May 7, 2018 Bedford City Council Meeting

Here is the video for the City Council Meeting:

https://youtu.be/L8p9NAQOCSQ

In the Work Session, we discussed:

  • What the summer Council Meeting dates will be (June 4th @ 8 pm, July 2nd @ 8 pm, August 6th @ 8 pm)
  • A continuation on the discussion of the Parking fines. An incremental fine increase was deemed to difficult for the police department to track, especially in light of how few repeat offenders there are. It was determined that Council would like to see an increase in the parking fine and they requested that research be done into how much of an increase would be deemed appropriate and legal.
  • How to make local ordinance comply with State law in regards to small cell and wireless support structures.
  • There was an extensive discussion about the church that wants to move into the old Catered Elegance building. The lawyer for the church & Testa (property owner) spoke on behalf of the church. Most of Council’s concerns revolved around the loss of the space as a reception hall (due to the fact that there is not a good alternative in Bedford) and ensuring the church was really a church (in light of 2 separate “churches” in the past year in Bedford becoming police nuisances for very un-church like behavior)

In the Regular Session:

Presentations:

  • A presentation was given to Cleveland Jewelry for being in business for 30 years
  • The Hawthorne Valley Youth Council reported on their experience during the recent Student Government Day.

In the reports:

  • The City is bringing back the Street Program and is currently assessing streets for priority. City owned streets will get priority over County streets because the County should be taking care of those. Yes, this means that Union and Solon will have a lower priority.
  • Community Shred Day will be May 19th
  • June is free permit month for owner occupied homes that wish to do exterior improvements.
  • Consider signing up your child for a summer camp at the library
  • Baseball and softball sign-ups are still open. Sign yourself or your child up today.

Council voted on:

Old Business

  • Adding an amendment to the Rental Inspection ordinance that would make it so that any property that was delinquent on its taxes could not get an occupancy permit. (passed)
  • Allowing for a tax abatement for Qua Inc (aka Mazda of Bedford) (passed)

New Business

  • To amended a contract with the law firm the City uses to collect delinquent taxes. This needed to be done in light of recent State law changes. (passed)
  • Allowing for the formation of an agreement with Bedford Schools in regards to the Qua Inc (aka Mazda of Bedford) tax abatement. The Bedford City School Board had already agreed to the agreement. (passed)
  • To allow the City to join a salt buying consortium and to commit to purchasing salt through that consortium. (passed)
  • Changes to budget for various departments including Police, Fire and Recreation. This is in response to the recently passed union contracts and needed to be done to accommodate the raises that were in those contracts. (passed)
  • Entering a contract with a company to clean up behind Bedford Park Terrace and Bedford Dales Condos. These companies were informed on March 2nd to clean up their properties. As they have not, the City will be hiring a company and billing the two companies involved for the cost. (passed)
  • Contract to buy liquid ferric chloride, which is used by the waste water treatment plant (passed)
  • A contract with Highland Hills for providing jail services (passed)
  • A contract with L.E. Scott Electrical to redo the lighting at Ellenwood (passed)
  • A contract with Leff Electrical to purchase lighting components for Ellenwood. (passed)
  • First reading for the proposed 2018 Tax Budget (1st reading)
  • Allowing for a restaurant / entertainment establishment at 339 Columbus Rd (the old Just Friends location). Council agreed unanimously to reject the Planning Commissions recommendation that this restaurant not be allowed. While I cannot speak to other council members mindsets, my thoughts were while alcohol will be served here and there is some concern that this will simply become a bar, having yet another empty building in Bedford does us no good. Mr. Washington has the right to pursue his dream of restaurant ownership. I wish him all the luck and hope that he, in good faith, runs this location as a restaurant and not a bar.
  • Allowing for a church at 1200 Broadway Ave (the old Catered Elegance building). This was a divided vote from the Planning Commission and was a divided vote from the Council as well. Ultimately, the church is to be allowed there. The Mayor broke protocol at this meeting to allow both the lawyers for the current property owners, a representative for the previous property owners and the pastor for the church itself to speak before Council voted on the topic.
  • Allowing for a cigar store at 776 Broadway Ave (the little shop located between the strip mall where Megan’s is and the Handyside House ). This was approved with little fanfare. I would like to point out that this will be a genuine cigar lounge and not a smoke shop. The new owners of this building own two other cigar shops that are very clearly lounges with little to no vape and cigarette sales. For cigar aficionados, this is a good thing and for the community, this is a much classier addition than a smoke shop especially so close to our Downtown.

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