LYNDONVILLE – Emily Cebula is retiring next week after leading the Yates Community Library since 2008, a time when the library expanded cultural programming and gave the interior a significant renovation.

The Yates Town Board issued a proclamation on Dec. 12 praising her “exemplary” service as the library director.

She was commended for organizing and leading the “Lyndonville Reads” community reading project, overseeing a summer outdoor concert series, and her “exceptional” collaborative work with employees, volunteers, the board of trustees and NIOGA.

The Yates Town Board also cited Cebula’s efforts to implement the Orleans Digital Literacy Project, and her enhancements of the library website with digitized local newspapers and school yearbooks.

“The Yates Town Board hereby recognizes Emily Cebula’s faithful service to our community as director of the Yates Community Library, and wishes her all the best in her retirement,” the proclamation stated.

Cebula is the second public library director to retire this year in Orleans County. Sandra Shaw also retired from leading the Community Free Library in Holley.

Photos by Tom Rivers

BARRE – Firefighters respond this morning to a fire in Barre barn owned by Richard Miller at 13481 Miller Rd.

Firefighters and Miller said the fire started from a skid steer. The fire spread to some hay in the barn.

Firefighters moved the scorched hay from inside, and hosed down the skid steer.

Miller said a neighbor called him to say there was smoke coming from the barn at about 9 a.m.

Two cows were inside as well as many sheep, and they were safely moved to an outdoor pasture. Miller is retired from farming. His two granddaughters show the cows in the Orleans County 4-H Fair.

The barn didn’t appear to suffer any damage from the fire.

Firefighters from Barre, Albion and Medina responded to the scene, as well as the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office and Orleans County Emergency Management Office.

Photos by Tom Rivers: John Riggi, left, has stepped down as Yates town councilman and his spot will be filled by Steve Vann, who is shown speaking at a Lyndonville Board of Education meeting in May.

YATES – The Yates Town Board has appointed Steve Vann to fill a vacancy as town councilman with the resignation of John Riggi.

Vann, the chairman of Village of Lyndonville Planning Board, was appointed on Dec. 12. He starts on Jan. 1.

Vann was a member of the Lyndonville Board of Education. He works as a president of J.S.C Management Group which operates many Burger King restaurants.

Riggi served nearly a decade on the Town Board. He was active in a fight against large wind turbines in Yates and Somerset, serving as president of the Save Ontario Shores group. During his tenure on the board, Yates passed town ordinances making it more difficult to site industrial-sized turbines in the town.

Town Supervisor Jim Simon said Vann will be an asset to the Town Board starting on Jan. 1. Vann brings a business acumen, and expertise in finance and health care expenses, Simon said during the Dec. 12 meeting.

File photo by Tom Rivers: This photo from October 2021 shows a farm scene looking down from Presbyterian Road on the Erie Canal in Albion, looking north. The bridge was close to traffic on Dec. 30.

ALBION – The canal bridge on Presbyterian Road will close to traffic Dec. 30 and is expected to be closed for a repair until May 1, the Orleans County Emergency Management Office announced today.

The bridge is the last canal bridge on the west side of the Town of Albion, located between the Allens Bridge Road bridge and Knowlesville lift bridge.

Photo by Tom Rivers: One of the stops during the Oct. 5 Boxwood at Night event included a display with a list of the 107 people buried in a potter’s field at the cemetery. Of those 107, only 28 have head stones. The Friends of Boxwood Cemetery would like to install a plaque in the cemetery listing all 107 people. The Medina Sandstone Society is contributing to that effort.

Press Release, Medina Sandstone Trust

MEDINA – The Medina Sandstone Trust, a community endowment that disburses small grants to local programs, projects, and organizations has released its 2024 grant awards.

The following programs and organizations were funded a total of $5,600 for 2024’s round of grant funding.

• Hands for Hope Street Ministry to provide Purex and laundry detergent to clients.
• The Canalside Radio to assist with the purchase of 100-watt FM radio transmitter and related equipment, antenna, etc.
• The Medina Historical Society for funds to cover historical speakers and publicity costs for future programming.
• ORG – Friends of Boxwood Cemetery for assistance with the cost of installing a memorial in Potters Field, listing the names of the 107 people who are buried there. Currently there are only 28 headstones.
• GO Art! for assistance with purchasing a wagon, stage, tires, sound and projection equipment to be used first in August 2025 for the Erie Canal Artisan Festival and other future festivals and events.

This is the Medina Sandstone Trust’s 13th round of awards with over $65,000 in small grants and $10,000 in scholarships awarded so far.

The Medina Sandstone Trust encourages local non-profit agencies to apply for the 2025 round of grant funding. Instructions on how to apply will be released in October 2025.

Donations to help support the Medina Sandstone Trust can be made at any time to the Sandstone Society, Post Office Box 25, Medina, NY 14103 or donate online (click here). Gifts to this 501(c)(3) are tax deductible.

Overall the 10 towns, 4 villages remain at same level since 2001

Charts: Orleans Hub with data from Orleans County Legislature.

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has set the sales tax amounts for the 10 towns and four villages for 2025.

Overall, the towns and villages collectively remain at $1,366,671, the same amount they have received since 2001.

But in 2025, there is a slight shift to the villages by $4,014 or $383,407 to $387,421. Most of that increase is for the Village of Albion – up $3,077 to $162,169.

The county uses a formula in determining the village share by dividing the village taxable value by the town taxable value. In Albion, which completed a village and townwide reassessment in 2024, the village assessed value increased a bigger percentage than the towns’, resulting in a slight boost in the local sales tax.

That was also the case in Lyndonville, where Yates and the village completed reassessments in 2024. The village share went up $1,566, while Yates is down by $1,566.

In Holley and Medina, where there weren’t town-wide reassessments in 2024, the village share shrunk – down $530 in Medina and $98 in Holley.

The previous year, Shelby and Ridgeway completed town-wide reassessments that resulted in an $8,114 sales tax shift for Medina in 2024 – from $152,046 to $160,160. But next year it will creep back by $530.

The majority of town and village boards in 2023 passed resolutions asking the County Legislature to increase the sales tax to the municipalities, but the Legislature opted against that in the 2024 budget, citing other rising costs for the county.

The towns and villages didn’t make much noise about the issue in 2024, and Legislature has again kept the sales tax at $1,366,671.

The county takes in about $23 million overall in local sales tax. After big increases in recent years, the sales tax revenue was lagging behind for much of 2024, compared to 2023 levels. The county did see growth in the third quarter and was $150,000 ahead of the 2023 levels after the third quarter.

Fossil fuel companies will pay for critical infrastructure, resiliency projects to protect from flooding and extreme heat

Press Release, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Office

Governor Kathy Hochul today signed landmark legislation to bolster New York’s efforts to protect and restore the environment by requiring large fossil fuel companies to pay for critical projects that protect New Yorkers.

Legislation S.2129-B/A.3351-B creates a ‘Climate Superfund’ to support New York-based projects that bolster New York’s resiliency to dangerous climate impacts like flooding and extreme heat.

“With nearly every record rainfall, heatwave, and coastal storm, New Yorkers are increasingly burdened with billions of dollars in health, safety, and environmental consequences due to polluters that have historically harmed our environment,” Governor Hochul said. “Establishing the Climate Superfund is the latest example of my administration taking action to hold polluters responsible for the damage done to our environment and requiring major investments in infrastructure and other projects critical to protecting our communities and economy.”

This landmark legislation shifts the cost of climate adaptation from everyday New Yorkers to the fossil fuel companies most responsible for the pollution. By creating a Climate Change Adaptation Cost Recovery Program, this law ensures that these companies contribute to the funding of critical infrastructure investments, such as coastal protection and flood mitigation systems, to enhance the climate resilience of communities across the state.

New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) Executive Director Blair Horner said, “The governor’s approval of the Climate Change Superfund Act is a welcome holiday gift for New York taxpayers. Until her approval, New York taxpayers were 100% on the financial hook for climate costs. Now Big Oil will pay for much of the damages that they helped cause. As a result, New Yorkers will have their future tax burden reduced by $3 billion annually. This legislation is also designed to ensure that the oil industry will protect consumers from Climate Superfund costs being passed along. It’s a win for taxpayers and consumers. NYPIRG applauds the action by Governor Hochul, Senator Krueger, Assemblymember Dinowitz, and the other legislative supporters for making this innovative proposal become law.”

Another new significant climate law signed by Governor Hochul earlier this week expands upon New York State’s 2014 prohibition of high-volume hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas. Legislation S.8357/A.8866 amends the State Environmental Conservation Law to prohibit the use of carbon dioxide in gas or oil extraction to prevent potential negative health or environmental effects from carbon dioxide fracking in the state.

Provided photo: Pictured from left include Kenneth Gholston, Chairman of the Board for Homeless Alliance of Western New York; Karen Kinter, Oak Orchard Health CEO; and Rashied McDuffie, Esq., deputy mayor City of Buffalo.

Press Release, Oak Orchard Health

ALBION – Oak Orchard Health (OOH) is proud to receive the Community Advocacy and Education Award for its work in the communities it serves.

This award from the Homeless Alliance of Western New York recognizes exemplary individual or organizational efforts to advocate for homeless people through public education initiatives, awareness campaigns, conference presentations, or published research.

“The warming center initiatives that Oak Orchard Health leads in Orleans, Brockport, and Wyoming County are truly remarkable, and the Homeless Alliance of Western New York is so grateful for the work with those most vulnerable in rural areas of Western New York,” said the Homeless Alliance of Western New York.

As a Federally Qualified Health Center, Oak Orchard serves 30,000 patients, including the homeless, farmworkers, and people of all races, genders, and ages. In addition, OOH has opened two warming centers (with a third coming soon), working with its community partners and funding from Monroe County (for the Brockport Community Warming Center) and Greater Rochester Health Foundation (Warsaw).

A Warming Center provides a warm, safe place for the unhoused when temperatures drop below 32 degrees (Code Blue).

Photo by Tom Rivers: Karen Kinter, CEO of Oak Orchard Health, speaks during a celebration for a new warming center at Christ Church on Dec. 20, 2023. The site offers cots, coffee, tea, soup and hygiene kits when the temperature dropped below 32 degrees at night.

“It is truly an honor for Oak Orchard Health to be selected for the Community Advocacy and Education Award,” said Karen Kinter, CEO Oak Orchard Health. “In December 2023, we opened our first Warming Center in Orleans County. On December 23, the Brockport Community Warming Center will open. Oak Orchard Health has taken the lead on administrative and staffing of these centers.”

Many do not think there is a large, unhoused community in rural areas where our health centers reside, but that’s untrue.  The Orleans County Warming Center served 63 people on the 110 Code Blue days. New York State mandates that if the weather drops below 32 degrees, it is considered “Code Blue,” and the community must provide shelter.

The Homeless Alliance of Western New York

The Homeless Alliance of Western New York is the lead agency for the Continuum of Care (CoC) and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Wyoming, and Orleans counties.

Their program is designed to promote community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness, providing funding for efforts by nonprofit providers and state and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families and communities by homelessness; promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

About Oak Orchard Health  

Initially founded in 1973, Oak Orchard Health has grown from serving farmworkers into an integrated health center with multiple locations providing health care services to 30,000 people, including primary care, pediatric care, vision and dental care, behavioral health, as well as nutrition and outreach services for everyone located in the communities they serve.

Oak Orchard Health is a recognized patient-centered medical home and 501(c) nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located in the towns of Albion, Alexander, Batavia, Brockport, Corfu, Hornell, Medina, and Warsaw, New York. With the addition of the Mobile Medical Unit and Mobile Dental Unit, we will further increase access to care for our patients.

Organization was dropped as line item in 2025 budget

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Cobblestone Museum, a National Historic Landmark on Route 104 in Gaines, is a caretaker of many artifacts from throughout the county.

ALBION – The Cobblestone Museum, which was dropped as a line item in the county’s 2025 budget, will get $3,000 in funding from the county’s contingency fund.

The museum was in the 2024 county budget as a line item for $3,000. But county officials said the museum didn’t submit the paperwork for a formal request for funding in 2025, resulting in the museum being excluded in the budget. (The museum made its request through Fred Miller, a county legislator.)

The museum received $3,000 from the contingency fund in prior years. During a Dec. 17 meeting, the Legislature approved the $3,000, although Legislator Don Allport, R-Gaines, opposed it.

Allport has consistently opposed county funding for the museum in most recent years. He said the organization didn’t follow the proper process and he said the county shouldn’t be contributing to non-profit organizations.

“This is setting a precedent,” he said.

The other six legislators approved the funding for the museum, which expects to start construction on an expanded visitor center this year.

The county’s total budget includes $99,092,747 in spending, a 7.1 percent increase from 2024 that increases taxes by 1.95 percent.

The county allocates some funding to different agencies that provide services in the community.

Here are the funding amounts for 2025: Soil & Water Conservation District, $100,500; GO Art!, $4,000; Cornell Cooperative Extension, $240,000; four public libraries, $10,087 collectively; Orleans Economic Development Agency, $200,000; and Mercy Flight, $5,000.

The Sportsmen’s Federation used to be in the county budget and typically received $1,000 a year through 2023. It was dropped to $0 in 2024 and wasn’t allocated any funding for 2025.

The neighboring county of Genesee gives more to its museum and agencies that provide services in the community. Genesee has 58,388 people, compared to 40,343 in Orleans County.

Genesee has 44.7 percent more people, and nearly doubles the spending in Orleans County – $190,415,199 budget compared to $99,092,747 in Orleans.

Here are the amounts Genesee gives to some of the agencies in the community: Holland Land Office Museum, $38,554; libraries, $53,680; Soil & Water, $173,851; Cornell Cooperative Extension, $408,613; and GO Art!, $7,500.

Provided photo

ALBION – This group of vendors at the Downtown Browsery dressed up as Misfit Toys on Dec. 14 during Albion’s Hometown Holiday celebration.

The group includes, from left: Liz Groat, Kim Heiler, Paula Brooks, Linda Hollenbeck, Connie Ferris, Gladys Lotta, Dar Krull, Donna John and Diane Wight.

The Browsery celebrated its 20^th anniversary this past year.

Many people in the Orleans County community contributed making a memorable Christmas and holiday season, organizing and participating in parades, festivals, church services and community decorations, and by donating many gifts to others, including strangers.

We thank all of you who gave of yourselves to help make the season merrier and bright.

Photo courtesy of Jasmine Almeter

MORTON – Jasmine Almeter created a nativity scene representing the birth of Jesus out of snow on Tuesday morning in Morton. The weather was perfect, just above freezing, for making a snow creation.

Almeter owns Residential and Commercial Pest Pro in Morton, just outside Orleans County. She made a centipede out of snow in 2022 and last year made a mouse out of snow.

“This year the perfect snow came just in time for Christmas and we made a nativity scene,” she said.

Money will come from cemetery funds, but not from perpetual care

File photo by Tom Rivers: Mount Albion started the Deerfield section in 2001 with space for about 1,200 grave sites. It was the last expansion at the cemetery. There are only about 300 to 400 spots left at Deerfield.

ALBION – The sale has been finalized for the Village of Albion to acquire 35.2 acres of vacant land for future expansion of Mount Albion Cemetery.

The village is paying $250,874.58 to Patricia Nelson for the land that is next to Mount Albion’s southwest corner.

The sale was finalized on Nov. 8 and the Albion Village Board on Dec. 11 stipulated the payment comes from the cemetery, but not the perpetual care fund.

The village clerk and independent auditors reviewed the cemetery funds and determined the sale price will be paid from perpetual care funds, and instead will come from “accumulation of monies over time from donations for purchase of flowers for established grave sites or from the sale of burial sites at the cemetery,” according to a Dec. 11 board resolution.

Albion could run out of grave sites at the existing cemetery in the next five to 10 years, board members said.

Mount Albion opened in 1843 and has about 20,000 gravesites on about 80 acres. The cemetery does about 75 burials a year and sells about 50 to 60 gravesites annually, cemetery superintendent Jason Zicari said in a May interview.

The village acquired the land at $7,000 per acre plus the cost of the abstract of title and a survey.

Zicari expects the 35.2 acres will be developed in phases, and may not be needed for a decade.