Allegany and Potter County news plus updates from Albany
The Allegany County Department of Public Works will ask the county legislature to repeal a resolution from earlier this year because of some technical errors. A new resolution will be voted on this afternoon. It deals with the planned replacement of the Madison Street bridge over the WNY & PA railroad in the village of Wellsville. Total appropriations for the project are just shy of $1.7 million with the county share of nearly $93,000. The legislature meets at 2 p.m. in Belmont.
The Allegany County (NY) Republican Committee will have a busy Saturday (2/26/22). They’ll meet at 9 a.m. at the American Legion back meeting room in Belmont. The committee will distribute petitions and receive updated information from the Board of Elections. There is no shortage of contests that Republicans will have candidates, ranging from replacing Congressman Tom Reed to the county sheriff. There are potential openings for offices in 16 Allegany County towns as well as the villages of Andover, Angelica and Wellsville.
The Allegany County Office for the Aging is requesting permission from the county legislature to enter into an agreement with Dave’s Diner in Ceres, the Bolivar Golf Club and Café Jacobs in Bolivar as a Food Service Establishment under the Allegany County Restaurant Go & Dine Program. The Go & Dine program is a pilot Restaurant Dining program in the Bolivar, Ceres, West Clarksville and Little Genesee areas, and the Office for the Aging is exploring whether this service delivery method will be better suited to our population than the traditional congregate luncheon sites, which have seen declining numbers that appear unrelated to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General has filed a criminal complaint against Eastern Gas Transmission and Storage, Inc. Magisterial District Judge Kari A. McCleaft of Shinglehouse received the filed complaint on Tuesday. According to the docket, the charges (all misdemeanors) include discharge of industrial waste, unlawful discharge of industrial waste without a permit, prohibition of other pollution and violating rules/regulations to protect a water supply. According to the docket, the offense dates were listed as May 21, 2020. A preliminary hearing is pending.
Potter County’s COVID-19 vaccination rate continues to lag far behind the statewide and national averages, but the pace of new cases has fallen off in recent weeks. There were 21 more positive tests and one more COVID-related death between Monday, Feb. 14, and Monday, Feb. 21. Potter County’s total tally is 3,092 cases with 90 fatalities.
Governor Kathy Hochul has updated New Yorkers on the state’s progress combating COVID-19. She says “While students are off for midwinter break, she encourages parents and guardians to take advantage of this time to consult with their pediatricians and make a plan to get their kids vaccinated and boosted.” “More than 1.6 million children in New York State have already received the vaccine.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos announced that the 2021 hunting seasons in New York were the safest ever, with the lowest number of hunting-related shooting incidents since record-keeping began. DEC Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECO) investigated nine hunting-related shooting incidents (HRSIs) in 2021, including one fatality.
