FERGUSON TOWNSHIP — Late this fall, the Centre Region and Penn State will conduct a joint emergency training exercise, after the region’s elected officials approved the recommended project bid for just under $30,000.

By doing so, the group approved Haggerty Consulting to design and conduct the Homeland Security exercise, based at the Beaver Stadium joint Emergency Operations Center, and the region and Penn State will split the cost.

Emergency Management Coordinator Shawn Kauffman explained the process to elected officials at Tuesday’s Council of Governments General Forum. With approval for the bid, that begins today with the contract for the work.

“We’ll provide them with what we want done, and they’ll design it and implement it,” he said. “We will give them information of what exactly we want tested and try to narrow the focus a little bit, because this will only take one day.”

Kauffman explained briefly Tuesday and more extensively at previous committee meetings that Haggerty was not the low bidder for the exercise, but has the experience necessary to conduct it, having worked in other university towns.

Haggerty also will partner with local consultant Mission Critical.

“We took the lowest bid company and felt that was a startup company,” Kauffman said last week. “We were real critical on what did they bring to the table.”

Also Tuesday, COG officials unanimously approved next year’s Centre Area Transportation Authority budget, which calls for a 5 percent overall increase in local shares. The budget passed without comment from officials or presentation from General Manager Hugh Mose.

“It makes me feel good,” Mose said, that he didn’t have to defend CATA’s service and that officials seem to appreciate it.

Each municipality now must approve the budget.

Finally, during COG Parks and Recreation Director Ron Woodhead’s report to the group, he said the Park Forest and Welch community swimming pools had an “outstanding” opening weekend. Both pools opened Saturday.

During the three-day weekend, the two pools saw 7,140 visitors. Woodhead said 4,400 of those people paid the $1 entry fee during the “dollar days.”

He said the pools have seen 138 percent of the revenue so far, compared to the same amount of time last year.

“Our two swimming pools are once again recreation magnets,” he said.

Jessica VanderKolk can be reached at 235-3910. Follow her on Twitter @jVanReporter