Volume 20, Number 7
Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
www.berlincitizen.com
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Revised budget Berlin Lions Fair tradition continues under new president goes to the people By Ashley Kus The Berlin Citizen
The Berlin Citizen
Lenny Tubbs has been looking forward to this year’s 68th annual Berlin Lions Fair ever since last year’s event ended. Now, he will be directing it all as the fair president. “It’s all about the community and working together,” he said. “This is not my fair, this is our fair, this is the Berlin Fair.” Vintage carnival-style posters from the fair sit in the corner of Tubbs’ office at Kensington Auto Ltd., which he owns. Three small Lions Club banners hang above his desk next to framed family photos. Tubbs’ connection with the fair goes back well beyond his 11 years of involvement with the Lions Club. Originally from Plainville, he attended the fair when he was younger and started going regularly when he moved to Berlin 30 years ago. “There’s a special feeling that I get when I see everything come together, whether it’s me running it or someone else running it,”
The public will get to cast their vote on the $83.2 million adopted town budget on Tuesday, April 26. The Town Council voted Tuesday, April 5 to send it to referendum. “We think people were generally happy with the budget,” Mayor Mark Kaczynski (R) said. “We really went through it all with a fine tooth comb and I think we funded important projects.” “I think we came to a very fair and minor budget inLenny Tubbs, owner of Kensington Auto Ltd., is the 2016 Berlin Fair president. | Ashley Kus / The Berlin Citizen Tubbs explained. Last year, he was vice president of the fair, while his wife held the top position. The Berlin Fair, Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, focuses on local agriculture, with livestock and tractor pulls. Tubbs said new features are added each year. “Through farming demonstrations at the fair we are educating the public,” he said. Mayor Mark Kaczynski sees the fair as a connection to the past.
“We are lucky to have farms left,” he said. “We are preserving the rural character of the town as much as possible.” While a few hundred volunteers work the fair, the Lions Club is the organization that makes it happen, according to Tubbs. “If it wasn’t for our members and the commitment they make, it would never happen,” he said. Kaczynski is amazed at See Tubbs / Page A7
crease this year,” Kaczynski said. The revised version included a $50,000 cut to the town budget and a $50,000 reduction to the Board of Education operating budget. The town decrease included a cut to the animal control department, with no funds given for a requested van. “I think we can consider it for next year’s budget,” Councilor David Evans (R) said. The municipal revenue share grant from the state was See Budget / Page A7
Same-day referendum, primaries expected to boost voter turnout By Ashley Kus
referendum are on the same day. “We anticipate a better Local voters will be able to turnout this year,” said Demcast their ballots this month ocratic Registrar of Voters not only in the presidential Fred Jortner. The primaries preference primaries, but are also expected to have a also in the town budget refer- higher turnout statewide. endum. The two will be held Secretary of the State Denise Tuesday, April, 26. This is the Merrill has seen a boost in first year in recent memory that both the primaries and See Referendum / Page A7 The Berlin Citizen
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