COLUMBIA SPY

Shown below is a September 8, 2016 letter from the Columbia Municipal Authority to Columbia Borough Council urging council not to dissolve the authority. The unanimous vote for dissolution subsequently took place at the regular council meeting on September 12. At the time, Council President Kelly Murphy said there was no animosity between the authority and the borough over the decision. According to an LNP article ("Municipal Briefs" 9/21/16), Borough Manager Greg Sahd said the entity was no longer needed because its chief responsibility was to manage the borough's sewer system. [The wastewater operation was sold to LASA in 2015.] The authority's letter, however, specifies numerous benefits to the borough in keeping the authority. At a special meeting on Monday, November 28, 2016, council voted to fund a $75,800 study on the feasibility of converting the borough's wastewater plant to a facility that would produce natural gas. The authority's letter appear...

At Monday's special borough council meeting, residents questioned council's intent to fund a $75,800 study for conversion of its wastewater plant. Council is looking at converting the plant into a facility for producing natural gas from food waste. [See previous article  HERE .] The plant has been idle since the borough sold its wastewater collection system to LASA. Resident Ron "Ollie" Fritz opposed moving forward with the project, citing the cost of conversion. "It's going to be an enormous cost," he said. He asked council to "put a hold" on the project. Fritz read from  a 2015 LNP article  in which Public Works Director Ron Miller said, “We want to be the first. We like being first...We’ll be the guinea pig.” [Miller said the newspaper quote came from a phone interview with a journalist and implied that his words may not have been accurately reported.] "I don't want to be the guinea pig," Fritz said in response to Mille...

At a special council meeting Monday night, Columbia Borough Council voted 6-0 to contract with AIM Advisors and project partner Rettew Associates to undertake a study to determine the feasibility of converting the borough's wastewater treatment plant into a natural gas production facility. The study will cost $75,800 and could be completed by March 1 of next year. David Nikoloff, principal at AIM, told council that the enterprise could be a "public-private partnership" and would entail restaurants and other businesses providing food waste as raw material (known as "feedstock") for conversion to gas. He said the study would determine if there is enough feedstock available in the area and whether there is enough of a market to purchase the gas. Nikoloff added that such a facility could be up and running in about two and a half years. The issue was previously visited during a presentation at November's regular council meeting, when a motion was made to ...

A worker hung lighted garlands on Locust Street light posts this afternoon. Christmas is less than a month away.

A group of Columbia High and Middle School students used their artistic talents to brighten a window at Stover's News Agency this morning in observance of the holiday season.   The finished product