Residents of the village of Bethel packed the village council meeting room, located at 120 North Main St., on Dec. 10, 2015, expecting to argue about an ordinance replace village’s utility rules and regulations.

Residents of the village of Bethel packed the village council meeting room, located at 120 North Main St., on Dec. 10, 2015, expecting to argue about an ordinance replace village’s utility rules and regulations.
By Megan Alley
Sun staff

Residents of the village of Bethel packed the village council meeting room Dec. 10 expecting to argue about an ordinance replace village’s utility rules and regulations.

The point of supposed contention surrounded verbiage in Ordinance 1818 which stated that, “All property owners located in unincorporated areas, shall be required to annex into the village of Bethel in order to receive utility services from the village of Bethel.”

Mayor Alan Ausman said the ordinance was amended before the meeting to include the word “new” before “utility services,” a move that seemed to resolve residents’ concerns before the public input portion of the meeting.

“We clarified three sections in that proposed regulations annexation to just make sure those were clear that the village would be requiring new utility subscribers who are outside the village to annex in to receive services,” said Julia Carney, village solicitor.

She added, “We could actually require all those outside the village to annex in to receive our water, but the village is not going in that direction at this point in time.”

Carney said an example of a new subscriber would typically be a new subdivision, not a new home or new property.

The edited ordinance, which was approved by the council, now reads, “All property owners located in unincorporated areas, shall be required to annex into the village of Bethel in order to receive new utility services from the village of Bethel.”

“If you look at it, you almost don’t catch it. It’s just one little word, but that one word is a very powerful word.”Ausman said.

Resident Greg Schuler asked for clarification on the revised verbiage during the public input portion of the meeting.

“It’s just been changed; it wasn’t on the website or anything,” Schuler added.

Ausman further explained that on the annexation portion of the ordinance, the verbiage has been updated to include the word “new.”

“New building, new subdivision; no old,” Ausman added. “No existing customers are going to be annexed. Nobody up here has a desire to do that.”