The Historical Architectural Review Board members had a full plate at their monthly meeting on August 17. Present were: Terry Sears, resident, chair; Glen Schaeffer, resident; Janet Wood, resident; Elaine Beckley, resident, and Suzanne Stallings, consultant. Sandy Zercher, realtor, and Jeffrey Helm, (Columbia) building inspector were not present. A good deal of the meeting’s discussion centered around this:
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Columbia news, views & reviews 
So here we go again. Come to Columbia we will give you what ever you want no matter what it takes. End of story.
I agree the inspection process leaves a lot to be desired here in our town. Can you please fill in the blanks as far as the discussion among the HARB members and also two questions, if this is even in the Historic District and if it’s not, it is more of a matter for the Planning Commission than HARB or even borough council.
According to the strategic plan on page 35 (https://columbianewsandviews.com/?s=strategic+plan), it is in the Historic District. And according to the H.A.R.B. too. As to the discussion, I plan to do that, but it’s taking some time. Mostly because I took a fair amount of notes and it will take a bit of time to sort through them and to put the notes into some form of order.
According to H.A.R.B., that board is the first plank in the process. We think that is in concert with the law concerning Historic Architectural Review Boards.
Would it not be a great idea if the borough of Columbia would have a microphone for each council, board, commission or committee person and video record all the meetings and have that available at the borough Website the day after the meeting?
17512…The Borough Council meetings used to be recorded. However, with the passage of the state’s right to know law, Borough Manager Meiskey stopped that practice. It’s much easier for Mr. Meiskey and Council to deny making statements now that the meetings aren’t recorded. Without these tapes, the minutes of these Council meetings aren’t very thorough either as the Borough secretary assigned to the meeting writes down only the notes that she feels are important. Again, Meiskey loves this as the information isn’t there for the residents to follow up on issues. I bet if you check with other Municipalities, you’ll find that they record their meetings.
Norm Meiskey is all you need to know as to why meetings aren’t taped and committee meeting minutes aren’t on the website. He wants to discourage any resident from knowing what’s really going on in Columbia!
Of course, his history in Hallam Township proves that. His office there and his property in Murphy’s Hollow. Lead by example please!