Berlin Select Board Formally Transfers Powder House Hill to Conservation Commission

BERLIN — April 13, 2026 — Berlin Select Board completes a three-year-old property transfer and enters executive session on highway union negotiations. The board unanimously approved the formal transfer of care, custody, and control of the Powder House Hill property to the Conservation Commission at its April 13 meeting, completing an action authorized at the 2023 annual town meeting that had never been formally executed. Members Hawkins, Stone, and Wysocki also unanimously approved a $9,588.99 consent agenda item to fund Engine 1 repairs using the town's maintenance article. Fire Chief reported that new Engine 2 — ordered in 2023 and lettered for delivery in May — will retire Engine 3 from service, with the old apparatus likely sold through a specialty municipal reseller called Garage. An extended discussion of the Bullet House historic preservation project surfaced years of miscommunication, including a six-to-eight-month delay caused by soil borings that were never actually scheduled; at least one board member suggested a capital committee may be needed to break the impasse. The board closed in executive session, voting 3-0 by roll call to discuss highway union collective bargaining strategy under MGL Chapter 30A, Section 21(a)(3), with no return to open session.