The GC Sheriff's Employees Association Golf Tournament will be held Saturday, Sept. 23, at Terry Hills Golf Course in Batavia.

Cost is $75 per person and includes green fees, cart, lunch, dinner, awards and prizes.

Registration and lunch starts at 11 a.m.

Shotgun start for golf at noon.

Sponsor a tee or green or $100; sponsor a deputy for $375 -- includes tee/green sings & 1 foursome.

Proceeds go to help support the GCSEA Fundraiser Account and Veterans One-stop Center of WNY Inc.

The golf tournament is open to everyone. Come enjoy a great day of fun and golf; help support our veterans, the GCSEA and the nonprofits is helps throughout the year.

Terry Hills is located at 5122 Clinton Street Road.

For more information, contact Norman Itjen at (585) 409-4540 or email  nitjen@co.genesee.ny.us

Press release:

A Fourth Annual Taste of Independence food-sampling extravaganza is being held by Independent Living of the Genesee Region (ILGR) from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 13.

Taking place at Batavia Country Club, 7909 Batavia-Byron Road, Batavia, the event will offer guests a chance to try some signature dishes of the Genesee Region’s finest restaurants, plus a basket raffle and 50/50 split club.

The participating restaurants include: D & R Depot Restaurant, Sweet Sarah’s, Pizza Land, Lori’s Delectable Edibles, Tops Friendly Markets, T.F. Brown’s Restaurant, Rock & Roll Bar & BBQ, The North Pole Restaurant and Party House, Red Osier Landmark Restaurant and Wegmans.

Our thanks to non-restaurant event Bronze Sponsors: iCircle Services of the Finger Lakes Inc., Arctic Refrigeration Company of Batavia Inc., Henry J. Mager Scholarship Fund, Debra McKnight, and Thrivent Financial Action Team. Friend Sponsor: Tompkins Insurance Agencies.

Tickets are $15 and can be picked up at the ILGR office, 113 Main St., Suite 5, Batavia. Space is limited! To R.S.V.P., become a sponsor, or get more information call Donna at 585-815-8501, ext. 411, or email dbecker@wnyil.org.

Independent Living expects the event to increase awareness of its programs to help people with disabilities living in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties to remain independent and empowered, to which programs the funds raised will be directed.

Its services include independent living skills training, advocacy, peer counseling, diabetes self-management classes, a loan closet of medical equipment, housing and employment assistance, Social Security and Medicaid assistance information and referral, and many more.

A proposal to switch out the most of the county's current fleet of vehicles to a national vendor to manage and maintain the fleet could save the county as much as $80,000 a year, according to a proposal presented to the Legislature's Public Service Committee on Tuesday.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car provides the same service to several other counties in New York, said Representative Jimmy Adams, and those counties have achieved the anticipated cost savings and seem satisfied with the service.

The program will start with Enterprise taking 47 of the vehicles in the county's fleet now and selling them at an estimated total of $580,000 returned to the county. Enterprise would then replace those 47 vehicles with 47 new vehicles, purchased at the typical discounted government bid rate, and the county would make payments on those vehicles.

Legislature Chairman Ray Cianfrini wanted to know if Enterprise would guarantee that the 47 vehicles would sell for at least $580,000 and Adams said, in a word, no.

"We are very conservative (in our estimates)," Adams said. "We have a remarketing manager who is in our Rochester office. His sole job is to go through, give these values to new clients and current customers and make sure those are values we can live up to because we know at the end of the day, if we don't we're going to be in meetings similar to this and explain why we missed."

County Manager Jay Gsell said doesn't expect any surprises when Enterprise puts the vehicles on the market.

"Based on the current age of our fleet and the condition in which the motor pool maintains those, I don't think we've got any hidden upsets as far as that's concerned, but there is nothing absolute in terms of what the whole 47 will generate in net value," Gsell said.

The other potential problem, Cianfrini said, is what if the partnership doesn't work out and the county wants out of the deal. He thinks the county will be out 47 vehicles and will need to buy 47 vehicles.

Adams said, first, that has never happened with one of these vendor arrangements for a government entity, and second, even if that were the case, the county will be in a "positive equity position" on each vehicle because the government bid price on the vehicles is so low. Over the first year or so of such an agreement, the county would be paying down the principal owed on each vehicle and if Enterprise sold the car at that point, "Enterprise would be writing a check to the county," Adams said.

That positive equity position would make it easier, Adams said, for the county to walk away from the deal if it decided to go that route.

There are also potential cost savings because Enterprise will be responsible for maintenance and mechanical repairs on the vehicles, which could mean the elimination of a mechanic's position from the county's budget. Cianfrini suggested that instead of eliminating a job, perhaps that service could be sold. Gsell said the county has a history of not competing with private enterprise and thought it would be logistically difficult to offer that service to another county. Committee Chairwoman Shelly Stein noted that Tim Hens, county highway superintendent, has said (he wasn't at the meeting) that there is plenty of backfill work that is going undone that could be done if a mechanic was freed up from his current duties.

A state audit found a flaw in how the county was accounting for its fleet expense and this agreement would help resolve that issue, Gsell said, which is one reason why he's recommending the Legislature move on the proposal this budget year instead of waiting until 2018.

An ongoing expense struggle for the county's Department of Social Services said Commissioner Eileen Kirkpatrick is the cost of supporting children in foster care, and especially those who are institutionalized because of serious behavioral problems.

There are about 15 kids in institutional care, which costs the county about $225,000 per year per child.

These are children whose parents could either no longer handle them, or the parents are out of the picture and the children caused problems in foster care settings.

"Some kids' behavior is so extreme not only are they not safe, their families aren't safe and their foster parents aren't safe," Kirkpatrick said. "I'm talking about kids who assault staff, who actually beat up their caretakers."

Kirkpatrick talked about one child who has been in DSS care since she was 12. She frequently ran away from her foster homes and later her institutional care homes.

"I'm responsible for her until she's 21," Kirkpatrick said. "That young lady, she got out of OCSF at 18 and a month beforehand, we moved her into a supervised independent living program. I'm surprised. She's been there since June and actually has stayed there."

That $45,000 annual fee is better than the $225,000 it cost to keep her institutionalized.

There are currently 51 children in foster care, Kirkpatrick said, and the vast majority of them are typical children, going to school and staying out of serious trouble.

The county needs to find more local foster parents, though. Kirkpatrick anticipates an increase in need with school starting when schools are more likely to identify children with problems at home. Today's problems that lead to foster care often involve parental drug addiction. Opioid addiction takes a toll on the children, too.

It's better for the county to place children with the county's own foster parents than through one of the volunteer agencies, she said. That's because when the child goes to an agency, the county often ends up handling case management for the child; making sure they get registered for school, go to school and make any doctor's appointments, for example. So the county doesn't escape that expense, even though it's paying a higher fee for outside placement.

This was Kirkpatrick's last department review with County Legislators before retiring. Her presentation, she said, was meant to inform legislators of one of the significant cost issues facing DSS as the county heads into another round of budget preparation.

The county's veterans' services officer, William Joyce, tries to ensure claims filed by veterans are processed in a timely manner so they get the benefits they deserve.

That means he sometimes comes in at nights during his vacations to catch up on things. He sometimes comes in early so veterans can stop in before they go to work. If he does go away on vacation or a conference or training, he immediately jumps in on the large stack of files that have piled up on his desk.

In short, he made the case Tuesday to the Human Services Committee that he could use the help of a part-time assistant.

Joyce's presentation was part of his periodic department review with the Legislature and was not a formal request, but it's the kind of information, Chairwoman Shelly Stein acknowledged, that is timely for the Legislature as they prepare to start looking at another annual budget for the county.

Legislator Ed DeJaneiro said he appreciated Joyce's efforts.

"We're lucky to have you," Joyce said. "The veterans are definitely satisfied with the service. I hear you loud and clear, you need a little help. You should not be spending your vacations on work."

The Veterans Services Office provides a host of services for area veterans and their families, including helping with service-connected compensation, obtaining education benefits, vocational training, medical benefits, home loans, burial benefits, and survivor's benefits.

A veterans' services officer must go through training with the VA and become certified in order to assist veterans. That requirement would also apply to even a part-time assistant. The next training class is in October.

"Without accreditation, the work doesn't go out the door," Joyce said.

And there is more work in recent years, Joyce said.

"We've seen an increase in the number of claims being submitted," Joyce said. "I'm surpassing surrounding counties that have multiple service officers, Wyoming, Orleans, and they have just about the average (number of) veterans I have and I'm over the top with the claims. In fact, as I've said last year and the previous year, their veterans are coming to me."

The job is one Joyce says he enjoys and he has no plans to retire anytime soon, though he said he is sometimes asked by other veterans when he might step down. But an assistant would likely be the person to replace him when he does step aside.

"Whenever I get my fill (I'll retire)," Joyce said. "Whenever that date is, I don't know. I enjoy what I'm doing. I took care of troops for 40 years, now I'm taking care of veterans."

The Batavia Town Planning Board on Tuesday night approved the placement of three face lit, red, white and blue acrylic wall signs for the proposed Five Star Urgent Care project on Veterans Memorial Drive, adjacent to The Home Depot.

Tracey Diehl, expeditor for the national chain of walk-in clinics that treat people with illnesses and injuries and perform physicals, immunizations and X-rays, said that the 16-foot-high signs each measure 133.12 square feet and will allow patrons to identify Five Star Urgent Care when coming from all directions.

“We wanted to make the signs (depicting the firm’s red, white and blue logo) equal in size so that they don’t look awkward,” Diehl told the board. “They will be face lit and made of acrylic with a vinyl overlay.”

Diehl said the site, which has yet to be developed, is close to The Home Depot and the NYS Thruway, with visibility from Veterans Memorial Drive, the Thruway and Park Road.

Previously, Five Star Urgent Care’s variance requests were approved by the Town Zoning Board of Appeals and recommended for approval by the Genesee County Planning Board.

According to the company’s website, there are 12 locations in New York, including Jamestown, Geneva, Ithaca and Plattsburgh. Diehl said that “six more sites are in the process” of being finalized.

She also noted that there are some in other states.

The New York locations were founded in 2012 by Dr. John Radford, a physician based in Ellicottville who spent time as an emergency department employee in Batavia early in his more than 20-year career.

Diehl said that a major benefit provided by Five Star Urgent Care is that it takes walk-ins. Plans are to open by the end of the year.

In other action, the board approved a site plan and the construction of one building for Gateway GC LLC’s commercial office building/parking lot project in the Gateway II Corporate Park on Call Parkway off West Saile Drive.

Further expansion, however, would be subject to the completion of conditions from the original list of Gateway II park improvements that focus on traffic flow and a water main.

According to David Ciurzynski, project manager for general contract Manning Squires Hennig Co. Inc., the $2.6 million plan calls for the construction of five 27,00-square-foot buildings with ample landscaping featuring several varieties of trees, including maples, oaks, chestnuts and birch.

Board Chairperson Kathy Jasinski noted the importance of proper landscaping.

“This is something that I was interested in, since you will be setting the bar," she said. "For anything that follows, we would like to keep the same look."

Town Engineer Steve Mountain pointed out that there could be traffic flow issues as buildings are added to the site, adding that the expense of highway improvements would likely be split among developers, the Genesee County Economic Development Center and state and/or federal grants.

Ciurzynski said that his company is working with GCEDC to complete Call Parkway (a path to Route 98) and the water lines needed to service the buildings.

He said that the project “doesn’t work if we have (approval for) only one building,” adding that his company already has attracted a possible tenant for the first building.

Press release:

The Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) will consider approving incentives for a $5.5 million capital investment by Yancey's Fancy and a $2.6 million capital investment by Gateway GS LLC. Both matters will be considered at the Sept. 7 GCEDC Board meeting.   

Gateway GS LLC has applied for approximately $140,000 for sales tax and mortgage tax incentives for the new company’s proposed 25,000-square-foot spec building at the Gateway II office park.

Artisan cheese maker Yancey's Fancy is proposing to invest $5.5 million to expand and renovate the Kutter's Cheese facility on Main Road in Corfu. The project is expected to create 15 new jobs. Yancey's Fancy has applied for approximately $1.2 million in sales and property tax exemptions.

All GCEDC Board meetings are open to the public. The Sept. 7 meeting will take place at 4 p.m. in the Innovation Zone board room on 99 Medtech Drive, Batavia.

Press release:

Please take notice that a workshop meeting will be conducted by the East Pembroke Fire District from 7 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5^th at the East Pembroke Fire Hall, located at 2623 W. Main Road, East Pembroke.

Purpose of the meeting is 2018 Fire District Budget.

The dedication ceremony and open house for the Richard C. Call Arena and the Student Success Center at GCC will be at Thursday, Sept. 7, at Genesee Community College. Open house begins at 5, with the dedication ceremony commencing at 6, with a reception immediately following.

Press release:

The Dedication Ceremony of the Richard C. Call Arena is a special event to officially open the new 54,000 square foot facility that now houses many of Genesee Community College's physical education classrooms and coaches offices, a new Fitness Center, meeting rooms, a press box overlooking the Turf Field, and the 20,400-square-foot field house that can accommodate many different types of events-from sporting competitions to trade shows and community gatherings.

The Dedication Ceremony also honors and recognizes the many donors who contributed to the "Creating Our Future Together" capital campaign. (The event is by invitation only.) The Ceremony commences at 6 p.m. in the Richard C. Call Arena with a reception immediately following. GCC's new facilities, including the Student Success Center which was occupied in July, will be open for visitors to see before and after the ceremony.

In January 2015, Genesee Community College kicked off its "Creating Our Future Together" fundraising campaign with the goal to raise $5 million to support the construction of two new facilities at the College's Batavia Campus, and also to support student scholarships emphasizing outreach to students living near GCC's campus centers in Albion, Medina, Arcade, Warsaw, Dansville and Lima. By the end of 2016, "Creating Our Future Together" exceeded its goal and a total of $5.5 million was raised.

In May 2016, Genesee Community College's Board of Trustees formally dedicated the College's new event center in honor of longtime College supporter Richard C. Call, who was a member of the GCC Foundation Board from 2001 until his death in 2014. Mr. Call was a strong proponent of volunteerism and philanthropy, and also an advocate of a new event center at GCC. He recognized its potential economic impact on the overall region as well as its intrinsic value to the teaching and learning experience for students of all ages.

Over many decades, Mr. Call and his brother, Robert, built Call Farms into a highly innovative and nationally-known agricultural enterprise. Mr. Call's brother and their children continue to operate the farm. Not surprisingly, Mr. Call encouraged other agricultural leaders across the region to get behind the "Creating Our Future Together" campaign and collectively, they were instrumental in making the new Arena possible. Mr. Call was also a strong supporter of many community causes, and had a special interest in youth. In addition to his local volunteer commitments, he was well-known across the United States for his leadership in agricultural organizations and he served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University.

Press release:

All members of the public are invited to join for the 17th annual Genesee County Comprehensive Plan Steering Committees presentation to the Legislature. The presentation will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 11, at the Old Court House, 7 Main St., Batavia.

The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee meets six times throughout the year, taking in feedback from more than 100 individuals from various levels of government, nonprofit agencies, business and industry, and interested citizens regarding the topics: Agriculture and Food Production; Community Wellness; Criminal Justice and Emergency Management; Economic and Workforce Development; Government Administration and Education; Housing Opportunity; Land Use, Environment, and Place-Making; Parks, Arts, Recreation and Culture; Technology and Utilities; and Transportation and Mobility.

The information gathered through this process is then reported to the legislative body to guide them in ongoing decision making and as they develop the next year’s County Budget.

Advance information may be obtained by contacting Derik Kane at the Genesee County Planning Department

County Building 2
3837 W. Main Street Road
Batavia, NY 14020
(585) 815-7901

A 33-year-old Vine Street resident has been arrested and accused of selling crack cocaine on at least two occasions to an agent of the Local Drug Task Force.

Quinton L. Spinks is charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd.

He was arrested on a grand jury warrant Aug. 28.

He was jailed on $10,000 bail.

Press release:

On 09/02/2017 at approximately 11:41 a.m., the Batavia Police Department responded to an incident involving a knife where a subject had been cut in the upper arm. The injured subject was treated and released at the hospital. Police were able to locate and speak to all parties involved in the incident. Further police assistance was declined.

Summer has come and gone, but we have indoor volleyball to look forward to. The Batavia Volleyball League is an intermediate level indoor adult(18+) co-ed league. Games are played on Thursday nights at the Batavia Middle School. Get your team together and sign up today. Registration deadline is Sept. 12th or when all spots are filled. If interested, check us out on Facebook, stop by T-Shirts Etc. or email billing@myTshirtsEtc.com.

Amanda Lynn Abrams, 26, of Council House Road, Tonawanda Indian Reservation, is charged with criminal mischief, 3rd. The Sheriff's Office received a complaint at 5 p.m. Sunday of several broken windows, including broken windows on a vehicle, at a location on Sand Hill Road, Tonawanda Indian Reservation. Upon investigation, it's alleged that Abrams broke windows "with no reasonable grounds to believe she had such a right," damaging the property of another person.

Joseph A. Saraceni Jr., 21, of Linwood Avenue, Batavia, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, unlicensed driver, following too closely and failure to signal a turn. Saraceni was stopped at 9:45 a.m. Aug. 28 in Wyoming County after a trooper observed Saraceni allegedly following another vehicle too closely. When the trooper attempted to follow Saraceni, he made an abrupt turn reportedly without signaling. During the traffic stop, State Police say Saraceni presented an expired license. He provided a list of medications he was taking that included controlled substances. The trooper conducted a field sobriety test and he was processed at SP Warsaw by a drug recognition expert. He was issued an appearance ticket and turned over to Monroe County Sheriff's Office on an active probation warrant.

Bill Buckenmeyer won the Batavia Area Jaycees' Labor Day 5K race yesterday with a time of 18:11.

The female winner was Kimberly Mills with a time of 19:53.

The top walker was Gina Giese with a time of 36:13.

There were also winners in various age categories.

At the youngest level, 14 and under, the top male and top female were Kameron Kuszlyk (22:46) and Maya Ciocola (29:20).

In the over 60 category, Frank Gioia (21:24) and Janice Spiotta (26:12) had the best times.

For a complete list of participants and times, click here.

Some Batavia High School seniors have completed the design and painting of their parking spaces. Here are a few photos to share before the official full day of school starting this Thursday Sept. 7th.

Multiple fire companies have been dispatched to 9792 Ridge Road, Darien, for a house struck by lightning with smoke reported in the residence.

Darian fire was initially dispatched.

Mutual aid requested from Alexander, Town of Batavia, Corfu, East Pembroke, Indian Falls, and City Fire.

UPDATE 11:23 p.m.: City's fourth platoon requested to the station. Emergency management requested to the scene.

There is a severe thunderstorm warning in affect until 11:15 p.m. The storm is moving through the area at 60 mph. Wind gusts up to 60 mph possible. Damaging hail possible. Downed tree limbs and power lines possible.