Monday, October 13, 2014

Meeting of the Whole 9-22-14

The regular monthly meeting of the Columbia Borough Council Committee of the Whole was held Monday, September 22, at 6 p.m. at Borough Hall, 308 Locust Street. 
Highlights of the meeting are as follows:

Near the beginning of the meeting, there was a discussion by citizens and councillor about the property at 631 South 13th Street. Details can be found HERE.
UPDATE: The property owner has applied for a variance, and the issue will now go before the Zoning Hearing Board on October 29 at 7 p.m. at the Borough Hall.

Highway:
Public Works Director Ron Miller said there will be additional costs for the Northwest River Trail Services Building at Columbia River Park for heating and electricity and that the amount is currently unknown.  Councillor Jim Smith asked if there had been any outreach to other members of the Northwest Trail to share costs. Borough Manager Sam Sulkosky said that it is the borough's building.  Finance Manager Georgiana Schreck said the building could be rented out for functions that would generate income. Sulkosky said there is interest in the building and until it is rented out, it's hard to project what that revenue will be. Smith said the building is available for all communities to use.

Miller said one way to generate revenue for the borough would be to sell compost from the borough farm, which would be fairly lucrative. "The farm has the potential to make money," he said.

Miller suggested trading in the current JLG lift for a bucket truck.  He said the JLG (which he calls the "creepy crawler") is "like new" but is too slow. He also said Columbia Borough maintains the bridge exclusively (including the maintenance of lights) but is reimbursed by PennDOT.  He added that there are over 1000 lights in the borough and a bucket truck could manage the whole borough.

Resident Mary Wickenheiser asked if it would be possible to get a person for landscaping.  She said the borough can't rely on volunteers, because the numbers are dwindling. Miller said the borough could get people trained, but the problem is resources. Smith mentioned that it was originally said that we have the volunteers to handle this but that everyone knew the volunteers would dwindle. "We have to be careful what we take on," he said.

The highway department also reported that it paved 10 blocks this year, probably the most it has done in that amount of time. A milling machine from outside saved two weeks. Miller said paving takes a day, but preparation (milling, etc.) takes a long time. Miller said the two blocks of Manor Street that were paved recently took 12-1/2 hours as compared to the two weeks it would have taken the borough with its own milling machine.  He added that an outside milling machine costs 13 cents per square foot, as compared to the $1.30 per square foot it would cost the borough to do the same work.


Police:
Details about the discussion on the police budget can be found HERE.
During the discussion, Councillor Smith said 8 mills generates 2-1/2 million dollars. "We're asking to spend $300,000 over the eight mills for public safety, he said.
Mayor Leo Lutz replied, "Public safety is the reason you have a municipal government."
He added, "The safety of the people who live here is the number one reason for existing here."
Smith said his deepest concern is for the taxpayers and that he knows some of the people who have lost their homes. Lutz said the safety of the people who live in the community is the number one priority and that you must improve the value of your community by bringing in business and increasing the value of housing.  "The bottom line is you must increase the value of your community," he said.


Codes:
Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Helm reported that the Codes Department has new computer software for the tablets in the field but that there may be a lag due to a learning curve and testing in the field, revisions. etc.  He said some municipalities take a year or more to get up and running. He said new EMA radios will enhance the ability to do field communications.  A base station will be located at the Hambones. The goal is to mimic emergency response to a situation in the field. He said there is an emergency button on top of each of the two portable radios that opens communication with 911 when pressed for two seconds.

14 comments:

  1. OK, here we go. If and when someone is adding an addition on like the one at 631 South 13th st.All neighbors should be contacted by flyer or mail, that so they can have input before it happens!! This would solve the problems from people getting away with this shi...t!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. If public safety is so important, why are there so many break ins? Why is heroine use higher than ever here in the borough? Why are kids allowed to hang out in a public park, causing a nuisance while harassing and disrespecting other passersby? Why are the kids allowed to do the same thing at the River Park? Why do I know where the drug deals go down and have for years? What is the 2.8 million dollars paying for? "Public Safety" Mr. Mayor? They are merely words to you that mean nothing to me coming from you. So glad I have my own guns because the cops in this town are not earning their keep and not keeping us safe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OMG public Safety! The Mayor and Boro Council of the Whole and the Chief of Police should take a walk up to the Locust Street Park some evening. oh and you will need a police escort to keep the gangs from getting restless! This is reality. WAKE UP enough talk and saying a ageement is coming to enforce. Well who is holding this up the Mayor. and so agree the cops in this town are worth - less.....

      Delete
  3. Public Safety????? surely you jest. what about all these robberies and break ins. What about the punks that hang in the park that are disrespectful, harrass, scare, etc.??? WHERE IS THE SAFETY? oh & let's get rid of 75% OF ALL RENTAL PROPERTIES...then maybe we can move forward-in revitalizating our town, in increasing our tax base, in HUNDREDS LESS STUDENTS ATTENDING OUR SCHOOLS THAT WE THE TAXPAYERS ARE PAYING FOR - NOT THE TENANTS....c'mon it ain't rocket science.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HOW can the 13th St property that as an "oversight" is building a humongous 4 bay garage - how can they rent out the property as a MULTI UNIT????? NO. WE HAVE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS TOO MANY RENTAL PROPERTIES NOW.....and thats killing the Boro.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mayor Lutz is wrong. Bringing more police on is a reactionary move to blight, & causes taxes to go up even further which is the reason Cola is in the condition its in. Your at 8 mills now, over double your surrounding communities. The answer is to cut your ecpenses ie (don't give the farm on contract negotiations, start taking) so that you can make taxes more affordable & more competitive with surrounding communities.

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow Boro mgmt acts surprised....really??? WHO did they think was going to pay for electric??? THERE'S NO - ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR HEAT.....(its too loud to rent out with the trains flying thru at 60 mph.....and don't forget ...someone (ALSO the BORO) has to keep bathrooms clean at the river park.....plus routine maintenance, change light bulbs, make sure the cameras that don't pick up nothing work, fix all the damage from the flood waters yearly, have trash emptied couple times a week, etc... NOT to mention the LIABILITY.....and people continue to SWIM at the boat dock, even with NO SWIMMING signs posted. this was all mentioned at mtgs years ago...but the Boro just could NOT stop spending $$$$$$$$ millions of dollars and YES some of the grants have to be MATCHED (meaning us ignorant taxpayers are footing a large part of the bill they just don't know it) the River Park has cost at the VERY LEAST I believe this has been talked about $ 7 MILLION.....YES $$$$$$$ 7 MILLION DOLLARS. Hell for that kind of money we the taxpayers could have revitalized the downtown by purchasing and fixing up properties. it really makes you think. it also makes you think we have NO ONE on council who does NOT like to spend, so they waste MILLIONS of DOLLARS. People will never wise up....

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Columbia Borough will be bankrupt soon. Trust me on this, its coming!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. yep and the sad part is they are toooooo stupid to even have a clue. after selling out the boro by selling the sewer plant....they will finally understand that oh by the way what are we going to do without that $$$$$$$$$ 200,000.00 a month to pay bills and employees/ oh yeah. really?
    also i agree NO NO NO more police. this Boro can NOT afford them. How many officers are active in West Hempfield? or Eastern? or Donegal? i'd put money on it that there are NOT 18 officers on their force.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As far as paying employees we can get rid of some without the sewer plant, & as far as the money being made from the sewer plant, it was just the customers paying way too much for sewer.
      We need to take all financial responsibilities away from the council by regionalizing Columbias services. This will put the boros financial resources in more professional hands. Hence taxpayers gettimg more services for the taxes they pay. We wouldn't have somebody like Strickler handling our finances.

      Delete
    2. Really 17- or 18 police officers. I only see about half of that with the early and late shifts. where is the other half?? makes you wonder don't it?

      Delete
  9. Instead of that beautiful bldg at the river which half of Columbia won't use they should start thinking about downtown Locust st.The 400 block where Hotel Locust was is a disaster. Whoever put the above topic here should send it to the newspaper so everyone could see it some people don't have computers. Anyone with common sense knows grant money is not free it must be matched.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bankruptcy cannot come soon enough. These cops and non uniformed employees salaries, benefits and pensions are KILLING us!!! Not to mention for all of the expense, they can't even do their job. Codes department sucks, police are slackers and the drug use and crime rate associated with it it sky high.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Something needs to be done about all these break ins before something really bad happens. The theives are getting bolder and the crimes are happening in the same neighborhood the Police Chief lives. I guess as citizens all we can do is look out for one another because it sure does not seem like the police are looking out for us.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.