Department will purchase thermal imaging cameras and combination spreader/cutter rescue tool

ALBION – The Albion Fire Department has been approved for a $37,150 grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The department plans to use the money to purchase three thermal imaging cameras and one combination spreader/cutter rescue tool.

The funding was announced by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and was among $11,499,044 in federal funding for fire departments across New York State.

The funding will be used to provide protective gear, training, and supplies to emergency personnel across more than 90 fire departments. This federal funding was administered through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG).

“From the peak of the pandemic to now, our brave firefighters have always been on the front lines, risking their lives to protect their communities,” Schumer said in a news release. “These courageous first responders deserve all the federal support possible to help them do their jobs. I will always fight to bring more federal resources to support our heroic firefighters, and I’m proud to deliver this funding so New York’s fire departments have essential support they need as they keep New Yorkers safe in emergencies.”

“New York’s firefighters have worked tirelessly throughout the Covid pandemic to protect our communities,” said Senator Gillibrand. “This funding will provide them with the equipment, training, and resources they need to stay safe as they respond to emergency situations. I will continue fighting to ensure that New York’s fire departments have what they need when they enter the line of duty.”

Press Release, Hoag Library

ALBION – New school year, new library hours! Hoag Library is extending hours to accommodate the needs of Albion Central School and GCC students.

Beginning Tuesday, Sept. 7, the Library will offer the following hours:

• Monday to Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Students can reserve meeting rooms for study space during and outside of building hours. Visit www.hoaglibrary.org for reservation forms.

Computers and laptops with internet access are available for up to 90 minutes per day, and free Wi-Fi is available to use with your own device.

The library requests the use of masks by staff and visitors regardless of vaccination status. Children under two years old are exempt from this requirement.

Hoag Library looks forward to welcoming back students!

Wedding and events site seen as draw to community

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – State Sen. Rob Ortt on Tuesday presented a “Senate District 62 Small Business of the Month” award to Natasha Wasuck and her husband John Hernandez. They are shown inside the Lockstone at North Main Street, next to the Erie Canal. Natasha and John’s daughter Ephy joined them.

Wasuck and Hernandez bought the site three years ago. It was a former auto repair business. They have transformed the site into a wedding and events center. They also use the front part of the building for Tinsel, an ice cream business that opened in June 2019. The site also includes “The Kitchen,” a private event room used for celebrations and community meetings.

The Lockstone has hosted eight weddings so far this year and has 16 more scheduled for 2021, and 30 next year. The 30 weddings next year are expected to draw at least 3,000 people to Albion.

Ortt first toured the site on July 16 to see some of the locations receiving funds in Main Street grant from the state. Ortt said he was impressed by the couple’s vision for the property and their work in giving the building from 1875 a new purpose.

“It’s really cool what you’ve done with this spot,” Ortt told Wasuck and Hernandez.

Ortt previously served as mayor of North Tonawanda where he said small business owners were the key to driving innovation to the downtown. He praised Wasuck and Hernandez, who are from Brockport, for seeing the potential in the Lockstone location. He said “fresh eyes” coming into a community sometimes see what long-time residents miss.

Photos courtesy of the Lockstone: A bride gets ready in the bridal suite at the Lockstone, which features an eyebrow window looking out on Main Street and the lift bridge over the Erie Canal.

Wasuck has been involved in the Albion Merchants Association, helping to plan community events. She sees Albion’s connection to the original Santa Claus School, led by the late Charles Howard from 1937 to 1966, as a way to distinguish the community from other canal towns.

She tapped into that Santa history by naming the ice cream business “Tinsel.” She also led the effort to have a Santa mural painted next to the Lockstone at the Pennysaver building at 170 North Main St. She also raised money for a soon-to-be planed Christmas tree on the Courthouse lawn.

Ortt sees the historic canal downtown like Albion as irreplaceable treasures.

‘I’ve always felt people want to be in these downtowns,” he said. “You can’t replicate this.”

But he acknowledged it can be tough to make money these days for small businesses. That’s why he started his monthly award in February, wanting to highlight a business in his district, which includes Niagara, Orleans and part of western Monroe.

“My whole district is along the Erie Canal, from North Tonawanda to Spencerport,” Ortt said. “The canal is your ticket to development.”

He said Covid-19 restrictions made it even more challenging for business owners. Many had to close to in-person sales or face reduced capacity. There have been supply-chain disruptions and a shortage of workers.

“Covid has really emphasized the challenge of running a small business,” Ortt said. “These businesses never had a playbook for how to operate in a pandemic and then to have to deal with the restrictions.”

The Lockstone owners also created a grove for outdoor weddings on Orchard Street, a short walk from the Lockstone.

Wasuck and Hernandez said they feel more convinced the weddings and events site in Albion was a good choice. Most of the weddings have been couples from either Rochester or Buffalo, who like the location between those two cities.

The couples like being by the Erie Canal for their wedding, and Wasuck and Hernandez give the couples free rein of the facility, allowing them to decorate however they want and to bring in bartenders, caterers, DJ’s and other vendors.

The couples also like the industrial vibe at the Lockstone.

“It’s a unique location,” Wasuck said. “It’s not a golf course or a rustic barn. The people like it here. They are having a good time.”

Wasuck has been successful marketing the site to couples and her husband has done much of the construction work himself.

“We see this as an opportunity to ‘create the community you want to be a part of’ here in Albion,” Wasuck said. “We recognize the importance of the Erie Canal for tourism and appreciate the unique history this village has to offer.”

Photo by Ginny Kropf: From left, Katrina Chaffee, director of operations, reporting and community service at Community Action, case manager Michelle Figueroa and Annette Finch, director of public relations and fundraising, pose with school supplies and backpacks donated for their annual backpack giveaway. Deadline to register is 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

ALBION – Community Action in Orleans County will be taking applications for free school supplies through the end of business on Tuesday. The office closes at 3:30 p.m.

The giveaway is an annual event at Community Action, which normally provides free backpacks and school supplies to 50 to 60 families. This year, however, applications have been light, according to Michelle Figueroa, case manager.

She and Katrina Chaffee, director of operations, reporting and community service, think it is because families have been uncertain as to what the schools were going to require or even if there would be in-person school due to Covid. Local school districts will all have in-person education without a hybrid or remote schedule.

Community Action has received piles of backpacks and school supplies donated by the West Barre United Methodist Church. Others have been purchased through a grant from the Emma Reed Webster Foundation.

Applications will be accepted at the Albion office at 409 East State St. for students in the Lyndonville, Medina and Albion school districts. Students in the Holley and Kendall school districts may apply at the Eastern Orleans Community Center, 75 Public Square, Holley.

Supplies can be picked up Sept. 1, 2 and 3.

Applicants must bring proof of residence, proof of income and identification (Social Security card or birth certificate) for all children in the household. Income guidelines apply. More information is available by calling 589-5605 or 638-6395.

Nolberto Martinez Maya, son of farmworkers, wants to serve others as a physician

Provided photo: Nolberto Martinez Maya graduated from Albion in June and now is at Harvard University, where he is majoring in molecular genetics and sociology as part of a pre-med track.

ALBION – A 2021 Albion graduate is on campus at Harvard University, pursuing his goal of a career in medicine.

Nolberto Martinez Maya graduated from Albion on June 25. He was the class vice president. He also earned his associate’s degree from Genesee Community College in May, juggling an extra full load of courses the past year in high school and at GCC, taking all of them online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He took the GCC classes and earned a 4.0 GPA. At Albion, he didn’t want to coast through to the finish, even when many students backed off with their academics during the pandemic. He wanted tough classes, and completed AP (Advanced Placement) in biology, calculus and statistics, as well as the others at GCC.

“It was pretty challenging,” he said. “I’m not going to lie.”

Nolberto, 18, will be double majoring in molecular genetics and sociology at Harvard, and minoring in Spanish. He is on a pre-med path. He wants to be a surgeon or work as a physician.

He is the first Albion graduate to go directly to Harvard since Michael Patterson in 2013.

“I know it is uncommon for someone from Orleans County to go to Harvard,” Nolberto said. “I wanted to go medical and shoot for the best medical colleges.”

On April 6 it was “Ivy Day” when the elite colleges and universities notify applicants if they have been accepted. The schools send out the acceptance – or rejection – notifications at 7 p.m. that day. Sometimes the applicants are waitlisted, and still have a chance of being accepted.

Nolberto applied at eight colleges and universities. He already knew he had been accepted by the University of Rochester. But he also tried for several others.

He opened up the messages from Yale, Cornell and Columbia – they all were rejections. Johns Hopkins had him waitlisted.

Nolberto checked the application portal from Harvard, the private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Mass.

Nolberto took a deep breath and opened the applicant portal. He was greeted with computer-generated confetti on his screen and a message, “You have been accepted into the Class of 2025.”

He felt immediate elation.

“I screamed,” he said. “I was so happy.”

Nolberto will be part of an exclusive Class of 2025. Harvard had its lowest admissions rate ever – accepting only 3.43 percent or 1,968 students out of the 57,435 who applied.

He contacted his close friends in a group call and they joined in the celebration. He will be attending on a full ride scholarship.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Nolberto Martinez Maya accepts his diploma from Albion Central School during commencement on June 25.

Nolberto is the son of his father Honorato and mother Inocencia. They work trimming fruit trees and grafting them. Nolberto is the youngest of his siblings, who include Everardo, Lorena and Honorato.

Nolberto was born at the former Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport. He attended Pre-K at the ABCD Agri-Business Child Development center in Holley. He then went to Albion from kindergarten through grade 12.

He helped his parents often at fruit farms, especially with grafting trees, where branches from two types of apple trees are cut and tied together to produce a different variety. He helped plant many of the trees and said he feels pride when he goes by them a few years later and sees fruit on the trees.

There is lots of biology involved in grafting trees and working on farms. Biology is a passion for Nolberto. In 8^th grade, he realized math and science were his strongest subjects. Near the end of that school year, he also was notified he was excelling academically. That’s when he found out he was ranked among the top 10 of his classmates.

When he was in eighth grade, a teacher had him and his classmates write a letter to their future selves. Nolberto, in his letter, urged his future self to “get the best grades possible and the be the best person possible.”

He made a list of elite universities and put Harvard on the list for his future education. He hadn’t thought of that letter until it was given back to the students near the end of their senior year.

Nolberto said some of his close friends pushed each other to apply to superior schools. That trio of friends encouraged him to aim very high. Nolberto said he is proud of his friends for also getting into top-ranked colleges. That includes Aisha Drisdom, the class salutatorian who is at Carnegie Mellon University; Ashley Ames, the class valedictorian who is at Geneseo State College; and Claire Squicciarini, who is at Alfred University.

Nolberto knows he has his work cut out for him at Harvard. It will be a steady journey, with years of effort to reach his goal. That is fine with him, a diploma that won’t come easy.

He credited his Albion biology teacher Sandy Climenhaga for instilling a love of the sciences, and for emphasizing students should try “hard things” even if it might knock down their GPA.

Climenhaga is encouraging, but also offers feedback on where students missed the mark, and what they need to do to improve.

Not all students want to hear that, or to see the teacher’s red ink on their papers. Nolberto welcomed the input from Climenhaga.

When he was accepted from Harvard, she was the first teacher he contacted with the news.

“In order to achieve at this type of level, it has to be innate,” Climenhaga said in an interview. “There has to be internally a drive to learn and I have seen that in Nolberto.”

Nolberto Martinez Maya (left), vice president of the Class of 2021, is near the front of the processional from the high school to the football stadium during commencement on June 25. He is followed by Olivia Morrison, class secretary; and Annalise Steier, class treasurer.

Climenhaga has her students in AP biology read two books, and Nolberto said both were influential in him wanting to pursue science. Despite a very busy courseload, Climenhaga had her students read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a book about a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 and were used to develop the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization. The book highlights bioethics, race and medicine. Nolberto wrote about this book in his essay to Harvard.

He and his classmates also read The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story, a nonfiction book in 1994 about Ebola and other viruses.

Climenhaga said the two books are “real stories about real people.”

She praised Nolberto for an appetite for learning, and for wanting to educate himself and be of service to others.

“He is such a sweet, mild mannered kid,” Climenhaga said. “He is very selfless and always has been. He really wants to do good. He is a student who makes his community better and wants to pursue a career to make his community better.”

She would like to see more students take the more challenging AP classes at Albion and GCC courses while in high school.

“Hopefully it will encourage kids to get out of their comfort zone and try something hard,” she said about Nolberto’s enrollment at Harvard. “He had a goal and he put everything into it. You have to give him high marks for that. It wasn’t easy.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The “Rock the Park” festival returned in a scaled-down format today at Bullard Park. The event, renamed “Albion Summer Festival 6.5,” featured two bands today and they performed at the new amphitheater at Bullard Park.

The top photo shows the band, Vette, performing “Nothin’ But A Good Time” by Poison. Vette includes, front, from left: Travis Mackie, Kole Moore and Alex Fitzak. Shelby Starr is the drummer.

There were 18 different food and craft vendors, including Pamela Jenks of Pretty Sweet Bakery in far back. The spot in foreground is Red Check Rustic.

The festival was cancelled last year due to Covid-19 restrictions, but returned today when Albion and Medina played youth football games.

Kyle Webb, right, and Matt Hollenbeck cook hamburgers at the Masonic Lodge’s food stand. The Masons will be at all of the Albion home football games this year at Bullard Park.

The splash park at Bullard was a busy place on a hot summer day today.

District won’t offer remote learning as option in 2021-22 school year

Mickey Edwards

ALBION – School district leaders are holding off on making a decision on mask-wearing for students until waiting to see if there will be a mandate about masks from Kathy Hochul, who takes over as governor on Tuesday.

Hochul has already indicated she expects there will be masking mandates from the state. That could be tied to the level of community spread of Covid-19. Mickey Edwards, Albion school superintendent, said what could be mandated by the state is currently “unclear.”

Therefore, the district is waiting to make a decision about masking for students until late August, “when it becomes clear what our new Governor will require,” Edwards said in a letter to the community today.

The new school year is scheduled to start for classes on Sept. 8. Today was the first day of practice for the fall sports.

Edwards said a decision has been made about remote learning and it won’t be an option this coming school year. Last year Albion had students on remote learning for Wednesdays, and an alternative schedule of two days in-person each week and the other two days remote for most of the school year. Many students also were fully remote every day of the school year.

“We have made it our priority to get our children back in school safely, in-person, every day,” Edwards wrote in the letter. “We appreciate your patience and support throughout the pandemic and look forward to working closely with all our Albion families as we reopen for the 2011-22 school year.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Who Dats performed the final concert Thursday for Albion’s summer concert series by the Erie Canal.  The band includes lead singer Lonnie Froman, John Borello on guitar (in back), Alona Kuhns on guitar (in back in white shorts), Ed Hilfiker on guitar and Alex DeSmit on drums.

Last year’s concert series was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. This year the concert series was reduced to four events that tended to draw 100 to 150 people.

Other bands that performed included Jonesie and the Cruisers, Cold Fusion Arts and The Trellis Cooper Band.

The Village of Albion organized the concerts, which included funding from the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.

Lonnie Froman sings during Thursday’s concert by the canal. The concerts are held at the end of Platt Street, between the Main and Ingersoll lift bridges.

Alex DeSmit is the new drummer for the band, which has been popular locally for many years.

126 motorcyclists riding 100 miles today in 4-county trip

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Motorcyclists head out for a 100-mile ride at about 11 this morning from the Albion Elks Lodge on West State Street where there is a memorial in honor of Jason Johnston.

This is the seventh ride in honor of Jason Johnston with the proceeds from the event going to the Jason Johnston memorial scholarship.

There are 126 motorcyclists in the ride today, the most ever for the event. They each pay $20 per driver with $10 for passengers.

The proceeds from today’s event goes to a scholarship fund that has enough money to ensure the $1,000 annual scholarship will continue for at least another 36 years, said Mike Reigle, president of the Albion Elks Riders, which manages today’s ride.

The scholarship goes to a graduating senior pursuing a helping profession. Applicants need to write an essay about the golden rule. This year’s scholarship winner is Nolberto Martinez Maya.

Brad Johnston, left, chats with Mike Waterhouse before the ride. Johnston is Jason’s father and he is a member of the Albion Elks Riders.

Jason Johnston was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Dec. 26, 2009. Johnston was a specialist and paratrooper in the Army. He was on his second tour in Afghanistan. He completed a 13-month-deployment in 2008 and left again for the war-torn country in October 2009

The riders paused to say the Pledge of Allegiance before heading out. The ride includes stops at the Alabama Hotel, Duffy’s in Mumford, the Brockport Elks Lodge and then will conclude at about 5 p.m. at the Albion Elks Lodge on West State Street. There will then be food and live music from Bandera, a local country music group. There is a $5 cover charge to attend the concert, with no additional charge to the motorcyclists.

The riders are staggered in groups so each establishment isn’t inundated with all the riders at once.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Stop signs are up on Linwood Avenue at the intersection with Ingersoll Street in Albion, making it a 4-way stop.

The Village Board in late February voted to add the stop signs after some residents in that neighborhood had complaints that traffic is too fast in that area, making it dangerous to people on bikes and for drivers trying to get out of their driveways.

Mayor Eileen Banker said the new 4-way stop should slow down traffic. There was previously a stop sign going north-south at the intersection. Now they have been added for east-west at the intersection north of the Erie Canal on the east side of the village.

Albion native was killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 26, 2009

ALBION – The American Legion Sheret Post in Albion this afternoon unveiled a memorial bench at the post on Gaines Basin Road in honor of Jason Johnston. He was 24 when he was killed in Afghanistan on Dec. 26, 2009.

He is the only Orleans County resident killed in combat during the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Jason’s father Brad Johnston, left, is a member of the Legion post in Albion. Debbie Hennekey, right, is the assistant bar manager at the post.
“We’re just waiting to remember what he did for his unit and his country,” she said during the ceremony.

Mr. Johnston said the new bench in honor of his son is “beautiful.” He thanked the Post for honoring his son’s memory and sacrifice.

Jason Johnston was killed by a roadside bomb in Arghandab, Afghanistan. Johnston was a specialist and paratrooper in the Army. He was on his second tour in Afghanistan. He completed a 13-month-deployment in 2008 and left again for the war-torn country in October 2009.

Johnston joined the local Legion post soon before his second deployment.

The Honor Guard and a crowd stands at attention while Taps was played during the ceremony. The Legion post is at the former clubhouse of a par 3 golf course on Gaines Basin Road.

The Albion Elks Riders next Saturday will do a memorial motorcycle ride covering about 100 miles with the proceeds from the annual dice run going towards a memorial scholarship given each year for an Albion graduate who is pursuing a helping profession. The Legion also gives out scholarships in Johnston’s name for graduates pursuing a career in the military.

Village will have Planning Board and committee continue to look for ways to fill business locations

Photos by Tom Rivers: Chad Fabry (standing by door), owner of the former Swan Library site at 4 North Main St., said a proposed law from the village for vacant commercial buildings was “an unreadable piece of junk.” The meeting room was packed on Wednesday evening for a public hearing on the proposed law. Fabry said the proposed law, with fines at $1,000 or more, treats the building owners with vacancies like criminals. “You’re punishing a building owner who is already struggling,” he said.

ALBION – The Village Board, after an outcry against a proposed law assessing fees for vacant commercial buildings, voted to reject the proposed law and will start from scratch in looking for ways to fill business sites in the village.

Albion was considering a law that would have assessed a $250 fee if a commercial site went vacant for more than 30 days, with $1,000 tacked on if the site was empty for a year, $2,000 if it went a second year, $3,000 for a third year and $4,000 for each subsequent year.

The Village Board meeting was packed with building owners for a public hearing on Wednesday. Many of them thanked the board for attempting to address vacancies in the downtown and other business districts. But they said the proposed law wasn’t a good way to deal with the situation.

“I compare it to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer,” said Ron Vendetti, the village former code enforcement officer who owns a building on Bank Street.

Vendetti said the village already has laws for property maintenance that could be used to make the sites look better. The village also could do fire inspections to make sure the sites are safe, Vendetti said.

The law comes a terrible time for the property owners, who haven’t been able to evict non-paying tenants due to a moratorium on evictions and have had many of the business tenants struggle during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

Lucy and Tom Miller of Buffalo own a commercial site in Albion and they haven’t been able to rent or sell it for four years, despite trying really hard to market the former banking location.

“Albion is a good place,” Mrs. Miller said during an hour-long public hearing. “It just needs some TLC.”

She echoed the comments that a “punitive” law, costing buildings owners more money during a pandemic, is a bad idea.

“These are hard times right now,” she said. “People are suffering. Until we get through this pandemic, we should be kind to one another.”

Natasha Wasuck, owner of the Tinsel and Lockstone site just north of the canal, urged the board to approve the law. She said other communities – Medina, Le Roy, Troy and many others – have used vacant commercial registries and laws to strongly encourage the building owners to get their space occupied. The vacancies are a detriment to the other merchants in Albion, she said.

She suspected some building owners keep the space unfilled as tax write-offs. That comment drew a response from several others in attendance.

Angel Javier Jr. owns the former hardware store location on Main Street, which has been vacant for nearly two years. Javier said it is costly to bring the historic locations up to date with electricity and other needed infrastructure. He is doing much of the work gradually, with help from his family, to avoid an astronomical bill.

If he paid to have the work done, he doesn’t think he could find tenants who could pay enough rent to justify that expense. He said he has been approached by some possible tenants but they don’t want to pay enough to cover his costs for upgrading the building.

“Projects take money and ingenuity,” he said.

Javier said the building owners all are committed to Albion and want to see the community succeed with a vibrant business district.

Angel Javier Jr., who owns the former hardware store site on Main Street, shares concerns about Albion proposed law. He said building owners like himself are often paying as they go and getting a rehab of a historic site can take years of work.

Gus Revelas, owner of the former Gus’s Soda Shoppe on Main Street, said he has declined some offers to rent his building because he didn’t think those businesses would have been good for the community. His daughter, Athena Nichols, is an art teacher and she said she is looking to open a business in the location at some point.

She told the board her family – which has owned the site for more than a century – continues to pay taxes and maintain the location. They shouldn’t be penalized because the building isn’t currently used for a business, she said.

“You are creating heartache and problems for people who want to continue their business,” she said.

Other speakers questioned the wording in the law, and what they saw as unconstitutional provisions about entering the buildings without a warrant for inspections.

Corey Black, one of the downtown building owners, was among the speakers who said the proposed law was “very ambiguous” and wasn’t clear on what is considered a “vacancy.” In one section it says an unoccupied “portion” of the building could make the location considered vacant, but another spot said it applies only to the main floor of the building.

Black said the law could force building owners to be less choosey about tenants, which could be detrimental to the downtown and community.

“You can’t legislate yourselves out of a problem,” Black said. “We can’t legislate ourselves to look like Medina.”

Karen Conn, a Planning Board member, said that board had worked on the proposal for about a year, looking for ways to encourage the reuse of the buildings. She welcomed more input from the building owners to help encourage a vibrant downtown and other business districts in the village. The Planning Board’s intention wasn’t to make it more difficult for the property owners.

Michael Bonafede owns three of the historic locations in the downtown. When he and his wife Judy Koehler bought the Pratt and Day buildings about 15 years ago, the sites only had one tenant. Now they have 11 and that includes the Downtown Browsery with 40 vendors.

Bonafede said Albion has long wanted to have a more vibrant business district, but has struggled to chart a course with everyone working together.

“I admire what you’re trying to do,” Bonafede told the Village Board. “We just don’t know how to go forward as a community.”

He said “polarization” holds the community back. He said the proposed law would be a “huge hardship” on the building owners. There are other options and he cited a report from the National Trust for Historic Preservation which provided a detailed report for Albion’s Main Street about a decade ago.

Bonafede said there are many resources that would assist Albion in a resurgence.

Mayor Eileen Banker thanked the building and business owners for attending the meeting and voicing their opinions. There was an initial public hearing about the law last month and there weren’t any comments. The board decided to send a copy of the proposed law to all the property owners in the business districts in the village so they would be aware of the proposal and to give them a chance to provide input.

“I’m thrilled you are all here,” Banker told the crowd. “This is absolutely what we want. We want to make it a community effort.”

Village holding public hearing today at 6 p.m.

Photo by Tom Rivers: This photo shows Main Street in downtown Albion on an evening in May. The Village Board has proposed a law for vacant commercial buildings where property owners have to pay to be on a vacant building registry and pay annual fees if the sites remain empty.

ALBION — The Village Board wants to encourage commercial building owners to keep their sites occupied. The board sees many of the vacant sites as “unsightly, unsafe and discourages business traffic in the village,” according to a proposed law.

The village will have public hearing today at 6 p.m. to receive feedback about the law that the Village Board says will establish a process for identifying and tracking vacant commercial units, set forth responsibilities for the vacant sites, and to speed the renewed use of the buildings.

Some of the building owners have  already sent letters to the Village Board, outlying concerns that the proposed law is unconstitutional and could have the opposite intended effect of making a building too costly to own.

The proposed law applies to commercial buildings in the Central Business District, General Business District, Planned Commercial Development District, Residential Offices/Limited Business Districts or Light Industrial Districts.

The proposed law would require the owner of properties to register the site with the code enforcement officer no later than 30 days after it becomes vacant or no later than 30 days after being sent a notice from the code officer that the building needs to be registered as a vacant building.

The code officer may identify a vacant site through the routine inspection process or through notification by residents, neighborhood associations or community groups that the site may be eligible to be on the vacant building registry.

The owner of the site needs to submit a vacant building plan which could include a plan for securing and maintaining the site if it will remain vacant and a reason why it will be vacant, a rehabilitation plan that shouldn’t exceed 365 days to return the building to appropriate use, or a demolition plan and time frame for demolition.

If the site isn’t maintained, the village has grounds to remediate the building and bill the costs to the owner, revoke the rehabilitation plan, and subject the owner to fines and penalties, according to the proposed law.

The proposed law also says the building owner needs to pay a $250 registration fee to be on the vacant building registry. If the building remains vacant, the owner will be charged an annual vacant building fee of $1,000 for buildings 20,000 square feet or less, or 5 cents per square foot for sites over 20,000 square feet. That would be $1,500 for a 30,000 square foot site, for example.

Conrad Cropsey, owner of the Briggs Building in the downtown, said the proposed law violates due process and doesn’t include grandfather provisions for bringing buildings up to current code, which could make many of the historic buildings “unsalable,” he said in a letter to the board.

“You will end up owning them for taxes and fines,” Cropsey wrote in his Aug. 3 letter to the Village Board. “Your own building (Village Hall) is included if it is not fully used.”

Cropsey, an attorney, said the village also can’t legislate implied “consent” to enter a building.

“The law is that you can enter if there is an emergency to health and safety or you have established a probable cause of a violation of a valid and constitutional law,” Cropsey wrote. “Couple this with several bad and or overly broad definitions and your proposed law is a train wreck waiting for a litigator.”

Cropsey said the board has a good motive in the law but the proposal “is not the way to achieve it.”

Nathan Lyman, another attorney with a building on Main Street, also wrote to the board with his concerns. In his letter on Aug. 2 , he said downtown real estate values haven’t go up in 20 years.

Compared to 1982 when Lyman was a village trustee, the building owners today face less business activity in the downtown, a higher tax burden and “a pandemic where property owners are prohibited by executive fiat from commencing evictions if the rent is not paid.”

Lyman said the board has good intentions with the proposed law, but it comes during a challenging time for the building owners. The proposed law is also unconstitutional, he said.

Many of the buildings have multiple units and could be 75 percent occupied. But by the proposed law’s definition, the building could be required to be registered with the village as a vacant site, Lyman said.

“If I have chosen not to develop the third floor of my building because of fire code requirements, what right does the Village have to call the building vacant because that area is empty and not viable from an economic perspective?” Lyman wrote. “The same is true of Five Star Bank building, which does not utilize the space on the second and third floors of their building. The determination of the Code Enforcement Officer could easily lead to challenges based upon the subjective vagueness in definitions and selective enforcement by the Village.”

Lyman said requiring owners to register makes them give up their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure – “By registering a building, an owner consents to an Enforcement Officer inspecting the premises…”

The Village Board would be putting taxpayers at risk for costly litigation with the law, which Lyman said wouldn’t stand up in court.

The village also can’t mandate a storefront to be occupied, “or that the property owner magically generate a rent-paying tenant or else pay a penalty to the Village,” he wrote in his letter.

The village can, however, enforce health and safety regulations such as the building code, but it does not have the right to compel a property owner to lease or occupy a building, Lyman said.

“So long as the building, which is already subject to safety and fire inspection, meets those codes and pays the real property taxes, the village cannot mandate that a storefront be occupied, much less assess a fee if it is not,” he said.

Lyman said the business climate in Albion “is challenged at best.” The Covid-19 lockdowns “decimated” many small businesses in downtowns. In Albion, “the building inventory does not meet the requirements of national franchises, which is why none are located downtown,” he said.

He said putting a vacant building on a registry would likely further diminish the value of the site and could result in a lower tax assessment and hurting the village’s tax base.

“I am reminded of the adage that it is easier to attract flies with honey than with vinegar,” Lyman said. “Isn’t it a wiser strategy to do positive things to help the business community which is struggling to recover from pandemic mandates, as opposed to adopting more punitive mandates?”

Class of 2022 needs 7.5 hours, instead of 30

Photo by Tom Rivers: These Albion students pick up trash on March 24 near the railroad tracks close to Platt Street. A group of students and Rotary Club members filled 23 bags with trash that day.

ALBION – The Board of Education has reinstated the community service requirement to graduate, after waiving the need for community service hours for the Class of 2020 and 2021.

The district didn’t require community service to graduate the past two school years due to Covid-19 restrictions that made it more difficult for students to volunteer with local organizations, businesses and churches.

The district has required students to have at least 30 hours of documented community service to graduate. Albion will phase in to get back to the 30 hours over the next four years.

Members of the Class of 2022, who will be seniors this coming year, will need to fulfill 25 percent of the previous requirement or at least 7.5 hours, followed by 15 hours for the Class of 2023. The standard will be at least 22.5 hours for the Class of 2024, and then the full 30 hours for the Class of 2025.

Jennifer Ashbery, the high school principal, requested the return of the community service requirement. The Board of Education on Monday voted in support of her request.

Students that meet the threshold for community service also receive a 0.5 credit. Albion has had the 30-hour community service requirement in place beginning with the Class of 1998.