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Something seems to be happening in downtown Batavia, at City Centre in particular, as properties are either bought or leased and business owners are taking a chance on investing in what city officials are hoping is becoming an economic revival of the former mall.

One of the latest merchants to be entering the scene in the near future is another moveover from Harvester Complex. Eric and Sarah Jones, owners of Game of Throws, are planning to initially build two escape rooms and eventually have three, plus axe-throwing in the space formerly occupied by Gentleman Jim’s, Palace of Sweets, Shortstop and The Hiding Place.

“We're hoping by June or July we'll be able to move in and be ready to open for business, at least with our lanes and our axe throwing. We're hoping that at least one, if not two, of the Escape Rooms, will be ready to go,” Sarah said during an interview with The Batavian. “But Escape Rooms are a lot; they're a lot of work, a lot of planning. There are a lot of their prop-making props.

The Jones couple of Oakfield had wanted to have escape rooms at the Harvester location, but the physical set-up, with high ceilings and poor acoustics, didn’t allow for what was needed to make it work well, Sarah said. Game of Throws survived the pandemic since opening in early 2021, and now it’s time to push past those limitations and get into the fun creativity — albeit more expensive — work of pulling together an hour’s worth of brain-teasing props, clues and puzzles that stretch one’s imagination and prompt teamwork to meet the objective: escape.

Sarah offered a hint that the first room being assembled is a pirate theme, and visitors will have to free themselves from a ship jail before time is up for them to walk the plank. If you think this might be a lame Monopoly-type board game, these rooms come at great expense ($10,000 to $20,000 and up) and endless hours of labor to craft the related lifelike props and clues — perhaps keys and maps and items that hint at the next needed steps to take.

“Basically, we take you in, we literally lock you in prison. So there's a jail cell in the very beginning that you're all in. You have to figure out how to get out of the prison to get into the other part of the room, where there's all kinds of pirate stuff, and there's maps, and there's clues, and there's things that you're going to find, you're going to figure out, you're going to put together locks and keys, and then eventually you will find the final key to escape,” she said. “And there's a big clock counting down for 60 minutes, so you'll know how long you're taking. And we always have someone watching you and working with you. So if it takes you too long to get out of the first part of it, we'll start to talk to you and say, ‘Okay, you guys are on the right track, but look for, you know, whatever, keep your eyes open for this,’ so that we can sort of walk you through better ways to figure out and get out of certain things.

“We want everyone to be able to get out, but we also don't want to be like, the whole time telling you hints and clues. You have to see for yourself,” she said. “So with that being said, there's a lot of interesting things, like different riddles that you have to sort of figure out different combinations of things you have to do in order for a door to unlock with a mag lock, which means there's a lot of wiring, and there's a lot of mechanical things that we have to put in there to trigger things. So it's a lot, but it's fun.”

Why escape rooms? Sarah and her husband seek out and do escape rooms “all the time,” she said.

“Every time we go somewhere or go on a trip or wherever we’re somewhere, we always look for escape rooms. We’ve gone to basically all the escape rooms in Buffalo and Rochester that we have been able to find; we love escape rooms,” she said. “We go with friends. We go with different people that do an escape room. We do it with our kids; they love them too.”

Why, what is it about escape rooms that you like so much?

“They're all different. You never know what's gonna happen, what's gonna be in them. Some of them are amazing, some of them are terrible. And we're like, well, that was just stupid. But even just getting together, and all of you working together as a group, it's really interesting to see the dynamics even of the way people think, the way people figure things out,” she said. “Some people that are really good at noncommon sense things, really smart things, figure out the stuff that I would never be able to figure out. I'm more of a think-outside-the-box: look, I found this, how does this work? Where other people are like, oh, there's numbers. They see combinations of things because they get numbers, where I don't get numbers.

She talked about how she usually butts heads with her daughter Marissa, so it would seem natural that when the family goes to an escape room, Marissa would pair off with her dad, and Mom would go with her son Ryan. But that’s not how it works when solving these types of reality puzzles, she said.

Ryan and Eric work super well together, and the way their minds work, and Marissa and I tend to work super well together. So it's really neat to do escape rooms with people because it's a whole different experience,” she said. “When I first heard about escape rooms, I was like, I want to do one of those. It sounds so cool. So we've done them years and years and years ago. And I had said to my husband, I want to open up escape rooms. That would be the funnest job ever. I love everything about them. And then my brother-in-law in Pennsylvania, years later, had opened up the escape rooms, and I'm like, you understand, that's my dream come true.”

Sarah has been able to, at least in part, experience the operational side of these rooms by helping out her in-laws when possible, from building props such as a full-blown monkey body, face, and limbs, down to its fingernails to offering hints to misguided participants. As she puts it, “It's not like we're coming into this with no experience, but we also are coming into this with no experience.”

“And we're just like, we got this, but it's something super new,” she said. “And so it's gonna be so much fun. I'm super excited about it.”

The market is hot for this too, she said, as they are extremely popular and exist all over the country. She and Eric have done several in Florida and even found them in the Dominican Republic, she said.

The glitch may be that this business doesn’t often get repeat customers unless it’s people bringing others to experience the escape room. One solution the Jones’ have that others may not be so fortunate to have is that connection with the in-laws in Pennsylvania. They know that their customers aren’t likely to have seen the escape rooms here, and vice versa, so they plan to swap with each other at some point and continue a rotation with fresh themes the next time around.

It will still mean a major investment of thousands of dollars but it saves them at least a couple of times before they need to invest in brand-new themes again. For customers, it will be an updated adventure. There’s a Facebook marketplace, sort of a co-op for escape room goods, and these used packages can still cost $20,000 to $30,000, she said. And it’s not like once you’ve purchased it, you’re done: these rooms have to be refreshed to keep customers coming back.

Being a small business owner has come with its share of frustrations, including a lack of funding options that are more often available to large developers and corporate businesses, she said. She credited Batavia Development Corporation and Executive Director Tammy Hathaway for pursuing avenues for small grants or low-interest loans, but so far, nothing has been available or suitable for their situation, Sarah said.

The Jones couple is grateful that the property owners and city have allowed them to begin working on the space before officially moving in — with flashlights and lanterns in tow since there’s no electricity or HVAC hook-up yet and a leaky roof is to be repaired. That gives them some time to get set up while still being at their current location at 56 Harvester Ave., Sarah said.

“So that when they do say, ‘ok, it’s time,’ we can have basic stuff that we need done so we can actually get in there as soon as possible. Because once they say it’s ready, then we have to start paying rent,” she said. “And we’re willing to pay rent to both places until we can get into the other one, so we’re hoping that by the time we can get in there and have to start paying rent, we’ll have it so much done that we can literally just move our lanes from Games of Throws into Gentleman Jim’s and get it up and running, that’s what we’re hoping for.”

How does she feel about the big move? "Excited and terrified."

She asks if she’s crazy. Well, yes. Then again, former Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

The Jones’ vision goes beyond the walls of their future business and spills (hopefully) onto the outer concourse in the form of community events, such as square dancing, cornhole tournaments, karaoke nights, and other fun events. In other words, they may do a little world-changing in downtown Batavia.

“I feel like that is going to bring so many people out because there is nothing to do in Batavia. So what we’re hoping is that we will bring more business to Batavia, too. We have a lot of people who come throw axes at our place from Buffalo and Rochester. They literally drive by the places in Buffalo to get to us. So we’re hoping that we can bring business to the other businesses,” she said. “A lot of times, people are like, we’re not from around here, but where is there to go eat? And we definitely try to tell them of locally owned businesses as opposed to chains. So I hope that we’ll all work together to bring more business to Batavia.”

For more information, go HERE. 

Press Release:

Elizabeth Jarnot of Batavia is the first homeowner to complete a home repair project through a new PathStone Self Help home repair program. Ms. Jarnot remodeled two bathrooms, installed new flooring, replaced windows and made other improvements to the home she shares with her 4-year-old son. PathStone, through its affiliate Rural Housing Opportunities Corp, provided all the materials for the job, loaned her the needed tools and provided hands-on training and support with completing all the work.

“This has been such a wonderful program to be a part of -- it really has been life-changing for me and my son,” said Ms. Jarnot. “Not only were we able to make needed repairs that I couldn't have done alone but I also got help from the most amazing people who really care about their community. On top of all that, I learned about home repair and responsible homeownership. I am so thankful that this resource exists because it's going to have such lasting and positive impacts for so many -- I know it did for my family!”

PathStone received a 2-year grant from USDA Rural Development to complete 20 similar home repair projects in Genesee and Orleans Counties. Eligible households must earn below 80% of the median income for the area by household size, agree to do most of the work themselves and meet other requirements. 

“We’ve been operating home repair programs in the area for 30 years and the demand for our limited government grant funds is so high, we decided to add the Self Help program as a way to serve more families in need. Our regular home repair grant program has a 3-5 year waiting list but now folks can jump to the top of the list if they qualify for Self Help and are willing and able to do most of the work themselves with our help,” said John Wiltse, senior operations director at PathStone and president of Rural Housing Opportunities Corp. 

Participant households can enlist the help of family and friends to meet their labor contribution. Eligible work must address building deficiencies and health and safety concerns such as plumbing and electrical problems, lead-based paint and obsolete fixtures and finishes. 

Low and moderate income homeowners in Genesee and Orleans Counties who want to learn more about the program, please call 585-546-3700 ext. 3026 or email homerehab@pathstone.org.

Press Release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C-Batavia) visited the National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House in Rochester today in commemoration of Susan B. Anthony Day earlier this month. Western New York has a long history in the women’s suffrage movement, including one of Hawley’s relatives, Ella Hawley Crossett. 

Ella was an influential leader at the local level and was a long-tenured member of the executive board of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA). Hawley is proud of Western New York’s history during the suffrage movement and hopes these local heroes will serve as an inspiration for future generations.

“It was an honor to be able to visit the Susan B. Anthony house today,” said Hawley. “Our region has a rich history in the fight for women’s suffrage and equal rights. I hope everyone takes time to learn more about our history and the impact figures like Susan B. Anthony and my relative, Ella Hawley Crossett, had on our nation.”

Submitted photos.

Press Release:

Batavia Muckdogs, and CAN-USA Sports Ownership are back for their fifth season at Dwyer Stadium and are incredibly excited to announce plans for the upcoming summer! 

The 2025 PGCBL schedule has been released with the Muckdogs home opener scheduled for Saturday, May 31 at 6:35 p.m. vs the Elmira Pioneers. The PGCBL welcomes a new opponent north of the border, as the city of St. Catherines in Ontario Canada will have a new franchise for 2025. 

Batavia will host 4 fireworks nights this season. Be on the lookout for our 2025 promotional schedule and be sure to check out our social media pages for more updates. 

If you are interested in bringing your group or business out to a game at Dwyer Stadium, email General Manager Marc Witt (mwitt.canusa@gmail.com). A complete schedule is available at www.canusamuckdogs.com.

The Muckdogs finished in first place during the regular season for the third season in a row in 2024. Batavia finished with a franchise record .802-win percentage posting an incredible 34-8 record. The record setting season was cut short in the PGCBL Western Conference Championship game as the Muckdogs fell to Elmira. 

“Last season we enjoyed so much success on and off the field in the community and I am so grateful and proud of what this team did here in Batavia. I know Skip Martinez can’t wait to get the Muckdogs back on the field in 2025 and bring this city a championship” – Owner Robbie Nichols.

If you have not bought season tickets, make sure to get them by calling their offices at 585-524-2260 or www.canusamuckdogs.com. Season tickets start at just $99!

CAN-USA Sports is also excited to announce the return of Xtreme International Ice Racing on Saturday March 29 at 7 p.m. at the David McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena presented by Casella Waste Systems.

XiiR (Xtreme International Ice Racing) is a motorcycle racing tour…ON ICE! Man and machine going from 0-60mph in under 3 seconds, with speedway bikes and quads that are modified to compete on an indoor ice arena. There are over 2000 metal studs added to the tires and there are no brakes. It is the fastest sport on ice and one of the fastest sports in the world. The event will be making its third appearance to Batavia and each year’s event sold out at the McCarthy Ice Arena so get your tickets early online at www.mccarthyicearena.com or in person at the rink (22 Evans Street Batavia).

Press Release:

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) introduced the State-Level Departments of Government Efficiency Establishment Act or the State-Level DOGE Establishment Act to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in state governments.

Specifically, this legislation conditions the disbursement of federal financial assistance, except for security-related funding, on states establishing an independent DOGE commission.

"DOGE is working diligently at the federal level to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. It’s time for state governments to follow suit. States like New York receive billions in federal aid annually, yet waste it on DEI initiatives and woke programs that are out of touch with the vast majority of Americans. It is imperative that these tax dollars are used properly and efficiently. The State-Level DOGE Establishment Act ensures that states create a DOGE commission to oversee the use of taxpayer funding and cut back on wasteful programs. If they refuse, they should not receive a dime of taxpayer money from the federal government,” said Congresswoman Tenney.

Press Release:

On Valentine’s Day, the Byron-Bergen Elementary School sent a whole lotta love to the Genesee County Animal Shelter in the form of 1,173 donated items. The items were collected by grade level for the annual 100 Days of School Community Service Project. 

Each year, each grade level is challenged to collect 100 of a certain item for donation to a local non-profit or charitable organization. 

The items collected are as follows:

• UPK: 102 Q-tips
• Kindergarten: 183 cat and dog toys
• First Grade: 138 cat and dog treats
• Second Grade: 136 dog leashes
• Third Grade: 160 rolls of paper towels
• Fourth Grade: 316 animal waste bags
• Fifth Grade: 138 bags of cotton balls and bottles of rubbing alcohol

This year’s project involved the students in more ways than ever. The students voted on which organization they wanted to work with this year, Student Council worked on planning and made one-of-a-kind folders to be presented to new pet owners upon adoption.

“This project is a wonderful way to teach children to think about the greater community that they live in,” said Kindergarten Teacher and project organizer Ayn Gardner. “There is always someone in need in a community and it is important for students to learn to help when they can. The Byron-Bergen community is incredibly generous, and I am grateful that they continue to support this project, year after year.”

Batavia police officers and firefighters clashed on the ice on Sunday in the Third Annual Battle of the Badges hockey game.

The annual event is a David McCarthy Memorial Foundation fundraiser and is sponsored by CAN-USA Sports.

“Having some fun on the ice, highlighting these great city departments, and raising money for charity has been great these past few years. The David McCarthy Memorial Foundation has helped so many families in our community over the years and we are excited to donate the proceeds to such
a meaningful organization again this year," said Detective James DeFreze and firefighter Mark Sacheli in a joint statement.

The police roster: Connor Borchert, Matthew Lutey, Felecia Martinez, Matthew Smith, Chance Hutson,
Steve Quider, Adam Tucker, Richard Messmer, Steve Cronmiller, Aric Perkins, Bryan Moscicki, and John Gombos.

The fire roster: Josh McCarthy, Ryan Whitcombe, Chris Morasco, Matt Morasco, Mark Sacheli, Bob Tedford, Jeff Whitcombe, Colin Cooper, Nick Call, 
Noah Whitcombe, Andy Laforce, Frankie Falleti.

Photos by Nick Serrata

The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce presented its 2024 honorees with their awards during a ceremony at Batavia Downs on Saturday night.

Profiles of each of this year's winners:

• Chamber Awards: leading with values of being fair and equitable put Marone on the Humphrey block
• Chamber Awards: Charters' passion to 'give back' earns her Geneseean of the Year
• Chamber Awards: making a personal connection while growing in the funeral business earns H.E. Turner Business of the Year
• Chamber Awards: Good food, fair prices, friendly service have made Southside Deli a community staple for 35 years
• Chamber Awards: At Alexander Equipment, it's all in the family
• Chamber Awards: Willson's motto to 'follow your heart' with Meraki makes her a stand-out entrepreneur
• Chamber Awards: Critter Crew combines fun, learning, and service to the community

NOTE: This is the seventh of seven stories The Batavian will publish today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) about this year's Chamber of Commerce award winners. The awards will be presented on Saturday evening at Batavia Downs. Tickets are still available for the event.

Steve Johnson clearly remembered the time he was working with a family whose loved one had died when his professional role as a funeral director became very personal.

His own father died during that time. He continued to carry out that family’s requests. There were two days of calling hours, and another director walked in carrying a card. Johnson wondered why he didn’t just put it into the box with the others, but instead, the card was handed to Johnson.

“He said, ‘you should read it now.’ It was a sympathy card from the other family,” a teary-eyed Johnson said during an interview at H.E. Turner in Batavia. “Every time I see her, I get a huge hug. We really do start to become friends. It’s kind of nice to have a personal relationship with them. I think fundamentally, losing Dad made me a better funeral director.”

It’s stories like that — likely hundreds of them over the years — stories of how something like a funeral business can forge bonds, deeper understandings, insight, and friendships well past when the casket has closed.

Those relationships and related service are what have earned H.E. Turner, the oldest continuously operator-owned business in Genesee County,  the Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award, to be presented Saturday evening at Batavia Downs.

Turner was founded 115 years ago and continues today with owners Johnson, Justin Calarco-Smith and Joshua Smith.

While family clients will always see the directors impeccably dressed and ready to serve the varied requests — which have included wearing a particular jeans-and-shirt outfit and putting certain candy atop the casket —these guys might be hustling around in their socks with no shoes on vacuuming and prepping the West Main Street site for the next set of calling hours.

They don’t want anything to be askew or troubling for the family, even when that might mean nervously waiting for an urn to arrive when it wasn’t delivered as promised or having a company switch the top and bottom of a casket with another on-site so that they match perfectly for the order.

“It has to be perfect, 100% of the time,” Johnson said. “We have high expectations; we cannot overstate our expectations.”

Unlike his two colleagues, Johnson is a first-generation funeral director who has known he wanted to get involved in this industry since he was a teen. He watched how a director handled the death of his grandpa — in a way that was “dignified and healing” — and that clinched the deal.

“I knew this is what I was going to do with my life,” said Johnson, who has been at this for 18 years full-time. “It’s strange to say this career path is rewarding given what we’re doing here, but it is rewarding because our most fundamental job is to facilitate grief. It used to be the reverend or the reverend clergy who facilitated the grief, and now, with the emergence of people falling away from church, we are the keepers of the rituals. So, our most fundamental task when a family comes to us is to facilitate grief.

“The family who, believe it or not, only spent three days with you, maybe they don’t remember any of it,” Johnson said. “But the next time they have a need, they don’t just pick up the phone and call Turner’s; they pick up the phone and call Steve, and that is very rewarding.”

Former owner Jim Smith died in August 2023 and transferred ownership to his two sons, Justin and Josh, along with trusted friend and employee Randy McIntire, who has since transferred his interest to Johnson.

Similar to Johnson’s personal experience with the death of a loved one, Justin said that it altered his perspective of the process.

“I have a better understanding now when they’re sitting over there, across the desk, on the other side of the table, in dealing with other families and going forward,” he said.

When Justin graduated from high school and went to Geneseo State College, he had no intentions to return to the area or get involved in his father’s business. Then, a guy named Bob Bailey asked what his dad did for a living, and he told him.

“He said, ‘Didn't you ever consider doing this?’ I said no. He said, ‘I think you'd be good at it.’ I called my dad from college. I said, ‘I’m thinking about wanting to enter the business. What do you think about that?” he said. “And this was in my spring semester, my freshman year. And so I came home over college break during Christmas, and I worked my first funeral; the rest is kind of history. I worked the winter break of 1991, came home after my freshman year and worked here for him part-time. And then I also worked at Darien Lake that summer. And then, from that point forward, this is the only job I've ever had.”

He didn’t want to get too cliche but he really does feel as though it was a calling — a profession and passion meant for him now for more than 28 years.

“I think this job was chosen for me,” he said. “I generally love what I do. I enjoy getting up and coming to work most mornings … Every day has been unique and different around here. Because the basic principle of what we do is that we help people at their absolute lowest, darkest, worst times and we’re able to kind of allow them to take steps forward in their grief journey.”

Back to the rewards — it’s about allowing families to move through that process and then be able to just breathe and talk after all of those funeral arrangements are done, Josh said. Yes, it’s about forming a connection with a little something extra.

“Whether you see this family member six months or six years after the service, they remember something. They come give you a hug. They come give you a handshake. I like the conversations with families after calling hours or a funeral ends when you can just talk. They talk about the day, they talk about the week,” he said. “You kind of get them away from the business side of it, where we're sitting across making arrangements, and just get to know them, get to know a little bit more about their family. They ask you about yours. It's the relationships that you develop with these people that's very, very rewarding. I keep on saying that it is the handshake or the hugs you get at the end of the day that make it worth it.”

The H.E. Turner story began in January of 1910, when Harry Ernest Turner, a native of Clarendon, and Harry D. Bartlett of Holley bought the Williamson Furniture and Undertaking Store. 

The furniture and funeral combination wasn’t unusual at the time. Historians believe early furniture stores carried coffins and other funeral accessories, which made them a natural link to the funeral business.

Turner, who worked 10 years in a furniture store in Holley before purchasing the Batavia store, published a weekly newspaper, The Holley Standard, as a sideline. Bartlett served as Orleans County Clerk in the early 1900s, and the pair also had a joint interest in stores in Byron and Holley, which they sold a few years after they came to Batavia. 

H.E. Turner & Co. was operated at 111 Main St., the former Newberry Building, until 1921, when it was moved to the Cary Mansion at 211 East Main St. Fourteen years later, the firm moved to the Bean Mansion at 403 East Main St., where it remains today.

In August 2023, Turner’s owners completed a deal with T.J. Woodward to take on Gilmartin Funeral Home & Cremation Company, Inc., leaving Woodward in place as funeral director at Gilmartin and others to retain their roles at Eaton-Watson and Marley funeral homes as part of the deal. Turner also owns Robinson and Hackemer Funeral Home in Warsaw.

Owners of H.E. Turner & Co., Inc. Funeral Home was named as a Selected Independent Funeral Homes member in October 2024, an honor that “lets all prospective customers know who they can trust,” Johnson had said at the time.

It would seem as though the Chamber’s selection committee agrees.

NOTE: This is the sixth of seven stories The Batavian will publish today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) about this year's Chamber of Commerce award winners. The awards will be presented on Saturday evening at Batavia Downs. Tickets are still available for the event.

For the 4-H Critter Crew learning isn't just something that takes place in a book or through a lecture. It's hands-on. It's fun.

That certainly was the case this past week during the crew's monthly meeting at the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Batavia where they made coffee cakes.

Why coffee cakes? Because this year's learning theme is rainforests and coffee and cinnamon both come from rainforests.

"It's a lot of fun, a lot more ingredients for us to explore," said Stephanee Surabian, founder and leader of the 4-H Critter Crew. "We'll be doing different projects involving, like, flamingos. We have an exotic pet guy coming in with snakes and reptiles geared more toward an educational rainforest theme. So it's a perfect pairing for what we're doing this year."

The Critter Crew is a service and educational club attached to the Cornell Cooperative Extension for younger age 5 to 18. It's being recognized this year by the Chamber of Commerce with a Special Service Recognition Award.

By the fall of 2022, Surabian and the children of the world had been through a lot. As she was preparing to give birth to her fourth child, she was diagnosed with cancer (she's in good health now), and it was also the final months of the pandemic.  She figured kids needed activities to help them get out of the house and reconnect with people. She also thought 4-H could use a program that went beyond dealing with livestock.

"I was seeing a need for the kids to have just that normalcy again right after the peak of COVID," Surabian said.

The club is more than making things and learning about nature. The crew also focuses on serving the community. 

For example, there is the reverse trick-or-treat in October, which involves visits to the Manor House. The kids dress up in costumes, entertain the residents, and hand out candy and other treats. 

"It makes everyone feel young at heart and fills the hearts of those who are not able to be near their grandchildren," said Joseph Burke, one of the people who nominated Critter Crew for the service award.

They also have the Adopt a Grandparent program for the holidays when they deliver gift bags filled with essential items. They also hand out Christmas cookies and sing Christmas carols.

"It warms the hearts of everyone who is present," said Burke. "They do a great job of bringing smiles to the residents’ faces."

Surabian said they have an outreach program for widows on Valentine's Day. They create and deliver cards, picture frames, and other knick-knacks to nominated widows.  They're planning their first Easter Bunny visit to the Manor House this spring.

Another project involves collecting expired food products and converting them to livestock feed. In the past year, they collected more than 200 pounds of food.

Last year, collectively, they performed more than 300 hours of community service.

"Having the kids make those community ties and hands-on relationships really bridges that gap," Surabian said. "When they get older, they'll already be very much integrated and blended into the community. So I think that's a big, big step in navigating life."

Craft projects include making birds wings (again, related to the rainforest theme), which they will wear in the Memorial Day Parade. There are also guest speakers scheduled.

On the fun side (that also includes learning) in the works for the club is a visit to the Wild Center, in Tupper Lake.

"My goal toward the end of the summer is to take an educational field trip to explore the tree tops to get a forest canopy perspective, maybe do some zip lining through the forest," said Surabian. "Then there are some underwater cavern tours with underground waterfalls, which some people don't know are in a rainforest, so I thought it would be perfect to mix with the crafting and baking and then that hands-on learning, too."

Surabian is originally from Arizona. Her husband is from Batavia. They have four children. She has an associates degree and was working toward her bachelor's when she was diagnosed with cancer. 

"I kind of took a left turn and put all my focus and energy into volunteering," Surabian said. "I absolutely love being busy. I thrive on it. Prior to my volunteer work, I was a compliance officer, so I stayed very busy working and staffing nurses all over the country."

All four of her children, Gavin, 13, Morgan, 11, Kensley, 6, and Lincoln, 3, participate in Critter Crew.

She's clearly energized by working with the kids in the club and she said she loves it.

"I think my favorite is seeing how they engage with the elderly," Surabian said. "That is the most rewarding experience outside of the fun that they have. Actually, I lied. Okay, so the food, I'm sorry. I just reminded myself -- the food, I think, is probably the most fun because, surprisingly, I try to keep it very basic, but there's so many things that we've done that kids have never even tried before, so that is a whole level of fun for me, to be able to broaden their food horizons."

Photos by Howard Owens.

Anneka Pray, the 18-year-old Pembroke graduate who was critically injured a week ago in a motor vehicle accident near Syracuse, is making "amazing progress," according to Tracy Rudolph.

Rudolph is the organizer of a GoFundMe.com page set up to assist Pray and her family following the accident.

Pray, who has been blind since birth, sustained a traumatic brain injury.

Rudolph writes: "She was heavily sedated and minimally responsive last Friday. Today, she has been moved out of the ICU to a bed on the pediatric floor. Anneka is eating, drinking, talking and walking. She will be transferred to neurology rehab next week. This progress is possible because of your prayers. Thank you for praying faithfully for Anneka's brain recovery. Please keep praying for recovery with her brain, fractured skull and carotid artery—blessings to all of you."

Previously: Pembroke graduate critically injured in Thruway accident near Syracuse

NOTE: This is the fifth of seven stories The Batavian will publish today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) about this year's Chamber of Commerce award winners. The awards will be presented on Saturday evening at Batavia Downs. Tickets are still available for the event.

When Mickey Charters was pursuing her bachelor’s at Brockport State College, a professor said something she never forgot: you give back to the community.

“That always stuck with me. As a child or in high school I never volunteered, but in college, yes. Once you give back, it’s so easy, it’s a flow you just go along with it,” she said during an interview with The Batavian. “It started out with that, working with people with dementia.”

Charters, who lived in Brockport before moving to Bergen 24 years ago, has certainly latched onto that ideology. Describing herself as a “late bloomer,” she earned her degree in therapeutic recreation one class at a time after her children were in high school and took her first job in a nursing home working with people with dementia.

She has since devoted her skills of calm restraint — required to do this type of compassionate endeavor — whether it was helping to take care of her uncle, working or volunteering in the field, including at Office for the Aging, Alzheimer’s Association, Crossroads House and a grassroots respite program based at Batavia First Presbyterian Church.

It is that dedicated background and ongoing community service that has earned Charters the county’s Chamber of Commerce Geneseean of the Year Award. While she feels a bit shy and humbled by the attention, Charters is finding that “it actually feels good.”

“You know, all my friends are just really, really happy, and I'm happy to see them happy,” she said. “And I know I do a lot of work for my respite program, but I don't call that work. I just call it the love for people. That's how I enjoy that.”

It may not be a surprise that Charters is an animal lover, citing the beloved creatures — especially dogs and cats — for keeping her grounded. “I love taking care of them,” she said, as one answer to what she likes to do for fun. Dog-sitting happened to include the white Pyrenees in her charge this particular day. Add to that going for drives and weekend jaunts with husband Jamie, who is the other half of what she feels is still a “newlywed” couple.

They met at Crossroads House, where Jamie had been volunteering. Charters was volunteering for Visiting Nurses Association and followed a woman who went to Crossroads as the next chapter of her journey. The nonprofit’s founder, Kathy Panepento, asked Charters if she’d like to be a regular at the house, and she accepted. 

To this day, she and Jamie have a “date night,” volunteering there on Saturdays, visiting with residents, reading to them, combing their hair, polishing their nails, and chatting with family members.

“I would probably say, make them feel special. They're getting ready for their next journey,” she said. “We want them to look nice. We want them to smell nice. We want them to feel comfortable.”

They’ve been having that traditional date for at least 13 years and were married nine years ago.

What keeps you going when encountering people going through challenging times as dementia, Alzheimer’s and facing that next chapter?
“Most definitely my faith. I think you have to have some type of faith, whether it’s God or out in the woods. You have to have something,” she said. “You can’t just go from one person passing away to another person passing away. You have to clear your mind. I think you have to do that. But you can clear it any way that makes you comfortable. Some people like to just walk out in the woods. I like to do that in the spring and summer. I don’t like to do it during the winter … I just, I’ll sit and not really meditate, but I can just think, as in meditation, to clear my mind.”

As for the respite program, the one she operates is one of four in Genesee County, with others at St. James Episcopal Church in Batavia and at sites in Corfu and Le Roy. The program offers caregivers an opportunity to take a break while their loved ones are cared for by trained volunteers from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. once a month.

The routine includes social time with coffee, tea, juice and cookies; a craft; a hot meal for lunch; an exercise session; a game of Bingo; and a music sing-a-long. Charters aims to keep it routine so as not to disrupt the pattern for guest attendees. They need to be mobile and able to use a restroom, and volunteers do not administer medications, she said.

Yes, even while talking about this award, Charters wanted to promote this program. She and others hope to spread the word and help more caregivers to get a break in their own routines to go shopping, run errands, make doctor appointments and take care of things they may not be able to otherwise.

Aside from that positive aspect, Charters is also happy to share that this program “costs nothing” to participants. And she has a whopping 16 volunteers ready and able to be there when needed.

Why has this population drawn you in?
“They are people too, and a lot of people didn’t know how to communicate with them,” she said. “And you just had to have patience and perseverance with them and shoe that you are the kind person and help them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it didn’t, but it was easy to change their thought process because it goes so fast, and they know that you’re a kind person, inside their heart, they know.”

So does Genesee County.

For more information about the respite program, call 585-343-0505.

NOTE: This is the fourth of seven stories The Batavian will publish today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) about this year's Chamber of Commerce award winners. The awards will be presented on Saturday evening at Batavia Downs. Tickets are still available for the event.

A talk with Peggy Marone, longtime director of Leadership Genesee, first meant a history lesson of her parents’ impressive local civic and professional lives: dad was chief pharmacist, the only one, at the former Genesee Memorial Hospital, and mom was a teacher of grades four and six at St. Anthony’s and became the hospital’s medical librarian.

Her mom, the late Esther Marone, was instrumental in the founding of Literacy Volunteers in Genesee County — by now, one may wonder what any of that has to do with Peggy’s recent accolade from the county’s Chamber of Commerce. While these people certainly served as role models and inspiration for her, they also delayed the inevitable for the modest leader, preferring to give credit to others than to herself.

"I knew that a very important value for me was fair and equitable. I put those two words together because it's really something that, it's been a touchstone of mine for a long, long time,” she said during an interview with The Batavian, sharing that’s in part how her folks influenced her. “When people aren't treated fairly or equitably, it really rubs me wrong. So I knew I wanted to do something along those lines.”

There will be no evading the limelight during the Wolcott “Jay” Humphrey III Excellence in Community Leadership Award presentation on Saturday during this year’s 53rd annual Chamber Awards Ceremony at Batavia Downs.

Named after Humphrey, who was president of the former Wyoming County Bank, this award exemplifies how he was extremely involved in the community as a volunteer who encouraged his employees to develop a commitment to volunteerism and community. He was a visionary who could see the big picture and made real improvements to his passionate beliefs, chamber staff said.

Marone remembers when she met him, albeit for how briefly they knew each other.

“He was pretty instrumental in getting Leadership Genesee going,” she said. “The next day, he died. I served on the Humphrey Symposium Committee for one or two years.”

After high school, Marone went on to St. Bonaventure for psychology (if for no better reason than because a guy she was dating was a psych major, she said), and it would seem as though all of those courses paid off in how she relates to people. 

She got into Human Resources “by accident” and discovered how, in lieu of being the big boss talking to a group from the front of the room, she wanted to “draw out of people” their personalities, thoughts, and gifts.

“I learned how to get the best out of people,” she said.

Marone had a string of jobs, opening up hotels, finessing her organization skills, working in Human Resources for Chapin and at Marriott in Amherst.

“Whatever I was doing, I was learning. It was as if the stars aligned,” she said of the offer to take on Leadership Genesee. “I tell people all the time I've looked at everything I've done, I may not have gone after a job specifically because I thought, Oh, that's it. That's the one I want. Except this one. This was the one that I knew was what my life had been preparing me for.”

Was there a learning curve, or did you take the ball and run with it?
“That's a good question because when I started, my marching orders were to run it like my own business. There was really no template. What I started off doing was spending time with the other leadership programs, leadership Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara, and I would go and spend a day with them on their day session and watch what they did. What did their agenda look like, how did they interface with their participants? How do you keep your alumni involved? I just went and asked tons of questions of everybody,” she said. “And then when the first class graduated, I interviewed every single one of them, and I asked them how the year went for them. What were the hits, what were the misses? How did it affect you personally, and where do you think we should go with this? 

"So I knew I had to develop an organization. So I had committees from the first class and design teams, and we would write learning outcomes and goals and action plans," she said. "And so we kept ourselves really on track to create things for the next year. So we recruited a class. You know, we just did one thing after another, left, right, left, right is what we did.”

She tried to glean the best advice from leadership directors in those neighboring counties, while staying true to what Genesee County needed. Those groups had memberships of up to 90, which Marone deemed too large to be valuable for each participant, so class size was kept to 30.

As she likes to say: “left, right, left, right.” Just put one foot in front of the other and keep going.

Talk about trial by fire — Marone began the day before 9/11. Not only was that a frightening and confusing time for folks, but also a difficult period to begin a fundraising program and rally people’s motivation.

“I had to double my efforts and ask people not to give up on us,” she said at her second-floor office. “I was always recruiting. I've recruited out this window, because we had some guys working out here. One of them had been an alum. His brother was out here with him. I opened the window. I said, 'Who is this?' That's my brother Pork. Pork, when are you gonna do Leadership Genesee, your brother went through Leadership Genesee, when are you? And he did.”

Those dreadful Covid days were the most rough and tumble of them all, she said, but they continued on — left, right, left, right — having Zoom sessions with “wear a funny hat” day and other silly things to keep morale up and for a laugh, she said.

Primary goals are to encourage their leader within and recognize their own value system, she said. Attendance dipped during the pandemic, and it’s already back up to steady numbers of 25 to 30 per class.  

What has been key to the success of the program?
“All the alumni,” she said. “So we pretty much get new alumni that join committees or stay on or participate. It’s a core group that enjoys what they’re doing.”

As for her values, those terms “fair and equitable” have been a touchstone to guide her path. That’s what instantly drew her to become a “Star Trek” fan in college, watching episodes in the skeller with a beer after dinner.

“Because of the diversity and inclusiveness,” she said, her back to her computer’s Trekkie screen saver. “They were so brave to do that in (the 1970s). It was awesome. I really like people. I really do, and I care very much about them. I care very much about, you know, how people view themselves. I always want them to feel good about themselves.”

Leadership is a year-long class that provides people with opportunities to network, volunteer, and learn about the county and its offerings while encouraging each individual’s leader within.

“And the biggest thing is … what is your value system and how do you live the values that you have?” she said. “I don't think people think about their value system either, but that's my organizational development kind of mind and HR mind that I encourage people to do that.”

There are 627 graduates so far, and each class is framed and hung on Marone’s office wall, and hand-decorated beads, strung together and sitting in a bowl on her desk, represent each of those class members that represent a success story.

What do you get out of this?
“Oh my gosh. A real sense of accomplishment. I mean, if I can affect one person's outlook on themselves to be more positive, to help them, you know, help connect dots for them, I mean, that's awesome. It’s really about them,” she said. “And for the community, I want to see Genesee County be in a better place as much as possible, so it keeps going for the generations to come.”

She lives with her daughter Nikole Marone in Batavia and also works part-time as a business manager at St. Joseph’s Regional School.

NOTE: This is the third of seven stories The Batavian will publish today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) about this year's Chamber of Commerce award winners. The awards will be presented on Saturday evening at Batavia Downs. Tickets are still available for the event.

The secret to success isn't complicated, the way Jeff Heubusch explains it: Offer people a good product at a fair price with a friendly smile, and they will keep coming back.

That's what he and his crew at Southside Deli have done for more than 35 years.

His assistant manager, Denny Schultz, who has worked at Southside for 24 years, explained it best.

"He's consistent," Schultz said. "He's here all the time. He lives at the store. If anyone comes in from the community, they know how hard he works. He's compassionate for his customers. He's instilled it in me, as well. You want every customer to feel welcome and special. You learn their names. You get a good rapport with returning customers."

It's that commitment and that success that led to Southside Deli being named Genesee County's Small Business of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce.

Heubusch said the award is a big honor that recognizes the reputation Southside has gained in the community.

"This side of town has always had a bad rap kind of reputation in the community, and I don't see that. I see compassion. I see humble people who just need to be accepted," Heubusch said. "It's definitely changed over the years, but for the better."

The store, as any regular knows, represents Batavia's diversity. Every segment of Batavia's community visits the store daily, either for a sub, snacks, drinks, or some essential grocery item.

That wasn't an aspect of the business Heubusch necessarily anticipated when he bought the location more than three decades ago but it's a big part of what he enjoys about the business.

"I think over the years, it has become a passion. It's something you have to grow into," Heubusch said. "When I came into this business, I didn't know much. Everything was trial and error. You listen to your customers and get their needs, get them in here, and give them a fair price. It's and they come back. People don't want just a deli; it's a place you can go to, and everybody's happy. It's just a great atmosphere. And we developed that over the years, and I got great help here. They're compassionate, they care."

As a young man, Heubusch spent 12 years working in a salt mine. He only quit when a mining accident nearly took his life.

His year-long recuperation gave him time to reflect and reassess what he wanted to do with his life.

Heubusch, the son of a miner, purchased Southside Deli two years before the accident. He kept his mining job even as he tried to build the deli business. Digging out the salt of the earth so motorists could drive on de-iced asphalt offered Heubusch a sense of security not available to entrepreneurs. He didn't want to give up that steady paycheck and good benefits while trying to build his own business.

While convalescing, Heubusch said to himself, "Am I going to lay on this couch the rest of my life and live on comp or Social Security disability?"

"Once I was able to get around and be productive, that's when I said, really, 'it's all or nothing.' "

Born in Wyoming County, Heubusch graduated from Warsaw High School in 1977. He was 17 and couldn't get a job, so he went to work in his mother's upholstery business.

When he turned 18, he got his first job in a salt mine.

He was laid off, rehired, laid off and rehired again a couple of times over the next few years. During that time, he also worked for U.S. Gypsum and Le Roy Machine.

He bought a house in Batavia, and when he started working in the mine again, his daily commute took him down Ellicott Street.

Every day, he would drive past Southside Deli (Heubusch kept the name from the previous owner; In the 19th Century, it was Ebling Meat Market and the location has always been some sort of market). 

On the second floor of the building is a balcony. As he drove by each day, Heubusch would see a for sale sign hanging from the balcony rail.

That got his mind working.

"I'd see it and think to myself, 'Man, I'd love to work for myself.' I kept seeing that, fueling my idea of what I would do if I owned that."

There's a reason working in a salt mine is a metaphor in our culture's lexicon for arduous work. It's hard labor.

In flush times, Heubusch worked 10 to 12-hour days, seven days a week.

"There were days I never saw daylight."

One day, finally, he called a realtor and got the ball rolling.

Escrow closed Aug. 10, 1989. Heubusch opened Southside Deli for the first time under his ownership four days later.

Besides figuring out the deli business and making a great meal, Heubusch learned how to hire the right help, people who naturally walk in with good attitudes and friendly smiles.

"I've got my hardcore of people, but people graduate from high school, they go to college, they move out of the area, they get married, but for the most part, I've got a very good core of employees that actually help the newbies," Heubusch said. "All my employees who have ever left said this was like their favorite job. They were young, and they would learn. They would become more social. They would learn the aspects of how business works and be able to talk to people, and it was a very, very great learning experience for them, and they moved on. I've got people who worked here who are now doctors and lawyers."

Schultz said he and the rest of the Southside crew are proud to see the deli get recognition from the Chamber.

"It's huge, especially for him, you know, but for us too, especially a lot of us long-standing people," Schultz said. "It's almost like validation of just how hard he's worked, and we've worked to be a successful business. We're Team Deli."

NOTE: This is the first of seven stories The Batavian will publish today and tomorrow (Friday and Saturday) about this year's Chamber of Commerce award winners. The awards will be presented on Saturday evening at Batavia Downs. There are tickets still available to the event.

In just a handful of years, Kate Willson has established herself as a beauty entrepreneur to be reckoned with.

She has taken one business and added another a half mile down Main Street, creating hair, spa, and shopping experiences for her customers and employment for a dozen talented people in downtown Batavia.

Then again, Willson has been no stranger to the concept of putting in the effort for the rewards.

“Growing up in a blue-collar family, hard work was always modeled to me. From the moment I got my working papers, I was on a mission to work hard and earn my own money. I was always the friend that missed events or arrived late because I valued work,” she said.  “To this day, I'm grateful that I was shown what it was like to work hard. From my mom to past employers, I saw women creating income and having fun doing it. I'm grateful to say my entrepreneurial spirit has always been second nature, and my businesses are a labor of love. I love getting to serve this community with amazing beauty services.”

And serve she has, with Meraki Beauty, and her more recent venture that opened in July 2024, The Beauty Lounge by Meraki. Both endeavors have earned her an impressive nod with the Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneurial Business of the Year Award. The chamber awards dinner is on Saturday at Batavia Downs.

According to her website, "Meraki" means “to put love, creativity and soul into everything you do.” That has been Willson’s objective with her hair salon and then the spa and boutique, which she wanted to complement the next-door neighbor of Charles Men’s Shop.

In addition to offering luxury spa services, the space has been opened up in front for a reception area and half of it is a boutique for clothing, with another portion dedicated to an assortment of pampering products such as candles, body whips and butters, delicate chains with charms and jewelry with essential oil sprays from local vendors, plus a jewelry station.

Her current philosophy is to “follow your heart and do what feels right,” she said.

“I follow that in life and in business; I believe we are all different, and we have to pivot when we feel called,” she said. “That is how all my businesses and my life have been created —  following the little ideas and keeping my mind open.”

She had an open mind when first opening The Beauty Lounge, as she opted to accommodate many disgruntled customers left holding gift cards purchased from the former business that abruptly closed after the holidays. She offered a 50% value for the gift cards that were not purchased from her business. As one nomination form stated, “She is open, honest, she is loyal to her customers and will go out of her way to make you feel special and she has taught the other employees at her salon to be the same way.”

She chose the beauty industry because of her love for “building up other women.”

“Whether that’s my team or those that come to experience Meraki Beauty and The Beauty Lounge. Through my businesses in the beauty industry, I’m able to bring the community a place where women can go to feel welcome and leave feeling fully recharged and beautiful from the inside out,” she said. “That’s my favorite part of it; the amazing relationships that I have with my team and with our clients.”

Not that running your own business doesn’t have its challenges, she said. That have been many when it came to growing the first and second versions of Meraki. Launching the spa and boutique proved to be very demanding of her time, and Willson has been learning “the art of delegation” more each day, she said.

“It can be hard at first, and there have been so many skills I’ve had to learn that don’t come naturally to me. However, once you take the time as a leader to learn that each person on your team has unique strengths, knowing which tasks to pass on to others eventually becomes second nature,” she said. “Asking for help from people wiser than myself has been incredibly helpful in growing the businesses. My mom and many of my past employers have shaped me into who I am today. I am also incredibly blessed to have amazing women who sit in my chair each day, and I’m honored to draw so much wisdom from them. 

“As a leader, my hope is that I'm able to help all of my employees create beautiful lives, a great work-life balance, and build a solid group of women who support each other,” she said.  “Very recently, my family had a traumatic loss of a loved one, and it's never been more apparent to me how solid my team is, how much they care for each other and for me so well.  This award was truly earned by every team member within our walls. They inspire me each day to keep putting in the work.”

Because it does take that hard work and doesn’t just happen by accident, she said, her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to “know what you’re getting into before you jump in.” Do the research, talk to others who achieved the goals you’re after, start small, grow your confidence and skills and pivot as opportunities present themselves.

From the way she talks about her staff and husband, Willson also seems to have a strong support system, and she credits them all for part of her success. As she has been embraced as a positive role model for young women in her salon and for being an astute businesswoman, Willson recognizes the strength of her “amazing” workmates and life partner — her husband, who is “always down for my next idea.”

“My husband and I love bringing these elevated experiences to our local area, so I definitely could see more in time, but right now, my joke to him is that the next business is his idea and his baby because this girl is busy,” she said. 

When board members of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation walked into the meeting room at Batavia Downs on Thursday morning, they found at their assigned seats a bit of a surprise.

There was a 13-page book containing 10 proposals to reform policies for the organization.

The booklet, said CEO Byron Brown, was the result of two months of work with his executive staff to identify areas of concern and propose suggestions for policy changes.

"We have been looking at concerns that have been expressed about the operation of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation since I've been here as CEO," Brown said after a closed session meeting where most of his proposals were approved by the board. "We've done a top-to-bottom review so we can be more transparent as an organization, to look at ways to reduce expenses in the organization and drive greater profitability, and the reforms are around those items."

For the past few years, the OTB has been beset by a number of controversies, including how free tickets to sporting events are distributed, executive compensation and buyouts, health insurance, travel expenses, and management participation in tip distribution. 

The policy changes also address some less public issues, such as how raises are handled and the distribution of free play cards and gift cards.

Brown thinks if his new policies had been in place years ago, some of the public controversies could have been avoided.

"I have worked very closely with the board and the staff," Brown said. "The board was very open to looking at these issues and felt very positive that these reforms and these new policies will really strengthen the operation of Western Regional Off-track Betting Corporation."

The booklet also contained a bullet-point list of some of the reforms Brown has already initiated as the corporation's new CEO, such as tighter controls on how requests for sponsorships by area charities are handled and monthly reporting on advertising spending for broadcast.

Erie County rep pleased with reservations
The policy revisions were welcomed by Tim Callan, the Erie County representative on the board who has been perhaps the most persistent voice seeking reform since the board was reconstituted by the state Legislature more than a year ago.

"I'm very pleased with what Byron has done here," Callan said. "A couple of the items in the reform agenda -- about travel and changing the travel policy to get some things back under control there, changing and updating the procurement policy -- these were things that throughout last year I had been raising questions about. The sponsorship program, where the corporation gives sponsorships and donations to various groups, I've been raising a lot of questions about that. So to see that those three areas are being addressed by the new management team, I'm very happy to see that."

Callan, ever a stickler for details, does have concerns about how the reform package was brought to the board, and in the closed-door discussion (which he is also concerned about), he objected to two proposed policy proposals, which the board ultimately did not support.

Brown proposed reducing the cost of employee contract buyouts.

Some employees, including top executives, have contracts that stipulate how much severance they will receive if the contract is terminated early. 

In July 2024, the board of directors approved a buyout of former CEO Henry Wojtaszek's contract equal to one year salary, or $299,000. Outgoing CFO Jackie Leach's buyout was half her annual salary, or $122,000, and operations manager William White received $87,000.

Brown's report says that a review of contracts found there is no standard severance pay and benefits package for employees under contract. One employee, not named, has reached a settlement that allows that employee to work from home until November, earning until that time $174,907. 

Brown recommended capping severance to four months' salary. The board tabled the proposal and called for research on standard procedures in the gaming industry.

Callan said he opposes providing OTB employees with any severance pay, even though the practice is common in corporate America.

He said WROTB is not a private company. It's a public benefit corporation with a mission of generating revenue for the state and the 17 municipalities that control the corporation. As a quasi-state agency, employees are part of the state's generous pension system.

"That's something you folks in the private sector are not getting," Callan said. "You guys have to have 401(k)s, and Roth IRAs or whatever you do to help provide for yourselves in retirement. Well, folks here have that state pension ability separate from whatever saving they do on their own. So it's not an apples and oranges comparison for me to say, a private casino where, you know, they're not going to get a pension, and it's a private entity."

Wrapped into the contract buyout policy proposal was a proposal to address inequality in health insurance coverage for non-union employees.

Non-union employees hired before 2012 pay only 5% of their insurance premiums. Those hired after Jan. 1, 2012 pay 72% for a family plan (single plans remain 5%).

There are 38 employees who were hired before 2012 and 72 hired after the change policy.

In an interview, Callan disclosed that the monthly premiums for Batavia Downs employees are significantly higher than typical for group insurance policies. 

Human Resources Director Danielle Fleming later confirmed that a family health insurance plan is $3,325 monthly. The employee contribution, if hired after Jan. 1, 2012, is 72 percent, or $2,394.

Brown's proposal, which has not yet been approved, is to find a way to close the gap between the two groups of employees and set the employee-share of future management hires at 20%. Currently, seven members of management staff pay a 20% share of their premiums.

"It's obviously incredibly expensive for the employee. It's obviously also incredibly expensive for the corporation, where the corporation to bear the expense," Callan said. "I loudly expressed my objection to that in the executive session and said that I would not vote for it. And I thought that needed further discussion. When we have members of the management team make $190,000 or more, and persons in the mid-$100,000s, to send a message and say to them and say, "Okay, you only have to pay 20% of the cost of health insurance,' but somebody here that makes $17.50 an hour has to pay 72%, that, to me, is not right, and so the management team, after some members of the board objected and raised questions on that, agreed to pull it back, and I think we're gonna have some further discussions on that topic next month."

Callan said that while overall, he is pleased with the policy changes, especially since several of them are responsive to issues he's raised over the past 13 months, he thought it was a violation of the open meeting law not to have the agenda explicitly state that the board would do more on Thursday than engage only in a general policy discussion, but actually have written policy changes to consider and vote on.

He also said it could be a violation of the open meeting law to have most of the discussion in closed session.

Asked about the exemption used under the state's Open Meeting Law, Brown said it was a personnel matter.

"There were a number of personnel items that were discussed, so that was the reason why the board went into executive session in that particular discussion, where we were discussing salaries, benefits for specific individuals," Brown said.

Callan said the only policy item that addressed specific people was the health insurance discussion, which involved seven individuals. Otherwise, the rest of the policy discussion did not touch on specific individuals. In his view, the policy discussion should have occurred in open session.

"We have a lot of discussions in committees, including an executive session, a lot of which I don't think should be an executive session under the law, but that's another story you and I have spoken about before," Callan said. "I don't think, in hindsight, it should have been an Executive Session."

Accountability and profitability
Among the policies highlighted by Brown in an interview were changes to how sports tickets are distributed and whether the OTB will continue to purchase a suite and tickets to Buffalo Bills games after the coming season.

When the Bills move into the stadium, it appears the cost of the suite will double, raising the annual cost to $200,000, which may not have the return on investment the OTB seeks.

Brown said Batavia Downs is negotiating with the Bills organization.

"We're looking at tightening the ticket policy, making sure that when we do provide tickets and benefits, those are going to our customers, and they're going to our customers in a way that generates more business for the corporation," Brown said. "We're looking at travel policy to tighten our policies on what we spend when people have to travel for business purposes, going to conferences, going to training. All of those things, I think, would have eliminated some of the issues that the corporation has faced in the past."

The ultimate goal, Brown said, is a corporation that is more efficient and more profitable.

"The agenda is about going forward, looking at issues with the board, with the staff, that we saw as concerns, things that we felt could be improved, ways that we could increase transparency, that we could increase profitability, reduce expenses," Brown said. "So, going forward, this will make the corporation stronger. This is a place where people love to come and, after expenses, generates over $90 million a year. We want to continue to produce that kind of revenue and grow the revenue."

The policy changes approved by the OTB board of directors:

Merit Raises: Over the past three years, 102 OTB employees have received merit raises for a total cost of $392,166. Merit raises are supposed to be approved by the board's personnel committee.  There is no documentation indicating these raises were approved by the personnel committee. There were 22 raises in 2022, 50 in 2023, 28 in 2024.  The average per year is $130,722. The new policy would budget $100,000 for merit raises.  Department heads would recommend merit raises, and if approved by the CEO, the request would go to the personnel committee for approval.  All raises would need to be submitted by July 1 of each year. One issue this policy will address is the appearance of favoritism. Five employees received merit raises in each of the past three years.

Video Record Board Meetings: Video recording all board meetings would be inexpensive and easy to accomplish, and multiple "good government" groups recommend it. Some of the municipalities represented on the OTB board are more than a two-hour drive from Batavia, making board attendance difficult for some interested parties. Recordings would be posted on the OTB website within 24 hours of the meeting.

Renewal of Buffalo Bills Suite: The current contract for the suite expires after the the coming season. The suite is considered a great marketing tool for Batavia Downs. The casino conducts drawings for tickets and also provides tickets to high rollers. However, the cost for suite in the new stadium will nearly double. During the past season, OTB paid $114,205 for 16 tickets per game. A new 12-person suite would cost $200,000 per year, with price increases of 5% per season. The return on investment would be low. The cost outweighs the benefits. OTB will try to negotiate a lower price suite.

Travel Policy: WROTB has been criticized for "extravagant" travel.  While the spending on travel for some executives exceeded state limits, and a public benefit corporation, WROTB, is exempt from those caps. The comptroller recommends OTB implement and enforce policies that are reasonable. The new policy would require a form to be completed that lists all anticipated expenses for both in-state and out-of-state travel. For in-state travel, the CEO would review and potentially approve the travel. For out-of-state travel, if the CEO recommends approval, the board of directors would be asked to approve the travel.

Transparency of Procurement: For procurement of goods and services, currently, no quotes are required for costs less than $5,000, for $5,000 to $10,000, documented verbal quotes from at least two vendors, for $10,000 to $15,000, written quotes from at least two vendors, and for more than $15,000 public bidding that is subject to board approval. There are also policies dealing with sole-source procurement and single-source procurement. The new policy would require bidding on services and purchases of $15,000 (which is less than the requirement of municipal law).  The reform also recommends a written policy for procuring goods an services that would clarify the difference and use of sole source and single source vendors.

Job Postings: An average of 73 jobs are posted annually, and most are posted internally. Jobs are posted on bulletin boards and if external candidates are sought, on social media. Under the reform, the process for applying through the OTB's website will be improved and all publicly advertised positions will be consistently posted on social media with a link to the Batavia Downs application page. 

Tipping Policy: Batavia Downs does not currently have a tip-pooling policy, which can lead to operational, legal, and employee-related issues. The approved reform is to write a uniform tipping policy for the facility, including who is eligible to receive a portion of the tip pool, as well as policy for distribution and reporting tips for tax purposes. Supervisors will no longer receive a portion of the mandatory 20 percent tip for booked events.

Free Play Policy: The new policy will standardize free play coupons that an authorized person will sign. Upon redemption, a note will be made in the computer on who authorized the free play. This will assist in auditing free play.  After March 15, only free play coupons created under the new policy will be honored.

Gift Card Tracking: Grocery and gas gift cards are used as an incentive for booking hotel rooms. In 2024, Batavia Downs purchased $160,000 in gift card, at $20 each. The gift cards were tabulated into the cost of rooms, so there was no additional cost to the corporation. Other gift cards can sometimes provided to the hotel for hotel packages or requested by officers or department heads to reward staff members for work done above and beyond their duties. Gift cards are logged but there is no standard approval process. Under the new policy, officers and department heads will complete a request form that will require approval by the chief administrative officer. A record will be maintained of gift cards requested by officers and department heads for future auditing purposes.

Download PDF: WROTB 2025 Reform Agenda.

Jason Ostrowski dazzled and electrified a near-capacity crowd at Batavia Downs on Thursday night, playing the best songs of two iconic rock and roll piano players, singers, and songwriters, Elton John and Billy Joel.

Previously: Rochester native returns to Batavia Downs on Feb. 27 with a high-energy homage to Elton John and Billy Joel

Photos by Howard Owens.

Press Release:

The HomeCare & Hospice Foundation invites community members to brighten lives while supporting compassionate hospice care through its 31st Annual Spring Bouquet Sale. With more than 10 pop-up locations across Allegany, Cattaraugus, Genesee, and Wyoming counties, this beloved fundraiser directly benefits terminally ill patients and their families.

Each pop-up location will offer vibrant 9- and 18-stem bouquets as well as Oliver’s Chocolate candy bars, making it easy to bring joy to a loved one while supporting a meaningful cause.

Bouquets serving Allegany and Cattaraugus counties are locally crafted by Mandy’s Flowers of Olean, while those in Genesee and Wyoming counties are created by Beverly’s Flowers and Gifts of Batavia. 

Prices are $15 for a 9-stem bouquet, $25 for an 18-stem bouquet, and $2 per candy bar. Every purchase helps provide vital hospice services, ensuring comfort and care for those in need.

“Each bouquet represents more than just flowers—it’s a symbol of hope, support, and the kindness that makes our communities stronger,” said Melissa Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of HomeCare & Hospice. “By purchasing a bouquet, you are directly contributing to compassionate end-of-life care for those who need it most.”

New this year, the Foundation has partnered with Crosby’s Convenience Stores to expand the reach of this important fundraiser.

Rob Augustine, Crosby’s Director of Sales and Merchandising, shared his enthusiasm for the initiative, stating, “Crosby’s is proud to support HomeCare & Hospice by hosting pop-up locations at our stores in Corfu, Friendship, Hinsdale, and Perry. We are excited to help spread smiles throughout our communities.”

In addition to the pop-up sales, St. Bonaventure University’s men’s basketball game will host a bouquet pop-up location near the bookstore at the Reilly Center on March 5, allowing fans to support hospice care while cheering on the Bonnies.

Pop-Up Sale Locations & Dates:

Monday, March 3

1. Jones Memorial Hospital (10 a.m. – 1 p.m.)
2. Olean Food Barn (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.)
3. Olean Walmart (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.)
4. Olean General Hospital (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.)
5. Olean YMCA (9 a.m. – 12 p.m.)
6. Crosby’s Hinsdale
7. Crosby’s Friendship

Tuesday, March 4

1. Olean Food Barn (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.)
2. Olean Walmart (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.)
3. Olean General Hospital (10 a.m. – 4 p.m.)
4. Olean YMCA (9 a.m. – 12 p.m.)
5. Crosby’s Hinsdale
6. Crosby’s Friendship

Wednesday, March 5 

1. St. Bonaventure Reilly Center (6 – 8:30 p.m.)
2. Crosby’s Hinsdale
3. Crosby’s Friendship
4. Crosby’s Corfu
5. Crosby’s Perry

Thursday, March 6

1. Crosby’s Corfu
2. Crosby’s Perry
3. Wyoming County Community Health System (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.)
4. United Memorial Medical Center (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.)

Friday, March 7

1. Crosby’s Corfu
2. Crosby’s Perry
3. Wyoming County Community Health System (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.)

“The Spring Bouquet Sale is a beautiful way to honor loved ones while ensuring that hospice care remains available to all who need it,” added Sullivan. “We are grateful for the ongoinggenerosity of our communities and look forward to seeing many friendly faces at our pop-up locations.”

For more information, please contact HomeCare & Hospice at 716-372-2106 or visit https://BouquetSale.givesmart.com.

A hero-themed park as an ode to first responders, with each a veterans and first responders memorial, boardwalk, lookout point, picnic shelter, gazebo, interpretive art panels, asphalt parking lot, and much more is on the books for construction within the next year or two as officials seek funding, says Molly Vendura of Landscape Architecture and Charlotte Brett of New York Green.

The women presented the plan as representatives of a multi-agency committee consisting of the town and city of Batavia, Genesee County Chamber of Commerce, Planning and Parks departments, Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security, Veteran’s Affairs, and U.S. Department of Immigration.

“So the construction plan will be ready by the end of May, and then we really just need to, we'll have cost estimates at that point. We'll be applying for grants. And it would be great if we could get a grant in the next year and then construct it in the next year,” Brett said during an information meeting Wednesday at Batavia Town Hall. “But it really depends on how quickly the town can secure funding. It’s likely to be a year or two.”

New York Green received funding from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Legacy Funds administered by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo for the design of a proposed new public park on a property owned by the town of Batavia and located on Park Road in the city of Batavia. 

The initial phases have taken place since last summer, from a geographic survey and preliminary concepts, comments from town officials for revisions, and finally, a “buffet” of various options for the Army Corps of Engineers to work with for a final plan, Vendura said.

The park would be in a large area encompassing a pond and wetlands in the northwest corner of the property along Park Road and Veterans Memorial Drive, backing up to the VA. 

There would also be two EV charging stations for vehicles, and chargers for electric bikes and scooters, a landscape plant bed to shield visitors from the farthest northwest corner traffic and wind, a monument sign, gated access at the adjacent VA Hospital and Monsignor Apartments, a kayak launch, benches and vegetation to serve as a buffer for the flocks of geese that are regular visitors to the area.

The Batavian asked Vendura how the construction and creation of this park might disrupt those geese and other wildlife, such as rabbits and deer, in the area. The establishment of wetlands serves as some protection, she said.

“Because we are in a wetland area, we have to be very careful to minimize disturbance to the existing vegetation and soils,” she said. “So just by nature of that, the disruption from the construction of this park will be as minimal as possible because we're required to by the DEC when we do work in a wetland."

So, even laying down a 19-spot asphalt parking lot won’t disturb nature?

“Regarding that parking lot area, that actually used to be where the road cut through the property, so the town took out the road and just put some soil and grass seed on top of it right now, but under that is already existing sub base from the old road, so we're not actually disturbing pristine ground to put in the parking lot,” she said, answering if any trees would be removed with the underbrush. “It’ll be if there’s dead trees, not living trees, it might be more of like shrubby material, and typically it’s invasive shrubs like buckthorn and honeysuckle. So we would be actually improving the environment for native pollinators and birds by removing the invasive species, the shrubs, but also be opening the view for security reasons and safety.”

Rick Iannello, one of the half-dozen residents who attended the meeting, was interested in fishing. He has seen programs offered to kids in other areas and has enjoyed watching the youth here get a chance to throw a line in when possible.

“One of the things I think is really heartening is when you go over to DeWitt Park, you see a lot of young kids fishing. I think it's terrific, you see these kids are out there casting a line or doing whatever. But it's awful nice to see that,” he said. “And along with that would be the thought that if you perhaps had an area that was set aside for kids to fish and to learn how to fish. You could go back to the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation on their youth initiative and see if there would be the ability of them to kick in some additional funds for something like that."

Wilson Legacy Funds were established to provide support to four areas that were important to Mr. Wilson: caregivers, community assets, design and access, and youth sports. Vendura and Brett were take notes about the fishing idea.

Barbie Starowitz of Elba wanted to know why a dog park couldn’t be part of the plan, especially given that the VA has therapy dogs, she said. While the wetlands protect nature in some ways, they fall under state and federal regulation and would not be suitable for a dog park, Vendura said. And that section of the town space would have to be fenced off, which is not part of the overall project, she said.

Batavia Town Supervisor Greg Post said that the town owns property that is “developable and is willing to work with whatever collaborative agencies want to assist us in supporting that.”

“What we're looking for is a viable partner to assist with the collaboration for the funding of the initial design and the cost of maintenance for that specific sector, that community that would be benefited by that,” he said. “My board members can confirm that we've had a number of discussions and have the means to assist any agency that wants to come in, or an organization or club that wants to start that.”

As for the town park that is on the table, organizers are inviting people to submit a name for it and will be seeking funding sources before it can begin. Post is not concerned about raising the $2 million to $3.5 million he estimated it would take, he said.

“We're very persistent, and we're looking for enough partnership that I do not think that this will be an issue,” he said. “I think any recreational opportunity that services our veterans and all of those community visitors, as well as our children and grandchildren, is a good thing. We're very pleased that we've had the support of all of our regional partners, and we're very grateful for the Wilson Foundation for supporting our design. And much appreciate all the Partnership for it, and we're committed to seeing this thing done sooner than later.”

Any questions or name suggestions may be emailed to supervisor@townofbatavia.com. Post  advises to send them “sooner than later.”

Batavia High School Production Club’s musical, set to debut for three days this weekend, is quite relevant to current events, Director Caryn Wood says, but she and her cast didn’t really intend it to be.

It just so happens that they all love “Newsies,” and Wood grew up a massive fan of the original movie in 1992.

Based on the real-life Newsboy Strike of 1899, this Disney musical tells the story of Jack Kelly, a rebellious newsboy who dreams of a life as an artist away from the big city. After publishing giant Joseph Pulitzer raises newspaper prices at the newsboys’ expense, Kelly and his fellow newsies take action. With help from the beautiful female reporter Katherine Plumber, all of New York City soon recognizes the power of “the little man.”

“I knew every word of every song as a kid. The Broadway musical keeps all the original music and adds even more,” she said to The Batavian. “It’s a show that I have wanted to do for a long time and hadn’t felt the time was right yet. This show was selected after the students themselves really campaigned for it.”

Campaigned, you ask? Her students would stand outside Wood’s office door singing the show’s songs, and make tiny replica newspapers and slide them underneath her door. They would stick post-it notes on her door and deliver fortune cookie messages, only about “Newsies” instead of love or fortune.

“Gentle nudges, we will say. I had narrowed a list down of my top three show choices and polled the students. ‘Newsies’ was most everyone’s first or second choice,” she said. “Timing is everything. I was already interested in doing it and the kids were overwhelmingly in favor of it. And so here we are.”

The show is set for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at BHS, 260 State St., Batavia.

How can it not be relevant, though, she asked, with songs and lyrics like:

• "Now is the time to seize the day"
• "Give life's little guys some ink and when it dries, just watch what happens"
• "One for all and all for one"
• "Courage can not erase our fears, courage is when we face our fears"

“We're watching a group of young people actively organize a strike on stage, and having said that, though, there's plenty of fun and comedy too. This production is powerful, moving, funny, and extremely engaging,” she said. “I think, though, that maybe themes in this show reflect a recurring theme throughout history, highlighting the need to rise up against corruption and oppression and that coming together in support of a just cause can affect positive change. Honestly, when isn't that relevant?”

Spectators have described rehearsals as dynamic and passionate, high-spirited and heartwarming. Wood said that people can look out for high energy dance numbers, “beautiful and powerful” vocals, and exceptional acting.

“And more than anything, a group of high school performers (cast, crew, and musicians) who are giving their all, and who believe in what they can achieve together,” she said. “Every person will find something to like about this show; it's truly wonderful.” 

Tickets can be purchased online for $10.50 here or at the door $10/$12.

To view or purchase photos, click here.