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California mayor hopes to unify students, residents

By Amanda Clegg 3 min read

CALIFORNIA – Mayor Casey Durdines is hoping that a meeting focusing on community may help unify the residents in the college town. The Mayor’s Council on Community Unification is set for 6 p.m. March 29 in the municipal building.

Durdines said the meeting will “bring all members of the community together” and “increase dialogue for the mutual benefit of all.” He noted that issues, such as, students and residents coexisting peacefully will be put on the table.

Resident Bob Moore is hoping the meeting might help with “out of hand” students that live near his home. Moore said he has called the police numerous times and is afraid for his children.

“Somebody needs to start cracking down,” he said. “I don’t want to live in a town like this. What can be done?”

President Jon Bittner suggested a strike policy similar to a policy used at State College where if residents of student housing have so many violations against them their rental agreement is denied. Solicitor Keith Melenyzer noted that arrests must be made for the strikes to be valid and agreed to look into the matter.

Durdines said the borough does not have enough active police officers to cover the many areas in town where students may cause trouble.

“We can’t be at all those places all the time,” he commented. “Our department is maxed out at what we have to offer. We need more money, more hours.”

The borough currently employs five full-time officers, but only one of those officers is working. The other four receive worker’s compensation. The rest of the force consists of 13 part-time officers.

Moore asked why the university doesn’t take responsibility?

University officials have been invited to the unification meeting, the mayor noted. Bittner agreed that the university needs to take more responsibility.

“They need to take pride in their students within the community as well,” he added.

Bittner said he would call the landlord of a particularly bothersome neighbor and the mayor suggested Moore keep calling the police in order to have the incidents on record.

“I’m scheduling more police on the weekends and evenings than I probably should, but we’re staying within budget,” Durdines said. “We’re still maintaining 24/7 coverage.”

Melenyzer said not much can be done unless laws, policies or ordinances are enforced.

“I don’t want to hear nothing can be done,” a community member commented. “You’re negative about everything. I want you to try and do something.”

Durdines hopes the unification meeting might start that something.

“We’re (going) in five different directions,” he noted of the different community constituents. “We are one community.”

The meeting was continued until 5:45 p.m. on March 14 in the municipal building.

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