Building renovations, park on Tyndall’s ’23 to-do list

By Jack Chavez, Staff Writer

(March 2, 2023) A new town hall, a developed Heron Park, more public art, filling out the Berlin Police Department and bringing the Broad Street and William Street lift stations online were some of the highlights on Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall’s list of goals for the town in 2023.

Tyndall revealed his project priorities as part of the annual 2022 report during the mayor and Town Council meeting on Tuesday.

Breaking down the goals by department, Tyndall listed town hall renovations and Heron Park redevelopment under the things-to-do label for the administration. Also included in this category were researching and expanding employee wellness opportunities, expanding efforts to attract and retain employees, digitizing town documents and updating the town’s strategic plan.

For the Finance Department, Tyndall said he wished to see the water Advanced Metering Infrastructure system completed and an electric rate study wrapped up. He also calls for reducing paper consumption by transitioning to electric files, integrating new credit card software and updating the current service fee structure.

Economic and Community Development Department goals included expanding public art, updating welcome center displays, creating an internet presence for parking at Stephen Decatur Park by adding it to Google Maps and Apple Maps as a town parking lot, adding more year-round parking signage for the St. Paul’s and Decatur Park and applying for additional grants to support the towns events, public art and advertising.

For police, the town has already secured one goal in the Law Enforcement Officers Pension System, which should help address attracting and retaining officers. Other goals included improving overall technical hardware and software, reinforcing community policing strategies and increasing agency partnerships, interfacing with the public more and enhancing the body camera system to automatically record when other cameras are turned on nearby and when a handgun or Taser are removed from their holster.

Planning and Zoning departments goals include conducting community outreach to determine the town’s future growth plan, adding “code enforcement” identification to the Planning Department’s vehicle and updating the town’s various maps — municipal boundaries, zoning and GIS.

Electric Department goals included lineman and meter technician training, power plant upgrades and addressing the electric utility distribution system.

Public Works goals included continuing to assess and improve the town’s parks, playgrounds and streets, evaluating a community composting program and creating a beautification budget as well as growing the Beautification Committee, which as of Tuesday has no recorded meeting on the town’s website.

Water Resources Department goals, on top of the lift stations, include rebuilding the Well 1 pump house and installing meters in the town drinking water system.