Volume 17, Number 49
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
www.berlincitizen.com
Renovation affects school day, students say By Daniel Jackson
Brodersen-Chirico has talked to town officials and has sent letters to Board of Isabel Brodersen-Chirico Education, but feels that she and her daughter, Holly is being ignored. The problem is that the Chirico, are disappointed about how the Berlin High noise of the renovation, the S c h o o l re n ova t i o n h a s pounding of the jackhammers, the beeping of heavy progressed. The Berlin Citizen
Thursday, December 5, 2013
’TIS THE SEASON
equipment and exhaust fumes seep into certain classrooms, bothering students, the two say. Chirico has recorded the sounds on her smart-phone, the pounding of construction See Renovation / Page 12
Berlin High School undergoes renovation. | (Daniel Jackson / The Berlin Citizen)
Berlin’s annual tree-lighting ceremony was held Nov. 30 at Veterans Memorial Park. The event featured face-painting, ice sculpture demonstrations, a performance by The Ballet Theater Company, and, of course, an appearance by Santa and Mrs. Claus. See more photos inside. | (Photo by Lee Roski)
Prep for winter weather begins early By Daniel Jackson The Berlin Citizen
In the middle of November, the town of Berlin buys its salt, attaches plows to its trucks and finishes up road work in preparation for the coming winter season, the time when road crews go out and clear the snow from the roads. Every year, the town’s employees “get everything as ready as we can and wait for the snow to fly,” said Highway Superintendent Bryan Griswold.
It’s a routine task, Griswold said, and although “I wouldn’t say it’s big. It’s important.” Over the last few weeks, the highway department finished up its work on Orchard Road and inspected the trucks, making sure the plows and spreaders worked, sending the broken trucks to the garage. The town has 800 tons of special road salt, Griswold said, treated to work at lower temperatures when conventional road salt would stop working. Its enough material to handle about three to four storms.
The town council chose the contractors to plow the town’s streets and cul-de-sacs. On Nov. 21 at a special town council meeting, the newly-formed town council authorized the town to award S.J. Biella Enterprises, a contractor out of New Britain, the contract to plow the town’s streets at $175 per hour, per truck. The award to plow the town’s cul-de-sacs went to Rogan Enterprises, LLC of Berlin and S.J. Biella Enterprises at $127 an hour each truck. According to request for town council action documents, the town
expects to pay the contractors a total $25,000. Berlin’s Public Works Director Art Simonian said the contractors will supplement the plowing done by the town because cul-de-sacs need to be cleared with smaller trucks. “When the first storm rolls around, we’ll be calling our contractors as needed,” he said. This year, the town will put chains on its trucks to increase traction and use two trucks with pre-proSee Prep / Page 9