Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Bradford City Council last night approved on first reading the millage ordinance, which keeps the millage rate at 16 and means no tax increase. Mayor Tom Riel says although he had hoped to be able to lower taxes, keeping the rate steady is quite an accomplishment. City Clerk John Peterson gives much of the credit for the no-tax-increase budget to the department heads being realistic in their requests and keeping a close watch on their budgets during the year. You can listen to the entire meeting here . Among the other topics covered are the demolition of more plighted properties, bid openings for fire station renovations and the 2014 wage ordinance. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

In an effort to make it easier for the city’s new financial officer to do his job properly, Bradford City Council has approved on first reading changes to several tax ordinances. During its meeting Tuesday night council OK’d changes to the Local Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Mercantile License Tax, Business Privilege Tax, Local Services Tax and Public Utility Tax Ordinance. City Solicitor Mark Hollenbeck explained the changes give Michael Shanks “the ability to monitor the ordinances, enforce them as part of his duties with the city.” Mayor Tom Riel stressed that council is not raising taxes or creating new taxes. In other matters, council authorized the filing of a Keystone Communities Façade and Public Improvement Grant for the Second Ward Neighborhood Partnership Program. The $400,000 grant would go toward the NPP façade program, streetscape improvements and new construction. The city is also seeking a Home Program grant from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Develo...

Several Pearl Street residents took a neighborhood problem to Bradford City Council Tuesday night. Kevin Caldwell told council he and many of his neighbors are fed up with the 17 people living in a single-family house at 41 Pearl. He said the neighbors are concerned about cleanliness, safety and noise. Among the problems, he said, are that the people sleep all day and stay up all night making noise. “When you’re going to work (in the morning), they’re still on the porch partying,” Caldwell said. “I wouldn’t want to live next to it,” said code enforcement officer Mike Cleveland. But he added that there are never any major code violations when he visits the house and the violations he has found, they managed to fix. “I feel for ya,” Cleveland said. Police Chief Chris Lucco added he is “more familiar with the situation than I’d like to be,” adding that he did an emergency welfare check and found that every person had a bed and “the house was cleaner than many, many, many houses I’...

About 600 plants -- including evergreens -- will be added to Pine Street in the ongoing renovation project. Bradford City Council on Tuesday accepted quotes of $16,000 and $7,000 from Hoffman Landscape and Nursery and Johnson's Evergreen Nursery, respectively, to add the areas in and around the Pine Street parking lot and Pine Street pedestrian bridge. The larger payment will come from a recreational grant from the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission and local funds; the other from 2012 CDBG money and local funds. Council also accepted a quote of $15,500 from Silvis Electric to provide labor and materials needed to connect and light 39 light poles in the Elm Street Neighborhood Project. Also, council authorized a change order with Kessel Construction for the Callahan Park Ice Rink renovation project. Kessel has asked for a time extension with a new completion date expected to be September 27. You can listen to the meeting here . The new...

The fight against blight in the City of Bradford continues as three more unsightly and unsafe buildings are slated for demolition. Bradford City Council on Tuesday accepted quotes from Tom Vickery for the demolition of 177 Williams St., 13 East Main St., and 26 East Ave., for $5,454, $2,454 and $5,454 respectively. To hear more from last night's city council meeting go here . The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director A crowd that flowed into the hallway outside of city council chambers heard Mayor Tom Riel and Bradford City Police officers agree to work out their differences concerning a manned police station. A resolution to authorize the McKean County 911 Center to assume dispatch duties for the city police department was on the council agenda. But after about an hour of listening to nearly two dozen people, most of them opposed to transferring the dispatch duties, Riel said council would table the resolution. "The City of Bradford is running a government they can no longer afford and we can no longer afford to have a paid police officer sitting over there at the desk," Riel said to the police officers who were at the meeting. "If you want to work on something that will save money with a civilian dispatch, or something, we can consider it and talk about. But it's got to be something that saves the city money and does not have a paid, uni...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Anyone who's been paying attention to the state budget impasse has probably heard lawmakers talking about a bigger problem looming in the next couple of years – municipal pension plans. City Clerk John Peterson explained during Tuesday's Bradford City Council meeting that where a major issue may occur is in 2011 when contributions to pension plans will be based on market figures from the early part of this year when the market was "disastrous." "It could be a budgetary crisis for all municipalities in Pennsylvania," Peterson said. Lawmakers in Harrisburg have been addressing the pension issue. The state senate finance committee on Monday approved an amendment to House Bill 1828 (a pension relief measure to help Philadelphia) that would include all municipalities based on their level of funding for their individual programs. The amendment defines municipalities as being in minimal, moderate or severe distress and outli...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director A problem that's getting to be unbearable was discussed during Tuesday's Bradford City Council meeting. Vista Circle resident Brad Mangel told council a bear cub was in his neighborhood at 1:30 in the afternoon. He said he knows other parts of the city are having problems, too, but his main concern is children in the neighborhood, and its proximity to Bradford Area High School. "School's going to start," he said. "You don't want bears in the neighborhood at that time." He added that he doesn't normally "like to pick on government agencies, but I don't depend too much on the game commission." Mayor Tom Riel mentioned the hoops people often have to go through to contact the game commission. "They make it a cumbersome task to get a hold of them," he said. And even the mayor isn't immune to the bear problem. He said that recently he was working on his computer at his house and turne...

Sometimes you just have to hear something to believe it. Such is the case with the following exchange between "Hollywood" Helen Burfield, Mayor Tom Riel and City Solicitor Mark Hollenbeck from Tuesday night's City Council meeting. Enjoy. City Council 1/13/09