Tonight (2019-04-09) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education (BoE).
As happens at most of these meetings, the Board members trickle in and try to find their name tags, so they can sit in the right place. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t matter where they sit, but whatever. I did have the thought: Maybe the name tags should be angled so they are easy for the Board to see when they enter, so they can find their seats easier. Then once they are seated, turn them so the audience can tell their names.
The student representative was back. No idea where he has been, but I was starting to wonder if he would be back again. He didn’t have much to say, but it was nice to see him there.
The Capitol Project update presentation was deferred until May, although a report was made available. Apart from the progress pictures, nothing jumped out to me. But feel free to look at it yourself.
Gene (Superintendent) gave his report, which had some interesting parts. Next year’s Kindergarten enrollment is currently at 128. The question is how much that changes once classes actually start (it can be surprising). Kerfuffles with some aspect of the computer system last week led to more ‘opt outs’ this week of the state tests at HFL (no numbers given). While the internet is an amazing and useful thing, it can also become a single point of failure. Better to expect it’s lack at any critical event, and plan accordingly.
Then Bruce (Business and Operations) gave a report on where the budget stood, so that the Board could approve it. No real surprises in the presentation itself, as it’s essentially last weeks with a few updates. Tax increase looks to be at the cap, which is 2.8% this year. Actual budget is $733 over last year (yes, that’s under a thousand dollars for an annual increase). No surprises here, for good or bad.
Also not surprising: Election Inspectors were approved, John leads the group again.
Budget issues behind, there was an interesting discussion on property tax exemptions for the increase caused by solar power. In particular, the Village of Lima is looking at installing solar on some of their property. This feels like a moot point. The property is already exempt (government). The assessors seem to consider solar power ‘equipment’ (ie, like your car/lawnmower/etc) and thus don’t change assessment based on it. So it was both interesting and a bit odd to hear them discuss the issue.
Which lead to the longest part of the meeting: a discussion on the Board Procedure Manual’s Board Meeting section. I found parts of it mildly amusing, and you can read the document if you would like (not that I am suggesting it). But they did talk about what to do when Board members are absent. Which was amusing because being absent violates their self imposed code of ethics. So it’s steps to take once you are unethical?
As an aside, two members were absent tonight. Which (according to my notes) has us down to three members that are not clearly in violation of the code of ethics. Make of that what you will.
Which brought us to ‘questions from the audience’ time, during which a few ladies expressed that they were happy with how the Board had handled the budget and the related cuts. Apparently there is misinformation out there as to what was going to be cut, and this group decided to attend the meeting to actually find out. I say good for them, “Trust but Verify“.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the April 9, 2019 meeting of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Board of Education.
As has become the norm for this group, Agenda’s and similar information can be found at HFL’s BoardDocs page.