Leaders of Zelienople and Harmony have been awarded money and praise from a top state official for the communities' willingness to expand its cooperative efforts.

"These two governments are taking a forward-thinking approach to the way they run their governments,'' said state Department of Community and Economic Development Acting Secretary George Cornelius. He was quoted in a news release from the agency yesterday.

The boroughs are moving forward with a study that looks at the feasibility of shared government services. The study is being funded with a $56,700 grant from the DCED's Land Use Planning and Technical Assistance program as well as a $32,000 grant from the Shared Municipal Services program. The studies will look at land use, growth management, ordinances, and financial impacts of combined services.

The municipalities already have tested the shared-services waters in terms of police coverage, emergency management and street resurfacing.

DCED encourages communities to share services in an effort to eliminate redundancies and reduce costs.