It was yet another truly head-shaking, eye-rolling council meeting tonight as the interim borough manager, the solicitor, six seated councillors, the mayor and the financial officer meandered through the agenda. The meeting was convened at 7:08 pm and concluded at 9:44 pm. The council president seemed to have an insight into what might be going to happen as he opened the meeting with the caveat, “no outbursts.” As the night trudged on, there was at least one “bona fide” outburst. In addition:

• The council shunted Mary Loreto off to the end of the meeting as she attempted to speak to the Avenue J turbulence.
• The Mayor read a Kids to Parks Day proclamation.
• Four aspirants for the council position created by the sudden resignation of Jody Gable were introduced for interviews by the seated councillors. One of the aspirants, Robert Gainer, withdrew because he deferred to the expertise of at least two of the others. After a few perfunctory questions, the council selected Sherry Welsh. Welsh recently earned a PhD and is employed by the York / Adams Transportation Authority, according to her LinkedIn page.
• It appears the police department wants money to buy computers but there appears to be no idea, at this time, what the specifications of the laptops are nor what the pricing for them may be.
• Councillor Jim Smith appeared to exhibit a series of outbursts when others questioned his suggestion that asked council to advance money for a project that included buying something for somewhere in the range of $25,000 that would be placed in Rotary Park. The mayor suggested the something was what used to be referred to as a “jungle gym.” Then the councillor bellowed “it’s playground equipment for six to 12-year olds.”
• A citizen returned to bring the subject of raw sewage draining into his basement at 501 Walnut Street. The interim borough manager and a few councillors said the codes department was looking into the situation of the seeping liquid containing “a small trace of sewage.” According to the interim borough manager, codes officer Jeff Helms assured him that the small trace of sewage was not enough of a problem to warrant condemning the property from which the sewage was seeping. According to the interim borough manager, the codes official assured him that a private plumber would be digging up the pipes tomorrow morning by “breaking through the concrete patio.” The 501 Walnut Street property owner has asked the borough to condemn the violating adjacent property by identifying the seeping sewage as a public safety and public health issue.
• And yes, the name for the building in River Park is Columbia Crossing.

As Columbia news, views & reviews has stated previously, in order to be sure that you get the facts as they occur, it’s best to not rely on only one source. It’s best to attend the meetings to see and hear who’s saying what and who’s reacting to the issues that surface.

page one

page two