$1 • Friday, August 11, 2017 • Vol. 123, No. 32 • morganhilltimes.com • Serving Morgan Hill since 1894
A place to play for all ages and abilities NONPROFIT, VOLUNTEERS RAISE FUNDS FOR INCLUSIVE PLAY SPACE Michael Moore Editor
➝ Home Brew, 10
➝ Playground, 14
Scott Hinrichs
right proportions of each. “The older batch was one of the first batches we brewed together,” added Phelan, who was first exposed to the beer-making process by his father who had his own home brew shop that “I worked at and I hated it.” However, Phelan’s attitude toward homebrew changed as he grew into
Two local former teachers with a combined 70 years of experience educating children made it their mission to bring an inclusive play space to Morgan Hill. Now, Shirlee and Ron Locicero’s dream has come to life as the Magical Bridge Foundation and City Council have agreed to work together in bringing such a facility to the community. “I’ve been working with children all my adult life and I’m excited about doing this playground project in partnership with Magical Bridge Foundation. It’s great for Morgan Hill, it’s great for the Parks and Recreation Department, and it’s great for everybody in our community,” said Ron Locicero, who sits on the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission. The council on July 19 approved a $600,000 agreement with Magical Bridge Foundation to market, promote, design and raise funds for a new inclusive playground at the Morgan Hill Community Park on West Edmundson Avenue. The playground will be uniquely designed to provide recreational play and rest areas for children and grownups, accommodating those with a wide variety of developmental and other disabilities,
A SOUR VICTORY Longtime friends Jon Berkland, left, and John Phelan, both 37 and Live Oak High School alumni, begin to concoct an
Imperial Stout batch of homebrew Aug. 3. The duo placed second at the 2017 National Homebrew Competition with a Sour Ale blend.
Home brewed success LONGTIME FRIENDS TAKE SECOND PLACE IN NATIONAL COMPETITION Scott Forstner Reporter
A pair of local homebrewers and childhood friends’ decision to blend two Flemish Red beer batches concocted four years THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
AUGUST 11, 2017
A section of the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
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T OUT & ABOU OF CALE NDAR EVEN TS
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apart led them to high praise from tasting judges in the 29th annual American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition. Jon Berkland and John Phelan, who grew up together in the same Morgan Hill neighborhood and graduated in the same Live Oak High School Class of 1998, placed second among 240 entries in the Sour Ale
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TATE: ‘SEVERAL’ QUALIFIED CANDIDATES ALREADY WORK AT CITY HALL Michael Moore
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sour ale, Berkland and Phelan, a 37-year-old paramedic by profession, blended one-third of a four-year-old batch with two-thirds of a two-yearold Flemish Red. “By itself it was nice, but we thought it would probably be better as a blended component,” explained Berkland, who began tasting different samples of both until he and Phelan found just the
Council looks within for new city manager
Editor
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category at the prestigious competition on June 15. The event included 8,618 entries from 3,530 homebrewers located in all 50 states and 13 other countries in various beer style categories. “It was pretty amazing for us,” said Berkland, 37, who works for a wholesaler of beer, wine and spirits. “I really enjoy brewing sour ales.” For their award-winning
The Morgan Hill City Council thinks their next city manager is already working at City Hall. The five-member council is conducting an internal search to promote an existing city employee to Morgan Hill’s top staff position before October.
The current city manager, Steve Rymer, recently finalized a contract with the City of Rochester, Minn., to work as their city administrator starting Oct. 12, Rymer recently told the Times. He will continue to work in his current post until Sept. 30. Rymer has worked for the City of Morgan Hill since 2006, starting in the Recreation and Community Services Department. In 2013, the council appointed him to the city manager’s position.
He decided to apply for and accept the position in Rochester due to his family roots in Minnesota, as well as the city’s upand-coming status as a “very progressive,” growing community, Rymer said. Rochester is the third largest city in Minnesota, with a population of about 107,000. “All those pieces together made it an exciting professional and personal opportunity,” Rymer said. The council is moving quickly to find Rymer’s
successor, but the mayor determine what they is confident they’ll find would like to see in a new the right candicity manager. An date without lookonline survey ciring too far. At a culated by Tobin July 31 closed sesvia email asks ression meeting, the idents about their council decided to preferred qualibegin an “immeties and capabilidiate internal ties in a new city recruitment for manager for Morthe next city man- Steve Rymer gan Hill. ager,” according An internal to a press release from recruitment is a sharply Morgan Hill Communi- different strategy from the cations and Engagement council’s search for a city Manager Maureen Tobin. manager when Ed Tewes And the city is reach➝ Rymer, 2 ing out to residents to