We are going use this space to add news articles and information snippets at they occur. Sometimes there is just too much happening  and there is not enough space in this format to list everything. So, as it happens, it will get posted here.

Today’s Weather

Today is the opening of the Hotel Locust; now open!

Council Meeting, Market House Committee … Wednesday evening, April 6 … Two citizens and a stand holder attended the monthly Market House Committee at the Borough office conference room. councilor and committee chairperson Kelly Murphy called the meeting to order shortly after 6:00 pm. Others in attendance were council president Mary Wickenheiser; councilor Jim Smith, mayor Leo Lutz; stand holder representative, Evelyn Baer; market manager, Carmen Swinehart; Columbia Borough treasurer, Georgianna Schreck and citizen advisory board to the Market House, Nancy Jo Lutz, Ann Grubb and John Hinkle. 

2011 April committee meeting agenda

• Baer observed the Market House was still too accessible on non-market days and wondered whether people should have to sign out a key from the Borough office. Schreck said that would be an imposition on the staff, but that the electronic key swipe system will be coming in the next couple of months.
• The market manager provided an oral report that two schools are selling items every Thursday and that Thursdays at the Market House were good while Fridays were not as good. The market manager said she received three requests for having Saturday Market House opening; Councilor Murphy stated “that had been tried before and produced dismal results.”
• Councilor Murphy expressed his disappointment with outdated information on the Market House Website.
• The market manager said she is exploring the possibility of a shuttle service from the Turkey Hill experience to the Market House. She also said that an advertising program is appearing in a shopper publication and that there will be place mat advertising.
• Several standholders have resisted the new electricity charges for appliances; the charges are in addition to market stand rents.
• Schreck announced that a new person will be providing a proposal to paint the Market House doors and the restrooms.
• Murphy announced that seven citizens have responded to the call for trustees for the planned Market House Trust. They are Ann Grubb, Nancy Jo Lutz, Dave Rupp, Elaine Beckley, Rebecca Murphy, Ed Schopf and Don Haines. He stated that borough manager, Norm Meiskey said the Personnel Committee will take these names under consideration.
• Ann Grubb asked about outdoor tables, chairs and umbrellas for patrons in the summer.
• The Market House manager said there were 17 standholders on Thursdays and 14 on Fridays.
• The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 pm.

from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era … April 9 …

• St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 100 W. Main St., Mountville, will hold its spring rummage sale from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday.
• Lisa M. Craig, Jessica L. Harvey, Daretta L. Preston, Cortney L. Lambertson and Kristie M. Lukas, all of Columbia, have graduated from YTI Career Institute’s Lancaster campus.
• Columbians Paul D. Anderson and Adrienne R. Zercher have been named to the dean’ s list for the fall semester at Lebanon Valley College.
• “A talk on historical postcards of the Susquehanna River from Columbia to York Haven is planned at 7 p.m. Thursday at PPL Corp.’s Brunner Island Environmental Preserve. The talk will include information about Columbia, the Pennsylvania Railroad, Chickies Rock and the iron furnaces that once operated between Columbia and Marietta. Presenter will be Mark Arbogast, a retired PPL land manager who worked at the Holtwood and Brunner Island Plants. The program is free, but registration is required. For more information, or to register, call Karen Ament at 284-6274 or pplreserves@pplweb.com.”
• “Columbia – Amy Moser, the daughter of Michael and Georgiann Moser and a graduate of Hempfield High School” has been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Franklin & Marshall College.

 from the Reading Eagle … April 9 … This is a follow up to a previously listed article about the Boyertown School District’s reaching out to citizens for budget input suggestions, “Boyertown’s e-mail suggestion box busy.”