Tonight (2017-06-19) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
It was unusually long for this group. Not really a surprise, as there was a presentation and two public hearings on (somewhat) controversial issues. Plus all the regular items of discussion.
The presentation was about having the village join a Community Choice Aggregation. Listening to the gentleman presenting, there didn’t appear to be any downside, so I kept listening for the catch. Apparently, this can allow a municipality to negotiate on behalf of their residents for one electrical rate. When they get a lower rate, they approve it, when they don’t they do nothing, leaving the previous rate in effect. The only direct downside I could find was the creation of another layer of bureaucracy. But then the presenter mentioned he worked for a ‘climate change’ group. At which point it all made sense.
The (short term) lower rate is used as the carrot to coerce residents into making otherwise foolish choices. As a co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated, “we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy“. Whether mankind is having any meaningful impact on the world climate I cannot say, but there is plenty of evidence that fear is being used as a tool for control and power.
After that we had the first public hearing, this one being on making Hyde Street a one way road. Bottom line, change approved. Won’t take effect until after the repaving project, which should happen later this summer.
There was much discussion from the audience about the details, but I didn’t hear anyone outright against the idea. Some nitpicking on details, exact location of speed bumps, signs, etc. One issue that came up was how to make the change obvious when it is first done. Probably some state policy out there, but I would think the simple way is a few stop signs in the road at the exit. If you’re going the right way you wouldn’t even see them. If you are going the wrong way, they are in your ‘lane’ so you can’t miss them.
Next public hearing was on rezoning a residential lot to village business, at the request of a (potential) future business owner. Bottom line, change did not happen. Unlike the previous hearing, there were only a few people that commented. Also different was the direct disagreement. The neighbors were against, the (potential) business owner was in favor. A variety of reasons for and against were stated, but I think the noise concerns where what swayed the board.
Personally, I feel zoning is a 5th amendment violation, per the takings clause. Having said that, in this case it did prevent business creep into a residential area. Assuming this change was approved, odds are the neighbor would have moved, exposing his lot to the same sort of conversion. So then the next neighbor moves, etc. Not a perfect solution, but in the imperfect world we live in, it’s good enough.
I also liked how the board was divided (3 against, 2 for). So few issues split the vote, it’s always interesting when it happens. Usually they discuss things out to the point everyone has agreed on a course of action. It’s rare they are unable to persuade each other. Yet they still work together well, a credit to them.
Unfortunately, this reminds me of a case before the planning board a while back. In that case, a property owner wanted permission to demolish his property, and the board denied it. Time passed, and the building was declared unsafe and demolished anyways. With the shape this residence is in, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see a similar outcome. Which wouldn’t be completely bad, another small ‘park’ would have it’s own value.
With the public hearing done, it was back to regular business. One of the first of those was rescheduling this Saturday’s Fire Department workshop to August 5th. Time remains the same, 8AM until done (probably noon).
After that Rick (Mayor) mentioned how the telephone poles are not for posting fliers, especially objectionable ones. Some where brought to his attention that were supposedly ‘white supremacist’, yet when he looked into it they were more ‘anti communist’. Regardless, they were removed. This led to a discussion on the first amendment and free speech, and how some places are not appropriate for speech. Interesting watching elected officials try to decide what speech can be allowed.
As usual, the ambulance was a topic of discussion. In particular, how one of the ambulances had been in an accident, forcing them to operate with just one for a time. Not the best of situations, but it did provide some interesting data on response times when using mutual aid (times go up, drastically).
Ambulance billing rates will be going up. Sounds like it will be after the bill collection agency chances, so probably a few months away still. But the changes were approved tonight. Yet again HFMVA goes from lowest fees in the area to low side of average.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the June 19th, 2017 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
No link to an agenda this month, the Village appears to have lost their copy (or not updated their site).