MEDINA – The Board of Education has reached a two-year contract with the Medina Teachers’ Association, an agreement that gives teachers an average of 1.5 percent annual raises and also is projected to save the district $770,000 in health insurance costs over the two years.

The board on Monday also approved a five-year contract with Jeff Evoy, the district’s superintendent of schools. Evoy started as the district’s top administrator in Nov. 1, 2011. He signed a contract then for three years and seven months.

The new five-year deal is effective the beginning of the current 2013-14 school year.

“We talked about long-term and we wanted consistency,” Evoy said today. “I want to retire here.”

Evoy’s contract calls for modest salary increases of 2 percent each of the first two years, then 1.5 percent, 0.68 percent and 0.67 percent the final year. His pay will go from $142,800 this school year and end at $149,841 in 2017-18.

The contract with teachers will only be for two years because both the Board of Education and the union want to see the impact of Obamacare on the district’s health insurance costs, Evoy said.

He praised the teachers for stepping up to help with the district’s health insurance costs. The union agreed to a less costly point of service plan, and all teachers will now pay towards a share of the premiums.

Teachers also agreed to two additional work days during the 2013-14 school year and three more work days during the 2014-15 school year. These days may be used for professional development and increased instructional time for students.

“I would very much like to thank the leadership of the Teachers’ Association for the professional approach to these talks and to the recognition that these are very different and difficult financial times,” Evoy said. “This agreement will allow the district to move forward in a financially responsible manner, rewarding unit members for their efforts while keeping students and student learning as its top priority.”

Joe Byrne, the union president, said the contract will keep the district focused on educating Medina students.

“Through the negotiations process, our number one priority was to maintain present – and ensure future – programs for our students,” he said.

MEDINA – A Medina manufacturer expects to move to Lockport from July 11-14, and begin operating from Building 4 in the former Harrison Radiator plant on July 15, Trek Inc. states on its web site.

Trek’s Medina building at 1601 Maple Ridge Rd. won’t be empty for long. Takeform Architectural Graphics is moving from Mahar Street to Route 31A as part of an expansion for that company.

Trek, an electronic instrument manufacturer, shifted its engineering, and research and development groups to Lockport in 2011.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Larry Radzinski this checks on geraniums he planted earlier this month at the Sacred Heart Cemetery on Route 63 in Medina. Radzinski was back at the cemetery today, sprinkling fertilizer on the flowers.

Sacred Heart is next to Boxwood Cemetery in Medina, giving the community two well-maintained historic burial grounds.

Sinner led organization during time of growth and change

MEDINA – Jim Sinner, CEO of Medina Memorial Hospital and its parent organization Orleans Community Health the past 15 years, resigned on Monday.

The board of directors has hired HealthTech Management Services to manage the hospital and healthcare organization, an agreement that could be as short as six months or as long as three years, with chances to extend the relationship beyond this initial contract.

HealthTech will provide interim management support, help assess the hospital’s current operations and identify options to assure “a strong strategic future for continued healthcare services in the Orleans County region,” according to a statement from the hospital.

Sinner resigned to pursue other career opportunities, said Bruce Krenning, the board chairman.

“The board appreciates Jim Sinner’s 15 years of service to Orleans Community Health and wishes him the best,” Krenning said.

Orleans Hub will post more information, including an interview from the interim CEO, soon.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Leaders of Medina Memorial Hospital see an opportunity to attract more doctors and patients following the closing of Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport.

MEDINA – It doesn’t happen too often on the local health care landscape, a chance for a rural hospital to grow and have money to invest in capital improvements.

But Medina Memorial Hospital and its parent organization, Orleans Community Health, have a narrow window to position the organization for a long-term future in the county, said Bruce Krenning, chairman of the organization’s board of directors.

The organization has about $4 million in a reserve account from the sale of the Orchard Manor Nursing Home. It also has one less competitor for local health care services following the closing of Lakeside Memorial Hospital.

“We have this window of opportunity and we need to seize it and go forward,” Krenning said today, a day after Jim Sinner resigned as CEO and the board hired a health management firm to serve as interim management and also work as a consultant.

HealthTech Management Services will provide management support for the hospital and Orleans Community Health, while performing an assessment of the organization.

The firm is based in Franklin, Tenn. and manages 20 small hospitals, including one other one in New York, the Adirondack Medical Center. HealthTech provides consulting services to 60 other hospitals.

Mike Lieb flew up from Dallas and met with staff and the media today. He will be temporary CEO until Dolores Horvath begins as interim CEO on July 8. She works for HealthTech and is completing another assignment for the company.

A day after CEO Jim Sinner resigned from Medina Memorial Hospital and Orleans Community Health, a new team met with hospital staff on Tuesday. Bruce Krenning, board chairman for OCH, is pictured at left with Diane Bradley, regional clinical coordinator, and Mike Lieb, temporary CEO.

HealthTech will bring a fresh perspective to Medina’s organization, perhaps finding ways to utilize proven strategies from other hospitals, Lieb said. He also expects to learn from Medina’s operation, and take some of its strengths to other healthcare organizations, which are trying to maximize narrow profit margins.

Both Lieb and Krenning want to assure the public that the Medina hospital is on solid financial ground.

“This is not something to panic over,” Lieb said. “We see a lot of potential here.”

That’s why Orleans Community Health hired a firm to assess the hospital’s current operations and identify opportunities for growth and long-term sustainable, Krenning said today.

The hospital recently expanded to Albion with a healthcare facility at Butts Road and Route 31. The timing of that center, with the closing at Lakeside, has Medina poised to reach out to Albion and eastern Orleans. Lieb and hospital leaders will meet with physicians affiliated with Lakeside, urging them to align with Medina and Orleans Community Health.

“We’ll talk with the area physicians as fast as we can,” Lieb said.

The University of Rochester Medical Center announced last week it is buying Lakeside’s Brockport hospital and plans to reopen it in August as “Strong West.” Krenning expects the organization will make a push for patients in Orleans.

He believes Medina Memorial and Orleans Community Health have made several good moves recently, upgrading technology at the hospital, expanding to Albion and selling Orchard Manor.

HealthTech has an experienced team that can help Medina and OCH capitalize on its assets and make any other needed improvements, Krenning said.

HealthTech will provide the CEO for at least the interim, but the remainder of the management team at Medina will stay. The board of directors also retains control of the organization, Krenning and Lieb said.

“We won’t be cramming something down their throats that doesn’t work for the community,” Lieb said.

OCH may eventually pick a long-term CEO affiliated with HealthTech or it could go outside that organization. HealthTech offers a lot of advantages for the Medina Memorial and OCH during this transition, Krenning said.

“The strongest benefit will be having outside eyes,” he said about HealthTech’s role. “They have tremendous experience.”

Worthington Cylinders tells employees plant will close in 2014

MEDINA Worthington Cylinders called employees into a special meeting this afternoon and announced the plant, the former Bernz-O-Matic, would close next year with the production shifting to a site in Wisconsin.

The decision will put 150 people out of work locally.

Diane Watts is one of them. She has worked there for nine years in assembly, production and quality control. Her sister has 39 years at the site, while their brother has worked there for 40 years. Watts said there are many long-term employees at the company who will have to look for new jobs.

Worthington bought Bernz-O-Matic two years ago. Bernz-O-Matic had operated in Medina since 1969, making torches.

Worthington makes cylinders for the torches in Wisconsin. By shifting the torch production to Wisconsin, the company told employees it can do everything at one site, saving in transportation costs.

Watts said employees were told the company will ramp up production in Medina, to have extra product while the company shifts production to the site in Wisconsin. The Medina plant will close in mid-2014, employees were told.

The news comes after JP Morgan Chase announced two weeks ago it was shutting its Albion mortgage servicing unit, putting 413 people out of work in September.

“There’s going to be a lot of people in Orleans County looking for a job,” Watts said.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Alicia Cochrane, a junior at Medina, helps to assemble the Daisy Chain today. The 54-foot-chain of flowers is a graduation tradition dating back nearly a century in Medina.

Medina students use 90 bushels of daisies, and lots of masking tap to make the chain of flowers.

Photo by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – On Thursday they scoured the fields, hunting for daisies. They came back with 90 bushels of them.

The 16 top-ranked girls and top two boys in Medina’s Class of 2014 spent most of this morning and early afternoon assembling a 54-foot-long chain of daisies in what has become an enduring graduation tradition at Medina.

Every year 18 juniors are selected for the task. They will lead the graduates into the auditorium tonight, and will drape the Daisy Chain at the front of the stage. Some of the students in the Daisy Chain this year have parents and grandparents who helped with the project in a previous generation.

“Medina is big on traditions,” said student Emilee Austin while taping rows of flowers to form a section of the chain.

She and 15 other girls will carry the chain while wearing white knee-length dresses and white gloves during graduation tonight. The two boys will wear tuxedos.

Students work together to cut the stems, set the flowers in a row of masking tape and secure it to the chain of flowers. The group includes, from left: Samantha Wendling, Mackenzie Wright and Melanie Schrader. Jenna Brien is in back.

Eighteen students, the 16 top-ranked girls and the top two boys in the Class of 2014, spent two days building the Daisy Chain.

Medina has traced the tradition back to the 1920s at the school.

“To me it symbolizes hard work,” said English teacher Eric Hellwig, the Daisy Chain advisor. “It makes graduation a beautiful event. When the girls walk in with their white dresses and the boys in their tuxedos, it gives it a formal air.”

The 54-foot-long chain used to be longer. But when Medina moved to a new school in 1992, the stage was smaller. The chain used to be 60 feet and was shortened to fit on the new stage.

That’s still a lot of flowers. This year, the daisies are plentiful and plump because of all the rain. Last year they were in short supply, and students had to work hard to find them.

Samantha Wendling is thrilled to help with the project. Her grandmother Shirley Plummer, 81, helped make the Daisy Chain when she was a junior. Another current junior, Jenna Brien, is following family in making the chain. Her mother, Lori Brien, was a daisy.

Medina expects to keep the tradition for years to come.

“As long as people have connections to the community and the past, it will endure,” Hellwig said.

Photo by Tom Rivers

Worthington will close site, lay off 174 workers

Press release, Worthington Industries

MEDINA Worthington Industries, owner of a torch manufacturing facility in Medina, issued a press release about its decision to shut down the Medina site, the former BernzOmatic. The statement came from the company’s headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

Here is the statement: Worthington Industries, Inc. (WOR: NYSE) announced today a plan to consolidate its BernzOmatic hand torch manufacturing operation in Medina into its existing facility in Chilton, Wis.

The consolidation is expected to reduce internal freight expense and maximize available capacity at the Chilton facility where the company already manufactures BernzOmatic hand torch fuel cylinders. The closure of the Medina operation is expected to be complete by mid-2014 to ensure an orderly transition.

“As the transformation efforts continue across our company, we are committed to identifying cost savings opportunities and increasing efficiencies. The consolidation of these facilities is an outcome of this work,” Worthington Industries Chairman and CEO John McConnell said. “Decisions that result in displacing employees are difficult, and are approached respectfully, with financial support and help in finding new employment.”

Worthington acquired the Medina operation in July 2011 when the company purchased the BernzOmatic business from Irwin Tool Company, a subsidiary of Newell Rubbermaid. The facility originally opened in 1969 and currently has 174 employees.

Medina employees will have the opportunity to transfer to the Chilton facility. Severance and outplacement services will be provided to employees who will not continue with the company.

About Worthington Industries

Worthington Industries is a leading diversified metals manufacturing company with 2012 fiscal year sales of $2.5 billion. The Columbus, Ohio based company is North America’s premier value-added steel processor and a leader in manufactured pressure cylinders, such as propane, oxygen and helium tanks, hand torches, refrigerant and industrial cylinders, camping cylinders, exploration, recovery and production products for global energy markets; scuba tanks, and compressed natural gas storage cylinders; custom-engineered open and enclosed cabs and operator stations for heavy mobile equipment; steel pallets and racks; and through joint ventures, suspension grid systems for concealed and lay-in panel ceilings, current and past model automotive service stampings, laser welded blanks, and light gauge steel framing for commercial and residential construction. Worthington employs approximately 10,000 people and operates 83 facilities in 11 countries.

Founded in 1955, the company operates under a long-standing corporate philosophy rooted in the golden rule. Earning money for its shareholders is the first corporate goal. This philosophy serves as an unwavering commitment to the customer, supplier, and shareholder, and it serves as the company’s foundation for one of the strongest employee-employer partnerships in American industry.

MEDINA – The front lawn of the St. John’s Episcopal Church is now full of red flowers. Michael Klepp, owner of “The Plant Man” in Medina, planted the Salvia flowers today with help from his friend Brett Lomnicki.

Klepp is a master gardener with the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orleans County. The church, one of the oldest in Orleans County, is located at 200 East Center St.

Photo By Tom Rivers – Paul Fulcomer, right, was sworn in Tuesday as the new commander of the American Legion in Orleans County. He is joined by outgoing commander John Hucknall, left, and Al O’Donnell, the commander of the 8th District in WNY.

MEDINA – The 633 members of the American Legion in Orleans County have a new leader: Paul Fulcomer.

He is no stranger to local veterans. The Vietnam War veteran serves as the county’s director of the Veterans Service Agency. Fulcomer was sworn in as new commander on Tuesday, replacing John Hucknall of Albion.

Hucknall praised the group of Legion leaders for continuing to work on behalf of veterans in the county.

“Teamwork is what does it,” he said at the Butts Clark Post in Medina. “Without teamwork, you can’t move one darn inch.”

The local Legion leaders were joined by Al O’Donnell, commander of the 8^th District, which includes 162 posts and 120,000 Legion members in eight counties, with some members in Canada.

O’Donnell of West Seneca said the Legion needs to remain active in the local communities, and reach out to new veterans.

“There’s an old phrase, ‘Numbers talk,’” he said. “If we drop in numbers, the government won’t listen to us.”

The Legion was a strong force in securing the GI Bill for soldiers, allowing them to go to college, he said.

“We’re trying to talk to the young people about the American Legion and the things that we do for them,” he said. “We’re here to help them and make sure they’re taken care of.”

Photo courtesy of Tim Jaccard – The Medina Fire Department was honored last week with “Torch of Life Awards” for the department’s role in accepting a surrendered baby. Pictured, form left: Medina Fire Chief Todd Zinkievich; Tim Jaccard, president and director of the AMT Children of Hope Foundation – Baby Safe Haven; and Medina firefighter Dennis Pollock.

MEDINA – The call came on May 25, a mother in crisis had just given birth. She wanted to hand off the baby to a responsible adult.

She called a crisis “Safe Haven” hotline and was directed to go to the Medina fire hall. Firefighter Dennis Pollock knew the law, and accepted “Baby Hope.” Firefighters then took the newborn to United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia.

The Medina Fire Department handled the situation “flawlessly,” said Tim Jaccard, president and director of the AMT Children of Hope Foundation – Baby Safe Haven.

He drove from Long Island last week to present a “Torch of Life Award” to Pollock and Todd Zinkievich, the Medina fire chief.

The Safe Haven Law allows mothers to surrender babies, up to 30 days old, without charges of abandonment. The law has saved nearly 3,000 babies since 2001, Jaccard said.

“This gives a birth mother in a crisis situation an alternative to relinquish a baby in a safe manner,” said Jaccard, who is the state Safe Haven coordinator.

Photos by Tom Rivers – A 1939 Chevy Coupe was one of the more popular cars at the Classic Car Cruise-In at Medina’s Canal Basin on Friday night.

Medina kicked off its 17^th season of Cruise-In’s last Friday. The weekly events will continue on Fridays until late August.

MEDINA – The parking lot on Medina’s Canal Basin was full of cars tonight from the previous century – Model T Fords, 1957 Chevys, Buick Convertibles, and many others.

The Cruise-In didn’t start until 6 p.m., but when I stopped by at 5:45, there were already 60 cars parked for the show, many with their hoods up.

Organizer Dave Green expected more to arrive later in the evening, likely 80 to 100 cars for the event. Medina kicked off the cruise-in series last Friday. It will continue every Friday until the end of August. Medina has been putting on the event for 17 years. Green and Donna Bushover are the organizers.

A 1939 Chevy Coupe created the biggest stir with a crowd of folks gathered around it when I was there.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Winters – An underground oil tank is removed from the former Medina Armory.

MEDINA – Construction crews have started work on a capital project at the former Medina Armory on Pearl Street.

Crews in about a month will start building a handicapped accessible ramp on the side of the building, which will increase access to the Orleans County YMCA.

Before the ramp is constructed, crews needed to remove a 3,000-gallon oil tank that was underneath the building. The ramp will go on top of where the tank was located.

Y officials said there was approximately 1,800 gallons of oil remaining in the tank. Jeff Winters, the Y executive director, said there was minimal soil contamination and construction will move forward on the ramp.