BERLIN â The city is asking residents to continue wearing masks voluntarily to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The city council Monday night chose not to renew the cityâs mask mandate, which expired last Friday with the statewide mandate. Berlin will still require masks to be wore inside municipal buildings.
Mayor Paul Grenier said only one city in the state, Portsmouth, now has a mask ordinance. Grenier said the mayors of Claremont, Concord, Dover, Franklin, Keene, Laconia, Lebanon, Manchester, Nashua, Rochester and Somersworth as well as Berlin have followed the stateâs example and let the mandates expire.
He said the mayors have issued a joint letter, explaining Gov. Chris Sununu let the mask mandate expire following a reduction in the stateâs seven-day average of daily deaths to 0.6, the lowest since October 2020, as hospitalizations remain at a manageable level, and as over 70 percent of residents 65 and over have been vaccinated.
LANCASTER â Berlinâs former assessing coordinator was indicted by a Coos County grand jury last week on charges of possessing child pornography. Brian D. Chevarie, 34, of 83 Mountain View Drive, Rumney, was charged with 12 counts of possessing child sexual abuse images on Feb. 10, 2020, in Berlin. The investigation included his office at city hall but authorities would not comment on whether the cityâs computer system was allegedly used to download or store any of the images
âWhen law enforcement came to the building as part of the investigation, we gave them full access to Mr. Chevarieâs office and the computer equipment he utilized,â City Manager James Wheeler said in an email. Wheeler said Chevarie resigned his position in February 2020 and referred further questions to the Coos County Attorneyâs office. Coos County Attorney John McCormick said he could not comment on the case beyond the information in the indictments.
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City Council discusses Airbnb regulations
February 17, 2021BERLIN On Feb. 8, the Berlin City Council began the work session with Mayor Paul Grenier asking that HB623 and SB135 be added to the agenda as the bills were to be heard the following day. The motion carried and was approved unanimously.
City Manager James Wheeler discussed the Capital Improvement Plan. He reported that an annual update to the City s Capital Improvement Plan for the next six years was ready to be reviewed and accepted by the Council.
He explained how it works, stating that the information in the plan is gathered then presented to the Planning Board. From there, it goes to the Council to be approved. According to Wheeler, a Capital project is typically expected to cost $10,000 or is a project that will last for three or more years.
City Council back to work in the new year
January 13, 2021BERLIN At last week s City Council meeting in Berlin, the Mayor opened a Public Hearing for Resolution 2021-01, re-appropriating funds for a PW-Loader Lease Account. There were no public comments.
The Disbursement Summary from Dec. 19-30 came to a total of $1,129,281.82. That amount was approved by all Councilors.
A Resolution that would re-appropriate $33,403.07 from fiscal year 2021, for a CI-PW Garbage Packer ($13,762.60); FY21 CI-PW Salt Truck ($8,640.45); FY21 CI- PW Loader Mounted Snow Blower ($11,000.00) to FY21 CI-PW Loader Operation Lease was discussed.
The Resolution states, Whereas, the City is in need of replacing two of its loaders which are primary equipment for snow removal; and Whereas, favorable bid pricing resulted in a combined surplus of $33,403.07 in the FY20 capital accounts for a garbage packer, salt truck and loader mounted snow blower, and Whereas, by combining the $33,403.07 with $63,786.09