It’s an old saying: The only constant is change. No institution is permanent. If you want to endure, you must anticipate change. You must accommodate it.

It’s certainly the case in Butler County, where two long-standing government institutions are undergoing dramatic transformations:

n The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is moving its Butler County offices out of the Iron Mountain mine in Boyers. The OPM officials say they’ve outgrown their 400,000 square feet of leased space. They want to build an above-ground center somewhere in Butler, Lawrence or Beaver County.

n The VA Butler Health Care Center is relocating to a new, two-story, 168,000-square-foot complex in Center Township. The existing center, which dates to World War II, is outdated and inefficient.

For many county residents and for a variety of reasons, the changes are upsetting.

The OPM relocation raised the specter of possible jobs losses, a constant concern, at last week’s Butler County Commissioners meeting. OPM employs about 2,000 people at Boyers — roughly 1,200 federal employees, 580 of whom are county residents, and 800 contractors.

Consider also the lingering disappointment in Butler township, which hosts the VA center that closes next year. It had secured the VA project for the former Deshon Woods property on Evans City Road, only to lose that deal and a subsequent contract was awarded to build in Center Township.

Commissioner Leslie Osche, board chairman, says the county Community Development Corporation will work with OPM to find a site in the county that would be suitable for relocation.

She said Congressman Mike Kelly’s office will also be in on the negotiations as they try to keep the federal agency in the county.

In terms of resource management, it only makes sense for OPM to stay here. Iron Mountain is where the bulk of the paper records are kept. It would be a good thing to maintain ready access to the records.

It’s also where the trained employees live. It’s reasonable to keep the OPM work site close to their homes and community, even as OPM has outgrown the space it leases in the mine.

While we’re on the topic of resources, it’s worth suggesting that a large building already owned by the federal government will be vacated soon. No definitive plans have been announced yet for the existing VA Butler Health Care Center in Butler Township, which will have no mission when the VA moves to Center Township in 2017. Its buildings’ combined floor space easily exceeds 100,000 square feet.

It seems reasonable that at least some of that space could be retained for OPM or other federal business. It’s only a fraction of the space required by OPM, but it’s a significant fraction. It could supplement new construction, either at the adjoining Deshon Woods site or in the acreage abutting the Center Township site of the new VA complex — which is being set aside specifically for development of businesses that will complement the VA operations.

The alternative — the VA complex sitting vacant and deteriorating in the middle of Butler Township’s business district — is unimaginable.