Tonight (2017-05-08) was a meeting of the Mendon Town Board.
There were a surprising number of people present. Normally it’s the handful of regulars, and the occasional extra for a particular purpose. Not tonight. Tonight there were about a dozen people to speak on behalf of the ambulance service.
Before that, there were all the normal technicalities. Nothing overly important, but bureaucracy demands it’s steps be followed. Once those were out of the way, it was public comment time and the crowd took their turns to speak.
We had eight or so (the minutes will tell the exact number, eventually) people speak out about the great service the ambulance provides. Unfortunately there was an impression that the ambulance service was going away, which was news to me. As happens all too often, someone gets a few facts and forms a conclusion, then they run with it with seeking confirmation. Underlying facts were accurate, interpretation a bit off. But it prompted a group to show up and speak favorably about the ambulance service and (hopefully) served as a reminder to our elected officials that they serve the people.
After the comments the meeting continued, and the next item of note was the public hearing for Solar Farm legislation. A developer was there to comment, and it actually devolved into a bit of a discussion. Which I thought was fine, as the Town doesn’t really support a method of discussing pending actions. Comments, sure, but not so much for discussions. Not unless you want to ambush elected officials at their homes, which is a bit rude. But I digress.
The developer made some comments about the practicalities of solar energy at scale, which the law was apparently written to allow. Yet, from the discussion, it sounded like no actual solar farmers were involved in the discussion before now. I know the local government tries it’s best, but there are times I just shake my head. Asking those with a business interest in the law for feedback early on just makes sense. Don’t take the comments as gospel, because they have a financial, but they are the ‘experts’ in the field.
I also commented on this topic. As my comments on laws seem to be, it was about verbiage. In this case, due to how the power companies seem to handle things, all solar panels would meet the definition of Solar Farm. At least as it is defined in this section of code. Which I expect to have negative impact down the road, at least if this is enforced. I’ve also noticed a tendency to not enforce most of these code changes. Pass them, apply them once, and then forget about them unless you have a particular cause you want to champion. But I digress, again.
Instead of defining Solar Farm by the financial transaction, I suggested they be defined by the surface area of solar collectors. Make it a measurable item that would clearly treat the handful of panels at a residence differently then the massive collection of a ‘farm’.
With that being said, I believe the law was passed, and Solar Farms (such as they are) are now permitted in the Town of Mendon. At least so long as the conditions are followed.
After chasing the sun, it was back to ambulance. This time it was the board discussing it among themselves. They made it clear there were no plans to discontinue service, and did their best to allay the concerns of the audience. While at the same time acknowledging that some parts of the service would have to change as time went on. Which should be expected, that which does not change is dead.
One tidbit that I found interesting was the dollar figure of $2 million. From the town’s point of view, they had been over billed $2 million by the Village for ambulance service over the past ~15 years. I knew there were some issues, but not the exact dollar amount.
Unfortunately, it brings us to the word of the night. Internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict. One of the commenter’s used that to describe the situations and I think it’s apt. There has been tension between the Village and Town over the years, and the ambulance is one of those tension points. Everyone involved claims to be acting in the residents best interests. And I believe they do their best. Unfortunately, people are people, and we often make stupid decisions for what we believe are smart, logical reasons.
I don’t know how this is going to play out. In this case, I’m hoping government stands by it’s default stance: slow. The longer it takes to resolve, the better the odds are it will be to the residents benefit. Quick change here will likely make the problem bigger. Or at least that’s my assessment.
And on a different note, the Town office is apparently becoming a store for local authors. They are buying a particular authors books, and then going to try to resell them. If the warning bells in my head weren’t so loud, I’d be tempted to say that’s a nice idea. If it goes well, more people will follow in this pattern. If it goes poorly, the Town now subsidizes local authors. Not a place I think they should be. Leave this ‘opportunity’ to any of the other storefronts.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the May 8th, 2017 meeting of the Mendon Town Board.
Link to agenda on Town website.
Link to agenda stored on this site, should the town lose their copy.