Photo by Tom Rivers

The Arc of Orleans County was prepared to serve 338 spaghetti dinners today in an annual benefit for the Nutrifair Meals on Wheels program, which The Arc has managed since 2009. The agency runs the program out of the former grammar school on East Academy Street in Albion. Melissa Sullivan, the senior nutrition program cook, serves up a meal with help from assistant cook Joann Baxter, right.

ALBION – The Orleans County Courthouse lawn and front steps may be packed Saturday when hundreds of people are expected for a Second Amendment rally.

New York Revolution, a group that formed after the state Legislature and Gov. Cuomo approved a gun control law in January, is organizing a rally from 11 a.m. to at least 2 p.m.

A lineup of speakers includes conservative talk show host Bob Lonsberry, State Sen. George Maziarz, State Assembly members Steve Hawley and David DiPietro, County Legislature Chairman David Callard and several other Second Amendment supporters.

“It’s not just a guns issue,” said event organizer Gia Arnold of Holley. “It’s more of a rights issue. They are taking away our freedoms.”

Arnold is regional coordinator for New York Revolution’s chapters in Orleans, Erie, Niagara, Genesee and Wyoming counties.

The rally will give people a chance to vent about the state’s new law, and connect with similar-minded residents in neighboring communities, Arnold said. New York Revolution is trying to build a movement to oppose ill-advised gun control laws, she said.

“I don’t think the new laws, especially the legislation at state and national levels, will make anyone safer,” Arnold said. “Guns themselves are just a tool. They need to focus on the people behind the gun.”

The state legislation has been formally opposed by most upstate counties, including Orleans. The county Legislature in February said the state didn’t give residents a chance to comment on the proposal before it became law, and many aspects of the legislation are confusing and open to interpretation.

The law also places costly burdens on government and businesses for verifying gun ownership. Legislators also criticized the law for prohibiting firearm magazines with more than seven rounds, when most magazines have 10 rounds.

Arnold, a mother of three young children, said the media hasn’t given enough coverage to Second Amendment supporters.

“We need to get our voice out there,” she said.

Photo by Tom Rivers 

Ondrea Pate, an employee at The Viilages of Orleans, and about 20 other people rallied in a rainstorm today for the county to keep its nursing home publicly owned. “Concerned Citizens of Orleans County” say they will continue to picket on Main Street during Legislature meetings, trying to sway the body not to sell the 120-bed site in Albion. The county has named a three-person local development corporation to try to find a buyer for the nursing home.

Orleans still owes $8.3 million on nursing home renovations

ALBION – Three Orleans County residents with long histories of community involvement have accepted the challenge to find a buyer for the 120-bed nursing home in Albion.

“If it’s going to be done, I want to make sure it’s done correctly,” said Russ Martino, the retired Yates town supervisor and former Lyndonville school principal. “I want to make sure we find a good buyer and that the nursing home will stay here.”

Legislature Chairman David Callard also named Richard DeCarlo Sr., the former Gaines town supervisor, and Richard Moy, the current Clarendon town supervisor, to the Orleans County Health Facilities Corporation. The Legislature in February voted to the form a local development corporation with the purpose of selling the nursing home.

The LDC met for the first time briefly last month. The group expects to meet regularly beginning in May. Martino said the meetings will be open to the public.

“These three gentlemen have the wherewithal to deal with the business and financial issues the task requires while being sensitive to the concerns of the people,” Callard said in a statement.

The “Concerned Citizens of Orleans County,” a group that opposes the sale of the nursing home, picketed outside the Legislature’s two meetings in March. The group worries the quality of care will suffer under private ownership.

County officials say employee health care and retirement benefits are costly under county ownership. With a private owner, those employees wouldn’t be in the state retirement system. While that would reduce some operating costs, the  local CSEA union expects staff turnover to increase  if employees are paid less with fewer benefits. There are about 100 full-time employees at the nursing home.

If The Villages stays Orleans-owned, Callard and county officials fear the facility could generate $2 to $4 million in annual deficits, straining county taxpayers.

The LDC will work with a real estate firm to market the facility. The nursing home received a $10 million expansion and renovation in 2006. The county still owes $8 million on that project, plus anther $300,000 from a renovation in 1994, according to the county treasurer’s office. The county is scheduled to be paying on the $8 million in debt until 2026.

A sale will be no sooner than Dec. 31, 2014, Callard said. Once the county identifies a buyer, the prospective new owner needs to apply for a certificate of need through the state Health Department. That process often takes 12 to 18 months, according to the county.

It took four years for Medina Memorial Hospital to sell its nursing home, Orchard Manor. That sale finally closed on Dec. 31. The new owner, Global Healthcare Services Group, LLC, has improved the facility, adding services since Jan. 1, said Jim Sinner, the Medina Memorial CEO.

“Everyone is quite happy with the care,” he told county legislators last month.

He said staff haven’t left the facility en masse.

“There hasn’t been an exodus of employees,” he said.

Sinner said overall the move to a new owner has gone smoothly. The Orchard Manor staff and community are adjusting well to Global Healthcare.

“If there was something bad happening, I assure you I’d be hearing about it,” he told legislators.

ALBION – Orleans County moved up from near the very bottom of the counties with the highest unemployment rates in February.

In January, the county’s 12.3 percent unemployment rate has the third highest in the state. The latest data isn’t so grim. The county’s 11.2 percent unemployment rate is better than 11 other counties with most of those in northern New York. Lewis County led the state with a 13.0 percent unemployment rate.

Orleans added 100 jobs in February, growing from 16,900 to 17,000, according to the state Department of Labor. The county also cut the ranks of the unemployed from 2,400 to 2,100, according to the state report.

Statewide, the unemployment rate was 8.4 percent in February. Tompkins County has the lowest unemployment rate at 5.8 percent. The Ithaca metro area, with a 5.8 percent unemployment rate, is best in the state with Elmira’s metro the worst, with a 10.2 percent rate.

While Orleans is improving, its unemployment rate is higher than other similar-size nearby rural counties. Genesee’s rate was 9.0 in February, while Livingston had a 10.1 percent rate and Wyoming, 10.8.

Several million-dollar projects expected

Several business expansions are planned for 2013 in Orleans County, with millions of dollars in private investment planned for the ventures, said Jim Whipple, the CEO of the Orleans Economic Development Agency.

“This is going to be a great year,” Whipple said.

The projects are spread around the county with a $4 million investment by Credit Recovery Financial Services topping the list. That company is moving from its Albion location on East Avenue to the Olde Pickle Factory in Medina, doubling in size to about 700 employees.

CRFS has grown from Jodi Gaines’ kitchen table a decade ago into the industry leader, helping banks and investors recoup money when a home is foreclosed. Employees work with industry regulations in all 50 states.

As part of its shift to the Pickle Factory, building owner Roger Hungerford also is spending $4 million in renovations to modernize space for CRFS. Hungerford spent $1.2 million at the Pickle Factory in 2012, upgrading space for tenants.

Other projects in the county include:

The Wegman Group in Rochester plans to turn a former Salvation Army camp in Kendall into The Cottages at Troutburg, a 126-acre site with the potential for 400 cottages. Construction on the first seasonal houses, ranging from 450 to 1,300 square feet, is expected this year.

In Holley, Precision Packaging Products is considering a $2 million expansion that could create 20 jobs, Whipple said.

In Albion, an electronics recycling company from Canada is expected to close on an EDA-owned warehouse on McKinstry Street. The company is planning a $700,000 investment in Albion while creating 25 jobs.

Helena Chemical in Albion also is looking at a new site for its company, which sells chemicals, seeds and other products to agricultural businesses. The company may spend $1.5 million on a new site this year. It looked at a site in Albion on Long Bridge Road, but after neighbors objected the company is now targeting a spot in Medina.
Also in Medina, Take Form Architectural Graphics is pursuing a $1.5 million expansion into the current Trek building on Route 31A. Trek is moving to Lockport. Take Form plans to add 20 positions as part of its expansion.

Whipple said other companies are considering expansions, including Freeze-Dry Foods in Albion, Snappy/ACME in Medina, and other companies he declined to name. One project could be an $11 million new-build.

Whipple said 2012 was a successful year, highlighted by the redevelopment of two former Jubilee grocery stores.

Jerome Pawlak opened a Save-A-Lot in Holley at the former Jubilee, spending $1.2 million and adding 15 jobs.

Ace Hardware this month will open in the former Jubilee in Medina, a $1 million project that will add at least three new jobs.

Orleans Community Health invested $1.5 million in Albion in a new health care center at the corner of Route 31 and Butts Road, a project that added 16 jobs.

The Village Inn in Gaines spent $325,000 for a remodeling that resulted in 2.5 new positions.

CRFS also grew in 2012, spending $1 million for new computers, office furniture and other upgrades of its site in Albion.

ALBION – The state may require counties to open polling places two weeks before a general election and a week before a primary. That proposal could cost Orleans County $55,000 a year.

“I don’t see the need for this in Orleans County,” said Janice Grabowski, a county elections commissioner.

If residents want to vote early or if they can’t get to the polls on election day, the Board of Elections will send them an absentee ballot, Grabowski said.

County legislators on March 27 opposed the push by the state require early voting.

The state may require Orleans to offer early voting at five sites at 12 hours per day for up to two weeks before an election. Each site needs four election inspectors – two Republicans and two Democrats.

Dennis Piedimonte, the other county election commissioner, said it would be difficult to find staff for the polling places for over two weeks.

He expects the county will be required to offer early voting. If the legislation goes through, he hopes the county can have one polling place for early voters, instead of five spots. If Orleans provides one voting place, the expense to the county would be $11,000, not $55,000.

Legislators, in their resolution, asked the state to allow an “opt-in” provision for counties. The state also should foot the bill for the added costs, legislators said.

Downstate legislators are pushing the early voting legislation, trying to boost ballots for primaries and the general election. Thirty-two other states allow early voting.

For five years Ed Morgan and other highway superintendents watched the money for road and bridge repairs dwindle in their communities.

The state didn’t increase its share for municipal road and bridge work since the 2008-09 budget. However, the cost of fuel, asphalt and other materials went up, resulting in less highway work on local roads.

“We have been getting more and more desperate,” said Morgan, the Murray highway superintendent.

But that will change with the new state budget, which gives local governments 20.6 percent more state-wide in road maintenance money. State legislators and Gov. Cuomo agreed to a $75 million increase in Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, boosting the CHIPS money from $363 million to $438 million.

In Orleans County, the highway funds will go up 23.5 percent, from $2,033,158 to $2,510,161.

“It gives us about 25 percent more money so we can now do 25 percent more work,” Morgan said.

The money doesn’t go quite as far as it used to because of the rising fuel and road material costs, he said.

Morgan and other highway superintendents showed up in mass in Albany earlier this month, lobbying for the CHIPS increase. He said the highway leaders will keep pressing the case in the future. He wants to see the state to gradually increase the CHIPS each year, rather than going years with the same funding level.

Towns, villages and counties are limited in their ability to make up for frozen state aid with local dollars because the state imposed a property tax cap on localities. That cap aims to prevent property taxes from going up more than 2 percent a year. That has been a challenge locally, Morgan noted, when the state didn’t increase its share for road work.

Cuomo praised the CHIPS funding boost in announcement on March 26.

“This budget is about jobs, jobs, jobs, and by investing in rebuilding our state’s transportation infrastructure we are helping to grow local economies and create jobs in all corners of the state,” he said. “During these difficult fiscal times, this $75 million increase in CHIPS funding is a big victory for our state’s localities that will be able to use these much-needed funds to make repairs to local highways, bridges, and roads, and at the same time support job growth and economic development in their communities.”

ALBION – Municipal leaders in Orleans County have been working for three years to persuade Time Warner to run cable for high-speed Internet in rural pockets without the service.

Time Warner has balked at running the cable in some rural areas, saying the potential for few customers at a $10,000-a-mile cost doesn’t make business sense.

But town and county officials think they have found a way around the problem: Go wireless.

Towers carrying antennas and wireless infrastructure may be the best chance to cover the entire county, Shelby Town Councilman Ken Schaal said.

He called the push for county-wide broadband access a top priority – for economic development and to keep and attract residents.

“We need to stop thinking of ourselves as a bedroom community,” Schaal told local government officials March 26 during the Orleans County Supervisors and Legislators Association meeting. “The Internet is the highway of the future. If we can’t get into that jet stream, we’re screwed.”

Orleans has been working on extending high-speed Internet the past three years, but has been stymied by Time Warner’s reluctance to run cable in the lightly populated areas.

Orleans has since partnered with Niagara County officials in looking at the problem. David Godfrey, a Niagara County legislator, said the current setup puts residents without high-speed Internet at a disadvantage. Students can’t complete some of their homework and research without broadband, he said.

“It’s creating discrimination for students, businesses and residents in the rural areas,” he said about those without the service.

Legislator Lynne Johnson, R-Lyndonville, said residents without broadband often can’t complete job applications online. Many companies only accept applications and resumes through their web sites.

“If you live in a rural area in Orleans County (and are applying for jobs), you might as well stay unemployed,” Johnson said during the association’s monthly meeting.

The two counties had been thinking a first step would be a house-by-house survey to see where the service isn’t available. But Schaal and other local leaders now think the push should be focused on how many towers would be needed in Orleans to blanket the county with wireless high-speed Internet. Wireless providers could co-locate on existing cellular phone towers, water tanks, and other tall infrastructure. New towers may also be needed.

David Callard, the County Legislature chairman, said he supports the engineering study that would look at existing topography and vertical infrastructure, and what may be need to be built. Town and county officials think it may cost $50,000 to have a study done.

Once the study is complete, the county could pursue state funding to help pay for new infrastructure. The state has funded broadband projects in other rural communities. Orleans hasn’t been included in that money because it doesn’t have a study, showing what infrastructure is needed to make the service available to all residents.

The county has been working with Evhen Tupis, a rural broadband consultant, on the project. Tupis said the county should still consider a house-by-house survey, checking for the service availability. Ultimately, wireless service providers will want to know the potential market in the county before they commit resources to Orleans, said Tupis, a Clarendon resident.

“If businesses see an opportunity, they could be enticed to come here,” he said.

ALBION – A team trained in assessing hazardous materials has been dissolved due to dwindling members and an infrequent need for their services.

The Orleans County “Special Response Team” formed about a decade ago when the community and country worried about anthrax attacks. Since the Legislature authorized formation of the team in November 2011, the SRT only responded to about five calls in the county, with one a bottle of water in the road that officials feared may have been a hazardous substance.

The team did see more serious incidents, such as a meth lab in Shelby, a chlorine leak in Holley and an acid spill in Medina.

“We don’t have too many hazardous calls in the county,” said Paul Wagner, the county’s emergency management coordinator.

Orleans will now be served by special response teams from neighboring counties. The two trailers, haz-mat suits and other equipment used by the Orleans team will be returned to the state or assigned to a regional consortium to be used by the teams in surrounding counties, Wagner said.

The SRT in Orleans was down to four trained members when the County Legislature voted to dissolve the group on March 13. Wagner said team members needed to keep up with training every year. Many former team members worked outside the county, which made it difficult for them to respond quickly to incidents in Orleans.

The initial push for the team, to respond to potential anthrax calls, is less a concern now after the state and federal government developed a protocol for assessing calls. Wagner said the country about a decade ago was worried about any kind of white powder that may have been anthrax. Many response teams were called to investigate powder in shipping cartons and pizza boxes that proved harmless.

“We’ve developed a much better basis to determine if these things are legitimate,” he said.

All firefighters have some basic training in hazardous materials, Wagner said. A typical firefighter is trained to recognize a hazardous material, secure the site and call for assistance.

Photo by Tom Rivers – This sign will be used by Concerned Citizens of Orleans County to stress that residents’ annual garbage collection fees are about three times what they spend in taxes to support The Villages of Orleans, a county-owned nursing home.

ALBION – A group of Orleans County residents opposed to sale of the county nursing home are going to press their case to the public, the county Legislature, and may even use the court system to stop a possible sale.

Concerned Citizens of Orleans County met for the first time on March 12, following the Legislature’s Feb. 27 decision to form a non-profit local development corporation tasked with finding a buyer for the 120-bed site in Albion.

“We will have a presence at Legislature meetings, and we’ll be working to organize our friends and neighbors,” said Gary Kent, a member of the group and a former county legislator.

He was joined by about 30 other residents in the meeting March 12 at the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church. The group already has prepared signs noting that garbage collection in the county – at $185 a year – is about three times what the average taxpayer will pay in 2013 to support The Villages of Orleans.

Chris Loss intends to be a vocal opponent to the nursing home sale. Her late mother, Jean Bistoff, received better care at The Villages than she did at a privately owned nursing home.

“There were major differences in the care,” Loss said.

The county has budgeted for an $825,000 deficit for the nursing home in 2013, and that includes using $1.6 million in reserve funds. Legislature Chairman David Callard worries the taxpayer subsidy for the nursing home will jump once the reserve funds are depleted. Taxpayers could be paying to $2 million to $4 million annually towards the nursing home in the near future, he said.

Concerned Citizens say taxpayers owe it to the senior citizens to maintain The Villages as a publicly owned facility. And Loss is skeptical about the grim fiscal prediction from the county. Reimbursement rates and other state and federal support could be increased, softening the local share for the nursing home, she said.

“They’ve floated these numbers before,” she said about the prediction for big deficits. “They don’t know what the shortfall will be. I’m willing to have my taxes go up. We owe it to our seniors.”

Photo by Tom Rivers – Peter Troy, author of “May the Road Rise Up to Meet You,” discusses his book at Hoag Library in Albion on March 8, part of a three-day visit in the area. About 100 people attended the author talk in Albion. Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties have organized “A Tale for Three Counties” the past 11 years, the second-longest running program of its kind in the state.

ALBION – The meeting room was packed with nearly 100 people to hear author Peter Troy discuss his novel, “May the Road Rise Up to Meet You.” The big crowd for the March 8 event at Hoag Library shows just how popular “A Tale for Three Counties” has become.

The community reading project is a partnership among 19 public libraries in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties, as well as Genesee Community College and other sponsors. The program just wrapped up its 11th year, the second-longest community reading project in the state and 10th longest in the country, said Susan Rudnicky, library director at Hoag.

Other communities will pick a book to read, but the author typically doesn’t join for a discussion. With the “Tale,” Troy and past authors meet with readers in Batavia, Perry and Albion or Medina. (The Tale discussion in Orleans County used to be at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina, but Albion’s new public library now can accommodate a big crowd. The two libraries expect to take turn hosting the event in the future.)

“It has a really loyal following at this point,” said Catherine Cooper, Lee-Whedon library director. “Meeting the author adds a dimension and enriches the experience.”

The program has expanded from its infancy to a partnership with GCC, where 21 classes read the book. Troy praised the three counties for putting on such a vibrant program.

“You can’t beat this,” he told the crowd at Albion.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Peter Troy, author of “May the Road Rise Up to Meet You,” signs a copy of the book for 10-year-old Megan Smith during an author visit March 8 at Hoag Library in Albion. Megan is the daughter of Jason Smith, superintendent of the Lyndonville school district.

The Tale committee tries to pick up-and-coming authors. Troy’s debut novel is set in the Civil War and tells the story of an Irish immigrant named Ethan, a photographer and soldier. Other characters include a refined Spanish woman and two slaves.

Tom Zangerle of Medina has read all 11 Tale books since the 2003 debut of “Peace like a River.”

“I absolutely look forward to it every year,” he said. “Everybody has time on those dull gray days of winter to sit down and read a book.”