$598K grant will pay for hookups for low- to moderate-income households in towns of Albion, Gaines, Shelby and the villages of Albion, Holley and Medina

ALBION – Orleans County officials say the new high-speed internet system being installed by RTO Wireless should be in place and activated in the first quarter of 2023.

RTO has been working to put its equipment on 13 towers with a 14^th and final tower to be built in Carlton next year.

County officials have been pushing for about a decade to have high-speed internet service available throughout the county. The new system will cover the entire county, including current unserved addresses that total 74 in Albion, 302 in Barre, 35 in Carlton, 57 in Clarendon, 39 in Gaines, 16 in Kendall, 41 in Murray, 287 in Ridgeway, 206 in Shelby, and 294 in Yates for 1,351 total.

County officials say they are also close to finalizing an agreement with the Orleans County United Way to manage a $598,000 grant to cover the costs for low- to moderate-income homes to install the equipment in their homes to access the high-speed internet. That grant covers the towns of Albion, Gaines and Shelby, and the villages of Albion, Holley and Medina.

That funding was part of a $1,999,833 grant initially awarded to the county on Nov. 10, 2021. That money was approved from the state Housing Trust Fund Corporation and the Office of Community Renewal and included money from the NYS Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES).

The household hook-up grants are up to $650 per household for the equipment to be connected to the new system.

The rest of the grant for $1,999,833 goes towards the cost of the equipment being installed on the towers, said Jack Welch, the county’s chief administrative officer.

Welch said the United Way will help recruit the eligible households in the low- to moderate-income towns and villages to install the equipment and have access to the internet.

“The United Way will be working with RTO on the rollout of the service to our residents in the towns of Albion, Gaines, Shelby and the villages of Albion, Holley and Medina,” Welch said. “We expect the real push should begin the first quarter of 2023 when the signal is on the air from the towers.”

Even those who aren’t eligible for the grant assistance will see benefits with the RTO Wireless system being available locally, Welch said.

“This project should help people county wide, even in the other seven towns and Lyndonville,” he said. “Everyone will now have real choice in broadband service.”

Press Release, Orleans County Youth Bureau

KNOWLESVILLE – October 13th is the 8th annual Family Game Night in Orleans County. This event is sponsored by the Orleans County Youth Bureau and Legislative Office.

The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Trolley Building at Cornell Cooperative Extension. This event will feature dinner, games to play, displays to visit and a new board game for every family. Cost, including dinner, is $5 for a family of four or $3 for individuals.

The booths will provide information on a wide array of services for youth and families that are available in Orleans County.

We will also have a couple drawings throughout the night. Additional contributors to the evening are Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cusimano’s Pizzeria, Medina Railroad Museum, Village House Restaurant, Mark’s Pizzeria, LynOaken Farms, Evan’s ACE Hardware & Building Supplies, Albion ACE Hardware, TOPS, and Wal-Mart.

To register or for more information you can contact the Legislative Office at 589-7053.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Orleans County Legislator John Fitzak, right, presents a proclamation last week about “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” to Teresa Zwifka, director of social services (left), and Holli Nenni, department of Social Services commissioner.

The proclamation states that while 90 percent of domestic violence cases go unreported, there were 299 cases reported to the Orleans County Domestic Violence Unit in 2021, and 278 reported cases of domestic violence so far this year from January through September.

“Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive behavior that may include physical, emotional, psychological, economic, or sexual abuse, perpetrated by an intimate partner over another, to establish and maintain power and control,” legislators said in the proclamation.

“Domestic violence is a serious crime that affect people regardless of socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, age, gender, education, employment status, physical ableness, marital status, or childhood history.”

Domestic violence is a major cause to women, resulting in more injuries to women then auto accidents, muggings and rapes combined, the proclamation states.

County Legislator Skip Draper, right, presents a proclamation about “Sheriff’s Week” to three new deputies in the Sheriff’s Office. Pictured from left include David Lauer, Savannah Tackley and Cory Martindale. Sheriff’s Week was Sept. 18-24.

“The Office of Sheriff has been an integral part of the criminal justice system in New York State and in Orleans County throughout our history, having been established in the State’s first constitution in 1777 and having been continued in every succeeding constitution, and having been one of the original constitutional offices of our County,” legislators stated.

“The Office of Sheriff has evolved into a modern, professional, full-service law enforcement agency, manned by fully trained police officers, using state-of-the-art technology, and applies the latest and most advanced theories and practices in the criminal justice field,” the proclamation states.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Jack Welch, chief administrative officer for Orleans, and Lynne Johnson, County Legislature chairwoman, hold an award presented to Orleans County last month by New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal.

The county received NYMIR’s “risk management award.” It is given annually to a county for sound risk management, safety and training efforts.

Orleans hasn’t had any property damage claims in the past five years and the county has the highest employee participation in the state for six online safety trainings, Welch said. Orleans has about 400 county employees.

The county also has a safety committee and each month does a walk-through inspection of a county building, identifying maintenance needs and any potential safety hazards.

“Our facilities are well-maintained,” Welch said. “Our buildings are not new.”

He praised the county workforce for their part in helping Orleans County earn the award over 32 other counties represented by NYMIR.

‘The creation of an ambulance district in order to implement a tax for service has been discussed, and is on the September meeting agenda, but unfortunately includes a long legal process to establish.’

Press Release, Orleans County EMS Task Force

ALBION – On October 26, 2021 the local elected officials in Orleans County were briefed on the crisis EMS agencies are facing not only in our county, but across all of New York State and throughout the Nation as a whole.

Following this, local officials requested that the county create and facilitate an EMS Task Force to identify issues ambulance services and fire departments in the county were facing and determine a course of action.

The EMS Task Force members included representatives from each town, village and fire department, as well as representatives from COVA, Kendall Ambulance, Monroe Ambulance and Medina Ambulance. Orleans County Legislators, Public Health Officials and the Orleans County Sheriff’s office were also included.

Prior to the EMS Task Force being established, the Orleans County Legislators worked with the Emergency Management Office to identify three major focus areas for the EMS Task Force to explore: augmenting the existing services with county municipal ambulances, contracting with the existing providers for service, and an EMS model similar to what is being used in the West side of the County.

The first meeting of the Orleans County EMS Task Force was held on Feb. 16, 2022. Although introductory, the meeting laid important ground work for future meetings. Each ambulance service provided an overview of their operation and an evaluation of their strengths, weaknesses, challenges they face and how they overcome them.

A history of EMS within Orleans County was provided so that all members of the Task Force had an understanding of the challenges currently faced.  One challenge highlighted, addressed the loss of six volunteer fire department operated ambulances or transport capable rescues in the past 15 years, with a seventh loss looming, as a result of less volunteer medics and rising operational costs.

Additionally, each ambulance agency within the county is different; what is legally allowed to do for one agency may not be allowed for another. Kendall Ambulance is all-volunteer non-profit, COVA is non-profit and combination of career and volunteer, Medina Fire Department Ambulance is a municipal agency, and Monroe Ambulance is a career for-profit agency.

Response metrics for the previous 4 years were distributed, showing increased requests for ambulances, increased response times, increased number of calls the responsible agency was unable to handle, and increased requests for mutual aid response.

‘Medicaid and Medicare are also an issue of great concern when it comes to funding.  Medicaid and Medicare reimburse at rates of 20-30% of what is actually billed by the transporting ambulance agency.’

For some agencies the increases were minimal and no cause for alarm, while for others the numbers were concerning. Each metric examined has an impact on each of the others; more requests for services means less ambulances available which leads to ambulances responding from greater distances, or relying on other ambulance services for mutual aid which causes shortages in other service areas.

As meetings progressed the three focus areas remained consistent, but the Task Force also began to evaluate additional factors impacting these focus areas.

Staffing shortages continue to be a challenge for volunteer and career agencies. One contributing factor is that EMS is not considered an essential service, and therefore not a part of the same retirement and benefit systems that law enforcement and firefighters are a part of.

As a result, EMS sees a large turnover of personnel as they ultimately seek jobs outside of EMS that offer those benefits. For both career and volunteer medics, there is a great deal of training required to become certified and additional education is required to keep certifications current. The financial investment of this training can be significant.

Many of the local volunteers happily donate their time to participate in available training and respond to a calls. However, as dedicated as volunteers are, outside obligations sometimes mean the local fire department is unable to have an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) on every call within their response area. As a result the Task Force is looking at ways to better compensate career medics and how to recruit and retain both volunteers and career personnel.

Available funding is one of the ongoing issues for ambulance agencies. The EMS Task Force sought proposals to evaluate costs associated with providing EMS service, at varying levels, in the East and Center portions of the county and exploring the means to fund this service. The creation of an ambulance district in order to implement a tax for service has been discussed, and is on the September meeting agenda, but unfortunately includes a long legal process to establish.

Recruitment, training, continuing education and retention of both career and volunteer providers will remain focus areas for the EMS Task Force going forward.

Insurance reimbursement plays a significant role in an EMS agency’s bottom line. Although New York State Law requires insurance checks to be paid to the patient rather than the transporting EMS agency, this often times results in delayed payment or non-payment to the EMS agency. And although legislation has failed to pass committee on either the Senate or Assembly side for over a decade, our County Legislators and EMS Coordinator have continued to work with Senator Ortt, Assemblyman Hawley, Assemblyman Norris and the Senate Minority Office to get this legislation changed.

Medicaid and Medicare are also an issue of great concern when it comes to funding.  Medicaid and Medicare reimburse at rates of 20-30% of what is actually billed by the transporting ambulance agency.  Locally the impacts of this low reimbursement have impacted COVA significantly. The Villages of Orleans, Albion Correctional Facility and Orleans Correctional Facility all fall in COVA’s response area and most transports from these facilities are Medicaid or Medicare covered, these responses ultimately result in a loss.

As it stands now, estimated costs to provide services for EMS service in the Center and Eastern portions of the county are being obtained by the towns. If agreements are met between the towns and service providers in regard to ambulance coverage, this solves only one challenge we currently face.

Recruitment, training, continuing education and retention of both career and volunteer providers will remain focus areas for the EMS Task Force going forward.

In the unfortunate situation that an agency is no longer able to provide service, there are mutual aid plans in place at the state and county level to ensure that ambulance coverage will still be provided.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Don Colquhoun, vice president and treasurer of OCALS (Orleans County Accredited Learning Services) presents a plant to outgoing president Nicole Goodrich at their annual meeting Tuesday night.

MILLVILLE – OCALS could certainly be called “The little agency that could.”

Started on a shoestring in 2006 by Don and Rose Ruck with donations from their family, OCALS has survived lack of funding, loss of volunteers and Covid, to emerge more determined than ever to pursue their goal.

The organization originally known as Orleans County Adult Learning Services has recently changed its name to Orleans County Accredited Services to reflect the fact it now serves students as well as adults, and it is nationally accredited.

OCALS held its annual meeting Tuesday night at Millville United Methodist Church. Outgoing president Nicole Goodrich was presented with a plant by vice president and treasurer Don Colquhoun for her years of service.

New board members announced were Pam Schuner, president; Don Colquhoun, vice president; Carolyn Wagner, secretary; and Don Colquhoun as treasurer.

Kathleen Punch of Medina was introduced as the new community engagement coordinator, who will work 40 hours a month planning outreach events to inform the public of the services OCALS provides.

Punch is an educator who has taught kindergarten through 12th grade during her 20 years of teaching. She taught Spanish in Florida, before moving back to Medina in 1995. She is fluent in Spanish and plans to put that to use to bring in more clients from the Spanish population.

“We are very fortunate to have her,” said Carolyn Wagner, who worked with Colquhoun in the search to fill the position.

Goodrich introduced new board member Julie Keller, who has taught for 26 years in Albion. She is real passionate about literacy and is interested in becoming a tutor, as well, Goodrich said.

Barb Dunham, who heads the Family Literacy Program, reported a new program has been started at Intergrow in Gaines, with six students from there, including one from Italy and one from Puerto Rico.

Carolyn Wagner, left, stands with OCALS new community engagement coordinator Kathleen Punch of Medina, who was introduced at OCALS annual meeting.

They still have not gone back into Lyndonville schools or Iroquois Job Corps, Dunham said. She said restrictions from Covid have not been fully lifted.

Colquhoun said as soon as things are back to normal, OCALS will be providing tutoring in all five Orleans County schools.

Dean Bellack, executive director of United Way of Orleans County, was introduced. He explained his agency’s mission and shared their efforts in acquiring grants for several organizations in the county, totaling more than $700,000.

A grant last year was for more than $340,000 for Orleans County’s Digital Divide Initiative, in an effort to provide high speed internet to all areas of the county, train people who are not familiar with the Internet and provide computers to families who can’t afford them. OCALS has committed to provide three mentors for the program.

Colquhoun said in spite of the stumbling blocks along the way, OCALS has managed to increase its number of tutors, students and units of service.

Colquhoun said beside Covid, the biggest hit to OCALS was the reduction in United Way funding from $10,000 to $4,000. He vowed the agency this year was determined to accomplish four things to help raise money:

• Hold a book sale, which they did during the Lions’ annual Community Yard Sale in June, raising $230.
• Have a basket raffle, which they did in July at Case-Nic Cookies, earning $780.
• Have a bake sale in conjunction with Mary Lee Knights pumpkin sale next month.
• Make a direct appeal to supporters.

The evening concluded with recognizing Barb LaBelle as “Tutor of the Year.”

“She has the most hours working with students,” Goodrich said.

Anyone wishing to volunteer as a tutor or request services can contact OCALS by calling (585) 590-1292 or logging on to their website.

Press Release, New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal

BUFFALO – At the 2022 Fall Seminar of the New York State Association of Counties being held this week in Buffalo, the County of Orleans was honored with receipt of the New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal (NYMIR) Risk Management Award, which is given annually in recognition of a member county’s commitment to sound risk management, safety and training efforts.

The award was presented to the Chair of the Orleans County Legislature Lynne Johnson by NYSAC’s Executive Director Stephen Acquario and NYMIR’s Executive Director Kevin Crawford.  The award’s inscription reads: “In recognition of a commitment to sound risk management, safety and training that makes a difference.”

In presenting the glass crystal award, Mr. Crawford stated that, “Effective risk management requires a team approach, everyone working together to reduce the liability and exposures which are inherent in so many local government operations. Orleans was chosen from among our subscribing members – which includes 33 counties – because of the way in which its officers and employees respond to risk recommendations and other loss control suggestions.  Examples abound. Orleans County has been exceptionally attentive to key risk management procedures both operationally and from a property preservation perspective.”

Crawford praised the county for planned preventive maintenance and upgrades ahead of foreseeable end of life and obsolescence issues have meant that there has not been a single property claim at the county in the last five years.

Over 200 employees having taken NYMIR’s courses in Preventing Phishing, Data Privacy and Safe Computing. In total, over 1,300 online training sessions with NYMIR have been recorded for the County.

Stephen Acquario concluded his award presentation remarks by adding, “since it joined the Reciprocal as one of the very first Subscribers back in January of 1994, the County has remained committed improving safety within its ranks. It has a group of officials and employees who take risk management into account and are proud to do so. Likewise, NYMIR and NYSAC are proud to recognize their efforts today.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A very large American flag is held up high over Main Street in Albion on Sunday evening by the Albion and Holley ladder trucks.

The county had a Sept. 11 memorial observance at the Courthouse lawn on the 21^st anniversary of the terrorist attacks, where 19 hijackers killed 2,977 people after crashing four airplanes.

Scott Galliford, the commander of the American Legion post in Holley, was part of the color guard of local veterans, carrying the banners and flags.

The county-wide service was held on the Courthouse lawn in front of the County Clerks Building and County Courthouse. There is a memorial to the Sept. 11 victims by the flag pole.

Lynne Johnson, chairwoman of the Orleans County Legislature, and Dale Banker, director of the Orleans County Emergency Management Agency, lead in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Banker shared a timeline from 21 years earlier. On Sept. 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., the North Tower was struck in New York City. At 9:03, a plane hit the South Tower. At 9:37, the Pentagon was struck. At 9:59 p.m., the South Tower fell. At 10:07 a.m., Flight 93 crashed in rural Shanksville, Pa. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed.

“We were attacked and wounded beyond belief, but not beyond repair,” Banker said.

Johnson read the lyrics from “Have You Forgotten?” That song was released in 2003 by country music artist Darryl Worley.

“Have you forgotten how it felt that day, to see your homeland under fire, and her people blown away? Have you forgotten when those towers fell, we had neighbors still inside, going through a  living hell.”

Johnson said she will never forget Sept. 11, 2001, which she called “the worst day in the history of our great country.”

John Becker of the Kendall Fire Department joined other firefighters at the observance. In 2001, Kendall also had a firefighter killed in the line of duty. Richard Buongiorne was fatally injured on January 9 when he was struck by two vehicles while he was directing traffic at the intersection of Routes 18 and 237 in Kendall.

Don Snyder, chaplain for the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, said first responders serve the community while putting themselves at risk. He encouraged others to volunteer with their fire departments and other community service organizations.

Scott Schmidt of Medina served as the keynote speaker at the observance. Schmidt spent 20 days with a federal team – U.S. Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team – and assisted in collecting and identifying remains, and interviewing family members searching for loved ones. He left for New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Schmidt is the county’s chief coroner and also a funeral director with Mitchell Family Cremations & Funerals, Inc.

Schmidt said the nearly 3,000 people killed are just a number, and they were more than what they did for a career or how they served their communities.

“We mourn them all equally,” Schmidt said. “We are all connected to one another.”

Local veterans line up in the honor guard for the service. Jim Freas in back left is the group’s leader.

The veterans, including Brad Nudd (second from left) did a gun salute.

Trellis Pore, pastor of the Shiloh Church in Albion, leads in singing “America the Beautiful.”

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has accepted a state grant for $1,038,805 for the emergency communications system.

The state Department of Homeland Security approved the application for Orleans County Office of Emergency Management for the grant. The money will be used for “enhancing emergency response, improving capabilities, improvements in government structures, operating procedures, infrastructure development and addressing SAFECOM guidelines” through Dec. 31, 2024.

The grant was part of $100 million announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Aug. 3 for 57 counties and New York City to enhance emergency communications.

“This funding is critical to strengthening New York’s emergency response capabilities, in situations where every second counts,” Hochul said when she announced the funding. “We are laser focused on making smart investments in public safety across the state and these grants will be a significant boost for local governments working around the clock to keep New Yorkers safe.”

The funding is formula-based and provided through cellular surcharge revenue, Hochul’s office said. The grants are specifically designed to help improve the methods used by first responders to communicate with one another.

ALBION/MEDINA – The Orleans Digital Literacy Initiative, spearheaded by United of Orleans County, has secured three presentation kits to empower local non-profits by providing them with current, working equipment to reduce the demand on budgets and enable organizations to be able to offer services digitally.

For example, local non-profits can borrow the kits for presentations, virtual conferences, webinars and other necessary functions. The equipment kits include a projector, webcam, Chromebook, presentation muse and the necessary peripherals to connect the devices, said Katie Leach, who oversees the Digital Literacy program at Cornell Cooperative Extension. The IT equipment kits can be checked out from the Hoag Library in Albion and the Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina.

Christine Mostyn, director of the Lee-Whedon Memorial Library, said this is another avenue to help other non-profits in the community by helping them offer online learning and teaching through technology United Way has provided.

“This equipment is expensive and an organization often can’t afford it,” Mostyn said.

At Hoag Library, Michael Magnuson, the reference librarian, will manage the program.

The Orleans Digital Literacy Initiative is a community-wide collaborative that is bridging the digital divide through education and internet/technology accessibility, said Leach, who coordinates the Digital Literacy program.

“The idea behind this program is to be beneficial to smaller non-profits who don’t have the money to purchase the necessary equipment to have general meetings or zoom meetings,” Leach said. “This includes churches, as well.”

Two kits are available at Hoag Library and one in Lee-Whedon.

“This is a nice addition to our services,” Leach said.

The IT equipment kits come with materials on how to set up and use the equipment. If anyone needs assistance with the kits, Leach will come and help set them up, she said. Her number is (585) 798-4265 (ext. 146 or option 4) or she may be reached by e-mail at kel99@cornell.edu.  Weekly tech tips and news about local tech resources are available on Facebook at @OrleansTechHelp.

The initial grant secured by United Way of Orleans County for the Digital Divide was $364,130. A small grant of $8,572 funds the Western New York Digital Equity Coalition, from where the equipment was purchased, and also covered lunches and a learning series.

Photo by Tom Rivers: This sign outside the County Office Building on Route 31 lets people know it is an early voting site during a primary in June. The turnout over nine days was less than 1 percent of the registered voters.

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature is asking the state to scale back the early voting mandates for smaller counties like Orleans.

The Legislature noted a tiny turnout in recent primaries for early voting. The county needs to staff a polling site for 72 hours over nine days of early voting, including two weekends and some weeknight evenings.

The turnout for the nine days of early voting in a June primary was 0.9 percent. It was even less in August when only 40 out of 6,059 registered Republicans used early voting over nine days for a Congressional primary.

County legislators said data from the smaller counties show that three years of early voting has proven to be a “financial, staffing and administrative burden on all counties where there are small, non-contentious elections and very small primaries.” Orleans legislators said there aren’t long lines of voters on election day, with people waiting to cast ballots.

Orleans officials are asking the state to not impose a “one size fits all” mandate on the counties.

Legislators said the recent primaries, with such a small turnout, “is a clear example of the waste and burden imposed by legislation calling for long hours of early voting.”

In Orleans, both election commissioners – Janice Grabowski, a Democrat, and Kathy Case, a Republican – favor scaling back early voting to bring down the costs and strain on the local Board of Elections.

County legislators are asking state officials to either repeal or amend the following new election laws:

• CHAPTER 441 OF 2019, which creates nine days of early voting prior to any special, primary or general elections and requires 66 hours of staffing in at least one poll site in each county;
• Laws beginning with CHAPTER 91 OF 2020, that modify the availability and allowable reasons for the use of Absentee Ballots and resemble “Vote by Mail” processes, which create additional administrative burdens on staff, and divert voters form Election Day voting, thereby creating underutilization, increased costs and inefficiencies;
• Two laws, CHAPTER 763 OF 2021, modified by CHAPTER 117 OF 2022, create a lengthy and highly inefficient procedure for processing arriving absentee ballots twice weekly, in batches of as little as one ballot;
• CHAPTER 781 OF 2021, adds an additional 12 hours of early voting to an already ineffective, burdensome and costly 66 hours of early voting.

The Legislature forwarded copies of the resolution to Governor Kathy Hochul; Senator Zellnor Myrie, Chair Senate Committee on elections; Assembly Member Latrice Walker, Chair NYS Assembly Committee on Election Law; Senator Robert Ortt; Assemblyman Steve Hawley; Assemblyman Michael Norris; NYSAC; NYS Association of Towns; co-executive directors Valentine and Stavisky of the NYS Board of Elections; and NYS Elections Commissioners Association.