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From BPD -- Louis Morris has been located alive and unharmed. The Batavia Police Department would like to thank the public for the tips they sent in.

Press release:

The Batavia Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating Lewis A. Morris who was reported missing from his home in the City of Batavia on June 25th.

Mr. Morris was last seen at his residence on June 25th at approximately 12:30 a.m. and reportedly may have left sometime before 3 a.m. Mr. Morris is believed to be with his vehicle, which is a 2011 Hyundai Sonata, 4-door sedan, black, with New York registration - JAT5955.

Morris is described as an African American male, age 66, there is currently no clothing description available. His photo accompanies this news release. Anyone who sees Morris, or his vehicle, should call their local law enforcement agency.

Please be prepared to provide his current location and clothing description. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the Batavia Police Department without delay at (585) 345-6350.

Press release:

Genesee Symphony Orchestra Reveal Event

Music Director S. Shade Zajac reveals the orchestra's 75th Anniversary Season -- Get to know YOUR orchestra!

• GSO Concert
• Upcoming Season Information for the 75th Anniversary Celebration
• T-shirts for sale with orchestra logo
• Food trucks for refreshments

WHEN?  4 p.m. Saturday, July 17

WHERE?  Austin Park, 15 Jefferson Ave., City of Batavia

Bring a chair, relax and enjoy the evening celebrating YOUR community orchestra!

Press release:

The Genesee Chorale invites you to join them for a unique Spring virtual performance at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 26.

A Genesee County Sheriff's Deputy has received a "walk-up complaint" by a person regarding a golf cart full of teenagers operating somewhere on Asbury Road -- either in Town of Le Roy or Pavilion.

The deputy is responding.

Calling it a “straightforward” audit, a certified public accountant with the Freed Maxick firm in Batavia reported that the Batavia Development Corp. experienced a 16-percent increase in its net position from March 31, 2020 to the same date this year.

At Thursday’s monthly BDC meeting at the City Centre Council Chambers, Nicole Ryan reviewed financial statements from fiscal years 2020 and 2021, giving the agency’s board a comparative look at its activity.

She said that since there was no new activity for Creek Park Batavia LLC, a BDC entity, her presentation focused on the BDC.

The BDC’s net position increased from $172,469 as of March 31, 2020, to $199,931 as of March 31, 2021 (about a 16-percent jump), while the operating revenues increased by about $5,000 from 2020 (from $114,964 to $119,769) and expenditures decreased about $3,000 (from $95,136 to $92,307).

“So, overall, year to year, there wasn’t a large change in the activity – as expected based on the type of year that was had …,” Ryan said. “There wasn’t an abundant amount of information that we had to go over; there was minimal grant activity that took place this year, compared to previous years. Overall, it was very straightforward and a rather quick audit. Very painless.”

Ryan found that the agency’s cash flow increase of only $31,358 from the prior year “again was due to the minimal grant activity that took place.”

Receivables for 2021 totaled $125,750 with $81,428 as part of the financial close of the Ellicott Station and $44,322 as part of the Building Improvement Fund, which will be reimbursed through New York State Homes and Community Renewal.

All told, Ryan said the audit identified no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, “so I don’t have any exhibits for any type of filings that would have been communicated during the process.”

Andrew Maguire, BDC director of economic development, said that in April the agency was awarded a New York Main Street Grant of $417,000 for the Theater 56 project. That transaction will be reflected in the 2021-22 fiscal year financial statement, he noted.

A turtle was in the road on Church Street in the Village of Le Roy, says a caller to dispatch, and now it's on the sidewalk but there are children playing with it. A Le Roy police officer is responding.

UPDATE 12:04 p.m.: "The turtle has been removed; that job can now be cleared," an officer tells dispatch.

Press release:

The Batavia Police Department would like to notify citizens that the State of Emergency declared by Governor Cuomo at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic ended today (June 24). Therefore, the extension of expiration dates for driver licenses and permits that expired on or after March 1, 2020 also ended today.

Expired drivers licenses and permits are no longer valid and need to be renewed with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Press release:

On June 24th, a ceremony was held in the lobby at Batavia Downs Gaming as Batavia Downs showcased their $2,300 sponsorship of the Genesee County Sheriff’s K-9 Unit. The money was left at Batavia Downs and was turned into the Sheriff’s office.

When the money went unclaimed, Batavia Downs decided to sponsor the Department’s K-9 Unit. The money will be used to help provide equipment for the unit, headed up by Officer Andrew Mullen and K-9 Frankie.

“We’re happy to help contribute to Genesee County Sheriff’s K-9 Unit,” said Henry Wojtaszek, president and CEO of Batavia Downs. “It’s important for our Sheriff to have the resources they need to keep our community safe.”

“We appreciate the support from Batavia Downs," said Genesee County Sheriff William Sheron Jr. “These funds will be put towards K-9 related expenses like food, training and equipment.”

Photo by Howard Owens.

Matt Gray, co-owner of the former J.J. Newberry Building at 109-111 Main St., Batavia, is proclaiming “mission accomplished” as construction of a trio of third-floor apartments has reached the finishing touches stage.

“The building is finally 100-percent complete,” Gray said this afternoon. “Bringing people Downtown, that’s the whole idea behind it. We’re looking forward to a good 2021.”

Gray and partner Matthew Boyd have a reason to be proud as they, along with Eli Fish Brewery Company co-owner Jon Mager, have coordinated the transformation of the building (that was built in 1881) into a Downtown destination.

The entrepreneurs have invited the media and a select group of community officials connected to the project to attend an open house at 4 p.m. Friday (tomorrow) where tours of the apartments will be conducted.

Gray said that Whitney East Inc., of Rochester, was the general contractor for the apartment project that began in January. Two of the apartments have two bedrooms and the other has one bedroom.

All are equipped with high-efficiency washers and dryers and stainless steel appliances.

Gray said that tenants will be moving in on July 1, and that all are being rented at market rate – around $1,000 per month.

In 2018, four apartments were put into the second floor, with Thompson Builds as the general contractor. The building’s first floor houses Eli Fish Brewing Co. and restaurant, and Eden Café & Bakeshop.

Previously: BDC director points to Eli Fish/Newberry project as shining example of agency's value

Nineteen million, seven hundred thousand.

That’s the amount in dollars that was bet at Batavia Downs Gaming during the week of June 13-19, a record for the Park Road entertainment center.

Batavia Downs Gaming Marketing Director Ryan Hasenauer reported that figure to Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.’s directors, who gathered this morning for their monthly board meeting.

WROTB President/CEO Henry Wojtaszek, when asked if it was safe to say that the gaming industry has bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic, simply replied, “Yes. That’s the most money that has been bet on the machines in our history in one week -- $19.7 million.”

Wojtaszek also commented on the Rockin’ The Downs Summer Concert Series, that moves into its third week tomorrow night.

“We’re off to a great start for the Summer Concert Series,” he said. “The first two concerts went well and we’ve sold a lot of tickets for Steve Augeri (formerly of Journey) on Friday night."

In other developments:

• Batavia Bets, WROTB’s interactive online platform, handled almost $2.2 million in May, up more than $1 million (97 percent) from 2020.

Through June 20, handle was $1.2 million – down $79,000 (6 percent) from 2020, but the year-to-date handle of $9 million is up almost $2.9 million (47 percent) from 2020.

Wojtaszek attributes the increase to patrons who turned to horse racing wagering during the pandemic and have found it a favorable pastime.

“It (COVID-19) did cause a lot of people to take a look at horse racing because that really was the only activity available to them at the time,” he said. “But, I think what they’ve seen, they liked because they continue to utilize that service. We have a great rewards rebate program that seems to be working well.”

Additionally, it was reported that $121,737 in surcharge generated in May will be distributed to the corporation's municipalities. 

• Batavia Downs Gaming will be hiring two full-time customer relations managers to “try to take our customer service up a notch,” Wojtaszek said.

“We want to make sure all of the different facets of the operation are coordinated properly and that our customers are looked after, so we’re trying to take it up a notch,” he said, adding that two current employees may be promoted although the positions will go through the Human Relations department.”

• Several resolutions were passed, including three pertaining to legal representation – a $200,000 contract with Harris Beach, $100,000 contract with Hodgson Russ and $5,000 contract with Connors LLP.

Others measures approved were a contract with Canal Concerts Inc., for $3,500 per concert (not to exceed $35,000) to provide setup and oversight services during the 2021 Concert Series, and the purchase of a block of eight tickets with parking in an amount not to exceed $25,200 from Live Nation Marketing Inc., for the 2021 concert series at Darien Lake.

Photo at top: Ryan Hasenauer, Batavia Downs Gaming marketing director, stands next to the Zoom Ball game the facility will be promoting next month. Hasenauer said that during the five Saturdays in July, two customers will be called at random each hour over a four-hour period (7 to 10 p.m.) to play the game. Upon pressing the big red button, the balls -- gold, red, white and blue -- will be blown around and sucked into the "win zone" at the top of the machine. If the player gets all six gold balls in the chute, he or she will win $50,000. Prizes decrease from there -- $10,000 for five, $1,000 for four, $250 and $250 free play for three, $150 and $250 free play for two, $100 and $250 free play for one, and $250 free play even if none of the balls at the top are gold. Ten of the balls in the machine are colored gold. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

The Batavia Concert Band performed its first concert of the 2021 season last evening in Centennial Park.

The public is encouraged to attend the free concerts at 7 p.m. every Wednesday through Aug. 4 in Centennial Park, located at 151 State St. in the city.

These concerts are "made completely possible through local funding."

Upcoming concerts and/or their sponsors:

• June 30th -- In memory of Robert Knipe, Gary Bird, Dave Funston and Ange Pillo
• July 7th -- Made possible by WBTA our season-long media sponsor and The Pacino Family, Gold Sponsor
• July 14th -- In memory of Neil Hartwick
• July 21st -- Made possible by Batavia Rotary Club, Gold Sponsor and Silver Sponsor, H.E. Turner & Co, Bohm-Calarco-Smith, Burdett & Sanford Funeral Homes
• July 28th -- In memory of John Arent by his family as Gold Sponsors, made possible by GCASA and Brighton Securities as Bronze Sponsors
• Aug. 4th -- Made possible by Great Lakes Insurance Services Group (Batavia Office), Gold Sponsor​

Photos by Howard Owens.

In what is being called a "good faith" gesture initiated by Genesee County's representative to the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., the public benefit corporation's board of directors this morning voted to approve host agreements with the Batavia City School District, Genesee County and Town of Batavia to provide payments totaling more than $200,000 over the next four years.

These payments are being made to the taxing jurisdictions in light of Batavia Downs Gaming's recent purchase of the Hotel at Batavia Downs from ADK Hospitality of Buffalo, thus taking the property off of the tax rolls and negating a 10-year payment in lieu of taxes agreement the entities had with the previous hotel owners.

The breakdown of the payments, which add up to $212,508, reveals that the school district will receive $27,000 for 2021, and the school district, county and town will receive a total of $46,377 for 2022 through 2025. Dissecting the latter amount further, the school district will get approximately $27,000, the county approximately $13,000 and the town approximately $7,000.

"Dick Siebert," replied WROTB President/CEO Henry Wojtaszek when asked what prompted the board to propose allocating money to three taxing jurisdictions affected by Batavia Downs Gaming activities. "Mr. Siebert addressed the board and asked them to consider this because he indicated to everybody that we have great relationships with them -- which we do -- and thought it would be a good faith effort to go ahead and do this. It was something that they had counted on because they had a PILOT in place with the former owners of the hotel."

Wojtaszek said the funding covers the amount of the PILOT that would have been in place.

Siebert, a longtime WROTB director and Genesee County election commissioner, said passage of this resolution is "more about the spirit of what we're doing than the actual dollar amount."

"It's not a great deal of money, but it shows than even though we are tax exempt ... it shows our good faith," he said, adding that the county, school district and town have supported the corporation's efforts.

He asked Wojtaszek to formally inform the school superintendent, county manager and town supervisor.

Photo submitted by JoAnne Meiser.

Press release:

Join the Richmond Reads Committee on Thursday, July 8 at 7 p.m. to celebrate the reveal of the 2021 title selection! 

Richmond Reads is a community one book program that began in 2019 at Richmond Memorial Library. Each year, a committee reads dozens of titles and selects a work of fiction to share with the community. Programs and discussions are then created around the selected title.

Prior selections include "Southernmost" by Silas House and "Nothing More Dangerous" by Allen Eskens. 

“This program is already developing into a tradition here at Richmond,” said program coordinator and librarian Samantha Basile. “We’re so encouraged and excited by the support we have from the community.

"The committee is looking forward to revealing the title, which we believe holds the note of hope that everyone is seeking after a long year.” 

The reveal program will take place outside at the library, pending good weather, with a rain location in the Reading Room. The event will include refreshments, the title reveal, and a special guest reader who will read from the first chapter of the book.

Copies of the title will be available for sale for $15, cash or check made out to The Friends of the Richmond Memorial Library, and the library will have plenty of copies to borrow. Copies will also be available to purchase at the library until the virtual author visit in October. 

Registration is requested at: http://batavialibrary.org/richmond-reads

The author will visit virtually on Thursday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.!

More programs and book discussions will be announced throughout the summer.

A waste of time and money?

Genesee County governmental leaders on Wednesday expressed their public displeasure over the extremely low early voting turnout prior to Tuesday’s Republican Primary races in the towns of Bethany, Byron and Stafford.

County Manager Matt Landers reported that only six people took advantage of the nine days of early voting – all of them casting their ballots in the Town of Stafford, which held a primary for the position of town clerk.

“The other two races had zero voters even though we had nine days of early voting – at a not cheap cost” (to those municipalities), he said. “So, some food for thought.”

Landers said the county will “charge back” expenses (personnel, etc.) for the early voting at the ARC Community Center in Batavia to the towns. He explained that the three towns will pay proportionally based on the total number of registered voters in the municipalities, not by the number of people who voted.

He said he expects the total cost to be several thousand dollars considering that four election workers were called to duty each day under supervision of both Republican and Democrat commissioners.

Upon hearing that just six early votes were cast, Legislator Marianne Clattenburg brought up that Democrat lawmakers in Washington have been promoting “a one size fits all” voting reform.

“This is a perfect example of how that does not (fit),” she said.

That prompted Landers to say that while the county conducted nine days of early voting, “there’s a push to make it 15 days …”

Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein said calls and/or letters to state and federal representatives are in order.

“I think that would be incumbent upon us to alert our representatives, both in the state and federal government … as an example of funds that aren’t being used in the manner that is prescribed and the value of those funds being used,” she said.

In another development, Mental Health Director Lynda Battaglia reported that the department’s application for a mobile access program has been accepted.

“This is an exciting opportunity to change how we deliver crisis service at the times that people need this service the most,” Landers said. “We look forward to seeing the results of that program.”

A key feature of the mobile access program is the use of an iPad for mental health crisis response with law enforcement personnel on-site.

At about 1 a.m., a motorist was in need of some assistance at Main and Oak in Batavia and two Batavia police officers stopped to help change a tire -- Pete Flanagan and Jordan McGinnis.

Tom Wood, former chief for Le Roy, was driving past and couldn't stop for a picture but thought the officers deserved some recognition.

"With all the negativity around police officers, I thought I should share this," Wood said.

Commended by the Genesee County Legislature this afternoon for “standing in the gap” during the COVID-19 pandemic, Genesee County Probation Department employees were honored with a proclamation designating July 18-24 as Pretrial, Probation and Parole Supervision Week.

Legislator Gordon Dibble presented Probation Director Timothy Michalak with the proclamation at a meeting at the Old County Courthouse.

Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein thanked probation officers for conducting COVID-related home visits and volunteering to work at the county's mass testing and vaccination clinics.

Michalak thanked legislators for the recognition, stating, “As we all emerge from this pandemic, our officers who did a fantastic job will continue to work hard and make a positive change within individuals and our community, with a particular focus this year on restoring trust and encouraging hope.”

The proclamation reads as follows:

“WHEREAS, community corrections is an essential part of the justice system and probation officers uphold the law with dignity, while recognizing the right of the public to be safeguarded from criminal activity; and

WHEREAS, community corrections professionals are responsible for supervising adult and juvenile offenders in the community and are trained professionals who provide services and referrals for offenders, and

WHEREAS, community corrections professionals work in partnership with community agencies and groups while promoting prevention, intervention and advocacy; and

WHEREAS, community corrections professionals provide vital services, support, and protection for victims and are advocates for community and restorative justice; and

WHEREAS, Genesee County Probation Officers have endeavored to maintain public safety while managing the added challenges and stressors of a global pandemic and volunteered to stand in the gap when called upon to conduct COVID-related home visits and work at the mass testing clinics and vaccination clinics, and

WHEREAS, Members of the Genesee County Probation Department partnered with law enforcement and county departments during the holidays to ensure children and seniors in need received a gift or food through the “Stuff the Cruiser” and Holiday Tote Project, and

WHEREAS, community corrections professionals are a true Force for Positive Change in our communities, Now, Therefore, Be it

RESOLVED, that in humble appreciation of our hard-working probation professionals, the Genesee County Legislature does hereby proclaim July 18-24, 2021 as Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week and extends our gratitude for their conscientious service and achievements.”

Photo from left: Legislator Gordon Dibble, Probation Director Timothy Michalak, Probation Officers Bryan Pike, Terri Buchholz, Jason Mindler, Carly Luttrell, Beatriz Mateos, Ben Heale, Supervisor Kevin Wright, Officer Jessica Turman and Supervisor Rachel Sanfratello. Other members of the Probation Department staff are Senior Officers Michele Tucci, Jeremy Barber and Traci Russo and Officers Bill Bogan and Jeff Hyde. Photo by Mike Pettinella.

A car has reportedly hit a pedestrian at Clinton Street and East Main Street, Batavia.

The victim is down in the road.

City fire, Mercy EMS, Batavia PD responding.

UPDATE 5:35 p.m.: The bicyclist apparently sustained minor cuts and abrasions. He was a sign-off. Sgt. Mitch Cowen said it appears the bicyclist was crossing Clinton eastbound when a black SUV had the right-of-way. There were no marks on the SUV, so the bicyclist might not even have been struck. He may have hit his breaks suddenly and fell. No citations will be issued.

Fourth graders today competed in Batavia's annual Fourth Grade Track Meet at Van Detta Stadium.

In 2019, the competition was held in Oakfield because the Van Detta was under construction and in 2020 the meet was canceled because of COVID-19, so this year's fourth-grade class is the first group of fourth graders to hold its meet in the new Van Detta Stadium. 

That's something they'll be bragging about in 50 years said Athletic Director Mike Bromley.