The pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
Good afternoon to everyone. Another good
crowd.
We have some interesting
items on the agenda to bring everyone
out.
Um, first thing is approval of the
minutes. You all
had a chance to review the minutes. And
any additions, if you please,
corrections?
If there's anything good, so they stand
approved as is.
Report of town manager, Mr. Warner.
Thank you, Mayor Stahli, members of
council. Uh,
first item I want to report on is under
the terms of section 58-171 of the town
code, the updated six-month priced cost
adjustment for the electric utility
bills is scheduled to take effect as of
May 1st. Based on a projected increase
in cost to customers
uh, related to that calculation, staff
is asking council to defer that
adjustment for 1 month in order to give
us some time to determine ways in which
those costs can be reduced or deferred.
So, when the time comes, I will be
asking for this to be added as an item
of new business at tonight's meeting as
a revision to the agenda.
Also, I just wanted to report really for
the
benefit of the public, council will be
engaging in your work session on
Saturday, May 2nd, to review and discuss
fiscal year '26-'27 budget. Few
highlights as it is currently proposed I
want to pass along is that it does
include
a proposed increase in B pole to 20
cents per $100 on businesses with gross
revenues of $10 million and above, while
the current rate is 15 cents. No other
tax increases are currently proposed.
Uh, the budget also demonstrates a
concerted effort to identify all costs
associated with the electric utility and
to allocate those costs within the
electric fund.
This eliminates the traditional transfer
from electric to general funds. However,
a payment in lieu of taxes is included
as general fund revenue related to the
electric utility.
This is calculated as the amount of tax
revenue that the town would receive from
the utility if it were a private entity.
Compared to last year's transfer of
$799,000,
the proposed payment in lieu of taxes is
$589,000.
Also, I want to report that the decision
to withdraw from commercial solid waste
service is showing some benefit. Solid
waste fund is actually transferring
revenues, $10,000 for the first time in
memory, to the general fund.
The budget includes a 2% cost of living
adjustment for employees. We were
originally looking at 2.8% to match the
social security cost of living
adjustment, but our health insurance
costs increased once again.
On that note, the budget includes
continued funding of employee only
health insurance coverage
for all employees at the $1,000
deductible level, but we are already
looking to make changes in fiscal year
'27-'28
to drop the $500 deductible plan and
offer a high deductible health care plan
instead.
Also, note that there is one vacancy in
public works as a result of retirement
that will be frozen and is not proposed
to be funded. Other vacancies that occur
through retirement will be considered in
similar fashion during the coming year.
And finally, I just want to close by
noting that there is a $332,000
contingency budgeted within the general
fund, uh, but this includes the
possibility of debt for the municipal
building renovations and other
obligations, but it is nice to balance
without use of prior year reserves and
actually to budget a contingency.
And that concludes my report for you.
Thank you, Mr. Warner.
And before this before council,
we have a few.
And before I get started, let me tell
everyone
you will have a 3-minute time limit. We
have a lot on the agenda today, so you
will be limited to 3 minutes total. So,
once you hear the buzzer go off, your
time is
up. So, please be courteous to that.
Uh
the first one is Mr. Ken Bolka.
Take me 3 minutes to get up to the
stand.
Well, your time [laughter] will begin
then. Thank you, Mr. Mayor,
Vice Mayor, and distinguished council
members,
and town manager. Good evening,
everyone.
I stand before you as a resident of
Bedford as co-founder with my wife,
Linda, of the Bedford Boys Tribute
Center. We've had in operation for 7
[clears throat] years now with
approximately 22,000 visitors from all
50 states and 34 countries.
I'm here to discuss a very important
issue that requires your immediate
attention, discussion, and decision.
The issue at hand is the proper time to
display our community's Vietnam War
fallen and the Bedford Boys lamp post
street banners in a respectful and
appropriate manner.
Recently, I had a very very sincere
discussion on the issue with the
leadership of the Vietnam War Monument
Board of Directors.
It was presented to me that in the
opinion of the board that the Vietnam
War fallen banners should be displayed
with the same equal 9-month period as
the Bedford Boys banners are displayed.
The reasoning offered was that
eventually, over time, the National
D-Day Memorial and the Bedford Boys
Tribute Center will fall out of
visitors' interest and no longer be
visited.
Furthermore, it was expressed to me that
the downtown historic district of
Bedford is in a depressed state and has
no retail future to speak of. In the
board's opinion, the new Vietnam War
Monument would become the new draw
for visitors to come to Bedford and
therefore be an important attraction
that will be the source of
revitalization for downtown Bedford.
I strongly
disagree with this reasoning and
position.
To accept the fact that National D-Day
Memorial and the Bedford Boys Tribute
Center will be less visited in the
future
would be like saying eventually, we will
be forgetting Gettysburg and Valley
Forge.
The DNA of our town is the D-Day
invasion and on June the 6th of 1944
and our Bedford Boys first wave 9
minutes of sacrifice.
To provide equal 9-month
lamp post exposure at the same time for
both the D-Day and Vietnam fallen would
truly be an injustice to the legacies of
our beloved Bedford Boys.
Do not
under any condition
>> [snorts]
>> interpret
or have the opinion that I do not have
respect for our fallen Vietnam boys.
To the contrary, they must be honored,
but in an appropriate fashion and time.
Let's face some facts.
Liberty University did not produce a
play featuring the Vietnam fallen,
nor has there been a book written about
them.
I offer these perspectives for the
benefit of the town of Bedford. Because
of the historical worldwide uniqueness
related to the invasion, I firmly
believe that the National D-Day Memorial
and the Bedford Boys Tribute Center
will continue to be recognized
nationally and will be increasingly
visited because two new hotels are under
construction. Mr. Parker, your time is
up. We'll have to ask you to whatever
else you have, pass that on to us. But
uh next time, you know, be more brief.
We understand what you're saying. Fully
understand. And we know what you've said
about the banners. And I I understand
what where you're coming from. We're
here to recognize all the all the fallen
heroes as you well know. I don't
disagree with you, but we understand
what you're saying. So, whatever else
you want to say to us, put it in print
and pass it out, please.
Thank you.
All right.
Next one [clears throat] is Mr. George
Palmer.
And give your name and address, too. I'm
sorry. Yes, George Palmer.
1100 Pine Crest Pine Crest Avenue. I've
been a resident for 12 years.
Uh tonight, I just want to address the
council about this new business proposal
9-CC-15-1-4-21
speed limit change on Longwood Avenue.
First of all, I personally, on a daily
basis, either jog or walk the streets of
Bedford. In the past 12 years,
observations I've made is that people
have become increasingly distracted in
their driving. And any type of speed
limit change going from a lower limit to
a higher limit, I highly disagree with
because it puts me at a risk and it puts
the other people at risk. Longwood
Avenue is a highly residential area with
a lot of foot traffic and pedestrian
traffic. And
it wasn't but a couple years ago that
the change was made from 35 to 25 as I
understand it. Now, maybe I I'm
incorrect on that, but was that change
not made too long ago? So, I would like
to know what data you have that would
suggest that a change to increase it
would be beneficial
because based on the observations I've
made by driving and walking on the town streets, people
they definitely don't pay attention to
the speed limits now. So, increasing it
would be a danger.
I also suggest that
a little more traffic enforcement be
exercised in these areas, especially
in on Longwood where it's it narrows
down and people excessively drive over
the speed limit. Thank you for your
time. I appreciate what you do. Thank
you.
All right. Tom Ippolito.
He finally let me speak.
>> [laughter]
>> Name Name and address. Uh Tom Ippolito,
1680 Quaker Mill Road. I just wanted to
remind all of you uh that Bart had
brought up about the
uh
what you guys are going to be passing
soon. But you need to uh
make sure that you
go ahead and hire somebody for the
ticket [clears throat] person.
I don't know how you do all that, but
you got to vote on it and stuff.
But we do need that revenue in town.
>> [clears throat]
>> So, I mean, you need to really think
that over.
That's all I have. Okay. Thank you.
All right.
Leslie Mahaffey.
Come on down.
Leslie Mahaffey, 1517 Woodland Road here
in town.
Thank you, gentlemen, for allowing me to
come before you to speak. I'm in here in
reference to the proposed banner policy.
In review of this uh
items that are under the placement under
C, it's listed as historically
significant persons.
I'm taking that that that's the museum
historical banners and I would
respectfully ask that that name be
changed to such.
Um also, there are 18 of those banners
that are currently There's only 17 on
display right now due to a fire damage,
but the 18 is not identified.
And looking over the policy, also, I see
that there is some inconsistencies
in naming of streets.
Uh Central Street, North Bridge, doesn't
say street. And also within the
uh C section where the
historical banners are, um
in years past, they have historically
been on Bridge Street. The way that I'm
reading this, you're tacking it on at
the end of the Vietnam veterans and the
end of the Bedford Boys.
I would like to see that actually on
North Bridge Street. The museum has been
in this town for 93 years. We are your
next door neighbors. We represent all
history from when the town went from the
county was formed in 1754,
the town in 1782,
all the way through. We represent
history of everyone.
So, those items I would ask for your
consideration
on that. Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Leslie.
Um
Mr. Warner, did you take notes on that?
>> Got it.
Good deal.
What What did I ask?
All right. Uh Terry Foster.
Hi, I'm Terry Foster. I live at 611
Longwood Avenue in Bedford.
I'd like to address the proposal to
increase the speed limit on Longwood.
First, let me express my huge
disappointment that this is even up for
consideration again when it was resolved
less than 2 years ago,
Longwood Avenue is mostly residential
and speed limits in residential areas
are 25 through most of the town. Most
homes on Longwood are old and it's these
homes that make Bedford charming. Some
homes, including ours, are within
Bedford's historic district. These homes
were built long before heavy vehicles
came along. The heavy weight is
destructive to the foundations of a
house, especially an old house. Every
house or our house is 150 years old and
I assure you that we feel every bump and
rattle day and night when large
vehicles, especially trucks, drive past
our house and that's with the current
speed limit of 25.
Whether we own one or not, we are all
stewards of these old houses. Driving
slowly on Bedford's on every Bedford
street is how we do our part to protect
them. Driving at 25 is a small price to
pay to live in such a special town
filled with old houses and history.
Longwood has a walking loop and
crosswalks. Our residents and families
who walk and run the loop need to be
kept safe. Drivers aren't paying
attention like they used to and
increasing the speed limit near a
walking trail is a dangerous idea. Also,
bicycles and scooters drive along the
street and oftentimes in the center of
the street.
Unless your address is Longwood Avenue,
you really have no idea how a speed
increase, even a small one, will affect
the traffic. Drivers aren't going to
yo-yo back and forth. They will increase
their speed and keep it there, which is
the which is the same reason we had the
problem 2 years ago and fixed it. When
the speed limits were inconsistent a few
years back, they were resolved with a
consistent speed of 25 throughout the
entire stretch of Longwood, which is
only 1.2 miles and it still makes sense
today. I'm not sure who wants to
increase the speed limit again, but I'll
take a wild guess they don't live on
Longwood Avenue. This is our street. We
live here. We see, feel, and hear the
traffic every day. They don't. They pass
through and complain they have to drive
slowly. At the current 25 mile an hour
speed limit, it takes only 4 minutes to
drive from Food Lion to the old middle
school. I'm dumbfounded that this issue
has resurrected again. Please keep the
25 mile an hour speed limit consistent.
And if you do anything, please enforce
the law and add a few more traffic signs
while you're at it. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
All right. Brinkley Hill.
» [clears throat]
» Hey there. Brinkley Hill, 706 Vine
Street. I also just wanted to speak
against
raising the
back to 35 on Longwood.
Um I think that it'd be dangerous to do
so. It's unnecessary. But
I just wanted to add it acts as a great
like traffic calming area when you're
coming into a town as a driver. You just
naturally feel the sense when the speed
limit goes down, it's showing you, okay,
I'm coming into town. People live here.
People are playing outside. People are
walking. They're on Longwood. Um other
towns like Stanton or Warrenton or
Farmville do the same thing where as a
driver indicates to you, okay, I'm
coming into a town. It's time to slow
down. Um one thing I might suggest is
that I think people feel like it should
be a 35 in that area because there's
still two lanes like when you're driving
on the right, there's two lanes on other
parts. When you see a two-lane road as a
driver or a wide road, you just
naturally feel like, okay, it's time to
drive faster. Um so I don't think that
it's enough to even necessarily just
smack the 25 sign out there. I think
it'd be really great to even decrease it
to one lane on either side with like a
grass median in the middle, put some
trees up. It does You You see this in
numerous other towns, right? And it
indicates to you, okay, I'm in a small
town. Slow down. People live here. It'd
be a great place to add a bike lane
even.
Or increase the sidewalks or I have
kids, you know, I love pushing my
stroller and walking next to my wife at
the same time. Uh so but Longwood is a
It It's a beautiful place and it shows
you like like I've been mentioning, the
historic homes, the loop goes through
there. People walk. So just generally,
even on top of not increasing it to a
35, I think it'd be a great place to
make a statement for the town of this is
a beautiful place. People live here.
So I say keep it at 25 and also let's make it a beautiful place as well.
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
>> [clears throat]
» All right.
And finally, Mark Knutson.
» [clears throat]
» Hey. My name is Mark Knutson. I live at
720 Longwood Ave. I'm also here to speak
about the speed limit change and I am
against it increasing to 35.
I have four kids and our house is pretty
close to the road. So
our safety, just in case a ball goes
rolling into the road, I'd rather not
have the speed increase for any reason
to make that more dangerous for them. Um
I know that also in this area, you know,
Halloween is is a big thing and the
roads get really busy and I know that um
there's there's going to be a lot of
foot traffic, especially during times
like that. So
for that reason I think as well it would
be good to keep the speed low
and
you know,
I That's really it.
Thank you for your time. Thank you.
And that concludes the
appearances before council.
Councilman Evans.
Councilman Bileto, what do you have for
us?
Oh,
it's good to see a big crowd here this
evening. We appreciate everybody that
spoke. Ken, George, Tommy, Leslie,
Terry, Brinkley,
and Mark. We hear all of what you're
saying.
Um we appreciate it. I'm sure y'all know
through Facebook that they have
increased the ticket limits in town of
your parking
and stuff and I don't know if y'all paid
attention or noticed a lot, there's a
lot more places to park now in town.
Which so we are very happy about because
now our customers can come see us, which
will get that food tax up.
Um
I also had the pleasure of meeting a
couple this week that purchased Holy
Land. I don't know if how many of y'all
ever went to Holy Land or remember Holy
Land, but they purchased Holy Land
and they signed the papers today and
they're in the works of reopening Holy
Land back up. So it was a real good
pleasure to meet them and see them and
hopefully that'll get some more touring
back in to town with us.
That's all I got.
Well, thank everybody that's here today.
I hope everybody had a chance to vote
today. It's after voting time now. Um we
have a busy meeting tonight, so I won't
say a lot. I just want to thank you for
being here and thank you for your
comments tonight.
Um just want same thing some of the what
Todd said and everybody else said. Thank
everybody for being here tonight. Thank
you for all your comments and concerns
that you came up here and spoke and
whatever.
Um also I want to say I I attended a
event Saturday. I attended the Bedford
Professional Women's event. It was
pretty cool. Going in, I ain't know how
many women in that.
But
they had some of the best food in the
world there at the event. And they This
is a fashion show they put on for every
year for people and stuff like all that
vents and different
clothing
um organizations and stuff like that. So
I think that was a real great event to
just go to and just sit there and watch.
I met a lot of people. I saw a lot of
people I already knew. So it's pretty
cool going to something like that.
And [clears throat] I just want to say
thank everybody for being here tonight.
Councilman Haley, we've discussed a
whole lot of things since I've been on
council. That's the biggest I've seen
you smile about anything particular.
>> [laughter]
» But yeah, thanks thank everyone for
being here. Appreciate you coming in and sharing your thoughts with us.
All right. I thank every body that you
have for coming up tonight and you know,
and also we listen to y'alls comments.
We take a lot of comments and also like
to welcome the people watching by
YouTube. I get a lot of comments from
people watching by YouTube.
Well, I'd just echo appreciate everybody
coming out. It's good to hear
uh
your opinions and also to see so many
people out. There's two things I just
wanted to bring up real quickly. A few
meetings ago I I mentioned a group
called Mission Serve is coming here in
July. They're the group that comes
basically sixth graders through
18-year-olds who come and do work on
homes for the needy in the community.
They'll be back like I said, back here
in July. And if if you want to make
donations, you can still make it to the
town of Bedford. Just in the memo, put
Mission Serve there. But also was
reminded that I if if you need work done
on your house, if you're in need,
um
you can contact our very own Mary
Zirkle, director of planning community
development at 540-587-6006.
She's compiling a list of
people who need who need work done.
And lastly, I just wanted to do uh
tell everybody that came out the last
Tuesday for the electric meeting.
Appreciate all the citizens coming out,
but also wanted to just do a shout out
to the
our Ampere rep and for for John for
being there and
taking questions and answers at that
meeting. So, thanks.
Um
I have
very little other than to say
I too want to thank everyone who came up
here and spoke.
Uh we do appreciate that. Taking the
time to voice your opinion. There are
times where you we may be undecided
about a few things, but when we hear the
public opinion you know, that makes a
big decision
uh for us. So, I do appreciate that. And I also want to touch
uh
based on what uh Stacy said. Uh my wife
is usually involved in that uh fashion
show.
Uh she's usually one of the models, so
but we were out of town this
uh week, so I walked in and asked her,
"So, what would I do if I came?" Cuz I'd
be the only guy. She said, "Probably so,
but you know a lot of them just sit
there and talk." So, so maybe next year
we'll both go, Stacy.
>> [laughter]
» All right, uh moving on. Report of
council committees. Um
I don't think we had any. Nope.
And revisions to the agenda, Mr. Warner?
Yes, sir. I would like to request that
we add as item number 12 a
an action to defer the implementation of
the PCA for 1 month.
Uh let me look at that. That's at the
very end you want to put that. Yes, sir.
All right.
» [clears throat]
» All right.
Is everyone okay with that? Yep.
All right.
Okay.
Public hearings.
Adoption of Bedford 2045 comprehensive
plan.
Notice is given of a public hearing to
be held by the town council 7:00 p.m. on
Tuesday, April 21st for the purpose of
considering adoption of the proposed
town comprehensive plan as required by
the Code of Virginia section 15.2-2223.
The proposed plan includes studies,
goals, and strategies for key topics
such as land use, housing,
transportation, economy, infrastructure,
and community facilities and services
for guiding future development. Copies
of the proposed plan have been available
for public review in the office of
planning and community development, and
I understand that tonight there are
representatives of EPR who
did excellent work in drafting the
proposed plan who may be prepared to
give a brief presentation ahead of the
opening of the public hearing.
Okay.
Um
Yeah, Todd, I think you and
Alan. Okay. Um
I will open this public hearing and then
you all come up and give your
presentation and if anyone else wants to
make any comments, then we'll go from
there.
So, the public hearing for 2045
comprehensive plan is now open.
And then once we go down the agenda,
we'll make all you back for further
questions.
I made the screen come on, but thank you
very much for having us. I'm Todd
Gordon, I'm principal planner at EPR.
With me is Alan Simpson,
also at EPR.
There we go. There's some slides.
Um
So, we have had the opportunity and
we're very thankful for the opportunity
to work with
town staff and with the planning
commission on the update of town's
comprehensive plan. We've been working
on that for approximately 18 months.
Um
and so uh we'd like to make a brief presentation of the contents of
that.
I may have gone the wrong way. Uh so, we
uh called this plan our goal Bedford
2045.
Um and so, the comprehensive plan is uh
meant to look approximately 20 years
into the future at where the town of
Bedford would like to see itself and
what strategies should be in place in
order to get you there. Um
with this plan, the town has expressed
its aims to protect town's history and
identity while growing the local economy
and providing reliable infrastructure
and services.
» [clears throat]
>> Some of you may be veterans of
comprehensive planning, others may be
new to this idea, uh
but the comprehensive plan is required
by Virginia law, required required by
the Code of Virginia for all cities,
counties, and towns. Um the code is the
plan is meant to be a guide to future
decision-making
on a range of topics.
Um
and it's very important to note that the
comprehensive plan is a non-binding
guide. It's meant to be a reference that
you can look to as you make many little
decisions about building or approving
developments
um and so on um
to keep on track for
where what the town is aiming for over
the next 20 years.
Um ultimately, the plan is a guide. Um
it does not hold the force of law the
way a zoning ordinance does. So,
important to keep that in mind.
I wanted to briefly mention the planning
process. As I said, approximately 18
months since we initially started. We
kicked off the project in the summer of
2024.
Um we had the
information and a community survey
available at CenterFest that fall. Um
throughout that winter and into
February, we met with various
stakeholders, um
community groups,
town departments, and others.
We conducted a great deal of technical
and and demographic analysis looking at
the town's growth, um
property values, housing values, etc.
And began to come up with strategic
proposals and goals for the future. Um
We presented goals and strategic
proposals at another public workshop in
August 2025.
Um and then drafted plan language
through the fall.
We then presented again to the public
the draft plan in February
a couple of months ago and then made
revisions and brought that plan back to
the planning commission in in March.
And so, um
ultimately, we've had a a wonderful time
and I'm very happy to work with the
planning commission on the construction
of this plan.
Um and they have recommended the
approval of this plan to you, and so we
bring it to you this evening.
Um I mentioned a minute ago the the
number of stakeholders that are involved
in that in this. Um and so, uh spoke
speaking to the public through
uh in-person interactions at various
events and meetings, um
getting the public's
input through a survey that we
conducted, but we also sat down
individually with um various folks um
who had something they might share with
us about the future of Bedford. Um and
those included some of the people listed
here, the police department, fire and
rescue, public works,
um County of Bedford,
the hospital administration and other
health care providers, church groups,
property owners, small businesses and
business groups, uh the real estate
industry and real estate agents and
professionals,
um schools, utility providers, as well
as the Virginia Department of
Transportation.
In doing all of that, we've had this
website up throughout and I hope many
people have had the opportunity to visit
it, but bedford2045.com
where we posted all the draft materials,
results of surveys, uh presentations,
invitations to come to public meetings,
and others.
Um and so, the draft plan that's uh
available in your packet is also up on
this website, and we've used the website
to collect feedback on it.
And so, this website continues to be the landing place for this project
through its adoption.
And so, the the comprehensive plan
starts very broadly with where Bedford
wants to be in the future and and
whittles itself down to specific
strategies and actions that might be
taken to to help deliver you there. But
the the vision statement that was
constructed
using the input of of residents through
the survey
is essentially a vision of growing the
economy and and culture
of Bedford,
becoming a hub for your region,
and being a town filled with
high-quality housing,
um high-quality employment, and
high-quality public services.
So, I'll invite Alan to speak for a
minute.
So, I'll talk a little bit about the
plan itself. So, as you review it as you
have reviewed it, it's organized around
12 chapters.
So, each cover different topics. So, we
have
analysis of key issues and
opportunities, so strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats,
demographic analysis of current
conditions and projected population, uh
so on and so forth.
Uh so, then we talk about the economy,
we talk about housing, community
facilities and services, uh
infrastructure, transportation, parks
and rec. We have one on community
identity and partnerships,
uh then land use and growth management.
That includes future land use map,
existing zoning, that sort of thing. And
then finally, implementation to talk
about how the plan will actually be put
forth. Uh
so,
first, you know, each chapter has uh
some analysis of existing conditions. Um
so, it includes public facilities,
demographics, utility statistics. This
is an example of the one for water and
sewer services. So,
uh, you know, we we have that analysis
there as kind of a baseline.
Um,
and
with that we go on to information
analysis. So, we then analyze
opportunities,
uh, threats, strengths, weaknesses that
we identified through our own analysis,
through talking to the public,
stakeholders, and the survey, things
that the town is real good at, things
that people would like to see the town
improve at.
Um, so it has, uh, you know, information
on future growth and change for each
chapter topic.
Um,
and then finally, goals and strategies
for each topic in the plan. So, each
chapter proposes one or two goals for
the chapter topics, the overarching
goals, and within those strategies to
spell out actions to achieve those
goals,
um, and
some strategies below that.
Um, so the implementation chapter has a
matrix that talks about, um, we've got
the overarching goal. So, here for
economic development, goal one is to
strengthen and diversify the town's
economy while revitalizing downtown and
our community. How do we get there? We
have strategy 1A, 1B, 1C that that dig
down into how to how to get that done.
Uh, talks about who the lead authorities
would be on that, uh, who would be
[clears throat] support on that. Um,
and in general terms it talks about the
length of time it would take to achieve
that, the the cost using dollar figures.
Uh, so, you know, one dollar sign being
low cost, three being higher cost,
uh, and then, uh, some discussion about
the resources available
to achieve those things. So, that's at
the end of the document and it's kind of
a summary of everything that we talk
about and then recommend in the plan.
Um, transportation is the transportation
chapter is probably the most significant
chapter in terms of content in the plan.
So, uh, we talk about transportation
being more than just about moving cars
and automobiles around. Uh, so it used
to be about supporting center access to
downtown, uh, schools, parks, jobs,
services for people of all ages and
abilities.
Uh, so Bedford obviously is positioned
around Route 460, regional ties in your
nearby metropolitan areas. Bedford
shares commuting, freight, and visitor
travel. So, we focus on walkability,
uh, safer crossings, transit,
uh, and readiness for a future passenger
rail stop. Um, so we worked with, uh,
the CVPD C to develop this chapter. They
were, uh, co-authors on on that part of
the plan, um, and it was reviewed and
approved by the Virginia Department of
Transportation.
So, that is a significant part of the
plan.
Uh, another significant part of the plan
is the future land use map. Um, for
those who, uh, have not looked at the
future land use map before, um, it's a
complement to the zoning map. So, the
existing zoning map
talks about what's here now, uh, what
the land use is as of today. Um, and the
future land use map is not a zoning map.
It is a guide for what the future zoning
should look like. So, this is uh, the
vision for what the town would look like
in horizon year 2040.
Um,
it's not necessarily,
um,
it is not law and it is not
prescriptive, but it's a guide and a
kind of a way forward to what the plan
what the town wants the town to look
like in
>> [laughter]
>> 2040. So, [cough]
uh, this is an important feature of most
comprehensive plans.
It helps organize areas that may be
appropriate for different types and
scales of growth and development.
Um,
so
Todd, you want to take over?
So, it it's it's certainly difficult to summarize the whole comprehensive
plan in a in a brief presentation. The
document is roughly 100 pages long. Um,
I encourage everyone to to give it a
read. In the grand scheme of
comprehensive plans, it is, uh,
relatively brief compared to some
places. Um,
but the plan is meant to be
comprehensive. It covers, uh, a wide
variety of topics, um, but ultimately,
um, it is, uh, again, a guide, uh, to
decision making, um,
primarily to be used by you all as you
approve developments, consider budgets,
and other priorities. Um, there are some
other uses to comprehensive plans. Uh,
the comprehensive plan is in some ways a
key to funding that may be granted by
the state or or even federal agencies.
Um,
in many cases those agencies want to
know that these plans, uh, or or your
request for funding is included in your
comprehensive plan, um, because that
shows that it is, uh, accepted as part
of the vision for the future of your
community.
Um,
it's also true, um, in our experience
that the comprehensive plan is turned to
very often by potential investors in
your town, um, employers, um, property
developers, and others as an indication
of, uh, what the town is, uh, interested
in and what its vision for its future
is.
So, we we present this plan that we
think is, uh, strongly based in public
input and feedback,
um, charts the the demographic, um,
and and other, uh, existing conditions
of the town, and presents goals and
strategies to to point Bedford toward
where your community has indicated
they'd like to be, uh, in the future.
Uh,
so, uh, your last comprehensive plan
was, uh, adopted in 2017. There have
been some updates and additions in the
intervening years, um, and now we
present this as, uh, this year's update to the
comprehensive plan. Um,
we are certainly happy to hear your
comments, public comments, and answer
any questions you have.
Probably time once we get to the, uh,
new business we'll probably call you
back up with any questions we may have
or,
uh, any concerns.
Yeah.
» [clears throat]
» Is there anyone else who would like to
make comments on the comprehensive plan?
Going once. Going twice.
And the public hearing for comprehensive
plan is closed.
Now, the next one is vacant building
registry.
Mr. Warner. Notice is hereby given of a
public hearing to be held by the town
council at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April
21st. Purpose of the public hearing is
to receive comment on a proposed
ordinance to require buildings that are
vacant, boarded up, and disconnected
from utilities for more than 12 months
to register with the town as vacant
structures and pay an annual $100 fee.
Further information on this action has
been available in the office of the town
manager. Also, before the, uh,
public hearing is open, I wanted to note
council has received comments by email
from three citizens. Well,
first is Barbara Owen, second is Bill
Moseley, and the third is Ms. Ann
DeLong. And I would ask that those
comments be appended to the minutes in
the official record of the meeting.
All right.
And this public hearing for the vacant
building registry is now open.
Anyone who would like to come up and
speak about that, you may come up at
this time and tell us what's on your
mind.
» [laughter]
» This is a big surprise, but I love
Bedford, and I can't stand seeing these
empty buildings. The
this does not sound like it's going to
deter anyone from having an empty
building.
I think $100 a year, woo be do, that's
nothing. I think it should be harsh it
should be very harsh and you need to hit
a hit them harder than that. Thank you.
Good. Thank you.
Um, could you
Um,
then anyone else?
This public hearing is
closed.
All right, consent agenda. Uh, Bedford
Town Carnival. Mr. Warner. Bedford
County Fair Incorporated has requested
permission to host the Bedford Town
Carnival at Liberty Lake Park from
August 21st through 23rd. The event will
also require quite a bit of put up and
take down work in the days before and
after the event. Special event
application has been completed and is
attached for council's reference.
In addition, all fees included within
the current special events policy have
been paid. Tonight town council is
requested to approve the Bedford Town
Carnival on August 21st, 22nd, and 23rd
from Friday at 4:00 p.m. until Sunday at
6:00 p.m. at Liberty Lake Park. All
right, hear a hear a motion? Yeah.
Uh, Councilman Haley
made the motion and Councilman Haley
made the second.
Any questions, comments?
Same concept from last year where they
had it out there, right? That's my
understanding, yes. Okay. Yeah.
And and I will say last year was kind of
a
kind of
a a new beginning, kind of
went along and did things, uh,
as per the moment, but this year,
uh, it's in line. It's kind of more as
Jonathan Haley said, we copy and paste
and think we have it down pat and worked
out well last year and, uh, I'm happy
they came back for this
uh,
year at Liberty Lake Park.
Anything else?
All right.
Dorsey.
Mr. Evans. Aye. Mr. Foreman.
[clears throat] Aye. Mr. Foster. Aye.
Mr. Haley.
Aye. Mr. Aquilino. Aye. Mr. Eftekhari.
Aye. Mayor Stanley. Aye. Motion carries
with all members voting aye.
All right, new old business and new
business.
Invitation for bids for a franchise for the lease of the town's
transfer station. Mr. Warner. Yes, Mayor
Stanley, members of council, as you may
recall, um, when we exited the
commercial solid waste business, we
retained ownership of the transfer
station facility that frankly we have no
practical use for since we no longer
collect and dispose of
solid waste from customers directly.
We advertised
a request for
firms to express interest in obtaining a
franchise and tonight I can report that
we have received one qualified proposal
from Baze Trash Removal to negotiate for
bids for franchise. I will tell you that
staff's opinion is
it's not quite where we'd like to see it
but we would ask for your authority to
engage them in negotiations to bring a
possible franchise agreement back under
the terms of the process.
Okay.
And uh
the town attorney advises me that
approval of this motion does require a
3/4 vote. Okay.
So we're giving you the approval
Yeah. Yeah. You're you're not approving
the franchise just to to To negotiate
Request Enter into negotiations. Yes, of
course.
All right. We just you know
Does everyone understand that?
I hear a motion. So moved. Councilman
Haley made the motion. Second.
Vice Mayor Updike.
Any questions or or discussion?
I have a question.
By the way
The only question I had
probably dealt with the maybe franchise
fees, royalties or other charges. Talks
about town waste.
But I my question I guess really
generally is for town residents are we
still are residents still going to be
able to
use the first 500 lbs free drop off
their residential waste there like we do
now?
That's something we can negotiate
as part of the franchise
but
I'll make a note of that.
And brush also.
Yes.
there are certain
town interests that were referenced in
the advertisement that we will pursue.
Good. Very good.
Anything else?
All right. Dorsey.
Mr. Foreman. Aye. Mr. Foster. Aye. Mr.
Deely. Aye. Mr. Ippolito. Aye. Mr.
Updike. Aye.
Mr. Evans. Aye. Mayor Sumner. Aye.
Motion carries with all members present
voting aye.
All right. Next is a
brief presentation regarding operations
and outcomes of the
planning and community development. Miss
Zucco.
Floor is yours.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am the second of
our department heads that are bringing
presentations for
to the public and so I wanted to give
you just a very brief overview of what
community development does and also have
some information on the economic
development side of the house that we
have in the two departments that I
supervise.
Um starting with the building side of
community development, we have two staff
there. We have the building official and
building inspector and wanted to give
you some statistics on what they
processed last year in the way of
building permits. They processed 226
permits and they range from everything
from electrical change of services to
bouncy houses on up to commercial things
like the hotel and I wanted to give you
some statistics. 28 new houses. That's
pretty big number for the town of
Bedford to see in town and we we know
that's going to be growing over time. So
um some scale for that growth over time
is building permits year to date 76 and
if we continue that current rate of
growth we'll end up with 260 at that
rate. So compare that to 226 of the last
year. We know those are coming mostly in
Eastern Crossing and the other
subdivisions that are currently being
built. Uh second part of permitting is
inspections. So just for scale there
each single family dwelling has about 11
inspections that need to be done
um for the final certificate of
occupancy for someone to move in for
safety. That's what it's all about is
safety cuz that is the public purpose of
most all things is
public health, safety and welfare
whether it's building or zoning.
Uh other parts of that and we do share
this lovely responsibility between those
of us in the town among us
in that in the department. So a lot of
the things we see for enforcement are
signs that are in the right of way and
we keep a running tally of the look in
the back of the the trucks that staff
has as they're picking this up again out
of the right of way, not on private
property. Um property maintenance so it
is now grass season as we're beginning
to put out those notices.
Other things that we look for are
illegal uses that didn't receive zoning
approval or that are unsafe.
Nuisances in zoning that can be lighting
as you see in some things we get calls
for lights that are too bright. Uh on
down to unsafe structures which are the
most imminent danger to the public that
they will get on very quickly if there's
a situation or someone
car goes into a building. Those those
are within their purview as well.
For planning and zoning on my side of
the house we also share an
administrative staff and
most of the processing of zoning permits
are done by Kathy Johnson in the office
and we processed 126. Those range from
sign permits down to chickens in that
lower left picture. So if anyone has any
chickens we're happy to give you that
permit there and get you hooked up so
that your neighbors don't call us and
tell us you have chickens.
Planning actions these go mostly to the
planning commission. These are
conditional use permits, rezoning
actions, map amendments
and the like that we have there and
we also do
uh notices basically the letters of
determination when someone needs to have
something in writing what they can do
with their property. That comes through
us as well. We also do site plans and
plats of platting of subdivisions. So
that's what the picture is of the large
one there at the top there as we bring
things online
they go through a review process that
goes among agencies and lastly are
signed off by the subdivision agent
which is me before they are recorded in
the courthouse. And you heard tonight
the long range planning that we've been
working on for 18 months here
was our comprehensive plan which we've
been very excited about to have and we
appreciate the work of the planning
commission in guiding that process as is
required. Is required for code but it's
also something that we need to have
a thought of what we want Bedford to
look like. So that's actually a good
exercise for us to go through. That also
informs the capital improvement program
for budgeting purposes.
And so I also serve as staff to the
housing authority. That is one of your
appointed bodies that you're familiar
with. The big things they're working on
right now are the community development
block grant which is over a million
dollars for the second phase in the
Hilltop community. This is one of the
houses that have been built on Cook
Street nearing completion as soon as we
can get a sewer hookup there where we
thought there was one and there wasn't.
So we're so close. And the second part
that you may be familiar with is
South Street lots that town council that
you sent about to bid and you did not
receive any buyers. You gave those to
the housing authority and they turned
those into their budget. So the first
lot was sold to the Habitat for Humanity
Greater Lynchburg and that home
dedication is this Saturday 10:00 a.m.
Everyone is invited. Just watch where
you park but you are more than welcome
to attend that for the new the new
homeowner there. The second lot is under
contract and due to go to closing right
now actually. So thank you for that in
lieu of budget. They were able to turn
that into money that they are then using
for grants part of which is going to go
for Mission Serve as Councilman Foster
mentioned to you. Some of that money
will go there as well as other home
improvement in the community.
The other body that I serve for is the
economic development authority another
one of your appointed groups and they
had a strategic plan in 2021. They laid
out three projects and they're pretty
much through with all three of them. So
they're looking to update their
strategic plan. The first was a business
class hotel. You can see the Hampton Inn
is under construction and should be
opening early next year. Second project
was the metal workforce training center
that took over the old Wheelabrator Frye
Winola building in order to focus that
on I say that's almost done. The study
is done. They had a grant to do that and
now we're looking for tenants in that
space. We're focusing mostly on a
foundry or others who may be looking to
do critical or rare earth mineral
reclamation. So that's how we're
marketing that. And the third project
was an incubator or business development
center. We used tobacco commission funds
to do that. That study is going to the
plant the
EDA on May 8th at their meeting as a
draft and we'll be bringing that back to
the public. We had a really good meeting
of entrepreneurs a couple
[clears throat] of weeks ago at CVCC in
order to find out who would be the
tenants of this space. So those are the
three projects. I'll talk about
incentives on the next slide but the
other thing that I do is retention and
expansion visits of our top employers on
a regular basis annually. Go out and ask
them what they need, what their
challenges are and who their friends are
in case we can bring them here to the
town to as a supplier or another entity
in their supply chain. That is the
trickiest part of economic development
is having space for businesses to
locate. People ask me all the time well
what's coming in? Where are you putting
them? Where are they coming? I'm like
where am I putting them? Exactly. We
have essentially one publicly held piece
of property and that is the Bedford
Center for Business which is held by the
Bedford County Economic Development
Authority. We do have a shovel ready lot
right there. It's actually graded and
ready to go. So that is one that we end
up marketing jointly with the county and
we did just have the joint EDA meeting
of both bodies last week. So we do that
annually with the two EDAs and there's
going to be a working group convened
members from both of those bodies to get
things done not just once a year but
throughout the year.
I mentioned that we have the
incentives that the economic development
authority does.
What the print is kind of hard to read
but from 2018 to 2025, 68 grants were
awarded in the downtown area for real
property improvement that totaled over
$248,000
across 68 recipients. Now, some of them
have come back more than once for facade
or other work that they've had done to
update it. And in 2025, the EDA led the
charge on child care grants. We had two
recipients that each received $15,000
in order to enable child care as a
workforce issue.
So, trying to move that forward in that body.
Uh transportation, some of the other
work that we do. Uh the Federal Rail
Administration has given us the grant
that you are familiar with in order to
be siding the Amtrak passenger rail stop
there along Main Street. So, that is
underway. AECOM is your consultant who
is doing that work for you. That will be
wrapped up in early 2027 so that we can
talk about how we actually fund
construction of that. So, stay tuned for
how we're going to do that. Uh we This
is a breaking news here for the Otter
Bus. We had 4 years of demonstration
grants through the state. We are now on
the list the the 6-year plans for the
state has put us in as a Federal Transit
Administration recipient for going
federal. Where we've talked about this
before, you've authorized an 80/20 grant
through the state, then you authorized a
70/30 application, and it looks like we
will be getting that if it passes
in June with the Commonwealth
Transportation Board.
Another aspect of what my department
does is grants, and ones you're most
familiar with recently are the USDA
downtown strategy. That was a $50,000
grant that was done to provide
information on actionable strategies
that are meant to be done in 5 years.
So, the next steps for that, as you're
aware, we'd like to assign core teams
that will be responsible for each of the
different actions in that. And one of
those is actually on your agenda
tonight. The recommendations we've
talked about carrots, and one of the
recommendations was to have a vacant
property registry, and that was
recommended in that strategy as well to
close that circle.
One of the things you may you think you
should be aware of the FEMA grant that
the hospital has for a new generator.
So, that's another large-scale grant of
$8 million. Well, that's $4 million but
$8 million project.
And other things for my department,
workforce development. This was the most
recent chamber event we had with the
Career Tech Expo that was held at Susie
Gibson for all of the eighth graders in
Bedford County came through.
It was a fun day. Highly recommend if
you want some excitement, stand in the
hall while the kids are going through.
And this is your attraction. I want to
just remind everyone we had the World
War II Heritage City designation from
the National Park Service. We do have
new brochures out and about, and signage
[clears throat] is the last step in that
grant that we received for that. So,
that will wrap that up. And as everyone
knows, all of us in the town have other
duties as assigned, and we're happy to
do them. And the website for
specifically for economic development is
betterinbedford.com.
Well, thank you, Mary. Any questions,
comments?
Things you did not know?
Oh. Earlier this week, I had a uh
conversation with an
individual who certainly has the the
gift of gab.
Our conversation was was about electric
rates. Um so, I knew at that point it
was going to be a very long
conversation. And um
uh
at one point he said that he'd had um
uh had spoken with with with Mary Beth
you know, some some some various aspects
of of that
issue that he was trying to resolve. And
um
and at some point the conversation got
to um
the the the the tourism
and and the lady that runs that and how
just involved and on the ball and had an
answer for everything that she was.
He compared her
compared Mary to this lady. He said,
"And if I can find a way for the county
to scoff Mary up, I'm going to find a
way to do that."
Don't say that in a public meeting.
>> [laughter]
[clears throat]
>> But
you know, he was he was very much aware
of some of the things that that Mary was
involved Mary was involved with and was
very thankful for the things So, thank
you for all the work that you do.
>> Thank you. It's my pleasure to serve.
And they're done that, but uh
I will say too, I'm very pleased with
what I'm seeing, and and I told Mary
several times, I don't really know what
you do. So, you know, this gives us a a
lot better indication as to all the
duties that she has. I mean, we tend to
and and and the citizens do focus on one
thing, but there's a lot more going on
here than just one item. Uh but uh
I thank you for all you do, and just
keep up the good work, and uh
and whenever you retire, I'll come back
and and sing or whatever you want me to
do
if I'm still around.
>> [laughter]
>> All right.
Thank you again.
All right. Resolution, adoption of the
Bedford 2045 Comprehensive Plan by Mr.
Warner. All localities in the
Commonwealth are required to adopt a
comprehensive plan prepared through the
Planning Commission according to the
Code of Virginia.
Town Planning Commission has been
contemplating a revision to the 2017
Comprehensive Plan since late 2022
awaiting incorporation of new land with
the second phase of the boundary
adjustment agreement through reversion.
After a competitive bidding process,
Town Council authorized a contract with
EPRPC
in May 2024 for planning services.
Work was carried out over several months
and included numerous opportunities for
public engagement during the drafting of
the plan.
Our goal, Bedford 2045,
is a long-range policy guide for growth
and development for the Town of Bedford
through the year 2045.
It provides a foundation for
decision-making on land use, housing,
transportation infrastructure, and
community facilities so that future
development aligns with the community's
goals.
The plan combines technical data and
trend analysis with extensive community
input to paint a clear picture of where
Bedford stands today and where it
aspires to go.
The plan also references various other
planning efforts undertaken in the past,
including those by the Redevelopment and
Housing Authority and the Economic
Development Authority.
The Virginia Department of
Transportation is required to review
local comprehensive plans, and VDOT
found the proposed plan to be consistent
with state transportation plans on
February 2nd, 2026.
Planning Commission held a public
hearing on April 2nd, 2026. No citizen
spoke at the public hearing.
Commissioners discussed the best chapter
for pocket parks in the plan and a
paragraph about the potential
recreational opportunities on the
reservoir property.
Commission decided to leave the
reservoir information in for Town
Council to choose how to address that
based on recent Council action.
Planning Commission voted unanimously to
recommend the Comprehensive Plan to Town
Council for their action to adopt it as
required in the Code of Virginia.
Tonight, Town Council is requested to
adopt the Our Goal, Bedford 2045
Comprehensive Plan as recommended by the
Planning Commission.
All right.
>> [clears throat]
>> Do I hear a motion? Motion.
All right.
Councilman Evans made the motion.
Second? Second. All right. Councilman
Foster
made the second.
>> [clears throat]
>> Questions? Discussions?
And Daryl, you've been heavily involved
in this. I was involved in in my time on
Planning Commission.
Yeah, there was a a lot of a lot of work
that went into this
comprehensive plan. Um
you know, like to have seen a little
more community involvement with that,
but
I think that between the the town and
the consultants that we had,
they did a did a good job of trying to
reach out and and and bring people into
the into the discussion, and and got
some you know, real really good
information and feedback you know, from
that from that process.
Um
the the the product that that's before us, I think it's
a very good plan.
Um
you know, is is it a perfect plan?
That's you know, kind of a
you know, an individual analysis
evaluation kind of thing, but uh
it is a very good plan.
And um
you know, it's
as far as the
uh the section area that that discusses
the um
uh
the property around the reservoir and
stuff, and you know, my position was we
need to take that out, but um you know,
that's kind of what
what's before us.
All right.
You know, I want to say something.
Please please do. You're getting better.
I like that.
>> [laughter]
>> Well, I mean, first of all, I would just
I did want to like echo what
Vice Mayor Updike said about all the
hard work that went into it. That's why
I wanted to go on record to thank the
Planning Commission and EPR and Mary and
her staff for all all that hard work.
And you can call me a nerd because I
actually enjoyed reading the
comprehensive plan. I mean, the
narrative was really well thought out,
but I really enjoyed the the piece on
the SWOT, you know, the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats, but also the way the
strategies were laid out. So, my comment
would be if we adopt this plan, I would
like to make sure there's a way we can
use it as a guide.
>> [cough]
>> Kind of And I believe I say that but
similar to what the town manager has
been doing with the downtown strategy.
How when we
something comes up before council, he
kind of has tagged certain things to the
downtown strategy so to make sure that
we're following this guide or the plan
that we tagged things
for decision making to the plan. Does
that make sense?
>> Mhm. A lot of sense.
Um and and Mr. Warren, you help me out
here. I think that's one thing that
uh I have discussed with the previous
one and that sometimes things get lost
in the weeds and that we don't give it a
clear direction at times and that's one
thing we have to keep pushing and and seeing where we are and what we we
want to do and what we can do or
probably some things are not going to
work out the way we thought. But uh
and and
the question to to Mr. Foster is
that will technically be up to council
to review or would it go back to the
planning commission
then? And I'll I'll defer to Mary here
and say but there is a statutory
requirement that it be reviewed every 5
years. I will say that planning
commission has the ministerial duty
primarily to do that and and does that.
I mean honestly, I think on an annual
basis there probably one meeting where
they review the contents and
what things are working, what things are
not, what needs to be included. But yes,
on a formal basis uh
we'll make sure that we comply with the
review requirement of state code and
you know, if it comes time to to review
the whole thing, we'll we'll certainly
do that. I'll I will say editorially
I was the author of the last two plans.
This is a great improvement over what I
did.
Well, I will say you you learn as you go
along. And it's it's no different than
the county fair or or town carnival,
excuse me.
Uh you learn things as you go along,
have to improve and make things better
and that's that's what we're doing and
making no fault for anybody. We just
learn how to do things better and that's
the key as long as we learn and improve.
So, does that answer your question?
It'll kind of be
the council and
we need to keep bringing it up to to
review. Yeah, I I just my I guess my
just what your point you made is that we use it as we must start making
decisions for the future or on different
things. We look to this and say, "Okay,
this fits right here for this." and And
>> [clears throat]
>> and and as I keep saying, 2045's a long
way away. Of course, it'll be here
before you know it. But it's a vision
and a guide to go by. It it things will
change. Technology will change some of
it and [clears throat] and people will
come and go, but it's a guide and a
vision to go by basically is what it is.
So.
But but you have to kind of read this
thing. You made a good point. Every
decision you make you see how does that
fit in
with with what you're doing? Yeah.
And just couple things I'd like to add,
you know, along with
dovetailing with Councilman Foster said,
um
I think it would be beneficial
if when we do our strategic planning
things, that we have the comprehensive
plan there so that we don't have two
different good plans moving parallel. We want them to converge at some point
and that would also create an avenue for
us
to review everything, you know, what was
talked about in the strategic plan last
year versus what it is we want to do
this year versus how does it compare
with the comprehensive plan.
Um and the the other note is uh
again, this is a state mandated, you
know, document
uh and there is a specific section in
there and you'll find it in most any
community comprehensive plan.
It's about parks.
You know, and we need to take a
realistic look on, you know, how we're
going to meet those needs. And if we're
going to keep growing
residential areas, we need green spaces
other than just places to mow. We need
things for for families to have, you
know, some type of interaction, you
know, that kind of stuff. So, um
so again, they like I said, we need to
keep these things, you know, uh
you know, up front and and we need to be
focused on them, you know, with just
about every time we meet, you know, how are we meeting those particular
standards that we set for ourselves?
Very good. Very good comments. What
else?
We're kind of on a roll now, so let's keep going.
» [clears throat]
>> So,
only thing with Mr. Warren said is play
comprehensive plan is pretty much what
everybody else has said.
It's a guide to move forward or
whatever. Things can change over time
like he said, some things is working,
some things are not working and stuff
like that. So, it's really just
having a vision to move forward in the
future or whatever. So, and Mary has
done a great job on putting this
together or whatever with her hard work
and stuff. So, we that's why we're here
at this moment tonight voting on this to
move forward for the future.
Anything else?
Um I just want to also thank uh
Todd E PR.
Uh you guys did a great job. You come
in. I was in there in the beginning and
then uh rotated off. But uh I know you
all kept it going and Mary, thank you a
lot for being involved in this. So,
planning commission did a great job.
I sat through some of the meetings and uh
saw some of the uh slides and all that
and it was a lot of thought that went
into this. Uh so, I thank everybody that
was involved did a great job and here we
are.
Nothing else? We will
proceed. Well, No, what What about the item about the reservoir land
acquisition? Do you want to We we can
address that later. Okay. Cuz we we
don't have documents here to address
that. But Mary, the planning commission
I guess would address that.
They actually wanted town council to um
Right. to to have that conversation.
Yeah, this is one they didn't feel
comfortable taking out or doing anything
with that. They want it to be your
decision. Okay, then as what did it say?
I can read that for you.
What is it? We don't own the property
around the reservoir anymore. Or we're
No, I'm
Let's let's see how we need to address the
reference. Yeah. So, it it currently
references it under um I believe it's
under the greenway section of parks area
of trails and open space other open
spaces.
And this will change of course. The town
also owns an undeveloped reservoir
property that currently serves solely as
a water supply and is closed to the
public. This large wooded area presents
a unique opportunity for future passive
recreation such as hiking, nature
observation, fishing or picnicking if
portions of the land can be opened to
the public. Any use of the reservoir
property would require rigorous
protections for water quality and
safety, but with careful planning, this
site could eventually provide residents
with a new place to enjoy Bedford's
natural environment.
This might be a great time and for the
public here as well to speak to the
action we took recently with regard to
that reservoir property. We resolved an
ownership question raised by the water
authority about specific parcels. But we
continue to pursue plans to conserve the
property and to certainly conserve the
water supply.
We're engaging with the water authority
in that discussion um as well as the
county to explore possibilities of
passive recreation that
can [clears throat] be applied to it
regardless of the other administrative
factors. So, we we are pursuing that and
I forgot the name of the gentleman in
Lexington who is advising me on that
currently, but that that is underway.
So, thank you for bringing that up. So, at this point, we we own the
property on the opposite side of the
reservoir and and but we're not sure
what we're going to do with it at this
point in time. So, it technically could
go
into something of that nature. Yes. But
I guess my question is do we need to
change that in any way, shape or form
from what it says now?
>> And again, we're talking about a
document that is a long-term vision kind
of thing. So, we're not any one
particular thing is is is nothing that's
going to, you know, happen fast. You
know, this we got to do it anyway. Yeah,
and I will say and Mary, correct me if
I'm wrong here, none of that is etched
in stone. It can be changed by planning
commission or reviewed at some point in
time or when something does change, it
can be revisited and and and changed.
So,
uh so,
I don't want to throw it back to the
planning commission. I don't I don't
want to play this
ping pong back and forth, but I do think
that that's where we're at right now.
Where are we at?
>> If we come back with a
programmatic solution conjunction with
the state, we can add that as an
amendment to the comp plan. Yeah, but at
this point, all that is a possibility
right now.
As to the property we own
cuz we've not yet decided what we're
going to do with it. And I think that's
will be a long discussion on another
time.
>> Oh yeah, but but that was It was in uh
yeah. The uh planning commission asked
us to discuss it. But uh or we're just
saying that I think it's okay as is.
I'm good with that. You good?
Everybody else good?
Mr. Carson?
Mr. Evans?
Aye. Mr. Foreman? Aye. Mr. Foster? Aye.
Mr. Haley? Aye. Mr. Rebello? Aye. Mr.
Updike? Aye. Mayor Stanley? Aye. Motion
passes with all members voting aye.
All right, next is ordinance registry.
At its regular meeting on February 17th,
2026, town council discussed development
and passage of a vacant building
registry ordinance.
A proposed draft was used for specific
reference as part of that discussion at
that time.
Consensus of council was to move forward
with formal consideration of such an
ordinance and to include a public
hearing as part of that process. Since
that time, staff and the town attorney
have worked to develop a final working
draft for consideration by council.
Tonight, town council is requested to
consider adoption of the vacant building
registry ordinance as submitted by the
town attorney. Okay.
I'm not going to ask for a motion yet
cuz I think there may be some discussion
we want to have and figure out just
exactly what we want to do and what
direction we want to go. So,
I'll open up for discussion.
Uh
I'll start off with
maybe a talking point, maybe it leads on
to something else, but uh
Mr. Lockaby mentioned
previously that uh the vacant building
registry was
uh kind of one of the things that was uh
recommended by the consultants
uh for the you know, to help us
revitalize downtown.
But I think they also said that it would
be better
if those types of regulations, rules, or
whatever were came from the business
community as opposed to being mandated
by by council.
And that is certainly
>> [clears throat]
>> I feel like the the best case scenario.
Um however,
uh
we still have
buildings that that need some type of addressing.
Um
A- and if you know, proprietors, you
know, can't or won't, you know, bring
these buildings to where they are a
little more marketable, you know, then maybe, you know, council does need
to step in. Um
But but I do have some issues regarding, you know,
property rights and mandating what what
people can and can't do with with their property, but um
you know, I'm certainly open for to hear
more discussion about it.
All right.
What else?
I'm going to ask you a question.
Um in under derelict building, it says
not lawfully connected to electric
service, not lawfully connected to water
or sewer service, and then it's got if
required. What do they mean by if
required?
Or what do we mean by if required?
I thought we were requiring it by the
ordinance, but
I didn't draft that part, so I'm sorry.
Yeah.
It just seems like it should be required
and then we're putting if required at
the end.
>> I'm trying to I'm trying to I'm not just
saying whether you're not required to to
be honest.
There may be rare exceptions where
um there might be some private systems
that are
allowed, but I'm I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
>> re- I mean, it wouldn't be possible to
remove that at the end?
If required. And I'm sorry. I'm looking
at Mary. I just forgot. I I can't I
can't imagine there are too many
exceptions. And I don't know if that's
straight out of the state definition for
um derelict building. I think that was
the source of much of Mr. Lockaby's
drafting of this was to be in compliance
with Perhaps there are communities that
have private water and sewer systems and
that informs the state language.
But I'm speculating, so.
I imagine it is probably the state
language. I think it was Graham Anderson
who was
Cuz it just seems like it would make it
a little confusing for somebody to see
that. Cuz we
Cuz I've supported this all along. We
want to have something to help to help
uh because we offer, as Mary said
earlier, we offer a lot of carrots, but
we need a stick to get people to comply
sometimes.
Um and that's what they talked about in
the meetings that we were at.
And this is
there's not This is a very easy so far.
I mean, all you have really have to do
is have a building with electric service
and
um water water connection to it. So,
and if you have those uh for 6-month
period, then you're not a bit derelict
building or vacant building.
So, I mean, it makes it very easy.
So,
you know, so that's that's something
that I thought we needed to look at that
if required and and I know you're
looking at it now, sir.
>> Mr. Mayor, uh
the statute that that uh
Mr. Lockaby
was referring to had to be referred to,
does or speak to uh not lawfully
connected to any required water or sewer
service from a utility service provider.
So,
and the language that he used was
close to that.
Um and and I think it's to the same
point, but it the derelict building
definition is in statute and includes
this this uh concept of what is So, they
have to have it. So, it's saying it is
required to have it.
Well, it's If if it's required to have
it. What what I would
kind of surmise is that
most places you got to have electric,
but some commercial buildings may not
have
uh water connections or
a restroom or anything, so that would
not be required because they don't have
water or sewage coming into the
building, but
that would be That'd be the only reason
I would think that that would be there.
But certainly you do have some buildings
that don't have those water or sewage.
Everybody's got to have electric because
it's
If they make Yeah, I Okay. I Yeah, I
think yes. I think you may be right
there. And it says or, so it either has
electric or has sewage connection. So,
it's not both. A- And I think it's one
thing that
it's the the terms they use to cover
everything that could possibly happen.
Um and I I I will say this.
Um
To to back to what Vice Mayor Black
said, this this stems from the downtown
strategy.
Um
and it and and that and and I thank Mary
I thank her a hundred times. I'll
probably thank her another hundred times
for our league for this, getting that
grant cuz it's given us guidance as to
what we can do.
And it's kind of like comprehensive
plan. It's it's a guide. And this is
something they said that we encourage to
be done and that No, it it doesn't hit
them very hard.
It's it's very light, but it's a start.
And and it's something that has not been
done up to this point.
And and until you
start something and then, as I say, like a lot of things, we can look at it
in 6 months or or a couple months and do
if we want to tweak it, do we want to
change it? But this is a start to start
addressing some of the vacant buildings
that may make this model. That I I don't
know if there are any or not, but it's
very
I would call this
for what it's worth, very lightweight.
But it can be changed and it can be
uh
made to hit a little harder
whenever council wants to do that. But
it But it's more than than what we've
had in that I know we've
I'll just be blunt.
We get criticized if we don't do
anything.
We get criticized if we do something.
So, this is a start and
it it it's something to try to address
the vacancy.
So.
And I knew one of the public comments
talked about the criminal blight in it,
but I think it's something we can leave
in it and then if we want to expand it
in the future to other areas in the
downtown area. I don't think I don't
think we'll have any criminal blight in
our downtown areas by this definition
when I read it. But if we decide to
expand the areas in the future, we
could. And and that was one of the
questions that I had, you know,
it is is there a reason why we are
making requirements of
buildings in a certain section of of the
city or the of the town
that we're not requiring buildings
elsewhere to to to meet those same
standards?
Uh
you know, could you know, Well,
it's only because this was called the
downtown strategy. It addressed downtown
now. I understand where it came from.
I'm just saying couldn't we apply that
to all town buildings? Well, I guess my
question would be
this was modeled for downtown, the
downtown area.
If we wanted something to expand to the
other parts of town,
I would suggest a different ordinance,
but
we can discuss expanding this, but I
think this was modeled or targeted for
downtown, the downtown district. But if
we want to expand that to the other
parts of the the town, then
we could probably get something very
similar,
but uh
of course, would hit a lot harder. We'll
just take out the reference to downtown
district. Yeah, I was going to say if
you just take that out, it would be the
whole town.
>> Then it would apply to everyone.
That that would Okay.
Why? I mean, I don't know.
But
So,
a couple of questions myself is I I was
going
uh
talked to uh Councilman Foreman about
criminal blight, but also
where you sit over here,
Washington Street is split, cuz you
know, one side of Washington Street had
businesses too, just as well as the
other side of Washington Street. So, how
can you
break the street up as when you have
businesses on the right-hand side going
up Washington Street and on the
left-hand side you have businesses?
I mean, that just don't make sense. I
mean,
I don't mean that's not picking on any
businesses on the right-hand side, but
it it should be fair and fair if you
going focus us on downtown and business
related
things. And also, you talked about
I read a couple of the
um
uh papers that people was sending here.
Couple good points said a few points
that talked about hard fees. I don't see
where we need to really punish anybody.
I think we need to just
show them and help them to move forward
with our buildings and stuff like that.
So, I that's my opinion.
The vacant building registry, is that
going to be listed online like the other
vacant building registries, or is that
just going to be something kept here
within
our office?
We will follow the direction of council.
Our understanding is the intent is to
publish it on the website. And it would
be for it would be it would be you'd be
able to obtain it through the Freedom of
Information Act anyhow.
The um yeah, but I was looking tonight
through and you know, I'm all for doing
downtown. I'm one of the people that's
been all about let's fix the downtown,
but the vacant building registry, if you
look on there,
they get treated very nasty, really
nasty.
And their buildings get overlooked,
their insurance gets canceled.
Um some of them are forced to lose their
buildings. There's a lot goes on once
you put them on there. And I understand
that they say that we, like I said, give
them a lot of carrots, but I passed out
18 applications to different businesses
downtown to tell them, yes, we have help
here,
but then at the same time they was told,
well, you got to wait. So, how you going
to punish somebody when you tell them
that you got to wait? Yeah, I'm giving
you this hand, but you can't have it
right now.
You got to wait for it.
So,
you know, yeah, we need to help them and
we need to get them fixed, but I don't
think they need to be punished by
putting on the vacant building registry
and
you humiliated by everybody. And then
plus two, once they get their building
fixed, it's still going to show that
they was on there.
So, you know, it's kind of like a when
you get [cough] a ticket, it stays on
there
and it follows you around. But if you
read it, all they have to do is keep the
electricity on in the building. Right.
But what if suppose you can't get
electricity in the building? It's not
ready for it yet.
You know, not not every building
downtown is It's an older building.
>> Is that a building permit? Yeah.
Okay. It's not it's not immediate. It's
uh they have to be over 6 months.
>> Yeah, they they have time for that
to correct it. If if they are in that
situation, which
I I don't know. Cuz I mean, I just don't
want to see somebody go out, you know,
tomorrow and get slammed on a vacancy
What? on a vacant building registry that
It won't won't happen that quick, you
know. It has to be over six in excess of
six months. Well, when does the six
months start? From today or from We
could we can say that like I can We can say a start date for the
ordinance if you want. Yeah.
The um cuz I mean, I do want to see town
fixed and you know, I've done a lot to
try to help to get the town fixed, but
at the same time I don't want to really
kill people too.
That
you know, sometimes it's just not
as simple as you think when you you
know, you own the buildings to do.
Until you actually have owned a building
downtown, run a business downtown and
dealt with the whole downtown,
it's not nothing easy to have to
deal with.
Well, most people who own the buildings
if they got a tenant in there, they
going to
take care of the building and keep them
up to date and keep them going if they
want to keep the tenants in there.
So, I have a You have to rent the
buildings downtown.
Well, most
>> thank god I got a good I got a good
landlord now, but there I've had some
rough ones, let me tell you.
>> Well, that's my point, Jay, and I'm not
going to argue with you, but I'm just
saying, most rental property, if you
want to keep a tenant in there, you're
going to take care of it and keep it up
to code and
whatever else you have to do.
You're not going to let it dilapidate,
because then you're going to move out
and go somewhere else.
>> Well, that's why I moved six times.
What do you mean?
So, so what do y'all want to say? What
do you want to do here? How do you want
to phrase this?
I just want to ask a couple questions.
Oh, well.
I just want to
>> [laughter]
>> say it's okay. I mean, I I know it's
but I No, no. I just have a couple of
things. I mean, one of one of the things
in on the second page, now paragraph B,
which talks about the owner or owners of
buildings that have been vacant for
continuous period of 12 months or more,
and then it has three stipulations, and
then it says or for the fourth
stipulation.
And my understanding the way that is
grammatically is that that and applies to the first three
stipulations, that it would have to
be uh
it have to be within the downtown
district at least right now, and it'd
have to be a derelict building, and it'd
have to have criminal blight. And to me,
those three criteria, it
I would think that it would be in the
downtown district and a derelict
building or criminal blight,
because
the uh
you know, criminal blight is
self-explanatory.
So, I don't I don't think it's Does that
make sense not meeting the first three
criteria
as far as having and in there?
So, I would say one and
are within the downtown district if we
continue to have it at that and derelict
building or criminal blight or in which
the town manager designates.
And that's one comment, the other is,
you know, we talked about earlier in
vacant it being vacant for six months
and then
I do wonder why
if vacant is
or I guess derelict building is
explained as six months, then why would
we
wait 12 months for it to be continuously
vacant before we we act on it.
Would you want to table this and wait
for Mr. Lockaby to get back and explain
his uh
Sorry.
his explanation's better? Well, this I I
do
I'm struggling with that with this
paragraph B myself.
Could So, it would be 12 months from
then from this. But I do struggle I do
have had the same problem that
Councilman Foster had about being and it
has to be I read it also the same way
that it has to be criminal blight also.
Oh, yeah, all inclusive.
>> All inclusive between all three or it
would have to be the last thing. That's
the way I see it also.
Changes?
Comments?
Why don't we just table it and let's
clean it up and let Mr. Lockaby come
back and have had a solid, strong thing
where we can get these questions out of
the way. It's not going to We don't need
to table it, but
uh six months and nothing like that.
We'll table it to maybe the next meeting
or meeting after that or something like
that. Have it done before the first of
July.
>> the only question I would have is do we
want to leave it as just downtown or do
we want to expand it cuz that was kind
of the Vice Mayor brought up, so I I
wanted to ask that question. What do you
What do y'all want?
Doesn't have to be all of town.
It can Well, right now it's written just
for the downtown. Yeah, but I think when
you look at that bylaw, it's supposed to
be all of the buildings like Well, that
ordinance that would be up to the
attorney.
Yeah.
Well, Well, that
The way it's written now, it's just
downtown. Yeah.
We can pose that question Yeah. for Mr.
Lockaby to consider. Okay. Yes, sir.
We'll we'll uh we will
uh consult on that. You have your mission, if you decide to
accept it.
>> [laughter]
>> Is that okay to where we table it?
Do we need a vote on that or
I don't know. I don't think an action is
necessary. General consensus.
Okay. I think it's a good idea Okay. to
table it. I I think it's a good idea.
It puts the questions we have.
>> All right.
Next is consideration of a formal banner
policy, Mr. Warner.
On two separate occasions, March 3rd,
2026 and March 17th, 2026,
the Streets Committee of Council met to
review and discuss development of a
formal policy related to
a consistent policy governing the
locations and time frames for display of
banners other than town government
banners on municipal light poles.
Based on direction provided by the
committee to staff, such policy has been
drafted and submitted for discussion and
consideration. So, I town council is
requested to consider adoption of a town
of Bedford banner policy document as
submitted for review.
All right. I think you had a chance to
read that and study it. Do I hear a
motion?
Or do we want to discuss it? I think it
needs to be some discussion. All right.
Then we can do that.
What is on your mind?
Oh, wait. What?
I'm going to go. I don't know. I guess I
guess I'm just a little confused on
the
one of the Well, Mr. Parker, his comments earlier.
What the
If we've got 19 of the Bedford board
banners going to be displayed throughout
most of the year except for one at
Christmas time and I guess when the art
things are
and we also have the Vietnam veterans
banners. Is it Is it placement that
you've been worried about? I guess
that's my question or is it placement?
As
>> I think it's placement and length of
time that other banners are displayed.
Yeah.
You know, that and and I
spoke to
Councilman Haley about this earlier and
he was reviewing some other places
policies and
had some ideas that he would share them.
Well, my ideas are this. And I mean, no
disrespect to nobody. But, you know,
I read the policies like Rocky Mount and
stuff like that. They don't seem to have
any groups or any special organization.
They just put the banners in general
where
it has like I'm going to read you what
Rocky Mount does. Just be patient.
And you know, this will rectify a lot of
the things, hopefully,
where it make it easy for all of us.
So, Rocky Mount
A person granting permission to display
a banner over a public right-of-way or
public meeting will surely reimburse the
town of town reasonable costs. So, we
don't have to charge. It's just reading
the things to let you know.
But, it says in the end of the day
um
the town manager shall determine the
cost of the erection or the removal of
the banner using the cost of labor or
equipment and all the signs a town
employee shall erect or remove banners.
You know, the whole point is we use a
lot of town employees to put banners up.
And we use they pretty much take a day
or two days to put banners up downtown.
You know, I'm not saying that we charge,
but I think it should be some kind of
process or application where
you fill this application out, give it
to town manager. Let's take town council
out of the equation about this part of
the banner thing right here. Say, "Well,
any new banners
or any other requests to display a
banner should be a standard form or and
shall be reviewed by town council." You
know,
really uh
I think we got better things a lot of
other things to make decision on what
banners go up on our street. That's more
to the economic side or more to
town manager side or whatever.
But, you know, I think it should be a
universal universal
policy where, you know, if you want your
banner up this month, put in
application, we'll put it up for this
month. And it makes it fair to
everybody. Cuz, you know, this other
times of the year, say if February is
Black History Month. Just using that for
an example.
And you come up here, you got October
Breast Cancer Month. So, I mean, it
makes it more and it like I said,
we can keep the banners in certain areas
downtown or whatever, but what it does
it gives other opportunities for other
people
to put different banners up. And
remember,
talking about we was on Bedford Main
Street. So, the Bedford Boys banners
actually came from the D-Day and they
paid for them banners.
So, in the process we had the Bedford
Overlord banners that Main Street
created. That was downtown. I mean,
we are rich in history, but, you know,
let's give everybody opportunity to put
different banners, Vietnam veterans. So,
I mean, we got Civil War. How about the
Iraq
veterans? How about the
uh Desert Storm veterans and stuff like
that. So, there's a lot of stuff in the
down in the way where we can
play display some pride in our town.
I like its size because the size will
minimize a lot of aggravation, a lot of
town employees to try to put banners up.
So, you know,
you see sometimes you go into they have
banners coming straight into town. So,
we can run banners all the way up
to CVS up here to make it look nice for
us coming in town. Run it all the way to
D-Day. Run it all the way to 460 out
here.
Run it all the way down past the middle
school. Maybe Longwood.
It gives everybody
in town to have different ideas and
stuff on banners. And you know, a
universal policy will just be easy.
Instead of organization, cuz you read
Lynchburg, Salem,
all that policy, they don't need no such groups. They just put the banners.
What the policy is, what can be done,
how you do it.
And that makes it easy for everybody.
There's a couple things that um
that uh
Mr. Parker pointed out that I
From my perspective, there's there's no
argument.
Um
One is that uh
D-Day and
those servicemen that that that that
died in that
um
you know,
they deserve recognition and at least
for this community
um you know, should not be forgotten.
Understand that in other places
of the world
outside of our little
slice of heaven here,
um that people may forget.
But, that's why we have organizations
such as
D-Day and the Bedford Boys Tribute
Center
to promote that particular aspect.
Um
you know, and we also have the Vietnam
veterans.
And uh
you know, one of the comments that Mr.
Parker made was that, you know,
basically, no one service member's
sacrifice is any greater or lesser than
another service member's sacrifice. You
know, and and I and I totally agree with
that. Um
as as far as a governing body
um I think that
we should make sure that we recognize
each particular
uh
historical event
of that nature equally. We need to make
sure that it's all done
equally as far as we're concerned. Now,
again, you know, we've got, you know,
organizations that, you know, are here
to
um
you know, make sure that D-Day is not forgotten, that World
War II is not forgotten. And we have an
organization that, you know, is here to
make sure that, you know, the the veterans that that died in
Vietnam that uh that they're not
forgotten either. Uh
you know,
I think we need to honor both of those.
And
you know,
and if another, you know, organization
says that, yeah, in time that these
things may be forgotten, maybe, but not
here.
So.
Uh
Yeah, that's that's that's kind of where I am with it. That
we need to make sure that both are
forgotten.
You know, I just want to say that the
15th of this month was 1 year
that I started working on the banners,
the new banners that we have. Working
with Leslie with the Vietnam vets,
working with April with D-Day to come up
with these new banners. The banners we
had in town are over 20 years old.
And there shouldn't need to be
all of this over switching a 20-year-old
banner. When you have a Vietnam vet
thing here, you should automatically
know Vietnam vet flags need to go here.
When the Bedford Boys march down Main
Street, okay,
take them down Main Street. You know,
the historical things that Leslie talks
about for the museum, you know, those
are people that really did something for
Bedford.
But, in creating banners, if y'all only
knew what a headache it was. 7 months
just to get
a copy [clears throat] of one to see
because it can't have a church, it can't
have a business, it can't have this, it
can't have that. I mean, after thing after thing after thing.
And, you know,
going to see about something and being
told no and then going to see about
something say I don't have time for you.
And, you know, it was just
a horrendous deal to deal with just to
say And Stacy knows cuz he did the
Christmas banners. It is nothing easy to
create banners for this town.
I mean, you got to it to create a banner
for this town.
And
you know, this is to me this is
nonsense. It's It's the right thing to do, but it's
like Stacy said, we have other stuff to
do than to sit here and say, "Oh, you
can do this and you can do that."
You know, if the person that wants to
come up and they want to hang their
banners up, God help them. Well, I'll
help them. They'll come see me cuz I
can't help them.
They um
but I mean, I don't think it's something the council
should be involved in
either on that. I think it should be
you know, the right thing to do for
wherever the stuff is. Because that way
Keans getting his banners leading down
because whenever they leave Keans, when
people come in my restaurant all the
time,
you know, they say they're going to be
day or they've came in and they got
their little D-Day stickers on. I ask
them, "Have you been down to the Bedford
Boys Tribute Center?" Some say yes, some
say no. I send them there.
You know, we talked about taking some of
the remember banners leading them up
Crenshaw Street up to the Welcome Center
so they can follow the banners to and
from town.
I mean, there's a lot of stuff we can
do, but
that's not for us.
You know, let's
just let it be and and and let it go and
you know, I understand that the Bedford
Boys went all the way up this way. But
you know what? There's 26 light poles
from Bridge Street
down to where you turn at whatever that
street is, Crenshaw, what's it called?
There's 26 poles. There's only 20
Bedford Boy banners.
You know, there's 20 poles this way.
There's only 14
poles cuz trust me, we painted them.
And you know, uh people do stop and read
those banners. When we was painting
those banners, you would be surprised
how many people you see looking at those
banners, stopping and taking pictures
with those banners.
You know, when the Vietnam veteran
banners was up there, people was
constantly with the Vietnam banners
being up there, they see that name, they
can look at those faces right there in
the front of them. So, it's kind of a
common sense thing.
But I don't think we need to be involved
in it.
Well,
and I guess the only response I have to
that is that
I think
the council needs to do
things necessary to keep us out of civil
litigation.
And if we don't have some type of policy
and somebody
fills out an application and gets turned
down
and we don't have a policy, I think that
weakens our position and I mean, the
attorneys can weigh in on that, but you
know, that's just you know, my layman's
outside view of things. Sure. We have to
have a little guidance of some kind and there is a lot of liability issue
involved here, too, to where you can't
just let anybody hang banners or
things like that, but
I'm I'm misunderstanding the point here
in that
are we we focusing on when the
individual banners go up or or where?
What What are we
I'm not sure what we're discussing and
talking about. Well, the way that
this is written out, it it addresses
both the where banners are hung and the
times of during the year that they are
put up.
Are we okay with that, I guess?
That is the question.
Well, the problem is
the Bedford Boys banners always been up
on this end.
So, I mean, if you put them down that
end,
I mean, you've got to compromise either
you've got to either put them here or
there. And uh
I'm going to say this and I'm trying to
make nobody mad.
Promising people stuff shouldn't happen.
My point is
you're talking about
uh so, if you want to put the Bedford
Boys up one side of the street and the
Vietnam up the other side of the street
to make it even, to be fair to
everybody?
But you know, the whole point is it's
like I was talking about Bedford Boys.
We're not taking away from our respect
and our dead and our people that fought
for our country and that that actually
lived here in Bedford. We was the
highest number of boys lost during World
War II. Per capita.
So, you got World War I. You got the
Revolution War. You got the Civil War.
You got other stuff like I was talking
about that other people in Halifax, I'm
going to use this as a sample.
They got veterans that's still alive and
got banners up on the street. So, you
know, there's different stuff.
I know you made a comment up uh Vice
Mayor update, that our town is based on
war. It is based on war. Our town is a
war
based town because of what the heritage
and history we have. Not taking that
away.
But
the whole point is placement of banners
and this and that,
you know, the town's been putting up
banners
and we hadn't been involved with it for
years.
And now we're trying to get us we have a
policy, put the policy down, let our
town employees take care of it. That's
what I'm trying to do. So, we do not as
council need to get in here and tell
people where to put banners up downtown.
That's my opinion.
So, you're talking about F.
Yeah.
So, we have to we'll review it every
time somebody wants to come and put a
different banner up.
That's my opinion, but
So, what is the rest of council's
thoughts?
What direction do we want to go? I mean,
leave this as is, tweak it or
where are we?
What?
What do you think?
I agree with Stacy.
Why should we get involved in it? I
mean,
Well, let's ask the attorney.
>> Nobody got a banner going. No. No. I
mean,
They had banners running all the way
down Jackson Street one time. Bedford
Main Street did. I mean,
I agree with him.
Let's let our town staff take care of
it. Give our Yep. Uh and I'm I'm going
to say this.
Sometimes we always step up bounds with
Mr. Warner and we tell Mr. Warner to
take care of stuff and then we go behind
and do different, but let Mr. Warner and the public works director take care
of this and we take ourselves out of it.
I do like the standards on it, though.
Yeah.
I like them being standardized and I
like that I like that. [laughter] I I'm
with you, Todd. I like something in
order. Yeah.
I I don't like
What What do we want to do is the
question.
What Well,
legally, where would we stand? That's
right. If we just allow,
this this the town manager to do something
and then if another one comes in later
on, you know, he has a he or she has a
different viewpoint and so that, you
know, then there is no consistency,
there is no, you know, so what what
what's [clears throat] our legal
standing in
turning this over to the town manager?
And then how does our town manager feel
about, you know,
creating internal policy uh to address
something like that?
They've been doing it for years.
We also had lower tax rate for years.
Look where we are now. Yeah. So, we
can't base it
What we did for years.
Let's let's be
Let's let's tell it like it is. Yeah,
the only question
>> Things are going to change. Yeah. The
only question I would have about it is
with what he's with with what's being
said here and this is where I would ask
a question and it I think it's very
similar to what
the Vice Mayor is asking, but you're putting specific ones on here.
What happens when somebody else comes
and wants to put an add a banner to this
list and they're they're restricted from
doing it because it's someone else that
wants to do it. And does that have bad
liability If you're talking about
liability, does that add liability
because you're you're taking the
opportunity from someone else away from
doing it? Well, we have 94 poles.
>> Yeah, we have light poles everywhere. No, I'm
just saying by listing them out like
this and saying, "This and this and this one." Mr. Lockaby did address
that in the uh streets committee
meeting. There are some kind of
liabilities to certain
I forgot how he said it.
The ones that
Mr. Mayor,
uh the the
ones that are specified in here where
you have the specific guidance that I
mean, Mr. Lockaby has reviewed it and approved it. Uh you know, that
and and uh
indicated to me that those don't create
First Amendment problems, which is what
I think what we're concerned about here.
Um
the the remaining uh category, which is
F,
um
does say that that uh these requests do
give you It does give town council some
guidance on what it can accept or gives
you a, you know, the ability to say
maybe not this one.
Uh
but uh the banners cannot uh establish
formal uh formal statement, speech or
position on behalf of the town. That
Those are words, legal words that that are designed to um help keep you
from uh running into First Amendment
problems, getting sued.
Um but
I I uh
I'm not sure that that just throwing it
on the city or town manager that she,
you know, change the the um
the risk from liability.
And they cover some of that uh right
there in number F.
liability going to other
banners.
Um
Right now, where we're addressing the
ones that are normally up.
Do we have any consensus? Do we want to
just pass this and tweak it or any
issues that Mr. Warner has, he can come
back to us?
Well, were all these
Cuz I wasn't involved in this policy.
The Were all the people on this because
we have Mr. Parker is the only one that
spoke today about it. Were they all
involved in the conversation of forming
this policy? We have heard from Vester
Boyd, from D-Day, from Vietnam,
Leslie historical. Okay. Yeah. Yes.
Only after the fact.
After they've been
submitted. Yes.
So so these are the ones that are
normally put up during the year.
And they're normally up all the time all
of them. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a
replacement of
really replacement for what this is what
the contract is. And and back to what
Councilman Haley said, I
probably Bridge Street would be D-Day,
maybe East Main, Vietnam I I don't know.
That's could be decided. But
that's
may be may be looked at.
All I'm saying is this. You got 94
poles. Yeah.
I ain't saying poles. We
I counted them
counted poles years ago. What my point
is, I think we do need a policy. I don't
mind a policy. I just think the policy
needs to be
cleaned up some little bit and get
things where it would be
fair to everybody. That's my opinion.
That's all I'm going to say.
Cuz I've told the town manager that we
do need a policy on the banners.
But I think it needs to be fair and
cleaned up. That's all I'm going to say.
And I'm I mean we don't have banners for
today.
That's all I'm going to say.
It's 250. Because we wasted time to take
banners down at the end of March well in
April.
And then we didn't put nothing back up.
Okay.
I don't know that to you. That's That's
for a Christmas.
Well no, but I'm saying if we got people
coming for a parade and it's going to be
a military parade in the town, we'd want
some something up there. Then I'm sure
it will be. But at the same time, let's
decide on something
on this right now.
That's where we are. We we're in April
here. Are you all okay with this?
To pass it as is or do you want to tweak
it or I'd like to tweak it. Okay.
All right. Councilman Haley says tweak
it. What about the rest of you?
Want to pass it as is or
Can we pass it and take out banners?
But I don't think we'd want to do that.
Because F allows other banners to be
posted at other street lamps or light
posts or you know, that kind of stuff.
And that's the very thing that Mr.
Lackey mentioned in the streets
committee.
Yeah, that that covers us.
It covers
the the town.
All right. Well, I guess the only thing
that I I hear
Councilman Haley and maybe Councilman
Foreman was that
in the in in F where it says on behalf
of the town should be reviewed by town
council
then
maybe it's just you want to get out of
the business. So maybe it should be by
town manager reviewed by town manager.
Is that in F? For F? For F.
I mean we've never we've never
I long I'm going to say as long as I sit
on council
I don't know if I'll ever vote on any
banners.
And I'm being honest.
You can ask Leslie. She's been seeing me
up here for years.
We have never voted on banners. We've
never It's really just been a a
I'm going to say Bethune Main Street
contacted Mr. Warner when we put up the
Bethune Memorial banner on Condit D-Day.
They weren't they went up there a couple
weeks later. Okay. So so what is the
solution?
>> Yeah, exactly. Let's let's get down to
nuts and bolts.
What are we going to do? Do we want to
vote this as is
unless Mr. Warner and let them hear or
unless
Let let let let me ask
the question same way.
Um
can we vote on this
with two changes? Okay. One, we
um
redesignate historical significant
persons to
the recommendation that that Leslie
made.
Uh We're going to do that anyway,
And
um
and in F
where it says reviewed by town council,
uh review that by town manager.
I'm okay.
I think you hit the nail on the head.
I mean
I would be fine with that. Are we still
Let me ask you a question. Are we still
placing poles and where is stuff
supposed to be going or is it just going
to be first come first serve?
For all other poles, first come first
serve.
Outside of these. Outside of what's
already in there.
Outside of the the three categories that
we that we have to deal with presently.
I mean we can vote on that if you want
to. I mean I don't have a problem with
that.
But
is that a motion you made? So moved.
That would be the amendment to the
We haven't made the motion
>> We haven't made a motion yet. I made a
motion. So then yes, that would be the
motion. Mr. Warner, do you think those
changes
>> I got it. Okay. So you You got Leslie's
changes and you'll let me handle all the
ones that are not [laughter]
I can handle it.
He can handle it.
Are Are we okay with that?
>> [clears throat]
>> Okay.
Who wants to make the motion?
I'll make the motion that we approve
with the changes. with the with the
changes that we have listed.
I'll second it.
Vice Mayor Updike made the vote motion.
Councilman Haley made the second.
Any further discussion?
No, please.
Darcy.
Mr. Foster. Aye. Mr. Haley.
>> Aye. Mr. Burrito. Aye. Mr. Updike. Aye.
Mr. Evans. Aye. Mr. Foreman. Aye. Mayor
Stanley. Aye. Motion carries with all
members voting aye. All right. Next on
the agenda is speed limit change on
Longwood Avenue. Mr. Warner. At a
regular meeting on October 8th, 2024,
Town Council voted unanimously to apply
a speed limit of 25 mph to the entirety
of Longwood Avenue within town limits.
This action was taken in response to a
recommendation made by the Public Safety
Committee of Town Council on September
24th, 2024.
At its meeting on March 3rd, 2026,
member of the members of the Streets
Committee of Town Council moved to
revisit this decision and to consider restoring the
previous speed limit of 35 mph in both
directions on Longwood Avenue between
its intersection with Oakwood Street and
its intersection with Grove Street.
Tonight Town Council is requested to
consider the recommendation made by the
Streets Committee at its meeting on
March 3rd, 2026. All right.
You have a motion?
So moved.
Vice Mayor Updike made the motion.
Second.
I'll go to go to sleep. Somebody make
it.
>> All right. I'll do it. All right.
Councilman Debleto, discussion. I have a
discussion. All right. Discussion.
So 35
me and Councilman Foreman was on safe
public safety committee when we did
happen. And you know, I'm not
picking on the mayor. I'm not picking on
streets committee, but it should have
been a public safety committee meeting
on this instead of a streets committee
on this about changing speed limit which
street the public safety committee
actually changed the speed limit.
So
35 mph all the way up to Grove Street,
you know,
that gives that opportunity for people
when they come off right after you pass
the graveyard, you can hit up the that
45, you're still almost running 35 45
around that curve before you get up
there to the middle school.
I think my opinion
is keep it at 25 cuz it confuses our
citizens. It confuses everybody else.
It's a safety issue on top of it. And
the whole point is we just changed this
less than a year and a half ago. And I
think it would be ridiculous for us
going back and changing it about 35 cuz
a couple people complained about it.
That's my opinion.
Thank you.
got it.
» [applause]
» What was the reason with the street
committee changing it?
What's the reason?
We stood up in the Remember the hot
summer we stood up there on that woman's
grave. Bugs eating us up, sweating
running down our back. No no, let's make it clear.
It was mentioned.
And I said we can discuss anything.
I'm willing to discuss anything that
they want to put on the agenda. And that
was a discussion. I've heard I've heard
just as many people complain about 25 as
I heard about 35. So it it's it
you can
we'll People don't respond to surveys.
if we did one, you get about 50/50.
Now, I go that way about every day of
the week unless I'm going down through a
line, but uh
I dare say not many people drive 25,
it's more when it's 25 it's 30, when
it's 35 it's 40, but no, I do agree with
what the people who live along that
street said. And I
reiterate what I said earlier. I'm glad
y'all came tonight and said what you
did.
So, no, it was only a
couple of suggestions.
>> Suggestions. Yeah, comment. It's just a
comment. That's all it was. So, that's
why they changed And and we're talking
about it and I think I think we're
getting a very good response.
And you know, ever since we we adjusted
the speed limit uh from 35 to 25 uh
I've heard more people that weren't in
favor
of that particular action
than in favor of that particular action.
Now as far as the people that were
complaining about the speed limit being
reduced, whether they live on Longwood
Avenue or not, I don't know.
Um
I would venture to say that they
probably do not.
But I also venture to say that they are
people that that travel that road on a
daily basis.
And so
they they had concerns about it being lowered.
Um
In the 27 years that I worked for the
police department, I don't ever remember
Longwood Avenue being a traffic hazard
at 35.
Or as the mayor said, probably closer to
40.
Um
you know
Chief, well I I got complaints every day
about speeding, every day about
speeding.
>> you got complaints you got complaints,
but do do about the whole But you have
many traffic accidents do we have? I
don't know I don't have those details.
That'd be a good question. I don't
recall looking any.
Uh I had one right there on right in
front of his house where one speeding
though, but they had a pole hit the
tractor trailer. Right.
And and
That's
you know, that that's not that's not a
speed that's not a speed issue. That was
But there was also a child struck in the
street though.
Yes. Yes, there was a child struck on
that street when the car was speeding
toward Halloween.
>> [cough]
>> Right. And [clears throat]
and even at Halloween and even with all
the signage that that we had up there
you know That was that was before the
signage was up.
That was when we started doing it after
that.
>> Okay. Jim Chief Day was there then.
Okay. Um
So, yes.
You know I've had you more more concerns
about the speed limit being reduced
than than than I've had you know, people
you know, speaking tonight. Uh so you
know, that's another reason why it was brought up.
Um
you know, I don't think that um
uh again, you know, it it's 35 you know
back when I was here, you know, I didn't
see that uh as as being
a traffic safety
issue.
Um you know, we addressed the the
traffic and at certain times we we
heightened the enforcement you know,
during those areas. Um
but um
but again
uh
we have
Like the mayor said, we probably had you
know, as many people that wanted up as
we wanted down. They had concerns and
again, that's why it was brought brought
here to be discussed. I will say So, I
don't I don't think that it was you
know, nonsense for us to discuss it. I
think that any type of you know, citizen
concern needs to be addressed. And it's
like like CG said, we're willing to
listen to anything and hear anything
out, but like said
it's it's just the
senseless on our part have to go down
and change it again and somebody else
will complain about it and then we'll
have to change it again and then we just
keep rolling back and forth and wasting
time and poor wasting time putting signs
up and stuff like that. And it's you
know
it's just awful right awful day a little
bit like Mr. Warner said. You have like
three or four different designs you
know, that four lane highway that's what causes all this 35 and 25
stuff. It's that four lower half of
almost a mile four lane highway right
there in the middle of the town. I mean,
we could do we they moved us off at one
time before put up the little things in
the middle to slow down traffic.
But you know
I just think
it's great to bring it up, it's great to
talk about it, but I think it should
just stay the same. That's my opinion.
I will say this that when we voted on it
last time we voted I think on four
different streets at one time. It wasn't
one street voted on. It was all lump sum
and
uh
Longwood was one of those that that we
probably should have put them out pulled
them out separately and voted on them,
but we did not vote on each one
separate. But uh now I think uh
at some point in time I think that area will take care of itself with
uh some revisions, some uh need not
funding and you'll probably be back to
two or two lanes like it was back 50s
and part of the 60s. So,
there's there's change on the way, I'm
sure.
Are we okay?
No.
Yeah, since everybody else had a talk,
since I live on Longwood, I've got to
say something before we start.
So, I I just something real quick um you
know, that half mile stretch we're
talking about on Longwood, it's got 37
driveways and six road intersections.
Obviously stopping distances increase
with speeds.
Um it's so it's safer to maintain the
lower speed. Um and so for instance
we get a lot of semi trucks coming
through there, which aren't supposed to
be coming through there, but they do
anyway. Um
you know, if they're fully loaded and
they're traveling at 35 miles an hour,
it takes them twice as long stopping
distance to stop than it does at 25
miles an hour.
So, people pulling out, kids playing or
whatever, you've got a a
semi truck that takes almost over 200
feet to stop at 35 miles an hour and
only takes about 80 to 100 feet at 25
miles an hour.
Um
yeah, the other thing uh
the PD had a uh a radar
uh
whatever it's called Speed check down on
the street.
>> Speed camera type thing, whatever.
In December. So, just in December the in
December one way traffic the total
volume was 101,441
44 vehicles in the month. That's at
average of 3,272 vehicles a day
coming one way on Longwood. So, it's
easy to extrapolate that you got uh
6,500 cars going both ways on Longwood.
And even if you have 15% speeders,
that's 1,000
people speeding per day on on on that
stretch of the area. Whether and that
not the
then I agree with what the vice mayor
said about uh time, but whether you have
27 years or or 60 years in law
enforcement and you never had an
accident, that's not a reason to raise
the speed limit uh to 35 miles an hour.
And lastly, I'll just say that we you
know, not long ago we adopted a bike
walk plan
and it recommends that we place bicycle
pavement markings on Longwood. So,
instead of increasing the speed like we
talked about because of four lanes, how
about we restripe Longwood down to two
lanes with a center turn lane and follow
a plan we adopted by also providing bike
lanes. That's that's all I'll say.
And something like that's probably to
come at some point, yeah.
And replacing the park signs so
Okay, park until they're not being good
read.
Working on that. Okay.
You need you need more comments.
I echo what Mr. Wallace said, you know, with the tractor trailers stopping at 35
and 25, I witness that pretty much every
day.
So, I can agree to that. Yeah.
You know, stopping distance on vehicles. I think
tractor trailers do get And cars same
way. Yeah, it's GPS that I think messes
them up at times.
Uh
they're not been here don't know what
they're getting into.
But that's
neither here nor there.
You need
Are we good? Mhm.
Ready to vote?
I accept. So, we're we're making motions
here, aren't we? Yeah.
All right, Dorsett.
Mr. Aley?
No.
Mr. Aguilera? No.
Mr. Uptain? Yeah.
I'm sorry, Mr. Stanley No.
Mr. Evans? No.
Mr. Foreman? No.
Mr. Foster? No. Mr. Stanley? No.
Motion carried with all members voting
no.
Okay, next resolution approval of
Central Virginia Safety Action Plan. Mr.
Warner. Central Virginia Planning
District Commission received a USDOT
Safe Streets for All Grant to advance a
collaborative regional approach to
improve safety along the region's
roadways with special emphasis on
reducing fatal and serious accidents.
The Central Virginia Safety Action Plan
Safe Streets for All documents the areas
within the region that have the highest
number of serious and fatal accidents,
establishes performance measures, and
provides programmatic and project
recommendations to improve safety for
all users along the region's roadways.
Plan was developed through an extensive
stakeholder engagement process and
aligns with the Commonwealth
Transportation Board adopted Virginia's
Strategic Highway Safety Plan, which
establishes the target to reduce roadway
fatalities and serious injuries by 50%
by 2045.
CVSAP was adopted by both the Central
Virginia Planning District Commission
and the Central Virginia Transportation
Planning Organization on November 20th,
2025.
By adopting the Central Virginia Safety
Action Plan, Safe Streets for All, Town
of Bedford will support the goal to
improve safety along its roadways and
the goal to reduce serious and fatal
accidents by 50% by the year 2045.
There is no penalty by VDOT or federal
transportation for not meeting safety
goals.
Rather, adopting the CVSAP document and
committing to the goal to reduce serious
and fatal accidents provides access to
certain federal transportation planning
and construction program funds.
Included Included is eligibility to
apply for US DOT SS4A planning and
construction program, which just opened
a $1 million application round with
applications due May 26th. Tonight, Town
Council is requested to adopt the
resolution approving the Central
Virginia Safety Action Plan, Straight
Safe Streets for All.
right, you've heard the reading. Do
I hear a motion? Yes.
Councilman Ippolito, and how about a
second? Second.
Councilman Evans, any discussion? Any
questions?
Any comments?
Dorsey.
Mr. Ippolito? Aye. Mr. Updike? Aye. Mr.
Evans? Aye. Mr. Foreman? Aye. Mr.
Foster? Aye. Mr. Haley? Aye. Mayor
Stanley? Aye. Motion carries with all
members voting aye. All right. Grant
Management Agreement and Budget
Amendment for SAFER grant received by
the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department.
Mr. Warner.
Bedford Volunteer Fire Department was
awarded a grant in the amount of
$258,000
from the Department of Homeland
Security. This grant award covers a
period of 4 years and the subject annual
caps.
The award provides for two separate
programs, which include a tuition
assistance program and a pay per call
program.
For the current year, the program awards
$20,000 towards tuition assistance and
$40,000 towards pay per call stipends to
volunteers.
The pay per call program starts at $5
per call at a minimum participation
level of 10% of call volume each year,
as well as a requirement that volunteers
attend 25% of training drills and 50% of
meetings.
The pay per call rate increases based on
the increased response percentage for $1
for each 5% above that minimum.
This program was previously initiated
through another SAFER grant program. The
new award would allow the town to
continue the existing pay per call
program through FEMA grant assistance.
The award was issued directly to the
Bedford Volunteer Fire Department. In
order for the department for the town to
administer the grant, the town needs to
enter into a grant management services
agreement with the Bedford Volunteer
Fire Department and amend the existed
existing budget to include the grant
award for the first year allocation.
Tonight, Town Council is requested to
approve the attached budget amendment,
which will appropriate budget to the
general ledger accounts and authorize
the town manager to enter into a grant
management agreement with the Bedford
Volunteer Fire Department.
All right, do you hear a motion? So
moved. Councilman Haley and second? Yes.
Councilman Ippolito,
I think this pretty well
self-explanatory.
Any questions? Comments?
Dorsey.
Mr. Updike? Aye. Mr. Evans? Aye. Mr.
Foreman? Aye. Mr. Foster? Aye. Mr.
Haley? Aye. Mr. Ippolito? Aye. Mr.
Sorry, Mayor Stanley? Aye.
Motion carries with all members voting
aye. All right. PSA agreement to
1 month?
Yes, I think I can be quick in answers
for everybody here.
So, according to the town code, the
price cost adjustment goes into effect
automatically every 6 months.
Um
we are set to see that take effect May
1st and we'll defer to Mr. Wager and Ms.
Cantrell to tell you the details, but
we're looking at a pretty significant
increase and frankly, all of us have had
several high bills lately anyway, so
what we'd like for you to do is to defer
the automatic action of the PCA for at
least 1 month to give us a chance to
find a way to offset or defer those
costs for all of our electric customers,
including ourselves.
Yes, I think that's very reasonable.
Do we understand that? Yes.
Be okay with Yeah, I'm just curious what
it's going to cost us. Yeah. That's my
question. Go Go ahead and tell them,
John or Randy. If we defer for 1 month,
what's it going to cost? I'm I'm sorry,
what What what what is what would the
PCA cost be May 1st if we enacted all of
it?
>> Oh, yeah, it's going to be significant.
It would be
uh
I don't even know if I want to say this,
but uh
it would be about uh 2.4 cents per
kilowatt hour in addition to the
current rate, uh
which translates to uh for the typical 1,000 kilowatt hour per
month customer, about $24.32.
Okay, so if we delay it for 1 month,
what's the cost going to be to the town?
approximately. I know you can't
>> Actually, we we waited as long as we
could to calculate it because we wanted
to get March into it. March was
favorable,
so it reduced the amount that we had to
our under recovery was. I don't know I
wasn't suggesting we recalculate. We
could do that using April data. Yeah,
but there but we got to cover that cost
for 1 month, right? That's what I'm
thinking.
For You mean the shortfall? We've
already paid for it. From May until
June, we have to cover that month,
correct?
If we delay it for 1 month.
Well, I'm what I'm trying to say is I
think that in April, we may be
favorable. Oh, okay. So, it's going to
lower maybe lower. Right. The shortfall
[clears throat] was from January
specifically, right?
>> Correct. It was primarily from January.
If If we hadn't had that
uh call it weather event in January, we
wouldn't even have an increase.
We wouldn't be asking for it.
But unfortunately, we did have it. Uh it
was a significant shortfall.
Uh
right now, we've already paid it. It's
already been paid.
Uh now, the question is how how we want
to recover that or how much we want to
reduce it.
>> is So, what we're talking about is the
money that we the billion dollars we paid
back in January.
>> Correct. That we got to recover somehow.
That's correct. That's our income draw
or our money draw. That's correct. We
will have some options. Yeah.
So, we're not accruing interest or
anything like that.
>> No, it's already gone. Right.
I think I think we've had
some bad experiences with trying to
defer Yes, that's why.
>> increased costs and and I I don't want
to go down, you know, that that that
road again either. You know, as opposed
to, you know, 2.3, 3.4, whatever
percent, we get hit with a 15% increase
just because we have to make up time.
That doesn't
Nobody swallows that pill easy. Right.
No, and the clock will restart uh
from uh beginning of Okay, so it's not
like what we've what's happened in the
past where we Right. It just has to
happen every 6 months. Well, 6 months
just happens to be May 1st. Okay.
I think that's a good point. This will,
yeah, come up every 6 months. Right. And
hopefully,
restarting the clock, it goes down.
Yeah.
Okay. Yeah.
Exactly.
Anything else?
Go ahead, Dorsey. I'd like to make a
motion. Yeah. Oh, we've not made a
motion. You're serious.
Motion.
Vice Mayor to accept the recommendation
by by Councilman Evans by by Town
Manager on deferment for 1 month. I know
what it was.
Uh Vice Mayor
Updike and uh
Who Who made the second?
Uh Councilman Foster. All right, Dorsey.
Mr. Foster? Aye. Mr. Haley? Aye. Mr.
Ippolito? Aye. Mr. Updike? Aye. Mr.
Evans? Aye. Mr. Foreman? Aye. Mayor
Stanley? Aye. Motion carries with all
members voting aye.
Okay, this meeting will be adjourned to
Saturday, May 2nd
at uh 9:00 a.m. Light breakfast at 8:30
a.m. for a budget work session right
here in Town Hall. And we are
adjourned.