Targeting Development
For the last 15 years, Michael Saeler has worked with businesses and communities to help develop various parts of the Butler County.
Founded in 1959 by the county's business owners and industry heads, the Community Development Corporation of Butler County was designed to help the county grow by combining capitalism, and county- and municipal-funded initiatives to create and maintain employment opportunities. And as the executive director, Joe Saeler has dedicated a decade and a half to helping put that mission into action.
“My heart's always been in Butler County,” Saeler said.
Saeler's job is inherently collaborative, requiring him to work with many people throughout the county to complete projects.
One is Mark Gordon, the chief of economic development and planning for Butler County, who said he works with Saeler on a daily basis.
“A couple of words really stand out with him, one is talent. He's extremely talented and a practical engineer,” Gordon said. “Two, utmost integrity. It's never about him. It's always about everybody else. It's always about his client. He's extremely ethical — a principle-based a man of great character, and he's a straight shooter. He's extremely transparent.”
During his tenure, Saeler said the work he's most proud of is helping to create two separate business parks.The Victory Road Business Park began in 1999 when the county CDC bought a former U.S. Steel sintering plant. The economic development organization completed infrastructure construction — roads and utilities — after environmental remediation and since then, the 350- acre plot in Clinton Township has attracted more than 15 businesses.And the second park is the Pullman Center Business Park, a 42-acre plot that used to be a Trinity Industries plant. After the factory shut down, the county CDC revitalized the site from brownfield status. A brownfield site is land that could be potentially contaminated by hazardous materials.Saeler said that some of the credit for building up the business parks goes to tax abatement; offers of tax breaks for 10 years to attract developers and companies. But if companies choose to, they could leave in 10 years.Known as the Keystone Opportunity Zone designation, it's a state designation aimed at encouraging business development by exempting companies that locate there from paying county, local and school district taxes for a specified number of years.“For Victory Road, the biggest ticket was getting companies in there that would be there for a while. It's never a sure promise,” Saeler said. “You do research to see who will be in there for a while.”
For Saeler, that meant identifying companies that would be investing in the area long past the expiration of tax breaks. Otherwise, Saeler said, people might feel swindled that the companies get a tax break for 10 years and then leave once tax breaks expire.“The town is giving up those taxes, you want to make sure they'll stay. You don't want a company that will up and leave,” Saeler said.He said the state is now moving away from this abatement method because people aren't as willing to let companies not pay taxes for 10 years.“At the time, it was a great opportunity to get these companies in here,” Saeler said. And going forward, “A lot of it will be business parks with infrastructure upgrades.”Having experience in environmental and infrastructure work will help the county CDC as it moves toward assisting with sewer system updates of various municipalities.In August, it was reported sewer upgrades were needed in Boyers, Marion Township. The county commissioners approved a measure to allow the agency to apply for a $1 million loan to go toward the $4.3 million cost to bring the sewer system up to modern standards.The system was left behind by U.S. Steel decades ago when it ceased operations at the Boyers mine, now the Iron Mountain specialty storage facility. At the time the lagoon-type sewer system served 50 homes and was operating properly. But no plan was ever put into place for routine maintenance of the plant, and it has deteriorated immensely.
The state Department of Environmental Protection placed responsibility for the sewer system in the hands of Marion Township after U.S. Steel ceased ownership.Engineers more than two years ago estimated the project cost at more than $6 million, and Marion Township in 2018 submitted a request for $500,000 in funds from the county Infrastructure BankBut with the township unable to bear the cost, the county decided to collaborate with Saeler and others to study ways the project cost could be decreased and how to avoid financially burdening the homeowners involved.With Saeler's help, the group got the project costs reduced to $4.3 million, and continue to search for ways to have the system repaired at the least possible cost.“As you know in Pennsylvania, we rate low on infrastructure at a Grade C. So it's something we need to do and soon,” Saeler said. He also said he's looking to reuse old or abandoned buildings.
Gordon said that the next water-related project that he and Saeler are looking at is along parts of Route 8 — Middlesex to Penn townships — and the Butler airport.“We're working with water authority in Adams Township to bring public water down Route 8. In the case of the airport (in Penn Township), it would be nice to have public water there in case of an aviation emergency,” Gordon said. “People depending on well water has been an issue for the region for a long time.”All of this work, Gordon said, keeps the two and their organizations busy.“(Saeler) and I are always in the county. Always out in municipal meetings,” Gordon said.Talking about meetings reminded Gordon of another of Saeler's attributes.“Last word to describe Joe, the Ever Ready battery, he's always going and going,” Gordon said. “Not just meetings, there's a significant amount of work that needs to be done. I'm very proud and honored to call him my colleague.”
