Photo by Tom Rivers – Mary Anne Braunbach, left, joined the Albion Rotary Club last week. She is pictured with Susan Rudnicky, director of Hoag Library, and Braunbach’s sponsor for the Rotary Club.

ALBION – The Albion Rotary Club added a new member last week who brings a passion for community service to the club.

Mary Anne Braunbach is a past president of the Cobblestone Society Museum. She remains on the board of directors for the museum. She also is president of the Friends of the Library at the Hoag Library. The group plans events and helps raise money for library programs.

Last year she won a state-wide honor from the Library Trustees Association of New York State. She was the recipient of the “Outstanding Friends Award” for her service to the Albion library.

Braunbach worked more three decades as a teacher and librarian in the Newfane school district in Niagara County. She moved from Lockport back to her hometown of Albion about 20 ago and soon joined the Swan Library Board of Trustees.

Other local service clubs are welcome to send news about their clubs to news@orleanshub.com.

Photos by Sue Cook – Eggs collected by Stuart John Flintham are displayed by the entrance of the Hoag Library.

Many eggs in the collection are from birds that are now much more rare because of human interference, such as the black-crowned night heron.

The emu and ostrich eggs are enormous compared to the others in the collection.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

ALBION – Stuart John Flintham may not be a familiar name, but many who have visited the old Swan Library’s downstairs children section or the new Hoag Library have seen his contribution to our community.

In two glass cases near the entrance of Hoag are dozens of bird eggs that Flintham collected throughout his teenage years at Albion High School and even into his 20s. The eggs have long been popular in the library, with visitors stopping to look at eggs that range in size from small stones to softballs.

Collecting eggs used to be a very popular pastime in the 1800s, Library Director Susan Rudnicky said. During this time there was a considerably sparser population, which meant more areas for birds to nest, she said.

When Flintham collected the eggs, he used a process called egg blowing to remove the insides of the eggs and leave them hollowed out, which leaves a small hole in the shell visible on some in the collection.

Flintham was born in Albion in 1879 and later went on to Cornell and then Yale to earn a master’s degree in forestry, moving on to become a Los Angeles County firefighter.

Changes in farming, fewer or smaller hedgerows, and even clearing land for building diminished the presence of birds over the years. When DDT used to be sprayed to cut down on mosquitos, insect-eating birds would ingest them. When the birds went to lay eggs, the DDT in their systems caused their eggs to be so fragile they would simply collapse causing many birds to become unable to produce new generations.

Rudnicky commented that people often put their own needs and wants before other animals which can cause them to be crowded out of their natural habitats or killed. “We need to have room in our lives for other species,” she said.

While nearly all of the eggs are from local species, there are a few in the collection from outside the area. The ostrich and emu eggs are not local, but are the largest eggs in the collection, each much larger than a baseball. Though the library has only a nest from hummingbirds, their eggs would be the smallest and only about the size of a Tic Tac.

The display cases were chosen specifically for the eggs so that they could be displayed in a well-trafficked area. While the number of eggs in the cases has remained the same from the old library to the new, Rudnicky said more nests are now displayed. They used to be in storage.

County Historian Bill Lattin helped Rudnicky move the eggs to the new library using lunch trays and cardboard can trays. This allowed them to leave the eggs on their individual stands with the paper labels so that nothing became mixed up during the move.

The egg collection makes an excellent teaching tool and Rudnicky offers her knowledge to tour groups that come through. It is especially important since the New York State Legislation made it illegal to collect eggs, nests, and even feathers of birds with laws such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

It is best to leave things as you find them because sometimes even a person trying to help can instead cause more damage than good. “Take only pictures; leave only footprints,” Rudnicky said.

If you bring a picture, you can compare it to what is on display or ask a librarian for help to find a book to learn more. The library does not accept any eggs from old collections, instead keeping the display reserved for only Flintham’s collection.

The Hoag Library is located at 134 South Main Street in Albion. The hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The egg collection is always on display by the entrance.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Orleans County Highway Department employees Matt Herman, left, and Paul Gray toss some Christmas trees into a pile at Bullard Park. The trees were at the county nursing home and courthouse. The pile will be set ablaze this evening as part of the first Fire and Ice Festival at the park.

The village of Albion and the Albion Merchants Association are sponsoring the event, which includes a fire performance at 7 p.m. with trained dancers spinning fire on chains.

The Crooked Door is selling pulled pork sandwiches for $5 and hot cocoa. There are other activities for kids organized by Fidelis Care and 4-wheel rides from Jeff Holler.

Bill Mitchell brought along a Christmas tree for the bonfire.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – John and Sarah Sokolofski of Spun Out Fire Productions in Rochester performed in Albion during the Fire and Ice Festival at Bullard Park on Friday evening.

The married couple  entertained after a pile of Christmas trees burned in a bonfire.

ALBION – The village of Albion will have its first Fire and Ice Festival on Friday when residents are welcome to bring Christmas trees for a big bonfire.

The event starts at 4:30 p.m. at Bullard Park on Route 31. The bonfire will be behind the back parking lot, between the hill, children’s playground area and the east athletic fields. People can park in the back lot and volunteers will be there move trees to the bonfire area.

“We will encourage people to drop their trees off at the back lot and then park in the main lot, to preserve space,” said Sid Beaty, village program coordinator.

The bonfire begins at 5 p.m. There will be a fire performance at 7 p.m. with trained dancers spinning fire on chains.

The event will feature Crooked Door pulled pork sandwiches for $5 and hot cocoa. There are other activities for kids organized by Fidelis Care and 4-wheel rides from Jeff Holler.

The Fire and Ice Festival will end at about 8 p.m.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Billy Martin’s Cole All-Star Circus returned to Albion this evening and its cast performed many daring feats inside the elementary school gym.

The Amazing Jonathan, “the champion of balance,” is standing on top of eight cylinders in one routine (in top photo).

The Electrifying Francy was featured in several routines, including this one with Hula hoops. She balanced 35 of them at once a little after this photo was taken. The Cole Circus is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year.

The Lovely Angela performs some aerial artistry. The circus will be in Medina on Friday with shows at 5 and 7:15 p.m. at Wise Middle School.

Main Street Store will leave downtown for Legion site

Photo by Tom Rivers – The American Legion has been trying to sell its building at 131 South Main St.

ALBION – A downtown store will be moving south on Main Street to the American Legion building.

Community Action of Orleans & Genesee’s offer has been accepted and agency director Ed Fancher expects to formally close on the property in March.

Community Action will move the Main Street Store, a thrift shop that provides job training skills, to the bigger location. It could open in the Legion building in May or June, depending on the pace of the closing on the property.

The Main Street Store uses two storefronts in downtown Albion in a building owned by Nathan Lyman at 49 North Main St.

The move to the Legion site will give the store more room for merchandise and for employees, Fancher said.

“Right now we’re cramped,” he said. “Part of the impetus is there isn’t enough floor space.”

The agency will do some minor renovations to the Legion building to turn it into a store. Fancher said the site will be comparable to a Salvation Army store or a Volunteers of America.

“We train people for employment,” he said.

As a term for the sale, the Legion will be able to stay another 18 months to use the bar in the back of the building.

For more on the Main Street Store, click here.

ALBION – The new owners of the former Chase building in Albion won’t have to pay any property taxes for the site this year, and would save nearly $600,000 in property taxes over the next decade, according to a proposal by the Orleans Economic Development Agency.

231 East Avenue LLC, a company led by Roger Hungerford, purchased the former Chase site for $2.6 million. The firm is investing at least $300,000 in improvements at the property, according to the EDA.

The EDA is proposing a 10-year property tax abatement for the property. There was a hearing on the proposal this afternoon, and only the EDA director and two reporters were there. None of the local municipalities affected by the tax plan showed up to speak either in favor or against it.

The EDA board is expected to approve the incentives during its meeting Friday at 8 a.m. at 121 North Main St.

As part of the tax-savings proposal the village of Albion and school district will each give up about $218,000 in taxes over 10 years. The county will abate about $120,000 in taxes while the town of Albion will give a $36,000 tax break.

The plan abates $592,661 in taxes from the four municipalities. It also establishes a schedule for Hungerford’s company to pay $504,859 to the four entities in payments in lieu of taxes or a PILOT.

The company will pay no taxes this year and will then pay 10 percent of the taxes on a $2.9 million assessment. Each following year another 10 percent will be added.

The site will be the home for Claims Recovery Financial Services, which is moving a workforce of about 700 people to the site with room to grow.

The tax abatement accounts for less than $1,000 per job when divided by 700, said Jim Whipple, EDA chief executive officer. The math works out to $846 per job.

Whipple said that is a good deal for the community. Those employees will spend money locally, generating sales tax for the government and revenue for other local businesses, Whipple said.

The PILOT mirrors the deal for JP Morgan Chase. The EDA in 2011 worked out a 10-year tax incentive where the company, in each following year, was to pay 10 percent more of a $4,046,000 assessment until the PILOT expired in 2021.

The company paid a tenth of that in 2012 and 20 percent in 2013. The PILOT schedule called for Chase to pay 30 percent in 2014.

Once the ownership changed, Hungerford was eligible to request a new abatement deal. The new agreement sets the schedule back to 0 percent and this time the assessment is down more than $1 million.

ALBION – A company that has added nearly 200 positions since September will receive almost $750,000 in state incentives as part of its expansion in Albion.

Claims Recovery Financial Services agreed to add 150 positions to be eligible for the incentives. The company has already exceeded its commitment to new jobs by hiring 194 people since September.

Just last week CRFS moved more than 200 employees from its site in Medina to the former Chase site in Albion. Roger Hungerford and his company Talis Equity acquired the building from Chase.

State officials on Monday announced the state Office of Community Renewal approved $744,165 to help CRFS with its expansion in Albion. The money is divided with half in a grant and the other half a deferred loan.

The funding is a Community Development Block grant that will be given to the Village of Albion, which serves as a pass through with the money then going to CRFS.

“It is important to mark the final approval of this anticipated funding,” State Sen. George Maziarz said. “This award is a sure sign that the CRFS expansion project is moving forward.The Village of Albion, CRFS, and Talis Equity are all to be commended for their commitment to growing a local business to remarkable heights of success.”

CRFS has nearly 700 employees in Orleans County and is still hiring.

“It’s exciting to see a home grown business be successful and make a commitment to Orleans County,” said State Assemblyman Steve Hawley. “This important expansion will bring further employment opportunities close to home for Orleans County families.”

ALBION – The town is without an official attorney because a faction of the Town Board wants to bring back Robert Roberson of Lockport for the job while other board members would prefer a less pricey attorney from Orleans County.

Roberson served as attorney for the town in 2012 and 2013 for $36,000 annually as a base retainer fee. John Gavenda of Albion served in the role before the board two years ago picked Roberson. That board was led by then Town Supervisor Dennis Stirk.

Matt Passarell, the new town supervisor, wants a different attorney, but he needs at least three of the five members of the board to agree to the change. Passarell last week tried to bring Gavenda back at a $25,000 cost, but board members Dan Poprawski, Jake Olles and Todd Sargent wouldn’t vote for Gavenda.

Passarell on Monday said he wanted to appoint Andrew Meier of Medina as town attorney at a base retainer cost of $25,000. Councilman Richard Remley joined Passarell in support of Meier, who also works as town attorney for Gaines, Yates and Kendall.

“Andrew Meier is extremely qualified in municipal law,” Passarell said.

Sargent and Olles both said they wanted Roberson.

“You know what you’re getting,” Sargent said about Roberson.

Olles said he would prefer an out-of-county attorney who may bring more independence. He noted Albion would be Meier’s fourth municipal client.

Meier was at the Albion meeting on Monday. He works with David Schubel in a law practice in Medina. Schubel also works with municipalities.

The $25,000 is more than Meier’s other towns are charged. He is paid $600 a month or $7,200 a year by Gaines and Kendall, and $7,500 by Yates. Albion has about three times the population as each of those towns. Albion also is planning several zoning and policy changes this year as the town works to implement a comprehensive plan.

Meier’s proposal would include the legal work for the zoning changes. He would receive additional compensation for litigation and other “unpredictable” work for the town.

Poprawski looks like the swing vote for attorney. Poprawski didn’t vote on Monday, saying he wanted more time to study Meier’s proposal and compare it with Roberson’s.

Passarell said he didn’t understand the delay. Meier is well-versed in municipal law and will work for less cost than Roberson, Passarell said.

“You want to pay more for an attorney?” he said.

The board will meet again Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. to vote again to fill the position.

ALBION A state Canal Corporation worker was arraigned in Orleans County Court on Monday for allegedly stealing $5,700 of metal from the Canal Corp.’s Albion maintenance facility.

Bruce Rotoli, 55, of Albion has been charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property. He was arrested in May following a four-month investigation by state police, Village of Albion police and the Thruway Authority, which runs the canal system.

Rotoli pleaded not guilty to the crimes in court on Monday. Judge James Punch kept his bail at $2,500. Rotoli is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 27.

Police say that Rotoli in the fall of 2012 removed bronze bushing material from the Albion maintenance facility. Rotoli is currently on disability.

United Methodists don’t have money for building repairs

File photos by Tom Rivers – The First United Methodist Church in Albion, built in 1860, is located at the corner of Platt and East State streets.

ALBION – The congregation at the First United Methodist Church is looking for a buyer for its historic building, a 14,000-square-foot structure built in 1860.

The building at 19 Platt St. needs about $1 million in repairs. Its roof is structurally unsound. The church has used five tall wooden beams to help support the roof since December 2012.

The 30 active families of the church in August voted to abandon the site. The church still uses the site for its services and doesn’t have a time frame for leaving, said Terry Wilbert, chairman of the administrative council.

“We’re thinking sooner rather than later,” Wilbert said.

The congregation five months ago voted to turn the building over to the denomination. In October, denomination officials sent a letter back to Albion saying that the denomination wouldn’t take over the site.

“They didn’t want to set a precedent,” Wilbert said. “They would have 95 other churches behind us.”

The church has been using five wooden beams to help support the roof. The beams were added in December 2012.

Many of the mainline denomination churches have cavernous historic buildings with small congregations that struggle to keep up with the maintenance and bills on the structures.

In 1914, the Albion church reoriented the sanctuary. When that happened, some members didn’t like that lower beams that helped support the roof truss system were more visible. The church removed the lower beams. A century later, the roof is in danger of collapse from a truss system that needs to be totally rebuilt.

The congregation thinks the project will cost too much for the members. So the congregation is looking at three options:

Wilbert said the United Methodist congregation may leave its building and share another church building with an existing church, with the two congregations staggering their worship services.

The United Methodists may decide to acquire land and build a new site that would be smaller, handicapped accessible and have more parking than the current site.

Or the church may acquire an existing building and rehab it. He doubts the church will stay in its current site long-term. But if a big donation comes in for the repairs, Wilbert said the congregation may not go.

“If someone offers us $500,000, we’ll take it and stay,” he said. “That’s just my opinion.”

The United Methodist Church building is one of seven churches in Albion that are part of the Historic Courthouse Square, a district named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The church is working with the Landmark Society of Western New York to identify potential buyers for the building. The United Methodists also will reach out to real estate firms to see if they can help find a buyer.

“We don’t know what to ask for it,” Wilbert said. “That’s to be determined.”

The church applied for a $350,000 state grant last year through the Environmental Facilities Corporation, but was denied.  Albion also sought a state grant for Bullard Park improvements but wasn’t approved.

Wilbert said the state is directing more grants to bigger population centers.

“The money is going to ‘the haves,’ the people that already have a lot of money,” he said.

(Editor’s note: I think this building could be turned into a Sacred Sites Discovery Center, a site that would draw tourists to Albion and detail important religious movements in the state’s heritage. I wrote about this on Aug. 28. Click here to see that article.)

Albion site would like bigger freezer, money for supplies

Photos by Tom Rivers – R.J. Bannan stopped by the Community Kitchen at Christ Church in Albion on Friday. Elder Brian Houskeeper of the Mormon Church volunteered as a server.

ALBION – For 20 years Christ Church has been home to the Community Kitchen, providing hot meals on Fridays to local residents.

R.J. Bannan has been a regular at the site for more than a decade. He praised the volunteers who cook and serve the meals every week.

“It’s excellent food and the people are friendly,” Bannan said Friday evening. He sat down and ate the chicken casserole dinner, and went back for two desserts of cherry crisp.

The kitchen has become increasingly busy on Fridays. Faith Smith, the manager, says there are many working poor in the community, and elderly seniors who see their funds depleted by utilities, gas and other expenses.

“When I started here I only pictured homeless people at soup kitchens,” Smith said. “But there are so many people who need us and depend on us.”

Faith Smith, manager of the Community Kitchen at Christ Church for more than four years, is pictured with her daughter Savana Farewell.

The Community Kitchen nearly closed about four years ago, but a committed core of volunteers has kept it going.

“I’ve thought about walking away, but I just can’t do it,” Smith said. “I’ve grown to love these people.”

On Friday, the church served nearly 300 meals with 121 take-outs and 171 people eating in the dining room. There were 29 kids, 43 seniors and 99 other adults who ate at the dining hall on Friday.

Smith has served as the volunteer manager for the kitchen since September 2009. The first night she managed the site, she served 79 dinners. The record so far: 384. On that night, Baxter Healthcare paid for and prepared tacos.

Baxter in Medina provides about $5,000 a year for the kitchen, which has about a $9,000 annual budget. It relies on many donations from Foodlink and the community.

It takes about a dozen volunteers each Friday to prep the food, serve it and then clean up the kitchen and dining hall. Baxter employees serve on the first and second Fridays. Holy Family Parish takes the third Fridays and the Free Methodist Church works on the fourth Fridays. West Barre United Methodist Church serves on the fifth Fridays.

Debbie Mulcahy, an employee at Baxter Healthcare in Medina, helps at Community Kitchen.

Debbie Mulcahy of Byron has been serving in the kitchen the first and second Fridays for more than a year. She has worked a Baxter the past 2 ½ years. She worked at a different company for 24 years and then was let go in a downsizing. She was unemployed for a year before getting a job in Medina. She had a tough year when she was without a job.

“I realize there by the grace of God go I,” she said.

She is surprised to see so many people at the kitchen, including many families with young children.

“It’s sad to see that many people in need,” she said.

Stephanie Cox has been coming to the kitchen the past two months. She stops by after working at the Main Street Store.

She talks with some of the other people in the dining hall. She said the meals and the fellowship is important to local residents.

“It’s that one time a week for a lot of people that they get a hot meal,” she said.

Smith said the volunteers will serve anybody who comes in.

“You could be a millionaire and you get treated the same as a homeless person,” she said.

Robin Dirmyer, a Baxter employee, works in the kitchen with her husband Chuck, a Kodak employee. Baxter employees help prepare and serve meals the first and second Fridays each month.

Smith said she has enough volunteers to prepare and serve the meals each week, but the Community Kitchen could use donations for paper products – plates, cups, take-out containers and cups.

She would like to replace a small household-size freezer with an industrial-size one. That would cost about $3,000. A bigger freezer would let her store more food and give her more options for planning the meals.

She would also like to upgrade the kitchen, which was designed for occasional servings in the fellowship hall for the Episcoal congregation.

“This wasn’t designed to put out 300-plus meals on a Friday,” she said.

For more information on the kitchen, contact Smith at 585-319-1578.

ALBION – For years she served on the Albion Recreation Committee and was a cheerleader for the local parks and the youths that played there.

Soon a new swingset will provide more than exercise and thrills for youngsters. The swingset will serve as a memorial for Kathy LaLonde, who was 54 when she died on Oct. 6 after fighting cancer.

The new swingset will go at Pee Wee Park, a part of Bullard Park with playground equipment for young children. The Village Board approved spending $3,727 for the swingset during its meeting on Wednesday.

LaLonde had volunteered in recent years by spearheading a long-term master plan for Bullard Park. The village sought a state grant to implement some of those improvements but was denied in the most recent funding round.

In other action at Wednesday’s meeting:

Sgt. Joe Fuller notified the village he plans to retire from the Police Department in June after a 20-year career.

Larsen Engineers did an initial survey of village-owned buildings to see if the sites are good candidates for installing solar panels to help reduce the village’s electric bills.

The company looked at the DPW garage on Washington Street and sewer plant on Densmore Street. Those buildings have enough space for panels that would cut Albion’s electric bill by 17 percent, according to Larsen.

The village would like more savings than that if it pursues a solar project, village officials said.

DPW Superintendent Dale Brooks said he will work with the firm to identify other possible locations. Larsen worked with Medina to install panels at the Medina DPW and at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, a project that Brooks said has been a success in cutting Medina’s electric bills.

The board renewed the lease with the Orleans Economic Development Agency. The EDA will pay $22,080 in 2014 to use the second floor of 121 North Main St., a village owned building. That is up from $21,600 in 2013. The EDA will pay a monthly rent of $1,840.