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City Manager Mike Mallis said that even though Bedford does not currently have a lot of short-term rentals, this issue has been on the city’s radar recently. Bedford has been looking for ways to help its safety forces deal with any issues that may come up from unruly temporary tenants, so it has reviewed some of the legislation adopted by nearby municipalities.

There was an incident that occurred earlier in April of this year that helped bring the need for more oversight to the forefront. The behavior of renters at an Airbnb on Woodrow Avenue, and the subsequent calls to police, were discussed in the “Hearing of Citizens” portion of the April 17 city council meeting.)

Mallis said the new ordinance will not be as extensive as some of the other cities around, but he said Bedford’s Law Director John Montello was able to put together some requirements that allows the city to track these businesses and to have direct emergency contact with the business owners should any safety issues arise.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Stan Koci and the council welcomed a new officer to the Bedford Police force. Officer Taylor Temple transferred over from the Ashland County Sheriff after more than 6 years of service there. Koci administered the oath with Taylor in the presence of a number of members of the police force present.

“I’m excited to come to Bedford,” Temple said. “(and) I’m excited for this new journey. I’ve done a lot of things in my career so far, and I am excited to do a lot more.” Temple said he is particularly looking forward to interacting with the citizens.

At the meeting, council also agreed to condemn the property at 34 Nordham Drive. Mallis said that multiple notices have been sent to those who own the property over the last few years, but there has been no response. He said the animal warden has been out to the vacant residence multiple times, and that raccoons entered the home last year. Mallis said the ordinance condemning the home is an additional way to try to get a some sort of a response from those involved. If the property ultimately needs to be demolished, Mallis said the council would have to vote again.

Council approved discounts for water and sewer rates for those persons who are disabled or senior citizens. You can find a link here for an application for the water discount program. Finance Direct Jennifer Howland also noted that there are no plans this year to raise the water or sewer rates for the residents of Bedford.

On the topic of water, Mallis said work should begin soon on the water line project on Lincoln Avenue. He said the contractors had a 90-day deadline to get it completed once it is started. The work on that line is another in a list of water projects completed by the city this year. Others included water work on Harriman Avenue, Ennis Avenue and Washington Court.

Mallis said Bedford buys its water from Cleveland and then resells it, and tries to collect the water used back again to save money on costs. Mallis said, “Out water collection numbers remains extremely strong as far as managing a public utility.” He said there is going to be expected loss of water, especially with a system that is more than 100 years old. He said, when collecting water, you always want to get at least 70 percent back. Bedford surpasses that number by a large margin.

“We are in a range of 92 to 94 percent which is unbelievable,” he said, giving credit to the people at the water department who keep track of the condition of the lines.

“We sound the system multiple times a year,” Mallis said. “We identify those breaks and obviously repair them.”

He said that, just to put it into perspective, in the beginning of 2015, the percentage of water collected was about 60 percent.

In other business, the council:

• Approved a resolution accepting a donation of $15,000 that will be put toward a public art project in the city. The project will allow artists to decorate utility panels around town.
• Agreed on a contract with Painters of the Western Reserve to prepare and paint the exterior of the train depot at Bedford Commons.
• Approved the purchase of audio equipment upgrades at Bedford Commons that will be able to be used for special events throughout the city. The cost of the equipment is covered 100% by Community Development Block Grants.

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Bedford City Work Session and Meeting Agendas 9/5/23

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The Bedford City Council approved the purchase of two new boilers for the Municipal Complex during a recent council meeting. According to City Manager Mike Mallis, one of the boilers failed last winter, and the other one was off and on during that time. He said the company that manufactured and installed the units is no longer in business, so fixing the boilers or getting new parts were not options.

“Companies that have come out have indicated that these high-efficiency boilers have reached the end of their life expectancy (of) about 25 years,” Mallis said. He said the city engineers put together the specs for the new boilers and ABC Piping came in with the lowest responsive bid of $165,000. (The highest bid to come in was $274,000.)

“We’ve done projects with ABC Piping before and they have done good work in the city,” Mallis said.

Part of the funds for the new boilers will come from a grant the city had received from the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC). Mallis said the city will also look at other financing options through NOPEC for the remaining balance.

On a smaller scale, the council also approved the purchase of a hydraulic pump pounder for the city to help make it safer for workers to install or take down signage. Most of the roughly $15,000 price tag was provided through an $11,393.65 safety grant from the Bureau of Workers’ Comp, Mallis said. Up until now, he said that workers have been doing the sign work manually using sledgehammers.

The council also gave its approval for spending on three specific upgrades to the Bedford Commons. Mallis said the city recently received a Community Develop Block Grant (CDBG) for improvements which will go towards electrical upgrades at the commons, roof replacements for the gazebo and train station and restroom upgrades. Mallis emphasized the grant will take care of 100 percent of the cost, and that there will be no city monies going toward any of these upgrades.

During the Monday meeting, council took time to honor Clerk of Council Tracy Simons for completing her Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) Program. Helen Dunlap, the vice president of the Ohio Municipal Clerks Association, was on hand to present Simons with her certificate and explain the rigorous process Simons had to go through to earn the CMC designation.

“After a dedicated journey of several years, hours of seminars, conferences and institute sessions, she has reached the pinnacle — an achievement that very few clerks are able to accomplish,” said Dunlap. “Out of 15,000 IIMC (International Institute of Municipal Clerks) members, she is one of 4,640 members worldwide to obtain this certification. In Ohio, there are less than 100 CMCs.”

On top of Simon’s CMC designation, Dunlap announced that Simon will also soon become the vice president of the Ohio Municipal Clerks Association when Dunlap moves up to take the role of president.

Bedford Mayor Stan Koci gave praise for the work that Simons has accomplished. “Tracy has just grown so much in this job over the last 4 years and does a great job for us,” Koci said. “And earning this (designation) … I have seen some of the stuff you had to do, and it’s a lot … we appreciate what you’ve done, and what you have accomplished so far. …It means you care about your job and are willing to go that extra mile.”

In other business, the board:

• Authorized entering into two contracts with Simplex-IT for informational technology services — one contract for IT services for the police department specifically, and one for services for all other municipal departments.
• Approved a rate deduction for disabled persons and senior citizens, allowing those residents to have water and sewer discounts.
• Was reminded that the State of the City will take place at 12:30 p.m. on August 29 at Ellenwood Center. For more information, click here.

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At the May 1 meeting, representatives from the Buckeye Relief answered questions from council members and other meeting attendees about the new Bedford business. Caroline Henry, head of governmental affairs for Buckeye Relief, said that while the location with be a retail store where patients can buy medical marijuana items, the general public is not allowed to enter the dispensary.

“To come into a dispensary you have to be a registered patient,” Henry said. “Which means you have to have one of 25 conditions that are approved by the state of Ohio to qualify.”

Also to qualify as a patient, Henry said you have to take your medical records to a recommending physician who is trained in prescribing medical marijuana. Patients can then be certified, which means they receive a special card from Ohio, that they then can present at the dispensary to allow entrance.

“We only allow patients, and they can bring one visitor with them to the dispensary,” said Henry. “And the visitor is not allowed to leave the lobby.” She said the visitor cannot enter the retail area of the dispensary, but is allowed to be accompany the patient who may need assistance getting to the store, or with talking to the pharmacist there. Patients under the influence of medical marijuana are not allowed to drive, Henry said.

Buckeye Relief also has a store in Cleveland Heights on Coventry Road, and Henry said the dispensaries are very secure. “You won’t see children from the community running into the dispensary,” Henry said. “That just doesn’t happen.”

A.J. Caraballo, the director of retail operations for Buckeye Relief, said they think maybe 100 to 200 customers could use the Bedford dispensary per day, and stated that Ohio has 168,000 patients registered for the use of medical marijuana. He said they expect 25 or more new jobs created by the new store in Bedford.

Henry said there is currently an initiative in the works that could legalize some sort of adult recreational use of marijuana in Ohio. The people backing the initiative are hoping to get the legislation on the November ballot. If such an initiative passes in Ohio, then medical marijuana dispensaries would automatically become adult use stores, Henry said. However, she said that local communities would still have a say on whether they want the dispensaries changed to adult use retail or not.

Buckeye Relief operates a 60,000-square foot cultivation facility in Eastlake, of which 25,000 square feet is used for growing the marijuana plants. The facility also has processing operations in which the oils from the plants are extracted and made into products such as tinctures, capsules and edibles.

Also at the meeting, the board also approved a planning commission recommendation to allow Jamil Zayed to build a 6,000-square foot addition to the retail properties located at 277 Northfield Road. Current businesses located at this address include John’s Deli, Mr. Hero and a home health care office. According to the recommendation, the addition would allow for four new white-box spaces to be created. City Manager Mike Mallis said two of the new units would be earmarked for the owner to house Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs, and the other two spaces the owner would be leasing out.

In other board news:

• Council approved a contract with Simplex-IT to upgrade the city’s core network infrastructure at city hall. Mallis said the proposal is to install a 10-gigabyte fiber adapter which includes two new switches. He said this would raise the capacity of the current system from its 1 gigabyte limit and fix a failed switch in the process.
• Council also approved purchase of a device from Plug Hug that helps clean fire hydrants and prep them for painting, which will save a lot of time and manual effort, according Mallis. He said Chagrin Falls has been using a similar device, and they have been happy with the results.

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