Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Bradford City Council hopes to appoint a new council member at its next meeting on July 10. The new member would serve out the term of Rick Benton, who died June 16. Council will be accepting applications until 3 p.m. Friday. As Tuesday's council meeting starated, Mayor Tom Riel asked for a moment of silence in honor of Benton but, before that, he talked about Benton coming to him about filling the council seat Riel was vacating to become mayor. “I asked him to be able to agree to disagree and move onto the next issue without holding a grudge; and if he had something to say to me to say it to my face and then he could tell the whole world. He honored both of those very well,” Riel said, then added with a chuckle, “And he very often did not agree with me.” “He was a great councilman,” Riel said, adding that Benton would arrive for most council meetings half an hour early in case he had any questions he could ask city clerk John Peterson and get them cleared up. “He was definitely a ...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director Bradford City Council has decided the “Band-Aid approach” to making necessary capital improvements isn’t working, so they are taking a new approach. Council approved on first reading Tuesday a bond issue that would go toward a street restoration project, replacement of the floor at the Callahan Ice Rink and improvements to several buildings including the city fire station.* City Clerk John Peterson explained that new borrowing would be $5.025 million, but the ordinance as it reads right now also includes refinancing of the city’s 2008 bonds, which brings the number up to $7.4 million. He said they won’t know until the next meeting whether the refinancing is feasible. “It will depend on the bond market at that time (of the next meeting) if refinancing our 2008 bonds is feasible,” Peterson said. He added that the city is looking at other funding opportunities for the projects listed in the ordinance. He explained, for example, that if they get a ...