I hope a lot of Bellevue residents are planning to attend the budget hearing on Monday. Bellevue Council needs to hear your voices when it comes to their plan to increase property taxes by a quarter-mill and raise the sewer surcharge.

The fiscal situation in Bellevue was summed up quite brilliantly by council president Kathy Coder at the last meeting: "It's like having cable t.v. when you have no food on the table."

She was referring to Bellevue financing a swimming pool while not having money for the necessities.

She gets it.

Some others clearly do not.

I hope that I am not the only person stunned by a suggestion made at Bellevue Council's meeting on Tuesday, but given the lack of horrified gasps in the room, that may very well be the case.

On Monday, Jan. 4, The Citizen staff attended five different municipal meetings. At the first four, the procedure was pretty much the same. The meetings began at the advertised time with the swearing-in of newly-elected officials, followed by the election of a president and vice president. They then moved quickly through such first-of-the-year business as naming committees, appointing a solicitor, and setting meeting dates for the coming year. The meetings ended with everyone sharing refreshments and good will.

I don't care what your politics are -- when schools start choking at the idea of showing a video of the President of the United States speaking to students, someone needs to get a much firmer grasp on reality.

Emsworth Council members chose experience over politics in electing a new president last Monday evening.

Although Paul Getz is the only Republican on council, he has considerably more experience in borough affairs than any of his colleagues, which include three brand new council members sworn in that night along with incumbent Alex Nalevanko.

Taking the oath of office along with Nalevanko were Kevin Yurkovich, Tom Maletick and Brian Fashian.

Although there were any number of questions about who and when and how, Bellevue Council voted Tuesday to award a contract for a streetscape design to Civil and Environmental Consultants.

The firm’s bid was some $3,000 higher than the next competitive bidder’s, but members of the Downtown Business District Advisory Committee re-commended CEC because, according to council president Kathy Coder, its proposal was customized to relate to Bellevue, and the company had experience with similar streetscape projects.

The Avonworth School Board held its annual reorganization meeting on Dec. 5. At that meeting, the five recently elected school board members - David Oberdick, Robert Wible, Jeff Carraway, Peter McKay, and Brenda Barlek, were sworn in.

In addition, the board voted to return David Oberdick to his former position as president. Brenda Barlek, the president during 2011, resumed her prior position of vice president.

Despite facing some costly infrastructure repairs, Ben Avon Heights officials have agreed not to raise the property tax millage rate in 2012, but may look at imposing a sewer surcharge.

The construction of a retaining wall on Briarcliff Road -- along with the associated engineering, easement and utility line movement costs -- could carry a price tag as high as $200,000, according to council president Mark Davis.

The faces of the Avonworth School Board have changed.

At its work session on Monday, the board voted to accept the resignation of board member Lynn Evans, effective Aug. 26. President Brenda Barlek praised Evans for her many years of service on the board, as well as her ser-vice on the board of the A.W. Beattie Career Center.

The board then voted to appoint Jeff Carraway to fill Evans' remaining term of office, which expires this December. Carraway was nominated for a board seat on both ballots in the spring primary.

Bellevue has been home, off and on, for the past 20 years for Kathy Coder, but since returning here in 2004, the community has become her passion.

"When we moved back, we bought a 100-year-old house. It was lots of work, and at the same time, I kept thinking I wanted to get involved with Bellevue. I knew nothing about local government, but I thought I'd like to bring some ideas here."

Coder went to a few council meetings, found herself replacing a council member who had resigned, and shortly after was elected council president.

At least a portion of Northgate School District’s full-day kindergarten program could be restored, thanks to a state grant that will provide some funding.

Northgate eliminated full-day kindergarten in budget cuts last month. The program had been funded by a state accountability block grant of nearly $200,000, funds that were drastically cut in Gov. Tom Corbett’s 2011-12 budget for Pennsylvania.

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.