The Bedford Town Council held its regular meeting on June 24, 2026, at 7:00 PM. The meeting included a presentation of a public service award, confirmation of a new Information Technology Manager, a legislative update from state representatives, and approval of a civil forfeiture warrant for unlicensed dogs. The meeting adjourned after councilor reports.
All right, good evening, and welcome to the Town of Bedford Town Council meeting for June 24th, 2026. We'll start with the roll call, but first introduce Town Manager Rick Sawyer to my far left. Good evening. Counselor John Bader. Yep. Good evening, Bedford. Counselor Becky Sowell. Hey, Bedford. Counselor Matt Sullivan to my far right. Good evening. Councillor Fahy. Good evening, Bedford. Town Vice Chair Gail Levesque. Good evening, Bedford. And Omphil Griazzo, the town chair. If we can have uh, let's say Becky lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, is that okay? Sure. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And we'll have to have the record reflect that Councillor Strand was called away and he is joining us via Zoom. Is there anybody in the audience that wishes to speak? Okay. Public comment. I don't have to give the disclaimer on that. So under new business, we have Veterans of Foreign Wars, Richard K. Harvell, Post 8401 presentation. Presentation of public service award for firefighter EMT of the year, and we will have Gary Backis come up and present that, please. Good evening, sir. How are you? I am well. How are you all? Good, thank you. Thank you so much for allowing us to come and share a little bit of time with you this evening. It's uh this is a great honor and a privilege for us to be able to come and honor one of Bedford's finest. And uh so every year uh the Veterans of Foreign Wars, our national organization sponsors a safety uh program, and they encourage all of our posts uh nationwide, worldwide to uh do certain things that are safety related, you know, small programs within their own post. Part of uh some of the things that they do is this national program to recognize our first responders and our our public servants. And it is a bit of a a uh uh uh a challenge to get them up through each post is is able to submit uh uh their recommendations for these awards. They go on to the state level, state evaluates them and then sends uh the the most deserving ones on to our national headquarters to present one of these uh certificates. So what I would like to do with your permission is invite firefighter EMT Aiden DeRosher to come forward. He is our honoree this year. Welcome, welcome. What I'd like to do is just very briefly uh read a little excerpt out of the letter that the uh chief provided us about uh your service. It says Mr. DeRosher serves as a firefighter paramedic whose professionalization, compassion, and commitment to public service exemplify the highest standards of emergency medical care through daily interactions with patients, family, and fellow responders. He consistently demonstrates exceptional clinical skills, sound judgment under pressure, and strong sense of duty to the community. In addition to providing high-quality pre-hospital medical care, Mr. DeRocher is known for his mentorship, training contributions, and his dedicated and his dedication to public safety. His actions reflect credit upon Bedford Fire and align closely with the values and missions of the veteran of foreign wars. And this is the certificate. I'll show it to you.