Here is the video for the City Council meeting.
https://youtu.be/PQb9Zgby_G8
I was able to get a new camera, so I am hoping that the sound quality of the video has improved as I know that was an issue.
In the Work Session, we discussed:
– Sewers vs roadways. As many of you may or may not know, the City will be bringing back the road maintenance program. Some of our roads have not had a full maintenance done since the late 90s. As many of you also know, our sewer systems are also due to have a good cleanout. Both programs would cost about the same. We discussed if road maintenance was still a priority. It was decided that it was and the road maintenance program will continue. The City will continue to pursue grants so that the sewer cleanout may be able to be done sooner rather than later.
– Parking fine. This is a continuation of the discussion about how to handle repeat parking offenders. Right now it looks like we will be just raising the parking fines overall but this discussion will be where we finalize that before adding it to the agenda to vote on. The City Manager will be taking a survey of surrounding communities to see what they are charging and then Council will vote on the increase. If you have an opinion on this, contact your councilperson.
– We briefly discussed the possible parking ban on Washington. Due to the fact that we had a Public Hearing on the budget, we decided to table the matter until the next Work Session. The mayor agreed that residents in the area should be contacted about the fact that the matter was being discussed.
In the Regular Session, we voted on or had readings on:
– 2018 tax budget (2nd reading)
– Purchasing a new police vehicle. One of the police vehicles was in an accident that totaled the vehicle. The payout from the insurance will cover roughly half the cost of the new vehicle. As much as possible, in terms of equipment, will be salvaged from the old vehicle. (passed)
– Purchasing a radio to go into the new police vehicle (passed)
-To assess (basically fine) the company and church that is located in the old Chanel School due to multiple false alarms being called to that location. The 2 responsible parties were informed that future false alarm calls would be billed to them and another false alarm occurred, so these fees are associated with that call. Both groups have failed to pay their parts of the fees, so the City would like to place a lien on the property before it is sold to the Bedford City Schools. Just FYI, according to the notes 17 false alarms were called into this property after the property owners and residents had been warned that additional false alarms would result in assessments.
– To authorize that money from property taxes can be set aside for paying for garbage collection (1st reading)
– Resolutions to both declare that lighting on certain streets in Bedford needs to be improved and maintained and to give permission for those streets to have their lighting improved. The list is extensive and almost looks like every street in Bedford has at least a stretch that could be improved. This list and the cost is determined by the electric company. The City has no say in how much or how the money is spent. The City has asked repeatedly if the street lights could be moved to LED and solar and the electric company has declined. (1st reading)
– And the pole barn on Columbus Rd was back asking to be allowed. (passed – 1 nay)