The meeting packet is HERE.
Columbia Borough won’t renew agreement with Columbia Borough School District to train, pay community safety officer
Gayle Johnson | For LNP | LancasterOnline
When: Columbia Borough Council meeting, June 13.
What happened: Council members voted 6-1 not to renew their agreement with Columbia Borough School District to train and pay a community safety officer to work for the district when classes are in session and to work for the borough when students are not in school. Council member Sharon Lintner cast the only vote to preserve the agreement.
Details: The contract, which pays $95,415 per year, is set to expire around Aug. 14. No one currently holds the job. The school district covers $42,419 of that cost while the borough pays $52,996. Although the borough pays 30% of the officer’s salary, it funds training and uniforms, which increases the municipal portion, Mark Stivers, borough manager, said after the meeting.
More: School board President Charles Leader, Vice President Lauren VonStetten and members Sandy Duncan, Sonya Duncan, Kathleen Hohenadel and Christine Misciagna attended the meeting. At times, school board and borough council members spoke over each other.
Quotables: “We would urge you to maintain this agreement,” Leader read from the school board’s prepared statement before the vote. School board members “are committed to the safety of our children and will take appropriate steps to ensure their security,” Leader said. “Our preference is to do this in partnership with the borough.”
Response: However, council President Heather Zink said statistics from Pennsylvania’s Department of Education fail to justify a need for such an employee. “Per numbers from the state, there isn’t a crime and violence problem at your schools,” Zink said and shared that Columbia schools reported one bullying incident during the 2021-22 school year, one fight at the high school, five fights at the middle school and two fights at the elementary school.
Opposing view: Lintner offered a different view. “Having a CSO in our schools promotes the safety and well-being of students in our district, which should be a priority,” she said in a June 20 text message.
More: Zink noted during a June 22 phone call that school board members approved hiring a security person in May. The district can pay for its own security presence at schools and call police officers if needed, she said. The person recommended for that position did not take the job.
Background: In August 2022, council and the school district agreed to pay for a safety officer after the police department had trouble filling the job for a school resource officer, who must be a member of the police force. Both jobs allow the employee to carry a firearm.
Details: A civilian can become a safety officer and create relationships with students while providing a first response from the police department. The position, however, has remained unfilled for most of the school year.
Dates: The first safety officer resigned after three days in September 2022. A second officer worked for six weeks before leaving the position last spring.
Coming up: Leader declined to comment after the vote. Council members and school board members indicated they will continue to negotiate a new agreement that could put a safety officer in schools in the fall.
Quotable: “We are trying to set up a meeting as soon as possible,” Stivers said during a June 22 phone interview.
Agenda – Shade Tree Commission Meeting – June 26, 2023
PHREDD! at the gazebo – Wednesday, June 28
About Town – June 25, 2023
This week’s photos of Columbia
(Click/tap on photos to see larger, sharper images.)
Escaped hospital patients?
Gone fishin’
Ditto
Out for a ride
Dungin’ out on Franklin
Tyvek
Many visitors to town don’t know where the trail starts. This poorly placed sign might be part of the problem.
The Habitat for Humanity project as seen from Corn Avenue
Soon to be Chicken McNuggets
More signs from Wrightsville. PPL doesn’t appreciate signs like this on their poles, especially ones attached with staples and nails.
It’s a good thing ET doesn’t rely on poles like this to phone home, even though his sticker is attached.
Many utility poles were installed around town over the past week.
Rumor has it that Bigler’s weight-lifting gym on Franklin is closing.
Remember when postal carriers wore uniforms?
There’s a familiar plate.
We are all just prisoners of our own device.
What?
Chalk for everyone!
A bluebird of happiness atop an obelisk at Mount Bethel
This white house next to a burned-out house just sold.
Deer at the ol’ airfield
What chapter and verse is FX4 OFF ROAD?
A baby praying mantis beginning its first rounds
Welcome to the world!
Fillin’ it in
One of the many holes dug into the 200 block of Locust this week.
Here are a few more.
This sign on the Wrightsville side needs some attention.
Let’s hope the bridge doesn’t collapse before the rehab project starts.
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Aftermath of a water main break at 3rd & Poplar
Emergency personnel responded to several incidents this past week, including this one along Route 441 in which a bicyclist was found on the road.
On Saturday, there was a two-vehicle accident at 5th & Walnut, in which several people were injured. One of the cars had a Colorado plate.
Firemen and CCAT members team up to try to rescue two felines
It all began Saturday morning when a resident saw an adult cat and a kitten in a storm sewer at the top of the Columbia High School hill. They appeared to be trapped. On closer inspection, he noticed that the adult cat had an injured eye. Out of concern, the resident called 911.
The Columbia Borough Fire Department responded – but at the same time, another resident contacted a member of the Columbia Cat Action Team (CCAT) whose members also arrived on scene.
Firemen used a pry bar to remove the sewer grates, but the cats became alarmed and fled through a pipe at the bottom of the enclosure. Firemen then removed a nearby manhole cover to try to locate the cats, but the felines were nowhere in sight. Personnel did find, however, several underground pipes leading away from the area in different directions. Unfortunately, that meant the cats could have gone through any one of them. But all was not lost . . .
CCAT members set traps (above ground) in the area in the hopes of catching the cats so they can be tended to. So far, no luck – but CCAT members vow to keep trying.
If anyone sees a tortoise-shell colored adult cat and its kitten in the area of the high school, please contact CCAT via Facebook.
Lead abatement programs targeting more than 3,300 Lancaster County dwellings have remediated 377 so far [Lancaster Watchdog]
Lead poisoning has been linked to long-term cognitive impairments as well as behavioral impacts such as aggression and hyperactivity. The Lead Free Families program that paid for the removal of the lead hazards from the Wilkinsons’ home was launched with a $50 million investment by LG Health in 2021 with the goal of remediating lead hazards from more than 2,800 Lancaster County residential dwellings by 2031.
According to the 2021 Childhood Lead Surveillance Annual Report from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, 241 children under age 6 in the county showed elevated levels of lead in their blood in 2021. At the time, Lancaster County had 40,687 children under 6.
MORE HERE
Habitat for Humanity’s new homes in Columbia start with a build week for women; here’s how to join
Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity’s next Women Build is Aug. 2 to 5 in Columbia. Volunteers need to be 18 to work on construction sites without a guardian.
Before Women Build week, Habitat will have Power Hour construction lessons at 8 a.m. Saturday, July 15, and Saturday, July 22. These sessions will teach construction safety and how to use power tools like saws and drills.
There’s no charge to volunteer or attend a Power Hour. Volunteers are asked but not required to fundraise. On average, it costs about $180,000 to transform a condemned or blighted property into a Habitat home.
Registration is required to volunteer.
To learn more about volunteering outside of Women Build, visit lancasterlebanonhabitat.org or email Audrey Lilley.
Women will tackle some of the first tasks on the Columbia site after subcontractors frame the house and make it watertight. Even on a rainy day, crews will be able to work inside on things like interior framing.
MORE:HERE
Columbia Borough, PA: Fireworks Ban Lifted
Columbia Borough, PA: Fireworks Ban Lifted. This morning, the County Commissioners lifted the ban our outdoor burning due to the recent rain. The Borough Resolution on the ban of Consumer fireworks was tied to the County ban and therefore has been lifted.
If you choose to use fireworks and other similar devices during the July 4th holiday, please be extra careful and follow the regulations on their use.
Crews work on water main break at 3rd & Poplar Wednesday morning
Columbia Borough, PA: ALERT – There is a water main break at the intersection of N Third and Poplar. Please avoid this area. Crews on there now to repair this break.
Columbia Borough, PA: ALERT – There is a water main break at the intersection of N Third and Poplar. Please avoid this area. Crews on there now to repair this break.
Columbia Spy 