DSS organizing Christmas effort for 148 kids in the county

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Genesee County Deputy Robert Henning, left, and Orleans County Deputy Dave Foeller delivered boxes of toys on Tuesday to staff at the Orleans County Department of Social Services, with DSS staff Christina Tilbe, second from left, and Heather Manella helping to move the toys inside.

Stan’s Harley-Davidson in Batavia and Van’s Pit Stop in Clarendon collected toys to be given to families served by DSS. Stan’s collected seven boxes and Van’s, in its first year as a collection site, had one box for the effort.

The toys will be shared by DSS in Genesee and Orleans counties.

The local deputies also donated proceeds from “No-Shave November” to the DSS to purchase gifts for the kids.

Jesse Underwood, right, from Stan’s Harley-Davidson carries one of the boxes of toys. He said Stan’s customers gave more toys and bigger gifts this year for the drive.

“People were even more generous this year,” he said.

Orleans County Deputy Dave Foeller hands a box to Lisa Thrash, a caseworker with the Orleans County DSS. The deputies offered to transport the boxes for the annual drive.

Lisa Thrash carries a box inside the County Administration where the toys will be sorted. Jeanine Larkin, the DSS supervisor of foster care and preventive services, follows behind with boxes on a cart.

Larkin said the DSS staff is organizing an effort to provide presents to 148 children that they work with. They are trying to have at least two presents for each of the children.

Larkin said there used to be a holiday party for families and children at DSS, but that won’t happen this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The DSS staff will instead be delivering the gifts. She said many county employees have purchased toys and presents for the children, and the staff at the county courthouse purchased 25 winter jackets for children.

Other community members, churches and organizations provide toys for the agency to give to the children.

“There is so much love and joy coming in,” Larkin said.

Residents urged to take survey, sharing internet needs, frustrations

A group from Orleans County wants to document the high-speed internet gaps in the county, and hear how a lack of internet access is affecting businesses, students and residents.

The Orleans County United Way received a $50,000 grant to study the issue. It has hired a consultant who has interviewed school, business and community leaders on the issue. Mary Beth Debus, president of Program Savvy Consulting, also has prepared a survey for residents to share about their internet access and how it affects them. (Click here to see the 48-question survey.)

The United Way has formed a steering committee for the Orleans Digital Literacy Initiative. The committee includes Dean Bellack, executive director of the Orleans County United Way; County Legislator Ken DeRoller; Kelly Kiebala, director of the Orleans County Job Development Agency; Robert Batt, executive director of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orleans County; and Greg Reed, director of the Orleans County YMCA.

“We are in the information-gathering stage,” Bellack said.

Debus is working to have the community interviews done and surveys tabulated for a report in March. That information will allow the county to then pursue funding through the state or federal government, or through at least 20 foundations.

County Legislator Ken DeRoller said the internet shortcomings are a major barrier for businesses and students, who need high-speed internet access to file reports and do assignments. The lack of high-speed internet, especially in the more rural areas, also is a deterrent to attracting residents, who expect high-speed internet not only for work and school, but for leisure when watching Netflix or other videos and television.

Even migrant farmworkers want high-speed internet when they are staying in Orleans County. Not having it can be a deterrent to attracting farm labor, DeRoller said.

There are 10,500 housing structures with about 14,000 units in the county. DeRoller said about 30 percent do not have access to high-speed internet. Many others don’t have enough bandwidth to accommodate multiple devices at once in a home.

That is a concern shared by the five school district superintendents in Orleans County. Many students have been frustrated with remote learning at home because they can’t download homework or watch teachers give instruction through videos.

“It has become so clear there are real barriers to various needs within the community,” Debus said.

Another consultant has estimated it would cost $4 million to bring broadband to everyone in the county, through a combination of cable and wireless. DeRoller said Orleans County is ready to apply in a new road of federal funding, with applications expected to be accepted in January.

The cost of the service also is a barrier for some residents. The survey will ask that question: if the needed bandwidth is too costly?

The committee also believes there is a knowledge gap for many residents, especially senior citizens, with using computers. They might want to order groceries online and pick them up or have them delivered but might not know how to use Instacart.

The survey and study could show there is a need for computer literacy educators in the community to help people use the technology, including downloading and using apps.

There is also an option for telehealth services where residents could communicate with healthcare professionals through Facetime or other video conferencing. The survey asks residents if they know how to use that technology.

The committee is currently focused on phase 1, the data gathering. Phase 2 of the initiative will list the internet needs in the county and “how to get there” with funding the project.

The group has three focuses with the high-speed internet expansion: employment, education and equity.

DeRoller said the internet isn’t a matter of convenience. It’s a critical issue for the county residents and making the community attractive for living and working.

“We need to be competitive in this environment,” he said.

ALBION – Orleans County legislators unanimously approved a $73,262,025 budget today for 2021. The spending plan will increase the tax levy by 1.66 percent, which is just under the county’s allowable tax cap of 1.75 percent.

The budget increases spending by 2.16 percent, from $71,711,638 to $73,262,025. The tax rate will go up by 1.11 percent or 11 cents, from $9,87 to $9.98 per $1,000 of assessed property.

The seven county legislators all backed the budget and there wasn’t any dissent during a public hearing on Monday and during a public comment opportunity this afternoon.

Legislature Chairwoman Lynne Johnson said the budget maintains existing programs, stays under the tax cap and provides resources to fight Covid.

The budget reduces the county workforce, eliminating 8 full-time jobs and 12 part-time positions from 2020.

Some other budget highlights include:

• The budget for the first time sets a county cap on community colleges. The county pay up to $2,050,000 to community colleges in 2021. The cost is supposed to be split into thirds, with the state, local municipality and student each paying a third. But Johnson said the state has pulled back on its contribution, putting more pressure on students and local municipalities.

The county will be spending $2,240,251 for community colleges in 2020. That is $190,251 over the cap it is setting. The county will pay the full amount this year, but starting in 2021 the towns will pay any local cost over the $2,050,000.

The town share will be based on credit hours of residents in those towns. Based on the data in 2019/2020, the additional $190,251 overages for each town would be $40,384 in Albion, $8,283 for Barre, $14,105 in Carlton, $15,040 in Clarendon, $14,096 in Gaines, $9,063 in Kendall, $21,020 in Murray, $34,297 in Ridgeway, $22,198 in Shelby and $11,760 in Yates.

• Nine mandated programs from the state account for more than 90 percent of the tax levy, Welch said. Those “9 for 90” mandates and their county cost include: Medicaid, $8,121,776; Pension, $3,054,489; Public Assistance/Safety Net, $1,802,337; Child Welfare/Protection, $1,336,399; Special Education, $971,931; Probation, $759,299; Indigent Defense, $536,053; Youth Detention, $302,650; and Early Intervention, $204,688.

Those nine mandated costs add up to $17,089,622, or 93 percent of the $18,309,497 tax levy.

• The budget allocates $2,577,00 in capital projects — $1,225,000 for highway reconstruction with state CHIPS money (down 20%), $1,152,000 in preventive maintenance on four bridges (funded through federal TIP funds), and $100,000 in county funds for culvert and bridge repairs, and $100,000 in local funds to patch and seal county roads.

• Sales tax is currently slightly above the receipts in 2019. That convinced county officials to budget $400,000 more in sales tax in 2021, to $16,175,000. (The county also is in a two-year annual sales tax diversion of $190,274 for “Fiscally Distressed Health Facilities,” which was imposed by the state.)

• The budget also maintains funding to outside agencies. They didn’t face a funding cut, and they didn’t get an increase.

Those agencies and organizations in the budget include: $240,000 to Cornell Cooperative Extension, $190,000 to Orleans Economic Development Agency, $92,500 to Soil & Water Conservation District, $10,000 to be shared among four public libraries, $5,000 to Mercy Flight, $4,000 to Sportsmen Federation, and $3,000 to GO Art!

• The fee for solid waste and recycling service will be $216, which is a 2 percent increase from 2020.

Lynne Johnson warns against ‘Covid fatigue’ as cases go up

ALBION – Orleans County residents are urged to support local small businesses this holiday season and also to take precautions against the spread of Covid-19.

“Small businesses are in trouble,” said Lynne Johnson, the chair of the Orleans County Legislature. “They are barely keeping themselves alive through this pandemic. We need to give them a lifeline. I can’t stress enough we need to shop local and we need to shop often.”

Lynne Johnson

Johnson and the other county legislators held a Zoom video conference with Darlene Hartway on Monday. Hartway delivered a message that the locally owned small businesses are worried about surviving the pandemic.

Covid-19 restrictions pushed more customer traffic to Big Box stores and online shopping, hurting the businesses on Main Street.

The holiday season comes at a time when Covid cases and hospitalizations are surging locally, in the region, state-wide and across the country.

If Orleans was designated a micro-cluster focus zone by the state, local businesses could see more restrictions. Johnson urged residents to continue to take precautions by wearing masks, social distancing and using hand sanitizer frequently.

“Covid fatigue is setting in right when it can be the most dangerous,” Johnson said on Tuesday during a Zoom conference call with elected officials. “We are facing our toughest test of the pandemic.”

Most of the recent surge is attributed to Covid spreading in-doors at house gatherings. New York is one of at least 15 states to set limits of 10 people for gatherings in private residences.

“It only takes one positive person who can spread it,” said Paul Pettit, public health director in Genesee and Orleans counties.

He said people don’t tend to wear masks in a private setting. Those gatherings are fueling some of the local spread, he said.

Orleans and Genesee are also seeing spread from workplace settings where some asymptomatic workers are passing it to co-workers who then take it home to family members.

“We’ve had several clusters where it was driven in the workplace,” Pettit said during the Zoom call on Tuesday.

If urged people who have symptoms to stay home from work or school and get tested to verify if they have Covid-19.

Local law enforcement has responded to 300-plus PAUSE complaints during pandemic

ALBION – Orleans County law enforcement wasn’t called to investigate any complaints on Thanksgiving about people exceeding a 10-person limit on gatherings inside private homes, Sheriff Chris Bourke said.

“I was expecting to get a lot of those and we did not receive any,” Bourke told local elected officials in a Zoom conference call on Tuesday.

There were only eight complaints in the state on Thanksgiving about the 10-person limit, Bourke said, quoting a survey from the New York State Sheriffs’ Association. That survey included responses from 46 of the 62 counties in the state.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said there weren’t any fines in the state on Thanksgiving for exceeding the 10-person cap.

Bourke said local law enforcement continues to respond to “New York on PAUSE” complaints, where customers or employees can call a hotline or file a complaint online to report a business that isn’t adhering to social distancing or mask wearing.

Of the 311 complaints filed during the pandemic in Orleans County, Bourke said 171 have been handled by the Sheriff’s Office, 63 by the Medina Police Department, 47 by the Albion Police Department and 30 by the Holley Police Department.

Bourke said the Sheriff’s Office uses “friendly persuasion” in responding to the complaints, making sure the businesses know the rules and understand the threat of Covid-19.

Bourke urged the businesses and community to treat Covid-19 seriously. He said one of his neighbors has died after contracting Covid, and the brother of a corrections officer died after getting Covid.

File photo by Tom Rivers: The Orleans County Jail had 13 corrections officers and three inmates test positive for Covid-19 last month.

ALBION – Orleans County Sheriff Chris Bourke said the county jail had 13 corrections officers test positive for Covid-19 last month, with one of the officers hospitalized and on a ventilator for two days.

Bourke said most of the staff who tested positive were asymptomatic or had minor symptoms.

“Everybody has recovered and is doing well,” Bourke said on Tuesday on a Zoom conference call with other elected officials in the county.

The jail has about 45 staff members total. In addition to the 13 corrections officers, three inmates tested positive for Covid last month.

The jail is at about a quarter of its 82-inmate capacity.

Bourke said there are no in-person inmate visits right now. Friends and families of inmates can use the Video Visitation System.

There also won’t be weekend jail sentences served during this current surge in Covid cases in the region. Bourke said those sentences have been suspended, and not eliminated with the time to be served later when the Covid cases go down.

District Attorney Joe Cardone also said the county court system is back to functioning mostly through virtual appearances. There will be very few in-person appearances. Cardone said three upcoming trials that were scheduled have been postponed because juries can’t be picked due to restrictions with the Covid pandemic.

Judges also can’t sentence people to jail until February, Cardone said in the conference with local officials.

Administrator says state mandates dominate tax levy

ALBION – Orleans County officials went over a proposed $73 million budget for 2021 that would increase the tax levy by 1.66 percent. That stays under the county’s allowable tax cap of 1.75 percent.

The county had $314,749 in allowable growth in the levy. The budget came in with about a $15,000 cushion before hitting the tax cap, said Jack Welch, the county’s chief administrative officer. The 2021 budget is his first one since taking over as top administrator in March.

The budget would increase spending by 2.16 percent, from $71,711,638 to $73,262,025. The tax rate would increase by 1.11 percent or 11 cents, from $9,87 to $9.98 per $1,000 of assessed property.

“The 2021 budget moves us in the right direction, keeps the services our residents depend on, stays within the tax cap and fights Covid,” County Legislature Chair Lynne Johnson said during a budget hearing on Monday evening.

That hearing was conducted through Zoom video conferencing due to Covid-19 concerns and restrictions. About 40 people participated in the Zoom conference.

The Legislature is scheduled to vote on the budget at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday in a meeting to be conducted through Zoom.

Johnson praised the county employees for their efforts the past eight months during a pandemic. All of the departments have needed to change the way they provide services.

The Covid pandemic has been “the greatest public health threat” during the lifetimes of the current legislators and cunty officials, she said.

“The departments stepped up and mobilized like never before,” Johnson said.

She also praised the county workforce for their sacrifices. There were 34 employees temporarily laid off in late April and 10 other positions weren’t filled due to fiscal constraints from the pandemic.

The proposed budget would eliminate 8 full-time jobs and 12 part-time positions from 2020. The county will down 8 full-time positions from 333 to 325.

Department heads followed the push from the Legislature to submit “no frills” budgets, Johnson said.

Johnson remains hopeful the federal government will come through with a relief package for local governments. But with no funding yet approved by Congress for localities, Johnson said the county officials had to act and craft a budget that stays under the tax cap but also maintains existing programs.

“It is our investment in people and services,” she said. “It shows we are here to serve you and continue to serve you in a responsible way.”

Nine mandated programs from the state account for more than 90 percent of the tax levy, Welch said. Those “9 for 90” mandates and their county cost include: Medicaid, $8,121,776; Pension, $3,054,489; Public Assistance/Safety Net, $1,802,337; Child Welfare/Protection, $1,336,399; Special Education, $971,931; Probation, $759,299; Indigent Defense, $536,053; Youth Detention, $302,650; and Early Intervention, $204,688.

Those nine mandated costs add up to $17,089,622, or 93 percent of the $18,309,497 tax levy.

Some other highlights include:

• The budget allocates $2,577,00 in capital projects — $1,225,000 for highway reconstruction with state CHIPS money (down 20%), $1,152,000 in preventive maintenance on four bridges (funded through federal TIP funds), and $100,000 in county funds for culvert and bridge repairs, and $100,000 in local funds to patch and seal county roads.

• Sales tax is currently slightly above the receipts in 2019. That convinced county officials to budget $400,000 more in sales tax in 2021, to $16,175,000.

• The budget also maintains funding to outside agencies. They didn’t face a funding cut, and they didn’t get an increase.

Those agencies and organizations in the budget include: $240,000 to Cornell Cooperative Extension, $190,000 to Orleans Economic Development Agency, $92,500 to Soil & Water Conservation District, $10,000 to be shared among four public libraries, $5,000 to Mercy Flight, $4,000 to Sportsmen Federation, and $3,000 to GO Art!

• The fee for solid waste and recycling service will be $216, which is a 2percent increase from 2020.

• The budget also calls for 2 percent raises for the seven county legislators. Their pay will go from $18,496 to $18,886 for the chair, $13,985 to $14,265 for the vice chair, and from $12,329 to $12,576 for the other five legislators.

ALBION – There will be a public hearing on Orleans County’s proposed $73 million budget today at 5:30 p.m.

The hearing will be through Zoom video conferencing, rather than an in-person session due to Covid-19 restrictions. Click here for instructions on being a part of the meeting.

The budget would increase spending by 2.16 percent, from $71,711,638 to $73,262,025, and taxes would go up 1.66 percent or by $299,798 — from $18,009,699 to $18,309,497.

The tax rate would increase by 1.11 percent or 11 cents, from $9,87 to $9.98 per $1,000 of assessed property.

The county faces uncertainty in state reimbursements. It also will be paying 20 percent more in retirement contributions. That’s because the stock market was at a low point on March 31, and that’s the date the state comptroller takes the valuation of the retirement fund to set retirement rates for 2021.

The county also faces a 19 percent increase in health insurance premiums for 2021 due to rising pharmaceutical costs in the county’s health plan.

The county also is in a two-year annual sales tax diversion of $190,274 for “Fiscally Distressed Health Facilities,” which was imposed by the state.

The budget meets a goal of county legislators in maintaining core services while staying within the state tax cap.

The budget also maintains funding to outside agencies. They didn’t face a funding cut, and they didn’t get an increase.

Those agencies and organizations in the budget include: $240,000 to Cornell Cooperative Extension, $190,000 to Orleans Economic Development Agency, $92,500 to Soil & Water Conservation District, $10,000 to be shared among four public libraries, $5,000 to Mercy Flight, $4,000 to Sportsmen Federation, and $3,000 to GO Art!

The tentative budget would eliminate 8 full-time jobs and 12 part-time positions from 2020. The county will down 8 full-time positions from 333 to 325.

The fee for solid waste and recycling service will be $216, which is a 2percent increase from 2020.

The budget also calls for 2 percent raises for the seven county legislators. Their pay will go from $18,496 to $18,886 for the chair, $13,985 to $14,265 for the vice chair, and from $12,329 to $12,576 for the other five legislators.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Workers from Upstate Tower Inc. last week are shown doing final work and inspections on the new 180-foot-high radio tower by the Orleans County Public Safety Building on Route 31.

This is one of four new radio towers in the county. Upstate Tower also installed two other 180-foot-high towers in Kendall near the school’s bus garage and in Yates on Millers Road near the water tank.

The other tower is 150 feet high near the Holley water tank on Route 237.

Upstate Tower is doing final inspections on the 700/800Mhz L3 Harris P25 Digital Public Safety Radio System. The county received a $5,897,141 million grant from the state for the project, which includes access roads, antennas, microwaves, shelters, standby generators, propane tanks and security fences.

Finger Lakes Communications, a contractor for L3 Harris, will be doing final hookup and system testing from Nov. 30 through Dec. 11, with the final cut-over expected in late December, said Dale Banker, director of the Orleans County Emergency Management Office.

The $6 million upgrade will strengthen communications between multiple jurisdictions and agencies.

“This project will greatly improve radio system coverage for the 1,300 system users and improve public safety for all residents of Orleans County,” Banker said.

The NYS Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services provided the nearly $5.9 million grant through the Office of Interoperable Communications. Banker, who serves as 700/800 MHz Radio System Administrator, also credited the support and efforts of the Orleans County Legislature, Orleans County Treasurer’s Office, Emergency Management staff and grant personal, Orleans County DPW, the Orleans County Radio Advisory Board and County Attorney Kathy Bogan.

“I also want to thank the Village of Holley, Kendall School District and Village of Lyndonville for their great partnership and cooperation allowing Orleans County to have ground lease agreements to co-locate our tower sites on their properties,” he said.

Number of workers in county drops by 1,400 — from 16,900 to 15,500 in past year

Orleans County’s unemployment rate was 6.0 percent in October, far less than pandemic high of 15.9 percent in April but more than the 4.1 in October 2019, when there wasn’t Covid-19.

The latest monthly report from the state Department of Labor shows there were 1,400 fewer people working in Orleans County in October, compared to a year earlier. The number of employed people in the county dropped from 16,900 in October 2019 to 15,500 last month.

The number of unemployed was up from 700 in October 2019 to 1,000 last month.

The number of unemployed has generally being going down since April’s high of 2,700, to 1,900 in May and June. It was at 2,300 in July and then 1,700 in August. Last month, the state DOL said it 900 in Orleans County.

In September, the unemployment rate was down to 5.5 percent in Orleans, the low of the pandemic. It went up to 6.0 in October. Since the pandemic hit, and the state closed or restricted many businesses, the unemployment rates in Orleans have been 15.9 percent in April, 11.5 percent in May, 10.8 percent in June, 12.7 percent in July and 9.8 percent in August.

While the rate is much less than the pandemic peak in April and May, it is still far more than a year ago. New York’s statewide unemployment rate was at 9.2 percent in October, compared to 3.7 percent in October 2019. Nationally the rate was at 6.6 percent in October, compared to 3.3 percent a year earlier.

New York City is suffering the most, with the rate up from 3.7 percent in October 2019 to 13.7 percent last month.

The Buffalo-Niagara Falls metro increased from 4.1 to 6.9 percent in the year, while the Rochester metro rate was up from 3.9 to 6.4 percent.

Other unemployment rates for October in the Western New York region include:

• Allegany, 5.7 percent
• Cattaraugus, 6.2 percent
• Chautauqua, 7.0 percent
• Erie, 6.9 percent
• Genesee, 5.1 percent
• Livingston, 4.9 percent
• Monroe, 6.9 percent
• Niagara, 6.9 percent
• Orleans, 6.0 percent
• Wyoming, 4.9 percent

ALBION – The Orleans County Planning Board supported several projects on Thursday evening including a home business in Yates selling firearms, and a new monopole in Clarendon for Verizon.

In Yates, Steve Boring Jr. wants to open “Patriot Arms” at his home 12177 Platten Road in Agricultural- Residential Zone. Boring, in his application to the Planning Board, said he wants to sell firearms and ammunition to hunters and target shooters.

Boring will need a federal firearms license to open the business. Before he gets that license, he needs the local approval from the Yates town officials for a permit to operate the business and site plan approval.

The County Planning Board makes recommendations on referrals from towns and villages. The county suggested Yates approve the site plan and issue a permit, as long as Boring has adequate security measures in place and has a turnaround on the driveway.

• In Clarendon, county planners recommended the town give Verizon a permit and approve the site plan for a 149-foot-high telecommunications tower at 4514 Holley-Byron Rd. in a Rural Agricultural Zone.

The monopole for Verizon will be built on land owned by Albert Schnabel Jr.

• County planners also recommended the Town of Barre approve the site plan and issue a permit for Marissa and Patrick Olles, who want to open automotive repair shop at 13299 West Lee Road, west of Eagle Harbor Rd. This is the site of the former Jordan River Logging business.

Patrick Olles opened Pat’s Long Bridge Repair in 2015 on Long Bridge Road in Albion, doing car and light truck repairs.

Request for a Site Plan Review and Special Use Permit for an Automotive Repair Facility at 13299 West Lee Road in Agricultural-Residential (AR) Zone. They are in the process of acquiring the site from Virginia Van Apeldoorn.

• In Shelby, county planners supported amendments to the town’s zoning amendments for regulating solar energy systems.

Michelle Billington, an environmental attorney for Bond, Schoeneck & King, discussed the changes with the County Planning Board on Thursday.

The amendments will require utility-scale solar systems to have a decommissioning plan with site restoration. The solar energy companies also need to provide a cost estimate with an annual review for decommissioning and removing a non-operational or abandoned systems.

The zoning amendments also allow utility-scale projects to do a host community agreement with the town.

County approves 4-year contract with deputies, 2% annual raises

ALBION — Deputies at the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office will get 2 percent annual raises in a new four-year contract approved today by the County Legislature.

The contract runs from Jan. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2024. The 2 percent raises are the same level for at least the past five years.

The contract includes a change to hospitalizations, dental and medical benefits, with any new hires responsible for 20 percent of the cost of the premiums.