Photos by Tom Rivers – Jodi Gaines faces the gauntlet of cameras after a press conference today, when she announced the company would be actively recruiting to fill 150 more positions in Albion.

ALBION – When Washington Mutual took over the former Dime Bank in 2002, the Seattle-based company phased out the claims department.

Jodi Gaines worked in that department. Gaines started as a claims clerk in 1989 for the former Anchor Savings Bank in Albion. She stayed in that department as ownership of the facility changed to Dime Bank and the North American Mortgage Company and then to Washington Mutual.

She was offered a different job to stay with WaMu, but Gaines opted to start her own company in claims, helping banks and investors to recover money with foreclosed properties.

She started the new venture from her kitchen table in Albion. That was December 2002. She had two employees.

In May 2003, Gaines moved the claims work to the former Lipton’s office in Albion, a building that had been taken over by the Orleans Economic Development Agency. The Orleans EDA offered Gaines and her staff space, office furniture and equipment, while the company got started.

Gaines recalled those roots and help from the EDA today when she announced Claims Recovery Financial Services would add 150 more workers and move its operations to the former JPMorgan Chase site in Albion, where the site is projected to have about 750 CRFS employees in March.

“This organization prides itself on results and quality each and every day,” Gaines said during today’s press conference about the expansion in Albion. “The work ethic of the CRFS managers and employees is why we are now poised for such tremendous growth.”

Jodi Gaines is pictured with Orleans Economic Development Agency officials Gabrielle Barone, left, and Jim Whipple.

The news from CRFS comes to a community in need of employment opportunities. The August unemployment report showed Orleans County, with an 8.4 percent unemployment rate, had one of the highest rates in upstate New York.

“From humble beginnings in Orleans County, using a collection of not-so-gently used office furniture, cramped office space and an untriedbusiness model, Jodi Gaines and an outstanding, small group of predominately women, redefined the American dream,” said David Callard, the Orleans County Legislature chairman.

Vinny Esposito, Finger Lakes regional director for Empire State Development, praised Gaines for her vision in building the company, and for her commitment to Orleans County.

“It is really a great American success story,” Esposito said. “It’s a home-grown company that has grown into a highly successful company.”

Only 10 years ago, Gaines had fewer than 10 workers. She quickly outgrew the Lipton’s office space and moved her staff to the former Navarra’s Family Restaurant in Albion.

The company continued its rapid growth and made a name for itself in the claims industry by working with banks and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, recovering past-due interest, unpaid principal, unpaid taxes and unpaid insurance on houses.

CRFS moved up to East Avenue next to the Chase site about five years ago with 75 employees. The site had more than 300 workers about a year ago and Gaines needed to find more space.

Roger Hungerford, owner of the Olde Pickle Factory in Medina, renovated one of the Pickle Factory buildings, allowing CRFS to bring 230 employees to Medina while Gaines kept more than 300 in Albion.

‘We started in Orleans County. We’re staying in Orleans County and the best is yet to come.’
– CRFS leader Jodi Gaines

But the company kept growing, as more clients sought out CRFS for claims. When Chase announced in June it was leaving, eliminating 413 Albion jobs by September, the vacant facility presented an opportunity for CRFS to have its Orleans County workforce in one location with plenty of room to grow. Gaines said there is space for 1,200 employees in the 60,000-square-foot building.

Hungerford is in the process of acquiring the building from Chase. Hungerford, the former owner of the Sigma International company in Medina, has proven himself as a developer with the Olde Pickle Factory. He also has shown his dedication to the community.

“Everyone should be happy that Roger Hungerford has the building,” said Jim Whipple, the Orleans EDA chief executive officer. “It’s no longer in the hands of the banks.”

The banking industry has been particularly volatile the past 25 years, with the former Chase site often changing hands.

“Every five years we were dealing with somebody new,” Whipple said.

With each new owner, high-powered members of Congress intervened to keep the site in Albion. First it was former Congressman John LaFalce, a member of the House Banking Committee. He was critical in getting Dime Bank to come and expand in Albion.

After LaFalce retired, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer provided the arm-twisting to get Washington Mutual and then Chase to stay in Albion.

Now, with local people owning the building and running the business, the site won’t be vulnerable to a sudden shutdown or relocation.

Gaines said she sees the company continuing its rapid growth, to the point the Chase site may be too small. That’s why she intends to keep the neighboring site, where CRFS currently has more than 300 workers, as an option for the future.

“CRFS is primed to do more for Orleans County than ever before,” Gaines said. “We started in Orleans County. We’re staying in Orleans County and the best is yet to come.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

The First United Methodist Church in Albion has a important role in the religious fervor that swept the “burned-over district” in the 1800s.

ALBION – It was called the “burned-over district,” the swath of western and central New York that was fertile ground for religious fervor in the 1800s.

Churches sprang up, including new denominations, and church leaders pushed to make believers out of the new settlers who were drawn to the area once the Erie Canal was under construction beginning in 1817. Church leaders especially targeted the canal workers, who were viewed as the underclass in need of spiritual direction.

One of the most famous evangelists, Charles Finney, referred to the area in his 1876 autobiography as the “burned-over district,” saying then the area had been heavily evangelized. There was no “fuel” (unconverted population) left over to “burn” (convert).

Joseph Smith started the Mormon Church in Palmyra. Spiritualism started and found a home at Lily Dale in Chautauqua County. (I grew up in Lily Dale.) Other religious movements emerged in the “burned-over district.”

Albion plays an important historical role in the push to evangelize and also to shape social issues. One church denomination, the Free Methodists, opened their first church in Albion, across the street from the Methodist Episcopal Church (now the United Methodist Church). The new church was strongly in support of freeing slaves, not charging pew fees and welcoming women into leadership roles in the church.

Loren Stiles preached those messages and he was expelled in 1859 from the Methodist Episcopal Church in Albion. Stiles and a new congregation built the Free Methodist Church across the street. That church launched a denomination that has grown to more than 1,000 churches, with most of the church membership outside the United States. About 53 percent of Free Methodists live in Africa.

The first Free Methodist church in the world opened across the street from the United Methodists after Loren Stiles was expelled. He formed the new church in 1859. There are now more than 1,000 Free Methodist churches in the world.

The original church remains in Albion, where about 200 people attend church on Sundays. (I go to that church.)

I felt sick for a few days last week after the United Methodists announced they planned to abandon their historic building, and turn it over to the denominational conference. The church needs about a $1 million repair to the roof and its support system. The congregation of about 30 families doesn’t have that kind of money.

I fear the church will be stripped of all the stained-glass windows, the pipe organ and ornate woodwork. And the building could be knocked down. That would be a blow to the congregation – and to Albion, Orleans County and New York State, which has a rich history.

I think the eight churches in the Courthouse Square are one of Albion’s great assets, buildings that are like walking into a time capsule from the 19^th Century.

Albion is the only place I know of on earth that has eight historic church buildings, all representing different stories, so close together, with a courthouse from 1858 as the center.

The buildings are loaded with ecclesiastical art, including windows from the famed Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company in New York City. The Pullman Memorial Universalist Church has a breath-taking window of Jesus that almost looks three-dimensional.

The “Christ the Consoler” window in the Pullman church is a tremendous work of art by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company.

I’ve been in all of the churches. They’re all different, showing an array of architectural styles. Most of the buildings have giant stained-glass windows that bear the names of prominent families from ore than a century ago, names like the Swan family that started Albion’s first public library. (You can find that window in the Baptist Church.)

The dedication at the bottom of a window dedicated to William Gere Swan in the Baptist Church.

So, about the United Methodist Church building. Let’s turn it into a “Sacred Sites” Discovery Center that would talk about the religious and social movements that swept upstate in the 1800s, with some of those movements gaining strength and going world-wide.

The Sacred Sites center could provide an introduction to the different denominations and religious movements. It wouldn’t be a place to proselytize, but for people to learn the origins of the faith traditions of the different denominations.

The center could educate on church architecture and art, highlighting the works of some of the masters, such as Tiffany. Albion is truly a showcase of some awesome ecclesiastical artistry.

The United Methodist building could become a significant attraction, especially when combined with the seven other churches in the Courthouse Square. With the building’s new purpose, telling the stories of the social and religious movements that were so important to the state, it only makes sense to me that New York should help pay the bulk of repairing the roof and its support system.

It would be far easier for the state to help with this project than putting the entire financial burden on the 30 families that go to the church. (If this becomes a Sacred Sites Discovery Center, I think the sanctuary should continue to be used for church services, with the United Methodists welcome to use the building on Sunday mornings. The church could also use the site for other outreach ministries, especially with meals from the fellowship hall.)

The United Methodist Church has a failing structural support system for the roof over the sanctuary. The church is using five wooden beams to offer some structural support. A proper fix could top $1 million.

New York has a rich history and many museums tell stories of abolitionists, the women’s suffrage movement, pioneer settlers and even the best professional athletes.

New museums and “discovery centers” are added all the time, with a grape and wine center in Westfield among the most recent additions. A Finger Lakes Museum is planned for Yates County. More projects are on the drawing board, including a Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo loves the state’s history, and he has put state resources behind heritage tourism, wanting New Yorkers and visitors to know about the many inventors, social justice leaders and battlefields in the state’s history.

We have sites that talk about Jell-O in Le Roy and toys in Rochester. When I lived in North Chili, there was a dollhouse museum a couple blocks away.

The state should work with Albion to create a Sacred Sites destination. We can work around the separation of church versus state by focusing on the social and cultural history behind the religious movements, and the art of the stained glass and pipe organs.

I would encourage the village, county and our local state representatives to give this idea consideration – soon, before the United Methodist Church is picked of its assets.

If we created the Sacred Sites center, we’d need an army of volunteers to help run the place, including some paid staff. We’d need local dollars to help convince the state the community supports this.

We may need to form an Albion Historical Alliance or something like that and start getting aggressive about preserving and promoting these assets. Besides the churches, we have an abundance of riches with cobblestone homes, spectacular Medina Sandstone structures, and so much more.

The Presbyterian Church is one of eight churches in Albion that are named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Fishing is Orleans County’s biggest tourism draw, generating about $12 million of the $23 million tourism pie. The photo shows an angler at Point Breeze.

A new report about tourism dollars state-wide and per county shows New York is on an upswing growing 6.2 percent for $92 billion in visitor spending in 2012 , following an 8.3 percent gain in 2011.

However, Orleans County’s revenue barely budged, going from $21.01 million in 2011 to $21.13 million in 2012, a 0.1 percent increase, according to the state report prepared by Tourism Economics.

Orleans ranks at the very bottom state-wide among 62 counties for visitor spending. Tourism represents one of the best options for the county to stir business activity for many merchants. The visitor spending also represents outside money and isn’t merely redistributing existing dollars in the community. We should make growing tourism revenue a top priority for the county.

I think Orleans could do much better, given our dynamic and world-class fishery, our historic and agricultural assets, and our location near Rochester, Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

I strongly recommend the county work to develop a Sandstone Trail featuring our best sandstone structures, including the 68-foot-high Civil War memorial in Mount Albion Cemetery.

I think there are two factors that hurt us. We don’t have a chain hotel and many potential guests won’t consider a stay-over without a room at an established chain. County officials have tried for years to make the case for a small hotel to set up here. That would keep more visitors in the county longer. We draw people for day trips, but then the majority have to sleep in another county.

The outside counties use what could be our “bed tax,” money that could be directed to more promotion of our attractions. Genesee County boasts more than 1,000 hotel rooms. Many Orleans visitors end up staying in Batavia hotels. Genesee also has Darien Lake Theme Park and the Thruway corridor that draw mobs of people into their county.

Genesee takes in about $400,000 in bed tax to promote its tourism assets. That’s about 10 times what Orleans collects. (The bed tax is a 4 percent tax on lodging – hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts.)

Genesee saw its visitor spending jump 9.4 percent last year, from $81.9 million to $89.6 million. That tourism spending means more in sales tax, which can help offset property taxes.

We may not be able to sway a Holiday Inn Express-type hotel to open in Orleans anytime soon. The Orleans Economic Development Agency commissioned a study a few years ago, and the consultants found then there weren’t enough people and tourists to warrant a small hotel.

A second factor hurting our tourism numbers is a shortage of staff working to promote the county’s resources. The county is sorely understaffed in its tourism department. Wayne Hale is the tourism director. He also manages the Marine Park and is the county’s Planning Department director. Last year he semi-retired, but is still juggling three big jobs in a part-time role.

If the county devoted more resources to heritage tourism, it could create a package featuring the historic churches, including a stop at Christ Church in Albion, which has a 150-year-old pipe organ.

Genesee has three full-time people devoted to tourism promotion.

“Wayne has been instrumental through the years,” said Sharon Narburgh, owner of Narby’s Superette and Tackle at Point Breeze. “He has done a hell of a job, but there is only so much time in the day.”

Narburgh credited the county for creating a part-time fishing coordinator position about two decades ago. Mike Waterhouse is currently serving in the role. Narburgh said the county needs more people working on tourism promotion, helping to develop a plan for drawing more people to the county, and keeping them here longer.

“You need a person to coordinate all of this,” she said. “Right now we don’t have the people to do things the way they need to be done.”

Genesee is a bigger county than Orleans, about 60,000 people compared to the 42,000 people here. Genesee is about 1.5 times more populous, but they are bringing in four times the tourism spending.

Wyoming County would make for a better comparison. I would assume Orleans would draw more in visitor spending because Wyoming seems more remote. Both counties have about 42,000 people. We also have Lake Ontario, the Erie Canal, and a wealth of Medina sandstone and architectural wonders.

But Wyoming generates far more in visitor spending, $35.7 million in 2012 compared to the $23.1 million in Orleans. Our local government leaders should commit the needed resources to tourism promotion. It’s an investment that would bear big returns.

State should pay $1 per inmate per day to help prison towns offset some of the negatives

Photos by Tom Rivers – Albion Correctional Facility looms large at the end of Washington Street in Albion. The site is the largest women’s prison in the state with 1,050 inmates.

ALBION – When Waste Management made its pitch to open a landfill in Albion in the mid-1990s, the company offered the community $500,000 annually to lower the town taxes.

The company knew a landfill came with some negatives – an increase in truck traffic, seagulls, noise, odor, environmental worries and a stigma. The $500,000 was part of “host-community benefits package” to help counter some of the negatives. Albion town officials were never swayed, and denied the project.

When wind power companies built the giant industrial turbines in Wyoming County and other parts of New York, the companies paid the host communities big bucks for having these 400-foot-high structures in the rural countryside. Some of the towns are taking in more than $1 million annually from the turbines, which has more than offset town taxes. Schools and the county government also get a piece of the pie from the turbines in Wyoming County.

Towns that allow “noxious uses” generally receive some compensation for dealing with the negative impacts. Albion is home to two state prisons. It’s time the community starts receiving a “host-community benefits package” for these sites.

The Albion Correctional Facility is the largest women’s prison in the state with 1,050 inmates. The state has completed several construction projects at this prison in recent years, including a Special Housing Unit for inmates with discipline problems. This prison is highly visible along Washington Street at the west end of the village.

About three decades ago the state, when it was in a prison-building spree, constructed the medium-security Orleans Correctional Facility. This one today has 710 male inmates.

Orleans Correctional looks like it’s out of a movie set, set along rural Gaines Basin Road with the tall razor-wire fence and the ominous guard towers.

Together the two prisons consume about 500 acres. I think they also have a blighting effect on some nearby properties, discouraging housing development near the prisons.

The community gave up some good land for the prisons, land that could be tax-generating for houses, commercial development or even a cornfield. The state doesn’t pay village, town or county taxes for these properties. It does pay the school district a tiny rate.

We send our fire department and ambulances over there for calls. Our first responders have to train for what-if scenarios at the prisons.

I think the community should be paid for providing some services to the prisons, and contending with the negatives that come with these sites.

What would be a fair host-community benefits package?

Orleans County has a 4 percent bed tax. If a visitor is staying in a bed and breakfast with a $100 a night charge, the customer is taxed the usual 8 percent sales tax plus another 4 percent for a bed tax. That generates $8 in sales tax and $4 for a bed tax if the room is $100.

Orleans County in the past has billed Genesee about $80 a day to house Genesee’s female inmates in the county jail in Albion. That’s the price Orleans has put out as a daily charge for the county jail. If we used that number for the state prisons (I would think the state prisons would be a higher cost) and multiplied that by the 4 percent bed tax, NYS would owe the community $3.20 in a daily bed tax per state inmate.

But the prisons are hardly hotels and the state isn’t made of money. So I think the prison communities should give the state a deal and make it a simple formula. The state should give each prison community $1 a day per inmate.

In Albion, the two prisons have 1,760 inmates. The state should pay $1,760 a day or $642,400 a year as a host community benefits package. I would divvy up this money using a typical PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) plan used by the Economic Development Agency. You take the tax rates from each municipality and calculate a pro-rated share of the money based on the rates.

In Albion, the town would get 10 percent of prison money, the county 20 percent, and the village and school district would each receive 35 percent, according to my plan.

The Orleans Correctional Facility is lined with a razor-wire fence. The facility was built on Gaines Basin Road about three decades ago.

State-wide there are 54,600 state inmates. At $1 a day, the state should pay the prison communities $19,929,000 each year. That money would be directed to communities that need it. The state put these prisons in towns that were economically depressed and have remained so. (Frankly, $1 is too cheap and I’d welcome our state representatives to push for more. If you have a maximum security prison in your town, you should get double the rate.)

The prisons provide jobs and offer some benefits to the communities. The corrections workers and other employees spend money at local gas stations and businesses, boosting our local economy and generating some sales tax for the local and state governments.

But many of these workers don’t live in the communities where the prisons are located. The prison communities are serving as regional job outlets, with many employees driving from outside the community for the jobs. For the Albion prisons, Batavia, Medina, Buffalo and other communities get the benefit of decent-paying jobs for their residents but those communities don’t bear the negative costs of providing services and having good land gobbled up by these sites.

The state already provides a host community package for communities with an industry that brings some societal ills. The State Legislature and governor have directed state money to communities with video gaming centers.

The City and Town of Batavia, plus Genesee County share in that bounty each year because of Batavia Downs. Those communities use about $500,000 from a host community package to help offset taxes.

The gaming centers are advertised as attractions, drawing outsiders to the community to spend money at the race track and other businesses. The gaming centers are featured in tourism brochures. They are depicted as hip and trendy destinations.

The prisons feel like a black hole, sucking the life out of a big section of communities across the state. New York should help offset that with some money.