The Warren County Chamber of Business & Industry has requested $100,000 from both the City of Warren and Warren County to fund its Warren Worx initiative.

Some of those elected officials still have questions.

As a result, a joint session is set for Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the fourth floor conference room of the Northern Pennsylvania Regional College.

WCCBI President/CEO Jim Decker summarized the Warren Worx effort in a letter to the Times Observer published back in October.

“The WCCBI will act as a facilitator and aggregator, providing oversight and direction to Warren Worx,” he said. “It will coordinate efforts to secure funding, align resources and key initiatives to create efficiencies and empower Warren County and all of its stakeholders to market within one consistent, definitive brand, focused on the positive attributes of the County to ultimately drive population growth and prosperity.”

The idea of a joint session was first pitched when council approved its 2024 budget – which does not include funding for the initiative – at a Dec. meeting.

Both Councilman Jared Villella and Councilwoman Danielle Flasher raised questions about both the project and how the city would fund it.

Villella said that he thinks there is an “extremely high likelihood” that this will be a recurring request and suggested that city residents get “hit twice” because the county has also been asked to contribute $100,000 and city residents also pay county taxes.

“I just have questions,” he said. “I’m not opposed to the process or idea or direction in any way shape or form” but added that it would “be a disservice” to approve the funding without additional conversations.

“Several questions, I think, are left unanswered,” Councilwoman Danielle Flasher said.

“What exactly are we investing in?” Flasher asked.

She specifically identified questions with the branding piece, a lack of job descriptions and a scope of responsibility for staff the effort plans to add.

“What benefit are they going to provide to us?” she asked. “I think it’s important to get some details before we allocate money. Saying we’re (allocating) $100,000 into a brand is quite vague. They have yet to define how a communication or pathway” is going to work.