VC: Mon Visioning, Tuesday Budgeting, Jets and Snow Removal

Dear People: On Monday (2/22) there will be a joint meeting of the Council and the Miami Township Trustees about the Visioning process so far. On Tuesday (2/23)there will be a second special meeting focused on the budget.

Monday: Together with the Miami Township Trustees, we'll be getting a presentation on the Visioning process so far, and hearing their recommendations for draft goals, organizing themes and principals. So far I like what I am seeing, although I know that the process has not been easy or perfect.

This Tuesday's meeting is the second of three Budget meetings:

• the first, which was earlier this month, was focused on projected capital expenses (estimated for the next five years),
  
• the second, this Tuesday, focusing on Enterprise funds (all the rate-paying funds, etc.), and the
  
• third focused will be focused on the General Fund (3/6) and any revisions to the first two that may have been made as a result of our earlier two meetings.

Follow up on Jet-Noise and Snow Removal

At our meeting last Tuesday (2/16) we had a presentation by the officers at the Springfield-Beckley Airfield. I believe they were quite responsive to villagers' concerns, and I'm glad they came. They showed us the flight patterns that all pilots are supposed to follow, which do go well outside the villages of Yellow Springs and Clifton, and are designed to avoid direct overflight.

However, if that pattern is not followed...How to make a complaint about planes flying outside of the required pattern:

"Noise Information Line: 937-525-2780

To learn more about Flight Operation & Noise at the 178th Fighter Wing please visit our website at: http://www.178fw.ang.af.mil/ . On the right side near the bottom of the page you will see the section ‘Noise Complaint’. Click on the tab ‘Flight Operations & Noise’.

If people feel their calls are not being handled properly, please have them email Col Mike Roberts at mike.roberts@ang.af.mil"

Snow removal: We are a small village, and our crews are small. There are only so many workers who are qualified to drive the snowplows, and they can only work so long before they are required to take breaks, for safety. And there are only so many places that we can pile up snow, and then, if necessary, it takes another step to remove the piles that are obstructive. So we ask your patience when we experience repeated and unusually heavy snows as we have so far this month.

HOWEVER, you may be able to help village staff and your fellow villagers:

1) Scoop your sidewalks, regularly and as soon as possible after a storm.
2) Most important: Scoop out any fire hydrants on or near your property! This is critical for your own household's safety as well as the safety of your neighbors.

I was saddened to hear of the death of Lucille Clifton on February 13th. Here's a poem of hers about the passage of time on this tired earth:

the mississippi river empties into the gulf

and the gulf enters the sea and so forth,
none of them emptying anything,
all of them carrying yesterday
forever on their white tipped backs,
all of them dragging forward tomorrow.
it is the great circulation
of the earth's body, like the blood
of the gods, this river in which the past
is always flowing. every water
is the same water coming round.
everyday someone is standing on the edge
of this river, staring into time,
whispering mistakenly:
only here. only now.

© Lucille Clifton. Online Source

Peace,
L.