The meeting was moved to the Front Street Fire Hall and about four dozen or so people were in the gallery as the joint Borough Council / Municipal Authority was convened by council president Michael Beury at 6:30 pm.

There were copies of the agenda and the Ad Hoc Committee’s recommendation available for the people who came to the meeting which also was going to be the “meeting of the whole” as well as the discussion about recommendations of the Columbia Ad Hoc Committee’s Final Report.

 

 

All of the councillors, the borough manager, the mayor, the solicitor, the municipal authority members, the borough financial officer sat around a huge horseshoe shaped set of tables. And, there were microphones and a speaker system in place which allowed for the audience members to hear the comments of those around the tables and those who came forward to comment.

Fox News 43 was there, too. At least at the outset of the meeting.

When the meeting was recessed at 8:55 pm, the only agenda item that was addressed was that of the sewer. Would Columbia’s council accept the Authority’s recommendation to enter into an agreement to sell the sewer operations to the Lancaster Area Sewer Authority?

PowerPoint presentations from the Authority’s Mike Shober and LASA’s Mike Kyle showed the rationale and positive aspects of moving towards the sale. For the next several hours, citizens, borough employees, councillors and others in attendance made comments that supported the sale and were against the sale. Some of those who came forward asked for more information; others asked questions.

In the end, no clear consensus seemed obvious. The meeting and the discussion, no doubt, will be coming somewhere down the road.

The continuation of agenda items will resume when the council meeting of the whole re-convenes tomorrow evening at the borough hall at 6:00 pm.

Though encouraging to see so many people interested in this emotional issue, we expected to see more in attendance. For those who were not at the meeting, the transmission of who said what is left to those who came to the meeting to document the night’s activities. Others in the borough will get verbal reports from those who attended or written interpretations from others. The only way to get a full report is to attend meetings. Again, Columbia news, views & reviews does audio record public meetings in accordance with state law. If you would like a copy of the proceedings, send an email to 17512@mail.com