Barry Ford write-in campaign

A STATEMENT FROM BOROUGH COUNCILLOR BARRY FORD:

For much of my adult life, I have served the people of Columbia. For my entire life, I have lived in Columbia and with the exception of a brief time, I have worked in Columbia.

I love Columbia. I bleed crimson and gold.

As for service, I spent almost three decades as coach, director and officer with the greatest youth sports organization in Lancaster County, the Columbia Boys' Athletic Association. At about the same time, I covered all aspects of our great town as editor/sports editor/staff writer of our former newspapers – the Columbia News and Columbia Ledger.

For the last four years, since our newspapers no longer exist, I have turned to a different way of serving our community, as an elected member of Columbia Borough Council. I have enjoyed my four years, including the last two as vice-president of the borough's governing body.

But this is a decision year. The decision I needed to make was whether or not I wanted to seek re-election to another four-year term on borough council.

I will be honest, as one time I wasn't too keen on doing this for another four years. Being on borough council or any governing body is extremely time-consuming.

Attending meetings is just part of it. Planning for meetings, reviewing materials, talking and listening to people is another. Whether or not you want to believe it, you are a council person 24/7. That's how I feel and have worked hard, as I did in the newspaper business, to achieve this.

The second part was at the time I was in the decision making process, I was worried about my health. But that has improved.

The third part was the lack of an active Democratic party. Yes, I am a Democrat. So my time expired to get my nominating petition in for Tuesday's primary, and there are no Democrats running for borough council in Columbia.

There are a number of outstanding things going on in our community and still some things I'd like to see completed. What I am asking for is support, since there are no Democrats running for borough council. Come Tuesday for the primary election, correctly write my name in on the Democratic ballot ---BARRY FORD. If I get enough votes, my name will appear on the November ballot, which will be the final step in seeking another four years on borough council.

So why am I waiting until the last minute to announce this? First, I didn't want to do it a month ago or longer because folks might forget. Secondly, if I did it a few days before, folks will better remember it.

I feel like I have done a good job representing the entire community and not just one interest or group. The entire community has been my focus and will continue to be my focus if given the chance to do so again. Thank you in advance for your help and feel free to contact me anytime in person, phone, email or social media (Facebook or twitter) as I look and enjoy serving the people of our great town.