Although Bellevue Council meetings have been lengthy and full of redundancies lately, the outright hostility of meetings past has been a bit muted.

At least in public.

Out of the public meeting chamber, the skate plaza and resignation of the assistant DAS have lit the simmering embers of outright loathing that exist among some members of council.

Apparently some members of council blame some of their colleagues for the loss of ADAS Katie Hale, even though it has been reported that personal circumstances may have played a major role in her decision.

When I was in college, I took a class on Native American culture that introduced me to the writings of Carlos Casteneda.

Now, Casteneda -- in spite of, or perhaps because of, the ingestion of various natural mushroom-type substances popular at one time in our not too distant history -- imparted several fascinating personal philosophies. The one that has stuck with me over the decades is that reality is a relative concept.

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.

Bellevue Council will have to decide between PAMS and Jordan Tax Services for collection of borough fees and delinquent taxes, but first may have to decide exactly what fees the companies may collect.

Although the collection fees charged by PAMS are lower, according to council members, the finance committee recommended hiring Jordan to collect sewage, per capita and possibly garbage fees.

Council members Jane Braunlich and Linda Woshner both objected to hiring Jordan because of the higher collection and delinquency fees that would be charged to borough taxpayers.

The Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas has rejected a challenge filed by Mark Helbling concerning the results of the May 17 primary election alcohol referendum.

The Bellevue Council member filed a petition alleging that the county elections department’s plain English explanation of the ballot question was incorrect and influenced voters against the referendum, which would have allowed liquor licenses to be issued to businesses in the borough.

Historically, Bellevue has been a dry town. No neighborhood bars where friends can gather to tip a few frosties and talk over the triumphs or travails of the day. No restaurants where diners may sip a pre-dinner whiskey sour.

For decades, though, proponents of change have attempted to revoke that dry status by proposing referendums that would allow liquor licenses in Bellevue. This year's election once again puts the issue on the May 17 ballot, with those voters who prefer maintaining the status quo vying against those who feel that it is time to change.

Editor:

Our editor permitting, I would like to share with The Citizen readers a telephone conversation I had with Aaron Stubna regarding retraction of the section of the pro-liquor advertisement in The Citizen, Feb. 4, 2011, pertaining to Allegheny County. I reiterated this conversation to councilman Mark Helbling, Bellevue’s assistant administrative services director Katie Hale, and Allegheny County’s Allegheny Together department director, Lance Chimka.

Despite an early start to this year’s budget process and every intention of actually getting a bud-get adopted before the end of the year, Bellevue officials hit a snag when it came time to vote on the first reading of the budget ordinance at Tuesday’s regular meeting.

Lingering concerns over a hefty increase in the sewer surcharge and salary increases were complicated by a change in adoption procedure introduced by the borough’s solicitor to send officials back to the drawing board before a substantive vote on the bud-get is taken, probably on Dec. 14.

Disagreements over procedure broke the tenuous calm that has marked recent Bellevue Council meetings, ending with council members walking out of Tuesday’s work session as others were chastised for their behavior.

A number of motions -- including a couple to adopt ordinances on their second readings -- were approved in 5-4 votes as issue of voting at work sessions once again became the subject of debate.

Bellevue will turn to a professional pool management company to cover the Memorial Park swimming pool this summer.

Council's parks and recreation committee held an emergency meeting last Saturday when officials realized that they had not received viable applications for the pool manager's position. According to committee chair Lisa Blaney-Stewart, the borough received proposals from only one individual, but two companies.The committee recommended entering into a contract with one of the companies, Swim America, owned by a Bellevue resident.

It took considerably longer than the 15 minutes allotted Tuesday evening for Bellevue Council to approve a 2010 budget, but officials worked together to come up with a balanced spending plan.

Already nearly a month late due to procedural errors, the budget was expected to be approved quickly in a special meeting on Jan. 26. Officials, however, arrived to find that no actual budget was attached to the ordinance they were voting on, and the latest version of the budget distributed to council did not match the earlier advertised summary, and was not, in fact, balanced.

Bellevue Council started off the new year with a bang. With four officials not invited to take part in an early swearing-in ceremony, the night took a turn for the worse as council members got a few surprises before the evening ended with a plea from the mayor for everyone to check their egos at the door.