Council looks to end charge for 'out-of-business' sales

    The city of Bedford is providing non-potable water to customers located on Orange Street, and City Council set the rate last Tuesday for charging for that water.

    Council set the rate at 90.7 cents per 1,000 gallons of non-potable water, plus a monthly customer charge of $13.01.
    The water is being used for cooling purposes only and is a brand new service the city is providing, according to City Manager Charles Kolakowski. He added, however, that the city is exploring additional ways that the water could be used in the future.
    "It's a perfect reuse of this," Kolakowski said, adding it is saving the city thousands of gallons of water use.
    Also on Tuesday Council adopted ordinances amending family billiard center regulations and amended regulations pertaining to pneumatic guns.
    The family billiard regulations will allow for those teens ages 16 to 18 to go to a family billiard center anytime, while allowing those teens 14 to 15 to go by themselves until 5 p.m. After that they would have to be with their parents. Children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a parent.
    The city ordinance pertaining to pneumatic guns was drafted based upon an ordinance in the city of Roanoke. All references to bows and arrows in the previous ordinance have been eliminated pending further study.
    Also on Tuesday, at the request of Vice Mayor Robert Wandrei, Council favored eliminating a $65 charge on local businesses holding "going out of business" sales.
    Wandrei said it was not business-friendly to have such a fee and to have to fill out a form that outlines their inventory at the time of the sale.
    The issue came up, according to Wandrei, with the closing of D. Reynolds on S. Bridge Street, which is closing at the end of this month after more than six decades in business here.
    Council will consider an ordinance on the issue at a later meeting.
    Also on Tuesday Council reappointed Macon C. Putney to a four-year term on the Joint City/County Economic Development Authority and heard a report from Jason Hartman with Brown Edwards and Company on the fiscal year 2011 audit.