Grant discussion dominates council meeting



If a grant application is successful, Rotary Park could see improvements.

 Monday's Columbia Borough Council meeting lasted a tad more than three hours, however, 78 minutes of that was spent sometimes heatedly discussing a grant proposal that could leave to physical at both River Park and Rotary Park.

After the lengthy discussion, a 5-2 vote passed to take $75,000 from the borough's Capital Fund Balance as a local match to a $1.28 million DCNR grant application for those projects. Voting against the proposal were councilmen Jim Smith and Mike Beury. During the discussion, all but two members of the council, Mayor Leo Lutz and Norm Meiskey, borough manager, chimed in.

It was the second time in two weeks, the application was discussed. Two weeks ago at a special meeting, the council discussed filing the application. Monday's discussion centered on the matching funds.

Meiskey explained the need to add the local match for the grant, saying it will help complete Phase I and II at River Park. Those phases, Meiskey said, are to construct a marina building and make the Walnut Street crossing ADA accessible and also add a pavilion, benches and restroom facilities and create a link to the Northwest Trail.

“We need to maximize the points for the grants,” Meiskey said.

At Rotary Park, the plans call for a new basketball court, pavilion, improved parking area and playground equipment. The Columbia Rotary Club will lend a hand with a financial contribution for that part of the project.

Mary Barninger, council vice-president, was the first to speak out. She was concerned about taking money out of the capital budget for this.

“This will complete all three projects,” Mayor Lutz said.

:”If we don't get this, River Park will not be completed, the Northwest Trail will be in limbo and Rotary Park won't get done,” he said.

Kelly Murphy, another member of council said, the lack of the grant could cause some red flags to be thrown up.

Said Beury, “I don't see the need for the marina building and the trail. I want to see Rotary Park.”

Smith said he talked with officials in Marietta about the trail's impact and it was minimal at best.

The pros and cons of the discussion centered on the needs and wants of the boorough and other entities involved.