There's strength in numbers, C. Champ Holman, Ryan Township, said as he offered a tour of the headquarters of the Northern Schuylkill Council of Governments in Mahanoy Township on Wednesday.
Inside the pole building on the 500 block of Morea Road were six vehicles, including a milling machine and a street sweeper, which the Northern Schuylkill COG acquired using competitive grant funding. That included a $456,000 grant the COG received in 2008.
"When a number of communities apply for a grant, I think it'll be given more consideration than an application from a single community. With a COG, the impact on the taxpayers is greater because you have more municipalities involved. Since 2007, we were able to acquire to acquire six pieces of equipment using state grant funds. This one cost more than $45,000," Holman said, referring to the COG's Schwarze A4000 street sweeper.
With shared resources and efforts to acquire grants, the councils of government in the northern and southern Schuylkill County have stood the test of time, according to Holman and David B. Crouse, president of the Southern Schuylkill COG.
The Northern and Southern Schuylkill COGs recently advertised their meeting times and dates for 2014. Both organizations encourage the public to attend to learn more about what they do.
There are many reasons why municipalities establish COGs, according to E.J. Knittel, senior director of the education and sustainability division of the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, Harrisburg.
"A COG can provide them with a level of professional service that they might not have the internal resources for. Just as many of us take advantage of purchasing items at 'big box club stores' the value of purchasing in bulk for your borough, township, cities, county and school district has a great savings for the taxpayers. This can be particularly true for smaller and rural municipalities, where their buying power is stronger when combining their resources," Knittel said Tuesday.
There are more than 50 in Pennsylvania, according to the website for the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Governments at www.pacog.com.
"We have seen COGs start to provide building code inspection service, the joint purchasing of road materials - salt and stone - and start to negotiate cable TV franchise agreements and insurance purchases," Knittel said.
Southern COG
The longest-running COG in Schuylkill County is the Southern Schuylkill COG, established in 1979.
It's made up of 13 member municipalities: Auburn, Cressona, Deer Lake, Landingville, New Ringgold, Orwigsburg, Port Clinton and Schuylkill Haven boroughs and East Brunswick, West Brunswick, North Manheim, South Manheim and Wayne townships.
"When it started in the late 1970s, the initial purpose was to work to get grants. It was a vehicle to get grant money," Crouse, president of Deer Lake Borough Council, said Wednesday.
Its achievements include helping communities to build parks in Landingville, East Brunswick and New Ringgold. But it will always be known for helping Cressona Aluminum acquire government grants to buy the former Alcoa property in Cressona, Crouse said.
Since the late 1980s, the Southern Schuylkill COG has received an EDG - a federal Economic Development Grant - from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Today, that grant equals "about $11,000 or $12,000 a year" for each of its member municipalities, Crouse said.
Membership dues for its 13 member municipalities is $100 a year, Crouse said.
Its meetings for 2014 will be held at 7 p.m. at Orwigsburg Borough Hall on the folllowing dates: Feb. 20, March 20, April 10, May 15, Sept. 18, Oct. 16 and Nov. 20.
"We've always tried to participate in projects, have guest speakers and fourms that are helpful to each of the municipalities and great brainstorming sessions," Crouse said.
Northern COG
The Northern Schuylkill COG was established in 2001. It's the biggest COG in the county, with 17 members: Ashland, Frackville, Gilberton, Girardville, Gordon, Mahanoy City, Ringtown and Shenandoah boroughs; and Butler, Delano, East Union, Mahanoy, Rush, Ryan, Schuylkill, Union and West Mahanoy townships.
It will meet at 7 p.m. on the following dates and locations: March 26, Mahanoy Township building; May 28, Girardville Borough Hall; July 23, Mahanoy City Borough Hall; Sept. 24, Shenandoah Borough Hall; and Nov. 19, Mahanoy Township Municipal building.
"For new members, the first year will cost $500 and $100 a year from then on," Holman said.
Central COG
Five years ago, a group of municipal leaders from the Pottsville area worked to establish the third Council of Government in Schuylkill County.
Made up 10 municipalities, the Central Schuylkill COG included Blythe, Branch, Cass, East Norwegian and New Castle townships; and Minersville, Palo Alto, Pine Grove, Port Carbon and Saint Clair boroughs.
But those municipalities may not be celebrating its fifth anniversary this year.
While the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs lists the Central Schuylkill COG as being active, Andy Palokas, a councilman in Port Carbon, said it hasn't had a meeting in a year and a half to two years.
"It's been a while, I know that," William Angelo, the Minersville council president, said Tuesday.
"I'm not sure if we disbanded or just called it quits. Nobody ever said. There was no in-fighting or anything like that. It was just hard getting people to come out to the meetings. That was part of the problem. I think some of us are still trying to regroup," Palokas said Jan. 29.
Minersville's borough council may vote to leave the Central Schuylkill COG at its next meeting, 7 p.m. Tuesday, according to William Angelo, Minersville Borough Council president.
Angelo discussed the matter with Minersville's council at a workshop session Tuesday and learned the council is no longer interested in being a member.
"Right now, the council isn't interested in going back there. We work with Norwegian Township and Branch Township. They have equipment we use and we have equipment they use, and that's what this COG was for, to share equipment and stuff like that," Angelo said.
While COGs work for some municipalities, they do not work for all, Knittel said.
"I think it can be viewed the same as why some businesses succeed and others fail. People who are dedicated are willing to invest their time and resources in an effort often make a success of a venture," Knittel said.