Photo by Tom Rivers
CARLTON – Cattle are out for a morning bite today at the beef farm at the corner of Route 98 and the Waterport-Carlton Road in Carlton. High temperatures are forecast for 40 today and the low 40s on Sunday.
By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian
ALBION – Christmas shoppers are seen here on Main Street in Albion in the 1920s. The Citizens Bank is decorated with garland, which shows in the upper right corner.
Note the winter fashions of the two women in our picture.
For 30-plus years a local government association has excluded a village representative from its leadership and also in setting the group’s monthly agendas.
Even the group’s name, the Orleans County Supervisors and Legislators Association, doesn’t include the villages.
I don’t think the group intends to slight the villages. Frankly, it’s just the way things are done around here. The county and town leaders put themselves on a level above the villages. That seems to be the attitude.
In Genesee County, the legislators meet with town and village leaders in an inclusive Genesee Association of Municipalities. The GAM gives everyone, including village mayors, an equal seat at the table.
The Orleans group meets monthly at the Village Inn to discuss issues in the county. It is co-led by a county legislator and town supervisor. This year Legislator Bill Eick of Shelby and Carlton Town Supervisor Gayle Ashbery shared the leadership. The group has other officers from either the county or a town. The towns tend to take turns finding a speaker each month.
Village representatives are invited to the meetings, but they don’t have a leadership role. They don’t have a say in the agenda. They aren’t treated as equal partners in the governance of the county.
This group started after the former Board of Supervisors was eliminated through a lawsuit and the county government shifted from the 10 town supervisors to a seven-member Legislature.
The association formed so the towns wouldn’t feel too removed from the goings on in county government and other issues facing the community.
It was a good idea to get the towns and legislators talking. But clearly it is wrong to not have the leaders of the villages as part of the group’s leadership.
I strongly recommend the Orleans County Supervisors and Legislators Association change its name to be more inclusive, change its leadership structure to include a village representative, and change the way it does business so the villages can have their concerns on the agenda.
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Seamus Kenney, a 1993 Albion graduate, returned home for the holidays and also to put on a concert tonight at the Cabaret at Studio B at Gotta Dance by Miss Amy.
Kenney, a professional musician the past 13 years, lives in Durham, North Carolina, where he teaches middle school band. For a decade he traveled and performed with the band SNMNMNM.
Photo by Tom Rivers
His niece, Shannon Vanderlaan, opened the concert. Vanderlaan is also an Albion native. She is currently a junior at The College at St. Rose in Albany, where she is majoring in oboe. Her mother and Seamus’s sister Karen Conn also sang during the concert tonight.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Shannon Vanderlaan
ALBION – A Holley resident faces up to 2 years in state prison after he violated his probation when he had Diazepam (valium), a controlled substance, in June.
Joshua D. Ornt, 26, of Hall Road pleaded guilty in Orleans County Court to seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
As part of his probation he was forbidden from having valium or any controlled substances. He obtained the Diazepam from a friend, a drug dealer, Ornt told County Court Judge James Punch in court on Monday.
Ornt also failed to show up for a drug test on Aug. 23 and didn’t have a drug evaluation, which constitute “substantial violations” of probation, Punch said.
Ornt will be sentenced Dec. 23 and faces prison time, plus a year of post-release supervision.
Editor’s note: This article was updated from an earlier story.
Residents throughout Orleans County towns are asked to fill out a short survey about their high-speed Internet access, reliability and needs.
State Sen. George Maziarz sent out the surveys to residents in the 10 Orleans County towns as well as seven towns in Niagara County. He is working with Orleans and Niagara County leaders, as well as town officials, to bring high-speed Internet to underserved rural areas in the two counties.
The service is spotty in rural areas, and it is cost-prohibitive to run cables down some roads with only a few houses. One possibility could be high-speed WiFi Internet access, which doesn’t require cables.
The survey asks residents if they would subscribe to broadband Internet service if it was to be offered at a subscription rate similar in price paid by residents with the service.
“This will give us a good compass going forward,” County Legislator Lynne Johnson, R-Lyndonville, said during a Legislature meeting on Monday.
The questionnaire’s goal is to deliver a “market analysis” to potential Internet providers to help them to gauge the market’s potential. Residents are asked to take the survey seriously and please return it as requested.
“The more positive responses we receive, the more leverage we have in piquing a provider’s interest,” said Evhen Tupis, the project executive from BPGreene, who has been organizing this effort in behalf of the Niagara-Orleans Regional Alliance.
The lack of high-speed Internet access in parts of the two counties put residents, businesses and students at a disadvantage, county officials said.
Based on a three-town mini-study in Orleans County, two telecommunication companies have already asked to be included in an upcoming Request For Proposal phase. Tupis says he expects to reach out to even more potential providers at that time.
The BPGreene approach includes clauses that both assure a reasonable profit for the potential provider and that there is no long-term taxpayer subsidy.
Before the project gets to the proposal stage, the questionnaire needs to be filled out and turned in, Orleans County Legislative Chairman David Callard said.
“This a critical step in the process,” he said. “Our response will have a direct effect on our ability to proceed with county-wide broadband availability.”
There is plenty of state money to help with the projects. On Thursday Gov. Andrew Cuomo $14.5 million in state funds for nine broadband projects that will expand access to broadband services for nearly 30,000 residents and more than 2,000 businesses in Upstate New York.
“Access to high speed internet is a critical resource for businesses and residents in today’s global economy,” Cuomo said in statement on Thursday. “These grants will connect underserved and rural communities to the many benefits of broadband access, including giving local businesses the opportunity to reach consumers from around the world.”
WATERPORT – A cat climbed to the top of a telephone pole in Waterport two days ago and has been stuck up there since, unable to get down.
Lauren Rayner, a friend of the cat’s owner Venita Nauden, has reached out to National Grid, the Carlton Fire Company and animal shelters, seeking help. No one has been willing to try to rescue the cat which is stuck on East Avenue.
The fire company told her it would be too dangerous to risk firefighters for that task, given the presence of power wires. National Grid also told her the company doesn’t rescue cats. The power company urged her to reach out the fire company.
Raynor is hoping someone with a cherry picker or other equipment would be willing to try to help bring down the cat. She can be reached at (585) 413-7159 or by email at llrayner@gmail.com.
The Orleans Hub has published more than 3,000 photos since we went live on April 2.
These are some of my favorites of portraits and personalities that show local folks in our surroundings. The top picture shows Maria Ball, 6, of Medina having fun with sparklers before the fireworks show in Lyndonville on July 4.
Baillie Oberther, 16, of Medina is crowned queen of Dyngus Day on April 1 during a celebration at Sacred Heart Club in Medina. Bonnie Boyd, last year’s queen, passes on the crown. About 200 people celebrated Dyngus Day in Medina. This photo was published on April 2, Orleans Hub’s first official day. It remains one of our favorite photos.
A group of Civil War re-enactors, which marched down Main Street in Medina during a parade on April 27, pause for a ceremony in front of the Bent’s Opera House. That building opened during the Civil War. Medina hosted a Civil War encampment for the first time in April.
Ken Nice, co-owner of Nice Farms in Knowlesville, walks through a fruit orchard along Knowlesville Road on April 30. He is checking how the bees are pollinating the fruit crop. The pink blossoms will bear white nectarines while the white blossoms will be plums. Nice said the blossoming trees are a visual and olfactory feast. “It’s like a perfume factory,” he said.
Bradley Martin and a team of six draft horses harrow a field on Knowlesville Road on April 30. Martin works for a Mennonite-owned dairy farm, part of a growing cluster for Amish- and Mennonite-owned businesses in the Ridgeway and Yates communities. Martin also walked the field, removing big rocks by hand.
George Borrelli is pictured in June, working in his Carlton shop to make metal rings that will be put in hitching posts as part of a project in Albion. Borrelli, a blacksmith, heated the steel to 1,600 degrees so he could bend it into a circle to be used as a ring.
Nick Wright, 11, of Holley is all smiles after plunging face first into a raspberry pie during a pie-eating contest on July 26 at the Orleans County 4-H Fair. The contest is a glorious messy affair.
Alex Graff, a Medina native who now lives in Rochester, may be covered in grease, but he is having a great time during the grease pole championships on July 27 to cap off the Orleans County 4-H Fair.
Steven Papponetti is trying to climb of Graff’s shoulders. Graff and Papponetti are members of the Rough N Ready team. They weren’t able to reach the top of the pole on Saturday. They won on a different day to advance to the finals.
Riley Schillaci of Rochester swallows a flame during the Steampunk Festival on Aug. 31 at the Leonard Oakes Estate Winery in Medina. The event featured several outrageous stunts.
Nelda Callard paints the trim above the side door of a house she and her husband David Callard are working to restore on Temperance Street in Albion. She is pictured in early September. Her husband is chairman of the Orleans County Legislature. The couple worked more than a year fixing up the house on Temperance. The house dates back to the 1840s. It was badly rundown.
Jonathan Judd, 9, of Albion gets his hook ready when Albion Scouts kicked off a new year on Sept. 27 by going fishing. Jonathan was popular among the Scouts because he brought along some extra worms. The group went fishing in an old quarry on Keitel Road. The Albion Sportsmen’s Association owns the old sandstone site.
Young Enterprises employee Shane Swann is on top of the Pratt building at 118 North Main St., coating the roof on Sept. 19. It’s not everyday you get to look down on the lift bridge in Albion.
Ashley Webb, a drum major for Le Roy, leads the band in its performance of “Ashes to Ashes” at Vets Park on Sept. 21 in Medina. Marching bands performed for three hours at Vets Park before judges stopped the Fall Festival of Bands due to the major downpour.
A lone onlooker, a former Orleans Pallet employee, walks the railroad tracks in Albion on the night of Oct. 17 when firefighters were packing up and heading home after six hours of intense firefighting. A huge blaze feasted on Orleans Pallet’s three-story stone warehouse. Most of the building was knocked down by a demolition crew in the following days.
An anguished Fantine (Kaylee Jakubowski) sings, ‘I Dreamed A Dream,’ after she is forced into prostitution. She was among the stars in the Lake Plains Community Players’ production of ‘Les Miserables.’ The famous show became available for the first time this year to adult community theater groups. Lake Plains performed the show in late October.
Nick Condoluci may have the scariest setup for Halloween in Orleans County, a backyard with hanging skeletons, a grave yard, a guillotine and a “Booger Booth,” just to name a few. He is pictured on Oct. 29 by his porch. Condoluci makes most of the props himself, spending much of the winter cutting out and designing tombstones, signs and other scary features, including an electric chair with a buzzer on the seat.
Ann Batt of Albion dressed up as Harry Potter for Halloween. She joined other senior citizens in costume during their exercise class at the Albion Academy. The senior citizens have made it an annual Halloween tradition to dress up during their exercise class led by Leslie Allen.
The village of Lyndonville celebrated a holiday event on Dec. 7 that included a visit by Santa Claus. The jolly ole’ elf met with youngsters at the Village Hall. Grayson Voltz of Lockport didn’t take a liking to Santa, who is looking for some relief from Grayson’s mother, Jessica Voltz, a Lyndonville native.
Press release, Orleans County Sheriff’s Department
SHELBY – The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office is releasing the names of the individuals involved in a one-vehicle crash earlier today in the town of Shelby.
The driver of the 1998 Pontiac sedan is identified as David M. Russo, 43, of Stafford in Genesee County. Russo was pronounced dead at Medina Memorial Hospital at 12:31 p.m.
A female passenger in Russo’s car is identified as Lisa A. Stanley, 40, of Le Roy in Genesee County. Ms. Stanley was treated at MMH and was then transferred to Highland Hospital in Rochester.
While the incident remains under investigation, it’s apparent that weather and slippery road conditions were contributing factors.
Press release, Orleans County Sheriff’s Department
SHELBY – A man is dead and his female passenger hospitalized following a one-vehicle crash in the town of Shelby at about 11:35 a.m. today.
The incident occurred on South Gravel Road (State Route 63) between Oak Orchard Ridge Road and the Genesee-Orleans County Line in the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.
The vehicle was travelling south on Rt. 63 when the driver apparently lost control. The vehicle crossed the center line, ran off the east side of the roadway, and overturned before coming to rest upside down in flooded swampland.
A Shelby Fire Department pumper was utilized to drag the vehicle out of the water and back onto the roadway. Both occupants were extricated by firefighters and transported by ground ambulances to Medina Memorial Hospital.
The man was pronounced dead at 12:31 p.m. The female passenger is currently being treated. Names are being withheld pending next-of-kin notifications.
Deputy J.W. Halstead responded to the incident. He was assisted by Sergeants D.W. Covis and G.T. Gunkler, and Investigator C.L. Black. State Troopers stationed at both Albion and Batavia also assisted at the scene.
The incident remains under investigation by the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department.
Photo by Tom Rivers
GAINES – A field of hay bales are coated with snow on Route 279, just a little north of Route 104 late this afternoon.
Orleans Hub readers may recall a photo from about three months ago of the same field of hay bales.
I took this picture on Oct. 6, and it’s featured in the 2014 Orleans Hub calendar that’s available at the Lake Country Pennysaver, 170 North Main St. in Albion, as well as two other locations: Bindings Bookstore at 28 West Bank St., Albion and Della’s Chocolates at 512 North Main St., Medina.
Provided Photo
SHELBY – A Holley woman drove into the flooded Alabama swamp on Christmas eve, when Route 63 was slippery at about 4 a.m.
Kelly Ross, 41, was the lone occupant in the vehicle. She wasn’t injured, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department reported.
She lost control of the car while headed south on 63. She was driving too fast for the conditions, Undersheriff Steve Smith said today. The vehicle was towed out of the swamp by Lyons Collision of Medina.
ALBION – Residents are invited to bring their Christmas trees to a bonfire Jan. 17 at Bullard Park as part of a fire and ice festival.
The festival will include a fire performer, pulled pork sandwiches from the Crooked Door, hot cocoa and hopefully night sledding if there is enough snow on the big hill.
Village officials, incuding Program Coordinator Sid Beatty, are working on more details for the event. They encouraged people to hang on to their trees until the bonfire rather than leaving them at the curb for the garbage trucks to grab.
Prepared by the Town Boards of Ridgeway and Shelby
(Editor’s Note: Brian Napoli is Ridgeway town supervisor and Skip Draper is Shelby town supervisor.)
MEDINA – In an effort to dispel rumors, misunderstandings, and misconceptions concerning the possible dissolution of the Village of Medina, the following article is offered by the Town Boards of Ridgeway and Shelby to provide effected residents with factual information.
There are many issues that must be taken into account should the village dissolve. Many of them will be guided by state law. Should anyone have questions and wish to verify any of this information, they may contact the New York Department of State, New York State Attorney General’s Office, and the Office of the New York State Comptroller. They are the main sources of information and answers for questions.
The decision of whether or not to dissolve is a matter for village residents. Should this issue be brought to a referendum, only the village residents are allowed to vote. Ridgeway and Shelby residents living outside the village are not eligible. Should the village residents decide not to dissolve, this issue may not be brought up again for at least four years.
Should the voters decide to dissolve the Village of Medina, the boards of the towns of Ridgeway and Shelby have 18 months to decide what additional resources are needed to provide town services.
Also, decisions would be made regarding separation of village assets, as well as absorbing them into the respective towns. The Village Board must submit a dissolution plan to the towns. However, the towns are under no obligation to follow it.
Below is an explanation of how different departments and services will be affected should the village decide to dissolve.
Police Department – If the village dissolves, there would no longer be a Police Department. Also, any contracts dealing with the department would be dissolved along with any collective bargaining unit. The reason for this is that, according to the Attorney General’s Office, there are no longer two parties to the contract.
If the residents wish to keep the Police Department, a solution for this would be to establish a Special Police District in what was the former village. This would be paid for by the residents of the former village as a separate tax levy. Another solution would be to ask the Sheriff’s Department to expand and establish a sub-station in the former village.
Fire Department – Because the Fire Department serves only the village, it will not be taken over by the towns. Also, any contracts for services, such as union contracts, are voided and the union bargaining unit is dissolved. The reason for this is because if the village dissolves there are no longer two parties to the contract.
Should village residents wish to keep the Fire Department, a Special Fire District must be established, much like in the towns. Also, to pay for and support this service, only residents of the former village will be charged for it as a separate tax levy.
Ambulance Service – The towns would have to determine how to provide this service. This service could remain a part of the current fire department or a separate ambulance corporation could be established.
Water/Sewer Service – This is a difficult area and one in which even the State does not know how to answer. The reason is that when the dissolution law was passed, it never foresaw a situation where a village straddles two towns. As an example, how do you divide water and sewer infrastructure? How do you divide assets (trucks, equipment)?
Again, in order to do this, a Special District would have to be established and only residents of the former village will be charged maintenance and support. Any contracts, such as union contracts, will be dissolved as there are no longer two parties to the contract.
Another possible solution for this would be to establish a Water/Sewer Authority for the former village. However, according to the Attorney General and Comptroller’s offices, special legislation would be necessary from the State. Historically, this option would take a long time and have very little chance of succeeding.
Public Works & Village Administration – These departments would dissolve with the village. The town boards would have to determine how to provide any services necessary to residents.
Debt – This is a question that was raised when dissolution was first discussed and continues to be asked. What happens to any village debt should the village dissolve?
According to the New York State Attorney General’s Office, all debt created by the village, stays with the village. What this means is any and all debt created by the village will stay in the former village and will be paid by the former village residents. It will not be dispersed throughout the towns. This will be calculated and billed to former village residents as a separate tax levy.
New York State’s Role in this Process – New York created the process by which municipalities can dissolve, however, the final decision is up to the municipalities’ residents.
A Question Continuously Asked – Where do we go from here? The answer: stay informed, ask questions, attend meetings AND, if this comes to a referendum and you are eligible to vote – PLEASE VOTE!!!
Lastly, we value your questions and welcome your comments. You may contact your Town/Village representatives as follows:
Town of Ridgeway – meets the 3rd Monday at 7p.m. at the Ridgeway Town Hall, 410 West Ave, Medina (Phone 585-798-0730)
Town of Shelby – meets the 2nd Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Shelby Town Hall, 4062 Salt Rd, Medina (Phone 585-798-3120)
Village of Medina – meets the 2nd & 4th Mondays at 7 p.m. at the Shelby Town Hall, 4062 Salt Works Rd. Medina (Phone 585-798-0710)
Photos by Tom Rivers
Downtown Medina may be a center for commerce, collecting lots of sales tax, but little of that comes back to Medina or any of the villages that are population and business centers.
Orleans County’s four villages, which are desperately in need of revenue, won’t be getting any help from the county with added sales tax. In fact, the county’s sales tax formula will take money away from the villages next year.
That means the villages will likely have to hike property taxes or find more ways to cut costs or reduce services.
The county has budgeted to take in nearly $15 million in sales tax next year. It shares $1,366,671 with the 10 towns and four villages. The county keeps nearly $14 million for itself or about 92 percent of the total haul.
The county has frozen the village and town share since 2001. Since that time the sales tax has soared due to the rising gas prices and other cost of living increases, as well as an invasion of chain stores, including a Walmart Supercenter in Albion.
The county won’t give more to the towns and villages, saying the county needs the money for mandated programs from the state, such as Medicaid. The county will often gripe about the state not increasing reimbursements, but the county hasn’t increased the share to the villages and towns for 13 years now.
When the villages and town make some noise about the unfairness of the frozen rate, the county typically responds by threatening to keep all of the sales tax, cutting the villages and towns entirely. Rather than have an open dialogue about the issue, the county is a bully when it comes to sales tax.
Other counties share far more with their local municipalities. Genesee, for example, does a 50-50 split. That’s the main reason why their town and village tax rates are so much lower, and so much more attractive to businesses and families. Many of the towns don’t collect any property taxes because of all the sales tax they receive based on the generous formula.
Genesee and Orleans have almost the same county tax rates. Genesee will tax its residents $10.04 per $1,000 of assessed property while it’s a $10.11-rate in Orleans in 2014. The Orleans County tax rate isn’t out of line compared to most counties.
It’s our village tax rates, which range from about $14 in Holley to nearly $17 in Albion and Medina, that are far out of whack to most other villages in the state. Lyndonville’s rate at $10.43 is less because it doesn’t have a police department. (The village does contract for police protection.)
The County Legislature meets in the County Clerks Building, another tax exempt property in the village of Albion. The county unfairly uses taxable value to determine sales tax shares to villages and towns.
It would be easy to blame the local village officials for the high tax rates, but it’s really the fault of the county for sharing so little of the sales tax.
And it keeps getting worse for the villages. The county bases the villages’ revenue share based on taxable value. The villages with their shrinking assessments continue to see their amount go down while the towns get more.
In 2013, the four villages collectively received $404,666 in sales tax, which is a paltry amount for all of the services the villages provide with street, police, cemetery, water and sewer duties. The village amount is less than 3 percent of the entire sales tax that comes into the county. But the villages are doing far more than 3 percent of the work by local governments.
The new distribution for 2014, approved Monday by Legislature, cuts the villages down to $400,681. Albion assumes most of that loss with its share down from $180,457 to $176,423.
This formula makes no sense. The revenue share should be based solely on population because people spend money, generating sales tax. To tie it to assessed value isn’t fair, especially for the village of Albion which has so much exempt property with churches and county government buildings.
If the county is adamant it will use property values for the formula, the exempt properties should be assigned values that factor into the formula. The County Courthouse, for example, doesn’t give the village of Albion a boost in the formula. But if it’s value, let’s say $40 million, was factored in the equation, the village would do far better with the formula.
Add up all the churches and municipal buildings, and suddenly the villages are worth a lot more and should get more.
There is a bias against the villages by the County Legislature. The Legislature has historically been made up of legislators who previously served on Town Boards. Few village mayors or trustees have served on the Legislature.
The legislators bring an anti-village mentality that they pick up at the town level. For the first time in several years, there will be legislator who actually lives in a village on the Legislature.
Fred Miller, an Albion resident and former village trustee, said he wants to be a voice for the villages. He will be outnumbered 6 to 1 by other legislators with a “town” mentality. I’m not optimistic fairness will prevail.
If the county wanted to throw the villages and towns a tiny life-line, the Legislature wouldn’t cap their share. The county should establish a 90-10 revenue sharing split to start with, rather than the current 92 to 8 percent. That 2 percent difference would sprinkle another $300,000 to the towns and villages, with some of that going to the depleted village coffers.
If the county made that move it would raise the county tax rates by 18 cents. If the villages and towns used some of that small increase for public improvements, it could draw more dollars into the county, leading to more sales tax with the county getting 9 out of every 10 dollars. Ultimately, the county wouldn’t be losing sales tax money by giving the towns and villages a little more.
If the sales tax wasn’t capped, itwould provide incentive for the villages and towns to invest in themselves with downtown, parks and other community development improvement projects.
Right now, the villages and towns pay all the costs for these projects. If a canal project, for example, brings in tourists and spending in the community, that added sales tax all goes in the county coffers.
I propose the county “freeze” its share the next 13 years and give any of the increase to the towns and villages, with the share among them to be divvied based on population. After 13 years, the county could start to receive more, but only if the towns and villages are up to 25 percent of the total haul.
The villages are at a crisis point. Medina is seriously looking at dissolving and having the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway step in and assume the village functions.
If the villages don’t get more revenue, I think you’ll see some eliminate police and other services. The county, in that scenario, would be expected to add deputies to fill the gap.
All of this could be avoided if the county would amend its sales tax formula, and be a partner with the villages as they fight for survival.
