Jim Thorpe remains the only borough in Carbon County to not be a member of the countywide Council of Governments, but one of its residents and a local state senator's aide is trying to change its mind.

Borough resident Ed McArdle questioned council last week as to why it hasn't joined."We don't have a street sweeper and here we sit yet we're not a member of COG when it could help out," McArdle said.The idea behind the Council of Governments is for cooperative purchasing by municipalities and the sharing of certain items and services.While it has been discussed at several borough workshops and meetings, council hasn't pulled the trigger."We've discussed it quite a bit and have kept an open mind to possibly joining at some point in the future, but it just didn't make sense at the time," Council President Greg Strubinger said.Brad Hurley, an aide with state Sen. John Yudichak, told council that 18 municipalities have already joined COG and the group recently raised over $6,000 at an equipment auction."The municipalities bring all their unused equipment to the auction and get to keep most of the proceeds, with a little going to the auctioneer and a little to COG," Hurley said. "It was so successful that the COG membership fee, which used to be $50, now costs nothing."COG recently got two grants, $100,000 for an asphalt zipper and $130,000 for a street sweeper."If you're a member, you would be able to get that asphalt zipper to use at a fraction of the price you would rent it for," Hurley said."You also get a training session for people in the municipality to use the equipment. This is really all bout saving everyone money."Hurley admitted that having the county seat as a member of COG would help with grant writing, but Council Vice-President Jay Miller said the borough is content with selling equipment on its own."We've been selling old equipment and we keep all the money," Miller said. "We just sold $17,000 worth of dump trucks. We've talked about this and at this point we don't feel we should be involved."