[6:06] The pledge of allegiance.

[6:09] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[6:12] United States of America, and to the

[6:14] republic for which it stands, one nation

[6:18] under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[6:21] justice for all.

[6:26] Good afternoon to everyone. Another good

[6:28] crowd.

[6:29] We have some interesting

[6:32] items on the agenda to bring everyone

[6:33] out.

[6:35] Um, first thing is approval of the

[6:37] minutes. You all

[6:38] had a chance to review the minutes. And

[6:40] any additions, if you please,

[6:42] corrections?

[6:44] If there's anything good, so they stand

[6:45] approved as is.

[6:49] Report of town manager, Mr. Warner.

[6:51] Thank you, Mayor Stahli, members of

[6:52] council. Uh,

[6:54] first item I want to report on is under

[6:55] the terms of section 58-171 of the town

[6:58] code, the updated six-month priced cost

[7:01] adjustment for the electric utility

[7:04] bills is scheduled to take effect as of

[7:06] May 1st. Based on a projected increase

[7:09] in cost to customers

[7:11] uh, related to that calculation, staff

[7:13] is asking council to defer that

[7:15] adjustment for 1 month in order to give

[7:17] us some time to determine ways in which

[7:19] those costs can be reduced or deferred.

[7:22] So, when the time comes, I will be

[7:24] asking for this to be added as an item

[7:26] of new business at tonight's meeting as

[7:29] a revision to the agenda.

[7:31] Also, I just wanted to report really for

[7:33] the

[7:34] benefit of the public, council will be

[7:35] engaging in your work session on

[7:38] Saturday, May 2nd, to review and discuss

[7:40] fiscal year '26-'27 budget. Few

[7:43] highlights as it is currently proposed I

[7:45] want to pass along is that it does

[7:47] include

[7:48] a proposed increase in B pole to 20

[7:51] cents per $100 on businesses with gross

[7:54] revenues of $10 million and above, while

[7:56] the current rate is 15 cents. No other

[7:59] tax increases are currently proposed.

[8:02] Uh, the budget also demonstrates a

[8:04] concerted effort to identify all costs

[8:08] associated with the electric utility and

[8:10] to allocate those costs within the

[8:12] electric fund.

[8:13] This eliminates the traditional transfer

[8:15] from electric to general funds. However,

[8:18] a payment in lieu of taxes is included

[8:20] as general fund revenue related to the

[8:22] electric utility.

[8:24] This is calculated as the amount of tax

[8:26] revenue that the town would receive from

[8:28] the utility if it were a private entity.

[8:31] Compared to last year's transfer of

[8:33] $799,000,

[8:35] the proposed payment in lieu of taxes is

[8:37] $589,000.

[8:40] Also, I want to report that the decision

[8:42] to withdraw from commercial solid waste

[8:44] service is showing some benefit. Solid

[8:47] waste fund is actually transferring

[8:48] revenues, $10,000 for the first time in

[8:51] memory, to the general fund.

[8:54] The budget includes a 2% cost of living

[8:56] adjustment for employees. We were

[8:58] originally looking at 2.8% to match the

[9:00] social security cost of living

[9:02] adjustment, but our health insurance

[9:04] costs increased once again.

[9:06] On that note, the budget includes

[9:08] continued funding of employee only

[9:10] health insurance coverage

[9:12] for all employees at the $1,000

[9:14] deductible level, but we are already

[9:16] looking to make changes in fiscal year

[9:18] '27-'28

[9:20] to drop the $500 deductible plan and

[9:22] offer a high deductible health care plan

[9:24] instead.

[9:26] Also, note that there is one vacancy in

[9:28] public works as a result of retirement

[9:30] that will be frozen and is not proposed

[9:32] to be funded. Other vacancies that occur

[9:35] through retirement will be considered in

[9:36] similar fashion during the coming year.

[9:39] And finally, I just want to close by

[9:41] noting that there is a $332,000

[9:43] contingency budgeted within the general

[9:46] fund, uh, but this includes the

[9:47] possibility of debt for the municipal

[9:50] building renovations and other

[9:51] obligations, but it is nice to balance

[9:53] without use of prior year reserves and

[9:55] actually to budget a contingency.

[9:57] And that concludes my report for you.

[10:00] Thank you, Mr. Warner.

[10:02] And before this before council,

[10:05] we have a few.

[10:07] And before I get started, let me tell

[10:10] everyone

[10:11] you will have a 3-minute time limit. We

[10:14] have a lot on the agenda today, so you

[10:16] will be limited to 3 minutes total. So,

[10:20] once you hear the buzzer go off, your

[10:22] time is

[10:23] up. So, please be courteous to that.

[10:27] Uh

[10:28] the first one is Mr. Ken Bolka.

[10:37] Take me 3 minutes to get up to the

[10:39] stand.

[10:40] Well, your time [laughter] will begin

[10:41] then. Thank you, Mr. Mayor,

[10:44] Vice Mayor, and distinguished council

[10:45] members,

[10:47] and town manager. Good evening,

[10:48] everyone.

[10:50] I stand before you as a resident of

[10:52] Bedford as co-founder with my wife,

[10:54] Linda, of the Bedford Boys Tribute

[10:55] Center. We've had in operation for 7

[10:59] [clears throat] years now with

[11:00] approximately 22,000 visitors from all

[11:03] 50 states and 34 countries.

[11:06] I'm here to discuss a very important

[11:08] issue that requires your immediate

[11:09] attention, discussion, and decision.

[11:12] The issue at hand is the proper time to

[11:14] display our community's Vietnam War

[11:17] fallen and the Bedford Boys lamp post

[11:19] street banners in a respectful and

[11:22] appropriate manner.

[11:24] Recently, I had a very very sincere

[11:27] discussion on the issue with the

[11:29] leadership of the Vietnam War Monument

[11:32] Board of Directors.

[11:33] It was presented to me that in the

[11:36] opinion of the board that the Vietnam

[11:38] War fallen banners should be displayed

[11:42] with the same equal 9-month period as

[11:44] the Bedford Boys banners are displayed.

[11:46] The reasoning offered was that

[11:49] eventually, over time, the National

[11:51] D-Day Memorial and the Bedford Boys

[11:52] Tribute Center will fall out of

[11:54] visitors' interest and no longer be

[11:57] visited.

[11:58] Furthermore, it was expressed to me that

[12:00] the downtown historic district of

[12:02] Bedford is in a depressed state and has

[12:05] no retail future to speak of. In the

[12:08] board's opinion, the new Vietnam War

[12:10] Monument would become the new draw

[12:13] for visitors to come to Bedford and

[12:15] therefore be an important attraction

[12:17] that will be the source of

[12:18] revitalization for downtown Bedford.

[12:22] I strongly

[12:24] disagree with this reasoning and

[12:26] position.

[12:28] To accept the fact that National D-Day

[12:30] Memorial and the Bedford Boys Tribute

[12:31] Center will be less visited in the

[12:33] future

[12:34] would be like saying eventually, we will

[12:37] be forgetting Gettysburg and Valley

[12:39] Forge.

[12:41] The DNA of our town is the D-Day

[12:43] invasion and on June the 6th of 1944

[12:47] and our Bedford Boys first wave 9

[12:49] minutes of sacrifice.

[12:51] To provide equal 9-month

[12:54] lamp post exposure at the same time for

[12:56] both the D-Day and Vietnam fallen would

[12:58] truly be an injustice to the legacies of

[13:02] our beloved Bedford Boys.

[13:05] Do not

[13:07] under any condition

[13:09] >> [snorts]

[13:10] >> interpret

[13:11] or have the opinion that I do not have

[13:15] respect for our fallen Vietnam boys.

[13:18] To the contrary, they must be honored,

[13:21] but in an appropriate fashion and time.

[13:24] Let's face some facts.

[13:26] Liberty University did not produce a

[13:28] play featuring the Vietnam fallen,

[13:31] nor has there been a book written about

[13:32] them.

[13:33] I offer these perspectives for the

[13:35] benefit of the town of Bedford. Because

[13:38] of the historical worldwide uniqueness

[13:41] related to the invasion, I firmly

[13:43] believe that the National D-Day Memorial

[13:46] and the Bedford Boys Tribute Center

[13:48] will continue to be recognized

[13:50] nationally and will be increasingly

[13:52] visited because two new hotels are under

[13:55] construction. Mr. Parker, your time is

[13:56] up. We'll have to ask you to whatever

[13:58] else you have, pass that on to us. But

[14:01] uh next time, you know, be more brief.

[14:03] We understand what you're saying. Fully

[14:05] understand. And we know what you've said

[14:07] about the banners. And I I understand

[14:10] what where you're coming from. We're

[14:13] here to recognize all the all the fallen

[14:16] heroes as you well know. I don't

[14:18] disagree with you, but we understand

[14:20] what you're saying. So, whatever else

[14:22] you want to say to us, put it in print

[14:24] and pass it out, please.

[14:26] Thank you.

[14:29] All right.

[14:30] Next one [clears throat] is Mr. George

[14:32] Palmer.

[14:37] And give your name and address, too. I'm

[14:38] sorry. Yes, George Palmer.

[14:41] 1100 Pine Crest Pine Crest Avenue. I've

[14:43] been a resident for 12 years.

[14:46] Uh tonight, I just want to address the

[14:48] council about this new business proposal

[14:50] 9-CC-15-1-4-21

[14:55] speed limit change on Longwood Avenue.

[14:57] First of all, I personally, on a daily

[15:00] basis, either jog or walk the streets of

[15:03] Bedford. In the past 12 years,

[15:05] observations I've made is that people

[15:06] have become increasingly distracted in

[15:08] their driving. And any type of speed

[15:10] limit change going from a lower limit to

[15:13] a higher limit, I highly disagree with

[15:15] because it puts me at a risk and it puts

[15:18] the other people at risk. Longwood

[15:20] Avenue is a highly residential area with

[15:23] a lot of foot traffic and pedestrian

[15:25] traffic. And

[15:27] it wasn't but a couple years ago that

[15:29] the change was made from 35 to 25 as I

[15:32] understand it. Now, maybe I I'm

[15:34] incorrect on that, but was that change

[15:36] not made too long ago? So, I would like

[15:39] to know what data you have that would

[15:40] suggest that a change to increase it

[15:42] would be beneficial

[15:44] because based on the observations I've

[15:46] made by driving and walking on the town streets, people

[15:50] they definitely don't pay attention to

[15:51] the speed limits now. So, increasing it

[15:54] would be a danger.

[15:55] I also suggest that

[15:58] a little more traffic enforcement be

[16:00] exercised in these areas, especially

[16:03] in on Longwood where it's it narrows

[16:06] down and people excessively drive over

[16:08] the speed limit. Thank you for your

[16:09] time. I appreciate what you do. Thank

[16:11] you.

[16:14] All right. Tom Ippolito.

[16:25] He finally let me speak.

[16:27] >> [laughter]

[16:28] >> Name Name and address. Uh Tom Ippolito,

[16:30] 1680 Quaker Mill Road. I just wanted to

[16:33] remind all of you uh that Bart had

[16:37] brought up about the

[16:40] uh

[16:42] what you guys are going to be passing

[16:43] soon. But you need to uh

[16:46] make sure that you

[16:48] go ahead and hire somebody for the

[16:50] ticket [clears throat] person.

[16:51] I don't know how you do all that, but

[16:53] you got to vote on it and stuff.

[16:55] But we do need that revenue in town.

[16:58] >> [clears throat]

[16:58] >> So, I mean, you need to really think

[16:59] that over.

[17:01] That's all I have. Okay. Thank you.

[17:10] All right.

[17:11] Leslie Mahaffey.

[17:16] Come on down.

[17:17] Leslie Mahaffey, 1517 Woodland Road here

[17:21] in town.

[17:23] Thank you, gentlemen, for allowing me to

[17:25] come before you to speak. I'm in here in

[17:28] reference to the proposed banner policy.

[17:32] In review of this uh

[17:34] items that are under the placement under

[17:37] C, it's listed as historically

[17:40] significant persons.

[17:43] I'm taking that that that's the museum

[17:46] historical banners and I would

[17:48] respectfully ask that that name be

[17:50] changed to such.

[17:52] Um also, there are 18 of those banners

[17:56] that are currently There's only 17 on

[17:59] display right now due to a fire damage,

[18:03] but the 18 is not identified.

[18:06] And looking over the policy, also, I see

[18:10] that there is some inconsistencies

[18:12] in naming of streets.

[18:14] Uh Central Street, North Bridge, doesn't

[18:18] say street. And also within the

[18:21] uh C section where the

[18:24] historical banners are, um

[18:27] in years past, they have historically

[18:30] been on Bridge Street. The way that I'm

[18:33] reading this, you're tacking it on at

[18:35] the end of the Vietnam veterans and the

[18:38] end of the Bedford Boys.

[18:40] I would like to see that actually on

[18:43] North Bridge Street. The museum has been

[18:46] in this town for 93 years. We are your

[18:50] next door neighbors. We represent all

[18:52] history from when the town went from the

[18:56] county was formed in 1754,

[19:00] the town in 1782,

[19:03] all the way through. We represent

[19:05] history of everyone.

[19:07] So, those items I would ask for your

[19:10] consideration

[19:12] on that. Thank you for your time.

[19:14] Thank you, Leslie.

[19:16] Um

[19:16] Mr. Warner, did you take notes on that?

[19:18] >> Got it.

[19:19] Good deal.

[19:21] What What did I ask?

[19:24] All right. Uh Terry Foster.

[19:33] Hi, I'm Terry Foster. I live at 611

[19:36] Longwood Avenue in Bedford.

[19:38] I'd like to address the proposal to

[19:41] increase the speed limit on Longwood.

[19:44] First, let me express my huge

[19:45] disappointment that this is even up for

[19:48] consideration again when it was resolved

[19:51] less than 2 years ago,

[19:53] Longwood Avenue is mostly residential

[19:56] and speed limits in residential areas

[19:59] are 25 through most of the town. Most

[20:02] homes on Longwood are old and it's these

[20:05] homes that make Bedford charming. Some

[20:08] homes, including ours, are within

[20:10] Bedford's historic district. These homes

[20:14] were built long before heavy vehicles

[20:16] came along. The heavy weight is

[20:18] destructive to the foundations of a

[20:20] house, especially an old house. Every

[20:23] house or our house is 150 years old and

[20:27] I assure you that we feel every bump and

[20:30] rattle day and night when large

[20:32] vehicles, especially trucks, drive past

[20:35] our house and that's with the current

[20:38] speed limit of 25.

[20:40] Whether we own one or not, we are all

[20:43] stewards of these old houses. Driving

[20:45] slowly on Bedford's on every Bedford

[20:48] street is how we do our part to protect

[20:52] them. Driving at 25 is a small price to

[20:55] pay to live in such a special town

[20:58] filled with old houses and history.

[21:01] Longwood has a walking loop and

[21:02] crosswalks. Our residents and families

[21:05] who walk and run the loop need to be

[21:07] kept safe. Drivers aren't paying

[21:09] attention like they used to and

[21:11] increasing the speed limit near a

[21:13] walking trail is a dangerous idea. Also,

[21:17] bicycles and scooters drive along the

[21:19] street and oftentimes in the center of

[21:22] the street.

[21:24] Unless your address is Longwood Avenue,

[21:26] you really have no idea how a speed

[21:29] increase, even a small one, will affect

[21:31] the traffic. Drivers aren't going to

[21:34] yo-yo back and forth. They will increase

[21:36] their speed and keep it there, which is

[21:39] the which is the same reason we had the

[21:43] problem 2 years ago and fixed it. When

[21:46] the speed limits were inconsistent a few

[21:49] years back, they were resolved with a

[21:51] consistent speed of 25 throughout the

[21:55] entire stretch of Longwood, which is

[21:58] only 1.2 miles and it still makes sense

[22:01] today. I'm not sure who wants to

[22:04] increase the speed limit again, but I'll

[22:06] take a wild guess they don't live on

[22:08] Longwood Avenue. This is our street. We

[22:11] live here. We see, feel, and hear the

[22:14] traffic every day. They don't. They pass

[22:16] through and complain they have to drive

[22:18] slowly. At the current 25 mile an hour

[22:21] speed limit, it takes only 4 minutes to

[22:24] drive from Food Lion to the old middle

[22:28] school. I'm dumbfounded that this issue

[22:30] has resurrected again. Please keep the

[22:33] 25 mile an hour speed limit consistent.

[22:37] And if you do anything, please enforce

[22:40] the law and add a few more traffic signs

[22:43] while you're at it. Thank you.

[22:44] >> Thank you.

[22:48] All right. Brinkley Hill.

[22:53] » [clears throat]

[22:57] » Hey there. Brinkley Hill, 706 Vine

[22:59] Street. I also just wanted to speak

[23:01] against

[23:02] raising the

[23:04] back to 35 on Longwood.

[23:07] Um I think that it'd be dangerous to do

[23:08] so. It's unnecessary. But

[23:11] I just wanted to add it acts as a great

[23:12] like traffic calming area when you're

[23:14] coming into a town as a driver. You just

[23:16] naturally feel the sense when the speed

[23:19] limit goes down, it's showing you, okay,

[23:21] I'm coming into town. People live here.

[23:23] People are playing outside. People are

[23:24] walking. They're on Longwood. Um other

[23:27] towns like Stanton or Warrenton or

[23:30] Farmville do the same thing where as a

[23:32] driver indicates to you, okay, I'm

[23:34] coming into a town. It's time to slow

[23:36] down. Um one thing I might suggest is

[23:39] that I think people feel like it should

[23:41] be a 35 in that area because there's

[23:44] still two lanes like when you're driving

[23:46] on the right, there's two lanes on other

[23:47] parts. When you see a two-lane road as a

[23:49] driver or a wide road, you just

[23:52] naturally feel like, okay, it's time to

[23:53] drive faster. Um so I don't think that

[23:56] it's enough to even necessarily just

[23:58] smack the 25 sign out there. I think

[24:00] it'd be really great to even decrease it

[24:02] to one lane on either side with like a

[24:05] grass median in the middle, put some

[24:07] trees up. It does You You see this in

[24:09] numerous other towns, right? And it

[24:11] indicates to you, okay, I'm in a small

[24:13] town. Slow down. People live here. It'd

[24:16] be a great place to add a bike lane

[24:17] even.

[24:19] Or increase the sidewalks or I have

[24:21] kids, you know, I love pushing my

[24:22] stroller and walking next to my wife at

[24:24] the same time. Uh so but Longwood is a

[24:27] It It's a beautiful place and it shows

[24:29] you like like I've been mentioning, the

[24:30] historic homes, the loop goes through

[24:32] there. People walk. So just generally,

[24:34] even on top of not increasing it to a

[24:37] 35, I think it'd be a great place to

[24:38] make a statement for the town of this is

[24:41] a beautiful place. People live here.

[24:43] So I say keep it at 25 and also let's make it a beautiful place as well.

[24:47] Thank you, guys. Thank you.

[24:50] >> [clears throat]

[24:52] » All right.

[24:54] And finally, Mark Knutson.

[24:59] » [clears throat]

[25:02] » Hey. My name is Mark Knutson. I live at

[25:05] 720 Longwood Ave. I'm also here to speak

[25:08] about the speed limit change and I am

[25:11] against it increasing to 35.

[25:15] I have four kids and our house is pretty

[25:18] close to the road. So

[25:20] our safety, just in case a ball goes

[25:22] rolling into the road, I'd rather not

[25:24] have the speed increase for any reason

[25:26] to make that more dangerous for them. Um

[25:30] I know that also in this area, you know,

[25:33] Halloween is is a big thing and the

[25:35] roads get really busy and I know that um

[25:39] there's there's going to be a lot of

[25:41] foot traffic, especially during times

[25:43] like that. So

[25:44] for that reason I think as well it would

[25:46] be good to keep the speed low

[25:49] and

[25:50] you know,

[25:52] I That's really it.

[25:53] Thank you for your time. Thank you.

[25:57] And that concludes the

[26:00] appearances before council.

[26:02] Councilman Evans.

[26:05] Councilman Bileto, what do you have for

[26:07] us?

[26:08] Oh,

[26:09] it's good to see a big crowd here this

[26:11] evening. We appreciate everybody that

[26:13] spoke. Ken, George, Tommy, Leslie,

[26:16] Terry, Brinkley,

[26:18] and Mark. We hear all of what you're

[26:21] saying.

[26:22] Um we appreciate it. I'm sure y'all know

[26:24] through Facebook that they have

[26:26] increased the ticket limits in town of

[26:29] your parking

[26:31] and stuff and I don't know if y'all paid

[26:33] attention or noticed a lot, there's a

[26:35] lot more places to park now in town.

[26:37] Which so we are very happy about because

[26:39] now our customers can come see us, which

[26:41] will get that food tax up.

[26:43] Um

[26:45] I also had the pleasure of meeting a

[26:46] couple this week that purchased Holy

[26:49] Land. I don't know if how many of y'all

[26:51] ever went to Holy Land or remember Holy

[26:54] Land, but they purchased Holy Land

[26:56] and they signed the papers today and

[26:58] they're in the works of reopening Holy

[27:00] Land back up. So it was a real good

[27:03] pleasure to meet them and see them and

[27:04] hopefully that'll get some more touring

[27:06] back in to town with us.

[27:09] That's all I got.

[27:12] Well, thank everybody that's here today.

[27:15] I hope everybody had a chance to vote

[27:17] today. It's after voting time now. Um we

[27:21] have a busy meeting tonight, so I won't

[27:22] say a lot. I just want to thank you for

[27:24] being here and thank you for your

[27:25] comments tonight.

[27:28] Um just want same thing some of the what

[27:31] Todd said and everybody else said. Thank

[27:32] everybody for being here tonight. Thank

[27:34] you for all your comments and concerns

[27:37] that you came up here and spoke and

[27:38] whatever.

[27:40] Um also I want to say I I attended a

[27:43] event Saturday. I attended the Bedford

[27:45] Professional Women's event. It was

[27:47] pretty cool. Going in, I ain't know how

[27:48] many women in that.

[27:52] But

[27:53] they had some of the best food in the

[27:56] world there at the event. And they This

[27:58] is a fashion show they put on for every

[28:00] year for people and stuff like all that

[28:02] vents and different

[28:04] clothing

[28:06] um organizations and stuff like that. So

[28:09] I think that was a real great event to

[28:11] just go to and just sit there and watch.

[28:14] I met a lot of people. I saw a lot of

[28:16] people I already knew. So it's pretty

[28:18] cool going to something like that.

[28:20] And [clears throat] I just want to say

[28:22] thank everybody for being here tonight.

[28:26] Councilman Haley, we've discussed a

[28:28] whole lot of things since I've been on

[28:30] council. That's the biggest I've seen

[28:32] you smile about anything particular.

[28:35] >> [laughter]

[28:42] » But yeah, thanks thank everyone for

[28:43] being here. Appreciate you coming in and sharing your thoughts with us.

[28:48] All right. I thank every body that you

[28:50] have for coming up tonight and you know,

[28:52] and also we listen to y'alls comments.

[28:55] We take a lot of comments and also like

[28:57] to welcome the people watching by

[28:59] YouTube. I get a lot of comments from

[29:01] people watching by YouTube.

[29:05] Well, I'd just echo appreciate everybody

[29:08] coming out. It's good to hear

[29:11] uh

[29:11] your opinions and also to see so many

[29:13] people out. There's two things I just

[29:15] wanted to bring up real quickly. A few

[29:18] meetings ago I I mentioned a group

[29:20] called Mission Serve is coming here in

[29:21] July. They're the group that comes

[29:24] basically sixth graders through

[29:26] 18-year-olds who come and do work on

[29:30] homes for the needy in the community.

[29:33] They'll be back like I said, back here

[29:34] in July. And if if you want to make

[29:36] donations, you can still make it to the

[29:38] town of Bedford. Just in the memo, put

[29:40] Mission Serve there. But also was

[29:43] reminded that I if if you need work done

[29:46] on your house, if you're in need,

[29:49] um

[29:50] you can contact our very own Mary

[29:52] Zirkle, director of planning community

[29:54] development at 540-587-6006.

[29:59] She's compiling a list of

[30:01] people who need who need work done.

[30:04] And lastly, I just wanted to do uh

[30:07] tell everybody that came out the last

[30:09] Tuesday for the electric meeting.

[30:11] Appreciate all the citizens coming out,

[30:13] but also wanted to just do a shout out

[30:15] to the

[30:15] our Ampere rep and for for John for

[30:18] being there and

[30:19] taking questions and answers at that

[30:21] meeting. So, thanks.

[30:24] Um

[30:25] I have

[30:27] very little other than to say

[30:29] I too want to thank everyone who came up

[30:32] here and spoke.

[30:33] Uh we do appreciate that. Taking the

[30:36] time to voice your opinion. There are

[30:38] times where you we may be undecided

[30:41] about a few things, but when we hear the

[30:43] public opinion you know, that makes a

[30:45] big decision

[30:48] uh for us. So, I do appreciate that. And I also want to touch

[30:53] uh

[30:55] based on what uh Stacy said. Uh my wife

[30:58] is usually involved in that uh fashion

[31:00] show.

[31:01] Uh she's usually one of the models, so

[31:04] but we were out of town this

[31:06] uh week, so I walked in and asked her,

[31:08] "So, what would I do if I came?" Cuz I'd

[31:11] be the only guy. She said, "Probably so,

[31:13] but you know a lot of them just sit

[31:15] there and talk." So, so maybe next year

[31:17] we'll both go, Stacy.

[31:19] >> [laughter]

[31:21] » All right, uh moving on. Report of

[31:24] council committees. Um

[31:26] I don't think we had any. Nope.

[31:29] And revisions to the agenda, Mr. Warner?

[31:31] Yes, sir. I would like to request that

[31:33] we add as item number 12 a

[31:36] an action to defer the implementation of

[31:39] the PCA for 1 month.

[31:41] Uh let me look at that. That's at the

[31:43] very end you want to put that. Yes, sir.

[31:45] All right.

[31:52] » [clears throat]

[31:56] » All right.

[32:00] Is everyone okay with that? Yep.

[32:04] All right.

[32:06] Okay.

[32:09] Public hearings.

[32:11] Adoption of Bedford 2045 comprehensive

[32:15] plan.

[32:17] Notice is given of a public hearing to

[32:19] be held by the town council 7:00 p.m. on

[32:21] Tuesday, April 21st for the purpose of

[32:24] considering adoption of the proposed

[32:26] town comprehensive plan as required by

[32:28] the Code of Virginia section 15.2-2223.

[32:32] The proposed plan includes studies,

[32:34] goals, and strategies for key topics

[32:36] such as land use, housing,

[32:37] transportation, economy, infrastructure,

[32:40] and community facilities and services

[32:42] for guiding future development. Copies

[32:44] of the proposed plan have been available

[32:46] for public review in the office of

[32:48] planning and community development, and

[32:50] I understand that tonight there are

[32:51] representatives of EPR who

[32:54] did excellent work in drafting the

[32:55] proposed plan who may be prepared to

[32:58] give a brief presentation ahead of the

[33:01] opening of the public hearing.

[33:02] Okay.

[33:04] Um

[33:06] Yeah, Todd, I think you and

[33:09] Alan. Okay. Um

[33:11] I will open this public hearing and then

[33:13] you all come up and give your

[33:15] presentation and if anyone else wants to

[33:17] make any comments, then we'll go from

[33:19] there.

[33:20] So, the public hearing for 2045

[33:23] comprehensive plan is now open.

[33:29] And then once we go down the agenda,

[33:31] we'll make all you back for further

[33:32] questions.

[33:36] I made the screen come on, but thank you

[33:38] very much for having us. I'm Todd

[33:40] Gordon, I'm principal planner at EPR.

[33:42] With me is Alan Simpson,

[33:44] also at EPR.

[33:47] There we go. There's some slides.

[33:48] Um

[33:49] So, we have had the opportunity and

[33:52] we're very thankful for the opportunity

[33:53] to work with

[33:55] town staff and with the planning

[33:56] commission on the update of town's

[33:59] comprehensive plan. We've been working

[34:00] on that for approximately 18 months.

[34:04] Um

[34:05] and so uh we'd like to make a brief presentation of the contents of

[34:09] that.

[34:12] I may have gone the wrong way. Uh so, we

[34:15] uh called this plan our goal Bedford

[34:17] 2045.

[34:19] Um and so, the comprehensive plan is uh

[34:22] meant to look approximately 20 years

[34:23] into the future at where the town of

[34:25] Bedford would like to see itself and

[34:27] what strategies should be in place in

[34:29] order to get you there. Um

[34:31] with this plan, the town has expressed

[34:33] its aims to protect town's history and

[34:36] identity while growing the local economy

[34:39] and providing reliable infrastructure

[34:40] and services.

[34:44] » [clears throat]

[34:45] >> Some of you may be veterans of

[34:47] comprehensive planning, others may be

[34:49] new to this idea, uh

[34:51] but the comprehensive plan is required

[34:53] by Virginia law, required required by

[34:55] the Code of Virginia for all cities,

[34:56] counties, and towns. Um the code is the

[34:59] plan is meant to be a guide to future

[35:01] decision-making

[35:03] on a range of topics.

[35:05] Um

[35:05] and it's very important to note that the

[35:07] comprehensive plan is a non-binding

[35:09] guide. It's meant to be a reference that

[35:11] you can look to as you make many little

[35:13] decisions about building or approving

[35:15] developments

[35:17] um and so on um

[35:18] to keep on track for

[35:20] where what the town is aiming for over

[35:22] the next 20 years.

[35:24] Um ultimately, the plan is a guide. Um

[35:27] it does not hold the force of law the

[35:28] way a zoning ordinance does. So,

[35:30] important to keep that in mind.

[35:33] I wanted to briefly mention the planning

[35:35] process. As I said, approximately 18

[35:37] months since we initially started. We

[35:39] kicked off the project in the summer of

[35:41] 2024.

[35:43] Um we had the

[35:45] information and a community survey

[35:47] available at CenterFest that fall. Um

[35:51] throughout that winter and into

[35:52] February, we met with various

[35:54] stakeholders, um

[35:56] community groups,

[35:57] town departments, and others.

[36:00] We conducted a great deal of technical

[36:02] and and demographic analysis looking at

[36:04] the town's growth, um

[36:06] property values, housing values, etc.

[36:10] And began to come up with strategic

[36:11] proposals and goals for the future. Um

[36:14] We presented goals and strategic

[36:16] proposals at another public workshop in

[36:19] August 2025.

[36:21] Um and then drafted plan language

[36:23] through the fall.

[36:25] We then presented again to the public

[36:28] the draft plan in February

[36:30] a couple of months ago and then made

[36:32] revisions and brought that plan back to

[36:34] the planning commission in in March.

[36:38] And so, um

[36:39] ultimately, we've had a a wonderful time

[36:41] and I'm very happy to work with the

[36:43] planning commission on the construction

[36:45] of this plan.

[36:46] Um and they have recommended the

[36:47] approval of this plan to you, and so we

[36:49] bring it to you this evening.

[36:51] Um I mentioned a minute ago the the

[36:53] number of stakeholders that are involved

[36:55] in that in this. Um and so, uh spoke

[36:58] speaking to the public through

[37:00] uh in-person interactions at various

[37:02] events and meetings, um

[37:04] getting the public's

[37:06] input through a survey that we

[37:08] conducted, but we also sat down

[37:10] individually with um various folks um

[37:13] who had something they might share with

[37:15] us about the future of Bedford. Um and

[37:17] those included some of the people listed

[37:19] here, the police department, fire and

[37:20] rescue, public works,

[37:22] um County of Bedford,

[37:24] the hospital administration and other

[37:26] health care providers, church groups,

[37:28] property owners, small businesses and

[37:30] business groups, uh the real estate

[37:32] industry and real estate agents and

[37:34] professionals,

[37:35] um schools, utility providers, as well

[37:38] as the Virginia Department of

[37:39] Transportation.

[37:41] In doing all of that, we've had this

[37:43] website up throughout and I hope many

[37:45] people have had the opportunity to visit

[37:46] it, but bedford2045.com

[37:48] where we posted all the draft materials,

[37:50] results of surveys, uh presentations,

[37:54] invitations to come to public meetings,

[37:56] and others.

[37:57] Um and so, the draft plan that's uh

[37:59] available in your packet is also up on

[38:01] this website, and we've used the website

[38:03] to collect feedback on it.

[38:05] And so, this website continues to be the landing place for this project

[38:11] through its adoption.

[38:15] And so, the the comprehensive plan

[38:17] starts very broadly with where Bedford

[38:18] wants to be in the future and and

[38:20] whittles itself down to specific

[38:22] strategies and actions that might be

[38:23] taken to to help deliver you there. But

[38:26] the the vision statement that was

[38:28] constructed

[38:29] using the input of of residents through

[38:31] the survey

[38:32] is essentially a vision of growing the

[38:34] economy and and culture

[38:37] of Bedford,

[38:38] becoming a hub for your region,

[38:41] and being a town filled with

[38:42] high-quality housing,

[38:44] um high-quality employment, and

[38:46] high-quality public services.

[38:49] So, I'll invite Alan to speak for a

[38:51] minute.

[38:52] So, I'll talk a little bit about the

[38:53] plan itself. So, as you review it as you

[38:56] have reviewed it, it's organized around

[38:58] 12 chapters.

[38:59] So, each cover different topics. So, we

[39:01] have

[39:02] analysis of key issues and

[39:03] opportunities, so strengths, weaknesses,

[39:05] opportunities, and threats,

[39:07] demographic analysis of current

[39:09] conditions and projected population, uh

[39:11] so on and so forth.

[39:13] Uh so, then we talk about the economy,

[39:14] we talk about housing, community

[39:16] facilities and services, uh

[39:19] infrastructure, transportation, parks

[39:20] and rec. We have one on community

[39:22] identity and partnerships,

[39:24] uh then land use and growth management.

[39:26] That includes future land use map,

[39:28] existing zoning, that sort of thing. And

[39:29] then finally, implementation to talk

[39:31] about how the plan will actually be put

[39:33] forth. Uh

[39:34] so,

[39:36] first, you know, each chapter has uh

[39:38] some analysis of existing conditions. Um

[39:42] so, it includes public facilities,

[39:44] demographics, utility statistics. This

[39:46] is an example of the one for water and

[39:48] sewer services. So,

[39:50] uh, you know, we we have that analysis

[39:52] there as kind of a baseline.

[39:54] Um,

[39:55] and

[39:56] with that we go on to information

[39:58] analysis. So, we then analyze

[39:59] opportunities,

[40:01] uh, threats, strengths, weaknesses that

[40:03] we identified through our own analysis,

[40:05] through talking to the public,

[40:06] stakeholders, and the survey, things

[40:08] that the town is real good at, things

[40:10] that people would like to see the town

[40:11] improve at.

[40:13] Um, so it has, uh, you know, information

[40:15] on future growth and change for each

[40:17] chapter topic.

[40:19] Um,

[40:20] and then finally, goals and strategies

[40:22] for each topic in the plan. So, each

[40:24] chapter proposes one or two goals for

[40:26] the chapter topics, the overarching

[40:27] goals, and within those strategies to

[40:29] spell out actions to achieve those

[40:30] goals,

[40:31] um, and

[40:32] some strategies below that.

[40:34] Um, so the implementation chapter has a

[40:37] matrix that talks about, um, we've got

[40:40] the overarching goal. So, here for

[40:42] economic development, goal one is to

[40:43] strengthen and diversify the town's

[40:45] economy while revitalizing downtown and

[40:47] our community. How do we get there? We

[40:49] have strategy 1A, 1B, 1C that that dig

[40:53] down into how to how to get that done.

[40:55] Uh, talks about who the lead authorities

[40:57] would be on that, uh, who would be

[40:59] [clears throat] support on that. Um,

[41:02] and in general terms it talks about the

[41:04] length of time it would take to achieve

[41:06] that, the the cost using dollar figures.

[41:10] Uh, so, you know, one dollar sign being

[41:12] low cost, three being higher cost,

[41:15] uh, and then, uh, some discussion about

[41:16] the resources available

[41:18] to achieve those things. So, that's at

[41:20] the end of the document and it's kind of

[41:22] a summary of everything that we talk

[41:23] about and then recommend in the plan.

[41:27] Um, transportation is the transportation

[41:30] chapter is probably the most significant

[41:31] chapter in terms of content in the plan.

[41:33] So, uh, we talk about transportation

[41:35] being more than just about moving cars

[41:37] and automobiles around. Uh, so it used

[41:40] to be about supporting center access to

[41:41] downtown, uh, schools, parks, jobs,

[41:44] services for people of all ages and

[41:46] abilities.

[41:47] Uh, so Bedford obviously is positioned

[41:49] around Route 460, regional ties in your

[41:51] nearby metropolitan areas. Bedford

[41:53] shares commuting, freight, and visitor

[41:55] travel. So, we focus on walkability,

[41:57] uh, safer crossings, transit,

[42:00] uh, and readiness for a future passenger

[42:01] rail stop. Um, so we worked with, uh,

[42:04] the CVPD C to develop this chapter. They

[42:06] were, uh, co-authors on on that part of

[42:09] the plan, um, and it was reviewed and

[42:12] approved by the Virginia Department of

[42:13] Transportation.

[42:14] So, that is a significant part of the

[42:16] plan.

[42:17] Uh, another significant part of the plan

[42:19] is the future land use map. Um, for

[42:20] those who, uh, have not looked at the

[42:22] future land use map before, um, it's a

[42:24] complement to the zoning map. So, the

[42:26] existing zoning map

[42:27] talks about what's here now, uh, what

[42:29] the land use is as of today. Um, and the

[42:32] future land use map is not a zoning map.

[42:34] It is a guide for what the future zoning

[42:37] should look like. So, this is uh, the

[42:40] vision for what the town would look like

[42:43] in horizon year 2040.

[42:44] Um,

[42:45] it's not necessarily,

[42:47] um,

[42:48] it is not law and it is not

[42:50] prescriptive, but it's a guide and a

[42:52] kind of a way forward to what the plan

[42:55] what the town wants the town to look

[42:56] like in

[42:57] >> [laughter]

[42:57] >> 2040. So, [cough]

[42:58] uh, this is an important feature of most

[43:00] comprehensive plans.

[43:02] It helps organize areas that may be

[43:03] appropriate for different types and

[43:04] scales of growth and development.

[43:07] Um,

[43:08] so

[43:09] Todd, you want to take over?

[43:13] So, it it's it's certainly difficult to summarize the whole comprehensive

[43:17] plan in a in a brief presentation. The

[43:19] document is roughly 100 pages long. Um,

[43:21] I encourage everyone to to give it a

[43:23] read. In the grand scheme of

[43:25] comprehensive plans, it is, uh,

[43:26] relatively brief compared to some

[43:28] places. Um,

[43:29] but the plan is meant to be

[43:30] comprehensive. It covers, uh, a wide

[43:33] variety of topics, um, but ultimately,

[43:36] um, it is, uh, again, a guide, uh, to

[43:39] decision making, um,

[43:41] primarily to be used by you all as you

[43:43] approve developments, consider budgets,

[43:45] and other priorities. Um, there are some

[43:47] other uses to comprehensive plans. Uh,

[43:49] the comprehensive plan is in some ways a

[43:51] key to funding that may be granted by

[43:54] the state or or even federal agencies.

[43:57] Um,

[43:58] in many cases those agencies want to

[44:00] know that these plans, uh, or or your

[44:03] request for funding is included in your

[44:04] comprehensive plan, um, because that

[44:06] shows that it is, uh, accepted as part

[44:09] of the vision for the future of your

[44:10] community.

[44:10] Um,

[44:11] it's also true, um, in our experience

[44:13] that the comprehensive plan is turned to

[44:16] very often by potential investors in

[44:18] your town, um, employers, um, property

[44:21] developers, and others as an indication

[44:23] of, uh, what the town is, uh, interested

[44:26] in and what its vision for its future

[44:28] is.

[44:29] So, we we present this plan that we

[44:31] think is, uh, strongly based in public

[44:33] input and feedback,

[44:35] um, charts the the demographic, um,

[44:39] and and other, uh, existing conditions

[44:41] of the town, and presents goals and

[44:42] strategies to to point Bedford toward

[44:46] where your community has indicated

[44:47] they'd like to be, uh, in the future.

[44:50] Uh,

[44:51] so, uh, your last comprehensive plan

[44:53] was, uh, adopted in 2017. There have

[44:56] been some updates and additions in the

[44:58] intervening years, um, and now we

[45:00] present this as, uh, this year's update to the

[45:04] comprehensive plan. Um,

[45:06] we are certainly happy to hear your

[45:09] comments, public comments, and answer

[45:10] any questions you have.

[45:12] Probably time once we get to the, uh,

[45:14] new business we'll probably call you

[45:15] back up with any questions we may have

[45:18] or,

[45:19] uh, any concerns.

[45:21] Yeah.

[45:26] » [clears throat]

[45:28] » Is there anyone else who would like to

[45:29] make comments on the comprehensive plan?

[45:35] Going once. Going twice.

[45:38] And the public hearing for comprehensive

[45:41] plan is closed.

[45:44] Now, the next one is vacant building

[45:47] registry.

[45:48] Mr. Warner. Notice is hereby given of a

[45:51] public hearing to be held by the town

[45:52] council at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April

[45:55] 21st. Purpose of the public hearing is

[45:57] to receive comment on a proposed

[45:59] ordinance to require buildings that are

[46:01] vacant, boarded up, and disconnected

[46:03] from utilities for more than 12 months

[46:06] to register with the town as vacant

[46:08] structures and pay an annual $100 fee.

[46:11] Further information on this action has

[46:13] been available in the office of the town

[46:14] manager. Also, before the, uh,

[46:17] public hearing is open, I wanted to note

[46:19] council has received comments by email

[46:21] from three citizens. Well,

[46:24] first is Barbara Owen, second is Bill

[46:26] Moseley, and the third is Ms. Ann

[46:28] DeLong. And I would ask that those

[46:30] comments be appended to the minutes in

[46:32] the official record of the meeting.

[46:34] All right.

[46:36] And this public hearing for the vacant

[46:39] building registry is now open.

[46:42] Anyone who would like to come up and

[46:43] speak about that, you may come up at

[46:45] this time and tell us what's on your

[46:47] mind.

[46:50] » [laughter]

[46:53] » This is a big surprise, but I love

[46:55] Bedford, and I can't stand seeing these

[46:59] empty buildings. The

[47:01] this does not sound like it's going to

[47:03] deter anyone from having an empty

[47:06] building.

[47:07] I think $100 a year, woo be do, that's

[47:11] nothing. I think it should be harsh it

[47:13] should be very harsh and you need to hit

[47:16] a hit them harder than that. Thank you.

[47:19] Good. Thank you.

[47:23] Um, could you

[47:28] Um,

[47:30] then anyone else?

[47:33] This public hearing is

[47:36] closed.

[47:38] All right, consent agenda. Uh, Bedford

[47:40] Town Carnival. Mr. Warner. Bedford

[47:43] County Fair Incorporated has requested

[47:45] permission to host the Bedford Town

[47:47] Carnival at Liberty Lake Park from

[47:48] August 21st through 23rd. The event will

[47:51] also require quite a bit of put up and

[47:53] take down work in the days before and

[47:55] after the event. Special event

[47:57] application has been completed and is

[47:59] attached for council's reference.

[48:01] In addition, all fees included within

[48:03] the current special events policy have

[48:04] been paid. Tonight town council is

[48:06] requested to approve the Bedford Town

[48:08] Carnival on August 21st, 22nd, and 23rd

[48:13] from Friday at 4:00 p.m. until Sunday at

[48:17] 6:00 p.m. at Liberty Lake Park. All

[48:20] right, hear a hear a motion? Yeah.

[48:22] Uh, Councilman Haley

[48:24] made the motion and Councilman Haley

[48:25] made the second.

[48:27] Any questions, comments?

[48:29] Same concept from last year where they

[48:31] had it out there, right? That's my

[48:32] understanding, yes. Okay. Yeah.

[48:35] And and I will say last year was kind of

[48:37] a

[48:38] kind of

[48:40] a a new beginning, kind of

[48:42] went along and did things, uh,

[48:45] as per the moment, but this year,

[48:48] uh, it's in line. It's kind of more as

[48:50] Jonathan Haley said, we copy and paste

[48:52] and think we have it down pat and worked

[48:55] out well last year and, uh, I'm happy

[48:57] they came back for this

[48:58] uh,

[48:59] year at Liberty Lake Park.

[49:02] Anything else?

[49:04] All right.

[49:05] Dorsey.

[49:06] Mr. Evans. Aye. Mr. Foreman.

[49:08] [clears throat] Aye. Mr. Foster. Aye.

[49:11] Mr. Haley.

[49:12] Aye. Mr. Aquilino. Aye. Mr. Eftekhari.

[49:15] Aye. Mayor Stanley. Aye. Motion carries

[49:18] with all members voting aye.

[49:20] All right, new old business and new

[49:21] business.

[49:23] Invitation for bids for a franchise for the lease of the town's

[49:27] transfer station. Mr. Warner. Yes, Mayor

[49:29] Stanley, members of council, as you may

[49:31] recall, um, when we exited the

[49:33] commercial solid waste business, we

[49:36] retained ownership of the transfer

[49:38] station facility that frankly we have no

[49:40] practical use for since we no longer

[49:42] collect and dispose of

[49:45] solid waste from customers directly.

[49:48] We advertised

[49:49] a request for

[49:51] firms to express interest in obtaining a

[49:53] franchise and tonight I can report that

[49:56] we have received one qualified proposal

[49:58] from Baze Trash Removal to negotiate for

[50:02] bids for franchise. I will tell you that

[50:04] staff's opinion is

[50:06] it's not quite where we'd like to see it

[50:08] but we would ask for your authority to

[50:11] engage them in negotiations to bring a

[50:14] possible franchise agreement back under

[50:17] the terms of the process.

[50:20] Okay.

[50:23] And uh

[50:24] the town attorney advises me that

[50:26] approval of this motion does require a

[50:29] 3/4 vote. Okay.

[50:32] So we're giving you the approval

[50:34] Yeah. Yeah. You're you're not approving

[50:36] the franchise just to to To negotiate

[50:39] Request Enter into negotiations. Yes, of

[50:40] course.

[50:41] All right. We just you know

[50:43] Does everyone understand that?

[50:46] I hear a motion. So moved. Councilman

[50:48] Haley made the motion. Second.

[50:51] Vice Mayor Updike.

[50:54] Any questions or or discussion?

[50:56] I have a question.

[50:57] By the way

[51:00] The only question I had

[51:01] probably dealt with the maybe franchise

[51:03] fees, royalties or other charges. Talks

[51:05] about town waste.

[51:07] But I my question I guess really

[51:08] generally is for town residents are we

[51:10] still are residents still going to be

[51:12] able to

[51:14] use the first 500 lbs free drop off

[51:18] their residential waste there like we do

[51:20] now?

[51:22] That's something we can negotiate

[51:24] as part of the franchise

[51:26] but

[51:27] I'll make a note of that.

[51:30] And brush also.

[51:32] Yes.

[51:34] there are certain

[51:36] town interests that were referenced in

[51:38] the advertisement that we will pursue.

[51:42] Good. Very good.

[51:43] Anything else?

[51:47] All right. Dorsey.

[51:49] Mr. Foreman. Aye. Mr. Foster. Aye. Mr.

[51:53] Deely. Aye. Mr. Ippolito. Aye. Mr.

[51:56] Updike. Aye.

[51:58] Mr. Evans. Aye. Mayor Sumner. Aye.

[52:01] Motion carries with all members present

[52:02] voting aye.

[52:04] All right. Next is a

[52:06] brief presentation regarding operations

[52:08] and outcomes of the

[52:10] planning and community development. Miss

[52:13] Zucco.

[52:16] Floor is yours.

[52:32] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am the second of

[52:34] our department heads that are bringing

[52:36] presentations for

[52:38] to the public and so I wanted to give

[52:40] you just a very brief overview of what

[52:42] community development does and also have

[52:43] some information on the economic

[52:45] development side of the house that we

[52:46] have in the two departments that I

[52:48] supervise.

[52:49] Um starting with the building side of

[52:51] community development, we have two staff

[52:54] there. We have the building official and

[52:56] building inspector and wanted to give

[52:57] you some statistics on what they

[52:59] processed last year in the way of

[53:00] building permits. They processed 226

[53:03] permits and they range from everything

[53:04] from electrical change of services to

[53:07] bouncy houses on up to commercial things

[53:10] like the hotel and I wanted to give you

[53:12] some statistics. 28 new houses. That's

[53:14] pretty big number for the town of

[53:15] Bedford to see in town and we we know

[53:17] that's going to be growing over time. So

[53:19] um some scale for that growth over time

[53:22] is building permits year to date 76 and

[53:24] if we continue that current rate of

[53:25] growth we'll end up with 260 at that

[53:27] rate. So compare that to 226 of the last

[53:30] year. We know those are coming mostly in

[53:32] Eastern Crossing and the other

[53:34] subdivisions that are currently being

[53:35] built. Uh second part of permitting is

[53:38] inspections. So just for scale there

[53:41] each single family dwelling has about 11

[53:43] inspections that need to be done

[53:45] um for the final certificate of

[53:47] occupancy for someone to move in for

[53:48] safety. That's what it's all about is

[53:50] safety cuz that is the public purpose of

[53:52] most all things is

[53:54] public health, safety and welfare

[53:56] whether it's building or zoning.

[53:57] Uh other parts of that and we do share

[53:59] this lovely responsibility between those

[54:02] of us in the town among us

[54:03] in that in the department. So a lot of

[54:05] the things we see for enforcement are

[54:07] signs that are in the right of way and

[54:08] we keep a running tally of the look in

[54:11] the back of the the trucks that staff

[54:13] has as they're picking this up again out

[54:15] of the right of way, not on private

[54:16] property. Um property maintenance so it

[54:19] is now grass season as we're beginning

[54:20] to put out those notices.

[54:22] Other things that we look for are

[54:24] illegal uses that didn't receive zoning

[54:26] approval or that are unsafe.

[54:29] Nuisances in zoning that can be lighting

[54:31] as you see in some things we get calls

[54:33] for lights that are too bright. Uh on

[54:35] down to unsafe structures which are the

[54:37] most imminent danger to the public that

[54:39] they will get on very quickly if there's

[54:41] a situation or someone

[54:43] car goes into a building. Those those

[54:45] are within their purview as well.

[54:47] For planning and zoning on my side of

[54:48] the house we also share an

[54:49] administrative staff and

[54:52] most of the processing of zoning permits

[54:54] are done by Kathy Johnson in the office

[54:56] and we processed 126. Those range from

[54:59] sign permits down to chickens in that

[55:01] lower left picture. So if anyone has any

[55:03] chickens we're happy to give you that

[55:05] permit there and get you hooked up so

[55:07] that your neighbors don't call us and

[55:08] tell us you have chickens.

[55:10] Planning actions these go mostly to the

[55:12] planning commission. These are

[55:13] conditional use permits, rezoning

[55:15] actions, map amendments

[55:17] and the like that we have there and

[55:20] we also do

[55:22] uh notices basically the letters of

[55:24] determination when someone needs to have

[55:25] something in writing what they can do

[55:27] with their property. That comes through

[55:28] us as well. We also do site plans and

[55:31] plats of platting of subdivisions. So

[55:33] that's what the picture is of the large

[55:34] one there at the top there as we bring

[55:36] things online

[55:37] they go through a review process that

[55:39] goes among agencies and lastly are

[55:41] signed off by the subdivision agent

[55:43] which is me before they are recorded in

[55:44] the courthouse. And you heard tonight

[55:46] the long range planning that we've been

[55:47] working on for 18 months here

[55:50] was our comprehensive plan which we've

[55:51] been very excited about to have and we

[55:53] appreciate the work of the planning

[55:55] commission in guiding that process as is

[55:56] required. Is required for code but it's

[55:58] also something that we need to have

[56:01] a thought of what we want Bedford to

[56:02] look like. So that's actually a good

[56:04] exercise for us to go through. That also

[56:06] informs the capital improvement program

[56:08] for budgeting purposes.

[56:11] And so I also serve as staff to the

[56:13] housing authority. That is one of your

[56:14] appointed bodies that you're familiar

[56:16] with. The big things they're working on

[56:17] right now are the community development

[56:19] block grant which is over a million

[56:20] dollars for the second phase in the

[56:22] Hilltop community. This is one of the

[56:23] houses that have been built on Cook

[56:25] Street nearing completion as soon as we

[56:27] can get a sewer hookup there where we

[56:28] thought there was one and there wasn't.

[56:30] So we're so close. And the second part

[56:33] that you may be familiar with is

[56:35] South Street lots that town council that

[56:38] you sent about to bid and you did not

[56:40] receive any buyers. You gave those to

[56:43] the housing authority and they turned

[56:44] those into their budget. So the first

[56:47] lot was sold to the Habitat for Humanity

[56:49] Greater Lynchburg and that home

[56:51] dedication is this Saturday 10:00 a.m.

[56:53] Everyone is invited. Just watch where

[56:55] you park but you are more than welcome

[56:57] to attend that for the new the new

[56:58] homeowner there. The second lot is under

[57:00] contract and due to go to closing right

[57:02] now actually. So thank you for that in

[57:05] lieu of budget. They were able to turn

[57:06] that into money that they are then using

[57:08] for grants part of which is going to go

[57:10] for Mission Serve as Councilman Foster

[57:13] mentioned to you. Some of that money

[57:14] will go there as well as other home

[57:16] improvement in the community.

[57:18] The other body that I serve for is the

[57:20] economic development authority another

[57:22] one of your appointed groups and they

[57:24] had a strategic plan in 2021. They laid

[57:26] out three projects and they're pretty

[57:27] much through with all three of them. So

[57:30] they're looking to update their

[57:31] strategic plan. The first was a business

[57:32] class hotel. You can see the Hampton Inn

[57:34] is under construction and should be

[57:36] opening early next year. Second project

[57:39] was the metal workforce training center

[57:41] that took over the old Wheelabrator Frye

[57:43] Winola building in order to focus that

[57:45] on I say that's almost done. The study

[57:47] is done. They had a grant to do that and

[57:49] now we're looking for tenants in that

[57:50] space. We're focusing mostly on a

[57:52] foundry or others who may be looking to

[57:54] do critical or rare earth mineral

[57:56] reclamation. So that's how we're

[57:57] marketing that. And the third project

[57:59] was an incubator or business development

[58:01] center. We used tobacco commission funds

[58:03] to do that. That study is going to the

[58:05] plant the

[58:07] EDA on May 8th at their meeting as a

[58:10] draft and we'll be bringing that back to

[58:11] the public. We had a really good meeting

[58:13] of entrepreneurs a couple

[58:14] [clears throat] of weeks ago at CVCC in

[58:17] order to find out who would be the

[58:18] tenants of this space. So those are the

[58:20] three projects. I'll talk about

[58:21] incentives on the next slide but the

[58:23] other thing that I do is retention and

[58:25] expansion visits of our top employers on

[58:28] a regular basis annually. Go out and ask

[58:30] them what they need, what their

[58:31] challenges are and who their friends are

[58:33] in case we can bring them here to the

[58:35] town to as a supplier or another entity

[58:38] in their supply chain. That is the

[58:40] trickiest part of economic development

[58:42] is having space for businesses to

[58:44] locate. People ask me all the time well

[58:46] what's coming in? Where are you putting

[58:47] them? Where are they coming? I'm like

[58:48] where am I putting them? Exactly. We

[58:50] have essentially one publicly held piece

[58:52] of property and that is the Bedford

[58:54] Center for Business which is held by the

[58:57] Bedford County Economic Development

[58:58] Authority. We do have a shovel ready lot

[59:00] right there. It's actually graded and

[59:02] ready to go. So that is one that we end

[59:04] up marketing jointly with the county and

[59:06] we did just have the joint EDA meeting

[59:08] of both bodies last week. So we do that

[59:10] annually with the two EDAs and there's

[59:14] going to be a working group convened

[59:15] members from both of those bodies to get

[59:17] things done not just once a year but

[59:19] throughout the year.

[59:21] I mentioned that we have the

[59:24] incentives that the economic development

[59:26] authority does.

[59:27] What the print is kind of hard to read

[59:29] but from 2018 to 2025, 68 grants were

[59:34] awarded in the downtown area for real

[59:36] property improvement that totaled over

[59:38] $248,000

[59:41] across 68 recipients. Now, some of them

[59:43] have come back more than once for facade

[59:45] or other work that they've had done to

[59:46] update it. And in 2025, the EDA led the

[59:50] charge on child care grants. We had two

[59:52] recipients that each received $15,000

[59:55] in order to enable child care as a

[59:57] workforce issue.

[59:59] So, trying to move that forward in that body.

[1:00:03] Uh transportation, some of the other

[1:00:04] work that we do. Uh the Federal Rail

[1:00:06] Administration has given us the grant

[1:00:08] that you are familiar with in order to

[1:00:09] be siding the Amtrak passenger rail stop

[1:00:13] there along Main Street. So, that is

[1:00:15] underway. AECOM is your consultant who

[1:00:17] is doing that work for you. That will be

[1:00:19] wrapped up in early 2027 so that we can

[1:00:21] talk about how we actually fund

[1:00:22] construction of that. So, stay tuned for

[1:00:24] how we're going to do that. Uh we This

[1:00:27] is a breaking news here for the Otter

[1:00:29] Bus. We had 4 years of demonstration

[1:00:31] grants through the state. We are now on

[1:00:33] the list the the 6-year plans for the

[1:00:36] state has put us in as a Federal Transit

[1:00:39] Administration recipient for going

[1:00:41] federal. Where we've talked about this

[1:00:42] before, you've authorized an 80/20 grant

[1:00:44] through the state, then you authorized a

[1:00:46] 70/30 application, and it looks like we

[1:00:48] will be getting that if it passes

[1:00:50] in June with the Commonwealth

[1:00:51] Transportation Board.

[1:00:53] Another aspect of what my department

[1:00:55] does is grants, and ones you're most

[1:00:58] familiar with recently are the USDA

[1:00:59] downtown strategy. That was a $50,000

[1:01:01] grant that was done to provide

[1:01:03] information on actionable strategies

[1:01:06] that are meant to be done in 5 years.

[1:01:07] So, the next steps for that, as you're

[1:01:09] aware, we'd like to assign core teams

[1:01:11] that will be responsible for each of the

[1:01:12] different actions in that. And one of

[1:01:14] those is actually on your agenda

[1:01:16] tonight. The recommendations we've

[1:01:17] talked about carrots, and one of the

[1:01:18] recommendations was to have a vacant

[1:01:21] property registry, and that was

[1:01:23] recommended in that strategy as well to

[1:01:25] close that circle.

[1:01:27] One of the things you may you think you

[1:01:29] should be aware of the FEMA grant that

[1:01:31] the hospital has for a new generator.

[1:01:33] So, that's another large-scale grant of

[1:01:36] $8 million. Well, that's $4 million but

[1:01:37] $8 million project.

[1:01:39] And other things for my department,

[1:01:41] workforce development. This was the most

[1:01:43] recent chamber event we had with the

[1:01:46] Career Tech Expo that was held at Susie

[1:01:48] Gibson for all of the eighth graders in

[1:01:51] Bedford County came through.

[1:01:53] It was a fun day. Highly recommend if

[1:01:55] you want some excitement, stand in the

[1:01:57] hall while the kids are going through.

[1:01:59] And this is your attraction. I want to

[1:02:01] just remind everyone we had the World

[1:02:03] War II Heritage City designation from

[1:02:05] the National Park Service. We do have

[1:02:06] new brochures out and about, and signage

[1:02:08] [clears throat] is the last step in that

[1:02:10] grant that we received for that. So,

[1:02:12] that will wrap that up. And as everyone

[1:02:14] knows, all of us in the town have other

[1:02:17] duties as assigned, and we're happy to

[1:02:18] do them. And the website for

[1:02:21] specifically for economic development is

[1:02:22] betterinbedford.com.

[1:02:27] Well, thank you, Mary. Any questions,

[1:02:29] comments?

[1:02:32] Things you did not know?

[1:02:35] Oh. Earlier this week, I had a uh

[1:02:37] conversation with an

[1:02:39] individual who certainly has the the

[1:02:41] gift of gab.

[1:02:43] Our conversation was was about electric

[1:02:45] rates. Um so, I knew at that point it

[1:02:48] was going to be a very long

[1:02:50] conversation. And um

[1:02:53] uh

[1:02:54] at one point he said that he'd had um

[1:02:57] uh had spoken with with with Mary Beth

[1:03:01] you know, some some some various aspects

[1:03:03] of of that

[1:03:05] issue that he was trying to resolve. And

[1:03:07] um

[1:03:08] and at some point the conversation got

[1:03:11] to um

[1:03:13] the the the the tourism

[1:03:15] and and the lady that runs that and how

[1:03:18] just involved and on the ball and had an

[1:03:22] answer for everything that she was.

[1:03:24] He compared her

[1:03:26] compared Mary to this lady. He said,

[1:03:28] "And if I can find a way for the county

[1:03:30] to scoff Mary up, I'm going to find a

[1:03:32] way to do that."

[1:03:34] Don't say that in a public meeting.

[1:03:36] >> [laughter]

[1:03:38] [clears throat]

[1:03:38] >> But

[1:03:39] you know, he was he was very much aware

[1:03:41] of some of the things that that Mary was

[1:03:43] involved Mary was involved with and was

[1:03:46] very thankful for the things So, thank

[1:03:48] you for all the work that you do.

[1:03:49] >> Thank you. It's my pleasure to serve.

[1:03:51] And they're done that, but uh

[1:03:53] I will say too, I'm very pleased with

[1:03:56] what I'm seeing, and and I told Mary

[1:03:58] several times, I don't really know what

[1:04:00] you do. So, you know, this gives us a a

[1:04:03] lot better indication as to all the

[1:04:05] duties that she has. I mean, we tend to

[1:04:07] and and and the citizens do focus on one

[1:04:10] thing, but there's a lot more going on

[1:04:12] here than just one item. Uh but uh

[1:04:16] I thank you for all you do, and just

[1:04:17] keep up the good work, and uh

[1:04:19] and whenever you retire, I'll come back

[1:04:21] and and sing or whatever you want me to

[1:04:23] do

[1:04:24] if I'm still around.

[1:04:26] >> [laughter]

[1:04:28] >> All right.

[1:04:30] Thank you again.

[1:04:31] All right. Resolution, adoption of the

[1:04:34] Bedford 2045 Comprehensive Plan by Mr.

[1:04:38] Warner. All localities in the

[1:04:39] Commonwealth are required to adopt a

[1:04:41] comprehensive plan prepared through the

[1:04:43] Planning Commission according to the

[1:04:45] Code of Virginia.

[1:04:46] Town Planning Commission has been

[1:04:47] contemplating a revision to the 2017

[1:04:50] Comprehensive Plan since late 2022

[1:04:53] awaiting incorporation of new land with

[1:04:55] the second phase of the boundary

[1:04:56] adjustment agreement through reversion.

[1:04:59] After a competitive bidding process,

[1:05:01] Town Council authorized a contract with

[1:05:03] EPRPC

[1:05:05] in May 2024 for planning services.

[1:05:08] Work was carried out over several months

[1:05:10] and included numerous opportunities for

[1:05:12] public engagement during the drafting of

[1:05:14] the plan.

[1:05:15] Our goal, Bedford 2045,

[1:05:18] is a long-range policy guide for growth

[1:05:20] and development for the Town of Bedford

[1:05:22] through the year 2045.

[1:05:24] It provides a foundation for

[1:05:25] decision-making on land use, housing,

[1:05:28] transportation infrastructure, and

[1:05:30] community facilities so that future

[1:05:32] development aligns with the community's

[1:05:33] goals.

[1:05:35] The plan combines technical data and

[1:05:36] trend analysis with extensive community

[1:05:39] input to paint a clear picture of where

[1:05:41] Bedford stands today and where it

[1:05:43] aspires to go.

[1:05:45] The plan also references various other

[1:05:47] planning efforts undertaken in the past,

[1:05:49] including those by the Redevelopment and

[1:05:51] Housing Authority and the Economic

[1:05:52] Development Authority.

[1:05:55] The Virginia Department of

[1:05:56] Transportation is required to review

[1:05:58] local comprehensive plans, and VDOT

[1:06:00] found the proposed plan to be consistent

[1:06:03] with state transportation plans on

[1:06:05] February 2nd, 2026.

[1:06:08] Planning Commission held a public

[1:06:09] hearing on April 2nd, 2026. No citizen

[1:06:13] spoke at the public hearing.

[1:06:15] Commissioners discussed the best chapter

[1:06:17] for pocket parks in the plan and a

[1:06:18] paragraph about the potential

[1:06:20] recreational opportunities on the

[1:06:23] reservoir property.

[1:06:24] Commission decided to leave the

[1:06:26] reservoir information in for Town

[1:06:27] Council to choose how to address that

[1:06:30] based on recent Council action.

[1:06:32] Planning Commission voted unanimously to

[1:06:34] recommend the Comprehensive Plan to Town

[1:06:37] Council for their action to adopt it as

[1:06:40] required in the Code of Virginia.

[1:06:42] Tonight, Town Council is requested to

[1:06:44] adopt the Our Goal, Bedford 2045

[1:06:47] Comprehensive Plan as recommended by the

[1:06:50] Planning Commission.

[1:06:52] All right.

[1:06:53] >> [clears throat]

[1:06:54] >> Do I hear a motion? Motion.

[1:06:57] All right.

[1:06:59] Councilman Evans made the motion.

[1:07:01] Second? Second. All right. Councilman

[1:07:03] Foster

[1:07:04] made the second.

[1:07:06] >> [clears throat]

[1:07:06] >> Questions? Discussions?

[1:07:10] And Daryl, you've been heavily involved

[1:07:11] in this. I was involved in in my time on

[1:07:14] Planning Commission.

[1:07:17] Yeah, there was a a lot of a lot of work

[1:07:20] that went into this

[1:07:23] comprehensive plan. Um

[1:07:27] you know, like to have seen a little

[1:07:28] more community involvement with that,

[1:07:31] but

[1:07:32] I think that between the the town and

[1:07:35] the consultants that we had,

[1:07:37] they did a did a good job of trying to

[1:07:39] reach out and and and bring people into

[1:07:41] the into the discussion, and and got

[1:07:44] some you know, real really good

[1:07:46] information and feedback you know, from

[1:07:47] that from that process.

[1:07:49] Um

[1:07:51] the the the product that that's before us, I think it's

[1:07:55] a very good plan.

[1:07:57] Um

[1:07:58] you know, is is it a perfect plan?

[1:07:59] That's you know, kind of a

[1:08:01] you know, an individual analysis

[1:08:03] evaluation kind of thing, but uh

[1:08:05] it is a very good plan.

[1:08:07] And um

[1:08:10] you know, it's

[1:08:12] as far as the

[1:08:14] uh the section area that that discusses

[1:08:16] the um

[1:08:18] uh

[1:08:19] the property around the reservoir and

[1:08:20] stuff, and you know, my position was we

[1:08:23] need to take that out, but um you know,

[1:08:26] that's kind of what

[1:08:28] what's before us.

[1:08:31] All right.

[1:08:35] You know, I want to say something.

[1:08:37] Please please do. You're getting better.

[1:08:39] I like that.

[1:08:40] >> [laughter]

[1:08:41] >> Well, I mean, first of all, I would just

[1:08:43] I did want to like echo what

[1:08:46] Vice Mayor Updike said about all the

[1:08:48] hard work that went into it. That's why

[1:08:49] I wanted to go on record to thank the

[1:08:50] Planning Commission and EPR and Mary and

[1:08:52] her staff for all all that hard work.

[1:08:56] And you can call me a nerd because I

[1:08:57] actually enjoyed reading the

[1:08:59] comprehensive plan. I mean, the

[1:09:01] narrative was really well thought out,

[1:09:04] but I really enjoyed the the piece on

[1:09:06] the SWOT, you know, the

[1:09:08] strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,

[1:09:09] and threats, but also the way the

[1:09:11] strategies were laid out. So, my comment

[1:09:15] would be if we adopt this plan, I would

[1:09:18] like to make sure there's a way we can

[1:09:21] use it as a guide.

[1:09:23] >> [cough]

[1:09:23] >> Kind of And I believe I say that but

[1:09:25] similar to what the town manager has

[1:09:27] been doing with the downtown strategy.

[1:09:29] How when we

[1:09:32] something comes up before council, he

[1:09:34] kind of has tagged certain things to the

[1:09:36] downtown strategy so to make sure that

[1:09:39] we're following this guide or the plan

[1:09:43] that we tagged things

[1:09:45] for decision making to the plan. Does

[1:09:48] that make sense?

[1:09:49] >> Mhm. A lot of sense.

[1:09:51] Um and and Mr. Warren, you help me out

[1:09:54] here. I think that's one thing that

[1:09:56] uh I have discussed with the previous

[1:09:58] one and that sometimes things get lost

[1:10:01] in the weeds and that we don't give it a

[1:10:03] clear direction at times and that's one

[1:10:05] thing we have to keep pushing and and seeing where we are and what we we

[1:10:10] want to do and what we can do or

[1:10:13] probably some things are not going to

[1:10:14] work out the way we thought. But uh

[1:10:17] and and

[1:10:19] the question to to Mr. Foster is

[1:10:22] that will technically be up to council

[1:10:23] to review or would it go back to the

[1:10:26] planning commission

[1:10:28] then? And I'll I'll defer to Mary here

[1:10:30] and say but there is a statutory

[1:10:32] requirement that it be reviewed every 5

[1:10:34] years. I will say that planning

[1:10:36] commission has the ministerial duty

[1:10:38] primarily to do that and and does that.

[1:10:41] I mean honestly, I think on an annual

[1:10:43] basis there probably one meeting where

[1:10:45] they review the contents and

[1:10:48] what things are working, what things are

[1:10:49] not, what needs to be included. But yes,

[1:10:51] on a formal basis uh

[1:10:53] we'll make sure that we comply with the

[1:10:55] review requirement of state code and

[1:10:58] you know, if it comes time to to review

[1:11:00] the whole thing, we'll we'll certainly

[1:11:01] do that. I'll I will say editorially

[1:11:04] I was the author of the last two plans.

[1:11:06] This is a great improvement over what I

[1:11:08] did.

[1:11:11] Well, I will say you you learn as you go

[1:11:13] along. And it's it's no different than

[1:11:15] the county fair or or town carnival,

[1:11:18] excuse me.

[1:11:19] Uh you learn things as you go along,

[1:11:21] have to improve and make things better

[1:11:23] and that's that's what we're doing and

[1:11:24] making no fault for anybody. We just

[1:11:27] learn how to do things better and that's

[1:11:29] the key as long as we learn and improve.

[1:11:31] So, does that answer your question?

[1:11:33] It'll kind of be

[1:11:35] the council and

[1:11:37] we need to keep bringing it up to to

[1:11:39] review. Yeah, I I just my I guess my

[1:11:42] just what your point you made is that we use it as we must start making

[1:11:48] decisions for the future or on different

[1:11:50] things. We look to this and say, "Okay,

[1:11:52] this fits right here for this." and And

[1:11:55] >> [clears throat]

[1:11:56] >> and and as I keep saying, 2045's a long

[1:11:59] way away. Of course, it'll be here

[1:12:01] before you know it. But it's a vision

[1:12:03] and a guide to go by. It it things will

[1:12:06] change. Technology will change some of

[1:12:08] it and [clears throat] and people will

[1:12:11] come and go, but it's a guide and a

[1:12:12] vision to go by basically is what it is.

[1:12:16] So.

[1:12:17] But but you have to kind of read this

[1:12:19] thing. You made a good point. Every

[1:12:22] decision you make you see how does that

[1:12:24] fit in

[1:12:26] with with what you're doing? Yeah.

[1:12:30] And just couple things I'd like to add,

[1:12:32] you know, along with

[1:12:34] dovetailing with Councilman Foster said,

[1:12:36] um

[1:12:39] I think it would be beneficial

[1:12:41] if when we do our strategic planning

[1:12:44] things, that we have the comprehensive

[1:12:48] plan there so that we don't have two

[1:12:50] different good plans moving parallel. We want them to converge at some point

[1:12:55] and that would also create an avenue for

[1:12:57] us

[1:12:58] to review everything, you know, what was

[1:13:00] talked about in the strategic plan last

[1:13:02] year versus what it is we want to do

[1:13:04] this year versus how does it compare

[1:13:05] with the comprehensive plan.

[1:13:08] Um and the the other note is uh

[1:13:12] again, this is a state mandated, you

[1:13:14] know, document

[1:13:16] uh and there is a specific section in

[1:13:18] there and you'll find it in most any

[1:13:21] community comprehensive plan.

[1:13:23] It's about parks.

[1:13:25] You know, and we need to take a

[1:13:26] realistic look on, you know, how we're

[1:13:29] going to meet those needs. And if we're

[1:13:32] going to keep growing

[1:13:34] residential areas, we need green spaces

[1:13:36] other than just places to mow. We need

[1:13:39] things for for families to have, you

[1:13:40] know, some type of interaction, you

[1:13:41] know, that kind of stuff. So, um

[1:13:45] so again, they like I said, we need to

[1:13:46] keep these things, you know, uh

[1:13:48] you know, up front and and we need to be

[1:13:50] focused on them, you know, with just

[1:13:52] about every time we meet, you know, how are we meeting those particular

[1:13:55] standards that we set for ourselves?

[1:13:59] Very good. Very good comments. What

[1:14:01] else?

[1:14:02] We're kind of on a roll now, so let's keep going.

[1:14:06] » [clears throat]

[1:14:06] >> So,

[1:14:07] only thing with Mr. Warren said is play

[1:14:10] comprehensive plan is pretty much what

[1:14:12] everybody else has said.

[1:14:14] It's a guide to move forward or

[1:14:16] whatever. Things can change over time

[1:14:17] like he said, some things is working,

[1:14:19] some things are not working and stuff

[1:14:20] like that. So, it's really just

[1:14:24] having a vision to move forward in the

[1:14:26] future or whatever. So, and Mary has

[1:14:28] done a great job on putting this

[1:14:30] together or whatever with her hard work

[1:14:32] and stuff. So, we that's why we're here

[1:14:34] at this moment tonight voting on this to

[1:14:36] move forward for the future.

[1:14:40] Anything else?

[1:14:46] Um I just want to also thank uh

[1:14:48] Todd E PR.

[1:14:50] Uh you guys did a great job. You come

[1:14:52] in. I was in there in the beginning and

[1:14:54] then uh rotated off. But uh I know you

[1:14:58] all kept it going and Mary, thank you a

[1:15:00] lot for being involved in this. So,

[1:15:03] planning commission did a great job.

[1:15:05] I sat through some of the meetings and uh

[1:15:09] saw some of the uh slides and all that

[1:15:11] and it was a lot of thought that went

[1:15:12] into this. Uh so, I thank everybody that

[1:15:16] was involved did a great job and here we

[1:15:19] are.

[1:15:21] Nothing else? We will

[1:15:24] proceed. Well, No, what What about the item about the reservoir land

[1:15:29] acquisition? Do you want to We we can

[1:15:31] address that later. Okay. Cuz we we

[1:15:33] don't have documents here to address

[1:15:35] that. But Mary, the planning commission

[1:15:38] I guess would address that.

[1:15:41] They actually wanted town council to um

[1:15:44] Right. to to have that conversation.

[1:15:46] Yeah, this is one they didn't feel

[1:15:47] comfortable taking out or doing anything

[1:15:48] with that. They want it to be your

[1:15:49] decision. Okay, then as what did it say?

[1:15:53] I can read that for you.

[1:15:57] What is it? We don't own the property

[1:15:59] around the reservoir anymore. Or we're

[1:16:01] No, I'm

[1:16:04] Let's let's see how we need to address the

[1:16:06] reference. Yeah. So, it it currently

[1:16:09] references it under um I believe it's

[1:16:11] under the greenway section of parks area

[1:16:13] of trails and open space other open

[1:16:15] spaces.

[1:16:16] And this will change of course. The town

[1:16:18] also owns an undeveloped reservoir

[1:16:19] property that currently serves solely as

[1:16:21] a water supply and is closed to the

[1:16:22] public. This large wooded area presents

[1:16:24] a unique opportunity for future passive

[1:16:26] recreation such as hiking, nature

[1:16:28] observation, fishing or picnicking if

[1:16:30] portions of the land can be opened to

[1:16:32] the public. Any use of the reservoir

[1:16:34] property would require rigorous

[1:16:35] protections for water quality and

[1:16:37] safety, but with careful planning, this

[1:16:39] site could eventually provide residents

[1:16:40] with a new place to enjoy Bedford's

[1:16:42] natural environment.

[1:16:44] This might be a great time and for the

[1:16:46] public here as well to speak to the

[1:16:48] action we took recently with regard to

[1:16:50] that reservoir property. We resolved an

[1:16:52] ownership question raised by the water

[1:16:54] authority about specific parcels. But we

[1:16:56] continue to pursue plans to conserve the

[1:16:59] property and to certainly conserve the

[1:17:01] water supply.

[1:17:03] We're engaging with the water authority

[1:17:04] in that discussion um as well as the

[1:17:07] county to explore possibilities of

[1:17:09] passive recreation that

[1:17:12] can [clears throat] be applied to it

[1:17:13] regardless of the other administrative

[1:17:15] factors. So, we we are pursuing that and

[1:17:19] I forgot the name of the gentleman in

[1:17:20] Lexington who is advising me on that

[1:17:22] currently, but that that is underway.

[1:17:24] So, thank you for bringing that up. So, at this point, we we own the

[1:17:29] property on the opposite side of the

[1:17:30] reservoir and and but we're not sure

[1:17:32] what we're going to do with it at this

[1:17:34] point in time. So, it technically could

[1:17:36] go

[1:17:37] into something of that nature. Yes. But

[1:17:41] I guess my question is do we need to

[1:17:42] change that in any way, shape or form

[1:17:45] from what it says now?

[1:17:46] >> And again, we're talking about a

[1:17:47] document that is a long-term vision kind

[1:17:50] of thing. So, we're not any one

[1:17:52] particular thing is is is nothing that's

[1:17:53] going to, you know, happen fast. You

[1:17:55] know, this we got to do it anyway. Yeah,

[1:17:57] and I will say and Mary, correct me if

[1:17:59] I'm wrong here, none of that is etched

[1:18:01] in stone. It can be changed by planning

[1:18:04] commission or reviewed at some point in

[1:18:07] time or when something does change, it

[1:18:09] can be revisited and and and changed.

[1:18:13] So,

[1:18:13] uh so,

[1:18:15] I don't want to throw it back to the

[1:18:16] planning commission. I don't I don't

[1:18:18] want to play this

[1:18:19] ping pong back and forth, but I do think

[1:18:23] that that's where we're at right now.

[1:18:26] Where are we at?

[1:18:26] >> If we come back with a

[1:18:28] programmatic solution conjunction with

[1:18:30] the state, we can add that as an

[1:18:32] amendment to the comp plan. Yeah, but at

[1:18:34] this point, all that is a possibility

[1:18:36] right now.

[1:18:38] As to the property we own

[1:18:39] cuz we've not yet decided what we're

[1:18:42] going to do with it. And I think that's

[1:18:45] will be a long discussion on another

[1:18:47] time.

[1:18:47] >> Oh yeah, but but that was It was in uh

[1:18:50] yeah. The uh planning commission asked

[1:18:52] us to discuss it. But uh or we're just

[1:18:55] saying that I think it's okay as is.

[1:18:57] I'm good with that. You good?

[1:18:59] Everybody else good?

[1:19:02] Mr. Carson?

[1:19:04] Mr. Evans?

[1:19:06] Aye. Mr. Foreman? Aye. Mr. Foster? Aye.

[1:19:11] Mr. Haley? Aye. Mr. Rebello? Aye. Mr.

[1:19:14] Updike? Aye. Mayor Stanley? Aye. Motion

[1:19:18] passes with all members voting aye.

[1:19:20] All right, next is ordinance registry.

[1:19:25] At its regular meeting on February 17th,

[1:19:28] 2026, town council discussed development

[1:19:31] and passage of a vacant building

[1:19:32] registry ordinance.

[1:19:34] A proposed draft was used for specific

[1:19:36] reference as part of that discussion at

[1:19:38] that time.

[1:19:39] Consensus of council was to move forward

[1:19:41] with formal consideration of such an

[1:19:42] ordinance and to include a public

[1:19:44] hearing as part of that process. Since

[1:19:46] that time, staff and the town attorney

[1:19:48] have worked to develop a final working

[1:19:50] draft for consideration by council.

[1:19:53] Tonight, town council is requested to

[1:19:54] consider adoption of the vacant building

[1:19:57] registry ordinance as submitted by the

[1:19:59] town attorney. Okay.

[1:20:01] I'm not going to ask for a motion yet

[1:20:03] cuz I think there may be some discussion

[1:20:05] we want to have and figure out just

[1:20:07] exactly what we want to do and what

[1:20:09] direction we want to go. So,

[1:20:11] I'll open up for discussion.

[1:20:15] Uh

[1:20:16] I'll start off with

[1:20:18] maybe a talking point, maybe it leads on

[1:20:20] to something else, but uh

[1:20:23] Mr. Lockaby mentioned

[1:20:25] previously that uh the vacant building

[1:20:28] registry was

[1:20:30] uh kind of one of the things that was uh

[1:20:32] recommended by the consultants

[1:20:35] uh for the you know, to help us

[1:20:37] revitalize downtown.

[1:20:40] But I think they also said that it would

[1:20:42] be better

[1:20:44] if those types of regulations, rules, or

[1:20:47] whatever were came from the business

[1:20:51] community as opposed to being mandated

[1:20:54] by by council.

[1:20:56] And that is certainly

[1:20:58] >> [clears throat]

[1:20:58] >> I feel like the the best case scenario.

[1:21:01] Um however,

[1:21:04] uh

[1:21:06] we still have

[1:21:08] buildings that that need some type of addressing.

[1:21:13] Um

[1:21:18] A- and if you know, proprietors, you

[1:21:21] know, can't or won't, you know, bring

[1:21:23] these buildings to where they are a

[1:21:24] little more marketable, you know, then maybe, you know, council does need

[1:21:28] to step in. Um

[1:21:31] But but I do have some issues regarding, you know,

[1:21:36] property rights and mandating what what

[1:21:38] people can and can't do with with their property, but um

[1:21:42] you know, I'm certainly open for to hear

[1:21:45] more discussion about it.

[1:21:46] All right.

[1:21:48] What else?

[1:21:51] I'm going to ask you a question.

[1:21:53] Um in under derelict building, it says

[1:21:56] not lawfully connected to electric

[1:21:58] service, not lawfully connected to water

[1:22:00] or sewer service, and then it's got if

[1:22:03] required. What do they mean by if

[1:22:04] required?

[1:22:06] Or what do we mean by if required?

[1:22:09] I thought we were requiring it by the

[1:22:12] ordinance, but

[1:22:16] I didn't draft that part, so I'm sorry.

[1:22:18] Yeah.

[1:22:19] It just seems like it should be required

[1:22:20] and then we're putting if required at

[1:22:22] the end.

[1:22:22] >> I'm trying to I'm trying to I'm not just

[1:22:25] saying whether you're not required to to

[1:22:26] be honest.

[1:22:30] There may be rare exceptions where

[1:22:33] um there might be some private systems

[1:22:36] that are

[1:22:38] allowed, but I'm I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[1:22:40] >> re- I mean, it wouldn't be possible to

[1:22:42] remove that at the end?

[1:22:44] If required. And I'm sorry. I'm looking

[1:22:46] at Mary. I just forgot. I I can't I

[1:22:48] can't imagine there are too many

[1:22:49] exceptions. And I don't know if that's

[1:22:51] straight out of the state definition for

[1:22:53] um derelict building. I think that was

[1:22:55] the source of much of Mr. Lockaby's

[1:22:57] drafting of this was to be in compliance

[1:22:59] with Perhaps there are communities that

[1:23:01] have private water and sewer systems and

[1:23:03] that informs the state language.

[1:23:05] But I'm speculating, so.

[1:23:09] I imagine it is probably the state

[1:23:10] language. I think it was Graham Anderson

[1:23:12] who was

[1:23:14] Cuz it just seems like it would make it

[1:23:15] a little confusing for somebody to see

[1:23:17] that. Cuz we

[1:23:19] Cuz I've supported this all along. We

[1:23:20] want to have something to help to help

[1:23:23] uh because we offer, as Mary said

[1:23:26] earlier, we offer a lot of carrots, but

[1:23:28] we need a stick to get people to comply

[1:23:30] sometimes.

[1:23:31] Um and that's what they talked about in

[1:23:33] the meetings that we were at.

[1:23:35] And this is

[1:23:37] there's not This is a very easy so far.

[1:23:40] I mean, all you have really have to do

[1:23:41] is have a building with electric service

[1:23:44] and

[1:23:45] um water water connection to it. So,

[1:23:48] and if you have those uh for 6-month

[1:23:51] period, then you're not a bit derelict

[1:23:53] building or vacant building.

[1:23:56] So, I mean, it makes it very easy.

[1:23:59] So,

[1:24:00] you know, so that's that's something

[1:24:02] that I thought we needed to look at that

[1:24:04] if required and and I know you're

[1:24:05] looking at it now, sir.

[1:24:07] >> Mr. Mayor, uh

[1:24:08] the statute that that uh

[1:24:12] Mr. Lockaby

[1:24:13] was referring to had to be referred to,

[1:24:16] does or speak to uh not lawfully

[1:24:20] connected to any required water or sewer

[1:24:22] service from a utility service provider.

[1:24:24] So,

[1:24:26] and the language that he used was

[1:24:29] close to that.

[1:24:31] Um and and I think it's to the same

[1:24:32] point, but it the derelict building

[1:24:36] definition is in statute and includes

[1:24:40] this this uh concept of what is So, they

[1:24:42] have to have it. So, it's saying it is

[1:24:44] required to have it.

[1:24:46] Well, it's If if it's required to have

[1:24:48] it. What what I would

[1:24:50] kind of surmise is that

[1:24:52] most places you got to have electric,

[1:24:54] but some commercial buildings may not

[1:24:56] have

[1:24:57] uh water connections or

[1:24:59] a restroom or anything, so that would

[1:25:01] not be required because they don't have

[1:25:04] water or sewage coming into the

[1:25:06] building, but

[1:25:07] that would be That'd be the only reason

[1:25:08] I would think that that would be there.

[1:25:11] But certainly you do have some buildings

[1:25:12] that don't have those water or sewage.

[1:25:16] Everybody's got to have electric because

[1:25:18] it's

[1:25:21] If they make Yeah, I Okay. I Yeah, I

[1:25:23] think yes. I think you may be right

[1:25:25] there. And it says or, so it either has

[1:25:27] electric or has sewage connection. So,

[1:25:30] it's not both. A- And I think it's one

[1:25:32] thing that

[1:25:34] it's the the terms they use to cover

[1:25:39] everything that could possibly happen.

[1:25:41] Um and I I I will say this.

[1:25:44] Um

[1:25:46] To to back to what Vice Mayor Black

[1:25:49] said, this this stems from the downtown

[1:25:51] strategy.

[1:25:53] Um

[1:25:54] and it and and that and and I thank Mary

[1:25:57] I thank her a hundred times. I'll

[1:25:58] probably thank her another hundred times

[1:26:00] for our league for this, getting that

[1:26:02] grant cuz it's given us guidance as to

[1:26:05] what we can do.

[1:26:07] And it's kind of like comprehensive

[1:26:09] plan. It's it's a guide. And this is

[1:26:12] something they said that we encourage to

[1:26:15] be done and that No, it it doesn't hit

[1:26:19] them very hard.

[1:26:20] It's it's very light, but it's a start.

[1:26:24] And and it's something that has not been

[1:26:26] done up to this point.

[1:26:28] And and until you

[1:26:31] start something and then, as I say, like a lot of things, we can look at it

[1:26:36] in 6 months or or a couple months and do

[1:26:40] if we want to tweak it, do we want to

[1:26:42] change it? But this is a start to start

[1:26:45] addressing some of the vacant buildings

[1:26:48] that may make this model. That I I don't

[1:26:51] know if there are any or not, but it's

[1:26:53] very

[1:26:54] I would call this

[1:26:56] for what it's worth, very lightweight.

[1:26:58] But it can be changed and it can be

[1:27:01] uh

[1:27:03] made to hit a little harder

[1:27:05] whenever council wants to do that. But

[1:27:08] it But it's more than than what we've

[1:27:10] had in that I know we've

[1:27:14] I'll just be blunt.

[1:27:15] We get criticized if we don't do

[1:27:17] anything.

[1:27:18] We get criticized if we do something.

[1:27:21] So, this is a start and

[1:27:23] it it it's something to try to address

[1:27:27] the vacancy.

[1:27:28] So.

[1:27:29] And I knew one of the public comments

[1:27:31] talked about the criminal blight in it,

[1:27:33] but I think it's something we can leave

[1:27:35] in it and then if we want to expand it

[1:27:37] in the future to other areas in the

[1:27:38] downtown area. I don't think I don't

[1:27:41] think we'll have any criminal blight in

[1:27:43] our downtown areas by this definition

[1:27:46] when I read it. But if we decide to

[1:27:48] expand the areas in the future, we

[1:27:50] could. And and that was one of the

[1:27:52] questions that I had, you know,

[1:27:54] it is is there a reason why we are

[1:27:58] making requirements of

[1:28:01] buildings in a certain section of of the

[1:28:03] city or the of the town

[1:28:05] that we're not requiring buildings

[1:28:07] elsewhere to to to meet those same

[1:28:09] standards?

[1:28:10] Uh

[1:28:11] you know, could you know, Well,

[1:28:13] it's only because this was called the

[1:28:15] downtown strategy. It addressed downtown

[1:28:17] now. I understand where it came from.

[1:28:19] I'm just saying couldn't we apply that

[1:28:21] to all town buildings? Well, I guess my

[1:28:23] question would be

[1:28:24] this was modeled for downtown, the

[1:28:27] downtown area.

[1:28:29] If we wanted something to expand to the

[1:28:32] other parts of town,

[1:28:34] I would suggest a different ordinance,

[1:28:37] but

[1:28:39] we can discuss expanding this, but I

[1:28:41] think this was modeled or targeted for

[1:28:43] downtown, the downtown district. But if

[1:28:46] we want to expand that to the other

[1:28:49] parts of the the town, then

[1:28:52] we could probably get something very

[1:28:54] similar,

[1:28:55] but uh

[1:28:56] of course, would hit a lot harder. We'll

[1:28:58] just take out the reference to downtown

[1:29:00] district. Yeah, I was going to say if

[1:29:02] you just take that out, it would be the

[1:29:03] whole town.

[1:29:04] >> Then it would apply to everyone.

[1:29:06] That that would Okay.

[1:29:08] Why? I mean, I don't know.

[1:29:11] But

[1:29:13] So,

[1:29:15] a couple of questions myself is I I was

[1:29:17] going

[1:29:18] uh

[1:29:19] talked to uh Councilman Foreman about

[1:29:21] criminal blight, but also

[1:29:23] where you sit over here,

[1:29:26] Washington Street is split, cuz you

[1:29:28] know, one side of Washington Street had

[1:29:30] businesses too, just as well as the

[1:29:32] other side of Washington Street. So, how

[1:29:34] can you

[1:29:36] break the street up as when you have

[1:29:39] businesses on the right-hand side going

[1:29:41] up Washington Street and on the

[1:29:42] left-hand side you have businesses?

[1:29:46] I mean, that just don't make sense. I

[1:29:48] mean,

[1:29:50] I don't mean that's not picking on any

[1:29:52] businesses on the right-hand side, but

[1:29:54] it it should be fair and fair if you

[1:29:56] going focus us on downtown and business

[1:30:00] related

[1:30:01] things. And also, you talked about

[1:30:05] I read a couple of the

[1:30:07] um

[1:30:08] uh papers that people was sending here.

[1:30:11] Couple good points said a few points

[1:30:13] that talked about hard fees. I don't see

[1:30:15] where we need to really punish anybody.

[1:30:17] I think we need to just

[1:30:20] show them and help them to move forward

[1:30:23] with our buildings and stuff like that.

[1:30:25] So, I that's my opinion.

[1:30:32] The vacant building registry, is that

[1:30:35] going to be listed online like the other

[1:30:36] vacant building registries, or is that

[1:30:38] just going to be something kept here

[1:30:40] within

[1:30:42] our office?

[1:30:46] We will follow the direction of council.

[1:30:48] Our understanding is the intent is to

[1:30:50] publish it on the website. And it would

[1:30:52] be for it would be it would be you'd be

[1:30:54] able to obtain it through the Freedom of

[1:30:55] Information Act anyhow.

[1:30:57] The um yeah, but I was looking tonight

[1:30:59] through and you know, I'm all for doing

[1:31:01] downtown. I'm one of the people that's

[1:31:03] been all about let's fix the downtown,

[1:31:05] but the vacant building registry, if you

[1:31:07] look on there,

[1:31:09] they get treated very nasty, really

[1:31:11] nasty.

[1:31:12] And their buildings get overlooked,

[1:31:15] their insurance gets canceled.

[1:31:17] Um some of them are forced to lose their

[1:31:19] buildings. There's a lot goes on once

[1:31:22] you put them on there. And I understand

[1:31:25] that they say that we, like I said, give

[1:31:28] them a lot of carrots, but I passed out

[1:31:30] 18 applications to different businesses

[1:31:32] downtown to tell them, yes, we have help

[1:31:35] here,

[1:31:37] but then at the same time they was told,

[1:31:39] well, you got to wait. So, how you going

[1:31:41] to punish somebody when you tell them

[1:31:42] that you got to wait? Yeah, I'm giving

[1:31:43] you this hand, but you can't have it

[1:31:45] right now.

[1:31:46] You got to wait for it.

[1:31:48] So,

[1:31:50] you know, yeah, we need to help them and

[1:31:52] we need to get them fixed, but I don't

[1:31:56] think they need to be punished by

[1:31:57] putting on the vacant building registry

[1:32:00] and

[1:32:02] you humiliated by everybody. And then

[1:32:05] plus two, once they get their building

[1:32:06] fixed, it's still going to show that

[1:32:09] they was on there.

[1:32:10] So, you know, it's kind of like a when

[1:32:13] you get [cough] a ticket, it stays on

[1:32:14] there

[1:32:15] and it follows you around. But if you

[1:32:18] read it, all they have to do is keep the

[1:32:19] electricity on in the building. Right.

[1:32:21] But what if suppose you can't get

[1:32:22] electricity in the building? It's not

[1:32:23] ready for it yet.

[1:32:26] You know, not not every building

[1:32:28] downtown is It's an older building.

[1:32:30] >> Is that a building permit? Yeah.

[1:32:36] Okay. It's not it's not immediate. It's

[1:32:38] uh they have to be over 6 months.

[1:32:40] >> Yeah, they they have time for that

[1:32:43] to correct it. If if they are in that

[1:32:46] situation, which

[1:32:48] I I don't know. Cuz I mean, I just don't

[1:32:50] want to see somebody go out, you know,

[1:32:52] tomorrow and get slammed on a vacancy

[1:32:54] What? on a vacant building registry that

[1:32:57] It won't won't happen that quick, you

[1:32:58] know. It has to be over six in excess of

[1:33:01] six months. Well, when does the six

[1:33:03] months start? From today or from We

[1:33:06] could we can say that like I can We can say a start date for the

[1:33:10] ordinance if you want. Yeah.

[1:33:12] The um cuz I mean, I do want to see town

[1:33:14] fixed and you know, I've done a lot to

[1:33:17] try to help to get the town fixed, but

[1:33:18] at the same time I don't want to really

[1:33:20] kill people too.

[1:33:22] That

[1:33:23] you know, sometimes it's just not

[1:33:26] as simple as you think when you you

[1:33:27] know, you own the buildings to do.

[1:33:31] Until you actually have owned a building

[1:33:34] downtown, run a business downtown and

[1:33:35] dealt with the whole downtown,

[1:33:37] it's not nothing easy to have to

[1:33:41] deal with.

[1:33:43] Well, most people who own the buildings

[1:33:44] if they got a tenant in there, they

[1:33:45] going to

[1:33:46] take care of the building and keep them

[1:33:48] up to date and keep them going if they

[1:33:49] want to keep the tenants in there.

[1:33:52] So, I have a You have to rent the

[1:33:53] buildings downtown.

[1:33:55] Well, most

[1:33:56] >> thank god I got a good I got a good

[1:33:58] landlord now, but there I've had some

[1:33:59] rough ones, let me tell you.

[1:34:00] >> Well, that's my point, Jay, and I'm not

[1:34:02] going to argue with you, but I'm just

[1:34:03] saying, most rental property, if you

[1:34:06] want to keep a tenant in there, you're

[1:34:07] going to take care of it and keep it up

[1:34:09] to code and

[1:34:11] whatever else you have to do.

[1:34:13] You're not going to let it dilapidate,

[1:34:15] because then you're going to move out

[1:34:16] and go somewhere else.

[1:34:17] >> Well, that's why I moved six times.

[1:34:22] What do you mean?

[1:34:24] So, so what do y'all want to say? What

[1:34:26] do you want to do here? How do you want

[1:34:27] to phrase this?

[1:34:31] I just want to ask a couple questions.

[1:34:33] Oh, well.

[1:34:34] I just want to

[1:34:34] >> [laughter]

[1:34:35] >> say it's okay. I mean, I I know it's

[1:34:37] but I No, no. I just have a couple of

[1:34:39] things. I mean, one of one of the things

[1:34:41] in on the second page, now paragraph B,

[1:34:44] which talks about the owner or owners of

[1:34:47] buildings that have been vacant for

[1:34:49] continuous period of 12 months or more,

[1:34:51] and then it has three stipulations, and

[1:34:54] then it says or for the fourth

[1:34:56] stipulation.

[1:34:57] And my understanding the way that is

[1:35:00] grammatically is that that and applies to the first three

[1:35:05] stipulations, that it would have to

[1:35:07] be uh

[1:35:09] it have to be within the downtown

[1:35:10] district at least right now, and it'd

[1:35:13] have to be a derelict building, and it'd

[1:35:14] have to have criminal blight. And to me,

[1:35:17] those three criteria, it

[1:35:20] I would think that it would be in the

[1:35:21] downtown district and a derelict

[1:35:23] building or criminal blight,

[1:35:26] because

[1:35:28] the uh

[1:35:29] you know, criminal blight is

[1:35:30] self-explanatory.

[1:35:32] So, I don't I don't think it's Does that

[1:35:34] make sense not meeting the first three

[1:35:35] criteria

[1:35:37] as far as having and in there?

[1:35:40] So, I would say one and

[1:35:43] are within the downtown district if we

[1:35:46] continue to have it at that and derelict

[1:35:48] building or criminal blight or in which

[1:35:51] the town manager designates.

[1:35:55] And that's one comment, the other is,

[1:35:57] you know, we talked about earlier in

[1:35:59] vacant it being vacant for six months

[1:36:02] and then

[1:36:04] I do wonder why

[1:36:07] if vacant is

[1:36:09] or I guess derelict building is

[1:36:11] explained as six months, then why would

[1:36:13] we

[1:36:14] wait 12 months for it to be continuously

[1:36:16] vacant before we we act on it.

[1:36:21] Would you want to table this and wait

[1:36:23] for Mr. Lockaby to get back and explain

[1:36:25] his uh

[1:36:26] Sorry.

[1:36:27] his explanation's better? Well, this I I

[1:36:31] do

[1:36:33] I'm struggling with that with this

[1:36:35] paragraph B myself.

[1:36:41] Could So, it would be 12 months from

[1:36:43] then from this. But I do struggle I do

[1:36:46] have had the same problem that

[1:36:48] Councilman Foster had about being and it

[1:36:51] has to be I read it also the same way

[1:36:53] that it has to be criminal blight also.

[1:36:55] Oh, yeah, all inclusive.

[1:36:56] >> All inclusive between all three or it

[1:36:58] would have to be the last thing. That's

[1:37:00] the way I see it also.

[1:37:07] Changes?

[1:37:08] Comments?

[1:37:10] Why don't we just table it and let's

[1:37:12] clean it up and let Mr. Lockaby come

[1:37:14] back and have had a solid, strong thing

[1:37:17] where we can get these questions out of

[1:37:19] the way. It's not going to We don't need

[1:37:21] to table it, but

[1:37:23] uh six months and nothing like that.

[1:37:25] We'll table it to maybe the next meeting

[1:37:27] or meeting after that or something like

[1:37:28] that. Have it done before the first of

[1:37:30] July.

[1:37:31] >> the only question I would have is do we

[1:37:32] want to leave it as just downtown or do

[1:37:34] we want to expand it cuz that was kind

[1:37:36] of the Vice Mayor brought up, so I I

[1:37:38] wanted to ask that question. What do you

[1:37:41] What do y'all want?

[1:37:42] Doesn't have to be all of town.

[1:37:45] It can Well, right now it's written just

[1:37:46] for the downtown. Yeah, but I think when

[1:37:48] you look at that bylaw, it's supposed to

[1:37:49] be all of the buildings like Well, that

[1:37:51] ordinance that would be up to the

[1:37:53] attorney.

[1:37:54] Yeah.

[1:37:55] Well, Well, that

[1:37:57] The way it's written now, it's just

[1:37:58] downtown. Yeah.

[1:38:00] We can pose that question Yeah. for Mr.

[1:38:03] Lockaby to consider. Okay. Yes, sir.

[1:38:05] We'll we'll uh we will

[1:38:07] uh consult on that. You have your mission, if you decide to

[1:38:11] accept it.

[1:38:14] >> [laughter]

[1:38:15] >> Is that okay to where we table it?

[1:38:17] Do we need a vote on that or

[1:38:20] I don't know. I don't think an action is

[1:38:22] necessary. General consensus.

[1:38:25] Okay. I think it's a good idea Okay. to

[1:38:27] table it. I I think it's a good idea.

[1:38:29] It puts the questions we have.

[1:38:31] >> All right.

[1:38:38] Next is consideration of a formal banner

[1:38:41] policy, Mr. Warner.

[1:38:44] On two separate occasions, March 3rd,

[1:38:46] 2026 and March 17th, 2026,

[1:38:49] the Streets Committee of Council met to

[1:38:51] review and discuss development of a

[1:38:53] formal policy related to

[1:38:56] a consistent policy governing the

[1:38:57] locations and time frames for display of

[1:39:00] banners other than town government

[1:39:02] banners on municipal light poles.

[1:39:05] Based on direction provided by the

[1:39:06] committee to staff, such policy has been

[1:39:08] drafted and submitted for discussion and

[1:39:11] consideration. So, I town council is

[1:39:13] requested to consider adoption of a town

[1:39:15] of Bedford banner policy document as

[1:39:18] submitted for review.

[1:39:21] All right. I think you had a chance to

[1:39:23] read that and study it. Do I hear a

[1:39:25] motion?

[1:39:29] Or do we want to discuss it? I think it

[1:39:30] needs to be some discussion. All right.

[1:39:32] Then we can do that.

[1:39:35] What is on your mind?

[1:39:37] Oh, wait. What?

[1:39:39] I'm going to go. I don't know. I guess I

[1:39:40] guess I'm just a little confused on

[1:39:47] the

[1:39:49] one of the Well, Mr. Parker, his comments earlier.

[1:39:53] What the

[1:39:56] If we've got 19 of the Bedford board

[1:39:59] banners going to be displayed throughout

[1:40:01] most of the year except for one at

[1:40:03] Christmas time and I guess when the art

[1:40:05] things are

[1:40:06] and we also have the Vietnam veterans

[1:40:08] banners. Is it Is it placement that

[1:40:13] you've been worried about? I guess

[1:40:15] that's my question or is it placement?

[1:40:23] As

[1:40:24] >> I think it's placement and length of

[1:40:26] time that other banners are displayed.

[1:40:30] Yeah.

[1:40:33] You know, that and and I

[1:40:36] spoke to

[1:40:37] Councilman Haley about this earlier and

[1:40:39] he was reviewing some other places

[1:40:42] policies and

[1:40:43] had some ideas that he would share them.

[1:40:45] Well, my ideas are this. And I mean, no

[1:40:48] disrespect to nobody. But, you know,

[1:40:51] I read the policies like Rocky Mount and

[1:40:53] stuff like that. They don't seem to have

[1:40:56] any groups or any special organization.

[1:41:00] They just put the banners in general

[1:41:02] where

[1:41:03] it has like I'm going to read you what

[1:41:05] Rocky Mount does. Just be patient.

[1:41:10] And you know, this will rectify a lot of

[1:41:12] the things, hopefully,

[1:41:15] where it make it easy for all of us.

[1:41:19] So, Rocky Mount

[1:41:26] A person granting permission to display

[1:41:28] a banner over a public right-of-way or

[1:41:30] public meeting will surely reimburse the

[1:41:32] town of town reasonable costs. So, we

[1:41:35] don't have to charge. It's just reading

[1:41:37] the things to let you know.

[1:41:40] But, it says in the end of the day

[1:41:43] um

[1:41:46] the town manager shall determine the

[1:41:48] cost of the erection or the removal of

[1:41:50] the banner using the cost of labor or

[1:41:52] equipment and all the signs a town

[1:41:54] employee shall erect or remove banners.

[1:41:56] You know, the whole point is we use a

[1:41:58] lot of town employees to put banners up.

[1:42:01] And we use they pretty much take a day

[1:42:04] or two days to put banners up downtown.

[1:42:07] You know, I'm not saying that we charge,

[1:42:09] but I think it should be some kind of

[1:42:11] process or application where

[1:42:13] you fill this application out, give it

[1:42:15] to town manager. Let's take town council

[1:42:18] out of the equation about this part of

[1:42:20] the banner thing right here. Say, "Well,

[1:42:22] any new banners

[1:42:24] or any other requests to display a

[1:42:26] banner should be a standard form or and

[1:42:28] shall be reviewed by town council." You

[1:42:31] know,

[1:42:32] really uh

[1:42:33] I think we got better things a lot of

[1:42:35] other things to make decision on what

[1:42:37] banners go up on our street. That's more

[1:42:40] to the economic side or more to

[1:42:42] town manager side or whatever.

[1:42:45] But, you know, I think it should be a

[1:42:47] universal universal

[1:42:50] policy where, you know, if you want your

[1:42:53] banner up this month, put in

[1:42:55] application, we'll put it up for this

[1:42:56] month. And it makes it fair to

[1:42:58] everybody. Cuz, you know, this other

[1:43:00] times of the year, say if February is

[1:43:03] Black History Month. Just using that for

[1:43:05] an example.

[1:43:06] And you come up here, you got October

[1:43:09] Breast Cancer Month. So, I mean, it

[1:43:11] makes it more and it like I said,

[1:43:15] we can keep the banners in certain areas

[1:43:17] downtown or whatever, but what it does

[1:43:19] it gives other opportunities for other

[1:43:21] people

[1:43:22] to put different banners up. And

[1:43:24] remember,

[1:43:25] talking about we was on Bedford Main

[1:43:26] Street. So, the Bedford Boys banners

[1:43:28] actually came from the D-Day and they

[1:43:31] paid for them banners.

[1:43:32] So, in the process we had the Bedford

[1:43:34] Overlord banners that Main Street

[1:43:36] created. That was downtown. I mean,

[1:43:39] we are rich in history, but, you know,

[1:43:43] let's give everybody opportunity to put

[1:43:46] different banners, Vietnam veterans. So,

[1:43:49] I mean, we got Civil War. How about the

[1:43:51] Iraq

[1:43:52] veterans? How about the

[1:43:54] uh Desert Storm veterans and stuff like

[1:43:56] that. So, there's a lot of stuff in the

[1:43:57] down in the way where we can

[1:44:00] play display some pride in our town.

[1:44:03] I like its size because the size will

[1:44:06] minimize a lot of aggravation, a lot of

[1:44:10] town employees to try to put banners up.

[1:44:12] So, you know,

[1:44:14] you see sometimes you go into they have

[1:44:15] banners coming straight into town. So,

[1:44:17] we can run banners all the way up

[1:44:19] to CVS up here to make it look nice for

[1:44:23] us coming in town. Run it all the way to

[1:44:25] D-Day. Run it all the way to 460 out

[1:44:27] here.

[1:44:28] Run it all the way down past the middle

[1:44:30] school. Maybe Longwood.

[1:44:32] It gives everybody

[1:44:34] in town to have different ideas and

[1:44:36] stuff on banners. And you know, a

[1:44:38] universal policy will just be easy.

[1:44:42] Instead of organization, cuz you read

[1:44:46] Lynchburg, Salem,

[1:44:48] all that policy, they don't need no such groups. They just put the banners.

[1:44:53] What the policy is, what can be done,

[1:44:54] how you do it.

[1:44:57] And that makes it easy for everybody.

[1:45:06] There's a couple things that um

[1:45:09] that uh

[1:45:10] Mr. Parker pointed out that I

[1:45:14] From my perspective, there's there's no

[1:45:16] argument.

[1:45:17] Um

[1:45:19] One is that uh

[1:45:22] D-Day and

[1:45:24] those servicemen that that that that

[1:45:27] died in that

[1:45:29] um

[1:45:29] you know,

[1:45:30] they deserve recognition and at least

[1:45:33] for this community

[1:45:35] um you know, should not be forgotten.

[1:45:39] Understand that in other places

[1:45:42] of the world

[1:45:43] outside of our little

[1:45:45] slice of heaven here,

[1:45:47] um that people may forget.

[1:45:50] But, that's why we have organizations

[1:45:53] such as

[1:45:54] D-Day and the Bedford Boys Tribute

[1:45:56] Center

[1:45:57] to promote that particular aspect.

[1:46:00] Um

[1:46:02] you know, and we also have the Vietnam

[1:46:04] veterans.

[1:46:05] And uh

[1:46:08] you know, one of the comments that Mr.

[1:46:10] Parker made was that, you know,

[1:46:12] basically, no one service member's

[1:46:15] sacrifice is any greater or lesser than

[1:46:18] another service member's sacrifice. You

[1:46:20] know, and and I and I totally agree with

[1:46:22] that. Um

[1:46:24] as as far as a governing body

[1:46:28] um I think that

[1:46:30] we should make sure that we recognize

[1:46:35] each particular

[1:46:38] uh

[1:46:39] historical event

[1:46:41] of that nature equally. We need to make

[1:46:43] sure that it's all done

[1:46:46] equally as far as we're concerned. Now,

[1:46:49] again, you know, we've got, you know,

[1:46:52] organizations that, you know, are here

[1:46:54] to

[1:46:55] um

[1:46:55] you know, make sure that D-Day is not forgotten, that World

[1:46:59] War II is not forgotten. And we have an

[1:47:02] organization that, you know, is here to

[1:47:03] make sure that, you know, the the veterans that that died in

[1:47:07] Vietnam that uh that they're not

[1:47:09] forgotten either. Uh

[1:47:11] you know,

[1:47:13] I think we need to honor both of those.

[1:47:15] And

[1:47:17] you know,

[1:47:18] and if another, you know, organization

[1:47:19] says that, yeah, in time that these

[1:47:21] things may be forgotten, maybe, but not

[1:47:24] here.

[1:47:26] So.

[1:47:27] Uh

[1:47:29] Yeah, that's that's that's kind of where I am with it. That

[1:47:34] we need to make sure that both are

[1:47:35] forgotten.

[1:47:37] You know, I just want to say that the

[1:47:39] 15th of this month was 1 year

[1:47:42] that I started working on the banners,

[1:47:45] the new banners that we have. Working

[1:47:46] with Leslie with the Vietnam vets,

[1:47:48] working with April with D-Day to come up

[1:47:51] with these new banners. The banners we

[1:47:53] had in town are over 20 years old.

[1:47:56] And there shouldn't need to be

[1:48:00] all of this over switching a 20-year-old

[1:48:03] banner. When you have a Vietnam vet

[1:48:06] thing here, you should automatically

[1:48:07] know Vietnam vet flags need to go here.

[1:48:10] When the Bedford Boys march down Main

[1:48:13] Street, okay,

[1:48:15] take them down Main Street. You know,

[1:48:17] the historical things that Leslie talks

[1:48:19] about for the museum, you know, those

[1:48:21] are people that really did something for

[1:48:24] Bedford.

[1:48:25] But, in creating banners, if y'all only

[1:48:28] knew what a headache it was. 7 months

[1:48:31] just to get

[1:48:34] a copy [clears throat] of one to see

[1:48:36] because it can't have a church, it can't

[1:48:38] have a business, it can't have this, it

[1:48:39] can't have that. I mean, after thing after thing after thing.

[1:48:45] And, you know,

[1:48:47] going to see about something and being

[1:48:49] told no and then going to see about

[1:48:51] something say I don't have time for you.

[1:48:53] And, you know, it was just

[1:48:56] a horrendous deal to deal with just to

[1:48:59] say And Stacy knows cuz he did the

[1:49:00] Christmas banners. It is nothing easy to

[1:49:03] create banners for this town.

[1:49:06] I mean, you got to it to create a banner

[1:49:08] for this town.

[1:49:10] And

[1:49:12] you know, this is to me this is

[1:49:13] nonsense. It's It's the right thing to do, but it's

[1:49:17] like Stacy said, we have other stuff to

[1:49:19] do than to sit here and say, "Oh, you

[1:49:21] can do this and you can do that."

[1:49:23] You know, if the person that wants to

[1:49:25] come up and they want to hang their

[1:49:26] banners up, God help them. Well, I'll

[1:49:28] help them. They'll come see me cuz I

[1:49:29] can't help them.

[1:49:30] They um

[1:49:32] but I mean, I don't think it's something the council

[1:49:34] should be involved in

[1:49:36] either on that. I think it should be

[1:49:39] you know, the right thing to do for

[1:49:41] wherever the stuff is. Because that way

[1:49:44] Keans getting his banners leading down

[1:49:46] because whenever they leave Keans, when

[1:49:48] people come in my restaurant all the

[1:49:49] time,

[1:49:50] you know, they say they're going to be

[1:49:51] day or they've came in and they got

[1:49:53] their little D-Day stickers on. I ask

[1:49:55] them, "Have you been down to the Bedford

[1:49:56] Boys Tribute Center?" Some say yes, some

[1:49:58] say no. I send them there.

[1:50:00] You know, we talked about taking some of

[1:50:03] the remember banners leading them up

[1:50:05] Crenshaw Street up to the Welcome Center

[1:50:07] so they can follow the banners to and

[1:50:08] from town.

[1:50:09] I mean, there's a lot of stuff we can

[1:50:11] do, but

[1:50:13] that's not for us.

[1:50:16] You know, let's

[1:50:18] just let it be and and and let it go and

[1:50:22] you know, I understand that the Bedford

[1:50:24] Boys went all the way up this way. But

[1:50:25] you know what? There's 26 light poles

[1:50:27] from Bridge Street

[1:50:29] down to where you turn at whatever that

[1:50:31] street is, Crenshaw, what's it called?

[1:50:35] There's 26 poles. There's only 20

[1:50:37] Bedford Boy banners.

[1:50:39] You know, there's 20 poles this way.

[1:50:41] There's only 14

[1:50:43] poles cuz trust me, we painted them.

[1:50:46] And you know, uh people do stop and read

[1:50:48] those banners. When we was painting

[1:50:49] those banners, you would be surprised

[1:50:51] how many people you see looking at those

[1:50:53] banners, stopping and taking pictures

[1:50:55] with those banners.

[1:50:57] You know, when the Vietnam veteran

[1:50:58] banners was up there, people was

[1:51:00] constantly with the Vietnam banners

[1:51:02] being up there, they see that name, they

[1:51:04] can look at those faces right there in

[1:51:06] the front of them. So, it's kind of a

[1:51:07] common sense thing.

[1:51:09] But I don't think we need to be involved

[1:51:11] in it.

[1:51:12] Well,

[1:51:13] and I guess the only response I have to

[1:51:14] that is that

[1:51:17] I think

[1:51:18] the council needs to do

[1:51:21] things necessary to keep us out of civil

[1:51:24] litigation.

[1:51:25] And if we don't have some type of policy

[1:51:29] and somebody

[1:51:30] fills out an application and gets turned

[1:51:32] down

[1:51:35] and we don't have a policy, I think that

[1:51:37] weakens our position and I mean, the

[1:51:38] attorneys can weigh in on that, but you

[1:51:40] know, that's just you know, my layman's

[1:51:43] outside view of things. Sure. We have to

[1:51:45] have a little guidance of some kind and there is a lot of liability issue

[1:51:50] involved here, too, to where you can't

[1:51:52] just let anybody hang banners or

[1:51:55] things like that, but

[1:51:57] I'm I'm misunderstanding the point here

[1:51:59] in that

[1:52:00] are we we focusing on when the

[1:52:03] individual banners go up or or where?

[1:52:07] What What are we

[1:52:08] I'm not sure what we're discussing and

[1:52:11] talking about. Well, the way that

[1:52:14] this is written out, it it addresses

[1:52:15] both the where banners are hung and the

[1:52:19] times of during the year that they are

[1:52:21] put up.

[1:52:22] Are we okay with that, I guess?

[1:52:25] That is the question.

[1:52:27] Well, the problem is

[1:52:30] the Bedford Boys banners always been up

[1:52:32] on this end.

[1:52:33] So, I mean, if you put them down that

[1:52:35] end,

[1:52:37] I mean, you've got to compromise either

[1:52:39] you've got to either put them here or

[1:52:40] there. And uh

[1:52:42] I'm going to say this and I'm trying to

[1:52:43] make nobody mad.

[1:52:45] Promising people stuff shouldn't happen.

[1:52:49] My point is

[1:52:51] you're talking about

[1:52:53] uh so, if you want to put the Bedford

[1:52:54] Boys up one side of the street and the

[1:52:56] Vietnam up the other side of the street

[1:52:58] to make it even, to be fair to

[1:53:00] everybody?

[1:53:02] But you know, the whole point is it's

[1:53:04] like I was talking about Bedford Boys.

[1:53:05] We're not taking away from our respect

[1:53:08] and our dead and our people that fought

[1:53:10] for our country and that that actually

[1:53:12] lived here in Bedford. We was the

[1:53:14] highest number of boys lost during World

[1:53:17] War II. Per capita.

[1:53:19] So, you got World War I. You got the

[1:53:21] Revolution War. You got the Civil War.

[1:53:24] You got other stuff like I was talking

[1:53:26] about that other people in Halifax, I'm

[1:53:29] going to use this as a sample.

[1:53:31] They got veterans that's still alive and

[1:53:34] got banners up on the street. So, you

[1:53:36] know, there's different stuff.

[1:53:39] I know you made a comment up uh Vice

[1:53:41] Mayor update, that our town is based on

[1:53:43] war. It is based on war. Our town is a

[1:53:46] war

[1:53:47] based town because of what the heritage

[1:53:50] and history we have. Not taking that

[1:53:52] away.

[1:53:53] But

[1:53:54] the whole point is placement of banners

[1:53:57] and this and that,

[1:53:59] you know, the town's been putting up

[1:54:00] banners

[1:54:02] and we hadn't been involved with it for

[1:54:03] years.

[1:54:05] And now we're trying to get us we have a

[1:54:07] policy, put the policy down, let our

[1:54:09] town employees take care of it. That's

[1:54:11] what I'm trying to do. So, we do not as

[1:54:14] council need to get in here and tell

[1:54:16] people where to put banners up downtown.

[1:54:19] That's my opinion.

[1:54:21] So, you're talking about F.

[1:54:23] Yeah.

[1:54:24] So, we have to we'll review it every

[1:54:26] time somebody wants to come and put a

[1:54:27] different banner up.

[1:54:32] That's my opinion, but

[1:54:37] So, what is the rest of council's

[1:54:40] thoughts?

[1:54:42] What direction do we want to go? I mean,

[1:54:45] leave this as is, tweak it or

[1:54:49] where are we?

[1:54:54] What?

[1:54:55] What do you think?

[1:54:57] I agree with Stacy.

[1:54:59] Why should we get involved in it? I

[1:55:00] mean,

[1:55:02] Well, let's ask the attorney.

[1:55:03] >> Nobody got a banner going. No. No. I

[1:55:06] mean,

[1:55:07] They had banners running all the way

[1:55:08] down Jackson Street one time. Bedford

[1:55:10] Main Street did. I mean,

[1:55:12] I agree with him.

[1:55:14] Let's let our town staff take care of

[1:55:16] it. Give our Yep. Uh and I'm I'm going

[1:55:18] to say this.

[1:55:19] Sometimes we always step up bounds with

[1:55:22] Mr. Warner and we tell Mr. Warner to

[1:55:24] take care of stuff and then we go behind

[1:55:27] and do different, but let Mr. Warner and the public works director take care

[1:55:31] of this and we take ourselves out of it.

[1:55:35] I do like the standards on it, though.

[1:55:37] Yeah.

[1:55:39] I like them being standardized and I

[1:55:41] like that I like that. [laughter] I I'm

[1:55:42] with you, Todd. I like something in

[1:55:45] order. Yeah.

[1:55:47] I I don't like

[1:55:50] What What do we want to do is the

[1:55:52] question.

[1:55:53] What Well,

[1:55:54] legally, where would we stand? That's

[1:55:56] right. If we just allow,

[1:56:01] this this the town manager to do something

[1:56:04] and then if another one comes in later

[1:56:05] on, you know, he has a he or she has a

[1:56:07] different viewpoint and so that, you

[1:56:09] know, then there is no consistency,

[1:56:11] there is no, you know, so what what

[1:56:13] what's [clears throat] our legal

[1:56:14] standing in

[1:56:16] turning this over to the town manager?

[1:56:19] And then how does our town manager feel

[1:56:20] about, you know,

[1:56:23] creating internal policy uh to address

[1:56:26] something like that?

[1:56:28] They've been doing it for years.

[1:56:30] We also had lower tax rate for years.

[1:56:32] Look where we are now. Yeah. So, we

[1:56:33] can't base it

[1:56:35] What we did for years.

[1:56:36] Let's let's be

[1:56:37] Let's let's tell it like it is. Yeah,

[1:56:39] the only question

[1:56:40] >> Things are going to change. Yeah. The

[1:56:41] only question I would have about it is

[1:56:44] with what he's with with what's being

[1:56:45] said here and this is where I would ask

[1:56:47] a question and it I think it's very

[1:56:49] similar to what

[1:56:51] the Vice Mayor is asking, but you're putting specific ones on here.

[1:56:55] What happens when somebody else comes

[1:56:57] and wants to put an add a banner to this

[1:56:59] list and they're they're restricted from

[1:57:01] doing it because it's someone else that

[1:57:02] wants to do it. And does that have bad

[1:57:05] liability If you're talking about

[1:57:06] liability, does that add liability

[1:57:08] because you're you're taking the

[1:57:10] opportunity from someone else away from

[1:57:11] doing it? Well, we have 94 poles.

[1:57:14] >> Yeah, we have light poles everywhere. No, I'm

[1:57:16] just saying by listing them out like

[1:57:18] this and saying, "This and this and this one." Mr. Lockaby did address

[1:57:22] that in the uh streets committee

[1:57:24] meeting. There are some kind of

[1:57:25] liabilities to certain

[1:57:28] I forgot how he said it.

[1:57:32] The ones that

[1:57:33] Mr. Mayor,

[1:57:34] uh the the

[1:57:37] ones that are specified in here where

[1:57:39] you have the specific guidance that I

[1:57:41] mean, Mr. Lockaby has reviewed it and approved it. Uh you know, that

[1:57:47] and and uh

[1:57:48] indicated to me that those don't create

[1:57:51] First Amendment problems, which is what

[1:57:53] I think what we're concerned about here.

[1:57:56] Um

[1:57:57] the the remaining uh category, which is

[1:58:01] F,

[1:58:02] um

[1:58:03] does say that that uh these requests do

[1:58:06] give you It does give town council some

[1:58:08] guidance on what it can accept or gives

[1:58:10] you a, you know, the ability to say

[1:58:13] maybe not this one.

[1:58:14] Uh

[1:58:15] but uh the banners cannot uh establish

[1:58:19] formal uh formal statement, speech or

[1:58:21] position on behalf of the town. That

[1:58:23] Those are words, legal words that that are designed to um help keep you

[1:58:29] from uh running into First Amendment

[1:58:32] problems, getting sued.

[1:58:34] Um but

[1:58:35] I I uh

[1:58:42] I'm not sure that that just throwing it

[1:58:44] on the city or town manager that she,

[1:58:46] you know, change the the um

[1:58:49] the risk from liability.

[1:58:55] And they cover some of that uh right

[1:58:56] there in number F.

[1:58:59] liability going to other

[1:59:01] banners.

[1:59:02] Um

[1:59:04] Right now, where we're addressing the

[1:59:06] ones that are normally up.

[1:59:17] Do we have any consensus? Do we want to

[1:59:19] just pass this and tweak it or any

[1:59:22] issues that Mr. Warner has, he can come

[1:59:24] back to us?

[1:59:28] Well, were all these

[1:59:30] Cuz I wasn't involved in this policy.

[1:59:32] The Were all the people on this because

[1:59:34] we have Mr. Parker is the only one that

[1:59:36] spoke today about it. Were they all

[1:59:38] involved in the conversation of forming

[1:59:40] this policy? We have heard from Vester

[1:59:43] Boyd, from D-Day, from Vietnam,

[1:59:46] Leslie historical. Okay. Yeah. Yes.

[1:59:52] Only after the fact.

[1:59:54] After they've been

[1:59:56] submitted. Yes.

[1:59:58] So so these are the ones that are

[2:00:00] normally put up during the year.

[2:00:04] And they're normally up all the time all

[2:00:06] of them. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a

[2:00:08] replacement of

[2:00:09] really replacement for what this is what

[2:00:12] the contract is. And and back to what

[2:00:14] Councilman Haley said, I

[2:00:16] probably Bridge Street would be D-Day,

[2:00:19] maybe East Main, Vietnam I I don't know.

[2:00:22] That's could be decided. But

[2:00:26] that's

[2:00:27] may be may be looked at.

[2:00:30] All I'm saying is this. You got 94

[2:00:32] poles. Yeah.

[2:00:34] I ain't saying poles. We

[2:00:36] I counted them

[2:00:37] counted poles years ago. What my point

[2:00:39] is, I think we do need a policy. I don't

[2:00:42] mind a policy. I just think the policy

[2:00:44] needs to be

[2:00:46] cleaned up some little bit and get

[2:00:48] things where it would be

[2:00:51] fair to everybody. That's my opinion.

[2:00:54] That's all I'm going to say.

[2:00:56] Cuz I've told the town manager that we

[2:00:58] do need a policy on the banners.

[2:01:00] But I think it needs to be fair and

[2:01:03] cleaned up. That's all I'm going to say.

[2:01:06] And I'm I mean we don't have banners for

[2:01:07] today.

[2:01:09] That's all I'm going to say.

[2:01:11] It's 250. Because we wasted time to take

[2:01:14] banners down at the end of March well in

[2:01:16] April.

[2:01:18] And then we didn't put nothing back up.

[2:01:19] Okay.

[2:01:20] I don't know that to you. That's That's

[2:01:22] for a Christmas.

[2:01:24] Well no, but I'm saying if we got people

[2:01:25] coming for a parade and it's going to be

[2:01:27] a military parade in the town, we'd want

[2:01:30] some something up there. Then I'm sure

[2:01:32] it will be. But at the same time, let's

[2:01:34] decide on something

[2:01:36] on this right now.

[2:01:38] That's where we are. We we're in April

[2:01:40] here. Are you all okay with this?

[2:01:44] To pass it as is or do you want to tweak

[2:01:46] it or I'd like to tweak it. Okay.

[2:01:49] All right. Councilman Haley says tweak

[2:01:51] it. What about the rest of you?

[2:01:54] Want to pass it as is or

[2:01:56] Can we pass it and take out banners?

[2:02:00] But I don't think we'd want to do that.

[2:02:02] Because F allows other banners to be

[2:02:06] posted at other street lamps or light

[2:02:08] posts or you know, that kind of stuff.

[2:02:11] And that's the very thing that Mr.

[2:02:12] Lackey mentioned in the streets

[2:02:14] committee.

[2:02:15] Yeah, that that covers us.

[2:02:17] It covers

[2:02:18] the the town.

[2:02:22] All right. Well, I guess the only thing

[2:02:24] that I I hear

[2:02:27] Councilman Haley and maybe Councilman

[2:02:28] Foreman was that

[2:02:30] in the in in F where it says on behalf

[2:02:33] of the town should be reviewed by town

[2:02:34] council

[2:02:36] then

[2:02:37] maybe it's just you want to get out of

[2:02:39] the business. So maybe it should be by

[2:02:41] town manager reviewed by town manager.

[2:02:44] Is that in F? For F? For F.

[2:02:47] I mean we've never we've never

[2:02:50] I long I'm going to say as long as I sit

[2:02:52] on council

[2:02:53] I don't know if I'll ever vote on any

[2:02:55] banners.

[2:02:58] And I'm being honest.

[2:03:01] You can ask Leslie. She's been seeing me

[2:03:03] up here for years.

[2:03:05] We have never voted on banners. We've

[2:03:07] never It's really just been a a

[2:03:10] I'm going to say Bethune Main Street

[2:03:12] contacted Mr. Warner when we put up the

[2:03:14] Bethune Memorial banner on Condit D-Day.

[2:03:17] They weren't they went up there a couple

[2:03:18] weeks later. Okay. So so what is the

[2:03:20] solution?

[2:03:21] >> Yeah, exactly. Let's let's get down to

[2:03:22] nuts and bolts.

[2:03:24] What are we going to do? Do we want to

[2:03:26] vote this as is

[2:03:28] unless Mr. Warner and let them hear or

[2:03:31] unless

[2:03:32] Let let let let me ask

[2:03:34] the question same way.

[2:03:36] Um

[2:03:39] can we vote on this

[2:03:45] with two changes? Okay. One, we

[2:03:50] um

[2:03:50] redesignate historical significant

[2:03:53] persons to

[2:03:54] the recommendation that that Leslie

[2:03:56] made.

[2:03:57] Uh We're going to do that anyway,

[2:04:00] And

[2:04:01] um

[2:04:03] and in F

[2:04:05] where it says reviewed by town council,

[2:04:09] uh review that by town manager.

[2:04:11] I'm okay.

[2:04:13] I think you hit the nail on the head.

[2:04:15] I mean

[2:04:17] I would be fine with that. Are we still

[2:04:19] Let me ask you a question. Are we still

[2:04:21] placing poles and where is stuff

[2:04:23] supposed to be going or is it just going

[2:04:25] to be first come first serve?

[2:04:27] For all other poles, first come first

[2:04:29] serve.

[2:04:32] Outside of these. Outside of what's

[2:04:34] already in there.

[2:04:35] Outside of the the three categories that

[2:04:37] we that we have to deal with presently.

[2:04:41] I mean we can vote on that if you want

[2:04:43] to. I mean I don't have a problem with

[2:04:44] that.

[2:04:46] But

[2:04:46] is that a motion you made? So moved.

[2:04:49] That would be the amendment to the

[2:04:52] We haven't made the motion

[2:04:53] >> We haven't made a motion yet. I made a

[2:04:54] motion. So then yes, that would be the

[2:04:57] motion. Mr. Warner, do you think those

[2:05:00] changes

[2:05:00] >> I got it. Okay. So you You got Leslie's

[2:05:03] changes and you'll let me handle all the

[2:05:05] ones that are not [laughter]

[2:05:06] I can handle it.

[2:05:08] He can handle it.

[2:05:12] Are Are we okay with that?

[2:05:14] >> [clears throat]

[2:05:15] >> Okay.

[2:05:18] Who wants to make the motion?

[2:05:20] I'll make the motion that we approve

[2:05:23] with the changes. with the with the

[2:05:25] changes that we have listed.

[2:05:27] I'll second it.

[2:05:30] Vice Mayor Updike made the vote motion.

[2:05:32] Councilman Haley made the second.

[2:05:35] Any further discussion?

[2:05:37] No, please.

[2:05:39] Darcy.

[2:05:41] Mr. Foster. Aye. Mr. Haley.

[2:05:43] >> Aye. Mr. Burrito. Aye. Mr. Updike. Aye.

[2:05:47] Mr. Evans. Aye. Mr. Foreman. Aye. Mayor

[2:05:50] Stanley. Aye. Motion carries with all

[2:05:52] members voting aye. All right. Next on

[2:05:55] the agenda is speed limit change on

[2:05:56] Longwood Avenue. Mr. Warner. At a

[2:05:59] regular meeting on October 8th, 2024,

[2:06:01] Town Council voted unanimously to apply

[2:06:03] a speed limit of 25 mph to the entirety

[2:06:07] of Longwood Avenue within town limits.

[2:06:10] This action was taken in response to a

[2:06:11] recommendation made by the Public Safety

[2:06:13] Committee of Town Council on September

[2:06:16] 24th, 2024.

[2:06:18] At its meeting on March 3rd, 2026,

[2:06:21] member of the members of the Streets

[2:06:22] Committee of Town Council moved to

[2:06:24] revisit this decision and to consider restoring the

[2:06:28] previous speed limit of 35 mph in both

[2:06:31] directions on Longwood Avenue between

[2:06:33] its intersection with Oakwood Street and

[2:06:36] its intersection with Grove Street.

[2:06:37] Tonight Town Council is requested to

[2:06:40] consider the recommendation made by the

[2:06:42] Streets Committee at its meeting on

[2:06:44] March 3rd, 2026. All right.

[2:06:47] You have a motion?

[2:06:49] So moved.

[2:06:50] Vice Mayor Updike made the motion.

[2:06:52] Second.

[2:06:54] I'll go to go to sleep. Somebody make

[2:06:56] it.

[2:06:56] >> All right. I'll do it. All right.

[2:06:57] Councilman Debleto, discussion. I have a

[2:07:00] discussion. All right. Discussion.

[2:07:03] So 35

[2:07:06] me and Councilman Foreman was on safe

[2:07:08] public safety committee when we did

[2:07:10] happen. And you know, I'm not

[2:07:12] picking on the mayor. I'm not picking on

[2:07:14] streets committee, but it should have

[2:07:16] been a public safety committee meeting

[2:07:18] on this instead of a streets committee

[2:07:20] on this about changing speed limit which

[2:07:23] street the public safety committee

[2:07:25] actually changed the speed limit.

[2:07:27] So

[2:07:28] 35 mph all the way up to Grove Street,

[2:07:31] you know,

[2:07:33] that gives that opportunity for people

[2:07:35] when they come off right after you pass

[2:07:37] the graveyard, you can hit up the that

[2:07:39] 45, you're still almost running 35 45

[2:07:42] around that curve before you get up

[2:07:44] there to the middle school.

[2:07:46] I think my opinion

[2:07:48] is keep it at 25 cuz it confuses our

[2:07:51] citizens. It confuses everybody else.

[2:07:54] It's a safety issue on top of it. And

[2:07:57] the whole point is we just changed this

[2:07:58] less than a year and a half ago. And I

[2:08:01] think it would be ridiculous for us

[2:08:02] going back and changing it about 35 cuz

[2:08:04] a couple people complained about it.

[2:08:07] That's my opinion.

[2:08:09] Thank you.

[2:08:10] got it.

[2:08:15] » [applause]

[2:08:17] » What was the reason with the street

[2:08:19] committee changing it?

[2:08:21] What's the reason?

[2:08:23] We stood up in the Remember the hot

[2:08:24] summer we stood up there on that woman's

[2:08:26] grave. Bugs eating us up, sweating

[2:08:28] running down our back. No no, let's make it clear.

[2:08:33] It was mentioned.

[2:08:35] And I said we can discuss anything.

[2:08:37] I'm willing to discuss anything that

[2:08:41] they want to put on the agenda. And that

[2:08:43] was a discussion. I've heard I've heard

[2:08:46] just as many people complain about 25 as

[2:08:49] I heard about 35. So it it's it

[2:08:54] you can

[2:08:56] we'll People don't respond to surveys.

[2:08:58] if we did one, you get about 50/50.

[2:09:01] Now, I go that way about every day of

[2:09:03] the week unless I'm going down through a

[2:09:05] line, but uh

[2:09:07] I dare say not many people drive 25,

[2:09:09] it's more when it's 25 it's 30, when

[2:09:12] it's 35 it's 40, but no, I do agree with

[2:09:16] what the people who live along that

[2:09:19] street said. And I

[2:09:20] reiterate what I said earlier. I'm glad

[2:09:23] y'all came tonight and said what you

[2:09:24] did.

[2:09:25] So, no, it was only a

[2:09:27] couple of suggestions.

[2:09:28] >> Suggestions. Yeah, comment. It's just a

[2:09:29] comment. That's all it was. So, that's

[2:09:31] why they changed And and we're talking

[2:09:32] about it and I think I think we're

[2:09:33] getting a very good response.

[2:09:36] And you know, ever since we we adjusted

[2:09:39] the speed limit uh from 35 to 25 uh

[2:09:45] I've heard more people that weren't in

[2:09:47] favor

[2:09:48] of that particular action

[2:09:50] than in favor of that particular action.

[2:09:53] Now as far as the people that were

[2:09:58] complaining about the speed limit being

[2:09:59] reduced, whether they live on Longwood

[2:10:01] Avenue or not, I don't know.

[2:10:04] Um

[2:10:05] I would venture to say that they

[2:10:06] probably do not.

[2:10:09] But I also venture to say that they are

[2:10:11] people that that travel that road on a

[2:10:14] daily basis.

[2:10:16] And so

[2:10:17] they they had concerns about it being lowered.

[2:10:20] Um

[2:10:23] In the 27 years that I worked for the

[2:10:25] police department, I don't ever remember

[2:10:27] Longwood Avenue being a traffic hazard

[2:10:30] at 35.

[2:10:31] Or as the mayor said, probably closer to

[2:10:34] 40.

[2:10:35] Um

[2:10:38] you know

[2:10:41] Chief, well I I got complaints every day

[2:10:43] about speeding, every day about

[2:10:44] speeding.

[2:10:45] >> you got complaints you got complaints,

[2:10:46] but do do about the whole But you have

[2:10:48] many traffic accidents do we have? I

[2:10:50] don't know I don't have those details.

[2:10:51] That'd be a good question. I don't

[2:10:52] recall looking any.

[2:10:54] Uh I had one right there on right in

[2:10:56] front of his house where one speeding

[2:10:58] though, but they had a pole hit the

[2:11:00] tractor trailer. Right.

[2:11:02] And and

[2:11:04] That's

[2:11:05] you know, that that's not that's not a

[2:11:07] speed that's not a speed issue. That was

[2:11:09] But there was also a child struck in the

[2:11:10] street though.

[2:11:13] Yes. Yes, there was a child struck on

[2:11:15] that street when the car was speeding

[2:11:17] toward Halloween.

[2:11:19] >> [cough]

[2:11:19] >> Right. And [clears throat]

[2:11:20] and even at Halloween and even with all

[2:11:23] the signage that that we had up there

[2:11:25] you know That was that was before the

[2:11:27] signage was up.

[2:11:28] That was when we started doing it after

[2:11:30] that.

[2:11:31] >> Okay. Jim Chief Day was there then.

[2:11:33] Okay. Um

[2:11:34] So, yes.

[2:11:36] You know I've had you more more concerns

[2:11:39] about the speed limit being reduced

[2:11:42] than than than I've had you know, people

[2:11:44] you know, speaking tonight. Uh so you

[2:11:46] know, that's another reason why it was brought up.

[2:11:48] Um

[2:11:50] you know, I don't think that um

[2:11:53] uh again, you know, it it's 35 you know

[2:11:57] back when I was here, you know, I didn't

[2:11:58] see that uh as as being

[2:12:03] a traffic safety

[2:12:06] issue.

[2:12:08] Um you know, we addressed the the

[2:12:10] traffic and at certain times we we

[2:12:13] heightened the enforcement you know,

[2:12:15] during those areas. Um

[2:12:18] but um

[2:12:19] but again

[2:12:20] uh

[2:12:21] we have

[2:12:24] Like the mayor said, we probably had you

[2:12:25] know, as many people that wanted up as

[2:12:27] we wanted down. They had concerns and

[2:12:30] again, that's why it was brought brought

[2:12:32] here to be discussed. I will say So, I

[2:12:33] don't I don't think that it was you

[2:12:35] know, nonsense for us to discuss it. I

[2:12:38] think that any type of you know, citizen

[2:12:40] concern needs to be addressed. And it's

[2:12:42] like like CG said, we're willing to

[2:12:44] listen to anything and hear anything

[2:12:46] out, but like said

[2:12:48] it's it's just the

[2:12:50] senseless on our part have to go down

[2:12:53] and change it again and somebody else

[2:12:55] will complain about it and then we'll

[2:12:57] have to change it again and then we just

[2:12:59] keep rolling back and forth and wasting

[2:13:01] time and poor wasting time putting signs

[2:13:04] up and stuff like that. And it's you

[2:13:06] know

[2:13:08] it's just awful right awful day a little

[2:13:10] bit like Mr. Warner said. You have like

[2:13:12] three or four different designs you

[2:13:13] know, that four lane highway that's what causes all this 35 and 25

[2:13:18] stuff. It's that four lower half of

[2:13:20] almost a mile four lane highway right

[2:13:22] there in the middle of the town. I mean,

[2:13:24] we could do we they moved us off at one

[2:13:26] time before put up the little things in

[2:13:28] the middle to slow down traffic.

[2:13:30] But you know

[2:13:32] I just think

[2:13:34] it's great to bring it up, it's great to

[2:13:35] talk about it, but I think it should

[2:13:37] just stay the same. That's my opinion.

[2:13:40] I will say this that when we voted on it

[2:13:42] last time we voted I think on four

[2:13:45] different streets at one time. It wasn't

[2:13:48] one street voted on. It was all lump sum

[2:13:52] and

[2:13:53] uh

[2:13:53] Longwood was one of those that that we

[2:13:56] probably should have put them out pulled

[2:13:57] them out separately and voted on them,

[2:13:59] but we did not vote on each one

[2:14:00] separate. But uh now I think uh

[2:14:04] at some point in time I think that area will take care of itself with

[2:14:08] uh some revisions, some uh need not

[2:14:11] funding and you'll probably be back to

[2:14:14] two or two lanes like it was back 50s

[2:14:17] and part of the 60s. So,

[2:14:19] there's there's change on the way, I'm

[2:14:21] sure.

[2:14:22] Are we okay?

[2:14:23] No.

[2:14:25] Yeah, since everybody else had a talk,

[2:14:27] since I live on Longwood, I've got to

[2:14:28] say something before we start.

[2:14:30] So, I I just something real quick um you

[2:14:33] know, that half mile stretch we're

[2:14:35] talking about on Longwood, it's got 37

[2:14:37] driveways and six road intersections.

[2:14:40] Obviously stopping distances increase

[2:14:42] with speeds.

[2:14:43] Um it's so it's safer to maintain the

[2:14:45] lower speed. Um and so for instance

[2:14:48] we get a lot of semi trucks coming

[2:14:49] through there, which aren't supposed to

[2:14:51] be coming through there, but they do

[2:14:52] anyway. Um

[2:14:55] you know, if they're fully loaded and

[2:14:57] they're traveling at 35 miles an hour,

[2:14:58] it takes them twice as long stopping

[2:15:01] distance to stop than it does at 25

[2:15:03] miles an hour.

[2:15:04] So, people pulling out, kids playing or

[2:15:06] whatever, you've got a a

[2:15:09] semi truck that takes almost over 200

[2:15:11] feet to stop at 35 miles an hour and

[2:15:15] only takes about 80 to 100 feet at 25

[2:15:18] miles an hour.

[2:15:19] Um

[2:15:20] yeah, the other thing uh

[2:15:23] the PD had a uh a radar

[2:15:26] uh

[2:15:27] whatever it's called Speed check down on

[2:15:29] the street.

[2:15:30] >> Speed camera type thing, whatever.

[2:15:32] In December. So, just in December the in

[2:15:36] December one way traffic the total

[2:15:39] volume was 101,441

[2:15:42] 44 vehicles in the month. That's at

[2:15:45] average of 3,272 vehicles a day

[2:15:49] coming one way on Longwood. So, it's

[2:15:51] easy to extrapolate that you got uh

[2:15:53] 6,500 cars going both ways on Longwood.

[2:15:56] And even if you have 15% speeders,

[2:15:59] that's 1,000

[2:16:00] people speeding per day on on on that

[2:16:03] stretch of the area. Whether and that

[2:16:06] not the

[2:16:07] then I agree with what the vice mayor

[2:16:08] said about uh time, but whether you have

[2:16:11] 27 years or or 60 years in law

[2:16:14] enforcement and you never had an

[2:16:16] accident, that's not a reason to raise

[2:16:19] the speed limit uh to 35 miles an hour.

[2:16:22] And lastly, I'll just say that we you

[2:16:24] know, not long ago we adopted a bike

[2:16:26] walk plan

[2:16:27] and it recommends that we place bicycle

[2:16:31] pavement markings on Longwood. So,

[2:16:33] instead of increasing the speed like we

[2:16:35] talked about because of four lanes, how

[2:16:37] about we restripe Longwood down to two

[2:16:38] lanes with a center turn lane and follow

[2:16:41] a plan we adopted by also providing bike

[2:16:43] lanes. That's that's all I'll say.

[2:16:47] And something like that's probably to

[2:16:48] come at some point, yeah.

[2:16:51] And replacing the park signs so

[2:16:54] Okay, park until they're not being good

[2:16:55] read.

[2:16:57] Working on that. Okay.

[2:16:58] You need you need more comments.

[2:17:01] I echo what Mr. Wallace said, you know, with the tractor trailers stopping at 35

[2:17:08] and 25, I witness that pretty much every

[2:17:11] day.

[2:17:13] So, I can agree to that. Yeah.

[2:17:16] You know, stopping distance on vehicles. I think

[2:17:19] tractor trailers do get And cars same

[2:17:22] way. Yeah, it's GPS that I think messes

[2:17:25] them up at times.

[2:17:26] Uh

[2:17:27] they're not been here don't know what

[2:17:28] they're getting into.

[2:17:30] But that's

[2:17:32] neither here nor there.

[2:17:34] You need

[2:17:37] Are we good? Mhm.

[2:17:39] Ready to vote?

[2:17:40] I accept. So, we're we're making motions

[2:17:42] here, aren't we? Yeah.

[2:17:43] All right, Dorsett.

[2:17:45] Mr. Aley?

[2:17:46] No.

[2:17:48] Mr. Aguilera? No.

[2:17:50] Mr. Uptain? Yeah.

[2:17:54] I'm sorry, Mr. Stanley No.

[2:17:57] Mr. Evans? No.

[2:17:59] Mr. Foreman? No.

[2:18:02] Mr. Foster? No. Mr. Stanley? No.

[2:18:06] Motion carried with all members voting

[2:18:08] no.

[2:18:10] Okay, next resolution approval of

[2:18:12] Central Virginia Safety Action Plan. Mr.

[2:18:14] Warner. Central Virginia Planning

[2:18:16] District Commission received a USDOT

[2:18:18] Safe Streets for All Grant to advance a

[2:18:20] collaborative regional approach to

[2:18:22] improve safety along the region's

[2:18:24] roadways with special emphasis on

[2:18:26] reducing fatal and serious accidents.

[2:18:29] The Central Virginia Safety Action Plan

[2:18:30] Safe Streets for All documents the areas

[2:18:33] within the region that have the highest

[2:18:34] number of serious and fatal accidents,

[2:18:37] establishes performance measures, and

[2:18:39] provides programmatic and project

[2:18:41] recommendations to improve safety for

[2:18:43] all users along the region's roadways.

[2:18:46] Plan was developed through an extensive

[2:18:47] stakeholder engagement process and

[2:18:49] aligns with the Commonwealth

[2:18:50] Transportation Board adopted Virginia's

[2:18:53] Strategic Highway Safety Plan, which

[2:18:56] establishes the target to reduce roadway

[2:18:57] fatalities and serious injuries by 50%

[2:19:01] by 2045.

[2:19:03] CVSAP was adopted by both the Central

[2:19:05] Virginia Planning District Commission

[2:19:07] and the Central Virginia Transportation

[2:19:09] Planning Organization on November 20th,

[2:19:11] 2025.

[2:19:13] By adopting the Central Virginia Safety

[2:19:15] Action Plan, Safe Streets for All, Town

[2:19:17] of Bedford will support the goal to

[2:19:18] improve safety along its roadways and

[2:19:21] the goal to reduce serious and fatal

[2:19:22] accidents by 50% by the year 2045.

[2:19:26] There is no penalty by VDOT or federal

[2:19:28] transportation for not meeting safety

[2:19:30] goals.

[2:19:31] Rather, adopting the CVSAP document and

[2:19:35] committing to the goal to reduce serious

[2:19:36] and fatal accidents provides access to

[2:19:39] certain federal transportation planning

[2:19:41] and construction program funds.

[2:19:44] Included Included is eligibility to

[2:19:46] apply for US DOT SS4A planning and

[2:19:50] construction program, which just opened

[2:19:52] a $1 million application round with

[2:19:54] applications due May 26th. Tonight, Town

[2:19:58] Council is requested to adopt the

[2:19:59] resolution approving the Central

[2:20:01] Virginia Safety Action Plan, Straight

[2:20:04] Safe Streets for All.

[2:20:06] right, you've heard the reading. Do

[2:20:09] I hear a motion? Yes.

[2:20:11] Councilman Ippolito, and how about a

[2:20:13] second? Second.

[2:20:15] Councilman Evans, any discussion? Any

[2:20:18] questions?

[2:20:19] Any comments?

[2:20:21] Dorsey.

[2:20:22] Mr. Ippolito? Aye. Mr. Updike? Aye. Mr.

[2:20:25] Evans? Aye. Mr. Foreman? Aye. Mr.

[2:20:28] Foster? Aye. Mr. Haley? Aye. Mayor

[2:20:30] Stanley? Aye. Motion carries with all

[2:20:32] members voting aye. All right. Grant

[2:20:35] Management Agreement and Budget

[2:20:36] Amendment for SAFER grant received by

[2:20:38] the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department.

[2:20:40] Mr. Warner.

[2:20:42] Bedford Volunteer Fire Department was

[2:20:43] awarded a grant in the amount of

[2:20:45] $258,000

[2:20:46] from the Department of Homeland

[2:20:48] Security. This grant award covers a

[2:20:50] period of 4 years and the subject annual

[2:20:52] caps.

[2:20:53] The award provides for two separate

[2:20:55] programs, which include a tuition

[2:20:56] assistance program and a pay per call

[2:20:59] program.

[2:21:00] For the current year, the program awards

[2:21:02] $20,000 towards tuition assistance and

[2:21:05] $40,000 towards pay per call stipends to

[2:21:08] volunteers.

[2:21:09] The pay per call program starts at $5

[2:21:11] per call at a minimum participation

[2:21:13] level of 10% of call volume each year,

[2:21:16] as well as a requirement that volunteers

[2:21:18] attend 25% of training drills and 50% of

[2:21:22] meetings.

[2:21:23] The pay per call rate increases based on

[2:21:24] the increased response percentage for $1

[2:21:27] for each 5% above that minimum.

[2:21:30] This program was previously initiated

[2:21:31] through another SAFER grant program. The

[2:21:34] new award would allow the town to

[2:21:36] continue the existing pay per call

[2:21:38] program through FEMA grant assistance.

[2:21:41] The award was issued directly to the

[2:21:43] Bedford Volunteer Fire Department. In

[2:21:45] order for the department for the town to

[2:21:47] administer the grant, the town needs to

[2:21:49] enter into a grant management services

[2:21:51] agreement with the Bedford Volunteer

[2:21:53] Fire Department and amend the existed

[2:21:55] existing budget to include the grant

[2:21:57] award for the first year allocation.

[2:22:00] Tonight, Town Council is requested to

[2:22:01] approve the attached budget amendment,

[2:22:03] which will appropriate budget to the

[2:22:05] general ledger accounts and authorize

[2:22:07] the town manager to enter into a grant

[2:22:09] management agreement with the Bedford

[2:22:11] Volunteer Fire Department.

[2:22:15] All right, do you hear a motion? So

[2:22:17] moved. Councilman Haley and second? Yes.

[2:22:21] Councilman Ippolito,

[2:22:22] I think this pretty well

[2:22:23] self-explanatory.

[2:22:25] Any questions? Comments?

[2:22:27] Dorsey.

[2:22:28] Mr. Updike? Aye. Mr. Evans? Aye. Mr.

[2:22:32] Foreman? Aye. Mr. Foster? Aye. Mr.

[2:22:35] Haley? Aye. Mr. Ippolito? Aye. Mr.

[2:22:38] Sorry, Mayor Stanley? Aye.

[2:22:40] Motion carries with all members voting

[2:22:42] aye. All right. PSA agreement to

[2:22:45] 1 month?

[2:22:46] Yes, I think I can be quick in answers

[2:22:49] for everybody here.

[2:22:50] So, according to the town code, the

[2:22:51] price cost adjustment goes into effect

[2:22:54] automatically every 6 months.

[2:22:56] Um

[2:22:57] we are set to see that take effect May

[2:23:00] 1st and we'll defer to Mr. Wager and Ms.

[2:23:03] Cantrell to tell you the details, but

[2:23:05] we're looking at a pretty significant

[2:23:06] increase and frankly, all of us have had

[2:23:08] several high bills lately anyway, so

[2:23:11] what we'd like for you to do is to defer

[2:23:13] the automatic action of the PCA for at

[2:23:16] least 1 month to give us a chance to

[2:23:19] find a way to offset or defer those

[2:23:21] costs for all of our electric customers,

[2:23:25] including ourselves.

[2:23:27] Yes, I think that's very reasonable.

[2:23:29] Do we understand that? Yes.

[2:23:32] Be okay with Yeah, I'm just curious what

[2:23:34] it's going to cost us. Yeah. That's my

[2:23:36] question. Go Go ahead and tell them,

[2:23:38] John or Randy. If we defer for 1 month,

[2:23:40] what's it going to cost? I'm I'm sorry,

[2:23:42] what What what what is what would the

[2:23:44] PCA cost be May 1st if we enacted all of

[2:23:47] it?

[2:23:47] >> Oh, yeah, it's going to be significant.

[2:23:50] It would be

[2:23:51] uh

[2:23:54] I don't even know if I want to say this,

[2:23:55] but uh

[2:23:58] it would be about uh 2.4 cents per

[2:24:01] kilowatt hour in addition to the

[2:24:03] current rate, uh

[2:24:05] which translates to uh for the typical 1,000 kilowatt hour per

[2:24:10] month customer, about $24.32.

[2:24:14] Okay, so if we delay it for 1 month,

[2:24:16] what's the cost going to be to the town?

[2:24:19] approximately. I know you can't

[2:24:21] >> Actually, we we waited as long as we

[2:24:23] could to calculate it because we wanted

[2:24:25] to get March into it. March was

[2:24:27] favorable,

[2:24:29] so it reduced the amount that we had to

[2:24:31] our under recovery was. I don't know I

[2:24:34] wasn't suggesting we recalculate. We

[2:24:36] could do that using April data. Yeah,

[2:24:39] but there but we got to cover that cost

[2:24:41] for 1 month, right? That's what I'm

[2:24:42] thinking.

[2:24:44] For You mean the shortfall? We've

[2:24:46] already paid for it. From May until

[2:24:49] June, we have to cover that month,

[2:24:50] correct?

[2:24:51] If we delay it for 1 month.

[2:24:53] Well, I'm what I'm trying to say is I

[2:24:55] think that in April, we may be

[2:24:57] favorable. Oh, okay. So, it's going to

[2:25:00] lower maybe lower. Right. The shortfall

[2:25:01] [clears throat] was from January

[2:25:03] specifically, right?

[2:25:04] >> Correct. It was primarily from January.

[2:25:05] If If we hadn't had that

[2:25:08] uh call it weather event in January, we

[2:25:11] wouldn't even have an increase.

[2:25:13] We wouldn't be asking for it.

[2:25:15] But unfortunately, we did have it. Uh it

[2:25:17] was a significant shortfall.

[2:25:19] Uh

[2:25:20] right now, we've already paid it. It's

[2:25:22] already been paid.

[2:25:24] Uh now, the question is how how we want

[2:25:26] to recover that or how much we want to

[2:25:28] reduce it.

[2:25:29] >> is So, what we're talking about is the

[2:25:30] money that we the billion dollars we paid

[2:25:34] back in January.

[2:25:35] >> Correct. That we got to recover somehow.

[2:25:37] That's correct. That's our income draw

[2:25:39] or our money draw. That's correct. We

[2:25:41] will have some options. Yeah.

[2:25:44] So, we're not accruing interest or

[2:25:45] anything like that.

[2:25:46] >> No, it's already gone. Right.

[2:25:50] I think I think we've had

[2:25:52] some bad experiences with trying to

[2:25:54] defer Yes, that's why.

[2:25:55] >> increased costs and and I I don't want

[2:25:57] to go down, you know, that that that

[2:25:59] road again either. You know, as opposed

[2:26:01] to, you know, 2.3, 3.4, whatever

[2:26:04] percent, we get hit with a 15% increase

[2:26:07] just because we have to make up time.

[2:26:09] That doesn't

[2:26:10] Nobody swallows that pill easy. Right.

[2:26:12] No, and the clock will restart uh

[2:26:15] from uh beginning of Okay, so it's not

[2:26:17] like what we've what's happened in the

[2:26:18] past where we Right. It just has to

[2:26:20] happen every 6 months. Well, 6 months

[2:26:22] just happens to be May 1st. Okay.

[2:26:25] I think that's a good point. This will,

[2:26:27] yeah, come up every 6 months. Right. And

[2:26:30] hopefully,

[2:26:31] restarting the clock, it goes down.

[2:26:33] Yeah.

[2:26:34] Okay. Yeah.

[2:26:36] Exactly.

[2:26:37] Anything else?

[2:26:42] Go ahead, Dorsey. I'd like to make a

[2:26:44] motion. Yeah. Oh, we've not made a

[2:26:45] motion. You're serious.

[2:26:48] Motion.

[2:26:49] Vice Mayor to accept the recommendation

[2:26:51] by by Councilman Evans by by Town

[2:26:54] Manager on deferment for 1 month. I know

[2:26:56] what it was.

[2:26:59] Uh Vice Mayor

[2:27:01] Updike and uh

[2:27:03] Who Who made the second?

[2:27:05] Uh Councilman Foster. All right, Dorsey.

[2:27:09] Mr. Foster? Aye. Mr. Haley? Aye. Mr.

[2:27:12] Ippolito? Aye. Mr. Updike? Aye. Mr.

[2:27:14] Evans? Aye. Mr. Foreman? Aye. Mayor

[2:27:17] Stanley? Aye. Motion carries with all

[2:27:19] members voting aye.

[2:27:20] Okay, this meeting will be adjourned to

[2:27:22] Saturday, May 2nd

[2:27:24] at uh 9:00 a.m. Light breakfast at 8:30

[2:27:27] a.m. for a budget work session right

[2:27:30] here in Town Hall. And we are

[2:27:33] adjourned.

Town Council Meeting: 4.21.26

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