By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 April 2018 at 6:53 pm
A crisis helpline that was run by the YWCA in Genesee County is now being handled by Crisis Services of Niagara County, which is operated by Niagara County Mental Health Department.
The YWCA announced on Monday it was closing, and would be ceasing many of its services, including the helpline.
Orleans County Mental Health Director Mark O’Brien found a new provider in Niagara County. The Mental Health Department there has trained staff and already handles calls for Niagara County. Now it will take calls from Orleans and Genesee as well, O’Brien said.
The phone numbers for the Care and Crisis Helpline through the YWCA – Local: 585-344-4400 and Toll Free: 1-844-345-4400 – are still working. Verizon, however, switched it some the phone will be answered by Niagara County staff.
“Everybody worked together to do this as smoothly as possible,” O’Brien said. “We’re very thankful to Niagara County for them stepping up to the plate.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 April 2018 at 10:01 pm
The YWCA of Genesee County announced it was closing today. The Batavia-based agency provided many services, including a crisis hotline that served Orleans County residents.
The Orleans County Mental Health Department contracted with the YWCA to provide that service. With the agency closing, the Mental Health Department is urging people in crisis to call the dispatch through the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office at 911 or (585) 589-5527, or people can call the Mental Health Department at (585) 589-7066.
Mark O’Brien, Mental Health director, said he is working to contract with another crisis helpline in the next few days. Calling dispatch or Mental Health will be an interim option until the new crisis helpline is in place, O’Brien said.
“We will have another crisis line up shortly, in a matter of days,” O’Brien said.
People can call dispatch, and the dispatchers can activate the Mental Health staff in a person is in need, O’Brien said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 April 2018 at 4:38 pm
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has adopted a new county policy allowing employees up to four hours of paid leave annually for a cancer screening.
The county acted after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a new law requiring counties to provide four hours of leave each year for all public employees to have a cancer screening.
The leave time is not accumulative and cannot be carried over to the next year if it is not used.
The Cancer Screening Leave includes travel time to and from the appointment an any subsequent follow-up consultation visits. (Any times in excess of the four hours is chargeable to other leave credits.)
In other action at last week’s County Legislature meeting:
• Approved spending $49,510 to buy a new Chevrolet Tahoe four-wheel drive from Joe Basil Chevrolet in Depew.
• Approved spending $183,487 from the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services in 2017. The money will purchase: $110,531 for Harris P25 LMR System for four Symphony Console upgrades and the purchase of two Symphony Consoles with professional services and training; $72,956 to Caster Communications for 15 Pyramid P25 Vehicle repeaters with programming and complete installation and accessories.
• Authorized the Emergency Management Office to apply for a $420,587 grant from the state Department of Homeland Security for emergency radio system upgrades.
• Approved spending $27,609 for Custom Carpet Centers in Orchard to put new flooring in the Probation Office, and also approved $10,825 for Pete Madafferi of Brockport to paint the inside of the Probation Department in the Public Safety Building.
• Reappointed Jack Welch as director of Personnel and Self Insurance for a six-year term.
• Renewed an agreement with Ron Bierstine of Kent to provide dock worker and custodial services at the Orleans County Marine Park from April 15 to Oct. 31 at a cost not to exceed $16,187.
• Approved paying Vick’s Plowing, Landscaping and Removal of Albion $250 for each time it does mowing and trimming at all of the following: Orleans County Marine Park, Point Breeze site, boat dock rental site and Route 98/18 site.
• Approved spending $9,399 for 40,000 Travel Guides to be printed by Van Guard Printing of Ithaca, to be paid with I Love NY matching funds.
• Appointed Neil Valentine as a landowner representative to the Fish and Wildlife Management Act Board, term ending Dec. 31, 2019.
• Appointed Jan Albanese, program director of ACT in Albion, and Carol D’Agostino, Kendall High School principal, to four-year terms on the Community Services Board.
• Approved a five-year intermunicipal services agreement with Genesee County where Genesee will provide signage and graphic arts services to Orleans. Genesee will be reimbursed the cost of labor and material.
• Approved an agreement with Wyoming County where Orleans will pay Wyoming $90 a day for housing any inmates from Orleans County. The agreement is good for three years.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 March 2018 at 10:28 am
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature passed a formal resolution on Wednesday asking the State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to approve funds to hire a school resource officer for every elementary and secondary school in the state.
“This would protect our most vital resource: our children,” said County Legislator Don Allport, R-Gaines.
The county’s resolution follows a push by the New York State Sheriffs’ Association to have a school resource officer in every school in the state. State Assemblyman Steve Hawley also supports the measure.
“We are, unfortunately, in an era where children in schools have too often become a target for evil persons wishing to cause mayhem and terror,” according to the County Legislature’s resolution. “Among the things that can be done quickly to increase the safety of our children and their schools is to provide an armed police presence in the schools.”
Hawley has urged Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for $50,000 in state funding for each school in the state to hire an armed school resource officer.
There are about 4,750 public schools and nearly 2,000 private schools educating students in grades K through 12 in the state, according to the Sheriffs’ Association.
If the state approves the measure, it would cost $237.5 million to pay for 4,750 school resource officers at $50,000 a year for the public schools. Including 2,000 officers for private schools would cost another $100 million.
County legislators say the state is better able to fund the officers rather than the county which faces budget constraints, tax caps and limited sources of revenue.
“The current threat to the safety of our children in their schools is a public safety emergency requiring a statewide response by our state government, with its multiple revenue sources, to address this emergency,” the resolution states.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 March 2018 at 7:10 pm
ALBION – Orleans County legislators this afternoon accepted five construction bids totaling $7,006,600 for a 22,000-square-foot addition to the County Administration Building on Route 31.
Alternates for $495,900 push the total bids accepted to $7,502,500. In addition, the county will pay the Wendel firm $900,000 for construction administration, project coordination, additional design services, commissioning services and grant administration.
Construction is expected to start next month and continue for 15 months until the building is ready for the Health Department, Board of Elections, information technology department and the Legislative office and staff.
The bids accepted include:
• Holdsworth Klimowski Construction of Victor, general construction, for $4,557,000 (base bid), plus $202,600 for alternates, for $4,759,600 total.
• Michael Ferrauilo Plumbing & Heating of Rochester, HVAC, for $1,034,000 (base bid), plus $83,700 for alternates, for $1,117,700 total.
• Suburban Electric of Albion, electrical, for $1,057,000 (base bid), plus $209,600 in alternates for $1,266,600 total.
• MKS Plumbing Corporation of West Seneca, plumbing, for $273,000 (base bid) with no alternates.
• All State Fire & Security of Buffalo, fire protection, for $85,600 (base bid) with no alternates.
The Legislature also approved a $500 monthly stipend for Chuck Nesbitt, the county’s chief administrative officer, for serving as the capital project owner’s representative, to be paid from April 1, 2018 to July 31, 2019.
The Legislature said unforeseen circumstances may require change orders in the project. The Legislature authorized Nesbitt to review and approve change orders up to $25,000.
Nesbitt was appointed to Project Oversight Committee with County Legislators Bill Eick and John DeFilipps. That committee will review and be authorized to approve change orders that do not exceed $50,000.
Photo by Tom Rivers: The County Administration Building on Route 31, behind The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center, will have an addition to make room for relocated county offices.
The Legislature has approved a maximum bond of $10,063,881 for an addition the building on Route 31, behind the nursing home. The bond is expected to be significantly reduced from grants for the project. The county has already been approved for a $3,682,748 state grant towards the project and could receive more assistance. State Sen. Robert Ortt also secured a $200,000 state grant for the project.
The Board of Elections and Public Health Department currently are leasing space from Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services. Comprehensive purchased the former county-owned nursing home for $7.8 million in January 2014. The county has been leasing space from Comprehensive for Elections and Public Health because those offices are part of the nursing home complex.
Moving those offices from those sites will spare the county from paying those lease payments. The money the county was paying for the lease will go towards paying the debt for the addition.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 March 2018 at 5:22 pm
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature next week will ask the State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to approve funds to hire a school resource officer for every elementary and secondary school in the state.
That resolution by the County Legislature is scheduled to be voted on at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Legislature’s chambers at the County Clerk’s Building.
It follows a push by the New York State Sheriffs’ Association to have a school resource officer in every school in the state. State Assemblyman Steve Hawley also supports the measure.
“Our children are deserving of the best protection possible when they are away from their homes and in the care and custody of our educational institutions,” according to the resolution to be voted on the County Legislature. “We are, unfortunately, in an era where children in schools have too often become a target for evil persons wishing to cause mayhem and terror.”
Hawley has urged Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for $50,000 in state funding for each school in the state to hire an armed school resource officer.
There are about 4,750 public schools and nearly 2,000 private schools educating students in grades K through 12 in the state, according to the Sheriffs’ Association.
If the state approves the measure, it would cost $237.5 million to pay for 4,750 school resource officers at $50,000 a year for the public schools. Including 2,000 officers for private schools would cost another $100 million.
“Due to budget constraints, tax caps and limited sources of revenue, it is beyond the fiscal capability of many school districts and other local government entities to fund the placing of an armed police officer in every school,” according to the county resolution.
County legislators, in their proposed resolution, said an armed police presence would increase the safety of children and school facilities.
“The current threat to the safety of our children in their schools is a public safety emergency requiring a statewide response by our state government, with its multiple revenue sources, to address this emergency,” the resolution states.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 March 2018 at 12:36 pm
The latest population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau have been released and the numbers show that Orleans County has the fifth largest population loss among the 62 counties since 2010.
The population is down 4.4 percent or by 1,900 residents from the 42,883 in the 2010 Census. Orleans is now at 40,993, according to the population estimates in 2017. The county is down another 362 people from the 2016 estimate.
Statewide, the population has grown 2.4 percent or by 471,297 since 2010 when the population was 19,378,102. However, the upstate population has declined 1.0 percent or by 61,668 (from 6,339,276) in 2010. Downstate has grown by 4.1 percent or by 532,965 people from 13,038,826 in 2010, according to the Census data compiled by The Empire Center.
Orleans is one of 8 counties with 4 percent of more population loss since 2010, according to the report. Rural counties are leaders in population decline.
Other counties with bigger losses than Orleans include:
• Hamilton County, 62nd of the 62 counties, has the biggest percentage drop at 7,3 percent, down 351 people from 4,836.
• Delaware, 61st, is down 6.2 percent or 2,979 from 47,980
• Chenango, 60th, shrank 5.2 percent or 2,614 from 50,477
• Tioga, 59th, is down 5.0 percent or 2,547 from 51,125
• Orleans, 58th, declined 4.4 percent or 1,900 from 42,883
The nearby GLOW counties also experienced losses.
• Wyoming ranked 53rd out of the 62 counties with 3.9 percent drop or decline of 1,662 from 42,155
• Livingston, 35th, is down 2.4 percent or 1,594 from 65,393
• Genesee, 40th, declined 3.5 percent or 2,213 from 60,079
The Bronx, grew 6.2 percent, and added 86,052 from 1,385,108, to lead the state in population growth.
To see the report from the Empire Center, click here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 March 2018 at 2:27 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Leadership Orleans, which is in its first year in Orleans County, held its arts and culture program on Thursday. The day started at the St. Joseph’s Lyceum where the Rosario family, owner of Mariachi De Oro Mexican Grill, made Mexican food for breakfast and then taught the class some Mexican folk dances.
R.J. Linder, a loan officer or credit representative with Farm Credit East, dances with Galilea Rosario.
Leonel Rosario, one of the owners of Mariachi, shared how the family opened the restaurant in Medina 6 ½ years ago, serving authentic Mexican food. Mariachi last year was honored as the “Business of the Year” by the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce.
Leonel, his wife Dolores and their children Leonel and Galilea introduced the 25 members of the class to Mexican dance and food. Leonel’s mother Lucha also helped with the breakfast.
Bill Lattin, the retired Orleans County historian, also shared early county history. Albion and other canal villages were jumpstarted with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. That is also the year Orleans split from Genesee and was recognized as its own county.
Lattin said the Medina sandstone quarries were a dominant industry. The stone was readily available to build the impressive churches, government buildings and residences in Albion and the canal towns.
Medina sandstone, however, was most commonly used for streets, sidewalks and curbs. While its known as Medina sandstone, the rock was more plentiful in quarries east of Medina in Eagle Harbor, Albion, Hulberton and Holley, Lattin said.
Lattin, shown speaking inside the Lyceum, gave the group tours of Pullman Memorial Universalist Church and the First Presbyterian Church. Those sites, as well as the Lyceum, were built of Medina sandstone. Lattin said the residents and community leaders in the 1800s were full of optimism and confidence as the community took shape.
“They wanted to make a statement,” he said, talking about the soaring structures in the Courthouse Square. “This was a community of wealth in the 19th Century. They wanted to show it off.”
The churches, downtown business district, Courthouse and ornate residences were built in a variety of different architectural styles. Lattin said that diversity “is really one of the cultural assets that we have.”
At the Pullman Church, Lattin shared how George Pullman, an Albion native who made a fortune with well-furnished sleeping cars for the railroad industry, offered to match $5,000 to build the Universalist Church. The scale of the project grew and Pullman would pay $67,000 to build the new church, which included a Johnson pipe organ and 41 stained glass windows from the Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company.
Pullman worked in the furniture and cabinet business in Albion before heading to Chicago, where he became a leading industrialist with his success with the sleeping cars. (He also worked at moving buildings in Chicago.) The Pullman church is a memorial to his parents, James and Emily. Two of the sofas made by Pullman are still used at the Merrill-Grinnell Funeral Home in Albion.
The Christ the Consoler window in the church was slightly delayed which pushed back the dedication of the church to Jan. 31, 1895. The window is signed by the Tiffany company. Its leader, Louis Tiffany, traveled to Albion to oversee the window’s installation. The church wanted a window with the outstretched arms of Christ to fit the denomination’s welcoming tradition.
Lattin said the window cost $5,000 in 1895.
“This window is one of the great we have here in Orleans County,” Lattin said.
The arts and cultural day for Leadership Orleans included lunch at the Shirt Factory Café, a tour of the Hart House Hotel by owner Andrew Meier, a stop at 8:10 Meadworks and other Medina businesses, a group activity at Brushstrokes Studios and a diversity training program led by Betty Garcia Mathewson at The Colonade.
The year-long Leadership Orleans includes 25 people. Each month they focus on a different aspect of the county. Last month they learned about local government, meeting with officials at the village, town, county and state level.
Orleans County Sheriff Randy Bower, who is also the county’s Stop DWI coordinator, announced local law enforcement will participate in the STOP- DWI St. Patrick’s Day Crackdown from today through Sunday.
The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, State Police and Medina, Albion and Holley Police Departments will all be part of the DWI crackdown this weekend.
This crackdown is one of many statewide enforcement initiatives promoted by the New York State STOP-DWI Association with additional funding from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and implemented by the STOP-DWI Foundation.
Every year an increase in drinking and driving occur around the holidays, with deadly results. In 2015, 311 people died on New York State highways due to Alcohol Impaired Driving. In New York State it is illegal to drive with a BAC of .08 or higher.
The key to keeping yourself and others safe on the highway is to “Have A Plan” for a safe way to get home. Call for a ride from a sober friend, family member, taxi, public transportation or Uber.
Provided photo: Bryan VanWycke (Albion), Connor Miller (Medina), Damien Mault (Lockport), Mr. Browning, Hayley Farwell(Orleans (Orleans County Christian School), Travis Wells (Albion), Amaya Beach (Albion), Katelin Corra (Royalton Hartland), Samantha Pozzobon (Albion), Ariane Wachob (Lyndonville), Deseree Brewer (Lockport), Victoria Brunning (Lockport), Andrea Spink (Lockport), Colon McMullen (Albion), Mr. Gilbert, Sage Reed (Medina), Brandon Orlikowski (Lockport), RedMan Suit (Left) Ayden Fentes (Lockport), RedMan Suit (Right) and Mason Pecoraro (Medina).
Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES
MEDINA – The Security and Law Enforcement students at the Orleans Career and Technical Center have been receiving training on how to defend themselves using some new equipment.
Steve Browning and Dudley Gilbert, the class’s teachers, had two of their students suit up in a RedMan instructor suit so that the rest of the class could practice defensive tactics. The suits enable the volunteers to sustain blows, without injury, from a plastic baton or with hands as they engage with their classmates in the use of force exercises.
Some of the students were timid about striking back at the students in RedMan suits, but with the encouragement of their teachers and classmates discovered the best way to defend themselves and keep the upper hand in case of an attack.
Mr. Browning and Mr. Gilbert demonstrated using batons and verbal commands on how to reduce the chance of escalation during an arrest or confrontation. They stressed how important it is to practice fast decision making and being aware of what maneuvers their opponent is making so they can counteract against aggressive behavior.
“If our students pursue a law enforcement career they most likely will encounter this type of scenario on the job,” said Mr. Browning. “As officers they will not only have to protect themselves, but those they serve.”
