Town Of Berlin-Town Council Meeting

Dear Joe,

I wanted to voice some concerns about the perception of favoritism, leniency and collusion on the part of the Town of Berlin with current members of its own Town Council and Planning and Zoning Commission, not just on this current issue, but on several other occurrences this past year.

Regarding this week's approval for a daycare building (on the former Tyson Food property) which Councilman Troy Purnell (owns) and plans to have constructed and open by July… my first question is how can the Town grant approval in one session upon hearing about this project for the first time? Did every aspect of the project conform to the Town’s code? How was all that determined in one meeting since only a rendering was presented and no architect from Becker & Morgan attended to present the final blueprints for construction? What about a traffic study to determine how the surrounding neighborhood will be impacted? How can the Council approve the project without a Public Hearing allowing the citizens to voice their concerns?

But more importantly, based on this week's approval, my understanding is that the daycare will need to purchase 9 EDU’s from the Town in order to run the facility, and if they decide to install a snack bar, they will need to purchase two additional EDU’s for a total of 11.

My question is why is Councilman Troy Purnell allowed to construct 41 townhouse units on Broad Street and only required to have 13 EDU’s….Presumably the septic flow from 41 households that operate 24 hours a day would be significantly greater than a daycare facility that operates roughly 12 hours a day. Did the Town leave more than $500,000 on the table by not requiring Councilman Purnell to purchase the other 30 or so EDU’s?

Speaking of leaving money on the table…how is it that Newt Chandler, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission is able to profit some $400,000 when he purchased the corner property of RT 113 and Assateague Road for $400,000 and then sold it to the Town for $800,000 within a very short period of time. Why didn’t the town have the foresight to purchase it at auction? Did Mr. Chandler’s position on the Planning and Zoning Commission provide him with inside information?

When the Town prepares its Comprehensive Growth Plan and receives State and Federal funds accordingly, how do the Town justify purchasing property from a member of its own Planning and Zoning Commission and grossly over paying for the property (intended location for the police station)? Isn’t that squandering tax payer funds?

How does the Town justify not collecting more than $500,000 for EDU’s from Mr. Purnell, a member of the Town Council, for his project on Broad Street?

And speaking of justification…how does the Town justify allowing a developer and member of its Town Council to arbitrarily decide whether or not he will build according to the code, specifically to install 12” curbing. Doesn’t the Town code call for 12” curbing?? Why is Councilman Purnell permitted to install 8” curbing at his own discretion? Is the curbing in question within the development and therefore his responsibility to maintain or is it curbing along the public town street and will eventually become the burden of the taxpayers to maintain?

On a stand alone basis, each of these items doesn’t amount to much, however, folded together over time they depict a pattern, and in the very least, it gives the appearance of impropriety totaling about one million dollars in just the past year.

Sincerely,

Berlin Watch Dog