The evening of 2023-10-16 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
Biggest discussions were around sidewalks, fire fighters, and the falls itself. Also had the unusual aspect of Rick (Mayor) showing up late, so Dan (Deputy Mayor) had to run the meeting. Which he managed well enough. Always good to have someone ready to step in, when life inevitably happens.
Sidewalk work is being planned for West Main Street, between Episcopal Ave and Norton street. Which means picking up where they left off last time. As this includes the Post Office driveway, there are also plans to improve the slope there. I hope that goes well, but I suspect it was built that way for a reason. Hopefully they don’t find any surprises as the work progresses.
From the sounds of it, if I did the math right, multiple grants and other funding sources mean no direct cost to the Village. Mind you, an indirect cost, as we the people always end up paying for everything. But that’s a whole other conversation.
They are continuing towards part time paid fire fighters. Appears to have reached the point where it needs approval from Civil Service for an appropriate Title. Until they hear back, planning to go ahead with interviews and similar for the 11 applicants. It sounds like they will all be hired on, as the position calls for two a day. Having a pool of candidates always greater flexibility in filling in the schedule.
This appears to have an ~$90k impact for this budget year (not calendar year, fiscal year, which ends in… May?). As this was not budgeted, the Board will have to find the funds elsewhere, which is likely to negatively impact our departments. But that’s what priorities are about. How important is having a fire truck show up with crew? More or less important then… take your pick on other Village services. No examples were discussed, but I’m sure that will come in due time.
Once again, what to do about the falls and the Haviland house was discussed. This time, having a finished engineering report for the Village. Long story short (and it was a long enough discussion), the engineers say no action is needed at this time, so the Village is not planning any construction project in the near term. Long term? Different story, but that doesn’t help the Havilands now.
On the silver lining side, the Havilands did gain two pieces of information. The Village won’t be solving their issue for them. But they did say they wouldn’t ruin whatever the Havilands do to address the issue (pending lawyers working out a written agreement).
Not great for them, but consistent with government not being a reliably source for solving the problems we face in our daily lives. Ironically enough, it sounds like the DEC is the biggest obstacle the Havilands have to fixing it on their own. Concerns about mussels in the waterway or some such. It does leave me wondering if the DEC has any thoughts about the creek claiming the house and eroding it into the waterway. Is that ecologically acceptable?
Reminds me of when I heard ‘chainsaws are part of a trees natural life cycle’ from an arborist at a DEC sponsored event years back. Radically different situation, but the line comes to mind anytime environmental concerns seem to have gone… wacky.
On a more solemn note, the recent passing of Ray Milne was recognized and a tree planting is being planned on his behalf. To me, Ray was a nice guy I would run into every once in a while. But to someone at the table tonight, he was a father.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the October 16, 2023 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees.
Link to agenda on Village website.
There was also a Town Board meeting tonight. Alas, I cannot be in two places at once. So I was at this meeting and not that one. Which means tomorrow I get to watch the recording of that meeting. Not as good as being there, but beats the minutes (no offense to the minute taker).