Part of Albion-Gaines district shifts into western part of Murray

This map shows a plan for four of the districts for the Orleans County Legislature.

ALBION – Orleans County officials are proposing redistricting changes to bring four County Legislature districts into nearly the same size after population changes created too much of a disparity among the districts.

The districts are allowed to have up to 5 percent variance in population. But the current districts, without changes, are at 11.7 percent deviation, which is out of compliance with state and federal law.

The county worked with Skyline Demographic Consultants, Inc. to bring the four legislative districts within an acceptably close size. Click here to see a high resolution map.

The county is looking to add part of western Murray to a district that currently is the towns of Albion and Gaines. That gives the Albion-Gaines (District 3) more people and also takes away from District 4 that includes Murray, Kendall and Carlton.

The Murray section going to District 3 includes 522 people from Murray’s election district 5.

During the last redistricting about a decade ago, the county added a small part of Shelby to District 2 that included Yates and Ridgeway. This time the county is looking to move more of that area back into District 1, the Shelby-Barre-Clarendon district. That represents a shift of 418 people, said Jack Welch, the county’s chief administrative officer.

The County Legislature next meets on Jan. 24 and expected to set a public hearing on the changes for Feb. 9.

This shows the proposal for the section of Shelby in red that would be included in the Yates-Ridgeway District and the section in blue that would be in the district that includes Barre, Clarendon and most of Shelby.

There are also three at-large countywide positions that Welch said don’t need any changes because they represent the same population – the entire county. Those positions include an at-large legislator from the western end (towns of Yates, Ridgeway and Shelby), at-large from central (Albion, Gaines, Carlton and Barre) and at-large from the east (towns of Kendall, Murray and Clarendon).

“The three at-large districts had no boundary changes since they are the entire county,” Welch said. “The east, west and central only pertains to where the candidates come from and not about who can vote for the candidates. All registered voters in Orleans County may vote for the at-large legislator candidates.”

The orange part of Murray would be shifted into a district that includes Albion and Gaines, while the yellow would be in a district that includes Carlton, Kendall and most of Murray.

County officials are pushing to get the boundaries set for the four other districts because it is getting close to the start of the election cycle. The primary schedule has been moved up from September to June.

Candidates will soon be interviewing with political party leaders to run for the positions, and candidates need to get petitions signed to get on the ballot for a primary and the general election.

The Orleans County Democratic Party has filed a legal challenge for the County Legislature to do redistricting and bring the districts into balance. Welch said the county was working on redistricting before the lawsuit from the Democrats.

The county’s population in the 2020 census was 40,343 people. That census block population shows 1,456 incarcerated people at two state prisons in Albion. Those people are to be reallocated to their home counties for redistricting purposes, Welch said.

The state Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR) lists the three census blocks where the prisons are located as a negative 76 population. That doesn’t make sense to Skyline Demographic Consultants because there aren’t any residential structures in those blocks, outside of the prisons. The firm recommended the county zero out those blocks, instead of doing a negative-76.

County officials are taking out the 1,456 population for the prisons. That number has then been subtracted from the 40,343 in the census and with another small adjustment the total for the county is 38,891 for redistricting. Dividing that by the four legislative districts puts the ideal district at 9,745.

State law allows a 5 percent deviation. A plus or minus of 2.5 percent from the ideal would be 245 people.

The redistricting proposal puts the deviation at a maximum of 4.2 percent, with District 1 down by 2.02 percent from the ideal and District 3 at 2.22 percent over the ideal.

District 1 with most of Shelby, all of Barre and Clarendon would be 9,548 people, or down 197 people or 2.02 percent from the ideal.

District 2 with Yates, Ridgeway and small portion of Shelby would be 9,725, or 20 fewer than the ideal or under by 0.21 percent.

District 3 with Gaines, Albion and part of western Murray would be a population of 9,961, which is over the ideal by 2.22 percent or 216 people.

District 4 with Carlton, Kendall and most of Murray would total 9,747 people, only 2 more than the ideal or off by just 0.02 percent.

The redistricting changes would move 940 people into different districts, which is 2.4 percent of the population, Welch said.

Without redistricting, the deviation would be 11.7 percent. The current District 1 is 6.3 percent under the ideal, while District 2 is 4.1 percent over, District 3 is 3.1 percent below and District 4 is 5.4 percent above the ideal.

Some of the criteria from the state for redistricting include the following:

• Districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minority groups to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.
• Districts shall consist of contiguous territory.
• Districts shall be as compact in form as practicable.
• Districts shall not be drawn to discourage competition or for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candidates or political parties.
• The maintenance of cores of existing districts, of pre-existing political subdivisions including cities, villages, and towns, and of communities of interest shall also be considered. To the extent practicable, no villages or cities or towns except those having more than forty percent of a full ratio for each district shall be divided.
• Districts shall be formed so as to promote the orderly and efficient administration of elections.

Goal: learn about themselves and many facets of the community

Photos by Tom Rivers: Patrick Weissend, a graduate in the 2018 Leadership Orleans class, facilitated the opening retreat on Thursday. Weissend, vice president and branch manager of the Bank of Castile in Medina, was in the debut class of the program and remains active on the steering committee.

LYNDONVILLE – The new class of Leadership Orleans kicked off an opening retreat on Thursday at the White Birch Golf Course.

The 25 class members from agriculture to manufacturing, education to government, small business owners to nonprofit service providers.

Katie Oakes, horticulture educator for the Cooperative extension and U-Pick manager for Lynoaken Farms, said she looks forward to learning more about the county.

They will meet monthly in the coming year, building leadership skills and gaining knowledge, experiences and meeting people from many different sectors in the community.

There have been 123 graduates from the program so far. Some of them have gone on to serve on local government or non-profit boards. The goal of the program was to build up citizen capital and have more informed leaders to help the community face its challenges.

The program receives a stipend from the county, and there are many sponsors of programs throughout the years. The class members also pay tuition to be in Leadership Orleans.

The schedule for this year includes the two-day opening retreat in January, legislative affairs in February, economic & workforce development in March, community health in April, communities & culture in May, outdoor leadership in June, tourism & recreation in July, volunteerism in August, agribusiness in September, education in October, simulated society in November, closing retreat on Dec. 7 and graduation on Dec. 14.

The sixth class is full with 24 members. Skip Helfrich, director of Leadership Orleans since it started, said the program is strong with lots of interest from the community. There are already 15 people who want to be in next year’s class.

Here are the members of the 2023 Leadership Orleans:

• Jen Batt, director of community services for Arc GLOW
• Julie Berry, author and owner of Author’s Note in Medina
• Gabe Bruning, owner of Mountain Mule Ciderhouse
• Angela Conway, elemental school principal at Albion Central School
• Tracy Cliff, deputy clerk for Orleans County
• Carl Creasey, training manager with Claims Recovery Financial Services in Albion
• Jesse Cudzilo, executive director at GLOW YMCA in Orleans County
• Cass Eagle, store manager and classroom instructor for Community Action of Orleans and Genesee
• Taylor Gilbert, credit representative with Farm Credit East
• Kristin Gross, benefits specialist for Orleans Community Health
• John Fitzak, legislator for Orleans County
• Shelly Harling, Yates town clerk
• Katie Harvey, director of personnel and self insurance for Orleans County
• Meg Johnson, executive director of Orleans Community Health Foundation
• Dana Joy, clinical supervisor for GCASA
• Gwen Large, volunteer and member of Lyndonville Lions Club
• Kristy Lindner, senior engineer of quality at Baxter Healthcare
• Jamie Lyndaker, director of operations for Genesee Community College in Orleans County
• Nellie Moyer, operations manager at Claims Recovery Financial Services
• Brian Neal, manager at Orleans Poverty Hill Farms in Albion
• Katie Oakes, horticulture educator for Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension
• Sarah Osborne, probation supervisor at Orleans County Probation Department
• Michael Restivo, financial advisor for Brighton Securities
• Jessica Rockcastle, senior human resources representative at Baxter Healthcare
• Elizabeth Tuttle, youth services librarian at Hoag Library in Albion

Orleans County Legislator John Fitzak introduces himself to the class. Fitzak recently retired as a corrections officer and is working to develop a marina on the Erie Canal in Albion, where he owns a bottle redemption center.

The unemployment rate in Orleans County for November was 3,0 percent, which is the second lowest rate in the county in the 32 years of data available from the state Department of labor.

The only month it was lower was in October when the rate was 2.5 percent.

The 3.0 percent rate in November 2022, compares to 3.4 percent in November 2021, 5.2 percent in November 2020 and 4.4 percent in November 2019.

In Orleans County there were 16,300 employed in November and 500 on unemployment.

The labor force has shrunk in the past three years from 18,000 in November 2019 to 17,100 in November 2020, to 16,900 in November 2021 and November 2022, according to DOL data.

Statewide the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in November, compared to 4.9 percent the previous November and 8.5 percent in November 2020. The 3.8 percent was up from the 3.6 percent in October. It was at 3.9 percent in September.

Here are the unemployment rates among Western New York counties:

• Orleans, 3.0 percent
• Genesee, 2.5 percent
• Livingston, 2.6 percent
• Wyoming, 2.7 percent
• Monroe, 2.9 percent
• Niagara, 3.2 percent
• Erie, 3.1 percent
• Chautauqua, 3.5 percent
• Cattaraugus, 3.5 percent
• Allegany, 3.2 percent

Press Release, Orleans County government

ALBION – Orleans County works closely with Modern Disposal Services to provide a countywide solid waste program for all of our residents who participate in our program.

The missed recycling collection due to the weather event from last weekend will resume on the next red or blue week for your household.

December 23rd’s recycling collection will occur on January 6th, the next red week. December 26th and 27th’s recycling collection will occur on January 9th and 10th, the next blue week.

Modern Disposal Services will perform double collection for solid waste beginning today, December 30th, Monday January 2nd and Tuesday January 3rd for those scheduled routes.

“We apologize for not clarifying the difference between the resumption of the solid waste collection and the recycling collection,” said Jack Welch, the county’s chief administrative officer. “We regret any inconvenience this created for our residents along the affected routes.”

ALBION – County government leaders are trying to fill 32 open positions, with some of the jobs open for several months now.

There are currently 22 full-time vacancies and 10 part-time positions. The county has typically had 20 to 25 positions open throughout the year.

It has expanded its outreach for applicants in 2022 by posting positions on Facebook, the Indeed web site, and through a college network called Handshake.

Some of the positions include an assistant county engineer, a mechanic, a motor equipment operator, caseworkers, account clerk, corrections officers, probation officer and housekeepers.

Katie Harvey, the county’s director of personnel and self insurance, has worked in the office for eight years including about three years as the director. She said counties throughout the state are struggling to fill positions, even though the jobs offer good pay, benefits and retirement.

“The county government is a great place to work,” she said.

The county has scheduled some Civil Service exams and had no one apply to take the tests to make them eligible for the positions.

She praised the county workforce of about 400 employees for continuing to serve the public despite vacancies in their departments.

But a full staff “would certainly make it smoother,” Harvey said.

The current open positions include:

• Department of Social Service – Account Clerk, Senior Account Clerk, Senior Account Clerk, Social Welfare Examiner (3 full-time positions), Social Welfare Examiner (part-time) and Youth Court Coordinator (part-time), Caseworker (2 full-time and 2 part-time).
• DPW – Assistant County Engineer, Automotive Mechanic, DPW Motor Equipment Operator (2) and Motor Equipment Operator, Lead Person
• Office for the Aging – Caseworker, Housekeeper Aide (full-time and part-time).
• Veterans Clerk (part-time)
• Mental Health – Clinic Therapist and Community Mental Health Nurse
• Sheriff – Jail Correction Officer (2 part-time), Public Safety Dispatcher (part-time)
• Planning – Deputy Director of Planning & Development
• Personnel – Personnel Assistant
• Probation – Probation Officer
• Health Department – Public Health Nurse
• Real Property – Real Property Appraisal Technician

For more information on the positions, contact the County’s Personnel Department (585) 589-3184 or through the county website.

ALBION – Orleans County has retained a lobbyist for $90,000 for 2023, keeping a relationship with Park Strategies that started in 2015.

The $90,000 is the same rate the county has paid annually since 2020.

The agreement calls for the county to pay Park Strategies $5,000 a month for government affairs services at the federal level and $2,500 a month for government affairs services at the state level.

The firm will be tasked with helping the county to receive $1.5 million from the federal government for broadband services. That funding was announced by Congressman Chris Jacobs and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer as part of a joint project with Niagara County.

“The way the language of the bill was written, we are having trouble accessing those funds for broadband,” said Jack Welch, the county’s chief administrative officer.

Park Strategies has contacted Jacobs office to try to resolve the issue before his term ends in the next few days. Park Strategies also has coordinated meetings with the federal agency handling the funds to see how the county can access that money, Welch said.

Park also is assisting the county in obtaining $2 million through U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s office for a new building for the Emergency Management Office.

“Orleans County currently has $3.5 million in promised funding from the federal government that Part Strategies is assisting us with the progress of being able to access these funds for our broadband and EMO project,” Welch said. “Without guidance from an outside agent for the county, we could very well lose these promised funds.”

Park Strategies was founded by Al D’Amato, the former U.S. senator from New York. The firm has given Orleans County a “louder voice” at the state and U.S. capitols, county officials said.

The firm assists county officials in setting up meetings with representatives from the state and federal governments. Park Strategies also makes the county aware of legislative that could be helpful or harmful to the county, and brainstorms ways to pursue funding for critical projects in the county.

In the past county officials have praised Park Strategies for helping to make the county’s case to the state Department of Transportation for canal bridges to be repaired. The state spent about $10.7 million recently to fix seven bridges.

The state also has repaved portions of the Lake Ontario State Parkway, committed to dredging harbors on Lake Ontario and also allocated funds to protect lakeshore properties from flooding.

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has reappointed Kathy Case of Murray and Janice Grabowski as elections commissioners for two-year terms.

Case was recommended by the Orleans County Republican Committee and Grabowski was backed by the Democratic Committee. They will each be paid $21,664 in 2023 and $22,097 in 2024.

In other action at the Legislature’s meeting last week:

• Accepted a $93,490 state grant for the Sheriff’s Office for costs and services at the dispatch center. The funding is from the NYS 2021 Public Safety Answering Points Operations Grant Programs.

• The Sheriff’s Office also received a $26,888 grant from the State Homeland Security Program.

• Authorized emergency engine replacement of a 2017 Sheriff’s patrol vehicle for the K9 unit with $9,886 to be paid to Bidleman Chevrolet Buick GMC in Albion.

• Approved an agreement with James Punch, the retired Orleans County Court judge, to continue as the administrator of the Assigned Counsel Plan. Punch started in the role in Dec. 1, 2020. He will be paid $35,000 in 2023. He was recommended by the Assigned Counsel Advisory Committee.

• Appointed Dr. Thomas Madejski of Albion to continue to serve as coroner’s physician at an annual pay of $3,730 in 2023 and $3,805 in 2024.

• Authorized treasurer Kim DeFrank to set up new money in the Department of Public Works budget due to the $1,064,893 from the state’s Consolidated Local Street Highway Improvement program. Those CHIPS funds are an increase from the state.

• Appointed the following to three-year terms on the County Planning Board: Janet Navarra-Salvatore, representing Village of Albion; Michael Massaro, Village of Albion alternate; George Avery, Village of Lyndonville; Dan Gardner, Village of Medina; Richard Moss, Village of Medina alternate; David Knapp, Town of Murray; Thomas Fenton, Town of Ridgeway; and Tim Elliott, Ridgeway alternate.

• Reappointed John Kast of Kast Farms to serve an at-large position from the farming community on the Soil & Water District Board. The term is for three years.

• Reappointed Ed Urbanik to a three-year term on the Orleans County Board of Ethics.

• Created a part-time housekeeper aide position in the Office for the Aging to help with a waiting list for home care service. The position is 75 percent funded by the state.

Villages and towns in Orleans share $1,366,671 – same amount since 2001

The Orleans County Legislature approved the 2023 sales tax apportionment for the 10 towns and four villages in the county.

They will again share $1,366,671 in sales tax. That amount to the towns and villages hasn’t changed since 2001 even though the sales tax revenue have seen big increases in recent years.

The county has used the big increase to stave off property tax increases while also addressing capital projects and infrastructure upgrades. The total local sales tax is about $20 million annually in Orleans County.

It has been rising recently with internet sales now taxed, higher inflation making goods and services more expensive, and higher gas prices for much of 2022.

The new amounts for the 10 towns in villages puts the total town share at $987,894 in 2023, down $3,157 from the $991,051 in 2022.

The villages are up $3,157 – from $375,620 to $378,777. Medina and Holley both will get more, while the villages of Albion and Holley are down slightly.

Charts compiled by the Orleans Hub.

The county every 10 years divvies up the shares among the towns and villages based on population. After that is set, the county in the following years will tweak the village and town amounts based on changes in taxable value in the municipalities. (That taxable value change doesn’t include Barre, Carlton, Clarendon and Kendall because they don’t have a village within their border.)

If a town’s tax base grows at a greater percentage than the village within that town’s borders, the town gets more of the sales tax and vice versa.

The villages generally see a steady decline in their sales tax because the towns’ tax base grows at a faster pace. In 2022, the village share dropped nearly $8,000. In 2013, the villages collectively received $404,661, nearly $26,000 more than they will get in 2023.

In Albion, the village hit a high of $211,669 in 2004. In 2022, it will receive $165,309, which is $46,360 less than in 2004.

In Holley, the village hit a high of $62,549 in 2002 – 21 years later it’s down to $46,545, a cut of $16,004.

Lyndonville was at $18,592 in 2002 and has dropped to $14,876 in 2023.

In Medina, the village received a high of $173,592 in 2002 and will be at $152,047 in 2023, a decline of $21,545.

ALBION – Orleans County will be closing most government operations on Friday with a blizzard warning in effect from 7 a.m. Friday through 7 a.m. Sunday.

The forecast includes sustained winds of 35 miles per hour with gusts topping 60 mph. Power outages are expected from the fierce winds.

Lynne Johnson, County Legislature chairwoman is moving to close non-essential county operations on Friday, with employees in essential operations to report to work per their Department Head’s operational plan.

Meetings will change from Wednesdays to Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Orleans County Legislature is shown during a meeting on Monday, which was outside of the usual schedule on the fourth Wednesday due to the holiday season. Pictured from left include legislators Bill Eick, Ed Morgan and Don Allport, county attorney Kathy Bogan, County Chief Administrative Officer Jack Welch, Legislature Chairwoman Lynne Johnson, Clerk of Legislature Lisa Stenshorn and Legislator Fred Miller at far right. Not visible in photo are County Treasurer Kim DeFrank and legislators John Fitzak and Skip Draper.

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature is making a change in the day for its monthly meeting in 2023.

For at least 25 years, the Legislature has met on Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. It was the second Wednesday of the month before being moved to the fourth Wednesday on most months.

In 2023, the Legislature will meet on the fourth Tuesday during the months of January, March, April, May, June, August, September and October. The meetings will be on the third Tuesday for February, July and December.

The sessions are in the legislative chambers of the County Office Building at 14016 Route 31 W.

Jack Welch, the county chief administrative officer, said attendance from the public in person and through Zoom video conferencing has dropped, especially this year.

“After the pandemic, it seems like the public has stopped participating in person or online with our Legislature meetings,” Welch said. “In 2022 public participation has been extremely low.”

The Legislature is hopeful the change will result in more attending the meetings or offering comments through Zoom.

“One thing for sure is that participation can only improve with a new day,” Welch said. “This is another example of us asking why we are doing things a certain way. If our best answer is because we have always done it that way, then perhaps it is time to change things up a bit.”

The Legislature made a big change in its meetings in July 2019. That’s when the seven-member body moved from the top floor of the County Clerks Building in the historic Courthouse Square to a new meeting room as part of a 23,000-square-foot addition to the County Office Building on Route 31.

The County Legislature meets upstairs in the legislative chambers of the County Office Building at 14016 Route 31 W.

Provided photo: Ron Bierstine has been a big part of the local fishing community for at least 25 years.

ALBION – Orleans County named a new sportsfishing coordinator on Monday. Ron Bierstine is no stranger to anglers, charter boat captains and the fishing community.

He has owned Oak Orchard Tackle and Lodge since 1998, and has served on many local and state-wide committees to promote the fishery. He also works part-time as the dock master at the Orleans Marine Park, a county-owned site on Route 98.

Bierstine succeeds Mike Waterhouse, a charter boat captain who served in the post for 13 years until retiring in March 2018.

Bierstine has been volunteering to attend some trade shows to help promote the fishery. His hiring will take some pressure off Dawn Borchet, the county’s tourism director and allow the county to have a person focused on its top tourism attraction.

Sportsfishing is the county’s top tourism draw, with a total economic impact of $28 million with $5.1 million in local and state tax revenue, according to the NY State DEC Anglers Survey for 2017.

Borchet was pleased to see the Legislature hire Bierstine for the job on Monday.

“He has the experience,” Borchet said. “He already has been attending many of the shows.”

Besides attending sportsfishing trade shows, Bierstine will write articles, field calls and attend other events to promote lake and stream fishing in the county.

Bierstine has fished the local streams since the 1980s. He has a bachelor’s degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He worked as an environmental consultant in the 1990s before committing to the Oak Orchard Tackle & Lodge in 1998.

He is a licensed outdoor fishing guide, and a member of the Lake Ontario Bi-National Stakeholders committee, the Lake Ontario Fishing Management Focus Group, the Governor’s Task Force to “Re-imagine the Canals” and the Lake Ontario Fisheries Advisory Board.

Bierstine will be paid up to $20,000 in the part-time role for 2023.

The county Legislature approved other resolutions affecting tourism and fishing on Monday.

The county is increasing the cost for boat slip rental by 20 percent in 2023 at the County Marine Park, with the seasonal rate for a 24-foot-long dock going to $1,135 ($315 a month), a 28-foot-long dock at $1,260 ($346 a month) and the daily rate at $1.50 per foot per boat per slip.

The Legislature also renewed agreements with Lynne Menz of Lynne Menz Designs in Kent to serve as tourism coordinator at a cost not to exceed $14,500 for 2023. Menz also will be paid up to $22,000 for design services for her work with advertising design, social media, photography and video production.