Borough Council - Regular Meeting

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Call to order, Clemmonsboro Council regular meeting, 6-11-2026 at 7pm. Have a roll call, please.

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Does anybody like to go to invocation? Now, if we could all rise for a moment of silence, please.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Announcement of executive sessions. There were none. Additions, deletions, and reorganization of the agenda. I would like to add 9H, action item. Consider approval of the chip factory hotel security reduction number one in the amount of $347,816.55. Mr. President, there is a correction. Item number eight. Yes, you're correct. I apologize.

I make a motion to approve the reorganized agenda. Second.

I have a motion by Council Member Zink, seconded by Council Member Cooper, to approve the agenda reorganization as stated. All in favor say aye. Aye. Sets and comments. Pete Williams.

Good evening. Some of yous know me, some of yous don't. I have an issue over where I live, behind me. Mill and Third. I'm sure some of yous heard about it, maybe none of yous heard about it, but it's out of hand. I've been calling 911. They know my voice, they get a kick out of me. But there's constant fights over there. April 17th of this year, 15 adults were fighting with baseball bats. Does any of you know about this? No. Friday, three brawls. Three brawls. I didn't know about the first one. I called in at 2 o'clock, and the dispatcher, I'm assuming she was from Lancaster, said, we were just there an hour and a half ago. I said, I don't know nothing about that. I don't go to bed till late, and I was downstairs in my living room with the air conditioner on. But they're in the street fighting again. I mean, it's getting totally ridiculous. I mean, and then to find out through the grapevine that they were there the third time, Friday morning. And my question was, when I came over Friday to the police station, which the records weren't filled out, all I was asking was, somebody had to have got arrested because the same woman that was in the fight April 17th was in the fight Friday with the baseball bat again. And if you can listen to the 911 call that I did April 17th, you can hear the dispatcher say, I hear the clanging in the back. Is that the baseball bats? I said, yes, it is. Now, she was the only one Friday morning that had a baseball bat. Now, you hit somebody in the head with a baseball bat, somebody's getting killed. I don't know, you know, yes, I understand we need other officers. We really, really, really do. How much backing are we going to get from other officers that step in from West Henfield and stuff? They can't come running to Columbia all the time. Seriously. I mean, I don't know what the solution here is. But then I brought up, which I didn't know that you changed the name. Back in my time, it was order file. Three strikes, you're out. Now they're calling it a different name. Now there's a lot of renter properties back there. They need to be tossed. Simple as that. Simple as that. Anybody want to comment or want to ask questions to me?

You're right. We've been working on that area. As a matter of fact, we're looking at doing something that I don't really want to get into tonight. But one thing that needs to happen is that ordinance that council passed has to be codified and, and so that we can put it into effect to do these disruptive conducts.

It was never a pass.

Was it a pass?

We didn't get to that point.

Then you got to get it passed. Right now we're dead in the water. We can't do the disruptive conducts to get rid of these people.

I thought we could do them, just not in that one circumstance.

I think you have to be careful to ensure that the people who are calling, especially as victims of domestic violence, are not being given those disruptive conducts. Now, I think the argument that was made at one point was that any disruptive conducts are um or against the pennsylvania constitution i don't think that's necessarily the case that's why we looked at it and provided the analysis that we did um but we can we'll we'll certainly look at getting um getting that back up to speed and make sure that everything is finalized for that this this is something that can there's not misunderstanding there the officers

do most of them those reports don't understand what they can and what they can't do okay and whether they can or not and we need that that's that that area is a textbook example of why we need that it's been going on since 21 and actually before that i mean you know but i can tell you what there hasn't been police action

Yeah, I know, but something needs to happen sooner to clean this mess up. That's the worst area right now in Columbia. Yeah, I asked that today. That was one of my questions I asked today, and that's what I was told. I said, what can you tell me in this town is the worst spot? And the person said, that. And I'm like, yeah. And wait till somebody gets killed with a baseball bat, and then what's going to happen? All rental properties. As far as I know, they are.

They are. Our existing ordinance, the only thing we have to watch is that we are not giving disruptive conducts to victims of domestic violence. We never did. And requiring an eviction when that person is a victim of domestic violence. I think it needs to be a little bit broader.

But that was in the original ordinance.

Yeah, I think that definition needs to be expanded. Yeah, and it is. So I have, we did a memo, I'll get together with the legislation committee and we'll get an ordinance together to get that in front of you guys.

Yeah, we need it turned on as soon as possible.

Yeah, you just can't drag your feet on this. Because it's getting, you just wouldn't believe it, how it is over there. And I'm tired of it.

the issue the issue currently is is the legislation committee has worked on it and it was presented and all of the changes are identified and what you propose is incorporated the issue is it needs to be put in ordinance form and don't have what the original looked like to know what was changed so it's going to take a lot of time to do that side by side because it's a long ordinance 167 yep just uh we need to pull that out and just do

But three fights in one night? Somebody should have went to jail. I mean, come on. And I got one more off-the-wall question about this subject. Why doesn't it come down on the person that's renting these properties? Like, is there a law out there? That's to change... That they don't get their permit or license to rent.

Right.

Thank you. Well, the...

The only thing that makes them lose a rental license is code violations. We don't have anything in there about... Or failure to evict. Right, but that's a code violation. Or the failure to evict. There's nothing that says if you have X number of disruptive tenants in an X period of time,

lose your rental right i'm kind of glad though that someone else called before i did you know before and after yeah you know and i know it's new attend new people that moved into the neighborhood you know and you think they're going to stay there with this kind of carrying going on no thank you thank you yep

Robert Thompson.

Good evening. My name is Robert Thompson. I live at 832 Blunson Street. I'm going to probably read more than I'm going to orate tonight. I do not want to be standing here, and I did not want to return to this council after another pedestrian tragedy to repeat what I said 61 days ago. On June 9th, I stood before you and I said, we are tired of feeling unsafe in our own streets. I warned you the pedestrians were in danger. I warned you about children crossing Lancaster Avenue. I asked council, the mayor, the police, and borough officials to get out of their offices and start walking this town with us. I proposed corrective action. I asked for visible enforcement at dangerous intersections. I asked for crosswalk enforcement. I asked for officers or other responsible adults to walk with children during the school year. We're not there yet. I said my piece 61 days ago. Apparently those words fell on deaf ears. On Sunday at approximately 11.45 in the morning, a Dodge Ram struck three pedestrians at 3rd and Chestnut Street. Two adults were killed. A juvenile girl was flown to another hospital. I'm not sure where, and I don't know how she's doing right now, as I understand that they are relatives of Mr. Lutz. I'm sorry for your loss. They're not statistics. They were people, they had a family, and they belong in this community, and they had every right to feel safe as a pedestrian in this town. I'm not claiming the council, the mayor, or the police caused the collision, but you are responsible for the conditions that have led up to it at this point in time. I'm saying that the danger was known, the warnings were given, the corrective action was proposed, And this borough did not respond in anything approaching to the urgency this threat requires. It is becoming profoundly obvious exactly what this borough thinks of its pedestrians, of its constituents on foot.

We are ignored.

We are persecuted. We are prosecuted. And some of us are effectively executed in our own streets, not by a judicial sentence, but by the vehicles in this town that has allowed preventable danger to become normal. How dare this borough continue pretending this is not a problem? How dare you continue pretending that the part of this problem does not originate inside the police department itself? You people make we the people feel unsafe in our own streets, our streets. Shame on all of you. When officers allegedly disregard traffic controls, when pedestrian complaints are dismissed, when residents are told they did not see what they saw, when camera evidence becomes almost impossible to obtain, when the person demanding safety becomes the person who is charged, the police department is no longer merely failing to solve the problem. It has become the problem. I apologize to Chief Arndt a couple weeks ago, a couple months ago now. That apology... Was appropriate as it stands. Those issues are not these issues. But that apology was not a blank check. It was not an agreement to remain silent while this danger continues to fester. There will no longer be apology for demanding that you do your job. There will no longer be apologies for demanding the police department protect its pedestrians. Your job is to stop the imminent danger. How much more imminent do you need it to be? Your job is to triage it. Your job is to enforce the law. Your job is to identify what your department can fix. This is supposed to be for Holly, obviously. You can fix, elevate what it cannot fix and force the people with the necessary authority to confront it. Stop it, fix it, triage it, protect us. That's your jobs. Counsel, your job is to provide the resources, direction, oversight, and accountability necessary to make that protection real. Consider the experience of one local mother. On May 23rd, during an early dismissal, she was walking toward Park Elementary with a double stroller. A Columbia police vehicle was reportedly traveling toward another school that was also dismissing students. She wrote, I just kept looking at the police around here like they're crazy. I'm currently at 7th and Walnut walking to Park Elementary. The cops know that there's an early dismissal in this district. They have to be aware that the people are walking. I almost just got hit walking my double stroller by a Columbia cop with no lights and no sirens. Cop was on Walnut and 7th, and I'm walking down 7th when Twin Rose to Locust. There's no stop signs on 7th, the direction I'm headed. Cross traffic, e.g. Walnut, has stop signs, and pedestrians have the right of way. Well, this cop with no lights and sirens does a South Philly slide I don't know what that is. At the stop sign, it floors it towards Taylor, which Taylor is also in the process of early dismissal. So literally did not even stop at the stop sign. I didn't get his info, and he did not stop to apologize. Her statement continued. Like, even stop. So much, in fact, that there was an Amazon delivery driver coming up 7th again, and there are no signs on 7th. The Amazon driver stopped as well because he could see that the police officer was not going to stop again.

No lights, no sirens.

Honestly, I was so pissed that day when the audacity of the Columbia cop tried to tell me that it wasn't a Columbia cop, as if my own eyes can't read the words Columbia on the side of a medium-grade police SUV, to know the difference like I'm an idiot. When officers were responding to my call that day, I advised Officer Brent Smith what had happened, what was done with that information. Was the vehicle identified? Was the supervisor notified? Were dispatch vehicle assignments, cameras, radios, available location records reviewed? Was the Amazon driver ever identified? No. Was it easier to gaslight a mother pushing a double stroller that the vehicle marked Columbia was not a Columbia police vehicle? Another mother later described another encounter. I'm a mom of two and I was walking my children and their two friends back from a day of shopping on Locust Street followed by lunch at Hinkle's. There were a bunch of construction zones and coned off areas near Walnut so we needed to cross the street. We crossed on the crosswalk, no cars coming. But by the time we were almost across with the four young kids, a black truck swerved speeding up towards us. I told the kids to hustle, sit at the sidewalk, and I said, slow down, using hand motions. And the truck swerved to hit me. When I did not move, he swerved away and only missed me by about six inches. I was too shocked to get his plate, and he sped away very fast. The kids were so scared. That is a mother and four young children crossing a crosswalk in your borough. They checked for traffic. They crossed where they were supposed to cross. They did what we constantly tell pedestrians they're supposed to do. She reports that a black truck accelerated towards them, swerved toward her, missed her by approximately six inches, and sped away. What lecture about pedestrian responsibility should we give those children? Should we tell them they crossed the wrong crosswalk? Should we tell them they didn't hustle fast enough? Should we tell them that simply being struck by a vehicle in this borough is just the price you pay for being a pedestrian here? Experiences like these are why Columbia Walks had been created. The testimonials did not originate with Columbia Walks, but they are a part of it. Residents need somewhere to document dangerous intersections, near misses, obstructed sidewalks, speeding, aggressive driving, crosswalk violations, police interactions, photographs, locations, and firsthand accounts. Near misses disappear from official statistics unless somebody records them. When incidents are not documented or connected, officials can easily dismiss every warning as an isolated complaint. They're not isolated. They are a pattern. Columbia Walks has also purchased pedestrian safety equipment. When I say Columbia Works purchased, Columbia Walks purchased is what I mean. It's my wife I purchased. So Columbia Walks has also purchased pedestrian safety equipment for children and adults to distribute it back to school night. Private citizens are spending their own money to provide safety equipment because school resumes on August 25th, two weeks from today. Reflective equipment may help a driver see a child, but safety gear cannot replace enforcement. It cannot repair a dangerous intersection. It cannot make an aggressive driver care. A six-year-old should not bear responsibility for ensuring that a speeding adult obeys the law. That's what our police are for. For pedestrians, Columbia has become functionally a lawless town. when it comes to traffic. Drivers appear to face little or no visible consequences for inattentive, aggressive, belligerent, or reckless behavior, conduct that can cross the line from careless into criminal. The visible consequences too often fall on the pedestrian. On May 15th, 2025, near Cherry and Bethel Streets, I reported being struck and injured. I spoke about this last time in front of you guys. Struck and injured during an encounter with a vehicle. I provided video. Instead of being treated as a pedestrian reporting an injury, I was threatened with criminal allegations and warned against contacting the people involved. On July 9th of this year, at North 5th in Locust, I was involved in another confrontation with a motorist while crossing. I had a vehicle reach my crosswalk and yell profanity at me. I engaged. I was charged. Not the driver encroaching on a pedestrian, the pedestrian defending his right to exist. That's who we punish in this borough. Officer Smith filed summary citations against me for disorderly conduct in obstructing a highway. Those charges remain before the court, and I will not prosecute them here. But counsel must understand the message this sends. Assert your right to cross safely, and you may become the person the police harass. I requested the intersection camera footage that could objectively show what happened. And I'm sure you've actually seen the footage, since I think you had to help pull it up, Mr. Brommer. No, it's not true, sir. Then I apologize. I apologize. For what it's worth, I think your interaction actually helped me get that today. So thank you for that. I received narrow details and contradictory information about who controls the camera. Borough manager Jack Brommer claims the police department controls the community camera system. Chief Arndt, however, indicates the borough owns the camera system. I'm forced to subpoena Arndt, Brommer, and Smith because our borough refuses to release exculpatory evidence to a citizen that that same borough has accused of a crime, the crime of crossing the street and not allowing oneself to become the next fucking statistic. I don't want to be a lawyer. I shouldn't have to do this crap just to show my innocence. It's disgusting. And if they can do this to me, they can do it to you. Mr. Brommer, why did a pedestrian facing charges have to fight this hard merely to identify the custodian of potentially exculpatory evidence controlled by his own borough? You don't have to answer that. You actually got it for me. Chief Arndt, why did a resident have to fight for the identification and preservation of evidence that could objectively show what occurred? For the record, I did receive the video. It's pretty concrete evidence. Your cops are not good. Mayor Lutz, where was the urgency after I warned this council? We keep coming to these meetings, but we go unheard. This pattern is not limited to pedestrian safety. Council appeared unable to overcome the roadblocks surrounding the trailers at 854 Avenue S. Zink and I have had long conversations about that. Acting with no title and no authority beyond that of a resident, I organized, sustained reporting, and created enough public pressure for codes, zoning, or whoever is responsible to finally act. I do not know who ultimately broke through that roadblock, and frankly, I do not care who receives the credit. Our voices were heard and action followed. There were also four 55-gallon containers behind 11 North 4th Street that were identified to me as containing TCE. For the record, that's tetrachloroethylene. It's one of the more cancer-causing chemicals out there. Jesse is not here this evening, so he cannot confirm that for me, but they were there for about three years. It took me four months. Why am I doing your work? After repeated calls and complaints of codes, the containers were finally moved. This isn't overgrown grass or trash accumulation. TCE is a deadly chemical, and in its alpha-3 state, which is where these were at, it's what was in the drums, it's carcinogenic, and it evaporates directly from the primary container. Two of these containers weren't in secondary containment. That means the people who were living above these containers were exposed to this chemical, and we did fuck all about it. Again, residents had to define the problem. Call repeatedly, complain repeatedly, and continue applying pressure before action occurred. These examples matter because they demonstrate the same institutional pattern. Residents identify a danger. Residents speak. Residents provide details. Officials redirect responsibility. Meetings pass, and the danger remains. The residents are forced to create enough pressure that ignoring us becomes more difficult than actually doing your jobs. This borough cannot continue operating like an old boys network where uncomfortable residents are dismissed, responsibility is passed from office to office, records are withheld, and criticism is treated as hostility towards the police. I am demanding immediate action. Before August 24th, reduce a written pedestrian safety plan for the routes children use between Park Elementary, Lancaster Avenue, Jansen Park, and the Boys and Girls Club. These are your highest traffic areas. Assign officers, crossing guards, and trained adults where protection is needed. Induct recurring crosswalk and aggressive driving enforcement. Direct Columbia Highway Department to inspect dangerous crossings, sight lines, signs, markings, lightings, and other conditions that place pedestrians at risk and publish what it finds. Commission an independent pedestrian safety audit of 3rd and Chestnut and every other high-risk intersection. Publish five years of pedestrian crashes, injuries, deaths, complaints, citations, and enforcement activity. Establish a clear policy regarding the preservation of municipal camera footage after serious incidents. and direct an independent review of how Columbia Police handle pedestrian complaints, officer-driven complaints, and residents who criticize traffic enforcement. Do not answer by saying Sunday's crash remains under investigation. Of course it does. An investigation into one collision is not a pedestrian safety policy. Do not tell us another committee will discuss this someday. Do not pass responsibility among the council, the police department codes, zoning, and highway department until no one can identify who is responsible for acting. These are Columbia Borough departments. This is Columbia Borough's problem. Stop it, triage it, fix it. Do the job the people of this borough have every right to expect you to do. Protect us.

Not that last sheet.

Could you also forward a copy of that to our emails?

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah, thank you. Hey, do you think you could actually get a hold of me about the right thing to do to get a hold of me about .

I have never spoken to you about .

All right, doctor.

Yes, Frank Delter, 1001. Good evening. What rules are we under tonight? Don't answer. Don't take part of my five minutes.

You have time, but that's fine.

1114 Lancaster Avenue. 1114 Lancaster Avenue. Myself and Bob Schneider have been working on a pole that's over covered with the greens, whatever. You just about hit it when you walk under it. You just about see the light. But I even got Jake involved. I called PPNL. I sent the poll number in. What do we have to do to get that trimmed out there? Again, 1114 Lancaster Avenue. It's going on three years. This has been going on. Again, don't answer, but don't take part of my time. Got a lot of problems with Borough Council, some members on Borough Council. I would like to sometime, I know some of you comment on the internet, tell the public sometime how many hours you put in Burr Hall. How many hours do you go in, talk to the people, talk to some of our employees, get to know them, find out how experienced they are. My understanding is that they're deterred from coming in. The new borough manager doesn't want that. You don't want them hanging around. So you have to know that, which ones it is, you have to know that. But how are you going to know your employees if you don't go in there and talk to them? How many hours do you really put in? It's bull crap. Most of you, I'm going to say most of you, don't know that you're in charge. The borough manager works for you. You don't work for him. Do you know that? Yes. I like what you've done. You've got training before you come on, and I wish that would be mandatory. Believe me, you've got to do something to get on top of these things. I had some things for the top cop, but she's not here. Is there any reason? Could you answer that? two weeks, two times in a row that she wasn't here. I have some things for her. My understanding, the word on the street is the previous chief and the mayor left the police department in a hell of a mess. And she has to work through that now. And she's not getting a lot of the good to go with it to run that department. So she has a task in front of her. Along with that, on the police department, just two hours ago, I come back from York Right around where the two people just got killed, there was two people now right in front of the Turkey Hill is where it happened. Two people, I'd say in their 30s, they were foreigners, walked out across the street. Two cars in front of me stopped dead. I had to stop. I couldn't go around until they walked across and on up the street. I can't blame none of you for that. But I don't know who we blame for that. We blame them. But they just walked across the street and we had to stop dead. But anyway, going back, the fireworks, they're going to have the fireworks on the 26th. I don't know who's in charge of that, but as far as I'm concerned, they don't have to have them because of the poor animals. The other thing that I had for Holly or whoever wants to answer it, where are we at with the towing operation? Is everybody getting their fair share?

I have not seen a policy. Is there a policy?

Is anybody working on it? Yes. What year do you think that will come out?

What year? How many violent incidents are we going to have that require attention?

you talking about the towing now you're telling us this talking about the workload the amount of hours they're putting in certain things have priority yeah well i i see a certain one there's a certain one that's in town there's more than one tow truck operation but they're all supposed to be getting their fair share And apparently it's only one. And it's going back to the way it was run before run like a rag for years.

No.

Yes, it was. Yes, it was. You can say that, Leo. I don't care. I know.

There was a call list every week. The problem was certain tow operators refused to answer the phone or said no. not going to come out tonight and then it would go to someone else a couple weeks later they would come in i was here they would come in and complain to me that they weren't getting their toes we would show them how many times they were offered and didn't show up and didn't or didn't take the call it was not to where one one outfit wound up doing a lot of the telling because the others didn't want to do it but where we're at right now is identifying all the tow operators that want to work in Columbia and then setting up a schedule that they can work. And that's where we're sitting right now, setting that schedule up.

When do you think this will be completed?

Well, as soon as people stop shooting each other and things like that there, maybe we'll get some time to do some of this stuff. Or we get a couple more officers. yeah right now we have 14 officers we usually have about two on a ship that don't give a whole lot of time to do other things when something like this happens and we get there's an incident that happened and and all of a sudden there's three four five officers where do they come from all of a sudden we call officers in or we call for assistance from other municipalities Now, in this last incident, the crash team was in what was called in the crash team consists of officers from around the county who have the training to assist in that crash. For example, there was an officer there from West Lampina. He's part of the crash team.

what i thought but uh going along with that i'll just give you this right now the last i wasn't at the last meeting one before you had said nobody wants to be a police officer anymore And I thought myself, well, nobody wants to be a police officer in Columbia. So I went to the Helm Township night out, and I talked to a 26-year veteran over there, and I brought this up to him. I told him exactly what you said, and he said,

give due respect to you that you were right he said we're in the process we have 13 full-time officers we're looking to put another one on and he said we're having trouble and he said it's not only us it's all over so i'll give you you're right frank and i don't want to take your time but let me give you an example we and and our bro managers can back me up when when the consortium that's the police departments in lexington county that joined into this I should say testing consortium, we would get well over 100 applicants. We're getting in the teens right now. So we started doing our own also. We had seven applicants. Out of the seven applicants, only one passed the criteria to test. That's where it's at. It's tough. You can ask West Hempfield. They're in the same boat. Effort is in the same boat.

They're all in the same boat. And that's what he pointed out.

And we're handcuffed further. And Heather can speak to this. We have to go by civil service. The townships don't. So we have officers that would like to come to work in Columbia. In order to do that, they have to go through all the testing procedures again. and lose pay for family. They can't do that. But yet, the townships could take one of our officers and hire them and have them work tomorrow. After they've gone through training. Yeah. And we've had that happen. We just lost one few months back. We decided to go somewhere else. So we're working on that. And Heather can tell you she's lobbying. She's lobbying with the Pennsylvania Birds Association. to get rid of that civil service. Civil service was created, I don't want to go off on a tangent, but civil service was created after the Second World War that offered, to offer jobs to veterans after they came home to insure them. And those civil service jobs, they got 10 extra points in the testing, which almost ensured that they would get jobs. Police, post office, and county and state offices.

civil service don't work that well anymore because we don't have the grant people weren't compelled to do that well and not only that the second class townships do not have to are not bound by civil service nor are regional police forces so like west enfield township and helen township they can hire them off the street without any of that

burden but the boroughs are handcuffed and well the city and first-class townships yeah the officer put it in a way that they can hire these people no experience whatsoever and they they won't hire them they won't have but they're looking to put one on and he said we don't know where we're going again him or her whatever and you know the shame of it

They can't do the required push-ups, sit-ups, or run.

Is that evident, Frank? Yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Frank.

The minutes for approval. Consider approval of the Borough Council meeting minutes for July 14, 2026. So moved.

Second.

I have a motion by Councilman Cooper, seconded by Councilman Byers, to approve the Borough Council meeting minutes for July 14, 2026.

The changes that needed to see made on the July 15th were not made it still says motion to add item 9 item in agenda with no information on there and it does not specify who voted yes and who no votes were so I mean if we're gonna There's no approval, and that's fine, but I do not approve them as is. Not as they go to my back.

So item 9A.

I think you should define what item 9I that was added was.

what we were actually adding to the agenda.

Okay. So we'll table this one. July 14th. Councilman Cooper, are you okay with tabling it?

Yes.

Consider approval of the borough council meeting that's for July 20th.

2026 make motion to or actually no I won't I don't know why I didn't see this sooner in the minutes from July 28 in Item number five, it says minutes for approval, and it just says motion to approve the minutes. No motion by, no second by, and no voice vote. Okay, now it does have a note underneath. I'm sorry, I didn't see that note underneath the table for corrections. All right, I will make a motion to approve the third council meeting minutes from July 28, 2015.

uh motion by councilman zinc second by councilman cooper to approve the vote council meeting match for july 28 2026. all in favor say aye aye aye table and we need to add in the definition of the motion for nine eyes

mayor looks yeah uh chief foreign's not here tonight obviously uh there's a lot of paperwork uh evidence recording and things like that transfer evidence from the da's office to the borough to harrisburg and things like that to have to be done i'm not saying that's what she's doing tonight but they have put in an awful lot With that said, we are receiving, and Tom, I think you just got something today. We're receiving information on the e-bike issue. This is a hot button issue around, I'll say the state everywhere right now. This is a hot button issue. We're trying to gather this information and boil it down because we don't want to create regulations then have to go back and change them because i know the state's putting what is working on it uh the county i think is working on it so i think we got stuff from the county today or either from magister sydney uh it looks like uh one of the assistant district attorney andy gonzalez reviewed that information all this information is coming to us so we're going to boil it down right now we're operating on the vehicle codes but we are working to put together a set of rules and regulations for these, I'll just say, type of apparatuses because there are several we have to look at.

I think the issue, Mayor, I don't mean to stuff on you, but... No, please. uh there's definitely state statute that allows us to grow we see i've seen examples in lancaster city where they've controlled traffic their e-bikes and things like that but it's the technology the technology that changes so often so we now we have these different um types of conveyances and that changes so i think what the mayor and i and ethan have talked about was we're trying as the mayor said we're trying to have a firm foundation for all of these things, no matter what technology comes up, so that we have enforcement in place for everything that we can cover.

And another issue, the other issue that was spoken about here tonight, the police department and the school district are working on a plan for safe travel for the children we have we have travel routes that the kids are supposed to use but we can't make them use those routes in other words you can go if you're coming down in the high school or taylor you go over knife and down locusts okay kids go down spruce they go down chestnut they go down and you can't make them do that do do that certain route so we're trying to do some things i wish uh Sometimes I wish we could bring back the old crossing guards that the kids, where the kids did the stuff. But we said, no, we're not even going to get involved in that because of the way people drive today. People don't stop at stop signs or whatever. But we are working on a plan to try to help ensure that our kids get to and from school safe. I think they're supposed to meet this week. They either didn't meet or are supposed to meet this week to try to put that plan together. And that's all I have, Mr. President.

I missed your presentation on the e-bikes, but you say you're lightening up, and you're just going to, the police department's just going to, pull them over and give them a citation or whatever, and also I've seen something about putting lights on. Is lights just for night? Or are these lights for all the time? And how are you documenting the ones that supposedly they're stopping?

The officers have to do a daily report. Every officer does a daily report. If they stop somebody or cite someone or give them a warning, that's in their report. And that's available to the other officers. But the truth of the matter is they know who they are, who the retreat offenders are, and they're going after them. But right now, dust to—and I think that's the state statute, isn't it, Tom? Yes. Dust to dawn. I wish it was all— You have to have lights on the front and a flashing red light on the rear.

Additionally, there's— state legislation going through now to define age and limits. That has not been passed, so we can't work on that yet. Once the state passes that, that'll give us a definition on the time or the ages that we can now enforce on these e-bikes and things like that. One of the biggest issues that we're... is that the statute allows us to confiscate and then eventually forfeit those bikes if riders or operators are found in violation. i think that's kind of last ditch for us we don't you know we understand that the you know these conveyances that first of all they're green they're um when used properly they're a good thing but uh we don't as columbia borough just want to you know begin um for me confiscating bikes and then having to forfeit them if we can find another way but i think My opinion is when it comes down to it, that may be a very viable option is the confiscation if we don't see some cooperation.

The tool was put in there for a purpose. Indeed. And we're just looking the other way. That's my whole problem with our burr.

We're not enforcing what we got, and these laws were made. It's in my opinion that we take people's rights to their property very seriously. We don't want to just start taking property because we can. We want to make sure it's doing the right function and that we're doing the right thing and in that way increasing the safety on these things.

Officers are stopping people. Officers are saving people.

Well, we don't know that. We don't see that report. We don't see the report. So this is why I'm asking, if we have laws in line, why aren't we enforcing them? And maybe that would get something done. It just makes me sit here and wonder why. I shouldn't say this, but I'm going to. A lot of times it comes down to votes. Well, I'm not too popular if I do that, so I'm not going to get votes in the next election. Sorry, I have to say that, folks.

Thank you.

Actually, I have the authorization to fill in. Make a motion to pay the bills as presented in the packet.

Second.

I have a motion by Councilman Murphy, second by Councilman Zink, to authorize bill payments. Yes.

Good evening. Page six. I just had a quick question about Patriot Towing billed us $480 for, it says, a crashed police vehicle. I just wondered if anyone would like to elaborate on that at all.

hadn't heard that there was any accident involving a police car i'm aware of an accident with a police cruiser um i don't know any more detail than that okay yeah they were responding to a call they were responding to a call and it was an accident that's all i know

Page 3, Walnut Street Streetscape. Can you tell me, that says revenue there, and generally these are expenditures. I was just curious what that $123,000 for the streetscape revenue is.

So the reimbursement agreement contract, the way that this works with the PennDOT funding, is Borough Council will approve an application for payment. That application for payment goes to PennDOT. PennDOT cuts a check in that amount to the borough, and then the borough has 10 days to cut a check to the contractor in that amount. So the grant fully funds the project, the borough doesn't have to float the money, but But PennDOT won't pay the contractor directly. They have to pay us, and then we pay the contractor.

Okay. Now, you said the grant fully funded, but did it really fully fund the Walnut Street?

The construction is what I said.

Oh, I'm sorry.

It's okay. Sorry. Yeah. It funds the construction and the construction inspection required by PennDOT.

Okay. Thank you.

Yep. And as a side note, I just wanted to thank you, Council President Kaufman, for banging your gavel earlier because I found that inappropriate and I just thought I'm glad you did that. Thank you.

May I ask who the project manager is on the Wall Street project?

The construction?

Yes.

It's a company called ATCS. They have their own project manager? Correct. They're in charge of construction inspection.

Okay. Have we had any problems with the rain?

Yes. I can imagine that. Yes, we have, unfortunately.

As a byline, there are one or two state inspectors on that project?

the the yes it's atcs is the company they're they're a private company but they are a pendot certified inspector and they have been hired by pendot to inspect the project so they have the ultimate basically yes as far as construction management goes it's it's that company they have the jurisdiction over the contractor while they're working you've had problems all over the bird not just walnut street in the train yeah it's

Aye. Any other comments? A motion by Councilman Murphy, seconded by Councilman Zink, to pay the bill, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Consider approval of payment to Fry Loops Corporation any amount of $8,291.14 for replacement of an air conditioner, condenser, compressor, This includes $850 to extend the warranty five years from the date of purchase.

Does it come with its own warranty?

Five years.

And why are we paying $850?

It comes with a one-year warranty.

So our warranty starts now during their warranty. So it starts now. No, one year and then five.

One year and then five?

Yes.

The date of purchase is in a year. No, we're purchasing it now. A year from now, we have the warranty. And then five years after that, we'll pay in the 850. Okay, that's what I was trying to get. Don't we have to pay it on, it's going to last six years, not five.

That's what I wanted to say. It's not clear if this is for the market houses.

That was my question because I've seen they said when you remove the fence, so getting the warranty is probably a plus.

Yeah.

Didn't we change that since that was built? I thought we had already changed that once.

There was issues, but I don't think it was the same. Yeah.

I make a motion that we approve the payment of Fry Lutz Corporation for the amount of $8,271.14 for the replacement of the air compressor, also including the $850 to extend the warranty for five years from the date of this purchase.

Second.

Any other questions?

I just want to note that I'm glad they're pro stars approved so that that saves us a lot of time and expense.

I have a motion to approve payment to Fly Lutz Corporation in the amount of $8,271.14 for replacement of an air conditioner compressor. That includes $850 to extend the warranty five years from the date of purchase. Councilman Ziegler. Second by Councilman Cooper. All in favor say aye. Aye. Consider authorizing contract change order number one, final, and application for payment number two, final, to Reamstown Excavating Incorporated in the amount of $210,700.

two hundred ten thousand seven hundred dollars i'll make a motion to authorize the contract change order and application for payment number three the final for lees town excavating in the amount of two hundred ten thousand seven hundred three dollars second

I have a motion by Councilman Zink, seconded by Councilman Byers. Do you authorize contract change order number one final and application for payment number two final? Any amount of $210,703. Excuse me. It says number one final and number two final.

Why didn't you both say final?

So Jean, the first is the final change order So we have a contract change order, which changes the terms and the cost of the contract. We're saying it's final because if you look at the change order, and I know you haven't, we haven't had a lot of these since you were elected, but if you look at the contract change order, you'll see on the left side, there's decreases, and on the right side, there's increases. So when we do a final change order, it balances out all of the quantities on the contract, whether we're over and under, and it basically adds them all up and said, this is it. so this will be the final change to the contract which is change order number one once the the procedures we approve that first that changes the contract and then the application for payment this is your second payment on the contract we already did one a couple of months ago the the final application for payment takes into account the change order number one so don't really have to put final on there i just like to make it clear like this is it yeah i tried to make it more clear and it probably confused you so i understand yeah but yeah in summary the the contract is we are done um all work has been complete out there and we're working on closing the grant out with the with cdg folks that was it yep it was necessary because of the 27 048 increase right Yeah, I'll note one of the big changes we made out there that wasn't included in the original contract is we added paving fabric to the street. We originally didn't think it really needed the paving fabric, but then right before our contract started but after it was out to bid is when the utilities came in and kind of cut the street up pretty badly. So when we saw all of the restoration that was needed, felt it was appropriate that we added that reinforcement layer in underneath the pavement to buy us some longevity um we had some but this is not this is not penn dot funded this is the 300 block of union street which was cdbg funded right um so overall budget on this project we had two hundred thousand dollars in cdbg grant money And the borough allocated $100,000 of liquid fuels for a match because our contract estimate on this was about $300,000. The bid came in at $251,000, so we got a really good bid. So even with adding some of this additional work in, we're still $20,000 under the project budget. And you got a nice job out there. Thanks, Eric. Yep.

Any other questions? All in favor say aye. Aye. Consider approval to hire Michael Burke as part-time parking enforcement officer effective upon completion of all pre-employment requirements to attend in 19 hours per week at the current 2026 non-union contract rate of $19.57 per hour. So moved. Second.

Any questions?

Nine million.

Uniform.

Not uniform, I'm sorry. Thank you.

I'm just wondering, because all three that you're hiring, the wording is all different. into the way that they're doing it.

Two were from the police side. F is language not putting.

But I think Joey's asking why D and E are different.

They came from the police side.

Aren't they both?

It's the same position, same everything. Oh, I agree. The wording is just, I would think the wording would be for both, almost like verbatim. different time you know I mean like some of the I guess the things needed aren't needed because third one's a current one's a current employee right who's had those background checks and stuff right I just didn't know if it was a free employee okay any other questions

I have a motion by Councilman Byer, seconded by Councilman Murphy, to approve Michael Burke as part-time parking enforcement officer, effective upon completion of the law's pre-employment requirements to work 10 to 19 hours per week at the current 20.6 non-uniform contract rate of $19.57 per hour. All in favor say aye. Aye.

Well, I'm just saying that parking enforcement can do crossing gardens. Okay. Okay. Is it a promotion?

All right. Consider approval of hire of Terry Weaver as part-time parking enforcement officer for up to 19 hours per week at the current 2026 non-uniform contract rate of $19.57 per hour, contingent upon successful completion of the required background check, medical examination, and drug screening.

So moved.

I have a motion by Councilman Murphy, seconded by Councilman Steezy. Consider approval to hire Terry Wheeler as a part-time parking enforcement officer for up to 19 hours per week at the current 2026 non-uniform contract rate of $19.57 per hour, contingent upon the successful completion Required background check, medical examination, and three hours screening. Any questions? All in favor say aye. Aye. Consider approval to hire Kylie Astin for the position of administrative assistant continued upon passage of background check and medical testing. Kylie would be hired at starting rate twenty five seventy seven per hour bill move second I have a motion by all right I have a motion by councillor Murphy second by councillor Zinnick To prove the hiring of Carly Essin for position of Administrative Assistant Provision upon passage of a background check in medical testing, Carly would be hired at a starting rate of $25.77 per hour.

Yes. I'm not too smart, so I've got to ask. Is Carly male or female? Female. Female. Okay. Can I ask how many applications you got for this position?

I believe she was the first interviewer.

Say again.

I believe she was the first interviewer.

How many total applications did we get for this position? We're up to about 400, Frank, for two positions. Two positions.

And who interviewed Deep's position? As far as Kylie is concerned, Paula Diffenderfer and myself interviewed her.

No counsel? No. Why? Why? You don't have input in this? Come on. I don't believe this. You just don't have input. We always counsel, always. How do you know who you're hiring? You rely on Jack to tell you? That's a hell of a way of doing it. Come on. You're our council. When I go to the polls and I vote, I want to vote for smart people. And I figure some of you people had them.

Council's role is to hire the manager.

Frank, we hired admins when I was council president from 16 to 19. I was not in on any of them. I was council president. So if we were in on them, I would have been in on them. We did not interview staff positions. That is the job of the manager. Our job is, the seven of us, is to manage our managers. If we can't trust our managers to do a job interview, what does that say?

I managed the police department for 14 years, hired many, many employees.

inducted in many many interviews did council not interview some of them no none no that's civil service commission and john and the police department i i find that i just find that tough to believe i know when i was on i don't know if i was ever part of it or not but but we wanted to know who we were hiring and we went through so many bad people recently And in a case like this, you had that many applications. Did counsel get to go through the applications? Everybody? No? Some did, some didn't. How did that happen? Wow. I just find that very degrading. And I brought up earlier. Well, I'll keep that. I'll keep that.

OK. Sure.

Can we, for future, make sure we redact all of the information? Because someone's email address got left in this application. We should redact it. i don't want to point out here but if we could oh i'm sorry i just asked if we could in the future make sure we redact all of the uh information on the applicant like address phone number email because something got missed so i'm just bringing that excuse me mr president may i have a moment frank here's a situation where i disagree with you on

as a manager, and I've been a manager, as a manager that hires other people to manage other departments, you cannot micromanage every one of their moves. Now I'm not all in on everything and anything, but, and I know there's some friction here between Jack and you, but as a manager which council is as far as jack goes and other borough supervisors that's who the council manages the managers of the individual departments need to have the flexibility to do what they're hired to do otherwise there's no point in having a borough manager And from what these people sitting on council get paid, quite honestly, they don't get paid anywhere near enough doing what they're doing now. They sure as heck ain't gonna take on more responsibility. So that's the point you guys were trying to get across. I've been in management. I know what you guys are doing. I know what you're trying to say, and it's valid. It is honest to goodness. Frank, I'm sorry, but What they're doing is giving their supervisors or their managers room to do their jobs. If their jobs are not done well, then that's where council will come in. Exactly. Can you address council? Oh, yes. Thank you. But I wanted that to be known. to Frank and everybody listening, you guys, to your jobs managing the managers. The managers then have to be able to do their jobs without Big Brother looking over them constantly.

And this is nothing new. I mean, I'm just going to be honest, Frank. I've been on council off and on since 2008. So that goes through a hell of a lot of people on council and a lot of different borough managers going all the way back to a certain person everybody thought was the best thing since Swiss cheese in 2008, okay? We never, in all the time I've been on, ever interfered with a manager hiring executives, their staff, never.

go sit there and say oh come on you should no never it's in the borough don't make it personal exactly it's making it too personal it's the law in the borough code i mean frank you look at it in terms of a public company you have a board of directors that board of directors these people sitting on the board of directors are not hiring staff they're hiring the president and that's it they're hiring the ceo Management does the rest. It's just that's how it is here. We're not micromanaging.

My turn? Yes. Yes. As far as Scott, I always like that people have their own say. They have their own feelings, how it goes. That's what he thinks and what you think and what I think. I don't knock you for that. But in a case like this, with all them people that put in for that, I need to ask, is this person that you have on the sheet related to any borough employee?

No.

You're sure of that?

It is my understanding that a borough employee is in a relationship with somebody and it's a granddaughter to that somebody he's in a relationship with. related okay does the borough have a policy on that yes it meets the policy and all council was sent a policy this week and reviewed and the solicitor also gave his comments on it as well to us All right. Motion by Councilman Murphy, second by Councilman Zinn. To approve the hiring of Carly Askin for the position of administrative assistant, contingent upon passage of a background check, medical testing, Carly would be hired at a starting rate of $25.77 per hour. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Mr. President, let me say that these three hires, I want to thank our borough manager and our police chief. They knew that we were going to have these openings, and they didn't wait. They jumped right on it. And I also want to thank all those who put that out in the media I know it went out in the media. I remember the last meeting, it was discussed that for crossing guards, for example, which we probably will have one at the next meeting to hire a crossing guard at the next meeting. But that was put out. And it was also explained that a crossing guard could work either the morning or the afternoon or both if they wanted. So that's helping us out. So by getting that out and the manager and the chief working, We're able to fill some of these positions, and we know we need these positions. We can't go without them.

We're still one short on the admin.

And we're probably short at least one, I think, on crossing. One more question. We have four.

We need four to cross. Yeah, we need four, so we've got four out of one. We've got one still down three.

On the hiring on this person, what kind of education does this person have? Nothing was in my packet.

I didn't see that in my packet. Just really quickly to go over her. credentials in the executive brief. Tylee Aston is a 2026 graduate of Penn State with honors, achieved a Bachelor of Science in Health Policy Administration with minors in Human Development and Family Studies, Rehabilitation, and Human Services.

All right.

We ready to vote? All those in favor?

It's in approval to advertise the RFP from McGinnis property.

Second. Any questions? It's on.

The dates are put in, so.

We just need to make sure it gets to the newspaper to be in by the 17th.

It should be in there either Thursday or Friday this week, so the 12th or 13th.

And we need to make sure that this updated RFP gets posted on the borough website at all the appropriate lengths so that we don't end up in a situation where we have multiple versions out there.

about this um the the date for the proposals to be submitted is 4 30 p.m on september 18th which is a friday is the borough still closing at 12 or will somebody the only thing closed at 12 is the window gotcha okay perfect just wanted to make sure we didn't have any issues with that so look at it perfect okay any questions concerns

I have a motion by Councilman Cooper, second by Councilman Byers to approve the advertisement of the RFP for the McInnis property. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Letter H, which would be addition. Consider approval of the Chippewa Factory Hotel reduction number one in the amount of Any amount of $347,816.65. This is part of the bond they have to put up for their construction project, and in your package you'll see a breakdown of what they're asking for.

Yes, we've had an inspector on site, so as improvements are completed, the developer is within their rights to request a reduction in that bond. certified all the things you can see on the list there that take us down to the remaining balance of a little under $82,000.

I'd like to make a motion to approve the security reduction number one, the amount of $347,816.65 for the pit factory hotel project.

Second.

I'm sorry.

Whoever you want to pick.

Yes. I have a motion by Councilman Zink, second by Councilman Zegler. Consider approval of the Chip Factory Hotel security reduction number one in the amount of $347,816.65. Any other questions? It's in bond. It's in bond. All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay, new business. Acknowledge the resignation of Administrative Assistant Tiffany Toomey, effective Friday, August 14th, 2026. The borough wishes to thank Tiffany for her dedication and good work for the past two plus years.

So moved. It brings me to the point that it seems like we're getting, now I know she's only been here two years.

But it just seems like when we get good people that we don't keep them. And we're getting rid of a lot of our long time experienced people. And we keep bringing new people in. It keeps turning over and there's turnover. This is why I say you people need to get into the Borough Hall regardless of who told you not to come in. You need to get in there. You need to talk to these employees. It's come to my attention on the street that this lady had a degree in finance, and we're looking for a finance person. Why would we let a person like this go?

I'm not going to talk about the interview. I understand her reason for leaving, but I'm not going to discuss her interviews with the finance position.

Well, I'll say it again. Council needs to change their ways because things aren't working the way it's going. I know too much. I could say a lot more. I'm only going to say what I have to to try and get you people to do your job. You're just not doing it. And you need to get in there and talk to these people, find out what their problems are and what they know, and try and keep good people that we get, like this one here. I don't know much more about her other than I heard that she had a degree in finance. So be it.

Thank you. Okay.

Is there a blue order? proposal prepared by the utility service group in Fort Braves for a price of $5,200. So moved.

I'll second. Do you want to do it, Eric?

Unless you want to, Heather, I can fill in on that. It's up to you guys.

basically with the looming water main project for Munster City we thought this would be a it would be prudent for us to send cameras down through our to establish the baseline conditions in our existing sewer lines so that we can document the baseline. If anything happens, we have concrete proof that their actions caused our issues. so it's not it's fifty two hundred dollars that we weren't planning to spend but i think it's prudent in to spend that for a little bit of insurance that we know what we have before leicester city comes in and shares our furniture in light of the recent rains it's probably a good idea anyhow yes you know up in certain areas in town we've had some

I was going to talk, I have to talk anyway, but I was going to exactly say what the mayor was. No, it's true, is not only are you providing protection and providing a baseline, but it's a really good time to get a conditions assessment on anything out there because if we do find an issue with the storm sewer, we have an opportunity to get in there and fix it before the road gets paved at someone else's expense. So it's a good time to do it.

plus it gives us a little like you say it really gives us a legal standing but we can go and see right here there's a video of what it would look like before you went in and messing around and a 42-inch ring has potential to cause a lot of problems they're right oh yeah all right i'm going to speak out from murphy's second but i think to consider approval of proposal prepared by

Utility Services Group Incorporated for the price of $5,200.

And they are co-starters, wasn't it?

Yeah, and they were pretty close, including the phone.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Thank you. Staff reports, comments, announcements.

um not too much to report on this evening but we will certainly have that uh that rfp advertised to make sure it's out and ready when you guys want to open those bids on the 17th it'll be into the paper before then so um

I know Heather already explained that chapter 156 needs... Just needs put in the ordinance form to identify all of the changes that we've

Are we going back to what the previous approved 166 was? Yeah. Because the previous 166 really had, all it did was define, all it talked about was the lead program. That's it. Anything else?

But you are pulling things out of other sections of the ordinance and putting them in. Yeah, 112. So you're going to have to... remove that and yeah but i think i think the way that you do ordinances here is really really excellent and that you you identify what's being taken out and what's being put in very clearly and i think that's really important so people can go back and see and that's just that's a task that unfortunately takes some time but i think we can we can make it get it going here. If you would like me to help. You guys have been handling that, but if you'd like me to jump in, I'm happy to do so.

If you can, that's fine.

Could we have it for the next workshop?

Hopefully.

Yeah, you let me know what you need and I will be happy to assist. I'll have more time after this. Thank you.

It's been talked about for four years.

Oh, it's a huge order. It's not four pages. That's for sure.

Okay, Engineer Winola.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Did he just say no thanks?

He turned. I was warned.

turned his time over to the firm manager in his report just wanted to invite the community to come out to the open house on thursday august 27th from 4 p.m to 7 p.m there will be representatives from the county planning department pendot uh pendot consultants and borough officials to discuss the route 462 complete streets concept plan there's an emphasis on uh motoring safety as well as pedestrian safety from fifth and chestnut to 13th and lancaster avenue the date you asking about the date yes 27th august 27th from 4 p.m to 7 p.m here in the council chambers

All right, I got it.

Yes.

That's all there? Thank you. Thank you. Boards, commissions, and committees, upcoming meetings are August 12, 2026. Parks and Recreation, August 13, 2026. Planning Commission, August 18, 2026. And the shade tree commission, August 24th, 2026. Minutes approved. Shade tree commission. Yes. I apologize. What did they say? CCAT. 5 o'clock tomorrow at the Clock and Watch Museum.

Are they on our... furrow calendar, that's why they get missed.

Right.

Because they're not on the furrow calendar.

And sometimes they get emails from us, sometimes they don't. Right. Can we get that put on the calendar? Thank you. Thank you, Frank. minutes of approval approved shade tree commission june 22nd 2026. borough council comments let's start with councilman byers

Yeah, so the only thing I have to add is something Tom Ziegler and I were talking about regarding public safety is we're going to be trying to sit down in the next week or so, potentially with the chief and a couple other folks to discuss what we could do about pedestrian safety just across the borough in light of the accident, but also to take further the recent conversations we've been having. I know that we had at the last workshop

So if I could say something to you on that, yeah. And I apologize for not knowing the names or anything like that. But I remember seeing an email from to Chief Arndt or from Chief Arndt with a lady about a walkable streets program. yeah that's what that's what robert was talking about is that his wife yes okay i'm sorry i was gonna mention both of them but i knew that one yeah i don't remember seeing it so if you could find it and forward it to me and tom i'd appreciate it If you're going to start doing stuff like that, you may want to involve them.

Yes, that's what I was thinking is we wanted to talk. Tom and I were talking about involving a couple different people. So also like speaking to members of the fire department about what they see and what trainings and stuff they may have that have, you know, can help us make some decisions. And we're hoping to have some information to bring together at the next workshop in September. We will have one as well. august 24th i don't know if we'll hit the august 24th deadline i will try my best to get what he asked the thought that you're putting something together is more important yes we we want to put together something a plan that can also not just be an ordinance but also considered for the budget for next year of where we can spend things to improve pedestrian safety in the town so i mean one thing that struck me nuts in government is how slow it is yeah

thank you that's all i have um i don't think i don't think we do comments councilman zinc um thank you yeah no no thank you my life is chaos right now that's fine yeah uh since ethan brought it up

I was going to talk to you afterwards, but since you guys are the safety committee, I really think whenever you have this conversation that you definitely have to involve members of the school board and probably the superintendent as well. Like the mayor said, we went to a lot of trouble years ago to define walking paths that the kids are supposed to be using. And when they were first defined, it was, you know, for a couple of years there, it was pretty good. Cause they got shifted. That's, that's a reason why there's a four way stop at eighth and eighth and locusts because it was changed.

Yeah.

so you know i get that people don't have to follow them but you know what that's where the crossing guards are set up for yeah that's where they're set they want the kids to follow these for a reason okay unless you want to have like 50 more crossing guards or people just want to volunteer their time which good luck with that and that's not going to happen in columbia i'm just being honest okay but i'm yeah but i'm saying what i'm trying to say is we really need i appreciate mr thompson what he had to say and his and I'm not even gonna go there as far as the tragedy that recently happened, but it's everywhere. It's not just in Columbia, but in Columbia especially, you have to drive 10 minutes, 10 miles below the speed limit and have your head on the swivel all the time. Like you said, people cross over. They don't cross over at the crosswalks. And if they're at a crosswalk, it's just like, I'm in a crosswalk. They just go. They don't look to see if the light's on. They just go. So you had better be very, very... You know what you're doing. A big issue I had after our last meeting, last Thursday, going home, going up Cherry Street at the playground at 6th and Cherry. Kids are in the streets with their bikes and their e-bikes. Got the whole street blocked. Pull up, the guys in front of me is like, the kids refused to move out of the street. They got the street blocked. I mean, kids have that kind of, you know what? And these aren't 15-year-olds. They're much younger than that, okay? I got out of my truck and said, if I was you, I would get out of the street because I have a camera here. I would go ahead and take all your pictures and share it with the police if you don't get out of the street. well then they moved but why does it become that okay and you know and just something else to uh driving home today through mount bill i just can't i could not i just stunned me thank god it wasn't in columbia but i've come up to a stop sign on 462 i'm waiting to turn right you can barely see across the street from me at pro at a in a church parking lot is a man on a Motorcycle dirt bike with a kid on back and a young kid on a mini, like a small kid's dirt bike next to him. And you could tell they were waiting to cross over 462. I was just like, I just froze. I'm like, I am not moving until they move because God knows what they're going to do. So we have to put up with that. I mean, you have to deal with that. When you deal with that on a daily basis, I mean, I wish there was a definitive answer for all this. There isn't. unless parents and the community start stepping up maybe we just need to have neighborhood people say i'll watch my corner have a crossing person designated every corner i don't know because it's the behavior is horrible can't sugarcoat it yeah oh a thought oh i'm sorry just a thought leo perhaps i saw the police department's been doing uh

or false on fridays on crime watch perhaps one of one of them could be about um true or false pedestrians have the right of way when they're in a crosswalk and get into that do you know what i mean some something like that that's a little question too well

You have to be standing in that crossroads, on that curve. You can't be approaching and expecting to stop. You have to be standing in that crossroads. Right. Yeah. No, we can handle that. We can handle a lot of things. Education is a big tool. See, that was quick.

Kelly brought something up. I know that Rick Fisher is currently talking with Gingrich. Frank. Rick Fisher is currently talking with Chief Arndt about something Kelly had said about safe streets. Basically, you see it, you report it, everybody does it. He tried to come up with something for the community years ago that didn't work, but he's going to talk with the chief about something else that he thinks will work.

I spoke with Kevin McKim of Life Lion last week. They're going to be here on September 1st during our workshop for a presentation. That presentation is going to be explaining their pilot program. how they prioritize calls to make it more efficient for the customer. I believe that would be time for our citizens to ask questions about response times and things like that. Dr. Nesbitt's going to be making himself available, so they're going to be here during our public safety uh time to discuss uh how this new pilot program works i believe that lancaster city and west enfield have already signed on for this pilot program i know very little about little very little about it so i'm looking forward to the presentation and learning about what this new pilot program entails i believe this is correct yes how they dispatch through county how they prioritize those calls so it's not it's not a lifeline how they yeah yeah i'm sorry did i say lifeline sorry i'm getting too mixed up yeah county control is going to explain how they um prior toys how they dispatch those calls prioritize them uh and send the you know response time to things like that so

um i'm interested in learning how this new because i'm used to one way i'm interested in how this new pilot program would work yep thank you um i would just say uh over the last month or two columbia's faced some serious tragedy our police officers ems and firefighters had to deal with a lot so please keep them in mind understand that there may be stress higher than than usual and uh know that they're working for you so just keep them in your mind and hearts that's all i have acknowledgement of the next meeting at 7 p.m tuesday at 7 p.m uh august 25th 2026 council will hold a regular meeting we have a motion for a gentleman second a motion by councilman murphy second by councilman cooper for a german

I'd like to ask council for a manager having to stick around for a couple minutes after the meeting.

Yeah, we got to sign checks anyway.

Five minutes. All in favor say aye. Aye.