Town, OPA do their best to draw public

It might be said that Berlin and Ocean Pines don’t have much in common beyond sharing the 21811 zip code. But recently they, as in their leadership, are thinking about how to ensure the public’s presence at their meetings.

In Ocean Pines’ case, the community association’s board of directors on Saturday gave President John Latham the authority to change the date and time of the board’s monthly meetings this summer from the usual Saturday morning to an evening during the week.

The theory is this change in time and date might make it easier for property owners to attend a meeting. Latham would have to give 10 days’ notice of the schedule change … if he chose to try a midweek session. It’s up to him whether to pursue it, but it’s worth a try and certainly won’t hurt anything.

Berlin officials, meanwhile, have no choice but to move their meetings of the mayor and Town Council to the library. Extensive renovations of Town Hall — and some of this should have been done years ago — have made conducting the public’s business in public impossible in some circumstances.

Altogether, the mayor and council will be spending about $3.2 million on this overhaul, so it’s much more extensive than earlier believed and that’s after some planned improvements were set aside to reduce the cost.

It is also why the mayor and council and the town’s regulatory bodies are unable to meet there, much less accommodate the public.

Even though the circumstances of these changes in Berlin and Ocean Pines are much different — with one attempting to draw a larger audience and the other being sure it can accommodate its citizens safely — the public should show its appreciation of these considerations.

And that would be by attending one or more sessions of these decision-makers regardless of when, where or what time they convene.