Photo by Tom Rivers – Chris Walton, a recruiting assistant for Adecco in Batavia, talks with Tristian Curtiss, an Albion resident who is looking for a job. About 40 companies and agencies are at a job fair today from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the American Legion in Albion.

ALBION – Orleans County may have a high unemployment rate, 11.2 percent in February, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t jobs available in the county.

About 40 companies and agencies are at a job fair in Albion today. Almost every one is hiring.

Worthington Corporation, which bought Bernz-O-Matic in Medina two years ago, is looking to fill 10 permanent jobs and 10 more seasonal positions in June. The jobs involve small assembly work for a company that makes propane torches.

“We’re looking for someone who comes to work everyday,” said Susan Koleszar, human resources manager for the company with 171 workers in Medina. “You need to be at work on time and be available for some overtime.”

Adecco in Batavia is working with several businesses to fill positions. The hiring agency just filled 15 jobs for Darien Lake – landscaping positions to get the theme park ready for a new season.

Adecco works with Perry’s Ice Cream in Akron, Freeze Dry in Albion and other local manufacturers.

“There are jobs out there,” said Sarah Levanduski-Surdel, a recruiter for Adecco.

She said people need to apply for jobs, and then follow-up with phone calls.

“You have to do your due diligence,” she said at the job fair at the American Legion on South Main Street.

Tristian Curtiss, 18, of Albion applied for 10 jobs recently but hasn’t heard back. She said she would reach out to those places with phone calls. She is willing to work two to three part-time jobs. Adecco representatives urged her to keep trying.

Carol Miller, director of the Job Development Agency in Orleans County, said job-hunters may need to lower their expectations if they are unemployed.

“If you’re willing to work there are jobs out there,” she said. “It may not be the job you want, but it’s a job. Once you’re employed, you’re employable. People would rather hire someone who has a job.”

Right now there is a push for seasonal positions, and some companies are filling other permanent slots. Miller said there are job opportunities throughout the year.

“All employers are always looking for good employees,” she said.

Vince Iorio, the senior employment specialist with Career Ventures, expects at least 300 people for the job fair, which is now in its eighth year and runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. He works with The Arc of Orleans County, trying to connect people with disabilities to employers.

The job fair is open to the entire community.

“It’s a win-win for everybody,” he said. “The employers and job seekers get to connect. The job seekers connect with a human being, rather than filling out an application over the Internet.”

PARMA – A speeding motorist eluded an Orleans County Sheriff’s Department deputy early this morning, but then went off Route 104 and crashed into the woods in the town of Parma, the department reported.

A motorist with Pennsylvania license plates was speeding at about 85 miles an hour when he passed a deputy at 2:40 this morning near Hurd Orchards on Route 104 in the town of Murray, Undersheriff Steve Smith said. The deputy pursued the motorist until he lost track of him, with the deputy going as far as Josie’s Juke Box in Parma.

On the way back to Orleans County, the deputy noticed a car had gone off West Ridge Road near Hinkleyville Road in Parma. The car was “mangled,” Smith said, and the driver was unconscious and needed to be extricated by the Spencerport Fire Department. He was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital with a head injury and broken legs.

The driver’s name hasn’t been released. Smith said the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department is handling the investigation.

Photos by Tom Rivers – About 200 people gathered outside the Orleans County Courthouse to protest the SAFE Act on Saturday.

ALBION – Roseanne Regan of Holley joined 200 other people at a Second Amendment rally in Albion, braving the cold and wind on Saturday. Regan didn’t deliver a fiery speech from the podium.

She hoped her presence with others would send a message to Gov. Cuomo and state legislators who approved the SAFE Act in January, which was designed to tighten gun control laws.

“I believe in the Second Amendment,” a shivering Regan said. “I’m sick and tired of people speaking for us and the government dictating. This isn’t the Soviet Union or Germany.”

The legislation, and its passage without a public hearing, has fired up many New Yorkers, including the contingent gathered in Albion on Saturday. New York Revolution formed soon after the SAFE Act’s passage. Gia Arnold of Holley is regional coordinator for the group and she helped organize Saturday’s event.

Conservative talk show host Bob Lonsberry, who has railed against the SAFE Act on WHAM in Rochester, addressed the crowd in Albion.

Talk show host Bob Lonsberry from WHAM in Rochester urged the group to follow the example of Rosa Parks, who refused to give in to unjust laws. Parks wouldn’t move to the back of a segregated bus, a bold move that helped embolden blacks in the Civil Rights struggle.

Gun owners shouldn’t accept the new state laws, Lonsberry told the crowd in Albion. He quoted from Martin Luther King Jr., who urged “civil disobedience” in the fight against oppression.

State Assemblyman Steve Hawley has co-sponored legislation that would repeal the law. State Sen. George Maziarz noted several lawsuits also seek to repeal legislation that will begin to take effect on Monday.

Maziarz said he’s not against background checks for gun buyers. But he thinks the state can better direct the fight against criminals by “focusing on cleaning up the streets and the murderers.” He called the gun control legislation “The Unsafe Act” because he said it targets law-abiding citizens rather than criminals.

The new state law deprives residents of constitutional freedoms, several speakers said at the rally.

Many in the crowd chanted, “Cuomo has to go,” during the rally. Someone carried a sign that referred to “Comrade Cuomo.”

Hawley said New Yorkers should feel angry at the majority of the Legislature and governor for passing a law “that turns law-abiding citizens into law-breaking citizens.” One controversial piece of the legislation requires magazines that can hold no more than seven bullets, when most magazines hold 10.

The legislation was hastily crafted without any vetting from the public, Hawley said, leading to bad policy.

“Now that we’ve had time to analyze and dissect this bill, we can see why it was forced on us so quickly,” Hawley said. “It is full of flaws and mistakes that even the bill’s authors have no excuse for.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

About 200 people attended a rally for the Second Amendment today in front of the Orleans County Courthouse. The event was organized by New York Revolution, a group that formed after the state Legislature and Gov. Cuomo approved a gun control law – the SAFE Act – in January. State Sen. George Maziarz called the legislation “The Unsafe Act” because he said it targets law-abiding citizens rather than criminals. Maziarz was among the speakers at the rally. Orleans Hub will have an article on event later today. For now, here are some photos.

Conservative talk show host Bob Lonsberry addresses a crowd of nearly 200 people in front of the Orleans County Courthouse.

Press Release: Orleans County Sheriff

The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office will once again participate in the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Initiative.

Sheriff Scott Hess and Jail Superintendent Scott Wilson are pleased to announce that the Sheriff’s Office will again participate in this nationwide undertaking, which takes place on Sat., April 27, 2013, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is a collaborative effort with the U.S. Department of Justice – Drug Enforcement Administration, the Orleans County Health Department, and the Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism & Substance Abuse (GCASA).

This is a great opportunity for the public to surrender unwanted and/or expired medications for safe & proper disposal. Events such as these have dramatically reduced the risk of prescription drug diversion & abuse, as well as increasing awareness of this critical public health issue. Similar collection events held in the past have been touted by all involved as having been very successful.

The following are collection points:

Orleans County Public Safety Building – 13925 State Route 31, Albion
Holley Fire Department – 7 Thomas Street, Holley
Medina Fire Department – 600 Main Street, Medina

Special thanks to the Holley & Medina FD’s, for providing space in their facilities for this event.

Scott D. Hess
Sheriff

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.

CARLTON – Another long-time Orleans County legislator won’t run for re-election this November.

Ken Rush of Carlton has represented three towns – Carlton, Kendall and Murray – on the Legislature for nearly 14 years. Prior to that he served 26 years on the Carlton Town Board.

Rush, 80, said he’s ready to end a long career in public service.

“I’ve always enjoyed it,” he said after Wednesday’s Legislature meeting. “I love people so this has been easy for me.”

Rush, a life-long farmer, follows George Bower of Holley, who announced last month he wasn’t seeking re-election after nearly 24 years on the Legislature.

Rush said Ken DeRoller, a former Kendall town assessor, is likely to get the Republican Party endorsement for Rush’s position on the Legislature. DeRoller is also a member of the Orleans Economic Development Agency board of directors.

Rush has been active in numerous committees and boards while on the Legislature, including the Soil and Water Conservation District and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orleans County.

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.