BERLIN, Ala. – To aid its residents in completing the 2020 Census, the Town of Berlin on Saturday held a Census Day event at the community center. As extra incentive, the Town raffled off a 50-inch UHD Samsung TV. The event also doubled as a celebration of the Berlin Volunteer Fire Department’s 45th anniversary.
Mayor Patrick Bates said turnout was lighter than he expected.
“Most of the folks coming by have already filled out the census and just came by to get confirmation, and most of them filled everything out with the people outside so things in here have been pretty slow,” he commented.
Rain in the area during the first half of the event likely contributed to the lower than expected turnout for census participation.
The fire department had its trucks on display at the community center, and inside the building a team of volunteers assembled barbecue plates for visitors to take home or enjoy inside.
Fire Chief Ralph Laney, who has worked with the BVFD since 1977, said the department is already preparing for the addition of 280 homes in the Kingfisher subdivision. A groundbreaking for the new neighborhood will take place Tuesday.
“We currently have 10 trucks in our fleet, and we’ll be replacing two of them with those two there (gesturing to photos of what the new trucks will look like),” he said. “Those new trucks should arrive in about a year.”
Both Chief Laney and his wife, Janice, who was helping assemble the barbecue plates, said they had seen a pretty good turnout for the celebration, considering the weather.
“It started off pretty slow,” Janice Laney said, “but then we had an EMT carry out about 15 for their team and then another person asked for 10, and that’s when we realized it was starting to pick up.”
She said the department served around 150 plates.
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