Here is the video for the City Council meeting.
In the Work Session, we discussed:
- Interviews of the potential Planning Commission prospects. No decision was made.
- We looked at the Deer Management Report and made the decision to continue the culling. One council member was against culling and one resident made comments to that effect as well.
- We wrapped up our discussion of street parking. I do want to thank all the residents who called or emailed the council people. Your comments had a direct impact on this conversation continuing or not and I, personally, think that is a good thing. It was decided at this meeting that street parking has been decided in the past discussions and did not need to move forward.
- We discussed sidewalk clearing. Many residents are frustrated by snow on the sidewalks in the winter and question the fact that we make people keep their lawn cut but don’t enforce the sidewalk ordinance. On the other side, enforcing the sidewalk clearing ordinance represents an additional burden on our residents, especially the senior citizens. It was decided that Council would look at other cities’ sidewalk clearing ordinances and resume discussion after that was looked at. Comments on this subject would be welcome.
- We discussed who on Council will be representing the City of Bedford on the school district’s Advisory Council. Vic Fluharty volunteered to be the main representative with Heather Rhoades serving as the back up.
- We did not have time to discuss AirBnB. A fact sheet was handed out to Council and we will discuss that information at a later date.
- Budget time is coming. We approved dates for that discussion. Don’t like line items and things that are currently in Bedford’s budget? Think we need to add some line items? Now is when you call and talk to your councilperson about those items. FYI, saying we need to do something about the City budget without having some actionable items to add or remove does not help. 😉
In the Regular Session, we will be voting or reading on:
- Installation of the new Service Garage generator (passed)
- The change in the Sewer Rates (2nd reading)
- The rate reduction in sewer and water for seniors and permanently disabled. (2nd reading)
- The change in the Water Rates (2nd reading)
- Having Gardiner do an Investment Grade Audit (passed)
In the reports:
- A blue ATV will be riding around Bedford in the next few weeks looking for leaks in our water and sewer lines. There is no need to call dispatch about it. They are approved.
- If you live in an area that was affected by the Dominion Gas redoing the lines and you are unhappy with how they repaired your lawn or street, please contact the City so they can take appropriate action to fix this.
- W. Grace railroad crossing will be closed starting September 24th. It should take just a few days while they make repairs to that crossing, but there is not an official timeline.