– page one –

– page two –

Columbia Borough’s July “meeting of the whole” was held last night. Council president Mike Beury convened the meeting at 6:01 pm in the borough hall meeting room. All the councillors, but Jody Gable, the mayor, borough manager and borough finance director were in attendance in addition to nine or so persons from the community. The gallery was winnowed away as the meeting progressed and when it was concluded at 9:28 pm, only one citizen remained.

Some highlights during the meeting:

TRASH – Another discussion about the overflowing trash receptacles at River Park and along Locust Street brought responses from several councillors. The councillors believe the boaters deposit their trash in the receptacles as they leave the river on weekends and that renters use the receptacles along Locust Street. One resolution might be the removal of the trash receptacles at the boat launch. Council will vote on this issue at the August council meeting.

NO VOTING ON MOTIONS AT “MEETINGS OF THE WHOLE”: Near the beginning of the meeting,council president surprised the councillors when he said that there’ll be no motions voted on at this “meeting of the whole” nor future ones. He said that all motions would be acted upon at the first council meeting of the month. He said that he wanted to revert “to the old way” of treating the “meeting of the whole” as a forum for committee discussion. After discussion by the councillors, it appears that “some issues” that were already in under discussion and certain “emergency” issues could be decided by motion and vote.

25 MPH IS THE BOROUGH SPEED: It appears the new borough speed limit is official, but the speed limit applies only on all borough streets. The discussion about agenda items concerning four-way stop signs and speeding on Ninth Street will be acted upon at the next council meeting. One citizen remarked that “two black cars” regularly drive on Ninth Street doing “at least 70 miles an hour.”

COLUMBIA BOROUGH-WIDE YARD SALE, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 – Yep, according to councillor Barry Ford, the first borough-wide yard sale is slated.

BOROUGH CODES: Though not discussed last night, one agenda item is important to point out. The borough Website now includes an improved Borough Codes link. The return of e-codes makes it simpler to find information about the borough’s codes and new laws.

COLUMBIA’S NATIONAL NIGHT OUT will be Tuesday, August 5. The mayor encouraged everyone to attend; he says it’s going to be a very good night with lots of local organizations participating. A state police helicopter will be there. We could find no mention of National Night Out at the Columbia Police Department facebook page, though there are mentions of the road closing along Front Street and the doubling of parking meter rates. There was a notice about the event with the JULY SEWER BILL which IS POSTED at the borough Website.

Columbia news, views & reviews, because of time constraints, will have more about the meeting in the coming days. We have to review the notes and re-listen to the audio files from the meeting.

REMINDER: For those who were not at the meeting, the transmission of “who said what” and “what happened” 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.