A full council conducted last night’s monthly council meeting in the borough hall; also representing the borough in the meeting were the mayor, the borough manager, financial director and solicitor. About a dozen citizens attended too.

10 young ladies from Columbia, members of a Girl Scout Troop, accompanied by the troop’s leaders, Jill Ness and Alegra Grove, were in attendance for the first half hour of the meeting; the Scouts were there observing local government in action to earn credits towards an inside government merit badge.

And a trio of Lancaster Catholic High School students were at the meeting; area Lancaster Catholic High School students have been frequent observers of local government at the borough council meetings. Solicitor Robert L. Pfannebecker opined to the high school students that Columbia’s local governance is more spirited and has more lively debate and discussion than most county municipal governments.

Meeting agenda, page 0ne

Meeting agenda, page two

Last night’s two and-a-quarter meeting discussion dealt with a plethora of issues including:

• the offer of the position of borough manager to Samuel F. Sulkosky; Sulkosky has accepted the position for a beginning salary of $73,000 plus relocation and other new hire reimbursements. He’ll begin his duties on April 29. Current borough manager, Norman Meiskey, III, has agreed to postpone his retirement until the end of May to assist Sulkosky’s transition into the office. Council approved the hire by a 6-1 vote; councillor Jody Gable cast the dissenting vote.

• Councillor Mary Barninger, chairperson for the Personnel Committee, said the process of borough manager search began with the advertising for the position several months ago. 16 applications of interest were entertained; four finalists were interviewed and the finalist had several interviews with councillors and with borough employees. All, according to councillor Barninger enthusiastically endorsed Sulkosky.

• the tasking a police officer to verify dog licensing and tags and to keep a lookout for dog doo-doo violators.

• four or so citizens gave testimony to the use and importance of the River Park. Several of these were members of the River Park Steering Group. According to the borough Website narrative on River Park: “By this time, monthly public meetings were being held by the Columbia Borough River Park Steering Group to facilitate this project. The steering group is comprised of residents, elected officials, business owners, sportsmen, and those interested in the project.”

• the “news” to citizens (at least property owners) on the back of sewer bills – [NOTE: Readers may be curious why the borough does not reach out to communicate with shareholders with social media and a more proactive Website.]

• the council voted against turning over the Columbia Market House URL to the Historic Market House Trust.

• the projected funding gap on the planned construction of the River Park’s Trail Services Building. That agenda item (17. – e.) was tabled.

Again, no reporting mechanism, unless an official transcript, will capture all the transactions of a meeting. To get unadulterated information about last night’s meeting, or any meeting, citizens must attend and listen and observe.