Candidate criticizes borough council appointment process

By -
Columbian Joe Nikolaus was one of several candidates to run unsuccessfully for recently vacated council seats.  Nikolaus offered the following assessment of the process and of council: 


Comments

Anonymous said…
Thanks for your dedication Joe Nikolaus! It takes a man to express his feelings publicly on how these open Council seats are determined.

Maybe we should have a Town Hall Meeting to ask our Councilors questions on Columbia's future endeavors. Just like the Saturday's Press Conference, Stephanie Weisser may be the only one that shows up.

Maybe we can get Columbia Spy and Columbia News, Views and Reviews host this event in a neutral location. Where our favorite host blogs give the Councilors questions submitted by the citizens in the audience.

This would be good to clear the air and move forward on rumors that haunt the suspicious citizens.

TidePride!

August 1, 2016 at 10:13 PM
Anonymous said…
Thanks Joe, for caring about Columbia enough to serve on the Zoning Committee and volunteer at the Historic Society. I'm so sorry that you were overlooked a second time for a seat on council. I wonder who will step forward to ask tough questions and watch our tax money when the older Columbians are gone. There are precious few left that care enough to get deeply involved.
August 2, 2016 at 8:02 AM
Anonymous said…
Columbia's future endeavors are not for lifetime Columbians. They are for the elite that are moving into town. They are only worried about one thing, making things better for themselves and not the entire community. Watch what groups come for money in the 2017 budget --- the art studio in the 200 block of Locust, which already took around $6,000 from the borough to promote their own interests; Create Columbia, which use to be the do-nothing Columbia Downtown Economic Development Corporation; $50,000 for a new market manager, who is in the little clique that has been formed. Note previous managers were only paid in the range of $20,000 an worked more. Council is gonna forget the core needs of Columbia such as good streets and public safety. There's probably more, citizens need to speak up and get involved or that $11 million from the sale of the sewer plant will be gone for "wants" and not "needs" and we will all suffer in the pocket book.
August 2, 2016 at 2:41 PM
Anonymous said…
Anyone who knows the make up of the "new" council knows that Novak and FitzGerald are friends of the leaders of council and the others, who were probably more qualified, never had a chance. Get involved, speak up and take back our town.
August 2, 2016 at 2:43 PM
Anonymous said…
I just wonder what the final bill for the "trolley" (bus) service is going to be when it's all said and done.

August 2, 2016 at 4:07 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Columbia's decision to ban former employee from its property may be 'unconstitutional' [Lancaster Watchdog]

By Columbia Spy -
Image
Chris Vera [Columbia Spy file photo] The following information is excerpted from a December 6, 2025 LNP Watchdog article by LNP | LancasterOnline reporter Jade Campos. Still reeling from an abrupt firing from his role as head of the Columbia Market House in March, Chris Vera was surprised to get a letter in the mail from a Columbia Borough attorney two weeks later telling him he was banned indefinitely from borough property. The letter gave no reason for the ban. Nine months later, Vera, who has served as president of the Columbia Historic Preservation Society for more than a decade and has helped with the borough’s comprehensive plan, is still banned from borough property. He believes the ban includes borough parks, which is part of the reason he moved his annual Albatwitch Day festival, which celebrates the myth of a local cryptid, to Wrightsville. Vera said he’s not sure why the borough went to such lengths to keep him away from public spaces given his termination from the borough s...
Read more

East Donegal man charged in Columbia hit & run

By Columbia Spy -
Image
NATHAN WILLISON | LNP Staff Writer An East Donegal Township man is facing criminal charges after police say he struck a 13-year-old with his truck and fled the scene last month.  Derek Scott Mohr, 28, is charged with causing an accident involving death or injury without a license, failing to stop to render aid, driving at an unsafe speed and related charges.  Mohr had been driving a 2013 Chevrolet Silverado through Chestnut Street in Columbia around 8 p.m. March 20 when he struck a 13-year-old boy riding a motorized scooter and continued driving, according to charging documents filed by police.  When police arrived, they found the boy with a broken leg and a cut to his forehead. His scooter was lying nearby, its handlebars completely snapped off.  Another teenager who witnessed what happened described the truck to police and said that the driver made no attempt to stop after striking the boy. Surveillance footage collected from the area shows the truck striking the b...
Read more

Mayor Lutz must accept responsibility

By Columbia Spy -
Image
  GUEST COMMENTARY [Name withheld by request out of fear of retaliation] For two decades, Leo Lutz has occupied the mayor's office in Columbia, and his supporters are quick to credit him with every positive development in our borough, but leadership is a two-way street. If Mayor Lutz is going to accept praise for Columbia's successes, many of which, frankly, he had little direct involvement in, then he must also be held accountable for our failures. The facts paint a troubling picture. Despite the mayor's repeated assurances that our streets are safe, we've witnessed a disturbing rise in assaults, shootings, and vandalism. His promises have fallen by the wayside: the foot patrol we were promised never materialized, nor did the bike patrol that was supposed to increase our sense of security. Fiscally, the situation is equally dire. Taxes have increased at least twice during Mayor Lutz's tenure, yet the borough now finds itself millions of dollars in debt. This isn...
Read more