Greetings from Bartonville! Spring is finally in the air and it has been another busy month for our town. It is so nice to see our neighbors outside working and visiting. We look forward to our annual Bartonville Spring Clean Up day on April 18, always a good time to socialize and mingle while in the midst of spring cleaning.
With our winter hibernation behind us, we are discussing upcoming opportunities for community events. Please let us know your ideas and if you would be willing to assist in planning and coordination.
We approved the town audit for the budget year ending October 2014. This budget had its challenges, as it began with the prior council and had to bridge to the priorities of our new current council. Taking the budget helm, we were able to successfully navigate to increase spending on much needed road repairs (4x the previous year’s spending) to address the unsafe conditions on one of our major roads. In the current budget, we have planned to run a budget contingency of $44,838 and are currently running $30,000 below the plan, which includes additional major road repairs.
Planning and zoning recommended, and the town council approved an enhancement to the “rural business” zoning ordinance which encompasses most of our undeveloped property listed as “commercial” on our master plan. With this enhancement, we can control further large commercial development, such as grocery stores and strip shopping centers from invading our small town. This change for rural business properties allows us greater control over any future construction and restricts the zoning to businesses that do not interfere with our rural life style.
I want to thank the current council. Together we have been able to control commercial development, significantly improve our roads with a long term maintenance plan, and reduce long term spending.
We continue to look forward to your input on more ways to improve our country oasis. Let me know your questions or concerns,[email protected].
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