(Jan. 12, 2017) “Raucous” wouldn’t quite cover the tone of a Berlin Mayor and Council meeting Monday that seemed, at times, as if it were dangerously close to breaking out into a hockey game.
After breezing through the meat of the meeting, which included approval of more than 30 town events and a summary of Berlin Youth Club activities, resident Bill Todd approached the council during public comments to pitch his petition, apparently signed by 300 people, to rename Berlin Falls park in honor of former local mailman James Tingle.
An unusually large crowd in Town Hall had come in support of Todd and the renaming effort. He had previously talked about the idea extensively on social media, in at least two newspapers – including this one – and on the radio, where he has a regular role on Ocean 98.
He did not, however, run the idea by Mayor Gee Williams before approaching the council, and Williams was quick to show his displeasure.
Todd said he wanted to rename the park “in honor of a beloved member of our community … for his 30 years of service to the United States Postal Service.”
“The people who’ve signed this petition feel that he’s worthy of this honor,” Todd said. “He went well above and beyond what is called for, for the average postal worker. He was a great ambassador for this town when he was working and he is very highly thought of by the people that know him.”
Todd added that the petition was “reflective of a popular sentiment around that town that the name of our newest park, Berlin Falls, is not very well received at all.”
“Many of the people think it’s kind of absurd, being that there are no falls in the park to speak of,” he said.
He also referenced an article in another newspaper, where Williams commented “if anyone has a six-figure financial gift ready to give to the town for the purpose of a renaming opportunity” they could reach out to him. “Then and only then will we have something to talk about,” Williams apparently added.
“The people who support this petition think that is disheartening,” Todd said. “We are asking to open up a dialogue to which the community can have some say in the name and not offer it to the highest bidder. Whether it should be James Tingle Park or anything else, it should be up to the community and not who can write the biggest check.”
Williams said he had received several suggestions from others in town on possible park namesakes, including artist Patrick Henry, Berlin’s first African-American councilmember John Dale Smack, L.Cpl. Charles Keith Bailey, Civil War hero Corp. Isaiah Fassett, Judge Gerald Purnell, current Councilman Elroy Brittingham and the “13 families” who helped revitalize the Atlantic Hotel.
He went on to say that he objected to the way in which Todd had handled the petition.
“This is Mickey Mouse,” Williams said. “This is not the way representative government works. No one called me. No one called the council. No one said, ‘Hey, we have some ideas here.’”
Williams said there was a discrepancy between “the way people think government works versus the way it actually works.”
“I think one of the most fundamental abilities of any elected public servant is to properly represent people that you’re elected to represent,” he said. “Knowing what to do, knowing how to do it and knowing when to do it is very important – it takes all three.”
He said this was the first “social media driven petition” the council had faced, adding, “it does not meet any of the standards which I think are critically important to a fair and well-represented government.”
“This is the wrong thing at the wrong way at the wrong time, and nobody even bothered to ask about the name,” Williams said. “That’s not the way we got to where we are.”
He said the petition clashed with the fundamentals of representative democracy, and specifically took social media to task on multiple occasions throughout the meeting.
“What I’m seeing more and more is this idea that democracy is a direct democracy – that it’s basically put something online and go to town. And that is how this has come across,” Williams said, adding he believed it was “a very poor precedent of how to do public business on behalf of an entire community.
“I really believe in the real world decisions do have consequences,” he said. “I’ve seen what’s happening in other communities and other levels of government, and it’s a shortcut to hell. There’s a way to do this properly, but this is not it.”
Resident Chrissy Ehrhart stood up and walked towards the council dais asking what, then, was the proper way?
“Maybe you could not call it ‘Mickey Mouse,’ but instead say, ‘hey, you know what, why don’t we have a meeting together and sit down and do this properly’ before you demean more citizens,” she said.
“This is wrong. This is wrong. This is wrong,” Williams said, clearly aggravated.
Todd suggested Williams was missing the point by “taking this social media thing and running with it.”
“What you’re saying about social media I fully understand. I understand the real world – I didn’t demean anybody with this,” he said. “I put out what I think would be nice, I come to you, approach you with the way I’m supposed to do it, and the comment … right from the paper was that we had nothing to talk about unless there’s a million dollars on the table. To me, that left a bad taste in my mouth.”
“I’m sorry if it left a bad taste in your mouth, but we also have responsibilities of finding ways to make this actually happen,” Williams said.
Williams said the town was looking for a coordinator to help plan and run the park, and said he was preparing to do a “semi-final interview.”
The name, he said, came from a series of public work groups and was essentially “a nice handle” that no one would miss if it were changed.
“We were very concerned that people were calling the new park ‘the old Tyson factory – the old poultry plant,’” he said. “We said ‘we’ve got to give it a new handle’ … let’s give it a handle so that people have something else to call it.”
“Nobody ever called and asked [about the name],” Williams added. “Nobody said, ‘hey, can we talk?’ No. Never.
“We wanted to have a name that people would not be passionate about, but would be at least branded as to what [the park] can be,” Williams said. “When we do find a way and find the right combination of ingredients we didn’t think anybody would be shedding any tears.”
Williams said Todd and others were “putting the cart before the horse” by suggesting any names before the town could host public meetings on the subject.
“If you think that I’m being unreasonable and unfair, then start another petition to have me recalled,” he said.
“I feel strongly about this,” Todd said. “I want the people in the community to have a say in it.”
“And nobody said they wouldn’t,” Williams said. “But this is not the way to go about it.”
Resident Jim McKinley said the real issue was that “a lot of people are not happy with the name” of the park.
“I think some of them, such as Mr. Todd, are grasping at straws – how do we change this without knowing what to do,” he said. “Maybe it needs to be a foundation similar to what we’re doing with the library. You buy a brick you get your name on it. You buy a room if you spend ‘x’ amount of dollars. If you want this person’s name on this building then start a foundation.
“I think that’s what we’re asking,” he added. “We would like to have some input and I think a lot of people don’t think they’re getting that.”
“And you know what, if it had been presented that way my attitude would be 100 percent different,” Williams said. “It was not suggested that we find a name and find a process – it was take it or leave it.”
“As a public we are asking you, consider what we are saying,” McKinley said. “Let’s go about it a different way and maybe you need to draw the community in a little bit more so we feel a part of it and it’s not being rammed down our throats.”
“It wasn’t being rammed down your throats – you never asked,” Williams said. “That’s what gets me. Everyone assumes that this was a ramming down your throat procedure.”
Todd suggested, at the least, “this was a great way to start the conversation.”
“This is not the way to start it,” Williams said. “We got off to a bad start … but I’ll tell you as a public official the way this country is going in terms of social media driving public issues is a formula for disaster.”
Resident Mitchell David circled back to Williams’ comments in the press that “it takes six figures” to name the park.
“That’s what set this off,” he said. “You put a price tag on it – nobody else did.
“My dad always said, ‘things people say in jest they really mean,’” David added. “Technically, what you’re saying in the article is, ‘hey if you’re not going to buy it you can’t have it.’ That’s what started this, pardon my language, shit storm that you’re in right now.”
David said it was up to the mayor to lead by example and show the citizens the correct way of doing things and “not to castrate [Todd] in the newspaper or on social media or anywhere else.”
Councilman Zackery Tyndall, looking to diffuse the situation, suggested the town come up with a blanket policy on naming both public property that is donated and property that is purchased by the town.
“I think that we need to sit down with our legal department and really have a policy in effect so that, whether we send that out to referendum and you guys vote on a series of names or whether it’s a workshop that comes up with this, something needs to be done so that we don’t have this issue,” he said.
Tyndall moved to form a committee to study the issue, and said Todd should be a part of that as “a representative of the people” who signed the petition.
A vote on the motion was unanimous.
“We have talked about the obligation of government and who’s supposed to do what here this evening,” Councilman Dean Burrell said. “I would like to suggest that we don’t place blame or point fingers, because I think as the town of Berlin we’re bigger than that.
“As part of this local government, I think one of our obligations is to listen. I can say that we have heard your concerns,” Burrell continued. “As we go forward, because this is not something we can settle or do here this evening … your concern and your consideration will be weighed by not only the mayor, but by the entire council.
“Speaking on behalf of the council, you can bet your bottom dollar that your concern will be considered,” Burrell said. “That’s why we’re here – that’s what we’re supposed to do. I just wanted to say that and to assure the group and the 300 petitioners that you’ve been heard.”
After the meeting, Todd said he was happy with the result.
“It was eventful, but it went very well. I’m pleased with the outcome,” he said. “I think [the committee] will be very good in the future and we won’t run into this problem anymore. However, I’m still partial to ‘James Tingle’ [park].”