Village of Churchville Newsletter - September 2006
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| (Left to Right) Trustee Shawn Casey, Trustee Nancy Steedman, Mayor Donald Ehrmentraut, Trustee Scott Cullen and Trustee Donald Suter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MAYOR'S MESSAGE I hope everyone has enjoyed the beautiful summer that we have had so far. Spending more time at home and enjoying your yard and the community is a great way to save on the high cost of gas. Darien Lake, we are not, but we have provided more sidewalks and walking trails in the past few years for you to stay healthy and enjoy our Village scenery -- particularly around the Black Creek corridor. Many residents may have already heard that the Village is entering into a contract with the Monroe County Parks to lease, for 99 years, all the parkland south of Black Creek. To identify this property better it includes the Church Lodge and Skating Rink, the boat launch area and the large field where the Country Fair takes place. The conveyance of this parkland will provide the Village the recreational green space that was a very important focus during the Charrette process. There are many opportunities for both the Village and County residents with this transfer. In my letter to the County, I mentioned several possibilities for the use of the property. In no particular order, some of these ideas are as follows: a Community Center next to the Church Lodge, soccer and baseball fields in the large field area, an improved boat launch area, and an Amphitheater or Concert Shell in the vicinity of the Church Lodge. The Village of Churchville has already entered into several partnerships with the County of Monroe for walking trails in the Churchville County Park system. We will now be able to plan a complete trail system so residents and visitors can enjoy the best natural resource we have, Black Creek and its surrounding area. I would like your thoughts on the planning process to maximize the use of this property for everyone's benefit. Availability of grant monies will be the incentive for many of these "visions". Your input can be the driving force for taking this great opportunity the County has bestowed upon us and improve an already wonderful part of our community. I believe many of these additional recreational opportunities can increase the Village of Churchville's and Town of Riga's interest as a recreational destination. Collaboratively, we can provide a healthy and cultural environment for people of all ages. Donald Ehrmentraut, Mayor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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THANK YOU TO MATT SCHUMACHER  Mayor Don Ehrmentraut, Matt Schumacher, and his family At the August 7, 2206 Village Board meeting, I had the distinct pleasure of presenting a gift to Matt Schumacher in our appreciation of his interacting with the Village Board as Youth Representative to our Community. Matt has been a very active member of the Charrette Steering Committee and a strong supporter of many of the Village's functions. You may recognize Matt as the young man handing out flags and candy, along with the Village Board members, at the Memorial Day and Lion's Fair parades. The cover of the pen and pencil set given to Matt, reads "In Appreciation to Tomorrow's Leader". Donald Ehrmentraut, Mayor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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HISTORIAN NEWS IF THOSE TRACKS COULD TALK As you lie awake on a summer's night you will most certainly hear the rumble then the blasting of the horns of a passing railroad train. There is no doubt that we have all heard these sounds and within time will have grown accustomed to it. But these sounds have been echoing in our past for the last one hundred and sixty-nine years. If those tracks could talk, what stories would they tell? It was in 1837 that the first railroad, called the Tonawanda Railroad, passed through the village. Just two years before the famed Frances Willard was born in a house on South Main Street. The Rochester Daily Democrat newspaper captured the first ride thru the village as follows: "In forty-three minutes we were at Churchville. Its inhabitants gave us a cordial welcome. As we bade to their kind gratulations, the waving of kerchiefs showed that the ladies also participated in the hilarity of the scene and appreciated the important influence which the Railroad has upon the prosperity of their pleasant village." Believe it or not, one of the first locomotives that traveled along the Tonawanda Railroad tracks still exits today at the Chicago Historical Society in Chicago, Illinois. It is an 1843 engine built by the Baldwin Company for the Tonawanda Railroad. The engine was purchased in 1848 by William Ogden, the first Mayor of Chicago and became Chicago's first locomotive. At first the railroads were only allowed to carry passengers, a policy that was dictated by the special interest groups of the Erie Canal. But as time passed, freight and the U.S. Mail became the most important commodity of the railroads. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was elected President. His journey to the White House was made in a special railroad car that passed thru the village. But, just four years later, the village residents will stand at those same tracks to pay their respects to the fallen President as his funeral train passes by on its way to Illinois for burial. During the Civil War, the railroads were not only important in moving manpower, supplies and information, but also brought home many of those individuals that lost their lives in the war. In the Town of Riga, nearly twenty-five percent of those individuals that went to fight lost their lives. Thomas Stevens, a 48 year old non-commissioned officer of the 11th NY Heavy Artillery unit, was one of those individuals killed in the war. The following, as detailed in the diary of a local resident named Thaddeus Carleton, describes the arrival of Mr. Steven's casket in Churchville. "Wednesday, September 16th, 1863; Mr. Stevens came today on the 10 o'clock express (train). He had been carried past (the house). It is said that he looked very natural, there was no smell. Pa dug the grave for Mr. Stevens." There were also joyous times, when the arrival of a train produced a political figure or an event that was exciting as described in the following 1890 Progressive Batavian newspaper: "The celebration of the Churchville fireman's annual inspection and field day last week Wednesday was a grand success. The day was very pleasant and all seemed to have a pleasant time. The first of the visitors to arrive was the Bergen fire department accompanied by the Bergen cornet band, who arrived on the 10:52 train and was met at the depot and escorted up town by our firemen and band." The railroads were a great source of income not only to the local workers, but to the community in general. Even before the railroad was constructed, the Rochester Daily Democrat newspaper reported the following in 1835: "But the great source of future prosperity to the village of Churchville will be the Tonawanda Railroad, which passes a few rods to the south of the village. Since the location of the railroad, a large number of village lots have been laid out and sold at prices varying from $100.00 to $500.00 per lot (one-quarter acre). Preparations are making for building extensively in that part of the village next year. Two or three stores, one large tavern, one or more store houses, mechanics shops, dwellings and etc. are to be put up. One store house is already nearly finished. Next year, Churchville will present a scene of life and activity rarely witnessed in many of our larger villages. And I can see no reason why our present little village may not, in a few years, rank with its neighbors, LeRoy and Brockport. What the canal has been to Brockport, the railroad will be to Churchville." Along with the benefits of the railroads came its tragedies. The following is probably one of the worst railroad accidents to occur in this area as reported in the 1892 Progressive Batavian newspaper: "Last Sunday morning about 12:10 one of the worst railroad wrecks that ever occurred in this vicinity happened on the Central - Hudson. Engine 553, drawing a heavy west bound freight, drew up to the tank to take water. About ten minutes later another west bound freight drawn by engine 483, came around the curve at the speed of about 16 to 18 miles per hour and crashed into the rear end of the first mentioned train, wrecking the caboose and one or two cars and throwing the wrecked cars on the east bound track. Just at this time a heavy east bound freight drawn by engine 610, came dashing along and run into the wreck throwing engine 610 down the embankment, smashing the cars up and scattering them in all directions, blocking all four tracks, instantly killing engineer Jones of engine 610 and badly injuring fireman Burns on engine 483. Soon after the wreckage took fire, and although the men did all they could to get the body of engineer Jones out of the wreck it could not be done. The fire drove them back and most of the body was burned. After the fire was subdued all that could be found of the remains of the dead engineer was picked up and taken to Rochester and given in charge of the Coroner. The wrecking trains from Rochester and Batavia were at work clearing the tracks as soon as they could be got there and had tracks one and two clear about 9 a.m. Sunday morning. This was very quick work considering the amount of work that had to be done. Assistant superintendent Gould of Rochester and assistant superintendent Rossiter of Buffalo were at the wreck as soon as they could get there and superintended the cleaning up of the wreck. The fire alarm was sounded and the Churchville fire department turned out and succeeded in saving several cars of the freight from burning. There were two engines and twelve or fourteen cars destroyed and about fifteen cars more or less crippled. All the tracks were cleared and trains running as usual by 6 p.m. Sunday evening. John Cressy kindly opened his house, which is just across the road from where the wreck occurred, and took in the injured fireman, and Dr. Vanhorn of this village attended him. A special train from Rochester with a doctor came up and took the injured man to that city. Mr. Cressy also allowed the railroad men to store quite a large lot of shoes, cigars and etc. in his house. There was quite a large quantity of goods stolen from the cars by those who were at the wreck. The railroad authorities have succeeded in obtaining the names of a number of persons who took the goods and unless they return them they will probably soon find themselves under arrest." These are just a few of the memories that Churchville experienced along its railroad tracks. Now, looking back one hundred years ago when the automobile was becoming popular, the village trustees enacted this special legislation as reported in the 1906, Batavia Times newspaper: "The speed of automobiles on Buffalo Street has long been the occasion of much unfavorable comment and the recent action of the village trustees in passing an ordinance restricting the speed and posting notices to that effect in conspicuous places is appreciated by those who have occasion to do much driving to and from the village on Buffalo Road. Local autoists have exercised proper judgment in meeting and overtaking vehicles while passing through the village, but a large percentage of tourists have made a practice of running through Churchville very rapidly." Ron Belczak, Historian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CLERK'S REPORT The Village Office has experienced some personnel changes. Lynn Almeter who worked in the Village Office on a part time basis for many years handling our payroll, payables and most importantly, the duties of Planning and Zoning Board Secretary left our employment. Her expertise and experience will be greatly missed. Many of you will still see her around the village as she has taken a position with Star of the West Milling and so remains part of our community. It is difficult to replace someone with Lynn's experience, but we have found the person to "fill her shoes." We recently hired Nadine Allen as our Planning and Zoning Board Secretary. Nadine is a graduate of Morrisville State College. In addition to acting as secretary to the boards, Nadine will be our receptionist and be responsible for accepting payments for utility bills. Please be sure to introduce yourself to Nadine when you visit the office. We've also had other changes in duties. Cathy Paye remains as our billing clerk but is also taking over the payables. Stacy Morgan (hired as secretary to the DPW) is doing our payroll processing and Meghan Lodge continues to oversee the banking functions and the Municipal Electric bookkeeping. These changes allow us to cross-train all of our personnel on one or more of the major office functions. We have also updated our phone system and we all have voice mail now available. We still want to maintain our personal touch so we haven't activated the system to its full potential and you should always be able to talk with someone during regular business hours. Sue Davis, Village Clerk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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NEWMAN RIGA LIBRARY Changing technology brings interesting residue. Email has become a routine mode of communication, and due to its impersonal nature, it has become perfectly acceptable (even commonplace) to say things most people would be unlikely to say over the phone or in person. Quiet, unassuming people can suddenly become beasts. In an age of passwords and usernames for every thing, it is easy to forget one if you fail to keep a list. One often finds oneself asking a company for the forgotten password, or answering that obscure little security question selected years earlier in order to obtain it. As luck would have it, I had the pleasure the other day, of requesting a forgotten password from a vendor. I had just purchased a piece of hardware and failed to write down the password needed to tweak and modify it one week later, for enhanced performance. This was the email returned to me when I mistakenly clicked on the wrong link, on the company website, in requesting my password. I mistakenly reached NOT customer support, but what the writer indicated was a website administrator. The company will remain nameless here, but if asked in person, I will be happy to share. "Eh? I do not understand. You need to remember it? Write it on a piece of paper. I cannot help you remember things. That is a function for your brain to work out. Sorry. Regards, Simon" Outraged upon receiving this, I fired back a terse response about the fact that I was simply assuming his company functioned like most, providing forgotten passwords for people who misplaced them. I indicated that I would remember his response when I considered doing business with their company again. His response was "Your reply is quite amazing. You contacted me, a website administrator. You did not see this? This is not Technical Support. I told you I cannot help you remember passwords. I do not work for BLANK. I am not affiliated with BLANK or on their payroll. If you choose to not do business with BLANK, well that's up to you. Just remember this email saga was started with your lack of thought when emailing an administrator asking for help in remembering passwords. It has nothing to do with me. Sorry if you feel outraged, but you have not been any customer of mine, expecting everything from so few words and putting it to the wrong person." Guess I was foolish to expect a simple, courteous "Sorry you have reached the wrong person. Please contact customer support at xyz." I have shared these emails with the BLANK Company, but continue to be surveyed in routine fashion regarding my experiences. I have not been contacted by anyone representing the company thus far. Welcome to the new millennium. What a truly graceless age. The delightful side of email, receiving correspondence from sources one would never expect, manifested itself within days of receiving the above. Citing our email address on the library webpage resulted in the following: "Hello!!! Excuse me for this email. but I want write you for that you is from latvia. I am finding in town in latvia, justy, in justy born my grandmother and i still i can't find it. can you helpme with justy? bye from Buenos aires" I responded to what may have been a disappointed Carlos, by telling him, we were the wrong Riga…from western New York in the USA instead of Latvia. Please stop by to welcome our newest employee, Sarah Southgate. She is eager to meet everyone and welcome our youngest patrons. The end of July, we bid a fond farewell to Gail Schwab. After working at the library for 20 years, she has retired and moved away to begin a new chapter. We wish her the best of luck. Registration for Story Time began Monday, August 14th. The session begins on September 19th and runs through November 28th. Children, 3 through 5 meet on Tuesday mornings between 10:30 and 11:00. Children must be 3 by August 14th. Space is limited. For information, call 293-2009 during regular business hours. Donna Haire, Newman Riga Library | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SUPERINTENDENT NEWS It's hard to believe, but as you read this we will be looking toward fall and winter. I hope you have noticed some of the small improvements that have been made around the Village this year, especially the ongoing new sidewalk and drainage on Park Road and the new sidewalks, trees and street lights on Fitch Street. It's not too early to start planning ahead for winter and the heating season. With the rising and unpredictable cost of energy we need to make this a team effort. The Village can help in several ways. We still offer and encourage anyone to have us do an infrared study of your house. This will show you areas of heat loss that could be repaired, sometimes by means as simple as caulking a crack. Please call either the office or the shop to schedule this or give me a call if you have questions. Emergency standby generators are always a problem, especially in the winter months. I encourage this use and think everyone should have one available, but they need to be used safely. Every year there are way too many people killed and injured by carbon monoxide poisoning and electrocution. If you are running a generator near your house a carbon monoxide detector in your house is a must. The electrical hookup to your house is very important. Every year we find jury rigged connections that are extremely dangerous to the residents but especially dangerous to the line workers that work so hard to restore your power. If we find these connections that are back feeding into the distribution grid we will have no choice but to disconnect your house until the situation is made safe. This could mean not having your power restored for a long time. Once again we are there to help, if you are not sure how to do it right call us, we can help. The National Electric Code is very clear on these procedures and it is simply too dangerous to do it wrong. We have suffered through another summer dealing with some ridiculous incidents of vandalism. This costs all of us a great deal of money and time to repair and clean up. I encourage everyone to get involved. Remember this is your Village and your money being wasted. Everyone needs to get involved, if you see something going on, call 911 and report it or call someone from the Village so we can put a stop to some of this. We have two new employees at the Village shop. Stacy Morgan started with us this past December as shop secretary and record keeper. She is proving to be a great deal of help with the amount of paperwork and reports that go through here. Stacy has found a great admiration for our new GIS mapping system and has been working very hard on data entry in the system. Stacy lives in Bergen with her cat Brisco. Our second new employee is Eric Heeg. Eric started with us in July and has a background in Residential and Commercial Electricity. In his off time Eric enjoys 4-wheeling and the outdoors. Eric lives in Chili with his dogs, Buddy and Princess. Dave Adams, Superintendent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NEWS The Churchville Chamber of Commerce will meet on the following dates:
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TOWN OF RIGA RECREATION DEPARTMENT The Recreation Department has been busy compiling our fall edition of our REC-READER, the seasonal Recreation Brochure that provides one central location for all Recreation Programs, Special Events and Community Happenings for the Town of Riga and Village of Churchville. The Fall edition of the REC-READER will be available Monday August 21st at all Churchville-Chili School Offices, Town Offices, Village Offices, Newman-Riga Library, by request and online at www.townofriga.org I hope you find the publication informative and invite you to discover the endless benefits that Recreation and Leisure opportunities can provide! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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VILLAGE OF CHURCHVILLE POST-CHARRETTE The Village of Churchville is now in the Post-Charrette phase of their vision planning and YOU are still needed to complete the plan. Input from all focus groups that met on May 5 and 6th at the Charrette has been summarized and is now ready to be finalized. The Steering committee has continued to meet monthly and has received the preliminary report from the Rochester Regional Community Design Center. This report can be viewed here. The Steering committee has selected three focus areas to develop final plans for by the end of this year. The three areas are: The Central Business District, Black Creek and Recreational Land Use and The Vacant Land Use & Development. Once again, your input is valuable to this process! Select a focus area of your interest and join us at a meeting. The Committee invites you to participate in meetings that will be held twice a month to finalize these plans. The meetings are as follows:
All meetings to be at 7pm. Car pool will leave the Village Office at 6:30pm for any meetings held at the RRCDC on East Main Street, Rochester. Draft Presentation to the public in the week of October 23. Suggestions will then be incorporated into the final plan. Final Presentation to the public in January 2007 – date to be determined. Nancy Steedman, Deputy Mayor and Trustee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WHAT'S HAPPENING IN YOUR VILLAGE I have been in contact with the CSX Railroad Representatives about the poor condition of the railroad tracks over the Route 36 - South Main Street crossing. Their response to me is that a rebuild (total removal and rebuild of this crossing) is scheduled for sometime before snow season this year. The crossing will be closed for traffic for about 7 days. The new sidewalk and trail from the back of the Elementary School west to Buffalo Street is well under way. The Village DPW is doing a great job with this project. This new pathway will provide another portion of the Village's vision for a complete sidewalk and trail system within the Village. The Fitch Street revitalization project is progressing forward. The trees have been removed and new sidewalks are replacing the old ones. Removing the diseased and dangerous trees was an issue not taken lightly by the Village Board. The macadam will be resurfaced and new colonial street lighting will enhance the street at night. The Board is reviewing the cost to eventually bury the electrical lines underground to complete this revitalization project. The Village continues to have vandalism at the Pergola and Gazebo area. It is unfortunate that a few unhappy individuals choose to mess up the area for so many that enjoy the park and the view to the Creek. The County Sheriffs have made it a priority area in the Village to patrol at night. If anyone sees mischief at this area or any part of the Village, please call 911 and report it. Parents, should be aware of what their children are doing after dark. Residents have stopped into the Village Office the day after some of these incidents and have identified some of the youth in the area at that time. The names have been given to the Sheriffs Department for investigation. Luster Coate is still moving forward. The potential owners should be closing within a few weeks. They have sent their work plan for investigation to the DEC. If the plan is accepted, there will be 30 day notice to the public for comment. After this time period, an informational meeting will be held by the owners. They are still focused on luxury apartments on the 4.5 acres. Just a reminder on the "pooper-scooper" law. Be courteous to your neighbors and pickup after your dog does his or her task outdoors. Donald Ehrmentraut, Mayor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CHURCHVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT The Churchville Fire Department would like to thank our many supporters who attended the Corn and Sausage Roast in July and Lions Country Fair. Although the rain on Saturday dampened us a little, we did well at both food stands for rest of the weekend. We also had a booth set up for information on our proposed new firehouse. Many people stopped by and were quite impressed with our plans. We would like to thank everyone for their questions and interest. Also, we want to remind you that the Churchville Lions Club is having a Golf Tournament/ Benefit again for the Churchville Fire Department on September 16, 2006 for the new firehouse fund. They helped us raise over $7,000 for our radios last year. There are many places around the area to get sign-up sheets for golf teams, to sponsor a hole, to donate money or door prizes, or if you just want to come down to the firehouse to have a GREAT meal, please look for our flyers, or go to www.churchvillefire.net to get one from there. Last, but not least, we need to make a few announcements. First, we would like to welcome two new firefighters from our explorer post. Kristin Harmer and Eric Kowalski have just turned 18 in August and we wish them the very best. Second, please look for our Fire Prevention Week in October. And last, our fund drive letter will be out soon. Please look for it and fill it out, it will be appreciated. Thank you, Mark Leibeck Forrest Skelton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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COMMUNITY EVENTS The First Congregational Church of Riga:
Lion's Club Churchville Fire Department Benefit Golf Tournament September 16, 10:00am to 8:00pm at the Churchville Park Golf Course Contact Jim Lamica (585) 293-1271 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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THANK YOU TO GINGER PARKER Many thanks go out to Ginger Parker for her work in reviewing and updating the Village Of Churchville Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan. Ginger updated this plan as part of her Master's degree work at the University of Rochester. Ginger worked along with Sue Davis, Dave Adams, Scott Flagler, Tom Klafehn and myself to complete this project. The Mayor and Board of Trustees truly appreciate the many volunteer hours that Ginger worked to complete this update. Nancy Steedman, Deputy Mayor and Trustee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
REMINDERSREFUSE PICKUP Refuse should be placed at the curb no earlier than 6 p.m. on Tuesdays or no later than 6 a.m. on Wednesdays. Regular refuse pickup is on Wednesdays. Refuse will be picked up on Thursday Sept 7, 2006 instead of Wednesday Sept 6 due to the Labor Day holiday. REMOVAL OF CEMETERY URNS CREEKSIDE/ST. VINCENT DEPAUL CEMETERY Please Note: Pots and urns must be removed from the grave site by October 15th of each year. Holiday and other such decorations must be removed by March 15th of each year. VILLAGE OF CHURCHVILLE NOTICE OF RESIDENTS WINTER PARKING REGULATIONS Please Note: It is illegal to park on any Village streets between the hours for 2:00am and 6:00pm from November 1 to May 1. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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VILLAGE OFFICE HOURS Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. If anyone needs to meet with office personnel beyond those times, please contact the Village Clerk at 293-3720. PLEASE NOTE: The office will be closed on the following dates: September 4, 2006 - Labor Day October 9, 2006 - Columbus Day November 23 & 24, 2006 - Thanksgiving December 25 & 26, 2006 - Christmas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CONGRATULATIONS CHURCHVILLE LIONS CLUB
ON ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL COUNTRY FAIR!  Jennifer Leibeck and Ashley Donnelly lead the Village of Churchville at the parade |
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