Photo submitted to Times Observer The program for the conference began with a presentation from Brinda Penyak, center, Deputy Director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, discussing the state’s ongoing budget woes and the outlook for the upcoming budget negotiations in a Gubernatorial election year.

The Northwest County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (NWCCA) met recently at the Conewango Club in Warren for its first quarterly meeting of 2018. Attendees discussed a variety of issues related to county, state, and federal government. It’s been a number of years since the Northwest County Commissioners’ Association came to Warren County as there are 17 counties in the association and the location is handed off, county-to-county, in alphabetical order.

It was also Warren County Commissioner Jeff Eggleston’s first meeting as president of the association, the last county in the alphabet.

The program for the conference began with a presentation from Brinda Penyak, Deputy Director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, discussing the state’s ongoing budget woes and the outlook for the upcoming budget negotiations in a Gubernatorial election year; also presented were strategies for counties to address Human Services funding needs. On the federal front, she reflected on the recent Tax Reform bill and its effect on state and local tax deductions. These regular presentations from CCAP directors are helpful for commissioners to stay abreast of current policy and budget challenges affecting counties, according to Eggleston.

The meeting featured a new initiative started by Eggleston, as president, to create a greater level of information sharing and collaboration between counties. The effort involves regular emails and “breakout sessions” during the quarterly meetings in which the NWCCA members pick a topic and then share information on that topic. The information will eventually be gathered and included in an overall report at the end of the year.

“This initiative is similar to salary surveys and other statewide information we receive from CCAP,” said Eggleston, “except it’s more regional and focused. In the case of this meeting, we discussed prison budgets and policy. All the data brought to the meeting will be gathered, digitized, and included in a comparative report at the end of the year for review by the NWCCA.”

The forum discussion lasted an hour and included topics such as the average number of inmates housed, tracking recidivism rates, inmate healthcare, food preparation and accommodations, maintenance and construction, jail budgets and other items. All of the data was gathered at the end of the meeting and will be entered digitally and included in a polished report to be adopted by the group at the end of the year.

Each meeting will include new topics of discussion for commissioners to bring and share data on.

“I’ve also been sending a number of emails to our counterparts in the region asking for data outside of these meetings to be included in the report,” said Eggleston. “My hope is to have as comprehensive a picture of how regional counties are structured by the end of the year. This data is incredibly important during budgeting, policy making, and general problem solving in a county. Not every county has it 100 percent right.”

The meeting included 30 people, representing nine of the 17 counties in the northwest region. Mugs with an illustration of landmarks of Warren County were donated by Whirley DrinkWorks to hand out to the commissioners.

The next meeting of the NWCCA will be in Armstrong County in April of 2018. If you have any questions or comments about this meeting, call (814-706-8343) or email (jeff.eggleston@warren-county.net).