“People Arrested | for Dumb Social Media Posts” – Ranker.com

“COMMENTARY | What can governments do to recruit and keep the “first” first responders?” There are problems when the emergency communications professionals, the 9-1-1 team, are not there. – Route Fifty

Public Meeting | Grave Concern will be holding a quarterly public meeting and program, Wednesday, November 20, 2019, 7:00 PM at the Lancaster County Mennonite Historical Society, 2215 Millstream Road – Route 30 East, Lancaster, PA 17602-1499. – Call (717) 393-9745. PROGRAM: “The Lehn / Amish Cemetery in Manheim Township” – Presented by:   Jack Vogel, lifetime resident of Manheim Township. This meeting is free and open to the public. Grave Concern is an organization dedicated to the history, preservation and restoration of historical burial places. – news release

Radar support | At last night’s council meeting, the council did the expected in endorsing the Bring RADAR to Local Policing bill in Harrisburg. Chief Tom Rudzinski with Manheim Township Police Department, “It is absolutely not about the money. It’s about being able to send the officers out to enforce speed and get people to slow down so we reduce accidents and crashes.” – FOX43-TV

Lancaster City produced this video and it’s being shown in lots of municipal meetings across the commonwealth to sell the RADAR in policing concept.

Market House modifications | At last night’s council meeting, council approved this agenda item: “Consider Market House Project – Additional Scope of Services from Hammel Architects.” The documentation for the additional scope of services with an additional charge of “Total Professional Stipulated Sum Fee $22,150.00” is in the packet.

Interestingly | The borough council did approve this, too: Copies of the Agenda and Meeting Packet for public meetings of Borough Council will be provided free of
charge to Columbia Borough residents and taxpayers upon request. At a recent council meeting, a councillor commented that the borough’s reproduction charges (25 cents a page for black and white copies and 50 cents a page for color copies) were “competitive” – it’s interesting to note that Hammel Associates Architects, Inc. (a for-profit company) lists these charges in its scope of services information: 

• Black & White Prints/Photocopies $.15/copy
• Color Prints/Photocopies $.30/copy

A thought | Perhaps the borough ought to look for a private printer.

OPINION | It’s a good thing that the borough’s Public Safety resources (part of the council meeting packet) include monthly reports about their activities. That is a good business practice; but the reports ought to be objective in nature and scope. Subjective statements as this from the Columbia Medical Services add nothing: “Documentation provided that proves factual information of what was offered by SVEMS to be FALSE.”