Press Release:
The American Legion Post 576 Memorial Day Monday, May 30 Parade forms at 9:45 a.m. in the Legion parking lot. The parade starts at 10:30 a.m. and proceeds to Trigon Park.
Refreshments at the Legion after the ceremony. Hot dogs and soda
Photo: File photo by Rob Radley from 2917
Press release:
The Batavia High School Class of 1973 has announced that it will be holding its 50th class reunion on July 8, 2023, at the Batavia Downs Gaming grandstand on Park Road.
The reunion committee will be mailing “save the date” cards over the next few weeks and is looking for the public’s help in finding addresses for 39 members of the class, which graduated 294 students:
Alexander Senovsky, Anthony Scappa, Anna Murphy Rupert;
Barbara Smith, Becky Byrn Schmid, Byron Rodgers;
Cheryl Poteat, Chuck Curd, Ciro Feniello, Crystal Marshall;
Deborah Lee, Deborah Niedzialek, Debra Hale Laird, Dennis Majors, Dennis Tabor, Diane Hale, Donna Mugford;
Frances Kelly Leighton, James Lee, Jamie Richardson Fritz, Judy Porter, Joseph Ball;
Kathleen Lee, Kim Goodrich;
Margaret Cummings Bailey, Michael Stephens, Pamela Richenberg;
Ralph Mullin, Reyburn Campbell, Robin Munt Morgan, Rosemarie Menzie Welty;
Sandra Gaskill, Santa Majors, Sarah Hutton Weinheimer, Steve King, Susan Kitt Crego;
Timothy Mooney, Tom Galbo, Yvonne Rodgers.
Anyone with information about these people is asked to contact Deb Best at debbest@rochester.rr.com.
Press release:
Office for the Aging with be distributing Farmers’ Market Coupons again this year! We expect to begin after July 1st, but not before then. We will be circulating flyers around the county, announcing the distribution locations. There will also be announcements on WBTA, ads in the local newspaper, Pennysavers and online media outlets. Do not forget to check the Office for the Aging on the Genesee County website https://www.co.genesee.ny.us and Office for the Aging’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GCOfficeFortheAging For additional information, please call our office at (585) 343-1611
Press release:
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation that designated May 15 as National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as National Police Week.
The Genesee County Legislature issued a proclamation to officers from the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, Batavia City Police Department and LeRoy Village Police Department (Corfu Village Police Department were unable to attend) at last Wednesday night’s meeting recognizing May 15 – 21, 2022, as National Police Week. The Old County Courthouse cupola lights have been changed to blue to acknowledge this week.
Law enforcement officers are always prepared to respond and aid our residents, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This week honors all those in the law enforcement profession for the countless hours each officer dedicates to the community in which they serve.
Sheriff Sheron asks that if you see a police officer, please take the time to acknowledge his/her service.
Press release:
After hosting the New York FFA State Convention virtually for two years, more than 2,000 students, teachers, and guests gathered in person to celebrate and recognize members for all their accomplishments on May 12-14 in Syracuse, New York.
New York FFA currently supports over 9,000 middle and high school students in programs of varying size from the heart of New York City to the shores of Lake Erie. Agricultural education programs across the state offer relevance of core academic concepts as they are applied to the food and fiber systems and prepare students for career success, in and out of agriculture. One of the hallmark events for NYS FFA each year is the annual New York State FFA Convention where students, teachers, and guests gather to celebrate their accomplishments from the year. The State Convention has been a culminating activity for many members over the years, allowing them to compete in career and leadership development events, network with agricultural colleges and industry reps, and be inspired by keynote speakers and the State Officers’ retiring addresses.
This year we were excited to offer in-person opportunities for students, teachers, and supporters. People from all over New York State gathered for this annual event to hear inspiring speeches from peers and agricultural professionals, expand their knowledge during workshops and tours by exploring different fields of the agricultural industry, and networked with agricultural business professionals and colleges during the Career Engagement Expo.
The Elba FFA Chapter Advisor, Tracey Dahlhaus, stated: “This was an amazing opportunity for our students to not only participate in contests, and workshops but to also meet other FFA members from across the state.”
Ian Keberle, a member of the Elba FFA chapter stated, “I can’t wait to participate again next year and am already planning which contests I want to participate in.”
In addition to participating in tours, workshops, service projects, and sessions, students were recognized for their accomplishments during one of six general sessions. The following members of the Elba FFA chapter were recognized:
Amelia Brewer and Ian Keberle were recognized for receiving their Empire Degrees. The Empire Degree is awarded based on a member's leadership qualities, community service and time spent on an SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience).
New York FFA is grateful for all of our supporters, students, and teachers who have helped make this year’s State Convention a success and who have continued to display excellence and leadership skills they have developed throughout their time in FFA. The 2023 New York State FFA Convention will take place in Buffalo, New York from May 18-20.
FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agriculture education. For more information regarding FFA, please visit either www.nysffa.org or www.ffa.org.
File photo of a Memorial Day parade. Photo by Howard Owens.
City Councilman Bob Bialkowski, on behalf of the city, invites all community members, including groups, organizations and, especially, veterans to participate in this year's annual Memorial Day parade.
"The city of Batavia is sponorsing the parade and looking forward to community support," he says.
The parade is set to begin at 9:45 a.m. May 30 from Eastown Plaza moving west down Main Street to Bank Street, ending at the Alva Place parking lot. Any groups that would like to participate are asked to contact Bialkowski for planning purposes. He asks for everyone to "please keep the theme of respect to all our veterans and first responders."
Veterans can just show up at 9:15 a.m. May 30 at the Eastown Plaza parking lot on East Main Street, Bialkowski says. If any veteran needs a ride in the parade, or for more information, contact the councilman at (585) 409-3624.
"Let's show our support to our veterans and first responders," Bialkowski says. "Bring your lawn chairs and enjoy our annual parade. We will be handing out small American flags to the children."
PRESS RELEASE:BATAVIA, NY—The Batavia City School District is still accepting registration applications for universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) and kindergarten programs for the 2022-23 school year.
BCSD will be offering four full-day UPK programs at Robert Morris and one half-day program at a community-based organization.
As previously announced, the BCSD UPK program will be relocating to the Robert Morris building (80 Union St.) but will still be considered part of Jackson Primary.
The BCSD kindergarten program will continue to reside at the Jackson Primary building (411 S. Jackson St.).
UPK students must be four years old on or before December 1, 2022.
Kindergarten students must be five years old on or before December 1, 2022.
Pick up and return your registration packet to the BCSD Registration Office at the Robert Morris Community Schools Building (80 Union St., Vernon Ave. entrance).
You can also download your packet here.
Any questions can be directed to Deb Conroy in the Registration Office at dpconroy@bataviacsd.org or by calling 585-343-2480 ext. 1010.
Registration will remain open until all spots in each program have been filled.
Pembroke High School held a special "assembly game" of its United Basketball team against the Pioneer Panthers, of Section VI, on Wednesday afternoon.
Unified Basketball, sanctioned by the NYS High School Athletics Association and Special Olympics, brings together teams of students with disabilities and those without to compete regionally.
"The purpose of an Assembly Game is to help spread the word about Unified sports and encourage more involvement, as well as provide some student-athletes with a once-in-a-lifetime experience to compete before a packed gymnasium of their peers," said Principal Nathan Work. "This is a pretty big deal in the world of Special Olympics and Unified Sports."
Pembroke won 44-38.
After Town of Batavia Planning Board members gave the final approvals to Benderson Development for two new commercial buildings in the former Kmart parking lot on Lewiston Road, they had but one question: "who is it?"
The rep from Benderson wouldn't say.
He said he couldn't release the names until leases are signed. He said that lease signing could come soon for at least one potential tenant, with construction to begin on that building in July.
Benderson is planning:
On Tuesday, the planning board approved the project's environmental review, special use permit for a drive-through, and site review plan. With those final approvals, Benderson is ready to sign agreements with the intended tenants of the buildings.
Before the vote on the special use permit, Chairwoman Kathy Jasinski noted that the only opposition had come from pizza shop owner Jerry Arena, who objected to the entire project. She said it was her understanding that Arena had modified his position and town engineer Steve Mountain said that is correct.
"He's not here tonight so I'm assuming that he's okay with that," Jasinski said. "So we really don't have any opposition."
UPDATE: Jerry Arena said he was not aware of the meeting and that his position hasn't changed at all. He still opposes the project.
Mega Properties is planning another massive warehouse for the Gateway II industrial park east of Route 98 in the Town of Batavia.
This time it will be a 200,000 square-foot warehouse available for area retailers to store inventory overstock.
Lucas Bushen, with Marathon Engineering, presented initial plans to the town planning board on Tuesday.
He said there will be few employees at the warehouse at any one time, so only about 20 parking spaces will be needed.
A full environmental review is required for the building, and the planning board approved a resolution to be the lead agency on the review.
The 22-acre parcel is off of Call Parkway. It will be a Butler Building with typical remanufactured metal building elements: concrete foundation, metal siding, and sloped roof.
The building will be constructed in phases with Phase One including 71,000 square feet of warehouse space and 3,200 square feet of office space.
There are two ponds on the property. In order to construct the building, one of the ponds will be relocated. There are also two federally designated wetlands on the property. The wetlands will not be disturbed.
Mega Properties intends to invest more than $3 million into the project.
Mega Properties has long-standing ties to Batavia, having launched in Batavia’s Harvester Business Incubation Center more than 30 years ago. The business is currently based at the Gateway I Corporate Park in the Town of Batavia.
In 2020, just prior to the start of the pandemic, Mega Properties sought financial assistance from GCEDC for the project. At the time, they were seeking approximately $558,497 in assistance, including a property tax exemption of $400,497, a sales tax exemption of $128,000, and a mortgage tax exemption of $30,000.
There was a public hearing on the request but the application did not go any further because of the disruption of the pandemic. No announcement has been made yet on when the GCEDC board will next take up the application.
Top photo: Lucas Bushen presents plans for a warehouse off of Call Parkway in the Town of Batavia to the town's planning board. Photo by Howard Owens. Below, drawings of the project from planning documents.
Press release:
Buckeye Partners will be performing maintenance on their pipeline on Creek Road in Batavia beginning Monday, May 23. The road will be closed from 7 a.m. to -5 p.m. and will be reopened every evening to regular traffic. The work is being performed on Creek Road just north of Dorman Road and will last approximately two weeks.
Applications have been coming in for the vacant assistant city manager position as Batavia City Manager Rachael Tabelski formulates the role’s top priorities.
The interview process is set to begin in the next few weeks, she said.
“I’m looking at neighborhood revitalization. It's a very long-term look, but I'm trying to coalesce all the information I've gathered in the different years of working with the county and in the city, and bring this project forward,” Tabelski told The Batavian on Tuesday. "We'd like to have someone in place by the end of July."
Earlier this month, Jill Wiedrick submitted her resignation letter after being assistant manager for just about a year. She had announced that she was leaving for another job in Fairport.
Tabelski has ideas about what she’d like to assign to the future assistant, and reinvigorating city neighborhoods is the theme. Her top two goals are to preserve the tax base and eliminate blight, she said.
“The ideas I have about neighborhood revitalization include the possibility of looking at our zoning, looking at flood properties, and how we can bring more value to southside neighborhoods,” she said. “Understanding if there are problems in neighborhoods, and what changes in our code could be implemented to help mitigate those types of problems, helping residents stay in their homes and not be foreclosed on.”
She’d like that new person to understand the various types of programs available for assistance to property owners, and know where “zombie” properties are, along with working with banks to stabilize those properties on a “path to homeownership,” she said.
The term zombie properties was coined for those sites that become stagnant due to the prior owners defaulting on payments and the banking institution locking it down in ongoing legal procedures before the city can claim foreclosure. That has also created issues with landscape maintenance -- or lack thereof -- as the particular property remains in limbo with no one specifically responsible for it.
“Because they do cause a drastic effect on neighboring properties when you do have a vacant property in your neighborhood,” Tabelski said. “And lastly, looking into different land banks and how other communities have used those to move property forward, as well as continuing to work with Habitat for Humanity.
"So this is a very multi-prong strategy and (the future assistant is) going to have other ideas than the ones I presented. And that's what I want their first big job to be, is coming up with defining the strategy today, a strategy which would have multiple paths on it to help Batavia’s neighborhoods, and then starting the execution of those plans into the future.”
Post-Covid conditions, higher wages, a smaller pool of candidates and veteran worker retirements makes being an employer all the more difficult, Rachael Tabelski says.
“It's just something for investors, government officials and the business community alike to be aware of. We're seeing inflation, you see interest rates rising, we're seeing rising wages and across all sectors, making it very difficult to be in the business of government, where you're hampered by union negotiations and contracts and set wages,” she said during Monday’s City Planning Board meeting. “We're seeing competition for jobs that's different than we've ever seen before. There are so many issues facing employers today. We’re living through a time like no other.”
Her point was not to dole out a big bowl of doom for the city, but to lay out the issues that have become more prevalent. Tabelski’s presentation was an update of the city’s comprehensive plan from its last draft in 2017.
COVID aftermath …
Easing up COVID mandates has also meant the end of child tax credits, remote jobs and direct stimulus checks and resuming rent and utility payments for tenants, evictions and foreclosures, she said. The city has also experienced what she dubbed “the silver tsunami,” a term to describe the retirement of three experienced members of the Public Works Department, and their replacements “trying to get up to speed.”
“And you know, my question that none of us can find the answer to is, will this change the workplace permanently? We just don't know,” she said. “I wanted to just remind everyone on the framework of what we're dealing with in the city.”
Leading the way on lead replacement …
One “enormous” task — that’s an understatement — will be replacing lead water pipes, she said.
“This is an emerging issue that's going to take a lot of time away from our staff, and including myself, to work on a communication plan with the residents and try to (help them) understand,” she said. “So you have the water main, and then you have a lateral that goes through a curve box; this is all city-owned. Then you have the line that goes into your residence, that's all residential owned. So if there's a lead or galvanized pipe in any portion of that system, it now needs to be replaced.”
No, this isn’t happening tomorrow, she said but must be done at some point. Communication with affected residents, obtaining grant monies, understanding the full scope of the project, figuring out financing and viable funding sources all need to be done before pipe replacement can occur. The city of Buffalo has committed in the neighborhood of $15 million for its replacement project, she said.
“This is something that is going to be an enormous project for the city to undertake … it's something we're working on. And we are going to be starting with (former City Manager) Jason's plans. So again, this wasn't something we knew about in 2017. It wasn't on our radar. But I think it's very important that it's on the radar now,” she said.
And the upside …
All of that being said, she also pointed to the positives of city projects, total investments and being able to track those investments as part of a “$100 million I’m all in” initiative that began with former City Manager Jason Molino. In 2017, the city committed to creating at least $100 million of investment by 2022 to revitalize downtown and “reclaim the vibrancy of Batavia.”
“And the goal of this was to try to extract the investment from not only the commercial and residential building projects that went on in the city, but also any public infrastructure monies that were spent in the city,” she said. “We have $132 million invested, and that includes the completed investments and those currently under construction added together. So I think the city has done a wonderful job of fostering this investment and also tracking it. I don't know that any other city has a similar tracking system as we do.”
The most significant contributing properties to the city’s tax base are all downtown, she said, which demonstrates the importance of focusing on that segment of the city. Of the entire city base with 5,700 properties, 75 percent of those are taxable, with 25 percent being tax-exempt nonprofit and government sites. Current taxable value is at $669 million, with $220 million tax-exempt. She reminded the board that those tax-exempt properties “still pay water and sewer costs.”
The city lags behind the town of Batavia with a growth in assessed value at 26 percent to 49 percent, respectively. Completed projects from the 2017 comprehensive plans include Ellicott Trail, a downtown revitalization initiative, the commencement of the Ellicott Station project, securing infrastructures grants, building Liberty Square apartment complex, and focusing on upper floor apartments.
“We secured a lot of infrastructure grants over the last few years. Liberty Square was built so that addresses housing for all different types of populations. Our upper floor apartments have been built, a lot of the building fund projects that were part of the DRI and through another subsequent Main Street Grant,” she said.
Projects that are in-progress and not yet completed include tree management — ensuring to replace trees that are removed from the city landscape with trees of varying species and are appropriate for the local climate; creating an inclusive venue at Austin Park so that “all children” can play there; integrate “traffic calming techniques” for busy roadways such as Route 63/Ellicott Street; lead pipeline replacement; and reimagining properties within the flood plain, she said. Yet to be tapped are plans to design decorative crosswalks, pedestrian scale lighting, create a park and recreation master plan and update zoning to reflect comprehensive plan recommendations.
“I think tonight was nice to give an update to the planning committee who worked on the comprehensive plan,” Tabelski said after the meeting. “And just showing how much progress has been made in the last five or six years here in our city. But yet, there's a lot more things that still need to be done. And this group really has been through many of the planning initiatives and are here to help with the execution as well.”
Top photo: City Manager Rachael Tabelski presents an update on the comprehensive plan during Monday's Planning Board meeting. Photo by Joanne Beck. Above illustrates the varying percentages that city residents are taxed, from 23 percent for city property taxes to 53 percent for school taxes. Image provided by the City of Batavia.
Batavia PD responded to Subway, 412 E. Main St., at 5:56 p.m. after receiving a report of a robbery in progress, and upon arrival learned the suspect had fled in an easterly direction.
After obtaining a description of the suspect, officers located a man matching the description at an apartment complex on East Main. He was taken into custody and identified as Benito A. Gay, 34, of Batavia.
He is charged with robbery and another unspecified charge. He was arraigned in City Court and ordered held without bail.
There were no weapons displayed during the robbery, police said.
Additional evidence was recovered after Gay's arrest, according to police.
He is scheduled to appear in City Court again at 1:30 p.m. May 19.
Gay has other prior arrests in Batavia, most recently in March when he was accused of stealing three beers from the Kwik Fill at Jackson and Ellicott.
This evening's sunset somewhere in Pembroke by Joanne Meiser.
Though votes were reported as unofficial this evening, it’s apparent that Batavia City Schools’ $54.8 million budget and a related 1 percent tax levy increase passed with a vote of 301 to 108.
It was one of eight districts to report a passed 2022-23 budget.
The other proposition on Batavia’s ballot was the election of board members for three vacant seats. Chezeray Rolle came out on top with 368 votes, followed by John Marucci and Korinne Anderson, each with 346 votes.
Alexander Central’s budget and related tax levy passed 83 to 44. Prop 2 of two bus purchases passed 92 to 35; Prop 3 to spend $56,958 from the equipment capital reserve fund passed 97 to 31; Prop 4 to establish a capital reserve fund passed 86 to 38; Prop 5 to establish a school bus reserve fund also passed 85 to 39.
Molly Grimes received 94 votes to fill the five-year board member term, and there were several write-in suggestions for the position.
Byron-Bergen Central School’s budget passed with a vote of 244 to 98. Proposition 2 of a bus purchase was also approved 252 to 89; Prop 3 of a school vehicle reserve passed 245 to 95 and school board candidates Kimberly Carlson received 292 votes, Heidi Ball 284 and Jeffrey Cook 287.
Elba Central’s budget passed by a vote of 100 to 17. Superintendent Gretchen Rosales shared her gratitude for the positive outcome.
“I am thankful for our supportive community,” she said. “These results demonstrate the trust the Elba community has in the district, not only to educate the students, but also to be good financial stewards of their resources.”
Elba’s Prop 2 to purchase a school bus passed 102 to 15; Prop 3 to expend up to $100,000 on a capital outlay project through a reserve fund passed 104 to 12, and board members Travis Torrey and Mercy Caparco won a five-year term on the school board with votes of 100 and 106, respectively.
Le Roy Central's general budget passed 474 to 137 and the library budget by 509 to 103. Candidates Peter Loftus and Rachael Greene each won a three-year term on the school board with votes of 458 and 464, respectively. Jason Karcher, with 382 votes, will fill a two-year term.
Oakfield-Alabama Central’s $23.5 million budget passed 187 to 35. The district also approved the addition of a student ex-officio board member 180 to 40. Matt Lamb, with 205 votes, and Justin Staebell with 209 were each elected to three-year terms on the school board.
Pavilion Central’s budget passed 106 to 23, as did a reserve resolution by 107 to 20. Marirose Ethington received 116 votes to fill a five-year school board term.
Pembroke Central’s budget passed 272 to 98, while a school bus proposition passed 276 to 93. Ed Levinstein garnered 332 votes for a five-year school board seat and Amber Winters received 312 for a four-year board seat.
Corfu Public Library election results gave Jessica Doctor the most votes of 336 and John Conti two write-in votes, each for a three-year trustee seat; Matt Steinberg received 334 votes for a two-year trustee seat.
A decision by the Alabama Town Board in April 2019 to oppose the installation of a roundabout at the intersection of Ledge Road and Route 77 has led to a lawsuit filed by an Oakfield woman who sustained severe injuries in an accident at that intersection on Oct. 2, 2020.
Marianne Molaro sustained permanent injures, "including but not limited to, a fracture of the cervical spine at the C-2 level," according to the suit filed in November by attorney Bradley D. Marble of Lockport on her behalf.
Also named is Genesee County; the other driver, Amber M. Messervey, of Naples; the owner of the car Masservey was driving; and Victor Chase, of Rochester.
The amount of damages, if the plaintiff prevails, are left up to a jury, the suit states.
At the time of the accident, the DOT had not yet announced its decision to drop its proposal for a roundabout, or a traffic circle, at the intersection. That decision wouldn't be made public until May 2021.
It's not clear that Molaro can recover damages from the town since Route 77 is property of New York State, and the Town has no authority to install or block a traffic circle at the intersection. Marble did not respond to a request for comment on the suit.
The state is not named in the suit.
The town's insurance agent is handling the legal response to the suit.
The suit seeks to hold both the town and the county liable for "negligent reckless and careless" action in "failing to provide a safe roadway" and in failing to "correct a known safety risk," in failing to "perform an adequate highway safety plan study; in failing to abide by a highway safety plan that provided a reasonable basis for the decisions made; failing to follow the guidance of the NYS DOT to install a roundabout at the location of the collision" and to fail to take any other reasonable action that could help prevent serious accidents at the intersection.
In 2019, the town sent a letter to the Department of Transportation opposing a proposed $1.8 million roundabout out of concern that "while it may decrease high-impact accidents, it will increase low-impact accidents, which will, in turn, increase the amount of emergency calls for our volunteer firemen."
The letter raised concerns about farmers moving equipment through the roundabout, plowing it in winter, increased noise from trucks slowing and applying their jake brakes, and the danger of traffic slowing as vehicles approach the roundabout.
"The proposed roundabout will be approximately 30 feet from a residence," the letter stated. "This poses a significant safety hazard to this property owner."
Supervisor Janet Sage signed the letter, along with Deputy Supervisor Kevin Fisher, board members Gordon Linsey, Jill Klotzbach, and William Cleveland.
The county is named in the suit even though the County Legislation declined in May 2019, when the Town of Alabama requested the County to join Alabama in opposing the roundabout. Members of the Legislature listened to Highway Superintendent Tim Hens when he outlined why roundabouts help save lives.
Traffic engineers generally support roundabouts, they say, because roundabouts lead to a 60 percent reduction in all types of accidents and a 99 percent reduction in fatal accidents because they eliminate head-on and right-angle, high-speed collisions.
On Oct. 2, 2020, Molaro was driving northbound on Alleghany Road when her vehicle was struck by one driven by Messervey, according to the suit, when she failed to stop for a stop sign in the eastbound portion of Ledge Road.
The Batavian requested a copy of the accident report, which is public record, from State Police, which, contrary to the state's open records law, declined the request.
During the state's proposal process for the roundabout, the DOT stated that between April 1, 2013, and May 31, 2018, there were 56 crashes in the area and 31 of them at the intersection. Two of the accidents were fatal.
The DOT said at the time of the proposal for a roundabout that they did consider alternative solutions and had implemented minor safety enhancements, such as upgraded signs and modified striping, but proposed a modern roundabout as the best solution to the propensity for accidents at the intersection. The engineers proposed an elliptical-shaped roundabout.
PALERMO & BATAVIA DOWNS TEAM UP for BRUCE in the USA CONCERT BRUCE in the USA is The World’s #1 Tribute Band to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band as they team up with the Ricky Palermo Foundation and Batavia Downs Gaming on Friday, June 10. Donations from our event will be going to our local UMMC Hospital (Rochester Regional Health’s-Batavia Branch) and our FES (Functional Electrical Stimulation) Bike Program that will be part of the brand-new Batavia YMCA, which is expected to be breaking ground any day now.
We are honored to be partnering with Batavia Downs Gaming, so if you would like to have a fun night and pitch-in to support our local Hospital and brand new YMCA, come and join us at Batavia Downs Gaming.
Now in its fifth year as a concert venue, Batavia Downs has been averaging about 3000 to 5000 concertgoers per show as part of their Rockin The Downs Concert Series. Although our Concert is not part of this series and tickets must be purchased separately, we are hoping to draw the same kind of crowd with our Nationally recognized headliner Bruce In The USA and local guests including 97 Rock’s Dave “DJ” Jickster and Comedian Nick Marra. As an added bonus from our friends at Batavia Downs everyone that buys a ticket will receive a $15 free play. Tickets from $15 to $75. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if a bunch of the concertgoers went back inside at the end of the night and won lots of money, with their free play”?
Tickets are selling nicely so if you want to look into joining our concert you can go to my site www.RickyPalermofoundation.org OR go to EVENTS while looking on the Batavia Downs concerts website. Check out our poster and if you have any questions, contact Ricky at: 585-739-8522 or Rickypalermo24@gmail.com
Aside from the brick-and-mortar details of constructing a new, 184-bed Genesee County jail facility, Senior Project Superintendent Randy Babbitt offered a reminder Monday about what’s most important.
“My top priority is safety. Safety, safety, safety is paramount with me. I want everyone returning home the same way they show up every day. And we all have families, kids, grandkids. So that's one of the biggest things I stress to the guys: safety first,” Babbitt said during the first update given to the Public Services Committee. “And then I go into quality and a lot of other things, but my main concern for my walk is to be safe every day. So please be assured that's gonna be on the top.”
Most of the contractors have provided their own site-specific safety plan, reviewed and approved by Pike company's corporate safety director, Bollin said. It's also been reviewed and approved by Senior Project Manager Carl York.
“They did submit one to us, and we kicked it back because they didn't address a few things that we want to address,” Bollin said. “They are complying with their safety plan that they have submitted, and everything is off to a good start.”
York outlined work that has been completed and future ongoing collaboration.
“We're collecting everybody's detailed schedules that will go in … we’re gonna start having our project manager meetings every week, starting next week, and our coordination meetings with the contractors coordinating all of the MEPs for all the buildings are also starting next week. And both of those will go on every week until their coordination tasks are completed,” York said. "Randy's on-site superintendent meetings will probably start in about another two, three weeks or so when there's a few more subs working on site. Everybody's very eager to get as much done before the snow flies. We're all very excited to be here. And I'm very eager. You're going to see it's smooth (moving) forward.”
Work has begun at the site of the new larger jail on West Main Street Road next to County Building 2. Equipment at the site will be a mainstay for several months, with a final completion date to be in March 2024, Bollin said.
He reviewed what’s already been approved — six prior packages with contractors Bayside Paving for site work, LeChase Construction Services as general contractor, Joseph Flihan Company for food services equipment work, Thurston Dudek for plumbing and fire protection, Bell Mechanical Contractor for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Kaplan-Schmidt for electrical and security electronics work and a seventh contract with CME Associates, which is to provide special inspections and testing.
Bayside paving began “mobilization” earlier this month, with temporary fencing, soil erosion control, clearing and grubbing construction entrances that were completed on May 13. Stripping topsoil began that same day, Bollin said.
The notice to proceed was issued to all contractors on Monday, he said.
“It was dated today. Based on the timeframe that we gave the contractors to complete the project, a substantive date for substantial completion will be Jan. 14, 2024. The date for final completion is March 15, 2024,” he said.
Given this has been a project in the making for at least five years, it was a drum-roll moment as he announced an official groundbreaking ceremony date has been set. Genesee County officials will celebrate the jail’s formal inception at 10 a.m. on May 26.
All private contracts have been fully executed and both Genesee County and the contractors have signed them, he said. The latest agreement with CME Associates is being drafted, he said. All forms, payment bonds and insurance have been provided by all of the contractors and have been “carefully reviewed by Genesee County’s insurance agent and Pike's risk management department,” he said.
He said the contracts are signed for a total project cost of $57,272,800.
Top photo: 2022 File photo by Howard Owens
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