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Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley announced today that he has endorsed Sen. Chris Jacobs in the April 28 Special Election for U.S. Congress. Jacobs is running to serve the remainder of former Rep. Chris Collins’ term representing New York’s 27th Congressional District.

The district spans from the suburbs of Buffalo through the Finger Lakes and Canandaigua with Hawley’s hometown of Batavia sitting at the heart of the district.

“I am wholeheartedly endorsing Senator Jacobs to serve as our next Congressman,” Hawley said. “In an era highlighted by radical ideals and attacks on our values, we need a strong leader and proven legislator who will stand up for our beliefs here in Western New York.

"Senator Jacobs is a successful businessman with a proven track record of creating jobs and giving back to his neighbors philanthropically. I endorse Senator Jacobs in the April Special Election and am confident he will serve with honor and dignity as our next Congressman.”

UPDATE: The Chris Jacobs campaign also put out a press release that contained this statement:

“I am beyond honored and grateful to receive Assemblyman Hawley’s endorsement," Jacobs said. "It has been an honor serving beside him in the State Legislature and he has been a true conservative fighter for the people of Western New York.

"With his endorsement, I feel confident that we can usher in a new era of prosperity in our region and send strong conservative leadership to Washington."

Press release:

At the Feb. 26th Legislature meeting, County Manager Jay Gsell announced his plan to retire as of Aug. 14. He will have 27 years as county manager and a total of 45 years working in government.

In addition to announcing his retirement date, Gsell shared details of the succession plan, which includes Assistant County Manager Matthew Landers' appointment to the position of County Manager.

Upon earning his bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary, Gsell immediately went on to American University earning his Master of Public Administration degree.

In the late 1970s and through the 1980s, he served as assistant or city manager in the cities of Trenton, Norton Shores, Eau Claire, Winchester, Cumberland, and Marshalltown. In 1993, after rising to the top of 70 applicants from a national search, Gsell was appointed county manager by the Genesee County Legislature.

According to Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein, he has completely immersed himself in Genesee County, a place he and his wife, Ann Marie, call home.

“Jay wears many hats; county manager and budget officer, family man, member (and past president) of Rotary, United Way board member and chair of the county’s comprehensive plan committee to name a few,” Stein said.

The Legislature has met with Landers and look forward to a seamless transition.

Landers brings nearly 10 years of municipal experience beginning with a three-year stint as director of real property tax services before a promotion to deputy treasurer and in 2014 assistant county manager.

Matt and wife, Melissa, are lifelong Genesee County residents.

He attended The College at Brockport where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Master of Public Administration. He’s an active member of Kiwanis Club, Leadership Genesee graduate and is a certified public accountant.

Landers can been seen coaching daughter Katie’s softball team or working on the fields at Lyons Park or pitching to son, Ben, at batting practice.

“We are well-positioned to maintain quality administration of our county and look forward to promoting homegrown Matt Landers to county manager,” Stein said.

CORRECTIONS: A source provided the following corrections to the press release: Landers has 16 years of municipal government experience.  He was deputy county treasurer from 2004 to 2014. During that time, he was also director of real property for three years.

Batavia City Council President Eugene Jankowski released a budget message video on social media today.

Closures and cancellations for today:

• Pavilion Central School
• Classic Optical

The Lady Hornets started what they will hope will be a successful post-season run with a convincing victory over Alexander, 62-49.

Brooke Reding scored 19 points, Brianna Smith, 15, and Kelsey Schlagenhauf, 14.

For Alexander, Hailie Kramer scored 24 points, Mel Pohl scored nine, and Ally Mileham and Natalie Whitmore scored six each.

Oakfield-Alexander (14-7) will continue its pursuit of a Class C2 Section V title at 7 p.m., Friday against Red Creek (15-6) at Red Creek.

In other girls' basketball playoff games on Wednesday:

• Byron-Bergen beat Campbell/Savona 65-22. Julianna Amesbury scored 18 points and Miriam Tardy and Kendall Phillis scored 10 each. 
• Pembroke beat Sodus 75-16. Serene Calderon scored 19 points, Emily Peters, 15, and Isabel Breeden and Dekari Mos scored 11 each.
• Notre Dame beat Genesee Valley 59-17.
• Pavilion beat Kendall 49-11. 

Upcoming games:

• In Class B2, Le Roy is at Avon tomorrow. Game time is 7 p.m.
• Elba (18-2) hosts Houghton (11-8)  tomorrow at 7 p.m. in a Class D2 matchup.
• Tomorrow, Batavia (14-7) plays Palmyra-Macedon (16-4) in Class B1 at Palmyra at 7 p.m.
• On Saturday, at 2 p.m., Pembroke (20-1) hosts Warsaw (11-10) in a Class C1 quarterfinal.
• At 7 p.m., Saturday, in Class C1, Byron-Bergen (17-4) hosts East Rochester (12-9)
• Oakfield-Alabama (14-7) travels to Red Creek (15-6) for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday.
• Pavilion (11-10) plays Prattsburgh (15-5) at Prattsburg at 5:30 p.m., Saturday in Class D1.
• The other Class D1 quarterfinal game that day is Notre Dame (14-7) at Hammondsport (13-5) at 2 p.m.

Upcoming boys' basketball games:

• Batavia (14-8), playing in Class B1, hosts Newark (11-10) at 7 p.m., Saturday.
• Le Roy (10-10), playing in Class B2, hosts Wayland-Cohocton (10-11) at 7 p.m., Saturday
• Tomorrow, Byron-Bergen (13-7) in Class C1, hosts Rochester Academy (10-8) at 7 p.m.
• Tomorrow, Alexander (12-9), Class C2, travels to Clyde Savannah for a 7 p.m. game.
• In Class C3, Oakfield-Alabama (15-5) hosts South Seneca (8-13) at 7 p.m., tomorrow.
• Elba (17-3) in Class D2 hosts Destiny (6-14) at 7 p.m., Saturday.
• On Friday at 7 p.m., Notre Dame (16-4), Class D1 hosts Jasper-Troupsburg (13-7).

UPDATE: Photos of Pembroke's game by Kristin Smith. For more photos, click here.

UPDATE: Click here for photos by Kristin Smith of the O-A vs. Alexander game.

If you like our high school sports coverage and would like to see more of it (we can't possibly get to all these games), become a supporter!

In Wednesday's Scholastic Bowl competition, Batavia scored 340 points in the second match to beat Notre Dame, 170, and Alexander, 160.

In the first match, Pembroke beat Le Roy and Alden 240 to 230 and 170.

Schools that have canceled classes:

• Batavia City Schools
• Byron-Bergen Central School
• Elba Central School 
• LeRoy Central School 
• Notre Dame High School
• Oakfield-Alabama Central School
• Pavilion Central School
• GCC Batavia campus

Closures and cancellations:

• Richmond Memorial Library
• Office for the Aging has cancelled Meals On Wheels deliveries today and congregate meal sites are closed. Cients should use their emergency meals.
• Liberty Center for Youth is closed.
• GAPA's "Employee Engagement" event at the Dibble Center tonight is canceled.
• Classic Optical

Email closures and cancellations to howard@thebatavian.com

Heavy snow is expected tonight through tomorrow afternoon throughout Western New York.

A winter storm warning has been issued from 10 p.m. through 1 p.m. Thursday.

Snow accumulations of five to nine inches are expected with winds from 45 to 50 mph, which is likely to result in blowing and drifting snow.

The National Weather Service warns that travel will become difficult with very poor visibility and snow-covered roadways. The hazardous conditions will impact the Thursday morning commute. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches.

Graphic: Accuweather.

Town of Alabama officials decided Monday night to table a proposed change to the noise ordinance regarding windmills and instead refer the matter to the town planning board to take up during the development of a new comprehensive plan.

Supervisor Robert Crossen said given the impossibility of establishing a baseline for ambient noise for existing windmills, it's not possible to come up with an adequate ordinance for how loud a windmill can be.

He suggested the zoning code might need to be amended for siting windmills.

"To me, distance solves sound," Crossen said. "So when the planning board revises the law -- currently we are allowing it one and a half times the height of the property line, and that may be too close."

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Another criminal charge has been filed against a Western New York man who was released from custody Dec. 5 after admitting to stolen property charges in Genesee County Court.

Daniel Jon Lewis, 24, who has variously been listed as a resident of Lima, Chili, and with no permanent address, went on -- if the allegations against him are true -- a crime spree in Genesee County starting Jan. 1.

The latest charge against Lewis is petit larceny for an alleged theft at a residence on Stringham Drive, Batavia, just after midnight, Jan. 3.

Lewis is being held without bail in the Genesee County Jail on a felony robbery charge. He is accused of forcibly taking property from a person on Bank Street, Batavia, on Jan. 1. He was named as the suspect in that case and taken into custody late in January. By that time, he had allegedly committed a number of thefts and fled from police when allegedly caught in the act in the Haven Lane area.

When Lewis pled guilty to criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree as a second felony offender on Dec. 6, his attorney, Fred Rarick told Judge Charles Zambito that his client should be released from custody since, under terms of bail reform legislation taking effect at the start of the year, Lewis would be eligible for release while awaiting sentencing.

Neither Zambito nor District Attorney Lawrence Friedman contradicted Rarick's mistaken interpretation of the new law, but it appears that Lewis would not have been eligible for release under bail reform. CLARIFICATION: Lewis was eligible for release; however, his release was not mandatory.

Public Defender Jerry Ader brought the discrepancy to the attention of The Batavian after previous articles noted that Lewis was released from custody because of bail reform. While that may be factually correct, to the degree that was the understanding in County Court on Dec. 5, the truth is, Ader said, bail reform only applies to pretrial/preconviction defendants. 

"The pretrial bail reforms were no longer applicable to his case after he entered a plea of guilty," Ader said in an email to The Batavian. "The judge exercised his discretion when he decided to release Mr. Lewis to the supervision of Genesee Justice. He did not have to do so.

"He also had the authority at any time after Mr. Lewis was released to revoke that securing order and issue a new one, which could have included setting bail if he was not compliant with his release conditions."

Over the course of our discussion of the case, which included Ader reviewing the minutes of the Dec. 6 hearing, Ader asked that in reporting this clarification, we include his view: "I do not know whether the Court would have still released Mr. Lewis under supervision of Genesee Justice if Mr. Rarick had made the request after the plea was entered without any reference to the upcoming changes in the bail statutes. He may have been inclined to do it either way. You can’t tell from the record of the proceedings."

Lewis remains a person of interest, according to criminal justice sources, in the theft and police pursuit involving a Spectrum work truck Jan. 25. Lewis has reportedly been cooperating with investigators on several pending cases.

Previously:

• Two people charged with possession of lots of stolen items in Memorial Day bust in Pavilion
• Man found with stolen property pleads guilty, released from jail pending sentencing
• Police looking for white male with long hair involved in stolen truck incident and chase
• Law and Order: Lima man accused of stealing vehicle on Clinton Street Road, Batavia
• Since being released from jail due to bail reform, man charged with two more crimes, person of interest in Spectrum truck theft
• New charges for man who allegedly went on crime spree after release from jail because of bail reform
• Criminal released because of bail reform faces another set of stolen property charges

Press release:

New York State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon today announced she will convene a wage board for farm laborers that will hold hearings, review and make recommendations regarding overtime work for farm laborers in New York State.

Under the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act, which Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law last year, farm laborers are entitled to overtime premium pay as of Jan. 1 for any work that they perform in excess of 60 hours per week, and for work performed on their designated day of rest.

As part of that Act, the wage board will consider and make recommendations as to overtime work and, specifically, will hear testimony about reducing the threshold for overtime below 60 hours per week and whether to do so in phases.

“We worked hard to ensure this bill included the proper labor protections and benefits that our farm laborers are entitled to,” Commissioner Reardon said. “We have an opportunity to improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of farmworkers. Overtime is a key component and we need to get it right.”

Convening the Wage Board

As required by the Act, New York State Labor Commissioner Reardon will convene a wage board with the following members:

• David Fisher, president of the New York Farm Bureau
• Denis Hughes, former president of the New York State AFL-CIO
• Brenda McDuffie, president of the Buffalo Urban League

Under the Act, the wage board must hold at least three hearings at which the public will be afforded an opportunity to provide comments. The board will hold five hearings in various parts of the state. The board will carefully consider the input it gathers from farmers and other stakeholders.

The board has until Dec. 31 to make its recommendations, after which the Commissioner will have 45 days to take administrative action on those recommendations.

Public hearings are scheduled as follows:

• Friday 2/28 – 11 a.m. – Albany – New York State Museum Cultural Education Center, Clark Auditorium, 222 Madison Ave., Albany, NY 12230
• Friday 3/13 – 11 a.m. – Syracuse – Onondaga Community College, Storer Auditorium, 4585 W. Seneca Turnpike, Syracuse, NY 13215
• Monday 3/23 – 11 a.m. – Binghamton – Binghamton University, Symposium Hall, Center of Excellence Building Innovative Technology Complex, 45 Murray Hill Road, Vestal, NY 13850
• Thursday 4/16 – 11 a.m. – Long Island – Brookhaven Town Hall, 1 Independence Hill, Farmingville, NY 11738
• Thursday 4/23 – 11 a.m. – Batavia – Genesee Community College, William Stuart Forum, 1 College Road, Batavia, NY 14020

Press release from AAA:

Today’s national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.47, up 3 cents since last week. One year ago, the price was $2.39. The New York State average is $2.61 – no change from last week. A year ago, the NYS average was $2.52. AAA Western and Central New York (AAA WCNY) reports the following averages:

• Batavia -- $2.59. (down 1 cent since last week)
• Buffalo -- $2.54 (down 2 cents since last week)
• Ithaca -- $2.62 (down 1 cent since last week)
• Rochester -- $2.55 (down 2 cents since last week)
• Rome -- $2.62 (no change since last week)
• Syracuse -- $2.48 (no change since last week)
• Watertown -- $2.61 (no change since last week)

The national average price for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.47 per gallon, which is 3 cents more than last week, 6 cents less than a month ago, and 8 cents more than a year ago.

With many people traveling for midwinter break, demand increased over the past week, which contributed to the spike in national gas prices.

Total national gasoline stocks also decreased last week, so that drop in supply also sent prices up nationally.

Demand will likely fluctuate in coming weeks with spring break travel and peak at Easter week.

It was a lot of fun shooting video of FeBREWary last night and I was looking forward to editing the footage this afternoon.

When I got home last night, I put the SD card in my computer and imported the hockey video footage. When that was done, I forgot to import FeBREWary.  

Normally, I don't take SD cards out of the computer and put them right in the camera for the next project. I rotate through them in order to diminish the chance of deleting something I'm not ready to delete. But that isn't what I did this morning -- running late to cover something, I grabbed the SD card I saw first -- the one in the computer. I didn't realize my mistake until I was ready to edit the FeBREWary video.

I was disappointed. My apologies to anybody who was looking forward to being included in the video and to the BID and Downtown businesses.

Photos and write-up submitted by Coach Nicholas Burk.

The Batavia Indoor Track Team had a phenomenal meet yesterday competing in the Sectional Championships at RIT.

The girls' team accomplished an amazing feat, winning their 16th Sectional Championship in 18 years. This was their seventh consecutive championship.

The Blue Devils scored 92 points, edging out Pittsford Mendon with 89.5 points and Pittsford Sutherland with 82 points.

Batavia had a number of clutch performances, highlighted by our throwers. Rebekah Daniszewski won the Shot Put with a throw of 37-8.5, and Maggie Andersen won the Weight Throw with a throw of 44-11.75. Both girls have achieved the State and National standards in their events and will look to qualify for the NYS Championships next weekend.

Arianna Brown continued her impressive season winning the 55 Hurdles with a time of 9.07. She also finished in third in the High Jump clearing 5-0, and third in Long Jump with a 16-3.5. Sarah Adams finished second in the triple jump with a distance of 33-10 and second in Long Jump with a distance of 16-4.75. Sydney Konieczny had a very strong race in the 1000m finishing in secnd place with a time of 3:23.45.

Not to be outdone, older sister Gavin Konieczny was able to earn a second-place finish in the Pole Vault with a height of 9-0. Jianna Torcello and Liz Kingston finished in fourth and fifth place in the 1500m Racewalk.

Batavia's 4x800 Relay of Melanie Quinones, Sydney DellaPenna, Brooke Scott, and Makayla Andalora finished in fifth place with a time of 11:13.70 and the 4x400 Relay of Aurelia Colby, Sydney Konieczny, Maddie Taggart, and Noelia Ventura finished in fourth place with a time of 4:37.98.

This championship was a total team effort and demonstrated that the Batavia girls deeply care for the standard of excellence that the school has established in Section V Track and Field.

"Our strong desire to maintain our winning traditions each year lead our girls to compete at a very high level in this meet," said Coach Nicholas Burk. "We seem to always find a way to get the job done."

The boys' team had a very gritty performance while being down almost the entire meet, but inevitably finding a way to pull out the Championship in the last few events of the evening. Batavia finished with 105.5 points, edging Pittsford Mendon, who scored 101 points.

This is the boys' team's ninth Sectional Championship and its fourth consecutive one. Just like the girls, the boy's team was led by our Impressive group of throwers.

Batavia had seven out of 13 competitors in the Shot Put with Alex Rood repeating as the Sectional Champion with a throw of 54-9.5. Alex is currently ranked second in New York in the Shot and has the State and National Standard as well. Cody Eisenberger finished second in shot with a throw of 48-9.25 and Austyn Fernandez finished fifth with a throw of 42-5.

In the Weight Throw, Batavia had 10 out of 16 Competitors with Alex Rood finishing second with a throw of 53-10.25 and Cody Eisenberger finishing in fourth with a throw of 50-5.25.

The Batavia Pole Vaulters turned the tide of the meet with four athletes placing in the top six.

Daemon Konieczny won the Sectional Championship vaulting 11-6. Andrew Lin finished third with a height of 11-0; Jacob Torcello finished fourth with a height of 10-6; and Quinten Betances finished fifth with a height of 9-6. The 22 points from these athletes turned the tide in this meet and put Batavia ahead by four points with only three events left to score.

Daemon Konieczny finished off his very strong meet with a second place in the High Jump clearing 5-10 and a second place in the Triple Jump with a distance of 42-3.

Also in the high Jump, Jesse Reinhart finished fifth with a height of 5-8.

Batavia's distance athletes battled all meet long and had some clutch races which contributed to the team's success.

Garrick Havens placed fifth in the 3200m with a time of 10:25.39, and he was fourth in the 1600m with a time of 4:47.82. Mario Rosales placed fourth in the 1000m with a time of 2:47.53; Wyatt Gaus Finished sixth in the 1600m with a time of 4:48.48; and Jonah Epps placed fifth in the 600m with a time of 1:30.21.

Terrez Smith placed sixth in the 55m with a time of 6.73; and Jamarion Richardson placed sixth in the Long Jump with a distance of 20-5.25.

The boys' 4x800 Relay of Mario Rosales, Jonah Epps, Cody Harloff, and Garrick Havens had a very clutch performance, edging out a talented Pittsford Mendon team, finishing in second place with a time of 8:46.46.

The 4x400 Relay of Zack Anderson, Ayden Dowd-Devay, Wyatt Gaus, and Max Tomaszewski had a tremendous race, winning the Sectional Championship with a time of 3:44.38.

The final running event was the 4x200 Relay -- consisting of Terrez Smith, Joey Gefell, Gabriel Reyes Mercado, and Max Tomaszewski -- and they placed sixth with a time of 1:37.31.

This was a very impressive meet by the Batavia boys' team as they were down significantly through the first half of the competition.

Many of these athletes fought for those fifth- and sixth-place finishes, which turned out to be the difference in the meet. The depth of our team was on display as each group, the throwers, distance runners, jumpers, and sprinters scored points and contributed to the team's total score.

The Batavia Track and Field program has continued to demonstrate strong character, dedication, and toughness toward accomplishing the goal to uphold the tradition and reputation of the school's track teams.

A number of other athletes trained with Batavia this winter from other Genesee Region schools:

• Emily Tait -- Attica: second in the Class C Long Jump (18-4.5); second in the Class C Triple Jump (38-9.75)
• Veronica Duell -- Byron Bergen: third in Class C Long Jump (16-6.75); ninth in Class C 300m (47.96)
• Dylan Rykert -- Oakfield Alabama: first in Class D Weight Throw (39-4.25); first in Class D Shot Put (43-9.25)
• Zack Hall -- Oakfield Alabama: first in Class D 1000m (2:40.06)
• Nick Munger -- Oakfield Alabama: first in Class D Pole Vault (10-0); fifth in Class D 1000m (3:00.15)
• Fanny Vanegas -- Elba: first in Class D 1500m (5:26.71)
• Kelly Mickey -- Elba: third in Class D 55m (7.89); fifth in Class D 300m (46.32)

Le Roy's indoor track and field team came home with three Section V Class C titles this weekend.

Above, Aiden Harrington wins the 600-meter title with a time of 1:27.93.

The boys won the 4x400 relay title. The team is comprised of Brian Roblee, James Blake, Chase Bordonaro, Aidan Harrington.

The girls' team also won the 4X400 relay championship. The relay team is: Ashley Totten, Ellie Dambra, Riley Wood, and Mia Hampton

The boys and girls teams both came in second place.

Photos and info submitted by Tim McArdle.

A small barn has reportedly burned down at 5995 Sautell Road, Bergen.

Bergen fire with mutual aid from Byron and South Byron dispatched.

UPDATE 8:16 p.m.: Elba fire dispatched.

UPDATE 11 p.m.: Photos submitted by Melissa Dilcher, who also called it in and alerted the residents of the property.

In an email to Board President Pat Burk, Korzelius wrote: "This will serve as my written notice to the board of my resignation to focus more time on work and family. Thank you to all for relationships that have been built and good luck going forward."

Korzelius was initially appointed to the board in 2017 to fill the unexpired term of Leslie Johnson and then elected to the board in 2018. His term was set to expire at the end of June 2021.

His bio has been removed from the district website.

Photo: District photo.

Press release:

IAFF Local 896 Batavia City Firefighters are proud to announce a safe and secure drop box to retire U.S. flags in our community. Firefighters have partnered with the Veness Strollo VFW Post 1602 to ensure a dignified retirement on Flag Day.

Residents are encouraged to bring their retired U.S. flags to the firehouse drop box where firefighters will, on a weekly basis empty the container, properly fold flags, and prepare them for delivery to the VFW on Edwards Street.

The idea of providing a U.S. Flag Retirement Drop Box for our community was brought up after seeing other municipalities purchase containers for proper flag retirement. Many other military organizations, along with the VFW, collect and retire U.S. flags.

We are just providing an additional central location for the community to respectfully retire their U.S. flags. Since early January our community has brought in more than 40 flags for proper retirement, thank you!

Special thanks to Kristina at the Genesee County sign shop for the professional wrap and graphics on the flag container. Our temporary install of the container was made possible by firefighters of the 1st platoon with plans to permanently install in the Spring with assistance from City Department of Public Works.

It's been nearly four years since Dave Vascianne purchased the former armory property on State Street in the City of Batavia and according to his consultant, David Carr said it's been a slow but deliberate process to decide what to build on the land.

The decision, on the back of the property, a senior housing complex.

On the front, using the existing buildings?  Vascianne and Carr want to hear from the community.

To that end, they've been working with a group of RIT students to develop a range of possible uses for the buildings and those ideas will be presented to the community from noon to 2 p.m. at City Centre on Saturday, Feb. 29.

"We want to get as much input from the community as possible," Carr said. "Whatever it is, we want to fit with the senior housing and make sure everything fits together. Everything has to be social together because otherwise, it won't work, which is why we want to get input from everybody."

DaVas Enterprises, LLC purchased the parcel Aug. 1, 2016, from the New York State Police for $235,000.

At the time, Vascianne said, he wasn't sure what he would do with the property but he's a developer. It was too good a value to pass up. It's a nice piece of land and the existing buildings are architecturally interesting and in good shape.

He settled on senior housing to anchor the development because of the residential zoning of the area but he hasn't decided yet what to do with the front part of the property.

Carr said the project is being privately financed though there are tax credits available for the senior housing and they may seek out other assistance.

Photo: File photo from 2015