Lansford Borough Council wants to bring in a consultant to help with financial planning, possible regionalization of police and services, and community planning.

Council on Thursday listened to a presentation on the state’s Strategic Management Program, which offers communities up to $200,000 in a matching grant to hire a consultant to start financial planning.

“You’ll bring consultants in that will look at the last five years of your financials here in the municipality — everything from what’s coming in to what’s going out to the structure of government,” said Jonas Crass, local government policy specialist with the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services.

The consultant will review intergovernmental cooperative agreements and participation in a council of governments, or even help with regionalization efforts, such as with police services, looking at contracts, pensions and insurance, he said.

“They’ll recommend what they’re seeing is working for their municipalities,” Crass said. “You don’t have to say ‘yes’ to any recommendations, or you can say ‘yes’ to all the recommendations.”

The consultant will also provide a five-year projection for the municipality based on historical data and trends and provide a management audit of all major departments and operations.

An emergency plan will also be done, if a municipality is found to be financially distressed, for the current year to help the community remain solvent.

However, communities do not need to be financially distressed to participate in the program, Crass said.

The community will receive a multiyear plan with grant opportunities up to $200,000 for each project or initiative the municipality wants to undertake for up to five years, he said.

“Really, it’s being proactive and kind of getting a plan together for your municipality,” he said.

The process takes six to eight months, and starts with municipalities seeking the grant to participate in the program. The applications for the next round are due at the end of June, he said. Another round will be in December.

Crass has been visiting numerous communities in Schuylkill and Carbon counties, including Coaldale, Mahanoy City, Shenandoah and Weatherly, to talk about these opportunities, he said.

Council only planned to discuss the program during its special meeting Thursday, but went off the agenda to adopt a resolution to enter the Strategic Management Program, hoping to start the process this year.

Council voted unanimously to enter the program. Council President Bruce Markovich and Jack Soberick were absent, as was Jay Doyle, council vice president, who is in a state prison.

The amount of the match for the grant for the municipality could be anywhere from 10% to 50%, depending on its request for a hardship and sample letter was provided.

The program falls under the state Department of Community and Economic Development.