BERLIN—The Town Council voted to support a proposal to allow retail liquor sales within the town limits and to ratify a settlement agreement designed to resolve a challenge to the way electric utility customers are charged for the town’s power grid membership, during a Jan. 13 meeting.
Joseph Moore, a partner with the Ocean City law Williams, Moore, Shockley and Harrison, requested and received the Mayor and Town Council’s support to begin an effort to expand the state’s Annotated Code to allow a retail store to sell beer, wine, and liquor within the Town of Berlin.
Moore explained that currently only restaurants can sell beer, wine and liquor, under their Class B licenses. A non-restaurant retail outlet could do so only with a Class D license, which is not held by any business in Berlin, he noted.
Retail customers had been served previously by the Worcester County Wine and Liquor Outlet at Old Ocean City Boulevard, until it was relocated to Route 50, near Stephen Decatur High School, he said.
For the first time since the repeal of prohibition the town was left without a convenient outlet where residents and visitors could purchase liquor without having to traverse “one of the busiest arterial highways in Worcester County,” he said.
On behalf of an unnamed client, Moore asked the town officials for a letter expressing their support for an undetermined future effort to seek a legislative modification of Code Article 2B, Section 6-401(y). The modification would be to add “The Corporate Limits of the Town of Berlin” to the list of jurisdictions where holders of Class D licenses could operate.
The request to the town was the first of a multi-phased effort to expand the zones covered under the statute, based on Moore’s request. Areas covered by the statute include the corporate limits of Ocean City, the boundary lines of the 10th taxing district, and the area along Route 50 west to the Maryland 589 corridor north through the areas adjacent to Ocean Pines. Moore explained that before approaching Sen. Jim Mathias (D-38) with a proposal to seek a legislative expansion, Moore wanted to request the support of first the town and then the Worcester County Commissioners.
The motion to support Moore’s request and to generate a letter on behalf of the town council was approved unanimously.
The council also approved, what Mayor Gee Williams dubbed as a bit of “housekeeping,” in reference to how the town accounts for cost adjustments relating to the annual $5,000 fee it pays to be a member of the (Pennsylvania, Jersey and Maryland) PJM Interconnection, LLC.
The Valley Forge, Pa.-based PJM Interconnection coordinates and directs the operation of the power grid for the region’s 59,750 miles of transmission lines, and administers a competitive wholesale electricity market. The town’s electric utility is regulated by the state’s public service commission.
With the exception of when officials switch from PJM’s grid service to self-produced electricity from the town’s own electrical generators to lower costs during peak periods, the membership improves Berlin’s competitive standing when purchasing electricity and enhances transmission reliability, Town Administrator Laura Allen explained.
Essentially, both Actual Cost Adjustments and base rates appear as line items on electric customers’ bills. The town prorates the membership fee to its customers through the ACA process, a practice that was challenged by Maryland’s Office of People’s Council, an independent public utility watchdog group. In January 2013, the PSC approved the town’s request to continue to bill customers for the membership fee through the ACA, but that ruling was appealed by the OPC.
In December, a settlement was reached between the Town of Berlin, the PSC and the OPC. However, it was contingent upon the town council’s approval to ratify the settlement agreement. With the council’s Jan. 13 vote, officials were essentially notifying the PSC that they approved the settlement agreement and officials will be awaiting a final ruling from the PSC by the end of January, according to Allen.
Generally speaking, the settlement agreement allows the town to continue doing what it had been doing all along, leading Mayor Williams to call the OPC’s challenge a “tempest in a teapot,” and noted that the allocation had no fiscal impact on the rates electricity customers are being charged.
Council members also voted to approve a request for a special Sunday permit to serve alcohol during a Feb. 2 Super Bowl Party that will be hosted by Boggs Disharoon American Legion Post 123.
Joseph Moore, a partner with the Ocean City law Williams, Moore, Shockley and Harrison, requested and received the Mayor and Town Council’s support to begin an effort to expand the state’s Annotated Code to allow a retail store to sell beer, wine, and liquor within the Town of Berlin.
Moore explained that currently only restaurants can sell beer, wine and liquor, under their Class B licenses. A non-restaurant retail outlet could do so only with a Class D license, which is not held by any business in Berlin, he noted.
Retail customers had been served previously by the Worcester County Wine and Liquor Outlet at Old Ocean City Boulevard, until it was relocated to Route 50, near Stephen Decatur High School, he said.
For the first time since the repeal of prohibition the town was left without a convenient outlet where residents and visitors could purchase liquor without having to traverse “one of the busiest arterial highways in Worcester County,” he said.
On behalf of an unnamed client, Moore asked the town officials for a letter expressing their support for an undetermined future effort to seek a legislative modification of Code Article 2B, Section 6-401(y). The modification would be to add “The Corporate Limits of the Town of Berlin” to the list of jurisdictions where holders of Class D licenses could operate.
The request to the town was the first of a multi-phased effort to expand the zones covered under the statute, based on Moore’s request. Areas covered by the statute include the corporate limits of Ocean City, the boundary lines of the 10th taxing district, and the area along Route 50 west to the Maryland 589 corridor north through the areas adjacent to Ocean Pines. Moore explained that before approaching Sen. Jim Mathias (D-38) with a proposal to seek a legislative expansion, Moore wanted to request the support of first the town and then the Worcester County Commissioners.
The motion to support Moore’s request and to generate a letter on behalf of the town council was approved unanimously.
The council also approved, what Mayor Gee Williams dubbed as a bit of “housekeeping,” in reference to how the town accounts for cost adjustments relating to the annual $5,000 fee it pays to be a member of the (Pennsylvania, Jersey and Maryland) PJM Interconnection, LLC.
The Valley Forge, Pa.-based PJM Interconnection coordinates and directs the operation of the power grid for the region’s 59,750 miles of transmission lines, and administers a competitive wholesale electricity market. The town’s electric utility is regulated by the state’s public service commission.
With the exception of when officials switch from PJM’s grid service to self-produced electricity from the town’s own electrical generators to lower costs during peak periods, the membership improves Berlin’s competitive standing when purchasing electricity and enhances transmission reliability, Town Administrator Laura Allen explained.
Essentially, both Actual Cost Adjustments and base rates appear as line items on electric customers’ bills. The town prorates the membership fee to its customers through the ACA process, a practice that was challenged by Maryland’s Office of People’s Council, an independent public utility watchdog group. In January 2013, the PSC approved the town’s request to continue to bill customers for the membership fee through the ACA, but that ruling was appealed by the OPC.
In December, a settlement was reached between the Town of Berlin, the PSC and the OPC. However, it was contingent upon the town council’s approval to ratify the settlement agreement. With the council’s Jan. 13 vote, officials were essentially notifying the PSC that they approved the settlement agreement and officials will be awaiting a final ruling from the PSC by the end of January, according to Allen.
Generally speaking, the settlement agreement allows the town to continue doing what it had been doing all along, leading Mayor Williams to call the OPC’s challenge a “tempest in a teapot,” and noted that the allocation had no fiscal impact on the rates electricity customers are being charged.
Council members also voted to approve a request for a special Sunday permit to serve alcohol during a Feb. 2 Super Bowl Party that will be hosted by Boggs Disharoon American Legion Post 123.