The evening of 2026-09-28 was a meeting of the Mendon Town Board.
For those of you interested, the Town approved their portion of the Thompson Health project at 20 North Main. Was some talk about the details, but it sounds like it was fundamentally what was previously discussed. Which is to say, Town gains grassy area, urgent care gets to use Library parking. The devil may be in the details, and you can read those if you are interested. But I think it’s good to have this resolved.
There were a couple bits early in the meeting that reminded me of a quote, I would paraphrase here as ‘Politics are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being done.’ I’d rather not see this kind of political posturing. But I can understand it. We are a fallen people, and there is an election around the corner. Doesn’t mean I like it.
There has been a recent influx of FOIL requests, apparently from NOT AI. And this is causing more work for the office staff. Which had me thinking of a solution: aggressive and extreme transparency. Consult with legal counsel as needed. Then build a plan such that everything that is FOILable is posted on the website. Thus all FOIL requests could be replied to as either “See townofmendonny.gov/?s=[searchterm]” or “That is not FOILable, per section [insertlegalexception]”. Yes, it would require adjusting practices and a degree more work. But has the bonus of being as transparent as legally possible. It might even end up being less work in the end, as the effort to respond to FOIL requests would drop.
Mendon Youth Center remains closed for the time being. Concerns around the roof were stated. I’ve heard enough about this roof over the years, I’m of the opinion it should be ripped off and replaced with a sloped roof. It won’t be, as that would cost too much at once. Instead, it will be patched up. Again. And we’ll be back here in due time. Again. Disclaimer: Roofs are well outside my area of expertise. Yet I see a pattern with this one.
Budget adjustment resolutions were tabled. There were questions about numbers, balances, and such. While it’s a shame they didn’t have this ready to go, I am thankful for the due diligence. Better to not spend any money, if they aren’t sure on the details. After all, that’s not their money they are spending. It’s the taxpayers.
The monthly fee cap was removed for the Town Attorney, and instead a standard hourly rate was set. On the one hand, they were spending alot of time adjusting this. So this should create a more streamlined process. On the other, that streamlining could make it easier to overspend. But as mentioned above, I think this group has the due diligence around dollars to be ok here.
There was discussion around a decorum at meetings policy. Fair enough. But what stood out to me was how this potential policy appeared to be making efforts to respect the 1st amendment (free speech). In contrast, the potential facility use policy appeared to be disregarding the 2nd amendment (bear arms).
Amusingly, this looks like a case where two rules overlap with unintended consequences. This policy forbids weapons. While the export limits appear to have decreased, the Federal government has defined encryption as a munition. Every modern computer has encryption built in (which includes phones), thus using the munition. IE, a weapon. So anyone carrying their phone into a Town building is in violation of the proposed policy.
Or, I could be wrong. As that was clearly not the intent. Yet a weapon is just a tool with intent. The more rules, the more complicated. Which is why I like KISS.
And after executive session they hired an HR specialist. I didn’t hear a name or anything, but I suspect that will come out in due time.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the September 28, 2026 meeting of the Mendon Town Board.