Berlin council members have approved several annual vendor and service contracts and agreed to increase funding for the Heron Park Building Demolition Project to address on-site discoveries.
Damage from demolition efforts is pictured at the building formerly home to a poultry processing facility in Berlin.
Submitted photo
By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
The Berlin council approved several annual vendor and service contracts as budgeted for Fiscal Year 2025 and agreed to increase funding for the Heron Park Building Demolition Project to address on-site discoveries.
On Monday, Town Administrator Mary Bohlen outlined the vendor contracts, which include $82,850 for information technology, including $9,800 for newly required cyber security.
The town administrator discussed additional monetary agreements, like PK Investment Advisors, which handles Berlin’s annual financial audit. The annual independent financial audit for FY2024 totals $46,500. This includes a $39,000 base audit, $2,500 for the Maryland-required uniform financial report, and a $5,000 single audit. The group has recommended terms for the base audit for FY2025 and FY2026 of $40,200 and $42,200, respectively.
Jarmon’s Cleaning Service will handle sanitation efforts for the Berlin Police Department for $11,000. Southern Corrosion will receive $42,500 for annual water tower maintenance. Tyler Technologies will receive $41,000 for yearly support for the town’s financial software. Schaefer Fireworks will receive $11,340 for the July 3 display, and Worcester Youth and Family’s Berlin Youth Program will receive $40,000.
The contract plan outlines amounts not exceeding $100,000 for Davis, Bowen, and Friedel for general engineering consultation and EA Engineering Science and Technology for general stormwater consulting.
At the same meeting on Monday, the council also approved the increase of $11,500 and an addition of 20 days to the contract time for the Heron Park building demolition project. Bohlen said the amendment is to “address work that needs to be done because of the demolition that has been done to date as they expected when they appeared in front of the Mayor and Council in February.”
Bohlen added, “As they went through, they uncovered things that had to be addressed as they were discovered … as they did a portion of the demolition, one wall came down, and touched another wall remaining. They essentially need to seal it up.”
Bohlen said that the $11,500 increase is still “well within the grant” received from the state for the demolition work.
“Once that’s done, I would like for the areas that have been reworked to receive some paint,” Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall said. “We need to start looking at how we’re going to dress it back up because a portion of this is trying to bring the buildings back to a point where they look decent and make it so they can get back on the tax roll.”