Regional COG director outlines transportation, safety and workforce steps for the DMV

Clark Mercer, executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG), gave a roughly 30-minute overview of the council's regional role and resources to the Manassas Park City Council on May 5.

Mercer said COG houses the region's metropolitan transportation planning board and runs long-range plans such as Visualize 2050, which lists local projects eligible for federal transportation dollars. "For Manassas Park, it includes over half a million dollars of congestion mitigation ... For the Connor Drive extension and roundabout, a little over 25 million," Mercer said.

He described two other major portfolios: public safety and regional planning. On public safety, Mercer said COG administers mutual-aid agreements and interoperability programs, including a real-time crime dashboard and fingerprint and license-plate databases that link jurisdictions. "When we're we're more connected, we're safer, we're thriving, and we're healthier," he told the council.

Mercer also summarized COG's economic work and recent regional data: "Year-over-year February to February, this region lost 119,000 jobs," he said, and described efforts such as a Talent Capital platform and a regional economic-development strategy to diversify the local economy away from federal-dependence.

Council members asked about plans to diversify away from federal jobs; Mercer said the region is pursuing a comprehensive economic development strategy and applying to be an economic development district to coordinate private-sector, local and education leaders.

Several members thanked Mercer for the briefing and asked for follow-up on cooperative purchasing contracts, data products and COG technical assistance. Mercer offered to bring staff for deeper dives on topics the council requested.

The presentation concluded with a brief question-and-answer exchange and no formal council action was taken on the item.