By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

(June 4, 2020) Berlin town officials approved a $348,740 street resurfacing project to ECM Corporation last Tuesday.

Jeff Fleetwood

The company will resurface several streets throughout the town. According to Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood, streets identified for the multi-street project are Tingle, Middle, Purnell, Upshur, West Germantown, East Burley, Cape Circle, East Railroad, Flower, Harrison, Bottle Branch and Decatur. There will also be a slurry seal and pothole filling planned for Showell Street.

“ECM is a contractor from the western shore that has paved its way to the Eastern Shore,” Josh Taylor of Davis, Bowen & Friedel Inc. said. “They’ve gotten three out of the four the last projects I’ve worked on in Delmar.”

Responding to a question from Councilman Elroy Brittingham, Taylor said the company also has done work for the state. The only reason the state projects were not referenced, he said, was because a bid only required five references.

Fleetwood told the mayor and council that Berlin had received three bids for its resurfacing project in May and recommended the council award the contract to ECM Corporation as the company’s bid was in excess of $100,000 less than the next lowest bid.

“I contacted Mike Gibbons in Fruitland and asked him what his experience was with this company and he said they did good work,” Fleetwood said.

Brittingham then questioned when or whether the company would provide a notice for residents who lived on Flower Street. Taylor assured him that a process would be made to notify residents.

“The projects are really spread out amongst the town, so people will know when we’re coming,” he said. “We want people to be comfortable. If you make people feel like you care about them and respect their wishes, they’ll play nicely [when the time comes.]”

Taylor admitted the company was concerned when the time to make bids arrived, considering their own bid was just under $350,000. According to him, the other two bids were around $500,000 and $475,000.

“I made sure they were comfortable with their bid,” Taylor said. “They told me they really wanted to do work in this area.”

Fleetwood said that while some of the streets would be paved in their entirety, others would not, depending on the condition of the streets themselves.

Work is expected to begin in early July.