Photos by Sue Cook – Orleans Hub editor Tom Rivers began a middle school assembly by sharing a picture from the Oct. 17 fire at Orleans Pallet in Albion. Many remembered the fire, but Rivers told them it was his job to think beyond the spectacle of the event to the impact on the community and the owner. He praised building owner Shawn Malark for his resilience in keeping his business open after such a disastrous fire.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

ALBION – Albion Middle School students have been working hard in the classroom all year, with an emphasis on writing. On Wednesday they heard from local author and Orleans Hub editor Tom Rivers, who shared some tips from getting a good story.

Elizabeth Marquette, the New Teacher and Mentor Coordinator, invited Rivers. He was given the opportunity to tell students about his work as an author, reporter and photographer.

“He’s a local author,” Marquette said. “A lot of the kids know him and he’s a familiar face in the school community. We’re excited to have him.”

She explained that the students had already become familiar with Rivers’ work in class. Rivers wrote “All Ears: A decade of listening and learning from small-town Western New Yorkers” and “Farm Hands: Hard work and hard lessons from Western New York fields.”

“The students received vignettes of the books, and studied and answered analytical questions with their English teachers,” Marquette said.

The school purchased 464 copies of “All Ears” at a discounted price and each student received a book at the end of the assembly.

The entire student body, sixth through eighth grade, was at the presentation.

The students were shown a variety of images in the Albion community, including this picture of a tree at Mount Albion Cemetery after a December ice storm.

Rivers wanted the students to get more than just a talk about the importance of reading and writing.

“I want them to be more curious about their surroundings,” he said before his presentation. “They should ask more questions. In your community, you don’t always pay attention to the great things around you.”

He encouraged students to learn things around them that they perhaps had never seen or heard of. He showed the students an image of boot scraper from the 1800s that is outside the Daughter of the American Revolution house in Albion.

Rivers asked if students knew what it was. One boy suggested that it was something for chopping wood, but many of the students had no idea. It was an example of seeking out and asking questions about what look like the simplest things.

Rivers said he often will explore his surroundings after a storm or unusual event to gather information and look for sights others might miss.

Rivers encouraged students to explore the details of the world. He showed images of horses, farmer Ken Nice walking between two different colored rows of flowering trees and various images from the recent winter storms.

The images showed that taking something you see regularly and viewing it from a different angle, time of day or season can bring a whole new life to something.

Rivers enjoys learning about the community and sharing his discoveries with readers on the Hub. He urged the group to learn more about Albion and American history.

“If you love something, you should know about it and know about its history,” Rivers told the students.

Rivers explains to the students about taking a small detail from the big picture, such as one of his images focusing on the dome of the Orleans County Courthouse, rather than the entire building.

Rivers also talked about getting to know the people around you because each person has a story to tell. He explained his process of actually going out and physically learning about something in order to be able to better write about it.

For the book “Farm Hands” he went to several local farms and worked with livestock, as well as working alongside migrant workers in the fields.

Picking cucumbers was the hardest job. He recalled how he struggled with the task. The other workers saw him having trouble keeping up and would put cucumbers into his basket or in a pile to help him keep pace rather than leave him behind.

“It was a powerful lesson for me,” said Rivers. “If you help someone a little it can give them the energy to keep going and not give up.”

Rivers also took the time to remember people in our community who have passed away, but left a big impact on others, like Jenna Stoddard. Years ago, Stoddard was a student in Albion school. She had a kidney disease that required dialysis and eventually she had to go to a Pittsburg hospital for further care. Rivers had heard about how she was one of the favorites of the staff there and paid her a visit to see how she was affecting lives around her, despite her own hardships.

“One of the things I would encourage in all of you as part of your personal story is to be a good friend to each other and reach out to other people,” Rivers said. He told the students that it helps build connections and experiences between yourself and those around you.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Dale Banker, front, marches with the Albion Fire Department in the June 14 Albion Strawberry Festival Parade. Matt Francis is in the line behind Banker.

ALBION – Orleans County will have a new emergency management coordinator next month, and the new leader is a familiar face to local firefighters.

Dale Banker, a past Albion fire chief, has been an active volunteer firefighter for more than three decades. He also served on the Albion Village Board and currently works with the state Department of Transportation.

“He has outstanding credentials and almost a lifetime of experience,” said David Callard, chairman of the Orleans County Legislature.

He made the appointment today. Banker will succeed Paul Wagner, who is retiring July 18 after 14 years as director of the Emergency Management Office.

Wagner has been busy trying to see through an overhaul of the county’s emergency radio system. That system was activated last month.

“The radios have dominated but now it’s time to push the fire service ahead,” Callard said. “Dale really was quite visionary in his thoughts, which is what we need going forward.”

Rocky Sidari, the current Albion fire chief, and Dave Knapp, a past Holley fire chief and current county fire investigator, both pursued the EMO position.

Callard likes Banker’s long-term experience working with the public and political leaders.

“The other candidates were also experienced and very likable,” Callard said. “But Dale has the most outstanding credentials.”

The job was Callard’s to fill. He made the appointment, and noted Banker had the support of the Fire Advisory Board.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Jonesie and Cruisers, led by lead singer Gary Jones, performed on East Bank Street this evening in the village’s “Concerts by the Canal” series, which debuted last week.

The band Whiskey Rebellion opened today’s concert and then veteran rock and roll band Jonesie and the Cruisers performed in the series sponsored by the village, the Albion Rotary Club and Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.

Keyboardist and singer Gary Withey, right, joins Jones in one of the songs. Withey owns and operates Fischer’s Newsroom on Main Street.

The concert series will take next Thursday off and then returns July 10, 17 and 24.

Editorial

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Clarendon Street bridge has several structural deficiencies. The Albion Village Board is considering having the bridge removed and blocking off that section of the street, rather than borrowing money to replace the span.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated from an earlier version which stated the nursing home was inside the village. Albion could still receive tax revenue if it worked out a tax-sharing deal with the other local governments.

ALBION – Today is the deadline to send Albion village officials comments about the Clarendon Street bridge. The Village Board thinks it’s best to use state and federal money to tear out the bridge and block off that section of the street.

I think the village should borrow the money and have the bridge replaced. That could be a $700,000 hit to the village taxpayers over 20 years. That could turn into $70,000 a year in more taxes annually with the financing costs.

That’s a hard hit for a village that already has a tax rate that tops $17 per $1,000 of assessed property, one of the highest in western and central New York. The village has been hurt in recent years with a shrinking tax base and stagnant revenues from the state in municipal aid and the county with sales tax revenue. The village’s only choice has been to turn to village taxpayers for more money in order to maintain services.

The village has shed some jobs, and its DPW, police, water and sewer departments still get the job done. But there is a sense of budget doom, that the village can’t push taxes any higher or else it will continue to see a drop in the worth of homes and property.

That is the big factor in why the Village Board doesn’t want to borrow money for the bridge project, committing taxpayers to 20 years of debt payments.

The board sees a blocked-off street as a way to prevent another tax jolt to village property owners. The outside money of about $1.3 million from the state and federal government would pay about 95 percent of the cost for removing the bridge and blocking off the street. The village would be on the hook for about $70,000. It could handle that without getting a loan.

Albion was going to have the 40-year-old bridge removed and replaced with a new one. The bridge has about 1,600 vehicles pass over it each day, including many school buses in the morning and afternoon. (I live in the village and go over this bridge usually at least once a day.)

The village has slowly been working on this project. It was first approved for the state and federal funding 15 years ago. The village has looked at making the spot an at-grade crossing, but was turned down unless it closed off two other at-grade crossings.

It has looked at other alternatives. Finally, after 15 years, Albion was told by the Genesee Transportation Council, which administers the state and federal funding, it needed to move on the project. However, the budget jumped by about $600,000 without more state and federal money, leaving the village to shoulder the entire increase.

The village budget picture feels bleak with the continued decline in overall assessments and rising tax rates. But there is hope on the immediate horizon.

Orleans County has accepted a purchase offer for the county nursing home for $7.8 million. That sale needs a final sign off by the state Department of Health. It could come this year or in 2015. That brings the promise of a significant increase to the local tax base.

The nursing home is just outside the village boundaries, but the village could strike a tax-sharing deal with the town, school district and county, following a similar model in Medina. If Albion can reach a tax-sharing deal like the one in Medina, the village could gain $79,988 in new revenue from the nursing home taxes if the site is assessed at $7 million.

The new Dunkin’ Donuts will boost the village assessment, and the former Chase site, now used for CRFS, will see its tax bill to the village rise 10 percent annually over the next 10 years. The building owner will pay the village about $5,000 in taxes next year and $5,000 more each of the following years until it’s at the full $2.9 million assessment or about $50,000 in taxes annually to the village a year.

That’s all to say the money will be there for the village to make the bridge payment, with plenty left over.

To block off the bridge will cost local motorists in gas, time and inconvenience. At least two businesses, DK Autobody and the Crooked Door Tavern, could see less traffic and customers, possibly resulting in some job losses and reduced sales tax for the state and county.

About 1,600 vehicles cross the bridge daily. A closed bridge will result in a 2/3 mile detour or about 1,000 extra miles daily.

That detour will cost motorists about $73,000 annually in added gas. That’s based on my calculations. If you factor 20 miles per gallon of gas by the 1,000 miles that will mean motorists will buy 50 more gallons of gas a day due to the detour, spending about $200 more a day. Multiply that by 365 days and you have $73,000 in added costs to motorists, not to mention lost time and more congested village side streets.

To have a blocked off street not far from the schools and parks will also be a psychological blow, a sign of a community in decline. The STAMP project in the town of Alabama raises the prospect of new residents in the region. They will want to be in growing and dynamic communities with signs of progress.

Most villages don’t own bridges. They are in the county or state inventory. It doesn’t feel right that the village has to pay for this, but the village has long stepped up and got projects done and provided services for the greater community.

The village takes the lead with the summer parks program, providing water and sewer services for residents, maintains one of the finest cemeteries in the region, and helps run the Strawberry Festival and now a new concert series on Thursdays.

The county and state should take note of village’s leadership in so many areas, and make it a priority to give the village more state municipal aid and more local sales tax revenue.

In the meantime, Albion should push forward with replacing the bridge.

Clarendon Street will be blocked off, and village will pursue at-grade crossing

ALBION – The Village Board voted tonight to proceed with demolishing the Clarendon Street bridge and blocking off that section of the street with the hope it could someday become an at-grade crossing over the railroad tracks.

The board faced escalating costs for replacing the bridge that were about $600,000 over budget. Mayor Dean London and the board didn’t want to push that on village taxpayers.

Removing the 40-year-old bridge and blocking off the street would be covered 95 percent by the state and federal governments. However, the village needed to make a decision on the plan for the bridge by June 30 or risk losing the state and federal aid.

“It left us little options,” London said about the time crunch and cost increases.

The bridge could be removed next year and the street blocked off. The village would like to see the street blocked off in a way that the section could be changed to an at-grade crossing down the road. London said the village will reach out to government agencies about the at-grade crossing.

For now, the Village Board wanted to move ahead with a project that utilizes the state and federal funds.

“We know that money will be there,” he said.

Orleans Hub editorialized today about the bridge, urging the board to vote for the replacement because additional tax dollars are coming with the Dunkin’ Donuts assessment and revenue from the former Chase building. The village, if it reached a tax-sharing deal with other municipalities, could receive tax dollars from the nursing home once it is owned by a private entity.

The nursing home is outside the village but the site utilizes village services. In Medina, there is a model for the village to receive tax money for sites just outside the village boundary that use village services, such as water and sewer.

London said the village will explore a similar tax-sharing deal, but he didn’t want to commit to more costs for village taxpayers with so many unknowns with revenue.

“You can’t base a decision on what may happen,” he said.

Editorial

Village officials should try to work out a deal for some of the new tax revenue

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center, a county-owned nursing home since 1960, has been acquired by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC for $7.8 million.

This morning I wrote an editorial about the Clarendon Street bridge, and how the village should proceed with having the bridge replaced even if Albion needs to borrow money to make it happen.

The village stood to reap new revenue with the nursing home coming onto the tax rolls, a new Dunkin’ Donuts and increased tax payments from the former Chase building. All that would more than cover the bond payment, which the village says could be $60,000 to $70,000 a year for two decades.

The nursing home, however, is not in the village. That property was sold for $7.8 million. If it was assessed for that amount, the village would receive about $132,000 in new revenue based on a tax rate of about $17 per $1,000 of assessed property.

I apologize for thinking the site was in the village. When it was sold, some of the county officials told me one of the benefits would be it would help the village’s tax base. There is an Albion welcome sign on 31 west of the nursing home.

But the village has confirmed the village line ends near the GCC building.

That could be the end of the bridge story with no new money for the village. The Village Board may think there is not enough new revenue to pay for the bridge. The board doesn’t want to raise taxes for the villagers.

However, the county, town, school and village leaders could craft a tax-sharing agreement so the village receives some revenue from the nursing home.

Medina worked out a deal with Shelby, Ridgeway, the school district and county to get some of the tax benefits for properties outside the village that use the village’s water and sewer. Each of the municipalities – county, town and school – agreed to give up a portion of their taxes to the village.

Albion village officials could strike a similar deal with the town, school and county.

Here is how this could work in Albion, and I know it’s a little complicated. You add the total tax rates of the three taxing entities – school at $16.82, town at $4.25 and county at $10.10. That’s $31.83. Multiply that by a $7 million assessment (the assessment hasn’t been determined) and the new nursing home owners would pay $222,810 in taxes with nothing in taxes to the village, despite using some services.

If Albion follows Medina’s tax-sharing plan, the nursing home owner would still pay the $222,810 in taxes. However, the portion would be shared as a percentage of the total tax rate, including the village’s. The four entities have a combined rate of $48.65 with the village accounting for 35.9 percent of that based on its $17.48 rate.

The Medina model would give Albion 35.9 percent of the new tax revenue or $79,988, based on a $7 million assessment for the nursing home, which more than pays for the bridge payment.

After realizing I made a mistake earlier by saying the nursing home was in the village, this blunder forced me to dig a little deeper for money for the village. I don’t think the Albion village officials have pursued the tax-sharing plan for properties outside the village that use village services.

I would urge them to do so, and would ask the town, county and school district leaders to follow the example on the western end of the county and not just grab as much money for themselves while the village gets nothing.