East Butler plans to begin hanging banners honoring veterans on Monday.

Banners honoring veterans will soon hang from utility poles in East Butler, satisfying increasingly impatient residents.

Regina Thompson, an East Butler resident, said Wednesday that she, family members and friends had paid for banners that would honor their veteran family members back in mid-2017. She wondered why the banners had not been raised, despite money being collected at the local post office and a general community effort to install the banners.

“It sure would be nice if they got them up,” Thompson told the Eagle Wednesday.

Thompson had impeccable timing. A day later, on Thursday, West Penn Power got back to borough staff to give the go ahead on hanging the signs, according to Chuck Christian, the borough’s street supervisor.

Christian said the banners had arrived in November of 2017, but the power company didn’t give permission until this week.

“People were getting really frustrated,” Christian said.

Road crews will be attaching the banners to electrical poles Monday morning, Christian said.

Images of 46 veterans will be posted. The banners are similar to the veteran banners on display in Butler.

Four images will be on each pole, two on each side. Each one depicts a veteran, their name, military branch and tour of duty.

Crews will raise the banners along Grant Avenue starting at 10th Street and heading toward Route 422.

Todd Meyers, a spokesman for FirstEnergy Corp., which owns West Penn Power, said such banners in general can take time to get approved.

“You can’t just go hanging anything out there,” Meyers said. “We have to look at every pole and make sure they’re not hanging near any kind of electrical conductor.”

Meyers said he spoke to the engineering department about the delay, and that a retiree had been working on it last year, and the effort was lulled and then later picked back up.

“Banners are important,” Meyers said. “But we have a limited engineering staff that’s focused on taking care of our equipment and reducing outages. That equipment out there is paid for by our customers. Taking care of it is our first priority.”

Thompson, informed of the new development Thursday night, was pleased.

“Monday sounds good to me,” Thompson said.