Lebanon County at a crossroads: local leaders look to future at 2024 State of the County

Dozens of local leaders, elected officials and members of Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce gathered at Blair Music Center on Lebanon Valley College's campus on Wednesday for the second annual State of the County event, hosted by the chamber.

Whereas last year's speakers provided information on what the county looked like through a top-down, by the numbers lens, the group of seven presenters looked towards the future and the work that it will take to get there.

The full slides from the event can be found online at lvchamber.org.

Education

Eastern Lebanon County School District Supt. Julia Vicente described the changing landscape of education, how trapper keepers have turned into iPads and laptops, how in just a short time students have begun learning using virtual reality and 3D printing, and a need to prepare students for tomorrow.

Vicente presented five predicted trends that will come to education:

• Technological advancements will revolutionize education.

• Instructional design and deliver will be transformed.

• The educator's role is changing.

• Skill and competency based education will gather momentum.

• Learning will be continuous and lifelong.

With each of these predictions, Vicente used examples from each of Lebanon County's six districts on how they're already making these changes such as Cedar Crest using VR technology in their media center as learning tools or Northern Lebanon's family consumer science program − in the process of adding hotel and restaurant management courses as a way to prepare students for future internships.

"We must embrace these transformative trends to work toward a dynamic and forward-thinking education system that recognizes education's pivotal role in shaping our future."

Workforce

While the county is still facing workforce shortages, an issue that Groh said will likely never be completely solved, progress has been made in identifying how to move the needle forward.

Wages and training are still top two issues impacting the workforce, along with barriers to entering the workforce like lack of childcare, housing availability, transportation and equity.

In order to attract a workforce in the county, businesses will need to innovate, such as offering on their own jobs training and and development program or collaborating with non-profit training organizations. Businesses should also be collaborating with each other, Groh said, trading notes on what's working and what's not.

Groh noted emerging strategies in workforce development such as skill-based hiring, reedifying work in the age of technology, life, lifelong learning and navigating the changing landscape of work.

Additionally, Groh said that work has continued on identifying what a new two-year training program, as prescribed Comprehensive Skills Needs Assessment, would look like for Lebanon County.

Beyond education, marketing Lebanon County as a great place to live with good jobs can be a way to attract a higher skilled workforce, closing some of the talent gaps that businesses face.

Community Health & Wellbeing

The health of Lebanon County is a still a concern, as the leading cause of death continues to be heart disease. Associated comorbidities like obesity, smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are similarly high, said Community Health Council executive director Nicole Gray. Both heart disease and those comorbidities occur in Lebanon County at rates higher than the state average.

Mental health is also a current focus for the health council, with 67% of county adults reporting one or more days with depressive symptoms in the last two weeks in a 2022 report from WellSpan Health. 39% of youth grades 6 through 12 reported being sad or depressed on month days.

Gray said that last year, 19% of youth reported considering suicide.

"We do have so many great community partners providing education and interventions for all of these health behaviors that we have here in the county. While there's much more to do, it's really important that we recognize and connect community members to these existing programs. The real problem that we have in this sector is getting people into programs."

Additionally, social determinants of health like poverty, housing, food access childcare and transportation have much to do with the overall health of a community. In the last year, the Lebanon County Community Hunger Mapping report and Housing Needs Assessment have helped to identify how and where to help.

The best way to help the health of community, Gray said, is to end stigmas which surround these issues by connecting those in need with organizations which can help them, work to increase SNAP, WIC and school lunch voucher participation, increasing the resources for the county's aging population and make housing more available at all affordability levels.

County development

Julie Cheyney of the Lebanon County Planning Department provided a brief update on the incoming county comprehensive plan, stressing the importance of community input for the plan, announcing that the county had been awarded the municipal assistance grant from the Department of Community and Economic Development to aid with the updated plan.

"The county is at a crossroad with its identify and direction of its future development," Cheyney said.

Among the five key points identified by DCED for a successful plan, Cheyney said that the most important to their success was number four, recruiting partners and creating capacity to implement the plan.

"If we don't have buy in from the community, the plan will never get off the ground."

She also provided a envisioned timeline for the plan:

• Kickoff meeting in the fall.

• Background studies and demographic analysis completed by February 2025.

• Public and stakeholder forms finished by August 2025.

• Draft plan available for review by October 2025.

• Plan adoption by december 2025.

Tourism

Lebanon Counties tourism industry is healthy, said Jennifer Kuzo, president of Visit Lebanon Valley, with $296.4 billion in visitor spending in 2022.

Hotel occupancy was also healthy in 2023, seeing occupancy rates of 57.7 in its 1,000 rooms, similar to the occupancy rates of Dauphin and Lancaster counties.

Hotel occupancy rates have increased over the last eight years, she said.

The future of tourism for the Lebanon Valley, Kuzo said, looks like sustainable tourism, traveling and enjoying an area while respecting the area, culture and wellbeing of the local people and ecotourism, visiting natural areas with the goal of conservation.

Agritourism, visiting agricultural areas to see farms and participate in activities is also a popular draw to Lebanon County for those living in more urban environments, Kuzo said, who come to see farmland and eat fresh produce.

Emergency preparedness

In the year 2000, Lebanon County had 34 fire departments with over 40 stations, 9 ambulance service providers and 17 municipal law enforcement agencies. Public safety was generally full of volunteers and applications for career positions outnumber openings by 10-20 times.

Today, there 27 fire departments, 6 ambulance service providers and 11 municipal law enforcement agencies. There are less volunteers than there are seats in the apparatus, and far more career opportunities than applicants. At the same time, there has been a progressing increase in call volume since 2021 and increased costs associated with public safety.

There's also a heavy reliance on mutual aid from nearby municipalities and neighboring counties.

Overall, Bob Dowd, director of Lebanon County Department of Emergency services described the public safety system as fragile, but said it shouldn't be a cause for fear.

"It's worth pausing, to note and emphasize that this is not intended to instill fear and uncertainty. Lebanon County still has a very robust and capable public safety system. When you call 911, you are going to get help. That being said, we're at a crossroads, a bit of a theme in today's presentations."

"My intent right now is to raise awareness, and sound the alarm that things need to change."

Dowd said that in 10 years, he foresees public safety as an entirely changed landscape, with more regionalized and county level services, paid EMS and fire service, combined mission entities, less station overhead and a redefined service expectation.

"Do you need to need have the fire department respond to a tree across the roadway? That happens now," Dowd said. "Do need to have the police go to everything? Or can some stuff be handled over the phone. Should you be calling an ambulance when you really can get away with calling an Uber?"

Bringing public safety to the future begins with staffing and training, said Dowd, as well as advocacy for policy and legislative changes, as current laws don't don't support regionalization, adding that the county should embrace opportunities mergers and regionalization.

Lebanon County

Similarly, county administrator Jamie Wolgemuth said that the county has also struggled with staffing, with over 700 county positions, there are currently 150 of vacancies, mostly in public safety and long term care positions.

Earlier in his presentation, Wolgemuth touched on voting, including the increase seen in mail-in voting and use of the ballot box in the recent primary election, with 27% of the votes cast with mail-in ballots.

Wolgemuth also provided updated on farmland preservation and the rail trail. To date, Lebanon County has preserved 20,747 acres, almost 10% of the entire county.

Since 1992, there has been $37 million of federal, state, county and municipal funds that have gone into paying for the easements to property owners to preserve their land. Donated easements by property owners in Lebanon County are valued at $23 million. Another 1,200 acres will be added to farmland preservation this year.

Twenty miles of the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail is complete, of the 25.7 miles that make up the trail. Most recently, sections along Chestnut Street near the former Lebanon Catholic High School to 22nd Street have been completed.

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on X @djlarlham.

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Lebanon leaders look at what's next during State of the County event