Tonight (2018-08-13) was a meeting of the Mendon Town Board.
Tonight I heard the unfortunate news that Bruce is resigning from both the Library Board of Trustees and the Zoning Board of Appeals. I’ll miss him in both those roles, but nothing in this world lasts forever. Hopefully whatever other adventures he undertakes will go well for him.
The town is taking a ‘wait and see’ approach with the Charity tax games the State is rolling out. While I can understand the desire to minimize paying taxes, it seems best to let someone else try the different income methods first.
Last week, the Mendon Planning Board granted Doug Osovski approval for cider and donuts, but not ice cream and barbecues. Their reasoning seems sound here, but I know this issue has caused concern among some of the Town residents. As this issue started as a Use Variance before the Mendon Zoning Board (Full disclosure: I am on the Mendon Zoning Board) which we could have handled better, I have been interested in how this has continued.
The old GM plant was apparently up for auction. While it wasn’t bought (how does the highest bidder not ‘win’?), it sounds like a group of bidders are pooling resources to buy it anyways. While I don’t know the details, nor do I think anyone else in the room did either, I expect good news on this ‘soon‘. The place has been vacant long enough, it would be nice if it was used again.
Apparently the Library air conditioner broke down, unconfirmed reports it was smoking. While it is reported as fixed, talking to some of the librarians tonight they didn’t think it was. Guess I’ll find out when I’m in the Library tomorrow.
There was a hiccup with the payroll and Library staff was paid late. Still got their money, but something went wrong along the way. Sounds like the problem has been identified, and a fix implemented. Which should make the librarians happy, because they were not happy with the delay.
Also related to the Library, the old building had it’s front door removed. No need to worry, as this was done for repairs and similar. Should be back in a few days.
Budget season is starting up again, at least for the Town. Next meeting should be the tentative budget, which will eventually go through a public hearing and approval (with potential changes along the way).
A public hearing was set for next month to approve Re-codification of the Town Code (local laws). According to Jim (Clerk), the updated code will be available on the website sometime tomorrow. Or you could walk into the office and read it there. Realistically, I don’t see anyone doing that. Which is the only reason I don’t think next month is too soon. Considering the size of the document, I think the public would need more then a month to have time to digest it. But as turn out tends to be low (or non-existent) I can’t fault the pace. On the other hand, if there was anyone actually at the hearing, a request to extend it for another month would seem very reasonable to me.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the August 13, 2018 meeting of the Mendon Town Board.
Link to agenda on Town website until they update it, losing the past.