Councilman Bob Bialkowski shared this Memorial Day photo of the front of his house. Bialkowski has organized today's Memorial Day Parade in Batavia, which starts in Eastown Plaza at 9:45 a.m.
Other events in the county today:
A caller reports that somebody stole four birdhouses from her residence on Vallance Road in Le Roy.
Her husband is following the suspect vehicle, perhaps a red pickup truck.
Law enforcement is responding.
UPDATE 6:28 p.m.: The suspect vehicle was last seen on North Road, apparently heading into Monroe County. Monroe County deputies being alerted and the husband is returning home.
UPDATE 6:30 p.m.: A person in the vehicle threw the birdhouses into the roadway.
Bryan Bartholomew submitted this photo of sunset over Lehigh Avenue, Batavia.
JoAnne Meiser submitted this photo of sunset in Indian Falls.
A caller to dispatch reports there are three children playing in the water at DeWitt Recreation Area on Cedar Street with no adult supervision. City police are responding.
A dog is reportedly locked inside a red Ford Escape in a handicapped parking space across from Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel on Park Road. An animal control officer is responding.
UPDATE 1:35 p.m.: The officer is in the parking lot with the vehicle; she's waiting for a security guard from the Downs and has called for a zone car -- patrol car -- to the scene.
UPDATE 2:23 p.m.: Didn't hear an update other than the officer is clearing the scene at the Downs and heading to a dog-bite call received earlier today.
Paula Gilbert (photo at right), local government specialist with the Division of Local Government Services in Albany, advised that the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on March 31 paves the way to an estimated $1 billion industry with expected annual revenue of $350 million and the creation of between 30,000 and 60,000 jobs.
Gilbert imparted her knowledge of the new law earlier this month during a Hot Button Land Uses training webinar for municipal planning department personnel.
She said the economic benefit of cannabis production and sale is “really significant especially in some places in Upstate New York where we have distressed farmers that are really struggling today.”
“It’s not just selling these (products) in your community but there’s also going to be the whole pipeline of production and labeling and creating packaging,” she offered. “So, there’s a lot of opportunity for a lot of communities to get into the door.”
Farm owners in Genesee and other rural counties are leasing land to solar companies, reaping the rewards from lucrative contracts in that industry, and Gilbert is of the opinion that they will do the same for the growing of marijuana plants.
The legislation permits adult use of cannabis for those 21 years of age and up – people who may possess, display, purchase, obtain or transport up to 3 ounces of flower or 24 grams of concentrated cannabis.
It also expands New York’s existing medical marijuana program and immediately allows eligible users to smoke cannabis in public wherever tobacco is allowed.
Gilbert said that consumption is not allowed in schools, federal lands, workplaces or in vehicles as the federal government still has jurisdiction in those places.
She explained that there are two types of retail sites:
Cannabis home delivery is planned for the future, she said, resulting in Door-Dash-type services.
Gilbert said the state is establishing the Office of Cannabis Management & Marijuana Control Board, which will have an executive director and will be housed inside the New York State Liquor Authority.
The office will implement regulations for production, licensing, retail, packaging, labeling and use, with the first sales not expected until 2022 or early 2023.
Following are other aspects of the law shared during the webinar:
FOCUS ON DIVERSITY
Gilbert said the state is focusing on diversity – a 50-percent goal for minority or women-owned enterprises, distressed farms, disabled veterans – and small-scale production.
She said the strategy is different from other states in that New York is hoping to prevent large corporations and industries from controlling the market.
A person or company is prohibited from owning a growing facility and a dispensary, except for micro-enterprises, she said. A micro-enterprise can be defined as someone who owns all methods of production and only sells what is grown on-site.
In the future, home growing for adults will be limited to three mature and three immature plants, with a maximum of 12 plants per household.
SALES AND EXCISE TAXES
Gilbert said that sales tax on cannabis will be 13 percent, with 9 percent going to the state, 3 percent to the host municipality and 1 percent to the county.
Additionally, a THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) excise tax will be imposed.
“The heavier the product, the more tax there is to it,” she said, outlining taxes of a half-cent per milligram of flower, eight-tenths of a cents per milligram of concentrated cannabis and 3 cents per milligram of edible cannabis or “higher-powered” products.
“Hopefully some of those tax dollars will go to help people who become addicted – that is also part of it,” she added. A portion of the state’s share of revenues will be used for addiction treatment options.
LOCAL REGULATION
Municipalities have until Dec. 31 to opt out of any dispensary or on-site consumption site within their jurisdiction.
“However,” Gilbert said, “if you do opt out of this, it is something that can be challenged by a permissive referendum by the voters. If you’re a little nervous about this and you’re not sure if you want this in your community, you have to think about what you’re going to do.”
She said that because the regulations have yet to be finalized, she advises community leaders to take a wait-and-see approach.
“Once we get an idea from the Office of Cannabis Management & Marijuana Control Board, a lot of the questions will start to answer themselves,” she said.
If a community decides to opt out, it would lose the opportunity for the tax revenue. It would, however, have a chance to opt back in should legislative or public sentiment change.
In any event, municipalities cannot opt out of growing, testing or packaging facilities, and may not prohibit personal cannabis use in homes, she said.
CRIMINAL RECORD EXPUNGING
Gilbert said the law also calls for expunging previous convictions related to cannabis, which is now considered legal, and said the state will take the prerogative in clearing the records of previous offenders to a point.
Not everyone is going to have their record expunged as the conviction reversal is based on the level that cannabis is allowed today, she said.
If the conviction involved a quantity greater than what is allowed under the new law, that criminal record would not be expunged.
“For the kid in high school caught with a small amount – it could undo that,” she said.
ADDITIONAL TOPICS
Growing for personal use will not happen until 18 months after the first retail store makes a sale.
“They’re still trying to figure out how to tell if people are under the influence (of marijuana),” she said.
“Yes, we’ve seen that in Massachusetts as well,” she said. “Because there is a pretty large medical cannabis industry in New York, it’s likely certain products (will be sold) for medical users and others for personal use.”
For more information, go to www.cannabis.ny.gov.
A "large" grass fire is reported in the area of Clinton Street Road and Horseshoe Lake Road, Stafford, near the roadway.
Stafford fire is responding.
UPDATE 11:15 a.m.: The fire is an attended controlled burn. Stafford is standing down.
"Same as yesterday," said the dispatcher.
Two little girls are reportedly going door-to-door in the Village of Bergen asking for money.
One is wearing pink pajamas. The other, blue pajamas.
Previously: Callers complain about little beggars in Bergen
Marc C.J. Cook Sr., 30, of Church Street, Alabama, is charged with third-degree bail jumping, a Class A misdemeanor. Cook was arrested on May 27. In 2019 Cook was arrested for criminally using drug paraphernalia in the second degree. At that time, he was instructed to appear in Batavia City Court Sept. 15, 2020. Not only did he not appear in court on that date, he did not voluntarily turn himself in within 30 days of the required court appearance, according to the report from the Genesee County Sheriff's Office. Cook was arraigned virtually in city court and put in jail in lieu of $2,500 cash bail or $5,000 bond. He is due back in city court on June 15. Members of the GC Drug Enforcement Task Force made the arrest with assistance from Sheriff's deputies. The GC DA's office also assisted in the case.
Brandon D. Forsyth, 29, of Corfu, was arrested at 8:01 p.m. May 21 by Troopers out of SP Warsaw and charged with driving while intoxicated and failure to stop at stop sign. Troopers arrested Forsyth after a motor-vehicle accident involving a ATV on Schoellkopf Road in the Town of Bennington. Forsyth was issued traffic tickets returnable to Town of Bennington Court in June.
Darrin Mitchell Brown, 31, of West State Street, Albion, is charged with: driving while ability impaired by drugs; driving while intoxicated -- first offense; and failure to signal within 100 feet. On May 25 at about 2:45 a.m. on Clinton Street in Batavia, Brown was arrested following a traffic stop. He was processed at the Genesee County Jail and issued appearance tickets to be in Batavia City Court on June 6. The case was handled by Genesee County Sheriff's Deputy Nicholas Chamoun, assisted by Deputy Mathew Clor.
Two callers to dispatch report a pair of unsupervised little girls, about age 5, going door to door in Bergen asking people for money. One call was for Clinton Street and the other for Rochester Street.
Sheriff's deputies are responding.
UPDATE 2:43 p.m.: A sheriff's deputy asks where the girls were last seen and is told southbound in the first block on Clinton Street. He says he's delayed by a train momentarily.
UPDATE 3:12 p.m.: The deputy reports "checking the entirety of the village" and not finding the girls. He is going to speak with one of the callers who requested an interview.
UPDATE 6:41 p.m.: A reader shared the following:
The two little girls rang my doorbell after two o'clock. The older girl, about 7 years old, had a white, plastic grocery bag stretched out (trick or treat style), "Will you give us some money; we're homeless?" she asked. I looked her and her companion (she was about 5) over: they were in hoodie pajamas, barefoot. Both had brown hair and brown eyes. "You're barefoot. Aren't you cold?" I asked. "No, I'm okay," she replied. So I gave her some one-dollar bills I had handy and watched to see where they went. I called 911 and looked out my windows to see if there was an adult around or a car waiting on them. Neither was in sight. Last I saw them they were on my next-door neighbor's porch ringing his doorbell.
And:
Well, here's an update. The girls with their Mom just came to my door to apologize and return the money I gave them. "We're sorry. We were trying to help our Mom. We're not homeless." I replied, "It's always good to help your Mom, and it's always good to be honest." Mom waved at me, and they left. I guess that's a happy ending. I'll never know what "helping our Mom" meant. You can use the information however you choose. I'm glad that two little girls aren't wandering around without shoes or soliciting money.
From Glen Adams, head coach LeRoy Jr/Sr High Trap Shoot Team:
These are the season results for area high school trap team youth shooting at area clubs for their Spring Season.
New York State High School Clay Target League -- Spring 2021 Season
1A-Conference 4
1A-Conference 6
1A-Conference 7
1A-Conference 8
1A-Conference 10
1A-Conference 11
1A-Conference 12
Press release:
GLOW Women Rise will honor this year's GRIT Award winners at the second annual Empowerment Forum, which will be held virtually on June 5th.
The GRIT Award is given to women in our community who exhibit tenacity, fearlessness, and spirit in advocating for an underrepresented group in the GLOW region.
This free forum (donations gratefully accepted) encourages the growth and networking of women across the region and it's open to anyone interested in empowering women. Mothers please invite your daughters (adolescents and older).
The focus will be on the International Women’s Day theme -- #ChooseToChallenge.
Discussions and workshops were selected to motivate participants to challenge themselves and each other in the areas of discrimination, personal finance, body positivity, and community.
The Empowerment Forum will also honor women that our community lost over the past year. People are encouraged to participate in this tribute by submitting a memorial here.
The event's keynote speaker will be author and an award-winning lecturer Tamara L. McMillan, Ph.D.c, CPSC. A Buffalo native, McMillan is also the founder of McMillan Empowerment Enterprises (MEE).
As an agent of change, MEE has shaped the lives of countless girls and women around the world by providing tools of transformation while passionately empowering them to reconnect to their own life’s purpose in order to embrace and narrate their own stories.
GLOW Women Rise is a volunteer-based, not-for-profit organization (registered 501c3), that works to connect women and resources throughout the region while providing support and advocacy.
Press release:
Spots are still open for Environmental Science Camp at the Genesee County Park & Forest! This hands-on outdoor camp is for students entering seventh – 10th grades.
Maximum 15 campers, registration deadline to register is Monday, June 28th.
Camp meets Monday through Friday, July 12th – 16th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Interpretive Nature Center at the Genesee County Park & Forest.
This weeklong adventure includes wildlife surveys, stream studies, tree identification and more taught by professionals in different fields of Environmental Science.
Learn from Q&A with forest rangers, enjoy outdoor recreation and more!
Cost is $95/camper for the entire week. All materials and a camp T-shirt are provided. Transportation provided from Batavia High School to and from camp each day.
All COVID-19 and social distancing protocols will be followed according to state and county health department recommendations.
To register, download the registration form from our website here.
Return completed forms with payment to:
Main Office -- Genesee County Park & Forest Interpretive Nature Center
153 Cedar St.
Batavia, NY 14020
For more information visit our website, or contact Shannon Lyaski at Shannon.Lyaski@co.genesee.ny.us or (585) 344-1122.
A caller to dispatch reports that a black and white pitbull mix tried to get into their vehicle when it stopped at a stop sign in Stafford. The dog was laying in a driveway in the area of Sweetland and Transit roads without shelter or food when the vehicle made the stop.
An officer is responding to check on the animal.
UPDATE 1:20 p.m.: An officer is out with the canine in the 6300 block of Sweetland Road.
UPDATE 1:26 p.m.: The animal control officer says the dog has shelter and a water dish. "Unable to make contact with anyone" at the residence. She's en route back to the shelter.
More than $11 million from the American Rescue Plan Act has Genesee County’s name on it, but it’s too early to speculate exactly how that money will be used, County Manager Matt Landers reported to legislators earlier this week.
Landers, in outlining the four areas on which the money can be spent, said he emphasized to county lawmakers that the current federal guidelines have been released on an interim basis and the final rule is not expected until mid-July.
“Between not having the final rule yet, plus the fact that the feds are doing this in a two-traunch allocation of the money, no official roadmap of how were going to spend the $11,125,969 has been drawn up,” Landers said.
“They’re doing this specifically because they don’t want you to spend all of the money now. They want you to evaluate how the pandemic is progressing and to be able to adjust later on with the funding they give you.”
Payments, in equal installments, to municipalities will be made sometime this year and again 12 months later.
According to a directive from the federal government, eligible uses are as follows:
Landers said his office is calculating what won’t be covered by the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act (of 2020) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with outstanding expenses to be covered with ARPA funds.
“We’re still investigating what we can and can't do here regarding tourism,” he said. “I am checking to see if this is the way we can assist the Chamber of Commerce for a rebranding effort, along with assistance to some of our local businesses most impacted by the pandemic and to assist our tourism sector.”
Landers reported that the county treasurer’s office has calculated the amount of lost revenue by Genesee County, using the prescribed three formulas.
“The most beneficial calculation of lost revenue is approximately $6 million,” he said. “There are strings attached to this money, but early thoughts on how to utilize this portion is on the construction of the Genesee County Jail.”
He also said he is talking to department heads about possible investments and for cybersecurity upgrades proposed by the Information Technology department.
Landers said it there could be around $5 million available for allocating to broadband and water infrastructure needs.
“Limitations on upload/download speed may impact the effectiveness of the broadband allocation,” he advised.
The county manager said he will be meeting with other county administrators on June 4 in Madison County and with New York State Association of County leaders “to put our heads together to see what works.”
“The interim final guidance provides us with a lot of information, but also a lot of questions,” he said. “It is too early to provide a complete list of recommendations, but it is safe to say we will be able to allocate all of the $11 million and will allocate it in the most impactful and transparent way.”
Updated: May 30, 12:30 p.m., with job creation details
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While acknowledging ongoing opposition and unsightly solar panels, Byron Town Supervisor Peter Yasses said the municipality has won the lottery as a result of its Host Community Benefit agreement with Excelsior Energy Center LLC – the company proposing to build a 280-megawatt solar system in the town under Article 10 of the New York State Public Service Law.
“You’ve won the lottery, but you’ve won the lottery for 20 years,” Yasses said on Friday in discussing the status of the project, which would turn 46 parcels of farmland covering about 1,600 acres into a sea of solar panels. “Every year this check comes – with a 2-percent increase. To me, that’s huge for the town.”
The check that Yasses is talking about is the $1,006,522 that Excelsior Energy would write to the town in year one of a 20-year HCB fee schedule that increases by 2 percent each year. Per the contract, the first annual check would arrive within 30 days after the start of construction.
All told, combining a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) with the Genesee County Economic Development Center, special district charges, agricultural exemption revenue and the negotiated host benefit fee, the Town of Byron – if the project receives final approval – would be on the receiving end of $24 million over the two decades.
Yasses said he and the town board took a stand to get what they felt was a fair price for the cost of losing the aesthetics of farmland and fields.
“We had to go into this with an open mind. At any means, it’s not going to be pretty for the town as far as having to look at the panels,” he said. “But it really has nothing to do with our town board. This is getting rammed down our throats by (Gov.) Andrew Cuomo through Article 10.”
The Article 10 provision (which is being replaced by Office of Renewable Energy Siting) authorizes the state’s Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment to oversee development of large solar facilities, bypassing much local control.
Siting Board Public Hearing is Tuesday
On Tuesday (June 1), the siting board will be conducting a public statement hearing -- a key step toward the end of the Article 10 process – via teleconference from New York City with Administrative Law Judge Gregg Sayre presiding.
Two sessions are scheduled – 1 and 6 p.m. – for community members to participate.
A determination on a permit to proceed with the project is expected by April. Developers are anticipating the solar system will be operational by the end of 2023.
Yasses said attorneys hired by the town during this process, which started more than two years ago, told board members their hands were tied.
“When a lawyer sits you down in executive session and says, ‘It’s coming whether you like it or not and there is nothing you can do about it,’ that paints a different picture in your mind,” he said. “Again, these aren’t going to be looking pretty in our town – we know that; the town board knows that. However, we had to do what is best for the people that have to look at these things.”
Yasses: We Changed Our Game Plan
Yasses said the board changed its approach from “defense to offense,” and through five months of negotiations forged a deal that it felt was justified.
“Paul (town attorney Paul Boylan) and I were charged with the negotiation and I, knowing what these things (panels) look like, did not want to sell out my town. At first they were talking nowhere near this kind of money and some of the propaganda they were dishing out – it was something like $400,000 to $500,000 a year. That’s peanuts,” he said.
“I said, ‘No way, I want a million (dollars). I won’t say who … but there were some big people in the county and town who said, ‘You’re dreaming.’ I said that’s my threshold. I want a million dollars a year for the Town of Byron. I have to live here, my people have to live here, my kids are going to live here and my grandkids are going to live here.”
Yasses said the HCB agreement was signed on April 28 at a board meeting via Zoom.
“The board was pleased,” he said, adding that he believes about a third of the annual payment can be used for property tax relief.
“Approximately a third of it will be injected into our budget,” he said. “I can’t say that the tax rate will go down but this is going to help not to raise taxes because Genesee County cut our sales tax distribution by more than that. We took some pretty drastic measures to keep ourselves in good shape, but I’m not sure the tax rate will go down.”
Residents Will Have a Voice
He said it will be up to town residents as far as how to spend the remainder of the windfall.
“Most likely, we will hire a financial advisor and we’ll probably select a committee through the citizens to help us come up with wants and needs,” he said. “It’s the community’s money and I want the community to have a say on how they spend their money.”
A closer look at the financials involved with the project reveal that the town, Genesee County and the Byron-Bergen Central School District will benefit from the PILOT negotiated between Excelsior Energy Center and the GCEDC.
Per the HCB fee schedule, the county would get $281,775 in year one and the school district would get $675,703 in year one. The town’s share would be $120,522 and, again, these payments come with a 2-percent annual escalator clause.
The GCEDC Board of Directors is expected to vote on tax incentives for Excelsior Energy Center at its meeting on June 3. Excelsior is seeking $21,498,313 in property tax abatements over the 20 years and $11,288,287 in sales tax abatements (for construction materials).
Jim Krencik, GCEDC director of marketing and communications, said Excelsior Energy would be investing $345.55 million – with $1.82 million in the first year alone to the three taxing jurisdictions based on $6,500 per megawatt.
$84.7 Million Into the Local Economy
“Excelsior’s investment over the 20-year project horizon is estimated to generate $117.5 million into the local economy when you consider the total PILOT payments, host community agreement, estimated fire district payments and related tax reductions, and construction purchases and payroll,” Krencik said.
The solar company said 290 full-time equivalent jobs will be created during the construction phase and 3.1 FTE during project operation and maintenance (solar technician, tech leader and high voltage technician).
Krencik pointed out that when subtracting the tax incentives from the direct economic impact figure, the direct benefit in excess of costs is $84.7 million over the 20 years.
And, of course, the farmers who have signed contracts with Excelsior Energy to lease their land will reap financial rewards.
Yasses said that he and others from the town will be on the siting board public hearing call on Tuesday and expects that those in opposition will be as well.
“We have heard those against it loud and clear. But, we had to do what we felt was right for the community,” he said. “This the best deal in New York State. We had some people scratching their heads wondering how we got it. It was through tough negotiations – that’s how we got it.”
A caller reports that a motorcyclist rear-ended her car on the Thruway in the area of mile marker 384 in the eastbound lane.
The rider is down in the roadway.
Le Roy fire and Le Roy ambulance dispatched. Mercy Flight is on in-air standby.
UPDATE 10:47 a.m.: One patient transported to Strong Memorial Hospital by Mercy Flight.
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