The Butler County Infrastructure Bank voted to recommend all six projects under consideration in its first round of funding to the county commissioners.

The commissioners will then decide which projects will obtain funding through the advisory board, which was created in 2017, and will use $500,000 from natural gas drilling impact fee revenue received by the county to help municipalities apply for up to $30 million in subsidized, low-interest loans to fund needed renovation and construction projects.

Mark Gordon, the county's chief of economic development and planning, said the awards may be voted on during the commissioner's July 18 meeting, or the agenda setting meeting in August.

The six proposals include a lighting improvement project for Main Street in Butler, at a cost of $1.015 million. This project would remove and replace existing lighting and foundations, as well as improve electrical conduit, wires and switches. Fifty lights are proposed to be replaced with LED lights as part of the project on Main Street from Wayne to Penn streets.

Also for Butler was the request for $470,000 for the city's obligation for surface construction at the Miller, Penn and Brady street bridge replacements in the Sullivan Run flood control project, in conjunction with the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project will improve hydraulics and reduce flooding by eliminating storm flow bottlenecks in the stream through replacement of bridges with larger concrete box culverts.

Cranberry Township also had two project proposals, including seeking $4.5 million in funding for a portion of the $15 million MSA Thruway project, with the purpose of diverting tractor-trailer traffic off Route 228 from Interstate 79 by creating a 150-foot underpass beneath Route 228 and corresponding ramps from I-79.

The second proposal was for $1.67 million to complete sewer improvements and construct a new pump station.

Another sewer system proposal was made for Marion Township, seeking $488,000 to cover costs for planning and permitting associated with expected $3.9 million sewer renovation for the Boyers area, following state DEP mandated repairs.

West Sunbury also made a proposal for water treatment, asking $350,000 to fix a discharge issue with its wastewater system. That issue was also a DEP mandate to reduce nitrogen discharge. The money will be used to construct a building next to the existing water treatment plant that will house the equipment needed to remove the ammonia.

Gordon said recommending the projects was “about doing the right thing for the residents of the county,” and many of these issues are safety, health and public welfare issues.