Ditch in no man’s land plagues Flower Street

By Jack Chavez, Staff Writer

(July 21, 2022) The Berlin Town Council voted 3-1 twice, with councilmember Jack Orris in opposition twice, to double the town’s stormwater fees and raise the water and sewer capital service fees during its July 11 meeting.

Residential stormwater fees will raise from $50 to $100 annually. The price hikes are expected to bring in an additional $75,400 from residences and $48,000 from businesses, with the money intended to fund capital projects that the stormwater fund did not allow for.

The resolution also increased the commercial annual fee to $35 per ERU (equivalent residential unit), with a minimum of $100.

Water capital service fees have been set at $5 for residential properties and $10 for commercial properties. Sewer capital service fees were set at $14.50 for residential properties and $29.50 for commercial properties.

Flower Street property owner Gabe Purnell brought up an ongoing issue with a drainage ditch that neither the town nor Worcester County is eager to claim as its own, leading to the ditch’s maintenance going ignored and causing bad drainage issues in the area.

Purnell said, regardless of who owns it, the town could be doing more to remedy the situation and that the issue is part of the greater problem caused by the town not prioritizing the east side.

“The east side … you don’t give a damn about it as far as I’m concerned in some cases,” he said.

Councilmember Shaneka Nichols took exception to Purnell’s comments and shot back that she’s met with residents in the area and that even Purnell’s wife, Worcester County Commissioner Diana Purnell, told her that the county has tried to address the issue.

“The guy who cuts the ditch, your wife called him,” Nichols said. “I know because she told me to my face on the first day of my family reunion last year. What he told your wife was, and I know because (town administrator) Jeff (Fleetwood) called him and I sat right in his office listening. I do my damned due diligence. I try my hardest to do that … So what I’m telling you is she made that phone call and that man told her he’d be there after the season was done, meaning after the harvest and everything else. When the fall came he was supposed to come. Jeff reached out and he never came.”

Mayor Zack Tyndall stated that staff resources “are not isolated to one side or the other of Berlin.”

Resident Marie Velong, a 48-year citizen of Berlin, said that the rate seems to be slanted against residents, many of whom are like her and have seen drainage issues crop up with continuing residential development.

“My property has only gone and sunk because of the houses around me,” she said.

Councilmember Dean Burrell took notice of Velong’s issue and asked the council to figure out when some relief could come to the West Street area.

“When we developed this plan, we realized that each street of the town is dependent upon another,” he said. “It would do no good to go in and mandate things. So we developed a comprehensive plan that is designed to decrease the flooding throughout the town and the east side was started with because … that’s where the water goes and it had to have somewhere to go.”

Jean Holloway, the Maryland state manager for the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, came before the council before the discussion to offer suggestions based on that organization’s analysis, including the price hike and replacing water meters, which is underway, she said.

“Some of the recommendations originally were to replace the meters, which we are doing, and (with) meters that read every gallon (of water),” Holloway said. “People were … losing … unaccounted for (water) and weren’t getting money back for it. I would suggest a water audit also to see if there are any other causes once you’ve had meters (replaced.)”

She added that interim rates had been recommended to start on April 1, though the council did not accept that recommendation. Regardless, she urged, the issue should be revisited once the meters have been in the ground for six months, as the rate might benefit then from further tinkering.

Holloway also recommended restructuring the rates for wastewater, which she called “not particularly equitable.” Her recommendation was to incorporate a fixed charge per equivalent dwelling unit and then a usage charge or a “biometric charge” to recover the variable costs. She also recommended a water audit to identify any sources of non-revenue water that are not directly attributable to the water meters.

For any changes, Holloway cautioned that they should come with accompanying legislation to protect them in the future.

“Your wastewater has depth, for one thing, and it’s top-heavy, which … we talked about depth before. But if you can’t pay down the depth, then I’d recommend just based strictly on cost and the prorated share cost that we use 2.9 times what the water interim rate is, so that it’s $14.50 per residential connection and $29.50 per commercial connection,” Holloway said. “And again, sufficient legislation to protect that from unauthorized use or use that you all did not intend. And then restructure the rates.”

“Again, neither the water nor the source system is financially sustainable or sustainable under the present circumstances and rate structure. I think that’s recognized by USDA and likely be remembered if you go to the capital project and it’s something that will block your ability to get credit, loans or grants until that is straightened out. “