By Jesse Sweigart, The Columbia Chronicle
The departure of longtime borough codes manager Paula Diffenderfer took over Tuesday night’s Columbia Borough Council meeting. Residents, landlords and her daughter lined up to ask what happened, and two council members said the full council never voted on it.
Diffenderfer resigned Monday, Oct. 26. Council President Eric Kauffman confirmed to the Columbia Chronicle before the meeting that her resignation came with a non-disclosure agreement. At the start of Tuesday’s meeting, council announced it had held an executive session on Oct. 26 to discuss personnel matters.
During council comments at the end of the nearly three-hour meeting, Councilperson Cooper said she was “disillusioned and disappointed at some of council’s handling of the firing of Paula or Paula’s resignation, however you want to put it.”
“I don’t believe it had to be done that way, and I think it was a disservice to her and to the borough and to our constituents,” Cooper said.
Councilperson Geesey agreed. “I think there’s a lot of things that we do that we’re not even following our own procedures and protocols to do,” Geesey said. Her departure “should have been something that was thoroughly thought out and discussed with everybody before that happened.”
Asked from the audience whether the full council voted on it, Geesey answered: “We did not.”
Another council member, Kelly Murphy, said 2026 had been “like an old Clint Eastwood movie,” and listed the vacancies the borough now faces. “I never thought in a gazillion years I would be sitting here as a council that has no borough manager, has no finance manager, has no zoning, has no planning manager, has no codes manager,” he said.
Diffenderfer also served as the borough’s Right-to-Know officer and trained new employees. Several speakers said she had been covering multiple jobs for months.
Paul Snyder, who said he has managed property in Columbia for over 40 years, said an investor called the borough Tuesday asking for her and was twice told she wasn’t available. Snyder said he has four properties closing Friday and doesn’t know who will handle rental license inspections now. The borough has used Commonwealth Code Inspection Service to fill gaps since codes Matt left.
“Personally, from a business professional, I think you messed up,” Snyder told council. “We needed Paula.”
Mary Wickenheiser, a planning commission member, asked who the commission would now work with on staff. “This borough has lost Paula, not just the planning commission,” she said.
Resident Frank Doutrich said neighbors on Spruce Street had asked him to thank Diffenderfer for getting a neglected property next door cleaned up. Rob Robinson said, “If there’s a way we can get her back, and if she wants to come back, I would love her to come back.”
Resident Scott Fredrick said he had been told the resignation was coerced. The borough has not said why she left.
Diffenderfer’s daughter, Caitlyn Sorenson, read a letter she said she sent to Borough Manager Jack Brommer and Kauffman on April 5. In it, she wrote that her mother was being investigated over complaints from other employees alleging a hostile work environment. Sorenson called the complaints retaliation for her mother’s efforts to hold coworkers accountable, and described a toxic workplace that had worn her mother down. She said she never got a response.
A council member said the letter was never forwarded to her. “I never saw it,” she said.
Another speaker pointed to the borough code, which says the manager may recommend hiring or discharging employees to the appropriate committee and may suspend them, but does not say the manager can fire an employee or ask for a resignation.
Brommer, whose own resignation was announced Oct. 13, was not at the meeting. A resident said council had appointed Ron Youtz as acting manager effective Oct. 30. Council did not discuss Diffenderfer’s departure during the business portion of the meeting.
The Columbia Chronicle editor Jesse Sweigart also spoke during public comment, calling for an independent investigation of borough finances and records.
Council’s next meeting is a workshop at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5.
Listen to livestream, there seems to be a lack of communication between members of council,especially with personell matters. If I was a member of this council, the letter sent in April, should have been shared.This may explain why people are leaving. I agree,an INDEPENDENT study must be done to right the ship. Council should cooperate with borough Arndt on the problems she brought to light earlier this month.
As long as these problems are not dealt with, it will only get worse.
I am not a resident of the borough, but I work, go to church, and shop here, and have come to love Columbia. I am very concerned about the dysfunctional state of affairs in the borough. There is an obvious case of council needing a good housecleaning. It appears that one or two borough council members make decisions without any consideration of or input from the rest of the council. It’s time for the rest of council (as well as the electorate) to speak up and take action, before you lose more valuable employees – or worse. Were I a Columbia resident, my butt would be at borough council meetings demanding answer, along with those already doing so.