Market now opens five days

In addition to its regular hours on Thursday and Friday, the Columbia Market House is also open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
There are three stands, who are now open five days a week.

Top county official visits

Former West Hempfield Township manager Charlie Douts, now a top official with Lancaster County, was among the many visitors to the Columbia Market House this morning.

More changes ahead at market

Over the last few weeks there have been a number of changes at the Columbia Market House.
Three stands operated by the Amish and Mennonites, along with Market Manager Brian Long have left. A few more stands popped up last night and maybe even a few more this week.
But down the road, there could be some significant changes.
Monday night, borough council approved two items that they expected to bolster the market for the long term.
First, council approved revisions to the market stand leases with modified rents and electric charges, along with asking stand holders to pay in advance with options to pay weekly, monthly or for the year. Those paying for a year will get their stands for two weeks free as an incentive.
Second, council approved changes to an ordinance that will allow for a market house trust to be formed, taking the running of the facility out of the hands of the borough.
"These changes have been the result of many meets with stand holders and we feel it is a fair and equitable option,: said Kelly Murphy, councilmen.
Council expects the trust to be formed throughout the year with takeover in 2012.
"We are working on establishing members of that group and bylaws," Murphy said.
"There is still a lot of work to do and this won't happen overnight," Mary Wickenheiser, council president said.

From the Market House weekly newsletter

This was in the Columbia Market House manager's weekly newsletter:
At the end of 1995 the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip appeared in American newspapers. Creator Bill Watterson informed the newspapers of his decision to discontinue Calvin and Hobbes with these words: “I will be stopping Calvin and Hobbes at the end of the year. This was not a recent or an easy decision, and I leave with some sadness. My interests have shifted however, and I believe I've done what I can do within the constraints ... . I am eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises. I have not yet
decided on future projects, but my relationship with Universal Press Syndicate will continue.”
At the end of this year, I will be leaving the post of market manager at the Columbia Market House. I am thankful for the the many extraordinary people who have supported the efforts we expended on behalf of this community treasure.
My “future projects” are undecided, too; I hope my relationship with those who champion advancement for all Columbia’s citizens, rather than special interest factions, will continue.

Parking lot taking shape

The parking lot south of the Market House continues to take shape. Looks like the only thing left might be paving.

Music at the Market

There was some music coming through the walls of the Historic Columbia Market House as Deeter Lutz performed the last two days.

"Filing" a report on the market committee meeting

Columbia Borough Council's market committee held its monthly meeting Thursday night and after some debate on my part of its "news" value, I decided to "file" this brief report on the first 90 minutes of the meeting.
Council members attending the meeting were chairman Kelly Murphy and Sandy Duncan, along with Norm Meiskey, borough manager; Brian Long (market manager) and John Hinkle and Ann Grubb (market house advisory committee members). There were about a half dozen stand holders and three citizens.
Most of the 90 minutes the discussion centered on parking around the market house and advertising the market.
After much discussion between the committee and stand holders, it was decided that "free parking" on market days in the municipal lot. Other parking issues were discussed, but for now the free parking in the municipal lot was deemed a start.
On advertising issues, the budget for that was discussed and at the beginning of the year there was $3,000 in the market budget for that, but there were some ads published, leaving about $800 in that line item. Long said he priced an advertisement for Engle Printing and Publishing that would be a one time cost of $1,000.
Again, after much discussion, it was decided to run a much smaller ad in the Engle Publications and increase the advertising budget for a bigger ad later in the year.
One stand holder said about the advertising, "we need to let them know we are here, if we don't, there's no future here."
Long said a recent attempt to advertise the market on place mats was "not a great idea" and doing a recent survey, Long said the top three answers were newspapers, electronically or having a user friendly website.
"That's what the customers tell you," Long said.
Long suggested the key to a successful advertising campaign would be a frequent ad along with something that stands out. The stand holders rejected a plan to assist with the cost of advertising, saying, "no one is making any money, so we shouldn't pay to advertise."
"Things are going to have to get better or we are out of here. The market isn't improving at all, " said a stand holder.
One of the things I do when I attend meetings, events or games, I like watching the people for their body language or facial expressions. Well, during the meeting and why I used the expression "filing" is that one council member seemed more interested in filing her nails than what was going on at the meeting.
Murphy also talked a little bit about recent events at the market, which led to Long's pending resignation.
Murphy said he was frustrated by the happenings at the market and wants to move forward with improvements to the market.

A question and some answers at the market

About two weeks ago, after a special meeting of Columbia Borough Council, COLUMBIA TALK learned of the resignation of Brian Long as Market Manager.
Two days later, Long was still in command at the market and issued a "no comment" about his future.
Monday night, resident Frank Doutrich asked about Long's status as Market Manager and what happened.
"Tell us what is going on?" Doutrich asked.
Kelly Murphy, who chairs council's market committee did in fact confirm Long resigned as of July 16 and an ad seeking Long's replacement appeared in the Lancaster Sunday News.
"He has agreed to stay on as acting manager," Murphy said of Long.
Murphy said council is trying to move forward with the market, but did not say what caused Long to resign.

Ad concerning Market Manager position

This was in the employment section of this morning's Sunday News:
MARKET HOUSE MANAGER
Employer: Columbia Borough
Job Description
MARKET HOUSE  MANAGER - P/T

The Borough of Columbia is accepting applications until August 13, 2010 for a PT Market House Manager. Job requirements include: B.S. Business Administration, Marketing, or similar degree with 3 yr business management or real estate leasing experience; or high/technical school graduate/GED with 10 yr of business management or real estate leasing experience. Pay rate is $18.50/hr. Applications and complete job description are available at the Columbia Borough Municipal Building, 308 Locust Street, Columbia, PA 17512. EOE"

On the Market Manager

Talked with Brian Long today. He was at the market, trying to make it better, but won't comment on what happened earlier this week. I sensed the situation is not good and still feel that if a borough council member overstepped their bounds or a borough management employee did something, they need to be reprimanded, fired or asked to resign.

The survey is asking?

Market Manager Brian Long is asking for residents to take this survey so he can better understand what Columbia wants at the market. Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Columbia-PA/Columbia-Market-House/140045396007807

Columbia Market House on Facebook

New Columbia Market Manager Brian Long has created a Facebook page for the market: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Columbia-PA/Columbia-Market-House/140045396007807?ref=search

Market was active

The nice weather brought out people to the Columbia Market House today as most stands were busy. Also, Brian Long, the new Market Manager, started today and visited some of the stand holders. This is a picture of the time capsule burried in the 1988 Bicentennial in Columbia.

A rumor to throw out there

Checking on something I heard last night and today that I find out a little incredible, so I will throw it out there. The "little something" I heard today was the building pictured above, the former Sprint building, will become a Farmer's Market. It's not to replace the current market, but apparently to operate on the same days as the current market.

New market manager is hired

The historic Columbia Market is getting a new manager.

Almost seven months after Renae Sears was removed from her duties as the market manager, borough council has hired a replacement.

Monday night, borough council approved the hiring of Brian L. Long as the new market manager, at a salary of $18.50 an hour for 26 hours a week.

Long and another undisclosed individual were interviewed Friday.

Long is a former advertising manager with the Lancaster Newspapers and other publications.

Also Monday, council approved a new title for Finance Manager Georgianna Schreck. Her new title is Manager of Finance and Human Resources.

Borough Manager Norm Meiskey explained the promotion was the result of Schreck's added duties and all administration employees and the new market manager will report to her.
Also, Robert Osborne was hired as a part-time Code Enforcement Officer, replacing an employee, who was hired last month.

And under its finance committee report, a 2010 budget change request was approved to accounnt for management raises, without comment.

Rap's World done "rappin"

As of 2 p.m. this afternoon, Rap's World rang the bell for the last time at the Columbia Market House. One of the original stand holders from when the market first reopened five years ago, Tim Btown and his family are leaving the market because of the politics. Apparently since January, six stands have left the market.

Columbia Market visit

I went to the Columbia Market House on Friday for the first time since my accident in July. Probably the last time I visited there may have been June.


I did follow the changes with the market manager late last year when I was covering borough council meetings and also the million dollar renovations.

With those renovations and even before that, the market house is a nice structure. Plenty of history.

Again, let me preface this that this was my first visit in a while to the market and I only heard from the old word of mouth that things were going well and also that things weren’t going well.

Well, Friday when I was in there, there weren’t a lot of people – probably less than 10. Been told that Thursdays are better than Friday, so I will have to go on a Thursday to compare.

In case you are like me and haven’t been there in a while – there are two produce stands, a lunch meat stand, a couple of baked good places, a butcher and places to get lunch.

There was one entire area neat the back doors in the middle that had no stands.

I had a reason not to support the market, but I do have to wonder if business will pick up as the weather gets better or having a two-day market is not right for Columbia Borough.

And I also have to wonder what is being done to recruit stand holders for those empty spaces?

Columbia Borough through a series of grants just pumped some big time bucks into the facility so they must think it works.

Again, it might just be me going in on a Friday and not Thursday, or, it could be the time of the year and the weather.

Even with that, I’d be kind of concerned with what is going on or not going on down there.