Learning Together Part 6: West Genesee Meeting Records
Hello Camillus NY!
It appears that the West Genesee Board of Education, also known as the David C. Bills Machine, now posts its meetings to YouTube.
I will share some more detailed thoughts on that later in the blog post.
However, there is a huge “but” attached to that.
After spending a decent amount of time listening to Liverpool CSD’s four-hour board meeting recordings and digging through their BoardDocs, I have to say it: I am starting to think I identify as a Warrior.
I realize Liverpool has had is fair share of controversy however.
Credit where it is due. Liverpool CSD’s board recordings are professional, accessible, and actually useful. The difference is hard to miss.
Honestly, I learned more about school budgeting from listening to Liverpool’s meeting than I have from anything West Genesee’s cut-down marketing material will ever tell you.
Some things I learned:
- Liverpool appears to have a named Budget Advisory Team that meets during the budget process and reviews cost centers (West Genesee appears to lean on the wisdom of David C. Bills and Christine C. Demass and "others")
- The videos they are making are at modern standards , the slides they are speaking to are displayed in the video
- The questions being asked are more pointed
- The language used is no BS and professional, cuts are called cuts, "in trouble " is said plainly
- West Genesee looks like a speed run in comparison, a slow speed Marketing run 🤣
Big difference
They appear to have the same voting board size: 9 members.
But Liverpool’s minutes show who voted which way by name, while West Genesee’s minutes mostly show only the vote count, like Approved 9-0. Liverpool even records when fewer than 9 are voting, such as 7 Aye when only seven members are present.
Almost immediately, I found a 5–4 vote on Liverpool’s budget proposal. That means one Liverpool budget vote had four more “no” votes than six years of West Genesee Board voting combined.
One thing that really stood out was when they went to executive session.
Under New York Open Meetings Law, they cannot just casually say, “We’re going into executive session.”
They need to do it from an open meeting, by a majority vote of the total membership
The motion has to identify the general area or areas of the subject they are going to discuss. 👈 This does not happen with the West Genesee Board of Education.
Public Officers Law §105 says executive session can happen only after that open-meeting vote and only for listed purposes.
Liverpool CSD Follows this professionally EVERY TIME: Time Linked 👇
That is the proper, professional, and legally clean way to handle it.
They mute the audio during executive session, but the video still shows the full meeting length. When they come out of executive session, the video resumes, so the public can still see how long the meeting lasted and when the board returned to open session.
West Genesee Board of Education Does Not: Video Time Linked 👇
If this is how they do it on Video just imagine every meeting before ? Honestly, West Genesee BOE looks silly in comparison. 👈
But at least there is some transparency now. You can hear the words being said.
Well, sort of.
What I find interesting is that every video Liverpool CSD has posted appears to be one long, uncut meeting recording.
West Genesee, on the other hand, seems to have broken its public meeting into separate videos.
There is also some gap of time before Part Two begins, so who knows what was said during that missing stretch.
But when the whole point is public transparency, broken-up meeting videos with unexplained gaps do not exactly inspire confidence.
Especially with 📌 **The whole edited meeting minutes thing
This lady is my hero. Timestamped video link included. 👇
Unfortunately, with her opening line in that room, she was probably already considered “less important.”.
I am sure David C. Bills and Christine C. DeMass, with their salaries and benefits, could relate deeply to the struggle.🤣
She stood up, spoke her mind, good job Donna!👏
To those not in her financial postion. I would say, lets hope it stays that way.🙏
Then there is this...
The President of the perpetual YES brigade. 👇 Jumps in the video included below
Video jumps:
Jump to 4:07 "Running a Corporation that Makes no Profit"
Jump to 1:45 "Crafted Budget" I was expecting the word "Artisan"Next🤣
Unfortunately, like most things West Genesee Board of Education, the beginning of his statement is cut off. But the general point of what he is saying appears to be this:
The budget vote is not about the Capital Improvement vote, which is technically true.
However, there is no doubt that the Capital Improvement Train has put major debt pressure on the budget. I am sure The West Genesee Board of Education and David C. Bills will try again in some form 👈
Then he goes on to say:
“On specific, specific capital improvement issues that the school, uh, some felt needed.”
Nah dude. You and the enitre board brought it to us twice, unanimously.👈
Then:
“Crafted Budget”
He then goes on to say things like:
“They run a corporation that makes no profit.”
Another way to say it they are running a corporation with guaranteed income.
They call the kids "Products" , I mean if you don't see a problem with that especially the way the world is headed I do not know what to tell you.
More Praise:
“Amazed"
Between David C. Bills and Christine C. DeMass, they make about $500,000 a year. No praise from me for doing your job. Especially at that pay grade 👈
I will praise the Town Worker who fixed my mailbox after a long snowplowing winter.
More Amazement!:
“Contractual Obligations"
These are defacto in every School Budget made since the beginning of School Budgets. What you did not see that coming when you ran the credit card?
You see it across districts. When things get uncomfortable, they tend to separate themselves from “the administration.”👈
“We are volunteers.”
The thing is, they are the ones who appointed David C. Bills, He is who they back at EVERY Turn, because he fits their agenda.
They have recorded ONLY one single NO vote ( a naming convention ) as far back as 2022.👈
They have an agenda. David C. Bills fits that agenda.
They cannot attempt separate themselves from it, and accountability is direct. The board hires, evaluates, renews, disciplines, and can ultimately remove the superintendent. Publicly, boards often say:
“Administration recommended this.”
But privately, the board is the body that keeps that administration in power.
They have early access, institutional cover, local status, political credibility, influence over millions of dollars, and control over the person running the district.
Maybe people start out thinking they are going to change the board.
But based on the vote count and the transparency level, it sure looks like the board changes them instead. Eventually, they just toe the line. There is no doubt that the "Pres" Keeps things in-line
Based on the Vote count how could you argue otherwise ?
Hey President and Laywer Aaron Ryder are you proud and AMAZED ? at the hammering you caused to our life over here ? "NO IMPACT" or does that bring another corporate chuckle ?
You know "To put it into terms you can understand"🫶
Olde World Crafted 🤯
If you are interested in the things I type I will probably have one more coming before the vote!!!
Peace, Love, Corporations and Crafting Artisan Things,
-RTN
