The Warren County Council of Governments is trying to find an identity.

While the conversation at last week’s meeting was to focus on potential priorities for the COG to undertake, the discussion was instead dominated by what the COG should be.

That discussion launched amid discussion of the COG’s potential to lobby the General Assembly on behalf of the county as a whole.

The COG’s consultant, Alan Kugler, suggested that effort would be enhanced if the “COG were to be more formalized.”

“I don’t know why we never went that route,” Clarendon Borough Councilman Paul Pascuzzi said. “(We have) always been an informal group.”

A more formal organization would include implementing bylaws and procuring an executive director.

Kugler said that, state-wide, all of the significant COGs “have these structures behind them.”

County Planner Dan Glotz said the COG has taken a “loosey goosey” approach.

He said he’s tried to raise the issue a couple times but no appetite by the members for a more formal organization was present.

“I’ve never pushed it,” he said.

Pascuzzi said the responsibility falls to the elected officials to think about.

Pleasant Township Supervisor Bucky Knapp said the COG has become “ho-hum” and suggested a more formal organization might generate more municipal interest.

“I still don’t really know definitively what the benefits are,” County Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said. “I think that the power of it rests in active membership.”

Pascuzzi suggested that the COG as currently constructed might not be meeting the needs of local elected officials, which would spur a need to find something different.

While discussion about the essence of what the COG should be will continue, the group identified several issues where it sees itself having a role moving forward.

PUBLIC EDUCATION REGARDING REASSESSMENT

The discussion wasn’t whether reassessment is needed but rather the need to educate the public on the topic.

Kafferlin said the issue includes three “pretty equal players” in the county’s taxing bodies – the municipalities, county and school district.

“We have not really done anything about it recently,” he said of the reassessment issue generally. “The previous board of commissioners in 2015 got a $2 million quote from what I would argue is the only reputable reassessment company in Pennsylvania then did not end up pulling the trigger on that.”

He said the issue is currently in a “holding pattern.”

“There’s an education component that has to happen,” he added. “I think the COG is an appropriate organization to do this.”

He proposed a subcommittee be formed with representatives from each of the taxing bodies to further discuss the issue.

“I like what you’re saying,” WCSD Superintendent Amy Stewart said, noting this is “not the COG taking a position on being for or against (but) more of a fact-finding educational component to gather facts. We would definitely be in.

“This is a need. (It) doesn’t need to be an adversarial situation.”

Kafferlin noted that the current assessment results in the “common household” bearing the burden. That’s because large corporations can afford to appeal their valuations and ultimately secure lower tax bills. He said the county usually winds up having to raise taxes because of the decline in assessed value from the appeals “causing us to need to raise the millage rate in order to break even.”

LOBBYING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Glotz said the COG once had a committee that specifically identified and lobbied for or against relevant legislation but that the committee has become inactive.

Pascuzzi said a formalized COG would bring a “stronger voice” to that effort.

“If we had a structure to accommodate reaching out to more of the municipalities within Warren County as it relates to legislation that impacts Warren County,” he said, “(we) would have a better chance of doing this.”

BLIGHTED PROPERTY

The county’s Blighted Property Review Committee already falls under the auspices of the COG but discussion centered about the need to address misconceptions that have crept up around the blight process in recent years.

Pascuzzi said that driving around the county “you can see what municipalities participate in blight and what ones do not.”

He said it remains on the COG’s agenda but that it’s “to be determined” whether it need to be expanded.

EDUCATION

While the COG was unsure whether there’s a role for them in this space, Stewart presented the idea of a partnership between the school district and the municipalities, specifically job shadowing.

“We have a lot of assets,” she said, “a lot of interested kids trying to figure things out.”

“Looking at it from that perspective makes a whole lot of sense,” Glotz said.

Discussion then centered around a possible next step for the COG to tour the Warren County Career Center.