At the time Christiana Borough Council was holding their reorganization meeting Tuesday, members were unaware that they had just lost a fellow official.

Harold Swarr, who had served on council since 1987, passed away suddenly at Lancaster General Hospital earlier that day. Fellow council members had not expected the 81-year-old to attend the January meeting as he was recovering from knee surgery.

Unaware of his death, council voted Swarr to continue in the office of vice president and to serve as the borough's alternate voting member on the Act 32 Earned Income Tax Board, if voting member and continuing council president Robin Coffroth could not attend.

"We're going to miss him greatly. He was a big part of council. It was a shock," Coffroth said Wednesday after news of Swarr's death became known.

Coffroth said Swarr was very knowledgeable about the borough water system, which was at one time a private water company owned by his father.

"He was one of our fiscal hawks. He always had an eye on the budget," he added.

Discussion of finding a replacement for Swarr will be one of the items on council's agenda at its next meeting on Jan. 25.

In addition to Swarr's appointments, council members made a number of other motions at Tuesday's meeting.

Returning to council after being reelected in November was Glenn Kendig, Virginia Blair and Jeff Peterson Jr. The three ran unopposed for the open seats. Because mayor Gerald Woods could not be present, the three were sworn in by a notary prior to the meeting.

Brayton Hershey was reappointed to the Christiana Borough Authority and Steve Shivery was named chairman of the borough's vacancy board.

Council also voted to extend a two-year contract for longtime borough manager Bud Rettew. The new contract is needed to comply with state regulations. It does not change Rettew's compensation or the powers of his position, and council retains the right to dismiss him at any time.

Rettew ran unopposed and was elected to the position of borough tax collector but resigned, allowing council to appoint the county tax collection bureau to continue that job for Christiana.

In other business:

• The borough continues to move toward the adoption of their own subdivision and land development ordinance. A copy of the extensive ordinance was forwarded to the county planning commission, which had positive things to say about the document. The commission suggested changes that were mostly minor, such as clarifying definitions.

"They didn't find many inconsistencies," Rettew said. "I think our local planning committee did a really god job of putting it together."

Once the ordinance is approved, any subdivision in Christiana will have to go through the borough planning commission and council for approval. Plans will still be submitted to the county planning commission for review, but they will only give recommendations,

"Prior to this, (the county planning commission) had the final say," Coffroth said.

• Rettew also updated council on communications from the state Department of Environmental Protection concerning a fuel spill into the creek in town. According to Rettew, DEP found the source of the spill was an outside storage tank owned by John Zook, who was ordered to make repairs and cover the cost of cleanup. Among the fees to be paid is a $1,600 bill from Cochranville Fire Company, which deployed containment equipment to control the spill.

• Council voted to make its annual donation to the Christiana Volunteer Fire Company.

• Council will meet the first Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at borough hall, 10 W. Slokom Ave., Christiana. An extra meeting is scheduled for the last Wednesday of the month as needed. More information can be found at www.christianaboro.com.

Correction, Jan. 11: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the borough manager's compensation would change under his new contract. The compensation does not change.