The evening of 2024-06-10 was a meeting of the Mendon Town Board.
Andy (Highway Superintendent) has continued to use the Public Comment portion of the meeting to give his report. Tonight he highlighted, among other things, that once the sidewalk mess on West Main street is finished, there will be work done on the road itself. From context, I think his crews will be doing that work, on behalf of the County.
For the first time in quiet a while, the Town will have a Board of Ethics. This has been vacant longer then anyone could say. I recognize the approved Board members and I think they will all do the job well enough. We are all flawed and imperfect, and I’m sure these people have all done unethical things in the past. But I like to think I know them well enough to be confident this Board will itself be reasonably ethical.
Concerns were raised about the ‘smoke shop’ at 3913 Rush-Mendon road. While I didn’t hear anyone say ‘marijuana’, that was how I interpreted the questions on legality. The Town has received a number of complaints, and a decent pile of evidence. No one at the table sounded happy with the situation. The question seemed more about next steps. Apparently recent changes at the Office of Cannabis Management mean there are now more options for the Town. And I expect they will be using all of them.
Personally, I find this sort of situation predictable. Not in details, but the broad strokes. We have a situation where something is Federally illegal, but the State ignores that. And in turn, is ignored by at least some of the public. Rule of Law only works when everyone supports it. The more it is ignored on ‘small’ issues, the easier it is to justify further breaking of the law.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the June 10, 2024 meeting of the Mendon Town Board.