The Buffalo News - Southern Tier http://www.buffalonews.com Latest stories from The Buffalo News en-us Thu, 23 May 2013 04:11:50 -0400 Thu, 23 May 2013 04:11:50 -0400 <![CDATA[ Taxpayer fatigue blamed for defeats of six school budgets ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/CITYANDREGION/130529723/1337
The board president attributes it to taxpayer fatigue.

“New York State has made it very clear that a district like Clarence, which has a high wealth index, if they want the school system that they’ve been used to, that they were going to pay for it,” Lex said. “Yesterday’s vote was a message that they’re not going to.”

But it wasn’t just residents in Clarence who have had enough. Budgets were also defeated in Alden; Lewiston-Porter, Niagara Wheatfield and Wilson in Niagara County; and Bemus Point in Chautauqua County.

“I think people generally have hit the wall,” said Lynn Fusco, superintendent of the Alden Central School District, where voters rejected a proposal to increase tax revenue by 3 percent. The budget would have left programs intact.

“We thought we were providing something that the community wanted at a level that the community could support financially, and I think it’s just overwhelming,” Fusco said. “It’s absolutely overwhelming for our communities to be taxed at the level that they are.”

Budget rejections weren’t the norm Tuesday. Voters in 32 districts in Erie and Niagara counties approved school budgets, including three proposals that will increase taxes collected by 4.5 percent or more. But a vocal campaign to defeat the budget in Clarence that included mailers and signs has placed a focus on voters who have drawn the line at how much they are willing to pay.

It’s also sparked a discussion there about what steps the district should take as it moves forward.

“This was such an opportunity for everybody to come together and to say, ‘What can we do to make this school sustainable?’ ” said Lisa Thrun, a Clarence resident who actively campaigned against the budget proposal through a group known as Citizens for Sustainable Schools.

The group, along with another coalition known as Clarence Taxpayers, has advocated for three proposals that members believe would help curb district costs in the long term: renegotiate a higher health insurance contribution for employees, continue to reduce the size of the district as enrollment declines and offer an incentive to encourage teachers at the top of the pay scale to retire.

Thrun said she and others who campaigned against the budget in Clarence would support a new budget proposal that remained within the district’s 3.79 percent tax cap set by the state. “We feel that the community can give that much,” she said. “We just need the school and the district to find a way to meet that.”

The budget proposition in Clarence drew a record number of voters Tuesday as 8,232 of the town’s roughly 30,000 residents turned out.

Clarence School Board members plan to meet May 28 to begin crafting a new budget proposal within the tax cap, which will require trimming $2.44 million from the spending proposal.

Districts in which budgets failed have the option of presenting a second proposal to voters June 18 or asking residents to reconsider the failed budget. The five districts in Erie and Niagara counties whose budgets were rejected appear headed toward additional budget cuts.

“The turnout was quite remarkable, and the results speak for themselves,” Lex said. “It would be foolish to put the same item up again.”

Voter concern over the proposed tax increase in Clarence built up in the months before Tuesday’s vote as residents attended budget meetings and created websites to support their causes. But the voter turnout was also fueled by mailers urging residents to reject the tax hike. The mailers were paid for by unidentified members of Citizens for Sustainable Schools.

Thrun rejected speculation that her previous volunteer work for Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group founded by Charles and David Koch, was connected to her advocacy on the budget vote. All of the money raised by Citizens for Sustainable Schools to pay for fliers and signs came from local sources in the community, she said. “This was all money that was raised here in Clarence,” she said. “Not one cent of it was from a different organization or anything like that.”

The group, which did not endorse candidates in the election, doesn’t plan to disclose who paid for the mailers, Thrun said. People who contributed to the cause, she said, did not want to be identified because of concern over the tone the debate had taken. “We had an attorney look at it because we wanted to make sure that we were in complete compliance,” Thrun said.

Campaign reporting requirements for school board elections apply only to candidates, said Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the state Department of Education.

Wilson, Alden and Niagara Wheatfield saw their budgets defeated despite the fact they were within each district’s tax cap. But across the state Tuesday, 98.3 percent of districts that proposed budgets within the tax cap saw them passed, according to the New York School Boards Association.DEPEW

• Candidates (Elect three): Patrick Law, 583; Nancy Fumerelle (i), 537; John Spencer (i), 498; Gabrielle Miller, 485; Nicole Simon, 237.

• Budget: Yes, 593; No, 340.

• Proposition 2: Use $460,851 from reserve fund to buy two large school buses, four 28-seat vans and a plow truck for the Buildings and Grounds Department: Yes, 689; No, 243.



FRONTIER

• Candidates: No board race this year.

• Budget: Yes, 975; No, 558.

• Proposition 2: Purchase a total of eight buses for $863,739: Yes, 935; No, 595.



IROQUOIS

• Candidates (Elect two): Sharon Szeglowski, Daniel T. Behlmaier

• Budget: Yes, 1,198; No, 624.

• Proposition 2: Purchase three (62-passenger) buses and two vans at a maximum cost of $400,000: Yes, 1,188; No, 623.

• Proposition 3: Expend $60,000 from the district’s Capital Reserve Fund known as the Technology Reserve Fund: Yes, 1,314; No, 493.



WEST SENECA

• Candidates (Elect three): Frank Calieri, 1,364; Kate Newton, 1,250; Carol Jarczyk (i), 1,180; Julie Goodwin; Timothy Elling; John C. Oshei; Karl Spencer; Christen Buchholtz.

• Budget: Yes, 1,941; No, 858.



email: djgee@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 23 May 2013 00:22:25 -0400 Denise Jewell Gee
]]> <![CDATA[ Feds fault record-keeping at 2 VA hospitals ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/CITYANDREGION/130529762/1337
VA officials uncovered the problem after the associate director of the Buffalo medical center initially dismissed worker complaints about shoddy record-keeping, according to officials at the Office of Special Counsel, which presses federal agencies to address complaints brought by whistle-blowers.

Four medical records technicians in Western New York “disclosed that medical files – including cardiac records, dental records and Agent Orange registry records – were randomly thrown in boxes rather than kept in any order, that many Social Security numbers were not properly attributed to the correct veteran name, and that mold-infested files were not handled properly to prevent further contamination and to ensure their restoration,” the Office of Special Counsel said. “As a result, veterans’ medical records were often deemed unavailable.”

Word of the lost and damaged records, coming just four months after reports that the Buffalo VA hospital potentially exposed hundreds of diabetic patients to contaminated insulin pens, prompted Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, to call for the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.

“I continue to be outraged” by the VA’s repeated problems, Collins said on Wednesday. “We’re coming up on Memorial Day, and here’s the VA, which is supposed to provide benefits that all of our veterans have earned in protecting our freedom, and what we have here is a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington and the district offices who seem content to collect a paycheck and not serve the public.”

While it’s impossible to know exactly how many patient records have been misplaced or damaged, it’s likely that thousands were, said Ann O’Hanlon, a spokesman for the Office of Special Counsel.

That’s because the internal VA investigation unveiled systemic problems with record-keeping in Buffalo and Batavia that would have affected not only the records of hospital patients, but also veterans who visited VA facilities for outpatient services, O’Hanlon said.

A spokesman for the VA in Buffalo, Evangeline Conley, noted that the hospital system had used electronic medical records since 1997. But that explanation didn’t sit well with O’Hanlon, who noted that the VA did not even mention electronic records in its report of the records problems.

“Clearly by the record and their response there were extensive paper records,” she said. “We don’t know how many there are, but there are both paper and electronic records.”

In a letter explaining its findings to President Obama, Special Counsel Carolyn N. Lerner said the four local whistle-blowers initially complained about 160 boxes of records, each containing 40 files, that had been stored for at least eight years at the facility in Batavia.

While the boxes were labeled according to medical categories such as “Cardiac,” “Dental” and “Agent Orange,” records were actually randomly filed in those boxes.

That meant all the boxes had to be searched whenever a doctor wanted to see any one patient’s records. As a result, “the four whistle-blowers personally know of at least 15 instances where veterans’ records were requested and deemed unavailable because the records could not be located,” Lerner wrote.

Later, in the midst of a “record retirement project” involving approximately 240 boxes of records, the whistle-blowers found five boxes contaminated with mold.

They then told Elizabeth M. Kane, Health Information Management System manager in Buffalo, about the moldy files, and she ordered the workers to put the moldy files in new boxes and ship them to a storage facility in Missouri.

Believing that the handling of all those files violated agency rules, the whistle-blowers complained to David J. West, director of VA Health Care Upstate New York Medical Center. In response, on Jan. 27, 2012, West asked Jason Petti, associate medical center director of the VA hospitals in Western New York, to investigate.

Later that very same day, Petti informed his boss that he had completed his investigation and that “the review did not substantiate any of the concerns” identified by the whistle-blowers.

Exasperated, the whistle-blowers complained to the Office of Special Counsel, which contacted Shinseki, the VA secretary, who asked the undersecretary for health to investigate.

“The investigation team substantiated most of the allegations and made seven recommendations regarding the steps that need to be taken” to correct the problem, Shinseki said in a letter to Lerner, the special counsel.

Those recommendations include developing a strategic plan for managing patient records, following existing VA policies and procedures, processing all the boxed records stored in Buffalo and Batavia to determine if they need to be electronically scanned and stored and evaluating all on-site record storage locations.

The VA then acted on those recommendations, said Conley, the local VA spokesperson.

“As a result of this second review, an improvement plan for storage and disposition of records was put in place as well as enhanced training for employees,” Conley said.

In addition, the VA’s lawyers gave Kane, the woman in charge of record-keeping, a “written counseling” to make sure she understood the severity of the problems. But the VA exonerated Petti, saying he responded quickly to the problems and provided appropriate oversight – a finding that flabbergasted Collins.

“The administrators congratulated him for doing well,” Collins said. “He did anything but.”

While Collins demanded Shinseki’s resignation, Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, wrote a letter seeking a meeting with the VA secretary.

“There is a distinct pattern of mismanagement” at the VA in Western New York, Higgins said. “There are systemic problems that need to be addressed by the VA secretary.”

Officials at the Office of the Special Counsel, meanwhile, lauded the four whistle-blowers – Leon Davis III, Cathleen A. Manna, Tracy Harrison and Pamela G. Hess-Wellspeak – for taking the matter into their own hands and demanding change.

“They experienced pushback at every level,” O’Hanlon said. “They went out of their way to get someone to look at this issue, but no one would until they came to our office. We really admire their courage and fortitude.”



email: jzremski@buffnews.com ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 22:21:44 -0400 Jerry Zremski
]]> <![CDATA[ Parent company cuts jobs at Lake Shore, Brooks hospitals ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/BUSINESS/130529794/1337
Lake Erie Regional Health System of New York laid off about 40 employees at Lake Shore Health Care across a variety of departments, with workers learning their fates late Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a current hospital employee and an employee who was laid off, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

Lake Erie officials declined to comment on the number of workers affected. The company released a statement confirming a “change in workforce.”

“After a thorough evaluation of services and care provided throughout LERHSNY, the board has identified areas of duplication and opportunities for improved operational efficiency. As such, necessary consolidations will be made and will result in several systemwide changes, including the establishment of staffing levels that match patient volume,” the company said in the statement Wednesday.

The staff cuts in the Lake Erie network follow the January announcement that the nearby Petri Baking Products factory in Silver Creek would close, leaving 231 employees out of work. Silver Creek Mayor Nick Piccolo said the health network job cuts caught him by surprise.

“This will affect other businesses in our area,” he said in an interview. “And I know we have had some interest lately from businesses interested in relocating.”

Lake Erie Regional Health System was formed in 2008 at the urging of New York State’s Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, also known as the Berger Commission, which sought to encourage collaboration among health care facilities.

Lake Erie serves as the parent organization for TLC Health Network – which includes Lake Shore and the Gowanda Urgent Care & Medical Center, as well as a handful of smaller facilities – and Brooks Memorial.

TLC Health had 661 employees as of the end of last year, while Brooks had 446 employees, according to Scott Butler, Lake Erie’s vice president of communications, who declined to comment further.

Local 1199, Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers East, represents 45 certified nursing assistants and therapy aides at Lake Shore and 230 employees at Brooks Memorial.

Union officials have learned of 11 union layoffs at Lake Shore and a still-to-be-determined number at Brooks, said Franchelle C. Hart, the local’s communications coordinator in Buffalo.

“We have a meeting with management tomorrow and will work with them to ensure that as many union jobs as possible are protected,” Todd Hobler, a Local 1199 vice president who represents employees at Lake Shore’s long-term care facility, said in a statement Wednesday.

One employee who is losing her job told The News she learned her fate through a phone call instead of a face-to-face meeting.

Chautauqua County Legislator George Borrello, R-Hanover, whose district includes Lake Shore Health Care Center, said he was aware of problems on the long-term care side of the facility.

However, he added, “I just went to the rededication of their emergency room facilities a few weeks ago, and it seemed to me that they were doing things to attract more patients.”

The Lake Erie statement said the two hospitals have continued to operate independently since 2008 and that the efficiencies expected following the formation of the parent organization have not materialized.

“At the same time, hospital reimbursements have declined, and the cost of providing care to our patients has increased. As a result, the financial positions of both institutions have suffered,” the statement said.



email: swatson@buffnews.com ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 21:46:10 -0400 Stephen Watson
]]> <![CDATA[ Lake Shore Bank sees growth opportunities in Erie County ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/BUSINESS/130529758/1337
“It’s been well-received, it’s a great service point for that community,” said Daniel P. Reininga, president and chief executive officer of Dunkirk-based Lake Shore Bancorp, referring to the Snyder branch. “Having a branch on every corner is not today’s banking model. You want to be an effective service point for the community, and that’s what we believe it is.”

The Snyder location, at 4950 Main St., is Lake Shore’s 11th branch in Erie and Chautauqua counties. The new branch had deposits of $4.7 million as of last Friday; Lake Shore acquired the property after First Niagara Financial Group vacated it.

Reininga said Lake Shore’s plan is to add one branch to its network every 18 to 24 months. “The strategy is, generally speaking, if you have a branch profitable at the end of two to three years, you’ve done pretty well with it,” he said after Wednesday’s annual meeting.

Reininga said Lake Shore aims to make greater inroads in Erie County, where it now has six branches. As of June 2012, its market share of deposits in the county was just 0.58 percent, ranking 11th among institutions, according to FDIC data. In Chautauqua County, its market share was 15 percent, ranking fourth.

“We’ve saturated pretty much Chautauqua County, but we have a customer base and a following that’s very appropriate,” he said. “We’re not abandoning Chautauqua County in any way whatsoever. It’s still a very good place for us to be, but the growth opportunity for our service model is Erie County, or other parts of Western New York.”

Across its territory, Lake Shore sees “bright signs” in the small-business community, Reininga said. “The borrowers are fit, as evidenced by the strength of our portfolio. We don’t have a lot of delinquencies in our commercial loan portfolio. We’re seeing folks that are able to sustain their business model.”

Lake Shore recorded commercial loan originations of $22.2 million last year, exceeding its goal of $20 million, he said.

“Commercial loans provide diversification in our portfolio and help us mitigate interest rate risk,” said Rachel Foley, Lake Shore’s chief financial officer.

“Our strategy is to continue to be focused on increasing the commercial loan portfolio, which we will do by taking advantage of the opportunities in our market areas, focused on the needs of small businesses,” she said. “However, we will continue to maintain a large portfolio of residential loans.”

Reininga said commercial loans are the “right kind of interest, in the sense that the commercial loan generally reprices variably.”

“If for some reason rates go up substantially, then those loans reset to a higher rate, which helps preserve the income for the bank,” he said.

Lake Shore in the first quarter of this year recorded net income of $906,000, down from $1 million the year before. It had total deposits of $384.3 million as of March 31.



email: mglynn@buffnews.com ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 21:10:55 -0400 Matt Glynn
]]> <![CDATA[ Salamanca voters approve $25.3 million school budget ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/CITYANDREGION/130529766/1337
The budget, which does not increase the tax levy, was approved by a vote of 171-50.

A proposition creating a capital improvement reserve fund was approved, 134-59. The fund to build or renovate facilities and handle other capital needs is not to exceed $2 million plus interest.

A proposition to transfer up to $1.5 million from an unrestricted fund balance to the district’s repair reserve fund was approved, 130-60.

Lance Hoag was re-elected to the Board of Education with 172 votes, and Kenneth Nary was elected with 157 votes. ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 18:42:32 -0400 <![CDATA[ Four cars at Irving car dealer damaged by shotgun blasts ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/CITYANDREGION/130529772/1337
He said state police are investigating the incident. He said his staff found the damage on the morning of May 3. He said police confirmed the damage was from a shotgun and that employees of the Tim Hortons Restaurant nearby said they heard gunshots at about 2:30 a.m.

White said he hopes that they find out who did the damage and that it was just a random incident. ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 17:28:14 -0400 <![CDATA[ Nushawn Williams’ civil trial will be closed to public ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/CITYANDREGION/130529790/1337
The order followed a stunning claim Tuesday that Williams, who was accused in the mid-1990s of infecting 13 young women with HIV, does not have the virus that causes AIDS.

“It’s time we start slowly setting the record straight,” attorney John R. Nuchereno said after Wednesday’s court proceedings in front of Justice John L. Michalski. “He never had it for a moment. It’s not my contention. It’s the result of a University of Massachusetts Medical School examination of his blood.”

The State Attorney General’s Office wants to keep Williams confined under the state’s mental hygiene law, arguing that he’s a sexual predator likely to infect others with HIV.

Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree (statutory) rape and one count of reckless endangerment in 1999, after authorities said he infected at least 13 young Chautauqua County women, including a 13-year-old girl, with the virus that leads to AIDS.

He served a 12-year sentence that ended in 2010, but he continues to be held in Wende State Correctional Facility under a state law that permits civil confinement of sex offenders.

Williams, 36, now goes by the name Shyteek Johnson.

Jury selection in the civil trial is scheduled to begin in a few weeks in Chautauqua County.

A request by Assistant Attorney General Wendy R. Whiting to do further blood tests on Williams was denied. But Michalski ordered Nuchereno to turn over to the attorney general any documentation he provided to Gregory Hendricks, the cell biologist at the UMass Medical School who examined Williams’ blood under an electron microscope and found no evidence of HIV.

Nuchereno called the results of the test “quite shocking.” He said Williams, 36, was confused when he first learned of the results in April.

“He has been vilified for a decade and a half across this country,” Nuchereno said.

Williams believed he was HIV positive for years because that’s what he was told, Nuchereno added.

“Back then there were many false positives,” he said. “The testing was in its infancy back then.”

Following the civil trial, Nuchereno said, he will use the electron microscope findings as new evidence in an effort to overturn Williams’ 1999 conviction.

If freed, Williams plans to move to Virginia, where his wife and mother live.



email: jtokasz@buffnews.com ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 15:13:08 -0400 Jay Tokasz
]]> <![CDATA[ Cuomo due here with latest plan for Buffalo billion ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/CITYANDREGION/130529800/1337
Cuomo plans to make a “major economic development” announcement in the early afternoon at the University at Buffalo, according to invitations received by business executives and government officials.

Cuomo aides declined to comment on the trip or the announcement.

Cuomo made his Buffalo Billion promise last year. The administration said projects already awarded from that promise include $50 million for new laboratory space and equipment at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and $10 million to remove a one-mile stretch of the Robert Moses Parkway south of Niagara Falls to replace it with a new road to better connect the downtown area with the falls.

The governor also said money would go to a workforce training center in Buffalo to attract and retain manufacturing companies in the region.

In all, the Cuomo administration said $65 million of the total $1 billion has been allocated in the past year.

]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 09:24:23 -0400 <![CDATA[ Motorist dies in Chautauqua crash ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/CITYANDREGION/130529806/1337
The driver was traveling north on Chestnut, failed to navigate a curve, went off the road and struck a tree.

Deputies responding at about 10 p.m. found the driver dead in the vehicle.

The driver’s name is being withheld until family can be notified. ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 07:26:03 -0400 <![CDATA[ Roberts Road residents in Dunkirk want the city to supply water ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130522/CITYANDREGION/130529814/1337
At the regular meeting of the Town Board on Tuesday in Town Hall, several residents asked board members and Supervisor Richard Purol what they could do to encourage the process. One woman said she moved to the area 37 years ago and was told that city water would be available shortly after she moved in.

Board members said they are currently working with an engineer from the Chadwick Bay Regional Development Association and they hope to have a design of a water district soon.

Purol said that one of the reasons the board has become active with the Chadwick Bay group is that it hopes a cooperative agreement for water services can be negotiated with the City of Dunkirk and other towns that do not have a water supply system.

The supervisor said that board members also will support the Lakefront Water Revitalization Program, which also will promote regional programs to benefit the area.

Several residents were given the opportunity speak about their need for a filtered, municipal water supply.

In other business, new security doors will be installed in the court building at a cost of $1,055 for the doors and $1,050 for labor.

Board members authorized a donation of $10,000 to Dunkirk Free Library.

Purol announced that he will have Thursday evening office hours at Town Hall and that any resident with a question can call ahead to make an appointment to see him. ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 02:17:36 -0400 By Susan Chiappone

chautauqua correspondent

]]> <![CDATA[ SPCA seeks public’s help for dog badly burned in Buffalo fire ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130521/CITYANDREGION/130529858/1337
“She just started showing some signs of life when we presented her with peanut butter,” said Gina M. Browning, director of public relations for the SPCA Serving Erie County. “Quite frankly, we didn’t know if she would make it through the weekend.”

The Labrador retriever named Rocsi – pronounced Roxy – got caught in a fire on Eagle Street almost three weeks ago while visiting the house of a dog friend, who also managed to get out, Browning said.

The dogs and adults and children fled the house in the early morning of May 2. Browning was told that cats and a small dog did not survive.

Until last week, Rocsi’s owner was able to pay medical bills. Last Wednesday, the woman brought her pet to the SPCA because she could no longer afford the extensive care required.

“The dog was literally covered in open wounds,” Browning said.

Continuing to treat Rocsi could cost thousands of dollars, and the SPCA hopes to cover the expense with contributions. Those who would like to help by donating money, medicine or bandages should visit www.yourspca.org or call 629-3523.

“We have to give this dog a chance when it looked like she had the will to survive,” Browning said.

However, if Rocsi’s condition deteriorates, the SPCA will not try to prolong her life.

“We’re not going to let her suffer,” Browning said. “We are a humane society.”



email: mkearns@buffnews.com ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 00:40:20 -0400 Michelle Kearns
]]> <![CDATA[ Cattaraugus IDA gets update on Holimont’s Westmont Ridge project ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130521/CITYANDREGION/130529841/1337
A representative from the Holimont ski resort met with the board of the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency on Tuesday morning to give an update on the multiyear $22 million project.

The next step in the Westmont Ridge development, which is seven years in the making, is now well on the way, according to Sue Quattrone, the resort’s comptroller. In late February, 18 properties on the site were auctioned off.

“The beginning phase is installing gas, sewer and water for the first 31 lots so they are totally building-ready for those that have purchased or will be purchasing,” she said. “Right now, we are taking down trees and will be doing the earth work for the water and sewer to follow.”

Construction of homes and 72 condominiums is expected to begin later this summer, she said, but a procedure has been established to ensure quality building and conformity to standards that future homeowners’ associations will be able to maintain.

“We are requiring that owners have a site prep plan to present to the Town of Mansfield for approval, as well as submission to Holimont for approval of architectural rights,” she said.

An early part of the multiphase, multiyear project will include the creation of a 400-car parking lot for the facility. That will help alleviate one of the resort’s problems. The other – restaurant service – is to be rectified in a later project.

“Parking and eating are our two biggest problems,” Quattrone said. “We are out of room in our chalet right now, as well as not having enough parking, which is not a bad thing.”

Quattrone said the condominiums should be completed before Thanksgiving.

Next summer, a new slope to house the terrain park, as well as lighting, should be in place. The project is expected to culminate in the construction of a 26,000-square-foot lodge. As that is happening, a lift replacement will take place. Once everything is built, employment is expected to grow by 10 to 15 seasonal positions and three or four full-time jobs.

The sale of lots is open to the public. The current phase includes 31 lots; 18 have already been bought, and another two are pending.

One of the projects that must be completed is wetland mitigation. Since the project is expected to disturb less than half an acre of wetland area, Holimont plans will include the creation of nearly three acres of wetland area to replace the land being affected.

Quattrone said each step will be taken as finances allow. Construction work is being done by local workers. A local construction company has said the projects allowed it to maintain 18 positions that would otherwise not be there, according to Cattaraugus County IDA Executive Cory Wiktor said.

“This project has been seven years in the making, and it will be the last one at Holimont, as we have simply run out of room,” Quattrone said. “It is important for us to allow modern infrastructure our members are looking for.” ]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 21:40:31 -0400 By Chris Chapman

CATTARAUGUS CORRESPONDENT

]]> <![CDATA[ Dunkirk man admits filing tax returns for 122 dead people ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130521/CITYANDREGION/130529855/1337
And not just a few.

Over a seven-month period, the Dunkirk man filed 122 federal income tax returns on behalf of dead people.

He also received $92,462 in fraudulent refunds.

Berry, 42, will have to repay that money as part of a plea deal today that could send him to prison for up to 46 months.

“This case should serve as a warning that our office, working with our law enforcement partners, will not tolerate attempts to either steal the identities of individuals, or the money of the taxpayers of this country,” U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. said in a statement.

Berry admitted his crime – he pleaded guilty to making a false claim against the government – during an appearance before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango said Berry filed the fake returns in 2008 and 2009 after obtaining personal identifying information for the 122 recently deceased individuals.

He also made up fraudulent income and withholding information for the deceased before electronically filing the returns with the Internal Revenue Service.

“He has to take steps to make amends and that means restitution," said Tracy Hayes, the Federal Public Defender representing Berry.

Berry’s plea is the result of an investigation by the Criminal Investigations unit of the IRS.

He will be sentenced in August.



email: pfairbanks@buffnews.com ]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 17:15:34 -0400 Phil Fairbanks
]]> <![CDATA[ Peace Bridge work on hold amid dispute ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130521/CITYANDREGION/130529859/1337
Peace Bridge Authority Chairman Anthony M. Annunziata, who has been in a war of words with New York officials, said a new bill pending in the State Legislature would create a fiduciary obligation by the authority’s members not to proceed with $130 million in construction initiatives because the agency would have to be in a position to pay off about $38 million in outstanding bonds.

Annunziata, a Canadian, said the suspension includes plans to redeck the 86-year-old bridge, as well as work on a U.S. Customs plaza warehouse for secondary inspections and an approach-widening project.

“The fact that this legislation has even been introduced to have the Peace Bridge pay back its bonds is a threat to the Peace Bridge, but also stops all progress and construction going forward,” Annunziata said in an interview with The Buffalo News.

“Unequivocally, this stops everything,” Annunziata said. “You cannot fund those things if you don’t have certainty. And if you don’t have certainty, you can’t move forward with any projects.”

His warnings came in advance of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s visit to Buffalo today, and the recent Peace Bridge controversies are a topic certain to be raised. It also came soon after word spread in the State Capitol that Cuomo had quietly nominated former Buffalo Mayor Anthony M. Masiello for a vacant spot on the authority’s board.

Asked about joining the board during an increasingly bitter dispute between the Canadian and American sides, Masiello said, “We’re all in this thing to make something better. It’s not going to be easy. I think there’s some challenges, but I don’t think they are that complicated. We have to work on what’s right for both sides of the border.”

Masiello is expected to be confirmed today by the State Senate, which is considered remarkably speedy by Albany standards.

Annunziata, meanwhile, said that just the introduction of the measure to dissolve the Bridge Authority by State Sen. Mark J. Grisanti, R-Buffalo, and Assemblyman Sean M. Ryan, D-Buffalo, is enough to raise doubts about a funding mechanism to pay off existing bonds. As a result, he said, the authority can’t proceed with expensive new construction initiatives.

“Who introduces legislation to dissolve the Peace Bridge Authority without understanding the consequences?” he said. “As long as that legislation is out there and being debated, it all stops.

“It’s enormously irresponsible and reckless, without having a conversation with the authority or understanding its consequences,” he added

Lt. Gov. Robert J. Duffy issued a statement on behalf of the Cuomo administration Tuesday evening, saying: “We are committed to making the current structure work and are confident that our counterparts in Canada feel the same way.”

The latest developments come month after the Cuomo administration wrote to Canada’s transport minister to blame Canadians on the Peace Bridge Authority for construction delays on the Buffalo side. The administration called on the Canadians to replace the authority’s general manager, Ron Reinas, a Canadian.

The Cuomo administration’s move was greeted by Annunziata’s vow that he would no longer be able to work with Sam Hoyt, his counterpart on the board and Cuomo’s handpicked appointee.

The Cuomo administration sought to tamp down the tensions, sending Duffy to meet with Annunziata in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Canadians were hopeful – incorrectly, as it turns out – that this meeting would stop calls by Grisanti and Ryan to proceed with their legislation to permit the authority to pay off its existing bonds and then go out of existence.

The legislation, according to a memo by Grisanti and Ryan accompanying the bill, would not mandate the dissolution of the authority, but would “allow the authority to determine when it has stopped being effective.” The bridge’s property “would then be divided between Canada and New York State,” the legislative memo states.

Ryan said late Tuesday that bridge redecking is not slated until 2015 and that he understands the other projects will be paid for by the authority’s $90 million reserve fund. He also said he does not necessarily buy Annunziata’s contention until he sees it in writing from bond underwriters.

“They can claim all they want,” Ryan said. “This is the end product of 20 years of bad management structure, and we’re going to fix that.”

He lamented the fact that an Ontario resident is now thwarting the will of New York’s representatives on the authority and reiterated his contention that most northern border crossings are administered by state and provincial agencies on either side of the border.

Grisanti said that the Canadian concerns about his legislation are misplaced and that his intent is to end the logjams that have blocked construction efforts on the U.S. side. Calling the current Bridge Authority “an impediment” to progress, he said that it “was not supposed to be there in perpetuity.”

The senator said the Bridge Authority chairman’s threats of halting construction are hollow. “There really aren’t any plans for any plaza or upgrade on our side, and that’s the whole reason why we are moving forward with this legislation,” Grisanti said.

Ryan praised the selection of Masiello to be the new New York representative on the authority and said he did not expect that the former mayor’s representation of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority as an Albany lobbyist would cause a problem, even if the NFTA could emerge as the successor to the Bridge Authority.

“If it gets closer to happening,” Ryan said, “I imagine the mayor would step down or recuse himself.”

In an interview Tuesday, Masiello confirmed his nomination by Cuomo.

“I’m very excited. I see this as an excellent opportunity,” Masiello said. “I’m familiar with the Peace Bridge. I’m familiar with both sides of the border, and I think I have a lot to offer.”



email: tprecious@buffnews.com and rmccarthy@buffnews.com ]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 16:20:31 -0400 Robert McCarthy
Tom Precious
]]> <![CDATA[ Silver Creek Village Board discusses ways to improve business district ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130521/CITYANDREGION/130529889/1337
Mayor Nick Piccolo told the board Monday that he met with representatives of STEL Inc. and with Chautauqua County Legislator George Borrello to discuss the potential renovation of the former school building on Main Street. The mayor said the county has not taken over ownership of the property.

Piccolo said there is an estimate of $4.5 million to demolish the structure. He said that STEL, of Dunkirk, has expressed an interest in constructing apartments in the building. Piccolo said STEL is seeking some funding from Chautauqua County, as well as other funding for the project.

Piccolo said that the school building, vacant since 1979, poses several problems, including a rodent infestation, and asbestos and other contaminants inside it.

Trustee Warren Kelly said he set up a meeting with the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency for May 30 to see if it has any ideas to improve the downtown business district.

Piccolo said he does not have a definite answer about the closing of Petri Baking Products, which is in the business district. Piccolo said that ConAgra, the new owner of the company, has not revealed whether it will remove all the equipment from the plant when the doors are closed. ConAgra had previously announced that it would lay off the workforce and close the business by June. Piccolo said the latest information is that the company has orders to be filled through the end of August and will keep a partial workforce employed until then.

Piccolo encouraged the trustees and other village officials to support the local businesses that remain in the village and to encourage new ideas for the many vacant storefronts.

In other business, Jeff Griewisch was named disaster coordinator for the village. He replaces the late Richard Bartlett. Steve Romanik and Brandon Griewisch were named his assistants.

There was a lengthy discussion on whether to allow private residents to rent the pavilion at the ballpark for events.

A request from a local resident to rent the pavilion was tabled pending further investigation into liability.

The water-line replacement project is continuing. More than 2,000 feet of eight-inch pipe has been installed in the neighborhoods of Pearl, Elm and Hickory streets.

New lines will be installed on Hanover, Seneca and Pearl streets soon.

The third phase of the project is expected to start after June 1 and will include several other neighborhoods, including Babcock and Burgess streets. ]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 00:47:02 -0400 By Susan Chiappone

Chautauqua Correspondent

]]> <![CDATA[ Converting Dunkirk power plant to natural gas would raise rates, study says ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130520/CITYANDREGION/130529964/1337
A new report by the company that operates the power lines says it would be more cost-effective to upgrade the lines, rather than the plant.

An earlier study by the company that operates the plant says retooling the plant for cheaper natural gas would save money.

The reports will be considered by the State Public Service Commission, which will have the final say on the matter.

“Our expert differed with their expert on the impact,” said Stephen F. Brady, a spokesman for National Grid, which conducted the latest study advocating upgrades of the transmission system it operates in Western New York.

National Grid’s study, released Monday, said the $506 million project to convert the plant would increase electricity delivery rates by a range of 3 percent to nearly 10 percent and cost upstate consumers far more than a less-expensive alternative to upgrade the power transmission network across Western New York.

The report said spending slightly more than $70 million to upgrade the power transmission system would be a better deal for Western New York consumers than funding the conversion of the Dunkirk power plant from coal to natural gas.

“Repowering at the Dunkirk facility is not in the best interest of customers,” the report said.

Upgrading the transmission network, which is maintained by National Grid, would “address the reliability needs at the lowest cost, least risk to customers and with minimum impact on competitive markets,” the company-backed report concluded.

However, in late March a report by NRG Energy, the plant’s owner, found just the opposite.

That study, produced by a Boston-based energy consultant and commissioned by NRG, said the Dunkirk conversion could reduce wholesale electricity prices in Western New York by as much as 5 percent while also reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

The National Grid report released Monday is the latest step in the evaluation of NRG’s proposal to convert the Dunkirk power plant, which could shut down as early as mid-2015 because low prices for natural gas and an ample supply of power plants across New York have depressed electricity prices and led to steep losses at the facility.

NRG and National Grid signed an agreement in March that will keep one 80-megawatt unit operating at the Dunkirk plant to maintain the reliability of the region’s electricity supply while more extensive studies are done to determine whether the power plant is needed in the long term. A second unit now operating will be shut down after the end of this month, resulting in the loss of about 14 jobs at the plant, which employs 82 people.

The dueling reports now go to the Public Service Commission, whose staff is expected to analyze both documents and make a recommendation about the Dunkirk plant’s future to the full commission.

The National Grid study estimated that it would cost slightly more than $70.5 million in today’s dollars to carry out five transmission-system upgrades that the utility believes are necessary to maintain the reliability of the region’s electricity system should the Dunkirk coal-burning units be shut down. National Grid said the estimated cost of some of those upgrades could end up being anywhere from 50 percent lower to three times higher.

In contrast, building a new 422-megawatt natural gas turbine at the Dunkirk site and converting one of its 75-megawatt units to natural gas would cost customers an estimated $375 million in today’s dollars during its first 10 years of operation. A scaled-back option that would convert three of the Dunkirk plant’s units to natural gas, creating a facility with 455 megawatts of capacity, would cost an estimated $218 million in today’s dollars over that 10-year span, the National Grid report estimated.

Those options would lead to delivery rate increases for residential customers ranging from 3.6 percent for the more- costly repowering option to 1.7 percent for the less-expensive conversion proposal and 0.5 percent for upgrading the transmission system, the report said.

For the largest industrial customers, the rate increases could range from a high of 9.5 percent for the more-costly repowering option to 4.4 percent for the less-expensive conversion and 1.3 percent for the transmission system upgrade.

“It’s too expensive if they’re going to ask our customers to subsidize it,” said Brady, the National Grid spokesman. “We’re not opposed to the repowering. If they can find the investors and compete on the open market without subsidies from National Grid customers, that’s fine.”

David Gaier, an NRG spokesman, said the company still was wading through the 310-page National Grid study and did not expect to have a detailed response Monday. “We definitely want to go through it in detail so we can come back with a thorough response,” he said.

The reports also presented vastly different estimates of the economic impact of the proposals. The NRG study estimated that the more costly repowering option would create 3,000 to 3,500 jobs over a 10-year period, mainly through the reduction of electricity costs that the report anticipated.

The National Grid study, however, estimated that the more costly repowering option would create 248 jobs per year from 2014 to 2017, while the transmission improvements would generate 156 jobs annually during that time. The less costly repowering option would lead to the creation of 132 jobs per year.

Those job gains would be offset by the loss of jobs associated with the higher electricity costs resulting from the conversion, the National Grid study said. The most costly repowering option would lead to the loss of 503 jobs per year from 2015 to 2025, compared with the loss of 296 jobs annually for the less costly repowering proposal and 54 jobs per year for the transmission upgrade.



email: drobinson@buffnews.com ]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 14:08:01 -0400 David Robinson
]]> <![CDATA[ Westfield home destroyed by gas leak ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130520/CITYANDREGION/130529929/1337
Nobody was home when non-odorized natural case that was pumped into the home through an old private gas well exploded at 10:53 a.m. Monday. The Westfield Fire Department handled the fire and called in the fire investigation team to determine the cause, which appeared to be a gas leak in the basement. No estimate of the damage was released by authorities. ]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 17:32:42 -0400 <![CDATA[ Pearce to be keynote speaker at NAACP awards dinner ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130520/CITYANDREGION/130529979/1337
Honorees will include the Rev. Eric Johns, who will receive the Medgar Evers/Civil Rights Award; Marilyn Gibson and the Lighthouse, the Daniel Acker Community Service Award; the Rev. Mark E. Blue and Adia C. Jordan, the Rufus Frasier Human Relations Award; and Camille Green and Krysty Tyson, the Youth Award.

Tickets are $50 by advance sale only. Deadline for ticket orders is June 1. For tickets or more information, call Madeline O. Scott at 834-4982. ]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 07:44:32 -0400 <![CDATA[ Villa Maria, GCC hold graduation ceremonies ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130520/CITYANDREGION/130529981/1337
Robert D. Gioia, president of John R. Oishei Foundation, was the keynote speaker. He also accepted the Founder’s Medal on behalf of the foundation for outstanding advocacy of the Villa Maria mission and the community.

The Catholic college specializes in applied arts and music but recently expanded its programs to include business administration and photography and graphic design, among other offerings.

Also Sunday, about 950 Genesee Community College students received degrees during the school’s 45th commencement ceremonies in the Anthony T. Zambito Gymnasium.

State Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, gave the keynote address before the college recognized students who completed or will complete programs last August as well as in January, May and August of this year. Graduates included 54-year-old Aggie Robinson of Batavia, who returned to school to earn a degree in human services after postponing her education to raise a family.

The GCC ceremonies were streamed live to monitors across the campus, including in the cafeteria and student union. ]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 07:40:16 -0400 <![CDATA[ Cattaraugus County man charged in crash that injured Jamestown man ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130519/CITYANDREGION/130518993/1337
Brian J. Snyder, 25, of Cattaraugus County told sheriff’s investigators that he had fallen asleep at the wheel and lost control of his vehicle while traveling north on State Route 353 at 6:06 p.m. Wednesday, causing him to collide with a southbound vehicle operated by Ryan T. Bradley, 33, of Jamestown. The crash caused Bradley’s vehicle to overturn. Bradley was airlifted to Erie County Medical Center for treatment of chest injuries he suffered in the crash.

Snyder, who was not injured, was charged with failure to keep right and is due in New Albion Town Court at later date. ]]> Sun, 19 May 2013 22:31:02 -0400