BERLIN – The Town of Berlin could become the first municipality in the state to sponsor an electrical line worker program.
The Berlin Town Council last week approved a request from the town’s electric department to pursue an opportunity to become the first municipality in the state to sponsor an electrical line worker/meter technician training program.
“It still needs to go before the state board,” said Kelsey Jensen, the town’s human resources director.
Tim Lawrence, the town’s electric utility director, told the council last week that Berlin currently had three apprentices attending a linemen training program. The course they’re enrolled in is recognized nationwide but is not recognized by the state of Maryland. Lawrence reached out to officials at the Maryland Department of Labor to see if that could be changed.
“I went through how we could possibly move toward becoming the first municipality in the state of Maryland to sponsor an apprenticeship training program officially,” he said.
According to Lawrence it wouldn’t be that difficult to do and would mostly involve him tracking the training hours of apprentices.
“There wasn’t that much to it really, it just creates more paperwork and keeping up with the amount of hours because you have to have so many working hours in certain categories, that type of thing,” he said, adding that he was familiar with the work because he’d done it in Virginia before he came to work in Berlin.
Lawrence believes that sponsoring the program would help with grant opportunities, would expand training opportunities for workers and would help with employee recruitment and retention. Lawrence added that it would not have a financial impact on the town beyond normal employee salaries, benefits and training costs.
Mayor Zack Tyndall thanked Lawrence for spearheading the research into the program.
“It goes a long way,” he said.
Councilman Dean Burrell asked if there would be any liability to the town if it sponsored the program. Lawrence said there would not be, as the town was simply ensuring that its employees were properly trained.
“In the state’s eyes, they look at it as we’re taking it one step further to make sure we’re doing everything properly,” he said.
The council voted unanimously to enter into an agreement with the Maryland Department of Labor for participation in the line worker/meter technician apprenticeship sponsor program.
“Thank you both for your work on this it goes a long way,” Tyndall said.
