Leaders from both Chester and Montgomery counties are innovating new pro-business best practices, and on Tuesday a commissioner from each county met to share notes.

Chester County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone and Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro collaborated during a Main Line Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Penn State Great Valley, and their conversation ranged from “urban renewal, long-term unemployment and the business environment for manufacturers to infrastructure projects and keeping millennial workers in the area,” according to a Delaware County Daily Times report by Brian McCullough.

Montgomery County is aiming to reshape its county seat with a $100 million plan for a direct link to the Pennsylvania Turnpike and a $300 million plan to renovate the centerpiece of downtown.

“I think 10 years from now one of the biggest stories is going to be the revitalization of Norristown,” Shapiro said in the article. “And it will have started with the (rehabilitation) of the courthouse.”

Meanwhile, Chester County is making progress on its 30-percent land preservation goal and feels “pretty poised” to tackle the challenge of developing the workforce of the future, Cozzone noted. In the ever-challenging arena of transportation, work crews are moving from just-completed Section 300 of Route 202 to major projects on Route 202 south of West Chester, the Route 30 bypass, Route 422 and Route 1.

“County government is on the front lines of dealing with major social and employment issues in our region,” Main Line Chamber President and CEO Bernard Dagenais said. “It’s great to see elected officials who are focused on issues of substance in a bipartisan and pro-business way.”

Read more about the commissioners’ breakfast meeting in the Delaware County Daily News here.
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Top photo credit: Montgomery County Planning Commission Norristown via photopin (license)