BERNE — On June 11, a warm Sunday afternoon, 10 Berne residents gathered at the Helderberg Lutheran Church and listened to local business owner Kerwin Lovell, of Hilltown Tech, discuss the buzzy new satellite internet service Starlink, which has the potential to get residents who can afford it connected to the internet without waiting for a miraculous but much-needed broadband expansion. 

After Lovell left, the group discussed how to make such an expansion happen, as well as issues around senior housing, a new Berne community directory, and whether they might be able to put up a bouncy house in the town park under the town’s insurance. 

It was the kind of dialogue that politicians and community leaders often talk about but rarely seem to implement, whether because there’s not enough interest, because of an absence of skilled leadership, or because it was never anything beyond a feel-good talking point in the first place. 

Started by Peggy Christman and Jean Guarino — who in 2021 ran as Democrats for town supervisor and town clerk, respectively, losing soundly to their GOP-backed counterparts — the Community Hilltown Action Team, or CHAT, was born out of the same values they and their fellow candidates had campaigned on, but didn’t get the chance to prove. 

“When I was running for office,” Christman told The Enterprise last week, “one of the things that I wanted to do was to try and bring Democrats and Republicans together to talk about things that affected all of us.”

Partisanship in Berne has been critically high since Republicans took control of the town in 2020, and began implementing changes that were controversial if not illegal. 

Funding for youth programming has been eliminated, the Switzkill Farm property has been neglected, and scandal after scandal has unfolded in the town, most recently the removal of former supervisor Kevin Crosier, a Democrat, from a public hearing without justification or apology, a move the town is expected to have to defend in court.  

With a lot to say but nowhere to say it, residents felt compelled to organize elsewhere — despite criticism from Deputy Supervisor Anita Clayton that these “secret” meetings, which are open to anyone, and have recently been attended by Republican board member Al Thiem, are not productive. 

But, while the origins are inherently political, the meetings never devolve into bickering or commiseration, Christman said. “We don’t talk about the town board at all. We just don’t talk about politics. I don’t want to talk about politics, just what we can do to improve the town.”

Christman said that these monthly CHAT meetings do follow an agenda, but that “people are welcome to talk about whatever they want, and they do.”

The group first met in January, and since then they’ve had around “15 people consistently” at their meetings, Christman said, which is a fairly strong showing in the rural community, and each person is encouraged to “bring a friend.”

“I think it is a great idea that the people of Berne work together to try to do good things for our town,” Thiem told The Enterprise in an email last week. “When I first was told about the CHAT group and the project they were working on which is to make a ‘Welcome to our Community package’ that would be given to new residents and made available to all the people of Berne, I thought that it was a great idea. 

“It would include the names and contact info to many services that would be of great help to people that are not familiar to the area. I know when I first moved to Berne with my family three years ago it would have helped me greatly and [I] believe it still would.”

It’s an initiative similar to one championed by Supervisor Dennis Palow that was never completed by the town. 

A draft of the CHAT directory is over 40 pages long; its description of Berne CHAT says, “As we all know, local government alone cannot be expected to address and handle all of the needs and problems affecting a town. It is only when its people are willing to get involved and lend a hand that a town can achieve its full potential.”

It lists as CHAT’s goals: increasing community volunteerism; improving communication within the town; and considering collaboration with neighboring towns to share ideas, resources, and solutions.

The directory itself has about 100 entries, including farms, businesses, schools, various services, churches, and groups from singers to thespians. Each has a description and contact information. There is also a one-page list of emergency phone numbers.

Christman said that Thiem’s attendance at CHAT meetings is helpful because he has some “insight” into what the board’s capabilities and plans are, which can reduce the risk of working on something that’s already being addressed by the town board. 

For instance, when asked at the June 11 meeting whether the town board had a broadband committee like the ones that exist in the other three Hilltowns, Thiem said he was not aware of any.

“He can take stuff back to the board that he hears at the meeting,” Christman said. 

One of the other benefits of a community group like this is that there’s a greater talent pool, with each person who attends able to contribute their experience and vision without the risk of being shut down. 

“We have a couple of people who have been grant writers …,” Christman said. “Al Thiem, he has a real heart for children. So do I, and so does Jean Guarino, so we’re kind of focused in that direction, trying to figure out something for the kids.

“We have a couple that are really into this welcome packet, and they’ve developed a database for all these [local] businesses … And [planning board member] Mike Vincent has done tons of research over 12 years on getting senior housing up here, so that’s his thing.”

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The Berne Community Hilltown Action Team meets on the second Sunday of the month at 2 p.m. at the Helderberg Lutheran Church at 1728 Helderberg Trail in Berne. Those interested in attending can RSVP and get meeting schedules by emailing .