These 'COGS' keep wheels of local government turning

While each COG region has specific local needs and problems to address, many are concerned with universal issues that affect all local governments - air and water quality, solid waste management, criminal justice issues, transportation, economic development and emergency preparedness.

Some COGs are innovative and visionary in their approach to problem solving. A good example is the Houston-Galveston Area COG (H-GAC). This group offers an outstanding cooperative purchasing program. Through the program, local governments are able to get better prices by pooling their purchasing power.

The Deep East Texas COG, which covers 12 counties and includes 360,000 residents, boasts a unique and highly successful Honors Mentoring Program. This is a structured mentoring program for children ages 4-15 whose parents are incarcerated.

Realizing the strength of combining assets, the Central Texas COG, which includes 31 cities and seven counties, pooled its homeland security funds to use on projects that benefit the entire region. As a result, three HAZMAT teams were formed, a mobile command post was established and equipment has been purchased for a Regional Interoperability Communications Plan.

In addition to the money raised through annual dues from member entities, COGs also depend on state and federal grant money and appropriations to help support many of their initiatives.

The East Texas Council of Governments recently received more than $650,000 in funding from the Texas Department of Transportation to assist with its operation of the East Texas Rural Transit system. For a small fee, the transit's bus system connects residents to a variety of locations throughout the 14-county COG area. Individuals over the age of 60 ride free.

The North Texas COG offers technology consulting services to assist its member agencies. The organization also features a regional training center that offers programs for both government entities and private companies in the area. Training sessions include emergency preparedness, police academy work and training for 9-1-1 operators and dispatchers.

In the El Paso area, the Rio Grande COG has one division charged with identifying economic development goals and strategies and then helping to implement them. Economic development is the lifeblood of a region and this COG is meeting an important primary need.

Through its criminal justice division, the 19-county West Central Texas COG provides peace officer training and a First Time Homebuyers program. The latter helps place low- to moderate-income families into their first homes by ensuring low, fixed-rate interest and long-term financing for qualified borrowers.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Texoma COG operates a Senior Citizens Foundation whose goal it is to provide a better quality of life for the region's senior citizens. Also celebrating a 40-year anniversary this year, the Alamo Area COG encourages corporate sponsors to contribute to its Adopt-A-School Bus program, which seeks to replace older buses with newer, cleaner and safer buses.

COGs are eager to share their successes and solutions to problems. The Texas Association of Regional Councils (TARC) ensures that they have networking opportunities, a communication arm, access to innovations and initiatives and an organizational structure capable of monitoring activities at the state level.