From left, Paul M. Wendel Jr., Chautauqua County Legislature chairman, George M. Borrello, county executive, and George Spanos, retiring county public facilities director, during the Chautauqua County Legislature meeting in Mayville Wednesday. Spanos is retiring after working for the county for 31 years. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

MAYVILLE — Two heroes — one a Silver Creek High School junior and the other a volunteer fire chief — were honored by the Chautauqua County Legislature on Wednesday for their actions in finding a missing 2-year-old boy in Silver Creek last month.

George Borrello, county executive, Paul M. Wendel Jr., legislature chairman, Kevin O’Connell, legislator, and Alison Hunt, district director for U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, presented Teddy Braidich, a 17-year-old Silver Creek resident, with several proclamations for his actions in helping to find the young child in a wooded area along railroad tracks June 6. Jim Tytka Jr. of the Silver Creek Volunteer Fire Department wasn’t in attendance to accept his proclamations.

Both Braidich and Tytka Jr. were part of the search that included several police agencies and the Silver Creek Volunteer Fire Department, that was formed shortly after the 2-year-old went missing from his home on Route 5.

Borrello said that Braidich was on his four-wheeler, which he had momentarily turned off, when he heard the faint sound of a child crying. When Braidich went toward the sound, that is when he discovered Tytka Jr. and together the unlikely tandem found the missing boy in a wooded ravine.

In other business, the legislature honored George Spanos, Public Facilities Department director, who is retiring after 31 years of service to the county. Borrello said Spanos started in 1987 working for the county as a junior engineer. He said that Spanos has been an important part of several important projects like improvements made at two county Public Facilities Department locations, the expansion of the Chautauqua County Jail and Millennium Parkway in Dunkirk.

Spanos said it was a privilege to serve as Public Facilities Department director, a position he has held since 2004, under several county executives including Mark Thomas, Greg Edwards, Vince Horrigan and Borrello.

The legislature also honored Paul Snyder, a county engineer, who helped with the water emergency in Dunkirk in March, Warren H. Riles, who is retiring as the county coroner after 41 years of service, and the Chautauqua Lake High School girls softball team who won the state championship.