ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature next week is expected to accept bids for the first phase of an expansion project at the County Administration Building.

Bids for the installation of new concrete sidewalks, ramps and concrete curbing are due on Friday.

The Legislature meets next Wednesday and is expected to approve the contractor for the site improvements. The work is expected to start Oct. 30 and be complete by Dec. 29.

The county is moving forward with a $10 million addition on the County Administration Building, an office building on Route 31 behind the nursing home.

The County Legislature last month approved a resolution authorizing construction of the addition, which would be about 22,000 square feet. Construction of the addition is expected to start in March 2018, with the project complete in September 2019.

The Legislature last month authorized a bond at a maximum $10,063,881. It will be paid back over 25 years.

The county is pursuing the addition so it will have county-owned space for the public health department and Board of Elections. The Department of Social Services might also be relocated to the new space.

Public health and the Board of Elections use facilities that are owned by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC. Comprehensive acquired the nursing home and the neighboring public health building as part of the $7.8 million acquisition on Jan.1, 2015.

The county also has already been approved for a $3,682,748 grant towards the project and could receive more assistance. The county also has applied for a grant through State Sen. Robert Ortt’s office to help with the project.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in July that Orleans County would receive a $3,682,748 grant to “protect and transform” healthcare in Orleans County.

The funding would support primary care staff from Oak Orchard Health to work out of the county mental health department. The bulk of the funding would go towards an addition on the County Administration Building for the Health Department.

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Press Release, New York State Board of Elections

ALBANY – The State Board of Elections reminds all state residents to register to vote for the Nov. 7 general election. Mail-in voter registration forms must be postmarked by midnight on Friday and received by a Board of Elections no later than Oct. 18 to be valid for the upcoming general election.

Candidates for the State Supreme Court as well as many important local offices will be on the ballot this year, in addition to three statewide ballot propositions. You can check the State Board of Elections’ website (www.elections.ny.gov) or contact your local board of elections for more information.

The voter registration form can be downloaded from our website: www.elections.ny.gov. You may also register online through the Department of Motor Vehicles at their MyDMV site. You can also register or find forms at most state and federal government offices in addition to finding forms at the post office or your local library.

Residents who have moved to a new county within the state are reminded that they must re-register from their new address. Those who are currently registered and have moved to a new address in the same county should notify their county board of elections in writing of their move no later than Oct. 18.

If you wish to change your party enrollment to participate in a primary next year your change must be received by your local county board no later than Oct. 13.

Persons who are unsure whether they are registered, or wish to verify their current address, may check their status at the State Board’s website: www.elections.ny.gov.

New Yorkers wanting to register in-person may do so at their county boards of elections and at many state agency offices throughout the state, but must do so no later than Oct. 13, to be eligible to vote in the general election.

For more information on registering to vote in Orleans County, call (585) 589-3274 or stop by the Board of Elections, which is located at the western wing of the nursing home, 14012 Route 31 West.

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Peggy Barringer of Albion won the 2016 Orleans County Tourism Photo Contest with her entry, “Springtime at Mount Albion Cemetery.”

ALBION – Orleans County Tourism is welcoming submissions for a photo contest for the 2018 Calendar and Travel Guide.

There are prizes for the top three winning photographers: pairs of tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m.; Mannheim Steamroller Xmas at Shea’s Theater in Buffalo, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m.; Disney’s the Lion King at Shea’s Theater in Buffalo, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m.

The first place photographer will have first choice on two complimentary tickets to any one of the events listed above. The second and third place winners will choose from the remaining pairs of tickets in that order. Only one prize will be awarded per photographer.

To see the contest rules and a photo release form, click here.

Deadline to enter is Nov. 3 (via email) and if mailed, postmarked by Nov. 1. Winners will be notified by Nov. 10.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Orleans County Courthouse has a pink tint in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The flag at Courthouse Square is at half-staff in memory of the 58 people killed by a gunman in Las Vegas, and more than 500 injured.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The new Orleans County fire safety training trailer includes characters to help get the message across about having a fire escape plan.

“We didn’t want a bland house,” said Pete Sidari, an Albion firefighter who also works as a fire safety educator for the North Greece Fire District.

The county’s Emergency Management Office received a $75,000 state grant through the office of Sen. Robert Ortt for the fire safety trailer, which is available to all 12 fire departments in the county.

Sidari reached out to Greg Stanton at Stanton Signs in Medina to create the signs and decals on the trailer. Sidari wanted characters and a message to reinforce what students will learn about fire prevention and a fire escape plan. Sidari said the trailer also functions as “a traveling billboard” with the messages.

Sidari discussed the new fire safety trailer on Monday at the Albion Board of Education meeting. The trailer will be used next week during fire prevention week at local school districts.

The trailer made its public debut on Sunday when the 35-foot-long trailer was at the Medina Fire Department open house.

There have been 42 firefighters in the county trained to lead students through the trailer. Sidari said the public education program will be a work in progress. Many other communities with fire safety trailers have paid personnel who lead the program. In Orleans County, almost all of the firefighters are volunteers. Only Medina has paid staff.

The trailer will mainly be used at local schools, but Sidari said it will also be available at some community events.

It has special features with fog to simulate smoke, a hot door with electrodes, alarms, a burning trash can and a phone system to practice making 911 calls (a firefighter will be on the other line to answer the call).

Pete Sidari closes a door in the fire safety house on Sunday. The door has an electrode that heats up. Children will learn to not open a hot door.

Firefighters stress the importance of having working smoke alarms, knowing two ways of getting out of a room. A door is the first try, but the second way out may be a window. Families should also have a meeting place outside a house or apartment in case of fire. Usually that is in front of the residence.

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Photo by Tom Rivers: Betty Sue Miller, director of Hoag Library in Albion, asked members of the Orleans County Legislature to give the four public libraries a boost in funding in 2018.

ALBION – It’s budget season for the Orleans County Legislature and agencies in the community have made their requests for funding.

Representatives from the four public libraries attended last week’s County Legislature meeting and pressed the group for a funding increase.

Ideally, the libraries would like $1 per person in aid from the county, said Betty Sue Miller, director of Hoag Library in Albion.

If the libraries received $1 per person that would be $42,883. The libraries receive about a quarter of that amount from the county.

The libraries in Albion (Hoag Library), Holley (Community Free Library), Lyndonville (Yates Community Library) and Medina (Lee-Whedon Memorial Library) share $10,087 from the county. The $10,087 has been the libraries’ funding level from the county since 2011.

Directors from the four libraries last week asked county legislators for a funding boost. Libraries could use more money to keep up with the costs of providing computer access, programs, books, magazines and other information for residents, the directors said.

“Please consider at least your (current) level of commitment, and any little increase would certainly be appreciated,” Miller told the group.

In addition to books, magazines and other reading resources, the libraries provide concerts, family activities, historical programs, meeting space and other programs.

The county was giving $29,914 to be shared among the four libraries as recently as 2002, but that dropped to $7,480 in 2003. Since then, the amount was raised to $12,587 in 2007, $13,617 in 2010, and then was cut to $10,087 in 2011. It hasn’t changed since then.

“When other governments cut, the libraries are the first to feel it,” Miller said. “All I’m asking is you continue to remember us.”

Representatives from the Cobblestone Museum addressed the Legislature last month and asked for $7,500 in support. The museum hasn’t had a line item in the budget for several years, although the Legislature approved $3,000 in 2017 for the museum at the county’s end-of-the-year meeting.

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Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Auxiliary Police, which started in 1952 in Orleans County, was disbanded in December due to liability concerns from the county and the group’s declining membership. The Auxiliary Police were down to seven members when the group ceased. The auxiliary police still had $1,500 in its account from fundraisers. The group’s leaders decided to give the funds away. It picked Camp Rainbow, the Company F memorial statue effort, and the Orleans County Joint Veterans Council Medical Van Service. The Medina Sandstone Society is working on the Company F memorial by the former Armory in Medina, which is now a YMCA.

Pictured this afternoon include, from left: Shelley Falitico, director of development for the Arc of Genesee Orleans (which owns Camp Rainbow in Ridgeway); Wayne Hale from the Medina Sandstone Society; Bill Menz (sitting) from the Sandstone Society; Lynne Menz from the Sandstone Society; Phyllis Schrader, coordinator of the Medical Van Service for veterans; Earl Schmidt, Veterans Service Agency director in Orleans County; Dave Thom, former lieutenant with the Auxiliary Police; and Jack Monell, former commander of the Auxiliary Police.

The Auxiliary Police provided crowd control at the 4-H Fair, football games, festivals and other community events. Thom volunteered with the group for 27 years and Monell was an active member for 47 years.

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Photos by Tom Rivers: David Cook, president of the United Way of Orleans County, thanks volunteers and supporters of the annual fundraising appeal for the organization. Jessica Downey, the United Way executive director, joins Cook at the campaign kick off on Thursday evening.

MEDINA – The United Way of Orleans County has set a $190,000 campaign goal for its annual fund-raising appeal to support 16 agencies in the county. The money supports programs that serve youth, senior citizens, people with disabilities and people in crisis.

United Way supporters and agency leaders met on Thursday to kick off the campaign at the Leonard Oakes Estate Winery.

David Cook, United Way president in Orleans County, said the county is fortunate to have several businesses and committed residents who give to the campaign. The funds are important for several agencies to fulfill their mission in the county.

Mary Lee Knights is president of OCALS Learning Services, which provides literacy programs in the county. She said United Way funding was essential for the agency to start and then expand its services in the county.

Jessica Downey, the United Way director, said the United Way is determined to raise funds for the agencies, so they can continue their important work in the community.

“United Way is an easy way to donate to touch many agencies in our community,” she said.

She urged businesses, organizations and residents to give to the campaign. She said several businesses have been steady contributors in recent years, including Baxter Healthcare, Takeform Architectural Graphics, Talis Equity, BMP America and CRFS.

The United Way has a website and people can give online. Click here for more information.

The agencies that receive funding from the United Way include:

• 4-H Youth – Cornell Cooperative Extension, Arc of Orleans County Camp Rainbow, Arc of Orleans County Meals on Wheels & Nutri-Fair, Boy Scouts of America – Iroquois Trail Council, Inc., Christ Church Community Kitchen

• Community Action – Main Street Store Employment Support Project, GCASA, Hospice of Orleans Martin-Linsin Residence, Orleans County Adult Learning Services, Regional Action Phone

• Pathstone – Women’s Issues Now (WIN) Domestic Violence Program, Senior Citizens of WNY, YMCA, Ministry of Concern, Just Friends, Ministry of Concern, Last Resort and Town of Yates, Summer Recreation Program.

The United Way in January also started volunteering at the Christ Church Community Kitchen in Albion the second Friday each month. Downey and the United Way cook and serve the meals. United Way board members, their children and family have all volunteered, as well as employees from local businesses that support the United Way.

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ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature stated its support for federal legislation proposed by Congressman Chris Collins that would repeal the SAFE Act, a gun control measure passed in New York State on Jan. 15, 2013.

The County Legislature on Feb. 13, 2013, unanimously passed a resolution opposing the SAFE Act and calling for its repeal.

Collins, R-Clarence, said the “Second Amendment Guarantee Act” would limit the authority of states and localities to regulate or impose penalties or taxes in relation to rifles or shotguns.

File photo by Tom Rivers: This photo from Sept. 8, 2014 shows a rally against the SAFE Act in Albion. About 200 people attended that rally outside the Albion Gun Shop on Hamilton Street.

The Collins’ bill would prevent local governments from enacting restrictions on any part of a rifle or shotgun, including any detachable magazine or ammunition feeding device and any type of grip or stock design.

“Any current or future laws enacted by a state or political subdivision that exceeds federal law for rifles and shotguns would be void, including the NY SAFE Act,” according to the county resolution approved on Wednesday.

In effect, Collins said SAGA would serve as a means to repeal the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act at the federal level. He said repealing the SAFE Act has been a priority for more than four years.

County Legislator Don Allport said Orleans County was the first county to go on the record as “100 percent opposed” to the SAFE Act. Orleans was recognized at a state SCOPE (Shooters Committee On Political Education) for its distinction having all county, town and village elected boards oppose the SAFE Act, Allport said.

Collins on July 30 said the SAFE Act is a “blatant encroachment of citizens’ Second Amendment rights.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called the push by Collins “a blatant political ploy.”

“This disturbing bill puts New Yorkers in harm’s way – and to make it worse, there is no basis for it. None,” Cuomo said in a statement on July 31. “The courts have resoundingly upheld New York’s law as consistent with the Constitution. We understand that Washington is in turmoil right now – we just ask that they don’t do anything to set back the progress we’ve been able to make despite them.”

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Photos by Tom Rivers – The County Administration Building on Route 31 will have an addition to make room for relocated county offices.

ALBION – The county is moving forward with a $10 million addition on the County Administration Building, an office building on Route 31 behind the nursing home.

The County Legislature on Wednesday approved a resolution authorizing construction of the addition, which would be about 22,000 square feet.

The project will be bid with some options that could be added or removed depending on the cost, Chuck Nesbitt, the county’s chief administrative officer, told legislators.

Construction of the addition is expected to start in March 2018, with the project complete in September 2019.

The county is pursuing the addition so it will have county-owned space for the public health department and Board of Elections. The Department of Social Services might also be relocated to the new space.

Public health and the Board of Elections use facilities that are owned by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC. Comprehensive acquired the nursing home and the neighboring public health building as part of the $7.8 million acquisition on Jan.1, 2015.

Public Health leases space next to the former Orleans County Nursing Home on Route 31 in Albion.

County officials pay an annual six-figure rent to Comprehensive for use of the space for the Health Department and for the wing in the nursing home used by the Board of Elections, Nesbitt said.

Using what the county currently pays in the lease to Comprehensive will help offset the debt for the addition. The county also has already been approved for a $3,682,748 grant towards the project and could receive more assistance. Nesbitt said the county has applied for a grant through State Sen. Robert Ortt’s office to help with the project.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in July that Orleans County would receive a $3,682,748 grant to “protect and transform” healthcare in Orleans County.

The funding would support primary care staff from Oak Orchard Health to work out of the county mental health department. The bulk of the funding would go towards an addition on the County Administration Building for the Health Department.

The Legislature on Wednesday authorizes a bond at a maximum $10,063,881. It will be paid back over 25 years.

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ALBION – Orleans County is joining a growing number of municipalities in a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies for allegedly fueling an opioid crisis.

The Orleans County Legislature on Wednesday voted to retain Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, a Manhattan firm, in the lawsuit. The firm is paying any upfront costs for staffing and retaining expert witnesses, County Attorney David Schubel said.

He said about 40 counties have already joined the lawsuit, including Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Suffolk, Nassau and the State of Ohio. The cases in New York will handled in a uniform effort in Suffolk County, Schubel said.

The counties are contending the pharmaceutical manufacturers knew that opioids were effective for short-term or trauma-related pain, as well as palliative (end-of-life) care. However, the manufacturers also knew for years that opioids were addictive and subject to abuse, especially when used for more than three months.

The lawsuit contends that prescription painkillers, as well as heroin abuse, are the prime causes for an increase in overdose deaths. In 2014, there were 28,647 opioid overdose deaths nationwide, a 14 percent increase from the previous year.

In 2014, the heroin overdose deaths in New York reached 825, a jump of 23 percent from the previous year and 25 times the number a decade earlier, according to a resolution from the County Legislature on Wednesday.

Orleans and other municipalities in the lawsuit are seeking to recover damages that have contributed “to high costs to the taxpayers in the form of increased social services, policing, and other expenditures,” according to the county resolution.

Schubel said the law firm will bear the costs of the lawsuit and stands to receive 7.5 to 25 percent of any funds paid by the pharmaceutical companies.

Pharmaceutical companies have denied misleading the public about the addictive nature of painkillers, such as Oxycontin. The prescription painkillers are FDA approved and include warnings on the product label about possible risks, the companies have said.

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Orleans County residents are being asked for their opinions on the long-term future of the Lake Ontario State Parkway, a four-lane divided highway the westernmost 12.7 miles of which run through Carlton and Kendall.

Responses in summary form will be incorporated into a study being undertaken by the Orleans County Department of Planning and Development, in partnership with the Genesee Transportation Council regarding feasible future options for the Parkway.

Among the alternatives include reducing the number of lanes, adding recreational trails, or simply leaving the Parkway the way it is. A transportation consultant has been chosen to develop recommendations and present them to the project committee.

As a part of the study, similar surveys are being distributed to Orleans County businesses and other important stakeholders to find out what they think of the parkway and how it might be improved.

An electronic version of the survey is available by clicking here. Paper copies are also available at the Orleans County Department of Planning and Development office at:

Orleans County Administration Building 14016 Route 31 West, Albion, NY 14411

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