Berlin City Council considering two polling places instead of three

BERLIN — The city’s polling places may be reduced from three sites to two, pending further discussion by the city council, a decision it last made in 2015 when the board voted to go down to three places to vote from four.

The possibility of change was discussed at the July 17 Berlin City Council meeting.

Costs to staff and hold an election are increasing. Timewise, it takes coordination of three different staffs and three sets of paperwork per polling place.

Current places to cast ballots are: Precinct 1, 672 First Ave., Berlin Recreation Center; Precincts 2 and 3, 304 School St., St. Anne Hall; and Precinct 4, 593 Sullivan St., Community Bible Church.

The cost to the city for people to vote at St. Anne Hall is increasing by $400 — going from $300 to $700.

City Clerk Shelli A. Fortin said she received a notice in January that the cost to hold elections at the church would increase, a decision from the Diocese.

“That’s going to be costly even though it’s such a great location,” Fortin said.

There is no charge to hold elections at the rec center as it is a city building.

The cost is $200 to use the Community Bible Church.

“I think we could easily handle the decrease,” Fortin told councilors.

The current checklist has 4,412 voters, Fortin said after the meeting. That represents about 44% of all residents who are registered to vote, figuring on a near 10,000 population.

At the last state primary, each polling location had about 300 voters mark ballots, she said.

Having a polling place on the city’s east side is important to Mayor Paul Grenier, to serve voters in that city sector.

Fortin said two permanent polling locations would be best in the long run, with each site having plenty of parking for cars and pedestrian traffic in and out of the building.

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“In democracy, you want to maximize participation of people to vote,” Grenier said.

“I agree,” Fortin said. “I think it just could be streamlined a bit.”

"The challenge is going to be to find a place to make it work," Grenier said.

The roster of people who work at the polls is almost the same, the city clerk said. She will make sure all are back on board.

“We should be good, as long as they come back,” said Fortin.

Grenier said if a change is made, it would be after the next primary. In November, municipal elections will be held. The state primary for president, under the umbrella of the first-in-the-nation primary and adhering to New Hampshire state law, is presently set for January.

The Democratic National Party, however, earlier determined that South Carolina will be the official first state to hold a presidential primary, eyeing the southern state’s greater diversity as a better indicator of voters’ wishes for the country’s next president.

In other business at the July 17 meeting, the city council approved ordinance 2023-06, which amends rules on competitive purchasing by the city. The amendment now requires every city purchase or contract greater than $20,000 in amount shall be made only after the receipt by the city of publicly invited sealed competitive bids on uniform specifications. After recommendation from the department making the purchase, the city manager shall award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder; quality, delivery, financial responsibility and guarantees of the bidders being equal. The city manager may, in his/her discretion, reject any bid deemed insufficient or inadequate, or may reject all bids ... every city purchase or contract of greater than $5,000 but no more than $20,000 shall be made only after receipt by the city of three or more (if reasonably obtainable) competitive informal written quotations or phone quotations which are adequately documented. Every purchase of $5,000 or less shall be handled by the city on as competitive a basis as is deemed reasonable and prudent. The updated ordinance amends an earlier approved city council ruling presented in December 2002 and increases the purchase or contract amount on competitive purchasing rules to $20,000 from $15,000.

City councilors also learned from the city manager’s report that the Berlin Regional Airport generated $43,460.89 in sales for all of June.

They received an update on road work: Because of the recent and ongoing rainy weather, line painting and road resurfacing have been affected and delayed. The contractor’s completion date was June 30.

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lisa@berlindailysun.com

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