Although there aren’t always health care aides available to tend to people in their homes, there are sometimes other ways to address their needs, Diana Fox says.

Just when you might think that COVID has walked around the corner and is out of sight, its presence and aftermath still lingers in surprising ways that people such as Karyn Winters have been dealing with ever since.

When asked about the biggest change for Business Education Alliance since she began as director in 2017, Winters said that, "obviously," it was right after COVID hit. 

Genesee Orleans Regional Arts Council received the second largest funding in New York State, falling only behind Manhattan, of $336,000, which will be disbursed to artists in both counties, Executive Director Gregory Hallock says.

He considers that to be a pretty major deal, and rightly so, considering that money will go somewhere, and he figures it might as well go into the hands of local people for their creative projects. 

Public Health Director Paul Pettit has an unusual problem, given the perception of a spend-happy climate of many municipal entities these days.

He has only gone through about half of a $1.6 million COVID-19 grant issued to the department for purchases to prevent and deal with COVID-related illnesses. 

That’s because those random bites of unidentified animals result in rabies treatments for the victims. Just how often does this happen, Genesee County Legislator John Deleo asked during a Human Services meeting Monday.

More than you might think. 

There’s an awful lot of new happening at the Holland Land Office Museum, a site meant to capture moments of historical weightiness.

A full-time curator; exhibits about the last complete solar eclipse in Genesee County, a vintage wedding dress collection and the 100-year anniversary of Batavia Concert Band; a monthly walk-up tour of the West Main Street site’s second-floor collections; a revised membership; and planning for a three-phase capital project are just some of the new items glossing up the old status quo, Museum Director Ryan Duffy says.

Paul Pettit’s decided to get the lead out. Of his next grant opportunity, that is. 

The director of Genesee Orleans Health Department reviewed a $1.5 million grant with the county’s Human Services Committee on Monday that will stray from his last one that focused strictly on lead-based products.

Changes to the original $70 million new county jail plans have included about $90,000 in structural, product and utility revisions, senior project manager Carl York says.

York gave the latest review of the project on West Main Street Road during Genesee County’s Human Services Committee meeting Tuesday.

“Some of these were items that just weren’t on the drawings. And so there’s a supplemental instruction that came out in the contract … so again, changes that are happening on the project. So far, we’ve had 46 instructions,” York said. “That’s about where I would expect it to be. None of these were huge changes. Some of them are just things that weren’t picked up on their original set of documents. And they have to be done. There’s been no issues so far from the Commission of Corrections.”

Having to add some precast, revising the type of flooring, making structural revisions to a pod and also to plumbing and gas provisions made for processing nearly $90,000 of change orders in December, York said.

All of the extras are not a concern, he said, as there is plenty of contingency funding for such needs. The first jail cell was delivered to the jail site this past week, and installed on Friday, Jan. 13. During the next two months or so, a total of about 100 cells will be installed at the property adjacent to County Building #2 and the Animal Shelter.

County Legislative Chairwoman Shelley Stein asked if those changes were above and beyond the $70 million project cost, and York said no.  In fact, the cost is at “.4 percent, not even .5 percent of your entire project cost,” he said.

“You’re doing fabulous,” he said.

Stein wanted that fact to be emphasized, given the possibility that some legislators had thought recent change orders were piling up to mean a larger price tag for the jail, a big ticket item not readily accepted by everyone in the county as it is.

“Good, that should just be made really clear to all of our legislators here, because we certainly did hear some conversation after the last approval that … now it's 70 million plus,” Stein said.

York assured her that “It is not $70 million-plus.”

During the transport phase of the jail cell last week, County Manager Matt Landers said that he's pleased the project is so far coming in under budget.

The Department of Corrections has contacted The Pike Company, lead for the project, and a meeting is being set up for later this week to review jail plans, York said.

File Photo of Carl York, senior project manager, of The Pike Company, by Joanne Beck.

Two local librarians – Kim Gibson of Haxton Memorial Library in Oakfield and Diana Reding of Corfu Public Library – joined Thomas Bindeman and Lisa Erickson, officials with the Lockport-based Nioga Library System, at the Genesee County Legislature’s Human Services Committee meeting earlier this week to submit a request for funding and update lawmakers on library activities.

The county appropriates funds to each one of the six libraries to support the purchase of materials such as computers, books, music, movies and magazines. For 2023, the libraries are asking for $41,680 (the same amount as last year), which represents about 13 percent of their cumulative budgets.

Broken down by library, the dollar amounts are as follows:

• Byron-Bergen Public Library, $4,570 requested, $32,780 materials budget, 13.94 percent;
• Corfu Public Library, $3,500 requested, $16,255 materials budget, 21.53 percent;
• Haxton Memorial Library, $3,200 requested, $10,000 materials budget, 32 percent;
• Hollwedel Memorial Library, Pavilion, $1,950 requested, $14,700 materials budget, 13.27 percent;
• Richmond Memorial Library, Batavia, $22,210 requested, $182,210 materials budget, 12.19 percent;
• Woodward Memorial Library, Le Roy, $6,250 requested, $62,000 materials budget, 10.08 percent.

The bulk of funding for the libraries comes from the residents of their municipalities. In the case of Corfu, Hollwedel, Richmond and Woodward, their budgets are put to a public vote. With Haxton and B-B, the town/village provide most of the funding at this point, but progress is being made toward changing the designation of those libraries to enable a public vote.

Bindeman said libraries are being challenged by increased costs for transportation – “Our fuel expenses are up by $19,000 this year,” he said – and for eBooks, a popular reading option.

“eBooks are costly to libraries,” he said. “People can go online, or they can go online at the library and download them. A consumer could go online and possibly get a book for 15 to 20 bucks, but the library’s cost for the same book might be 80 to 150 dollars.”

He said it’s what publishers and authors call “intellectual content” that drives up the price.

“Publishers and the authors feel that if a library gets it, they're getting ripped off because it's in the electronic world. And they feel once it gets on the internet, people will lift the book and all that,” he said. “And plus, normally if a consumer buys an eBook, he or she will only read it once or twice. And they see if a library buys it, it's going to have multiple uses.

“So, they're going to lose money on that, and that's why they charge so much. Also, we really don't own the book. It's only a lease for two to three years.”

He said electronic publishers “control the agenda” and it’s hurting the library system.

“We really don't have much voice. Because eBooks cost more for libraries, that means we won't be able to buy as many titles (books in print),” he noted. “Sometimes, it's kind of counterproductive to whatever they're thinking.”

Gibson and Reding used terms such as “amazing” and “come full circle” as they described how their libraries have bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic regulations that severely limited onsite interaction.

“We're getting back to pre-COVID levels -- getting our hours back to pre-COVID hours and getting staff and all that back to normal, whatever normal might be,” said Bindeman, who has been with Nioga for more than 40 years, the last 17 as the system’s director.

He said the Genesee libraries appreciate the county’s funding, understanding that government entities are facing similar financial challenges.

For more about the Nioga Library System, a non-profit cooperative library system that supports the 21 independent public libraries in Niagara, Orleans and Genesee counties, go to www.niogalibrary.org.

Things are looking up for the Holland Land Office Museum at 131 West Main St., the Genesee County-supported facility dedicated to highlighting the events and people that have contributed to the region’s rich history.

Membership in the museum, which is managed by the board of directors of the Holland Purchase Historical Society, is nearing 250 and attendance since last July has surpassed the 3,000 mark.

Those benchmarks alone, says Executive Director Ryan Duffy, indicate that the museum definitely has bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duffy and Don Burkel, HLOM board president, presented their yearly report on Monday at the Genesee County Legislature’s Human Services Committee meeting.

“Our membership topped 200 for 2021 for the first time in quite a few years and we’re 90 percent to that number this year,” Duffy said. “Our goal (for 2022) is 250 and we’re 75 percent to that.”

He said the museum is attracting more international visitors – especially from The Netherlands (due to this area being a Dutch settlement) – while the recording of its guest speaker series is getting hundreds of views on YouTube.

Duffy also mentioned the restarting of the History Heroes program this summer, which brought around 27 young people to the museum, and that the Wonderland of Trees was the museum’s biggest yet in terms of visitors and sponsors.

Volunteer support is crucial to the museum’s success, he noted, and was glad to report that 17 people donate their time on a regular basis.

“Volunteers, docents and interns completed more than 1,500 hours of community service up to this date,” he reported, adding that attendance and gift shop sales have returned to pre-2020 levels.

Going forward, Duffy said directors are in the early stages of obtaining a design for a new entrance off the West Wing of the building “to create a more welcoming and efficient entry” that would be Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant. Additionally, this space would be utilized for the relocation of the gift shop and a larger space for the research library.

“This will be a better spot for the gift shop, hopefully generating double the annual revenue, and we would gain exhibit space (by utilizing the area currently occupied by the gift shop),” he advised.

The museum also has initiated the Garth Swanson Memorial Scholarship, which will be available to students in 2023, Duffy said.

The scholarship will benefit current high school students planning to attend Genesee Community College or students attending GCC currently with a passion for history. It is in honor of Garth Swanson, a longtime board member and patron of the museum who passed away in early 2022.

The Holland Land Office Museum is currently operating under normal, yearlong hours. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. For more information, call 585-343-4727.

Photo: Don Burkel, left, and Ryan Duffy, representing the Holland Land Office Museum, talked about the museum's activities over the past year at Monday's County Legislature Human Services Committee meeting. Photo by Mike Pettinella.