MARTINS FERRY — County Commissioners from across Ohio flocked to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to attend a White House State Leadership Conference.

The event was attended by various county commissioners from the Buckeye State, who met with representatives of the Department of Commerce, the Department of Labor and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Commissioner J.P. Dutton represented Belmont County and said that the conference allowed Ohio’s county leaders to meet key people for them to reach out to on any federal issues that are occurring in their county or in the state.

He added that the National Association of Counties and the County Commissioners Association of Ohio worked in collaboration with the White House to organize the event.

In addition to Dutton, Commissioners Mick Schumacher and Diane Burkhart represented Monroe County.

Jefferson County commissioners said they were not aware of the event, and Harrison County commissioners were attending an Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association meeting.

According to Dutton, Ohio was the first of the 50 states to be invited to the conference this year.

“During the first Trump administration, they invited local officials from different states to interact with White House staff that are involved in intergovernmental relations,” Dutton said, noting that this was a similar event.

He added that the conference provided the commissioners the ability to have direct conversations with Secretary of Commerce Howard W. Lutnick about local projects, as well as the opportunity to have conversations with other White House staff.

“This is the third time that the briefings have been held ,and all three times Belmont County has participated. And I think it’s been very worthwhile each time, and I expect this to be very fruitful as well. Again, we now have direct lines of communication with White House staff for federal issues that come up, and we plan on using those contacts moving forward,” Dutton said.

Schumacher added that he believes that not only were the federal connections valuable, but he also appreciated the opportunity to speak with other county commissioners from across Ohio.

“It’s just as helpful to meet with our commissioner counterparts as well, because we get a chance to network and talk about things that we’re working on in our counties,” he said.

Dutton said the conference lasted half the day with a dinner and briefing held the night prior in preparation for the conference.

“During that four- to five-hour window, there were basically as many entities as you could fit in that window. So nearly every cabinet department was represented in one shape or another. Three were represented by their secretaries, and that was the Department of Commerce, the Department of Labor and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. So it’s really kind of laying out what they are working on as a new administration and how that impacts us both at the state level and at the local level,” Dutton said.