2020 Mayor's Messages

A View of the Falls
Office of the Mayor - Richard B. Milne
 

July 8, 2021

HYDE PARK UPDATE:

At the June Village Board meeting, the Board of Trustees unanimously agreed to move forward with the repairs to HYDE PARK where the road and creek embankment were undermined due to a Water Main Break.

While there may be litigation surrounding the repair costs, the Village Board and Village Highway/DPW staff agree that to protect against further erosion, already evident in recent storms, and for resident/pedestrian safety, the project must move forward.

The Village has come to agreement with specific construction teams and the work is being scheduled. These repairs are expected during the months of July and August and completion is expected to take up to 3-weeks when it does begin. Our goal is to have these repairs completed and the road re-opened to ONE WAY traffic before the start of the school year.

Residents of Hyde Park and the immediate/adjacent residents to Hyde Park will receive a letter (pre-construction) of the plan and estimate time line. Certainly there will be some disruptions to local residents but this is necessary to get the job completed.

If you have specific questions regarding the project, you may reach out to the Village by email or contact Mayor Milne directly by email.

December 17, 2020

View of The Falls- Village of Honeoye Falls – Rick Milne, Mayor

The Village is beginning it’s budget season with many unknowns due to the current COVID-19/pandemic situation. Our staff all generally remain healthy and while we’d rather not be working remotely, we are still moving business forward. I appreciate the efforts of all our Village Team and also appreciate the patience and understanding of our residents and customers.

Visits to the Village Office remain by appointment only.

The Village Hall will be closed for a “deep cleaning” between the Christmas and New Year holiday. We appreciate Frank Pagano and his ServiceMaster team for getting this work done for us. They do a great job and we are happy to work with a local business to get this completed. This cleaning will be done on 12/30-12/31 and all staff will be working remotely as the Village Hall will be closed.

All of our Village Board and public committee meetings will continue to be held either remotely or will be closed to the general public and access will continue to be through an on line platform called (Big Blue Button). We do understand that some of the meetings we’ve held have had some challenges. While no platform is perfect, often the physical location creates issues as well. We will continue to work through these issues and actually hold additional meetings as/if needed when there are technical issues that cannot be overcome on a particular evening. There have been individuals that have asked us to consider putting projects and meetings on hold due to some of these issues. That will not occur. The village is committed to moving business forward and will work through the challenges to ensure all are heard, questions are answered and due process is followed.

I’ve had some residents ask and suggest that we try to have a community/Village event to help spread community cheer during the holiday. A suggestion has been that on Christmas Eve at 6:00 PM, our residents go outside their home and ring bells of some sort to celebrate the season and to wish everyone a happy holiday. This sounds like a fun opportunity to involve our residents in a fun event and we hope to get the word out and get people involved in doing so.

Many have been very happy to hear of the Covid-19 immunizations beginning to arrive. This is great news and we hope these meds will do what the pharma/medical field says they will. We all need to continue to be patient as getting these all out to the general public will take months. We cannot let down our guard and we must continue to socially distance, wash hands and use sanitizers and wear the masks. We are not in the clear yet!

Lastly; no matter how you celebrate the season; as the Festival of Lights continues, the season of peace and love moves forward; whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza or simply look at the season as a festive time of the year….the Village of Honeoye Falls staff wish you good health, safety and peace. We are in this together and will get through all this together as well!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Rick Milne, Mayor Honeoye Falls

March 16, 2020

In response to the corona virus (Covid-19) outbreak and in following Federal, State and County Guidelines: Effective March 17, 2020: The Village of Honeoye Falls will be suspending all nonessential operations until further notice. Meetings of the Village Board (post 3/16/20) will be held remotely and all committee meetings as well as Zoning Board of Appeals & Conservation Board meetings will determined on an as needed basis. Any meetings generally open to the public will either be suspended and rescheduled or will be held remotely with links for the general public.

The DPW staff will be split into two groups working limited hours and covering separate days each week.

The Village Office will be closed to all visitors and only essential persons will be staffing the office on a daily basis.

If a resident or business owner/customer needs to visit the office an appointment will need to be made. Making these appointments can be done in one of three ways, they are as follows:

1) Call the Village Office (585-624-1711) and leave a message with the appropriate department.
2) Send a Personnel Message (PM) to the Village Facebook page (Honeoye Falls, NY) and we will monitor those personnel messages.
3) EMAIL the Village.

In the event of an emergency (aside from concerns regarding Covid-19) you may use the following numbers for direct calls. For concerns regarding: Roadways, Sidewalks, Sewer and Storm water: Call Highway Superintendent/Building Inspector: David Ford @ (585-303-4901)

For questions regarding routine business Issues with the village or any other concerns: Call – Village Administrator: Brian Anderson (585-303-4900)

Mayor – Rick Milne – (585-202-7190)
FOR ANY FIRE/MEDICAL EMERGENCIES – CALL 911

Please practice social distancing, wash your hands thoroughly as often as possible and use sanitizer as often as possible as well.
Practice sound personnel hygiene and cough/sneeze into your sleeve area or use tissues and dispose of properly.

March 10, 2020

NYCOM: My Community, My Future - YouTube Video

Mayor Richard Milne, Village of Honeoye Falls

Zoning Draft Code Open House

Our thanks to those that attended the open house meeting last night to review, discuss and offer opinion on the proposed Zoning “Draft” Code update.

Your comments and suggestions will be considered and any adjustment to the draft code will be noted. The code will be reposted on the Village website for further review before going to a formal public hearing.

Regards,

Rick Milne, Mayor
Board of Trustees
Village of Honeoye Falls

Zoning Code

February 9, 2019

Village of Honeoye Falls Residents:

We are happy to announce that our Zoning Code language has been updated and is now available to review in (DRAFT) form on this Village web-site. Please see the flashing banner on the home page to click on the link to this draft language. We ask you take the time to review this updated Zoning Code to offer your opinion.

We will host an open meeting on Tuesday, February 26th at the Mendon Community Center at 147 North Main Street . The meeting to review this code will be from 5:30-7:30 PM. After this open meeting any further adjustments will be made and then an official public hearing will be scheduled and conducted.
Honeoye Falls

Crockpot Craze Fundraiser

The Village Board of Trustees are happy to welcome the newest "HFL Student Representative to the Village Board" - HFL Sophomore Ms. Morgan Levine. We look forward to her involvement in supporting the Village Board and bringing a student perspective to issues that the board discusses.

Pictured L-R: Trustees Stan Worboys & Jim Alfieri, Mayor Rick Milne, Student Re. - Morgan Levine and Deputy mayor Jerry Pavelsky

This past Thursday and Friday I had the opportunity to meet with some incredible mayors from across NY State in discussing a common path forward in working with the administration in Albany for the betterment of all our Cities and Villages. I'm always proud to represent the Village of Honeoye Falls as a member of the Executive Board for the NYCOM (New York State Conference of Mayors) and past President.

Then on Saturday spent the afternoon at the D&C with about 40-other District 25 members of very diverse backgrounds discussing (Common Ground). A process of trying to find a middle ground in effort to solve problems and issues at both the Federal and State level - trying alternatives to partisan politics. I appreciated being invited and aside from a representative from Senator Robachs office, believe I was the only elected official present.

Rick Milne, Mayor

Benincasa

Friends: Interested in becoming a volunteer and supporting a great organization? Become a volunteer at Benincasa. Please see posting attached for this very worthy cause.

Good Vibes Flowing

A big thank you to all the wonderful sponsors of the Good Vibes Flowing Concert series this year. Mathstone Corporation, Honeoye Falls Marketplace, Four Corners Optical, Dipper Dan Ice Cream, Branson-Emerson, Salvatores Pizza, Edward Jones Financial, Crafting a Brand, and Speed-Pro Imaging.

We appreciate the support in helping to make our second season of great music so successful. We will begin to plan season number three right away and look forward to continued support.

Lastly, thank you to all those who faithfully attended the Tuesday night concerts and for all your positive comments and also for suggestions. We want to be sure to continue to improve as we establish a solid program that will continue for years to come.

Good Vibes continue to flow in Honeoye Falls.

BRIDGE CLOSING

Some long range planning for a major traffic change in the Village in early August. The NYS DOT will be closing the (East Street/Village Four Corners) bridge over Honeoye Creek to vehicular traffic for a one week period (currently slated for the week of August 6th). Bridge repairs are needed and this will force this closure for this one week period. The work will create dust and noise as the DOT completes it's repairs. At this time, the DOT expects to keep the sidewalks open but this may all change as the work begins. Village officials have had discussions with the DOT as well as our emergency services chiefs and the HFL School district has been alerted as well. This is preliminary notice. Further detail will follow as the project time comes closer.

June 18, 2018

We're very excited to continue our Good Vibes Flowing concert series. Beginning June 26th - thru August each Tuesday evening (except for July 3rd) 6:30-8:30 PM.

Bring a blanket or your most comfortable lawn chair. Get a picnic dinner or get take out from a local restaurant and come down to Harry Allen Park and enjoy some great music. Great family fun and ask a neighbor or other friend to join you as well!

January 11, 2018

The National Honor Society will be going door-to-door in Honeoye Falls the week of January 8th with a survey regarding your interest in Curbside Composting. The idea for Curbside Composting was brought up by a passionate villager and a senior at the Honeoye Falls-Lima High School who is pursuing this program with the Village’s blessing. This survey will be short and non-binding, but will be incredibly useful for the village in determining the potential for a curbside composting pick-up. This survey will also be available as a Survey Monkey©, available on the Village of Honeoye Falls Facebook Page.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NRJHVPM

December 22, 2017

Village of Honeoye Falls and K&H Precision Products, Inc.

Recently, there have been discussions and concerns stemming from odors coming from the foundry site at K&H Manufacturing on Norton & High Streets in the Village. 
Residents have contacted this office to voice their concern and questions and we thank you for doing so. 

K&H, founded in 1985, is a strong community advocate and essential business within our Village community.   Fabrication and Casting of prototype molded products from concept and design to prototype and small run production is their niche.

In 2017 K&H opened their new facility on High Street, repurposing an existing building in addition to their Norton Street location and thus continuing their commitment to being in Honeoye Falls instead of moving to another site. 

Their foundry process currently utilizes an aromatic petroleum based material in the forming of the molds they produce.  During the manufacturing process, this aromatic material emits an odor that with prevailing winds and down-drafts can impact on the surrounding area.  This concern was brought to the attention of the K&H management team and they have immediately developed a proactive plan to essentially eliminate the odor.  Working with their supplier of the aromatic material, K&H will bring in a new material to replace the current one.   The new material is expected to have little to no odor emitted during this process.  Full testing will confirm this one way or another. 

It’s important to note that the odor that is emitted through the casting process that utilizes the aromatic material, while unpleasant, is not harmful to the environment or to the residents of our community.  K&H Precision Products has met and continues to meet all their environmental impact requirements, and this will continue to be reviewed. 

K&H is also working to change some of their production process overall to aid in eliminating this concern.  While these changes will take upwards of 1-2 months to initiate, the process to move this forward has begun. 

I appreciate the cooperation and partnership that K&H Precision Products brings to the table both in their commitment to having their business in Honeoye Falls as well as to addressing this concern.

Richard B. Milne, Mayor
Honeoye Falls

August 14, 2017

A View Of The Falls
Honeoye Falls Mayor – Rick Milne

It seems like yesterday many of us were in great anticipation of the beginning of summer.  And now with the incredible deluge of water our region has sustained from spring right through the summer season we are wondering where the summer went or if it did even arrive.   Water “ponding” and flooding have been an issue in many areas.  Certainly, some concerns arise from old storm drains that we are working to improve and other areas of concern are simply low lying areas that can’t handle the excessive amount of rain we’ve had.  This will continue to be looked at and improvements will be considered. 
We started a (GOOD VIBES FLOWING) Tuesday night concert series this summer and we feel it has been very positive.  While we know that next year we’ll need to advertise better, we wanted to see how social media and word of mouth advertising would work.   We have had some great shows and feed-back has been positive overall.   Two more shows are coming with excellent programs (Caryn Feinstein and the Generation Gap this week and Jack West for our final performances on 8/15 and 8/22 respectively).  We appreciate the positive feed-back, constructive criticisms and look forward to an even better series next summer.  I appreciate the local businesses that have supported this effort as well.  There is discussion of one more additional concert to close off the season so stay tuned for more Good Vibes Flowing in the Village. 

We want to remind everyone that Hyde Park is open to one way traffic only (flowing South to North – or from the East Street entrance to the North Main Street exit).   We appreciate the support of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, HFL School District and the clear majority of the Hyde Park residents on this change.   There is a (lined) walking/biking path on one side of the roadway and three speed bumps have been installed as well.  While there is always some negativity from individuals with change, we appreciate the many positive comments.  We have also contacted mapping groups (like Google Maps) to have this updated for GPS’s as well. 

The Village of Honeoye Falls Board of Trustees and Mendon Town Board continue to work together regarding our Village Ambulance service and have conducted multiple meetings (along with the HFMVA Chief – Ed Sheidlower) surrounding its budgeting and funding.  I feel very good about our municipal entities and the HFMVA working together and ensuring this department remains strong and vibrant in the future.  This positive teamwork is good for our community overall and supports our need for the highest quality EMS service we can attain.   Thank you again to all our volunteer, paid and Per-Diem staff members for all your efforts.

The Village Board recently met with the Honeoye Falls Fire Department Line Officers and conducted a very positive planning discussion that detailed needs for the HFFD today, tomorrow and for the future.   This was simply a workshop that allowed our fire department line officers and village trustees the opportunity to meet with no time constraints and discuss the status of the fire department and budgeting needs.   We appreciate all the Volunteers and Officers that serve our community so well with the Honeoye Falls Fire Department.

January 25, 2017

While it has been a while since we’ve published an article in the Sentinel, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy.  Our Village Administrator (Brian Anderson) and Highway Foreman (David Ford) have continued to work with our Engineering Team from Chatfield Engineers preparing for out next major project at the waste water treatment plant (WWTP).  This project has been “in the works” for a couple years now and will be completed in 2017.  While this project will be detailed in another upcoming article, basically it’s a project that brings the WWTP up to new standards for the treatment of discharge coming from the plant.  This major upgrade is being funded mostly with a grant awarded in 2015. 

Along with the aforementioned project we continue to look at other areas of concern.  Our recent request for state funding for our Village Hall auditorium project was unfortunately denied.  This request was for funding which is necessary to move this project forward and was requested through a State Historical Grant via the regional economic development council.  Efforts will continue working to bring this historical venue back to a useful purpose for our community and for visitors. I believe that it fits within the scope of what the economic development councils intend to promote within the Finger Lakes region. 

Another project moving forward in 2017 is the remount project of Ambulance 5629 which is over a year behind schedule. This project entails a complete overhaul of the existing ambulance box, attaching it to a new chassis/under-carriage.  This will reduce cost to our community as compared to purchasing a “new” ambulance.  (We appreciate the HFMVA working with us on this project).  Purchasing and installing security cameras in some of our park areas will also be underway as vandalism continues to be a concern. We wish we didn’t have to consider this, however the Village Board feels it’s the right thing to do to discourage some of the poor behavior and vandalism in our parks. 

I also would like to thank those residents that have come to some of our recent board meetings and shared their thoughts and asked questions regarding various issues.  I welcome and encourage more community involvement.  I have been asked by many if I plan to run for the position of Mayor again and in all honesty that was not an easy question to answer.  I have been honored to serve on the village board for the past 17 – years, the last 12 as mayor.  We also have village trustees that have served for as many years (or more) than me.   Serving as Mayor has been an incredible experience and I do plan to run for one more term.  A major focus for me is going to get new people involved.  We need to begin the process to transition to others who want to serve this community and who can look forward and still maintain our important village history. 

While we may not always agree on a path forward, I truly believe if you want what is best for the community and are willing to work as a team and understand that it is possible to maintain history yet still have positive progress, success will come. 

I also want to stress the importance of getting involved and learning about the inner-workings of municipal government.  We (government) are often bound by various state laws as well as village laws that we must follow.  We are also often hindered by unfunded mandates and a governor who in my opinion is doing everything he can to eliminate small municipalities.  He (the governor) continually states that our villages and towns are the source of our high NY State property taxes and that we are wasteful and aren’t doing enough to cut spending.  This simply is not true, through NYCOM (New York State Conference of Mayors) we have provided examples of thousands of cost savings plans that villages, towns and school districts partner in across the state. Locally we continue to look for additional savings.  Just this month the village and HFL School District, together, developed a plan to have the some of the equipment maintenance for the village vehicles performed by the school transportation department.  This is expected to provide a cost savings to the village and positive influx of work for the district transportation department as well. 

In closing, please consider getting involved. Consider serving on one of our committees as openings come up.  Consider coming to more of our Village Board meetings and learning about the work the village staff does, the work or board does and then consider running for election in the future.   Our community needs people to step up, we need people to consider getting involved; but equally important, we need people to get involved after they learn a little about the time commitment and the real importance of what they are getting in to. 

Please don’t hesitate to email me directly or leave a message for me at the Village Office (585-624-1711).  I’m always happy to talk about this community.  I’m happy to share my experiences and answer questions. 

November 28, 2016

Village Residential Leaf Pick-Up: The Village Highway/DPW staff will continue with (Leaf Pick-up) this week as a result of the snow storm prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. Village crews will be working to get all leaf piles picked up through (Wednesday, December 7th). No leaf piles will be picked up after 3:00 PM December 7th and disposal will be the responsibility of the homeowner after that date.

It is also important to remind our residents that we (do NOT) pick up leafs in the spring. If you have more leafs in the spring to clean up, it will be the responsibility of the home owner to dispose of.

November 18, 2016

Honeoye Falls and surrounding community residents/friends: Tonight (Friday 11-18) beginning at 7:00 PM is the Honeoye Falls Fire Department's Annual (Turkey Raffle). For those not traveling to hunting camp or on vacation for the (Thanksgiving Week); the event is an absolute blast! It's normally packed with people having a great time supporting the HFFD and trying to win a frozen turkey or some other prize.

If you are around the Honeoye Falls area tonight, come out and enjoy the event while supporting the HFFD at the same time!