The evening of 2023-07-17 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
The big topic of the evening was the difficulties with keeping emergency services running. At the risk of misreading the situation, there are concerns that a growing number of calls will go unanswered. At least by these departments. Presumably someone from another department will eventually show up. But as the saying goes, when every second counts, help is… hours away?
I got the impression both the Ambulance and Fire Department are doing their best with what they have to work with. They are just having difficulty getting enough bodies to handle the calls they are getting. I’m sure there are equipment issues too (a new ambulance and roof replacement for the ambulance base were approved during the meeting), but all of that is worthless without people.
I got the impression the proposed merger of Honeoye Falls and Mendon Fire services has stalled out. To be fair, I wasn’t sure that would solve the staffing issues. It would have created a larger organization, which might have made it easier to shoulder the burden. But that would be offset by having to cover more area. I wasn’t really seeing any net gain. Also no significant negatives, so I wasn’t against the idea.
At the moment the Fire Department staffing seems to be more critical, so they are exploring hiring part time staff to cover the busiest portion of the day. They have not committed to this yet, as the Board needs to do their due diligence first. But they are seeing the need. To such an extent, temporary steps to cover were being discussed.
If you would be willing to serve the community, with either of these agencies, they would be happy to have you. More information can be found on their respective website. Here for Ambulance, and here for Fire.
With that covered, there were some other topics of interest (even if not to this scale).
Honeoye Falls apparently has a homeless person living in the parks. While details seemed deliberately vague, likely to protect this individuals privacy, I got the impression he has been housed in the area for a while, but has been having difficulties leading to the current situation. It was said that if you have any trouble, to call 911, as they are the best qualified to handle the situation. Ironic, as the emergency services staffing issues are mentioned above. If nothing else, this serves as a reminder that ‘there but for the grace of God go I‘.
A new street sweeper is being purchased. ~$300k of the ~$321k cost is coming from a grant, which helps the local impact. Of course, everything is paid for by the taxpayers in the end.
The parking around Harry Allen Park is going to be repaved soon. I didn’t catch the exact dates, but I got the sense of within a month. Either way, the entire park (driveway, parking, grass, gazebo, etc) will likely be closed during the day while that happens. Sounds like the total process won’t take more then a few days.
And on a more amusing note, Gina Hurley, who just retired, will be hired back. This time as substitute office staff, in the event coverage is needed for illness, vacation, etc. Which seems reasonable enough. Even if it’s funny that she can’t stay away.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the July 17, 2023 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.