Berlin Town Board Action – It’s Official – Carl Greene Resigns From The Berlin Town Board

by Kieron Kramer
Deputy Supervisor and Board Member Carl Greene made his resignation from those positions official at the Town Board meeting on Thursday, December 9. His resignation is effective December 31 of this year. As is typical of Greene, who is modest, thoughtful and conscientious, he submitted a lengthy letter of resignation thanking his colleagues on the Board, Town Clerk Anne Maxon and the department heads, in particular Ivan Wager and his crew at the Transfer Station and Highway Superintendent Jim Winn and his crew. “My budgetary concerns and questions would at times put me at odds with those delivering critical services to the Town,” Greene wrote. He wrote, “I am proud of Berlin, and I am proud of the passion that its residents have for their community. While these passions would at times make for some uncomfortable meetings and discussions, this passion about our home certainly makes us a true community.”
Greene’s letter explained that he had been accepted into the Bethel Seminary and that his mandatory classes at the Seminary would preclude his attendance at the Berlin Board meetings. “It is with regrets that I must resign before completing my term, but I am convinced that this is the right thing to do given my vocational calling,” he wrote.
Town Supervisor Rob Jaeger thanked Green for his service and wished him luck in his new career. “I’m sure The Lord will bless your efforts; there is no doubt,” he said. Board Members Jim Saunders and Sheila Hewitt thanked Greene at the end of the meeting. “It’s been a pleasure; you sure will be missed,” Saunders said. “I’ll ditto Jim; we’re going to miss you – and keep the cheese coming,” Hewitt said, referring to the cheese produced by the Mapledale Farm that Carl Greene runs with his brother John.
Since it would be best for Greene’s replacement to be appointed and sworn in in time for the organizational meeting in early January and since the Board must finalize the purchase of the Berlin Lumber property in February, the Board decided to publish a request for letters of interest which will be reviewed on Settlement Night. The vote to do this and to schedule Settlement Night for Thursday, December 30, at 7:30 pm were passed in roll call votes with Greene abstaining from the vote on the request for letters of interest. The vote on Settlement Night was unanimous, 5-0. If Greene plans to abstain on the vote to appoint his successor, too, there is the possibility that the Board’s vote on his replacement, if the highly politicized Berlin Lumber issue is one of their considerations, might be deadlocked. Jaeger wistfully suggested that maybe former Board Member George Shuhart would jump into the breach.
What Goes Around Comes Around
Those who are familiar with the workings of the Berlin Board may be interested to know that all the votes at this meeting, whether they were the acceptance of the minutes of the previous meeting or of the Town Clerk’s report which are usually passed by a voice vote, were roll call votes at the request of Supervisor Jaeger. This is a direct result of the misunderstanding and contentiousness of the meetings the Board held last month.
A Debate Over Trucks
Highway Superintendent Jim Winn reported that the Department has gone from patching to plowing. “We seem like the only place getting snow in the valley,” he said. All the equipment is ready for the winter, Winn added. The Board voted unanimously in a roll call vote to request bids for highway materials based on the specifications developed by Greene last year. The bids will be opened at the January 13 meeting.
At the end of the meeting Board Member Saunders wanted to go on record as to why he is opposed to the purchase of a new truck next year. “We have had 3 trucks in the last four years, and all five trucks have been replaced in the last seven or eight years,” he said. Winn countered that two trucks haven’t been replaced and that one of the trucks that Saunders thinks of as a new purchase was a replacement for the pick up truck that was totaled in an accident so most of that expenditure was covered by insurance money.
After the meeting Winn said that there are two tandem trucks in the fleet, one a 2006 with a five year loan that will be paid off this year and one the 1996 tandem that he hopes to trade in when a new truck is purchased. There is a 2008 Ford 550 that replaced the truck in the accident. There is the 2007 Ford 350 that Winn uses, a 1999 Paystar that is used only for plowing and the “old Mack,” 1982, which is kept as a spare. Winn maintains that a new tandem axle truck needs to be purchased in early 2011 because the new emissions control equipment that will soon be mandated for this type truck will add $10,000 to the price.
Cherry Plain Cell Tower Still Not Operating
Supervisor Jaeger called Mariner Tower to inform them that residents are eagerly awaiting the cell phone access that the tower will provide and to ask why there is still no antenna on the tower. Chris Ciolfi of Mariner Tower, the company which built the tower in order to rent space to cellular carriers, said the start-up of service is in Verizon’s hands. The tower construction is complete. Code Enforcement Officer Allan Yerton said that there is still no electrical power at the facility and that he had heard that Verizon might wait until the spring to install the antenna.
An Apology?
Planning Board Chair Pam Gerstel was upset about the comments made about the Planning Board at the last Berlin meeting. She was absent from that meeting and read the report in the Eastwick Press where the Planning Board was criticized by Board Member Richard von Schilgen. He had said that the Planning Board had done no research and is just using the Grafton wind energy generation law.
Gerstel said that she has sent the Grafton law, upon which the Berlin wind power law may be based, to a lawyer to have it reviewed. “There are a lot of people working on this,” she said.
Von Schilgen apologized for not getting back to Gerstel. Apparently she gave him a copy of the law which he sent to his son who is in the wind turbine industry. Von Schilgen said that his son thought the document was “pretty standard and that there was nothing wrong with it.”
Got Beds?
Don Calman, reporting for the Beautification Committee, said that the Committee will begin fund raising for the gladioli project on January 1. They have a commitment for two additional beds for next year. Calman asked that anyone who has, or knows of someone who has, an appropriate piece of property for gladioli beds – that is relatively flat and close to Route 22 – should contact him or any other member of the Beautification Committee.
Little Augie Done
Ivan Wager reported that the little augie has been taken out of service because of a sheared key and a broken tension spring. He suggested that people “should look around for a good used item.” Wager said the container has still not been fixed because when the welder arrived it was full of garbage, and he wished everyone a “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the boys at the Transfer Station.”
More next week.