Town of Bethel schedules citation-ordinance public hearing for July 1

The Town of Bethel Procurement Committee on Monday moved to include a citation hearing procedure in the draft citation ordinance and rescheduled the ordinance’s public hearing to July 1 at 6:30 p.m. in Meeting Room A.

The committee’s chair introduced the citation ordinance as a follow-up to prior work on blight and housing rules, saying a citation procedure is needed "to have any teeth" in enforcement. Committee members were told a redline and clean version will be posted on the town website and that a 33‑page notice will be distributed to invite public comment; the document can still be amended after the public hearing.

The chair made the motion to include the citation hearing procedure in the public-hearing packet; a member seconded and the motion carried by voice vote. The committee then moved and approved changing the scheduled hearing date from June 25 to July 1 to meet newspaper publication requirements and to increase opportunity for public participation. The transcript records the votes as spoken "I/aye" but individual roll-call tallies and names were not specified in the meeting record.

The committee said the packet will include the redline and clean versions of the ordinance and that stakeholders will be given an opportunity to submit written comments before the hearing. No formal ordinance adoption occurred at the meeting; the action was to prepare and formally schedule the public hearing. The chair said the committee expects to consider amendments after the public hearing and that the July 1 meeting will allow more residents and stakeholders to participate.