About Town

 Can the republic survive?

 One for the land bank?

 Big sky over bridge?

 Bus stop?

 New sheriff in town?

 Gone but not forgotten?

(House at 1042 Lancaster Avenue)

 Monday it stood. Tuesday it fell. Today it disappeared entirely.

The other town clock?

Autumn road?

Making America great again?

Two transformers installed underground on Locust Street

Two electrical transformers were installed underground on the 100 block of Locust Street today - one on each side of the street.  Abel Inc and JMF Underground, who were contracted by PPL, installed the transformers under the surface of each sidewalk. Resident parking spaces were temporarily unavailable on the block due to the large number of work trucks and personnel. 

It pays more to be a Pa. state legislator in 2017

A 1.34 percent increase in the legislative salary will increase the rank-and-file member's annual pay by $1,140, to $86,478.50 for 2017. This increase will boost legislative leaders' pay to between $98,609 to $134,998, depending on their position.
MORE:
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/11/it_pays_more_to_be_a_pa_state.html

Columbia man withdraws motion to suppress evidence before homicide trial

A Columbia man accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend's husband has withdrawn a pretrial motion to suppress certain evidence two weeks before his trial is scheduled to begin.
MORE:
http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/columbia-man-withdraws-motion-to-suppress-evidence-before-homicide-trial/article_ef032f98-b0d9-11e6-be37-ab186b92f690.html

Medicare enrollment at library today

About Town

Recent pics about town . . .

 Backlit tree at River Park

 Out for a walk

 Ferals of Avenue H

 V

 Carpet of the Sun

 Path to the gazebo

Too soon?

Ferals of South Fifth . . .

 Stubby cat

 On the run

 Undercover

  Under car

Saturday may have been the last "nice" day of the year . . .

 The day was off to a great start . . . 

but soon went awry as afternoon winds brought rain and sleet.

DA releases map of county drug overdose reports

Lancaster County emergency reports of drug overdose

Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman announced Monday the launch of an online Lancaster County-wide mapping of emergency reports of drug overdose.

The map consists of Lancaster County-Wide Communications data, specifically emergency dispatches/responses to reported overdose incidents, from January 1, 2014 to November 1, 2016. It can be accessed HERE.

The map is presented as an awareness and prevention tool in the ongoing battle against the national heroin/opioid epidemic. The District Attorney’s Office has found through community meetings and forums that the county, as a whole, does not yet realize the epidemic has afflicted every town, borough, and region. The map provides visual evidence that drug abuse has impacted, almost literally, every neighborhood in Lancaster County.

The incident markings on the map are not categorized by incident severity or type of drug involved in the reported overdose incident. Overdose death incidents are not given distinguished markings. Additionally, it is very likely not all of these reports were in fact active overdose incidents when emergency responders arrived at the location.

The map was designed to deliberately exclude and protect the identities of those patients involved and their exact addresses.

Close-up of Columbia

Many individuals worked on the concept, compilation and mapping of an estimated 2,500 incident points, most notably the Lancaster County GIS division, Lancaster County-Wide Communications, and Nicholas E. Good, a research intern at the District Attorney’s Office.

In moving forward, the map will be updated quarterly with new reports.

Source:
Lancaster County District Attorney's Office

Meeting schedule for the week of November 21, 2016

Planning Commission meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 21 at Borough Hall, 308 Locust Street.

School Board Quick Notes - 11/17/16 Meeting

Columbia Borough School Board Meeting November 17, 2016:

Absent: Superintendent Dr. Robert Hollister (due to PASA Board of Governors meeting in Harrisburg), President Cole Knighton (but "present" via phone for the first part of the meeting), Director Leo Lutz Jr., and Director Iris Garrido.

Present in addition to board directors were ELANCO Business Manager Keith Ramsey, Board Secretary Deb Smith and Nathan Saxton (legal counsel). Ramsey is currently taking over business manager duties for Columbia School District, since the board recently voted to terminate the employment of Business Manager Amy Light, as Columbia Spy reported HERE.

Students of the month were honored during the first part of the meeting.

After a brief intermission following the student recognition ceremony, the meeting resumed at about 7:50 p.m. Vice President Kathy Hohenadel led the proceedings. President Cole Knighton voted on items via phone until about 35 minutes into the session when he became unresponsive for the remainder of the meeting.

During citizen comments, resident Don Groom asked the board why the crosswalk lines at the top of the high school hill were not painted. The issue was originally brought to the board's attention in June of this year. Director of Operations Tom Strickler said that lines would be painted on Friday, November 18. Strickler explained that the borough was doing the work without charge, so it would be done according to their schedule.

Freshly painted lines were evident at the top of the high school hill Saturday morning.

Resident Fran Resch congratulated Jordan Haberstroh for placing 13th overall in the Class A cross country state championships (out of about 250).

Mayor Leo Lutz urged the board to vote in favor of both the Thaddeus Stevens Trade School program and the "land bank." Lutz said he was told the school has more jobs available than students and he was asked what he could do to steer more students towards the program.  Lutz said exposing students to the program via a youth aid panel could help reduce absenteeism and dropout rates for students who currently do not have a path.

Lutz said the land bank program allows a municipality to speed up the process of dealing with blighted properties. It also allows the municipality to have a say in what happens to such properties. Columbia Spy previously reported on the land bank program HERE.

The board briefly discussed the land bank issue before tabling it with plans to examine it further at a joint school board/borough council meeting in early December.

Final agenda

Senate dismisses without funding Pa. jobless centers

This is how Republicans are "helping" the working class, and Trump's not even in office yet.

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/politics/2016/11/17/senate-dismisses-without-funding-pa-jobless-centers/94031622/

Library Happenings Thursday, November 17, 2016

Agenda for November 17, 2016 School Board Meeting

Municipal Authority meeting cancelled

An informed source tells the Spy that the Municipal Authority meeting scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today (Thursday) has been cancelled.

Five takeaways from Monday's Borough Council meeting...

1) Council voted unanimously to accept Ordinance No. 880 which, through the issuance of a series of bonds, allows the borough to obtain nearly 10 million dollars to pay off certain debts while saving money on interest.

Part of the bond project will be used to pay off the fire station building located at 137 South Front Street. The borough owns the land, but not the building.

An existing debt from 2006 in the amount of approximately two million dollars will also be paid using funds from the bond project.

Remaining bond funding will be used to finance "Capital Projects."

2) David Nikoloff with AIM Advisors gave a presentation about reuse of the borough's wastewater treatment plant into a natural gas production facility. Part of the plan required $75,800 for a study to determine feasibility of this reuse. A motion was made, but there was no second.

3) Jeanne Cooper was selected to fill the remaining seat on the new Market House Advisory Committee. Cooper is a former Trust member.

4) The proposed 2017 budget will be advertised, and council will vote on its approval at the December meeting. The tax rate will stay at 8 mills.

5) Karl Kreiser and Dave Mountz both submitted letters of resignation from the Parks and Recreation Committee effective immediately.

Meetings for the Week of November 13, 2016

Council and Committee Meetings

(308 Locust Street)

School Board Meeting

(200 North Fifth Street)

Library Happenings for Wednesday, November 16

Columbia Library Events November 2016

November 4th Friday to feature Gingerbread House Tour

The Gingerbread House Tour kicks off on Friday, November 25 from 5 to 9 p.m. Voting will continue through Friday, December 9. If you would like to enter a creation for a chance to win $50, go HERE for more information.

Coaching openings at Columbia School District

Columbia Borough School District has openings for the following coaching positions: head varsity football coach, head varsity volleyball coach and head varsity cross country coach. Interested applicants should submit a letter of interest and coaching resume via email to Dr. Michael Smith, high school principal, at msmith@columbiabsd.org. Application deadline is Nov. 21.

http://lancasteronline.com/sports/local_sports/lancaster-scene-sports-calendar-and-listings-from-across-the-area/article_c219f702-a87b-11e6-be62-3f06e565d578.html

Drop-Off Center open for recycling shredded paper

Shredded Paper – City of Lancaster's Recycling Drop-Off Center

850 New Holland Avenue, Lancaster, PA

Residents, municipal offices and businesses who recycle shredded paper may deliver it to the City of Lancaster's recycling drop-off center which is located at 850 New Holland Avenue.  For reference, this is the former city fire station located between the Burle Business Park and the RR underpass just west of Route 30.   The drop-off was funded by a Pa DEP 902 Recycling Grant and opened in January 2013 to not only serve Lancaster City residents, but every municipality in the county.   In fact, they will accept paper from any resident, municipal office or small business that generates its own paper. They  do not accept paper from commercial haulers, since they  are not set up to handle that volume.  The drop-off will accept bags of shredded paper which they then bale and market to paper mills.

This drop-off will complete four full years of operation in January 2017.   By that time they will also have processed and marketed 1,000 tons of paper, including corrugated cardboard, office paper, newspaper, magazines, chipboard and books.  They are planning to celebrate this milestone during the week of January 16, 2017.  

If you are unfamiliar with the program and have not had the opportunity to visit, please  stop by during that week to learn more about this program.  

The purpose of this program is to offer a cost effective marketing option for those residents and small businesses that want to recycle paper but are not able to have it collected at their home or business.

Borough Offices: 308 Locust Street, Columbia PA 17512 | Phone: 717-684-2467