Weekend News Brief

Monday nights city council meeting will include a plan to fill the vacant city manager position.  The choices before the council are to use the NOVAK consulting group which would be free as city manager martin Moore was not in the position for more than 2 years.  There are expenses to do with advertising and other minutiae that could total over 20 thousand dollars.  The other option is to promote interim city manager Rachel Tabelski into the role.  Other topics to be taken up at the meeting include giving a house to habitat to humanity for a dollar, approving Christmas in the city including the parade, and a n audit presentation.

Over 130 billion dollars of coronavirus relief money is unallocated and Congressman Chris Jacobs is demanding it be released for a second round of paycheck protection programs.  Jacobs says that the PPP saved over 50 thousand jobs in Western NY and 50 million jobs in the whole US and more could be helped if the money was released.

COVID Update:  Genesee county has 2 new cases and 3 people have recovered.  Orleans county has 3 new cases and 4 new people are on travel quarantine.  6 new people are on travel quarantine in Genesee county.  There are 3 active cases in Genesee county and 9 in Orleans.

The City of Batavia Fire Department will be flushing fire hydrants in the southeast quadrant of the city on Monday. Homes and businesses nearby will be affected. This can cause discoloration of water in that area.  Please do not attempt to wash any clothing if your water appears discolored. If your water is discolored, run cold water for about five minutes or until clear.

The police stakeholders had their first meeting on Thursday night and the majority of the time was given to Police Chief Shawn Heubusch as he gave a history of policing and an overview of the policies of the police department.  Members of the group asked questions about bodycam use by officers, the hiring process, and use of force policy.  One member of the group raised the issue of holding officers accountable for bad behaviors.  There is a comprehensive write up and videos of interviews with Police Chief Heubusch and representative from the Just Kings Victor Thomas over at our news partner the Batavian.

Police in Buffalo are now allowed to cover their nametags as they are dealing with a criminal activity where their identities are at stake.  At demonstrations people are video taping and taking pictures of officers and then using their nametags to find out where they live or where their families and children work and go to school and harassing them and threatening them.  This doxxing and harassment is illegal and prosecutable.  Officers are now putting tape over their nametags.