The first Bradford City Council meeting of the new year saw an
en masse swearing in of two new councilmen, one returning
councilman and the city controller.
City Clerk John Peterson started off the meeting by swearing in
Ron Orris, returning as controller; Tom Shay, returning to council;
and new councilmen Tom Riel and, for the first time in many years,
a Democrat, Bob Onuffer.
Welcoming Riel and Onuffer to the board, Mayor Michele Corignani
said, “I’m sure you’re both here to do what’s in the best interests
of the community.”
She said that she, Shay and Councilman Dan Costello are willing
to answer any questions the new members may have. Costello was
absent from the meeting.
After the new board was seated, a brief meeting was conducted.
Council members were named to direct the following departments:
Corignani to public affairs and the Office of Economic and
Community Development; Shay to public safety, building and health,
planning and zoning; Costello to accounts and finance; Riel to
parks and public property; and Onuffer to the Department of Public
Works.
The board also voted to appoint and re-appoint members to
authorities, boards and commissions. Riel was the lone dissenting
vote.
“There is one man on the list I don’t approve of, so I
regrettably must vote no,” he said, explaining that approving the
list would mean approving all 16 names on it.
Following the meeting, Riel would not specify to whom he was
referring.
“If we would have voted on them one by one like they should
have, the man I was referring to would have come out,” he said. The
list of 16 names was approved en masse.
Riel did say, however, “There’s only one petition circulating
around town about an individual whose name was also on that list
today. We’ll leave it at that.”
A petition, available in at least one Bradford business, is
asking for signatures against Chris Hauser’s re-appointment to the
Downtown Bradford Revitalization Corp.
“We request this due to his inability to revitalize downtown
Bradford and the increase of empty storefronts during his
chairmanship of the DBRC,” the petition reads.
Hauser was one of the 16 names on the list for appointments in
front of council Tuesday. He, along with the other 15 people, were
approved by a majority of council.
Those appointed were as follows: Terry Lopus, five-year term,
Bradford Housing Authority; Ed Pecht, three-year term, Bradford
Area Public Library; Mike Sipko, five-year term, City of Bradford
Board of Appeals; William Graham, three-year term, City of Bradford
Tree Board; James Guelfi, five-year term, and Lisa Cagney to fill
an unexpired term on the Parking Authority; and to one-year terms
on the Plumbing Board were Lawrence Smith Jr., Christopher
Hollister, Darrell Potter, Gary Alcock Sr. and John Peterson;
former councilwoman Kathy Graff to fill an unexpired term on the
Redevelopment Authority; Dan Hartle to a five-year term on the
Sanitary Authority; Neal Murphy to a five-year term on the Water
Authority and Fred Proper to a three-year term on the Zoning
Hearing Board.
