notify

Diana Lynn Bloom, 62, of State Street, Batavia, is charged with two counts fourth-degree grand larceny, which is a Class E felony: for allegedly taking property with a value greater than $1,000 and for allegedly taking it from a person. She was arrested on Aug. 3. It is alleged that at 1:49 p.m. on July 3 she stole an envelope full of money from the victim's pocket, while inside a business in the 100 block of West Main Street in the City of Batavia. She was issued an appearance ticket and is due in Batavia City Court on Nov. 10. The case was investigated by Batavia Police Officer Christopher Lindsay, assisted by Officer Jason Ivison.

Marshawn J. Singletary, 38, of Oak Street, Batavia, is charged with: first-degree criminal contempt; third-degree menacing; and second-degree harassment. At 6:33 p.m. on Aug. 6 on Oak Street, Singletary allegedly shoved a person who has a stay away order of protection against him and threatened that person with a vacuum cleaner. He was arraigned in Batavia City Court and put in jail on $3,000 cash bail, $6,000 bond, or $12,000 partially secured bond. Singletary was due to return to court on Aug. 10. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Wesley Rissinger, assisted by Miah Stevens.

Nateeka M. Gibson, 31, of Tracy Avenue, Batavia, is charged with failure to appear. Gibson was located and arrested on three separate warrants for failure to appear in Batavia City Court. Gibson faces charges of second-degree harassment, third-degree robbery, and two counts of petit larceny. Gibson was transported to Batavia Police Headquarters, processed and released. He was due in city court Aug. 3. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer John Gombos, assisted by Officer Felicia DeGroot.

Jimpce Jay Etienne, 44, of Warren Street, Batavia, is charged with second-degree harassment. Etienne was arrested at 8:36 p.m. on Aug. 8 on Warren Street after allegedly swinging a fist at the victim. The defendant was issued an appearance ticket and is due in Batavia City Court on Nov. 17. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Adam Tucker, assisted by Officer Sean Wilson.

Edward R. Freida, 49, of Pringle Avenue, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Freida was arrested after an investigation into a shoplifting incident at 10:22 p.m. July 28 at the Kwik Fill gas station and convenience store at Jackson and Ellicott streets in the city. He was issued an appearance ticket and is due in Batavia City Court on Oct. 27. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer John Gombos, assisted by Officer Felicia DeGroot.

A man from Rochester and another from Batavia are facing narcotics dealing charges following a raid by the Local Drug Task Force on Wednesday morning of residence at 22 Hutchins Place, Batavia.

Donald Brown, 46, of Liberty Pole Way, Rochester, is charged with: two counts of criminal possession of controlled substance, 3rd; criminal possession of a controlled substance, 4th; criminal using drug paraphernalia, 2nd; criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th; criminal mischief, 4th; and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Ronnie K. Johnson, 50, of Hutchins Place, is charged with two counts of criminal possession of controlled substance, 3rd.

Both men were arraigned in Batavia City Court and ordered held without bail.

The press release from the Genesee County Sheriff's Office doesn't state what drugs the two men were suspected of selling.  

Also arrested was Madalyn R. Muntz, 34, of Hutchins Place. She is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, and unlawful possession of marijuana. She was released on an appearance ticket.

Assisting in the investigation and raid were Batavia PD, the Sheriff's Office, State Police, City fire, Batavia Code Enforcement, and the District Attorney's Office.

Top photo: Reader-submitted photo.

Update 11:40 a.m. with media release from Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski:

The City of Batavia Interim City Manager and Police Chief will move forward to assess the draft City of Batavia Deer Management Plan and will make recommendations to the City Council in the near feature (sic) regarding how the City could move forward to evaluate and reduce the deer population in the City of Batavia. The Interim Manager and Police Chief will look to review the plan amidst the current COVID-19 circumstances, City liability considerations, and best practices as put forth by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

“The plan is a great start and we do not want to lose site (sic) of the City’s goals to evaluate and manage the deer population that is problematic to resident’s vegetation and quality of life,” said John Canale, City Council member, 3rd Ward, and liaison to the Deer Management Committee. “The City of Batavia would like to thank the members of the City of Batavia Deer Committee for their work.” 

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Update: 11:10 a.m. with Council Member Robert Bialkowski's comments:

"That was a surprise and I'm very sorry to see it happen. I've sat on a couple committees that all of a sudden were just disbanded, and it's a lot of work. It's bad, and I didn't expect it. Going forward, I suggest that we just set it aside for a little while and take a breath. Everybody calm down, and let's decide which way we want to go. I respect all the work that the committee did."

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In a meeting that lasted 33 seconds this morning, the City's Deer Management Plan Committee announced that it was resigning, effective immediately.

Committee spokesperson Russ Nephew, in a prepared statement, said:

"For the past month and a half, the committee members consisting of Sam (DiSalvo), Gus (Galliford), Fred (Gundell), Kent (Klotzbach) and I have been used, disrespected, lied to and lied about. In lieu of this, we are removing ourselves from the Deer Management Committee as of this moment."

To which Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski replied “Thank you.”

The four committee members at the meeting at City Hall Council Chambers (Klotzbach was unable to attend) did not sit down as Nephew spoke, and left right away.

The Batavian reporter asked Tabelski and City Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. if they wished to comment. Both declined.

Others at the meeting included Police Chief Shaun Heubusch, City Attorney George Van Nest and Council Member Robert Bialkowski.

Council Member John Canale, the committee liaison, was on his way up the stairs to the meeting when he was told what had transpired. He, too, said he did not wish to comment.

In recent days, the committee has publicly claimed that it has been kept out of the loop regarding changes in the plan.

Today's developments are unfortunate along all fronts as the committee met more than 30 times over the past eight months and even walked the areas identified as hunting zones in the plan that they developed.

And now the city is faced with challenges of how to implement the plan to reduce the deer population without the guidance of a committee initially charged with monitoring its progress over a three-year period. 

"We put in more than 300 hours," Galliford said afterward at Nephew's home on State Street. 

"Every page of that plan (which has 24 pages) we hashed over, argued about and researched, making numerous revisions along the way," Gundell added.

DiSalvo, an experienced hunter and trainer, said recent changes in the plan were made without committee input.

"This is beyond disappointing," DiSalvo said, calling a change that allows only city employees to hunt on two areas of primarily city-owned property "a slap in the face to the Genesee County Federation of Sportsmen," members of the 12 clubs who, according to the plan, are the first priority when it comes to selecting those deemed qualified to hunt.

DiSalvo said the decision to exclude the Sportsmen club members from those zones, which he said was made by Tabelski and Van Nest, "is descrimination by the book."

"This goes against everything in the plan," he said. "I have looked at plans from Syracuse to Buffalo and Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania and none of them have those restrictions. What they have done is create a hunting preserve for city employees."

Furthermore, DiSalvo contends that Tabelski asked him to write something detailing the procedure for selecting the hunters and their unit, which he did, but that information did not end up in the plan.

Nephew has been vocal about the lack of communication from city management since former City Manager Martin Moore departed in late June. He said he requested a full committee meeting with Tabelski a few days after she moved up from assistant city manager to acting city manager, but was rebuffed.

"Her exact words were 'I don't have time for that. I'll just deal with you,' " Nephew said. "She basically slammed the door in our face from the word go."

Gundell said if Moore was still involved, the outcome would have been different.

"If Mr. Moore was here today, we wouldn't be talking about this," he said. "He was at every meeting and he even went to sportsmen club meeting because he wanted to learn more about them and what they thought. This committee is defunct because our two leaders -- Moore and Russ -- are done."

Committee members also said they were betrayed by Jankowski, who, according to Nephew, "threatened to shut the committee down if we continued to go to the press."

As it currently stands, the plan has yet to be approved by City Council. The board, at Monday night's meeting, tabled it until September's Business meeting.

Previous story: Council, manager attempt to smooth things over with deer management plan committee

It’s happening in Texas. Could it happen in our neck of the woods?

The Garland Independent School District and Lancaster ISD in Dallas County, Texas, reportedly will allow their teachers to wear scrubs once schools reopen.

According to a story on WFAA, the ABC television affiliate in Dallas, Garland ISD Superintendent Ricardo López said that teachers had requested the change to the dress code in light of the fact that they will be responsible for health-related measures to combat the coronavirus.

“Scrubs are easier to clean. You don’t have to worry about ruining them. You put them in high-temperature hot water and if they come out a little faded, you are not going to worry that it is not your best clothing. So, we said why not,” López said.

As far as teachers in scrubs in Genesee County, depending upon how things go in September, it is a possibility.

“I did have a teacher this past week who ‘joked’ about it to me,” said John Fisgus, superintendent of Oakfield-Alabama Central School District. “The funny thing is, I don't know how ‘joking’ they were. I basically stated, ‘Well, we don't have a formal dress code for teachers, staff, and faculty, so as long as it looks appropriate for work, do what you think is best for you!’ ”

Fisgus added that if everyone wore scrubs, “it could look bad,” but said that in certain instances for faculty and staff, he wouldn’t mind it.

Batavia City School District Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr. said scrubs or protective gear might be allowed if a teacher believed that he or she needed that type of clothing to feel safe.

“We just expect them to dress professionally, but if they wanted to wear something that they felt they needed then, obviously, we would want to work with them,” Soler said. “Hopefully, that would come from some kind of recommendation or accommodation, but again we want our staff to feel safe and we want to feel safe.

“If they feel that’s what they need to come in to teach, we just would want to be aware of that -- as far as the optics are concerned -- and make sure that is truly necessary. We’re not necessarily opposed to it, but that’s not something we’re out there promoting.”

Soler said Batavia teachers haven’t brought up the issue.

“I think Texas is in a different spot right now – they’re a major hot point while they’re opening schools, whereas in New York our infection rate is lower,” he offered. “I know there are serious concerns around the virus, legitimately so, but that has not come up in terms of folks wanting to wear anything of that nature.”

Mark Warren, president of the Batavia Teachers’ Association, concurred that the subject has not come up yet.

“If people wanted to do that, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But it hasn’t come up in discussions with the district,” he said. “I don’t think there would be a rule against it. I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t be allowed.”

Teachers in all districts will be wearing masks, social distancing and, to some degree, assisting students with the proper protocols to ensure everyone’s health and safety.

Proponents of scrubs say that type of clothing has its advantages for the following reasons:

• They present a clean and neat appearance;
• They are durable;
• They are easy to care for and disinfect by washing and drying;
• They have pockets for storage;
• They aren’t that expensive.

It is said that a good pair of scrubs holds up through at least 30 washes, so in theory, teachers can buy uniforms once each school year.

Soler said he will be wearing a suit and tie – as well as a facemask – and adhering to all the other requirements mandated by the governor’s office and the state Department of Health.

“We’re not saying, hey, go out and get a full hazmat suit and come into work,” he quipped. “We’re hoping to make this feel as normal as possible.”

Edward George Ruckdeschel, 58, of Liberty Street, Batavia, is charged with third-degree grand larceny, a Class D felony. The defendant was arrested after an investigation into the theft of a vehicle at 8:54 p.m. on Jan. 13 on Genesee Street in Pembroke. He was arraigned in Pembroke Town Court at 11 a.m. Aug. 11 and ordered held on cash bail (unspecified) and put in jail "where he is currently residing." He is due in Genesee County Court at a later date. The case was investigated by Genesee County Sheriff's Investigator Howard Carlson.

Edward George Ruckdeschel, 58, of Liberty Street, Batavia is charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, and third-degree criminal trespass. On Aug. 10, the defendant was arrested after an investigation into the theft of a vehicle at 1:05 a.m. on Dec. 10 from West Main Street Road in Batavia. He was released on an appearance ticket and is due in Town of Batavia Court on Sept. 24. The case was investigated by Genesee County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Forsyth.

Brian L. Dutton, 62, of Pavilion, is charged with unlawfully growing cannabis (marijuana) and unlawful possession of marijuana in the second degree. He was arrested Aug. 12 following a joint investigation by the U.S. Border Patrol and the Wyoming County Sheriff's Office. A U.S. Border Patrol helicopter allegedly located cannabis growing inside a metal enclosure behind Dutton's residence on Aug. 7, and the pilot led deputies to the location. The plants, allegedly grown by Dutton, were seized and destroyed. Dutton was issued an appearance ticket and is due in Town of Covington Court on Aug. 31. The case was handled by Wyoming County Sheriff's Sgt. Colin Reagan, Deputy John Button, and Investigator Aaron Anderson.

The Genesee County Planning Board on Thursday is expected to consider 14 referrals, including a new professional office building in the Town of Alexander, an addition at PCORE Electric Inc. in Le Roy, a community center in the Village of Oakfield, and an auto repair/print shop associated with a faith-based group in Darien.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be conducted via Zoom videoconferencing.

Tony Batog of A/C Associates is seeking a special use permit and site plan approval to put up the office building on a 1-acre parcel zoned Agricultural-Residential at 11198 Alexander Road (Route 98).

Per the Town of Alexander’s zoning regulations, a special use permit is required prior to the construction of a mixed use residential/professional office building.

County Planning Director Felipe Oltramari said a house on the property will be coming down to make way for the 92- by 50-foot office building, with office space to be available for leasing.

David Ciurzynski of Ciurzynski Consulting LLC, of Attica, project manager, said that Batog's business will occupy one of the offices and that two or three other office spaces are planned for the single-story structure that will feature a brick facade.

"It will have a commercial look with a residential feel," Ciurzynski said, adding that plans call for it to be complete next spring.

The location is south of the Village of Alexander, close to the Village of Attica, near Prospect Street and Route 98.

In Le Roy, the owners of PCORE Electric Inc., at 135 Gilbert St. (the Lapp Insulator campus) are requesting a special use permit to build a 2,800-square-foot addition and a new 6,700-square-foot asphalt pad.

Town code stipulates that special use permits are necessary for expansion of nonconforming uses.

In Oakfield, RWNY Property Group has submitted a site plan for review by county planners in anticipation of placing a community center (food pantry and farmers’ market) at 33 S. Main St. (Route 63).

Applicant Sue Zeliff, in documents provided to the village planning board, noted that the center would be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The community center will go into a longstanding building that previously served as a dance studio.

In Darien, John Kula of Freedom Fellowship LLC, has applied for an area variance to put up a 3,200-square-foot three-bay auto repair garage and print shop at 254 Broadway Road (Route 20).

According to his application, the public garage will be used for vocational training associated with a ministry that supports those in recovery from substance use disorders. Work would be limited to light repair, tires, brakes and routine service.

In a letter to the Town of Darien Zoning Board and Genesee County Planning Board, Darien Zoning Officer Jerry Yoder wrote that the Total Freedom New York ministry is a private, faith-based residential alternative addictions facility, and included its mission:

“Helping men and woman 18 and over get set free from life controlling problems and behaviors. Part of the program goals are to empower people through vocational and skills development to engage in family and community. To that end, the business development facilitates program goals and provides income to offset operational expenses.”

Alabama Town Supervisor Robert Crossen acknowledged Monday night that he should already have a draft budget for town board members to review but given the uncertainty over revenue streams, he isn't quite ready to present a budget that could require drastic cuts to services.

There is some hope that Congress will pass a new stimulus bill that will include aid to local governments, all the way down to the town and village level.

If that happens, the town could get $100,000 in aid, and if the county and the other municipalities get proportional aid from the Federal government, it could give the County Legislature enough leeway to share sales tax with towns and villages.

The Town of Alabama's typical share has been $450,000.

"We're not a very big town so when you take out $450,000, that's a lot of money," Crossen said. "That's people. That's things we're not going to be able to do."

That could mean, Crossen told the board, eliminating a town justice, not paving roads, eliminating part-time employees.

It's likely the town will need to raise property taxes in excess of the state limit and in preparation of that anticipating increase, the town board unanimously approved tax cap override legislation Monday night.

Crossen said county officials have been as cooperative as they can be while trying to negate the current financial crisis -- brought on by the  global coronavirus pandemic.

"They have bent over backward to say we're under a lot of pressure here and we're going to work this out together with you guys," Crossen said.

If solar farms are coming to the Town of Alabama, local officials have determined that they would rather have some local control than letting the state have all the power.

Monday night, the town board approved a local ordinance that will allow the town to set some parameters on solar farms and perhaps keep the largest of them off good farmland.

"The planning board struggled with this over the months and months," said Supervisor Robert Crossen. "The town board did, too. None of us are about losing farmland but we with Article 10 saying this will happen, I guess my view is that this is part of what you have to do to stay in the game. If we don't participate in it, then we won't have a lot to say."

In other words, without adding Section 624 to the town code, the town won't have any say in the planning and siting of solar farms in the town.

Article 10 of the Public Service Law, passed in 2011, lays out the process for permitting new major electric-generating facilities, giving the responsibility for permitting and siting resides with the State Energy Siting Board. Without local building codes, local jurisdictions have no say in the size, scope, location, setbacks, visual screens, or decommissioning plans for the facilities.

"Our regulation attempts to put a footprint in the sand and say this is what we’d like to see," Crossen said after the meeting.

While the new law sets code standards for small installations for the personal use of solar energy on residential, commercial, and farm property, the key aspects of the new law cover what are considered Tier 3 and Tier 4 solar farms.

A Tier 3 installation is one of up to 1,500 square feet but generates more than 110 percent of the electricity used by the property it is installed on.

A Tier 4 installation is more than 50 acres in size.

Crossen said the town hopes it can use the new law to avoid large industrial installations but indicated the final decision will be part of the Article 10 process.

The town put in place a moratorium on new solar farms while it reviewed its options and Crossen said now that the new law is in place, he expects to see applications flowing in.

"We are well aware that there are many companies that are ready to propose many projects," Crossen said.

There are potential economic benefits to the town, in the form of fees (perhaps as much $5,500 per megawatt), as well as the county and the school district, for any commercial solar projects installed in the town.

The new ordinance also requires large projects to negotiate a host community agreement that should generate additional revenue for the town.

The sole resident to speak at the public hearing prior to Monday's town board meeting was resident Dave Bencic who questioned the town's commitment to protecting farmland by enacting a law that would permit solar farms on prime farmland.

Trustee Kevin Fisher recalled all the work that went to creating the town's farmland protection regulations but conceded town officials were hemmed in by state law.

"So much for home rule," Fisher said.

"So much for home rule, correct," Crossen said. He then called for the motion to adopt the new law. It passed unanimously.

Press release:

• Genesee County received two new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • The new positive cases reside in Batavia.
  • One of the positive individuals is in their 50s and one of the positive individuals is in their 80s.
  • Both of the individuals were on mandatory quarantine prior to testing positive.
  • Zero of the previous positive individuals have recovered and have been released from mandatory isolation.
  • Fifteen new individuals are on precautionary quarantine due to travel from restricted states.
  • Two of the positive individuals are hospitalized.
     
• Orleans County received zero new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • Eight new individuals are on precautionary quarantine due to travel from restricted states.

If the Batavia City Council has a plan to fill the vacancy caused by the departure of former City Manager Martin Moore, it isn’t revealing it – at least not yet.

Acting on the advice of the city attorney, Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. today sent an email to The Batavian, stating “it’s still very early in the process. (The) Novak (Consulting Firm) is available and is one of the options City Council is exploring.”

Jankowski said the board is “continuing the search process” but would not elaborate due to it being a personnel matter.

While Jankowski believes it is early in the process to find a permanent replacement for Moore, who left Batavia on June 22, another city resident said Council should have disclosed its plan by now.

John Roach, speaking during the public comments segment of Monday night’s City Council meeting, said council members knew that Moore was on his way out.

“You still haven’t decided what you are going to do about replacing him, and that seems kind of silly,” he said. “Once he said he was leaving, you should have had a meeting and said, ‘OK, let’s get a plan.’ You talk about having a plan and you talk about looking at a plan.”

Roach said he is in favor of hiring of Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski, who was brought on last August as the assistant city manager.

“Obviously, the person has been around awhile … you think you’re going to find somebody better?” he asked. “Save a little money -- save a little time -- make a decision. It’s kind of embarrassing that it has been months (actually nearly two months), and you haven’t even decided what the plan is.”

Sammy DiSalvo, a Democratic Party candidate for a City Council at-large seat in 2020, followed Roach to the podium but had a different viewpoint.

“I support holding a full search for a new city manager,” DiSalvo said. “Nepotism is not a way to run a city.”

The Batavian has asked Jankowski on separate occasions if a full search will be conducted, and if so, will Council be contracting with the Novak group out of Cincinnati, Ohio, again to conduct the search.

Novak coordinated the search that brought Moore from Eunice, N.M., to Batavia in August of 2018, and reportedly gave the city a guarantee that the next search would be at no charge if Moore left before completing two full years as city manager.

In a related development, the Valencia County News-Bulletin, a weekly newspaper in New Mexico, reported that Moore is one of 13 candidates for the city manager job in Belen, a city of about 7,400 people about 35 miles south of Albuquerque.

In what amounted to a protracted exercise in damage control, a few members of Batavia City Council and the acting city manager on Monday night accepted some responsibility for miscommunication with the Deer Management Plan Committee that has spent the past nine months working on ways to reduce the deer population in the city.

Council as whole, however, stopped short of approving the plan, instead opting to table it for further discussion and a possible vote at its Sept. 14 Business meeting at City Hall Council Chambers.

Council Member Robert Bialkowski’s question, “We’re there some changes made that didn’t include the committee?” triggered a 20-minute discussion – mostly a back-and-forth between Council Member and committee liaison John Canale and Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr., with some input from Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski.

Bialkowski’s query stemmed from a story on The Batavian last Friday indicating that the five-member committee believed that changes to the plan they had largely crafted were made without its knowledge or involvement.

Speaking for the committee in that story, Russ Nephew said they had been left out of the loop, and accused management of going behind closed doors to modify wording in the 21-page document. Other committee members are Samuel DiSalvo, Fred Gundell, Gus Galliford and Kent Klotzbach.

Phone Call to Committee Member not Returned

For his part, Canale said that he didn’t return a phone call from Nephew to provide an update, action that could have prevented hard feelings.

“To Bob’s point, this (the process of city management and attorney review and insertion of legal wording) was all going on and I had not gotten back to one of the committee members (Nephew) who has taken on one of the lead roles of the committee,” Canale said. “Because of that, and I had all intentions of calling him on the weekend, but what came up is I got a call from The Batavian, asking for comment on this because one of the committee members, Russ Nephew, had called and felt that they were being left out of the process.”

Reportedly, the committee took exception to not being informed of the following changes that were outlined in an Aug. 4 memo from Tabelski:

• Nobody other than city employees who qualify for the program will be allowed to hunt in areas 4 and 5, which are predominantly city-owned parcels located near the wastewater treatment plant and yard waste station.
• While supporting approval of the plan, “all activities related to (its) implementation” will be prohibited “until schools in Batavia are fully reopened.”

School Situation Changes Things

Canale addressed the school situation, stating that he brought the Batavia City School District’s hybrid schedule – some days in school and some days learning remotely at home – to Tabelski’s attention, putting safety first, and recommended holding off on any culling activities.

The plan stipulates that hunting in any of the five identified zones could take place only when school is in session.

“The wording as it stands now will not allow us to do the hunt,” Jankowski noted.

As far as the communication issues, Canale said he takes full blame “because I did not have the opportunity to get back to the committee and let them know what was going on.”

“It was also part of Rachael and I trying to work this thing out so we could get this thing approved and get it in motion,” he added.

Bialkowski said he wasn’t looking to blame anyone, but felt that the deer committee should have the opportunity to discuss the revisions.

Jankowski said he spoke to DiSalvo and Nephew earlier Monday.

Different Takeaways from Conversation

“He (Nephew) said he got a little overzealous and he got angry and went to the paper (The Batavian) instead of calling one of us and finding out what was going on,” Jankowski reported. “So, he was sorry about that, and said that he made a poor choice there. But he didn’t want that to cloud the issue of all the important work they have done.”

Contacted this morning, Nephew disputed Jankowski’s interpretation of their conversation.

“I did not say that I was sorry, I did not say that I made a poor choice in calling The Batavian and I never got emotional,” Nephew said. “Jankowski said, 'Gee Russ, I wish you would have called me first,' and I said "If you remember right, I did call you about John Canale not calling me back and you did nothing. And that’s why I went to the paper and I would do it again.' ”

During last night’s meeting Jankowski put forth two options – voting for the plan and amending it later, or tabling it.

“They (the committee) have a meeting scheduled for Thursday of this week (9 a.m. at City Hall),” Jankowski advised. “That was going to be more of an implementation meeting, but now it could be a ‘clean up that wording’ meeting, and all the miscommunication can be aired out at that meeting. Then we can bring it back to Council and have the final product then .. or we can vote on it now and amend that wording so that it works.”

Jankowski said that hunting will not be allowed until school “goes into a full-blown normal mode” (all students in the school buildings),” adding that no one knows how long the hybrid schedule will be in force.

Bialkowski: Stick with Our Committees

Bialkowski said his priority was to make sure committees comprised of city residents were treated with respect.

“My bigger concern is that when we appoint citizen committees we stay interactive with the committees and follow the committees through,” he said, citing past instances where committees worked hard and made progress before suddenly being disbanded by management.

As he did in the previous story on The Batavian, Canale explained that the committee did its job, and now the time had come for Tabelski and City Attorney George Van Nest to do theirs “for legal purposes and operational purposes.”

“(Former City Manager) Martin Moore would have had to do that same thing at some point and time … and that is what Rachael did in conjunction with George, the attorney. I explained that to Russ,” Canale said. “Unfortunately, it was Rachael Tabelski, a new player in the picture … and the appearance was she was making changes to the plan without notifying them.”

Canale said the committee will continue to be a “key player” in the city’s effort to thin the deer herd – charged with reporting back to Council with the plan’s progress – but Jankowski interjected that would be the case “at least in the beginning.”

“Eventually, we will need to take it over,” he said. “This can’t go on indefinitely.”

Nephew, responding today, said that the deer committee is designed to be a perpetual group, unlike other city committees.

“I told Jankowski that this is a committee that continually serves, year after year,” he said.

Areas 4 and 5 for City Employees Only

Tabelski said that she had set up the Thursday meeting with the committee to start implementation work.

“We are in a quiet period between legislative matters between one meeting to another – it’s a quiet period, nothing happens, and I think the committee, and maybe I didn’t communicate that well enough, but nothing happens right now,” she said. “This plan, Council looked at it in Conference, it’s coming to Business, we’ll move that forward and then will work on implementation.”

She said that there is only one change from the draft plan – the part about deer management areas 4 and 5, which are largely city property.

“… this plan would allow for city employees who qualify for the program to access the city-owned property only. So that is the only change, to be clear, in the actual plan document,” she said. “Originally, there was no intent of having anyone hunt on city property, so this is actually expanding the ability to hunt on that property.”

Jankowski said he communicated that to committee members on separate occasions.

“I talked to them tonight about it and they were OK with it. Like you said, it was a misunderstanding. I know they were warned in May or June about that but somehow ‘in one ear, out the other,’” he said. “They didn’t click on that and when it came down to the implementation and they read it, they said, 'Where did this come from?' ”

He said he hoped that things will get ironed out on Thursday at the meeting, which he plans to attend.

An Oversight or an Afterthought?

None of the deer committee members were at last night’s meeting, but all are expected to take part in Thursday’s meeting. But even that became a bone of contention as Nephew believes his group was invited as an afterthought.

“I found that there was going to be a meeting on August 13^th at 9 in the morning, so I called John Canale and also wanted to ask him if he heard that and if the attorney and Rachael were going to allow just city employees to hunt on areas 4 and 5,” Nephew said. “He said he didn’t know about that.”

Nephew said that Canale shared the email that he had received about the meeting on Thursday.

“He sent it to us and we weren’t included on the email; it was only Canale, Van Nest and Lisa Casey, their secretary. I emailed Lisa and she said your names were not on there. We will be sending an email to invite you,” he said.

“When somebody sends an email and it’s only two people, you would also say, "Let me know if you can make it.' I would think that you would send it to everyone and ask if they can make it. That’s the normal thing to do.”

Previous story: City proposes changes to deer management plan

By a 7-2 vote Monday night, the Batavia City Council granted $750 monthly stipends to three City Hall employees who have been taking on additional responsibilities during the absence of an assistant city manager.

Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski requested that Human Resource Specialist Dawn Fairbanks, Director of Finance Lisa Neary and Confidential Secretary Lisa Casey be compensated beyond their normal pay at that monthly rate until City Council fills the city manager and assistant city manager positions.

In a July 30 memo, Tabelski reported that all three have incurred an increased workload because they have been performing tasks originally assigned to the assistant city manager. Tabelski moved up from the assistant position to acting city manager following the June 20 departure of former City Manager Martin Moore.

Council members John Canale, Jeremy Karas, Paul Viele, Kathleen Briggs, Al McGinnis, Patti Pacino and Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. voted in favor of the stipend, which would take effect retroactively to July 1, while Rose Mary Christian and Robert Bialkowski voted against it.

Canale summed up the majority’s feeling by saying that Council has been asking them to do part of the work of another office (assistant manager).

“That’s quite a job that Rachael stepped into,” he said. “I know as much as we want to keep an eye on how we spend taxpayer dollars, we also have to keep an eye on are we paying these employees the proper amount for the job they are doing?”

Jankowski agreed, noting that the trio has been doing two to three times the amount of work beyond their job descriptions. He also said that if they were union employees, they would be in a position to receive more pay.

“We’re trying to reward them for taking on additional responsibilities. It’s not like we’re using up the whole salary (of the vacant position),” he said. “It’s a small token for additional responsibility. I think it’s a valuable thing and a worthwhile thing … and it keeps us moving forward.”

Tabelski said they have been working long hours, including Saturdays, as they tackle key projects such as: the management and implementation of a $750,000 new Enterprise Resource Program solution for all software applications; a $390,000 information technology hardware project and Windows 10 upgrade; a fiber project to connect all city facilities to a fiber network; flood zone issues; and other internal and committee tasks.

Christian said she objected to the proposal due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has put the city in a projected “almost half a million dollars” shortfall, and that Fairbanks and Neary are salaried employees. Casey is an hourly employee.

She said she calls City Hall after 4:30 and gets an answering machine – to which Tabelski responded that the recording comes on at that time, but the employees are still on the job – and also brought up that they recently received a raise – Tabelski said it was 2.75 percent – in the new budget.

“I just can’t do this,” Christian said.

Bialkowski mentioned that Casey could put in for overtime and that Fairbanks and Neary are two of many salaried city employees.

“We have other employees who are salaried department heads and, boy, they work a lot more than 40 hours, and they don't come in and ask for extra money...,” he said. "When you sign onto a salaried job, it's whatever needs to be done."

Citing major unemployment, he said, “I just don’t support this.”

In other developments, Council:

• Approved a one-year contract extension with Client First at a cost not to exceed $87,856 for external project management services and a contract with Systems East Inc., for a tax collection software package at a cost of $42,921 and for annual training at a cost of $6,240 in connection with the Enterprise Resource Planning software project.
• Moved to its September Business meeting resolutions to accept four grants that will benefit the city fire department.

The grants are: a Federal Emergency Management Agency award for $68,880.95 for enhanced monitored fire and carbon monoxide alarm system at fire headquarters; sprinkler system and specialized water rescue training (with a 5-percent city match); a NYS Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee grant for $800 to purchase bicycle helmets; a similar grant for $3,200 to purchase child passenger safety seats; and a donation of $1,638 from FM Global Insurance Co. to purchase a new fire investigation camera and accessories.

• Moved to the September Business meeting a resolution to solicit the lowest bid for lead services construction work on Swan and Hutchins streets – work that will require engineering expertise prior to the construction. The city previously received a grant for $554,112 to cover the replacement of lead services.

Public Works Director Matt Worth said bids will go out next week, with mid-November as the flexible cutoff for completion.

• Approved a $189,462.75 contract with Sunshine Concrete Co. of North Tonawanda for the replacement of 3,150 linear feet of sidewalks, including handicap accessible ramps, on portions of Franklin and North Spruce streets and Roosevelt Avenue.
• Forwarded to the September Business meeting a resolution to borrow up to $420,000 to buy a combination jet/vacuum truck for use in the city’s sanitary sewer system, water system, storm sewer system and highway maintenance operations.

Purchase of the 2019 demo unit with approximately 4,900 miles on it would replace a truck that has been in use since 1994 and has undergone multiple repairs, Tabelski said.

• Authorized Jankowski to sign a contract with the Batavia City School District for a school resource officer for 2020-21.

If you’re going to form a committee to build a plan that addresses community policing issues and encourages trust between residents and law enforcement, it has to include people of color – those who are speaking out for equality and racial justice.

That is the position stated by Batavia City Council members tonight as they approved the formation of the Batavia Police Collaboration Advisory Stakeholder Group as mandated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order No. 203.

“I think it’s very important to have diversity in the committee because that is the people, and some of the people just like everyone else in the community, who are being affected,” City Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. said following the board’s Conference and Business meetings. “So, every stakeholder from every diverse demographic that we can come up with, I’d like to see on that committee – so that everyone has a say, to a point.”

Jankowski said filling the committee with people of the same perspective is not the answer.

“If we end up one-siding it or lopsiding it, we’re not really going to solve the problem,” he said. “We need to have legitimate conversations from all the stakeholders – all the people that might or might not be involved – so we can get as much input as we can.”

As previously reported on The Batavian, the advisory group, per a memo from Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski, was set up to consist of 15 members – including the city manager, three police department representatives, three attorneys, one Council member, a faith-based leader, Batavia Housing Authority director, not-for-profit representative, Batavia City School District superintendent, business leader and two citizen representatives.

Prior to a vote, Council member Robert Bialkowski made a motion to amend the list to include four citizen representatives to ensure minority input. The amendment was accepted and the measure passed unanimously.

The advisory group came up at the outset of tonight’s proceedings when Batavia resident Sammy DiSalvo used the public comments segment to say he opposed the makeup of it.

After reading off the list of proposed committee members, DiSalvo said, “And finally you’re rounding out this 15-person committee with two citizens, which is atrocious.”

“I hope everybody remembers why this entire executive order was proposed by Cuomo in the first place. And if you’re only going to put two out of 15 positions as citizens to help discuss how police can better police citizens, then this is a moronic proposal put forward,” he said. “This was started because of police brutality nationwide against people of color. And there is also nothing in this resolution about including those disadvantaged groups in this conversation.”

DiSalvo suggested having just one police officer and one attorney – not three of each – and called for half of the group to be “citizens,” with at least two people of color.

“Make sure your citizens are represented and right now they are not,” he said.

Council member Rose Mary Christian said she disagreed “with most of the things that DiSalvo said, and I will not sit here and think that our police department has abused anyone. I will not defend, I will not defund, our police and, as a matter of fact, I stand behind them.”

She said she has a flag at her home with a blue line for the police and a red line for the fire department.

“Safety is number one to me, and I’ll be damned if somebody is going to tell me anything different,” she added.

Fellow Council member Robert Bialkowski offered that the City doesn’t have a lot of the problems that occur in larger cities, punctuating that with “it’s simple – don’t break the law.”

Wording in the governor's executive order does not specifically stipulate the actual members, but mentions that stakeholders should include “but not (be) limited to membership and leadership of the local police force, members of the community with emphasis in areas with high numbers of police and community interactions, interested non-profit and faith-based community groups, local office of the district attorney, local public defender and local elected officials.”

Tabelski said that she and Police Chief Shawn Heubusch used the information in the previous paragraph to analyze “the members listed to make up the group, and then applied it to local conditions here in Batavia to form the parameters of our local group.”

“Our intent was to have good representation from all sides and to comply with the executive order,” she said.

During a presentation to Council, City Attorney George Van Nest outlined eight recently enacted pieces of legislation, including an anti-chokehold act and providing medical attention to persons in custody act.

Heubusch, meanwhile, reported that his agency has achieved all but a couple of the dozen or so standards spelled out in the governor’s executive order, and cited statistics showing a downward trend in crime in the city over the past five years.

Tabelski said that persons seeking to serve on the committee should send a “letter of interest” via email to her at rtabelski@batavianewyork.com or call 585-345-6300 by Sept. 1.

Regular meetings will be scheduled starting in September, followed by a draft presentation to Council in January, public comments in February, final version of the plan in March and submission to the state by April 1.

Previous story: City Council agenda includes resolution to create Batavia Police Collaboration Advisory Stakeholder Group

Update: 6:40 p.m.

Batavia Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr., at tonight's Board of Education meeting, has reported that school will start for students on Sept. 14, following four days of teacher training days -- Sept. 8-11.

He also said that some days scheduled as off days will now be school days, ensuring that there will be 180 days of learning for students.

Soler said that virtual public meetings are being planned for each of the district's schools prior to Aug. 21, as required by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

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Reading, writing, arithmetic, respiratory hygiene.

Teachers will need to be versed in much more than academics during the 2020-21 school year, which gets underway in less than a month.

“We have days at the beginning of the school year that are teacher-only when we’re going to receive some training on COVID procedures along with some professional development on teaching the hybrid model and the virtual model,” said Mark Warren, president of the Batavia Teachers’ Association.

He said the exact training days prior to the date when students return are expected to be determined at the Batavia City School District’s Board of Education meeting at 6:30 tonight. It can be viewed on the district’s YouTube page.

Warren said teachers and other staff will be trained how “to instruct students in proper hand washing, how to cough and sneeze appropriately, and recognizing the symptoms of COVID.”

“I’m not sure if it will be district-led or coordinated by the health department or by another outside person coming in to the school,” he said.

According to the Batavia City School District’s 97-page reopening plan, the district “will ensure all students are taught or trained how to follow new COVID-19 protocols safely and correctly, including but not limited to hand hygiene, proper face covering wearing, social distancing, and respiratory hygiene.”

The plan was developed by the Reopen Batavia Strong Task Force, which included input from the teachers’ union, Warren said.

It spells out that additional training will be provided in:

• Prevention of disease spreads by staying home when they are sick.
• Proper respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes.
• Avoiding the use of communal objects. If communal objects must be used, provide information on proper disinfection procedures between use. Examples of communal objects include, but are not limited to, other workers’ phones, desks, offices, computers or other devices, other work tools and equipment.
• Providing employees and students with up-to-date education and training on COVID-19.
• Risk factors and protective behaviors (i.e., cough etiquette and care of Personal Protective Equipment).

The plan also advises that the district will designate those familiar with the Center for Disease Control and Occupational Safety and Health Administration protocols, and Department of Health guidelines in each building as trained screeners. Screeners will be required to wear Personal Protective Equipment provided by the district.

Warren said students have to wear masks on the bus and when they’re transitioning, but said he believes they are allowed to take them off when they are seated and are six feet apart.

He acknowledged that it could be difficult for the younger children.

“I have a second- and fourth-grader and we’ve been working on it at home,” he said.

On the scholastic side, Warren said some teachers will preside over exclusively online courses and others will have a mix of in-school and virtual.

“My preliminary schedule, for example, has one of the courses as an online-only course, and the rest of the courses are hybrid courses where I’ll see the kids some days and they’ll be remote some days,” he advised.

Warren teaches 11^th- and 12^th-grade math – calculus and a third-year elective called Math for Trades.

Press release:

• Genesee County received zero new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • Three of the previous positive individuals have recovered and have been released from mandatory isolation.
  • Forty new individuals are on precautionary quarantine due to travel from restricted states.
  • One of the positive individuals is hospitalized.
     
• Orleans County received two new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • The new positive cases reside in Carlton and Ridgeway.
  • One of the positive individuals is in their 40s and one of the positive individuals is in their 50s.
  • Four of the previous positive individuals have recovered and have been released from mandatory isolation.

Two people who were located with a disabled vehicle on Clinton Street Road, Stafford, at 6 p.m., Friday, are facing multiple charges including drug dealing and assault.

During an interaction with the subjects, deputies determined that Shonje Kaliq Jefferson, 22, of Norton Street, Rochester, might be in possession of drugs. A subsequent search revealed he allegedly had a quantity of crack cocaine on his person.

Due to the amount of crack cocaine deputies believe they located, Jefferson was arrested on a count of criminal possession of a narcotic drug with an intent to sell.

Deputy Erik Andre and Investigator Chris Parker arrested Jefferson on charges of criminal use of drug paraphernalia, aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd, unlicensed operator, and pedestrian failed to walk facing traffic.

A passenger in the vehicle, Chaniah Lache Wellington-Martino, 19, of Danforth Street, Rochester, was interviewed by Parker and Sgt. Andrew Hale. She allegedly threw her purse over a guardrail and an attempt to destroy evidence in the purse while fighting with the officers. She is also accused of attempting several times to bite the officers.

She is charged with attempted assault, 2nd, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, tampering with physical evidence, and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Jefferson was arraigned in Genesee County Court and ordered held on $2,000 cash bail or $5,000 bond. The release status of Wellington-Martino was not included in the press release.

Clyde Devonte Hoskins Jr., 28, of Genesee Street, Buffalo, is charged with: unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle in the third degree; reckless driving; speeding -- in excess of 55 mph; unsafe turn/failure to signal; drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle. Hoskins was arrested at 12:25 a.m. Aug. 8 on Route 33 in Bergen. It is alleged that Hoskins failed to stop for a violation of NYS vehicle and traffic law on Clinton Street Road in the Town of Bergen. After a pursuit, Genesee County Sheriff's deputies were able to take Hoskins into custody in the Town of Stafford. He was released on appearance tickets and is due in Bergen Town Court at 5 p.m. on Sept. 17. The case was investigated by Deputy Kenneth Quackenbush, assisted by Deputy Jordan Alejandro.

In compliance with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order on policing reform, the City of Batavia has set the wheels in motion to form a 15-member Batavia Police Collaboration Advisory Stakeholder Group that will assist in drafting a plan based on community input by April 1, 2021.

The executive order, “New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative,” stipulates that police departments must adopt a plan by the April date to be eligible for future state funding.

The topic is on both the Conference and Business agendas of Monday night’s City Council meeting at City Hall Council Chambers. The Conference meeting will begin at 7 o’clock.

Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski, in a July 30 memo to City Council, wrote that the governor’s mandate is in “direct response to incidents involving law enforcement officials whereby actions of particular officer(s) resulted in the death of unarmed citizens.”

“The City of Batavia stands in deep sadness and grief over the actions of a few officers who have contributed to a culture of mistrust and divisiveness,” she wrote. “No one deserves to be abused, or treated unfairly, by members of their community and especially not by law enforcement officials.”

In boldface type: “All individuals should be held to the same standard, with no one above the law – whether civilian, law enforcement or government official and those that break the law should be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent.”

Tabelski continued, praising the Batavia police force as “a world-class police department comprised of men and women who take the job of protecting and serving our community very seriously. The Batavia Police Department has and will continue to uphold a high standard of professionalism in themselves and those that serve with.”

According to the resolution to be considered by Council, the advisory group will consist of the following:

• City manager;
• Police chief;
• Assistant police chief;
• City attorney;
• One City Council member;
• Two citizen representatives;
• Batavia Housing Authority director;
• Director of a not-for-profit that serves human interests (i.e. YWCA);
• District attorney representative;
• Public defender representative;
• Batavia Police Benevolent Association representative;
• Batavia City School District superintendent;
• Community religious leader;
• Business leader representative.

The role of the advisory group, per the memo, is to review current police department policies, procedures and training initiatives, and to recommend improvements in areas such as community policing, response, crime prevention through environmental design and training enhancements.

“The goal of the Group will be to build upon the current policies adopted by the Department, that meet or exceed industry standards and best practices, and to build further relationships within the community,” Tabelski wrote.

According to supporting documentation for Monday’s meeting, the Batavia Police Department has already met or exceeded about a dozen standards or initiatives spelled out in Cuomo’s executive order.

Those include updates of use of force policy, standards of conduct/community relations/biased based policing and training, law enforcement diversion programs, restorative justice practices, community outreach, hot-spot policing, focused deterrence (specialized patrols) and violence prevention, and the department is in the process of being accepted into the NYS Accreditation Program.

The timetable for advisory group activities lists Sept. 1^st as the deadline for the committee’s formation (applications will be accepted at the city manager’s office), schedule regular meetings beginning in September, draft presentation of the plan to Council in January, public comments in February and final version of the plan in March.

In other developments, Tabelski:

-- Will share details of a July 29 memo to Council that projects a $1.18 million loss to the City of Batavia due to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown in the state. That number is significantly less than the April projection of a $2.5 million loss in sales tax and other revenue sources.

“(After the first quarter) sales tax and property tax losses were not as severe as originally forecasted,” she reported.

The memo indicates that the city has the potential to save $641,388 as a result of a spending freeze, layoffs and hiring freezes that began in April and the potential to gain $185,524 in revenue when considering Video Lottery Terminal funds ($352,631) and other sources ($79,000) which “will assist in offsetting the anticipated reduction in AIM (Aid and Incentives to Municipalities) aid in the amount of $246,107.”

Subtracting the potential receipts from the $1.18 million in projected revenue loss, the current shortfall comes to $357,585.

-- Will recommend paying $750 per month stipends, effective July 1, to Dawn Fairbanks, human resource specialist; Lisa Neary, director of finance, and Lisa Casey, confidential secretary to the city manager, for additional duties they have taken on since the departure of former City Manager Martin Moore.

Tabelski moved from Assistant City Manager into the Acting City Manager role on June 22.

As a result, she wrote in a memo dated July 30, Fairbanks, Neary and Casey assumed some of the duties assigned to the assistant manager, including implementation and management of projects pertaining to software applications, information technology, fiber network connections, flood zone communications, risk management and Bond Anticipation Notes for future capital projects.

New Cases – As of 2 p.m. 

• Genesee County received three new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • The new positive cases reside in Batavia and Pembroke.
  • Two of the positive individuals are in their 20s and one is in their 40s.
  • The individuals were not on mandatory quarantine prior to testing positive.
  • Five of the previous positive individuals have recovered and have been released from mandatory isolation.
  • Sixteen new individuals are on precautionary quarantine due to travel from restricted states.
  • One of the positive individuals is hospitalized.
     
• Orleans County received no new positive cases of COVID-19.
  • Sixteen new individuals are on precautionary quarantine due to travel from restricted states.

In light of a couple of proposed changes and despite some recent miscommunication, the City Council liaison to the municipality’s Deer Management Plan Committee says he is confident the documented strategy to reduce the deer population will be approved Monday night.

City Council has scheduled both a Conference and Business meeting, starting at 7 p.m., at City Hall Council Chambers, with a resolution to approve the City of Batavia Deer Management Plan as the last item on the Business meeting agenda.

“We have a good, solid plan in place, everybody is on board and I am very confident that this will pass,” said Council Member John Canale, speaking of the 21-page document stemming from the efforts of the five-person committee that worked with city leaders and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officials.

Canale said that he agrees with a pair of recommendations not in the draft of the plan presented at last month’s Council meeting as they specifically address liability and safety issues -- aspects of the plan deemed as priorities.

The changes, spelled out in an Aug. 4 memo from Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski, are as follows:

-- Nobody other than city employees who qualify for the program will be allowed to hunt in areas 4 and 5, which are predominantly city-owned parcels located near the wastewater treatment plant and yard waste station.

-- While supporting approval of the plan, “all activities related to (its) implementation” will be prohibited “until schools in Batavia are fully reopened.”

Concerning the first suggestion, the committee identified five acceptable hunting zones: (area 1) parcel north of Clinton Street; (area 2) land in the Naramore Drive area and north; (area 3) property west of State Street (in vicinity of BOCES) and proceeding north from Lambert Park; (area 4) Route 98, south of Walnut Street area; and (area 5) Law Street area stretching almost to Kibbe Park.

Where private property is involved, hunting will be permitted only after the landowner signs a cooperation agreement form. But, in the case of hunting on city property, Canale said that “comes under a different umbrella” when liability is considered.

“That will come up in the discussion on Monday, I am sure of that,” he said.

On the second recommendation, the Batavia City School District previously announced that it will be going with a “hybrid” reopening schedule – students are in school some days and are learning remotely on other days.

Safety is the Cornerstone Element

In the memo, Tabelski wrote that “many students will be home between two and five days a week for remote learning attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic reopening protocol. As you are aware, safety of the community is the cornerstone element of the plan and explained in detail in section 6, safety considerations.”

Canale said he is the one who brought the Batavia school situation to her attention.

“I am concerned about hunting during school hours, as is the committee which set it up to hunt only on days and times when school is in session,” Canale said. “Both of these changes have everything to do with liability and safety at this point.”

He said hunting may not start until after the first of the year, effectively wiping out Plan A, which allows for archery-only hunting from Oct. 1 through mid-December in accordance with the NYS hunting season.

Canale noted that Plan B and Plan C grants extended archery-only and extended archery-only using bait, respectively, from Jan. 2 through March 31. Both of those plans would require Deer Damage permits from the DEC.

Nephew: 'Something has Gone Haywire'

Deer Committee Member Russell Nephew, who reached out to The Batavian on Thursday night, said his group is upset over what he called a breakdown in communication over the past three weeks. According to Nephew, the committee was not informed of any potential changes.

“Something has gone haywire. We seemed to have been left out of the loop,” said Nephew, who said he was speaking on behalf of fellow members Samuel DiSalvo, Fred Gundell, Gus Galliford and Kent Klotzbach.

Nephew said he tried to set up another committee meeting with city management but was unsuccessful and telephoned Canale for an update but did not receive a return call. He also said an Aug. 1 deadline for hunting tags has been missed, although there had been talk of a special Council meeting to expedite the process.

“The bad thing about this is you’re going behind closed doors with the city attorney and not involving the deer committee, which has done all this work for about nine months. And you go and just not add language, you changed it,” he said. “If that type of thing would have happened with (former City Manager) Marty Moore, he would have called us all in, and said ‘Hey, I want to go over this with you. This is why we want to do this and how do you feel about it?’ ”

Canale said he is taking responsibility for the misunderstanding.

“I didn’t get back to Russ, but I didn’t realize that he was waiting for a return call,” Canale said. “We have worked well together and talked numerous times … and I had planned to call him this weekend. I am the liaison – the go-between (the committee and City Council) and I have always told Russ that I’m your man.”

Tabelski 'Thrown into the Process'

He also defended Tabelski, pointing out that she was “thrown into the process at the tail end, and had a difficult task of getting acclimated and trying to act in his (Moore) place as city manager.”

Canale has publicly praised the committee – “It was an experience that I never had in my eight years (on Council),” he said – but explained that now the ball is in the city’s court, so to speak.

“We’ve come to where the legalese has to be interjected into this plan,” he said. “If Moore was still here, he would be the one making these changes along with the DEC and city attorney. I understand how the committee may feel the way they do, but the new acting city manager has done what had to be done.”

Nephew also said he believed the committee was not going to be invited to a follow-up meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 13.

Canale said Tabelski sent an email on July 25 about the meeting to him along with City Attorney George Van Nest and Confidential Secretary Lisa Casey, “but only to see if we were OK with the date and time. Once we said it was good, then another email was to be sent to the committee.”

That email was sent from Casey to committee members on July 28 – the day after Nephew emailed Casey notifying her that he had learned about the meeting. Nephew provided the emails to The Batavian.

All Have to Pass the Test

Getting back to the provision that only city employees will be able to hunt on the two city property areas, Nephew said they will have to pass a test – hitting a target five consecutive times. He also said the committee takes exception to the fact that members of the 12-club Genesee County Federation of Sportsmen will be left out.

“The plan puts the sportsmen at the top of the list,” he said. “We went to the clubs because that’s where the experienced hunters are – they have to have at least five years’ experience. We all agreed to that. Now, they won’t be able to hunt Sections 4 and 5 unless they work for the city.”

And he said he’s not completely in agreement with a shutdown of the program due to the school schedule.

“If school is in session, then the other kids have to be at home, remotely on the computer at home, and if they are, that’s like being in school – not out running around,” he said. “They’re at home. They can’t be running around because the school is going to know.”

Nephew said not being part of the discussion hurts more than the changes themselves.

“If they had come to us and given us reasons and things of that nature, we’re not hard to get along with,” he said. “We probably would have said, ‘Well, if that’s what the city wants, we’ll have to go along with it' -- but that’s not what we came up with.”