Borough Council on Monday ratified Mayor Lutz’s emergency declaration making the 100 and 200 blocks of Walnut Street one-way, and took the first step toward making the change permanent.
The mayor told council at its October 13 meeting that the street, which is part of a recent streetscape project, would reopen in the near future. He said the borough’s street ordinance needed to change “in order to ensure safe travel for motorists, safe travel for bicyclists and pedestrians.”
In the meantime, he said, he issued an emergency declaration designating the two blocks as one-way.
Council also voted to authorize advertisement of Ordinance 2026-968, which would formally designate the 100 and 200 blocks of Walnut Street as one-way.
Before the vote, Evan Gabel, borough solicitor, noted that the draft’s direction of travel had been switched from an earlier version. Gabel suggested the ordinance describe travel as running from Third Street to Front Street. “It gives you the impression it’s going up,” councilor Jeanne Cooper said, when the traffic would actually be going down. Council amended its motion to reflect that change and voted to approve.
Because the ordinance cannot take effect until it has been advertised and given final approval, council also voted to ratify the mayor’s emergency declaration to keep the one-way designation in place in the meantime.
The existing building at 1100 Ridge Avenue will be used mainly for vehicle storage and as a shop.
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Vote clears the way for design work and for the sale of the old wastewater treatment plant and municipal services building
Borough Council voted 6-0 at its October 13 meeting to relocate the Public Works Department from its riverfront site to the Ridge Avenue property the borough has already purchased. The approval depends on the sale of the two riverfront parcels: the former wastewater treatment plant and the municipal services building that the public works department currently uses.
Officials said the two decisions are linked. A prospective buyer, working through the Columbia EDC, wants both riverfront parcels and won’t purchase just one. “They are uniquely tied together,” councilman Kelly Murphy said of the sale and the move.
The buyer has been waiting on the borough. “The buyers want an answer. They’ve been asking since July,” President Eric Kauffman told the room. “So, the question they have is, are they going to buy both lots or not buy any of them?”
Appraisals put the two parcels at roughly $1.1 million to $1.2 million, and the EDC contract sets a minimum price. “1.1 million sounds great for waterfront property, but that’s if it was uncontaminated and didn’t have a large wastewater treatment plant on it that had to be decommissioned and demolished,” borough engineer Derek Rinaldo said. An environmental covenant tied to the site’s former gas plant use restricts ground disturbance, and officials said the contaminated soil (radioactive due to the plant) can’t be remediated.
Above: Partial view of plans for the site
The latest estimate for the project is $2.362 million, down from an initial figure of more than $4.5 million. The design was pared back to hold costs down. “We kind of skinnied this project way down to keep the cost down,” Council Vice President Heather Zink said. The plan reuses the existing prefabricated building for shop space and vehicle storage and adds a separate block administration building with two offices, a break room and storage area, and two locker rooms.
A $1 million Local Share Account grant has been secured. Officials also plan to seek about $750,000 from a state RACP grant that requires a dollar-for-dollar match. The borough’s roughly $750,000 share would come from the riverfront sales. Officials estimated a net gain of $300,000 to $350,000 once the project is built and grants are reimbursed. A back parcel at Ridge Avenue is also slated for sale.
“1.7 million of it is being covered by grants and the rest of it is being able to be reimbursed by multiple different property sales,” councilman Ethan Byers said. “I think financially it does make sense to move forward with it.”
A standalone wash bay, about $54,000, would likely be bid as an alternate. Rinaldo said the utilities and pad could go in first and the building could wait.
Resident Frank Doutrich criticized the plan. “I feel sorry for the taxpayers of this town,” he said, adding that the borough should turn its attention to income. “Let’s talk about getting revenue back in and building the borough back up.”
What happens next
Public Works will stay at riverfront during preliminary work and would have about a year to vacate after a sale closes. The access road and fence relocation at Ridge Avenue could proceed separately from the building, though the engineer said finishing them this year may be difficult.
A small film crew will shoot a scene at Columbia River Park later this month, after Columbia Borough Council approved the project at its October 13 regular meeting.
Sarah Dewey submitted the application on behalf of “reverie,” a full-service film and commercial production company located in Lancaster. The working title of the project is “Independent Short Film.”
Filming is scheduled for Wednesday, October 28, beginning at 3 p.m. The scene involves two actors and about eight crew members in total. Organizers expect the shoot to take five to six hours, including setup and teardown.
The crew has not requested any borough services and does not plan to use borough streets.
LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — A Central Pennsylvania man was sentenced for possessing more than a dozen explosives inside a safe and causing a community-wide evacuation last year.
Online court records show, Timothy Sheaffer Jr., 41, of Columbia Borough, was sentenced Oct. 7 to spend a little over a year to nearly five years by Judge Bradford Charles. He will be under active supervision for the first three years of his sentence.
In August, court records show Sheaffer pleaded guilty to charges of weapons of mass destruction, risking catastrophe and recklessly endangering another person. He was facing more recklessly endangering another person charges but they were withdrawn.
NOTICE is hereby given that the Columbia Borough budget meeting scheduled for October 22, 2026, has been rescheduled to October 21, 2026 at 7 p.m. at the Columbia Borough Office, 308 Locust St. Columbia, PA 17512.
Columbia resident Frank Doutrich brought a visual aid to the October 13 borough council meeting to make his point: a stick with a string tied to it, and a tin can dangling at the end.
Standing at the podium, Doutrich held the stick out toward council members as the can swung from the string. His message was that council has a habit of postponing decisions, this time about hiring a borough manager.
“By doing what you’re doing, you’re kicking the can down the road,” Doutrich told council.
Jack Brommer is scheduled to retire as borough manager on November 13, and council has not announced a successor. Ron Youtz, a former West Hempfield Township manager, will fill in until the end of the year. Youtz assisted Brommer with borough duties last fall.
Columbia Borough Police Chief Holly Arndt addressed council Tuesday night.
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Police Chief Holly Arndt told Columbia Borough Council on Tuesday night that her department is operating with too few officers, too little administrative support and almost no legal guidance. She said that “continued operation without addressing these issues would NOT be responsible.”
Arndt, who took command of the department May 1, delivered a lengthy prepared statement at council’s October 13 meeting. She described a department in need of what she called “a foundational rebuild.”
Arndt said the department has 13 patrol officers, one of them on light duty. It has no lieutenant and no administrative sergeant. By comparison, the borough website, (which still lists Brommer as chief) describes a department of 19 full-time officers, three part-time officers and two full-time support staff.
Since August 25, officers have answered 1,784 calls for service, which Arndt said works out to roughly 223 calls per officer. “This volume is not sustainable and raises legitimate concerns about citizen and officer safety, response capability, and the quality of service,” she said.
She said officers cannot investigate properly when they are “merely going call to call to call.”
She added that in the past two weeks officers have stopped several people on e-bikes and motorized bikes, resulting in citations and a DUI arrest. “They continue to show up for this community,” she said.
Arndt said she offered to work patrol shifts at a sergeant’s pay rate to maintain coverage, but the offer was declined. Since May 1, she said, the department has also handled several serious incidents that took significant investigative resources.
Arndt also raised several concerns about borough finances. She said the evidence room holds 19 bags of coins from parking enforcement, which the borough manager directed be stored there. She called them “unprocessed borough revenue.”
She described confusion over a “Police Special Bank” account. She was told October 2 that the borough had moved funds from a Truist police account to a new Fulton account, and she was recently given checks tied to it. Arndt said she has received no explanation of the account’s purpose or the source of its money. She has heard some of it may be citizen donations, but she has seen no documentation and no bank statements from before the transfer. The account appears in next year’s police budget but has not been included since 2021, she said. “I will not access or utilize this account until it has been audited,” Arndt said.
She also said she found records showing $269,942 was cut from the police budget in 2021. “How can we effectively do our jobs when that much money is cut from our budget?” she asked.
Arndt said the department began pursuing state accreditation three years ago and has spent $50,000, but is only in phase three of six. She said the accreditation manager’s role is a full-time job. The department has 50 policies, she said, while most accredited agencies have roughly 80 to 150, plus written directives.
Arndt: “I cannot build the professional department we all want without the necessary staffing, support, authority, and resources to do so.”
Until this year, she said, she was the department’s only defensive tactics instructor. She delivered the state-mandated training herself while serving as chief. Steps are now being taken to expand that capacity.
She also cited a backlog of older equipment, files and records that need reorganizing. She said supervisors under the previous administration “were not afforded the autonomy to make decisions,” and that she is working to build “a culture that strengthens leadership mentality.”
The department has received 36 Right-to-Know and Act 22 requests since May 1, Arndt said, and has not received proper training on handling them. Act 22 governs the use and release of body-worn camera and other recordings.
She said the department lacks redaction software and is nearing its storage capacity. Its current Act 22 policy also omits the fee schedule the municipality is supposed to set. She warned that mishandling such requests exposes the borough to “potential appeals, litigation costs, and liability.”
Arndt said she has contacted the borough solicitor several times over several months about policy review and other legal matters. The most recent response she received was dated July 29, she said, so “policy and compliance work is currently proceeding without formal legal guidance.”
Arndt: “I care deeply about this department, its officers, and this community.”
Arndt said she is not asking for lower standards. She asked council to recognize the difference between setting high standards and expecting “years of organizational deficiencies” to be fixed quickly by one person “without adequate staffing, appropriate training, supervisory support, administrative assistance, authority, and resources.”
“I care deeply about this department, its officers, and this community,” she said. “That is why I am raising these issues now.”
(Council unanimously approved Arndt’s appointment as chief earlier this year, and she became the borough’s first female chief of police. She joined the department in 2008 and rose to lieutenant under former Chief Jack Brommer. Brommer was absent for the last two meetings. )
A worker uses a core drill to create holes for signposts.
By Columbia Spy-
JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Crews installed signage Tuesday afternoon along the 100 and 200 blocks of Walnut Street, the final step in the Walnut Street project.
To install the signs, a worker used a core drill to bore holes into the new sidewalk. The holes will hold the signposts.
Among the signs installed were a one-way sign and a combination of a “No Right Turn” sign with a supplemental “No Parking” sign restricting parking on Mondays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The no-parking signs were posted along the street and near the intersection with Front Street.
Mayor Leo Lutz has declared the 100 and 200 blocks of Walnut Street one-way westbound, according to an official notice from the Borough of Columbia dated October 8, 2026.
The declaration follows completion of construction and line-painting on the two blocks that narrowed the roadway to a single vehicle lane and a two-way bike lane. In the notice, Lutz said the change was made so the corridor can be traveled safely.
The one-way designation is temporary. It remains in effect until borough council ratifies it within seven days. The October 13, 2026 council meeting agenda lists “Ordinance 2026-968 One-way Walnut Street” under New Business. If council approves the ordinance, the one-way designation will become permanent.
In the meantime, drivers who use Walnut Street should expect westbound-only travel on the 100 and 200 blocks while the declaration is in effect.
When: Columbia Borough School Board committee meeting, Oct. 6.
What happened: Board members discussed a prior request to name the football field and stadium after two former coaches, John “Jack” Yohe and Michael Burke. Member Thomas Zeigler spoke in support of the naming; however, President Charles Leader, Vice President Lauren VonStetten and other members opposed it, noting that other requests to name buildings and fields had been denied.
Quotable: “I respect the work that Jack and Mike put into the program. There’s no question they should be honored,” said Leader, adding, “Once we do it (name a facility), then somebody’s going to want us to do it again and again and again …. There’s an end line somewhere and we’re trying to draw that now.”
Details: Since a majority of the board was against the request, a consensus was reached. Rather than naming the football complex after the coaches, several board members proposed finding other ways to uphold their legacy, such as creating a scholarship in their names.
