Month: February 2018

Takeaways from February's Borough Council Meeting

Community Climate Initiative
Superintendent Tom Strickler said the district wants to get a handle on issues and develop an action plan.

School District Superintendent Tom Strickler and Dr. Gregory McGough, director of curriculum, explained the Community Climate Initiative and presented a “climate survey.” Strickler said there have been problems with students after school and the district wants to get a handle on the issue and develop an action plan. The Pennsylvania Department of Education and IU13 are helping the district’s initiative.

Dr. Gregory McGough laid out the stages of the process.

McGough said that one of the first steps is to create a vision of what we all see the school as. He said the process began with preparation and planning at the school level, and we are now at Stage 2: Delivering assessments to all stakeholders. Stage 3 will be to understand the findings and develop an action plan. Next will be the implementation phase, working with short, defined goals. The final step will be to reevaluate and start the process over.

Programs and Funding

Mayor Leo Lutz mentioned Manos House and Benchmark Programs to help with problems with youth in the community. He said the programs can’t be possible or sustainable if the borough has to solicit funds to pay for them.

“This is a community problem, this is a problem we must address. We need to fund these programs so that they’re sustainable,” he said. “We can put lights in the downtown, but that’s not going to help these kids.”

He said the challenge is trying to find grant money and getting organizations to donate. “We will not arrest our way out of these problems,” he said.

Our Home of Hope

Our Home of Hope received a $10,000 donation from council.

Council considered a donation request from Our Home of Hope for $30,000 to defray costs of facility repairs /renovations and operations at the 223-225 Cherry Street facility but in the end approved a donation of $10,000.

208-210 Locust Street

Council donated the former Bigler property at 208-210 Locust to the Lancaster County Land Bank.
Council voted to donate the 208-210 Locust Street to the Lancaster County Land Bank Authority.  At its November 2017 meeting, council approved $70,000 for the Lancaster County Land Bank to assist Brookline, a historic preservation company, with restoration of the property. Brookline’s budget for the project is $232,000. According to the agreement, the company will purchase the building for the token fee of $1 with the intent of restoring the facade and performing structural repairs. Brookline will then move its sister company, Lancaster Lime Works LLC, into the building.

MORE INFO HERE.

Funding for Study to Relocate Borough Offices

Council authorized an application to the Municipal Assistance Program. The program covers half the cost of a study the borough is undertaking to consider possible relocation of the borough offices and police station from its current location to other sites in the borough, one of which is the school district’s administration center building at 200 North Fifth Street.

One-Way Streets
The borough approved the following one-way streets to accommodate traffic calming methods and new parking areas and to address a safety issue:

*Rotary Ave (Front to Commerce Street: East)
* Commerce Street (Rotary Ave to Walnut Street: South)
* Tenth Street (Ironville Pike to Spruce Street: South)
* Bethel Street (Ridge to Locust traveling North) changed to (Locust to Cherry traveling South).

Quick Ticket Complaints

Residents voiced concerns about quick ticket citations.

Borough Manager Greg Sahd said there were 70 snow code quick tickets issued on one day in January. He said that a resident who posts a $100 fee for a hearing will have the amount returned “probably net of the fine” at the hearing.

Resident Gerald Maurer said the borough should exercise discretion on citations.

A resident argued that the borough should exercise discretion when citing residents for a small amount of snow on the sidewalk. Officials said that any amount of snow can be considered unsafe.

Councilwoman FitzGerald said that she received a quick ticket for snow as well and paid it.

Another resident said he received a quick ticket regarding his trash bag being out for pickup without being placed in a trash receptacle.

A landlord asked for a meeting with the borough manager and the code manager. He expressed concern about something said to him although he did not give details publicly. He said he was frustrated with the lack of response from borough officials.

Rolling on the River – Keystone Edge looks at Columbia

Columbia, Lancaster County, is a town nestled along the mighty Susquehanna River. Walk through downtown towards the water and you’ll pass historic brick buildings, vintage storefronts and Victorian homes. You’ll see thriving antique markets, a brewpub, a world-renowned museum and a stately market hall.
MORE:

https://www.keystoneedge.com/2018/02/20/rolling-on-the-river/

Citations, etc. | Columbia Borough Police Department

SYDNEY A. NEVENXCHWANDER, AGE 25, OF LEOLA, WAS CITED FOR DRIVERS REQUIRED TO BE LICENSED, IN THE 1300 BLOCK OF IRONVILLE PIKE, 17 FEBRUARY 2018.

COLIN S. COPELAND, AGE 33, OF MARIETTA, WAS CITED FOR STOP SIGNS & YIELD SIGNS, AT LINDEN STREET AND ROUTE 30 EAST, 16 FEBRUARY 2018.

SUSAN LINDSAY MILES, AGE 35, OF COLUMBIA, WAS CITED FOR DRIVING WHILE OPERATING PRIVILEGE IS SUSPENDED OR REVOKED, IN THE 700 BLOCK OF LOCUST STREET, 16 FEBRUARY 2018.

BRADLEY K. MYERS, AGE 47, OF COLUMBIA, WAS CITED FOR OBEDIENCE TO TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICE, AT 5TH. AND MAPLE STREETS, 16 FEBRUARY 2018.

PABLO J. COLON-ORENGO, AGE 34, OF MOUNTVILLE, WAS CITED FOR TRAFFIC-CONTROL SIGNALS AT NORTH 3RD. AND LINDEN STREETS, 18 FEBRUARY 2018.

KAITLYN A. SWEIGART, AGE 23, OF EPHRATA, WAS CITED FOR OPERATION OF VEHICLE WITHOUT OFFICIAL CERTIFICATE OF INSPECTION, IN THE 1400 BLOCK OF MANOR STREET, 19 FEBRUARY 2018.

THURSTON KENION, AGE 33, OF COLUMBIA, WAS CITED FOR DRIVING WHILE OPERATING PRIVILEGE IS SUSPENDED OR REVOKED ON NORTH 2ND. STREET AND POPLAR STREET, 16 FEBRUARY 2018.

BRUCE FREDERICK SNYDER, AGE 54, OF YORK, WAS CITED FOR PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS IN THE 700 BLOCK OF MANOR STREET, 19 FEBRUARY 2018.

https://lancaster.crimewatchpa.com/columbiapd/10552/post/citations-etc-15

About Town

Photos from around Columbia over the past week…


The Grinch is at it again.
This time he’s playing Cupid at Tacos to Go.
***
 Someone left a motorcycle trophy outside.

 Someone left a Flyers trashcan outside.
(Is someone making a statement?)

 Flagpoles at the bridge plaza.
There might be a presentation with flags flying on May 26 of this year.

 This is what happens when you leave a stump unattended for too long – It grows a hubcap.
***

 Interior of the Market House

 Workers were seen removing stands last Thursday.
Columbia Borough is receiving bids until March 7, 2018 for the leasing of the building.
The legal notice is HERE.
***

 One of several unofficial NO PARKING signs near South 6th & Locust last week.

 Hey, who snapped this tree on North 3rd (near Hinkle’s)?
Maybe one of the “covert” cameras saw the perpetrator.

 Deflating
(We all have days like this.)
 117 & 119 North 5th:
Renovated and ready to rent.

 Snowman on the 500 block of Chestnut

 And an accomplice

Although this one on South 4th will probably last longer.

 Leaving town

 Steel plates? We got ’em!

 Renovating at Hinkle’s

 City Gate’s events calendar

 Free coffee, donut, and tour

 Well….

 Happy Birthday!

 Way up high at St. Peter’s Apartments

 Yep, way up high

 Fallen bricks on the 300 block of South 4th

 Some sort of towers on their sides on the first block of Barber

Glass, lots o’ glass
(301 Locust)
 More work behind the Rising Sun/Prudhomme’s building

 Here’s a longer view.

Up the ladder
***
 Guys removing slate shingles at the library

 Hard at work

 View from the front

 Stacking them on the skid

 The big picture
Heavy load, higher and higher
***
What’s happening here?
 Looks like Art Printing at the bottom of Locust got their windows painted.

 Lookin’ good!

 Here’s their hanging sign.

No worries – the original is now inside the shop.
***
 Civil War bridge pier near the Veterans Memorial Bridge
 Meanwhile, over at Columbia Crossing, the seagulls are re-enacting a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

 Jet ski storage along Heritage Drive

 This past Saturday, the river starting creeping up again.

 Fortunately, this sentinel kept watch.
On Sunday, it crept further.

***
 Out at 1019 Lancaster Avenue, this humble house has seen its last days. Demolition has begun.

 Here’s the back roof in the back yard.

 Most of the debris went directly into the purple dumpster.

 Here’s what it looked like from the other side of the street.

 And closer up

 Tearing it down

 Going, going, gone!

Another one bites the dust, or in this case – the mud!

Jim Warner, who transformed waste authority into national model, built community projects, to retire

When studies showed trash trucks made up one-third of the truck traffic driving through Columbia Borough, the authority financed one-third the cost of a study for a new bypass.
MORE:

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/jim-warner-who-transformed-waste-authority-into-national-model-built/article_603865dc-135a-11e8-a38c-7bf168969a40.html

Lancaster County's Underground Railroad heritage celebrated with programs, new markers

Columbia Borough officials are working to preserve the Underground Railroad history on the Susquehanna River waterfront.

African-Americans seeking freedom, and aided by Underground Railroad volunteers, came to Columbia across the Susquehanna at the site of an old wooden bridge there.

“That’s so important in the Underground Railroad story,” says Randolph Harris of the African American Historical Society of South Central Pennsylvania. Nearby are ruins of locks and a dam that were part of a canal system that was also part of the Underground Railroad, he says.

“The old piers and the old canal ruins are part of a new (riverfront redevelopment) plan that’s being worked on by Columbia Borough,” Harris says. “They will do whatever they can to preserve those ruins. I’m confident they’re going to do a nice job of telling the story … to the educational and economic benefit of the area.”

MORE:

http://lancasteronline.com/features/trending/lancaster-county-s-underground-railroad-heritage-celebrated-with-programs-new/article_c6fd11c4-1557-11e8-97e9-0762d6f5e09b.html

Manheim Township foresees 'potentially lengthy and costly legal process' in tax collector lawsuit

In order for a school district to lawfully collect its own taxes, the elected tax collector must permit — or “deputize” — the school district to do so.

Out of 17 school districts in the county — only Conestoga Valley doesn’t collect school property taxes in-house.

MORE:

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/manheim-township-foresees-potentially-lengthy-and-costly-legal-process-in/article_4ebdcc68-1362-11e8-bf64-f77e8c7d8649.html