BERLIN – One of Berlin’s longest serving elected officials said this week he was hoping to extend his tenure on the town council.
After 28 years as a town council member, Elroy Brittingham said Wednesday he did plan to file for re-election.
“Every time my term comes up we have so many unfinished things I’d like to see completed,” he said.
The District 3 councilman did say, however, that if elected this would probably be his last term as he wants to spend more time with his family in the future.
“I made a promise to my family,” he said.
Elroy Brittingham
Brittingham says he had little idea he’d spend nearly three decades on the council when he was first pushed into filing for election.
“We had a committee and we were trying to find a person to run for council because we’d just started the districts,” he said. “We had three or four people we were trying to convince. They turned against me and said ‘you should run.’”
Brittingham did and has held a council seat ever since. He’s hoping another four-year term will give him the chance to see the former Tyson property developed and recreation opportunities for town kids expanded.
He says overall the town is in a significantly better position now than it was when he was first elected.
“When I got on the council, I’d go into meetings with a different kind of spirit,” he said. “We didn’t work together. A lot of money was spent on one side of the highway and nothing was spent on the other side.”
He said things gradually started to turn around and have really improved in the last decade.
While Brittingham enjoys being able to represent his neighbors as a councilman he says what they don’t realize is how long it takes to get things accomplished. Things like working with state and federal government, applying for grants and dealing with paperwork make projects move slowly.
“You try to get things done but it takes so long,” Brittingham said. “But once you get them accomplished you really feel like you’ve done something.”
This year’s town election is set for Oct. 4. A candidates forum will be hosted by the Coastal Association of Realtors Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. at the group’s Franklin Avenue location.
