Alyssa Devault took this photo of a cracked tree on North Main Street in Holley on Wednesday. The Holley Electric Department was able to restore power not long after the big branch came down.

HOLLEY – While much of Orleans County has gone without electricity since the powerful wind storm swept through the area on Wednesday, knocking down trees and wires, Village of Holley residents haven’t been forced to endure lengthy power outages.

The village has its own electric department with about 1,100 customers. About 100 of those customers lost power short-term after the storm on Wednesday.

One tree came at the corner of North Main and East Union streets. There were 20-25 customers without power for abut 12 hours while village electric crews restored service.

There was another issue on Nelson Street that shut down a section of the village temporarily.

Matt Campbell, the Electric Department superintendent, said the village trimmed many trees last year, clearing branches from near power lines.

“We trimmed out our whole village and that definitely helped,” Campbell said. “We cleared are our lines back and I think that’s what saved us.”

Holley had help with the tree trimming from other municipal electric crews from Bergen, Churchville, Akron and Castile.

The village receives its power through a National Grid transmission line which remained in service after the storm.

Most of the eastern end of Orleans County – Clarendon, Murray and Kendall – have been in the dark since the power outages on Wednesday, except the Village of Holley.

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Photos by Kristina Gabalski

HOLLEY – Cast members of this year’s Holley school musical production of Grease performed a number from the show on Thursday evening and encouraged everyone to attend the performances on March 10 and 11.

Holley Middle School/High School Principal Susan Cory welcomed those attending. She said students and community residents should show their pride in being from Holley and in being part of “Holley Strong.”

The Holley Middle School/High School auditorium was a sea of red and black and full of excitement and enthusiasm Thursday evening as students, parents, faculty, staff and community members came together to celebrate “Holley Strong.”

“I’m proud to celebrate the good things about Holley,” Middle School/High School Principal Susan Cory said in opening up the event which included a teaser of the upcoming school musical, Grease; presentations on the Holley community; the importance of assessment testing to students and the district; and an epic “Teacher Lip-Sync Battle” which pitted Elementary teachers against Middle School/High School teachers.

Cory said Holley Central School is the heart of the Holley community and that it is important to “celebrate more of the positive” aspects of the school.

The district ran out of red T-shirts with the new Holley Strong logo and Hawk. Cory said more will be available.

“Bubbles” of facts about the Holley community asked those attending, “Did you know….” and included information promoting community and school pride.

Teacher Nick D’Amuro, “Mr. D.” discussed all the pieces of the “puzzle.” “We want to see the entire piece of the puzzle,” he said regarding student performance. “Students are not just test scores.” D’Amuro teaches 8th Grade Social Studies and Contemporary Issues at the Middle School High School.

D’Amuro discussed how all the pieces of the student puzzle fit together and noted that Grades 3-8 assessments are part of completing that puzzle.

Seniors Kayla Thrower, left, and Jessica Sedore discussed challenges they have faced in their academic careers, particularly regarding mastering Chemistry during the “Holley Talk” portion of the event.  They stressed students should see challenges as opportunities and that failure can be managed, as it is only, “one part of the puzzle.”

Thrower hosted the Holley Strong event. “Holley (Central School) is a home full of teachers who care,” she said.

The Holley Strong event concluded with a Lip Sync Battle between Elementary and Middle School/High School teachers. Here, Elementary teachers perform during the first round.

Teacher Nick D’Amuro wowed the crowd during the Middle School/High School teachers lip sync performance during the Holley Strong event at the school on Thursday.

Middle School/High School and Elementary teachers performed together for the lip sync finale. Students voted on the winner and Elementary teachers were victorious by a narrow margin of 96-88 votes.

Teachers invited students to join them on stage during the lip sync finale.

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Provided photos

Holley cheerleaders traveled to the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester on Thursday evening to deliver “The Little House That Love Built,” a fund-raiser that netted $2,050 for the Ronald McDonald House. Cheerleaders also turned a discarded doll house into a refurbished mini-house that will be displayed at the Ronald McDonald House.

Families stay at the Ronald McDonald House while children are hospitalized in the Rochester area. The house from Holley, which includes 780 roof tiles with names and messages from the Holley community, sends a message that the families at the Ronald McDonald House are loved, said Penny Cole, co-coach of the cheerleaders.

Cheerleaders and their coach, Penny Cole (back center left), present the house to the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester.

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Photo by Tom Rivers: Attorneys from Winston & Strawn LLP in New York City – Ross Kramer, back left, Anup Misra and Alexa Perlman (back to camera) – speak with environmental activist Richard Brummel after a court appearance today at the Orleans County Courthouse.

ALBION – The Holley Fire Department was strongly urged to hire a lawyer in a case against the department with the annual Squirrel Slam hunting contest.

The Fire Department has been sued in a case brought by Lauren Sheive of Williamson in Wayne County. She is being represented pro bono by the Winston & Strawn LLP firm in New York City.

Three attorneys from Winston & Strawn appeared in court today in Albion.

Francis Gaylord, president of the Holley Fire Department, appeared in State Supreme Court without an attorney.

Judge James Punch urged Gaylord to have a lawyer check the legal filings in the case and prepare a response.

“It’s very advisable to have counsel for any legal proceeding,” Punch told Gaylord in court. “This can get very complicated.”

Gaylord said the department has reached out to Jeff Martin of Holley. Punch said Martin would have two weeks to respond to the court filings from Winston & Strawn LLP. The next court appearance was scheduled for 11 a.m. on April 10.

Today was the first court appearance in Albion for the case since Feb. 19, 2015. That was the day Punch dismissed the lawsuit. He said then the paperwork wasn’t properly filed.

But an Appellate Court ruled on Dec. 23 the case shouldn’t have been dismissed and the arguments should be heard in court.

Punch referred to the first filing as a “do-it-yourself petition” that contained “glaring deficiencies.”

The Squirrel Slam just happened last Saturday, but Gaylord said the Holley Fire Department did not sponsor that event. Hunters brought their squirrels to the Brockport Elks Club. The Holley Fire Department, however, sponsored a squirrel hunt in September.

Gaylord said after today’s court appearance that the fire department hasn’t broken any state laws with the squirrel hunt. He was disappointed the fire department would have to spend money on an attorney.

Winston & Strawn attorneys said they want the fire department to do an environmental impact statement on the squirrel hunt to determine the impact on the local squirrel population.

Ross Kramer said a one-day hunting event like the Squirrel Slam can result in “the massive killing of a single species at one time.” The fire department should provide details on that impact, Kramer said.

Gaylord and fire department officials have previously said the hunt doesn’t wipe out squirrels. The hunting isn’t limited to the Holley area. Hunters pursue squirrels in several counties.

The Holley event has been capped at 600 tickets or 300 two-person teams. Each team can enter up to five squirrels.

The hunting season for gray, black and fox squirrel runs from Sept. 1 to Feb. 28 and there is a daily bag limit of 6. Red squirrels may be hunted anytime and there is no limit, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Kramer said the Holley lawsuit is the first to insist an environmental impact statement should be required for a hunting contest.

Richard Brummel, an environmental activist from Long Island, filed the initial legal papers in the case. He drove to Albion today. Brummel said he worries the Earth’s resources, including wildlife and squirrels, are being depleted.

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Provided photo: Richard Brummel, an environmental activist from Long Island who opposes the Squirrel Slam, was in Holley on Feb. 18, holding signs in the Public Square against the hunting contest.

The New York Times has a big feature story today on the Squirrel Slam hunting contest, profiling environmentalists who oppose the annual hunt and also including the perspective of local hunters.

Click here to see “Squirrel Hunt in Western New York Draws Ire of Animal Lovers.”

The controversial hunting contest has been sponsored by the Holley Fire Department in recent years. The hunt was back on Saturday, but this time the Holley Fire Department wasn’t part of the Squirrel Slam. The Elks Lodge in Brockport hosted the event.

Dennis Bauer of Hamlin has organized all 11 of the Squirrel Slams, beginning in 2007. He was interviewed by The New York Times.

Bauer has previously told the Orleans Hub he puts on the Squirrel Slam as a motivation to get friends and family out together on the last day of the hunting season.

“My thought was it was one more time to get buddies and families out together,” Bauer told the Orleans Hub for an article on Feb. 28, 2015. (Click here to see that article.)

A lawsuit about the hunting contest was given new life in December when an Appellate Court reversed a decision by James Punch, acting Supreme Court justice in Orleans County. Punch on Feb. 19, 2015 dismissed a lawsuit “in its entirety.”

The case was formally brought by a Wayne County woman, Lauren Sheive, who said the “Slam” wiped out thousands of local squirrels. The lawsuit contended the event required an environmental impact review to assess the impact on the squirrel population.

Punch on Feb. 19, 2015 compared the Squirrel Slam to fishing contest. He said no laws were being broken.

The Appellate Court on Dec. 23 reversed Punch’s decision, and sent the case back to Orleans County. The Appellate Court didn’t give an opinion on the “Squirrel Slam” itself, but said Punch should have allowed the case to be presented in court instead of dismissing it.

Associate Anup Misra from Winston & Strawn, a New York City law firm, is leading the legal effort. The firm is taking the case pro bono.

The Squirrel Slam attracted a media frenzy in 2013, drawing national and international attention from animal rights’ activists. But by last year, environmental activist Richard Brummel of Long Island was one of the few protestors in the Public Square when hunters brought their bags of squirrels to be weighed. Brummel was back in Holley on Feb. 18 to protest the slam, which didn’t occur that day.

The hunting season for gray, black and fox squirrel runs from Sept. 1 to Feb. 28 and there is a daily bag limit of 6. Red squirrels may be hunted anytime and there is no limit, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Brummel has said the hunt happens at a time when many squirrels are pregnant. He said thousands of squirrels are eliminated with the Squirrel Slam and that kind of environmental impact should be addressed.

Arguments in the case are scheduled for today at the Orleans County Courthouse.

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Photos by Kristina Gabalski

HOLLEY – February Break week once again this year provided an opportunity for creativity at the Community Free Library in Holley. The annual Art Week wrapped up on Friday. Retired Holley Central School art teacher Laurence Dabney guided participants through projects each day.

One of Friday’s projects featured large colorful flowers made from tissue paper. Here, 9-year-old Peyton Wright prepares to fluff the black inner petals of his turquoise creation. The program is open to youth in grades 3, 4 and 5.

Nine-year old Max Pilon also created a large tissue paper flower.

Laurence Dabney assits participants in making snowmen from paper mâché.

Sadie and Luke Gregoire, both 9, concentrate on their snowmen creations. Art Week participants met in the children’s room at the library. The sessions ran for one hour every day.

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HOLLEY – The Holley Elementary School, which is closed this week, will be used for a law enforcement training activity on Wednesday and Thursday, Superintendent Robert D’Angelo said in a message to the community.

Law enforcement agencies in Orleans County will be doing active shooter training on Feb. 22-23, from about 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the school district said.

“We want to notify you of this as there will be many police officers at the school and police vehicles on the grounds,” D’Angelo said in his letter to the community. “We emphasize that this is only a training exercise and there is no cause for alarm. During the training exercise, the Elementary School building will be closed to all other activities. No one will be allowed to enter the building during the training.”

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MURRAY – Town officials were asked why the official postings for elected officials’ salaries often don’t reflect their entire compensation, including stipends that are often several thousand dollars or more.

At least three elected officials at Murray receive additional pay from what is publicized as their salaries.

For example, Town Supervisor John Morriss is paid $8,500 as town supervisor. He also receives $1,500 as budget manager. The official town notice lists the pay for town supervisor as $8,500.

Ed Morgan serves as highway superintendent and the pay is listed as $63,305. However, he also will be paid $21,462 as water superintendent in 2017.

Town Clerk Cindy Oliver is paid $30,152 as town clerk, according to the town notice listing the salary. She also will receive $10,243 in 2017 as water collection clerk and $600 as registrar of vital statistics.

Kerri Neale, a town resident, asked the board on Tuesday why the official notices of the positions don’t list the entire pay for the three elected officials.

Jeff Martin, the town attorney, said the town is following the legal requirement in posting the salaries for the elected positions. The additional duties reflect pay for that additional work.

Town Councilman Paul Hendel said the town notes the stipends for the other work in January during the organizational meeting.

“Why not list everyone’s pay for clarity in one spot?” Neale asked the board. “For a simple person like me, I wouldn’t have to dig around.”

Murray isn’t unusual in listing the the salaries of the elected positions at lower numbers than the total compensation for the highway superintendent, town clerk and town supervisor. That’s how most of the towns list them, putting the salary for the elected position in a legal notice.

But Neale said it’s misleading to the public when the total compensation is often much higher.

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MURRAY – A town official who receives nearly $5,000 a year as a stipend for not using health insurance paid by the town may have been receiving about $3,000 a year too much the past three years.

Joe Sidonio, a local resident, reviewed the town policy for payments in lieu of health insurance. Sidonio believes the town has made a mistake in paying Ed Morgan, the highway superintendent, $4,985 as annual stipend for getting health insurance elsewhere.

The town has been paying $4,985 for full-time employees who could receive a two-person health insurance policy. The town in 2006 approved a policy where the town agreed to pay half of what the health insurance premium would cost for employees receiving health insurance elsewhere. In 2012, the Town Board revised the policy to cap it at 2011 levels – $4,985 for a two-person policy, $6,007 for a family policy, and $1,742 for a single policy.

However, for new employees hired after the effective date of the local law (first adopted on Sept. 12, 2006 and then amended in 2012), the maximum health insurance stipends would be $3,000 for a family plan, $2,000 for a two-person plan, and $1,000 for a single person policy.

The way Sidonio sees it, Morgan should be considered a “new” employee because he had a break in service when he retired for a day on Dec. 31, 2013. Morgan, like many long-time elected officials in the state, can “retire” for a day and then begin collecting their state pension, as well as their full salary. (Among elected highway superintendents in Orleans County, Larry Swanger of Clarendon and Roger Wolfe of Yates both “retired” briefly so they could receive their pensions, as well as full salary.)

Sidonio first asked the Town Board in February 2016 if Morgan had retired as superintendent, and if Morgan was receiving his pension and also the health insurance stipend.

Sidonio submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the town, and Town Clerk Cindy Oliver on Feb. 22, 2016 sent a letter to Sidonio, saying the town did not have any records of Morgan’s retirement.

Sidonio sent a FOIA to the state comptroller, which sent a letter on March 31, 2016, saying that Morgan had retired on Dec. 31, 2013 and was receiving a $3,114.18 a month for his pension.

Town Supervisor John Morriss, during the April12, 2016, Town Board meeting responded that Morgan had not actually retired, but was receiving his retirement, according to minutes from the meeting.

However, Sidonio said Morgan did retire, even if for a day, based on the paperwork with the comptroller.

The Murray local law states that current employees receiving the the stipend shall be considered new employees at the lower stipend level if they have a break in employment by not getting reappointed, not being re-elected “or otherwise.” If they then return to employment with the town, “such employees shall be regarded as a new employee and subject to the limitations on payments in lieu of health insurance applicable to new employees,” according to the town law, which Sidonio read from on Tuesday.

He believes the town has overpaid Morgan nearly $9,000 from 2014 to 2016, with a new year now begun of excessive payments.

“I would respectfully ask the Town Board to look at that and let us know what is happening with that,” Sidonio told the Town Board. “If retirement is not considered a break in service, I don’t know what is.”

Town Supervisor John Morriss and Town Attorney Jeff Martin said the town would look into the matter.

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Village also presses for more state AIM funding and bank for community

HOLLEY – Village Board members on Tuesday evening took the next step in the process to obtain grant funding under the State Department of State’s Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA) Program, which provides financial and technical assistance to municipalities for turning dormant and blighted parcels into productive, catalytic properties.

Trustees voted to authorize Mayor Brian Sorochty to submit an application to the BOA program for a Step 2 grant. A public hearing was held on the application prior to the vote.

The village is seeking a grant not to exceed $200,000 for the development of a Nomination Study. A scope of work was prepared by the village with the help of a steering committee as part of the grant application process.

The scope lists eleven tasks including the preparation of a Nomination Study for the BOA with an updated existing conditions analysis; a Community Participation Plan; a Light Industrial Market Analysis and Strategy; a Residential Development Strategy; and Future Land Use and Conceptual Designs which focus on strategic sites identified in the Step 1 Pre-Nomination Study. Those sites include the former Diaz site; 51 State St.; the site of the former (Save-A-Lot) grocery store; 89 Public Square; and the old Holley High School.

“With significant investment potentially occurring at the Village of Holley High School site, public interest in the future of the Diaz site and the community’s support for a revitalized downtown public square, active and continuous community engagement will be imperative to ensuring recommendations are consistent with the community’s vision and goals,” the Scope states.

In other business Tuesday evening, Orleans County Legislator Ken DeRoller addressed trustees, bringing them up-to-date on a number of issues.

DeRoller noted infrastructure improvements at the county level which include ongoing bridge and culvert repairs totaling $33 million; the efforts of a lobbyist hired by Orleans County to, “make our message known,” on a state level; and the NYS Department of Transportation’s plan to spend $13 million for canal bridge improvements in Orleans County.

Trustee Connie Nenni asked DeRoller if the county’s lobbyist might be able to help with an effort to get the state to overhaul its AIM (Aid and Incentives to Municipalities) funding for villages and towns. Currently 90 percent of that money goes to cities.

“It’s something to take a look at,” DeRoller said. “Sales tax allocations are starting to erode, but AIM is the target we need to go after.”

“It would be fantastic if we could get even half of what the cities get,” Trustee Skip Carpenter said. Additional AIM funds would help villages and towns with projects like sidewalk and street repair, he noted.

DeRoller also brought trustees up-to-date on efforts to find a new tenant for the former First Niagara Bank branch in the village’s Public Square.

Petitions in support of the effort are still available around the community – at the Village Hall, local businesses and town offices in Murray, Clarendon and Kendall.

“We are in a bank desert,” DeRoller said of the east side of the county. He has been working to reach out to players in the marketplace and said the petitions will provide additional “leverage” in the effort by showing there is an interest in having banking services available in the village.

Village Clerk Deborah Schiavone said there has been a “very good response” to the petitions.

DeRoller said Key Bank has the lease on the building until September and that, “a couple of parties are interested in purchasing the property…. it’s taking time, but everybody’s working on it.”

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Convention will be on the ballot in November

Photo by Tom Rivers: Murray Town Councilman Paul Hendel, right, speaks during Tuesday’s Town Board meeting while Councilman Ed Bower listens.

MURRAY – A Murray town councilman is urging the public to educate themselves on a state-wide ballot proposition in November – the New York State Constitutional Convention.

Paul Hendel, the Murray councilman, said he is voting for the convention and he hopes it leads to some changes on how the state is operating, especially with how it treats local municipalities with land use powers.

Hendel said he is concerned about the state’s growing clout in taking away “home rule” from local governments. The state has infringed upon local communities’ home rule or their power with local zoning and land use, especially with large-scale wind energy projects, Hendel said.

“We’ve already seen a pull back (in home rule) with energy systems,” Hendel said during Tuesday’s Town Board meeting. “I am nervous the state will want to pull back that even more.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing a “Clean Energy Standard” that will require 50 percent of New York’s electricity to come from renewable energy sources like wind and solar by 2030. That means more land, especially upstate, will be needed for those large-scale projects.

Sttae Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia, has been promoting a “two New Yorks” proposal, where ultimately he would like to see New York City and upstate be separated. Hendel said he favors that secessionist push.

“I would never ask someone how they would vote but I would vote ‘yes’ on that one,” Hendel said at the Town Board meeting.

The Constitutional Convention comes up every 20 years on the state-wide ballot.

It gives voters a chance to hold a convention to change the state constitution, which was first crafted in 1777. If voters approve the convention, delegates are elected by the public in November 2018 and they would convene in April 2019.

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MURRAY – More residents in a proposed water district extension need to sign a petition in support of the project if it’s going to move forward, town attorney Jeff Martin told the Murray Town Board on Tuesday.

Several residents have already signed petitions, backing the Water District 3 Extension 1. The project would cover about 3 miles on portions of Hindsburg, West Kendall and Center roads. It would serve about 20 residences and 40 parcels.

It would bring public water to some of the last remaining sections of the town without a waterline.

“This might very well be the last water district for the town,” Martin said.

The extension is off three roads on the western end of Ridge Road in Murray.

The town had an informational meeting on Jan. 24 for the project. The project includes assessed values of $3,935,900. The property owners representing at least half of the assessed value, $1,967,950, need to sign petitions supporting the project. Martin said the town is about 42 percent of the way to that goal.

It also needs at least 50 percent of the owner-occupied houses, which represents a total assessed value of $3,050,700. Martin said the signatures so far represent $789,900, which is short of the $1,525,900 threshold for the the project to move forward.

“Hopefully people are out there pounding the pavement getting those signatures,” he said.

If the town passes the 50 percent threshold for the district, Martin said Murray can move forward with legally creating the district.

For more information on the project, call the Town Hall at (585) 638-6570, or click here to be directed to the Murray town website.

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