MEDINA – The Village Board gave its blessing for a new charter boat business that would offer cruises along the canal.

Brian Hellner of Newfane wants to give rides for up to six people on a 20-foot-long pontoon boat. Hellner said he has been a licensed charter captain the past 12 years and an avid boater the past 50 years. He also is a former vice president of the Buffalo Maritime Center.

He has been to Medina frequently to see his son, Rollin, who lives in Medina and is a real estate developer.

The elder Hellner said he sees an opportunity to grow tourism in the village through the canal cruises. He plans to call the business, North Star Charters. He would like to offer one-hour rides from Friday through Sunday beginning in early June and going into the fall.

An issue for the board is whether to set aside a dedicated dock space for Hellner, and how much to charge. Medina currently doesn’t charge for use of the docks.

Hellner said he could use one of the smaller finger docks which are less in demand. He doesn’t need access to electricity at the basin because he will have solar panels on the pontoon boat.

“I think it will be a great addition,” Village Trustee Marguerite Sherman said about the boat ride business.

Hellner said he plans to promote the rides through social media and have a sign on the boat. He won’t be putting other signs in the Basin to advertise the business.

Photos by Tom Rivers: The 75-foot ladder on Medina aerial ladder truck is extended during an April 7 fire at a Main Street building in Medina. There were five ladder trucks at the fire with others from Albion, Lockport, Murray and Shelby.

MEDINA – The Village Board took another step towards getting a new ladder truck for the Fire Department on Monday.

The board authorized a bond resolution for up to $1,990,000 towards the cost of a new ladder truck. Board members expect the cost will be less than that maximum bond but wanted some room if the cost are higher than expected.

The board will also be pursuing grants and low-interest financing that should result in a smaller bond.

The village is seeking a new ladder truck with a 100-foot-long ladder. That would replace one from 1996 with a 75-foot ladder. The current truck has many mechanical issues and often needs costly repairs that take it out of service.

Medina hasn’t signed a purchase agreement for the new truck. Fire Chief Matt Jackson said the village can expect to wait about three years for a new truck due to the trucks being on back order and with supply chain issues.

The village also is looking to put an addition on the fire hall to accommodate the larger vehicle. The current fire hall only has 2 inches of clearance in the truck bays.

The addition to the fire hall that would be approximately 62 feet, 8 inches by 88 feet, 8 inches. That expansion, plus repairs to the existing fire hall, would be about $4.5 million, according to a report from the Barton & Loguidice firm.

The ladder trucks from Medina, left, and Murray were in service for several hours during the big fire in Medina on April 7. Medina’s truck is 27 years old.

MEDINA – Village property owners are in for a big tax increase. The Village Board on Monday evening approved a $7,593,286 budget with a 14.9 percent tax hike.

The village will be collecting $3,786,964 in property taxes, which is up $490,824 from the $3,296,140 tax levy. The budget increases the tax rate by 11.6 percent from $18.85 to $21.15 per $1,000 of assessed property. This is the first time Medina, or any village in Orleans County, tops a $20 tax rate.

Property owners in the Town of Ridgeway are at a 76 percent equalization rate and will pay a village tax rate of $21.24 per $1,000. In Shelby, which is at an 80 percent equalization rate, the village tax rate will be $20.18.

“This year’s budget was one of the most difficult budgets I’ve been involved with in 6 years,” Medina Mayor Mike Sidari said during the meeting on Monday. “We had many, many meetings and many sleepless nights.”

During a public hearing on the tentative budget on April 10, Medina was at a tax rate over $28. Sidari said the budget was chopped since then, but couldn’t contain nearly $400,000 in salary increases and higher costs for employee benefits, including health insurance and retirement.

The final budget shows salaries are up by $191,145 to $3,308,492, while employee benefits increased by $182,391 to $1,580,725.

Sidari said the village also faces rising fuel, inflation and other expenses that couldn’t be avoided.

The board knew the village was headed for a difficult budget process months ago. The board imposed a spending freeze on department heads beginning in January, Sidari said.

Medina faces rising costs and relies on property taxes to offset the increases. The village hasn’t been able to get more of the local sales tax. The county has kept the village and town allotments frozen since 2001. Medina is due to receive $152,047 in the local sales tax this year. Last year the total local sales tax topped $22.5 million in the county.

The state also hasn’t increased the Aid and Incentives to Municipalities or AIM in several years. Medina, population 6,047 in the 2020 census, only gets $45,523 in AIM funding or about $7.50 a person. If Medina was treated as a city it would get much more in AIM. The City of Sherrill, the state’s smallest city with 3,054 people in Oneida County, receives $372,689 or $122 per capita. Another small city, Salamanca in Cattaraugus County, gets $928,131 for a city of 5,929 people or $156 per capita.

Medina hasn’t done a full re-evaluation of its tax base in about five years. The taxable valuation of village increased from $173,928,941 a year ago to $178,984,667 for the new budget. A re-evaluation is planned but those new values won’t take effect until the 2024-25 budget. A higher tax base should drive down the tax rate in the next budget.

The big jump in taxes follows several years of small increases. Here are the recent tax levy amounts and tax rates for the village budget:

• 2023-24 tax levy, $3,786,964; tax rate, $21.15
• 2022-23 tax levy, $3,296,140; tax rate, $18.95
• 2021-22 tax levy, $3,259,119; tax rate, $18.77
• 2020-21 tax levy, $3,197,059; tax rate, $18.46
• 2019-20 tax levy, $3,138,059; tax rate, $18.32

Photo by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Village trustees Marguerite Sherman, left, and Tim Elliott hold a flag that was created by a village resident to be considered as an official flag for the community.

Mayor Mike Sidari presented the flag at this evening’s Village Board meeting. Sidari said Medina doesn’t have an official village flag.

The resident who designed the flag asked to be anonymous. The resident worked on the design as a project when largely homebound during the early days of the Covid pandemic. That person paid to have three flags made and gave them to the village.

“It’s a very nice gesture,” Mayor Sidari said about the flag proposal.

Sidari said he will ask for resident feedback the next couple Village Board meetings before deciding whether the design should be adopted as the official flag.

The design includes a mule-drawn packet boat, the former Medina Sandstone top of the White Hotel, which was later the NAPA Auto Parts on Main Street without such a glorious peak. The phrase “Roots in the Past, Eyes on the Future” is included on the flag, borrowing the phrase that was included on some of the village gateway signs and now is on the sign at the village office. There is also a canal bridge on the right sign on the flag.

The Flag Institute said a community flag “is a wonderful way to proclaim the unique identity of a place.” That institute, based in Great Britain, urges towns, villages and counties to design flags to celebrate their places and people, and to use “meaningful symbolism.”

Press Release, Arc GLOW

MEDINA – Case-Nic Cookies’ 5th annual Have a Heart Cookie Sale and window raffle fundraiser generated $2,360 for Arc GLOW programs and services.

Mary Lou Tuohey, owner of Case-Nic, started the fundraiser with her daughter Nicole in 2019 as a way to highlight the March observance of Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, and to raise funds for Arc services at the same time.

Mary Lou’s cookie and raffle idea was inspired by Nicole, who has been receiving services from the Arc since she was a baby. Now, as an adult, Nicole attends Arc GLOW’s Washington Street Day Hab program in Albion. Besides helping raise funds for Arc GLOW, the Tuoheys are also avid fundraisers for another charity close to their heart, the Alzheimer’s Association.

“We love to give back to organizations that mean so much to our family,” Mary Lou said.

In 2023, Have a Heart cookie sales totaled $1,185 and the window raffle raised $1,175.

“This is a true inspiration,” said Lisa Bors, Arc’s Director Public Relations. “We appreciate Nicole, Mary Lou and Case-Nic Cookies’ faithful customers for supporting the Have a Heart campaign this year.”

As designated by Mary Lou and Nicole, funds raised will benefit programs spanning all areas served by Arc GLOW: Camp Rainbow in Lyndonville, Day Habilitation and Recreation programs in Genesee and Orleans counties, and Arc GLOW’s KidStart in Mount Morris.

At least 7.5 million gallons of water used to put out fire

Photo by Tom Rivers: The three-story Medina sandstone structure at 613 Main St. is fenced off after a fire on Friday caused extensive damage to the structure. About 400 feet of fencing has been donated by the Hellner Development Corp.

MEDINA – Firefighters used at least 7.5 million gallons of water to put out the fire on Friday at 613 Main St. That doesn’t count the water drawn in two spots from Oak Orchard Creek.

Medina Mayor Mike Sidari, a Medina firefighter for about 40 years, said the blaze was the biggest he’s seen at Medina. He thanked firefighters, about 150 in all, and other responders for getting the fire under control without spreading.

“Thanks to all of those entities that provided help for us,” Sidari said at Monday’s Village Board meeting. “The operation went smoothly.”

A structural engineer has deemed the building in no danger of immediate collapse after the roof and floors caved in. The building is fenced off and the village has an agreement from building owner Jeff Fuller to stabilize the site.

Medina Fire Chief Matt Jackson said trains will be going slower through the village, down from 25 miles per hour to 10 miles per hour to reduce vibrations to the site, which is next to the railroad tracks.

Jackson thanked the many departments that responded with mutual aid, including four that brought aerial ladder trucks to join medina’s. Those five trucks each put at least 2,000 gallons of water a minute on the fire for at least five hours.

Jackson said there weren’t any injuries from the fire, and one of the residents was safely rescued from a second-floor window.

He thanked the Medina Department of Public Works, code enforcement and the Police Department for their work which was “essential” in managing the situation.

Fire investigators from the county and state also continue to work on determining the cause of the blaze, Jackson said.

The fire at 613 Main St. on Friday spewed dark smoke for several hours.

File photo: About 100 third-graders and their teachers attended tree planting ceremony on Frank Street on April 28, 2022 to celebrate Arbor Day. This year second-graders will join third-graders at the celebration.

MEDINA – The village’s annual Arbor Day celebration will be about twice the size in attendance because second-graders will be joining third-graders in the festivities on April 28.

Medina has been joined I recent years by third-graders who help plant trees, share poems and sing the praises of the benefits of trees.

This year’s event will again be on Frank Street. Medina is planning to plant 48 new trees with most on Frank Street, Williams Street and at State Street Park.

Kathy Blackburn, president of the Medina Tree Board, invites the community to come and participate in the ceremony at 10 a.m.

A portion of Frank Street will be blocked off to traffic during the celebration.

For the 16^th straight year Medina has been recognized as an official Tree City USA for its commitment to the urban forestry.

People can make donations for new trees through the Medina Releaf Society. Click here for more information.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Richard and Kirsten Glass dance to the polka after the couple was crowned king and queen of Dyngus Day at the Sacred Heart Club this evening.

The club gives the honor to active volunteers in the club. The couple has been active volunteers at many of the Sacred Heart activities, including the seven week of Friday fish fries leading up to Easter, an ugly sweater contest and many other parties.

“It’s like a family here,” said Mr. Glass, who joined Sacred Heart in 1968.

He and his wife were presented with the royalty by last year’s king Dave Silkowski and queen Diane Humphrey.

“I’m shocked,” Mr. Glass said about the honor. “I had no idea.”

Richard and Kirsten Glass celebrate their king and queen recognition with daughter Tricia Allen and grandchildren Jane and Bryce Allen.

The Sacred Heart Club welcomed about 100 people for the Dyngus Day party, with many people wearing red in honor of the Polish celebration.

Pussy willows were also available. In the Dyngus Day tradition, boys sprinkle water on the girls who then tap the boys with pussy willows as a way of flirting.

Terri Moriarty gives her husband Tim a tap with a pussy willow. They celebrated Dyngus Day at Sacred Heart for the first time. They are now both retired and back in Medina after spending the winter in South Carolina.

They enjoyed the spread of Polish food. Tim enjoyed the sweet and sour cabbage, and the smoked kielbasa. Terry said her favorite is the Golabki – cabbage stuffed with ground beef and rice.

Terri Moriarty holds a pussy willow she used to gently touch her husband Tim in one of the Dyngus Day traditions.

JT Thomas, center, greets his parents, Ron and BJ Thomas, who were enjoyed some of the Polish food. JT helped cook some of the meal and also was the DJ playing polka music.