The evening of 2023-06-20 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
A number of people who have been working on the Skate Park at the Monroe Street Park were at this meeting to share with the Board. Long story short: They have spent ~$27k on it so far (combination their own and fund-raised money), and expect to spend ~$20k more to finish out their plans. While they plan to get that through fundraising and personal donations, Rick (Mayor) mentioned looking into grants as well. We’ll see how that goes, as a number of items discussed are also looking for grants.
This was Gina’s last meeting, in her official capacity. I think she’s still got a week or two until her last day in the office. At least in that official capacity, I expect she’ll be back to visit at least once. Always a shame to lose someone, but nothing lasts forever. On the plus side, the rest of the staff looks to be transitioning well.
There was talk about next years eclipse. In particular, how the school will be closed, and there are plans to turn off the street lights. While neither of those require direct action on the Village’s part, there was some talk about what the Village might do for the event. It sounds like a considerable number of tourists are expected. On the one hand, this is all sounding rather insane to me. On the other, any excuse for a party…
An engineering firm has been hired to look into the condition of the Falls. In particular, to ‘evaluate and inspect’, not actually repair. Presumably their work will be used to plan the actual repairs. Looking to grants was mentioned again, with particular ones being named.
The office will be closed July 3rd. It sounds like all the staff want to use their vacation days, so they will just close. I can’t blame them, with the 4th being a holiday. Plan accordingly, as this makes it effectively a four day weekend in this context.
The big discussion was around a Waste Water Treatment Plant project. Mostly because of SEQR, which forces a process upon us. So they went through the process. While I can see the value in many situations, in this one it seemed pretty straightforward. If nothing is done, the situation will gradually get worse (accumulating wear and tear), causing the very environmental concerns to occur. Or, the project can be done, improving the overall condition (new and updated plant). Reading between the lines, that was the conclusion the Board reached. It just took way too many words because… SEQR. Which would be an 8th amendment violation, except it is all too ‘usual’ at this point.
As for the project itself, it is expected to cost ~$9.3 million. Of which ~$6 million is the ‘local share’. Rick said he doesn’t expect the Village to pay all of that ~$6 million, as there are a number of grants and similar they will be looking into.
As an aside, by pattern this meeting should have been held yesterday. But this Board saw fit to move the meeting to tonight instead. I assume because yesterday was Juneteenth. I can’t really fault them for changing the date, even as I am a fan of sticking to patterns. The dates were publicized well in advance, so anyone that wanted to attend could find out when they needed to be where.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the June 20, 2023 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.