By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

(April 16, 2020) Several motions were approved by the Berlin mayor and Town Council during its first virtual meeting held at Town Hall on Monday. Council member Zack Tyndall was absent due to a family illness.

PJM Policy

Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood introduced and the council approved a renewed contract for a risk management policy by PJM, a Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland co-op. The policy, Fleetwood said, was getting old and needed to be updated.

“It’s a housekeeping measure,” he said.

The town purchases its electricity through the company. When the town generates its own electricity in the summer, it reduces the costs to the town by hundreds of thousands of dollars, Fleetwood added.

Fourth of July

Fleetwood also recommended the town ask the county commissioners to move its annual Third of July fireworks celebration from Heron Park to Worcester County Park on the grounds that it had significantly more space.

The fireworks will be launched around the baseball fields and allow families to have a better view of the event, he said. The site was checked and approved by the fire marshal.

The overall costs for the event will be around $10,000. The council approved the motion on Monday and received approval from the Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday.

Tax Rate

Mayor Gee Williams announced that the property tax rate would remain .80 to every $100.

“We keep the tax rate exactly where it is,” Williams said. “The reason …the question why we set the tax rate early in the process and not the end, there’s a couple reasons. You have to advertise your tax rate in accordance to the state requirements. Once you advertise it, you can always go lower, but you can’t go higher.”

A public hearing for the tax rate will take place on Monday, May 11.

Future virtual meetings

Shortly before the meeting closed, several members of the council agreed it would be beneficial to the town and its residents to continue posting live videos of the council meetings even after the coronavirus concerns end.

“It is my desire that … with more live streaming, we get better at it and be even more flexible than what we have,” Williams said.

The council will consider looking into the budget to find better equipment to use for future meetings, as the first one was done from Deputy Town Administrator Mary Bohlen’s cell phone.