Shelby candidates debate the issues during forum

6 candidates seek 3 spots on Town Board

Photos by Tom Rivers: Vassilios Bitsas speaks during Thursday’s candidate forum at the Shelby fire hall. About 100 people attended the forum that stretched more than 2 ½ hours.

SHELBY – The town has perhaps the most hotly contested election this year with six candidates seeking three positions on the Town Board.

Five of those candidates were at a candidate forum on Thursday at the Shelby Fire Hall with about 100 people attending the 2 ½-hour forum moderated by County Legislator John Fitzak.

The Town of Shelby Republican Committee organized the forum. The committee has endorsed incumbent Scott Wengewicz for another two-year as town supervisor, and also has endorsed Mike Moriarty and Vassilios Bitsas for town councilman.

Jim Heminway has forced a primary against Wengewicz for town supervisor. Larry Waters Sr. and incumbent Ed Zelazny also forced a primary for the councilmen.

There will be nine days of early voting from June 14 to June 22 at the county Board of Elections in Albion, and then voting on the June 24 primary at the Shelby Town Hall.

Zelazny, a farmer, did not attend the forum. He and councilwoman Linda Limina often vote against the majority on the board, especially with the budget and financial issues.

“Not participating in a ‘debate’ run by the same crew that rigged it two years ago,” Zelazny posted on Facebook. “No rules, no agenda, no fairness and a fixed deck of questions to serve their agenda. I’m not playing along. If you have questions about town business or anything else, you know how to find me.”

Zelazny said he isn’t a “yes man.” He said he has proven to be a fiscally conservative town official.

“Some people say I don’t say much,” he posted on Facebook. “That’s fine. I’d rather listen, show up, and vote right than talk in circles.”

County Legislator John Fitzak served as moderator of the forum, which took many questions from the crowd.

The crowd was urged to submit hand-written questions. They were collected by supporters of candidates from both sides. Fitzak urged the speakers to keep it civil.

Heminway and Waters have been at many board meetings the past two years or so, and have been a frequent critic of what they said is financial mismanagement by Wengewicz.

They both referred to a state comptroller report’s that was critical of the town supervisor’s oversight of town finances.

They both said Wengewicz and the town government make it too difficult to obtain public information, often requiring people to fill out Freedom of Information Act requests and then face long waits for the information.

Scott Wengewicz said the town has made progress on several fronts during his tenure as town supervisor.

Wengewicz started as town supervisor on Dec. 13, 2022, taking the position after Jeff Smith stepped down. Wengewicz was appointed by the board to fill the vacancy.

He is retired from a 30-year career as a Border Patrol agent. He has opened two businesses in Medina/Shelby: Mystic Dragon’s Lair and Patriot Guns.

He sees many successes from the town government, while working through the difficult challenges with the accounting software.

Shelby was able to keep a wind turbine project from advancing and opposed a sewer pipeline along Route 63 that would have dumped waste water into the Oak Orchard Creek.

The town has upgraded the town hall, the parking lot and replaced two dump trucks, while tending to other town business, Wengewicz said.

He said he has pushed to keep expenses down. He said budget he prepared and submitted as the tentative budget would have kept the town tax rate flat at $3.40 per $1,000 of assessed property in 2025, but the rate went up after the other board members weighed in.

Wengewicz noted the town was able to convince New Leaf Energy not to pursue two turbines that would peak at 633 feet. New Leaf sought two turbines on Route 63 on land owned by the Smith family.

The project was proposed by Borrego Solar System Inc. Borrego spun off the development side of its business to ECP, which named the new company, New Leaf Energy.

“There’s still a lot to do,” Wengewicz said about moving the town forward.

He said residents are welcome to stop by the town hall and he will answer their questions.

“I’ll show you whatever you want to see,” he said. “I have nothing to hide. You can see everything.”

Jim Heminway said his management experience would benefit the Town Board if he became town supervisor.

Heminway pushed back on some of Wengewicz’s comments. Heminway said the turbine project went away because of resident opposition, not because of the Town Board. Many residents signed a petition opposing the turbines.

Heminway said Shelby’s relatively low tax rate is due to reassessments that significantly increased the town’s tax base, and also led to higher tax bills for residents.

Wengewicz also worked with Royalton town officials to allow Shelby to tap into their water system, bringing a lower-cost option to part of Shelby. Wengewicz said the water from Royalton should be about half the cost as from Medina.

Heminway, however, said Wengewicz did that while alienating the Village of Medina, and Shelby so far doesn’t fully account for a blended rate with water mixed together from the two systems. Wengewicz said the blended rate will soon be known. The town is waiting on the first quarterly water bills to go through to provide data for determining a mixed rate.

Heminway is retired as chief operations officer for Monroe Electronics in Lyndonville. He worked there from 1998 to 2019. He also worked for American Sigma and Baxter Healthcare.

“I’ve had a lot of experience working in very diverse groups, getting different people together,” he said. “I spent a career managing people and products.”

Heminway is a current village resident who used to live on Dunlap Road, outside the village. He said the current board takes an “adversarial approach” with the village that could prove detrimental to the overall community.

He said the village faces increasing dire financial straits, with its taxes going up and facing rising costs to provide police, ambulance, fire protection and other services.

He noted that while Shelby has long felt Medina was overcharging on water, Shelby officials didn’t find resolution with the village.

“We have to reestablish that relationship with those folks,” he said. “We’re all in this together. The way things are going with taxes, we’re going to sink together.”

Shelby has the Medina Business Park which is an attractive option for businesses. But Heminway said they need to be businesses that “don’t damage our natural resources.”

The community also needs to work to solve a housing crisis where there are too few options locally. Businesses that come to Shelby will need places for employees to live.

He said Shelby should strive to be fair with the village and not be another force that works against the village.

The candidates were asked how to help the village so it doesn’t dissolve as a village government.

Vassilios Bitsas said communication and transparency should be a focus from the Town Board.

All five at the forum said they value the village services, especially the police and fire department. Waters was the lone candidate to say more of the local sales tax needs to be shared by the county government. The County legislature has kept the towns and villages collectively at about $1.3 million since 2001. The county keeps about 95 percent of the local sales tax.

Heminway said the leaders of the Shelby, Ridgeway and Medina governments, as well as the county legislators from the community, need to get together regularly to go over the local issues and see how they can better work together.

“There needs to be more communication with our neighbors,” Heminway said. “We’re not that big.”

Vassilios Bitsas, age 25, works in the day-to-day operations with the family’s restaurant – Country Club Family Restaurant in medina – and three Cusimano’s Pizzeria locations in Medina, Lockport and Brockport. The family employs 250 people, and Bitsas said clear communication and valuing employees are keys to the businesses’ success.

Bitsas said he wants to be more involved in the community, and bring a younger adult’s perspective to the board, while seeking the input from residents and other board members.

“I just want to serve you guys and do what is best,” he said.

Bitsas said more affordable housing, and more housing options should be a priority so more people can choose to stay in the community. He said many of his peers are of the age when they are looking to buy a hose, and too often they have to pick outside or the Medina/Shelby area because there are few options.

“My goal is economic growth, to bring more businesses in to ease tax burdens on others,” he said. “We need more housing. There is no where to raise your family right now.”

Mike Moriarty said infrastructure needs to be improved to bring in more companies.

Mike Moriarty, 41, is the general manager at Pride Pak, a fruit and vegetable processing business on Maple Ridge Road. He also is an electrician.

Moriarty said he isn’t a political person. “I’m Pro-Shelby,” he said. “I’d like to see Shelby thrive, and that’s it. End of story.”

Moriarty noted Pride Pak is a $37 million company with 70 employees locally. It opened in Medina in 2016.

“We’ve stayed strong and we’re expanding,” he said.

He said the Orleans Economic Development Agency was critical in bringing Pride Pak to the community. He said Shelby should work closer with the Orleans EDA to bring in companies that are a good fit for the community.

Moriarty said he watches many of the Town Board meetings online through YouTube and is astonished by the bickering.

“It’s the same thing over and over,” he said. “There is no moving forward running meetings like that.”

Shelby needs to work with the county and village to make sure the infrastructure is adequate to serve businesses and residents.

“We have fallen way behind on infrastructure,” he said. “We need to get our infrastructure straightened out so businesses will come here. We’d love to see more businesses by Pride Pak, and see Pride Pak expand.”

Larry Waters said the Town Board needs to do better managing town finances.

Larry Waters works as the corporate inventory manager for Champlain Valley Equipment, overseeing a $130 million budget. Waters has attended many meetings in the past couple years. He said the board’s “fiscal irresponsibility” is the biggest motivator for him running for councilman.

“I’m very well prepared to take on this task and to help right the ship,” he said. “I want to put myself in a position where I can help to turn this thing around.”

Waters said many in the community are reeling from rising tax bill, from dramatic increases in their assessments to overspending at the government level.

The current board often leaves him frustrated. The board doesn’t provide answers to his questions during meetings, and doesn’t get back to him after the sessions.

“They are not transparent at all,” he said. “You have to fight tooth and nail. You have to submit FOIL requests for things that should be handed to you.”

Shelby also needs to figure out a way to bring public water to areas without a waterline. Wengewicz noted the costs are too expensive to serve some areas with too few houses to cover the costs of a water district. While some residents without public water want a waterline, others are happy with the well water and don’t want the added expense of public water, Wengewicz said.

He acknowledged “it’s a balancing act” with bringing in more businesses and still maintaining the rural flavor of Shelby, and also not jeopardizing the wildlife refuge and other natural resources.