Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

To hear about the Community Trail Walk in Bradford go here . 100.1 The Hero's Scott Douglas will be broadcasting live from Pitt-Bradford starting at 1 p.m. Be there! To hear about Taste of Olean and Art in the Park go here . The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

UPDATE: With all precints reporting, the final tally is Riel 514; write-ins 308 It appears that Bradford Mayor Tom Riel has been re-elected. Minus the votes from the city's Second Ward, he received 450 votes. Write-ins total 268. Former city councilman Bob Onuffer waged a write-in campaign against Riel. All vote totals are unofficial until they are certified by the Board of Elections.

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Last month Bradford City Council was looking at 4.5 millage rate and a hefty tax increase. Tuesday, they learned the rate has been cut by more than half and they’re not finished cutting yet. Earlier in the afternoon it had been cut to 2.58 but City Clerk John Peterson said that thanks to a diligent insurance agent and the efforts of the city’s employee safety committees, another $60,000 was cut out of the budget, bringing the millage rate to 2.21. Peterson commended Sundahl Insurance and Fred Hilzinger for finding a better rate than the city had been getting for their workman’s compensation insurance. It been $213,959 and is now $151,911 for a rate reduction of 29 percent. He thanked Hilzinger for “going the extra mile for the City of Bradford.” Peterson added that city employees deserve a round of applause because the reduction can be directly attributed to the safety committee, headed by former Councilman Bob Onuffer, who brought safety issues...

Happy Indpendence Day! Happy Birthday to Bob Onuffer!

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director A new restaurant may be coming to Bradford, and a restaurant that's already in town will be getting a liquor license. OECD Executive Director Sara Andrews said during Tuesday's city council meeting that at least two parties are interested in opening a restaurant at 109 Main Street, which was most recently La Herradura. The OECD is currently renovating the building and that project was more involved than they thought it would be. "We found that an entire floor of the building was rotted and we had to replace the entire floor," Andrews said. She said she hopes her crew is finished with the renovations by the end of the week. After that, she said, "we can start more aggressively working at (getting) some type of restaurant" back in the building. Also Tuesday, council approved the transfer of a liquor license from Mount Jewett to Pizza Napoli on West Washington Street in Bradford. Main Street resident David Newman said he...

Bob Onuffer and Bob Tingley attended their last Bradford City Council meeting as councilmen Tuesday. Mayor Tom Riel, councilmen Rick Benton and Ross Neidich, City Clerk John Peterson and resident Brad Mangel all thanked them for their service to the city. Peterson said both men have done an exemplary job. He added that preceding his tenure on council, Onuffer was always concerned about the city's budget. "For all the years we had to have major tax increases and everything else, it was kind of like water off a duck's back (to other people)," Peterson said. "(Onuffer) is the only person in the city of Bradford that ever came in to city hall to look at a budget," Peterson said. "I think that speaks volumes of Bob as a person and his commitment to the city." Neidich said to Onuffer, "You always had the best interests of the city at heart." Riel said Onuffer is "one of the most active members of council the city has seen in many years. I...

Another Change in the Police Department By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Taxes in the City of Bradford won't be going up as high as officials thought they would two weeks ago, and they say that's because of the cooperation all city departments displayed. During the first reading of the millage ordinance during the last council meeting, officials announced a .8 increase. Tuesday, they announced that's been reduced to .5. Two weeks ago, Mayor Tom Riel said they would continue to work on the budget and had hoped they would be able to cut expenses even further. Bob Onuffer, who oversees accounts and finances for the city, read a letter introducing the final reading of the budget. "The spirit of cooperation that was and still is being exercised went over and above what I expected," he said, adding that with four unions and non-union personnel involved, "the budget process could have been a disaster." He said the city was looking at millage increase of...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Taxes are going up in the City of Bradford, but not as much as city officials originally thought they would. The millage rate has gone up by 8/10 of a mil, which means a person with a home assessed at $25,000 would see a tax increase of $20. Someone with a $50,000 home would see an increase of $40. "That's a far cry from what we were looking at a few months ago," said Mayor Tom Riel. He said several months ago the city was looking at a millage increase of close to 4.5. "Through the diligent efforts of the department heads, employees and city council members and (City Clerk) John Peterson who labored tirelessly on this we were able to reduce that by hundreds of thousands of dollars," Riel said. The millage ordinance still has to be read a second time, on December 22, before it's final. It can and may change, Riel said, adding that if it does change it could go either up or down. That millage increase is far less than m...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Bradford residents might not see a tax increase after all – "might not" being the operative words. Following Tuesday's City Council meeting, Councilman Bob Onuffer who oversees accounts and finances said, "It looks very, very good" for no tax increase. "We have a lot of cooperation going now and we're still working," Onuffer said. During the meeting, council approved the budget ordinance on first reading. The $8 million proposed budget for next year is about $500,000 over the anticipated general fund expenditures for this year. The submitted expenditures for accounts and finances for next year is $2.8 million compared to an anticipated $2.37 million this year. Public affairs, public safety and streets and public improvements are about the same for this year and next year at $1.3 million, $1.5 million and $1.79 million respectively. Parks and public property is anticipated at $586,000 this year and $611,000 n...

Bradford will have two new city councilmen in January. Jim Evans and Fred Proper won seats on council, according to unofficial totals from the McKean County Board of Elections, while current councilman Rick Benton retained his seat. Democrat Bob Onuffer was voted out. As for Bradford Area School Board, Dave Feely is in and Rita Dincher is out. Pat Vigliotta, Joe Troutman and Carla Manion retained their seats. Shane Oschman, who has been filling the unexpired term of the Rev. Art Cox, also won a seat. In Eldred, Bill Luce seems to have defeated Steven Green for mayor. In the race for Port Allegany borough council, the apparent winners are Andrew Johnson, Francis Dynda, Judith Taylor and David Fair. In Lewis Run it's almost too close to call but it seems that Albert Montecalvo and Frank Langianese will be serving together again. Montecalvo was running unopposed for mayor, but Langianese was one of four people running for three seats on borough council. Steve Falconi got 60 votes. Lan...

And ... happy birthday to Bob Onuffer!

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director The City of Bradford is looking at a budget deficit that could be as much as half a million dollars. During a mid-year budget review city council work session Tuesday, department heads learned that timber revenues could be anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 less than projections. "There's a huge dark cloud on the horizon," said City Clerk John Peterson, "and that dark cloud, unfortunately, is the timber revenue." "It's one thing to be hopeful, but it's another thing to be realistic," said Mayor Tom Riel. "Chances are extremely great that we're going to be short hundreds of thousands of dollars." "The timber has been, pretty much, dead in the water all year," he said. "It doesn't seem feasible that it could rebound enough by the end of the year to make up for the shortfall that we're going to experience." Add to the decrease in timber revenue increased health insu...

Despite the fact that the Bradford Regional Strategy has been in the works for about three years a public meeting on the plan got a bit heated last night. People seemed to be confused about what the plan is, how facets of it will be funded and why it's necessary. OECD Executive Director Sara Andrews summed it up. "These are the type of projects we're trying to do to improve the quality of life here. Just because it's not like the old days should we all just give up and close the door and walk away? If that's the attitude ..." But she continued, "If you don't have a plan, how can you look forward? How can you look forward to the future if you don't have a plan to improve your community?" She also stressed that everything in the plan is just a proposal at this point and nothing is set in stone. Also before Tuesday's city council council, Roberta Sarraf of the master plan team explained the new zoning ordiance that, during the meeting, counc...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director In a brief meeting Tuesday night, Bradford City Council approved a two-for-one appointment to the Historic Architectural Review Board. George Corignani and Mark Grassi will serve on an as needed basis to fill the seat previously held by Fire Chief Boo Coder. Corignani is the residential building inspector for the city. Grassi is the commercial building inspector. "These guys are the ones who know all the laws," Coder said. "When they (HARB) need some direction, it would be good to have these guys to be on the board." "HARB feels it only makes sense to have the people who are approving the building permit applications be on the board, and they want to have that communication with them," said Deputy City Clerk Teri Cannon. "Having the inspectors on the board is going to help HARB understand the building permit process a little bit more," she added. City Clerk John Peterson added that when HARB was created, t...

During Tuesday's Bradford City Council meeting Mayor Tom Riel said he wanted to clear up a couple of misconceptions about the pilot for the reality show that's being filmed in the city this week. "It's not costing the City of Bradford taxpayers one red cent," Riel said. "They're not soliciting investors; this is being done at the expense of a couple of production companies. It's not comparable to other ventures that were proposed in the area." Riel went on to say, "They're filming a pilot for a reality to show to promote Bradford. It's not a comedy, or anything like that, like some things that have happened in the past." He added that if people want to share their thoughts --- good or bad -- with producer Luca Palanca and director of photography Eric Pickett they're more than welcome to do that. Pictured, Eric Pickett films Mayor Tom Riel following Tuesday's Bradford City Council meeting. Also pictured are Councilman Bob...

Bradford City Councilman Bob Onuffer has announced he is seeking a second term in office. He will be on the Democratic ballot in the May primary. He has served on Council since January 2006. During this time he served as Director of Public Works for two years. He worked closely with Gary Alcock and the streets and refuse employees and found areas where he could help to improve their working conditions and schedules. He really enjoyed the hands on experience of working with the guys. In January, 2008, he was appointed to Director of Accounts and Finance, and currently holds that position. He was also on the 2005 ballot for Democratic candidate for Mayor of the City of Bradford. He was defeated then by current Mayor Tom Riel, and really enjoyed the opportunity to run for Mayor. Since then he has been working closely with Tom and the rest of council. It was a learning experience for him in this new position and worked closely with everyone in the City Hall building. ...