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A lot of topics were covered in a four-hour meeting of the board of trustees for the Village of Corfu on Monday evening.

• The board decided to move ahead with an upgrade to the sewer treatment plant in conjunction with the Town of Pembroke;
• The board attempted to hire a new village attorney;
• A former trustee wanted to know why newly elected Mayor Rosie Peterson called up his employer to ban him from the sewer plant (which he manages);
• A current trustee said he received two written complaints from village employees about demands that they share their work computer passwords;
• The trustee took up the topic of the police budget as part of an ongoing attempt to close a possible budget deficit.

So, we'll take these topics one at a time.

Sewer Treatment
Paul R. Chatfield, president of Chatfield Engineers, made a presentation on the proposal to expand the capacity of the Corfu waste treatment plant in conjunction with the Town of Pembroke.

Peterson (inset photo) said he asked for the presentation because he didn't believe village residents were ever given an opportunity to learn the cost of upgrading the sewer plant without involving Pembroke.

The plant was built 30 years ago and needs upgrades, but it's also handling only 65,000 gallons a day when it was originally designed to handle 135,000 gallons a day.

The cost of building in conjunction with Pembroke is nearly $1.7 million. The cost of Corfu going it alone is nearly $1.5 million.

However, the Department of Environmental Conservation grant to help pay for the project is contingent on Corfu and Pembroke working together on the project. The grant covers $1.1 million of the cost.

Plus Genesee County Economic Development Center is providing a $75,000 grant to the project, contingent on the project getting the DEC grant. 

Not factored into Chatfield Engineers' calculations is another $100,000 grant that has recently become available, but the village has yet to apply for it.

With the grants, the cost of the debt service for Corfu residents on a combined plant is 64 cents per 1,000 gallons, the cost of going it alone (and therefore no grants) is $4.66 per thousand gallons.

The cost of operations and maintenance also increases in the go-it-alone scenario from $286 per home per year to $397.

If the village were to go it alone, the average resident would pay $677 annually for sewer service while combining with Pembroke means an annual fee of $324 for that same household.

As Pembroke grows, the cost per household will decrease as the cost is shared by more property owners.

Pembroke High School is also facing potentially costly sewer upgrades, which the combined plant can help solve, but without the combined plant, the school district would need to raise district taxes to help pay for upgrades.

The trustees voted to have an attorney draft a resolution on issuing a bond to help pay for the Corfu/Pembroke project.

New Village Attorney
The trustees went into closed session with local attorney Kevin Earl to discuss whether to hire Earl as the new village attorney.

When the trustees came out of closed session, Trustee Keith Busch made a motion to hire. Trustee Art Ianni seconded the motion but said he wanted to discuss it. As soon as it was seconded, Peterson called the question and he, along with Busch, voted yes and Trustee Ken Lauer voted no.

Ianni then explained that he could support hiring Earl if former village attorney Mark Boylan was retained to handle the sewer project.

"I don't think having him jumping in when this all started four years ago is a good idea," Ianni said. "Writing letters and sending e-mails and going back and forth between two lawyers, that's a bad way to go."

Peterson said he agreed.

There was a little more discussion and then Peterson moved onto the next issue.

Ianni never cast a vote on the motion.

After the meeting Peterson and Sandra Thomas, village clerk, admitted the motion had not been properly handled and the issue will need to be on Thursday's agenda (when the board meets for further budget discussions).

Once the voting started on Busch's motion, it needed to be voted down before a new motion was made and it couldn't be amended at that point, plus Ianni never actually cast a vote on the motion.

Later in the meeting, former trustee Al Graham asked why Peterson wanted to replace Boylan. Peterson said, "One thing about this post, I do have some options available to me. This was a board decision and other board members voted also."

Peterson and Busch also said Earl's rates are lower than Boylan's.

Peterson's call to Al Graham's boss
The first topic raised during public comments was by former trustee Graham. He wanted to know why Peterson called his boss and told him Graham was banned from the sewer plant.

Graham's employer has the contract to run the sewer plant and Graham is a regional manager, overseeing the Corfu plant among others.

Peterson confirmed he made the call.

"I don't trust you," Peterson said.

Graham pressed the issue and Peterson repeated that he didn't trust Graham and said nothing more.

Tim Skeet, brother of former mayor Todd Skeet, asked, "so you're going to run the village on gut feeling?"

Peterson said he felt like he had been verbally punched in the mouth a few times by Graham and that's why he didn't trust him.

"This village board was elected by the people of the community and the board is who actually makes the decisions," Peterson said. "The mayor is the manager of the organization, so when we talk about actual management of the village, the mayor is the manager. The board makes all of the decisions."

During public comments, it was noted that there will be a change in how disposal of large items will be handled in the village from now on. For years, residents could drop off items at a roll-off container once a month. With the new budget, the expense is being trimmed, and the roll-off will be available only once a year, in June.

Employee Complaints
Lauer said in the absence of the deputy mayor, who is out of town, village employees Thomas and Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Denise Beal, filed written complaints with him about Peterson demanding the passwords to their work computers.

Obtaining the password, it was noted, would allow Peterson to alter files without being detected.

Peterson said he was merely trying to learn as much as he could about what has been going on with the village and why it's in the shape it's in.

"All I'm trying to do is find out what's going on this village," Peterson said. "I get criticized for not knowing anything, but then when I try to figure out what's going on I get criticized. It's one of those things where I'm learning. I guess some people are born with all the knowledge they need to know when they need to know it at that point in time. Unfortunately, I'm not that gifted."

Multiple sources have confirmed with The Batavian that earlier, after Peterson began trying to obtain passwords to village computers, officials from the NYS Commission on Judicial Conduct had seized the village court's computers. The commission is conducting an investigation into the conduct of former Village Justice Robert Alexander, who presided over the court when at least $10,000 in court fines and bail money allegedly disappeared.

As to the possible connection after the meeting between Peterson trying to obtain passwords and the seizure of the court computers, Peterson said it was the first he was hearing about the seizure and he had no comment.

When the former mayor asked during this portion of the meeting what was going to be done with the employee complaints, Peterson told him the time for public comment was over and he couldn't speak.

It was the only time during the entire meeting in which a specific member of the public was told he or she couldn't speak.

With the election of a new justice, Peterson must appoint an acting justice. The acting justice is required by village law so there is a justice is available to fill in when the elected justice is not available.

The acting justice, if the person has no prior experience, must take a state-mandated class. That class is being offered this week.

Peterson said he needs more time to think about it.

Some village residents expressed concern that Peterson is delaying so he can appoint Alexander to the acting justice position.

Police Budget
The bottom line is the police budget is being reduced from $170,000 to $137,000.

After a long discussion about the budget, in which Officer Gene Nati and Peterson discussed how to make the police department more profitable, the board went into closed session -- even though the closed session wasn't previously announced on the agenda -- with Police Administrator Sgt. James Meier.

After the closed session, Peterson announced that Meier had offered to take an $8,000 annual cut in pay.

Meier receives a salary to work 20 hours a week overseeing the part-time village police force.

After the meeting, Meier, who is employed full-time with the Sheriff's Office, confirmed he made the offer because he does have a full-time job and other village employees need their present jobs. He hopes by taking a pay cut it will help protect those jobs.

During the meeting Nati pressed the board to eliminate the administrator position.

He provided a break down of revenue for the village from traffic tickets and said the number of tickets written from 2008 to 2012 declined, and so did revenue. Nati believes the police department has gone from a revenue generator to a money loser in that time frame.

"The giant elephant in the room when you look at the village numbers and do the cost comparison from 2008 to now is that one officer accounts for 23 percent of the patrol budget but generate's zero dollars in revenue," Nati said.

Peterson asked Meier if he would be willing, in addition to his administrative duties, to go on patrol and write tickets and Meier gave a one word answer, "no."

Nati pushed for more patrol hours.

"Keep in mind," Nati said, "that every hour an officer doesn't work he doesn't generate any revenue."

Peterson said what he would like to do is cut patrol hours, but then concentrate those hours during times when traffic is going to Darien Lake.

If the patrols generate a profit, then the additional revenue can be used to fund more hours for officers.

Budget Deficit
At the start of the budget discussion, Peterson said the village still had a $211,000 budget deficit to close.

The village anticipates $530,000 in revenue with current expenses, before additional budget talks, at $741,00.

If those numbers were to hold, the village would need to raise property taxes from $2.90 per thousand to $7.19 per thousand.

Peterson said it's up to village residents to decide if they want to make the expense cuts necessary to balance the budget or accept a tax increase.

The trustees will discuss the budget again on Thursday and on Friday.

If you happen to be outside just after midnight on this early Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service advises: Get indoors now.

A thunderstorm is passing through the area that is capable of producing dangerous cloud to ground lightning.

The storm is moving east at 65 mph and may produce dime-sized hail.

Updated at 5:09 p.m. with additional information.

In December, as the statute of limitations ran out on a set of burglaries in the city, all investigators had was a DNA profile of a suspect, so the Distirct Attorney's Office sought an indictment against the DNA profile.

A man whose DNA matches that profile was recently arrested and he will be arraigned on the three-count indictment in the morning.

The suspect is no longer "John Doe." His name is Samuel G. Malone. He is 27 and most recently a resident of 36 Walnut St., Batavia.

Investigators believe they've found a match with Malone's DNA to the suspect's DNA following Malone's conviction on an unrelated matter.

Malone will be charged with burglaries at the former Ponderosa Steakhouse in August 2008, Mortellaro's Awards, August 2008, and Palace of Sweets, September 2008.

Det. Pat Corona said Malone allegedly made forced entry into the establishments and was looking for whatever cash he could find.

The indictment was for two counts of burglary, 3rd, and one count of attempted burglary, 2nd.

Malone is currently in custody on $25,000 bail pending a bail review in County Court.

Det. Charles Dudek, Det. Todd Crossett and Sgt. Patrick Corona all worked on the case.

Winds of 20 to 30 mph are expected to hit Genesee County tonight around 10 p.m. and last until 4 a.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Gusts up to 50 mph are possible.

Winds this strong can bring down tree branches and cause isolated power outages.

Craig Yunker, owner of CY Farms and Batavia Turf, posted this picture to Twitter with the message: "Thieves stole our tractor weights right off our tractor. They look like this. Keep a look out."

Yunker said the weights retail for $3,000.

Tractor weights are used to counter balance whatever a tractor is pulling or lifting.

Tips can be called into the Sheriff's Office at 343-5000.

A thief has stolen aluminum bleacher plants from the stands at the Le Roy Little League Field behind the Jell-O Museum on East Main Street, Le Roy.

Le Roy PD is looking for information that might help officers apprehend the suspect or suspects.

The perpetrator also loosened bolts on other planks, perhaps to aid in a future theft.

If you have information that may assist the investigation, call Le Roy PD at 345-6350.

The tech press is abuzz with speculation about "Project Azalea," a  multibillion-dollar computer chip factory that could be built somewhere in the U.S. with state economic directors in New York, Oregon, Washington and Texas trying to find the right package of incentives to woo the company behind the project.

It's all just rumor and speculation, but the company supposedly behind "Project Azalea" is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a major supplier to Apple Computers.

But here's the headline for Genesee County: Don't count on "Project Azalea" coming to the STAMP project in Alabama.

Mark Masse, senior vice president of operations for Genesee County Economic Development Center said the local IDA hasn't been given any indication from the Empire State Development that STAMP is on the short list of possible locations for "Project Azalea."

STAMP simply isn't ready yet for consideration by the mysterious company behind the project. The planned high-tech park must first become "shovel ready light" so a developer could start digging as soon as the ink dried on any contract for the project.

Business reporter Adam Sichko lists two New York locations as possible sites for the 1,000-plus jobs the project is expected to create: the Marcy NanoCenter, a 430-acre site on the Utica campus of SUNYIT and Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta.

While Texas does pop up as a possible location, The Oregonian says there are three main contenders, with New York still on the list.

The Oregonian also reports that New York is ready to spend tens of millions of dollars to lure the company to Upstate.

Hat tip to reader Joanne Rock for suggesting we look at Project Azalea.

Michael B. Collier, 50, of Gladstone Street, Rochester, and Stephen J. Wood, 60, of West Main Street, Rochester, are charged with petit larceny. Collier and Wood are accused of shoplifting at Walmart. Collier was arraigned and turned over to the Orlean's County Sheriff's Office on a warrant and Wood was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Brandon L. Doward, 28, of 125 Liberty St., lowor, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Doward is accused of pushing a woman to the ground during an argument. He was jailed on $750 bail.

Diana L. Bloom, 55, of 117 State St., lower, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Bloom is accused of shoplifting at the Hess Mart, corner of West Main and Oak streets, Batavia.

Harry J. Hall, 46, of Pine Tree Drive, Poughkeepsie, is charged with possession of untaxed cigarettes, plate obstructed and driver's view obstructed. Hall was allegedly found with 24 cartons of untaxed cigarettes during at traffic stop by Deputy Chris Parker at 10:01 a.m., Sunday, on Route 77, Pembroke.

Mitchell Scott Lindbergh, 44, of Chairfactory Road, Elma, is charged with stalking, 4th. Lindbergh is accused of repeated contact with a person in Darien he had been told to leave alone.

Brian Lee Smith, 51, of Colonial Blvd., Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Smith is accused of violating an order of protection by contacting the protected party via e-mail.

Dennis Andrew O'Neal, 25,of Alleghany Road, Corfu, is charged with criminal mischief, 4th. O'Neal is accused of punching holes into the drywall of a house in Corfu.

Andrew Richard Bastiano, 26, of Sumner Street, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and operating with inadequate lights. Bastiano was stopped at 10:59 p.m., Friday, on Townline Road, Bergen, by Deputy Jason Saile.

The Jonas Brothers, who haven't toured in the U.S. in three years, will perform at Darien Lake on July 19, Live Nation announced.

So far, Live Nation has announced a dozen shows at the Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center for this summer. For a complete list of scheduled shows, click here.

I've driven past this old, worn-down barn and farmhouse on Route 63 in Pavilion dozens and dozens of times and thought -- some day, I need to take a picture. On the way to the feed bunk fire today, I finally figured out how -- I think -- to make the shot. So after the fire, I went back and made this picture.

Mention "bunk fire" to a volunteer firefighter, and you might get an eye roll.

Nearly every firefighter we spoke to at the scene of the fire on the Schumacher Farm in Pavilion today said when they heard "bunk fire" from the fire dispatcher, they knew there were in for a lot of work.

"They tend to be a drawn out affair," said Pavilion Chief Paul Dougherty. "The material is highly compacted. In fact, when they put it in the silo they go to great measures to compact it to keep the oxygen out. It's a smoldering type of fire that you've got to break apart until you've got it extinguished."

The fire was reported at 2:15 p.m. and Pavilion Fire was on scene until about 6 p.m.

It took thousands of gallons of water to deal with the fire and with no public water in the area, tankers were called in from Batavia, Le Roy, Alexander, Bergen, Stafford, Caledonia, and Bethany, as well as Le Roy's ladder truck.

The fire appears to have spread from a burn pile on the southwest corner of the feed bunk (a bunker used to store cattle feed) and up the feed pile and into bales of hay stored at the top of the bunker.

Crews had to battle the fire in the bunker and clear a safe path to the back in Le Roy's ladder truck in order to put out the hay fire.

Because of winds, hot spots spread into the adjacent fields.

"The wind this particular day is certainly not in our favor," Dougherty said. "It is feeding the smoldering material and also carrying embers out into the surrounding fields, which are at this point in the year wet and difficult to get into to put out any burning materials."

The Schumacher Farm straddles the Genesee County-Wyoming County line and the feed bunk is in Genesee County, while the main structures of the farm are in Wyoming County. No structures were threatened by the fire, being down wind from the feed bunk.

Tankers shuttled water into the fire, but the time between truck fulls of water was such that the ladder truck had to periodically stop shooting water on the burning material.

For this type of fire, the flow of water, however, wasn't critical. At one point, in fact, firefighters took a break for refreshments and rest since the fire was well contained and not going anywhere.

"The one difference between this type of fire and structure or house fire is that with a structure or house, getting water is a bigger problem," Dougherty said. "Here we've got time to get water set up. The fire is not really going anywhere. We're not going to get behind it."

If the fire was started by a controlled burn, there are exemptions for agriculture during the no-burn season. Also, Dougherty noted, the fire could have been set days ago and only became a problem after the wind kicked up today.

Also assisting at the scene were Mercy EMS (on standby) and the Salvation Army.

To purchase prints of these photos, click here.

Local history was on display at GCC today with history groups from Genesee County's villages, towns and museums gathering in the college's forum.

Visitors could see displays on history, view artifacts, buy books and gift items and learn directly from the people who know the most what our predecessors did in Western New York.

As part of the event, War of 1812 reenactors, the Genesee County Militia, Kellogg Company, offered lectures and demonstrations on what military life was back 100 years ago.

In the early 1900s, then-Governor Al Smith created the civic position of local historians. New York is the only state to declare preservation and dissemination of local history to be a public purpose. (source)

By 9 a.m. the closest open parking space to St. Joe's was at least a block way in any direction.

Once inside the annual Super Mammoth Sale, it was pretty much wall-to-wall people.

By 9:05 a.m., the first bargain shoppers were hauling their treasures to their cars.

As always, you had to get their early and act quick to find the best deals.

Blue Devil's pitcher Ryan Tenney went five innings Friday, surrendering only three hits and two earned runs in his first varsity start and Head Coach Richard Saunders is hopeful the performance is a sign of good things to come.

"If he can throw like that the rest of the year, I've found my solid #2 starter," Saunders said.

Despite Tenney's strong performance, Batavia dropped the contest to Medina 6-3.

It's the first game of the season and the cobwebs showed, Saunders said.

"Any time you go out for the first time in the spring, you're going to have some glitches in the game," Saunders said. "I think the whole game boiled down to the fact that we had some plays that we'll make all year long and we didn't make them today. That put us behind the eight ball the whole time."

Saunders expects his team to contend not just for the division lead, but a sectional title in Class B.

"We went to the finals last year and I've got six guys from that team coming back," Saunders said. "I might not have my big boppers, but I've got guys who can run and play defense. I expect to be there with this team."

Tenney, Zach Hale and Tom Grammatico each had an RBI. Zeke Lynn had two hits.

Top photo, Brett Scheurelein getting a hit in the third inning.

Ryan Tenney

Tom Grammatico was tossed from the game after he failed to slide coming into home plate. In the style of Pete Rose, Grammatico bowled over Medina's catcher, dislodging the ball from the catcher's glove. The home plate umpire initially ruled Grammatico safe, but after consulting with the field umpire, reversed the call and tossed Grammatico. In Section V players must slide rather than running into players at any base.

To purchase prints, click here.

A local businessman is planning a housing development on 100 acres of vacant farm land just off Route 5 and Seven Springs Road in the Town of Batavia, and the town's planning board has scheduled a public hearing on the subdivision application.

Peter Zeliff, an executive EIF Renewable Energy Holdings and a Batavia resident, has filed the application to convert the farmland into 76 lots for 120 single family and town home units.

The public hearing is set for 7:30 p.m., April 16 at Batavia's Town Hall, 3833 W. Main Street Road.

The location of the proposed development is north of Route 5, across from the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.

Zeliff is best known locally as an aviation buff, so much so that he built a large house near the west end of the Genesee County Airport runway. He owns small planes and a helicopter.

Among his charitable work is the annual WNY Aviation Camp for youngsters throughout the region.

He's also a member of the Genesee County Economic Development Center Board of Directors. CORRECTION: Zeliff is a member of the Genesee Gateway local Development Corporation, which is affiliated with GCEDC.

The owner of the parcel is listed as Oakwood Hills, LLC. It's currently assessed at $128,200.

Elizabeth A. Denise, 32, of 2 Fisher Park, lower, Batavia, is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Batavia PD responded Tuesday to a complaint about an abandoned dog. Upon investigation, Officer Frank Klimjack reported finding an apartment in "deplorable condition" and two children residing in the dwelling. The dog was removed from the residence and taken to the animal shelter. Denise was issued an appearance ticket. There was no further information released about the children.

Daniel L. Dioguardi, 31, 4993 Upper Holley Road, Holley, is charged with burglary, 2nd, petit larceny and criminal possession of a controlled substance. Dioguardi turned himself in on a warrant and was jailed on $5,000 bail.

Pavilion fire is on scene of a field fire in the area of 7364 Dillon Road, Pavilion.

It was apparently a controlled burn that got out of control and was reported to be about 50 yards from a structure.

A chief reports that it hasn't gotten into the nearby woods.

Another chief said that once crews are on scene with brooms, it should be easy to knock down.

UPDATE 10:46 a.m.: A chief reports fire is definitely out and he's walking the perimeter of the whole area to ensure it's out.

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NOTE: This isn't about tax incentives or not, nor meant to address "shop local" or not. Whenever news comes up about new stores opening or coming to town, it always generates talk from people about "I wish this or that store would come to Batavia," so I thought the topic would make a fun and interesting poll. That is all.