By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

(May 21, 2020) Berlin residents who want to mail or email questions or concerns for next Tuesday’s hearing on the town’s proposed budget for next fiscal year have two options for having their comments heard.

Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood and Deputy Town Administrator Mary Bohlen reminded residents that the deadline to submit written questions for next Tuesday’s hearing are Friday for regular mail and noon Tuesday for email.

During the last public hearing, which was held on Facebook live on Monday, May 11, the public was allowed to ask questions for 15 minutes, though few actually did that.

Mary Bohlen

“What we did last time for the public hearing aspect, we did allow folks to make their comments on the Facebook page, and then we would entertain those questions,” Bohlen said.

“[However], if you take a look at the 68 comments from that meeting, there’s maybe two questions,” Fleetwood added.

According to Fleetwood and Bohlen, few people have participated in town government’s sessions since the Facebook live meetings began in April.

However, even if residents don’t send in questions or comments, they will be able to ask questions during the meeting, although those questions must be pertinent to the budget draft only and can only be done during the public hearing section of the meeting.

“We will hold it the same way we did it the last time, during the public hearing portion of the meeting,” Bohlen said.

Meeting packets were set to be posted on the town’s website by the close of the business on Wednesday. Residents can use this packet to formulate any questions they might have about the budget. The packet can be found at https://berlinmd.gov/government/council-meetings/.

Questions can be emailed to info@berlinmd.gov, and should use M&C Comments as the subject line. Comments and concerns can also be faxed to 410-641-2316.

Letters can be mailed to the Berlin Town Hall at 10 Williams St., Berlin, MD 21811 with the subject listed as “M&C Comments.” Mail should be postmarked no later than the close of business on the Friday before the meeting to help ensure delivery is on time.