Month: November 2018

Bits 'n' Pieces (from recent borough meetings)

Items from recent borough meetings:

Benjamin Myers of Eberly Myers LLC, the company building the 33-unit apartment building on the first block of Locust Street, is requesting a change in terms and an increase in funds due to increased costs of the project from $4 million to $4.8 million. Myers is requesting, in part, an increase from the original $400,000 to $650,000 from the Community First Fund, a borough loan fund, and a change in terms for interest and principal payments. (Finance Committee Meeting, October 22, 2018)

The planned firehouse brewery on North 4th Street is not going to materialize. (Finance Committee Meeting, October 22, 2018) 

A spring groundbreaking is planned for the hotel construction project at the former Becker Potato Chip factory at 2nd and Locust (Budget Meeting, October 4, 2018)

There is approximately $5.8 million left from the original $10 million bond funds. (Borough Council Meeting, October 8, 2018))

There’s a block within the historic district that’s not designated as such. The issue will be discussed further next month. (Legislation Committee Meeting, October 10, 2018)

The borough has a drone, but it’s not being used for code enforcement, according to Zoning and Planning Officer Jeff Helm, who said it was purchased through the “emergency management agency.” (Legislation Committee Meeting, October 10, 2018)

A councillor stated that property values suffer and properties are harder to sell in neighborhoods with short-term and other rental properties. (Legislation Committee Meeting, October 10, 2018)

The Columbia Water Company claims it flushes hydrants in May or June, half the first year, the other half the next. When a hydrant is flushed, it is inspected, and the cap threads are greased. (Safety Committee Meeting, October 10, 2018)

Columbia Water Company workers recently fixed the wrong fire hydrant. Although the hydrant at 2nd and Linden needed to be repaired, the company mistakenly did work on the one at 3rd and Linden, supposedly due to the way the work order was written.  (Safety Committee Meeting, October 10, 2018)

The borough received a request to pave the tennis courts at Glatfelter’s Field, because they’re now being used for street hockey. The work was estimated to take two days with a 4-5 man crew, at a cost of $3,000-3,500. (Public Works and Property Committee Meeting, October 16, 2018)

The owner of the Sunoco gas station along Route 462 also owns the former Exxon station next door and is seeking approval from the EPA and Labor & Industry to install self-serve, card-reading-only fuel pumps at the neighboring station. The building will be storage only – no occupancy. (Planning Commission Meeting, October 23, 2018) 

Why are gas prices higher in Columbia compared to Wrightsville?

Why is the price of gas 16 to 21 cents per gallon higher in Columbia than in Wrightsville – one and a quarter miles apart?

Sunoco Wrightsville: $2.69 
Sunoco Columbia: $2.85 
They have the same owner. 
Turkey Hill Wrightsville: $2.69, plus 5 cents off with card: $2.64
Turkey Hill Columbia: $2.85
They have the same owner.
If you want cheaper gas, go to Wrightsville – only 2-1/2 miles round trip and a nice drive.

About Town – 11/4/18

This week’s photos from around Columbia
 An ET visited Columbia, and – you guessed it – no intelligent life here.

 What, already?
(Burning Bridge Antiques)

 The still-troubled and still-troublesome 300 block of Avenue G
 That’s right. Fido might not be able to tolerate the THC.

 At work on the 300 block of Cherry

 At work on the 500 block of Walnut

 Doing burnouts!
Not really – It’s just steam from water on the roller.

 And back again

 Nekkid lady pondering an ibis
(100 block of Walnut)

 Depth of field

This church recently celebrated an anniversary of some sort.

 Here’s its datestone.

 And here’s the church building.

 Back on Walnut Street – a compact steamroller

 Dueling steamrollers!

 Big men casting long shadows

 Keeping an eye on things

 Spreading the asphalt

 Evening it out

Reaching for it
 On up the street

 Both sides now

Three on one

 Watch out for that car!

Here’s the finished product.
 But the sidewalks . . . 

 Expansion joints going every which way

Here too – always above the misaligned drain pipes.
Is this to spec?

 The sun recently set over in Wrightsville.

 There’s a canoe stored under Columbia Crossing.

 The dog poop bag dispenser is down.

 Interesting lawn ornament on North 6th

 Cockscomb at NAWCC

 McClintock Clock – tick-tock
(NAWCC)

 So, the driver on the right slipped by on the inside to make a right turn as the other driver was about to make a right turn.

 Here’s an old piece from the Godwin-Falcon Fire Department.
 Google tells us the department is in North Carolina.

 Chickens in a basket or something
(Tollbooth Antiques)

 Chimney fit for a king
(3rd & Chestnut)

 West side of the Hermansader House

 An all-seeing eye can be seen there, too.

 Filling in the beauty strips with dirt on Walnut

 She whipped the leaf blower around too fast and ripped a hole in the space-time continuum.

At work downtown

 Bursting forth on Chestnut

 “SMUCK FOR CON”
Seems fitting somehow

 Oversized pothole at 2nd & Perry

 Echoes of Halloween

 Uh . . . how about NO?

 Beady-eyed crow

C’est la vie

C’est la mort

 You don’t want Fido to be locked up, do you?
(Janson Park)

 CHS
Sorry, but those Beatles lyrics still keep echoing:
“I used to get mad at my school,
The teachers that taught me weren’t cool,
You’re holding me down, turning me ’round,
Filling me up with your rules!”

 Two fighter jets flew over on Thursday afternoon – way up – and carrying missiles.

This is a closer shot of the same jet.

 Scarecrow
(Cherry Street)
And its little brother – and a littler brother?
(North 5th)

 Animal shelter progressing

 Cute couple

 T-boned?

 ONE WAY: LEFT

 Neatly coiffed alleyway
Who mows it?

 Skeleton taking a load off
 Another peek-a-boo window
(600 block of Chestnut)

 Time to pick up the mail – all of it – at the apparently empty apartment house at 2nd & Walnut.

 OVERSIZE LOAD on Chestnut (Route 462)

 Finally, some activity at Hickernell’s office, at least outside it

 A load of asphalt with nowhere to go
It ended up here, next to the parking lot on Bank Avenue.
(Can you reheat cold asphalt?)
 Lamb Chop hung out to dry

 A new fountain at Columbia River Park

 Here’s another view

 There’s also a lower access for Fido to wash down that THC.

 The Wright Mansion, autumn-shrouded

 Looking spiffy at Art Printing
 There goes Andre!

 Sign down!
(Commerce Street)

 Runners – one locally famous

 Heron in hiding – sort of

 Jet following the jet stream

 Something with muddy paws walked on this rail.

 Drain grate

 Glued to the TV, as many folks are.

 Buckeye flutter-by grounded

 That’s a mighty tall flagpole, that flagpole is.

 Hood ornament

More ghost signs – The one at the top reads “COLUMBIA.”
(Bootleg Antiques)
Here are a few submitted photos:
 A Knox Box taped shut!

 A pipe is sticking out of the sidewalk.

 Oh yes it is.

 And the mattress collection continues to grow – now with an old-time TV.

 Shaky fence with weeds – and a multi-street street sign.
The photo intrigued us enough to take a closer look and sure enough, there it is.

Here’s a shot submitted by Patrick “Phos” Martin. He explains that it is a composite of 16 separate shots taken from a tripod set up in the middle of Bridge Street several years ago. Wow! Even the ghost sign reading “MYERS MACHINE TOOL CORPORATION” is visible.
Nice work!

Council scrambles to fund new position, leaving candidate in limbo – and there's a tax hike looming

Council continues to dissect the 2019 budget, which Council President Kelly Murphy describes as already having been “ground up like hamburger.”

For a while there, it seemed like Columbia had a new property inspector – and that still might be the case – but we won’t know for sure until this coming Wednesday. As Columbia Spy previously reported, Jay Frerichs was promised the job at the October borough council meeting, and for all intents and purposes had it in the bag until Thursday’s budget meeting when things went a little . . . haywire.

At the meeting, the purpose of which was to plan the 2019 budget, council realized it might not have the funds to pay Frerichs a promised $50,000 salary plus benefits. The item is not in the 2019 budget.

In the weeks preceding, Frerichs had been given the runaround over whether or not he even had the job. According to Frerichs, he was elated and ready to go after he was unanimously voted in at the October council meeting. Frerichs recounted that he was interviewed by Zoning & Planning Officer Jeff Helm and Code Enforcement Manager Steve Kaufhold on September 26 and said the outcome of the meeting was that “I was hired by those guys,” although there was nothing in writing handed to him.

At a meeting a few days later with Borough Manager Rebecca Denlinger and Finance Manager Georgianna Schreck, Frerichs said he was also left with the impression he was hired. He was given a start date of October 22. Reasonably certain he had the job, Frerichs said he declined several remodeling jobs totaling $25,000 and gave notice to a construction company where he was a subcontracted sales manager.

Frerichs said he passed a required drug test and physical on October 18, but on October 19, three days before the promised start date, someone at the borough office told him the background check had not been received. He then waited another week, during which time he got no response from the borough, even though he called Kaufhold a few times. He then called the borough office and was told there were no updates. Finally, he called the state police who told him his background check information had been sent to the borough on Thursday, October 25. During an October 31 phone call, Schreck admitted to Frerichs that the borough had received the background check – which was clean – but did not have enough money in the budget to pay him, which Frerichs said he found “flabbergasting.”

At Thursday’s meeting, several councillors apologized to Frerichs for the situation, as did Denlinger, who said, “Not making any excuses for how this happened. This sucks. We failed.”

At this point, Frerichs is left in limbo. Council scrambled to find funds to finance the position at Thursday’s budget meeting, but soon found it necessary to schedule an extra budget meeting, for this Wednesday, November 7. Council president Kelly Murphy promised Frerichs a “yes or no” at that meeting. Murphy also said a borough tax increase may be in the offing – from the current 6.6 mills to 8 mills.

********************

From the September 10, 2018 Columbia Borough Council Meeting Agenda
A look back at how the timeline for the property inspector position has evolved shows that it was initially an item on the September 10, 2018 council meeting agenda, in which council voted to “Consider approval to initiate the process for hiring one full-time Property Inspector for the Codes Department.” 
Legal Notice from the Columbia Borough website
A legal notice above was posted, with a deadline for the position of September 14. As announced at Thursday’s budget meeting, 12 candidates applied for the position and were subsequently whittled down to three. Frerichs said he was interviewed on September 26, and on October 8, council voted unanimously to approve him him for the position, with a motion “to approve a conditional offer of employment for Jay Frerichs as full-time property inspector at a time to be determined by the Borough Manager conditioned on the successful completion of all background checks and settlement of any terms and conditions of employment necessary to start Borough employment.” 
From the October 8, 2018 Columbia Borough Council Meeting Agenda
On October 31, after successfully fulfilling the stated requirements for the job, Frerichs was told that the borough had no funds available for the position. He stated his case at the November 1 budget meeting, where council unsuccessfully scrambled to find funds for the position, forcing them to schedule an extra budget meeting for Wednesday, November 7. (The November 1 budget meeting was to be the final meeting for the 2019 budget.)

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