It was 7:52 p.m. when Bridgeport City Council’s meeting adjourned this evening. And when asked if that lived up to his first promise in the seat of mayor, Andy Lang laughed a little.

 

“They’ll go longer sometimes and some may be shorter” said Lang, who promised at the start of the meeting that he would do his best to keep things concise during his term. “I value everybody’s time and I just want to make sure that we’re able to keep things moving forward.”

 

Lang ended the meeting answering questions from local media. He started it repeating answers from Harrison County Circuit Judge Thomas Bedell.

 

He was the first of four individuals – and the only new face – to be sworn in to a four-year term on Council by Bedell. Lang, the new mayor, was followed by Robert “Bob” Greer, Dustin Vincent and John Wilson who were all sworn in to four-year terms as Council members.

 

A political newcomer, Lang has been a businessman in the city for decades and has been involved in numerous critical decisions on that front. Now, he’ll be one of those tasked with making decisions that have an impact on the bottom line of Bridgeport and its residents both financially and from a quality of life standpoint.

 

“Of course there were,” said Lang when asked if he had some butterflies coming into the meeting. “There’s going to be some tough decisions in the future to be made and we’re all going to have to work together to make the right decisions. You make the decisions for the majority, but sometimes you don’t forget the minority. We’ll get it all figured out.”

 

Decisions were all unanimous this evening. Council agreed to concrete street repairs and the paving of U.S. Route 50. City Manager Kim Haws said the hope, now that the water portion of the Main Street infrastructure improvement project is complete, is to have Main Street paved by the start of August.

 

Council also unanimously approved a rezoning request by Darren Abraham, the owner of Abraham Linc on rezoning a portion of 5.76 acres he recently purchased that abuts his Main Street property. Abraham said he plans on using the portion that was rezoned tonight from Residential-One (allows for single family housing only) to Business-Two (allows for large scale commercial business) for a new parking lot to help facilitate a $1.5 million expansion plan of his company’s base of operations.

 

The matter was recommended for approval to Council by the Bridgeport Planning Commission in June. The Planning Commission did have a few individuals from the adjacent Rosewood development voice concerns and there were also concerns voiced during the public forum of the last City Council meeting. However, there were no comments on this particular matter this evening during the public forum that is held near the start of each meeting.

 

“We’ve received no comments since the last (City Council) meeting (on June 26),” said Community Development Director Randy Spellman.

 

The only non-business issue that took place was from Citynet’s Jim Martin and Drew Pomeroy. The pair provided Council with an update on the Gigaport project that is taking place in the city limits to provide the option of what has been described as “super high speed” internet service as well as other new services, including television in the future.

 

As for public comments, Tom Leonette addressed Council. Leonette, who has been heavily involved in the Veteran's Memorial project, is asking for the city's assistance on acquiring two trees to be placed near the memorial. 

 

More from the meeting, including a photo gallery, in the days ahead on Connect-Bridgeport.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows the members of City Council sworn in tonight by Judge Thomas Bedell. From left it Robert "Bob" Greer, Andy Lang, Bedell, Dustin Vincent and John Wilson. Second photo shows Vincent taking the oath as the large crowd is gathered in the chambers behind him. Below, City Manager Kim Haws talks about the Route 50 paving contract as Wilson looks on.