Columbia Spy

Borough Council took a few more tentative steps into the world of social media at Tuesday night’s work session. As was the case at the previous meeting, Borough Manager Rebecca Denlinger recorded the meeting via cell phone as another practice run towards the eventual livestreaming of meetings.

Council also continued hammering out a policy for its planned Facebook page. Cleon Berntheizel, chair of Community Development, presented an update draft of the policy.  Denlinger said the update was the third draft and was reviewed by the borough solicitor, who made changes to the policy. Also discussed were options to connect to Twitter and Instagram, both of which were considered premature at this point. The Facebook issue will be placed on the agenda for the March 12 council meeting.

The draft presented at Tuesday’s meeting is shown below.

1. The document below is an approval form, from the county controller.

2. This situation is NOT unique; other Pa. DAs do this or drive seized vehicles. Some use taxpayer funds instead. Forfeiture funds are NOT taxpayer dollars.

3. All use of forfeiture funds are audited annually by the controller and Attorney General; we have been in full compliance every year for every expense.

4. This is a work vehicle and all expenses (to include mileage and fuel reimbursements) were appropriate, per the controller. The taxpayer/county is owed nothing regarding this vehicle.

Fatih “Mike” Sivri, owner of Black Olive Diner, received the Outstanding Local Business Award. Black Olive, at 15th Street and Lancaster Avenue, opened in August 2016, and Mike has helped the fire department by offering food on extended incidents, monetary donations, and individual member discounts on meals. In December 2017, Mike gave a donation to the fire company, which Columbia Spy reported on HERE.