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Albion Mayor Dean Theodorakos pulls the winning ticket this afternoon for a county employee who dressed in red as part of National Go Red Day. Nadine Hanlon, clerk of the County Legislature, holds the basket full of tickets.

Orleans County employees raised $865 by paying $5 each to wear red to promote awareness about heart disease.  Each employee that participated was eligible in a drawing for a $50 gift certificate for a night out.

Mayor Theodorakos pulled the winning ticket for a $50 gift certificate to Albion’s Crooked Door Tavern. Jim Noreck, assistant superintendent of the Buildings and Grounds Department, was the winner.

All proceeds will be donated to the American Heart Association to help the ongoing research to eliminate cardiovascular diseases and stroke, the country’s No. 1 and No. 4 causes of death, respectively.

ALBION – The county-owned nursing home has been sold for $7.8 million to a company that recently purchased three Catholic Health facilities in Buffalo.

Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC will be the new owner of The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center, a 120-bed nursing home on Route 31. The final approval for the sale will come after the state Department of Health reviews the company’s certificate of need. Those reviews often take at least a year.

The sale won’t become effective until after Jan. 1, 2015. That will honor the time frame put out by the County Legislature about two years ago when it told the public and nursing home employees the site would stay county-owned until at least 2014, Legislature Chairman David Callard said this afternoon.

He is pleased with the price, which exceeds the $6.5 million market value set by the county’s consultants with the sale, Marcus and Millichap’s National Senior Housing Group in Chicago. The price also will allow the county to pay off the $7.1 million in debt left on the nursing home following renovations and an addition in 2007.

“It’s a really good deal with a really reputable company,” said Legislature Chairman David Callard.

Orleans Hub will have more on the sale.

ALBION – A group tasked with finding a buyer for The Villages of Orleans, a 120-bed nursing home in Albion, could decide today which company will be the new owner.

The Orleans County Health Facilities Corporation, a local development corporation formed last year by the County Legislature, will meet today at 1:30 in the legislative chambers of the County Clerks’ Building, 3 South Main St.

The three-man board of directors will go into executive session to discuss a purchase agreement for the county-owned nursing home.

The group is considering more than price, LDC chairman Russ Martino has said. The board wants the new owner to work with Albion Central School to continue an alternative education program at the site. At-risk students at Albion take classes at the nursing home and do an internship or job shadowing with staff.

The nursing home also currently prepares meals for residents at the hospice residence down the road. Martino wants that partnership to continue.

The LDC and county hired Marcus and Millichap’s National Senior Housing Group, a Chicago firm that specializes selling nursing homes. The firm helped find purchase offers and is working with the LDC on the sales agreement. Marcus and Millichap will get a 2.5 percent commission as its fee.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center, a county-owned nursing home since 1960, has been acquired by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC for $7.8 million.

ALBION – It’s been a long-dreaded day that supporters of the county-owned nursing home hoped wouldn’t arrive. The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center was sold today for $7.8 million to Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC.

The new owner likely won’t take over until next year. It needs to get through the certificate of need review process by the state Department of Health. That usually takes 12 to 18 months.

“I am bitter because it’s too bad,” said Gary Kent, one of the leaders of Concerned Citizens of Orleans County, a group that fought the sale. Concerned Citizens tried to stop the sale through a court fight, public protests and the recent county election.

Kent believes the county owes it to its seniors to maintain a quality nursing home with dedicated employees. He worries the quality of care could suffer under private ownership.

Kent, a former county legislator, said the $7.8 million price was “ridiculous” given that the county spent more than $10 million on a renovation and addition in 2007. It also added a wing in the mid-1990s that Kent said is “just like new.”

That price exceeded the $6.5 million market value set by the county’s consultants, Marcus and Millichap’s National Senior Housing Group in Chicago. The price also will allow the county to pay off the $7.1 million in debt left on the nursing home following renovations and an addition in 2007.

“It’s a really good deal with a really reputable company,” said Legislature Chairman David Callard.

Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services recently bought three nursing homes in Buffalo that were owned by Catholic Health Services. Comprehensive also owns a site in Albany.

County officials toured the Albany site and one of the Buffalo nursing homes. The group was impressed by the investment in the facilities.

County Chief Administrative Officer Chuck Nesbitt went on the tours with Karen Wygal, director of nursing at the Villages. They were joined by Russ Martino, Richard Moy and Richard DeCarlo Sr., all members of the Orleans County Health Facilities Corporation.

The County Legislature last February voted to transfer the nursing home to the Health Facilities Corporation, a local development corporation formed to sell The Villages.

The group is pleased with the sale price, said Martino, the group’s chairman.

He also praised the company for agreeing to allow space at the nursing home to continue to be used for an alternative school program at Albion. Comprehensive also will keep an existing agreement to prepare meals for the Hospice of Orleans residence.

Comprehensive principal owners include Joshua Farkovits, Bernard Fuchs and Mordy Lahasky. They have ownership stakes in other nursing homes besides the ones in Buffalo and Albany.

The new owners acknowledged the change of ownership can be upsetting to some residents, their families and employees. Lahasky said he and his partners were immediately “…very impressed by the facility and, more important, by the people at The Villages of Orleans, staff and residents alike. The Villages is a gem – it is clearly a well-run facility and we intend to keep it that way. Our aim is to provide even more support and enhance the services offered at the facility.”

Comprehensive, as part of the 45-page agreement signed today, agreed to own the site for at least 10 years. It also pledged not to reduce employee wages.

Cindy Troy, president of the CSEA union, worries about the employees and the residents of the county nursing home.

Troy expects benefits will be cut to employees, leading to more turnover and diminished care for residents in the 120-bed nursing home.

“I’m really concerned, not just for the employees but for the community,” Troy said this afternoon after the county announced the sale. “I’m worried about whether we’ll have a stable workforce. You don’t have a good nursing home if you don’t have a stable workforce.”

The new owners didn’t specify whether workers would see a reduction in healthcare or retirement benefits. County officials have cited employee benefits as a prime driver of operational costs – and deficits at the site.

The nursing home employs about 125 workers. They currently are eligible for the state retirement system.

The sale will reduce the county’s overall workforce by about a third. Kent, the former legislator, said the seven-member county Legislature should cut its pay by least 25 percent when the sale is final.

“Their workload will be down,” he said.

Kent has disputed many of the numbers put out by the county about the deficits at the site.

County officials have said deficit have topped $2 million in recent years. It was listed as a $825,000 deficit on the 2013 county tax bill. Callard and county officials feared the nursing home could require a $4 million or more in county contributions in the future due to shrinking federal aid.

Richard DeCarlo, one of the LDC board members, said those deficits would be too much for county taxpayers.

“We could not, in good conscience, allow this to go on,” he said.

The new owner brings expertise and resources to the site, Callard said. The sale preserves the nursing home as a resource for years to come, he said.

“I have great expectations,” Callard said. “I think you’ll see capital investment and innovative ideas.”

All 5 Orleans County districts cancel after-school activities

Photo by Tom Rivers – The photo above shows Gaines Basin Road, just south of Route 104. The photo was taken at about 11:30 a.m. looking south.

It’s nasty with white-out conditions, blowing snow and slippery roads.

Albion, Medina and Lyndonville schools have cancelled all afternoon and evening activities due to the storm. Holley and Kendall will dismiss students early, and both have cancelled after-school events.

Holley will send middle and high schoolers home at 12:30 with elementary students to follow at 1:30 p.m. Kendall will send middle-high school students home at 2 p.m. When the busses return, elementary students will go home.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning until 10 tonight for most of Western New York, including Orleans County. The heaviest snow will be late morning through mid-afternoon across the region, according to the Weather Service. We could get 5 to 9 inches of snow today.

Gov. Cuomo has declared a state-wide emergency due the storm. Some downstate highway crews have severely depleted road salt supplies, the governor said.

Statewide, the state has 1,700 plows, 359 loaders and 4,000 operators on the roads, Cuomo said.

“This is a significant winter storm impacting all regions of the state and we are taking all necessary steps to keep New Yorkers safe,” Cuomo said. “I have declared a state of emergency for all counties so that we can continue our effective and quick response in communities that have been hit the hardest. New Yorkers in affected regions should stay off the roads, check on their neighbors and loved ones, and stay inside their homes until the worst of the storm has passed.”

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A motorist turns from West Park Street onto Main Street in Albion this evening at about 8:30. Orleans County Sheriff Scott Hess issued at travel advisory at 3:30 p.m. today. He is lifting the advisory at 11 p.m.

“Drivers should continue to use caution due to slippery conditions and also in isolated areas of poor visibility due to blowing and drifting snow,” Hess said.

Orleans County has been pounded by storm today

Photos by Tom Rivers – A Village of Albion plow truck is on East Park Street, preparing to turn on Platt Street. It’s been a busy day for the DPWs and highway departments.

It has been snowing almost constantly since this morning, but the snow has slowed its pace and it should taper off tonight, the National Weather Service advised.

A travel advisory remains in effect for Orleans County. I went for a walk by the Courthouse Square around 8:30 p.m. There was hardly any traffic out. I saw more plow trucks than other vehicles.

Main Street was mostly deserted. Here is a photo looking south by the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church. The historic marker notes that journalist Terry Anderson grew up in Albion.

The First Presbyterian Church shrugs off the latest winter storm. The church was built in 1874 from local Medina sandstone. It has endured many winters. The Orleans County Courthouse, built in 1858, is the focal point of the district that is named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The snow shows off the sandstone blocks in the Presbyterian Church.

A plow truck heads up Route 98 in front of the Presbyterian Church.

The County Treasurer’s Office looks peaceful after about a foot of snow fell today.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Orleans Hub photographer Cheryl Wertman was in Medina earlier today when she took this photo through a windshield, showing the treacherous driving conditions in Orleans County.

By Tom Rivers, editor

ALBION – Orleans County Sheriff Scott Hess is urging people to avoid driving unless it’s necessary. The sheriff has issued a travel advisory due to the rough driving conditions.

Today’s snowstorm has reduced driver visibility, and created difficult driving conditions with slippery roads.

The sheriff hasn’t issued a travel ban so people can still go to and from work.

“if you don’t have to go out, then don’t,” said a county dispatcher. “Use good judgment.”

The dispatcher said there hasn’t been any serious accidents due to the road conditions. A few vehicles did slide off the roads.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has issued a state of emergency for the entire state due to the storm. All five school districts in Orleans County have cancelled after-school activities.

Super Bowl makes for hectic day at pizzerias

Photo by Tom Rivers – Brian Christiaansen, owner of the Mark’s Pizzeria in Albion, gets ready for the onslaught of orders later for the Super Bowl. Christiaansen also owns the Mark’s Pizzerias in Medina and Newfane.

ALBION – The biggest game of the year is also the busiest day for many local pizzerias. They have all of the employees working today, preparing pizza and chicken wings, with a fleet of drivers ready to make deliveries.

“It’s like cooking the Thanksgiving dinner for everybody,” said Ken Printup, owner of Uncle Sal’s Place in Albion.

With nearly two decades in business in Albion, Printup said he and his staff of 17 employees have the frantic pace of the Super Bowl down to a science, doing prep work and managing the kitchen to get the orders out for the game.

“The first few years we did half as much as we do now, but there was twice as much chaos,” he said. “We’ve got it down now.”

The Super Bowl is his biggest day, followed by Thanksgiving Eve and then Halloween, Printup said.

At Mark’s Pizzeria in Albion, employees and owner Brian Christiaansen started at 9 this morning, after a busy day on Saturday prepping for today. Christiaansen has his entire staff of 27 working in Albion today, including 14 delivery drivers. He also owns the Mark’s sites in Medina and Newfane.

“This is by far our busiest day,” he said. The action peaks between 4 and 7 p.m.

Dan Passalacqua, co-owner of Avanti Pizza in Albion and Medina, said Avanti is actually busiest on Halloween and Christmas Eve. But today will be huge.

“It’s all hands on deck,” he said. “It will have its challenges because everybody wants their pizza before game time. We’ll just keep going until the phone stops ringing.”

Editorial

They showed up in force in Albany on Monday, in what has become known as the annual “Tin Cup Brigade.” Leaders of cities with big problems: shrinking tax bases and populations, and rising costs for pensions, employee benefits and mounting infrastructure needs. The mayors of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Yonkers and New York City all demanded more help from the state.

“Let’s make this the year that the state steps up to the plate when it comes to investing in public safety at the community level,” Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said at a joint legislative hearing about the state budget. “Let’s make this the year when we start to make our cities strong and truly livable again.”

The mayors painted a picture of despair – deteriorating neighborhoods and loss of businesses and residents – while also sharing hope that the cities would be stronger with more state funding.

They were hammering at the Aid and Incentives for Municipalities, a program that provides $715 million in state money to cities, villages and towns. The cities already get the lion’s share of that money – far more in per capita dollars than the towns and villages. (Click here for an Orleans Hub article on Monday detailing the disparity.)

‘The main problem for these villages is a state government big on lectures and mandates, with no money to back it up.’

Most small cities get between $100 and $200 per person. In villages of similar size, the per capita aid from the state generally ranges from $5 to $10. Big cities get even more per capita. Buffalo, the second biggest city after New York City, gets $617 per person.

Orleans Hub wrote about this glaring inequity on Monday. That was also the day the Assembly and Senate held the joint hearing in Albany about local government.

I’ve tried to find out why the cities’ per capita aid is so much more than villages, despite their comparable services and comparable problems. I still haven’t got any good answers.

But I think the main reason may be the mayors of the cities aren’t afraid to ask for the money. They go to Albany and demand it.

The same hearing on Monday didn’t include a mayor from a village. (Click here to see the list of speakers.) The city leaders also were on the radio and television, trying to make their case for more money. I don’t think the state legislators realize how unfair the state aid sharing is, and I don’t think they know the depth of distress in the villages. No village voice is heard in Albany, advocating for these places.

The big cities are led by professional politicians making six-figure incomes with huge staffs to draft speeches and line up media appearances. The villages have mayors who typically are working other full-time jobs. These mayors make less than $10,000 a year. They don’t have assistants. They drive themselves and don’t have security.

The state legislators should insist on hearing from some of the mayors from these upstate villages.

Warren, the Rochester mayor, noted that her city gets less per capita than others, including Buffalo. However, at more than $400 per person, Rochester gets far more per capita than the $6.41 for village of Albion residents.

I agree with this statement from Warren: “Let’s make this the year that we work together to come up with a needs-based AIM aid formula that provides equitable assistance to all.” That should apply to the villages as well as the cities, Mrs. Mayor.

Orleans Hub’s editorial on Monday detailed the unfairness in state aid per capita for cities versus villages. Small cities get far more than villages, despite functioning in largely the same ways. However, the cities get about 20-to-1 more in aid per capita.

Take the city of Salamanca, population 5,815. It gets $928,131 in state aid or $159.61 per person. The village of Albion, population 6,056, gets a measly $38,811 or $6.41 per person. The village of Medina and its 6,065 residents get $45,523 or $7.51 per person.

I’ve had trouble sleeping since discovering the state-sponsored discrimination against the village people over the weekend. I’m so angry and outraged about it, knowing that fair treatment from the state would have prevented some of the devastation in these upstate villages.

The state has been shafting these communities, leading to their demise. If the villages, many with full-time police and myriad of other services, were on par with cities like Salamanca, we would have much different places. They would be much healthier places with smaller tax rates, updated infrastructure and higher property values. It wouldn’t feel like these places are falling apart.

‘Fair treatment from the state would have prevented some of the devastation in these upstate villages.’

Many of those familiar with upstate villages will recall grander, more prosperous days. I often hear people reminisce about Albion as “the place to be.” Yes, we have lost major industries, and the loss of well-paying jobs has hurt these communities.

But the state’s feeble aid has been a dagger in the heart. It’s year after year of neglect and indifference. And the governor has the gall to lecture these places that he rarely sets foot in about controlling expenses and reducing layers of government.

The main problem for these villages is a state government big on lectures and mandates, with no money to back it up.

County has fallen from 10.9% to 8.4% in year

The latest unemployment news from the state Department of Labor shows a marked improvement in the unemployment rate in Orleans County, compared to a year earlier. However, Orleans still ranks among the counties with the highest jobless rates in the state.

Orleans County had a 10.9 percent unemployment rate in December 2012. That fell to 8.5 percent in November 2013, and then to 8.4 percent last month.

The counties with the four highest rates include Bronx, 10.6 percent; Hamilton, 9.1 percent; Jefferson, 9.1 percent; and Lewis, 8.9 percent.

The following have the lowest unemployment rates: Tompkins County, 4.1 percent; Nassau, 4.8 percent, Putnam, 4.8 percent; and Rockland, 4.9 percent.

The state DOL report shows a growing private sector job count, up 109,900 from December 2012 to December 2013. The state’s unemployment rate was 7.1 percent in December 2013, which was down from 7.4 percent in November.

The unemployment rates for other rural GLOW counties include 6.1 percent for both Genesee and Livingston, and 7.3 percent for Wyoming.

No school in Albion, Holley, Kendall, Lyndonville and Medina

The five school districts in Orleans County are all closed today due to dangerously cold temperatures. It is sub-zero outside and the wind gives a wind chill of minus-25.

The districts however will offer the Regents exams, including transportation for high school students taking those tests.

“We have several students that have prepared for it,” Lyndonville Superintendent Jason Smith said about the Regents. “It’s a one-shot deal for them and we have students trying to get an advanced score.”

Albion has cancelled classes for grades kindergarten through 8. High schoolers were off this week anyway, except for Regents. The high school bus is delayed two hours. The morning exams start at 10 with the afternoon tests at noon.

Smith, the Lyndonville superintendent, kept school open on Monday with a two-hour delay. With today’s closing, Lyndonville has now used up four snow days. To accommodate for those days, a March 14 Superintendent’s Conference Day has been changed to an early release day.

The districts need to provide a minimum of 180 days instruction, according to state law. If districts use up all of their snow days, they may have to adjust the school calendar, including scheduled vacation days. Smith said that would be a last resort.

“We should still be OK, but we’re hanging on by a string,” he said.

Holley, Kendall, Lyndonville on 2-hour delays

Medina has closed school today due to the biting cold temperatures and wind.

Holley, Kendall and Lyndonville are on a two-hour delay.

Albion Central School is closed, but if the weather improves, Albion will have the Regents exams and will run busses two hours late. That announcement, on whether or not there will be Regents today, will be made at 7 a.m.

The late Susan Reynolds dropped off quilts, pillow cases and gas money for shelter residents

Photos by Tom Rivers – A reading room at a domestic violence shelter in Orleans County has been dedicated to Susan Reynolds, a volunteer and supporter of the shelter and its residents. Reynolds died on Oct. 27.

At least once a month for two years, Susan Reynolds arrived with gifts – gas money, toiletries, quilts, pillow cases and hand-stitched bags.

Reynolds, a retired school counselor from Hilton, had a heart for the residents at a domestic violence shelter in Orleans County. She was active in two quilting guilds and she convinced the members to donate gifts to the shelter in Orleans. (The Hub isn’t disclosing the location.)

“No one was as dedicated as Sue,” said Margie Aldaco, the shelter’s administrator.

Reynolds died on Oct. 23. Last Saturday Aldaco and PathStone dedicated the reading room in the shelter in memory of Reynolds.

“What a loss,” Aldaco said about Reynolds. “We’re so sad. She never wanted recognition for anything. She wouldn’t even take a tax receipt. I just felt an overwhelming need to recognize her.”

Reynolds considered volunteering and giving to shelters in Monroe County. But the Brockport resident turned to Orleans County.

“She felt the larger cities have more resources and get more help,” Aldaco said.

Margie Aldaco, administrator of the safe dwelling in Orleans County, stands by a room dedicated in memory of Susan Reynolds.

Aldaco has worked there for 10 years. When she started there were three employees at the site. Now it’s just Aldaco. PathStone has been forced to cut back due to budget constraints.

The shelter has three apartment units for families to stay up to 90 days until longer-term housing can be secured. The safe dwelling provides privacy, court advocacy, Internet computer access, a support group, transportation and other services.

Aldaco works with battle-scarred residents, connecting them to support in the community. Many of the residents in the shelter have suffered physical, emotional and mental abuse.

“Sometimes they are more broken from the verbal abuse than the physical after so many years of being told you’re worthless,” Aldaco said.

Aldaco secured a new grant that pays for pet care. Often women and families in abusive situations will not leave because they worry about their pets. PathStone has a grant that will pay for pet boarding at the Olde Dogge Inn.

Aldaco welcomes “serious, committed volunteers” for the safe dwelling. For more information, contact her at 589-8733 or 1-866-314-SAFE.