By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

This is part two of a two-part interview. The first part was released in the Jan. 18 edition of the Bayside Gazette.

(Jan. 25, 2018) Along with examining parking issues and developing a growth strategy and ways to capture revenue from recent growth, Berlin Mayor Gee Williams said town priorities for 2018 would include forging a new partnership with fire and EMS services, beginning the development of Berlin Falls park, and implementing a new street and sidewalk plan.

A study of Berlin Fire Company needs, commissioned by the town in cooperation with the company, is expected to finish in mid-February.

The study is meant to better understand how much funding the fire company needs for budgetary planning purposes. Williams hopes the results also help repair the strained relationship between town government and fire company leadership.

“I expect that to be a significant first step in advancing the relationship between the town and the fire company, from one that has traditionally been perceived as the town being a hands-off benefactor, to one that is more of a partnership between two public entities who both want what is best for the citizens and property owners of Berlin,” Williams said.

He added, “that we are just a disinterested provider of funds? That’s not how it works in 21st century America.” Nor, Williams said, was that normal during the latter part of the last century.

“The relationship needs to reflect the times,” he said. “We’re ready and prepared to create that true partnership – we don’t want to run the fire company, but we need to be an informed partner. And they need to understand how all of this works, so that we can get the greatest benefit from the resources that we currently have and anticipate the resources that we’re going to need.”

Williams believes an emerging majority of firefighters want to better the relationship with town officials.

“Time will take care of it, but we can’t wait for another 20 years,” he said. “We simply want a relationship with the fire company that we have with everybody else, regardless of what agency it is, private sector, education sector, our partners and friends in the faith-based community – why should [the fire company] be an exception?”

He said the town has an “excellent relationship” with county and state police agencies, not to mention Town of Berlin Police.

“Law enforcement is essential to public safety, but just as important is fire fighting and protection, and emergency medical services,” he said. “The past is the past. Nobody should apologize for it, but I think this needs to be done.”

As for Berlin Falls park, Williams said he’s “looking forward to supporting the vision and direction” of the newly formed Berlin Falls Park Advisory Committee.

“I’m very pleased with the qualifications and diversity of skills and experience [of the committee members], but I imagine their new duties may initially seem somewhat overwhelming,” he said. “I understand that, but I believe they will find the task as rewarding as it is challenging.

“My expectation is that they will put some things in motion that will be started or completed this year – in 2018 – while also laying groundwork for some other uses and improvements that will follow in the next two-to-five years,” Williams added.

Williams has his own ideas about what the park, a former industrial chicken processing plant, could become.

“But I do not want to influence them,” Williams said. “If someone on the advisory committee as a group or individual asks for my opinion, I’ll give it, but I’m not going to interject it – that’s why they’re there.

“The mayor and council is responsible to provide the resources that we can, within our means, to support the potential for that park, and to lay the foundation for something that can be benefiting at least the rest of this century – that’s a long time,” he added.

Also this year, Williams said the Town Council would consider a street and sidewalk repair plan drafted by Town Administrator Laura Allen and members of the public works department.

“We haven’t set a hard and fast deadline … but it’s going to happen,” he said.

Williams said the town, during recent years, has patched holes and made repairs as they came up, but lacked a formal, strategic plan.

“We’ve taken care of what I think are the most-critical needs. Now, we need to figure out where do we go from here, and how do we do it in a plan that considers what the impacts are and where the greatest benefit can be, with the money that we have available in any one fiscal year,” he said.

“Those include not only upgrades … but also where there are little sections of sidewalks that are missing. Why not starting filling in the gaps?”

In other places, new sidewalks could be built in front of new homes and businesses, he said.

“There are some places where a sidewalk was never needed, because there never was anything there, or it was a warehouse,” Williams said. “Now [in some places] that a building has been revitalized and upgraded and there’s a business there – but there’s no sidewalk.

“There will be exceptions, when emergencies occur like a major water-line break or when there is unanticipated development on a particular street or neighborhood,” he continued. “We can’t anticipate everything, but it’s time for us to have a strategic plan that can evolve and be tweaked as times or circumstances demand.”

Williams gave credit “to the folks that proceeded us” for laying groundwork allowing recent economic successes in the town.

It’s the charge of those in office now, he said, to lay the basis for continued success, using financial considerations, human resources and community support to plan for growth that is “sustainable and manageable.”

“Anyone who portrays Berlin as wanting all growth at any level in any amount, simply does not know what they’re talking about – Anyone who thinks we want no growth, at all, doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” Williams said. “I’ve found that this is a community that is thoughtful, responsible, but willing to adapt with the times and to accept change as a normal and beneficial part of growing as a community.

“We’ve embraced the 21st century and it’s worked pretty well so far. I don’t see the need to go off into some other direction when this path has benefited us the way it has,” he added.

Williams, 69, said he would like to continue in his current role “as long as the folks want me to do it.”

“That will be the first and foremost consideration,” he said. “As long as I have the energy, I will keep an open mind to serving as long as the people want me to. I don’t believe in setting artificial deadlines for projects or for initiatives in town – I don’t do the same for myself.

“I never planned to do this – this was not on my to-do list in life,” Williams continued. “I didn’t plan it, didn’t see it coming. But, I’m enjoying it. It has its moments, but everything worthwhile in life does. I kind of take it one turn at a time, and I think that’s the way it should be.

“It’s my hope that when it is time to pass the baton, that I will feel that I and everyone that I’ve worked with, regardless if they’re councilmembers, professional staff, partners in other levels of government and in our community, that we’ve taken the baton as far as we can and that we’ve at least set an example and created expectations that someone else can take to another level, in their own way, at a pace that they’re comfortable with,” Williams said.

“But I do strongly feel that these last few years have shown that the naysayers are almost always wrong. If you’re one of these people that are fearful of the future – if you think things are not possible – maybe you’re in the wrong town,” he added.