq.

SafeRoads.org has a searchable map of all the U.S. pinpointing fatal traffic accidents, and showing the density of such accidents.  Looking over the Genesee County area, it doesn't look like there is any one roadway or intersection that is more prone toward fatal accidents.

When times get tough, library usage goes up, according to Thomas C. Bindeman, executive director of the Nioga Library System, which helps manage six libraries in Genesee County.

Bindeman told the County Legislature's Human Service Commitee today that with increased usage its important to keep the county's share of library funding at its current $60,000 level.

In tough times, people also check out more books. Circulation at the six libraries was up 60,000 in 2008 vs. 2007.

"When economic times get tough use of libraries skyrockets," Bindeman said.

People who are finding it hard to pay for their home internet usage show up at the library more, Bindeman said. They use the computer libraries to handle online banking and to check their e-mail.

The Genesee County Chapter of the American Red Cross is recruiting volunteers to help staff emergency shelters at area high schools.

Loren Penman provided the video and the following information:

The Genesee County Chapter of the American Red Cross is one of only 128 chapters in the nation (and 6 in New York State) to have been awarded a competitive grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation.  The funds support grassroots efforts for disaster response and projects to build local capacity in our communities.  According to a Wal-Mart Foundation press release, the goal of the disaster readiness effort funded by this donation is to ensure that smaller, rural communities can respond to the needs of its residents in the first few days of a disaster.

The grants will help the Red Cross chapters acquire and maintain material and human resources necessary to manage relief operations and will also be used to improve community relationships.  Being prepared with trained people and adequate supplies on hand prior to a disaster event can help save lives, time and money, the press release goes on to say.

A total of $5 million was awarded to Red Cross chapters in 44 states and 3 U.S. territories.  Grant proposals were evaluated at the national level; local Wal-Mart stores were not involved in the process.

The Genesee County Chapter's project involves the purchase of critical disaster supplies and equipment, particularly for use in emergency shelters.  Another part of the project will recruit and train high school students in Batavia, Byron-Bergen and Oakfield-Alabama to serve as shelter volunteers in their respective school buildings.  Included in the grant are monies to support AmeriCorps positions (one in each district) to work with faculty advisors in order to develop full-fledged, student emergency response teams.

A video has been created to help prospective student volunteers understand how they can become involved.  For more information, contact Loren Penman at lpenman1@yahoo.com

Last week while leaving the Aldi's store, an older woman was standing outside by the shoppong carts looking at a man in the parking lot who was walking towards her pointing at me, while I was returning my shopping cart.  The lady said she needed a shopping cart but did not have a quarter.    OK, we've all been there.... I usually end up juggling items in my arms, hoping when I'm ready to cash out, someone will let me cut in front of them as I have let others do in the past when I have a full cart full and someone just has Milk, eggs and bread.

I looked at the woman and thought she probably would not be able to juggle too many items, just a guess ... so I told her "here, you can have my cart."  She seemed panicked and said "but, I don't have a quarter".  I told her, "don't worry, you can pay it forward".  She just stared at me blankly.  I asked her if she knew what that meant?  "No", was her reply.  I told her, "to pay it forward means to just turn around and do a act of kindness to someone else, usually a stranger and not expect to be repaid in any way".  Her husband reached me as I was walking away and had a dollar bill in his hand trying to give it to me, I simply said "no, we're good" hoping his wife would explain.

Yesterday, while driving home on Main St, in front of Tops Markets, I wittnessed a woman waiting at the stoplight  leaving Tops, whose trunk had just popped open but she was unaware... the young man in the car behind her got out of his car  walked up and was knocking on her window, pointing to the back of her car, again an act of kindness to a stranger.

Which leads me to saying "thank you" when someone holds open a door for you, or holding the door open for the person coming in behind you rather then letting it slam in their face.   I've been seeing that happen a lot when coming in/out of a certain store at the City Center lately.  My husband held the door open for 2 women who did not say thank you, then they let the door slam in a very elderly woman's face.  I was shocked, but what do you say?   It's not a law that you should do this.  But, when it doesn't happen you sure do take notice and puts you in a different mood.  This little act of kindness is actually paying it forward if you stop and think about it.  You hold the door open for me, I say thank you.. I feel good, I remember to hold the door open for someone the next time and so on.    If we all "keep paying it forward", how great would that be? 

The micro-enterprise loan/grant program, which has been used by a number of businesses in downtown Batavia over the years to help them get started or expand is now available to any business in Genesee County, the Chamber of Commerce announced today.

The program provides cash for small businesses (five or fewer employees, including the owner) in a loan (75 percent) and grant (25 percent) format so businesses can hire more people, buy new equipment or make other business improvements that will lead to greater employment.

The program is designed to augment private funding sources when traditional loans are either unaffordable or unavailable.

Full press release after the jump:

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce announced today the availability of a micro-enterprise loan/grant program (75% loan, 25% grant) for small businesses located in Genesee County.  The program is designed to augment private funding sources when other funding is unaffordable or unavailable.  While standard commercial lending policies will apply, interest rates and repayment terms will feature affordability and flexibility generally not offered by banks.

Eligible borrowers must be micro-enterprise business owners with five employees or fewer (including the owner).  Funds may be used for any legitimate business purpose including, but not limited to, capital equipment, inventory, and working capital. 

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce is an equal opportunity organization and therefore will not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, political affiliation, disability, or any category designated by Federal law. 

For applications and/or program details, contact the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce at 210 East Main Street, Batavia, 585-343-7440.

Regardless of the report in Journal-Register in Medina says Genesee County Manager Jay Gsell, residents of Genesee and Orleans counties should expect a new regional jail to come out of discussion between the two counties.

The Journal-Register reported this morning:

Johnson and the Jail Committee have been working closely with Genesee County, talking about the possibility of opening a regional jail to accommodate prisoners in both Orleans and Genesee counties. The Center for Governmental Research has been hired to do a study to determine if a regional facility would be economically feasible.

“We have to look at what’s the best taxpayer solution,” Johnson said. “A study hasn’t been done since the early 1970s, and right now, the promising thing is the good working relationship we have with Genesee County.”

The relationship between the two counties is great, Gsell confirmed, and CGR -- the same consultants helping with the consolidation study in Batavia -- is conducting a study to help the counties deal with an increase in female inmates, decreasing bed space, aging facilities and the best options for dealing with prisoners in the 21st Century, but a new jail facility is pretty unlikely.

"We started looking at what are alternatives to incarceration," Gsell said. "We're looking at electronic monitoring, release under supervision and things of that nature ... and now what we're looking at is having CGR ...  --  would it be advisable to have us look at on a two-county basis, maybe even a three-county basis, along with either Livingston or Wyoming, at some other alternatives to just building brand new jail space."

Gsell said there are a couple of people in Orleans County who seem to really believe that the process will inevitably lead to building a new jail, but he doesn't see that as an option.  It would be difficult, he said, to co-locate one facility under current statutes.

 Full Audio of Jay Gsell Interview

Some 40 companies in Genesee County that receive Empire Zone tax breaks seem to be doing what the program intends -- create jobs -- according to a press release from Empire State Development.

But many others across New York are not, so today authorities notified about 1,600 companies that they are likely to be decertified.

No Genesee County companies made the "bad" list. Three companies are apparently being asked to supply more information.

For more on the new site law and the letters, check this Democrat and Chronicle story.

Here's the list of Genesee County companies who were notified they will retain certification:

Paramount Computing Associates, LLC
Altamar New York, Inc.
Tompkins Trust Company
Precon Thermoforming, LLC
PCore Electric Company, Inc.
Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc.
Delagrange Properties
Vantage Equipment, LLC
Lapp Insulators, LLC
LeRoy Plastics, Inc.
Fontrick Door, Inc.
K2 Plastics, Inc.
C.H. Wright Distributing Corp.
Wright Associates, L.P.
Summit Lubricants, Inc.
Liberty Pumps, Inc.
Icon Design, LLC
Automotive Corp, Inc.
Prime Materials Corp.
Regency Hospitality, Inc.
Chapin International, Inc.
Oxford Hospitality, LLC
ProTech Automation, LLC
United Parcel Service
Tompkins Insurance Agencies, Inc.
Duro-Shed, Inc.
Oxbo International Corp.
Yancey's Fancy, Inc.
Provitello, LLC
Paul Marshall Produce, Inc.
Ad Tech-Graph, Inc.
K-2 Industries, Inc. d/b/a Pavilion Gift Co.
O-AT-KA Milk Products Cooperative, Inc.
Wellsville Carpet Town, Inc.
Brothers International Food Corp.
Allied Building Solutions, LLC
Traco Manufacturing, Inc.
Highway Safety Devices International Corp.
Graham Corp.
Pyramid Prosthetics, Inc.

The following three companies have been asked for more information:

Millwork Solutions, Inc.
Genesee Gateway Development, LLC
Pembroke Park Development, LLC

Here are the three lists for the whole state in PDF format:

• Retention
• Questions
• Possible Decertification

Students from St. Joseph School planted flags on the graves of veterans at St. Joseph's Cemetery yesterday. Nora O'Neill submitted this photo and the one below.

Here is a schedule of Monday's Memorial Day events sponsored by Genesee County Veteran's Services.

7:00 a.m. - Genesee County Park - (Vietnam Veterans of America)

8:00 a.m. - Williams Park

8:30 a.m. - Batavia VA MedicalCenter

8:40 a.m.- New York State Veterans’ Nursing Home

9:00 a.m.- United Memorial Medical Center

9:30 a.m.- Upton Monument

10:15 a.m.- Parade -- forms at Aldi’s market at 9:15 a.m. – travels west on Main Street, left onto Harvester to Veterans’ Plot

11:00 a.m - Veterans’ Plot (Harvester Avenue)

Mercy Flight, which won the nod of the Genesee County Ambulance Task Force, intends to buy the existing city ambulances, according to Vice President and CFO Margie Ferrentino.

City ambulance staff will also be given an opportunity to work for the new service. They will have to go through a pre-employment screening process, but Ferrentino indicated it's Mercy Flight's preference to retain existing staff when possible.

Ferrentino also said this morning that even though the not-for-profit Mercy Flight has not operated street ambulance services before, the leadership and staff of Mercy Flight has hundreds of years of cumulative experience in the ambulance business.

The organization is planning to base two ambulances on North Street and one at the airport.

Here is a four-minute audio interview with Ferrentino.

Ferrentino also supplied two documents outlining the experience of CEO Douglas H. Baker and the rest of the senior staff.

UPDATE: Here's a three-minute audio interview with CEO Doug Baker. Baker says how excited Mercy Flight is to get the opportunity to serve Genesee County with ground ambulance service and notes that there will be local residents on the board of directors. Current Batavia ambulance personnel are their first choice to join the new service. "We hope that all of them will come on board," Baker said.

UPDATE II: Tim Yaeger, coordinator for Emergency Management Services, and head of the task force discusses the Mercy Flight selection in this audio interview. He said he's happy the long process has come to an end. He said Mercy Flight came out on top because the organization clearly understands Genesee County, with its unique needs due to having an urban area and very rural areas.

Officials will announce today that Mercy Flight -- which currently is not in the ground ambulance business -- is the preferred choice of the Genesee County Ambulance Task Force to take over ambulance service for the county.

In a press released obtained by The Batavian prior to its official release to the media, officials state:

The Task Force recommends to local governments and fire districts Mercy Flight, Inc. as the preferred vendor for ambulance services in Genesee County. Mercy Flight, Inc. will operate three Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances, one Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance and a Paramedic Fly Car 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They will maintain two additional ambulances in reserve status. Their operation will be based in Batavia and will provide services to all municipal jurisdictions and fire districts in Genesee County.
 
The Task Force will continue to assist all parties involved with the conversion process to assure a relatively seamless transition when the city of Batavia ends ambulance service on Aug. 31.

A person associated with the Batavia ambulance service also e-mailed us about the Mercy Flight selection and said, "Hopefully it will be a good fit. We just have to wait for the fine details before we throw a party."

Other companies considered in the request-for-proposal process were Monroe Ambulance, Rural Metro Medical Services and TLC Emergency Medical Services, Inc..

UPDATE: From Mercy Flight's "About Us" page:

Mercy Flight WNY is an independent, not-for-profit provider of emergency air medical transport. We ensure rapid, safe and cost effective delivery of expert emergency response teams. Established in 1981, Mercy Flight has flown more than 17,000 patient missions over the last 27 years. We currently own 5 helicopters and have crews ready to respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week out of bases in Buffalo, Batavia and Olean.

UPDATE 10:25 a.m.: Four-hours later, the Daily has its story up, but has an important clarification:

“This is not going to be a county service,” he said (Assistant County Manager Frank Ciaccia). “This will be up to each of the individual towns, and the city of Batavia, to contract separately with Mercy Flight for their ambulance services.”

Mercy Flight will still need to acquire a certificate of need from the State Health Department, he said. That’s a certificate of approval granted by a state agency to a health care provider, deeming that a service or facility is warranted.

The New York Power Authority -- which previously came under fire for denying power allocation to a planned data center in Albion for Google -- unanimously approved power for a similar facility for Yahoo! today.

Gov. David Paterson announced the decision and discussed details of the proposal in a teleconference this morning, according to the Buffalo News.

One site in Genesee County and two in Niagara County are under consideration.

The facility would cost $150 million and when completed would employe about 125 people with an average salary of $65,000.

Yahoo! has been negotiating with state officials for the past six weeks for an allocation of 10 megawatts of low-cost hydroelectric power in order to build phase one of the center.

If the Yahoo! Board of Directors accepts the state's deal, the company would move forward with the project. Phase two to complete the data center would be done by 2012 and Yahoo! would be allowed another 5 megawatts of hydroelectric power.

Today is the day to weigh in on school spending through out Genesee County, with several districts holding budget votes this afternoon and evening.

In Batavia, voters are being asked to approve a .33 percent tax increase to fund a $39.9 million budget.

Three incumbent school board member are also up for re-election, all running unopposed: Gail Stevens, Gary Stich and Andrew Pedro.

Polls are open from noon to 9 p.m.

In Alexander, there is no change in the tax levy and the budget stands at $16.8 million. Polls are open from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.

In Byron-Bergen, the $19.4 million budget does not include a change in taxes. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.

In Elba, the spending plan is up 1.9 percent for a $9.9 million budget. Polls are open from noon to 9 p.m.

In Le Roy, No tax increase in the $21 million budget. Polls opened at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.

In Oakfield-Alabama, taxes will climb less than 2 percent for a $16.8 million budget.

In Pavilion, No tax increase. Spending: $16.3 million. Noon to 9 p.m.

In Pembroke, taxes will go down by 1 percent and proposed spending drops 2.3 percent for a $19.3 million budget. Voting: Noon to 9 p.m.

Apparently, Genesee County is so far slated to get an out-sized portion of Federal stimulus funds.

From the Jamestown Post-Journal:

Last week, an Associated Press study found that stimulus dollars announced so far are not going where they are needed the most and that stimulus spending is 50 percent higher in counties with the lowest unemployment rates compared to counties with the highest even though it is meant to put people back to work.

That holds true across New York state, according to an analysis of AP's figures by The Post-Journal. According to the analysis, eight of the top 10 counties receiving the most stimulus money per person in New York state are not in the top 10 for unemployment.

At the top of the list is Genesee County, which stands to gain $5.5 million in stimulus funding approved so far, or $93.81 per person, even though it ranks 34 in unemployment with a rate of 8.9 percent. Next is Seneca County, which stands to gain $3.1 million, or $91.70 per person, even though it ties Genesee County with an unemployment rate of 8.9 percent.

Likewise, eight of the 10 counties with the highest unemployment rates are not in the top 10 for stimulus funding. At the very bottom is Lewis County, which stands to gain only $842,667, or $31.83 per person, with an unemployment rate of 11.9 percent. Next is Hamilton County, population 5,075, which has so far gotten nothing but has an unemployment rate of 11.8 percent.

I haven't been able to find the original AP story to double check the figures. 

According to this article, however, Genesee County wasn't included in any of the latest round of my released by Gov. Paterson.

A bunch of teenagers in red T-shirts spent Friday toiling in the sun to fix up an old barn off Route 77 in Corfu. And they did so willingly, even enthusiastically.

They spent the day scraping off old paint, powerwashing, brushing on new red paint, replacing worn out two-by-fours and doing landscaping. They'll do the trim and wrap things up Saturday and then enjoy a well-deserved banquet Sunday.

The workers are students from BOCES in Batavia and Albion High School in Orleans County and the barn is one of only five chosen nationwide to get an overhaul thanks to a generous donation from the Campbell's Soup Company.

It's all part of a project to help sustain family farms and aid the next generation of farmers. It also provides scholarship money for a prestigious six-week leadership conference this summer in Washington, D.C..

The Campbell's initiative is being done in conjunction with the national Future Farmers of America (FFA) Alumni Association, FFA student chapters, farm families and the agricultural community.

The soup maker ponied up $250,000 for the coast-to-coast campaign called "Help Grow Your Soup." Of those funds, $75,000 was set aside to refurbish five specially selected barns (at about $5,000 each) and provide scholarships to FFA students.

The barns, iconic symbols of family farms, had to be visible to the community and belong to a multi-generational farm family that produces something used to make soups.

The local one belongs to the Reynolds family, who operate a 600-cow dairy (for cream of broccoli, maybe?). The Reynolds also own 1,500 acres of land on which they grow feed crops. They sell their milk to Syracuse-based Dairylea Cooperative.

The other "Help Grow Your Soup" barns are in Illinois, Oregon, Tennessee and Kansas.

The hulking Allegheny Road structure is about 60 feet long and 40 feet wide and built sometime in the 1800s, no one seems to know exactly when. It's been used for hay storage but used to be where cows were fed and milked by John Reynolds' late parents.

The Reynolds built a new milking structure in 1997 and a new barn last year. Since the old barn was no longer essential, the family thought of tearing it down.

But family friend Barry Flansburg sort of intervened. He's also a Future Farmers of America alumnus and thought the Reynold's barn would be a good choice for the Campbell's opportunity. Apparently, his lobbying efforts weren't wasted.

"You're the first person I thought of, and you're right off Route 77," Flansburg said to Shelley Reynolds, who is delighted her family was chosen for the refurbishment project.

She likes what she and John do for a living, too.

"There's something about raising calves and seeing them become milk producers," Shelley said. "Sometimes you have to do chores on Christmas Eve, but you're responsible for it all and it's a good life. My kids never spent one day in day care. ... we operate as a family."

The family also includes Tyler, 18, MacKenzie, 17, and Andrew, 15.
Incidentally, MacKenzie is this year's Genesee County Dairy Princess and Tyler will be a freshman at Cornell this fall.

She says the kids say after college they'll come back to Corfu to run the dairy.

"It's their choice," she said, adding that it wouldn't be a bad one either.

Pictured above: Left: Christina Kirby, 11th grader at Albion; Right: Sarah Connor, 10th grader at Albion.

About 70 people who retired from Genesee County jobs will be required to drop their county medical and dental plans and sign up for Medicare by July 1

But it isn't as bad as it sounds.

The retires will likely save at least $100 on their monthly premium, according to Karen Marchese, the county's personnel officer. 

The Medicare plans are as good or better than what the county currently offers, according to the resolution authorizing the plan passed by the legislature.

The change effects only those retired employees, 70 out of 120, who are Medicate eligible.

"Each retiree will be given a chance to meet with the Office for the Aging to decide which Medicate advantage plan best suits their needs," Marchese said.

Marchese added that the change "will result in savings for the taxpayers as well, so it's a win-win situation."

The Genesee County Legislature presented local Americorp volunteers with a proclamation Wednesday night recognizing their volunteer efforts for the community.