Standing Committees

These committees are made up of Council Members, all are recommending entities, they review and amend the issues that are assigned to them before making a recommendation to the Full Council for Action. These Committees are made up of three Councilmembers. A Chairman of the Council President’s choosing schedules and facilitates the meetings of these committees. Some of these committees have sub-committees for specific projects or for coordination with other Community groups.

The Council members that sit on this committee review the Annual Budget and hold meetings for discussion on it before recommending the passage to the full Council. Another duty of this Committee is the review of new ordinances. They discuss with staff the need for these new or updated ordinances and the impact they may have going forward. The third duty of this Committee ties into the previous two very well. They review and recommend procedural and operational policies to Council for the day to day operations of the Administrative Staff. This Committee meets as needed, and as with all Council meetings, is advertised. The Chairman and the two members of this committee are usually joined at their meeting by the other four members of Council, this streamlines the discussion and allows for a more open dialogue about the topics on their agenda.

This committee’s responsibility are the Borough Services and the safety of the Borough residents. This Committee coordinates with the Finance, Administration and Ordinance Committee on many items.  Many of the issues that this Committee reviews and recommends action of involve ordinances or the administration of the Borough.  This can range from the paving of roads to the installation of signage.  The Safety aspect of this Committee involves coordination with the both the Police Department and the Borough Fire Chief. This Committee, in coordination with Borough Staff and the Borough engineer, develop the street maintenance plan.

The Community Outreach Committee of the Borough Council oversees all the communication going out from the Borough Office to the residents of the Community. That includes the Borough website, Facebook Page, Electronic Newsletters and Information, and Bill Backs. One of the very important items that this Committee is responsible for is the Town Hall meetings.  They develop the topics for these events based on the resident input received through the Administrative office, items mentioned at Council meetings, social media and directly to the individual Council members.

The Community and Economic Development Committee is responsible for coordinating services to the Community at large and assisting with Economic and Business Development in the Community.  A representative from this Committee is assigned to work with the Planning Commission, the Historic Architectural Review Board, the Library and the Downtown Mechanicsburg Partnership.  This committee also works with our Downtown Coordinator from the County Redevelopment Authority. The  Loan Review Committee falls under this Committee as well. That Committee, consisting of two Council members and a Community Member reviews and recommends to Borough Council loans to be made from the Borough’s Commercial Loan Fund. This fund is a self-perpetuating fund that was started many years ago to help business renovate and potentially expand businesses in the Downtown. The Cumberland County Redevelopment Authority administers this loan at Council’s discretion.

The Property, Parks & Recreation Committee oversees the maintenance of all the Borough Parks, properties including buildings and works cooperatively with the Recreation Board, Environmental Advisory Committee, and the Shade Tree Commission.

The Personnel Committee oversees all Personnel matters for the Borough.