County Legislature

A Genesee County legislator believes that county departments dealing with substance use issues -- whether in the form of education, prevention, treatment or enforcement – should be first in line to receive money awarded to the municipality through New York State’s settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Speaking at Wednesday’s Ways & Means Committee meeting at the Old County Courthouse, Marianne Clattenburg said any list of ways to spend the $1 million or so expected to be distributed to Genesee County should start with initiatives supporting county units, such as the Youth Bureau, Mental Health and the Sheriff’s Office.

“This isn’t really that much money. And I think between the Youth Bureau, and their prevention efforts, and Mental Health and the issues that have arrived, especially with children and therapies that are going on because they’re dealing with drug abuse of parents and foster parents (would be the best use of the funds).”

Clattenburg said substance use and its effect upon other areas of society warrant immediate attention.

“I think there’s enough need inside the county that those stakeholders need to be focused on – those dollars staying in the county before we talk about other agencies …” she said. “I’m just concerned that outside agencies … are already asking how much money they’re going to get from this.”

County Manager Matt Landers responded by saying that representatives of Genesee County Mental Health, Sheriff’s Office, Public Health and Youth Bureau would be on the committee.

In a story posted on The Batavian on Monday, Landers said that Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, an outside agency that receives some funding from the county, and possibly other non-county organizations, will be involved.

Contacted today, he said the committee “will be weighted in favor of Genesee County departments," but will include John Bennett, GCASA executive director.

“It’s a fluid process,” Landers said. “As we move forward, we may see more partners to bring to the table.”

He said the first committee meeting is scheduled for later this month.

Ways & Means Committee members were asked to consider a resolution approving a proposed settlement with McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., and AmerisourceBergen Corporation, and their multiple subsidiaries – the “Big 3 Distributors” – that could result in the county receiving anywhere from $1,055,674 to $1,864,833, with payments made over 18 years.

County Attorney Kevin Earl said the New York City law firm of Napoli Shkolnik, which is representing municipalities across the state, “brought a number of actions not only against the people who manufacture the opioids, but the distributors – claiming that they violated certain laws by not accounting for where this stuff was going. In other words, they contributed to the proliferation of the opioid crisis.”

Earl said the monetary amount depends upon how many communities participate in the class action proceedings.

“Just like the other (Johnson & Johnson) settlement, (it comes) with a sliding scale,” he said. “The more people that … sign on to join the settlement, the more Big 3 Distributors are willing to pay because their exposure lessens. The likelihood is pretty high that we will get the high end of the settlement.”

Funds received have to be targeted toward substance use treatment, prevention, training and enforcement, he added.

“Within those categories, there is some flexibility but we can’t spend the money for water funds or bridge funds.”

While Earl said this money is addition to funds from the J&J settlement, it is unclear exactly how much the county will receive at this point.

Landers said he and Earl will be speaking with the attorneys representing the county in this matter to determine the dollar figure, but estimates an award of at least $1.3 million.

The county manager said the plan is to meet with all stakeholders and make recommendations that would be forwarded to the legislature.

The first payment is expected in February 2022, Earl said.

Previously: NYS AG reports that Genesee County is in line for up to $1 million in opioid settlement funding

Genesee County Sheriff William Sheron Jr. was a man of few words on Wednesday afternoon as he accepted a proclamation from the Genesee County Legislature designating the week of Sept. 19-25, 2021 as Sheriffs’ Week in Genesee County.

Those words were well placed, however, as the county’s top law enforcement official gave all the credit to his staff who are on the front lines each and every day.

“I consider it a privilege to serve as sheriff in Genesee County and to be associated with such tremendous people before me (acknowledging Maha, the former sheriff, and Legislator Gordon Dibble, retired chief deputy),” Sheron said.

“I take this on behalf of all the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office. They’re the ones that are out there daily, providing service to the public, and they do it in such a professional manner.”

Maha, chair of the Public Service Committee, read the proclamation, which recognizes the Sheriff’s Office as “an integral part of the criminal justice system in New York State and in Genesee County since its inception in 1777, and establishment as one of the original constitutional offices of Genesee County in 1802.”

The proclamation states that the “Office of Sheriff has evolved into a modern, professionally accredited, full-service law enforcement and public safety agency, manned by fully trained police and peace officers, as well as civilians, using state-of-the-art technology and applying the latest and most-advanced theories and practices in the criminal justice field.”

Photo by Mike Pettinella.

As someone who has felt the pain inflicted by suicide and addiction, Lynda Battaglia was filled with emotion as she accepted a proclamation Wednesday from the Genesee County Legislature designating Sept. 5-11, 2021 as National Suicide Prevention Week and September 2021 as National Recovery Month.

Battaglia, the county’s director of Mental Health & Community Services, said she spoke as a “survivor” of suicide and substance use disorder, having someone close to her who attempted suicide and survived and also losing someone to addiction.

“When someone dies by suicide, the attack ripples through the community and leaves an everlasting effect,” she said, urging society to do more to promote wellness and decrease the stigma associated with mental health disease.

She said that suicide is the 10^th-leading cause of death in the United States.

“Every 11 minutes, someone dies by suicide … around 48,000 per year, and every single number represents a person,” she said.

With a group of mental health and social work professionals in attendance, Battaglia commended service providers for their “tough love commitment to improving education and awareness on suicide prevention and commitment to acknowledging recovery – and how you decrease the stigma of both.”

“You’ve seen them at their worst and their best, and everything in between … and you provide treatment and care without judgment.”

Accepting the proclamation on behalf of service providers, she concluded, “All of you are lifelines for Genesee County residents and I thank you for your dedication.”

The proclamation, presented by Legislator Gregg Torrey, Human Services Committee chair, states, in part, that “in these challenging times messages of hope and healing are more needed than ever; and the benefits of preventing and overcoming mental health challenges, suicide attempts and loss, and substance abuse are significant and valuable to individuals, families, and our community at large.”

“The Genesee County Legislature proclaims the month of September 2021 as Suicide Prevention and Recovery Month: Finding Hope, Building Resiliency, and Supporting Recovery."

Photo: Accepting the proclamation are, from left, John Bennett, Lisa Clattenburg, Bob Riccobono, Lynnell Schreiber, Lynda Battaglia, Julie Brinkman, Kate Hawks, Rachel Mieney, Sue Gagne, Lisa Glow, Cheryl Netter, Gregg Torrey. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

Prior to the construction phase, Genesee County will need to have its four-member corrections’ officer transition team in place to write policies and procedures covering the $70 million, 184-bed county jail proposed for West Main Street Road, just east of County Building 2.

County Manager Matt Landers last week updated legislators on the progress of the jail, continuing to express confidence that groundbreaking will take place next spring.

Appointing those to be on the transition team and reviewing and approving engineering specifications are current priorities, he said.

“We’ve always known that there was going to be a jail transition team that would be responsible for writing all of the policies and procedures of the new facility, and the (New York State) COC (Commission of Correction) requires that this team be hired as soon as the first shovel is in the ground,” Landers said.

The plan is to take four current county corrections’ officers and assigning them to the transition team, and then to “backfill” the positions that would be open afterwards.

“And that’s when we would hope to increase our efforts to hire more female COs because we will be housing females in the new facility,” he advised.

Landers said Assistant Engineer Laura Wadham and Deputy Highway Superintendent Paul Osborn are poring over the drawings to make sure “everything from a technical engineering perspective is being considered on the site.”

The county is continuing the State Environmental Quality Review process, working with the SMRT architectural firm of Portland, Me.

“Hopefully we can go out to bid near the end of the year and be in position to award contracts in the spring,” Landers said, adding that the new four-pod jail would include a backup E-911 Center. Currently, that service is located in the Genesee Justice building at 14 West Main St.

The county is planning to take out a 30-year bond to pay for the jail, with annual payments estimated at $3 million to $3.5 million, Landers said.

“Interest rates are historically low right now, which is in our favor,” he said. “Plus, this (financing of the jail) is one of the reasons for the restructuring of the sales tax distribution agreement with the towns and villages so we can utilize more of that revenue to pay off the jail.”

Landers said that portions of the sales tax proceeds and reserves would go to the debt service payment.

“Over the next decade or so, we would use less and less reserves on an annual basis, and more of the sales tax as sales tax revenue grows,” he noted.

In another development, Landers today said the Genesee County Legislature will be conducting a Committee of the Whole meeting at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Old County Courthouse.

That meeting has been set up for legislators to go over the results of the 2020 Census as they pertain to population shifts in the county’s nine legislative districts.

"For us, we utilize weighted voting in Genesee County … so we have to go through the process of updating our calculations – updating the weighting of each legislative district," he said.

He said the process includes hiring a consultant to certify the results and then a public referendum on the November 2022 ballot to ratify the changes, which would take effect in January 2023.

The regular County Legislature meeting will follow the COW session.

File photo of, clockwise from left, lobby, kitchen, dayroom, visitation area of facility similar to proposed new Genesee County Jail.

The Genesee County Legislature's Public Service Committee learned a lot about the history – and future – of the South Lyon Street bridge on Wednesday afternoon during a departmental review by Highway Superintendent Tim Hens.

Because of a recent inspection by the New York State Department of Transportation that revealed two “red flags,” the one-lane truss bridge (photo at top) was closed to traffic at the end of August. And it will stay that way for about a year, said Hens at the PSC meeting at the Old County Courthouse.

“That was not a surprise to us; we’ve seen that one coming,” Hens said. “It has been like a slow motion train wreck. We had our fingers crossed that we could make it through one more season.”

Hens said a new two-lane truss bridge is on the schedule to be replaced next spring and will take several months to rebuild. It’s unfortunate as motorists hoping to get from West Main Street to South Main Street (or vice versa) will have to use either the Oak Street roundabout or the River Street bridge.

“The (recent) inspection -- it couldn’t pass the (minimum) load limit of three tons, which is about the size of an average car,” Hens said.

The bridge, which Hens said accommodated about 2,500 cars per day on average, was in bad shape with secondary girders so “rusted out that you could poke a string through them.”

Built in 1982, it did, however, last much longer than the five to 10 years that were anticipated.

Hens said the bridge was selected for federal aid in 2011 but, two years later, that funding was withdrawn. In 2014, the DOT did not accept the application to replace it. Three years later, it was resubmitted – again unsuccessfully.

In 2020, the county learned that it would be scheduled for replacement in 2023, but now, in light of the red flags, it was been moved up to 2022.

Hens said the new bridge will be a truss style, as well, wider for two lanes and including a sidewalk on the west side. It also will be turned slightly to the west for easier access from South Main Street.

Other topics in Hens’ report included funding, roads, equipment, tree removal, airport, parks, facilities, water and grants.

He reported the highway department applied for 24 bridges and culverts under the 2021 BRIDGE-NY program, using a similar strategy as in 2018 by having the county’s towns apply for structures under Genesee’s ownership and maintenance jurisdiction. This number was less than the 34 applied for 2018 because the state DOT advised the county “not to flood the application pool.”

County crews replaced bridges on Sandpit Road in Alexander, South Main Street Road in Batavia, Wortendyke Road in Batavia, Macomber Road in Batavia and Alabama, and Browns Mill Road in Bethany repaired a bridge on Francis Road in Bethany.

Currently, the bridge on Colby Road in Darien is closed for repairs.

“Colby Road was a little different,” he said, calling it the biggest surprise he has seen in his career as far as bridge inspections are concerned.

After it was red flagged in 2020 for problems at the north end of the span – closest to Route 33 -- major repairs were made. Eight months later, another inspection revealed similar issues on the south end.

“We literally went from no flags, no load restrictions to, like holy cow, we’ve got to close the bridge tomorrow because it is bad,” Hens said. “It literally rated at negative two tons; supposedly it couldn’t support anything and we had cars drive over it for two months (before closing it per DOT).”

Repairs are being made now on the north end of the bridge, said Hens, adding that it should reopen to traffic in a few weeks.

Several other bridges were or are on the federal aid replacement schedule, including Upton Road in Batavia which reopened yesterday.

Other highlights of Hens’ report are as follows:

More Highway Funding Than Expected

“Between the governor and the assembly, we got an even bigger boost in our annual CHIPS (Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program) and PAVE-NY funds,” Hens said. “At the end of the budget season, we were already probably at 160 percent of our normal funding. We got a ton of money going into the season.”

With that added funding – and despite a rainy July – the county is on pace to have all heavy roadwork done by Columbus Day, “which even in a normal year we’d be happy to be done that early,” he said.

Hens reported that more than 100 miles of the county’s 260 miles of roadway have been widened to 30 feet over the past several years and that will continue even if asphalt prices continue to climb (costs are up by about 15 percent over 2020).

Emerald Ash Borer is Creating Havoc

The emerald ash borer is a green buprestid or jewel beetle native to north-eastern Asia that feeds on ash species. Also known as EAB, it is causing severe problems in Genesee County, Hens said.

Thousands of dead ash trees throughout the county need to be removed as they are infringing upon roads and exposing the county to liability.

Hens said highway crews typically remove 160 or more trees from the right-of-way each year from November through April, but for 2022, he is asking for a year-round tree removal crew with two more motor equipment operators and two more seasonal flag persons.

County to Save on Snow and Ice Removal

Hens said recent mild winters will result in about a $175,000 savings to the county as the 2021 rate paid to the towns for snow plowing will be $5,825 per mile – down from $6,515 per mile in 2020. Salt prices remain stable at $51.29 per ton.

As far as fuel prices are concerned, diesel is up 13 percent from last year and unleaded is up 21 percent from 2020.

Airport Fuel Sales Rebound

Hens said that fuel sales at the Genesee County Airport are back on pace with 2019 figures, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic did not impact fuel sales as much as expected. Furthermore, small plane traffic has increased, keeping the waiting list for hangar space at more than 20.

A new eight-bay hangar is available for rent, he said, and reconstruction of the apron (funded by a Federal Aviation Agency grant) is anticipated for next year.

The county is seeking a grant from Upstate Aviation Economic Development and Revitalization to fund a $13 million project to build a large corporate hangar, equipment storage facility, apron and parking at the west end of Saile Drive.

“If we get that grant, just submitted today, there would be an equipment storage bay attached to that building that would be 100 percent funded,” he advised.

Genesee Justice Building Needs Much Work

The stonework at the Genesee Justice building at 14 West Main St. (in front of the county jail) needs significant restoration and safety work, Hens said, estimating the cost could reach $1 million.

The county has been unsuccessful in obtain an historic grant, but will reapply this fall, he said.

Hens also said the county is studying the best way to renovate Holland Land Office.

Water Project Entering Phase 3

With Phase 2 just about finished, the county is in the planning stage of Phase 3, which could cost up to $85 million.

He said the City of Batavia Water Treatment Plant is in need of significant infrastructure, possibly costing around $2.6 million, to keep it operational in the short term. Phase 3 eventually calls for the city to shut down the plant when it becomes a retail customer of the Monroe County Water Authority.

The county also is looking into getting water from Niagara County to help support the Western New York Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing site in the Town of Alabama.

County Considers Huge Grants

Hens said the county could be in line for a $10 million federal grant for the water project if the reconciliation bill makes it through Congress.

Additionally, he called the Economic Development Administration Build Back Better Regional Challenge “a giant opportunity, potentially up to $100 million in funding for a regional project.”

“We’ve had several phone calls with the EDA regional director … and will try to schedule another Zoom call Friday to further discuss whether it is worth putting our eggs into this basket,” he said. “It’s a lot of steps (to complete the grant), but a great opportunity for us, if it’s the right fit.”

The Genesee County Legislature’s Ways & Means Committee this afternoon responded to a call from the New York State Association of Counties to oppose Gov. Kathy Hochul’s order forcing all healthcare workers to be vaccinated by Sept. 27 or risk losing their jobs.

The committee passed a resolution urging Hochul and new Health Commissioner Ann Marie T. Sullivan to modify the COVID-19 mandate by providing options such as regular testing for those opting to not take the vaccine at this time. It will be presented to the entire legislature at next Wednesday’s meeting.

“This came as a result of the letter that was sent from the nine counties in the Finger Lakes Region (expressing) our concern in regards to the healthcare crisis that is facing us on September 27^th,” Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein said. “It was delivered to the NYSAC folks, and they sent a letter immediately but they’re asking for counties to please send resolutions urging the same.”

Ways & Means Committee Chair Marianne Clattenburg echoed Stein’s thoughts, stating that “there will be a crisis in healthcare if all of these people who are not vaccinated are forced to resign their positions without any kind of alternative testing options.”

Stein pointed out that many healthcare facilities are closing departments as workers have already decided to quit.

“Just this week, Lewis County shut down – their hospital shut down their maternity ward, St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany is shutting down a whole wing and Wyoming County Hospital’s nursing home is looking at 50-plus people resigning over the vaccine mandate,” she said. “And the result is going to be overwhelmed hospitals and we’re going to be in a worse position than we were last March, April and May in New York State.”

Clattenburg said that the committee is encouraging other options, such as twice-a-week testing and masking -- “everything we’ve been doing in order to keep our healthcare workers working.”

Stein agreed, noting that while “everyone is encouraged to take their vaccine as a preventive … those who are not, this would at least give them an opportunity to continue in the care for our communities.”

On Aug. 28, New York 28 issued the order requiring healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes to get at least their first vaccine shot by Sept. 27. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Utica temporarily blocked the state from forcing medical workers to be vaccinated, following a lawsuit by 17 healthcare workers, who contend that not allowing religious exemptions to the mandate violated their Constitutional rights.

The state has until Sept. 22 to respond, and if it opposes the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary court order blocking the vaccine mandate, an oral hearing will take place on Sept. 28.

The Genesee County resolution stipulates that copies be sent to Hochul, Sullivan, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay and Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt.

In a related development, about two dozen people -- mostly healthcare workers -- gathered at the Main and Ellicott in downtown Batavia around 6 p.m. yesterday, holding signs stating "Coercion is Not Consent" and "If it's Forced, Are we Free?" and protesting what they proclaimed is a loss of freedom. The protesters found support for their cause by passers-by honking horns and giving thumbs up.

Although the process to drafting a 2022 budget has just begun, Genesee County Manager Matt Landers is predicting a modest decrease in the property tax rate.

Speaking after Wednesday’s Genesee County Legislature meeting (and the first of several legislative budget workshops), Landers said he could see a 30- to 40-cent reduction in the rate, which was set at $9.80 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2021.

The county’s fiscal year runs from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.

“Our discussion today focused on a schedule to adopt the budget, a (New York State) tax cap review and outside agency funding, and legislators were unanimous that they are not going to override the tax cap,” Landers said. “We also plan on flat funding (of outside agencies); there are no planned cuts.”

He said the tax rate hinges upon two key factors: “quantity change” (the growth that the state allows for new construction) and “allowable growth” (the lower of the 2 percent tax cap or inflation). For 2022, the tax cap is much less than the rate of inflation.

Landers said the amount to be raised by taxes – the tax levy – may increase by up to the cap number of 2.16 percent, but even with that, the tax rate will drop due to the increase in property assessments.

“The assessed valuation is still in flux,” he offered. “While that amount is based on the roll as of July 1^st, it may come down due to court challenges and corrections. Still, I foresee the tax rate somewhere around 30 to 40 cents less (than 2021).”

For 2021, the county adopted an All Funds budget of $143,204,679, with $31,451,727 of that from property taxes – an increase of $400,069 from 2020.

Landers reported that first- and second-quarter sales tax revenues this year are up by about 10 percent from the same period in 2020, but that’s not a fair comparison since the first six months of last year were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales tax this year is up slightly from the 2019 corresponding figures as well, he said.

On another matter, Landers said the county has started a monthly employee recognition program, honoring those who have “gone above and beyond” on its Facebook page. The initial selections are Rachel Mieney, Mental Health clinic supervisor; Vicki Athoe, Probation principal clerk, and Chelsea Elliott, Youth Bureau program coordinator.

In other developments, the legislature:

-- Extended a Local Law pertaining to hotel/motel room occupancy tax for three months through the end of the year, with no changes, to provide more time to consider subjecting short-stay lodging places, such as Airbnb and Vrbo sites, to a bed tax. Landers said the matter will be addressed early in 2022.

-- Approved eliminating a full-time Registered Nurse position and creating a part-time RN position to allow the continued employment for a Mental Health Continuing Day Treatment program nurse who has indicated she can no longer work on a full-time basis. This enables the department to cover critical nursing hours for continuity of care as it restructures its schedule.

-- Approved the creation of a full-time public health educator, full-time epidemiologist, and full-time senior financial clerk through September 2026 to be funded by a $248,226 grant from the Center for Disease Control for childhood lead poisoning prevention and surveillance of blood lead levels grant activities. 

-- Approved acceptance of $342,558 from the state Department of Health for additional COVID-19 contact tracing, overtime and supplies, with the funds to be allocated in the 2022 & 2023 budgets. Funding will be used to offset costs of COVID-19 response activities, all other COVID-19 costs over $342,558 will be partially (36 percent) offset by state aid.

-- Approved using DeWitt Park on Cedar Street to host the Batavia Kiwanis Club’s chicken barbeque fundraiser on Sept. 25. Proceeds will go toward the purchase of books by local libraries.

Previously: Future early voting location weighs heavily on minds of county election commissioners.

Note: The resolutions indicated in this story also were approved on Wednesday by the full legislature).

Photo: Genesee County Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein, left, swears in Lisa Casey to her new position as Clerk of the Legislature as Casey's mother, Sandra Casey, proudly looks on. Casey's sister and brother-in-law, Rita and Joe Pencille, also attended the ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

Nioga Library System personnel have gone above and beyond to provide essential services in the face of a global pandemic that continues to rock our way of life.

That’s the message conveyed Monday by four Genesee County library directors and the executive director of the 21-member Nioga Library System, who appeared before the Genesee County Legislature’s Human Services Committee to seek the same level of funding in 2022 as in this year and to articulate how they have responded to the challenges to meet the needs of their clientele.

The committee received a letter from Kimberly Gibson, library manager at Haxton Memorial Library in Oakfield, asking the legislature to sustain the current 2021 level of $41,680 to support the purchase of library materials for county residents.

County funding covers about 13 percent of Genesee’s six public libraries budget for materials and technology, such as computers, books, music, movies and magazines – including downloadable information, Gibson wrote.

“As we work to maintain our levels of service to our patrons during these difficult times, we face rising costs across the board and, for some of our libraries, we are working with a budget that was drastically cut from the prior year,” the letter continued.

During the meeting, Gibson reported that her library’s budget was slashed by 30 percent and the Byron-Bergen Public Library’s budget was cut by 20 percent.

Nioga Executive Director Tom Bindeman said the network, as a whole, has suffered budget cuts over the past several years.

They were joined at the meeting by Robert Conrad of Richmond Memorial Library in Batavia, Josselyn Borowiec of Hollwedel Memorial Library in Pavilion and Diana Reding of Corfu Public Library. The Woodward Memorial Library in Le Roy is the county’s sixth public library (and all are part of the Nioga system).

All of the state’s libraries closed around March 17, 2020, because of COVID-19 and many were closed up to 16 weeks.

Conrad said the six county libraries were able to coordinate their reopenings for limited service around June 1 and it wasn’t until June of this year when they were able to drop most of the other restrictions.

During that “down time,” librarians followed all of the Center for Disease Control guidelines, Gibson said, including social distancing, mask wearing, temperature checks of employees, frequent cleaning, purchase of Personal Protective Equipment, putting up of plexiglass and computer keyboard protection.

“We did whatever we had to do to get to the place where we could reopen,” she said. “Keeping day-to-day safety last year and into this year has been our priority.”

Contacted yesterday, Conrad said that Richmond Memorial Library staff was able to open for browsing and checkout, “but our restrictions included no general seating and, consequently (and ironically), no reading as well as no in-person programs and only essential computer use.”

Libraries conducted programs, such as the Richmond Reads author visit, children’s story times and movie streaming via Wi-Fi, Conrad added.

Broadband connection to the Internet is critical to libraries’ operational success – a point brought up by Bindeman at the committee meeting.

Noting that 40 percent of Genesee County does not have Internet access, he urged lawmakers to do what they can to provide access to its residents. County Manager Matt Landers said they are aware of the gaps in coverage and have a plan to address the situation as money allocated from the American Rescue Plan Act can be used for broadband.

Bindeman also mentioned that many people, young and old, don’t know how to use a computer or smart phone, and he hoped to institute a plan where libraries and municipalities could provide more training in that area.

Libraries have been up and running for several weeks now and are offering their complete range of services.

Gibson said the computers continue to be “social distanced” and face coverings are required for those who have not been vaccinated.

“We’re grateful to learn that when we reopened how much we were actually missed,” Gibson offered, adding that a silver lining was that the Oakfield library was able to build its social media presence during the shutdown.

At Richmond, masks are required as long as the county's rate of transmission is at substantial or higher, and in the Children's Room until a vaccine has been made widely available for school-aged population.

Conrad said that he believes the 2 ½ months or so that all of the libraries were closed in 2020 represent the first time in the state’s history that its people were not served by libraries of any kind.

The Byron-Bergen Public Library and Haxton Memorial Library are looking to forge agreements with the B-B Central School District and Oakfield-Alabama Central School District, respectively, over the next couple years to be able to receive funding from property taxes as voted on by the public.

Hollwedel Memorial Library in Pavilion became a school district-supported facility last year, joining Richmond Memorial, Woodward Memorial and Corfu Public Library.

This afternoon’s approval of a new sales tax allocation agreement with the City of Batavia – a move that clears the way for the annual distribution of $10 million in sales tax revenue to Genesee County towns and villages – was a significant moment in the eyes of County Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein.

So significant, in fact, that she marked the occasion with a resounding swing of her gavel on its wooden block.

“I’m excited (by this),” she said after legislators unanimously passed the “Modified Amended and Restated Sales Tax Allocation Agreement Between the County of Genesee and the City of Batavia.”

Stein, no doubt, also was relieved that lawmakers passed this and a subsequent, connected resolution ratifying the Town of Darien’s willingness to enter into an “Amended and Restated Water Supply Agreement” with the county.

On the first resolution, the sales tax allocation agreement between the city and county doesn’t change, but it does add wording statilng that the city has no objections to the county’s plan to distribute $10 million in sales tax money collected on a yearly basis to the towns and villages for the next 38 years.

The second resolution was made possible when the Darien Town Board, on Wednesday night, voted to sign a new water supply agreement with Genesee County. Darien was the last municipality to opt in and, by doing so, enables the county to share the full $10 million in sales tax and not a combination of sales tax and other revenue.

The new water supply contract – it’s the same for all municipalities – gives the county the right to raise the surcharge on water usage beyond the 60-cents per 1,000 gallons level, but also requires the county to petition the Monroe County Water Authority in seven years to enact an equalized water rate throughout the county.

“Sharing the $10 million was the goal of this legislature,” Stein said, as she congratulated her colleagues on achieving that goal.

In other action, the legislature voted in favor of contracting with EFPR Group, CPAs, PLLC, of Williamsville, a consulting firm, for assistance in how to spend money received from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The contract is for up to $10,000 for the two years of the contract, which includes the option of three, one-year renewals. The cost will be paid from ARPA funds.

County Manager Matt Landers told legislators that the ARPA grant can be used to fund water and broadband projects, but there are “a lot of nuances” to the guidelines. He said EFRP has “extensive experience” in this area and is familiar with the process.

Landers also said he doesn’t think it will cost $10,000 in the first year, but probably closer to $5,000.

Previously: Darien opts in to water agreement after receiving assurances that county will pursue equalized rate

Lisa Casey, confidential secretary for the City of Batavia since January 2015, has been hired as clerk of the legislature for Genesee County.

The announcement was made this afternoon at a meeting of the Genesee County Legislature at the Old County Courthouse.

"I consider it to be an advancement in my career," Casey said. "A great group of people that I'm leaving behind, but coming to. I'm just thrilled and excited to have this opportunity."

Casey will be replacing Pamela LaGrou, who has accepted the position as compliance officer for the county.

A Batavia resident, Casey was an executive administrator for Conifer Realty in Rochester for seven years and prior to that served as office manager for Vertice in Spencerport. She also has been an administrative, human resources and recruiting assistant.

"I was in government for the city and before that, I was in development and in banking," she said. "I've had quite a bit of experience in different areas."

When it was mentioned that the legislature held several committee meetings each month (in comparison to one or two City Council meetings), Casey said she was up to the challenge.

"I'm looking forward to it. I don't have any problems working hard and taking on what ever they have to give me," she said.

Her first day with the county is Sept. 7.

County Manager Matt Landers said he and the legislature "are thrilled to have both Lisa and Pam working for the county now."

He said that Assistant County Manager Tammi Ferringer was the compliance officer on a half-year basis, but the county's financial picture has brightened to the extent that it is able to employ a full-time compliance officer.

"So, we advertised for it and we're lucky that Pam interviewed for it, and we're glad to have her on board," he said. "She has a great knowledge of county government, so she should hit the ground running."

LaGrou, who has been the legislative clerk for almost six years, said she was ready for a different type of work. Her new role will focus on policy and procedures, compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act, corporate and privacy regulations.

Previously, she served as compliance officer at Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, where she was communications and development director. She also is a Town of Alabama council member.

Photo: Lisa Casey, left, speaking with County Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein following today's meeting. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

 

The Darien Town Board, in an “eleventh hour” meeting Tuesday night, unanimously passed an amended and restated water supply agreement with Genesee County that includes a stipulation that in seven years the county legislature will petition the Monroe County Water Authority to equalize water rates for all retail customers in the county.

Previously, the board had voted against opting in to the county’s revised water supply proposal, reasoning that the town (along with the Town of Pembroke and Village of Corfu) had been paying more for water than other municipalities all along and shouldn't have to face additional surcharges.

But, last night, after continued talks with County Manager Matt Landers – and receiving assurances that the county will move toward a unified water rate -- the board reconsidered, and joined the county’s other towns and villages by passing the resolution following a 35-minute discussion at the town hall.

The 5-0 vote came a day before the county’s deadline for municipalities to decide whether or not to opt in. The full legislature is expected to vote on the unified water supply agreement at a meeting this afternoon at the Old County Courthouse.

Darien Supervisor Steve Ferry Jr. said the agreement “is not pretty” and called it “a fix of something that we didn’t create.”

“They (legislature) created the problem and it seems like we’re the ones having to fix it,” he said.

Ferry and the town’s council members -- Michael Grant, David Krzemien, Timothy Benton and Michael Fix – said they didn’t agree with the county tying water supply agreements with sales tax distribution.

Several weeks ago, the county came up with an idea to share $10 million annually for 38 years in sales tax revenue with its towns and villages as long as all of the municipalities opted in to revised water supply agreements.

That looks as though that will happen now that Darien has opted in. The town stands to receive $970,942 annually for the 38 years in sales tax distribution.

Ferry said his board held out until it received something in writing that the county would take steps to ensure a unified, equalized water rate.

“It is not a strongly worded agreement, but it is an irrevocable resolution,” he said. “The other thing is that it kind of holds the legislature’s feet to the fire, although not as much as I wanted. But it does give us something to shoot for.”

He said the agreement is a good thing for the town, but for those in the five water districts, “they’re going to feel a 60-cent per thousand (gallons) hit.”

The Darien board was able to get the county to add a paragraph to the water supply agreement that states the following:

Notwithstanding any other provisions herein, at seven (7) years after the date of full execution of this Amended and Restated Agreement, the County Legislature shall adopt and submit to the Monroe County Water Authority an irrevocable resolution urging and recommending that the Authority equalize the water rates for all retail customers in Genesee County. Upon failure of the County to timely comply with this requirement, the surcharge rate shall automatically revert to the rate as per Paragraph 6 herein (60 cents) with no additional action needed by either party; provided further that this reversion to 60 cents for each one thousand gallons of water used shall not be applied retroactively.

Krzemien acknowledged that the revision was “a step in the right direction,” but wondered about the status of the town’s current agreement. Ferry said once they signed the new one, the other would be nullified.

Grant said he had problems with the word “timely” in the added paragraph.

“What does timely mean?” he asked. “Timely doesn’t mean (anything) to me. What is going to bind the legislature to follow through after seven years?”

Ferry said the county plans to shut down the City of Batavia water plant, which would pave the way for all municipalities to get their water from MCWA and allow the legislature to “take in the entire county and equalize the rate.”

“It’s not going to happen for six years; 2027 is the projected date of that happening,” he said, adding that equalization can’t happen unless the city and the Town of Batavia become retail customers like the other towns and villages.

Contacted this morning, Landers said the agreement with Darien is the same as every other contract, with the “minor change that will give better assurances to the Town of Darien that the county is going to follow through on what are plan ultimately is – an equalized retail MCWA rate throughout Genesee County.”

“That is something that we have long talked about what the future holds,” he said.

Landers said that in seven years, the county will request MCWA to create an equalized, countywide retail rate.

“Right now, there are different retail rates. Customers on the Western side of the county – Darien, Corfu, Pembroke – pay a higher retail rate because their water comes from Erie County. That’s the only difference there is in this agreement,” he explained.

He said he will be sending a letter out to the Towns of Darien and Pembroke and Village of Corfu.

“If the legislature passes this agreement, I am going to send out a letter, giving them 120 days’ notice as is required in the agreement,” he said. “We can’t raise the rate to $1.20 effective tomorrow. We have to give 120 days’ notification. The rate won’t take effect – that $1.20 – until after 120 days have passed.

“We did the same thing with the other agreements.  If we ever raise the rate above $1.20, we have to give 120 days’ notification for that as well.”

Landers said the county could act toward equalizing the water rate now, but it would be best to wait until city residents enter the retail customer pool.

“The shutting of the city plant and the addition of city retail customers into the pool make the overall rate go down, but it’s not a requirement. Technically speaking, we could go retail now without city customers included because they wouldn’t and they’re not retail customers of MCWA. You would just have the outer towns,” he said. “But it makes sense to equalize once you have more customers to bring the rate down. Once the city is a retail customer, that’s the bigger trigger -- whether the plant is closed or not.”

He said the plan is for that to happen within seven years as the county continues to bring in more water as part of Phase 3 of its Countywide Water Supply Project.

In the end, Landers said he appreciates the efforts of the municipalities on the West side of the county.

“I know that we didn’t always agree, but I appreciate the efforts that Steve and his board went through to consider this – along with the Town of Pembroke and Village of Corfu,” he said. “I’m glad we came to this resolution and, in the end, I think it’s better for everyone. I’m going to remain optimistic and positive.”

Photo: The Darien Town Board at its meeting last night, clockwise from left, Steve Ferry Jr., Deputy Clerk Gwen Yoder, David Krzemien, Timothy Benton, Michael Fix and Michael Grant. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

With a qualified candidate for an open assistant district attorney post waiting for results of the New York State bar examination, the Genesee County Legislature’s Public Service Committee is recommending passage of District Attorney Lawrence Friedman’s request to create a new position that would enable her to begin employment right away.

Friedman, at Monday’s PSC meeting at the Office of Emergency Management Services on State Street Road, said he just received word that an ADA will be leaving in two weeks, leaving a void in his department that needs to be filled immediately.

“I have someone in mind to hire … who took the bar at the end of July,” he said. “Experience has taught us it is very difficult to fill these positions.”

Per the resolution passed by the committee and forwarded to the full legislature next week, the candidate is a Genesee County resident who completed law school and has indicated a desire to become an ADA upon passing the bar exam.

The new position of a full-time temporary criminal law associate, per the resolution, “will allow this individual to perform many of the duties of an Assistant District Attorney, while under the direct supervision of a licensed attorney … to help alleviate the backlog of work.”

Friedman said another ADA is on Family Leave until January 2022.

The candidate, who was not named, has been a Genesee County dispatcher for seven years and has experience as a court clerk, Friedman said.

“I’ve known her for a long time. She’s a local resident who very much wants to be a prosecutor,” he said, adding that an order from the Appellate Division authorizes her to work during a “training period” until becoming a full-fledged lawyer.

The term of the new position is Aug. 30 through Feb. 28, 2022, but Friedman said he hopes it will be shorter than that.

In another development, the committee voted to accept an Airport Improvement Program grant from the Federal Aviation Administration for the reconstruction of the existing apron and associated lighting at the Genesee County Airport.

Total cost of the capital project is $1.5 million, with federal and state funding taking care of all but the county’s share of $75,866 (which will be paid from the 1 percent sales tax fund).

The legislature’s Ways & Means Committee met after the PSC, approving several resolutions, including the following:

• Charging back to several towns and the City of Batavia for assessment rolls, tax rolls, tax bills, supplies, and assessment update services that were provided in the previous fiscal year.

The total amount of chargebacks, which will be applied to 2022 town and city budgets, is $87,651. Another $12,650 is being charged back for New York State licensing fees.

Amounts by municipality, with figures representing number of parcels, assessment rolls/bills, license fees and total:

• Alabama --- 1,130; $3,390.00; $1,000.00; $4,390.00.
• Alexander -- 1,459; $4,377.00; $1,000.00; $5,377.00.
• Batavia (Town) -- 3,121; $9,363.00; $631.05; $9,994.05.
• Bergen -- 1,668; $5,004.00; $1,000.00; $6,004.00.
• Bethany -- 1,019; $3,057.00; $427.10; $3,484.10.
• Byron -- 1,359 ; $4,077.00; $1,000.00; $5,077.00.
• Darien -- 1,844; $5,532.00; $772.90; $6,304.90.
• Elba -- 1,502; $4,506.00; $1,000.00; $5,506.00.
• Le Roy -- 3,483; $10,449.00; $1,045.32; $11,494.32.
• Oakfield -- 1,522; $4,566.00; $1,000.00; $5,566.00.
• Pavilion -- 1,515; $4,545.00; $454.68; $4,999.68.
• Pembroke -- 2,485; $7,455.00; $1,200.00; $8,655.00.
• Stafford -- 1,576; $4,728.00; $1,000.00; $5,728.00.
• Batavia (City) -- 5,534; $16,602.00; $1,118.95; $17,720.95.

The 2020 chargebacks totaled $98,427.00.

• Authorization to submit a grant application to the New York State Office of Community Renewal for a Community Development Block Grant of up to $1 million to assist small businesses (25 employees or less) and microenterprises in the wake of losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds would be facilitated by the Genesee Gateway Local Development Corp., said County Manager Matt Landers.

The resolution indicates the grant will lead to “substantial benefit to Genesee County in forms of safer businesses, new investment, and new or restored employment positions.”

• On another front, Landers said the committee charged with studying the new county jail is supporting the building of a 184-bed, four-pod facility on West Main Street Road, including the construction of a backup E-911 center.

Landers said the plan is to solicit bids in the late fall or early winter and to break ground next spring.

The Genesee County Legislature’s Ways & Means Committee today acted upon a suggestion by the Pembroke Town Board to increase the amount of sales tax earmarked for distribution to towns and villages by passing a resolution amending the county’s sales tax allocation agreement with the City of Batavia.

Meeting at the county Emergency Management Services office on State Street Road, the committee approved a restated contract with the city – which along with the county is one of the two taxing municipalities in Genesee County.

The amended agreement ups the amount of sales tax revenue the county is willing to share with its towns and villages over the next 38 years from $7 million to $8.5 million.

It also drops the amount of other revenue the county will distribute – on a periodic basis – from $3 million to $1.5 million – keeping the total amount at the $10 million level that county leaders felt comfortable sharing.

This latest legislation, which is subject to final approval by the full legislature at its Aug. 25 meeting, was triggered by the recent opting in of revised water supply agreements with the county by the Village of Corfu and the Town of Pembroke.

When the Pembroke Town Board voted to opt in to a new water agreement last week – leaving the Town of Darien as the lone municipality to not sign on to a new deal, Supervisor Thomas Schneider Jr. proposed increasing the fixed sales tax distribution amount.

Genesee County, with a goal of equalizing water rates across the board and having the ability to raise the water surcharge as its Countywide Water Supply Project progresses, initially offered to distribute $10 million in sales tax money as long as all 17 towns and villages opted in to new water supply agreements. If not, then the split was going to be $7 million in sales tax and $3 million in other revenue.

Following today’s Ways & Means meeting, County Manager Matt Landers acknowledged that Pembroke’s suggestion was well received by the legislature.

“The legislature was supportive of moving from $7 million to $8.5 (million) because it does help those towns and villages with their accounting issues that came to light by not being able to share revenue distribution into their B funds,” he said.

“So, the legislature was receptive to the opportunity to share extra sales tax as we understood the Town of Pembroke’s position, seeing that Corfu has already passed it and Darien had not passed it. Pembroke was left thinking what’s the advantage for them to sign the updated water supply agreement if there wasn’t going to be an increase over the $7 million.”

When asked about the status of the Town of Darien, Landers said he continues to speak with officials there and is hopeful that something can be worked out prior to the legislature taking up the final resolution next week.

In other developments, Ways & Means:

-- Approved a request by County Attorney Kevin Earl to extend the statute that spells out the county’s hotel/motel room occupancy tax by three months – through the end of the fiscal year – as the legislature attempts to sort out whether to pass a long-term revision that would include taxation of online booking platforms, such as Airbnb.

“It would be a major change if we did it right now,” Earl said, referring to drafting complex changes at this time. “So, what I’m proposing is to extend the current law to the end of the year … and, obviously, the final one that we propose would be for three years starting in January.”

Legislators have been grappling with this issue for several months, reaching out to Chamber of Commerce staff members for their input in how to capture a portion of the income being generated by increasingly-popular home-based lodging sites.

Committee Chair Marianne Clattenburg agreed that it would be wise to wait before enacting a permanent bed tax law because “I don’t know if we’ve really come to terms with all that is involved …”

-- Welcomed Batavia native Justin Gerace on his first day as a county assistant engineer, with his primary responsibility focusing on helping to facilitate the long-term Countywide Water Supply Project.

A 2014 Batavia High School graduate, Gerace earned his associate’s degree in Engineering Science from Genesee Community College before transferring to the University of Buffalo. At UB, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a master’s degree in Structural and Earthquake Engineering.

Last fall, he worked for the structural engineering firm of Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger in New York City, but said he felt the call to return to his roots.

Previously, he was an intern for LaBella Associates in Rochester and for Arup in New York City.

“(County Engineer) Tim (Hens) informed me of this position .. and I thought it was a good fit,” he said. “I will be able to stay local and be near my family.”

Gerace acknowledged a “big learning curve” as he studies documents and visits water pump stations in and around Genesee County.

“I’m excited … I know there’s work to be done over the next 10 or 15 years,” he said, noting the county is moving into Phase 3 of the water project. “Just getting up to speed on all of the moving parts. It’s pretty daunting.”

Genesee County Sheriff Bill Sheron, third from right, conducted a tour of the new firing range behind the Emergency Management Services office on State Street Road this afternoon for members of the Genesee County Legislature.

Sheron said the 60- by 150-yard parcel, which is surrounded by 30-foot high berms to suppress the sound of gun shots, will be equipped with pylons and yardage markers in time for county law enforcement's September qualifier.

Following the tour, the legislature's Public Service Committee lapproved a resolution opening the range for training during the summer months, excluding the need for a wood fence and permitting the use of high-powered rifles.

Highway Superintendent Tim Hens said that 4,000 truckloads of material were brought it over the past several years to ensure that "sound would go up and not out." The new range will replace one that is closer to the EMS building and the road.

From left are Marianne Clattenbur, John Deleo, Sheron, Christian Yunker and Chad Klotzbach.

Photo by Mike Pettinella.

And then there was one.

The Pembroke Town Board on Thursday night voted, 5-0, to sign an amended water supply agreement with Genesee County, leaving the Town of Darien as the lone municipality not to opt in to a contract that would set the stage for $10 million in sales tax distribution from the county to its towns and villages over the next 38 years.

“We felt that it was more important to secure sales tax funding than to hold out on the water agreement,” Pembroke Town Supervisor Thomas Schneider Jr. said. “In good faith, we believed that it was best to mend some fences with the county.”

In a previous story on The Batavian, Schneider indicated there were some hard feelings over the way water agreements were handled in the past, but the current board is willing to give county leaders the benefit of the doubt – believing that the legislature will attain its goal of equalizing the water surcharge.

Schneider also said he talked to County Manager Matt Landers about the potential of “bumping up” the guaranteed sales tax money to be shared with the municipalities in light of the Village of Corfu (at the end of July) and Town of Pembroke opting in.

PEMBROKE MAKES COUNTEROFFER

“Hopefully, we are thinking that the $7 million in sales tax distribution could go to maybe eight or eight and a half million – based on having Corfu and Pembroke on board.”

Genesee County’s offer to distribute $10 million in straight sales tax revenue is contingent upon universal buy-in from its towns and villages.

Without that universal buy-in, the proposal is to distribute $7 million in annual sales tax revenue and an additional $3 million in other revenue on a periodic basis over the next 38 years.

Municipalities not opting in would receive less in revenue distribution than expected to allow for the equalization of water surcharge revenue.

Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein was asked if lawmakers would consider Schneider’s proposal to increase the guaranteed sales tax distribution.

Choosing her words carefully, she replied, “Here’s what I’m going to say: Let us do our work.”

“We have not met and we won’t until Monday. So, there’s a process that we follow and let us do our work. But, certainly, that suggestion is taken and welcomed.”

FIXING UNBALANCED TAX RATES

Currently, the county’s revenue sharing process has created a situation, per state law, where towns with villages inside them have to keep two separate books and have two separate tax rates – an A fund for townwide sales tax that affects everyone and a B fund for sales tax that only affects the services of taxpayers outside the village.

Stein said the legislature’s focus has been “to be able to direct that revenue sharing into the B funds of those towns and villages; that is our focus for this entire process. And, if we can find a way to get there together, that’s our goal.”

She previously explained that the $10 million figure that the county is committed to putting into the sales tax agreement would fix the unbalanced A and B tax rate.

When asked if she thought the Darien Town Board would change is mind and opt in, Stein said she that if it did reconsider, it would need to be mindful that the county has a timetable to adhere to “that is significant because our calendar has already started.”

The legislature’s Ways & Means Committee is expected to address the situation at its meeting this Monday, with the full legislature scheduled to vote on a distribution amount on Aug. 25.

“Plus, the City of Batavia has to do this at their meetings in September and the (New York State) Office of Comptroller needs 60 to 90 days and we already want to be able to distribute our third quarter payments (in October) as sales tax,” Stein advised.

“Time is not our friend right now,” she said. “But for those six towns that have the B funds or that have villages in their towns, it is truly meaningful for their more rural taxpayers to rebalance that property tax imbalance that is occurring right now for them.”

PURSUING WATER RATE EQUALIZATION

Landers said he was “happy” to learn that Pembroke passed the resolution.

“I know that they will be hopeful that the county as a whole, not just Genesee County but the towns, will remember this 5-0 vote when it comes time for the equalization of the retail water rate charged by the Monroe County Water Authority,” he said.

“The county can recommend an equalized retail rate and, again, I’m certain that Pembroke is hoping for a spirit of cooperation seeing that they agreed to sign this agreement because they know it is best for the county as a whole.  It is in everyone’s best interest to have an equalized rate because it allows for the free flow of water a little easier between the center and western parts of the county.”

Landers explained that the original agreements with towns and villages dating back to the early 2000s each had “little nuances in them,” with different considerations.

“When the county took over individual water systems, the county water fund would make some compensation sometimes for that,” he said. “For example, we paid off some of the debt of the Corfu water plant for that village. All of the amended water supply agreements that the county have undertaken over the last three or four years have been uniform; we wanted to make sure that they’re all the same.”

The new agreements allow for the county, with proper notification and justification, to increase the surcharge above 60 cents (per 1,000 gallons). The original agreements were frozen at 60 cents but since then, the later agreements raised it to $1.20 to pay for Phase 2 of the Countywide Water Supply Project.

CLEANING UP THE LANGUAGE

The county manager said one of the sticking points was the county removing erroneous language in the initial agreements that guaranteed supplying water to the municipalities.

“It’s erroneous in the sense that the Monroe County Water Authority, in our agreement with them, can’t guarantee us water; there are things that can happen,” he said. “It is difficult for us to guarantee something that’s not guaranteed to us.”

He said that changes had to be made “because we need water to pay for water.”

“When we go to Phase 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (of the Countywide Water Supply Project), if there needs to be an increase (in the surcharge) to pay for the debt service, there needs to be a way to pay for it,” he said, adding that 20- to 30-year cash flow projections – including the retirement of some debt service -- indicate that the surcharge should not increase that much, if at all.

Landers said that he continues to speak to Darien Town Supervisor Steve Ferry Jr. about his board’s decision.

“If Darien passed a resolution next week and they signed the water agreement, it is possible that the amount in the resolution on the floor of the legislature on August 25^th could be amended to be increased to $10 million,” he said. “I still have hope that we can find a path forward so that we can share the full $10 million in sales tax, and have everyone on the same water supply agreement.”

Asked if Ferry has sought concessions from the county, understanding that Darien has been paying more for water than other towns and villages, Landers would not go there.

“I don’t want to get into the subject of proposals back and forth,” he said. “I want all of that to be discussed between him and I, and our legislature and his board.”

Previously: Darien Town Board votes to not accept county's updated water agreement offer; Corfu signs on; Pembroke TBD.

Previously: Ways & Means passes measures rescinding revenue distribution payments, accepting HCA with Plug Power.

With leadership at the Executive Mansion in Albany in disarray, local governments are being forced to take on greater responsibility in the decision-making process as COVID-19 rears its ugly head once more.

Noting that New York State is backing off on mandates and guidelines, Genesee County officials are banding together with administrators from neighboring counties to figure out the best course of action as the number of cases increase and with the reopening of schools just a few weeks away.

“There is no state policy; everybody is on their own,” said Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein during Monday afternoon’s special legislative meeting at the Old County Courthouse. “What we do now – our behavior is really going to matter.”

County Manager Matt Landers told legislators that county managers have restarted discussions on how to handle what he called “a changing landscape.”

“We will not be under the state umbrella where there was a facilitator,” Landers said. “We had our first official meeting today after a long break and we decided to make this a weekly meeting because of the nature of how things are changing.”

He emphasized that public health directors will be included in the talks – “a good step,” he said -- because last time county administrators and public health directors conducted separate meetings.

VACCINATED? THEN NO MASK

Landers said his group is looking at the various county and school policies when it comes to the wearing of face coverings.

“A couple of counties have gone the route of mandating masks for their workforce, regardless of vaccination status. We haven’t gone that route at this point, and I wouldn’t recommend that route as necessary,” he said.

Genesee County employees do not have to wear a mask if they are vaccinated, he said, but need to show proof of vaccination to do so.

He said that Legislature Clerk Pamela LaGrou came up with that idea, and it was applauded by leaders in other counties.

Unvaccinated county employees are required to wear face coverings, however.

“Here, we’re not going to ask vaccination status of any of our workforce, but if you want to take the mask off at work, you have to provide proof of vaccination to your department head,” he said. “So, we have high confidence right now in the county workforce that if you see a county employee with his or her mask off, they have shown that proof. And because of that, we won’t have to rush to have any mask mandate for all of our workers anytime soon.”

FOLLOWING CDC GUIDANCE

Landers said that an interim step before mandating face coverings could be distancing county workers from the public.

“But we’re not there yet either,” he said, “because our transmission level is still low. Still, it’s something we have to start thinking about now. It’s unfortunate that we have to do this (again), but I like the spirit that everyone has in wanting to make sure that we’re being consistent and cooperating.”

Public Health Director Paul Pettit is in constant contact with school district officials, Landers said, with the goal of reaching a point where all schools draft similar guidelines when classes resume.

“There’s no universal set policy (for schools) yet; I think there’s an attempt,” Landers said. “We’re taking the position that we recommend following CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines; in good conscience, we can’t deviate from recommending CDC guidelines. But each of the schools is going to make its own decision.”

GENESEE AT ‘MODERATE’ LEVEL

Genesee County has 25 active cases as of Monday, Landers said. Eleven of them occurred over the weekend, but no one is hospitalized.

He said Genesee is in the “moderate” category and just about to go into “substantial,” which is 28 cases a week on average. The “high” level is 57 cases.

The county manager said that about 20 to 30 percent of the positive cases are vaccinated people, adding that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is “a little less effective” than the Moderna or Pfizer doses.

He said he’s not sure of the percentage of county employees who have been vaccinated, but estimated it around 70 percent – which is higher than the Genesee County number of 59 percent.

The county’s Facebook page has been getting significant hits as the public searches for current information about the coronavirus, Landers said, adding that a press conference is being set up for next week for the sharing of more data.

YUNKER: MUST BE PROACTIVE

In the meantime, he said the county will continue to test and vaccinate.

“… and if the demand is out there, we will increase the testing days and vaccination," he added.

Legislator Marianne Clattenburg mentioned that if school guidelines remain the same as before, more testing will be in order.

Landers said federal funding from the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act will enable the county to place at least one Abbott rapid antigen test machine in each school to quickly test students and to provide BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Cards for asymptomatic testing.

Legislator Christian Yunker urged the county brace for another wave.

“We should probably be prepared to deal with another stint of rising cases,” he said. “It’s probably going to happen, so however we can be proactive to curb in those problems (the better off we’ll be).”  

Citing the “need for speed,” the Genesee County Legislature at a special meeting this afternoon approved a resolution to accept a pair of bids for the construction of a new water pump station along Golden Road in the Town of Chili to advance Phase 2 of the Countywide Water Project.

Legislators awarded the general construction contract to C.P. Ward, Inc., of Scottsville, for an amount not to exceed $2,825,533, and the electrical construction contract to Kaplan-Schmidt Electric, Inc., of Rochester, for an amount not to exceed $595,000.

The $3,420,533 total will be funded from bonds issued by the Monroe County Water Authority for the Phase 2 construction.

Prior to voting, County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens stressed that timing was the major factor in calling the meeting outside of the board’s normal schedule,

“The biggest concern is the need for speed, obviously, with the supply chain disruptions we’re seeing with COVID and long lead times, especially on things such as motor controls and pumps,” he said. “So, we want to give contractors the most time as possible to get the project completed.”

Hens said the completion date in the contract is June 1, 2022, but it could take up to eight months to receive the pumps. Thus, the importance of awarding the contracts to get materials ordered while the building is being erected.

He also pointed out that the cost is about $600,000 more than expected, but not as much as it could have been when factoring in the increased costs due to COVID.

“The original total bid package for the general and the electrical when we were designing this about two years ago was around $2.8 million,” he said. “With what we’ve seen with COVID bidding recently, I was really nervous that we would be up around $4 million. So, I’m actually very pleased that are inflation was somewhat muted.”

 

As a result of three committee meetings this week, Genesee County legislators have much to vote upon when they meet as a full board next Wednesday.

Resolutions passed at Monday’s Human Services and Public Service meetings and Wednesday’s Ways & Means meeting that were not previously reported upon by The Batavian include the following:

• $1.4 million for COVID-19 testing in schools

The New York State Department of Health has awarded the Genesee County Health Department funding in the amount of $1,415,984 for COVID-19 school testing activities and to purchase personal protective equipment for all public and private school pupils from Universal Pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade.

Public Health Director Paul Pettit said the money can also be used for testing supplies and telehealth services for both students and faculty. Distribution of funds will be based on the population at each school, he added. The grant does not cover vaccination.

• ARP funds to help spruce up OFA

This resolution calls for using $64,416 of more than $233,000 awarded through the American Rescue Plan for a capital project at the Genesee County Office for the Aging on Bank Street.

The project consists of reconfiguring and adding office space, carpeting and painting, replacing the dishwasher and garbage disposal, and adding other furnishings, equipment and subscriptions to enhance the client experience, OFA Director Diana Fox said.

The Human Services Committee also approved using some of the ARP money to fund two new positions at the OFA – a part-time program assistant and full-time financial clerk typist, both through Dec. 31, 2024 – and expand a part-time program assistant position from 15 hours biweekly to 19.5 hours biweekly, also through Dec. 31, 2024.

Two part-time vacant nutrition program meal site assistant positions were eliminated.

• Radio system contract with L3 Harris is extended

The Public Service Committee recommended approval of an extension of the public safety radio system maintenance services contract with L3 Harris Technologies Inc., through Dec. 31, 2026, at a cost of $188,567 per year.

The agreement was set to expire on Dec. 31 of this year, but since the county will be adding a new tower site on Molasses Hill Road in Alexander, it was determined to extend it at this time.

Another resolution to accept $205,530 in grant funding from the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Office of Interoperable and Emergency Communication was approved. The money will be used to offset a portion of the 2021 Communications budget, according to Emergency Communication Director Steve Sharpe.

• SROs to continue at Byron-Bergen, Pavilion

School Resource Officers will remain at Byron-Bergen and Pavilion central school districts for at least another year, with B-B opting for a September through August 2022 schedule at a cost of $102,813.81 and Pavilion going with a July through June 2022 schedule at a cost of $119,021.07.

Sheriff William Sheron said the difference in cost is due to one SRO having a single health insurance plan instead of a family plan. The cost to the schools include the hourly rate for a deputy sheriff, fringe benefits and insurances.

Public Service also approved a resolution to expend $10,757 from the K9 Donations Reserve Account to help in the recovery of K9 Rayzor, who recently suffered a leg injury and is need of physical therapy and medications before returning to service.

K9 Frankie also has had physical issues, but currently is fully functional, said Sheron, who thanked the public for donations to the fund, which has been depleted.

• More funding for Justice for Children Advocacy Center

A grant from the state Office of Children and Family Services’ to fund the Justice for Children Advocacy Center has been renewed, with this year’s amount of $190,143 representing a $2,000 increase from last year.

Funds from this grant will enable the program to provide services for children and families affected by abuse in the Batavia, Warsaw and Albion areas, JCAC Coordinator Theresa Roth said.

• ARPA funds to aid Genesee County Airport

Thirty-two thousand dollars in funding from the American Recovery Plan Act to offset expenses incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be coming to the Genesee County Airport.

Highway Superintendent Tim Hens said the money will be used to help pay down the debt service on the terminal and main hangar. Hens noted that the county is expected to receive about $100,000 in this type of funding by the end of the year, and all will be used in the same manner.

Next Wednesday, July 28^th, is shaping up as round three in Genesee County’s attempt to get a grip on the size and cost of the new county jail it has been mandated to build by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

At the end of the Genesee County Legislature’s Public Service Committee meeting today at the Old County Courthouse conference room, County Manager Matt Landers said he has received an updated 10-page bed study from the SMRT architectural firm of Portland, Me.

Landers said he plans to go over the report at a meeting of the full legislature next week, and expects to have a revised cost estimate from the Pike Company of Rochester at that time as well.

“We’ve done this twice before,” Landers said. “Going back three or four years, the legislature gave me a thumbs-up, and probably two years ago when we were getting a better handle on the costs, I did it again and got the legislature to agree to $60 million. We were all in agreement – thumbs up.”

Calling the coming session a “good gut check,” Landers said it will be the first time that two new legislators – Brooks Hawley and Chad Klotzbach – will get to hear the full scope of the project.

Genesee County has been conducting its due diligence on the construction of a 184-bed jail on land just east of County Building 2 on West Main Street Road.

Landers is hoping that $60 million figure is still in play, but things could change in this post-COVID environment.

“Now, we’re in a different world, COVID, numbers, everything. So, once again we need to make sure everyone is on board for whatever cost estimates are before us,” he said. “The next thumbs up is going to dictate preparing our bid documents and going out to bid sometime in the spring. If cost estimates are two or three times (what we budgeted for), we’d have to stop and wait.”

He noted that SMRT reported that the 184-bed number is still intact, but even that isn’t etched in stone.

“We all know that the state is taking a left turn, to a degree, with social justice reforms,” he said. “Is that the way it’s going to be for awhile or is there going to be a pendulum swing, using the sheriff’s (William Sheron) words. But how much of one?”

Another factor is whether the state will allow those sentenced for one or two years to be kept in county jail.

“Now, if it’s longer than a year, you’re sentenced to state prison,” Landers said. “The state, using the mantra of social justice and to save money, may decide to shift these people and keep them in (county) jails, which meets their argument of keeping them closer to their families.”

WHAT ABOUT THE CURRENT JAIL BUILDING?

When asked if it was possible to sell the current jail in tandem with the sale of the City of Batavia police station building, Landers said it was “an interesting concept but there a lot of pieces that would have to work together.”

“It’s going to take longer to build a jail than it’s going to take to build a police station. We’re not going to be out of the current jail for two or three years and that’s if there are no cost overruns and we are ready to go in the spring,” he said.

Landers also mentioned that Genesee Justice and the backup 9-1-1 center are housed in the jail building.

“We have to make sure we have the ability to move all of that out into a new location. All of that has to happen,” he said. “And to tie that with the city. They may be waiting on us, and we’re still not out.

“Timing is everything. If everything tied up and we wanted to sell it, maybe it would work, but we have as part of our contract with SMRT a dedicated study to see what we could use the current jail building for in the future.”

The county manager said he has thought about using the jail portion of the building at West Main Street and Porter Avenue as a countywide records’ center.

“I have been thinking that it could be a shared services model because all of these towns have permanent records,” he offered. “We could take a jail cell and say ‘Town of Byron, here’s your permanent records'; 'Town of Bergen, here’s your permanent records’ and actually have a centralized shared service project where all the records from the county come to one area.”

Despite the efforts of state representatives in Albany, the Genesee County Legislature’s hopes for enabling legislation to remedy its sales tax and revenue distribution dilemma have been dashed by the Democratic majority in the New York State Assembly and Senate.

"Senator (Edward) Rath and Assemblyman (Steve) Hawley tried everything they could to make this happen, but their colleagues in the majority didn't agree," said Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein on Thursday night.

So, as a result, county leaders have come up with a plan on their own – actually two options depending upon buy-in to updated water agreements from all municipalities – to ensure equitable sharing of revenue to Genesee’s towns and villages.

On Wednesday, Stein and County Manager Matt Landers presented their solution at a meeting of town supervisors and village mayors at the Old County Courthouse.

The Batavian has attained a copy of the discussion outline, which includes the following two options that are on the table:

(1) Distribute $10 million annually to the municipalities in sales tax revenue for the next 38 years as long as all towns and villages sign updated water supply agreements by Aug. 13. As of today, the Towns of Darien and Pembroke and Village of Corfu have yet to sign.

OR

(2) Without universal updated water supply agreements, the county will allot $7 million for annual sales tax distributions to towns and villages, and pass annual revenue distribution resolutions for another $3 million, to allow for the equalization of water surcharge revenue.

SEEKING THE STATE’S HELP

Landers said the county’s current revenue sharing process has created a situation, per state law, where towns with villages inside them have to keep two separate books and have two separate tax rates – an A fund for townwide sales tax that affects everyone and a B fund for sales tax that only affects the services of taxpayers outside the village.

“(State legislation) would have fixed an accounting issue with towns that also have villages,” Landers said.

Unfortunately for the county, state lawmakers didn’t go for the idea.

“The enabling legislation that we were seeking during this last New York State session was to be able to allow the towns that had villages inside them to receive that revenue distribution into their B funds, which was the unintended consequence of revenue distribution,” Stein said. “That failed to get picked up in Albany.”

She said the majority in both chambers “felt the county of Genesee was trying to usurp the power of the state. Therefore, (they were) not interested in helping Genesee County fix that B fund revenue issue.”

ALL IN ONE BASKET?

Now, the county is looking to place all the municipalities back into the sales tax revenue pool.

“The risk to the county in putting everyone back into the sales tax is that we have that water surcharge to help pay for the big water – to bring it into the county,” Stein said. “Without having all 20 towns and villages sign on, we would then most likely get sued by the other 17 that are paying the surcharge – and we would deserve it, let’s put it that way.”

She explained that the $10 million figure that the county is committed to putting into the sales tax agreement would fix the unbalanced A and B tax rate in all but one town – “and that one, through some shared services, could happen very quickly. The $7 million would fix three.”

Should the Towns of Darien and Pembroke and Village of Corfu opt into the water agreement, the county would be able to distribute the $10 million in sales tax revenue to the towns and villages, with the amounts determined by the taxable assessed value of each municipality and equalization rates.

“If those two towns and one village decide not to opt in to the water agreement, the county – in order to equalize the surcharge of the $1.20 per thousand (gallons) for the water users – would have to go to revenue distribution without those three signed agreements (option 2 above),” Stein said.

Calls and emails to Darien Town Supervisor Steve Ferry Jr., Pembroke Supervisor Thomas Schneider Jr. and Corfu Mayor Thomas Sargent for comment were not returned at the time of the posting of this story.

Landers said that he plans to meet over the next couple weeks with government officials in those locations.

“We’re not looking to single out those municipalities,” he said. “I understand they are trying to do the best for their residents.”

A NEW SALES TAX AGREEMENT

In order to make this work, the county needs the Batavia City Council to agree to amend the 40-year sales tax agreement (there are 38 years remaining). The current agreement is only between the county and the city.

“This is a fix that the county has available to us; the county has no skin in this game,” Stein said. “The sales tax agreement is between the City of Batavia and the county, and those are the signatories still to this agreement. We are both amenable to fixing that unbalanced rural property tax situation.”

Landers pointed out that as things stand now, revenue distribution has to go to the town’s A fund; it is not allowed to go to the B fund.

“It would disproportionately hurt rural taxpayers – farms, rural landowners,” he said. “Genesee County legislators agree that unbalance taxation can not continue on rural property taxpayers. Going back to a sales tax model was the only option once the enabling state legislation failed.”

He also credited City Manager Rachael Tabelski for being amenable to revising the sales tax contract.

“It doesn’t impact the City of Batavia one penny, but they understand that if they amend the sales tax agreement it would help our town taxpayers. Rachael was absolutely 100 percent on board with doing this,” Landers said. “Sales tax instead of revenue distribution fixes the problem with rural taxpayers.”

HOW WILL IT WORK?

According to the plan outline, the proposed amended sales tax agreement between the county and city would be dated July 1, 2021 to limit the exposure of towns with villages accounting for voluntary revenue distributions incorrectly in their B funds.

Landers said that revenue distributions would be finished for this year ($5 million has been doled out through June 30), and that two quarterly sales tax payments totaling $5 million will be made before the end of 2021.

“Starting in 2022, quarterly payments totaling either $10 million or $7 million will be distributed. If it is the $7 million figure, then an additional $3 million in voluntary revenue distribution payments will be made,” he reported.

The timeline indicates that a draft of the new sales tax agreement will be sent to the state Comptroller’s Office for review by July 19, and a resolution to cancel the remaining payments for 2021 will be taken to the county’s Ways & Means Committee on July 21. The full legislature would consider that resolution a week later.

The goal is to have an amended signed sales tax agreement sent to the Comptroller by Sept. 14 for formal approval.

HOW MUCH WILL BE DISTRIBUTED?

Following are the projected amounts to be dispersed to the towns and villages, with the first figure based on a $10 million sales tax distribution and the second figure based on a $7 million sales tax distribution:

• Town of Alabama -- $407,659; $285,361.
• Village of Alexander -- $71,006; $49,704.
• Town of Alexander -- $398,581; $279,007.
• Village of Attica -- $28,333; $19,834.
• Town of Batavia -- $1,687,937; $1,181,556.
• Village of Bergen -- $198,962; $139,273.
• Town of Bergen -- $508,589; $356,012.
• Town of Bethany – $408,961; $286,273.
• Town of Byron – $461,621; $323,135.
• Village of Corfu – $137,653; $96,357.
• Town of Darien – $970,992; $679,694.
• Village of Elba – $106,620; $74,634.
• Town of Elba – $360,317; $252,222.
• Village of Le Roy – $718,277; $502,794.
• Town of Le Roy – $822,270; $575,589.
• Village of Oakfield – $199,387; $139,571.
• Town of Oakfield – $299,202; $209,441.
• Town of Pavilion – $543,151’ $380,206.
• Town of Pembroke – $1,020,483; $714,338.
• Town of Stafford -- $649,999; $454,999.