BELMONT — Village officials recently decided to partially open a long-closed alley but did not rule out opening it all the way through sometime in the future.

At the council meeting held in September, Board of Public Affairs President Ken Davis said that a property owner who is building a new home was requesting at least a partial opening of the alley connecting Brown and South streets near the village water tower.

Resident Beverly Tomolonis raised concerns about the opening since stakes placed by a village-hired survey crew showed the alley passing through what she and her husband believed to be their yard and very near their pool. Council then decided to table the matter so the Tomolonises could have their own survey performed.

At the council meeting held Oct. 1, Tomolonis said she and her husband had decided against taking on the expense of having a survey done and that they would accept council’s decision.

Another neighbor noted that the village would be taking on a major expense in labor and materials by putting the alley all the way through to South Street.

“I think this is a big waste of money,” the neighbor who did not identify himself said and also expressed concern over stone from the alley washing into his yard.

Mayor Ron Woods said as he understood it, the request was only to open the alley to the edge of the property where the new house was being built. Council President Mike Murphy said officials were discussing opening it all the way to better facilitate snow removal by village crews in the winter.

A consensus was eventually reached to open the alley to the end of the property in question and revisit the matter in the spring if needed.

Also at the October council meeting:

Officials discussed amending the street sweeper contract with the village of Bethesda to allow Belmont Service Director Justin Kinney to operate the equipment so Belmont can get better value from the purchase that the two villages split.

Council also accepted the resignation of P.K. Wilkinson as a part-time village worker and Cemetery Trustee.

Woods and Councilman Shaun Bruce noted that the village is in need of two cemetery trustees and needs to advertise the positions.

Anyone interested can turn in letters of interest at the village offices in the basement of the Belmont Gymnasium.

Police Chief Andrew Miller gave his police report and noted that the department had been receiving a good number of donations for its Shop with a Cop program, announced at the September meeting.

Concerning Halloween festivities being planned for the village, Councilwoman Lorie Grobb said that while the traditional “Fun Night” at the gymnasium will not be held due to COVID-19 officials plan to go ahead with costume judging at 5 p.m. Oct. 31 at the gymnasium followed by trick or treat in the village from 6-7 p.m.

Bruce proposed only bringing the different age groups in one at a time for judging to minimize the number of people in the gym at any given time and asked that those who do come for the judging be there by 5 p.m.

Grob said they still plan to give out bags of candy and anyone wanting to donate candy to the village for that purpose can drop it off at the village offices.

Council also discussed raising rental rates for the Belmont Gymnasium and adding a “cleaning deposit” to the fee structure to encourage those renting the gym to clean up after themselves and to give the village a way to recoup money spent cleaning the gym when they do not.

After some discussion, council settled on charging $25 per hour with a $50 deposit for those renting the gym only, and $35 per hour with a $100 deposit for those renting the gym and the kitchen. Village Solicitor T.J. Schultz agreed to have an ordinance prepared for a first reading at the November meeting.

Belmont Village Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 5 in the gym.