GOP Announces Town Council Ticket

The Berlin Republican Town Committee held a brief meeting, led by Chairman George Millerd, to announce its candidates for the fall election.

David Evans, a current councilor, will be back to seek re-election. Kari Maier Drost, however, will not seek re-election for a spot on the Town Council. She will instead run for the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The rest of the ticket will include Eric Buhrendorf, Fran Geschimsky and Charles Paonessa. Geschimsky and Paonessa ran unsuccessfully in the last election for Town Council. Buhrendorf is a newcomer to politics.

The Republicans will formally announce their candidates at a BRTC fundraiser held Saturday at the home of Kari Drost. The cost to attend the kick-off fundraiser is $30.

The BRTC did not announce its nominees for the Police Commission as it is unsure if it can run two or three people according to the town charter.

"There are three candidates and only two can be Republicans," Millerd said. "We have three people interested but I have to check with (Town Clark) Kate Wall to see if all three can run or we have to select two."

Drost said her decision was not as difficult to make since she will still be running for another office.

"My husband was adamantly against me running again because of the lack of civility shown to me by the Democrats," said the mother of two boys, 8 and 13. "We have professional people on the Council and they call themselves leaders but they are not professional at all. One of the reasons I decided to run for office was after I attended a Town Council meeting and saw how they behaved. I thought I could change it but I couldn't.

"We always have a spot on our agenda for audience of citizens. That is supposed to be when we are listening to the people who attend the meeting and want to talk. The Democrats used it as a platform to tell people their opinions were wrong. They always interject when they should be listening and it's sad. I hope people will think that I stood up for the smaller voices who aren't always heard.

"When I was elected I tried to go to meetings of all the commissions and boards to see what their function was and what they were doing. I went to a few meetings of the Board of Assessment Appeals and thought they were interesting. I wanted to continue to stay involved in some fashion.

Evans said he is excited about the slate of Republicans who will seek election.

"I think they represent the town very well," Evans said. "We have a young person with a lot of energy and a gal who brings great wisdom, experience and perspective. We also have a business owner so they are a reflection of what we have in town here."

Evans said he thought his decision out thoroughly before deciding to run again.

"The whole time you are doing this, you think about the amount of time you are spending with your family and the time you are serving the community," said Evans who has a young family. "I think I struck a good balance and there are things I would like to continue to work on.

"I am on the sub-committee for the Worthington Meeting House. We have an architect on board and it looks like we will have some work beginning this summer. I am also on the sub-committee for the high school renovation project. Those are two things that are close to me and I would like to keep working on them but we'll have to see what the voters have to say."

Drost, who was on the nominating committee, is excited about the Republicans slate.

"I'm very excited," she said. "Eric is a great guy who has only been in town two years. He comes in with a newcomer's eye and that is a good perspective sometimes. Dave is very analytical and does not let anything get past him. Charlie owns a business and Fran has a lot of experience. I think it's a very good ticket."

The Democrats will hold their caucus Thursday.

Mayor Adam Salina will not be there, as he is on vacation, which leads to some speculation that he may not run again.

The current Democrats on the Town Council are: Salina, Steve Morelli, Rachel Rochette, Bob Dacey and William Rasmussen.