ALBION – After the Strawberry Festival Parade on June 14, the Albion Marching Band will perform in food court and a familiar figure to the community will direct the band for a song.

The Rev. Richard Csizmar, priest at Holy Family Parish, will take the conductor’s baton for a song. He is the winner of an “Elect the Conductor” contest and will lead the band in a performance of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by the rock group Queen.

Marching band members raised $4,000 selling tickets for $1 each for people to vote for one of six guest conductors. The fund-raiser helped pay for the band’s trip to Philadelphia.

Father Csizmar was the top vote-getter, outpolling Tom Rivers, editor of the Orleans Hub; Joe Martillotta, retired teacher and former owner of The Crooked Door restaurant; Amy Sidari, owner of Gotta Dance by Miss Amy; Jerome Pawlak, owner of Pawlak’s Save-A-Lot; and Charlie Nesbitt, former state assmeblyman and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

“It’s just a fun, inexpensive, and unique way to support the marching band,” said band director Mike Thaine.  “The kids have had a lot of fun with it.”

ALBION – The village of Albion believes it has been shorted about $8,800 so far for the engineering and design work on the Clarendon Street bridge, money the village says it is owed by the state.

The bridge engineering, design and construction was to be funded with 80 percent from the federal government, 15 percent from the state and 5 percent from the village. The village has to front the money and then it is supposed to get reimbursed.

Village Clerk Linda Babcock says the village is owed $8,791 after being shorted by the state since 2012. She is pressing the state Department of Transportation for the money.

The delayed and reduced reimbursement adds insult to injury for the village with the bridge project. The village was notified earlier this month that costs for the project jumped nearly $600,000 and additional federal and state aid wouldn’t be available for the increase. The village would have to fully foot the added costs.

The Village Board says that is too much for village taxpayers. The board is now considering demolishing the bridge and having the street blocked off by the railroad tracks.

The board will take public comments about that proposal during its 7 p.m. June 11 meeting at Village Hall. The village expects to have renderings of what the blocked off street will look like near the railroad tracks.

ALBION – The Village Planning Board on Wednesday gave the final approval to the site plan for Cobblestone Country Federal Credit Union’s relocation to former medical offices at the corner of Route 31 and Hamilton Street.

The Credit Union is working to renovate the site, adding a drive-through at the back end of the building. It has already paid to have a new roof for the building. The board approved the project with the stipulation that snow can’t block parking spots or sight lines.

The board also declared the project won’t have a negative environmental impact.

Cobblestone Country expects to be in the building in late June, said Nancy Zielonko, Cobblestone Credit manager. It is moving from a site on South Main Street next to COVA. Cobblestone Credit leases that site. It will own the building on Route 31.

The project needed two variances. The building is 2,547 square feet. The village ordinance requires 25 parking spaces for a building that size. The 15 spaces for the project add nine from the previous use.

The village ordinance also requires five spaces at a drive-through for cars to be in line, but the village will allow up to three cars at the Credit Union. That will reduce some of the “stacking” in the line, which won’t be as high volume as a fast-food restaurant.

Cobblestone Country has permission to use the same driveway entrance on 31 that is owned by Oak Orchard Health. That will be better for traffic safety than having two entrances right next to each other, county planning officials said at its meeting last month.

ALBION – A former Catholic school on Brown Street that was turned into a bed and breakfast a decade ago is in the process of being sold and will become an adult daycare and assisted living site.

Tender Loving Family Care Inc. currently operates similar sites in Brockport, Le Roy and Batavia. The Le Roy site has a waiting list, and some Orleans County residents have expressed interest in staying there. That prompted Annika D’Andrea, the business’s president and CEO, to look for a spot in Orleans County.

Lou and Jeri Becker, both Xerox retirees, bought the property 10 years ago and turned it into the Erie Canal Schoolhouse Bed and Breakfast with four guest rooms. Those rooms and another one will be available for seniors to stay in with staff on site.

Tender Loving Family Care also is planning to have an adult daycare where seniors can stay during the day with structured activities.

The Village Planning Board approved a special use permit for the project at its meeting this afternoon.

The Beckers had many community events at the location, including a tribute day for Charles Howard, the founder of a Santa Claus School in Albion, and also a 100^th anniversary celebration for the former St. Mary’s Catholic School.

The Beckers are working to close the Bed and Breakfast on July 21. Cindy Ingraham, a realtor and friend of D’Andrea’s, told the Village Planning Board that the site could be open for senior citizens in September.

“It’s turnkey,” she said. “We expect to be open within 30 days after the closing.”

The Beckers believe the new use will be a good fit for the location.

“We’re excited,” Mr. Becker said. “The people who went to school there can come back and finish their last years.”

Tender Loving Family Care expects to have an open house for the community before the business opens in Albion.

Here is a rendering of the proposed Barre Fire Hall that would have three bays on one side and two on the back.

BARRE – Registered voters in the town of Barre next Wednesday will determine whether the Barre Fire District has permission to borrow up to $1.4 million for a new fire hall.

Voting will be from 3 to 9 p.m. at the current fire hall. The fire district is projecting the building will add $50,000 annually to the fire tax. That money was already included in the 2014 town tax bill, which set the fire protection rate at $1.45 per $1,000 of assessed property.

The $1.4 million represents a worst-case scenario for borrowing, fire officials said. The district will seek grants for the project that would reduce the amount of debt needed for the project, said Barry Flansburg, treasurer for the fire district.

The new fire hall would replace one that has been the Barre Volunteer Fire Company’s home since 1961. That building at 4709 Oak Orchard Road was originally a schoolhouse constructed in 1910. An addition was added in 1961.

The hall currently needs repairs and a roof replacement. It is also too small for modern fire vehicles. The most recently purchased truck cost an extra $100,000 to be custom-created to fit inside the small fire hall. Flansburg said the building also has limited space for offices, storage, equipment and HVAC. The site also has limited handicapped accessibility.

The new fire hall would be north of the existing one on Route 98 on the west side of the road, almost acorss from the Barre Town Park.

The new building would be 7,300 square feet with five truck bays, three on the front and two on the back. This will allow two of the lanes to be pull-through.

The new fire hall is estimated to cost $1.55 million. The Fire District has $150,000 set aside as a capital contribution and plans to borrow the remaining $1.4 million that would be paid back over 30 years.

Fire officials have been having open houses every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the current fire hall to take questions from the public. Fire officials will be there again this Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Flansburg said the new fire hall will not only meet the Fire Company’s needs for the next 50 years, but will also boost community pride.

“A brand-new fire hall will show Barre is a progressive community where people will want to be,” he said.

Veterans Joe Gehl, front, and Steve Coville were among the participants in today’s Memorial Day parade in Albion.

Amelia Symons, 2, of Albion holds an American flag while watching the parade with her brother Henry on Main Street in Albion.

Mark Roberts, commander of the VFW in Albion, raises the American flag with Wally Skrypnik, acting American Legion commander, during the Memorial Day service in front of the Middle School.

Gary Befus, a past commander of the American Legion in Albion, stands at attention during the Memorial Day service.

The Albion Marching Band participated in the parade that went from Main Street to East Avenue to the Middle School front lawn.

Vietnam War veteran and helicopter pilot Charlie Nesbitt addressed the crowd in front of the Middle School. Nesbitt said the holiday was a time to remember of the sacrifices of Americans, including three of his friends.

He talked about Albion native Rick Engle, one of Nesbitt’s childhood friend and Little League teammates, who died in Vietnam in 1968.

Nesbitt also served with Norm Perron, a helicopter pilot from Maryland who loved to entertain his fellow soldiers with a classical guitar. He died when his helicopter was shot down when he tried to rescue soldiers.

Another Vietnam veteran Dick Fore was exposed to Agent Orange. He was in the special forces. He worked as a professor at Genesee Community College, but would died from the effects of Agent Orange in 1993.

The soldiers all made a choice to serve, and to give their lives for their country, Nesbitt said.

Orleans County Legislator Don Allport also addressed the crowd. He urged veterans to tell and record their experiences in the military and at war.

“We don’t want it lost to history,” Allport said. “Americans need to know.”

During the Memorial Day service Albion student Martha Smith read “Flander’s Fields” and student Meredith Patterson read “The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln.

Provided photo

A chicken barbecue last month raised nearly $2,000 to support the Scouting program in Albion. The Knights of Columbus Council No. 1330 in Albion has been doing the Palm Sunday chicken barbecue for many years. The Knights recently presented three $650 checks to the Cub Scout Pack, Boy Scout Troop, and Venture Scouts with funds from the event totaling $1,950. The checks were presented by Carl Laubacher (Treasurer), back left; Larry Wolfe (Council/Boy Scout Liaison), back row second from right; and Bob Ballard (Grand Knight), back right. Scout leaders Dr. Tom and Sandra Madejski accepted the donations with several scout members.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Dave Mogle, owner of D.K. Auto Body Repair in Albion, worries that a blocked off Clarendon Street bridge would hurt his business at 338 Childs St.

ALBION – David Mogle has a new mechanic starting today at D.K. Auto Body Repair in Albion. A couple months ago, Mogle added on to the business, giving the front office more room and a new look.

But now Mogle is questioning those investments. His business is at the corner of Clarendon and Childs streets. He’s right next to a bridge that could soon be closed and torn out. The street could be blocked off at the bridge.

The bridge carries 1,600 vehicles a day, and Mogle said his customers and delivery trucks account for some of that.

“This is a great street and we have good neighbors,” Mogle said. “I never envisioned they would just block it off and put up a guard rail.”

Mogle started the business at Childs Street in 1990. He was 28 then. He has grown D & K to 10 employees who do mechanical and autobody work.

The business has steadily grown, and Mogle attributes some of that to the vehicles who pass by Clarendon Street and see his shop.

“We have many dedicated customers,” Mogle said. “But I worry about getting new customers if we’re hard for them to find.”

The Clarendon Street bridge carries about 1,600 vehicles a day on the east side of the village of Albion.

Mogle said ideally his business would be on routes 31 or 98, busy and highly visible locations. But Childs and Clarendon streets has proven a good spot, and he assumed the village was working to have the bridge replaced.

But about two weeks ago that changed. New construction, design and other costs for the bridge raised the cost by about $600,000 over the budget, and that increase would have to be paid by the village. The federal and state governments committed to 95 percent of the costs when the project was about $1.5 million.  The village share jumped from about $200,000 to $775,000 with the latest projected costs.

The Village Board says that is too high for village taxpayers. The federal and state money can be used demolish the bridge and block off the street near the railroad tracks. The board hopes to have renderings of how the blocked off street will look in time for its 7 p.m. meeting on June 11.

Mogle is disappointed by the latest developments. He said his business will be hurt if the street is blocked off by the tracks. He also worries it will be dangerous for students, who he said will walk around barricades to get to and from school.

Mogle isn’t the only business owner worried. Sue Holmes purchased the Crooked Door Tavern on April 3. That business is at the corner of East State and Brown streets. The Brown Street canal bridge has been closed for about two years. Now the Clarendon Street bridge faces demolition with no replacement.

“It’s one less way for people to find a way to us,” said Holmes, who has 17 employees. “We’re already off the beaten path. We want to make it easier for people to get to us, not harder.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Members of the Albion Merchants Association filled 17 concrete planters with flowers on Thursday. Those flowers are scheduled to be moved to spots in the Albion downtown today by the Albion Department of Public Works.

In the top photo Carolyn Ricker of Bindings Bookstore, left, and Lisa Stratton of the Hazy Jade work on the project. The new planters are part of a Main Street grant approved for the town of Albion. The planters will be stained a Medina sandstone red in the fall.

Lisa Stratton adds soil to a planter. Debbie Grimm also worked on the project with the Merchants Association.

Provided photo – Ben Miller and the Albion Marching Band perform last Saturday at Seneca Falls.

Press release
Albion Marching Band

ALBION – Mike Thaine has been involved with the high school marching band activity for his entire teaching career, but he says that in those 23 years he’s never experienced a spring like this one.

“The wet weather has been just impossible,” said the Albion High School band director. “Typically we like to move practices outdoors in late March, but this year, because of the seemingly constant rain, we actually had just one outside practice prior to the Lilac Parade.”

The students had the book (music) learned by the beginning of March, and the staff had taught each of the individual sections of drill in the gym prior to Spring Break. Thaine said that by the middle of April, they’d pretty much tapped-out the usefulness of the indoor facilities.

“There’s only so much you can with a marching band in the band room and gym, eventually you need to practice in a regulation-sized judging area. The rain really set us back.”

Luckily for the Purple Eagles, the May 10 Rochester Lilac Festival parade was just a “straight-through” performance, meaning that bands aren’t allowed to perform any kind of drill or formation changes and must maintain forward motion. And, it was an exhibition, rather than a competition. Those factors made that performance much easier to manage given the limited outdoor practice time.

Albion marches in the Lilac Festival parade each year, and uses it mainly as conditioning for their competitions and hometown performances. The Purple Eagles’ normal marching band program utilizes the “open class” or “5-minute rule.” This competition format allows for any formation and direction changes within the judging area, the only stipulation being a 5-minute time limit between the first note of music or movement and the last.

“It’s almost like a field show on the street, except you have the added element of making an entrance 150 feet down-street, developing the show left to right, progressing toward a logical exit from the 300’ judging area,” Thaine explained. “It’s not intended to be a ‘Park and Play,’ where bands simply march into the area, stop and play a song, then march away. There’s more to it than that. Judges look for a development of the whole show, from beginning to end, with drill that complements the musical program.”

Bands are judged on music performance, visual design and execution, and general effect.

The Albion Marching Band started their competition season off on the right foot by posting a win at the Seneca Falls Pageant of Bands this past Saturday. The Purple Eagles’ score of 93 was tops in the seven-band field, earning them the first place award in Open Class by more than 8 points. Also in competition were bands from Baldwinsville, Marcus Whitman, Moravia, Dundee, Marathon, and Mexico (NY).

The band’s 2014 program is titled “Heartbeats” and features loved-themed music. It opens with Queen’s “Can Anybody Find Me Somebody to Love?” before transitioning into “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi. The ballad is Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be In My Heart” from the Walt Disney motion picture “Tarzan.” This season’s closer is “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” by Elvis Presley.

Apparently the crowd at Seneca Falls approved of the band’s performance as much as the judges did. Sophomore band member Zach Shaffer talked about a situation that happened to him after the competition.

“After the parade I went into the cafeteria to buy some pizza and the lady accepting money noticed my Albion Marching Band shirt and told me that we brought her to tears…so must be doing something right!”

The AHS Indoor Drumline also captured first place in their division. Albion next marches in Albion Memorial Day parade on Monday.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – It’s an exciting day for students at the Ronald L. Sodoma Elementary School. Today a new playground opened.

After an opening ceremony, students joyfully played on new slides, swings, climbing apparatus and other playground equipment.

Students watched Titan from Gasport work on the project for about five weeks. The previous playground was about 20 years old. It was made of wood and tended to attract bees. The site also had poor drainage, which kept students off the site after a big rain.

Titan added new drainage, wood chips and the playground, which is a Game Time brand unit.

Elementary band students were given the first shot at playing on the new equipment. They performed at the dedication ceremony.

Rachel Curtin, principal of elementary school, uses a microphone to thank the contractors, community and school employees for working to make the project a reality. State Sen. George Maziarz also directed $67,800 to the district, which was used for the new playground.

Jen Ashbery, assistant elementary school principal, and District Superintendent Michael Bonnewell line up ambassadors from grades K through 2 classrooms to cut the ribbon for the new playground.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Albion DPW installed new American flags on Main Street and in the downtown today, as well as hanging banners for the Strawberry Festival on June 13-14.

Todd Sargent is pictured at right with the flag while Scott Bradshaw installs the banner.

The new flags – 50 in all – are being paid for with a fund-raiser by the Albion Main Street Alliance. The group is looking for “Friend of Flag” sponsors at $50 each. For more information contact AMSA members Kevin Lake at 331-6477 or Clifford Thom Sr. at 331-9831.

Editorial

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Clarendon Street bridge could be demolished and the street blocked off due to the rising costs of a bridge replacement.

ALBION – It’s one of Albion’s busiest side streets, a gateway to the school campus, Bullard Park and the eastern side of the village.

But soon Clarendon Street will likely be a dead-end near the railroad tracks, according to the Village Board. The cost to replace the bridge jumped unexpectedly by about $600,000 and that increase would fall squarely on village taxpayers.

The state and federal governments have committed $1.3 million to the bridge replacement. Neither the state or federal government will give more to the project. Albion’s share has shot up from about $200,000 to $775,000.

If Albion borrowed that money it could be a $60,000 to $70,000 annual hit to villagers the next 20 years.

The Village Board says village taxpayers can’t afford that increase, especially after a new village budget raised village tax rates from $16.86 to $17.48 per $1,000 of assessed property. That tax rate is the highest of any village in the region.

The board last month also voted to raise water and sewer rates by 25 cents to $4.35 per 1,000 gallons.

The village tax rates are climbing mainly because its tax base is shrinking. The assessments dropped by another $2.7 million from a year ago. The sky is falling.

Albion has the unusual burden of owning a sizable bridge. In most counties, anything off the state highway that is bigger than a 20-foot-long culvert belongs to the county.

The Albion bridge is about 40 years old. When the village took on the bridge 40 years ago, there was still a sense of prosperity around here with Lipton’s and other food processors. The downtown was full of vibrant independent merchants.

In most other places, the Clarendon Street bridge wouldn’t be the village’s problem. It would be the county’s. The county’s tax base has been growing, despite getting dragged down by the villages, and its budget totals about $80 million annually compared to $6 million for the village. It’s in a far better position to take on the bridge expense.

Albion village officials are prepared to give up on the bridge replacement and instead use some of the $1.3 million in state and federal money to demolish the structure and block off the section by the railroad tracks. Some of the money will get turned back to the state and federal government. Knocking down the bridge and closing off a section of the street will spare the village from the $60,000 to $70,000 annually over 20 years.

(The state won’t allow the village to make Clarendon Street a railroad crossing without removing two other crossings in the village. Because Clarendon Street is fairly busy, it would take two less-travelled side streets to make up for adding a crossing on Clarendon Street.)

There may be a fat guard rail in the immediate future at Clarendon Street with wild grass, brush and weeds. It won’t just stop traffic, but it will be a psychological barrier, a sign of a community in decline.

It will also be a hassle. About 1,600 vehicles cross the bridge daily, including many school buses. A closed bridge will result in a 2/3 mile detour or about 1,000 extra miles daily.

If you factor 20 miles per gallon of gas by the 1,000 miles that will mean motorists are 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.

That $73,000 in added gas can be avoided and a similar amount of money could instead be directed to getting the bridge replaced.

The detour will cost the school district. I asked school leaders yesterday if the school district could help with the local share of the bridge, but state law won’t allow the district to direct money to projects off the school campus. It would be considered a gift to the village, and that’s not allowed, Albion school officials said.

The county is the best hope for getting this done. It has a history of working with towns and villages, devoting county resources to projects that are often viewed as economic development in the village and towns.

The bridge should be viewed as economic and community development. Shutting it down will hurt commerce on the eastern side of the village, in particular DK Autobody next to the north side of the bridge and the Crooked Door Tavern. Both businesses generate sales tax that goes in county coffers.

Regarding the sales tax, the county has frozen the share to local villages and towns since 2001. If the villages and towns weren’t frozen, and experienced the increases in sales tax revenue at the same rate as the county since 2001, Albion would be in a better position to fund the local share for the bridge project.

The county should step in before it’s too late. The county could pay that annual bond payment over 20 years. Perhaps the town of Albion and Genesee Valley Transportation, owner of the railroad, could also chip in to help pay that local share.

Rick Papaj, local projects unit supervisor for the DOT, told me on Tuesday that communities can be creative in how they pay for the local share. It doesn’t have to fall on the village.