Provided photo

MEDINA – Five people were able to get out of a house on fire this morning at 413 Prospect Ave.

The Medina Fire Department was dispatched to the scene at 3:29 a.m. Two adults and three children were trapped inside. Medina police were also at the scene and put a ladder on the back of the house. That allowed firefighters to safely carry down the three children and assist the two adults.

Firefighters then gained entry to the house and found fire on the staircase to the second floor, said Steve Cooley, a Medina firefighter.

The fire was extinguished in less than ten minutes from the time of dispatch. Crews remained on scene checking for fire extension and clearing the structure of smoke, Cooley said. Village of Medina crews were assisted by Shelby and Lyndonville firefighters.

Two families at the house do not have to be displaced, Cooley said. The damage was limited to the stairs and an area leading to the upper apartment.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by Medina Fire Department, Medina Police Department, and Orleans County fire investigators.

MEDINA – “One Medina” has enough signatures to force a vote on dissolution in the Village of Medina.

Village Clerk Debbie Padoleski certified the petitions this morning. Padoleski deemed 371 of 432 signatures turned in last week were valid. She matched the signatures with an eligibility list from the Orleans County Board of Elections. Some signatures were invalid because the addresses of the names didn’t match the list from the Board of Elections.

The 371 is more than enough. To force a referendum, a petition needs 10 percent of the eligible village voters. A petition would need at least 314 valid signatures out of the 3,137 eligible voters.

The Village Board now has up to 30 days to set a vote. That vote must then occur within 60 to 90 days of the board setting the referendum. The board next meets on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Shelby Town Hall.

Village residents David Barhite, Jim Lustumbo and Ed Weider helped gather the signatures and turned the in the petition on Oct. 16.

They want to see less layers of government and reduced taxes for village residents.

Photos by Peggy Barringer
MEDINA – The Medina Rotary Club had a craft fair and served up chili on Saturday in a benefit for Rotary’s youth programs in Medina.

The event was held at the United Methodist Church in the former Apple Grove Inn at 11004 West Center St.

Bill Bixler and Julianna Duda serve up three varieties of chili (white chicken, sweet, and spicy beer chili). Proceeds of the chili sale benefit the Rotary Club of Medina’s youth programs including scholarships to Medina High School and the foreign exchange student program. Duda said Rotary believes strongly in these programs due to “kids being our future.” The Bread Basket in Medina donated all the bread to go with the chili.

Pumpkins and frog were created by Bubba’s Chainsaw Carvings in Lyndonville.

Vendor Kira Sinclair upcycles used clothing she purchases at the Clothing Depot in Medina and transforms into handmade plush toys.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Hartway Motors welcomed customers for an annual appreciation day on Thursday. The community was welcomed inside to see renovations to the Chevrolet dealership in Medina at 320 North Main St.

MEDINA – A dealership that has been a presence in downtown Medina since 1932 has a new look. It wasn’t easy, but Hartway Motors was able to meet the demands for corporate branding, while preserving the historical integrity of its building at 320 North Main St.

“I think the remodel enhanced what was here and brought it up to date,” said Lisa Hartway Enderby, co-owner of the dealership with her sister Bridget DiCureia and brother Richard Hartway. They bought the business from their father Charles Hartway a decade ago. He remains a frequent presence at the dealership and stopped by for customer appreciation day on Thursday.

The project was completed in June. On Thursday, Hartway Motors had its annual open house, the first time some community members were inside to see the renovated showroom.

A 2014 Chevy Spark is inside the showroom for the annual open house at Hartway Motors.

The most prominent changes are outside with a large blue entry arch, which signifies the site as a Chevy dealership.

Enderby said the building has preserved many of its historical features and now has better lighting and acoustics.

Her grandfather, Frank J. Payjack, first opened the dealership in 1932 across the street. General Motors asked him to upgrade his dealership. He knocked down a house across the street and built the Hartway Motors site in 1948.

Provided photo – Frank J. Payjack, grandfather of the current owners of Hartway Motors, built this site in 1948.

That Hartway building featured a post-war architectural style known as Streamline Moderne, characterized by a lack of decoration with a flat roof, white walls, glass block, and curved, aerodynamic forms, noted Chris Busch, chairman of the Medina Planning Board.

The Hartway site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as an example of Streamline Moderne and also for being in the downtown Medina business district.

Enderby worked to satisfy the demands from Chevy for the entry arch and cosmetic changes on the building. She didn’t want to leave the downtown and have a typical suburban dealership.

The Medina Historic and Architectural Review Board said the building’s historic features remain, namely the rounded windows.

“You might be tempted to lump this structure with the proposed changes into the pile with all the other newer suburban Chevrolet dealerships,” Busch said in February while the front sign was under construction. “However, upon closer inspection, you will see that the Hartway structure is indeed different in that it does maintain the essential design characteristics of the original Streamline Moderne.”

The Hartway site also keeps a pedestrian scale and fits in with the neighborhood and other nearby businesses, Busch said.

Enderby believes the project struck a nice balance with keeping the historical flavor of the site while embracing new features.

“With car dealerships the whole idea is moving forward with technology,” she said.

Vote could be set for sometime in January-February

MEDINA – An issue that has been studied and debated for more than two years looks like it will finally go to village voters.

Three members of the “One Medina” grassroots group submitted petitions on Thursday to force a public vote on whether the village government should dissolve. The petitions were signed by 432 people and were presented to Village Clerk Debbie Padoleski. She has 10 days to determine if the petition will be certified.

She will check to make sure the people who signed are registered voters. She also is reviewing the list of eligible registered voters in the village. The petition must have at least 10 percent of the registered voters to force the referendum.

Padoleski said there are about 3,000 eligible voters in the village, but she will make sure in the coming days. The 432 signatures, demanding a vote on village dissolution, gives the advocates for a public vote a cushion in case some of the signatures are declared invalid.

The petitions were submitted on Thursday by three leaders of One Medina: Ed Weider and two former village trustees, Jim Lustumbo and David Barhite.

“The big thing is we want the people to have the right to vote on it,” Barhite said today.

If the petitions are certificed by Padoleski, the Village Board is required to set a public vote within 30 days of Padoleski’s decision. The vote must occur within 60 to 90 days of the Village Board setting a vote for the issue. That time frame would put a vote in January or February.

A committee already studied how the village government could be dissolved and its services picked up by the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway, or through a local development corporation, a non-profit corporation (for ambulance services) and also a debt district.

That dissolution plan was endorsed by a dissolution committee in April. Some community members formed “One Medina” to push for dissolution of the village with a goal of then merging the two towns.

The Village Board hasn’t set a public vote on dissolution after some village trustees wanted to give the two towns another chance at shared services and some consolidation of services. Those talks have focused on highway services but have got bogged down. A meeting set for last week was cancelled.

The citizen referendum wants resolution on the issue, and wants the public to have its say, Barhite said.

Barhite believes the village property owners bear too much of the cost of government services for the community. A dissolution plan would cut village taxes by 27 to 34 percent, and raise town taxes 46 percent for Ridgeway residents outside the village and 10 percent for Shelby residents outside the village.

According to the dissolution plan, a village dissolution would cut about $6 off that combined tax rate for village residents who are currently the highest taxed in the region.

Village residents would see a drop ranging from 27 percent in Ridgeway to 34 percent in Shelby. The rate in Ridgeway would drop from $19.49 per $1,000 of assessed property to a projected $14.30, according to the plan. That $5.20 reduction would save a homeowner with a $70,000 house $363 a year in taxes. (The rate includes village and town tax rates.)

Village residents in Shelby currently pay a combined $19.80 rate ($16.45 to the village and $3.35 to the town). That would drop 34 percent to $13.10 and would cut the tax bills from $1,386 for a $70,000 house to $917.

The Ridgeway residents outside the village currently pay a $6.71 rate for town, lighting and fire protection. That would rise 46 percent to $9.83 if the village dissolves and services are picked up according to the plan.

Shelby residents would see a 10 percent increase with dissolution with the current rate for outside-village residents going from $8.36 per $1,000 of assessed property to $9.17. That would raise taxes for a $70,000 home from $585 to $642.

Both Shelby and Ridgeway town officials have questioned the numbers in the plan and said they aren’t obligated to follow it.

Chris Sevor, left, and Monica Clark created these scarecrows today. They had the giggles trying to stuff them into the car.

Photos by Peggy Barringer

MEDINA – The Orleans County YMCA hosted a Scarecrow Festival today at the Armory building on Pearl Street. The event is sponsored by the Medina Lions Club.

Phyllis Misso of Albion and her granddaughter Cathleen Mastrodicasa of Lockport work together on a scarecrow. The Clothing Depot donated the clothes and sheets for the scarecrows.

Freckles the Clown entertained the crowd, and also did face painting.

Wyatt and parents Sara and Andrew Szatkowski came out for the festival.

Ed Grabowski, a member of the Medina Lions Cub, is a scarecrow surgeon at the operating room table.

Arie and her mother Trudy Decker pose with a scarecrow.

Scarecrow heads were painted by the Medina School Art Department.

Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Ridgeway firefighters head into Brunner International, where a fire in the exhaust system was reported at 7:09 p.m.

Firefighters quickly had the small fire under control. A department was evacuated at Brunner, a manufacturing plant on Bates Road. The company has nearly 400 employees in Medina that makes brakes for tractor trailer trucks.

Firefighters responded from Ridgeway, Shelby and Medina fire departments. A full moon just happens to out tonight.