Key Highlights from the December 9th Town Council Meeting
Gratitude for Our Heroes: Bart Warner, our Town Manager, kicked things off by expressing deep appreciation for the tireless efforts of our public works, electric, police, and fire departments, especially during the recent winter weather. These teams are the backbone of our community, ensuring our safety and well-being.
Community Spirit in Full Swing: We had a bustling weekend filled with events that showcased Bedford’s vibrant community spirit:
The Bedford Area Family YMCA 5K race brought together fitness enthusiasts.
The Central Virginia Business Coalition’s Christmas parade lit up our streets with festive cheer.
Downtown activities, including the Christmas tree lighting and the Festival of Trees at the Bedford Welcome Center, added to the holiday magic.
Historical Tidbits: Did you know about the cherished tradition of the Christmas light display at the former Elks Home on Ashland Circle? This beloved tradition, dating back to the 1950s, is being revived by the current owners of Spring Oak, with help from the Bedford Get Together organization. It’s a beautiful nod to our town’s rich history.
Administrative and Strategic Updates
New Partnerships: We’ve entered into a new agreement with the Bedford Chamber of Commerce to manage the placement of organizational signs on our civic signs. This partnership will help community groups promote their activities more effectively.
Future Planning: The town council has adopted three key priorities to guide our future decisions:
Infrastructure and utility maintenance
Downtown revitalization and economic development
Public services and staff support
Training Insights: Bart, Mayor CG Stanley, and other officials attended an intensive “PJM 101” training session to better understand the complexities of our electric grid. This knowledge is crucial for managing our town’s power supply efficiently.
Council Member Appreciations
Councilman Jay Ippolito: Praised the efforts behind the Christmas parade and tree lighting, and highlighted the proactive snow clearing by our public works department.
Councilman Stacy Haley: Acknowledged the fire department’s outstanding volunteer service and the contributions of community event organizers.
Vice Mayor Daryl Updike: Provided an update on the comprehensive plan revision process and appreciated staff’s dedication during special events.
Councilman Dwight Evans: Thanked the public for their engagement and praised the public works department’s multitasking abilities.
Councilman Dave Foster: Invited residents to his annual holiday open house and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.
Mayor CG Stanley: Reflected on community continuity and history, honoring long-time community members and leaders.
What’s Next?
Holiday Closures: Town offices will be closed from noon on December 23rd through December 25th, and on January 1st. Enjoy the holidays, everyone!
Meeting Schedule Change: Starting January 2026, town council meetings will shift to the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 7:00 p.m.
Media Squatch 00:00:03 Welcome to the Best Little Town podcast. Your go to source for everything happening in the Town of Bedford's local government. Whether it's new initiatives or important decisions shaping our town's future, you'll hear it right here. This podcast is dedicated to keeping our residents informed and engaged.
Bart Warner 00:00:22 Good morning and welcome to the Best Little Town podcast. My name is Bart Warner. I have the privilege of serving as the town Manager of Bedford, and this podcast is brought to you by the town in conjunction with our partners at Media Skywatch, to provide a recap of the discussions that happen at our regular council meetings, and also to provide a little bit more background information behind those discussions, and hopefully to provide more information to our citizens, businesses and interested parties in the goings on of Bedford, Virginia. Joining you on Wednesday morning, December 10th, the day after the regular council meeting on December 9th. Going to jump right in to the recap of last night's activities. Going through the agenda. The first item of business usually, and was the case last night, is approval of the minutes from the previous meetings.
Bart Warner 00:01:15 A little bit of background there. again, if you can join us in person at our regular meetings at 215 East Main Street, we're always thrilled to have folks join us in the audience and be with us physically. We also live stream those meetings, through our Partners of media Scotch on YouTube, and we post recordings of those meetings. So if you can't attend live, you can always catch the video later on YouTube. The minutes are another part of that. That is the written record, and it's a kind of a legal and official requirement, but it also serves a great purpose of keeping people informed and communicating. after each meeting, our clerk will publish the draft of minutes from the meetings and those are then approved at the next meeting. So as those are officially approved, we upload those to our website which is Bedford Gov. So I'd like to remind folks that for the council meetings, we try to provide multiple sources of access and information to that activity. The first and best is probably to attend in person, but if not, you can watch live or you can always watch the recording.
Bart Warner 00:02:23 You can also tune in to this podcast, which is designed to provide maybe a deeper dive into the discussion. And then once the official minutes are published, those are always there and always on the website. And I'll tell you candidly, staff and council sometimes refer back to those written notes as well, to remind ourselves of some crucial details of information that are contained in the minutes. So getting back to the agenda, the minutes from the previous meeting back in November were unanimously approved. then we went right into the town manager's report, and last night I had, several things to cover. I typically tried to respect the the time and attention of both counsel and the folks who were present, but a lot of, a lot of things I felt compelled to share last night. And I'm going to just start by going down that list. begin my report by thanking my colleagues in the Public Works, Electric and police departments for their dedicated service at all hours of the day. That is particularly evident during events such as the inclement weather we are experiencing.
Bart Warner 00:03:30 You know, it is winter time and occasionally that brings with it snow and icy conditions. And while we view our services as being valuable anyway, the folks, particularly in public works in electric, don't have the luxury of working 9 to 5. We have to respond to things as they occur, and sometimes that's in the wee hours of the morning, and sometimes it's in terrible weather conditions. But the men and women of those departments in particular, and also police, are always out and always looking out for the well-being of our community, its businesses and its citizens, and something that we certainly don't take for granted. And I certainly don't, from my perspective, also extended thanks to the organizers and sponsors of all special events and observances in the town. We have several of those throughout the year that are put together by enormously talented people who care about our community and want to share those talents. And this past weekend, particularly December, Saturday, December 6th was a great example of that. We had several events ongoing.
Bart Warner 00:04:41 and I'm this is not an exhaustive list. the Bedford Area Family YMCA had their annual five K race on the loop, and that was well attended as always, the Central Virginia Business Coalition sponsored the annual Christmas parade, which took place at 11:00 in the morning. And then there were downtown activities which continued after the parade with vendors and activities and just people on the streets of downtown Bedford, and want to thank, Heather Alto and her her staff there at Central Virginia Business Coalition for that event. we also had the Christmas tree lighting at Center Towne Plaza. Jonathan Hayden was the primary person who organized that in conjunction with Heather Alto. Well attended. the Bedford Welcome Center has their Festival of Trees. If you haven't experienced that yet, please go by there on Berks Hill Road. Nicole Johnson and her staff do a wonderful job all the time, and presenting all the great things going on in town that probably are of interest to visitors. But, you know, also you can learn a thing or two if you're a citizen by going out there and visiting as well.
Bart Warner 00:05:52 right now they have several Christmas trees on display that are put together by the various organizations within town. And it's just a really neat event that I know. My family in particular always, enjoys taking part in that. Also, I'm going to mention I didn't mention this last night, but the, the former Elks home, of course, people know the large property off of Ashland Circle for many years was the was a retirement community associated with the Fraternal Order of Elks, wherein those members could retire here and live there in their twilight years. But one of the great traditions there was their Christmas light display, and it kind of started amongst the residents, I want to say, back in the 1950s, and they just started putting out decorations around their drive and around the the campus there, much like people do with their own homes. And it grew into a really enormous attraction of its own. The ownership of that property changed. I want to say, not quite ten years ago, that the Elks decided to discontinue their operation of that retirement community for their members.
Bart Warner 00:06:59 It's now in private hands. I will say that the current owners of Spring Oak are doing their best to keep that tradition alive and to revive it. And this year, a New Bedford get together was one organization in particular. There was a lot of community activity and input and effort into starting to get those that light display back to its former glory. Some of us may remember, but that's ongoing. Of course, the town has a light display of our own at Liberty Lake Park as well through the holidays. So again, a lot of just amazing activities. going back to the title of this podcast, The World's, we try to claim ourselves to be the world's best little town. And, you know, days like this past Saturday, I think we come awfully close. One thing I noted last night was that the Christmas parade was broadcast live, and also was available to view on YouTube, and Woody was our partner here at media. Squatch reported that the broadcast of the Christmas parade has reached 28,000 people as of yesterday, and I think that number continues to grow.
Bart Warner 00:08:08 So we had a really great in-person turnout for the parade. The sidewalks were pretty well packed. And, you know, in addition to that, there were 28,000 individual clickers who, feel like our Bedford Christmas Christmas parade was something they were interested in. So not only is downtown a an area that attracts people physically, but it also attracts interest beyond our borders. Speaking of Woody Watts, I took last night to take the opportunity to explain the town's formal partnership with Woody and his company. The town has had a long standing contract for services with Woody that includes a wide variety of activities, in addition to handling all the details related to broadcast or council meetings. Woody also provides innumerable other communications and marketing services, and actually serves as our formerly designated Public Information Officer for the town. He does all this under the terms of a very reasonably priced contract for his services. And again, when I mentioned that you're able to view the meetings live and view them online, that's all Woody. So that's that's part of what he does for us, which we appreciate, but we certainly don't take it for granted and took the opportunity last night to recognize him and to extend our thanks and recognition.
Bart Warner 00:09:29 On an administrative note, I did make everyone aware that the town has entered into an agreement with the Bedford Chamber of Commerce, wherein that organization has now assumed responsibility for managing and Administering the placement and display of organizational signs on our three civic signs located on East Main Street, Blue Ridge Avenue, and Forest Road. You're probably familiar, but you might not think too much about them. Those are those are kind of the large mark keyboard signs that say World's Best Little Town, that allow different organizations, such as community groups like the Women's Club or Rotary, just for examples, to place signs to let people know that they're here and they're active. The town continues to maintain those. But as far as the actual decision about how that is arranged and how that's managed, that's something that we partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to take over for us. and look forward to that being a successful program that continues well into the future. Also advise Council that our staff is currently engaged in conversations with our colleagues at the Bedford County Recreation Department.
Bart Warner 00:10:42 About a memorandum of understanding related to the outstanding programs that they provide at our facilities and Liberty Lake Park in particular. The initial goal there is to further clarify some operational issues in our relationship with them and the efficiencies and cooperation we already have. They've also expressed a willingness to help us with some capital planning, which we certainly appreciate, and I expect to report probably in the next month or two, that we will have signed that memorandum of understanding. Again, we have a really good working relationship with our colleagues at Bedford County and recognize and truly value the services and systems that they maintain for us as citizens and the efforts involved in that. This past Wednesday, Mayor Stanley John Wagner and I attended a free training session offered by the Blue Ridge Power Agency, presenting several operational and business details related to the PJM electric grid. It was billed as PJM 101, but I will tell you that the information provided was very, very intense, very in-depth, very valuable. Coincidentally, our town attorney, Mike Lockerbie, was also there on his own.
Bart Warner 00:11:59 in addition to providing services for us, Mike makes a point to keep himself up to date on all the latest activities and regulations and operations that impact us. So I did mention that we were glad to see Mike there as well. At its recent strategic planning retreat, Council will formally adopted a statement of priorities as follows. One. Infrastructure and utility maintenance two. Downtown revitalization and economic development in general, and three public services and staff support. As we move forward, we will make every effort to note these priorities and how they relate to the activities of the town as led by the council, and it was important for council to let the citizens know this information because, again, rather than kind of taking a reactionary or buckshot approach, we're trying very hard to move in a definite and strategic manner. And again, the key points that drive most of the decisions relate to the infrastructure that we have to provide, the impact on our economy and our community development, and then also the level of services. So from a staff perspective, I appreciate that direction from council and wanted to make people aware of that, and we're going to do our best to kind of make sure that when we undertake certain actions or certain votes are taken, we will reference back to these priorities as something of an explanation for why those things happen.
Bart Warner 00:13:30 On an administrative note. Town offices will be closed beginning at noon on Wednesday, December 23rd and all day on December 24th and 25th. We will also be closed on Thursday, January 1st. And this is related to the fact that we follow the Commonwealth of Virginia's published holiday schedule, also beginning in January. We will move to the change in schedule for our regular meeting dates that was recently approved by council. Our first regular meeting will take place on January 5th and will continue. We will continue to meet on the first and third Tuesdays thereafter. So up and up through this year we have been meeting on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 7:00. Based on a change that was discussed very thoroughly amongst council members beginning in 2026, those meetings will take place on the first and third Tuesdays at 7:00. And of course, we hope you'll be able to join us in one form or another. The next item of business was appearances before counsel. Somewhat unusual. There were none last night. This is a item on the agenda where we open things up to where pretty much anybody in attendance can feel free to speak for three minutes on any topic that's near and dear to their heart.
Bart Warner 00:14:48 And it's a good opportunity for us to receive information, frankly, sometimes that we otherwise would not receive or receive information we're not aware of. And also to again communicate directly in a dialogue with our citizens and business owners. The next item was council comments. I will note that Councilman Todd Forman was not able to join us last night. He had a conflict at work. in his job. He actually had to be in Washington, D.C. this week, so he was absent from the meeting. But we went around the dais, as we usually do. beginning with Councilman Jay Ippolito. Jay extended his thanks to the people who were physically present at the meeting. He also recognized the efforts behind the Christmas parade, particularly Heather Alto in her group at Central Virginia Business Coalition and appreciated the great turnout for the tree lighting event. Jay extended his thanks to our public Works Department and our director, Tom Woodard, who was present directly for clearing the snow for the sidewalks in downtown and basically doing a good job of getting ahead of the winter weather.
Bart Warner 00:15:56 Jay also noted that he has been working on a project to install new banners in the downtown area, and he said those should be ready for pickup within the next week or so. Next was Councilman Stacy Haley, who extended his thanks to all the employees for the response to the winter weather. He also mentioned the fire department. And again, I didn't didn't mean to neglect them in my previous comments. The fire department provides outstanding professional level service to not only the town, but an extended part of the county on an as needed basis. I think it's fair to say we truly hope you will never really need to receive the services of the Bedford Fire Department, but if you do have an emergency situation, you can rest assured that they will respond promptly, quickly and in a very outstanding manner. And that's, again a volunteer service that we certainly do not take for granted. Councilman Haley also recognized Heather Alto, Erica McFadden, and Jonathan Hayden for their efforts and contributions to the special events that took place this weekend.
Bart Warner 00:17:03 And again, Stacy noted that those are just another example of several events throughout the year and throughout the community that are presented and undertaken by individuals based on their really great affection for the community and willingness to share their talents, and we certainly appreciate that. Stacy also noted the Spring Oak Retirement Homes efforts in getting the traditional light display back up and running and hopefully improving that. Year by year. Next up was Vice Mayor Daryl Updike, who kind of echoed a lot of the comments of Stacy and Jay, particularly with regard to staff preparation related to the events of the last weekend. And he also recognized the fact that in in situations involving special events and also weather events, that our town staff provides those services, but also continues to do their regular day job. So in addition to clearing the snow, we were also picking up trash in public works. And so again, the extra efforts of our colleagues and the town staff are obvious and greatly appreciated. Daryl likewise recognized Heather Alto and Jonathan Hayden for their efforts in the downtown events of this past weekend.
Bart Warner 00:18:24 Daryl serves as a council representative to the Planning Commission, and gave a bit of an update on the revision of the comprehensive plan process. He noted that they are making progress. The first six chapters are in final draft phase and EPR. Who are the consultants we have engaged to guide that process, are doing well in covering their administrative, fiscal and financial responsibilities. Next up was Councilman Dwight Evans, who echoed the comments made previously about the appreciation of events. He also expressed his appreciation to the people who watched the meetings during live stream, and noted that he gets a lot of comments and feedback based on that. Councilman Evans also recognized the great work by the Public Works in. Response to the winter weather and their ability to handle multiple tasks. And he also shared his favorable impression and really just appreciation of all the Christmas activities and events that are going on through this wonderful town. Councilman Dave Foster shared his appreciation for staff and town. on a personal note. He noted that he and his wife every year sponsor an open house.
Bart Warner 00:19:44 And although Dave did provide some details about the his, his address and the hours, I'm going to ask that you refer to the video and that because I think Dave might be a little bit overly generous and open in his home, but we certainly appreciate that. And he concluded by wishing Merry Christmas to everyone. next was mayor CG Stanley. CG touched touched on the fact of a little bit of continuity and some history of the community, and the service of Miss Francis Coles. Francis was a stalwart member of our community for many years, served on commissions, and was very engaged involved in CG noted that she came to a lot of council meetings and personally, and always sat in one particular pew back in the audience and recognized the miss and along who was sitting in what he described as Francis Cole seat. But he noted that miss DeLong is kind of taking an active interest and really become engaged in the affairs of the community, and CJ recognized that and expressed his appreciation. CJ extended his thanks to public works staff for their efforts and the fact that they are so dedicated and knowledgeable in terms of what they do.
Bart Warner 00:20:59 He also appreciated the efforts of Bedford Electric. he did make a comment and asked if we had any outages over the weekend related to the winter weather, and my response was that we did. although the fact that those were not patently obvious means that we did a good job of restoring things quickly, and if they weren't widely noticed, then that that's a good thing. C.G. also recognized the always vigilant status of our police department and the excellent work that they provide. Monday we did end up closing our office due to the winter weather. Let me speak to that a little bit, too. again, we do continue to provide our services, such as trash pickup, and we'll police the roads and obviously we'll maintain the power supply. But in addition to that, when we have winter weather, our public works crew kicks it into high gear to try to clear and maintain the roads. Now, many times there are conditions that are still hazardous. So for the mainly out of concern for our citizens but also for our employees, sometimes we will close or delay opening of the offices at Town Hall.
Bart Warner 00:22:10 And that's a signal to the fact that it's probably not good for people to be out and about based on the hazardous conditions there. So if you hear that, we're closed. Closed. In terms of our administrative offices, it's not that we're not continuing to work. In fact, we do have people working remotely. But, I can assure you that we'll still provide the same level of ongoing services that you need. And we're still going to respond to the weather event in general. And personally, I make a point to to come into the office just to make sure that I'm there and available for our citizens and employees if they have questions. So Sieg noted that he was out and about Monday assessing the situation, and he stopped and visited with me, even though the office was closed and we had a good conversation while I was attending to other administrative things. Sieg noted that on November 22nd, he attended the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in front of the courthouse. lists the names of 14 sons of Bedford who paid made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.
Bart Warner 00:23:16 he noted his opinion. I think a lot of people share it that this recognition was both appropriate as well as long overdue. On November 26th, Sieg noted that he attended the funeral of Miss Lucille Vargas. Miss Vargas was a community leader who left a tremendous legacy. she worked for Bedford County for many years and also served as, I think, the first female member of the Board of Supervisors and accomplished great things, had great vision, and always did it in such an enormously positive way. One aspect of that that CGG recognized was her recognition and pride of being part of the Bedford community, and the fact that she defined Bedford as the area in general. There were no boundaries in terms of city, town or county. Lucille was always a great proponent and supporter of Bedford, and we certainly give thanks for her life and witness and impacts, and also ask for comfort for the family she leaves behind. On December 1st, she attended the Christmas lighting ceremony at Bedford Memorial Hospital. He said that Santa Claus was there, and in addition to making a pitch for his own good behavior this year, he tried to put in a good word for the community and counsel in general.
Bart Warner 00:24:36 On December 3rd, he noted the PJM 101 training. He said that the information we all received was very complicated and intense, but he saw that as being a very valuable educational process. CG passed along some background information about the history and function of PJM. again. PJM is the electric grid itself, and there's an organization that manages that. And we talk about the supply and demand of power and how that's becoming an emerging issue based on generation. While the supply is currently sufficient to cover demand based on development and pressures such as the economy and regulatory matters. That is something that we're not able to take for granted as we move forward. Keiji also noted that the sponsor of the organization is the Blue Ridge Power Agency. Bedford is a member of that as long as several other groups and those groups provide services such as advocacy training. There are some operational benefits to such as joint purchasing and really just the opportunity to network and share information. In addition, we're also part of AMP, which is the American Municipal Power organization, and we talk a lot about the cost of our purchase power, which is our single biggest expenditure in the town's budget.
Bart Warner 00:25:58 AMP is the body that actually negotiates that on our behalf and assists us with acquisition of wholesale power. Again, most of the power we use, we do not generate overwhelmingly locally for sure. A lot of what we purchase on the open market, and AMP is the vehicle by which we do that. We also do have ownership in remote generating facilities, such as a coal fired plant in Illinois and a gas fired plant in Ohio, and that is handled through AMP. He also noted that our electric director, John Wagner, is very involved in the AMP organization, serves on its board of directors, and credited John for his leadership and depth of knowledge in that area of operation. And we conclude his comments by noting that on Saturday, he participated in the Christmas parade and again recognized Heather Alto and her group's CG visited vendors at the farmer's Market, and he also participated in the tree lighting sponsored by Jonathan Hayden. And with that bit of information, we then moved into the the guts, typically of the regular meeting agenda, starting with a public hearing related to a rezoning request.
Bart Warner 00:27:13 In the area of Coral Street and F Street. There were several properties there that are zoned manufacturing. They actually have houses on them. And the Planning Commission, well, and determined that you might make more sense to recognize the value of the homes there and change the zoning to continue that. And that was also done at the request of one of the property owners. Public hearing was open, and Miss Lorena Reed, who was a co-owner of the house on 611 F Street, spoke. She noted that on this property, the house burned down recently and the manufacturing zoning created a problem in their ability to rebuild it and to expand it. So she was part of the group that requested the rezoning and planning commission, decided to extend that a little bit up and down the block as well, and stated that she thought it would be a benefit to the community. Next item moving into new business was an ordinance to consider the rezoning that was the subject of the public hearing. After receiving an application for a zoning map amendment from one landowner and a verbal request for the same map amendment from another owner.
Bart Warner 00:28:26 Staff researched the possibility of a town initiated map amendment for the northern portion of the block. The block along Coral Street and F Street is located between Railroad Avenue and the south and Jackson Street on the north. At the time of the initiation, the block was made up of seven parcels with five owners. Three of the parcels have since been combined into one. One owner did not respond to requests for considering the change and therefore was not included. All uses on the lot are residential. However, one of the houses burned in July 2025 and cannot be rebuilt under current zoning regulations, which triggered the referenced application. All parcels were currently zoned. manufacturing. The southernmost parcel was owned. Central neighborhood. Workplace and not considered for change. On November 6th, the Planning Commission held a public hearing to recommend whether the properties should be rezoned from England to R2. The initial rezoning applicant and the other interested owner spoke in favor of the zoning map change. No one spoke in opposition to the request. The planning commissioners commented on the need to help the owner with replacing the demolished home, and the chance to add improved housing, and a motion to recommend approval of the zoning change passed that body with a unanimous vote of 5 to 0 for all members present.
Bart Warner 00:29:47 On a motion made by Councilman Stacy Haley, seconded by Dave Foster. Council did did approve the request to rezone the specific properties that were listed in the ordinance and the public hearing. The next item related to a budget amendment to accept a safety grant from the Virginia Risk Sharing Association, or versa, for some computer software and hardware to improve the virtual private network enhancements and purchase new computers required to complete our migration to the Windows 11 operating system. These items will also improve the security of the towns IT infrastructure. The grant must be accepted and spent before June 30th, 2026. On a motion by Councilman Foster, seconded by Vice Mayor Updike. Council unanimously accepted the $4,000 grant from versa and the appropriation of the funds to the appropriate budget line items. The next item of new business was a budget amendment related to rollover of funds for the Comprehensive Plan revision. The town adopted budget funding for future planning over fiscal years 2024 and 2025 to have the comprehensive plan revision prepared at the end of fiscal year 2025, there was over $35,000 of funding remaining that had not been spent.
Bart Warner 00:31:09 Staff is recommending a budget rollover, which would appropriate funding from the prior year. Reserves towards the expenditure account for future planning. Essentially, this is to get the comprehensive plan revision process complete. It has spanned the fiscal year, obviously, and based on the previous comments from Darrell Updike. Planning Commission expects to get that presented sometime in the next few months. On a motion by Stacy Haley, seconded by Jay Ippolito, council unanimously approved the rollover of funds to complete the comprehensive review process. The next item of new business was a request for information for a franchise for solid waste transfer, station operation and maintenance. As part of its overall budget strategy, the town is adjusting its commercial solid waste collection activities. The first step in this process was discontinuance of commercial solid waste collection, which took effect October 1st, 2025. As a result of that policy implementation, the town is in a position to reassign its operating liability for the transfer station on Orange Street and explore the possibility of associated revenue enhancements. Accordingly, staff and the town attorney have drafted a request for information to solicit bids from any entities who may be willing to obtain a franchise for the operation and maintenance of the transfer station.
Bart Warner 00:32:32 The purpose of the RFI is to obtain information from firms or persons in the solid waste management industry, who may wish to enter into a long term franchise in excess of five years, with the Town of Bedford to lease and operate its Town Transfer station. This RFP will not directly result in a contract. However, the information gathered will inform the town's preparation and advertisement of a formal franchise solicitation As required by the Code of Virginia. After reviewing the responses to this RFI, the town will likely issue a public notice advertising the franchise and may then proceed with a long term lease and operations agreement. On a motion made by Councilman Dave Foster, seconded by Councilman Dwight Evans. Council unanimously authorized the release and publication of this request for information. There was a little bit of discussion about the procedural matters, and Mayor Stanley noted that this is just the start of the process. Again, in an effort to improve our efficiency and also maybe enhance the possibility to gain additional revenue. We are looking to make our transfer station on Orange Street available to a private entity who would then operate it.
Bart Warner 00:33:49 This would be the first step in basically seeing what entities might be interested in doing so. Once we receive those responses, we will report back to council and there may be an announcement forthcoming of turning that over. Under a lease arrangement to a private operator. But we're not at that point yet. In a somewhat unusual situation for us, we then went into closed session in the middle of of the council meeting to talk about some details related to the last item of new business. as people may be aware, we have encountered some issues with our HVAC system at the municipal building at 215 East Main Street, and those led us to discover that the electrical system is also terribly outdated. In fact, a lot of the infrastructure in that building is original to its construction circa 1968. As a result, we have been looking at ways to address that in a comprehensive manner, to identify all the problems with that building and to seek assistance in addressing that. the first step to that was we put out a request for proposals for design, bid assistance and construction administration services related to these issues.
Bart Warner 00:35:03 We had several bidders on that, and we have identified one in our process that has emerged as a top ranked bidder, and we have been discussing that as well as the pricing. And so we went into closed session to share with council the details of those negotiations. We do that sometimes because, doing so entirely publicly actually works against us. In fact, a lot of times when we beat out a project, if we establish a budget for that project, that typically means that's what the cost proposals come in at. So we're trying to do our best to get the best price possible. and that's that's the situation here. The RFP we sent out before basically was asking people to give us their best shot at telling us they were most qualified to do what needs to be done and give us a clear plan for that. And so we went into closed session to talk about that aspect of it with this particular company. didn't stay in closed session for long. Town council did come back to move on to the final item of new business, which is an intent to award a contract for the services I just talked about.
Bart Warner 00:36:17 Again, in response to several emerging issues with the municipal building, the town recently issued an RFP for design, bid assistance and construction administrative administration services related to potential renovations of the property, including replacement of HVAC and electric systems, as well as other identified deficiencies and perhaps other problems we're not aware of. Thompson and Linton emerged as the highest ranked bidder under the terms of the RFP, and staff is currently in negotiation with that firm regarding the specific price quote for their services. Copy of their bid was circulated amongst the members of council prior to the meeting. Under the terms of the RFP, the initial bid from Thompson and Lytton is valid for a period of 90 days, and the clock on that began on September 26th. That essentially means that failure to act on the bid by December 26th means that all bids would be disqualified, and the town would need to re initiate the procurement process in order to meet this deadline. Staff proposed that a formal intent to award statement be adopted by council, with the understanding that price negotiations are ongoing.
Bart Warner 00:37:28 The most recent quote, price quote is dated November 13th with the same 90 day terms. So that means that staff intends to present a formal contract agreement for action by council not later than February 13th, 2026. Same terms as that bid as the previous bid apply. And if we don't take action by February 13th and we would need to re initiate the whole procurement process. Councilman Stacy Haley made a motion to formally approve its intent to award a contract to Thompson and Litton for services related to renovations. That was seconded by Councilman Jay Ippolito. Miss Anderson, who was in the audience, stepped up to to raise a couple of questions. she did ask for a copy of the RFP itself and the scope of work. which we did, talk about that. That is available on the state Eva procurement system. You can access that by going to Bedford VA gov clicking on government, going to the finance department. And then you can see the procurement and bid section there. And there is a link on that page that takes you directly to the Eva system.
Bart Warner 00:38:39 If you search for Town of Bedford you will find those documents. All that sounds a little complicated, and we noted that we will do our best to get that information out in a more readily accessible and available manner. Mr. long also had some procedural questions related to the scope of work in the bidders. we did identify some of the other bidders and the procedure that we went through. she also had a question about some technical specifications, and we responded that that's actually what we're looking for Thompson and Litton to do as part of this process. So after a little bit of discussion there and some further back and forth amongst council. Council unanimously voted to approve its intent to award the contract to Thompson and Litton, and that concluded the actions of council at its regular meeting on December 9th. We will not be meeting again this month. Again, our first meeting will is scheduled to take place on January 5th. In the meantime, I hope that everyone has a very blessed and wonderful holiday season and that it brings good health and cheer to all your families.
Bart Warner 00:39:50 And we appreciate all your support, efforts and frankly, your questions. If there's any time you need help with something related to town services. Feel free to contact us directly by phone at (540) 587-6001 during regular business hours. Or you can email me Bart Warner at B Warner at Bedford VA gov at any time. Again, we appreciate all that goes into making this community the best that it can be, and we continue to strive to meet our boast that Bedford truly is the world's best little town. Tell you, we join each other again. Thank you again for your attention to this podcast, and we look forward to engaging and hopefully we'll be a bright and prosperous New Year in 2026.