EXETER — Bringing public officials and community members together has been a primary objective for Cassandra Coleman-Corcoran, and now the Exeter native is helping to bring them together in her home community.

Coleman-Corcoran, who serves as director of the Governor’s Northeast Regional and Central Offices, announced an event called Cabinet in Your Community which allows community members to address members of Gov. Tom Wolf’s cabinet in a public forum.

“The governor launched the Cabinet in Your Community initiative to pretty much provide a platform of engagement between the cabinet in Harrisburg and the communities across the commonwealth,” Coleman-Corcoran said. “We’ve done them in cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, and we’ve done them in smaller towns like Tamaqua and we were up in Franklin (City) in Venango County last week.”

The forum will be held at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 at the Wyoming Area High School and will also be the 31st the cabinet has done throughout the state.

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Coleman-Corcoran said the cabinet features anywhere from five to seven officials, depending on which issues are important to each region. Cabinet members for the Exeter forum include Lt. Col. Robert Evanchick, Acting State Police Commissioner; Teresa D. Miller, Secretary of the Department of Human Resources; Leslie S. Richards, Secretary of Transportation; Pedro Rivera, Secretary of Education; Jennifer Smith, Secretary of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

The forum will be open to everyone in the Wyoming Area School District and local officials.

Exeter Borough Mayor Denise Adams says this forum is a good way for herself and council members to address issues with members of the cabinet.

“I think it’s very important,” Adams said. “I’m looking forward to it and I think it will do a lot for our community.”

Coleman-Corcoran, who previously served as Exeter Borough Mayor from 2008 t0 2015, could barely contain her excitement in bringing the Cabinet in Your Community to her hometown.

“I am (excited) to bring an initiative I’ve worked on back home to where I spent multiple years as Mayor trying to do something similar, making government work,” she said. “I like to really push that because it’s so important to provide those local officials with these resources.”

Because the forum is held at the Wyoming Area High School during a school day, students will be attend and ask questions, as well.

Coleman-Corcoran, a Wyoming Area alumnus, said she’s excited for the students to ask questions as they have a history of asking some of the best ones.

“The students’ questions are some of the best questions we’ve ever had,” she said. “I think back to when we were down in Perry County and there was a fourth-grade class there. A student got up… he got up to the microphone, addressed the Secretary of Health, and he said ‘My concern is that swimming is good for your health and our public pool is closed. Is there anything the Department of Health can do to help us reopen that?’”

Wyoming Area Superintendent Janet Serino provided a statement about the school district hosting the forum.

“The Wyoming Area Secondary Center is proud to host the Cabinet in Your Community forum,” she said. “This is an opportunity for our local schools and community to express their thoughts and concerns about a variety of state issues. Having these state dignitaries present will allow us to get answers to questions of importance and allow us to be heard first hand.”

Those wishing to attend the forum may RSVP to cacoleman@pa.gov or call 570-614-2090 by Thursday, Sept. 20.

Adams
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Serino
https://www.psdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Serino-2.jpg.optimal.jpgSerino

Coleman-Corcoran
https://www.psdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_Coleman1-2.jpg.optimal.jpgColeman-Corcoran
Event gives residents opportunity to speak with state officials

By Jimmy Fisher

jfisher@timesleader.com

Reach Jimmy Fisher at 570-704-3972 or on Twitter @SD_JimmyFisher