The February borough council convened at 7:00 pm Monday evening. The entire council was present, as were the borough manager, borough financial officer, mayor, police chief and solicitor. A handful of people were in the gallery. In a somewhat speedy meeting, the agenda items below were covered and the meeting adjourned at 7:53 pm.

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The mayor extolled Columbia’s response during the recent ice storm as he praised the highway department, police and fire department responders and borough employees.

Mayor Leo Lutz reads an award presented to Columbia Police Department officer Edgar Mann commending him for his years of service as a K-9 officer. Police chief, Jack Brommer looks on. The dog Mann partnered with, Max, has been retired and will move in with Mann. The borough has a new police dog, Pedro – Pedro is a Malinois/Shepherd mix male. Following the presentation of the commendation, the mayor also thanked the Columbia K-9 Campaign for their staunch support of the K-9 program. Read more about the K-9 Campaign here.

And that’s how myths are begun. In a discussion following the above presentation, there was chatter about the gender of a good police dog. Several in the room agreed that only male dogs make good police dogs. Interestingly, the National Police Dog Foundation says, “Males and females both make excellent police service dogs.”

David Brumbaugh is sworn in by the mayor as an alternate to the Zoning Hearing Board with a term to expire on 12/31/2018.

Following a citizen’s question about how citizens are informed about board or commission vacancies, it was brusquely pointed out that “Employment / Volunteer Opportunities are listed at the Website. So they are: http://www.columbiapa.net/employment/