The evening of 2022-11-14 was a meeting of the Mendon Town Board.
A gentleman applauded the Board for their support of the local Legion on Veteran’s day, and of the seniors with their activities. That he is part of both groups does not make his thanks any less heartfelt.
Apparently there is a staffing shortage at some of the New York State offices. This is my conclusion from it being stated that they aren’t sending out ‘Snow and Ice‘ money, while the paperwork is sitting at a vacant desk. Sounds like there is a story there, which I would like to hear. In any case, I hope it’s resolved before too long. We all benefit by having the roads at least mostly snow free.
There was an interesting discussion around sick time as it pertains to covid. At one point covid sick time (and the relevant quarantine/etc) was mandated and not treated as sick time. I believe there were also some State (and Federal?) funds to cover for ‘covid expenses’, of which this seems to fit. So the question was, has the situation changed? Is covid to be treated, at least from a ‘sick time’ point of view, as just another illness? Or is it still a valid cause to panic? No conclusion was reached, but I expect one will be made by the annual organizational meeting.
Said organizational meeting will be on January 2 at 7pm in the Town Hall. Not the Community Center, as most Town meetings have been for the past few years. They have not committed to where next years meetings will be, and making that decision will likely be part of the organizational meeting. I expect them to decide to have general meetings at Town Hall. Nothing would stop relocating for special occasions, this would just be for the ‘normal’ meetings.
The Mendon Public Library has apparently decided to no longer charge late fines. The stated reason is data showing this will lead to increased return in books, and thus savings on replacement purchases. I find this to be particularly noteworthy as of late I find myself drawn into conversations on responsibility and consequences every time I turn around. Often the core of those talks is how to teach these skills to children. It would seem that discarding fines (much like debt) will not be of long term service to those owing the fines. Perhaps alternate repayments could be explored? Something like community service at the library? Regardless, teaching our children their actions do not have consequences is asking for problems as they grow up. For examples see… any news sources should suffice.
Tonight had the longest minute approval I can recall, of any board. They went off on a tangent about… I think it was short term rentals and whether certain comments that were made were on topic. It was an interesting discussion either way, even if a bit of a different context. Normally minute approval is seconded and done, maybe with a minor typo to be corrected. All good either way, and also entertaining.
In the interests of full disclosure, the ~80 vouchers totaling ~$375k included one from me for a rounding error percentage of that total. At some point I’ll probably consider this ‘public knowledge’ and stop announcing it. But that point is not tonight.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the November 14, 2022 meeting of the Mendon Town Board.