Shober elected to group’s top post
Members of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania elected Washington County Commissioner Harlan Shober president during the group’s 130th annual conference this week at Lake Harmony, Carbon County. He will begin his one-year term Jan. 1.
The organization met at the Split Rock Resort in the western Pocono Mountains.
Shober, 71, on his way home from the gathering on Wednesday, said in a phone interview, “The things we need for our county are much better understood if you have 67 counties working on the state level. Together, we can make our voice be heard better than an individual county.”
Because of Washington County’s prominence as a natural-gas producing center, Shober, who personally has a lease with Range Resources as part of a Marcellus shale unit in Chartiers Township, said that through CCAP, he worked “to make sure Act 13 stayed in place. They were talking about changing that, limiting that, putting a cap on that. CCAP lobbied to keep it.”
Act 13, known as an impact fee from unconventional gas wells when then-Gov. Tom Corbett signed it in 2012, has generated for Washington County and its municipalities millions of dollars in revenue.
Shober also cited an update of 911 emergency operations funding, which previously depended on money from land lines. Both the state House and Senate passed bills that designated increased revenue from cellphones.
The commissioner cited this as another example “where all of us coming together under an organization gives us more impact on our state operations.”
At the recent CCAP meeting, Shober presided at the group’s business meeting, which included a report from the behavioral health task force.
Shober said before his term begins he’ll be taking a role in setting budgets and making committee assignments.