Bill Robinson and members of the Albion Lions Club are selling geraniums today until they’re all sold out. They are set up on Route 31 in front of Mark’s Pizzeria. Robinson found some shade on an 80-degree day. When he wasn’t pushing product, he was reading a book.
HOLLEY – School district residents approved a $22,976,429 budget with a 371 to 229 vote. The spending plan increases taxes by 2 percent.
The budget brings back the marching band, elementary student council, ski club, golf and boys and girls basketball for grades 4 to 6. The budget also will add an athletic trainer, a high school social studies teacher and an elementary teacher.
Last year residents approved a proposition to reduce the board in a phase-in from nine to five members. A new proposition, to halt the reduction at seven members and not five, passed on Tuesday, 350 to 257. Residents also re-elected Brenda Swanger with 507 votes. She was unopposed.
A bus proposition to spend $372,136 passed, 353 to 255, and voters approved $102,652 for Community Free Library, 430 to 180.
Photos by Tom Rivers – Caledonia Fish hatchery manager Alan Mack, bottom, works with Brian Edmonds from the DEC’s Salmon River Hatchery to unload a truck full of lake trout.
The lake trout are yearlings that are about 7 inches long.
POINT BREEZE – A decade from now, many of them will hopefully be two feet long, trophy fish that will draw angling tourists and their money to Orleans County.
For now, the 80,600 lake trout that were stocked off the Oak Orchard Harbor are about seven inches long. This morning they were hauled on a barge 2.1 miles from the harbor and released into Lake Ontario.
A sample of the lake trout are measured, and checked to see if a fin is clipped. The group includes, from left: Matt Sanderson, senior aquatic biologist for the DEC in Avon; and Mike Waterhouse, the county’s sportsfishing coordinator.
The fish were taken out where the lake is 150 feet deep. That is their preferred environment, and also avoids many of the predators, bigger fish and birds, that stalk the waters close to shore.
“If we stocked them off shore they’d have to run a 2-mile gauntlet to get through,” said Alan Mack, the Caledonia Fish Hatchery manager. “If we stocked them by the shore the chance of them getting eaten are pretty good.”
The lake trout that were released today were raised at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery in Warren, Pa. The fish each had a fin clipped to show it was a hatchery-raised fish. A tiny tag in its snout will help the state Department of Environmental Conservation track it for survivability. The tag will note the fish was released near the Oak Orchard on May 22, 2013. It will also indicate one of three strains of lake trout: Lake Cayuga, Lake Chautauqua and Lake Champlain.
The fish are taken out 2.1 miles from shore and released into water that is 150 feet deep. That reduces the predators that are closer to shore. In this photo, the vessel carrying a truck of fish returns from the lake through the Oak Orchard Harbor.
DEC officials get ready to swap out this truck with another one, and then make the 2.1-mile trip out to the lake.
“It will help us know which ones survive more and have the highest catch-ability,” Mack said on the barge this morning.
The DEC has already stocked steelhead in Orleans County this spring, as well as a batch of pen-reared Chinook salmon. Next week more Chinook and brown trout will be stocked with cohoes put in the lake in the fall.
Fishing has a $12 million annual economic impact in Orleans County, according to county officials, with about $1 billion each year in the state, Mack said.
After a year in a fish hatchery in Warren, Pa, these lake trout are released into Lake Ontario.
Photos by Tom Rivers – The Kendall Junior-Senior High School is eyed for about $14 million of the $25 million capitol project that was approved by district residents on Tuesday.
The elementary school also will be the focus of about $11 million in upgrades.
KENDALL – Residents gave strong support to a proposed $25 million capitol project, 203 to 89, which will replace roofs on two school buildings, improve safety and redesign classrooms in the junior-senior high school.
The project includes energy efficient improvements, heating and ventilation work, and improvements to parking lots and sidewalks. The state will pay 90 percent of the costs. Kendall already has its local share saved in the capitol reserve account.
The proposed $14,051,383 budget passed 233 to 61. The budget cuts taxes by nearly $1 million, from $5,601,132 to $4,606,613. The average tax rate will fall from $21.51 to $17.45 per $1,000 of assessed property.
The district is shedding about $500,000 annually with a paid-off bond and another $115,000 annually with a bus loan payment. Kendall also will see several students with disabilities, who were educated at costly facilities outside the district, move into other communities. Those factors, plus a $553,000 increase in state aid, are allowing Kendall to drastically cut taxes.
Residents approved continuing a school bus replacement capitol reserve fund, 236 to 56, and approved spending up to $250,000 from that fund for buses, 228 to 64.
Board of Education member Edward Gaesser did not run for re-election. Martin Goodenbery, the lone candidate, was elected to a five-year term with 251 votes.
Press release, GCC
BATAVIA – Genesee Community College has received a $238,719 State University of New York “high need” grant to help GCC establish a new Food Processing Technology program.
The program is expected to begin in fall 2014. It will prepare students to work in the rapidly growing food processing businesses located throughout the Genesee-Livingston-Orleans-Wyoming region. The program will be the only one of its kind offered at any of SUNY’s 30 community colleges.
The grant, which will be paid over three years, will provide seed money for the program, said Dr. Rafael Alicea-Maldonado, dean of Math, Science and Career Education. In addition to helping the College fund a new faculty position, the grant will enable GCC to upgrade a microbiology lab to meet the needs of the new program.
Food technology jobs in the GLOW region and across Upstate New York are being created every year, Alicea-Maldonado said. They include jobs such as storage specialists, regulatory experts, safety experts, logistics and transport specialists, packaging specialists, plant operations managers, quality control technicians, account representatives, production supervisors and many others.
GCC’s new program will offer an Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree. The 63-credit program consists of courses in food processing technology, sanitation, hazard analysis, operations management and food labeling. It also consists of business courses, biology, chemistry, physics and statistics, microeconomic theory, as well as English and liberal arts courses. All students in the program will complete a supervised internship in a real-life work setting.
The five school districts in Orleans County will ask for the blessing of local voters for school funding, candidates to serve on the Board of Education and several other propositions, ranging from library funding, to new buses and a proposal to reduce the BOE in one district.
Here is a snapshot of each district:
ALBION: The district’s budget increases overall spending by 0.6 percent or $202,799 to $33,349,049. Taxes would increase by 1.5 percent in a budget that cuts five jobs.
Albion is proposing its first tax increase since the 2006-07 school year. The proposed tax levy, at $8,446,946, is up $124,484. It remains down compared to the $9,094,194 levy in 2006-07.
The district, with the five cuts planned for next school year, will have eliminated 21.5 jobs since the 2011-12 school year. Three of the cuts next school year will come from attrition with two layoffs planned.
The budget preserves all school programs, without exceeding a property tax cap of about 2 percent. The state Legislature established that cap on local governments about two years ago.
Residents will also be asked to approve a school bus reserve proposition that would create a reserve for buses not to exceed $4,821,000. The district would like to take $440,000 from the reserve to go towards new buses. The state pays 94 percent of the bus costs.
Residents will also vote on whether $654,000 can be collected to support operations at Hoag Library.
Two BOE candidates are unopposed: incumbent BOE President Margy Brown and Linda Weller. Incumbent Marie Snyder opted against re-election.
Voting is from noon to 8 p.m. at the elementary school’s conference room A.
HOLLEY: The district’s $22,976,429 budget increases taxes by 2 percent from $7,393,901 to $7,541,779. The budget would bring back the marching band, elementary student council, ski club, golf and boys and girls basketball for grades 4 to 6. The budget also will add an athletic trainer, a high school social studies teacher and an elementary teacher.
The board decided to return staff and programs that were cut in previous budgets when state aid was drastically reduced for the district. Next school year state aid is targeted to increase by $742,336 from $10,879,581 to $11,621,917.
Residents will also vote on a bus proposition to spend $372,136, and a proposition to raise $102,652 for Community Free Library. Brenda Swanger is unopposed for a three-year term on the Board of Education.
Another proposition seeks to keep the BOE at seven seats rather than continue a downsizing to five members. Voters a year ago approved a phase-in reduction of the BOE from nine to five members.
Voting is from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the high school foyer.
Photo by Tom Rivers – The Kendall Junior-Senior High School is eyed for most of the $25 million in a capital project that goes before voters today.
KENDALL: The district is proposing a $1 million cut in property taxes. Kendall also wants residents’ support for a $25 million capital project at the elementary and junior-senior high schools.
The proposed $14,051,383 budget would cut taxes from $5,601,132 to $4,606,613. The average tax rate would fall from $21.51 to $17.45 per $1,000 of assessed property.
The district is shedding about $500,000 annually with a paid-off bond and another $115,000 annually with a bus loan payment. Kendall also will see several students with disabilities, who were educated at costly facilities outside the district, move into other communities. Those factors, plus a $553,000 increase in state aid, are allowing Kendall to drastically cut taxes.
Kendall plans to add an elementary teacher, and at least another teacher to help students meet and surpass more stringent state standards. The board also wants to increase the Building and Grounds staff while the district begins work on the capital project.
The $25 million capitol project will be 90 percent funded with state aid. Kendall’s local share already is saved in a capital reserve account.
The project includes new roofs for both school buildings, as well as energy efficient improvements, heating and ventilation work, and updated security measures. Both sites will also see improvements to parking lots and sidewalks. The classrooms in the junior-senior high school also will be redesigned and upgraded.
Board member Edward Gaesser isn’t seeking re-election. Martin Goodenberry of Morton is unopposed for a five-year term. Voting is from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the elementary school.
LYNDONVILLE: The $13,094,250 budget for 2013-14 would raise taxes by 1 percent. The budget would eliminate one teacher position due to an enrollment drop. Another teacher is retiring and will be replaced with one who earns less money. The Board of Education also made budget reductions to conferences, supplies and materials.
The budget calls for raising $4,666,578 in taxes, a 1 percent increase from the $4,620,374 collected in the 2012-13 budget.
Residents will also decide the fate of a proposition to reduce the size of Board of Education from nine to seven members, and vote whether to approve $82,500 for the Yates Community Library, the establishment of a $460,000 transportation vehicle reserve fund and a $126,000 bus purchase.
Four seats are up for election with the top three voter-getters receiving three-year terms and the fourth-place finisher getting a two-year term. Incumbents Terry Stinson, Tara Neace and James Moody are running again. Harold Suhr and Michelle Dillenbeck also will be on the ballot.
Voting will be from 1 to 9 p.m. at the school library.
MEDINA: The $33,805,130 budget won’t raise school taxes and will restore some staff and modified sports.
Medina two years ago slashed 30 positions and eliminated many extracurricular activities. The 2013-14 budget brings back sports for students in junior high. The district also is bringing back a curriculum director, and will add a network specialist to focus on the school’s technology needs.
Residents will also vote on several propositions, including whether to spend $200,000 to purchase one 66-passenger bus and two 30-passenger buses. Another proposition would establish a capital reserve account for up to $2.5 million.
Four seats on the Board of Education also will be up for election. Three incumbents – Wendi Pencille, Virginia Nicholson and John McCarthy – are seeking re-election to three-year terms while David Sevinski and Lori Draper are also running. The top three vote-getters will get full terms while the fourth-leading candidate will receive a one-year term.
Voting will be from noon to 8 p.m. in the District Office board room next to Medina High School.
Photo by Tom Rivers – David Bertsch of Carlton casts a ballot in the new optical scan voting machines, which were used for the first time today by the school district. Shawn Liddle, the district’s assistant superintendent of business, was on hand to help people use the machine.
ALBION – School district residents gave strong support for Medina and Albion school budgets today.
Albion’s $33.3 million budget today passed 294-79. The budget includes a 1.5 percent tax increase and will cut five positions.
Residents also supported a school bus reserve proposition that would create a reserve for buses not to exceed $4,821,000. That passed 305-69. The district plans to take $440,000 from the reserve to go towards new buses.
A proposition to collect $654,000 for Hoag Library was approved, 264-109.
Residents also returned Margy Brown, the BOE president, to a second five-year term. She received 338 votes. Resident Linda Weller also was elected to her first five-year on the BOE with 257 votes.
“I have really enjoyed the opportunity,” Brown said about serving on the BOE. “I enjoy keeping it about the kids and not agendas.”
The district will need to adjust to new teacher and principal evaluations, increased “Common Core” standards, and new nutritional requirements in school lunches. And Albion will need to do so without straining local taxpayers, Brown said.
“There will be the challenge of keeping the district financially stable while still providing opportunities,” she said.
Medina’s $33.8 million budget also gained strong support with 577 in favor and 148 opposed. The budget won’t raise school taxes and will restore some staff and modified sports.
Residents also approved, 552-170, a proposition to spend $200,000 to purchase one 66-passenger bus and two 30-passenger buses. Another proposition to establish a capital reserve account for up to $2.5 million was approved, 572-137.
There was a five-way race for four seats on the BOE. Long-time incumbent Virginia Nicholson was not re-elected. Residents re-elected Wendi Pencille and John McCarthy to three-year terms, while newcomer Lori Draper also was elected to a three-year term.
David Sevinski was the fourth-leading candidate and will receive a one-year term.
Albion and Medina both ended voting at 8 p.m. I’ll check back on the other districts after polls close at 9 p.m.
Press Release, Medina Tree Board
MEDINA – Ten years ago, when downtown Medina was ripped up for a road reconstruction project, old mature trees were removed and replaced with new trees in tree pits in downtown sidewalks.
Those new trees have never developed as expected, said Chris Busch, the Tree Board chairman.
“The existing trees included a couple varieties of crab apple, flowering pear, and a few other miscellaneous species, none of which were growing as would normally be expected and none of which were providing the desired impact in the streetscape,” he said.
So those trees will be taken out and replaced beginning Wednesday morning with several larger shade trees which would provide the desired canopy effect. The larger trees will eventually require selective pruning and shaping, but the overall effect will be stunning, Busch said.
The village worked with Tree Board consultant Andy Pleninger of Urban Forestry LLC of Palmyra to study the tree pits and make recommendations for the bigger trees.
The crabapples and other trees being removed from the Main Street site will be replanted in one of the local village parks.
Busch said the benefits of having a healthy green canopy in a business district are both multiple and tangible, and an underdeveloped canopy is literally robbing a business district of potential profits. Many studies have shown that the greening of business districts increases community pride and positive perception of an area, drawing customers to the businesses.
Pleninger made several species recommendations, with the Tree Board eventually settling on two- ‘Prairie Pride’ Hackberry and Skyline Honeylocust – both of which are trees that can thrive under tough urban conditions.
“In a relatively short number of years,” said Pleninger, “the shade trees will begin providing more environmental benefits such as shading the sidewalks, moderating temperatures and wind speeds.”
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier said a healthy, green canopy is important in a successful business district.
“These new trees will soften and compliment our historic streetscape,” Meier said. “They will dramatically enhance the walkability of the district.Whether the realize it or not, people tend to enjoy being in a well-landscaped business district.”
The Village of Medina is a Tree City USA and a multiple Tree City Growth Award recipient.
Press release, Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni III
ALBION – Village police will be stepping up its efforts to enforce seat belt use beginning today until June 2 as part of a state-wide initiative.
The Albion Police Department is using a $779 state grant from the state Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee to have extra officers on duty during the next two weeks. Officers will be doing road checks and patrolling throughout the village to enforce seatbelt compliance.
The leading causes of fatalities in motor vehicle accidents continues to be speeding, not wearing seat belts and driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, said Police Chief Roland Nenni III.
“The safety of our streets continues to be one of the number one goals of the Albion Police Department,” he said. “We will continue to strive to make our community safe.”
The Police Department for the past two years has won the Automobile Association of America’s Community Traffic Safety Platinum Award.
“This award shows the commitment and dedication the officers of the Albion Police Department have for the safety of our motorists and pedestrians,” Nenni said.
Scientists from the Great Lakes Observing System were at Point Breeze on Saturday to send an autonomous underwater vehicle into Lake Ontario. Dick Anderson, a Point Breeze resident, sent us these photos of the AUV. The GLOS sent the vehicle into the lake for four hours to gather data about water temperatures and water quality. The GLOS is based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Press release, Kendall Park Committee
KENDALL – The new community park across from the elementary school will kick off a season of concerts on Wednesday.
The Kendall Community Choir will perform patriotic and American folk songs in the 45-minute concert that begins at 7 p.m. The choir will perform in the park’s gazebo, which was built last year.
Veterans and current military members will be recognized with a special song. Local Boy Scouts will present a huge American flag.
The concert is free and is expected to be the first of at least one a month. The Kendall Park Committee is working to line up more performances for the summer.
“It’s a nice gathering place for the community to come,” Nadine Hanlon, a park committee member, said about the new gazebo and park. “It’s also a chance to showcase our beautiful community choir and some of our student performers.”
Concert-goers are encouraged to bring their own chair or blanket to sit on.
ALBION – A Carlton burglar and Albion woman with a history of drunk driving were both sentenced to either jail or prison today.
Kenneth Martin II, 24, of South Academy Street in Medina was sentenced to five years in state prison for second-degree burglary and petty larceny. Martin was charged after allegedly breaking into a Carlton home on Oct. 1 and stealing jewelry. He allegedly broke in the next day with an accomplice Joshua Gang, who stole guns from the house.
Martin has an earlier conviction – third-degree burglary on April 13, 2009.
“He has a horrible record,” County Court Judge James Punch said in court today.
District Attorney Joseph Cardone asked that Martin be required to pay back $10,639 to Erie Insurance and another $6,020 in damages that wasn’t covered by insurance.
Punch will determine if Martin pays all of that or if it’s split with Gang, who pled guilty to his role in the crime.
“You take no responsibility for what you do and you’re constantly blaming others,” Punch said before announcing Martin’s sentence.
The judge also sentenced Lisa Foggett, 53, of Oak Orchard Road in Albion to a year in county jail after her sixth alcohol-related driving charge. She pled guilty to misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
“You are an extremely dangerous criminal,” Punch told Foggett during her sentencing. “It’s a miracle you haven’t killed somebody.”
ALBANY – More than 1,000 local residents have signed a petition in past 2 ½ months opposing new state gun control legislation, State Assemblyman Steve Hawley said today.
He advised Gov. Andrew Cuomo that 1,050 people signed the petition. Hawley asked the governor to re-examine the process for enacting the law and allow his constituents to make their voices heard.
The county governing bodies for nearly all upstate counties, including Orleans, have formally gone on the record opposing the SAFE Act. Orleans has asked the governor and state Legislature to repeal it.
Hawley and many of the county governments say Cuomo and the majority of the Legislature rushed the law into passage in January without feedback from the public.
Many of the provisions of the law are confusing and open to interpretation, Orleans legislators said. The group in February also criticized the law for prohibiting firearm magazines with more than seven rounds, when most magazines have 10 rounds. Gun owners will have to acquire new magazines or alter their existing ones.
Hawley is critical of the way the law was approved without input from New York residents.
“Their voices were not heard during the hurried passage of this law,” he said. “They deserved to be heard then and they deserve to be heard now. I urge you to repeal this law and come to the table, not only with members of the legislature, but with law enforcement officials, mental health professionals and, most importantly, the concerned citizens of our community who have the most at stake when it comes to the laws of our state.”
Hawley sent a letter to the governor today, telling him the SAFE Act did not protect the safety of New York families, but instead “trampled” the Second Amendment rights of New Yorkers.
HOLLEY – Village property owners will pay 3.2 percent more in village taxes this fiscal year, and the tax rate will climb from 60 cents to $13.94 per $1,000 of assessed property.
The village will collect $728,339 in taxes to support the general fund – the village office, department of public works, fire department and police. That’s up from the $705,656 in 2012-13. The village fiscal year begins June 1.
The tax rate will increase 4.5 percent from $13.34 to $13.94. The rate exceeded the tax levy growth because Holley, like the villages of Albion and Medina, is seeing its assessed value decrease. Holley’s overall value dropped nearly $700,000 from $52,904,663 to $52,251,478. The shrinking assessments mean there is less assessed value to spread out the tax levy, which puts more strain on property owners.
Mayor John Kenney is optimistic the situation will improve in Holley. The village has received a $250,000 Main Street grant from the state to provide matching funds for building improvements in the Public Square.
Holley also has a grant to identify ways to improve brownfield sites, underutilized properties that are either contaminated or suffer from that stigma. The Brownfield Opportunity Area steering committee will meet 7 p.m. June 6 at the Community Free Library.
“These grants will have a positive impact on our village,” Kenney said.
Photos by Tom Rivers – Aaron Kirby, a 2009 Albion graduate, addresses Albion honor graduates during the Academic Honors Convocation Dinner tonight at Hickory Ridge Country Club.
Faith Bentley is congratulated by Albion High School Principal Leslie Stauss and Superintendent of Schools Michael Bonnewell during a dinner for honor grads.
ALBION – While growing up in Albion, 22-year-old Aaron Kirby said he learned life is often what you make of it.
He was a top student in the classroom, and was active in the music and sports programs. He was an Eagle Scout who enjoyed time on the farm. His parents, Dennis and Wendy Kirby, sponsored two families from war-torn Kosovo, families that moved to Albion.
“There’s tons of stuff going on in Albion,” Kirby told Albion honor graduates tonight. “You just have to find it.”
Kirby was picked as the keynote speaker for the 38 students with cumulative grade point averages at 90 percent or higher. He graduated May 12 from the University at Buffalo with a mathematics and physics major. He is now a doctoral student at UB in physics.
Kirby heaped praise on his upbringing and the opportunities at Albion.
Aaron Kirby, a doctoral student in physics at the University at Buffalo, urged Albion graduates to have confidence and take the important first step.
“Albion has given me the tools and allowed me to have exceptionally varied experiences,” he told more than 200 people at the Academic Honors Convocation Dinner at Hickory Ridge Country Club.
Kirby has recently taken up rock climbing, a sport that requires patience, efficiency and passion. It also demands confidence.
“You have to take the first step,” he said.
He urged graduates to strike the right balance of confidence. Too little is fear and too much is arrogance.
Board of Education members took turns at the podium with Kevin Doherty closing the two-hour event.
“Albion has tried to help you to be the very highest you,” Doherty told the honor grads. “Be the highest and best you.”
Thirty-eight students who will graduate with cumulative grade point averages at 90 percent or higher are pictured for a group photo.
The honor grads include: Kyle Appleman, Brooke Bensley, Faith Bentley, Carly Burris, Ryan Castrechino, Samantha Covis, Brandon Doyle, Erika Edwards, Rebecca Flanagan, Alissa Francis, William Grimble, Trevor Hadick, Jackson Hamilton, Hannah Hapeman, Xiao Mei He, Brandon Hennekey, Samantha Johnson, Joyce LaLonde, Julia Lawrence, Kirsten Liddle, Sili Lin, Dustin Lockwood, Mary Martin, Cady Messmer, Tanisha Moyer, Tyler Neilans, Alison O’Hearn, Sarah Papponetti, Michael Patterson, Alan Quintana Aragon, Christopher Reed, Alessaundra Rivera, Roland Sanford, Gretta Smith, Taylor Soule, Tiffany Standish, Abigail Thaine and Jacob Tynan.
