When: Columbia Borough school board meeting, Nov. 7.
What happened: School district employees may soon be able to receive health care on-site, as the district and Penn Medicine HealthWorks are in discussions to construct a 1,500-square-foot clinic at the district administration building, 200 N. Fifth St.
Background: Services would include primary in-person and virtual care, including physicals and immunizations, as well as an on-site pharmacy, Robert Drummond and Keith Fox of Penn Medicine told the board.
Details: As a joint capital investment, the district and Penn Medicine HealthWorks would share decisions regarding the construction of the clinic space and the hiring of staff.
By the numbers: Penn Medicine offered to invest $135,000 in furniture, equipment and technology, while the school district would cover the cost of building the clinic, estimated at $350 per square foot, or a total of $525,000. In addition, Columbia Borough would cover $104,000 for primary care services, or $135,000 if counseling services are offered. Penn Medicine would in turn pay $42,000 to lease the clinic space.
Patients: Employees and their dependents would expect to pay a starting rate of $34 or $59 per month for child or adult patients, respectively. This rate would increase over the course of the first two years of the contract. Columbia Borough School District members would also have the ability to access the other Penn Medicine HealthWorks clinics.
Next steps: Penn Medicine is drafting a five-year contract, and the district will vote on it in December. If the district accepts the proposal, the clinic would open between the fall of 2025 and winter 2026.
When: Columbia Borough Council meeting Nov. 12. Mayor Leo Lutz was absent.
What happened: Columbia Borough may give away a home it owns, but there’s a catch. The new owner must pay to move the house from its current location.
Details: Council members voted to advertise the sale of and accept bids for 700 Franklin St., a 1,521-square-foot, three-bedroom home with one bathroom and a basement.
Quotable: “We’re willing to accept the best bid,” Heather Zink, council president, said in a Nov. 14 phone call. “If it is zero dollars, we’ll take it.”
Why it matters: The structure sits on land that will become part of the McGinness technology park, and the borough must either demolish the property or arrange for a new owner, who will move the house.
More: Real estate websites have estimated the house is worth between $238,000 and $239,000.
Timing: The borough had not yet publicly advertised the sale as of Nov. 14, Zink said during the phone call. During the meeting, Zink said she hoped council could open bids in late December. A new owner should move the property by April 1, Derek Rinaldo, borough engineer, said.
Budget: Sharon Lintner, a former council member, asked council to consider the stress the proposed 1 mill tax increase will have on some of the borough’s economically disadvantaged residents.
Background: On Nov. 7, council members agreed to raise property taxes by 1 mill in 2025 to help counter a proposed $1.5-million to $1.7-million budget deficit on an $8.81-million spending plan for the borough’s general fund.
Quotable: “We have a lot of poverty. We have a lot of Social Security recipients,” Lintner told council members. Combined with other cost-of-living increases, “It does add up and puts a burden on people when they have to write that check,” she said.
Cost to homeowner: One mill would net the borough $438,000 in revenue. An owner with property valued at $100,000 would see an annual tax payment increase from the current $800 to $900.
What’s next: Council will hold an additional public meeting Wednesday to hear comments about the budget.
Grant request upped: Council members voted to ask the state Department of Community & Economic Development for a grant for $300,000 instead of the planned $200,000 to make structural repairs to the Columbia River Crossings Trail Center. [SPY NOTE: The cost of repairs has been estimated at $400,000.]
Details: Zink said she proposed the lower amount with a 50% borough match to increase Columbia’s chances of getting the money. However, grants from the state’s Local Share Account don’t have strict funding rules, Rinaldo said.
Quotables: “I wanted to put skin in the game and make our application a little stronger,” Zink explained. Said council member Peter Stahl: “If we don’t ask for it, we won’t get it. It doesn’t seem like a huge risk.”
Museum application: Council members also voted to apply for a $200,000 Local Share Account grant on behalf of the National Watch and Clock Museum to replace its HVAC system. Grant applications are due Nov. 30, and the borough won’t know if money will be awarded until October 2025, Rinaldo said.
What’s next: Council will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday for its special budget meeting. The meeting, which will occur at 308 Locust St., also will be available on the borough’s YouTube channel the next day.
Shortly after John Brubaker tendered his resignation after 10 years at Penn Manor, Columbia’s Brady Mathias — the youngest coach in the league — stepped down from the Crimson Tide’s program.
Citing his desire to spend more time with his family — he has a toddler at home — while juggling teaching duties, Mathias walked away after three seasons on Columbia’s sideline.
Dealing with a small roster and trying to keep everyone healthy, the Tide had a difficult 0-10 season this fall, and Columbia went 5-25 under Mathias, a former football player for Hempfield during his prep days.
Mathias did not rule out a return to coaching; he said he’s stepping down for now.
Police have charged a Columbia man with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in his home in September 2023.
Robert Fink Jr., 43, is facing five felony counts related to sexual assault of a minor.
In a criminal complaint filed last week, police say the girl was visiting Fink’s home on the evening of Sept. 9, 2023. Fink’s girlfriend was present when the girl arrived but left around 8 p.m.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl said Fink gave her marijuana, and she soon became high.
Police said Fink proceeded to lock the doors of the room and began sexually assaulting the girl, ignoring her demands to stop.
After making a report to Columbia police, the girl was taken to Penn State Health Lancaster Medical Center for a sexual assault forensic examination. DNA found during the examination was later matched to Fink after police collected a sample from him in August 2023, police said.
Fink remains in Lancaster County Prison after being unable to post $500,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19.
YWCA Lancaster runs a 24-hour sexual assault hotline, 717-392-7273, that connects callers to free, confidential counseling and therapy services for community members impacted by sexual abuse, harassment or assault.
A suspect can be seen in handcuffs beside a West Manchester Township police vehicle in this submitted photo.
This afternoon in Columbia, police from at least three different departments apprehended the driver of a truck on Route 30. The suspect was arrested just beyond the Columbia exit, after traveling across the Wrights Ferry Bridge from the direction of York County. He was then handcuffed and placed in a West Manchester Township police vehicle. At one point, six police vehicles were on the scene.
Columbia Borough and Springettsbury Township were also among the responding departments. More details will be provided as they become available.
The cow at the Turkey Hill Experience got its winter cap on Tuesday.
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Here’s an owl reminiscent of a Rush album cover.
This hawk was hanging around on the 500 block of Chestnut Street on Election Day.
A murder of crows protested, but he mostly ignored them.
Which way is it?
Captain Kirk’s in town.
Lines were painted on Manor Street, from 9th to 12th for traffic calming, according to a source.
Here are the lines. The first two photos are pointing west, and the last one looks east.
A biker gang blew through town the other day.
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Heavy fall clouds
Yard waste pickup ends November 12.
Colder weather is just around the corner, so this praying mantis is living out his last days in the meantime.
The mural is almost done.
This is an artist’s rendering of how the finished project will look.
The estimate for repairs to the Columbia Crossing building has risen from $250,000 to $400,000. The building costs taxpayers $140,000 to $200,000 annually just to run and maintain. (That’s equivalent to about 1/4 to 1/2 a mill per year, since a mill currently generates $438,000 of revenue.) Columbia Borough receives no revenue from building rentals. Instead, all rental income goes to Susquehanna Heritage, which manages the building. (The photo above was published in September 2018 on Columbia Spy.)
A one mill tax hike is on the way, with another one possible by the end of next year. The increases are necessary, in part, due to council undertaking several boneheaded projects at the same time. A borough manager told a previous council that they have a spending problem, but the current council continues the trend, refusing to cut any big-ticket projects. Apparently, taxpayers are an endless piggy bank for council’s whims.
The sign in the photo is at 9th Street & Ironville Pike and was hung in response to a previous tax hike in 2018.
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Columbia Spy 