Two dozen or so people filled many of the seats in the gallery as the Columbia Borough Council met for its monthly meeting last night. Council president Michael Beury convened the meeting at 7:04 pm – all the councillors were present as was the interim borough manager, the borough’s temporary consultant, the financial director, a solicitor and the borough’s codes enforcement officer.

The mayor was not present. He evidently was engaged with another situation; perhaps this one. [NOTE: This incident was covered in the daily newspaper, yet there’s not a peep about it on the Columbia Police Department’s social media page – a reach-out to the community tool.]

The meeting was adjourned at 9:36 pm.

Among the topisc covered at last night’s meeting was the one about the “olympic and egregious” happenings surrounding the building at 208-210 Locust Street.

“The status as we know it now,” according to Jeff Helm, the borough zoning / planning / codes officer, is that the building is sound and it can be repaired. He said he, the acting borough manager and a representative of C.S. Davidson, Inc., the borough’s engineering resources met to look at the structure and that the structure’s owner has retained Heisey Mechanical, Ltd. to stabilize the front wall of the structure.

He said the building owner wants to get the building restored and used for business. While several councillors pressed for a deadline for completion, Helm was reticent to provide one, the inference was that it would be around weeks. In the interim, Flagger Force personnel will continue re-directing traffic around the closed road.

The borough is paying $3,000 a day for this service; the charges so far incurred by the borough involving this project exceeds $25,000 – these costs will be passed on to the building owners of 208 Locust Street, Samuel L. and Cynthia L. Bigler, of Millersville.

Due to time constraints and other obligations, Columbia news, views & reviews will report more about this meeting at a later date. There is a scheduled meeting today at noon of parties representing the structure owner, his team of engineers and the borough’s officers and contracted engineers to determine the next steps. In the interim the street will remain closed and the adverse economic impact on the neighboring business owners and residents will continue. We consistently and regularly encourage citizens to attend meetings so they can hear, see and question what’s being said during transactions. Reading reports or listening to second-hand information from someone who may have been at the meeting provides, at best, superficial and selective accounts of what actually transpired or was said. Columbia news, views & reviews does record all public meetings and offers copies of the meetings. If you want a copy of the audio recording, send an email to 17512@mail.com.

Agenda – page 0ne

Agenda page two

Agenda page three