Columbia Borough passed its 2011 budget this week. The good news, property owners in Columbia will not face a tax increase for 2011.
The bad news was that the budget exposed other issues. (http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/330404).
Those issues involve the police department, which were exposed at this week’s special meeting.
The council overturned Mayor Leo Lutz’ veto of the budget by a 7-0 vote. The mayor wanted an additional officer and two vehicles purchased among other issues.
The bone of contention during the meeting was the lack of a police budget submitted to the borough over the last three years, not having a working Breathalyzer for the department and only one AED.
The Breathalyzer has been out of service for at least three years, according to what COLUMBIA TALK has learned. It would cost more to replace the out-of-service equipment, than it would to purchase a new one. Without the equipment, police have been transporting alleged DUI suspects to Lancaster General Hospital for blood tests.
Therefore, without the Breathalyzer, which can test blood alcohol contents immediately, taking officers off the street to run to Lancaster was the only option.
So as this information comes to light, one has to ask a few questions again.
One, wouldn’t it be cheaper for the borough to replace the broken unit, tan take officers out of Columbia and run to Lancaster for BAC testing?
Two, since there has been no working Breathalyzer for at least three years are the officers still certified or if one is purchased will the4re be training required?
Three, why wasn’t this pointed out until this week that no police budget has been submitted for the last three years?
In most places, heads would roll if this type of information wasn’t provided.
Four, have we sacrificed the safety of our citizens by not having one?
This raises even more questions:
What about the rumor circulated around town this week that possibly one council member wants to disband the police department? Columbia is use to police coverage 24/7 and having another department or state police serve our town, would make open season for the criminal element.
Are the certifications of the officers to use the lone AED the department has up to date?
There are many other issues within our borough, but one thing that should never be sacrificed is the safety of its people. Right now, there seems to be a lot of playing around with that.
As Eagles coach Andy Reid says weekly at his post-game news conference, “Times’ yours.” The time is now for Columba Borough to explain this mess and if someone has to take the fall for it, so be it.
5 comments:
I will freely admit - I am an outsider.
I did not grow up here, I do not know the names of everyone on my street and from what I understand because I live closer to the river I must automatically be undereducated, a drug user etc.
I've been a Columbia homeowner for almost ten years now. I have children in both elementary and the Sr/Jr high school and have had three instances with the police here.
The first was a tragic circumstance in which my family was not at fault. The officers dispatched to my home were quiet honestly cruel. They made the worst day of my life at least sixty times worse.
The second was an accident in which I swerved to avoid an unattended 10-year old girl on a bicycle and unfortunately we did collide which resulted in a broken bone and bicycle for the child and a wonderful meeting of what I can only assume was a younger officer. This officer was kind to all parties involved, understanding and empathetic. I can only assume he was transferred into Columbia and was trained elsewhere.
The third instance involved just asinine police work that involved making my husband walk four blocks, leave his car on 3rd street because his inspection had expired the previous month.
I've never been very interested in the going ons of Columbia even though I do vote in every election but after trying to research why Columbia has no school buses I stumbled upon your blog.
For the last two hours or so I have been reading your posts and I am totally amazed that with the obvious problems in this community the smallest things are debated. (Was it REALLY necessary for council to demonstrate the market bell and debate?)
Not only should the police have a BAC unit, they should have more than one and they should have more training. With this increased training they need to be visible at all hours of the day and night. Please know, this is not to have citizens feel safer but to prove to a would be business owner that they can set up shop in Columbia and not have their property vandalized or be subjected to groups of people loitering and in the process scaring off business. Columbia should not invest money in cameras (which have never been shown as a crime deterrent) but rather use these funds as incentives and work with the SBA to promote Columbia as a safe, quaint, historical river town and a great place to work.
I think everyone in this area in general (not just Columbia) should get rid of the mind set that if they haven't known a thing or person their entire lives it must be bad. If a community or a person doesn't change or evolve it dies.
With the amount of crime that happens here (esp Megan's Law offenders) I am afraid to allow my children to walk home. There are no buses or even private services that run a shuttle service so I must adjust my schedule in order to transport them to and from school. This is the first and only district I have ever seen that doesn't supply transportation.
...But they could with extra tax revenue from new home owners and businesses.
What the council should be doing is evaluating problem or abandoned property, cease the property (per what happens in larger cities) and work with HUD to offer these properties at a low sales point to single families who commit to living in the property and complying with all borough code.
Once accountability is established and the visual presence of police is increased the community will stabilize thereby allowing business owners to "ride the wave" so to speak of the new Turkey Hill facility and revitalize Columbia business.
Approving a BAC unit is a no brain decision. Not only does the absence of one cost more for the department in terms of man hours the bill for the blood work must be picked up by someone..
I'm amazed the same group of people are elected and even more so amazed that no one tells them to stop dwelling in the inane details and fix the larger problems.
Do not disband the police department! Add bike squads, add volunteer bike squads, show this town we care. It can work and can be arranged!
The Borough should start talks with West Hempfield in regards to contracting police services. It is apparent that no one wants to join with us so we will have to go out and purchase police service. The lack of leadership, from the Borough Council, Mayor and Police Chief have put us in a bad way and the problems won't be fixed overnight. Why try to fix something that is badly broken when you can get a well running version of it for about the same price. Don't wait until later in the year, start the talks now. I am sure it could be arranged for our current officers to take positions with West Hempfield, or at least the majority of them.
This borough IS forcing the fire departments to consolidate so they can look into cost cutting by regionalizing with surrounding areas.I.e., asking the townships to foot part of a bill that the Borough barely pays now. Most people would be astonished to know what small percentage of their taxes funds their fire service. Anyone who thinks the Borough won't explore this same option with the PD is a fool. And it would not surprise many to see the same intimidation and heavy-handed tactics that the Borough has used on the fire departments.
We have several relatively new police officers. Obviously some people are willing to come here. Columbia is only a pariah of a town if you make it so. People don't run screaming from the town, and I've never had a problem when I've told people where I'm from.
Post a Comment