CHAMBERSBURG – Chambersburg Borough Council will meet tonight at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at 100 South Second Street.
A group from Chambersburg recently returned from a visit to our sister city Gotemba, Japan.
Allen Coffman, borough council president, said, “It’s a long trip getting there and a long trip getting back, but it was a wonderful trip. It was a lot of learning about their customs and so forth. On the disappointment side, there was only one thing that I had, and I was hoping we would have some time to talk to their city officials about things like electricity, water, sewer, recycling and those sorts of things. But that never came up. This was strictly what I would call a social visit. Other than that, everything was perfect.”
Officials from Gotemba will visit Chambersburg in 2030.
Coffman said, “I think we had 21 was what our total count was that went on the trip, and it was everything from dressing in the national garb, the kimonos. We actually had a little ceremony with a sake barrel, that was done at the dinner one night, which is an interesting event. It was really, really nice.”
There’s a long agenda for tonight’s council meeting.
Coffman said, “Two of the things that will come up, one will be the systematic inspection for residential rental properties. There was talk about whether we should do it or not. I think the answer will be, yes, we’re going to continue, and there’ll be some pricing changes in that, I’m sure. Also, one of the things we talked about was the retail food inspection program, which somebody thought we may want to get rid of, but I don’t think that’s going to be the flavor of Council. I think we’re going to want to keep that one. I think it’ll be operated as it is now.”
How are the inspections done right now?
Coffman said, “The rental inspections are done through PMCA and the restaurant inspections are done in house by Greg Vink. There’ll be no personnel changes that I’m aware of at this time. But again, it depends on what council votes on, but I think the flavor will be to keep things operating the way they are with a change in the fees.”
Budget presentations will continue tonight.
Coffman said, “All the staff will be there to answer any and all questions that come up. But the three big parts of this thing tonight, the capital improvement plans for 2026 and beyond will be up for discussion. We have a packet on that to review. Each council member got one. We also have a budget presentation talking about the street improvement list for 2026 through 2028 and we also have a budget presentation talking about motor equipment requests for 2026, and beyond, and that would be for new vehicles that would be bought, or equipment that’s bought. Some of this equipment that we’re looking at, deliveries are out two years and more on some of the stuff that we try to buy. So prior planning is of the utmost importance with that. But those three things, I think will take a lot of time if people have a lot of questions, and it could be a really long meeting tonight.”
Tomorrow is Election Day where members of borough council will be decided.
Coffman said, “I hope we (get a good turnout), but traditionally, it’s not really been a very good turnout. So we’ll see what happens. I hope it’s better than usual. There was a lot of money spent on that (retention) campaign. There’s no doubt about that. I really wonder how many people have really looked at it closely to know what it really means. But it’s the voters’ responsibility to look at it and know what they’re doing when they go into the voting booth. So let’s hope they’ve read and know what the issues really are.”
For tonight’s agenda, click here.
*Picture of Mt Fuji seen through the window of a hotel room in Gotemba, Japan, taken by Chambersburg Borough Council President Allen Coffman*
AloJapan.com