Bellevue Council voted unanimously to override Mayor George Doscher’s veto of the salary ordinance adopted by council in December.

Doscher said that he disagreed with a provision of the ordinance that required non-contract employees to contribute 10 percent of the cost of their health insurance. A recent contract reached with the firefighters union set their contribution rate at only 5 percent. Members of the police and public works unions currently contribute nothing.

The post-election reorganization of Bellevue Council Monday night was not without incident -- several of them in fact. The meeting began with one council member-elect omitted from the swearing-in, and ended with questions about the legitimacy of the entire process. In between, a new regime took charge of council, and perhaps set the tone for the coming year.

Although it appeared that few people on Bellevue Council actually wanted to pay a new part-time office clerk $15 per hour, a resolution doing just that was approved by officials at Tuesday’s work session.

Miscues, misinformation, lack of preparation, bad acoustics and outright distrust factored into a series of events that ended with the hiring of a temporary office clerk at the same salary paid to the former assistant director of administrative services.

DAS Doug Sample defended the higher hourly pay rate, arguing that job would entail more than just clerical work.

Anyone who has gotten a street sweeping ticket in Bellevue this year probably has paid more than the borough had any authority to charge.

Bellevue Council voted Tuesday to approve the third and final reading of an ordinance that increases the fine from $10 to $15 for people who park in prohibited areas on street sweeping days, but pay the fine within 10 days. The ticket cost increases after the 10-day period.

Mayor George Doscher questioned the ordinance at Tuesday’s council meeting, stating that the police department had been handing out tickets at the increased rate since spring.

With support from a number of people who attended Bellevue Council's work session Tuesday evening, council approved a fund-raising art festival that will include the sale of alcohol.

Bellevue will again host a celebration at Memorial Park for residents on July 4th, despite the best efforts of council’s parks and recreation committee for the second year in a row.

Last year, the committee -- chaired by Lisa Blaney-Stewart and including council president Kathy Coder as a member -- ignored the event until the final days, at which time Coder signed an employee’s name for credit card purchases using the borough’s card so that Bellevue could offer its free menu of hotdogs and watermelon, along with entertainment.

MAYOR RESPONDS Editor:

This letter is in response to the letter to the editor dated 4/22/11.

The proposed ordinance that will mandate the inspection of rental property in Bellevue has advanced through its second of three required readings, with officials still undecided about what fees to charge.

During Tuesday’s regular council meeting, council member Jane Braunlich expressed concern about the financial impact of charging the proposed $45 per unit to people who own large apartment buildings. She suggested charging $25 for the first unit, and $10 for each subsequent unit in the building that is inspected.

By VICKI MORTIMER

At its work session on Tuesday, Bellevue Council voted to override two of three vetoes handed down by Mayor George Doscher at the end of 2010. The user-based sewer surcharge will not go into effect just yet, this year’s pay increase will be limited to one employee, and the borough already has hired an assistant director of administrative services (DAS).

Although Bellevue's 2011 budget remains intact, Mayor George Doscher has vetoed three supporting ordinances that have a tremendous impact on the coming year's spending plan.

Doscher notified Bellevue Council on Dec. 30 that he was vetoing the sewer surcharge ordinance, as well as the salary ordinance and the ordinance amending the borough's personnel code to add several new positions.

Bellevue will take its proposed 2011 budget down to the wire, with the major points of contention left unresolved despite extensive debate at a special meeting on Tuesday.

Council reached a consensus on only one of three sticking points, that of next year’s garbage fee increase. Major points that could sway a final vote on the budget on Dec. 28 are the sewer surcharge and a raise for the public works supervisor.