Warren County isn’t quite done with countywide property reassessment challenges just yet.

During its December meeting, the county commissioners approved hiring Dillon McCandless King Coulter, a law firm based in Butler, Pa., to represent the county in the roughly 60 lawsuits filed by county homeowners in the Court of Common Pleas challenging their 2026 property assessment.

“Every year the county faces as a taxing body appeals from the annual assessments,” said solicitor Nathaniel Schmidt. “We had a number of appeals that have been filed from the countywide reassessment. … We are retaining counsel as taxing bodies normally do, working together with joint representation as we both manage those appeals. Many, if not all of them, will get settled, but we use outside counsel to navigate the local rules and the court process as we move forward in those.”

Commissioner Tricia Durbin said the law firm will be paid $225 per hour if a partner is working on an appeal case while associates will be paid $200 an hour. Commissioner Ken Klakamp responded to a question, saying there had been roughly 60 second appeals of tax assessments filed.

“We suggested that (Schmidt) look outside the organization to a law firm that has significant experience and will be well positioned to defend us in these suits,” Durbin said.

The commissioners signed off with new, four-year agreements with two of the county’s three collective bargaining units. The agreements with the AFSCME and SEIU employees cover 2026-2029.

“Those have been settled,” Klakamp said. “We have one more which we will start in January. My understanding is that when they voted it was almost unanimous.”

County officials also approved a contract with Nestor Resources to prepare the next state-required 10-year waste management plan. Nestor Resources has handled the past two plan updates the county has undertaken, with no opposition among the commissioners to hiring the company for a third plan. Commissioner Dan Glotz said in his experience Nestor Resources is familiar with the state regulations.

“The solid waste plan deals with household trash and where it goes,” Glotz said. “It also addresses things like recycling. The state Department of Environmental Protection requires that counties every

10 years review their solid waste plan and make sure everything that is required by law to be addressed is addressed. … That will include contracts with landfills to accept our trash capacity wise for the next 10 years as well as how the garbage is transported here in the county as well as the recycling program which covers everything from electronics to other recyclables. The city of Warren has a curbside program that is also addressed by this plan.”

The commissioners also reappointed Mike Boyd and Mike Kiehl to the county Land Bank and reappointed Phil Gilbert to the Redevelopment Authority.