Tonight (2021-02-16) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
Assemblywoman Marjorie Byrnes joined the talking heads for the first part of the meeting. Rick (Mayor) thanked her for her help, especially with the $150k grant funds used for the Ontario street storm sewer project.
The Village will be having budget meetings Saturday’s at 8AM, starting the 27th. Expected to be broadcast online, as the past collection of meetings have been.
And the comment was made that they will likely continue to broadcast meetings, even once meeting in person returns. Which makes sense. The infrastructure is already in place, might as well give the public another method to observe their government.
Pinehurst had a vaccination clinic for their residents, unclear how many took advantage of the offer. Unrelated, both the ambulance and fire department are now fully vaccinated. Both first and second dose.
Board members reported on various training events they had attended. Only of note here because they mentioned another online platform, Whova. I can’t speak to it’s effectiveness, but it’s good to have another option out there. As the saying goes, competition breeds excellence.
New signs for the Village parks where discussed again. A vendor appears to have been chosen, but it will still be some time before the signs go up. Likely sometime this spring.
Hyde Park analysis continues. No construction being done, nor is there a schedule yet. Too early in the process for that, but it has not been forgotten either.
Surprisingly long discussion about the HF-L Youth Softball Program. They are looking for additions to the Monroe Street park, as well as host a league at the park this summer. No firm decision was made tonight, as there are details to iron out, but the Board seemed in favor of the ideas. If all goes well we may see a can collection box, batting cage, and team signage before too long. I’m all for those who see a problem being the ones to fix it. Yes, they will gain from their work, but so will anyone else that plays ball at the park.
Expecting a big year with the summer concert series. No musicians announced yet, although there will likely be some returning from previous years. So if you like listening to music while hanging around outside, this may be worth following up on in a couple months.
Rate changes on a variety of ambulance fees. This is the type of thing that we should all be interested in, as the odds are we (or those we care about) will need ambulance services before too long. Unfortunately, the nature of our medical payment system obscures these details enough that I doubt many of us will even notice (or care).
Multi-municipal discussions on the ambulance program continue. These meetings were described as going ‘very well’ and ‘not an easy discussion’. Like last time this came up, this Board emphasized that no one has anything bad to say about the agency and the service it provides. This discussion is about how best to manage funding. Interesting seeing the views from different people on the same topic. Encouraging that everyone is saying roughly the same thing.
The Village office may well be opening back up, come March first. Meetings may also be in person again, although probably not for the public. Raises the question about if it’s safe for the Board to be in the room, it should be safe for the public as well.
Which led to an interesting discussion where the benefit of ‘face to face dialog’ was acknowledged. Good to hear, now have to implement. Ironically, there were a number of technical hiccups during the conversation.
A comment was made about not allowing the public into meetings, if there are ‘too many’. While I can understand the concern, refusing to allow the public into a ‘public meeting’ makes a mockery of the concept. A lesser issue if no one is in person, as at least the Board has to put up with the same issues the public does. But if they are in the room and we aren’t? It creates a double standard which, intentionally or not, leads to the impression the public has no place in the process. Much as they (apparently) have no place in the room.
The Village will be “working to secure property” for a future fire department building. A planned location was referred to, but not named (yet again). Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I can recall previous plans to move/expand the Library taking a number of years before anything happened. Haste makes waste, but the sooner the better. Ever a balance to maintain.
Budget approval and annual meeting set for April 5, 6PM and 6:30PM respectively. They don’t know if this will be in person or ‘virtual’ yet. Which is a shame, as the annual meetings have historically drawn a crowd. Would be great to get together again, strengthen the fabric that our community is made of. This is a good an excuse as any for a party, even if we have to call it a ‘peaceably assemble’ or ‘protest’.
And as with last month, by pattern, this meeting should have been last night. But as the off-pattern was expected, apart from noting that, I won’t complain.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the February 16, 2021 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.