COLUMBIA SPY

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Columbia's Tim Deeg has long history in local fire service

Elwood "Tim" Deeg was named Grand Marshal of the Lancaster County Firefighters Parade at a dedication on Monday, May 4, 2026.

JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY

A dedication at the Columbia Borough Fire Hall on Monday evening, May 4th, honored one of the borough's most dedicated fire service members. Elwood "Tim" Deeg was named Grand Marshal of the upcoming Lancaster County Firefighters Parade scheduled for Saturday, June 6th.

The recognition came as a surprise to Deeg, 83, who spent decades protecting life and property in Columbia Borough by serving in several roles, including Fire Chief and Fire Marshal.

Deeg's connection to the fire service stretches back to just after his graduation from high school at age 18, when he responded to his first fire, at the old Standard Garment Factory at 625 Locust Street, where CVS now stands. The factory, which had sat idle since the company relocated to New York City in 1956, was heavily damaged in July 1961 when three boys playing with matches set it ablaze. Over the decades, Deeg rose through the ranks to serve as chief of the Vigilant Fire Company.

Deeg also served multiple turns as borough chief, a position that would pass among officers on a rotating basis. He credited John Lutz, a longtime dispatcher, as central to borough emergency communications in those years.

In earlier times: Tim Deeg (center) with Jack Brommer, Sr. (left) and Barry Meyers (right).

[Provided photo]

Beyond his firefighting duties, Deeg served for several years as Fire Marshal for Zone 7, covering northwest Lancaster County. As both Fire Chief and Fire Marshal of Columbia Borough, Deeg held two demanding roles, commanding emergency response operations while overseeing fire prevention and fire investigations for the borough.

Deeg talks to local students about the fire service. [Provided]

Deeg's career spans the history of Columbia's five fire companies, including the current Columbia Borough Fire Department 80 which was formed in 2015 through a merger of the companies. Deeg remains a member at Station 80, known as the "Hambones."

Along the way, Deeg chalked up several other notable accomplishments:

1. He started the first junior firemen's program in Columbia, with three young men: nephew Fred Gerfin, (Mr. McGriddles), Pat Bransby, and John Williams.

2. He introduced a Plectron Alerting System to Columbia Borough to update fire dispatch. The Plectron replaced the old system in which firefighters were simply notified by telephone and siren.

3. He worked with Charles Gohn, head of Columbia Water Company at the time, to color-code all fire hydrants according to the size of underground water lines, and also marked all fire hydrant locations on the borough map.

4. He initiated the first larger pre-connected hose firefighting landlines and deck guns to save time.

5. He and a group of firemen from his company created a major disaster plan.

6. Under the direction of Jim Ciccocioppi, training was given to Vigies firemen on use of radiation detection equipment. "It definitely came in handy for the radiation leak at TMI," Deeg said.

The Firefighters Parade carries extra significance this year, since it coincides with Columbia's 300th Anniversary celebration.

Columbia Borough School Board proposes second tax cut in a row

The Columbia Borough School Board voted to advertise its proposed final budget for the 2026-27 school year, with a reduction in the real estate tax rate for the second year in a row.

At its May 5 meeting, the board approved a proposed tax rate of 25.26 mills — down 0.4 mills, or roughly 1.6%, from the current rate of 25.66 mills. For a property owner whose home is assessed at $100,000, that translates to an annual tax bill of $2,526.

The proposed budget projects $35.13 million in expenditures against $34.56 million in revenue, leaving a projected deficit of about $562,000.

Officials plan to draw from the fund balance to cover the shortfall, if needed.

The board has also set aside $365,470 in committed fund balance reserves to help offset pension obligations under the Public School Employees' Retirement System.

Residents have 30 days to review the spending plan before the board takes a final vote at its June 9 meeting.

[Source: LNP/LancasterOnline]

Agenda — Columbia Borough Council Meeting — May 12, 2026

The meeting packet is HERE.

Monday, May 11, 2026

Haste makes waste — and possibly litigation: Observations on the police chief's contract

❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

In Which Four Members of Council

Outrun Both Caution and Legal Counsel —

Your Correspondent Raises an Eyebrow at the Borough's Most Irregular Work Session

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Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania — The Fifth of May, in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Six

Dearest Gentle Reader,

Your correspondent has read of many a civic spectacle in the noble Borough of Columbia, but rarely has she read of a work session with her eyebrow so thoroughly elevated as after the evening of the fifth of May — wherein council undertook to approve an employment agreement for the incoming Chief of Police with all the delicate precision of a gentleman threading a needle whilst wearing riding gloves.

The new Chief, one Holly Arndt, appears by every account a most capable and suitable personage. That her agreement was nearly entangled in a thicket of contradictory contractual language is no fault of hers whatsoever.

When a lawyer says a contract contradicts itself, the proper response is to fix it — not to dismiss the observation as insufficiently bold.

Council Vice President Heather Zink raised what your correspondent considers entirely legitimate concerns: the agreement distributed the night before did not accord with what had been discussed in executive session, the borough's own labor attorney had flagged that protective language he'd inserted had been removed, and the document contained directly contradictory provisions regarding whether Chief Arndt would be an at-will employee or enjoy civil service protections. One cannot, in polite society — nor in a court of law — be both simultaneously. Madam Zink was, in this correspondent's estimation, entirely right to object.

Into this scene stepped Mayor Leo Lutz, who dismissed the labor attorney's objections as "wishy-washy" and urged council not to delay. His desire to spare Chief Arndt further uncertainty was understandable — but calling one's own paid legal counsel wishy-washy and pressing forward regardless was, to put it charitably, rather overbearing. Attorneys retained at public expense to scrutinize employment agreements are not engaged to produce mere decoration.

Council Member Ethan Byers moved sensibly to table the matter. Unfortunately, that motion failed. The council then voted four to three to approve the agreement — at a work session, where votes are not typically taken, on a document distributed the night before, over the objections of its own labor attorney. Madam Zink, Mr. Byers, and Mrs. Jeanne Cooper dissented with admirable resolve.

In sum: Chief Arndt is an excellent choice who deserved a clean, legally sound agreement — which is not precisely what she received. The borough may one day wish it had taken a fortnight more to tidy the language. Columbia's governance deserves deliberation equal to its considerable character, and your correspondent shall be watching — eyebrow perpetually at the ready.

✦

Lady Whistletown

Your Faithful Correspondent & Reluctant Reporter of Borough Affairs

[Submitted article]

Columbia, you must claim what is yours

Dearest Gentle Reader,

Your humble correspondent must take up her quill today to address a matter of some considerable civic importance — one that touches upon glory misappropriated, history insufficiently celebrated, and the peculiar habit of one's neighbors claiming credit for one's own most magnificent inheritance.

Let us speak plainly of Columbia — that storied borough upon the Susquehanna — and of two of the most extraordinary sons ever to grace its streets: Mr. William Whipper and Mr. Stephen Smith. These gentlemen, one a businessman and abolitionist of the first order, the other his equally formidable partner, operated a lumberyard in Columbia that was, in truth, something altogether more magnificent than mere commerce. Hidden within their train cars were secret compartments, and within those compartments rode human souls — men, women, and children — traveling from the darkness of bondage toward the blessed light of freedom. Dear Reader, one shudders with admiration.

And yet — and here is where your correspondent must fan herself with some vigor — it is Lancaster that has seen fit to celebrate this legacy, as Whipper and Smith are featured prominently in its exhibits. Lancaster now hosts a lecture series in Whipper's honor. Lancaster's public library welcomes his descendants to speak. Lancaster's institutions drape themselves in the rich fabric of a story that was, at its very heart, Columbia's story.

One does not begrudge Lancaster its enthusiasm — enthusiasm for history is always a virtue — but one cannot help but observe that Columbia itself has done precious little to claim what is rightfully hers. Where, pray tell, is Columbia's monument to these men? Where is the historical marker — other than a simple plaque — of suitable grandeur along the very streets where Whipper and Smith conducted their heroic enterprise? Where is the lecture series, the dedicated exhibition, the civic pride that ought to overflow like the Susquehanna herself in the spring thaw — especially now, in this celebration of Columbia's 300th year?

The family of William Whipper — represented most recently by the estimable Dyymond Whipper-Young of Philadelphia, an artist, educator, and storyteller of considerable accomplishment — travels not to Columbia to speak of her ancestor's deeds, but to Lancaster's public library. One feels the sting of this, or rather, one feels that Columbia ought to feel the sting of this, were she paying sufficient attention.

Mr. Whipper was born in Drumore Township, yes, but it was in Columbia that he built his life, his business, and his legend. It was in Columbia that the midnight work of liberation was carried out with extraordinary ingenuity and at considerable personal peril. Smith and Whipper did not merely assist the Underground Railroad — they engineered it, quite literally, concealing freedom within the very infrastructure of commerce.

Columbia, Dearest Reader, possesses a history that other municipalities would construct elaborate fictions to claim. And yet Lancaster constructs not fictions but actual institutions, while Columbia rests, apparently, upon her laurels — laurels she has not even fully cultivated.

Your correspondent urges — nay, implores — the good citizens of Columbia to remedy this oversight with all appropriate haste. Celebrate your Whipper. Celebrate your Smith. Hang their portraits, erect your markers, speak their names from rooftops facing that great river that carried so many toward freedom. Do not allow history to be relocated, like so much unclaimed luggage, to the next town down the highway.

Lancaster is a fine city. But this, Dear Columbia, is your story.

With the utmost affection and no small measure of exasperation,

Your Most Devoted Correspondent,

Lady Whistletown