The Carbon County Council of Governments is moving forward.

During the group's meeting on Tuesday, the delegates discussed the agreement and their short-term and long-term goals and elected officers. The Carbon County COG includes municipalities, county commissioners, county agencies and state Sen. John Yudichak's office.A total of 11 municipalities and the county were represented at the meeting.After introductions, Carbon County Commissioner Wayne Nothstein opened the floor for election of officers. Kris Hoffner of Palmerton was selected as the chairman; Bill O'Gurek of Summit Hill, the vice chairman; and Cathy Hawk of Parryville, the secretary. They also chose to table electing a treasurer until a finance committee has been established.Hoffner then took over the meeting.He asked the delegates what goals they have for the COG, which includes a co-purchasing program, help with health care options for municipal employees, and creating a final contact list of available equipment and skills that each municipality owns.Long-term goals include finalizing the resource guide that was started last year, finding grant opportunities, such as the state Local Share grant that is available from gaming funds, and prioritizing each municipality's needs to best serve the communities.Mark Grochocki of Yudichak's office, who has helped with two COGs in Luzerne County, suggested the group look to see if there are any bigger projects that multiple municipalities are looking to do and if so gather that information to prepare a Local Share grant application, which opens in June.He also congratulated the group on getting the COG off the ground."It was tough working through the language," Grochocki said, "but with the help of the commissioners and the solicitors, you got through it. To get to the point where 11 municipalities (out of 23) and the county have passed the agreement, that's a real testament to the work you have all done."We're entering a new phase of establishing priorities and going after grants, that's the fun part," he said.The COG members will now take the information back to their respective municipalities to gather information.Any municipality that wishes to join the COG can still do so by signing the COG agreement and assigning delegates.The purpose of a COG is to serve as a common goal entity, consisting of municipalities, to better serve the people. COGs can share services, equipment and manpower to save taxpayer money and work as a larger entity to try to obtain grants.Most notably, the county and a number of municipalities worked together on the narrow-band radio project a few years ago, which required changing over all emergency radios. Through the joint effort, the group secured just over $900,000 to cover the $1 million project.Nothstein has said that past project is a perfect example of how a COG could work to help the towns in Carbon County achieve larger projects.The next meeting of the Carbon County COG will take place at 6:30 p.m. April 28 in the commissioners' meeting room on the third floor of thecourthouse annex in Jim Thorpe.