Guest column: Kristen Rubin to take over as Berlin town administrator
Well, hello Town of Berlin. It’s been a while since we’ve done an update so we wanted to let you know what’s been going on! There’s been quite a bit of activity in and around the town these past few months, so keep an eye out on upcoming editions of the Item. Lots of Berlin news to talk about!
First and foremost, we’d like to welcome Kristen Rubin as our next town administrator. Kristen is finishing up her duties as the current assistant town administrator in the town of Leicester where her responsibilities are endless.
Not only has Kristen been an integral part of developing the Leicester town budget of $32 million, but she has been instrumental in Leicester’s purchase of Becker College, a multi-million Fire/EMS headquarters, a multi-million-dollar renovation on Leicester’s town library and various ADA improvements in their Town Hall.
Her certifications and key accomplishments are many: Unsung Heroine Award, grant writer as exemplified by several state and federal housing grants, is a Massachusetts Certified Public Purchasing official (helps with procurement, contracting and ethics law), human resource experience in recruitment, hiring and problem resolution.
We eagerly await her arrival mid-September. We know she will have her hands full, learning about our town, our processes and getting to know our residents. Please join us in welcoming Kristen to town. The Board is excited to work with her and we know she will be making the rounds with departments, committees and commissions. The Town will be in good hands with Kristen at the helm.
Here’s a bit of a hint at our next article. We’re making plans for our next Coffee Talk in September. Come one, come all to say hi to Kristen, and us! More details to follow.
Grants will help fund important Berlin projects
The town relies on submission and approval of grants to help offset the money for projects critical to the town that we do not have in our budget. There have been several grants the town has won that I’d like to share.
Congratulations goes out to Highway Department Supervisor Fred Cummings, as he was successful in obtaining a Mass DOT (Department of Transportation) contract known as the Winter Recovery Assistance Program (WRAP) in the amount of $141,000 for eligible highway work. Nice job, Fred and team.
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Also in grant news, congratulations to the Board of Health on their grant award for up to $10,000 for a mattress collection container under the Sustainable Materials Recovery Program Municipal Grant Program from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Due to new regulations, in the not-so-distant future, as you get rid of those mattresses and box springs from your homes, there will now be a container to safely store them in and allow them to be recycled properly. More to come on that.
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And one more grant news to share: the Conservation Commission was recently awarded $2,710 from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), regarding a Forest Stewardship and Bird Habitat Assessment Plan. The next step in this process will be to hire a forester to develop a plan for the Eager conservation land on and near Ball Hill Road. The forester will work to develop a plan to enhance a habitat for birds.
Community Garden gets new tiller
Thank you to the Agricultural Commission and the anonymous gifter who gave the town a new garden tiller which will be used in our Community Garden. Speaking of the Community Garden, thank you to all the gardeners and our garden leader Deb Rolfe who once again has led the charge in providing fresh vegetable donations to our own Food Pantry.
Food Pantry can use donations
A note from our Food Pantry: always remember that food insecurity is a year-round issue, just not during the holidays. With inflation hitting everyone, if you can, please donate to our Food Pantry. Before you do though, please look at the expiration dates on the items you provide. Though it may make room in your cabinets by giving up some canned goods or partially used and opened items, those items will only end up in the trash as expired and opened food cannot be distributed.
Baseball field gets a new scoreboard
And last but by no means least, installation has started on the scoreboard at the town’s baseball field. In the immortal words of a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, a man named George Hancock who in-joke said, “Play ball!” In those moments, he started the first game of softball using brooms as bats and boxing gloves as softball gloves. Those alumni from Yale and Harvard didn’t know they had just created a new sport that would be played for generations to come.
“Begin something today that carries with great depth, feelings of meaning and love, to echo throughout your life – until the end of time.” – Paul Thomas Berkey
Regards,
Peg, Chris, Scott
Peg Stone, Chris Keefe and Scott Hawkins are members of the Berlin Select Board.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Opinion: Berlin Town Administrator Kristen Rubin starts soon
