Agenda - Columbia Borough Council Meeting - April 14, 2020

By Columbia Spy -

Download the complete council packet HERE.

Comments

Sue said…
Why is the council meeting at the borough hall what is wrong with them they have permission from the state to do it by video all the other ones are doing it that way do you think you are special very disappointed in Heather
April 9, 2020 at 11:46 AM
Sue said…
I would like to know why I have not received a answer to my question about why the council is having there meeting in the borough hall someone on the council should be able to give me a answer
April 10, 2020 at 11:24 AM
HeatherZ said…
We have been in contact with our Solicitor and contacts at the State Open Records office as well as the District Attorney Association. No express approval has been given for all Councillors to participate remotely. The law states a physical quorum must be present in the advertised location of the meeting in order for the votes to count. In fact, the Office of Open Records has specifically said remote meetings should only be held when declaring an emergency meeting to declare/extend a state of emergency. Our Councillors have been given the option to participate remotely as long as a quorum is present. The last meeting only 1 Councillor chose remote participation. No Councillor will be told they must remotely participate - it is a personal decision.

We see this as an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to transparency. It would be easy to hide our actions behind the veil of a pandemic but instead we are doing everything we can to continue public meetings. The Borough Manager published the agenda and packet earlier than normal to allow the public ample time to review the material and send comments. We recognize that public participation via email is not ideal but public participation is a vital part of local Government.

We are working on a better solution for public participation and have been consulting with other Borough officials across the State to see how they are doing their public meetings. Many are just trying to figure out how they can live stream; we already have that part figured out.
April 11, 2020 at 4:41 PM
Sue said…
Why can the school board do it remotely and there are other councils doing it remotely i thought when we got a new council some things would change but I really don't see much change still see alot of yes votes just like it was only two people will vote no



April 12, 2020 at 1:07 PM
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