Leaf pick up to end

The last leaf pickup in Columbia Borough will take place this Friday, Dec. 16. The leaf truck will follow the street sweeper routes

Other business

At last week's meeting, council heard:
*Heard questions concerning the use of the street sweeper, which isn't running its normal routes, which COLUMBIA TALK first told you several months back.
"We are limiting the use of the sweeper to prolong its life. We hope that people will clean the gutters out on their own so we don't have to purchase another sweeper," Mike Buery, councilman said.
"We are doing it in most areas of the town at least once a month," he said.
* On a question about the proposed relocation of Route 441, a citizen reported seeing three tractor-trailers run a red light recently.
"Why doesn't our police department sit out there and observe this. It is something to take a look at," said Tim Swartz.
* Learned the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority gave the borough $1,500 for escorting the windmills down to Turkey Hill and received $100 for a wedding ceremony performed by Mayor Leo Lutz.
* Heard a request from a citizen to look into safety issues on Ninth Street in the area of Locust Street.

More code issues

If it seems like there are a lot of problemswith Code Enforcement in town, there is. It just seems like the borough turns a blind eye toward them. Here is one from downtown Columbia, about a block from the borough office. To get your problems answered, you can try calling codes at 684-2467, ext. 215.

Columbia Borough is recognized

Columbia Borough has been recognized for economic development.http://www.newpa.com/strengthen-your-community/success-stories/columbia-pa/index.aspx

Settlement is Wednesday

At last week's meeting of Columbia Borough Council, it was announced that settlement on selling the borough-owned property at Third and Linden streets would be no later than Wednesday.

Settlement papers are expeected to be signed Wednesday between Columbia Borough, the Columbia Economic Development Corporation and Museum Partners.

Once the papers are signed, work is expected to begin on the Turkey Hill Experience.

Riiver Park project is honored

Left to Right: Jackie Parker, Deputy Sec, DCED; Mike Schober, Buchart Horn; Karla Farrell, Buchart Horn; Mary Wickenheiser, Borough Council President; Charles Hershey, River Park Steering Committee; Mayor Lutz; Fred Reddig, Executive Director, Governor's Center for Local Government Services

Columbia Borough has been awarded the 2010 Governor’s Award for Local Government Excellence in Promoting Community and Economic Revitalization. The award was for the Columbia Borough River Park Revitalization and Expansion Project.

The award was presented to representatives from Columbia Borough, the River Park Steering Committee and Buchart Horn, Inc. at a luncheon Thursday, April 15, at the Harrisburg Farm Show Building.

The award is the result of seven years work by the River Park Steering Committee. The River Park Steering Committee started discussions on revitalizing the River Park in 2003 and has been meeting monthly since. Construction on the project started in late fall 2009 and is expected to be completed by May 1st, 2010 intime for the boating season.

The revitalized River Park will feature a three lane motorized boat ramp, new canoe/kayak ramp, increased parking, lights, a fishing pier and docks. The grass area will be off-limits this year to allow the grass to grow and take root. The River Park Steering Committee is exploring the possibility of adding a pavilion this year until a permanent building can be constructed as part of phase 1A at a later date.

No more warnings

As many of you know, street sweeping has resumed its normal schedule in the borough of Columbia.
Warnings will no longer be issused for vehicles that aren't moved. As of tomorrow, all vehicles not moved will be ticketed.

Columbia pays more than $2.4 million in salaries

NOTE: Salaries for management employees are listed. Its always been past practice not to list salaries of other employees, rather salary ranges. The salaries are final and does not list overtime pay.

When I came home the other day, there was this envelope in the old 644 mailbox. When I opened it, it wasn’t a bill, rather a list of what Columbia Borough employees made in 2009.


Don’t know who placed in the 644 box, so after some thought, I decided to place it on COLUMBIA TALK.

Unlike the Columbia School Board, who is either June or July (if they meet) approves all of its salaries from the superintendent right down to cafeteria workers and maintenance people, Columbia Borough does not.

If you want to find out say what Columbia Superintendent of Schools Dr. Barry Clippinger is making, its listed. If you want to find out what cafeteria workers and office employees make, its listed.

So, ever wonder what say Borough Manager Norm Meiskey makes or even Police Chief Joe Greenya makes, unless you file a Right to Know form, those salaries are never approved or announced at a meeting.

So on these forms I found in the 644 box, the salaries from 2009 W-2 forms, is $2,496,166.0 for the 63 employees from the seven members of council and mayor, who receive pay checks from the borough payroll.

Here are the salaries of management employees for the borough.

Municipal Authority Plant Manager Ken Berkheimer, $61,311.28

Municipal Authority Assistant Plant Manger Ted Castel, $48,816.90

Five authority employees, ranging from a low of $40,956.17 to a high of $46,041.23.

Eight crossing guards and parking enforcement officers, low of $2,324.15 to a high of $15,841.75.

Police Chief Joe Greenya, $89,171.33

Part-time police officers, three, $845.90

Full-time officers, $931,934.94. There are 17, ranging from a low of $44,574.69 to an officer who retired last year to a high of $80,520.90. There were five officers who made more than $70,000 in 2009.

Salaries for the dispatch center, $101,254.46 from a low of $61.56 to a high of $36,004.70 for four employees.

Borough Manager Norm Meiskey made $70,671.87 in 2009, while Georgianna Schreck, who is the finance manager made $40,29.12. Four other employees classified as office employees make just over $138,000.

Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Helm made $50,929 and four employees on that staff make a combined $112,410.32.

Salaries for the borough’s highway department of eight people range from a low of $8,791.06 for an employee who was just hired in 2009 to a high of $43,705.05. Highway Department Head Ron Miller made $58,799.93 in 2009. The total for the highway department was slightly more than $343,853.

The borough also paid $8,700 to members of the borough council and the mayor, plus salaries for the janitor, fire chief and tax collector.

Is this what we want for downtown?

Have you been downtown lately, when its been nice?
If you have been and been in the area of Fourth and Locust streets, you probably have seen it at the vacant lot at Fourth and Locust streets.
It's the lot where a building was torn down maybe two years ago, in not longer now, turned into a vacant lot/parking lot.
Since the weather has turned nice, its been the scene of what many are calling an "outdoor yard sale or flea market" on an almost daily basis -- right in the heart od our downtown.
It has also been a problem the last few years when it came time for the Antique, Art and Craft Show, sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce as well. Seems the property owner of the lot is allowing yard sales on the property, the day of that event, making the vendors coming to Columbia for that big day in June unhappy campers. They are paying a fee to be there and those on the lot are not.
Is Columbia has a yard sale ordinance, it is not being enforced. Several years ago there was a proposal before council to limit the number of yard sales a property owner could have, but may not have been acted on.
But is this what we want people coming to town to see every day? Filling up a lot with let's call it what it is -- junk.
Okay, it could be the business that operates at 403 Locust St. moving items outside, but they shouldn't be allowed to do it every day.
Columbia Borough should step in and stop this or control this before it gets out of hand. It just doesn't give off a good impression of our town.

Columbia needs crossing guards

Here is information from the Columbia Borough website as the borough is looking for crossing guards.

POSITION: CROSSING GUARD CLASSIFICATION: HOURLY PART TIME (Normally :10 hrs/wk Maximum 19 hrs/wk)

BASIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Assists school-age children to cross public streets safely by directing and/or regulating vehicular and pedestrian traffic at specified intersections throughout the Borough.
2. Performs special assignments for traffic control and pedestrian safety at events in the Borough.
3. Observes vehicle movements and safety permitting, records license numbers of vehicles whose drivers are jeopardizing safe street crossing by operating their vehicles in an unsafe manner and reports them to the Police Department.
4. Reports students who do not adhere to safe street crossing procedures to appropriate school officials.
5. Watches for suspicious persons and/or vehicles that may prey upon young children.
6. Use and maintain designated crossing guard equipment provided by the transportation department, wear appropriate attire for weather conditions such as raincoat, gloves, etc.

MINIMUM ACCEPTABLE TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:

1. High school graduate or equivalent knowledge and experience sufficient to successfully perform the essential duties of the job as noted above.
2. Must successfully attain Pennsylvania ACT 34 clearance
3. Must not currently or have been with the last ten (10) years on court-ordered community supervision or probation for any criminal offense of the grade of a Class B misdemeanor. May not have been convicted of an offense of the grade of a Class B misdemeanor or above within the last ten (10) years. May not have been at any time, convicted of felony offense or any family violence offense.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

1. Ability to exercise sound judgment in evaluating situations and in making decision.
2. Ability to work independently, with a minimum of supervision and utilizing good time management skills.
3. Ability to use a hand-held stop sign, flashlight, narrowcades and sandbags.
4. Basic safe driving rules and procedures as described in the PA Vehicle operators manual
5. Techniques for communicating with children and adults.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

1. Must possess stamina to stand for long periods of time
2. Ability to work out of doors in all weather conditions and with exposure to traffic
3. Visual acuity to include 20/20 vision with corrective lenses as necessary to read printed materials and license plates and color acuity to accurately differentiate colors.
4. Must be able to pass pre-employment drug testing and post employment physical and hearing examinations.

Beware of possible new regulations

It’s something I read each Sunday in the Sunday News – the county and state inspections of restaurants. Some pass and others have a long list of needed repairs or get shutdown until the repairs are made.


But you never see anything from Columbia Borough in those inspections. That’s because Columbia does its own inspections and doesn’t publish the results. That can be good or bad depending upon your view points. I’m the kind of person who wants to know if there is a problem at a place I eat.

But that could be changing and its something everyone in Columbia that owns a restaurant, club, non-profit or has a stand at community events needs to be aware of.

The borough either is, or will be changing how its Code Enforcement office works, taking those type inspections away from the locals and giving the county and state free reign to work.

So now, instead of perhaps getting a call from the borough saying, “hey, we’ll be around next week,” there will be no call. The inspectors will show up unannounced and go to work.

So, if there is a problem or a complaint filed against a local restaurant/eatery, there probably won’t be no more Mr. Nice Guy warnings.

I’m not sure how many people realize this change is going to happen, so I am writing this as a public service/warning. If you are not up to par, you better get up to par.

I’m not so much concerned about the big places in our town, because I would suspect they are all up to snuff when it cones to food codes, etc. If they are not, look out.

What does concern me and something I’ve read those inspections of are the smaller groups and organizations who are not up to snuff on the laws. You know the ones run by volunteers.

That could be bad news for them as well. You’re gonna see an inspector coming around and it might be costly to make repairs.

The same goes for those non-profits and others who have stands at the various events in town. You’re gonna be inspected as well.

I have a problem with some of this because many use these events as major fund-raisers and if they can’t meet the code, they won’t be able to sell anything.

This information doesn’t appear to be top secret stuff like some things in our town, but perhaps instead of spreading the word via “word of mouth” when inspections are done and say “oh by the way,” Columbia Borough needs to let all these people know what they are planning. Some of places might not be able to afford bringing their places up to code. Perhaps a letter or a town meeting might be in order. But then again, people might tend to ignore letters and invites to a meeting, so, that move is up to Columbia Borough.

The end result might be good for the town, but getting to the end result might/will cause some hardship and money.

State of Emergency

Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz has issued a Snow Emergency declaration for the borough starting at noon, ending tomorrow.

What that means is vehicle traffic, except for emergency vehicles and those helping to remove snow is banned from the streets in Columbia.

Columbia officer accepted into program

Columbia Borough Police Officer Daniel Bell, demoted from detective after his May DUI crash in Hallam, has been accepted into a pretrial diversionary program.
Bell will be allowed to carry his sidearm on duty while in the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, according to the York County District Attorney's Office. People on ARD or on probation are typically required to surrender their weapons.

Bell, 36, of Hellam Township, was charged with driving under the influence, accidents involving damage to an unattended vehicle, careless driving, failure to notify police and driving in the wrong lane after his Jeep Cherokee struck a parked, unoccupied Jeep Cherokee in the 400 block of East Market Street in Hallam about 3 a.m. May 3.

A blood test placed Bell's alcohol level at 0.184 percent, more than twice the 0.08 percent level at which an adult driver is considered to be drunk under Pennsylvania law.

The collision flipped Bell's Jeep onto its roof and ripped the right rear passenger tire off the other Jeep and pushed that vehicle from the roadway into a nearby driveway.

Bell left the scene after the crash, police said. A Hellam Township Police officer found Bell's badge, driver's license, police identification and a .25-caliber handgun in the Bell's Jeep.