Matt Bell, director of external affairs finished his tenure as a member of Hillsdale’s City Council on Oct. 19 with the passage of two ordinance changes that he proposed at the meeting.
The first, a change to the campfire ordinance, allows Hillsdale citizens to burn campfires without needing to obtain a permit. Citizens are still asked to call the fire department and inform them of their intention to burn a campfire. The second change is to use and occupancy inspection regulations. Citizens are now allowed to submit their own professionally done inspection to the city without needing a city official to come to their home.
“The city’s been good about it,” Bell said at the Oct. 19 meeting. “But, it’s in our laws that they couldn’t be. If you get someone else who really wants to be a stickler, all of a sudden you’ve got somebody saying you’ve put all this money in this house, but you can’t go live in it unless you get this exact thing taken care of.”
Both ordinances passed without discussion on Monday night.
Councilman Bell said his goodbyes, thanking the council for working with him and the citizens of Hillsdale for allowing him to represent them.
“We’ve had some excellent arguments and good disagreements at this table here and we’ve never remained disagreeable,” Bell said.
Bell went on to say that he believes citizen involvement is necessary in government and that he hopes he helped create that kind of government during his time on the council.
“It is important to remember that sovereignty rests with the people,” he said.
Mayor Adam Stockford thanked Bell for his time on the council and said he would be missed.
“It’s been an honor to serve with you. I don’t think there’s been another person on this council who has understood self-government as well as you have,” Stockford said.
Bell will be replaced by Rob Socha, who won the Ward 4 City Council election. On Monday, Nov. 9, victors of the city council elections will be sworn in at 8 p.m.
