Local officials are exploring the feasibility of resettling Ukrainian refugees in Warren County.

“We think it is a very complex issue,” County Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said. “(It) would be a sacrifice for many of us early on.”

He explained that he’s working with a “small group of people so far…. We have found people that I think are stakeholders.”

That team currently includes Congressman Glenn Thompson’s office, Warren County School Superintendent Amy Stewart, Warren General Hospital CEO Rick Allen, state Senator Scott Hutchinson’s office, the Warren County Chamber of Business & Industry, as well as employers and local attorneys.

“There is an amazing unifying interest in doing this,” he said. “(We) have had no one say that we should not at least pursue looking into it.”

Kafferlin said there is a “moral rightness” to exploring the possibility but said the effort “could be mutually beneficial,” citing the county’s declining population and an aging workforce. “Some of the businesses in town are looking at moving outside of the area” due to labor shortages.

He described the Ukrainian refugees as a “relatively educated population that is completely disrupted.”

Millions of Ukrainians have fled their homes since Russia’s invasion in late February.

“I think it’s a great opportunity we need to look into,” Kafferlin said.

There are a litany of processes and bureaucratic barriers and that brings Congressman Thompson’s office to the table.

“From what they have said, we are the first Pennsylvania county government to express interest as far as we know,” Kafferlin said. “Our name is at least out there.”

The current pressing challenge he outlined was determining just how many refugees could resettle in the county.

Kafferlin said he has “no idea” whether that number is 10 people or 500 people so the group is currently working on a feasibility plan that looks at items such as housing, transportation and medical care.

“I don’t think it will be a fast process to create this plan,” he stressed, explaining that the Department of State currently has no “humanitarian parole” procedure. However, such plans have been implemented recently including for Afghan refugees.

“It’s something that county government is looking into and exploring,” he said. “(We are) not very far along in the process.”

He said it has been remarkable to hear just how many connections to Ukraine there as he’s been discussing this effort.

He estimated it might take six months before officials see “any traction.”