BERLIN – Town officials will seek a $703,000 grant from Worcester County for the coming fiscal year.
Berlin elected officials last week reviewed a draft letter to be sent to the Worcester County Commissioners as this year’s budget development process begins. The town will seek $703,013 to support a Rails to Trails project, traffic improvements on Flower Street and public safety costs. Mayor Zack Tyndall said there was nothing new in the request.
“I’ve met with some of the commissioners,” he said. “I get the sense there’s not a large appetite to increase the level of funding we may be getting next year.”
Tyndall said the town would ask for $116,013 in Rails to Trails application funding. The county awarded the town grant funding for the program in fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2023. Those applications weren’t successful, however, so the town is hoping to hold on to the funding to reapply. Officials are working with the Maryland Department of Transportation to determine ways to strengthen the town’s Rails to Trails application.
Along those same lines, Tyndall said the commissioners had given the town $122,000 toward a roundabout for Flower Street last year. Tyndall hopes the town can hang on to that funding.
“It’s nice to keep and retain that dollar value there,” he said.
The rest of the grant, $465,000, would be used to support public safety funding for police, fire and EMS services.
Councilman Dean Burrell asked when the council had decided to pursue a roundabout on Flower Street. Tyndall said it was a way to slow traffic down.
Councilwoman Shaneka Nichols said officials had shared their concerns with the proposal already.
Tyndall said that was why he was including in the letter to the commissioners assurances that the town would communicate with them if the project changed.
“I don’t know if a roundabout on Flower Street is the best way to address a speed issue,” Burrell said. “I’ve always been under the impression a roundabout was used to facilitate the flow of traffic.”
He added that a traffic circle would be viewed negatively be community members. He said it would be perceived as another inconvenience foisted on them because of the school traffic.
Tyndall maintained that speed was an issue on the road and he thought a roundabout could be a solution. He said the town could also explore other ideas but that the request to retain the funding should still be made.
“I think it’s important to protect the integrity of the amount so we don’t lose that as a town,” he said.
When Councilman Jay Knerr suggested the council discuss other ways the money could be used to benefit the community, Tyndall said there wouldn’t be time before the grant request had to be submitted.
Nichols suggested the letter’s language to be updated to ask that the $122,000 be retained to focus on improving traffic safety on Flower Street.
“I don’t think the roundabout should happen,” she said. “This verbiage has never sat well with me. I’ve made that clear.”
Tyndall agreed to adjust the wording but to still seek $703,013 in funding from Worcester County during the upcoming budget process.
