President and board member resign from Columbia School Board

Multiple sources have informed Columbia Spy that Columbia Borough School Board President Tom Strickler resigned his position at Thursday night’s board meeting. The resignation is effective 11:59 p.m. on July 18, 2016. The board voted to appoint board member Cole Knighton as board president, effective July 19, 2016.

Board member Fran Resch also resigned recently. The board appointed Keith Combs to fill his position at Thursday’s meeting.

The board also voted to accept the contract to share a superintendent with Eastern Lancaster County School District. The vote was not unanimous due to one absence, one abstention, and one “no” vote. Elanco will vote on the contract at its June 20 meeting.

Columbia Borough and Elanco school boards began discussing joint leadership in April, after Columbia’s former superintendent left halfway through a three-year contract to take a higher-paying job elsewhere, according to an LNP report.

Truck gets stuck, blocks traffic

Just before noon on Thursday, a Dollar Store tractor trailer got stuck at the rear inclined exit of Columbia Plaza shopping center, blocking Barber Street. As the driver was making the tight left turn onto Barber, the trailer’s landing gear became hung up in the sidewalk concrete. Police arrived, setting up cones and flares and directing traffic, as three tow trucks – including a large rollback – attempted to free the landing gear. The large rollback backed under the trailer and lifted the back wheels off the ground, and the driver then broke the trailer free. Delivery trucks and other vehicles were redirected for over an hour.

Above photos by Angel Rodriguez

Ground-penetrating radar used to scan bridge

Penetradar Corporation used ground-penetrating radar to scan the Veterans Memorial Bridge today. Several radar devices were used to investigate aspects of the bridge’s construction, including the location and condition of rebar buried within the bridge’s concrete deck. Two technicians used a portable device to scan sidewalks. They also used a van with four units mounted on the front to scan the roadway. Columbia Spy caught up with them on the Wrightsville end of the bridge.
According to the technicians, a month-long process will follow today’s collection of scan data about the bridge. All information will then be relayed to RK&K, an engineering firm, to be analyzed in conjunction with PennDOT, as a possible first stage in an upcoming bridge renovation project. According to PennDOT officials, the planning phase could take four to six years.
Penetradar technicians discuss the project.

Penetradar van at the Wrightsville entrance to the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

A portable radar unit used to scan the bridge sidewalk.

Brackets on the front of the van hold four radar units for scanning roadways.

Yet another painting project, this time on the river

A much-needed and long-awaited painting project was underway at Columbia River Park this afternoon. Using duct tape, cardboard stencils and a small paint roller, this intrepid painter began reviving the faded numbers and level marks on the river level depth marker scale on the first river pier of the Veterans Memorial Bridge. He stood on the deck of a pontoon boat to access the lower numbers.  The higher ones will present more of a challenge. 
The last photo below shows the height of 1972’s Hurricane Agnes at 241 feet. Numbers indicate height above sea level. Not shown here but indicated on the pier is a mark denoting the normal height of 227 feet at this location.