Columbia Borough school board mulls plans for after-school program, increasing graduation rates

When: Columbia Borough school board meeting, May 18.

What happened: The school board approved a partnership with the Healthy Kids Program, an initiative providing supervised care before and after school for the 2023-24 academic year. The program would hire teachers and outside staff to supervise students at Park Elementary School. All students enrolled in the district are eligible to participate.

Cost: Tuition for the Healthy Kids Program has yet to be determined; however, most locations the program serves cost between $100 to $200 per month, excluding fees. Families may also qualify for a tuition waiver. There will be no cost to the district.
MORE:

https://lancasteronline.com/news/regional/columbia-borough-school-board-mulls-plans-for-after-school-program-increasing-graduation-rates/article_f8fa28de-f903-11ed-83ea-772188178eb4.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share 

Columbia Borough to spend $1,350,000+ to move public works department, will sell off properties to pay the bill

Abandoned factory on one of the Ridge Avenue  parcels 

Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday to acquire 9.4 acres of property on Ridge Avenue to relocate the borough's public works department there.

The borough needs to move public works, because a company wants to buy the parcel where the department is currently located (known as the "borough sheds") on the 400 block of South Front Street.

The company, JG Environmental, which already leases the borough's wastewater treatment plant, wants to buy the parcel to expand its operation. 

The borough plans to spend $1,350,000 for the Ridge Avenue property (several parcels) to move public works there. Funds for the purchase will come from the borough's Wells Fargo money market account. The account will theoretically be reimbursed with revenue from the sale to JG Environmental and sell-offs of the former Columbia #1 firehouse (currently leased to KT Graham), 26 acres of the borough farm on Blue Lane, and excess acreage (about 5 acres) from the Ridge Avenue parcels. In short, reimbursing the account is contingent upon those sales.

Initially, the plan was to move public works to Blue Lane, but it was deemed too costly - at around $5 million, according to Council President Heather Zink. The estimate for relocating to Ridge Avenue and subsequent clean-up and renovation of an abandoned factory will be about $2 million, according to Borough Manager Mark Stivers.

But there's a glitch. The property is accessible only by crossing private land - specifically, over a small bridge across Shawnee Run. The borough would need to buy a piece of a private tract (or tracts) to create access sufficient for its purposes. No price purchase price was mentioned at the meeting.

Resident Frank Doutrich questioned Mayor Leo Lutz's assurance that the move wouldn't entail any expense to taxpayers, since the assets the borough is selling were originally paid for with tax dollars.

Doutrich also asked if environmental testing had been done on the property. Stivers said the parcel is under Act 2 remediation, and there are test wells in place that are monitored by the DEP.

According to the Pennsylvania DEP website:
"The Land Recycling Program (Act 2) establishes environmental remediation standards for cleanups related to specific environmental laws. Remediation and the resulting liability relief provided by Act 2 is specific to the contamination identified at each specific site or sites."

Council voted to approve an agreement of sale, with Councilman Eric Kauffman casting the lone no vote. Kauffman was concerned that the purchase price did not include costs of obtaining access.

More details on the purchase can be found on Columbia Spy's previous post HERE.

What's up at the former Visitors Center?

 Video by Howard Stevens HERE.

QUINCY STEWART SENDOFF HAPPENING THURSDAY, MAY 25 AT 5 PM

Sendoff for Quincy Stewart to states for track and field. They will meet at the high school Thursday, May 25 @ 5:00 PM. From there, they will travel down the back hill to Ironville Pike, over Ninth Street, down Locust Street, and over Third Street to Route 30.

Come out and show your support for this young man and show him how proud our town is of him.

Council votes 5-2 to sell 400 Locust lot to Cimarron

In a 5-2 vote, Columbia Borough Council voted to sell a .12-acre vacant lot at 400 Locust Street to Cimarron Investments, even though it had offered the LOWER of two bids.

Realtor Jeff Seibert conveyed offers from Cimarron and Habitat for Humanity to council at Tuesday night's borough council meeting, with Cimarron bidding $60,000, while Habitat offered $58,000 with an escalation clause that would allow them to outbid by $500 any counter offer - up to $75,000, so in this instance, their offer automatically became $60,500. Columbia Borough paid $75,000 for the property in 2017, so acceptance of the $60,000 offer represents a loss of $15,000 to the borough.

Cimarron's stated goal is to build 4 to 6 rental units with a commercial space on the first floor, while Habitat had planned two condominium-style homes with a commercial space. Mayor Leo Lutz seemed to have difficulty understanding Habitat's proposal, which had to be explained to him several times.

Councilors Todd Burgard and Peter Stahl said they believe Cimarron's style of construction is more in line with the downtown.

Burgard passionately praised all of Cimarron's local projects, even referencing Qwik-Med Pharmacy at 4th & Locust. Burgard was apparently unaware that the pharmacy has been closed for over seven months due to charges against the pharmacist, who is awaiting trial.

Columbia Borough's Comprehensive Plan Ad Hoc Committee stated, during their May 18th meeting, that one of the goals in the comp plan is to "promote and encourage home ownership." However, Councilwoman Barb Fisher, who chairs the committee, voted in favor of selling to Cimarron instead of Habitat. Don Murphy of Cimarron also sits with Fisher on the committee.

Council President Heather Zink noted that the borough had paid a lot for the comp plan that promotes home ownership over rentals. "If we're not going to follow it, to me, we spent money for nothing," Zink said.

Councilors Heather Zink and Sharon Lintner voted "no" on selling to Cimarron.


There's more to this story HERE.

A comeback puts Columbia's Quincy Stewart on fast track to gold

https://lancasteronline.com/sports/highschool/trackandfield/a-comeback-puts-columbias-quincy-stewart-on-fast-track-to-gold/article_b8a2e296-faaa-11ed-b12a-b7806330259a.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share 

Audio recording of May 23, 2023 Columbia Borough Council Meeting

 Due to continual problems with Columbia Borough's livestreaming, an audio recording of the May 23, 2023 Borough Council meeting is being made available by Columbia Spy HERE.