Borough Council - Regular Meeting

You're live. I'd like to call to order tonight's meeting March 10th, 2026. I have a roll call, please. Person here. Person here. Council person Zinc here. Council President Kaufman here. Council person here. Council Person here. Council person Morphy here. Mayor Le here. Thank you. Thank you. Uh I'm sorry. I don't know how to pronounce your name. Benji Perez.

Okay. I'm sorry. Would you like to give? Good evening everyone. Good evening. Oh, wait. I I'm Pentecostal, so I'm used to people talking back to me. All right. Okay. Because that's how we usher in the spirit of God, and that's what I'm here for. Okay. Don't be shy. So, let me let me try this again. Good evening, everyone. Good evening.

Thank you so much. Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Evangelist Jan Perez um from Ashley Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, and I'm representing the greater Columbia area ministerial. It is my honor to be here today and to pray with those who truly believe that God is still God in his high place no matter what is happening in this world today that we believe in God and not in man. So please pray silently with me. Dear heavenly father, we come before you to praise your holy name to lift you on high God because you are worthy to be praised. Look on us today God. Forgive us for our sins known and unknown. Heavenly Father, look on us today and be in this place. Touch each and every one of us. That we would look to you, God, that we would do according to your will. That we touch the lives of everyone that we meet, heavenly father, and that we would do those things according to your will in a good way. That we would love one another. Help us, God, to make the decisions that come before us. That they're not for us alone, but for others that we may do as as you have intended for us to do. We ask that you bless us and keep us. Look on our families in our homes. Look on our children, Heavenly Father. Look on this area of Colombia, Heaven Father, and bless it, Heavenly Father. We know that it is your will that every need shall be met, Heavenly Father. So we ask you to touch us today that we would vote and move without prejudice that we would move according to the greater good of Columbia area. Now may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable unto you, oh Lord, my rock and my salvation in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen. Amen.

Thank you. Counelor Cooper 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, deletions, reorganization of the agenda. First, I would like to remove section 8 F through I, which are the ordinances. We're not ready for them yet. And I would like to add section 8 F, consider waving the fee for CCAT popup at the market house. and 8G consider approval for police chief association meeting at the mark house. So they will be added and removal of the ordinances. Can I get a motion? So moved.

Second. I have a motion by Councilman Byer, second by Councilman Cooper to approve the re reorganization of the agenda. All in favor say I.

I. I'm very sorry. I do not know the second person. I can't be Jack. No. A N O D. Not sure. J N E D.

That wasn't James. No, that was the first one. Gerald, can you raise your hand if you signed up to speak on the paper? That's Scott. Not Scott, not Sharon, not Frank. I wonder if they thought they had to sign in. Yeah. Okay. Just take a moment. All right. All right. So, Sharon, first comment.

Good evening again. Um, you recall that I spoke before a couple times since January about the police proposal and what the police proposal to write. You recall me talking about that and three of you that I'm aware of said you were not aware of it and and then I believe the mayor said, you know, there was no nothing in writing. There was no correspondence. So, I brought this. May I give it to you?

Absolutely. This was so you see the actual numbers on page three there. And for me, it's not about the proposal. I felt like I could have gotten this answer very easily on January 27th when I asked. And it it is dated April of 2025, but it was for services of this year we're in now, 2026. It was a proposal to those services. So I I just feel like it's about not a god moment or anything like that. It is accountability and trust. I want to be able to trust the people that I've helped to elect and the people I turn my money into. And I just feel like this could have been answered then and there and I wouldn't know how to do a right to know to right deal to get this information and it it's alarming when I got all conflicting responses. You know, I just some news and didn't know and it it was just I think it could have been a very simple matter and I I'm I'm baffled as to why it wasn't. It just seems like why why can't we just have had the answers cut and dry? Thank you. Thank you. Again, last I have a little bit of a cold, so I'm talking very late time. Uh again, this is this month. Just three quick topics. One of them is going to be a little longer than the other two as it

was last month. Uh, first and foremost, as far as the uh as far as the god on the first All right, I just cut to the chase and go right to the uh the single trash hauler situation that's in town here. I send emails to every council member. overseas live responses to just trying to get a feel for where music is good stood me. You know what I think of you has been put out there quite a bit. This is one of the few times I agree with you 100%. And that may be the only time that you and I agree, but I've lived in different municipalities. A lot of the resistance that I'm hearing online chatter is if you can't tell me what to do, you can't take away my right ch. That's what you all are here for. We elected you all. Citizens comment absolutely should be the first and foremost thing that carries the weight on where you all stand. Secondly is the economics of it. The economics if it's done right and don't allow a trash hauler to stipulate what they're offering to you. You stipulate what the citizenship of this burrow of Columbia, Pennsylvania want in a threshold. You present it out for a bid. You get the bids and you choose accordingly based on those bids

whether the administrative fee is carried by the burough or it's carried by the individual trash. That's a negotiation point. If it's by the burough, don't gouge the citizenship of this town. Even if it's $1 a quarter per home, household landlord, not landlord, it would be bill to the property owner and then they pay us down. Now I used to live in Manhattan and like some people had said in other municipalities they incorporated quarterly with the water bill. You know if it's a two or three year term have opt out options along the way to ensure services. Have it frozen the price frozen. for those two or three years, whatever the term and choose to make it. And that way it's a simple push of a button by whoever it is. If there's 4,000 homes in this of that Disney compost, buy that. You figure $1, I think divided by three months, you're talking $1,300 administrative fee to push a button, boom, it's all rep. It's automatically on. Whether it's $100 a quarter, whether it's $120 a quarter, for what I'm asking neighbors and other people, the average is about $130, $140. I'm paying 99. I would be paying more. Are you saying the average for a quarter?

Yes.

I'm paying 99. I would be paying more more than likely. I don't have a problem with that if it's for the betterment of the community that I live in. Do I want to open my wallet and just let people take my money? No. But if it's for the betterment of the community, I see nothing wrong. You're going to have less police, less wear and tear on the road. You're going to have more easily managed ordinances from Jack and the burough counselors. The only downside that I can see is people giving up their ability to choose, which to me, and I'm running the risk of being black like Jonathan here is an elementary school playground juvenile line of crap that quite honestly to me doesn't carry any weight. If it's better of the bur and if you're paying 130 and 140 now okay use excuse my French go ahead and get this off because you're saving $20 it's order it's not much $20 is not that much but $20 every $20 oh my god oh my god I'm wasting so much money in this here's an opportunity to say hey save say something oh the taxes are going yes taxes are an issue but when you have the opportunity to save some money take it take it smile and run with it next along those lines also I don't know the legalities of it I grew up very poor my mom used to say bless her heart she's been gone now for about 20

My god, I'm 30. Uh, she say I can squeeze blood out of the penny. I grew up poor. I watch my There's three things I know. Ships overseas, logistics, baseball, and money. I've made quite I've done quite well in my lifetime with minimal or average. And even after two horses and have me start over, I've done pretty well. So my pockets aren't down in the court, but my pockets are halfway down the side, but they're still hurting me. I'm in a good place right now. I'm offering to the counselor to the counselors in this group. I'll negotiate a contract or at least find out first and foremost what the citizens of this group want because as well that's first these four if they're not on board with this doesn't fly at least I hope not but I know having negotiate contract those shipping actually cut shipping cost from year one to year two which is unheard district. I'm one of those online. Okay. I go and this is all it's worth. This is what I want to pay. This is what I want for my money. Can you do it? If you can't do it, Joe Blow down the road can do it. That's I had a deal because we weren't sure what our car expense repair bill was going to be. I had a deal to take a Nissan Verse off the lot, taxes, tags, everything for 20 grand, 12 miles on it. It's too cramped and our repair bill is worth that much. But I did Virginia, I

did Maryland, I did Pennsylvania. I'm not restricted by any. I'll get the best deal that I can for anybody because their money is my money. That's the way I look at it. I do not play favorites. I do not do anything. That's why I'm so hard on each and every one of you guys and prior people that sat on council about wasting I won't edit the minutes of the meeting wasting our taxpayer money I'm I'm vehemently against wasteful spending in any way shape or form. Now the second topic I wasn't at the or I wasn't at the business meeting last week but I was at the prior meeting here. Mayor looks you had said something about being the top cop. I wanted to be a cop when I was younger. I did not pursue that. In hindsight it was a good idea because I have too much of the dirty Harry mentality. However, I was personally offended by that comment and I think it was a power play because this young lady sitting next to you. My time. My time. Thank you. All right. I think it was a power play because with Jack's retirement and assuming she's going to take over the reigns, you wanted her to know it's me and it's me. That's the way it came across to me. I was offended by it. I'm not a cop. And of course, no cop. Hope you people aren't offended by the term cop. Is going to voice their true feelings on that. But I didn't. That didn't sit well with me. You want to play banks and robbers, cops and robbers, that's all good and fine. But when you put that badge on, you go out there, you're

having bullets facing at you and that kind of stuff, that's a whole different ball game. And I've spoken to several of the officers in this town. I've expressed my admiration and Jack, I've mentioned it to you. I think the police force in this town is top grade professional. And along those lines, as far as consolidating or regionalizing this municipality, we got so much going on in this town. If we find anybody that's willing to take us on, you go across the river, you have different channels. the 462 thing. I didn't buy that whatsoever because you got two bridges to come across. Yeah, it may cut down our response time a little bit. Obviously, more so than in town here, but there's a lot of intangibles at play there. Moving parts. It would almost be better West Hamfield. West Hamfield don't want this. There's too many shootings. There's too many robberies. You've got like 400 pedos that live in this town. There's a lot of stuff that goes on in this town. A lot of stuff. And each and every one of these people that put on that uniform, including you, Jack, for the time being, deserve our utmost admiration and respect. I'm more on the liberal side than I am the conser conservative side, although I'm an indie voter. But here is one view. Here is one thing that I absolutely take the conservative viewpoint on and I wish more and more people would see the light.

Thank you for your time. Very good. Thank you, Scott. President, if I may, just a point of clarification, those words are not my words. They're the words of the court. That's why I use those words. And I use them words basically to say that it's my decision where the chief works, the duties he performs. That was the whole content of those words were not my words. That's that was the words of the court.

Just clarify where he was. Whatever duties I assign to him, that's the duties for him to do. But you're not micromanaging. No, I don't micromanage by no mean. That's huge. That's huge.

And the chief can tell you one of one of my favorite things is what do you think? Well, in past conversations, I know it's well, you guys really need to tighten the budget for all they do in this town. And believe me, if we can get somebody to regionalize this department for 780,000 as opposed to what are we currently 1.3 4.5

4.5 for just the PD that's part of the conversation, but I really don't think other regional forces are going to want to take this on. And if they do, the citizenship of calling you for her will right. That's my own personal feeling. But when you pick up 911 and it takes a half hour to get a cop at your door, that's going to be a problem. As opposed to 10, maybe 15 minutes max, depending on where you are now. That's going to be a problem. Then you're going to hear people before you suffer the consequences.

Thank you, Scott. Yeah, sir. I don't want to prolong this because we have a lot of business here. Your council has a lot of business, but we tried four times. It fell to every time and I agree with you. I I feel very strongly about that and I know my opinions usually aren't mainstream. Frank You're up, brother.

Good evening. I was hoping I didn't follow Scott.

I could have commented, I think, on every issue you had there, but I thought, oh my god. But anyway, it's it's good. Thank you for bringing things out. Um, and I want to thank Councilman Buyers. Uh, last the last meeting we had, he brought out a lot of issues on the streaming that made me think somebody is working on it. There for a while, I thought nobody's working on it. We went through managers and and whoever uh come in and go and and same old thing. But I want to tell you at the last meeting last month, the streaming worked up until the end and it was all scratchy and you couldn't make out what was going on at the very end. Now, I didn't hear it, but I had calls. I was told by the public that this is what happened. So, I said I'll pass it on.

So, is is the new laptop going to take care of something like that? So, well, currently we're still using the previous laptop. Um, audio issues can come from we're likely coming from a different source than what caused the uh streaming issue two weeks ago. Um, but we can definitely look into it. Um, you would you said it happened towards the end. Is it like the last like 15 minutes? They didn't say how much, but they said they couldn't catch the end of the meeting. I'll look into it then. Probably it didn't catch anything that you said or any of the council people said. How much I don't know, but I'm just passing it on.

Okay. Thank you, Frank. I appreciate that. And thank you for bringing it up because it let me understand a little bit better. Um, who's responsible for the agenda? I am. Um, it changes from week to week or from meeting to meeting it changes. Uh, just for instance, tonight the decorum is missing again.

Is there certain meetings that you're allowed to get boisterous and hollow? Uh it silver decor quorum is is the expectation. It's it's what it is. If you don't know that by now, I don't think that should be published every week. I don't think I have to publish in 10 minutes. Talking time every week is necessary either. That's okay. As long as I know I I didn't know and sometimes it's on there, sometimes it's I've been trying to take that stuff off. That's that's it's your right. You can do you know whatever you want. Just bring it to your attention.

Yes. Thank you. Uh, I'm going to ask, I don't know, maybe it's something according to your code or whatever. Would it be possible to put the CAT meeting on the agenda tonight, like tomorrow night at 5:30 at the Clock and Watch Museum? Could you do that every month to let the people know to announce the meeting? Yes, sure. We'd be happy to if we know about it. Um, if they give us if you're going to be there tomorrow night or Yeah. Wednesday night. Ask them for meeting times and also their minutes from the meeting. We'll post them as well. Okay. All right. I appreciate that.

Sure. Thank you. Is that it? Thank you. Is there anybody else like to speak about non-aggenda items? All righty. Minutes for approval. Consider approval of the burough council meeting minutes for February 24th, 2026. Second.

Was that I have a motion by Councilman Cooper, second by Councilman Ziggler to approve the meeting minutes for February 24th, 2026. All in favor say I. I. I. Consider approval of the Burough Council workshop meeting minutes for March 3rd, 2026. So moved. Second.

I have a motion by Councilman Murphy, second by Councilman Ziggler to approve the workshop meeting minutes for March 3rd, 2026. All fair say I I I mayor looks

a couple quickies and then I have a report I want to read to you. Uh real quick weather's changing although I hear it's going to change back cold again. I don't know how cold but uh as this weather starts to improve and same way with the change to the change in time it stays light longer after. So there's more hours acre of kids get out of school. And I just want to remind people to be careful about kids out there riding the bikes. I know I talked to Lieutenant Art. Uh we're going to see an increase in bicycles and scooters, whatever have you. Want to make sure that they're doing it safely, that they have the proper equipment. Uh they have lights on their bikes uh that that are required. And I know we have an officer who's pretty well read up on it and he has uh instructed the other officers that look at we don't want to see bottom line is we don't want to see anybody whether it be a child or an adult. We don't want to see anybody get hurt this year riding the bike. And the other thing I'm going to have a pamphlet that I have to get out. I didn't get it out today on uh mosquitoes. They're expecting uh mosquitoes to be pretty uh prevalent this year. Uh so I'll get that flyer out and we'll post that around. But people need to remember uh about mosquitoes not to have tires laying around with water in them. Their pools sitting there uh with pool cover on now this time of year filled up with water. The last two days I can guarantee you mosquitoes were were laying eggs and hatching the last two days in this warm weather. So you need to look at those those standing water wherever you have standing water in a bucket sitting around or whatever ponding your ponds that aren't airated those kind of things and keep down the mosquitoes.

West Nile is is bad. It can be deadly and uh we've had quite a few cases last year and they expect possibly be more this year. Do you know if they're spraying at all?

They're going to do some spraying. They didn't They didn't say to me where the spring is going to be now. They didn't set the schedule, but I will if that schedule hits us, I will notify all of us in time. We can take precautions with that. The other thing I have is I got a letter from the district attorney's office and uh and what it is, it's the it's the drug task force annual report and I'm just going to read part of it because I think some of these pieces are important. In 2025, drug task force continue to see an increased demand for cocaine and meth methamine and a decrease for opioids and fentanyl, making only three purchases of fentanyl throughout the year. In comparison, drug task force made 100 purchases and seizures of cocaine totaling over seven pounds and 17 purchases for seizures of of methamine totaling over three and a half pounds. Additionally, the unit sees over eight pounds of marijuana and 61,513 in United States currency. Drug Task Force also recovered 45,500 pounds of unused medication through the prescription drug takeback program operating throughout Laner County. Little side note on that, we have a container in the police department lobby. If you have drugs that you're not using or any member of your family has drugs you're not using, don't flush them down the toilet. They're going to dissolve in the river and then you're going to get weird looking fish and stuff like that, you know, and people drink that water. take that those drugs, bring them down here, and drop them in that container, and they'll be disposed of properly. It's really a good thing. As you can see, 4,500

off the prescriptions. Yeah. I I I would take the wrapper off. Okay. Or cross it out with magic marker, whatever. Or just dump the pills in the container. Okay.

Into the shoot. Countywide, the number of overdose deaths in 2025 again fell from last year with a 28% drop resulting in 34 over overdose deaths. The supply and demand that we see in drug task force with meth methamine and cocaine correlates with most common illicit substances in overduced deaths. Meth and cocaine being second and third most common illicit substances. So, they're out there, they're working. Uh things are seen to trend down. But as you can see, uh and Tom can probably speak very well. As you can see, one drug becomes prevalent, then then it goes away, and then another one comes up and it's kind of like a seessaw effect. And it's it's all in supply and demand. Hopefully with some of the stuff we're seeing uh out there in the South American countries and all and some of the stopping some of these people coming across the border carrying drugs, you know, I'm not going to talk about people coming over. I'm talking about drug drug people that some of this will start to show decrease and maybe we can get some contracts with other countries that'll help decrease some of this stuff because I'll tell you it's bad stuff. Really bad stuff.

And that's all I have. Lieutenant, sorry. Just to clarify, our prescription medicine box is locked and secure, so you don't have to take the labels off the bottles. Oh, you just bring them in. We'll put them in a lock box and then at the DTF picks them up and takes them down to DA's office. Oh, all right. So, are they in the police station? It's in our It's in our lobby. Okay.

All right. And after they're collected, then joint DEA and um National Guard will come and collect them and then dispose of them securely. So nobody ever has to worry about uh identity or them being missing or anything like that. So I can assure you that they're uh disposed of very securely. Thanks. I just have two things. March 18th, our Columbia Police Department is hosting the Langster County Chiefs Police Meeting. Um, and we're hosting it at the market house and Griddles is catering it. I'm just asking council to wave the rental fee for the chief's employees. We'll bring that up under that section of the agenda.

Uh, I do have a positive letter that I received from a Millersville resident. Um, she wrote a letter to the department expressing her gratitude for officer Andy Kerman's assistance. I guess this citizen had a flat tire on the bridge and officer Kerman responded with a caring professional manner and she was so impressed by officer Kerman that she wrote the department letter. So I just want to bring that to council's attention that officer Amy Kerman did a very good job representing our agency. Did the officer change the tire? Why change the tire? Uh I think she kind of stood they stood by and Okay. Yes.

Traffic control. Yes. With her lights on so that the mother was safe in her car. That's that's a heroic gesture in itself is being out on that bridge. That's all. Thank you. All right. Action items. First item. A authorized to pay bills.

I'll make a motion that we authorize the bill payments. I'll second it. Thank you. I have a motion by Councilman Zinc, second by Councilman Geizy to authorize to pay the bills. All in favor say I. I. I. Oh, I'm sorry. I I'm sorry. Do you have a comment? I'm late, but please do on the Brown accounting part. Yes. We're already in about 30,000 so far this year on them.

So, I'm just wondering where that's going if we're going to end up way over what we would have paid a finance person for the year and can we afford to do that? Sure. Right now, expenses are a little higher than normal because we're going through the audit process. So, they've spent uh a great deal of time here. In fact, more than one of them uh helping to prepare for the audit that's coming up soon. Okay. So, they do come inhouse, too. I wondered how that worked if you sent the stuff to them. Okay. Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. So, you don't anticipate maybe it'll be this high the whole I do not anticipate that. Okay.

And I can tell you we have not gotten many applications. Uh we interviewed one individual uh phase one interview for the finance manager, but we have not gotten many applications. So we are planning on bringing that person back for a second phase. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

B. Consider approval accepting a fee in lie of ADA ramp construction at 750 South 9th Street Rivertown Estates. Derek, would you like to comment on this?

Sure. Sure. So I tried to leave this out in the council brief as clearly as I could and included uh some copies of the revised approved plan to show you what's going on on Ninth Street. Um what it comes down to is for any of you that are familiar with the geometry out there, Avenue X kind of sits up significantly higher than Ninth Street. Currently there is no curb sidewalk on the western side of Ninth Street. We are requiring the widening of N in the installation of curb sidewalk along with this development. So this gets this gets us to a portion of what we would consider the ideal alignment and the ideal construction of that street. So important for the developer to kind of lay these curves out where they need to go in the future if and when a streetscape project ever happens out there whether it be a burough project or a developer. Basically what we're running into is because of the geometry of adding X, it's technically infeasible to put an 88 comp. So looking into the future and because there's no sidewalk to really tie into on the north side, the developer came back and said, "Look, do you want me to put in this ramp that's going to be basically illegal uh or would you be willing to accept some, you know, we It's going to cost us money to put it in. We'd rather give you the money so that you have it for the future so we don't have to basically tear it out. I think beyond the scope of development

that money will be held then to put that ramp in at a later time. So that's that's your decision. That money could be held I mean that money could be held somewhere for a ramp somewhere down the road. Um I think more realistically it goes somewhere in your capital budget or mark just for road improvement somewhere. Maybe use that to pay for we'll have paving projects coming up. Maybe use that to pay for a ramp somewhere else in town. Knowing that you may have to pick up bill on this one

Mary Wikenheiser. Um these plans have already been recorded and filed. Am I correct? Correct. So how is anyone who looks at these plans in the future going to know there is as you said here an easement being considered? You know how are these things not going to be lost? Are you following me Derek? I understand Mary. So the the easements the easement will be a recorded document. Okay.

So the the sidewalk easement that's the next item on your agenda will actually need to be a recorded agreement tied to the property. So if you would do a title search you'd see the recorded land development plan and then you'd see the sidewalk. See that's what I was questioning how this um in lie of and how the easement how that all would tie back into the already recorded documents. Again, I I don't think the I mean, I personally I don't think I think the fee in lie of is not something that's going to be put on a shelf that we forget. Honestly, I think you take the fee now and you kind of do forget about it knowing that down the road you're going to have to build a ramp there anyway.

The idea being you're paying for that ramp down the road because you'll have to tear out the nonline. So, the ramp that you put in down the road is going to be cheaper because you're not tearing one out. Right. So, right, that's where I'm not I think it's we're talking about a fee in L of not a lot of money here. So, I think you take it as kind of a good faith gesture from the developer. We're giving him a break by not requiring him to go in and Right. He was a good guy to work with. Um and then you know that it's part of a project. He's a good guy to work with. Absolutely. But that was my concern how these things would tie together since it was already

Yeah. sidewalk easement is going to need to be a reported easement. That's the second item we work on and I'll speak about it. Now, if you look at the third Thank you. If you look at the third PDF in your packet, you'll see the shaded area at the top of the triangle.

Um, they're willing to grant us an easement just to make that sidewalk along Avenue X as a public sidewalk. I know we refer to this as a sidewalk or but what most people may not know is that or a sidewalk has to be in the public right of way for it to be considered a public sidewalk. That's why you're not trespassing. So, if this is a sidewalk built along Avenue X and it's on private property, they're basically saying we want this open as our public sidewalk on our front end. We don't want you to trespass on the issues with taking sidewalks around trees that would yard. can't do it unless we decal standpoint.

Yes. So those are two items for for discussion. I think number one would be are you willing to accept a fee in Lup and if so what is that? Um the developer offered $2,500. That was the estimate that his engineer came up with for what his construction cost would be. Um, I just put in our report that I have 60 I think it's 64 bonded for it. Now, that's our cost uh for public bidding and prevailing wage and all that other good stuff. So, I think the $2,500 offer is reasonable for the developer cost. I don't think it's unreasonable if you want to debate more, but again, that's your decision. That's that's the question I would have basically based on what you explained earlier and what you have in your brief is they're offering 2500 and ours is 64. So there's a roughly $4,000 difference.

Is the 2500 really fair? 6,400 is about what we get in a in a public bid. I will tell you that 64 usually includes removal of existing. Um, so real cost for a ramp probably closer to the $4,000 range for us. But again, you're going to be paying for that ramp down the road.

Scott, can you come up to the microphone? Not exactly how that would go. Um, you're saying this is on private property, but you're making an easement around that. Um, the ADA ramp and road widening is within the public. Okay.

There's a small section of sidewalk that comes off Ninth Street that goes to the frontage of the properties on Avenue X. The issue is is because of the geometry of the street, it's not a straight intersection. It's it's at an angle. So to put in a straight sidewalk, it technically goes out of the right way because Avenue X is such a small. So they're basically somebody would have to own that property where this is going. Correct. Is it the community or is it the the developer would retain ownership of the property, but we would have all rights of using that sidewalk that they construct. Okay.

Construct the sidewalk. They will maintain it. is the same way. Well, my biggest question would be at whatever time in the future, whether it be 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, whatever. And that would need replace to become compliant. Who would be footing that bill? Would this money be set aside for say a buyer or would the buyer be on the hook for that? No. So this the sidewalk is I want to be clear. We have two issues. One is I I can't envision where you're specifically. I can't I think it's page 24 has the if we could bring it up on the ramp and the side

and then go to the right. because I know masonry work is pretty good chunk of change. There you go. Perfect. Okay. So, that shaded triangle is what represents the Eastman area. That's the area where the public sidewalk will, you know, cross over what is currently private property because of that geometry of the intersection. So they're granting us all rights to use that. It's their it's their responsibility to maintain, construct, and repair any issues with that sidewalk. It's their sidewalk. Okay.

Okay. As far as the ramp goes, you can see how the sidewalk just kind of terminates there. And the ramp doesn't go anywhere. That's the area where we're talking about accepting a a fee in L of making them construct an ADA ramp because the ramp is just in feasible to construct at this point until the road is reprofiled in that area part of a bigger project down the road.

Okay. Again, it's not my dime, but I'm because my mom said I could squeeze blood out of a paint and I'm just looking at the potential fire down the road having to go on the hook for this and especially since the bureau is getting some compensation for not doing it now when it comes time to redo that potentially down the Is the burrow going to help with the cost? That's all I'm saying. The barrel will be responsible. Okay, that's good.

Whenever we do the roads now, we have to do you do the initial one. No, we do. It's a It's a federal requirement. Yeah. Okay. I always thought you did the initial one and then the homeowner would have to replace or make the upgrades. Okay. totally off base here. Thank you for educating me.

Yeah, no problem. Yeah, it's a federal requirement and it's a basically a pendot guidance down to the to the burough to maintain our compliance with ADA. We're allowed to let a ramp sit that's not complant, but the minute that we do road maintenance in front of it, we're required to upgrade that ramp to current standards. Okay? And those standards are based on updates that were done to the ADA act in April 2008. So even some ramps that were considered to be relatively new might not be compant. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah, that was a great that was a great lead because it explains the ramp that's got to go in now isn't going to be

and that's what Sorry. Go ahead. Question. with the way that that street profile is and how it's pretty much right even with the sidewalk and everything. Shouldn't we be putting in detectable warning strips? Well, like we do at like we do at alleys. I have to compliment you. You've come such a long way. I know. I have, haven't I? It's all them. It's all them pen do webinars I took.

So, actually, Jack, if you wouldn't mind scrolling down a little bit. So, the technical warning surfaces would not be required at that location because there is no ramp onto the street. Okay. It's just a sidewalk that terminates the turn. So, in that situation, that's why we're talking about kind of leaving the grass there. Okay. You hit grass before you hit the road. So, the grass will serve as the detectable device. Correct. Okay. Unfortunately, again, there's nowhere to go. So, no stick on bumpies. So, yeah, there's there's also some there's also some science behind not putting a ramp that's going to draw someone to go down, right? So, I think it actually makes more sense not

there. You see there are detectable warning surfaces along the radius of the driveway. Okay, either side of the driveway and then when we get south of the proposed driveway, their sidewalk's just going to stop. So again, no need for an 88 because you're not crossing the street. I have come a long way, haven't I? U My question I was just going to say, so that's why what you were talking about is because we're not touching the roads currently. That's why the ADA ramp does not need to go in currently, but would if we made changes to the road in the future. Correct. Correct. You'll notice that basically any of the you see the hatching on the first sheet in your packet.

Everything that touches that hatching in that brand new road is 88. Gotcha. Where the limits of that road reconstruction stop is where our obligation stop in this case the developer obligation. They're fitting the they're putting the entire bill to put in this curve sidewalk and the road. Okay. Thank you. So now I guess it's just we need to figure out how much the fee would be.

I would be prepared to make a motion to accept $4,000 in a fee in lie of an ADA ramp construction. Second. Okay. Have a motion on the floor to accept a $4,000 fee in lie of 88 Ram Construction at 750 South 9th Street. Uh motion by Councilman Zinc, second by Councilman Giz. Questions, comments. So, does this mean the 2500 is not acceptable? We need 4,000 from them instead. Mhm. Yes. And you'll take that there

because that's about what it costs us to construct a ramp. Yeah. Whether it's there or somewhere else. I mean, just knowing from what Derek said and Yeah, that seems fair. Do you go back to them and over time afterwards? Yes. I mean, whatever you decide this evening, I'll go back to them and say I think that's more fair because like want to come back for another conversation and that $4,000 fee is today's money not 5 10 15 years from may or not occur I think that's more reason

so the 4,000 if it is 4,000 is that for the burr to use yes and then when it comes time to put it in the burr will put it in yes I understand thank you thank Thank you.

Any other comments, questions, concerns?

I have a motion by Councilman Zinc, second to accept a $4,000 fee in lie of ABA ramp construction at 750 South 9th Street. All in favor say I. I will also make a motion to approve accepting a sidewalk and grading easement from the developer. Second. I have a motion by Councilman Zinc, second by Councilman Gezy, uh, accepting a sidewalk and grading easement from the developer at 750 South N Street. Any questions, comments, or concerns? All in favor say I.

I. Consider authorization to advertise for CB CDBG improvement for 300 block of Union Street, which we had discussed before, I believe, but we'll allow Derek his five minutes. I don't think I'll

No, I I think it's pretty self-explanatory. Basically, we are we are 99% complete with our design on the block union. Um our estimated construction cost is about $320,000 that's similar to cost estimated we prepared at the beginning of this project. So our scope pretty design only other piece that I need to finish up out there is I am meeting with um Julie and some other members of the shade commission tomorrow look at the addition look at three trees that are on this street and look for opportunities for others last. So your your motion tonight is to authorize this paper for this project. It will up public bid. We'll solicit public bids, open them, and then I'll be back in April to present those public bids to you for evaluation.

And as far as the funding for this goes, just for everyone's knowledge, it's $320,000. 200,000 of that is coming from grants and then the remaining $120,000 is coming from the liquid fuels fund which is what the state gives us in taxes for uh like I don't know stuff but it has to be for roads. Um so it's no actual like direct cost from the burrow to do this road improvement. I do understand from some of the residents out in the area that the UGI and other utilities have been out like marking the streets and things in a 300 block. Don't be surprised if you see people out there.

I'll make a motion to uh approve the authorization to advertise the Union Street improvement project. Second. I have a motion by Councilman Byer, second by Councilman Cooper to authorize the advertisement of CDBG improvement project for 300 block of Union Street. Any other questions, concerns? All in favor say I. I.

I. I. Consider approval for resolution 2026-13 for the rack P grant. This is an updated information of who's on there and who's responsible for the burrow. So authorized signatures. Okay. Is there any other questions? Jack, you want to add anything?

No. We continue to uh work off what was a uh a 25 item list uh for our final uh submission for the RACK P funds. Uh thank you to Derek and Sandra the CF CSD Davidson. They've been uh instrumental in helping us to get these documents together in addition to our assistant manager who has also dedicated time to that. So, we are very close. Uh, we're down to the last two, three items. That's awesome.

Uh, we discovered that initially the um, rack P grant when it was authorized by council, there was never a uh, resolution done or at least we could not find one. So, uh, we need this document in order to submit to the state. Thank you. I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 2026-13. Second. I have a motion by Councilman Zinc, second by Councilman Cooper to approve the res adopt

adopt. Sorry. Adopt the resolution for 2026-13 for the RACP grant. All in favor say I. Frank, do you have a question? Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Frank. Yes. It's just additional paperwork. We're clean it up.

Okay. 8F. Consider waving the fee for the CCAT program for 321.26. this and I asked the market manager link to uh give us these requests so that we can make that decision of of waving the fee. It's the the total fee for CCAT would be $35. But I personally believe it's me personally and I'm asking you guys that we to wave that fee for CCAP because it's a local organization helping out Colombia and that $35 is going to affect them more than it's going to affect us.

Yep. Yeah. Anybody have any other questions or concerns on that? Can I get a motion? I'll I'll make a motion to wave the popup vendor fee for CCAT. Thank you. For what's the date? 321. 321. A second.

38. Uh 321. Second. Okay. I have a motion by Councilman Zinc, second by Councilman Buyers to wave the fee for the CCAT popup event on 3212026. Any questions? All in favor say I. I.

I have it. consider approval for police chief association meeting at the market house on 318 2026. So before I allow Lieutenant Art to speak, this is a private event held at the market house. The rental fee would be $375. Now,

so we are having the Columbia Police Department association monthly meeting March at the Martin House. Riddles is catering event.

Yes. 375 hours. Now, we have held this event annually or almost annually for at least the last four to five years, right? And we generally wave a fee. Okay. I'm just I'm requesting that they bring it to us so that we can show the public we're waving fees for drug organizations. Okay. And so that when you add up all the weight fees, it doesn't look like such a bad loss is what it comes across as. So, thank you. Thank you. I need a motion.

Yeah, I got a second. Wave the 375. I have a motion by Councilman Murphy, second by Councilman Zinc. Second. Oh, I'm sorry. Easy. I'm sorry. I mean, I would have, but I I know. I I I tell I can hear you say, "Well, Jean's got dibs on third. year for I have a motion by Councilman Murphy, second by Councilman Gezy to wave the police chief association meeting fees at the market house for 318 2026 in the amount of 375 questions comments all in favor say I. I

I new business. Consider approval for special event canoe mobilebile 101 2026 to 1017206. This is an annual event as well. It's held at River Park. Mayor, you may have some input on this. I don't know. Uh I've been there quite a few times. Right. This is a this is an event where an outfit brings in large canoes, several large canoes, and school kids, I think it's sixth and seventh graders, I think,

from all over Lancaster County and York County, and they all have a day. They sign up for a day. They come there and this group gets the kids out on the lawn and show them how to wear a safety vest, show them how to paddle and some other safety items, you know, and items on how to maneuver the canoe. Then they get in the canoe and they paddle around the river with an adult, right? And then they come back and so this has been going on for several years. The kids abs love it. They love it. It's great. Usually I go down there and I go down there as much as I can to see see the kids and I like I like to wait till when they come in off the water, right?

And I say to them, "How many of you have ever have never been here at the Columbia River Park?" And you'll see a raising of hands.

How many of you have never been out on the water before? And you'll see some hands. How many of you had a good time and would like to do this again? and all the hats go up. So, it's really a great thing, especially for kids like here in Columbia Burough there. We have young children living in Columbia Burrow. You know, we're here because of the Susan River, have never been to the river, have never been out on the river and never experienced that. And you hear the kids talking afterwards like, "I'm going to get my dad to bring me down here fishing or I'm going to get my dad to to get a boat, take me out in the water, and those kind of things." That's great. That's what it's all about. It's a good thing for the kids.

I believe since this is a repeatable event that we could act on that tonight, but that's up to you guys. I have a problem with it. Mary, I just wanted to add to what Leo said, the last couple years they've opened this to the general public on Saturdays and anybody can get down there. Yep. Yeah. It's for the kids, but but they've also opened this for the general. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it says here that it go it starts on October 1st and goes for about two two and a half weeks of these. So, yeah, it's not just a one and done thing. It's pretty consistent.

They bring parents open up their public, but a lot of it is parents coming back with the kids. It's great. That is all right. I'll make a motion to approve the special vent application for the canoe mobile. Second. I have a motion by Councilman Zinc. Second by Councilman Cooper to approve the special event canoe canoe mobile on 101 2026 to 1017 2026. All in favor say I. I. I. I have it. 200 students per day. It's crazy. I know.

It's great. Staff reports, comments, and announcements. Solicitor Gable.

I just have a brief statement I'd like to read tonight. Um, Columbia Burrow has a policy of not commenting on personnel matters andor personal matters of burrow employees and elected officials. This policy is rooted in the law and meant to protect the privacy of the individuals who serve the citizens of this community. However, given the rumors that have been spread and the potentially defamatory statements that have been made both during public meetings and in other forums, the bureau feels as if it has been left no choice but to stop the spread of misinformation. In July of 2024, the bureau became aware of rumors that a former burrow employee and an elected official may have exchanged inappropriate text messages. The bureau takes these matters very seriously and conducted an investigation to the fullest extent of its authority. At the conclusion of the investigation, it was determined that the rumors of the text messages and inappropriate relationship were unfounded. No similar criminal complaint was filed by either party allegedly involved and there was no further action that could be taken by the burrow at that time. The burrow considers this matter to be closed and will make no further comment. Thank you.

Thanks, Evan. Thanks. Beyond that, um, just have been working on the ordinances that were pulled off the agenda tonight, but hopefully we will get those back to you here very shortly. So, all right, engineer, we're not Go ahead, Frank. May I asked who did the investigation? I conducted that investigation. Done within Yes. Thank you. Thank you, engineer Ronaldo.

Just two quick announcements tonight. Number one, it hasn't been shared. We were approved for the uh transition of funds from the remaining grand funds in River Park to the to the Mil Street project. So, we did get that approval. I also want to preemptively thank Jane Murray for her cooperation with the project. Um she's going to work with us on getting better access to that site. So I just want to give her a shout out. She's been awesome so far. Yes. Thank you.

Um and then the second uh announcement is we do expect to see some action out on the 200 block of Walnut Street to occur here I would say in the next two months. um contractor will be authorized to start by will be authorized to begin work in April by Pendot. Um I would expect probably May at this point would be more realistic. Um I spoke with I spoke with Jack and we are working on getting a mailer together uh to basically send out to the residents along that clock so we know uh so they have a little bit of a heads up as what's happening. Just want you all to know we we want to make sure that we have a proper timeline for PND dot and good concurrence with contractor before we send that correspondence out. So it feels like we're holding on to it, but I want to make sure we get all the right information.

Thank you.

Bur manager. I just wanted to take a moment to thank Councelor Zinc and also Bill Cloyd with the Columbia Economic Development Corporation for the wonderful interview they did last Friday with Fox 43. This is Heather's second and um I I think uh the interview itself was great and really promoted the McInness property and all it has to offer. As a result of that, I believe, you know, or at least the uh media coverage that we've been getting here the last week or so, uh we did have our first uh site visit with a developer today and it went it was very positive. So, uh I am very encouraged by what happened and we're hoping for a followup or a second meeting. So, thank you.

Thank you. Boards, commissions, and committees upcoming meetings. Harb is 311 2026. Parks and wreck is 312 2026. Planning is 317 2026 and shade is 323 20226. Minutes approved uh lastis January 2026 meeting and shry commission November 2025 meeting. Burough council comments. Let's start with Ethan. Um yeah, so I just have two things. Um one, uh I was able to go last week to a panel on uh affordability by a few different um elected officials, Nikki Rivera, Alice Yoder, um Nancy Manion, Amos Stoultz. Um so we got to it was a really good conversation talking about, you know, what we can do as a community to uh reduce the costs of not only housing but also health care. Uh, and one of the things I thought most interesting from that was reducing it via prevention as far as health care goes. That's the number one way to reduce health care costs that they discussed. And a lot of that comes from having security in other aspects of life such as housing, but also food, exercise, access to uh, you know, a doctor. So, I thought some of that uh, information was really interesting and is definitely going to be something that I want to explore, you know, when we get some of the more priority stuff taken care of here uh, in the burrow. Um, and I had something else, but uh, oh, I wanted to thank you, Scott, for your email earlier asking about the single hauler and giving your input. Um, Jet, that goes for everybody. I really appreciate, you know, when people reach out and, you know, ask questions or want to get some more information on something. So, thank you and thank you for your comments tonight also from your perspective. I appreciate

how particular you guys, but I did appreciate the feedback that I got from all that I did. I wish the other two. Well, thank you, Scott. I appreciate it. Um, but that's all for me. Thank you. I don't really have anything. I wasn't here last week because my brother was ill, right? So, I I wasn't working. office. Sorry. No, no, that's fine. Thank you, Councilman Zen.

Um, yesterday at the Langster County Planning Commission meeting, the planning department unveiled their parks and trails master plan that is being updated. Um, it is set for official release on Thursday and it'll be open for public comment. I think it's 45 days. Um, so if you have an interest in seeing that, check out the Langster County Planning Department's website on Thursday and there will be a link to um to that plan. It's, you know, it's just an update of

what was the plan called again? It's the uh parks and trails master plan and it spells out all of the current um park space and trails in Lanster County. Um, currently, and I thought this was interesting, currently there is a fourmile stretch between the Enola lowgrade trail to connect to the No, not Northwest. Um the other county um

Chester County, the one in Chester County, there is one mile and that'll be done by this summer. And then there's three more miles that should be done by the end of the year and that'll connect. Um, and then there's a little bit in Chester County that needs done and at that point you will be able to go the whole way from the Suspana River to Philadelphia. Have you heard any more talk on all the way up here to Well, they're they're they're still working on that. It's Norfolk Southern. Yeah,

there there's issues with Norfolk Southern. So, um, but they are, you know, working on that. So, yeah, that's that's really uh that's coming up. Like I said, it'll be open for public comment um before that's adopted. The other thing I was waiting to see if Evan was going to bring it up um PA House Bill 1291, uh it went out of committee. It's been voted out of committee and it's scheduled for a vote, I believe, next week or the week after. It amends legal notice publication requirements.

Um, I I'm kind of torn on it. Um, there's a lot of good in it, but some not so good. Uh, PSAB sent out a thing. It's on the PSAB's um they're advocating against it because of the lack of uh price caps, but basically it it does some cool things. It is um it takes out all of the stuff that refers to a newspaper as printed so that it allows for advertisements to be on in digital form rather than solely printed. Um, it also protects municipalities in the event that they send it to a uh a newspaper and this has happened to multiple municipalities. They send their legal notice in and for whatever reason the newspaper doesn't print it and then the municipality screwed. Um, this the lang the language is updated so that it um prevents that from happening. It kind of protects the municipality. It also um changes some of the more outdated stuff in terms of talking about what font you need to use and things like that. Um it anywhere it says printed, it removes that and just replaces it with like publication. When it says copy, it's issues. Um, so it it's it's kind of nice and it while it won't have an immediate effect on what we do because there is no central repository for digital advertisements.

And that's the other reason I'm kind of torn on this because what PSAB was advocating for was a state repository to publish these things to get away from that. Um, but it does give us the option to publish on digital newspapers. So, just throwing that out there if y'all want to look at it. Like I said, it's uh House Bill 1291. Um, and that's it.

Thank you, Councilman Murphy. Nothing new at this point.

Councilman Ziggler. Um, I did receive um a an example as you know that uh very soon we're going to have to make a decision about the EMS alignment and going into contract with uh some provider. And I received the Penn State Health Lifeline um at least an example of their agreement. And without going too far into the weeds, I know it was discussion last week. Um there's some highlighted points that are I'm sure going to be part of a discussion fairly soon uh before we make any decision. Uh but this would be a 10-year agreement that starts with they're requesting it to start in April and runs through uh the last day of 2035. There is an uh automatic 5-year um renewal uh unless a party desires to change that. Um another um point is that there's a 180day um we can uh with the day out we can out uh clause without cause um and I guess the biggest point of contention probably is going to be there's going to be initially for the first five years there's going to be no contribution but after that there's going to be a $5 per capita fee assessed at the most recent uh sens census data. Um, and according to this contract, there would be no escalation, at least during that period of this contract. So, those are just some of the things that I think we're going to be discussing um before we make a decision about an EMS provider.

Yes, I would like to have that on the next um agenda because they would like it signed by the first. Looks like it's Yeah, they're looking for it by the first. So, um I think we should probably get on that on the next agenda. Have you Have you seen the copy of it? I have not. You were including the email. You just thought we didn't have enough. Yeah, I think Jack was late today. I think we have talked about this before. We I think we did. Um I think we were kind of spitballing though. There's some actual bullet points they provided to us along with the drawn up contract that we would be looking at. Yeah. And at the workshop last week, we talked about it a bit,

right? So, and I think that in this we we do have an actual com u not signed but a completed contract they would like us to look at. Right. And it has an opt out clause. Yeah. Just one provider. Yeah. Uh yes. This is agree between us and Penn State. Yeah. Are there other providers? We have to designate a first dude. No. No. He's he's marking that there's options out there. We're choosing one. Yeah. negotiate. There's um

there's two other options that we've discussed. Um terms so far that what we've heard are pretty similar. Um and Penn State is already the the ones who handle our EMS service now. So that's why we're leaning towards um setting up this contract with them to just continue what they have been doing um rather than switching to a different provider. Right. I think people in Columbia are pretty happy with Penn State as an overall. Are we going to see the differences between those two providers you just said that you saw? We even seen full contracts. It was most it was like casual sort of conversations when we were speaking with pen medicine. And so I know

the big difference the big difference is uh cost and what we know of surrounding communities. Yeah. get charged by the way. Yeah, we weren't given a contract. We were It was with the other municipalities and generally they were either at the $5 per capita or they were a good bit more. Um and it was not optional I believe in their contracts while uh Pen Medicine has said that it is a they consider it a contribution but they also understand if we are in a financial situation where we cannot it's not a stipulation to continue the contract to have that per capita cost. You said pay medicine Pen, sorry, Penn State, my mistake.

And uh, Council Person Buyers and I have been reaching out to our fire department and others in the in the area trying to get opinions uh about their experiences to weigh our own decisions. Right. Thank you. Um, one other thing real. Uh, the our Columbia B Fire Department did uh make a request uh recently. I don't know if we tabled that, but they are looking for us to approve their box changes um as soon as we can. So maybe we can put that on the agenda for next meeting.

Yes. And I see one firefighter here, but I was kind of hoping the chief would be here to talk about this, but we'll see if we can get them here for next meeting to have to put on the agenda. Sounds good. I they did um they did uh provide us with a request in our last packet, right?

I have no comments. I echo the mayor's words. Motorcycles are out like crazy last two days. And I know we say no ebikes publicly and on public property, no motorized scooters or anything like that, but the reality of it is some are going to break the law. Please be cautious. It's great weather. Enjoy it. But that's all I have. Uh announcement of next meeting is 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24th, 2026. Council will hold a regular meeting. Council meeting. I have a motion for adjournment. Motion. Second.

Have a motion by Councilman Cooper. Second by Councilman Buyers for German. All in favor say I. I. Thank you. Do we have checks to sign? Yes. That Jew wave. Oh boy.