A former state senator with a history of illegal activity while in office has filed a lawsuit against Batavia Downs and its leadership alleging that officials have engaged in "shameless and blatant corruption."

The suit concentrates on previously investigated accusations that officials at Western OTB have misused tickets to sporting events and concerts and that Western Regional OTB has improperly provided lucrative health insurance coverage to appointed board members.

George Maziarz, who represented Niagara County in the State Senate from 1995 to 2014 and was once considered one of the most powerful men in Niagara County, expressed some frustration today that none of the allegations against Western OTB, and in particular against his former political ally, Batavia Downs President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek, have led to anything more than recommendations for changes in procedures.

"Quite frankly, I'm disappointed that the Attorney General and the United States Attorney, the FBI hasn't done anything yet," Maziarz said during a press conference outside the casino on Park Road. " I keep being told over and over again that they're working on it."

Wojtaszek said that nothing more has come of the allegations -- either because corrective action has been taken or the claims of wrongdoing are not as clear cut as Maziarz represents.

From Wojtaszek's point of view, Maziarz is engaged in a vendetta against Western OTB. He said Maziarz was fired as a lobbyist about eight years ago, was passed over for the CEO position, and Wojtaszek participated in investigations that eventually led to Maziarz's own public corruption conviction. 

"I think he's just a bitter individual," Wojtaszek said during an exclusive interview with The Batavian immediately following the press conference. "He has a vendetta against many individuals and the corporation itself. He's made complaints to every conceivable agency and regulatory body in New York State, and they've all turned down his requests to take action against OTB. They've all investigated and found that nothing was amiss here at Western Regional OTB.

"Whatever remedies or suggestions they had for us to improve our business, we follow them. We will continue to follow them and improve our organization. We hired Terry Connors to do an in-depth look at what was going on here at Batavia Downs. Terry is a well-respected individual within the legal community all across the state. We're very confident in his findings and his suggestions, and we've implemented his recommendations. We'll continue to work with him."

He said Batavia Downs has also hired a compliance company out of Buffalo, headed by a former FBI agent, to review its policies and procedures.

The Lawsuit
Attorneys for Maziarz filed the lawsuit in Niagara County on May 3.  It alleges that Wojtaszek and board members misused and manipulated programs meant to attract patrons to the Batavia Downs Casino by using for themselves tickets to sporting events and concerts. 

For example, according to records, the OTB purchased 5,800 high-end tickets to Buffalo Bills games, Sabers games, and concerts at Darien Lake, and 10 percent of those tickets, worth about $120,000, wound up in the hands of OTB officials and their friends and family members. 

The suit alleges tickets were freely handed out at board meetings and were even used to provide a board member's daughter with a birthday party.

The suit also alleges that Wojtaszek failed to correctly record and report his personal use of a vehicle provided to him by Western OTB.

Western OTB board members are also accused of receiving gold-plated health insurance coverage in violation of state law and contrary to recommendations in a Comptroller's Audit Report, and a report compiled by attorneys hired by Western OTB to review the matter.

The suit states that these actions amount to Wojtaszek and board members using Batavia Downs as a personal ATM to enrich themselves at taxpayer expense with no real public oversite of the agency's policies and procedures.  

"Over time, this almost honor system-like structure led to dishonor, cronyism, and shameless, blatant corruption," the suit states. "The corruption has been normalized, legitimized, and covered up by the Board and a bipartisan network of high-powered consultants and lobbyists hired by CEO Wojtaszek (again, with little oversight by the public) to prevent public scrutiny or reform."

The Response
In his interview today, Wojtaszek defended how Batavia Downs has handled tickets to events.

Batavia Downs acquires tickets as perks for high rollers and special guests, Wojtaszek said.  A host from Batavia Downs typically accompanies these guests to the events. The role of the host is to ensure things go smoothly, that people get their tickets, get into the venue, receive the service expected for the event, and the host takes care of any issues that arise.

"Previously, if you were host, we provided a ticket to the host and then the host was allowed to bring a guest with them," Wojtaszek said. "At that point, they may have brought somebody from a wife, a husband, a son, or a daughter with them. We have since corrected that. Subsequent to the recommendation from the compliance company, it's just a host who takes care of whatever event, hockey game, football game, concert, and I think we're doing it properly now."

He said that the accusation that board members could just casually ask for tickets to Bills or Sabers games at board meetings and receive them misrepresents what actually took place. He said anybody, including board members, could ask for tickets on behalf of patrons of Batavia Downs.  They were not, he said, asking for themselves and friends and family.  However, to help improve the procedure, all requests must now be in writing and clearly state who is receiving the tickets. 

According to the audit report Maziarz cites, Wojtaszek said, "there were thousands of tickets accounted for.  There are a few, 100 I believe, that aren't, which equates to a reasonable amount of money but don't forget, each one of those tickets went to a host to host the game."

As for tickets being used for a birthday party for the daughter of a board member, that never happened, Wojtaszek said.

As for the use of a company car, Wojtaszek said, yes, he failed to complete the proper paperwork to record his personal use of the vehicle, and at the board's instruction, he reimbursed Western OTB $3,000 to resolve the issue.  And yes, he is now receiving a transportation allowance -- Maziarz claims $7,000 -- but Western OTB was already in the process of eliminating agency-owned vehicles for staff when the issue came up.  Besides potential liability, a car allowance for executives is more in keeping with standard practices in the business sector, Wojtaszek said.

As for health insurance for board members, Western OTB has attorneys working on the issue.  The agency does not agree that board members can't receive health insurance coverage.  

While Maziarz says that the Comptroller's Office and a legal firm hired by Western OTB say the practice is illegal, the issue doesn't appear to be that cut and dry. There is an older Comptroller's opinion that says the practice is permissible.  The memo on the topic, prepared by attorneys Gabriel M. Nugent and Robert J. Thorpe for the board, cites the 1978 opinion as well as the later opinion and suggests board members no longer accept health insurance.  It doesn't, as Maziarz claims, call the practice illegal.  

Health insurance, Wojtaszek said, is justified because pretty much every other public benefit corporation in the state offers it, and Batavia Downs operates in a very competitive environment and needs to attract and retain the most qualified board members. 

"What the board does here is some extremely important work," Wojtaszek said. "It is a multi-100-million dollar company that has performed extremely well over the last three to five years and has returned record amounts of revenue to the municipalities that it serves.

"If you're in a business that is very competitive -- which Batavia Downs is -- we have other private-sector casinos that we have to compete with here," he added. "And, by the way, we compete extremely well with them. You need to attract top-level talent to have those people serve on the board. And that's what we have here today. We have many, many excellent board members who have excellent business backgrounds and who lend a great deal to make this organization work. We say the compensation should be set accordingly. This is a competitive industry. It's not like a water district or sewer district. That is a monopoly where there is no competition going on."

The Players
In 2018, Maziarz entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor count of filing a false instrument and agreed to pay a $1,000 fine. He also admitted to hiding $95,000 in campaign payments to a former staff member accused of sexual harassment. He was initially charged with five felony election law violations. The investigation into Maziarz's activities began with the Morland Commission, which had been formed to investigate public corruption. 

Maziarz was also the subject of an FBI investigation. During the investigation, but before he was notified not to discard records, Maziarz reportedly had his staff shred campaign records going back to 1995.

During the press conference today, when asked about document shredding, he denied such shredding ever took place.

When asked today about his misdemeanor conviction, his first response was that Wojtaszek has one, too. Which is true.  Both convictions stem from the same Attorney General investigation.  Maziarz said both he and Wojtaszek received conditional discharges, which means the record is expunged if they avoid illegal activity for a specified period of time, usually six months.

Wojtaszek has been president and CEO of Western Regional OTB since 2016. Before that, he was the general council. He's been an attorney for 26 years and was active for years in Niagara County Republican politics, including a stint as chair of the county committee. He began his legal career as city attorney for North Tonawanda.

Wojtaszek said he and Maziarz once worked closely together.

Maziarz says the FBI is investigating Western OTB and Wojtaszek.  

In 2019, Batavia Downs officials denied there was such an investigation.  Today, Wojtaszek said the only knowledge he has of an investigation is the claim by Maziarz that a board member has been interviewed by the FBI.  He said he's aware of one other inquiry by the FBI in the past three years and that dealt with a contractor and the purchase of broadcast air time. In that case, the FBI was saying it was Batavia Downs that was getting ripped off.  Wojtaszek said FBI agents have never questioned him about anything related to Western OTB.

The lawsuit wasn't Maziarz's idea, Maziarz said.  He said after a story appeared in a New York Times publication, an attorney for Advocates for Justice contacted him and asked him to be the face of a lawsuit against Batavia Downs on behalf of taxpayers.

Maziarz, a man who admitted to public corruption, said Advocates for Justice specialize in fighting public corruption.

The lead attorney on the case is Arthur Z. Schwartz, the organization's president and founder.  Also signing the filing is Nathan McMurray, the former Delaware North attorney who unsuccessfully ran three times for a congressional seat in the NY-27, most notably losing to Chris Collins, then under indictment himself (he eventually entered a guilty plea) for insider trading. McMurray went to work for the law firm in November 2021.

As Wojtaszek noted, Maziarz has pursued corruption allegations against Western OTB for several years.

The Batavian obtained a copy of a deposition transcript from a confidential source related to a lawsuit filed by Michael Nolan, the former COO of the OTB, that reveals some of the connections between some of the players involved in the legal maneuvering and publicity-seeking of the principals.

Nolan's suit claims he was retaliated against for responding to FOIL requests from the media and others.  Wojtaszek said Batavia Downs has always been transparent and has always complained with the law on requests for public documents.

Nolan was the subject being deposed in the case in January 2021 when his attorney, Stephen Cohen, jumped in and attempted to clarify something his client had said. Cohen ended up talking at length about the connections between himself, Maziarz, and reporter Phil Gambini, who has doggedly pursued corruption allegations at Batavia Downs for several years.

In the deposition, Aaron Saykin, the Western OTB attorney in the case, attempted to uncover a possible connection between Nolan and Maziarz.  Cohen provided the opening because he tried to bill Batavia Downs for a phone conversation he had on behalf of his client with Maziarz.

Cohen said he did discuss Nolan's case with Maziarz but only in the service of trying to get more information from Maziarz that might assist his client's suit. He admitted that he knew Maziarz regularly spoke with Gambini and was likely the source of information that appeared in Gambini's stories about Batavia Downs.

Saykin's questions suggested that Saykin suspected Cohen of trying to plant stories with Gambini, including a March 29, 2019 story about the supposed FBI investigation.  Cohen deflects the questions and denies any interest in press coverage.

He said his only real interest was getting more information from Maziarz.

"I sought to get whatever I could out of Senator Maziarz," Cohen said according to the transcript.

Mr. Saykin: Because you knew he was pissed at Henry?

Mr. Cohen: Yes.

Mr. Saykin: And you knew he wanted to hurt Henry?

Mr. Cohen: Yes.

Photos by Howard Owens

During the first several minutes of the press conference this afternoon in the back parking lot of the former Kmart building, across the street from Batavia Downs, two Batavia Downs work trucks paraded up and down Park Road and through the parking lot (Park Road is undergoing reconstruction) and honked their horns, disrupting the press conference. Maziarz called the action sophomoric and evidence that Western OTB officials want to prevent the public from finding out what is going on at the facility. Batavia Downs President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek said when he found out what was going on with the trucks, he put a stop to it.

A 55-year-old male has reportedly fallen 15 feet down an Oatka Creek embankment behind the post office in Le Roy. Genesee County dispatch has requested emergency response.

UPDATE 10:21 p.m.: The patient is conscious and alert. Rope rescue is not needed.

Oakfield-Alabama (10-2) beat Webber High School on Wednesday, 8-3.

Colton Yasses pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up three earned runs and striking out 12, to pick up the win.

He also had two hits, scored a run and drove in a run.

Kyle Porter had two hits in two ABs and a walk, also scoring once and driving in a run.

Brayden Smith was 2-3 and scored twice.

Photos by Kristin Smith.  For more, click here.

Genesee County Dispatch reports a tractor trailer and motorcycle accident at Route 77 and Main Road in Pembroke.

Pembroke Fire and Indian Falls fire responding. Corfu is providing traffic control at Cohocton Road. 

UPDATE 7:44 p.m.: Mercy Flight is en route to the scene.

UPDATE: 8:03 p.m.: Mercy Flight is on the ground.

Batavia City Schools leaders have a “robust” summer school plan, they say.

Summer session will open July 12 and run for a month, to August 11. It’s a countermeasure for the ill effects of pandemic shutdowns. Instead of in the past, when students went to central designated sites, they will go to their own schools this year. Lessons will be taught from 9 a.m. to noon three days a week, and breakfast, lunch and transportation will be provided, said Molly Corey, executive director of curriculum and instruction.

“We’re being deliberate, the kids will stay at their own school. So Jackson is hosting their own summer school program, and John Kennedy and the middle school are as well. And we added extra staff for those locations, and we're combining transportation, that's a big variable as well.” she said during an interview Wednesday with The Batavian. “We want to ensure that we get kids there. And right now our numbers are looking really good. At Jackson, it’s 150, where normally we would have 50 students.”

Those grades — Pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade — are the “critical grades” to reach in July, she said. They will be taught basic literacy skills so that, by third grade, students are expected to “be reading to learn” and to enjoy learning to read.

“So we hired more teachers and we have a longer day than we traditionally have had. Last summer it was a two-hour program; this summer it's a three-hour program just so we have adequate time,” Superintendent Jason Smith said.

Strategies also include pairing students with trusted adults and an element of compassion for what the students have already gone through, Corey said.  The district is targeting 500 students for the summer school program in all three schools while extended days have already been implemented at the high school.

There will also be more teachers, albeit with a more summertime feel, at the middle school. Unlike a stiff remediation vibe, the Ross Street school will offer math and literacy camps with “high engagement” for middle school students and veteran teachers serving as coaches, Corey said.   

“It’s really just hooking them into the learning,” she said. “Giving them more purposeful practice while they do so.”

Smith believes it’s essential to not only bolster students but teachers also.

“Teachers have had very, very busy days, they make thousands of decisions every single day. So we want to give them support, so they can best support our students,” he said. “And one way to do that, one effective way to do it, is to appoint math coaches. We have literacy coaches currently in place through COVID funds as well. At the high school, we’re using the extended day to help kids recover credit from where they didn't meet the expectations during credit from the previous year.”

The district applied for federal COVID funds made available to New York State in 2020. Batavia was awarded $9 million over a three-year period to afford measures such as additional personnel, programs, extended school days and transportation and meals during summer school. 

Smith feels the district must be doing something right, given its recent ranking in U.S. News as being in the top 40 percent of schools in the country.

“So we're doing well,” he said. “We're on track.”

Enrollment is still open for summer school. For more information, call the district at (585) 343-2480.

 

While teaching a third-grade class at John Kennedy Intermediate, Molly Corey noticed one particular little girl who said Batavia was not her first school district and most likely wasn’t going to be her last.

The third-grader was chronically absent — about one day each week — and didn’t seem terribly invested in her lessons.

“We were her fourth school, and she said she will be moving again. So her buy-in to wanting to do well really depended on the relationship. I had lunch with the girl, but teachers can’t do that every day. She thought it was special that I was working with her. Whenever she would see me she would light up,” Corey said during an interview with The Batavian. “You know what, it was that relationship that really just helped to keep hooking her; I know our classroom teachers are trying hard with that.”

Corey’s regular job is not as a teacher but as executive director of the district’s curriculum and instruction department. She taught for a while to get an idea about what teachers encounter due to family circumstances and, for the last two years, a change of learning methods due to the pandemic.

Finding meaning in 'Learning Loss' ...
Two phrases that have become the “buzz words” in many school districts are “learning loss” and “social, emotional learning.” But what do they really mean? How did hybrid and remote learning affect kids, and more importantly, what are the remedies being purchased with COVID funds?

Each issue has greatly impacted students across all grades, and perhaps most crucial for children just starting to learn foundational lessons, Corey said.

“So if we start with the littlest ones at Jackson Primary, the incoming kids are really the ones most ready to thrive. It really was merely if anything changed with loss, it was because of quarantines or them being out being sick with a positive (test). So, we really tried hard to keep them on track,” she said. “If you were the first-grader or the second-grader, kids who had gaps in learning from not being here full-time last year, and from the first year of closure, some of the foundation skills that you would expect them to receive, where they're learning to read, and they're learning about basic number zones, we didn't have the same amount of time.”

The focus for teachers has been to catch up those foundational skills that students need to get into their normal curriculum and grade level, she said. Foundational skills include knowing the letters in sounds and understanding how they blend together, she said, then putting them all together in sentences. Those skills are the basics of learning to read and write, she said.

There's a sequence of skills students have to have — the building blocks — needed in order to master those skills and “build upon one another,” Corey said. “And it's a purposeful practice that really helps them to become fluent readers.”

Superintendent Jason Smith said the evidence has been evident through observing students and having conversations with teachers and principals: there are gaps in all grades due to remote learning and losing the consistency of routine.

No matter at what age, even with a solid one-to-one teaching model, it’s a difficult task, Corey said. Just imagine youngsters, especially, sitting at home staring at the computer. Working with one person. All-day long. “You can’t,” she said.

High school students, meanwhile, are struggling with earning enough credits, passing exams and meeting specific criteria for graduating at the end. Although the state Education Department gave out “some free passes” in terms of easing up on requirements for Regents exams, students still needed to acquire certain levels of knowledge," she said.

“But the reality is, we need them to pass the class, and being in person is an important factor to really give them time to show us what they know, with regard to subject,” she said. “So we have benchmark assessments that have told us some of the assignments that they're missing when there's brokenness with their schooling. We were focusing in on our seniors, obviously, we want to help them, but we have a plan in place for what we can do with the other grade levels as well.

“So we're pairing teachers with students, by content, and we're using a credit recovery system called Apex; it guides kids through the course. Because the ultimate goal is to learn and be successful, but the practical outcome is to have X number of credits to get the diploma. It's that balance to give them the compassion that they need, and the motivation to keep them going,” she said.

For Jackson Primary, John Kennedy Intermediate and the middle school, there will be an offering of summer school, taught three days a week. (See related article, “Batavia City Schools on track for robust summer.”)

“But we have these funds available, due in large part, whose goal in large part, is to help us address those gaps or the loss,” Smith said.

The social-emotional learning piece is tied to the kids’ ability to recognize and better regulate their emotions and have ability to interact well with others. Smith learned first-hand just how out of balance some students’ emotions are. He found himself getting involved with a student whose difficulties were escalating, and a report was sent to the superintendent. He helped to connect the student with a social worker and wondered what might have happened if the distraught kid missed out on that needed counseling.

Then there was the fourth-grader who began to cry, and then sobbed uncontrollably. These instances are happening, he and Corey said, and there need to be remedies to help students adjust to more than educational losses; many have mental health needs as well. Some 100 of those students not only had a pandemic to deal with, but they were also part of an ongoing trend of transplants. Throughout the school year, a portion of those 100 kids moves into the district while another portion moves out. Those fluctuations add another layer of need to help acclimate them to a new school, Corey said.

That’s where social-emotional learning comes in. The pandemic didn’t necessarily cause mental health issues as much as it put a spotlight on that piece, Smith and Corey said. In addition to hiring four new teachers to help with the academic shortfalls, another social worker will assist with the mental and emotional issues.

Federal COVID-19 funds were distributed for school districts to play catch-up with gaps due to pandemic shutdowns. Districts in New York State had to apply for the funds, explain the loss, the solutions being put in place and how they would assess outcomes. Smith said that Batavia City Schools was allocated about $9 million for three years.

After nine years at the city school district, Corey is experiencing new territory.

“It's some of the extremes ... Things we've never ever seen before,” she said.

Top Photo: 2019 File Photo of a Moving Up ceremony at John Kennedy Intermediate. Batavia City Schools officials are stepping up lessons, personnel and amount of time available to students to ensure continued progress toward graduation. Photo by Howard Owens.

Inset photo: Molly Corey, executive director of curriculum and instruction at Batavia City Schools. Photo submitted by BCSD

A caller reports that he was digging in the area of 3612 South Main Street Road, Pembroke, and struck a gas line.

Gas is leaking.

Pembroke Fire dispatched.

Live music in May includes:

• May 13th - Monica Hall
• May 14th - Chris & Korie
• May 20th - Steve Bartolotta
• May 21st - Joel Russlett
• May 27th - PVNB
• May 28th - Josh Hawkins

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Photo by Frank Capuano

It would be nice to say, "come rain or shine" there will be baseball at Dwyer Stadium this weekend.

But Batavia Rotary Club's annual baseball tournament has never had that luxury. If there's rain on Saturday, there is no tournament.

The inaugural tournament was in 1999, and on the intervening 23 years, there have been 18 tournaments played.  Three years were lost to rain and two to COVID.

"The reason the rain-out happens is that it's so late in the season for these teams, and they have sectionals, and they have to qualify to have enough games in for sectionals, so it's been almost impossible to have a rain date for the tournament," said Tom Turnbull, tournament organizer of Rotary since 2004. "So if it doesn't get played on Saturday, chances are it won't be played at all."

The good news is, there is only a chance of scattered rain on Saturday.  Turnbull expects all four games scheduled that day to be played.

The first game is at 10 a.m. and pits Le Roy (9-4) against Notre Dame (11-0).  At 1 p.m., Attica (7-4) takes on Batavia (8-6). The consolation game is at 4 p.m. and the championship game is 7 p.m.

"The teams that are playing are all very good teams," said Notre Dame Coach Rick Rapone. "They've all got very good records. They all play baseball the right way and the way you're supposed to play. And most importantly, it's good to just be back doing it. The two years with COVID had been very, very, very tough on the boys."

All four coaches told Rotary members on Wednesday that their players were excited about the tournament. 

"It's exciting to play at the Dwyer facility to play against the teams that are there," said Attica Coach Shawn Fromwiller. "Good competition only gets you better. It only gets us ready for sectionals playing against the teams that are in a tournament. I know the guys are excited about it. They've been asking, 'what time are we playing? And who are we playing?'"

Le Roy's head coach, Leon Koukides, thinks so highly of the tournament that he wrote a letter to Rotary asking that his team be invited this year.

"I really wanted to be a part of this," Koukides said. "We've not been able to be a part of it for many years, and I just wanted to give my athletes an opportunity to be in this forum, to play at Dwyer Stadium and get recognized by some of the other community members."

James Patric played in the first two tournament games in 1999 and 2000 as a member of The Batavia Squad.  Now he's the team's head coach, and between coaching in Oakfield and in Batavia, he's been a part of the tournament every year except 2001, 02, 03, and 04.

"It's a great tournament, great competition," he said. "It's always exciting."

Top Photo: Ty Strollo, Le Roy, Jesse Reinhart, Batavia, Gavin Schrader, Notre Dame, and Dan Bialek, Batavia.

Photos by Howard Owens

All of the seniors from the four teams that attended the Rotary meeting.

 

 If you have always wanted to operate an ice rink, you have until May 20 to submit your intent to file a request for proposal to City Manager Rachael Tabelski, she says.

Tabelski announced the move Wednesday night to secure a new agreement for leasing the David McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena. Former management company Firland Management, which took over the ice arena in 2006, has opted to cease operations of the Evans Street site as of May 31.

“Over the last year, the City has hosted Ice Rink Meetings with a group of community leaders representing the aforementioned hockey programs, Friends of the Rink, and the current operators.  These meetings have been helpful in creating the vision and strategy that the City seeks for the rink moving forward,” Tabelski said in a press release. “City Council has committed funds sponsoring a capital project to address the locker rooms and City staff is pursuing grants (to) make needed infrastructure investments.  The City looks forward to partnering with a professional operator to bring recreation opportunities to the City, and thanks (to) Firland and all of their employees for their work over the years.”

The city would like RFPs to be for no less than five years, and further details for proposals are below.

Opened in 1978, the Batavia Ice Rink consists of a single sheet of ice (200’ x 85’) with a capacity for 480 fans to attend games.  The ice rink has a warming room, locker rooms, and a refreshment stand.

The rink is located just outside of the downtown district and in the Creek Park redevelopment area.  The Ice Arena is a prime spot for fall and winter recreation in the City of Batavia, Tabelski said. “The arena is home to the Genesee Amateur Hockey Association (GAHA), Batavia Men's Hockey League (BMHL), and Batavia/Notre Dame High School hockey program.

The City of Batavia anticipates that the prospective operator will be able to be profitable while running the rink and will enter into an operation and lease agreement, she said.

RFP Responses shall be no more than 20 pages in length and contain the following:

1.      Corporate Structure/Respondent Information- Organization name, description, address, and form of entity (C Corp, S Corp, Partnership, LLC., LLP., Sole Proprietorship, Not for Profit). 

2.      Respondent Resumes- Organization employees and biographies describing the structure you envision to carry out operations at the rink (manager, scheduling, maintenance, promotions, concessions, etc.).  Include an organizational chart.

3.      Primary Contact- provide contact information (address, phone and email) for the primary contact for this proposal.

4.      Executive Summary- provide an executive summary to explain how you will operate the David McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena, what your organization will do to enhance the level of participation, and focus on revenue streams.

5.      Value Statement- describe how your organization will enhance the rink and bring value to the City of Batavia and City residents.

6.      Experience- provide details regarding experience/resume of staff/potential staff with ice rink operations and/or a general statement of experience running recreational, retail, or commercial operations.

7.      Proof of Insurance- respondents shall provide proof of insurance at the time of agreement execution.

8.      Proof of Financing- respondents shall provide a written description of how they will finance the operations of the rink examples include private capital, secured loan, bridge loan, and line of credit.  A proforma financial statement shall be provided with the response. 

9.      Budget- create a five-year budget plan and incorporate your projected operating expenses, projected revenue, projected net income, and lease rate (suggested lease rate to the City of Batavia and planned capital investment fund expenses are listed). 

Capital Investment Fund expenses are $5,000 suggested lease for Year 2022-23 with $0 suggested capital contribution; $10,000 for Year 2023-24 with a $10,000 suggested contribution; $20,000 for 2024-25 and $15,000 contribution; $25,000 for 2025-26 snf $18,000 contribution; and $25,000 lease for 2026-27 with $20,000 capital contribution.

Prospective operators should heed the important dates below, Tabelski said:

1.  May 20 – Interested respondents are encouraged to indicate your intent to respond to this RFP to Rachael J. Tabelski, City Manager, and City of Batavia by May 20. 
2. May 23 to May 27 – Interested respondents will be scheduled for Zoom or in-person meetings to review the prior financials, prior usage by major tenants, as well as tours of the rink as requested. 
3. May 31- Addendum, if any, will be issued to all respondents who have signed up with the City Manager.
4. June 10 - RFP’s are due on Tuesday, June 10 at 4:30 p.m. Four written copies of the proposal must be received at the City Manager’s Office by the deadline, and one emailed copy must be provided. 
5. July 11 - Final Selection will be made on or around  July 11. 

When the mask mandate was first lifted for students in public schools, the number of COVID cases reported amount the Le Roy Central Schools population was low to non-existent, Superintendent Merritt Holly told school board members at Tuesday's meeting.

But like the rest of the community, case numbers have been rising, he said.

"It's just something that is just hanging here as we get into the spring," Holly said. "I think as you've seen, flu numbers are still up. The two haven't gone away. We had a good stretch where we went a couple of weeks with no cases at all and since we've come back from break, we've had three or four (cases), five on a day. So they're up a little bit from where we were."

What Le Roy is seeing in cases mirrors what is being reported in the county as a whole, though in the past week, the number of new cases has leveled off.

There were 283 new cases reported in Genesee County for the week ending May 10, which is down slightly from the 286 cases reported the week before.

As for flu, there were 14 cases reported in Genesee County in the last week of April, according to the state's flu tracker web site.  There were 19 flu cases reported the week before and five the week before that.

 

Cast members of the Le Roy production of the Musical Newsies competed recently in a "Stars of Tomorrow" competition hosted by the Rochester Broadway Theater League and two of them are still in the running for a possible trip to New York City, Principal David Russell told the Board of Education on Tuesday.

Stars of Tomorrow is a workshop and competition open to high school musical performers from throughout the Greater Rochester Area.

Evan Williams and Nate Yauchzee were selected to participate in the next round, which broadway professionals judge at RBTL on May 26.

"If they are moved on from there, they actually win a trip to New York City, where they will have a great experience with the Broadway performances that go on down there," Russell said.

For more on the competition, click here, where you can also cast your vote for "fan favorite."

Photos: File photos by Howard Owens.

Nate Yauchzee

Evan Williams

Arc GLOW is apparently set to sell its garbage collection and recycling business to Casella Waste Systems.

The Arc board has not yet approved the transaction, and the terms of the sale are not available.

The Batavian made multiple attempts to reach Martin Miskell, the CEO of Arc GLOW, for comment. 

Joseph Fusco, a vice president with Casella, said, "We don't comment on rumors or reports of rumors." 

Casella is a publicly-traded company, and Security and Exchange Commission regulations can prevent people with direct knowledge of acquisitions and mergers from discussing such transactions. There may also be non-disclosure agreements in place.

The Batavian spoke with multiple Arc-connected sources about the sale of the trash business to confirm that a deal is in the works.

According to a source, Arc GLOW listed the business for sale some time ago and fielded multiple offers before settling on Casella.

Arc of Genesee (which merged this year into Arc of Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties) was the exclusive garbage collection service for the City of Batavia for nearly 30 years until in 2013, when the City Council agreed to allow, or require, city residents to contract individually for waste and recycling collection.

According to sources, Arc has lost money on its trash and recycling business for several years.

Arc provides services, including multiple employment opportunities, for people with disabilities.

One source said Arc employees are worried that Arc clients employed by the trash business will lose their jobs once the transaction is final.

"There are multiple people in the trash/recycling (business) worried about losing their jobs," the source said. "Arc is supposed to be an inclusive employer with the goal of servicing the community."

Fusco was given an opportunity to address that concern during a phone interview and declined.

The source also said employees have other worries:

• Loss of the drive-in recycling service for recycling and redemption; and
• Employees who receive trash and recycling services from Arc will lose their discount.

There's no information available on when the Arc board might be asked to approve the deal or when the sale might be final.

Casella acquired two local trash haulers in 2019, Trash Away and PSI Disposal.

Waste Management is the other trash hauler with a significant presence in Genesee County.

Top photo: File photo of Arc garbage collection from 2013.

Photos by Howard Owens

The Arc Recycling Center, 3785 West Main Street Road, Batavia.

File photo.  Interior of the recycling center.

File photo: Protest at City Hall in 2013 over the proposal to end the trash contract with Genesee Arc.

File photo: A packed City Council chamber for a discussion in 2013 of the Arc contract.

OPEN HOUSE - This Saturday & Sunday 11am - 1pm.
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Press release:

The new UR Medicine Batavia Campus will open its doors to patients on May 16, strengthening the health system’s commitment to increasing specialist and primary care access for patients in Genesee, Orleans, and Wyoming counties. 

“The Batavia Campus represents an important investment in meeting the health care needs of the regional communities we serve by providing access to providers and services close to home,” said Steve Goldstein, M.H.A., president and CEO of Strong Memorial Hospital. “Bringing primary and specialty clinics under one roof will enable UR Medicine providers to better coordinate care for their patients and provide a direct connection to UR Medicine’s advanced care network.”

The new 24,455 square foot medical campus – located at 7995 Call Parkway – will centralize specialty clinics and primary care into one location and on-site lab services, making care more convenient for patients.  The building will be home to adult and pediatric allergy/immunology, neurosurgery, oncology, otolaryngology and audiology, and urology clinics, and UR Medicine’s Batavia-based primary care practice.  Additional services will be added over the next 12 months. 

UR Medicine Radiation Oncology will remain in its current Bank Street location.  Eric Wu, M.D., and the Batavia Ophthalmology practice are joining UR Medicine and will move to the Flaum Eye Institute’s location on Liberty Street on June 1, which will be expanded into space formerly occupied by primary care.

The Batavia campus, which will operate as an outpatient clinic under Strong Memorial Hospital, will continue UR Medicine’s practice of staffing specialty clinics with providers who are either locally based or consistently practice in the community, allowing patients to maintain a consistent relationship with the same providers. Even if a patient needs to travel to Strong West in Brockport or Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for surgery, their pre-and post-operative consultations can often be conducted via telemedicine from their home or the Batavia offices, making the experience easier and more convenient for patients and their families.

“Almost 30 years ago, I started seeing patients out in Batavia and it has been an incredibly rewarding experience to serve the patients of that community,” said Webster Pilcher, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the UR Medicine Department of Neurosurgery.  “It is often difficult for patients to negotiate a complex care system, especially if that means traveling to Rochester.  By bringing that care to them and simplifying the relationship between our patients and primary and specialized care, we can access world-class care, right in their community.”

Since 1993, Pilcher has practiced in Batavia, treating patients in conjunction with their primary care doctors and providing continuing medical education programs for physicians across the area. In the ensuing years. UR Medicine has added specialty clinics in Batavia for patients who need cancer care, urology, ENT and audiology services, and dermatology. Golisano Children's Hospital also has offered pediatric subspecialty consultations.

UR Medicine consists of six hospitals located throughout the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions – Strong Memorial, Highland, F.F. Thompson, Noyes Memorial, Jones Memorial, and St. James hospitals – as well as Golisano Children’s Hospital, James P. Wilmot Cancer Center, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, UR Medicine Home Care, the Highlands at Pittsford and Highlands at Brighton, 11 urgent care centers, and an extensive primary care network.

Photo by Howard Owens

Several years after initial planning, saving and getting documentation in place for a new Genesee County Jail, the first shovels are in the ground for the $70 million, 184-bed facility on West Main Street Road, adjacent to County Building #2.

Officials have said the project has been said it won't be a financial burden to property owners. The county has been saving money in reserves and holding a greater portion of local sales tax to help cover debt service payments. A four-member corrections officer transition team was put in place to write policies and procedures to cover operations of the new jail that will accommodate expansion needs.

Photo by Howard Owens.

A controlled burn is reportedly out of control at 4491 Old Ford Road, Elba.

A volunteer firefighter called in the fire.

Elba Fire dispatched.

The burn ban is in effect until Saturday.