Monday, October 11, 2010

New council member is

By a 5-1 vote, Jim Smith, former owner of Smith's Hotel was selected as the newest member of Columbia Borough Council tonight.
Council President Mary Wickenheiser voted against Smith's appointment, who will serve as a replacement for Anna Gerlitzki, who resigned last month.
With his appointment, Smith was forced to resign from the Civil Service Commission, which he held for more than 30 years.
As I said last week as much as it would have been nice  to serve on Borough Council, it is not the end of the world. The sun will (okay might) come up tomorrow and life goes on. Yes, I will run for election next year.
Again, what I didn't like was some of the back door stuff that was going on with this appointment, which borough council apparently knew about. Learned today, that the other candidate for the position, Carmen Swinehart, was asked to drop out as late as tonight again and also offered $1,000 to do so.
I also question that if this was suppose to be debated on at a public meeting, and I was not the only one thinking this way, why was there no debate? And why did the new council member already have a name plate.
Again, there are no sour grapes, but something just isn't right with the way this went down.

21 comments:

Izzy said...

Well I hope you run in the election Barry. We need at least 2 more council people replaced who are at the end of their terms and the other 2 we are stuck with for 2 additional years after that!

Unknown said...

HEY BARRY, JUST RUN IN THE ELECTION AND GET THE MOST VOTES. THAT WILL SHOW WHO THE PEOPLE WANTED IN THE FIRST PLACE. FOR THE BACKDOOR STUFF, YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT IT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS. AS FOR $1,000.00 BEING OFFERED FOR A PERSON TO DROP OUT OF THE RACE FOR THE SEAT, I THINK THAT MAY BE ILLEGAL AND THE STATE ETHICS COMMISSION SHOULD BE CONTACTED. WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK IN THE ELECTION.

Anonymous said...

good luck next time barry. i do agree i didn't like the way this while thing went down either..this back door bullshit has got to stop. it was evident that jim knew before it was announced, and he made a couple remarks that i thought were not appropriate...he thinks he's da bomb....we'll see-does he have what it takes to stand up to the rest of council and do whats in the best interests of the 10,000 plus residents???? i certainly hope so - or we'll run him out next election

did not approve of the way they appointed jim and mary w made motion to appoint carment-how disgusting, that was all set up and it lacked ALL decency-i have NO respect for you idiots

Anonymous said...

thanks barry for caring about this town. i agree with william, it may be illegal and maybe it should be reported to the state ethics commission.....thanks for going back to anonymous!!!

Anonymous said...

i'm ashamed to have witnessed that mockery last night-wow-these clowns really do need some new blood who won't say yes and go along with everything mary w and norm wants-what they should do is oust them both......

Anonymous said...

norm and mary w stated at the special council mtg last week-the interviews that they could not discuss at executive session-it had to be discussed at a public mtg and then they moved on and no one discussed anything or anyone. i agree, it's wrong-norm thinks he knoews the law....maybe the state ethics commission will think differently

Anonymous said...

Thanks Barry for putting back the anonymous posting. Now maybe you will get more responses.

Anonymous said...

So is it back to business as usual Barry? Will you start posting things again like you used to? We need to be made aware of these things, like before you allowed yourself to be strong armed.

Anonymous said...

I COULD HAVE TOLD THE PUBLIC LAST WEEK, WHO IT WAS GOING TO BE. SMITH IS PRO UNION, PRO ANYTHING, THAT HAS TO DO WITH THE ONES THAT DO ALL THE WORK. HE ENJOYS THE CUSHY LIFE THAT HE CAN GET BY GOING AGAINST THE HARD WORKERS/PEOPLE AND LOVES THE 'POWER' THAT HIS BUDDY NORM LOVES. YOU ALL KNOW ABOUT THE 'CONTROL PROBLEM' NORM HAS. WELL, THEY ALWAYS SAY, DO UNTO OTHERS, ETC.. SOMEDAY, IT COULD COME BACK AND BITE THEM. THANKS BARRY AND CARMEN FOR TRYING TO HELP THE PEOPLE IN THE BORO. HOPEFULLY YOUR TIME WILL COME!

Anonymous said...

Is it possible that Mr. Smith had a name plate because he already had one from being on the Civil Service Commission?

Anonymous said...

he makes a lot of contibutions to the sports teams and deserves some respect for this position

Anonymous said...

It was a piece of paper with his name written on it, as there would have been for the other 2 candidates as well. It wasn't a metal plated one. The paper ones are standard in this case and are done for all interviewed candidates. I too did not like the way this appointment played out but let's not make this "name plate" issue more than what it really was.

Anonymous said...

Having Jim Smith on Council should improve the relationship between CEDC and Council. This Council needs to take advice on how to bring business into town. Leo, Mary and Norm thought they had all the answers and it only cost us in the end alot of taxpayer money. People may not like Jim's personality but we have to start looking beyond that and put individuals on Council who can make things happen. Council President Wickenheiser and Mayor's Lutz's face was priceless when Jim Smith took his seat on Council. Lutz and Wickenheiser know their antics are finished and they should consider moving on and let Council run this town.

Bridge Burner said...

Going back to the anonymous comments is really counterproductive. Statements like "i have NO respect for you idiots" contribute nothing to the discussion.

Barry, if you know there to be some truth about an offer of money in this selection process, you owe it to the citizens of Columbia to report it. Here is the website for the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission: www.ethics.state.pa.us
Albert Storm, Jr.

Anonymous said...

tonight wednesday october 13 at 6:30 pm is finance mtg at boro hall-you really should attend-it'll blow your socks off....all mtgs ARE open to the PUBLIC !!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Barry, i hope you run in the spring as well...i think that you'd bring a lot of good down home advice to the table - just what we need!!! good luck and hang tough...you have an awful lot of friends in this town!!!!

william chester said...

we should stop the whining, Mr Smith has the experience to serve the term for Mrs. Gerlitzky and appears to be the best candidate. If there is proof of a $1,000 offered to Ms. Swinehart take it forward to proper authorities. I do not believe there was an offer made to Ms. Swinehart for positioning to gain a council seat. Mr Smith is above "under dealings" for personal gains in real estate, etc. He will be an asset to borough council and working with other professionals like Leo, Norm and Mary. We need to move forward for the betterment of our community.

Anonymous said...

This $1,000 dollar rumor floating around town is just another ploy by our Mayor and Council President.When the Council President passed the gavel and makes a motion without getting a second (nominating Carmen S.) is embarrassing not to mention very sneaky. Jim Smith was the only person interviewed that can call Norm,Mary and Leo on the carpet. These three are worried they will not be able to run this town behind closed doors anymore. As for an ethic issue you have to be an elected official to face ethic charges. I wish someone would have offered me $1,000.00 to stay out of the race. I would takes seven Jim Smith's over a few goof balls we have on Council now...including our Mayor, and I'm not a big fan of Jim Smith.

Anonymous said...

The 1,000.00 is real....friends! Let her have her dignity and move on. I can respect that now people will be nay sayers and nay haters. 1,000 is nothing. Jim is only one person and will not change the whole boro overnight-we need fresh replacement. Its time this town stop fighting for the wrong reasons.

Anonymous said...

What idiot would offer someone $1,000.00 to remove their name from trying to be appointed to Columbia Borough Council? Its Columbia Boro for God's sake.

Anonymous said...

let it drop.