00:00 - This program has been paid

00:01 - for by the sponsor and does not reflect the views of PCN.

00:05 - Hello and welcome to Inside Pennsylvania.

00:08 - Boroughs.

00:12 - Borough mayors across

00:13 - Pennsylvania are dedicated to promoting viable communities.

00:17 - As leaders, they often oversee local police departments and emergency

00:21 - response efforts, promote civic engagement initiatives

00:25 - and advocate for community projects that may foster greater

00:28 - economic development across their boroughs and region.

00:32 - Joining today's discussion are Mayor Melissa.

00:35 - Deane of Bernardsville Borough and Berks County Mayor Stephanie

00:39 - Haley of East Berlin Borough and Adams County.

00:42 - Mayor Samantha Kegg of West Redding Borough in Berks County,

00:46 - and Mayor Mike Thomas of Windber Borough in Somerset County.

00:50 - Good day, everyone.

00:51 - Mayors across this great commonwealth are working to improve their communities.

00:56 - They are committed public servants that promote positive civic engagement.

01:00 - Mayor, welcome to the set.

01:01 - Hello. Tell us about your borough.

01:03 - I am the mayor of the borough of Bernardsville.

01:06 - Werner Seville is.

01:07 - It's all you know. It's in real estate.

01:09 - It's location, location, location.

01:11 - And it is absolutely a magical place in the Lebanon.

01:14 - Valley focused on the South mountain.

01:17 - We are 20 minutes

01:18 - from Lancaster, 20 minutes from Lebanon, 20 minutes from downtown Redding.

01:21 - Mary Kay, of course. West Redding, Berks County.

01:24 - Yeah. Yep.

01:25 - So my borough obviously is what's Redding?

01:27 - We are 8.6 square mile dense borough.

01:30 - We have a hospital and schools that kind of are surrounding us.

01:34 - We are kind of the same thing. Location.

01:36 - We're an hour

01:37 - from Philly, an hour like half an hour from Lancaster, an hour from Allentown.

01:40 - We're a very diverse group of individuals and we have our main street,

01:46 - which is usually really pop pin with events and the like, are on the avenue

01:51 - and fall us.

01:52 - Mary Haley, of course, from East Berlin Borough.

01:54 - Yeah. Thank you.

01:55 - East Berlin is on the easternmost corner of Adams County.

02:01 - We're a historic borough with about 1500 residents.

02:05 - Lots of beautiful architecture, great green spaces for the community.

02:11 - So it's a perfect place to live.

02:13 - Close to Gettysburg, close to Harrisburg.

02:15 - Quick drive down to Baltimore.

02:17 - So, Mayor Thomas, tell us about Windber Borough and Somerset County.

02:20 - Well, we're in the northernmost town in Somerset County.

02:23 - Actually, Cambria County is.

02:25 - We should be in Cambria County almost because we're that close.

02:27 - We were founded by Berwyn Corp.

02:31 - So if you take the two syllables in Berwyn and Reversion,

02:34 - that's where they got the name Windber.

02:37 - We are 2.1 square miles for a very.

02:40 - Tell us what your role, how you interact with the community and

02:43 - and how did you become motivated to become a mayor and engage in local government.

02:48 - The fun thing and you'll get four different answers

02:51 - from four different mayors on this on this panel is

02:55 - what does a mayor do?

02:57 - I chose to be a different type of mayor.

02:58 - I'm the first female mayor in my position.

03:01 - The mayor before me was a little more laid back

03:03 - and I wanted to see things change.

03:05 - I wanted to see vacant buildings filled.

03:07 - I want to see organizations brought into the community.

03:10 - I wanted more of an engaged community effort.

03:13 - A mayor, Same question.

03:14 - So I moved into West Redding.

03:16 - I settled there and I was a volunteer for quite some time.

03:19 - I started to sit on committees and then I ran for council

03:23 - and did a term as council.

03:24 - And then I decided I want to do more.

03:27 - And I ran for the mayor role.

03:28 - But it was kind of the same thing.

03:29 - I felt like I could do more in the mayor role.

03:32 - We're, like I said, a dense population, a dense little space.

03:36 - So I wanted to do more with working on grants

03:38 - and being more active in the community and, you know, working

03:42 - hand in hand with our higher elected

03:43 - officials, like our state reps and stuff like that, to be able to utilize

03:47 - whatever we could to stay independent and as thriving as we possibly could. Very

03:52 - well.

03:52 - Mine was.

03:53 - I have a hard time saying no to friends and friends thought that I should run.

03:58 - We had a situation where our very long term mayor was not mayor anymore

04:02 - and so we needed an interim to fill until the election.

04:06 - And so I never thought about it.

04:09 - And then I thought, yes, that actually is something

04:13 - that I would be interested in doing because it's my hometown.

04:17 - And I knew there were a lot of things

04:20 - that we could do that we weren't doing.

04:24 - And just the cons kept an opportunity to build more.

04:27 - Community is really what drove me to to say yes and to run.

04:33 - I kind of have a similar story.

04:34 - I really had no interest in being in politics or government at all.

04:41 - I had an interest back when I was in eighth grade.

04:43 - I had a civics teacher that really got me interested in government and America

04:48 - and tell us about how our local police departments are performing

04:51 - and what are some of the key issues that they're confronting in this economy.

04:54 - The borough of Bernardsville, it's actually an interesting case study.

04:58 - We had disbanded a regional department because a couple of municipalities

05:03 - just couldn't afford it.

05:04 - It just wasn't viable option anymore.

05:07 - And the option was either contract with the state police or

05:13 - a cooperative with

05:14 - a Philly municipality where you reach out and you contract their services.

05:17 - We're about community policing.

05:21 - The police are in the schools.

05:23 - The police are at organizations, they're in events, they're holding events.

05:27 - They know, they know the community.

05:29 - It's not Officer Rampart, It's Joe.

05:32 - It's not Chief Hook. It's mad.

05:35 - There's something to be said for spending time

05:37 - in the community and paying that equity forward.

05:41 - It does pay you back.

05:43 - The nice thing about it is it's besides being a money saver,

05:48 - we are working in tandem with our neighboring communities,

05:51 - municipalities, which we share a same goal and similar outcome.

05:56 - We share a similar goal.

05:59 - It keeps us on target.

06:01 - Mayor So our police department is phenomenal.

06:05 - We have, you know, we have a new Chief.

06:08 - Turnley, and he's been a godsend to the position.

06:11 - And we also have our, you know, sergeants that are constantly involved, Chad.

06:15 - Marks and Wayne Hobin and Brian Phillips, who are kind of keep everything together.

06:19 - And we our officers are phenomenal.

06:20 - We're really big in community engagement.

06:22 - Also, it's really important that our officers are out there

06:26 - talking to people, having interactions with children's and children and whatnot,

06:31 - so that we can make sure that we are showing that we're also human.

06:35 - I think right now in this economy, finding candidates has been difficult.

06:41 - We're going through a hiring process to hire two officers,

06:43 - and that's been very difficult.

06:45 - This is our second time going through.

06:47 - In the first time we had two applicants and neither of them were qualified.

06:51 - So that's a struggle.

06:53 - But I think that's a struggle, you know, with the police

06:55 - and the fire department, with volunteers and such.

06:57 - So I think that's just an all over.

06:59 - People are kind of feeling that that like

07:02 - pressure to to kind of get good candidates in.

07:05 - But for the most part, we it's just like it's like Melissa said, it's

07:11 - community engagement, just making sure that people know that,

07:13 - like our officers are human and we're here to help people and we're

07:17 - like, everyone's doing their best, but I appreciate department

07:20 - everything they've done and they're in East Room, bro.

07:23 - So in the East Berlin Borough, we're small, so we only have one police chief.

07:27 - So any of our community events, though he's there, he's engaged

07:32 - when we do homecoming parades, you know, he organizes the state police to help.

07:36 - So he is out and about in the community.

07:39 - We've also developed a program

07:43 - where he used to do driving lessons back in his previous life.

07:48 - So kids who need to learn how to parallel park can contact him

07:52 - and he'll teach them how to parallel park.

07:54 - So just making any effort to engage with the community

07:57 - rather than, you know, potentially getting a speeding ticket,

08:00 - they're also out there to he's there to help the community and

08:04 - and just be visible and, you know, be accountable.

08:09 - We have a full time

08:10 - police department and we have two officers per shift.

08:14 - So we have a total of three full time officers

08:17 - and ten part time, which we want to try to get away from the part time.

08:22 - And we were hoping that civil service change would have made it through,

08:27 - but it hasn't.

08:27 - So we we've moved on to civil service now, testing and whatever, and it's working.

08:34 - But we do have good coverage.

08:37 - You know, everywhere you go, if you're in town, you usually see a police cruiser.

08:41 - We don't have anybody around us.

08:43 - We provide services to two neighboring boroughs,

08:46 - Paint Borough and scope level borough.

08:49 - So you know, it's that's the only thing that's helping

08:53 - to fund us to stay solvent and keep two officers out. And

08:59 - the one

09:00 - person said that, well, why don't you just get the state police?

09:03 - And I tried to explain, they're busy.

09:05 - Nothing against the state police.

09:07 - They do a great job, but they're just busy.

09:09 - And the response time is long.

09:12 - So, you know, you say, well, what if it was your house

09:15 - or your wife or something?

09:17 - You know, wouldn't that be different?

09:19 - And then you kind of get a a pause.

09:21 - And so but we're going to try as long as we can.

09:24 - That's my passion is the police department and keeping it

09:29 - so as long as I'm in the position that I can fight for it, I will.

09:33 - If I could just interrupt real quick.

09:35 - Crime is also changing.

09:37 - And I think that's the neat part about our community

09:39 - policing, is they're reaching out to communities that either

09:43 - don't know that a

09:43 - crimes have been committed because they don't realize

09:45 - that they've been cyber fraud or they've been taken advantage

09:48 - of or a Facebook meet up and you're exchanging products.

09:52 - There are new, smarter criminals.

09:54 - So our police officers and our community officers have to be smarter as well.

09:58 - And the smartest way to do that is to just engage

10:02 - the community in these conversations.

10:03 - Don't trust this phone call.

10:04 - Don't give away personal information.

10:07 - We're not going to contact you and say the sheriff's coming to arrest you

10:10 - if you don't send money to this Western Union account.

10:13 - It happens more frequently than people care to admit.

10:17 - And the numbers are frightening and that's who reports it,

10:20 - not who doesn't report it.

10:21 - So I think that's something we're also engaging in right now in our community.

10:25 - Mayors are very involved in emergency response initiatives.

10:29 - How are volunteer fire departments, as well as our EMS agencies,

10:33 - how are they performing?

10:34 - We definitely see the need for more volunteers and obviously,

10:38 - if you listen to any, you know,

10:41 - information on EMS, you'll know that they're in a bit of a crisis.

10:44 - But just in budget and funding and needing people and people

10:49 - wanting to do that work is difficult because it's a very difficult job to do.

10:53 - It's it's stressful.

10:55 - It's strenuous on relationships and, you know, sleep schedules, work life,

10:58 - you know.

10:58 - So definitely there's it's same thing with hiring of officers.

11:04 - There's a need for more

11:06 - and trying to navigate how to get people involved and more interested

11:10 - in coming and doing those things, even if it's just coming to trainings,

11:15 - has been interesting to try to navigate around there.

11:19 - Like any volunteer organization, I feel like the fire department

11:23 - and speaking to them, they're really struggling with volunteers.

11:27 - They're also the funding aspect.

11:29 - So the same volunteers who are working full time jobs and doing training

11:34 - and going on calls are also the ones that are managing

11:38 - and planning and organizing 30 fundraisers throughout the year.

11:42 - So it's a lot.

11:44 - And it's not an East Berlin problem.

11:46 - It's not an Adams County problem.

11:47 - It's really a state and really countrywide problem.

11:50 - So I think it needs I'm hoping and doing everything I can

11:54 - to support them and sort of because we can't fix it in East Berlin.

11:59 - So the way the fire companies are funded across the board needs to be completely

12:05 - really the whole structure

12:07 - needs to be relooked at because it's just not working these days.

12:11 - Our EMS service is now going to merge with a

12:14 - neighboring EMS service.

12:18 - We'll still have one ambulance in town where we had

12:20 - two before, and it's not going to be right in town.

12:23 - It's going to be kind of on the

12:26 - edge of town.

12:28 - Our fire department is struggling.

12:30 - They're going to also merge with another the adjacent fire department.

12:34 - It's a matter of funding and help to words.

12:39 - How are municipalities collaborating, engaging in intergovernmental

12:43 - operations, sharing knowledge with one another?

12:48 - Mayor West Western Berks.

12:51 - Fire Department, Western Berks Ambulance Association.

12:55 - And these are two good examples where you have

12:58 - multi municipality cooperation.

13:01 - It's it's hard to pay for these things on your own.

13:04 - It is our job and responsibility to provide these services to our residents.

13:08 - So how do we do that?

13:10 - Emergency services are so vital to our communities, especially the boroughs.

13:14 - We're smaller, we're more compact.

13:16 - We have small businesses, we have industries, we have families,

13:19 - we have schools.

13:21 - It's not a luxury to expect a fire department to show up.

13:25 - It's not a luxury to expect the ambulance to come when you call.

13:30 - So we work hand in hand with I mean,

13:32 - obviously we assist in the city when needed and necessary.

13:36 - They also obviously assist with us.

13:38 - So our fire department works with those around

13:41 - us, our police department works with those those around us.

13:43 - And they also help us when when we need help, too.

13:46 - And so also with the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs,

13:50 - we are able to kind of see and look and have an idea

13:53 - of how other people are doing things and what's working for them,

13:56 - that we were not trying to recreate the wheel completely.

13:59 - We're able to kind of see what worked for what municipality, what borough,

14:02 - and how they managed to kind of keep a flow and or help themselves.

14:06 - And also working with higher up elected officials for grants

14:10 - and trying to find what grants we can have and see how we can help and partner.

14:15 - And that is across the board.

14:16 - That's with our public works department,

14:18 - with our fire department, our police department,

14:20 - even our recreation department works together with other organizations and

14:25 - close neighbors to see what they're doing and how we can implement

14:28 - or how we can help them.

14:30 - And to be successful there.

14:32 - I think every borough sort of comes with its own

14:35 - the way they've already always done things.

14:39 - And so that might have worked years and decades ago.

14:42 - But now the name of the game is, you know, there's not enough resources there,

14:46 - there's not enough volunteers.

14:48 - So our fire company already merged with surrounding fire companies.

14:53 - But the PSB has been vital for me.

14:56 - Specifically, I'm I don't have the time and to recreate the wheel.

15:02 - So it's great to be able to connect with like communities

15:07 - who have already experienced that problem and solved it or

15:10 - just having another ear that you can bend because

15:15 - the problems you're experiencing

15:17 - have probably already happened and been solved elsewhere.

15:20 - So having that connection is vital.

15:23 - We work together with our as I said, we have smaller communities surrounding us.

15:28 - We work together with them.

15:29 - We share some resources.

15:32 - When their plows go down, we'll help now plow the roads for them.

15:36 - They in turn cut our levee.

15:40 - We have a flood control levy.

15:42 - They in turn have the equipment to do that. We don't.

15:44 - So they'll do that for us.

15:46 - So it's kind of a trade off, but we work together well and now

15:50 - we have a big sewer project coming up

15:52 - and it's going to affect all three municipalities.

15:54 - So four actually, and we're going to try to work together.

15:58 - We all use the same engineering firm and we're going to just, you know,

16:01 - try to put all our eggs in one basket and see how it all pans out.

16:05 - Now, boroughs have been very strategic and resilient since the pandemic

16:09 - in the sense of bringing people together through community events

16:12 - and other initiatives.

16:13 - How is your your borough employed? So strategies.

16:17 - The borough of.

16:18 - Bernardsville is an interesting issue.

16:21 - We've had multiple commercial buildings

16:25 - on our main street vacant for 15 years plus.

16:29 - So coming out of the pandemic, it didn't seem to affect us

16:34 - because it was as it always was, which is sad to say.

16:39 - But the exciting thing is, is that

16:41 - with new energy, a new breath comes, a new life.

16:45 - Properties are for sale.

16:46 - Have they sold yet? No.

16:47 - But for sale sign means movement means progress.

16:50 - We're small, so boroughs.

16:54 - I think it's little things.

16:55 - Christmas tree lightings, Easter egg hunts, events at the library.

17:00 - It's little things that either you remember from your childhood

17:04 - or you can take your child to for free or low cost, because everything cost more.

17:09 - Nowadays.

17:11 - And it's also a chance to see your neighbor.

17:13 - I think people miss seeing each other and just saying, Hi.

17:18 - Mayor.

17:18 - So we do community events.

17:20 - So we have our main street where we close off like the majority of Penn Avenue

17:25 - when we have Fall Fest and are on the avenue,

17:27 - and that brings in hundreds of thousands of people.

17:29 - We try to get people involved.

17:31 - And then our committees also do like really great things

17:33 - a recreation department.

17:34 - They do the haunted house, the pavilion,

17:36 - and they're constantly engaging the community of all ages, kids to adults.

17:41 - So really it's just making sure like we're getting out there

17:44 - and we actually have a really great group

17:46 - of elected officials that are on our on our council.

17:48 - So they're constantly getting out there and I'm constantly out there.

17:51 - So we're kind of leading by example and trying

17:54 - to bring people in and keep every everything kind of fresh and moving.

18:00 - Same for East Berlin.

18:01 - So in the past three years we've just started a lot of new traditions.

18:06 - So we just had a haunted trail

18:09 - that we basically this trail between our dog park and our real park.

18:14 - It turns into a spooky trail for the Halloween holidays.

18:19 - We have decorating contests.

18:21 - Like you were saying.

18:22 - I think people I agree, just want to get back together and see one another.

18:27 - So to me, that's the most important way that you can build community

18:33 - and just build that trust that you need to have to make anything happen

18:37 - because none of us have a magic wand and are going to be able

18:41 - to do anything by ourselves.

18:42 - So those community events and I really didn't realize until I became

18:47 - mayor, it's really volunteer to make everything happen.

18:51 - We don't have a paid Parks and Rec,

18:53 - we don't have paid staff, we have three paid staff and that's it.

18:57 - Everything else that happens in our community is volunteer

19:01 - led and organized, which is great.

19:04 - So my job is just to celebrate that and just go and have fun

19:09 - when when the events happen and then organize my own as well.

19:12 - Because you can never have too many community events, in my opinion. So

19:18 - we're very similar.

19:19 - We have several events each year.

19:22 - Our biggest one is usually on Father's Day weekend.

19:25 - It's called Miner's Memorial Day Weekend, and our town was founded on coal mining.

19:30 - So they honor the coal miners, the ones that died,

19:34 - the ones that lived in and built the town.

19:37 - And they have a block, Main Street, which is Graham Avenue.

19:40 - They block two blocks of that off and they have vendors and different events.

19:45 - And we have a car show that's fantastic.

19:47 - It's we had like 400 some cars last year parked all along the main street.

19:51 - But there again, it's all volunteers.

19:54 - We couldn't do it without them.

19:57 - We have some great volunteers and we have people, you know,

20:00 - that don't really want to volunteer, but that's okay.

20:02 - You know, we'll pick up the slack.

20:04 - And we have Veterans Day.

20:08 - Yeah, Memorial Day and Veteran's Day.

20:10 - We have ceremonies for the veterans.

20:14 - I never missed one.

20:15 - I'll take a day off work to be there because I think it's important

20:19 - to honor those people. You know, they they struggled.

20:22 - I always say when we have a bad day, just think of the day they had.

20:25 - We have that

20:29 - we have this year, our school district.

20:30 - We have got a new superintendent and he really wants to work with the borough.

20:34 - And he did a thing for Halloween

20:37 - where they decorated recreation park.

20:40 - And it has a a road around it, which is about three quarters

20:44 - of a mile around the park.

20:46 - And they decorated it and made it a Halloween

20:49 - themed tour.

20:54 - And now they're going to actually they were having a meeting today.

20:57 - They're going to do a Christmas themed

21:01 - tour of the park.

21:02 - It's going

21:02 - to be decorated by different businesses, but the kids are going to get involved.

21:05 - He wants to keep the kids busy, and I think that's a great thing.

21:09 - How important is your social media strategy in reaching

21:11 - some of your constituents, your residents and also your local businesses?

21:16 - I think there's no way to overestimate it.

21:19 - It's so important.

21:20 - And small business

21:24 - is the lifeblood of Berks County and Pennsylvania in of itself.

21:27 - Surprisingly, a lot of that small business is farms,

21:33 - it's local farms, it's family farms.

21:37 - And there's something about the opportunity to say,

21:41 - Hey, have you seen this place?

21:42 - Hey, have you tried this place?

21:44 - Hey, have you come up here on your way through?

21:47 - And it's exciting.

21:48 - And the business owners couldn't be more pleased than punch.

21:52 - I mean, they're just glad that an elected official is gained their presence.

21:56 - I mean, again, West riding

21:57 - really is the synergy and energy a lot of us would like to attain,

22:01 - where they have their local government, their their small business community

22:05 - and their volunteer organizations really working together to create a will

22:10 - that's fully spoked and moves down the road at a nice pace.

22:14 - I'm telling you, she's she's now on it, so I even need to speak with these.

22:19 - Do mayor know?

22:20 - Basically a social media is incredibly important.

22:23 - As an elected official, I have my own mayor page

22:26 - that I constantly share and post things and post information on, but I also try

22:30 - to make sure that our police department is posting a lot of stuff too.

22:34 - And if I can delegated to the police department and or it's

22:37 - something that I can kind of put into their wheelhouse to do or post,

22:40 - I try to do that so that, you know, if there's one at one point,

22:43 - I'm not the mayor anymore.

22:44 - People still know

22:45 - to go to that police department page and get information from there.

22:49 - And they're not solely looking at me for it because I want to make sure

22:53 - that, you know, people know where to go.

22:55 - Right.

22:56 - Transparency, information and incredibly.

22:59 - Yes. So.

22:59 - So and that's really important.

23:01 - In our main street, we have a main Street manager

23:03 - that does like some of the social media and stuff for our small businesses.

23:06 - Because she's right, small business is huge

23:08 - and I personally like to go out and I do post, I go places, I see things,

23:12 - I share it, I show people kind of what I'm up to, what I'm doing,

23:16 - you know, what I'm working on.

23:17 - And I think it's incredibly important because it does.

23:20 - People like the small businesses love.

23:23 - When you come in, you say hello and they know that.

23:25 - They know that you're there supporting them

23:26 - and that you're there for them

23:27 - if they have questions or, you know, need an answer for something.

23:31 - And I think that it's also a balance for the older generation to like,

23:36 - you know, if I'm walking around somewhere and I see somebody walking, I'll say

23:39 - hello and just kind of introduce myself because not everybody uses social media.

23:45 - So there is that kind of balance because the younger people

23:48 - will look at your Facebook page before they'll go to the borough page.

23:51 - So you have to kind of guide them to the correct avenues,

23:54 - whereas the older generation will maybe more so email

23:58 - you or look at the borough page and sort of kind of see what you're doing

24:01 - on a Facebook page.

24:02 - So it's it's definitely important and there's definitely a balance, really.

24:06 - I find communication really difficult and I really did not expect that.

24:11 - So we have a mix of older residents, younger

24:15 - residents, renters, you name it, just like any borough does.

24:19 - But I really was not expecting it to be so difficult to reach people.

24:24 - So my mayor Facebook page just doesn't cut it.

24:28 - It's not enough.

24:29 - So I also have an email about it and newsletter that gets emailed.

24:34 - People can opt in to that.

24:35 - Some of the some folks prefer that there's a neighbor spotlight in there

24:40 - to highlight just individuals in our community.

24:44 - Just again stressing and promoting the community and meeting new people.

24:51 - Then there's the borough website people.

24:54 - Can they text me? They Facebook message me.

24:57 - It's really just being accessible and but yeah, the communication

25:02 - is more difficult than I would a it's not a one size fits all for sure.

25:07 - So you really have to make a huge effort to reach people.

25:13 - I agree.

25:14 - We use mostly Facebook and the borough website for communications.

25:19 - We don't get into too much print anymore because it's so expensive.

25:24 - You know, it's it's hard enough to advertise your meetings, but

25:29 - Facebook seems to be working in our town.

25:31 - And you do have, as she said,

25:35 - people that don't use any type of electronic media.

25:37 - And that's that's difficult, but that's changing.

25:40 - And so we we put it out there, you know, and then we get everybody to share it.

25:45 - And because our police department has one,

25:48 - our borough has a Facebook page, our ballroom has a Facebook page.

25:52 - So we we have like four or five of them, and we try to get everything out there

25:55 - and cross it over and try to make people know what's going on.

26:00 - And of course, 2025, there will be municipal elections

26:03 - across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

26:05 - What advice can you give our mayor to any of our viewers at home

26:10 - or those that are interested in

26:11 - perhaps being a part of their own local government?

26:14 - I'd say attend a local council meeting, a local

26:17 - zoning meeting, a local planning commission meeting.

26:19 - It's interesting.

26:20 - It's boring, but it's your neighborhood and it's it's important to get involved.

26:24 - Yeah, I would say the same.

26:25 - I'm come to a council meeting, if you like.

26:28 - A specific thing like nature. Come to an easy meeting.

26:30 - Just sit in a committee meeting and honestly reach out to your local

26:34 - elected officials,

26:35 - whether a council or mayor. A lot of us are excited

26:38 - when somebody reaches out to us and wants to get involved.

26:41 - I would agree.

26:42 - Definitely reach out to anyone, a mayor, council person.

26:46 - If you enjoy and love your community, just do it.

26:51 - You'll learn just like we all did.

26:53 - We didn't know every rule and regulation.

26:57 - You'll you'll just learn it.

26:58 - Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off.

27:00 - I think that's

27:01 - that's one of the things, right, is everybody thinks you have to have this.

27:03 - Like, certainly level of information

27:05 - and really it's just like, just come right into it.

27:08 - Like you.

27:08 - A lot of us didn't have a clue what we were doing.

27:10 - We just wanted to get involved and do more.

27:12 - And I think those are the best mayors.

27:13 - We show up and pay attention. Yeah, yeah.

27:16 - Come to the meeting.

27:17 - You're going to find something there

27:19 - that you can either get your interest or you're not going to like.

27:23 - And then that might get you involved.

27:26 - Of course, as all the time we have is fantastic subject.

27:29 - Mary Jean, how can we get more information?

27:31 - I want to Sobero,

27:31 - you can find out information about Werner Qvale borrow from Werner FELBER.

27:35 - O'Rourke, our Parks and Rec meet the first Monday of the month.

27:38 - We'd love to see you come out and join the team and Mckaig in West Redding, bro.

27:42 - You can come to our bro hall and get our newsletter

27:44 - to see all of our events and what we have upcoming.

27:46 - You can go to West Redding bro dawg for more information or you can follow

27:50 - my mayor, Samantha K Page or our West Wing Bro page on Facebook or Instagram.

27:55 - Amber Hailey an East Berlin bro.

27:56 - So please come to East Berlin any time for some great food and some great people.

28:01 - You can also find us on East Berlin, Broadcom for all of our upcoming events.

28:07 - And Mayor Thomas Windber. Bro, you get the last word today.

28:09 - Okay.

28:10 - You can contact us at whimper borough dot com.

28:13 - So we're covered on Facebook and come to one of our meetings.

28:16 - I'd like to thank our guests for their exceptional community leadership efforts.

28:20 - Thanks so much for tuning in. Have a great day.

28:51 - This program has been paid

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