JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Berlin Falls Park Committee Vice Chairman Jack Orris speaks to Salisbury University students in Berlin Town Hall, last week.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Sept. 20, 2018) The Town of Berlin continued its partnership with Salisbury University last week by holding a meeting in Town Hall with about a dozen students from Dr. Sarah Surak’s political science and environmental studies class.

Surak is the university’s co-director of the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement and, for the last three years, has brought students to work with the town on various environmental initiatives.

Most recently, that’s included the pollinator-friendly Bee City USA designation endorsed by the Town Council in May.

“These students are going to be looking at Bee City implementation in three areas: the City of Salisbury, Town of Berlin and Salisbury University,” Town Administrator Laura Allen said. “For Berlin, it’s identifying locations for pollinator gardens, probably two in Berlin Falls park.”

Allen said students would provide recommendations on specific plant types and a layout of where pollinators could be placed in the park.

“Also, we need them to prepare and construct some bee boxes,” she said, adding students would work with Berlin nonprofit Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services on that aspect of the project.

Allen expects much of the work to be done by December.

In a parallel collaboration, students from a graphic design class at Salisbury University would produce print materials and signs for the pollinator gardens, she said.

Meeting in Town Hall with the students last Wednesday, Allen and Public Works/Water Resources Director Jane Kreiter provided an overview of Berlin environmental and sustainability practices, including recent stormwater initiatives and the town spray irrigation site.

Additionally, Jack Orris, vice chairman of the Berlin Falls Park Committee, spoke to the students about planned activities there.

“I think it went really well. We always have a good working relationship with the students and the staff at Salisbury. They ask great questions and I think we are poised to make great progress in becoming the standard for the Bee City USA,” Orris said.

“I’m excited to work with them and I think the committee is going to get a lot more information that will help us make decisions,” he added.

Allen agreed the ongoing relationship with Surak and Salisbury University students is beneficial.

“I think it’s been really good,” she said. “The town has really benefitted and I think the students are enjoying it. I see it as an opportunity to give the students a sense that they can actually come out of the university and get a job in local government or in a community in the area, and they don’t necessarily have to travel or move across the bay.

“If they are interested in environmental issues, there are some communities in this area who would be supportive of their efforts,” Allen continued. “It’s an opportunity to demonstrate to students that local government can serve as a career, if that’s something they’re interested in doing.”

The Berlin Falls Park Committee is scheduled to meet again today, Thursday, at 6 p.m. in Town Hall on 10 William Street.

Orris said upcoming committee meetings would include the development of project timelines and discussion on naming concerns for the park, on Old Ocean City Boulevard.